sure...I was talking about posters here, and I have no clue what you consider "tons of talent", but: Lakers...Clippers...Utah Bucks...Celtics...Pacers...Miami...76ers are all teams I'd say are more talented, and yes, I grade heavy in favor of elite talent Last year, the Nuggets were more talented, easily, but they lost a lot. I'd still probably rate them above Portland, or at least equal, in terms of talent, but their bench is weak. Of course, so is Portland's when the 6th man is Melo And I'd say Brooklyn probably has more talent. I'm also not sure if the Blazers clearly have more talent than Phoenix, Dallas, or New Orleans then, I think you need to factor in chemistry. Prior to the season, I questioned how well Portland's talent was going to fit with each other and the systems in place. I haven't seen anything yet that makes me think otherwise
I certainly took a little heat for not being over the moon with this roster. Having said that, they're underachieving even my lower expectations to this point.
I will continue to say this is what we need to be an NBA champion based off of past championship rosters: A 6'7"+ two-way all-star player to pair with Dame. Doesn't matter how many minutes our 10th man plays, if we have a great backup PG, or if Red Auerbach is sitting on the bench.
Need Nurk to get the fever again... He's not playing well enough. With Nurk fever this team would be far better. Need easier buckets. Need to run teams off of the 3pt line far better. Need to make better passes... Stotts needs to get this figured out. And yeah, if we can get long and tall wing who can do it all we should do it.
Utah more talented? Lmao. Yeah, you've always trended towards having negative bias towards this team. That's kinda your MO. So I don't doubt that you think New Orleans (lol) has more talent.
Looking around the West and there’s a lot of teams not playing to their potential. The season is young. No training camp really
Pretty sure the Olshey/Stotts/Dame/CJ nucleus is a package deal until the bitter end, so going to abstain from trading CJ or firing Stotts. Since we're not getting an All Star wing player, I think the next best option is to surround Dame/CJ with better shooters and find a backup poor man version of them to replicate what they do while they're out of the game. The entire offense is Dame/CJ creating either for themselves or kicking out for open threes. If we want to add Nurk into the equation, pretty much his game is similar by scoring for himself or kicking out for open threes. If that's the system then make it as efficient as possible. *Pick one of Jones or ROCO to start and send the other to the bench. Neither is a swish3er, so I'd probably start ROCO with the better shot *If we can't trade for one of those 6'8" white dude Joe Ingles/Joe Harris types who shoot 40% from the 3 point line and play passable D, which seemingly every other team in the league has, then start Trent since he's the closest guy we have to a swish3er *The bench needs poor man version of Dame/CJ to play their role when they're out of the game. A scoring ball handler who can create, hopefully shoot, see the court for those three point kick outs. I don't follow the rest of the league to identify exactly who, but there seem to be quite a few of wide ranging quality. George Hill sounds good. DJ Augustin still playing? Erik Bledsoe? Avery Bradley has improved his shot. It's more about filling a role than being a major contributor since Dame/CJ won't rest for long. It doesn't appear Ant is it. *The bench will need a swish3er as well, preferably two, if Trent is starting. Melo isn't ideal, but he's probably the best option we have as a camp at the three point line and await the kick out guy for the bench. If Hood comes around later, then he can replace Melo in that role. I'd trade any of Collins, Jones, Little, Hood, Ant to get a swish3er and backup playmaker. I'd consider Nurk as well if needed. I think with this particular team, a swish3er is more important complement to Dame and CJ than Nurk. I see Nurk more as an X factor or nice luxury; therefore, expendable if needed. Dame and CJ can penetrate and create no matter who is playing the post. The defense and rebounding probably won't improve, but I think Stotts would be okay with that provided the offense is more efficient. Ride that out for the remaining 2-3 years of Dame/CJs prime and hopefully be entertained, then start over everywhere.
I thought I was pretty clear, but maybe if you're prone to isolate on only part of a post, you'll miss the full argument I was talking about two things: individual talent (on paper), and how that talent actually fits together on the floor. Great talent doesn't mean jack shit if the roster can't develop any cohesiveness or chemistry because pieces don't fit together. And yes, a primary "piece" is coaching and systems. Utah has a big advantage there I think Utah's 1-8 is arguably every bit as talented as Portland's 1-8, especially with Melo as Portland's 6th man. I think he's toxic at this point in his career but they also fit together better and have developed better chemistry. They may be more prone to being derailed by injury than Portland, but it's not like the Blazers have a real healthy recent history either. The only factor, in my view, that can elevate Portland above Utah is Dame playing like the elite player he can be and has been in the past now, the Pels may have been a bit of hyperbole on my part, but they also have a real talented 1-8 especially with Adams playing the best BB of his career. They are really young though and often experience trumps talent
That would be the Stotts factor. Sotts takes the #1 slasher in the league last year (DJJ) and puts him in an offense where he stands in the corner.....and then wonders why he has to answer questions about that player not being as productive? Put Kanter/Melo on the floor for insane amounts of minutes and then get pissy when asked about the horrible team defense? Limiting the minutes of perhaps your best 2-way player in the bubble last year and then getting cranzy when it is brought up in a press conference? Only the Ter-Bear/Walnut.
I'm curious if anyone knows if the coaches take any of what the pundits are saying about what our worst defense rotations are this season. I guess we'll see how much Kanter and Melo play together tonight and then we'll know. Sometimes the numbers don't lie...
IF.... If I didn't have a prior knowledge of the team and the players... Dame - Good but not great PG - sometimes a great play but not a game-changing player CJ - A pretty good one-dimensional player - a scorer who doesn't do much else Covington - An adequate role-player DJJ - Adequate role-player take II Nurk - Why are we starting a backup center? Kanter - Good on the boards and offensively but slow and defensively deficient Melo - Needs to learn the concept that a team is not put together to just feed you the ball Trent - Good but not great 3-D guy - defense and shooting generally good but passing, rebounding less impressive Hood - Don't we have someone else? Ant - He's a rookie who seems to have some potential - maybe after being in the league two or three years For most of these guys, I have a history of watching and rooting for them and know there is more there than what this year's window would show. I just hope their better parts come forward. In some cases, I think their parts may be better for the team when they are on the bench. Gramps...
I believe this team will most likely fix itself in terms of wins and losses. I expect we win about 41 games this year in spite of our sub par start. That depends mostly on Nurk returning to normal. I think we win that many games in spite of Melo and the biggest single thing we could do for the team is to not have Melo at all.
who are some assistants we could see ourselves offering our HC position to if we got rid of Stotts? Ime Udoka ?
