The Blazers were 6-18 without Lillard in 2022-2023. Extrapolate it to 82 games and that's 27 wins. But, Assume that the Blazers talent is actually a little higher, especially after the trade with the addition of Scoot, Murray and whatever happens after the trade, and I can see a 35 win season. Last year, with Dame, the Blazers won 33 games.
Depending on the package for Dame i chose playin. I think Cronin wont make the deal without a decent pf/center coming back and that will help balance the roster. I really think Shae explodes this year and Scoot learns the reigns of the nba and by the trade deadline, Cronin will look to make tweaks to make a push into the playoffs. Call me optimistic, a dreamer, but i believe.
The 6-18? So you are saying we would be winning more games without Dame? I agree that we were throwing games so probably would have won more with Dame playing more. I also think that we were throwing games without Dame - so would have won more without him since some of the games he missed he was not the only one missing. I still think that the Blazers will likely be somewhere in the mid-30s without Dame, even if we don't know what we get for him, just by saying the talent is upgraded when the Blazers play without him next year vs previous one. If the trade brings some good players and not just picks, might be able to fight for the play-in.
Yes I’m saying we would have won more if we weren’t sitting every talented player not named Lillard and playing the worst players down the stretch. Outside of Sharpe, we had everyone out. We even sat Sharpe once lol. But you’re still probably right that it will be in the 30s. It’s hard to say because we don’t know what the roster will look like in September.
"How many can we?" 98. / @KingSpeed "...will we?" As stated upthread, gotta wait to see what comes back. That said, there's some significant potential to surprise. I think our current core is at least as good as the UTH core last year that started off hot and then tan--cooled off. And that's without whatever we get back from Dame. A defending big or 2-way wing gets us significantly more ceiling.
I think they are selling this team’s talent severely short. Let’s say things are amicable between the FO and Dame and he lands in Miami with Herro landing in Brooklyn, Clowney + Jovic + Martin + 4 1sts and 2 pick swaps are a very decent haul. Martin can start at SF. Then we could send a 2nd or two for Capela. Ant, Sharpe, Martin, Grant, Capela with Scoot, Kris, Clowney, Jovic, Badji off the bench is a team I can root for every night. I could root for them to make a miracle run through the play-in and maybe taking a game or two against a 1st or 2nd seed. I could also see this team not being good enough to win games even with effort, but I would still root for the effort.
You know Summer League and preseason don't count unless we're hanging banners. Laundry doesn't count until Opening Night.
After a 10-3 start, the Blazers finished 33-39 before Dame was shut down. That is a .458 winning percentage and comes to 37.5 wins over 82 games. Take out the hot start, and the Blazers were 23-36 till Dame was shut down. That is a paltry .390 winning percentage and measly 32 wins over 82 games. I doubt the Baby Blazers win 32 games, but that winning percentage with the players they did have was exactly why they ended up shutting Dame down and tanking.
Ant(18)/Scoot(30)/Wright Sharpe(24)/Ant(16)/Thybulle(8) Martin(30)/Sharpe(8)/Jovic(10)/Little Grant(32)/Clowney(6)/Jovic(10)/Walker Capela(26)/Clowney(12)/Badji(10) This is a rotation I cooked up assuming the following: 1) we traded Dame and Nurk and got a return of Clowney, Jovic, Martin, expirings, and 4 1sts 2) we take on Wright’s expiring to have a vet presence at PG 3) we trade 1-2 2nds for Capela to just be a PnR partner for Ant and Scoot The starting lineup is actually good enough on paper to compete for a play-in spot like OKC did. Hard to put a guess on wins due to so many of our guys being rookies and sophomores, but optimistically I think 35 wins seems reachable. I would be cautiously optimistic about the spacing on this team and having enough shooters to help Scoot develop early. Around the deadline, one or both things could happen: 1) Ant is traded for the best package 2) Grant is traded for the best pacakge In both scenarios, we would be getting a huge amount of expirings back. That, combined with a 2024 lotto pick, and a late 2024 1st conveying from MIA. This sets us up for a big summer 2025 (I don’t see anyone outside of OG worth giving big money to, and I’m not sure I’d give him $40m/year). PG, AD, Ingram, those are some names in summer 2025.
