Skip Bayless at it again: LaMarcus "still has too much Portland Trail Blazers in him"

No, your facts are always spot on because you know, they are facts and all. I am talking about the purgatory part. I hope, really I do, that this team can add to itself because I am not seeing the young Warriors when I look at them. We just don't have a Draymond Green on this team, and as bad ass as Lillard is, we don't have a Steph Curry, either. Klay Thompson is one of the best two way players in the league. We don't have that. We need to add pieces to get to that next level. Throw all the stats out at me you want, but I believe I am right. Letting the cake bake has been done. You can argue, think I'm an idiot, whatever, I don't care. I believe I am right. Maybe Harkless works on his game this summer and becomes an MVP candidate like Green? Or maybe CJ grows this summer so he can defend like Thompson.

 

Lamarshas problem is he has no rip city in him. Have fun failing and choking on a stacked team, bitch.

 

Well, back in 2012-13, Draymond Green was the same age Maurice Harkless is now. He averaged 2.2 ppg. 3.3 rpg, 0.7 apg with a PER = 7.1. He shot .327 from the field and .209 from 3-point range. He flat out sucked. NOBODY envisioned him becoming the player he is today. He was a 4-year player at a major college program and still wasn't close to NBA ready. He's shown significant improvement every year. He didn't go from shit to superstar overnight. Anything is possible. Players do improve, some much more than others.

Back when the NBA was gaga about drafting players like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James right out of high school, the "conventional wisdom" is that 4-year college players had almost no potential upside. They had already reached their maximum potential. Players like Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Draymond Green have all proven that wrong. Will Mo Harkless, with less real experience than Draymond Green, follow a similar arc? What about Noah Vonleh? Probably not, but who knows and who knows who else we will acquire in the next four years. To just give up and assume the worst seems futile. What if the Warriors had given up on Green after his abominable rookie season? Again you just never know.

We already have two young players that have shown vast improvement and averaged 25 and 20 ppg over an entire NBA season - no small feat. Crabbe and Harkless, if he can improve his shot, both have the potential to be very good 2-way players. Aminu stepped up big time last year in the playoffs for Dallas and again this year for Portland. Is he Draymond Green? No, but he was a valuable two-way player in this post season, especially in the GSW series. He's still young and on a cheap contract. Will he continue to improve? It's likely. His 3-point shooting went from a liability to above league average during the regular season to near elite level during the playoffs. I don't think he's reached his full potential, but also don't know what that potential is. Given his success and earning a role as a full time starter for the first time in his career, I bet he, like Mo Harkless, is highly motivated to work on his game during the offseason.

And then there's all that cap space, a positive winning culture, a savvy GM with a plan and a creative, respected coach players love to play for. To me, there is a lot more upside than downside here.

BNM

 

Alright, now that the season has ended I feel like spilling the beans on some info I learned a couple weeks ago.

At the end of each season all the players - including those on minimum contracts - take a portion of their earnings and pool it together to be split among the Blazers employees to recognize their hard work. Generally the minimum amount any player chips in is $50K. However, LMA was the sole player who didn't contribute a single cent.

 

I think so too. Just not as much upside on certain guys as you

 

Could be speculation

 

Damn, that's fucking cold. He probably votes for Trump too.

 

Lay hold on her = rape.

 

I'm glad our forum has all types; I trust Neil "love 'em but trade 'em" Olshey to keep a level head about who is worth keeping and who needs to join the team. I think you might as well, though I won't speak for you.

 

BTW, if you go back to that 47-win 2012-13 Warriors team, Klay Thompson was basically a poor man's J.J. Reddick - a good but not elite, spot-up 3-point shooter with a 12.7 PER who didn't give you much else. He was a 3-year college player in his second NBA season - like Draymond Green, he was the same age Mo Harkless was this season. He was better than Harkless, mostly due to his 3-point shooting, and his improvement was less dramatic than Green's but still, he was far from the player he is today.

The point is, young players can, and do, improve. This roster, both individually and collectively, have not reached their potential.

BNM

 

So, if there is still upside, why do you consider this team stuck in purgatory? We made it to the second round and pushed the 73-win defending champs pretty damn hard with the youngest roster in the playoffs and we have upside. How is that purgatory?

BNM

 

You can have upward mobility but a low ceiling... I can see where MM is coming from (even if I'm more optimistic); we need to add personnel to get to the next level, because you can't just get Mason or Ed to grow two inches, for example.

 

I'm curious who people think can improve the most and who is already close to their ceilings. I'll go with.

Dame - Close to his ceiling. He'll improve small things about his game, but is already so good it's unlikely that he has much room for imrpovement.

CJ - See Dame.

Harkless - Tons of room to improve. He's already very good at knowing where to be, and how to play - which is the most important aspect of the game, IMO. But he has tons of untapped potential. He has all the necessary tools to make the leap.

Aminu - Moderate room for improvement, but probably close to his ceiling. He's not smart enough, and his skills are too broken, for me to think he can be much better than he currently is.

Plumlee - Moderate room for improvement, further from his ceiling than Aminu. I think his physical measurements are his biggest impediments. I believe he can add a 10-15' jumper, and get better at finishing around the basket. Those two things alone will make him a dramatically better player. But his short arms will probably keep him from being the defensive anchor we need.

Crabbe - Tough call. He could blossom into a great player, or continue to make incremental improvement and be a spark off the bench.

Henderson - At/near his ceiling.

Davis - Near his ceiling. I'd like to believe that he can make a leap, but I just don't see it.

Vonleh - Tons of potential, but will he ever realize it?

Pat - I'm very excited to see him develop over the next couple seasons. I think he has potential to be a Wes Matthews-like player.

Montero - Also very excited to see him develop!

Alexander - I've never seen him play.

 

And we have a shit ton of cap space, movable assets and a savvy GM to do just that. Still not seeing the stuck in purgatory angle.

BNM

 

Because I am 50 and have seen this before. Someday some team will draft a center I call a white stiff, and he'll turn out to be the next dominant big in the world. Someday the Blazers will sit on young talent and have it develop with no injuries. Someday a big time Free agent will choose us to help win him a ring. It hasn't before, so I don't think it will in the future

 

Yeah, I don't really speak the lingo. That and Shakespeare.

 

Hadn't happened in Oakland until last year either. Their last championship was two years before ours and they hadn't been past the 2nd round since 1976.

BNM

 

You are literally talking to talk at this point. I don't think our young talent is as good as GS's young talent was. I hope I am wrong.

 

Did you forget about Meyers?

 

Haha! Some would do so intentionally, but I did not.

Meyers: Quite a bit of room for improvement, but I question how much he will improve. He doesn't have lateral quickness, which is his biggest weakness, but could still develop into a good interior defender.