"The West got tougher so the Blazers will lose more" is a terrible argument.

Then you indirectly agree with me

 

A bench is only as good as the 2nd best player at each position IMO.

 

I never disagreed with you bones...I just posted an opinion...

 

With the rest of their starting lineup being pretty damn good defensively I think they can get away with it pretty easily.

 

I really do not think there is a clear front runner in the west. It is a pretty safe bet to say Clippers and Denver or even Lakers and Clippers but would any person be surprised if the front runner would be Houston and Portland? The west got tougher does not mean Portland is the only team whos record is going to show different it is all the teams except for the Lakers there is no way they are going to have a worse record then last year. Most people think the Clippers are going to run away with the show. I do not think so. The west got tougher because the talent got spread around and playoff seeding gets started on game one not game one after the all star break

 

Seemed like you were based on how it was written haha

 

I'd also add, how many of those teams implemented not just new players, but new top 2 players?

Adding Anthony Davis or Westbrook or Paul George or Porzingas or Conley are generally no-brainers in terms of talent injections to a team. But there's a massive ripple effect that these additions create:

• The coaches have to adapt their strategies and minutes to the new stars.
• Role players have to adapt their styles of play to the new stars.
• Existing stars have to figure out how to share the ball with the new stars.

All of this adjustment can be really hard, and it can lead to a lot of experimenting (and losing) early in the season. Throw in the injury history of these new stars and it only gets more complicated.

Think about the kind of adjustments Portland will be dealing with in adding their 7 new role players:

• Coaching: How does Stotts replace Harkless' minutes with Bazemore?
• Role Players: Can Collins get used to Simons hitting threes instead of Curry?
• Stars: Is Dame going to struggle to figure out how to share the ball with Whiteside?

These questions are a cakewalk.

Especially compared to:

• Coaching: How does D'Antoni maximize the talents of both Harden and Westbrook?
• Role Players: How does Kuzma fit in when AD and LeBron both want to play power forward?
• Stars: How much ball handling will Mitchel get to do with Conley at PG? How will that fit his game?

Portland has new players, but not really a lot of new problems because their stars didn't change. New role players were hired to play existing roles.

You can change stars, coaches or role players. Changing role players is by far the least disruptive.

 

why would you hate the opportunity for offensive rebounds?

 

so you are saying marzy expects the Blazers to never miss a shot? That might be great in fantasy land, but not realistic on a basketball court. I would much rather have a team that gets offensive rebounds and gets second chance points than a team that doesn't. No team is going to make every shot are they?

 

I've heard the claim of a stronger West. I haven't heard it coupled with Portland only winning 43 games

 

I don’t believe anybody is saying that Portland is the ONLY team who is going to lose more. Thats the whole point. There isn’t one super team anymore. There are 6 really good teams, thus why people think there will be more loses. I don’t have pie charts or graphs, just some common sense that when there are MORE quality teams, MORE loses are going to happen. Not that we are worse than last season, just tougher comp is all.

 

To tell you the truth, I think we lose more games this year, the competition is only part of it. I think Nurk being out and the fact that there are so many new players is probably more of a factor. Going to take a bit for that chemistry to kick in. Other teams will have to deal with their chemistry issues as well.....and guess what happens while this is happening.....more losses. Everybody is gonna be losing. I love it.

 

That's true for just about every team in the west though....seems to me we should be top 4 again..Lebron isn't dominating the West like he did the East from a small sample size. KD is gone..I think our window to success is better actually

 

LeBron would have played the whole season last year had that team not shit the bed. He will be just fine and dominate like usual.

 

This is key.

The underlying assumption that @BonesJones is making is that we'll be as good or better than last year as a roster.

-Our bench is totally different, we have fewer shooters (Curry/Leonard), worse wing defense (Aminu/Harkless), and a different locker room (ET's absence). We're gonna be relying heavily on Zach and Simons who are both largely unproven, and Nurkic's absence could finally catch up to us.

We could just as easily be worse. All this is speculation obviously, but could happen.

 

Be careful tossing around this common sense FAMS.