They could squeeze into the playoffs with a good run if we make some changes ...as far as a championship..that I don't think about at all at this point. All of this is really contingent on how healthy the top teams reamain going into the second half of the season...the best teams are also playing 35 year olds or guys who have chronic injuries...AD....I'm hoping we're fresh when they're getting burned out
Without quite a bit a luck or some real shrewdness on Cronin and the scouting department's part, this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Take Dame off this team and it is the least-talented roster in the league by a pretty good margin. I can't think of the last team that had a guy average 30 points per game and lose this much by this much.
How bout this? We fire Billups, hire Stotts, trade for Collins, sign Meyers. That would be a massive improvement,
Definitely an underachieving group. There’s no reason that this unit, healthy, shouldn’t be playing better than they are.
So much this. Not that they would be a title contender, but to be below a team like Utah that traded their top 3 players is embarrassing. 10 spots behind the inept since Adelman Kings? Ugh.
I don't see it. Our roster just isn't good. The things our best players do well (Dame, Ant, Nurk, Grant) don't fit well. We have almost no size of consequence other than Nurk. Other than Thybulle, we have almost no one that's above-average on defense. Dame is amazing. There's not much else remarkable on this roster and that we're just below mediocre seems like what was expected by national media, oddsmakers, and some fans.
I didn’t say they should be a contender, I said they should be better. The failure is at all levels. Cronin could have added another big. He probably could have found a deal for Hart that brought back at least one seasoned vet. Continually taking shots on project players has been a failing of Blazers management for years. On the coaching front, Chauncey has not shown the ability to get the most out of his players. Sure, the roster is a bit of a mess, but not cleaning up turnovers and the defense is at least in part on the coaches. I’d be willing to bet Stotts would have gotten more out of this squad. On the player level, it’s tough to see an area where players with a uniform number greater than 0 have made significant strides with their production during the season. That shouldn’t happen with young guys.
Tanking and having a group of people running the organization that is okay with it kills the culture of winning. Losing becomes "acceptable". You end up hearing things like "played well for a quarter" and "Made some improvements" or even finding the good in a loss. People on this board have even embraced it. "Well as long as Dame stays in the running for the scoring title". Losing is losing. Losers lose. What's worse is this might last for 15-20 years. What makes anyone think that the Portland Trailblazers are any more worthy of winning than the Kings or Magic or Hornets. Even the Clippers were bottom of the league for many years. The Timberwolves were in a playoff drought for 13 years until 2018. Warriors were out of the playoffs for 12 years that ended in 2007. The Suns were out of the playoffs for 10 years from 2011 to 2021. This has a very bad feel to it. This team needs to be sold and they need to find a way to bring winning back to the culture.
It's sad that they're doing exactly what I think is best for the franchise and it makes me miserable.
We may be short on talent but we should not be losing big to Pelicans without Ingram and Zion and to Knicks without Brunson. Guys seems to be trying hard. So it's gotta be coaching.
They have finally after long studies gotten rid of Blaze,,,,,obviously the jinx of the team! Douglass Fur should intimidate more refs than Blaze ever did!
Utah received great players in those trades. They didn’t just lose talent. Markannen started in the All Star game. Wembenyama would immediately bring back winning. Magic and Cavs sucked hard before they got Shaq and LeBron. A few seasons later, they each took their team to the Finals. What were the studies? I didn’t know about this. Explain.
It was a joke KS...nothing more....I was joking that Blaze has been the jinx and the Big foot might bring on a new era..or something like that.
