Melo? Of course not. He’s the product of an unforeseen injury to a starter. GT2? He’s surprised me with how quickly he’s emerged this year, but not that he’s getting there faster than Ant. Ant has more athleticism and “potential”, but his limitations are mental. For some guys, those limitations slow you down, for others they keep you from ever reaching your potential. GT2 never had any mental limitations. The jury is out on whether Simons can get past his.
Very few of the other teams have: A 1st/2nd team All-NBA guard the likes of Damian Lillard A center with the skills of Jusuf Nurkic A top 2 scoring backcourt A backup center who just got DPoY votes and was one of the top rebounders/shotblockers in the league @BonesJones ....well stated. Similar to a long time local media member I spoke to who intimated many of the same things. There are some things Stotts just has been stagnant with that he was never very good at in the first place. Defense/defensive adjustments Ball movement other than ISO/handoffs Limiting 3-pt makes Easy fast break points Creating turnovers Dame/CJ are very good at creating their own, often difficult shot and making a good percentage of those. But that will be adjusted to in the Playoffs and Portlands 'high offensive regular season ranking' takes a nose dive. And in 8 years, has Stotts come up with ONE SINGLE ADJUSTMENT to the Playoff trap that every single Blazer fan knows is coming?
It is possible to be depressed without moaning about specific things. And in fact, if your team is making you MORE depressed, then you need to find another team or learn to find enjoyment from your team, warts and all. Part of what is frustrating about a sports team is that you can't change it. It is what it is. So if you can't love it as it is, take up a hobby where you are in control.
It’s not likely to happen because of Neil. He like the guys he draft. There’s a lot of possibility of who you can get when you put CJ and Collins on the market. And bones Jones is right. There is no accountability in this organization. This is where I don’t like Damian, and it’s the only thing okay haha, he’s not competitive enough where he will want to trade someone. He need to be like LeBron and Kobe where if they see a player not good enough, they will be sure to get someone better. If Damian truly wanted to win a champ he would’ve noticed that CJ can’t be his backcourt mate a long time ago. I do respect Damian loyalty which is incredible but he can’t complain about not winning when he’s not doing anything about it
Of course there is accountability in the organization. The Blazers have the highest payroll in the league this year. Jody Allen is spending a ton of money and no doubt expects results. That said, the team wasn’t able to field anything like their full roster this year. There’s no way to know how close the Blazers could have been to a title run if the injury bug hadn’t bitten so hard. I know many here will say that’s just an excuse. I doubt that Jody Allen or the rest of the Blazers organization feels that way. IMO, they will want to build on what they have, but still see the real world testing of the basic roster that have assembled before deciding to make wholesale changes. I could be wrong, and maybe there is a big deal that will make sense, but my bet is that we see pretty much the same roster next season. Hopefully, healthy.
@BonesJones what's your 5 step plan for this offseason to go from where we are to where we need to go? Keep in mind the economic impact and uncertainty brought about by the pandemic
The franchise probably does need changes major ones... But they wont happen so guess we’ll have this same discussion next offseason whenever that is...
One thing I don't see a lot movement by us or any other team due to the lost of revenue this year. But we need to balance out roster out though. If it has to be through trades or from FA. We had a lot of years with Dame and CJ leading the way and only once it got us to WCF. Neil really need to go another direction with though 2. I would see what I could get for CJ and if it was worth while I would make the trade if not then go as usual. Stotts is nice guy and the players love him but I really think it has run course with at the helm.
i agree with everything but would like to add that (as several posters lead by the HCP and mediocre man predicted) the staff misses the accountability of players DURING the games that coach david vanterpool provided. i believe this impacted our defense more than schemes or coaching did.
I think he is a very solid answer....as next years starting SG. Dame/CJ are undersized to start with. There there is this particular play that EVERY SINGLE team in the league seems to run.....the PnR. So that means we have a 40% chance of having one of our weekest defenders switched onto a Davis, Kawhi, Durant, PG13, Harden, Siakim....the names are endless. It's tough enough when there is a switch (which we do at the very HINT of a screen). Then to have it be one of your worst defenders who is already undersized in their normal matchup. You can hide one small, weak defending guard....GST does it all the time with Curry. But that is a 20% chance. We double that every game with 40% of our roster being small and not good defensively. Then we count on the remaining three players to play defense, make up for the 'shortcomings' and then for the most part, stand around on offense and wait for a kick out. CJ has the skills to lead his own team. But as the #2, he can't take advantage of them in this system where we are guard dominated, yet don't ever run and get fast breaks that you'd think a guard oriented team would excel at. If Stotts and CJ are back, next year will be no different. Are we really going to be in front of any of the following? Lakers Clippers Warriors Nuggets Mavericks Jazz Rockets Even healthy (which is tough with Nurk's history), this team seems destined to fight it out with the Mavs, Jazz, Rockets, Thunder, Grizzlies and Suns...just to get into the Playoffs but be no where near HCA....if there aren't any changes. Otherwise, sadly, we will continue to watch Dame's prime go by with moments of historic excitement, but no chance of getting anywhere near contending for a title.
Have you read the stories about why Brown was fired in Philly? The same two issues come up in every article - inability to adapt on the fly and lack of accountability. The Blazer front office just calmly accepts the same flaws in Stotts. (as do many fans)
He isn't saying that they would for sure win if they have a championship mindset but it is hard to take that next step while not having it. Look at the Raptors this year. They lost Kawhi and Danny Green for nothing and they had significant injury problems but I didn't hear many excuses about injuries or personnel issues. Instead they worked hard and got the #2 seed. I don't think they'll win the title again but I think this year was a success for them.
No one is saying you can't root for the team a certain way or be happy with what they did this year. Bones isn't trying to say what the best level of fandom is either. This is just his line of thinking on what it would take for the Blazers to go from being a nice story to a serious threat. It's not knocking those who are fine with the way things are, he just personally wants to see that attitude change. It's totally fine if you don't.
The biggest question in my mind is, is a team made up primarily from guys on the current roster a serious threat if healthy? If so, what tweaks would make the chances better? New backup PG? New defensive coach? My bet is that Olshey is going to come down on this line of thinking for at least one more year since he didn’t get to test it this year. Personally, I am fine with that. Other folks around here are of the opinion that major changes are needed. CJ and Dame can’t cut it on defense. Stotts isn’t good enough to coach a contender. Olshey won’t take the risk needed to swing for the fences. And on and on. The problem with this line of thinking, at least from my personal view, is that it relies on decisions that are totally out of our control. You can always imagine that better coach or that great trade, but you have no way to get to it. I can’t operate that way, but I guess I understand the thinking.
See, that thinking is what I'm talking about. We limit ourselves if we think that way. Problem is, I think Olshey thinks that way...
