ESPN West predictions

[VanillaGorilla]

I think Minny is clearly better than us (unless Rubio is out for most of the season).
I think GState is clearly better than us (unless Curry and Bogut are out for most of the season).
Phoenix has a good chance to be better than us (Dragic, Gortat, Dudley, Scola are all good and the players they got from Minny (Beasley and Johnson) will be better in Phoenix I think).
New Orleans will benefit from having Monty, and Eric Gordon made that team a ton better when he played, and now they have Ryan Anderson and Anthony Davis. But who's their PG? Vasquez?
Houston have special dispensation to play 20 players, so they'll just overwhelm teams in waves. I guess we'll see if Jeremy Lin is all that. (Chandler Parsons is a player to watch, say I. And I think Omer Asik will surprise some people).
Sacramento could be good. Boogie Cousins almost single-handedly beat Team USA, and now they've realized that he's their franchise player and Keith Smart has downplayed Tyreke Evans, I think they could do damage.

It all rests on Aldridge. Is his hip okay? Because if not, we could easily be last in the West.

Phoenix has no chance of being better than us. None at all.

 

[oldmangrouch]

11th would be close to worst case scenario. If you can't finish 8th or higher - go for last!

 

[NOVoodoo]

Phoenix has no chance of being better than us. None at all.

The only wild card there is Beasley. If he's focused. that changes the game completely.

Although, it's like saying two years ago or so, the Blazers 'might be a contender if Oden is healthy.'

Just as you knew Oden wouldn't be healthy, we all know that Beasley will probably continue to be an inconsistent second option. I'd like to believe otherwise, but the burden of proof is on Beasley at this point after his passive stints in Miami and Minnesota.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I'm seeing some writers on Twitter predicting Lillard wins ROY.

He should get plenty of opportunity.

 

[Nikolokolus]

What "youth" is this roster relying on?

Lillard.

And, that's about it.

Anything positive this team gets from Leonard, Freeland, Claver will be a bonus.

The only vet player worth a damn from last season that we no longer have is Gerald Wallace.

The players (other than that whole rookie point guard thing) sopping up the majority of the minutes are veteran:

LaMarcus
Wes
Batum
JJ Hickson


Think of it like a (very) poor man's version of the Spurs last season: 3 vets surrounded by some (Leonard, Green, Blair) youth. Didn't cause that team to implode.

Not saying its going to work, but I don't think it is destined to fail as long as LaMarcus can play 75 games.

When 5 players on your roster are NBA rookies you are relying on youth (even if some of these rookies like Freeland aren't fresh faced teenagers).

Multiple factors make me think this team is going to be sub .500. First off, a new coach and a new system means growing pains, secondly a massive roster overhaul and starting rookie point guard means even more growing pains and time needed to build on-court chemistry. Maybe the talent will be there, but it's going to take some time for that talent to learn to play together.

Additionally, maybe only Lillard is expected to step into a big role right from the jump, but Leonard is going to be leaned on heavily too I'd guess and he looks raw as hell. The becomes an issue in the case of injuries to any of Lillard, LaMarcus, Batum or Wesley -- that bench is already looking pretty thin on talent and/or experience; pressing one or more of those bench guys into a starting role probably won't end well.

This team is going to be somewhat competitive with its starting five, but the bench is probably going to give up a lot of ground on a lot of nights and that's going to mean more losses than wins this year ... and there's no shame in that so long as Olshey is able to make good moves to bolster the team and build toward something in subsequent years.

 

[jlprk]

The ESPN predictions give a lot more wins to the West than East, so our 35 wins and .427 seem a little disproportionate to 11th place.

Since teams will tank later, predictions as of the All-Star break would be more verifiable and objective.

 

[STOMP]

While I guess preseason polls are fun, they're generally pretty worthless. I think the Blazers are one of the bigger mysteries in the NBA this year. A new coach, a bunch of new players, mixed with some solid veterans is usually a recipe for a lottery visit, but I'm not sure that's going to be the case for the Blazers. Lillard looks to be a stud and LA is a proven producer. Freeland looked pretty good in the Olympics. I'd bet on lottery, but I wouldn't be surprised at contending for the 8th spot.

Portland's backcourt play was an eyesore last year. Wesley seemed to be on one leg getting through games on will power while Felton... 'nuff said. If his ankle issues are behind him, Matthews is a decent starter who defends well and can spread the court with his deep ball. Maybe it's the homer glasses, but I'm expecting Lillard to be much more effective then Raymond. I'm sure everyone recalls teams slumping off him clogging the paint/begging him to throw up another brick

Up front, I was pretty stoked that they were able to resign Hickson. He's obviously not the perfect match with LA as he's a PF sized Big, so there will be a few difficult matchups out there... Cousins springs to mind. But with Camby's game falling off a cliff JJ pretty easily provided the best Big man play outside Aldridge. Offensively LA-JJ project make a pretty good high low tandem with JJ playing the garbageman role inside off of Lillard and LA's 2 man game. Batum and Matthews provide good spacing balance as solid catch and shoot deep threats.

If they stay relatively healthy and get anything out of their bench, I could definitely see them over 500 & sneaking into the playoffs. I suspect we'll see the Blazers rising in these type of Power Polls as the season approaches... really looking forward to seeing Damian & LA playing together.

STOMP

 

[MARIS61]

I'll be honest....... I think #11 is a little high. I was thinking we will be around 14th.

Me too, only Houston has less talent and experience. I don't see where we have the players to compensate for our weak coaching.

 

[THE HCP]

Me too, only Houston has less talent and experience. I don't see where we have the players to compensate for our weak coaching.

I'm giving the coaching a blank slate....... depth wise is where we will struggle. Imagine if Nic misses a couple or LA gets in foul trouble.

 

[Public Defender]

Beyond the top two teams - Oklahoma City and the Lakers, seems to me there's a significant drop off. l see four teams likely to make the playoffs, only to lose to one another, or to LA or OKC: Nuggets, Spurs, Clippers and Grizzlies.

Then, there's a bunch of teams that will be in the hunt for the last two playoff spots but could easily miss the postseason altogether: Mavericks, Jazz, Timberwolves, Golden State, and Houston.

The Blazers I put in the category of "probably irrelevant" along with the Hornets, Kings, and Suns. Portland looks like the best of those teams, largely because only the Blazers have a dependable, high-percentage scorer like LaMarcus Aldridge. But he's not enough in the talented West to get the Blazers into playoff contention without some serious help from Batum/Matthews/Lillard? Not sure he'll get that.

 

[THE HCP]

^You think Houston and GState are going to battle for a playoff spot, really?

 

[Public Defender]

^You think Houston and GState are going to battle for a playoff spot, really?

Having Andrew Bogut and David Lee in the frontcourt is solid. Richard Jefferson is a proven veteran small forward, Steph Curry can score, and Carl Landry is dependable... It's not a bad team. Question is if they'll play enough defense to actually win games. Not sure they will - but I'm not sure the Blazers and their offensive-minded coach will either.

I hadn't really looked at the Rockets' roster, and hadn't realized how completely it was gutted in the offseason. I was mostly banking on the fact that the Rockets seem to always do better than predicted. But looking at their roster, I have to put them down in the "probably irrelevant" category with the Blazers. With the exception of Kevin Martin, that team looks really questionable.

 

[Nikolokolus]

^You think Houston and GState are going to battle for a playoff spot, really?

Definitely not Houston, but Golden State is a "maybe" for me. It mostly comes down to Bogut and how healthy he can get/stay and whether or not Klay Thompson has another jump left in his development.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Past the top 3 I think it's pretty wide open. That said, I don't see us getting to 40 wins.