OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA: JANUARY 2025

Pretty sad PDX doesn't have one player of the best 25 players, under 25.

 

If we wanted to have one of those players we'd be putting ours in positions to succeed...

 

Warriors have been awful. They’ve lost 15 of their last 22 games. The playoffs are probably not in their future. They are a bad example for the point you are making.

 

That’s just an opinion. We know better than that. Sharpe should definitely be on that list,

 

Zion misses flight; suspended one game. Guy doesnt do himself any favors.

 

He got caught up in the Honeybaked Ham line

 

Wow. Firing the coach really helped the Kings. Blew out the Celtics at home. 6 game win streak. Sabonis grabbed 28 rebounds.

 

Sixers lose at home to Pelicans. What an embarrassment. So much talent, can’t get it together.

 

They listen to Doug Christies instructions

 

The Pels won tonight without Zion. There is no way they're staying in the bottom three or with a worse record than us. Too many guys on that team that can win a game on there own let alone together.

 

I expect lots of continued injuries. They are 11 wins out of 10th seed. Just to get to a .500 record they'd have to go 34-10 the rest of the way. Ain't happening. Their best outcome for this season is a top-4 pick

 

My still standing observation for a contender has been the majority of playing time goes to the MVP candidate and his supporting cast of three 17ppg capable players (or a dominant, skilled DPOY type like Rodman/Draymond/Ben Wallace). 3/5 of those starters must play defense. Bench depth (6th man and/or young player).

Most championship teams throughout history have featured this.

And many of these young, up and coming teams have done well in acquiring all these parts - namely, Houston, Memphis (especially if Wells or Edey pans out), and OKC...maybe Detroit if they balance their roster out a bit as they're currently a .500 team. Charlotte might be here but they're facing a boatload of injuries so it's not so clear, just yet. Orlando is missing one more guy - probably Simons tbh or maybe healthy Carter Jr.

Either way, my point is that this is why all these young teams have just popped in out of nowhere and are taking top seeding or play-in positioning away from veteran star studded rosters. They're literally constructing 10-12 year windows that match up with the typical blueprint of contending teams. This is not something that was present amongst young teams, even five years ago. Might be a signal of a new era.

For Portland, it's not as far off as one might think but there's work to be done. They are where OKC was before acquring Holmgren. Obviously, hinging your bets on acquiring a Top 2 draft pick like Holmgren is not reliable but that's what it'll take.

Otherwise, it's Sharpe and Deni (who has showcased he can score at will and is 17ppg per 36). Clingan provides defense and rebounding and I projected prior to the draft that he has Nurkic type offensive potential but that remains to be seen.

Now, I think that Portland might be stuck indefinitely with a Scoot-Simons-Sharpe rotation unless they get Harper. That's okay since Simons is a 17ppg guy. But you'd need to get the 4 that can pass/defend/score to makeup for Scoot-Simons combined limitations on defense and with playmaking. Ideally, that's Flagg or maybe Demin (could've been Amen too).

Because you look at OKC, Houston, Memphis, and Orlando. They have versatile star players at the 4. All championship teams in the modern era have them (ex. Lebron, AD, Love, Draymond, Giannis, Siakam, Tatum, Gordon) so if Portland wants to get to where Houston, Memphis, OKC, Orlando are, you gotta get that player.

Unfortunately, it's not Camara or Grant since they tend to stagnate with the ball in their hands. Camara is actually probably the bench depth, who tend to play meaningful minutes as a specialist role player.

 

He can oil his mitt and toss spitballs. Soon to be in the major leagues.

 

Talen Horton-Tucker kinda sounds like Hector Banana-bread

 

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe

 

That’s what you took from that game?