NBA/Blazers 2025-26 Thread

[pezsez1]

Did I say this reminded me of getting swept by the Pels? What I meant to say is it feels like getting swept by the Warriors. Geez, two games with leads of 15+ pts just gone in a flash and lose brutally... and to a team with a far superior young core to ours. Thank goodness we were able to steal Game 2.

[alxtw]

Did I say this reminded me of getting swept by the Pels? What I meant to say is it feels like getting swept by the Warriors. Geez, two games with leads of 15+ pts just gone in a flash and lose brutally... and to a team with a far superior young core to ours. Thank goodness we were able to steal Game 2.

A far superior and younger core...they've committed to tanking longer and had very good luck in the draft position the past few years.

[pezsez1]

I'm basically ready to pivot to the offseason. Does anyone have hopes for who the Blazers target for trades?

[Boom]

I'm basically ready to pivot to the offseason. Does anyone have hopes for who the Blazers target for trades?

A draft pick would be nice.

[Phalanx]

Scoot's development might free the Blazers to take the best offer for Jrue. I really hate saying that, but Jrue is still an asset in the playoffs and his efforts feel wasted here. Shaedon's refusal to learn defense is really discouraging. He's making starter money for the next four years and is barely in the rotation in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Toumani and Clingan have disappeared the last few games as well. I know it's only a few games, but our young core is not ending the season on a promising note.

Grant is untradable and RWIII and Thybulle can both walk if they want to. No draft pick this year...it just feels like this team will be treading water for the next 2-3 years waiting for bad contracts to end and draft picks and swaps to become available for use. The nightmare scenario here is doing some kind of stupid trade of future picks for another player rental so Lillard can win now. I am really hoping Dundon is different than the people who have been running this team for the last dozen years.

[pezsez1]

Making a trade wouldn't be the nightmare scenario. The nightmare scenario would be doing what we did before (and even kind of after) trading Dame, which was to basically do nothing. No big swings, just working around the margins, never really doing anything big. "Threading the needle."

If Dundon wants to blow the whole thing up and start tanking again, cool. If he wants to make a trade (which I think he should do) and try to win with this core as a supporting cast, cool! Super cool, actually. But the only thing I'd hate would be for Dundon to just be satisfied with making the playoffs and getting booted from the first round. I'm hopeful that he's not about that, but we'll see.

I really appreciate Jru and do hope we trade him to make room for Scoot's growth. He absolutely has value to team in need of a veteran PG, and we badly need a scoring punch. Seems like we should be able to find a mutually beneficial trade partner out there. Jru is at his best when playing with more established superstars, and Deni just isn't there yet.

[Phalanx]

Well, your way has been tried repeatedly and failed miserably. The way to get out of this decade-long rut is to take advantage of those picks and swaps in a few years and draft well. If I was the GM, I would focus this offseason on either signing or replacing Thybulle and RW III. I would only trade Jrue if some playoff team is willing to part with valuable assets for him. Far from impeding his development, Jrue is teaching Scoot how to be a complete player. I would let Lillard do his stat-padding thing next season to put butts in the seats while I wait for Grant's deal to expire, Shaedon's to mature, and those draft picks to become usable. Then in two years i would cut Grant loose, and Lillard if he hasn't opted out by then. Let the young guys try to improve and then add the next generation of players. That's the formula. Trading picks away for a vet is the absolute stupidest thing they could do and hopefully Dundon is smart enough to avoid that route.

[OregonFan4Life]

Not that you want to hear perspective from a Spurs fan, but the #1 factor in building a successful franchise is….luck, or money/marketability.

The Spurs don’t have the LA or NY markets, but they’ve been able to build a successful franchise and the #1 factor is luck. Sure there were some great decisions along the way like drafting Ginobili and Parker and trading for Kawhi, but those don’t matter if they they don’t tank and get the #1 overall pick where they’re able to draft a legend in Tim Duncan.

Years later that core is gone and they start to stink and oh what happens? They get the #1 pick yet again when there just happens to be arguably the greatest prospect in basketball history (has to be between Wemby and LeBron). It’s almost a guarantee to succeed.

Yes a franchise can make good and bad decisions, but from my perspective, the two greatest factors behind success in the NBA is what market you are in, and how lucky you are, and the Spurs have been incredibly lucky and the Blazers have not been anywhere close to lucky.


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[pezsez1]

Well, your way has been tried repeatedly and failed miserably.

Last time my way was tried, Trader Bob landed Pippen, Smith and others and we should have won a title.

What we should have done after trading Lillard was FULLY COMMIT TO TANKING. Go back and see which of us was saying that vs. which one of us was saying to try to make the play-in with Anfernee Simons. But the Blazers (and a big chunk of fans) didn't want to tank (even flat-out opposed it) and instead wanted to "thread the needle." I warned you and others endlessly that what's happening now would be the most likely outcome, and look who was right?

And now, in a fun twist of irony, it's you and others who want to tank. That ship has sailed, my man! You should have hopped on it a few years ago. Hell, those post-All-Star break "good vibes" might have cost us Wemby! Pretty funny. "LOL."

We'll see what Dundon does going forward. I'll be happy as long as he doesn't keep trying to threat the needle like an idiot.

[Phalanx]

Your argument that 'we could have gotten Wemby' is akin to saying we should have bought more lottery tickets instead of trying to improve our situation the right way through hard work and discipline. I don't want to tank and tanking was never the right answer. I'm fine with losing a few games at the end when all hope is lost, but tanking on purpose for a whole season is bad for a team; it promotes a losing attitude and disincentivizes young players from honing their craft. It appears that Shaedon is actually a casualty of the Blazers and their years of tanking, as was Anfernee Simons. They never felt like they needed to learn defense, and nobody was holding them to account about it like Jrue does now. Lillard doesn't play defense and since they chose him to be the team leader, he passed that attitude on to the younger players. Thankfully, it looks like Scoot is being reclaimed to some degree by having Jrue as a teammate. He looks like he might turn out okay.

I wouldn't expect you to admit that you have been wrong all this time, but you advocated for trading picks for veterans to make Lillard happy and they did that a number of times and it blew up in their face. Grant, Nance, and Covington all came here by trading away first round picks and none of them worked out. Trading away draft picks means you lose both the opportunity to hit the jackpot with a talented player, but also those rookie contracts help offset more expensive veteran deals.

The fact that Dundon is more frugal will hopefully lead him to improving the cap management for the Blazers, which has been abysmal since LMA left. We'll see what he can do with this offseason, but I don't think it will be much, unless somebody wants to give a lot for Jrue. Nobody wants Grant and I doubt that they will want to sell low on Shaedon. So if they keep Jrue, I don't expect much activity beyond re-signing Thybulle and RWIII or replacing them.

[pezsez1]

You're blaming Shaedon Sharpe's lack of dog on tanking? So everyone else on the Blazers roster played hard except for Shaedon and it's because they tanked for just parts of the season. That makes so much sense, thanks for explaining that.