Game Thread 2024-25 PRESEASON - BLAZERS VS JAZZ - OCTOBER 18, 2024 - FRIDAY - 7:00 PM - KATU 2.2 - BLAZERVISION

[mook]

Eh, I feel like Ant, JG, Deni, Tou, Ayton and Sharpe could all start on 50 win calibre teams, and DC could definitely play a bench role on such a team.

It's hard to see that many decent players win just 22 games without an insane level of dysfunction. I think 35 wins is a realistic goal, unless one of our guys really pops.

Really excited to surround Ant with rangey defensive types who can also score. Something we rarely did in the Dame era.

I think there's a good chance we already had our point guard of the future when we drafted Scoot. I love Henderson, but I feel like he's worth a lot more in a trade than Ant.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Eh, I feel like Ant, JG, Deni, Tou, Ayton and Sharpe could all start on 50 win calibre teams, and DC could definitely play a bench role on such a team.

It's hard to see that many decent players win just 22 games without an insane level of dysfunction. I think 35 wins is a realistic goal, unless one of our guys really pops.

Really excited to surround Ant with rangey defensive types who can also score. Something we rarely did in the Dame era.

I think there's a good chance we already had our point guard of the future when we drafted Scoot. I love Henderson, but I feel like he's worth a lot more in a trade than Ant.

Yeah, I really felt the opening lineup was Ant and 4 defensive studs.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Having a guy who can get 10 offensive rebounds in a game, who is also a great passer, feels very synergistic and satisfying.

 

[Blazinaway]

I think you can re-watch them starting an hour after the post game show. But you can't start the game late and catch up, as I understand it.

I have Blazervision and watched the first half live, got up this morning and can't seem to find a full game replay available - anyone able to watch this game on replay?

 

[beast blazer]

Eh, I feel like Ant, JG, Deni, Tou, Ayton and Sharpe could all start on 50 win calibre teams, and DC could definitely play a bench role on such a team.

It's hard to see that many decent players win just 22 games without an insane level of dysfunction. I think 35 wins is a realistic goal, unless one of our guys really pops.

Really excited to surround Ant with rangey defensive types who can also score. Something we rarely did in the Dame era.

I think there's a good chance we already had our point guard of the future when we drafted Scoot. I love Henderson, but I feel like he's worth a lot more in a trade than Ant.

Maybe the Blazers can lucky and and get a lotto pick for him, before it becomes obvious to the rest of the league that he's crap. That's how we got Brandon Roy, for Telfair.

But I'd be surprised if they don't trot out a Simons/Scoot backcourt next year. I guess that will help us tank.

 

[SheedSoNasty]

I have Blazervision and watched the first half live, got up this morning and can't seem to find a full game replay available - anyone able to watch this game on replay?

I don’t see it either, in case that helps. I’ll let you know if something changes

 

[PCmor7]

Time to make some trades. Can’t be fucking up the tank.

We just blew out the Kings on the road without our leading scorer and crushed the Jazz without our double-double averaging center. And both those teams played their top players. Oh, and without Shaedon, too.

I realize it's only preseason, but I think we should give this a little time to see what exactly we have. The odds are we're still going to be in the top seven or eight picks even if we're playing well.

I think some people miss the point of tanking. Tanking is what you do when you need to acquire assets to get better. But what happens when you're actually getting better? Do you trade the assets you're acquired to make yourself better in the hopes of getting better?

That seems like a two steps forward two steps back mindset.

I'm not on the immediately tank train if it turns out, you know, we might actually be good.

 

[handiman]

Clingan with 28/40/8/8 PER 48 minutes tonight! That’s ROY shit. Trade Ayton. Simons too please.

Unless we get an unlikely strong return for Ayton, I'd rather hold onto him and keep both guys around 24 min/game, so they're fresh and healthy. That could be in the conversation for best center rotations in the league.

 

[Blazinaway]

Unless we get an unlikely strong return for Ayton, I'd rather hold onto him and keep both guys around 24 min/game, so they're fresh and healthy. That could be in the conversation for best center rotations in the league.

agree, and we don't want to push Klingon too hard his rookie season, he still gets gassed quickly. Let him work on his conditioning and not over tax him so he does not get hurt.

 

[Hoopguru]

I don't think I'm overreacting when I say we just might be the best team in the league.

We have some length, smart players, athletic types and hopefully better shooters and defenders.

 

[beast blazer]

Simons and Scoot are not even in the same league right now. If you start Simons and PG and the team stays healthy, this team will make the playoffs. If you start Scoot, it's another lotto year. That may end up being better in the long run, but what if we get another good forward but have a god awful back court, then we'd be wishing we had a PG as good as Simons.

 

[HailBlazers]

Simons and Scoot are not even in the same league right now. If you start Simons and PG and the team stays healthy, this team will make the playoffs. If you start Scoot, it's another lotto year. That may end up being better in the long run, but what if we get another good forward but have a god awful back court, then we'd be wishing we had a PG as good as Simons.

Scoot is already a better defender.

 

[PCmor7]

Scoot is already a better defender.

Scoot didn't look good on defense last night, though, particularly in the second half. He still has a ways to go, although I've seen a couple of things in the preseason that give me hope.

 

[Phatguysrule]

Simons and Scoot are not even in the same league right now. If you start Simons and PG and the team stays healthy, this team will make the playoffs. If you start Scoot, it's another lotto year. That may end up being better in the long run, but what if we get another good forward but have a god awful back court, then we'd be wishing we had a PG as good as Simons.

Which is exactly why we should trade Simons.

We don't have enough talent yet. We need at least 1 more lotto season. Preferably top 3

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I know Billups won't do it but I'd like to see a starting lineup of

Scoot
Deni
Grant
Camara
Clingan

Wasn't that literally the starting lineup of this game? (I guess Anfernee instead of Scoot. Which makes for better balance than your suggestion, because your lineup is short on shooters.)

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I couldn’t find it on Fubo.

anyway, best all around game I have seen from Jerami Grant. He looked like a whole different dude out there. Dunking on people, throwing alley oops, getting blocks and steals… he and Deni looked good together.

Agreed, although he still overdribbles and is a ball-stopper. But he's working on it - the ball-sharing is so infectious it's even gotten to him and Anfernee.

I like how Deni pushes the tempo. Reminds me of Josh Hart in that way and I liked Josh Hart.

I LOVED Josh Hart. Does this mean Deni will be traded and everyone will say "it's for the best - he never would have re-signed with us"?

Rupert just looks like an NBA player out there. He definitely filled out some this summer and I think he’ll have a place in the rotation one day. Reminds me of Batum.

This is worth stressing: he may have improved more than anybody (even Toumani) just because he was so raw before. Now he looks like a rotation player!

One player who seems to have got lost in the mix is Jabari. After his first SL he was my cult hero, but he's sort of been treading water while some of our other 500 forwards pass him by. HOWEVER, he did showcase an improved three point shot, so maybe that'll be enough to secure him some minutes. He's just not as versatile as basically all the others.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I really wish Scoot would have had a better performance. He looked so competent the other night.

Quick, trade him for Payton Pritchard! He's KILLING IT in preseason.


After all, we have a good history of trading our young point guards to the Celtics...

 

[Mediocre Man]

This team, as constructed, can be competitive. But there is no way in hell management allows it.

Clingan
Deni
Camara
Grant

are all plus defenders.

 

[PCmor7]

Agreed, although he still overdribbles and is a ball-stopper. But he's working on it - the ball-sharing is so infectious it's even gotten to him and Anfernee.



I LOVED Josh Hart. Does this mean Deni will be traded and everyone will say "it's for the best - he never would have re-signed with us"?




This is worth stressing: he may have improved more than anybody (even Toumani) just because he was so raw before. Now he looks like a rotation player!

One player who seems to have got lost in the mix is Jabari. After his first SL he was my cult hero, but he's sort of been treading water while some of our other 500 forwards pass him by. HOWEVER, he did showcase an improved three point shot, so maybe that'll be enough to secure him some minutes. He's just not as versatile as basically all the others.

I wouldn't say Jabari's lost in the shuffle. You just can't play everyone every night. Last night be didn't use him, Ayton, Shaedon, Thybulle and barely played Banton and we crushed the Jazz even with them playing Lauri, Clarkson and Kessler.

Jabari might be the best rebounder on this team. There's a place for him and I think he does some things that none of our other 500 forwards do.

There are just so many combinations right now.

I think who sticks and who gets minutes will work itself out. But I'm a lot happier having too many guys that can play than too few.

 

[PCmor7]

This team, as constructed, can be competitive. But there is no way in hell management allows it.

Clingan
Deni
Camara
Grant

are all plus defenders.

Rupert's trending that way, too.

 

[Freshtown]

You guys are crazy to think that this team can be competitive. This was one of the worst offenses in the league last year, and one of the worst defenses, largely with the exact same personnel.

 

[kjironman1]

Wow, channel 302's picture is ass.

It sure is. Terrible.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I think there's a good chance we already had our point guard of the future when we drafted Scoot. I love Henderson, but I feel like he's worth a lot more in a trade than Ant.

That could be true at the same time as it being true that he's not worth much.

Again, I'm a big Anthony Black fan, despite the fact that he'll be a bench player in Orlando for the foreseeable future, and I would be very surprised if Orlando would take Scoot in a trade for him. He's bigger than Scoot, as good a passer, and so much better as a defender it's not funny. Neither of them can shoot for shit, mind.

I'm only half joking about trading Scoot for Payton Pritchard. Pritchard is more useful to Boston as they pursue a championship, but he's going to want a bigger role sooner rather than later, so they'll eventually have to let him go unless Jrue retires in a hurry.

(Yes, yes: Pritchard is smaller, less athletic and 6 years older. But you could also make the same comparison between Pritchard and Bronny James.)

 

[handiman]

You guys are crazy to think that this team can be competitive. This was one of the worst offenses in the league last year, and one of the worst defenses, largely with the exact same personnel.

I'm sure that had nothing to do with sitting all the productive players in favor of a 5-rookie starting lineup.

 

[wizenheimer]

Wasn't that literally the starting lineup of this game? (I guess Anfernee instead of Scoot. Which makes for better balance than your suggestion, because your lineup is short on shooters.)

I was still watching the Duck game at the start of the Blazer game

 

[SharpeScooterShooter]

Well that was fun! The players smiling and laughing!!! How long has it been since they genuinely look like they are having fun out there???

This game jump started some renewed interest in me.
I said it for a while now. If healthy, i see this team as a playin team right now.
We don't need to tank when we don't know yet the ceiling of so many of our guys.
If we are a playin team this year, odds are in favor of our youngs continued growth from within, pushing into contender status in a couple years.

This roster is very balanced now.

I find it somewhat foolish to think we should trade our guys before we know how good they are. Sure, Simons and Ayton may have reached close to thier ceiling but we all know roster construction plays a factor in individual play. To say Simons needs to be traded is not allowing for a viewpoint that has Simons blending with the current roster much better than the past Dame rosters.
Simons might become a better player due to the improved roster construction around him. Same for Ayton.

Last night was the most fun I've had paying attention to anything Blazers for quite some time.
Lets see what the opening few games of regular season bring us!
I am hopeful!!!

 

[SharpeScooterShooter]

You guys are crazy to think that this team can be competitive. This was one of the worst offenses in the league last year, and one of the worst defenses, largely with the exact same personnel.

Lineups and injuries. Context matters.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I admit I also play Blazer GM at times when I am bored. It is kind of fun. But most of the ideas we throw around do not move the needle one way or the other. The need to trade someone because of their perceived value in the future, as opposed to their perceived value now, only works if the other GMs are not as smart as us. Do we think they don't scout the players at all?

 

[Wizard Mentor]

I wouldn't say Jabari's lost in the shuffle. You just can't play everyone every night. Last night be didn't use him, Ayton, Shaedon, Thybulle and barely played Banton and we crushed the Jazz even with them playing Lauri, Clarkson and Kessler.

Jabari might be the best rebounder on this team. There's a place for him and I think he does some things that none of our other 500 forwards do.

There are just so many combinations right now.

I think who sticks and who gets minutes will work itself out. But I'm a lot happier having too many guys that can play than too few.

Right after the Dame Demand, it wasn't looking good. Without Dame, we had 3 good NBA players. But, after the trades, and Rupert and others turning into actual nba players, we are now 15 deep.

Hate to say it, but right now Banton is playing (slightly) better than Scoot. Hopefully, they lock him up.

So, yeah, the minutes crunch is crazy.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

You guys are crazy to think that this team can be competitive. This was one of the worst offenses in the league last year, and one of the worst defenses, largely with the exact same personnel.

I won't deny being crazy, but here are some things to consider:

Average NBA scoring last season: 114.7

In preseason, we gave up 101, 85, 100, 86 (average of 93.0). Before you say "ULM doesn't count", know that they scored the 2nd highest against us, and without that game our average improves to under 91.

As the grumpy MM pointed out, we now have FOUR plus defenders. No chance we don't finish top 15 in defense, probably top 10, and MAYBE even better.

Last season we were 18th in ortg, and 27th in drtg. If we remain the same on offense, then we have 15th in defense and 18th in offense. Sounds "competitive" to me.