Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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Phalanx
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

Post by Phalanx »

Blazers are getting exposed, making the Pelicans look all-world. Rondo was one assist short of a triple-double. Holiday is doing whatever he wants. During March, the question was whether the Blazers were winning because other teams were injured or because they had turned a corner. Kinda seems like we have our answer.

Still waiting for Lillard time. Any time now, just keep tapping that watch.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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Ew, nothing worse than having home court advantage and starting a series 0-2.

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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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Baby Dame showed up for the playoffs.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

Post by pezsez1 »

We've seen this movie before. Swarm Dame & CJ, and make Portland's other mediocre scorers beat you.

Yeah, it's great that Portland can usually play good defense, but this team still lacks a reliable third option -- especially at the forward positions. When your best third option is Harkless or Aminu shooting threes, then you've got a huge problem, because neither of those guys is steady enough to be taking that many shots.

Only real silver lining from this season might be the development of Zach Collins.

That said, if this team is too weighed down by bad contracts to make any other improvement, then I might actually support trading CJ to at least bring more physicality to our backcourt. I love the combo of Dame & CJ, but without a potent third option in the frontcourt, they're just getting owned.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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pezsez1 wrote:We've seen this movie before. Swarm Dame & CJ, and make Portland's other mediocre scorers beat you.

Yeah, it's great that Portland can usually play good defense, but this team still lacks a reliable third option -- especially at the forward positions. When your best third option is Harkless or Aminu shooting threes, then you've got a huge problem, because neither of those guys is steady enough to be taking that many shots.

Only real silver lining from this season might be the development of Zach Collins.

That said, if this team is too weighed down by bad contracts to make any other improvement, then I might actually support trading CJ to at least bring more physicality to our backcourt. I love the combo of Dame & CJ, but without a potent third option in the frontcourt, they're just getting owned.
I guess. Harkless and Aminu were a combined 10 of 15 from the floor last night, including 5 of 7 from three. I agree that it would be nice to have a third scorer, but as you say, the contracts more or less prevent that.

At this point, I am ready for the rebuild. A team built around two guards with max contracts that can't play defense will never be a contender.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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Phalanx wrote:
pezsez1 wrote:We've seen this movie before. Swarm Dame & CJ, and make Portland's other mediocre scorers beat you.

Yeah, it's great that Portland can usually play good defense, but this team still lacks a reliable third option -- especially at the forward positions. When your best third option is Harkless or Aminu shooting threes, then you've got a huge problem, because neither of those guys is steady enough to be taking that many shots.

Only real silver lining from this season might be the development of Zach Collins.

That said, if this team is too weighed down by bad contracts to make any other improvement, then I might actually support trading CJ to at least bring more physicality to our backcourt. I love the combo of Dame & CJ, but without a potent third option in the frontcourt, they're just getting owned.
I guess. Harkless and Aminu were a combined 10 of 15 from the floor last night, including 5 of 7 from three. I agree that it would be nice to have a third scorer, but as you say, the contracts more or less prevent that.

At this point, I am ready for the rebuild. A team built around two guards with max contracts that can't play defense will never be a contender.
Jrue is owning Lillard right now. He's got his number.

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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

Post by oregontrack »

a part of me thinks this sudden and colossal reversal of fortune -- i was at game one, the rose quarter was buzzing pre-game with electricity i hadn't felt in years -- will be a catalyst for sweeping change (ie, trading CJ) but then i remember this is the trail blazers, and the powers that be are perfectly content with fielding a "fun/entertaining/high scoring" team that puts butts in the seats and competes for a playoff bid every year. so, i expect little movement outside of some minor draft day moves that involve picking up a few extra second round picks because we'll need cheap contracts to fill out the roster.

we're going to have to eat next year (i see no reason to even entertain bringing back nurk) so may as well just hand the frontcourt to the rookies, maybe luck out and dame and/or cj will miss some time with a prolonged-but-not-serious ailment, and we can cash in with a decent lotto pick. next offseason (2019) turner and leonard and moe (and CJ) will all have expiring deals and these albatrosses will be movable assets and maybe we can do something then. assuming dame still wants to be here.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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UOducksTK1 wrote:
Jrue is owning Lillard right now. He's got his number.
Jrue plays defense, and shows us what an actual max player is supposed to look like in the playoffs. He is owning both of our max contract guards: shutting down Lillard on defense and doing whatever he wants to McCollum (and Turner) on offense. It would be great to watch, if I wasn't a Blazer fan. Instead, I am disgusted.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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Phalanx wrote:
UOducksTK1 wrote:
Jrue is owning Lillard right now. He's got his number.
Jrue plays defense, and shows us what an actual max player is supposed to look like in the playoffs. He is owning both of our max contract guards: shutting down Lillard on defense and doing whatever he wants to McCollum (and Turner) on offense. It would be great to watch, if I wasn't a Blazer fan. Instead, I am disgusted.
Jrue is playing out of his mind right now.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

Post by Duck24 »

This is the Blazers team we saw for the first half of the season. The winning streak was fun but I’d rather that not have happened if it meant GM Bro Olshey got fired. That guy set this team back 5 years with his free agency signings few years ago.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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What a fun offseason this is going to be at Blazers HQ. Where do you go from here? If you go into the luxury tax to re-sign everyone, you are paying many extra millions for a team that gets swept in the first round. If you tank, you risk losing the guy you've built the team around. You can try once again to trade away bad contracts, maybe even include McCollum in the talks now, but they didn't have any takers last year except for teams demanding the Blazers take back other bad contracts in exchange. I will be curious to see what Olshey's spin will be on all of this, if he even has a job next month.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

Post by UOducksTK1 »

Ew.

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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

Post by Merganzer »

The Blazers were picked to win this series; not just by the Blazers faithful, but consensus had the Blazers moving to the 2nd round, the only question was whether it would e in 5 or 6 games. Looking at it now, how did we all have it so wrong?
Damial Lillard for MVP? Ridiculous. He got double teamed by the Pelicans. All NBA type playuers do get double teamed, they still produce. Lillard has been reduced to nothing by the Pelicans. So, not only was the star of the team exposed as a Wannabe, clearly the rest of tne team is not nearly talented enough for any kind of run in the playoffs. New Orleans has been better player for player than Portland from the opening tip.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

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Merganzer wrote:The Blazers were picked to win this series; not just by the Blazers faithful, but consensus had the Blazers moving to the 2nd round, the only question was whether it would e in 5 or 6 games. Looking at it now, how did we all have it so wrong?
Damial Lillard for MVP? Ridiculous. He got double teamed by the Pelicans. All NBA type playuers do get double teamed, they still produce. Lillard has been reduced to nothing by the Pelicans. So, not only was the star of the team exposed as a Wannabe, clearly the rest of tne team is not nearly talented enough for any kind of run in the playoffs. New Orleans has been better player for player than Portland from the opening tip.
I did not expect a sweep, but I did expect them to lose in the first round. I think Damian did too - it's the argument he was making in his not-so-secret meeting with Paul Allen about putting a team around him. The irony has always been that his own contract is a big part of why they can't get more talent. When you make over 26% of the cap, you have to play well enough to justify it on a nightly basis, or the team as a whole will underperform. These guys never think about that when they ask for these contracts. They just figure some other players will come along and be willing to carry the load while making less money. I got a chuckle when Damian reacted on twitter to Allen Crabbe's ridiculous contract. It's like he could understand the concept as it applied to another player, but not to himself. I also remember when Jason Quick was talking to LMA after he signed his big deal with the Blazers and mentioned that he would have to carry the team now, and Aldridge responded incredulously that there were other players on the team too. He wanted the money, but not the responsibility that goes with it.

This self-centered lack of foresight is why a team needs a GM with a strong message who is able to move through a team full of guys who all want to be paid. Instead, we have Olshey, who says things like, "We owe it to Damian to put a team around him." Really? Even after paying him that bloated contract, they still owe him something? I think he owes the team something, and that is to bring it every night, and step up his game in the playoffs. Instead, he gets shutdown more often than not in the playoffs. He is shooting less than 40% in the playoffs in his career. That is not what 'superstars' do, particularly while he also allows whoever he is guarding to shoot a significantly higher percentage.

In fairness to Dame, he plays a lot of minutes every night. I suspect he has very little left in the tank by the end of the season. It's one of the reasons I thought they would lose. Too much dependence on a couple of guys. Spread the money out, and the ball as well. Damian is something like 22nd in the league in assists per 48 minutes. Not a good model for a team that wants to contend. Other teams will always know where to go to stop the Blazers.

But now I am more interested in what they are going to do going forward.
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Re: Portland Trail Blazers 2017-18 Thread

Post by Duck07 »

Phalanx wrote:But now I am more interested in what they are going to do going forward.
I think it starts with a new GM and then you let them decide whether to keep Terry. He's got 2 years left on his contract so I don't think its out of the realm that he returns. Neil has to go though.

I feel like Legend is going to get a bunch of minutes next year as I don't think anyone wants him so we just wait until it's MLEC! That's about the only prediction I feel comfortable with. :lol:
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