NBA/Blazers 2026-27 Thread

[Boom]

They may have been left in a couple minutes longer than ideal against an inferior team, especially considering the upcoming schedule. 3 back-to-backs coming up against some really good teams in the next 12 days should be interesting to watch what happens with minutes and how we compete.

Agreed. Nori is on a one year deal and this roster is pretty thin. I'm not surprised with his decision.

[pezsez1]

Are we pissing on the start or talking about playing time?

I do think we played the starters a little too long last night, was thinking that in real time, but not sure how much it matters in the grand scheme of things. Dame and Jrue shouldn't struggle to play 30-35 mins as long as it's not a regular thing. I definitely noticed Nori leaving Dame in longer during the first half of the fourth quarter... usually he pulls him earlier so he's fresh as a closer. I have to wonder if turnovers played a role last night, or maybe Scoot's ongoing struggles. Nori said after the game that he didn't like the turnovers, and Dame was easily our most dependable guard last night. Maybe he didn't trust Scoot to protect the lead down the stretch, leading to more mins for Dame and Jrue (who played extremely well together).

My question, which I've asked before, is does Nori ever move Jrue to the starting lineup to play alongside Dame, or does he keep Jrue on the bench to anchor the second unit and be more of a glue guy for the rest of the game? I think there is value on keeping Jrue on the bench even if he's clearly better than Scoot. The Dame/Ja experiment seemed to be working well, and keeping Jrue in his role as Sixth Man/Glue Guy might be better for the long run.

I honestly have no complaints about Nori so far. I hope if he keeps this up that Dundon gives him a raise.

[Phalanx]

I like Nori too, and have said so already. I thought maybe I was getting blasted for mentioning Vit's injury, but that is what all the postgame comments from the players were about and Nori talked about it at length. They apparently like and value Vit more than I do. Anyway, while I was doing my hypothetical pissing, I kind of realized that we just lost another ball handler, which will be a problem when either Dame or Jrue goes down and then we are relying on Scoot to be the man with the ball. I think that is why he starts alongside Lillard, and Jrue comes off the bench. Nori wants veteran coverage at all times. Lillard has been a mediocre shooter, but he is still a point guard and has a decent assist-to-turnover ratio in his career. Not sure if anyone saw Youngblood trying to handle those duties, but it wasn't pretty last night. You can see Coach Nori thinking ahead in that regard (if not in the minutes distribution) and trying to develop another ball handler when he has to face the inevitable. Vit was that guy, and now it's Youngblood.

Anyway, hooray, they are 6-1! Nice to be above the Kings and Suns again on the food chain. (There, how was that?)