Game Thread 2022-23 Game #44 - BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - JANUARY 17, 2023 - TUESDAY - 6:00 PM (PDT) ROOT

[MickZagger]

That's exactly the point. You know it's going to be a difficult place to play, so why not pull out all the stops. Try to exploit their weaknesses.
Blazer should've tried to hammer the nuggets at the hoop.
The Blazers, threw exactly one lob to Shaedon Sharpe they were successful. And as expected that was it for the rest of the game. We saw one more lob, and no more, to Nassir Little.
There was no game plan, other than what we usually see.
I don't think too many people are disappointed at losing in Denver. It's the lack of being able to adjust at all.

Meanwhile Denver was throwing full court outlet passes after our missed 3’s

 

[PCmor7]

BTW, funny thing about Denver's home-court advantage. The Nuggets have the 12th-best home record all-time in the NBA.

The Blazers are ninth.

Of the 30 best home records for a single-season in NBA history, the Nuggets are on the list all of once.

 

[PCmor7]

Anyway, the point stands that you can go there and lose, but you can't go there and lose your poise and lose badly, which is what we did.

 

[wizenheimer]

Absolutely ... so long as you don't completely gloss over important nuance, like, you know, the way the team played, the way it lost.

Then again, it wouldn't be the Blazers' board if you weren't trying to misrepresent something I wrote in a feeble attempt to try to show me up. If only Ant's shot was as consistent as your MO.

I asked you a question about a post you made. I though your take was off base. But I didn't make it personal like you just did. If you want to go that direction I can certainly play in that field

 

[blazerkor]

I just don’t think the return for what we have would be anything great

I think Ant and Nurk have trade value. I think Josh Hart has trade value. I don't think that they would get us a superstar in return but guys that have a similar talent level but a better fit for us.

I don't think we can become a contender with trades. I do think we can get a lot closer to contending if we make trades that make the roster balanced and more complementary/cohesive/synergistic.

 

[HailBlazers]

Blazer Twitter and instagram - Nurk is clearly the new most unliked person in Portland

Clearly where the Dbags are - Got it

 

[blazerkor]

yeah, except I think it's even simpler than that. Blazer have some talent, but they are just too fucking small. That has been painfully evident since Olshey decided to form the Dame/CJ team. BLAZERS NEED LENGTH. Portland has lost several games lately to teams that had length all over the floor. The basket isn't 7 feet off the floor, it's 10 feet off the floor. Lenght has high value

they aren't trading Dame (and couldn't now anyway). So I think Cronin has to go right thru the roster at every position and whenever a player is undersized for his position, he needs to be on the trade market with the goal being to add more length

Dame-Sharpe-Grant are about the only players that shouldn't be actively shopped

I'm with you 1000%. I just keep thinking about when Dame wasn't close to as good as he is now, how well he played in a back court with Wes and why the fuck we haven't put size and defense next to him since then. Baffles me.

I think Kyle Kuzma is someone we could get, it might take a third team but I wouldn't mind him and Jerami as our starting forwards. Myles Turner seems to have been available for a long time. Orlando might like all of the big men they have but they haven't been able to get them all minutes.

 

[Bingo Bango]

A lot of it is a talent issue. Other teams just have better players while some of our players are overvalued. Nurk, Simons..

Yep. Portland can’t get stars, so they settle for second tier talent. Lillard is an obvious exception to that.

 

[blazerfan11]

yeah, except I think it's even simpler than that. Blazer have some talent, but they are just too fucking small. That has been painfully evident since Olshey decided to form the Dame/CJ team. BLAZERS NEED LENGTH. Portland has lost several games lately to teams that had length all over the floor. The basket isn't 7 feet off the floor, it's 10 feet off the floor. Lenght has high value

they aren't trading Dame (and couldn't now anyway). So I think Cronin has to go right thru the roster at every position and whenever a player is undersized for his position, he needs to be on the trade market with the goal being to add more length

Dame-Sharpe-Grant are about the only players that shouldn't be actively shopped

Or Billups could simply have Simons come off the bench.

 

[wizenheimer]

Clearly where the Dbags are - Got it

I thought that was already understood

still, Nurkic and Ant had really bad games tonight. I don't expect Nurkic to match Jokic, but I do expect him to have a bigger impact than he did. 6 points on 9 shots; 2 assists & 4 turnovers. 5 fouls, a couple of which were really dumb. Blazers needed a good game from Nurkic, not one of his worst. Same is true for Ant

here's the thing though: whether it's an artful loss or an ugly loss, it's the same thing

 

[wizenheimer]

Or Billups could simply have Simons come off the bench.

I think a lot of us would like to see that experiment

 

[HailBlazers]

here's the thing though: whether it's an artful loss or an ugly loss, it's the same thing

why I didn’t watch: burnt out on artful losses, certainly didn't want to see an ugly one.

 

[Chris Craig]

Or Billups could simply have Simons come off the bench.

Won't happen

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Just like last year Dame has to go nuclear just to keep this team from being blown out.

Neil is gone yet the painful mediocrity is here to stay.

 

[wizenheimer]

I'm with you 1000%. I just keep thinking about when Dame wasn't close to as good as he is now, how well he played in a back court with Wes and why the fuck we haven't put size and defense next to him since then. Baffles me.

that was all Olshey. He was so welded to CJ he was blind to the giant fucking flaw of that back court. And for damn sure he never added a player that could actually challenge CJ for SG minutes or backup PG minutes

his idea of adding back wing length was Shabazz Napier, Seth Curry, and Nik Stauskas. His idea for PF length was two 1sts for RoCo. And his idea of SF length was Norm Powell

Cronin doesn't get a pass in this either because of 6'2 Payton. That was using one of the best assets Portland had and going the opposite direction of need

I think Kyle Kuzma is someone we could get, it might take a third team but I wouldn't mind him and Jerami as our starting forwards. Myles Turner seems to have been available for a long time. Orlando might like all of the big men they have but they haven't been able to get them all minutes.

Kuzma is a thought

returning to my mini-rant above, and with tonight's game in mind: the same day the Blazers traded for Norm Powell, the Nuggets traded for Aaron Gordon. They gave up Gary Harris and a future 1st. Nuggets went bigger; Blazers went smaller. 3 months later Olshey traded a future 1st for Nance.

A Grant/Gordon starting forward combo would be pretty nice. I'm just hoping that Cronin is not as blind to Blazer needs as Olshey was

 

[dviss1]

It looks like his dome piece

LOL. That's Captain Picard (in his Starfleet uniform). The actor Patrick Stewart.

 

[Tince]

Just like last year Dame has to go nuclear just to keep this team from being blown out.

Neil is gone yet the painful mediocrity is here to stay.

I'm surprised so many people think you could turnover a roster full of bad contracts in 1 year. Even more surprised they would assume a guy who worked under Olshey and the same ownership group would have the tools to pull off major moves. Frankly, I'm surprised Cronin has done as well as he has.

 

[Whyachi]

Lillard scored 44 and the Blazers got mauled. If Cronin doesn't get more real NBA players on this team soon, then nobody can blame Damian for requesting a trade.

 

[Whyachi]

will this small ball crap ever end ??

 

[Whyachi]

I think a lot of us would like to see that experiment

Billups ran Little at SF with Grant at PF, and Eubanks at C for 2 minutes. That's it, 2 minutes. Bring in Simons to mess up the game even worse.

 

[Tince]

Lillard scored 44 and the Blazers got mauled. If Cronin doesn't get more real NBA players on this team soon, then nobody can blame Damian for requesting a trade.

Nobody could have blamed Dame 3 years ago. Nobody is going to blame him now. And I'd be shocked if he does request a trade, so none of this matters.

I'm just glad we're not building around Ant/Sharpe right now.

 

[THE HCP]

Nobody could have blamed Dame 3 years ago. Nobody is going to blame him now. And I'd be shocked if he does request a trade, so none of this matters.

I'm just glad we're not building around Ant/Sharpe right now.

Just between me and you FAMS….. I said if the team kept our pick and didn’t trade it to bring in a vet for Dame, when we are struggling midway through the season, don’t be surprised. Really hope I’m wrong.

 

[BlazerBeav]

I wouldn't be concerned about losing in Denver if we were currently doing a decent job of defending our own home court. We have another chance to start doing so beginning Thursday.

 

[Ed O]

I'm just glad we're not building around Ant/Sharpe right now.

Really?

Would we be one spot back in the conference rankings? Maybe two?

We could have let Nurk go, not made the deal for Grant, ignored Payton, traded Dame for a young starter and future picks, and I bet we'd be right around where San Antonio is... three spots and seven games worse than we are now. We could have made none of the trades that Cronin did last year, trade Dame, and I bet we'd be even better than that.

Where we are now is just about the worst. It could be interesting in the playoffs for a few games in the best case, but a season of mediocrity for a crack at that was a bad, bad plan for this year. And it's where we'll be for several years, unfortunately.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Really?

Would we be one spot back in the conference rankings? Maybe two?

We could have let Nurk go, not made the deal for Grant, ignored Payton, traded Dame for a young starter and future picks, and I bet we'd be right around where San Antonio is... three spots and seven games worse than we are now. We could have made none of the trades that Cronin did last year, trade Dame, and I bet we'd be even better than that.

Where we are now is just about the worst. It could be interesting in the playoffs for a few games in the best case, but a season of mediocrity for a crack at that was a bad, bad plan for this year. And it's where we'll be for several years, unfortunately.

Yup nailed it

 

[KingSpeed]

Just like last year Dame has to go nuclear just to keep this team from being blown out.

Neil is gone yet the painful mediocrity is here to stay.

What’s strange is our best win in 2021 playoffs was when he shot 1/10 and the rest of the guys carried the team. When Dame goes off, the others just stand around. Then, when they’re asked to score, they’re cold.

 

[Labinot41]

Simons needs to go

 

[UKBlazer]

Simons off the bench is the logical thing to do, but it wont happen as he's our third best paid player. I also don't like him running point, I find him a little slow and clumsy, not an innovative ball handler at all and doesn't really attack the basket unless there's a wide open lane.

His contract is actually good value, but he's not a good fit next to Dame and that is becoming clear. Decent contract, young, and an elite shooter should fetch some sort of haul in the trade market. I'd wait until the summer though.

I'd like to explore a package around Devin Vassell but don't think SA give him up easily so might need to be Simons ++.

 

[Whyachi]

What the fuck.
Billups says the team played well.

"Toronto wanted it more", "Orlando played harder", Cleveland loss "I saw improvements ", Denver loss ... "Blazers played well"

 

[Fairly-Hard]

Denver continues like they’re playing now the championship will be theirs

They are good. If they are this good they deserve it. The Nuggets have never won a Championship.