Projected NBA starting lineups

https://www.hoopshype.com/story/spo...-an-early-look-at-team-rotations/71286522007/

I have seen this projected depth chart for the Blazers on numerous websites. Are they all piggybacking off of the same one? Starting Tou at SG would not be my first choice.

The only two tough choices for me are Jrue vs Scoot and Grant vs Tou

I think we should start Scoot, Sharpe, Deni, Grant, and Clingan.
I am certainly fine with starting Camara over Grant, but regardless, he is getting 30+ minutes per game.

 

Dont know why Jrue is here if hes not starting. And I would not bring an all NBA defender off the bench. I would want to start the game with my best defender on their best guy (assuming not a big man) and go from there.

 

I would argue that at 35, he is not our best defender...... Camara is. I would also argue that at 35, they need to limit his minutes during the regular season. He has played 70+ games once in the regular season. So I am not sure how durable he is. But that doesn't mean he is not valuable to this young team playing 25 minutes a game.

 

I'm pretty sure they have our starting lineup correct at least to start the season. I'd bench Grant, slide Tou and Deni over and put Shaedon at the 2 guard myself but Grant is going to get the start even if he plays Noah Vonleh minutes starting the first qtr and 3rd qtr and playing 12-15 minutes a game.

 

Personally I'd have it Jrue, Sharpe, Tou, Deni, Clingan but I just have a hard time believing Billups will start Grant on the bench, even though he has earned that spot with a horrible season. My guess is they have our lineup correct, at least at the beginning of the season as Billups gives Grant enough rope to try and see if last year was a fluke.

 

Solid 35 win team, right there

 

Clean slate for all of them IMO. They all need to win their starting positions in fall camp. Grant included.
But certainly, the "fit" between the starting 5 is also important.

 

If they play hard, I could see 42-40.

 

When I glanced at all the other starting lineups in the league, I counted about 17 teams that I felt the Blazers were as good as. Not better, but arguably just as good. Unfortunately, more were in the east.

 

I think with, Holiday, Sharpe, Camara, Avdija, and Henderson, you have different combinations that will fit certain lineups better. To me it's not who starts, as much as who is getting the
bulk of the minutes and who is being trusted in crunch time.

 

Deni and Tou are the only players that have earned starting spots.

I expect Clingan starts.

That leaves Jrue Grant Scoot Sharpe battling for the last two spots. I expect Jrue+Grant are given those regardless of performance.

Benching Tou or Deni is insane.

 

People say this every season. But the Blazers and nearly all NBA teams give their starters minutes at the start and end of each half. The bench guys only have so much scraps after that, 30 mins max and even that is tough to routinely get.

Who starts isn't everything - but it matters a lot. It also matters a lot to the players. Jrue and Grant won't want to be backups.

 

Didn't take you for such an optimist. 35 wins is more than betting lines project.

 

I wish it was true that they all start with a clean slate but that's very rarely the case

 

Doesn’t matter how hard they play. We will be BETTER this season than last, but the west has gotten TOO strong. Not sure what the Vegas line is for wins, but I’m thinking 35.

 

Let's say they split with the shitty east, that is 15 wins. So you are saying out of the remaining 52, the Blazers will go 20-32
That does seem pretty accurate.

However, injuries always change things for a few teams. And veteran teams do often rest their stars. So I could see squeaking out another 5 wins. Unless, of course, we are the ones who get hit hard by injuries and things go south in a hurry.

 

I am wondering why people think the West has gotten that much stronger this year.

OKC has not changed much and they were already had an amazing year before. Just as likely to have a post-championship downturn as they are to be better, overall, my prediction, same as the year before.
Denver are likely to be better if Cam Johnson really is an upgrade over MPJ, they did get Bruce Brown back, my prediction - a little better than last year.
SAS - If Wemby is healthy will be better, no doubt.
LAC - Likely to have some issues with all the drama around KL and the investigation. I am guessing they will, at best, be as good as last year or decline a bit.
LAL - Hard to tell, Luka looks great. LBJ is older. They got DA which can go either way. Hard to predict that one, but let's imagine they are a little better.
PHX - Last year was a disaster. But they also downgraded talent. My prediction, maybe a little better than last year, but still not good.
NOP - Downgraded some talent for sure, but if Zion is healthy... - I think they will be about the same as the year before.
Utah - Just as bad as the year before, maybe even worse
Kings - No idea what these guys are doing, they are trying to rebuild the 2020 Bulls only older on the west coast? Do not think they got better
Rockets - Better on paper, until FVV went down. Will still be a very good team, but they lost some depth and is KD still someone that brings teams up? With FVV out, I am not sure they are better than last year's team
T-Pups - Lost Nickeil Alexander-Walker, They are now committed to Randle - are they going to be better? I suspect that they are more likely to be a let down than take another step and finally crack the conference finals conundrum
GSW - Looked great last year with Steph, Dray and Jimmy, but they are old and are another injury away from folding like a house of cards, add the JK drama - and I am not sure they will be better overall than last year.

I think the western conference has not changed significantly over the summer to what it was after the trade deadline last year. Portland had a fantastic after the trade deadline performance last year, so overall, I am more bullish on the Blazers improving than the western conference is so much stronger overall. If the Blazers are really better than they were last year, I think they will flirt with an extra 3-4 wins - I do not believe the rest of the western conference got so much better.

 

Yeah injuries always hit some teams and others just disappoint. Nobody had the Suns or 6ers losing like they did last year.

29 others teams have major injuries and it helps the Blazers. So odds are much stronger that injuries will help the Blazers than hurt. Blazers being for the most part young in theory should also reduce injury risk.

Also a lot of wins or losses get easily packed onto the total from Feb-Apr. If the Blazers want to tank they can get those losses and improve the pick. If they want to win they can get all those wins from the other teams that switch to tank.