I know this is your thing but it's kind of nuts to think that Dame - Ant - Whoever - Grant - Nurk doesn't make the playoffs.
Especially if Dame puts up MVP numbers alongside those guys. Having said that I hope he doesn't. I want to see a well-balanced box score, with about 6 players averaging around 15 to 20 points.
This is where I am as well. If Dame is putting up godly numbers, that means the rest of the team isn't carrying any weight. Billups-ball is built around passing and moving the ball quickly. Stotts-ball was pound the rock until the shot clock was low and either jack up a shot or pass it to some other poor schmuck who has to jack up a shot. If Dame buys into Billups-ball, we should have a quick moving offense and I'd like to see him around 32 mpg on super efficient scoring.
you just described a lottery team in the West Phoenix - Booker 26.8 Memphis - Morant 27.4 Warriors - Curry 25.5 Dallas - Doncic 28.4 Utah - Mitchell 25.9 Denver - Jokic 27.1 Minny - KAT 24.6 LAC - George 24.3 the Eastern Conference is the same way. About the only exception is Miami with Butler averaging 21.4, but they may have been the deepest team in the league. Teams use their best players to maximum advantage Portland won't be the best version of what they can be by taking a chunk of Dame's opportunities and giving them to Grant and Hart
You are not swaying me. I am not saying it will happen, just that I would like it to. A team with Dame and Ant averaging 20, while Nurk, Grant, Hart, and Little averaging 15, and 3 other bench players averaging 6 ppg, would lead the league in scoring. (Based on last years stats) Is it possible? Probably not. But if it did would they be a lottery team? No way if they played decent defense. That does not prevent Dame from going off when they need him to, just that they wouldn't be relying on him every game in order to win.
What's funny is that offense has never been the problem for this team. Defense has been our major Achilles heel. 2020-2021 (Dame's last healthy-ish season) Dame 28.8 ppg CJ 23 ppg Norm 17 ppg Melo 13.4 ppg Kanter 11.2 ppg Nurk 11.5 ppg Roco 8.5 ppg Simons 7.8 ppg We actually had a lot of scoring on that team. We were just dog shit at defending anyone...... and sadly none of those guys stepped up in the playoffs. Dame 34.3 ppg CJ 20.7 ppg Norm 17 ppg Nurk 13 ppg Melo 12 ppg Roco 9.3 ppg Simons 6.5 ppg Kanter 2.0 ppg
sorry...I think you're well off base, assuming Dame returns to form take the previous 2 healthy years for Dame as an example and look at TS%: other than the exceptions of two highly efficient bigs, Whiteside and Kanter, Dame is the best offensive option Portland has. He is the most efficient and he is the one Blazer who can force an opposing to defense to flex and adjust. CJ never did that and it's very unlikely Ant is ready to do that either in those two seasons, Dame averaged 20 shots a game and he averaged about 1.46 points/shot. To average 20 points, his shots would have to drop from 20/game to 13.7/game....more than 6 shots a game, which is an absurd drop. Worse is it's Portland unilaterally doing exactly what other teams try to do and that's take the ball out of Dame's hands and take shots away from him. All for what? Some theory for what makes watchable basketball? What you're proposing might make sense when Dame slows down at 35 or 36 or 37. It makes no sense next season shots/game: Luca Doncic 22 Lebron James 22 Devin Booker 21 Ja Morant 21 Jayson Tatum 21 Donovan Mitchell 21 Paul George 21 Kyrie Irving 21 Kevin Durant 20 Demar Derozan 20 Stephen Curry 20 Trae Young 20 Joel Embiid 20 Giannis 19 CJ McCollum 19 SGA 19 De'Aaron Fox 19 Jaylen Brown 18 Nikola Jokic 18 Zach LaVine 18 Klay Thompson 18 Pascal Siakam 18 Julius Randle 17 Darius Garland 17 RJ Barrett 17 Fred VaVleet 17 Damian Lillard 14....LOL
These posted stats mean little. Show me a stat that shows "healthy", because that is what Damian will be this year. Show me THAT stat, otherwise..........
Giannis Steph Luka Tatum Lebron Embiid Jokic Trae Probably a few more but those guys have legit chances.
I added because I think the Hawks will be pretty good with Dejuante Murray and Trae will be top 5 in points and Assists again
