Or perhaps you have an unrealistic expectation regarding team balance? Sure, the Blazers’ roster is a work in progress and relies on young players for depth, but I don’t think you see much more true depth on the contenders’ rosters. Here’s the Nuggets depth chart: And here’s the Suns’: Sure, they’re better, but both look pretty patchwork once you get past 8 players or so.
Cronin used the CD skipping speech. The Blazers GM said all the transactions Portland made will allow the team to "play the way Billups wants to play". We've seen 2 seasons of mediocre ball followed by a massive tank. That's the only fact Blazer fans can take away from " the way Billups wants this team to play."
well, that's what I was talking about when I specifically mentioned rotation last year, the Nuggets had mostly an 8 man rotation: 6'3 - Murray 6'4 - Brown 6'5 - KCP 6'7 - Braun 6'8 - Green 6'8 - Gordon 6'10 - Porter 7'0 - Jokic there really isn't a gap in size or skills or fit. It's pretty balanced the Blazer 8-man rotation, at this point: 6'3 - Scoot 6'3 - Ant 6'5 - Sharpe 6.5 - Brogdon 6'5 - Thybulle 6'8 - Grant 6'9 - Williams 6'11 - Ayton I see gaps in ball-handling, rebounding, point-of-attack-defense, and wing length. Poor balance, but of course, so much is unknown at this point there may be more balance and fewer gaps as the season progresses, especially if a couple of the back-of-bench players really elevate their games
38-44 without a tank. 25-57… If we tank. mods kindly put a proper title to this annual event. It should stand out. Something like: The OFFICIAL 2023-2024 Regular Season Predictions Thread.
20 wins . No tank needed. Lot of strong teams out there. POR is in the same tier as HOU DET WAS and CHA, at least for now. If Scoot was looking off the charts good on the pre season I would think 30 wins . He struggled a lot and that is fine. He is 19.
I'm gonna be optimistic and say 29 wins (and a lot of losses where we play well for most of the game just get out executed in the 4th cuz were young).. Which not to be a downer, but that'd be respectable with all the overturn and youth we're gonna need to win games in an obscenely loaded west.. But I wanna believe were like 1 more good offseason and then a 10 game win improvement away from playing .500 ball.. so i guess 31 would be more appropriate but ima say 29.. N i swear I hope I look like a fool n somehow the Blazers surprise.. but it just seems like Simons is gonna have to avg 30 a game or Aytons gonna have to put up 25 + 14 or seemingly unlikely scenarios for them to even hope to play near .500 I'm honestly pretty confident in our guards and our C's more wondering whats about to happen at PF and the wing.. The blazers do have plenty of assets to add a missing piece if somehow they start the season playing .500 ball.. But I mean.. Things can also go sour very quickly for the Blazers, injuries to Simons or Ayton would be particularly brutal.
43 wins Ant = AllStar reserve selection Ayton = Comeback player of the year I think Grant and Thybulle get traded
Think I said 33 wins a number or weeks ago. Definitely saw more signs of struggles in preseason than I expected. This team will be bad defensively, likely bottom 5 in the league. The problem is offensively I don't think they'll be that good either. Yeah we might try to run a bunch, but teams will adjust and just get back quick and force us to execute in the half court. Ant can be a #1 or #2 option. He's absolutely critical for this team to have respectable games where they don't get immediately blown out. But nobody else on this team can lead an offense as an effective first or second option. Grant and Ayton are best as 3rd or 4th options. I don't think they can succeed as primary creators. Thybulle is horrible offensively if he isn't hitting 3s which most of his career he has not made. I'm not sure he is a rotational player. That contract might look like a very bad deal in a few months. Scoot and Sharpe have jaw dropping plays and I love their future. But they're not close to being 1st or 2nd options right now. They are years away and I hope the Blazers losses don't harm their long term development. Brogdon is an awesome 6th man guard - but he is best as the 3rd or 4th option like Grant. He's never been the leading scorer of a team. TimeLord is super efficient on both ends but that's with garbage buckets. Also possible we trade one of these guys or Grant. Camara is very fun to root for but he is a 2nd round pick who will make many rookie mistakes. He's more of a 5th option role player. I think we'll be one of the 5 worst teams in the league, and last in the West. Hope I'm wrong and we win more. It's more important for us to get some wins for our youths long term development than a pick a few spots higher. 24-58
I think we'll pick up a few unexpected wins later in the season, but I certainly won't be surprised if we're still in single-digits when the calendar turns. Predicting 27-55 overall, 14th in conference, 5th best lotto odds overall.
After watching preseason gotta scale it back a bit. They won't win 30 games. 25 wins at best for this team. They will undoubtedly tank and try to lose games again this year.
