When I took this same poll just before opening night 2019, the result was 38-4 in favor of this year’s team being the better team. Has anyone’s opinion changed?
Last year, the team didn't lose their 3rd home game until Nov 25th (7-3). They did lose 6 out of 7 last year (games 18-24), for a record of 13-11. So if the team is 13-11 after 24 games, I'm not too concerned. I really doubt this team will be 13-11 after 24 games though. Especially given the schedule ahead. 7 out of 8 on the road? eeesh....Rockets, Raptors, Spurs and Bucks?
The problem I continue to see when comparing rosters from this year and last is the fact there was absolutely no way Portland would have been able to bring back the entire 18-19 roster. - We were over the luxury tax and only had the taxpayers MLE - Our top two free agents, Hood and Kanter, were acquired without Bird rights - We were lucky to have signed one of Rodney and Enes - Curry received an offer we couldn't match - Aminu was unplayable the final six games of the postseason and, like Curry, was offered a contract that we rightfully didn't match - Baze has had an inconsistent start to the season, but he's still leaps and bounds better than Turner To me, the moves that are up for debate currently are: - Meyers and Moe for Whiteside - Signing Gasol, Tolliver, and Mario to minimum contracts ... but that's just it, we only had minimum contracts to offer. The bottom line is we all said we would miss Nurk this season but I don't think we all (myself included) truly realized just how much of an impact not having him on the floor would be. Also, we are without are other top defender in Zach Collins. I don't know of too many teams who could lose not only their size, interior presence, but also their top two defenders and still succeed. To answer the OP's question: There's just not enough evidence, yet. Portland won't have Nurk and Z back for another 4+ months, so we just don't know the answer. Given how last year's team was constructed financially it's an impossible question to ask because there was no chance of bringing that bunch back.
I had no idea then, because I was yet to see this season’s roster play. I have no idea now, because I am yet to see this season’s roster “play”.
I pick this year's team being better after 20 games, barring no injuries....but since the injury to Zach and other minor injuries keeping them from building on continuous set lineups......I'm not so sure at this point
Zach Collins is out so all you can go by is the first few games. The Blazers were 2-1 with 2 straight road wins with him. Collins could have turned out to be a great complement to Whiteside. Collins played 31 minutes in the first game against Denver and 32 minutes in the 2nd game against Sacramento. So he was #3 in minutes in those 2 games among Blazers (after Lillard and McCollum). Without him , there is no way to compare this season's team to last season's if you want to evaluate the changes that were made.
Were they? CJ and Nurk both went down with major injuries. It was an incredible recovery for CJ to be back for playoffs. And we still got 3 seed and we still got WCF. We are clearly better than last year. Look at what Meyers, Aminu, Harkless, and Turner are producing on their new teams. Only Meyers starts and at 7' 1", he doesn't even grab 5 rebounds. An unmotivated Hassan Whiteside is world's better. Hezonja and Baze have been off and they are still more reliable than Turner. Hood is a better player for us at SF than Harkless ever was. Problem is Injuries + Hard Schedule + a Korkmaz + bunch of close games that didn't go our way = 3-6.
Well those injuries occurred late in the season. This year we've been banged up from the very beginning. That was my point.
Based on the first 8 games, Meyers leads the NBA in 3P% at 68.8%, in TS% with 74.0%, and eFG% with 73.9%. He is continuing on from the WCF performance against GSW in which he scored 5 of 6 swish3s and 10 of 12 FG in the 1st half that is outstanding. If Eric Spoestra discovers the power of counting on Meyers to shoot 6 swish3 attempts per half, we may see Meyers continue to lead these categories, increasing personal scoring bests, and watch the Heat remain at the top of the Eastern Conference.
Well I would still take Hood over Harkless and Zach over Aminu in the starting lineup in a heartbeat I would however take Aminu over Tolliver in the starting lineup...
