All fair points. In general, I think you are far more optimistic about the direction of this team this season and a few seasons in the future. I think Dame has hinted at wanting to see us become a contender or there is a real chance he'll ask out. We both agree this isn't a contender. Therefore, my concern is we'll look back at only moving bench players summer as a contributor of a rebuild down the road. My projections might be 100% wrong and yours might be right; frankly, I hope that's the case. I have ZERO issue with people who are high on direction of this roster or low on it. I appreciate the respectful debate w/out any personal jabs... I know we both want this team to win!
You might have missed the part where I said veteran team. Steph was 26 Klay 24 Green 24 Barnes 22 Not one of our starters were younger than Steph in 2014. The reason I included the condition that a veteran team as a condtion is that it's normal to see growth from players in the first 5 seasons, like the Golden State team.
You think this is a WCF caliber team? How many of the recent years have you also felt very confidenct the roster would contend?
OK so how much will Smith make? If he plays well and we want to keep him is he ours, or can he take a better offer?
So he is ours if we want him. Another team can only sign him if we choose not to. Until then he is under contract with the Blazers. In other words, this is not like summer league.
Looking forward to that massive bump we get this year due to a new coach. I really really really hope that was the main thing holding us back from getting to the finals. I wish I was as confident as you that the roster has always been and is still elite.
Do you think this a WCF contending team now with the bench upgrades? Or another team likely to get bounced in the 1st-2nd round?
6'2 Smith 6'2 Dame 6'3 CJ 6'3 Powell 6'3 Simons Blazers going for the 6'3 and under world championship
I mean, Olshey admitted he should've had more impact defenders off the bench last year but people chose to ignore that (wonder why...) This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
I mean, the starting lineup performed very well down the stretch and was solid in the playoffs despite running little offense and constant drop/switch on defense. I guess you forget how our lead shrunk when we tossed a horrific Melo+Kanter pairing into the game. Now we have a 4 & a 5 of the bench who can defend and pass. Our changes will make a bigger difference than you think. We're gonna be legit this season.
Easy. 1) Norm first off season here. Should make a difference. 2) New head coach. Ex. If the Bucks fired Bud and made no roster changes, I’d say hmm… good move. Don’t burn it down completely. Change the foundation (coach) and see what happens. 3) Most teams don’t have the second best offense and 29th ranked defense. While doing that, they typically don’t have a starting lineup that is top 3-5 in the league — that once again — didn’t have an off season or play a full season together. And you could say this for damn near every team in the league this year. Who really made a big move? Lowry? DeRozan? Westbrook? Might as well give the bucks rings again next year since most teams have changed “almost nothing”
Moving deck chairs? How about replacing deck chairs with fucking luxury la-z-boy premium ultra recliners? If we play 7 in the playoffs (again) I’ll eat my own dick. And realistically we had 5 or 6 really worth playing. Melo, RHJ, Kanter should never see an NBA playoff floor.
I posted in 2016? 2018? That moving forward until we had a different head coach I fully expected us to make the playoffs and flame out. this is the weirdest off-season in a while. First time I actually have hope for this team in ages and I feel like I don’t know the outcome already. Shit. We could miss the playoffs this year for all I know. And I was fairly certain that wasn’t gonna happen with Stotts at least. But I knew we weren’t winning a fûcking thing. but my thoughts on Stotts being one of the worst nba coaches EVER is well documented
I didn't forget. I also didn't forget that you felt we had a good bench last year. I do agree with you that this years bench has more flexibility and that will help us. Enough to move us out of the 1st/2nd round team we've been for years? I don't believe so. We still have the same core issues that have gone unaddressed for 7 years.
