@ Suns Warriors Magic Timberwolves Pelicans All 5 of these games are winnable and if we win them, a 15-16 record will probably be good for 7th in the West. On top of that, it would move our record to 10-4 when Dame and Carmelo both play. It's been an awful season so far but if we can run the table here, it'll make for a very Merry Christmas. Making a couple trades, pick up a FA, and bring Nurk back. Win 50 games and push the Lakers or Clippers in the second round.
the schedule is certainly 'built' for a mini hot streak before Christmas, but I'm inclined to think Portland will find a way to lose one of the next 5 games....they just can't seem to avoid a really bad game every week for a while I've been thinking they'd end up at 17-17 by the end of the year. Looks more like it will be 16-18, but maybe they'll surprise me. 15-19 would be bad problem is they are 1-10 against teams with winning records and they have a 20 game stretch starting New Year's day when they play 13 teams with winning records, the last I counted. If they are 5 or 6 games below .500 by the 54 game mark, they are going to have a difficult time avoiding a 7th or 8th seed, and I don't think they have a prayer against either of the LA teams in the playoffs
One would hope they could have a winning streak against those mostly garbage teams.....at home no less. Not sure it will prove anything about turning a corner unless that translates to some momentum against teams they might actually play in the Playoffs.
I’m sitting here trying to figure out what some of you are finding fault with about KingSpeed’s post. He’s right in that all of those games are “winnable”. None of the opponents are top teams and four of the games are at home. Additionally, the team has had several days off to work on playing more cohesive basketball. They are games the Blazers should have circled as must wins if they want to get into contention for a playoff spot. Winnable doesn’t imply that winning all five is a lock, but that it should be the goal.
I dont think anyone found “fault” in his post though. Just pointing out that while they’re “winnable” games, the Blazers could lose some of them and a few of those teams actually have better records than the Blazers do. i appreciate KS’s optimism, and I hope they win all those games but the conversation isnt calling out KS for being wrong. BTW, havent seen you around that much lately hope you’re doing well!
It’s like when you are watching golf....... and Jim Nantz says, “This is a make-able putt.” Well, yes, TECHNICALLY it is, but aren’t they ALL make-able Jim?
Having lost to CLE and GS already, and blown out by OKC at home, we are the team that most of these opponents should consider as favorable, not the other way around. The only two teams we have a better record than among those listed, we have already lost to.
I’m doing fine, thanks for asking. I’m out of town visiting my son and his family. I haven’t been posting as much partly because of that and, I guess, partly because the negative vibe around here isn’t much fun. I think that the Blazers will get things together and start winning, as long as there aren’t more injuries. There’s just been so much upheaval in the roster that they’re behind where other teams are at. I have a lot of trust in Dame’s ability to push the team to a winning path. He’s done it so many times in his time here that I just expect to see it. Now looks like a good time to start.
I felt like I was pretty positive til Hood got hurt, that seems to have finished me. Im still gonna be watching and cheering though. Anyways glad you’re doing well.
Missing most of the starting front court has been a huge part in why we have struggled. I the Bucks, Lakers, Raptors, Clippers were missing their starting front courts most of the season they's have struggles also. Just my opine.
ok now, Nurk doesn't count because he's been out for months, his absence is/was baked into the condition of the team, and Whiteside is a more than adequate replacement. Plus, the Blazers were essentially 9-14 with Hood so he wasn't making any significant difference in their winning rate. Hood's injury is just an excuse, IMO, and it's not one that withstands any scrutiny so all Portland is really missing when it comes to their current record is Zach. But if you begin to extrapolate using winshares/48 then winshares: winshares/48: CJ McCollum .065 Nassir Little .055 Zach Collins .052 Anfernee Simons .044 winshares: CJ McCollum 1.3 Nassir Little 0.3 Zach Collins 0.1 Anfernee Simons 0.5 ...you end up with 23 more games of Zach being worth about 1 more win. But that's assuming, falsely, that the combination of Melo, Hezonja, and lately Skal don't add any more winshares. In other words, Zach playing in all these games he missed might have been worth 1 more win, and maybe 2 at best, if you assume he left an outsized hole because of poor roster construction. I think that's a bad assumption though, mainly because the two biggest failures of this Portland team, by far, have been perimeter defense and rebounding...and Zach is good at neither the point being I think people are leaning way too heavily on the injuries to excuse the performance of this team. There's a lot more wrong with this team than the injuries
