Game Thread GAME# 13: BLAZERS @ SPURS - NOVEMBER 16, 2019 - SATURDAY, 5:30 PM, NBCSNW

It's the same play. But on this you will get no argument from me. Little would have took that shot. I have no idea why Stotts didn't have Little in the game at that point.

 

Completely ridiculous.

 

Dame is awesome. But he accounts for less than 1/6th of the minutes on the floor. He scored 60 points on extremely efficient shooting. We still lost. That’s what it’s like having one superstar, a couple good players and no depth.

 

He sign in few days when they could sign that tells me he wanted out. Especially when we had birds right to him.

 

I might be panicking. Rightfully so a 4 and 8 start is hard hard hole to dig out of in the west even for a good team. But I would not have been saying we won’t make the playoffs. But it’s kinda hard to refute your imagination.

 

Well that's a one game example. You can always point to performances where a dude plays brilliantly and their team loses. I think what Analytics do a very bad job of evaluating is that Stars are just way, way, way more important than role players. It's not that role players aren't important but Stars are what makes a team go. They can have "bad" games in the stat column (by their standards) and still be the must influential player on their team for that game. Dame is really, really good and I think they will have a chance at the playoffs as long as he's healthy for the next 3-4 years. Almost all the offensive measures in the game right now have him as like the second-best player in the league. Do I wish the role guys were better? Sure do, but come on Dame's presence, just like Lebron, Harden, Kawhi and any other superstar goes way beyond just the numbers and they make the game way easier for everyone else. They may not make the playoffs, the injuries hurt, the new additions haven't performed well, but near 0 chance is hyperbole to me, or sort of crazy (I do respect your opinion), but imo Dame gives them a chance at just about every game, and he gives them a chance to be in the playoffs. Especially when so many teams get there anyways.

 

@bobf
I commend you!
You have managed to get both sides of this forum on the same page.... Somehow.

I suspect that was your original objective.

 

Our starting C is out.
Our starting PF is out.
Our backup PF/C is out.
Our 3rd best player is currently playing like our 6th or 7th best player.
Our bench is routinely getting its butt kicked.
We have a lot of young players and new players.
We have a very difficult first 20 or so games.

I, too, was hoping for rainbows and puppies.

It sucks, but our problems aren't permanent.

 

Ok, I will give you that near 0 is an overstatement. I'll just say it's low. If I assume that Tolliver & Hezonja never play another minute, and I assume that our "rookies" Simons, Little, Trent are above average (unlikely for rookies as even Simons is well below average BPM at this point) and given the unknowns of when/how Nurk will come back... there's some chance. I don't think Melo actually helps our chances, but we'll soon see how that goes. Depends a lot too on how good the west is this year. Some years you need 48 wins, other years much less.

Incidentally, analytics say Dame adds just under +11 wins to our team for a season, single-handedly taking an average team to a 52 win team. So I'm not sure it underrates superstars.

 

I guess over the coming months this will be interesting to keep up on.

 

It was meant to be laughable, so I'm glad it worked!

When people say "coach 'x' is a bad coach because his team lost to a team with less talent." or "coach 'x' is bad coach because of their poor record." is even more laughable. I'm sure you agree with me there too. If not, you would be wrong, again."

 

You really need to pay more attention.

 

You think were an above .500 team last year wothout Dame?

Advanced stats are good with proper context. You're failing to utilize the latter

 

You don't think anyone on here has said that? I don't think my initial post on this thread implied you said that.

 

How many wins do you think it will take to make the playoffs this year?

 

So I haven't really done any research or projections or anything so this is like 100% here's a number from my rear lol. I'll say 44?

 

I'm betting you are within a game +-1

 

I'm really surprised this isn't the #1 thing people think as it seems so obvious. Your list even omits that the time Whiteside and Hood have missed. I'm actually surprised we have lost many double digit games and our record is worse. If this roster was fully healthy and at 5-8, I would be far more concerned.

 

If youre a contending team your bench needs to be made up of guys you'd be comfortable starting. I'd feel very comfortable with Jake. Letting him go for Hezonja was a huge mistake.

 

Our starting C is still good right now, getting 15/13/2 on 60+ TS%.
Our current backup C is probably as good as the one thats out.
Almost every team has key players out.