I need more than one choice to answer the question. It's the bench, injuries, imbalanced roster and lack of chemistry with a set rotation...some of it is Chauncey's lack of endgame experience as well.
System/best player what I mean by that is your trying to run a system that isn’t condusive to your best players strengths. He’s a pick and roll player who excels with ball in his hands. Problem is when you play tough teams they trap the shit out of Dame and then the offense breaks down. I still think there’s a chance that we could win if you added a player like A Davis who kill in pick and roll with Dame. Other than that I think we are doomed. Won’t be title contender but if I was GM I think we really need to trade Nurk for shot blocker. Gobert would be ideal but if not then surround Dame with long 3 and d guys. Hope your defense stops teams and Dame is able to win close games.
I agree with this for the most part but as great as Dame is, his biggest weakness seems to be decisions/ passing out of a trap, and he still is poor at throwing lob passes which would seriously suck if AD was the P and R guy.
We kind of did Grant has been better than advertised and is playing at all star level and we still aren’t winning consistently.
Honest question here and not a troll question, but can a championship team be built around Dame? His greatest attribute is his scoring. He has always worked off having the ball in his hands, but by doing that it takes a toll on the team. If you add scorers around him, will there be enough touches to keep everybody happy? If you add defensive players around him, then it puts more focus on him to score and easily be defended. An offense with player and ball movement is most ideal, but can he be happy in that offense? He has been here with many different players and styles and we are always in the same situation. I don't know if championship teams require to be led by the greatest talent or a by guys with the ability to be adaptable making others around them better. I truly don't know the answer.
Current record: Too many injuries and not enough bench talent/experience. I counted, I think, 12 of the losses as being by 7 points or less. If being healthy and able to play Winslow, Payton, and Little more minutes flips half of those losses to W’s, the Blazers are at 27-18 and in 3rd spot in the West. True Contention: The Blazers need an impact SF, which means either replacing Hart or getting another PF (hopefully bigger) and moving Grant to SF. The bench needs an infusion of experience at PF an C.
Now you made me start thinking. I wondered if Plumlee is actually better than Nurk? Well the stats say yes. Plumlee Nurk efg% .659 ,561 Reb/36 12.5 12,7 TRB% 18.5 20.2 blocks and steals similar TOV 2.0 3.2 ORTG 133 113 DRTG 115 110 OBPM 1.4 - .4 DBPM .7 1.1 Plumlee much more efficient scorer but Nurk scores three points per game more. Plumlee a full assist per 36 more than Nurk. Nurk slightly better rebounder and seems to clearly be better defender. I would consider Simons for Plumlee, Oubre and Jalen McDaniels. Those three are expiring contracts. Would need assurance from McDeaniels that he would sign with Blazers. Get a FRP from Charlotte that we could use in another trade since they are not really giving up anything here.
Trent? take a hike. Powell? go away. McCollum? good riddance. Simons?? Blazers are down to their 4th string SG. I blame management for vehemently proclaiming this team has championship level talent, and Coach Billups overwhelming the youngster with a ridiculous amount of playing time, in what looks like an attempt to save Chauncey and Rodney's coaching jobs. "let's go Ant, get in there and stick 5 threes for us... PLEASE"
The question wasn't about talent... like if there were some sort of insane round robin one on one tourney which team would win? That shit doesn't matter. The question was about did he have a better roster and of course that's a better roster than this one, of course it is. If you can't see that, then I don't think you know the first thing about the game. The length and athleticism of that roster around Dame and CJ worked... it didn't work as well as it would have if CJ would have been another two way player who didn't hog the ball but that's both here and there, meaning we're still dealing with that shit it's just Ant now instead of CJ. When people say talent it's very abstract. I am just saying that there are far more NBA rotational players spread out across every position on that roster than there are on this roster.
