Is it Me or the Blazers?

[Propagandist]

INTRO: Here we are, hovering around .500, playing borderline uninspired basketball. This team drives me insane. Now the question is who is at fault. I assumed it was me (I'm married, so I know EVERYTHING bad is my fault), but reading the comments following the last game--and I know emotions run high after a loss--I suddenly felt like I wasn't alone.

ME: See, expectations were low in the start of the season, while mine were secretly high. Then we blazed out of the gates and I felt a silent told-you-so to the world. Now? I can't drop my expectations so each game is just frustrating: "another game within one in the 4th, for fuck's sake" and then boom, whether we win or not, our defense is brutal and it's just so goddamn stressful. Almost regardless of the team. It's torture. But I should be happy right? We've looked great at times...

BLAZERS: But part of me thinks it's the Blazers. There's like this veil over the team where you can't even tell who's in charge and then Jody's at the games and yet everything is in Seattle. She's going to sell, she's not going to sell, she's required to sell, etc. I mean it just feels bad. Can't tell if Chauncey is a good coach, can't tell if Cronin is a good GM...and this after YEARS of frustration with Olshey and Stotts and CJ, etc etc. It's got to be the Blazers right? Just the straw is this weird season.

NBA: The NBA is crazy this year. Anyone can win on any night and anyone can lose on any night.

SOLUTION: Is there a solution? I'd fire Chauncey if I could, but that will never ever ever happen. I'd trade Josh, Winslow, Nurk (if possible), and probably others. We seem to be entering the right path, but time is a factor. (Sorry my diary entry is long but I'm losing my mind over here. Go Blazers!)

 

[andalusian]

This team is a work in progress. That includes the roster, the coaches and the players.

New team for a lot of the players (or new environment for the rookies, 2nd year players), new roster and an unexperienced head-coach. Add the obvious roster shortcomings (length, athletic skilled bigs) - and it is far from the goal.

I thought this team was 43-46 wins with no health issues, with the health issues they are playing around .500 ball - which is to be expected. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward and it will become more urgent next year imho. Does the Dame / Ant pairing work? Is there a way to live without an upgrade in Center (Nurk is high skill, low athletic ability and Eubanks is the opposite)? Will Sharpe make a jump from being a nice high-flying bench player to anything else? Does GP2 help improve the defense (because so far, despite the better roster, it does not look any better than the last years of Terry's reign with worse defensive roster).

Coaching - the defense started great but is regressing, the offense was pretty nasty at the start of the year but we seem to at least have a bit more off-the-ball movement as time goes on - there is definitely stuff that needs to improve.

Say what you want about @THE HCP - but he predicted a .500 tear and seems like he is pretty much on the money (not sure he will know what to do with the feeling of being right, for a change).

 

[tlongII]

It's me.

 

[BassPlaya]

I dont think they are playing uninspired basketball. Rasheed Wallace played uninspired basketball.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Why would you trade Josh Hart? You think he's the one responsible for the terrible defense? Who're you going to get that earns what he does that would DO what he does? Just saying that makes me think it's you.

Actually, you copped to it: your expectations were stupidly high. Lower your expectations and get excited about the draft.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I dont think they are playing uninspired basketball. Rasheed Wallace played uninspired basketball.

...all the way to a championship over Shaq and Kobe.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Say what you want about @THE HCP

We always do!

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Spot who ISN'T the problem

 

[BassPlaya]

Interesting on Jabari...for a rook.

 

[Propagandist]

Why would you trade Josh Hart? You think he's the one responsible for the terrible defense? Who're you going to get that earns what he does that would DO what he does? Just saying that makes me think it's you.

Actually, you copped to it: your expectations were stupidly high. Lower your expectations and get excited about the draft.

Why be hateful? I said "secretly" high.

I think Josh is great. But. He is a borderline starter and not a 3. Can we resign him? Or more likely, if he gets what he deserves, should we resign him? I just think he is an asset that could be used to upgrade at that position. Keon, Winslow, anyone should be moved if an upgrade is available because...

...at this rate our pick is gone to Chicago and poor Dame is playing his old man heart out. Win at all costs I say. Go all in.

Certainly the coaching staff is responsible for our awful defense.

 

[Hoopguru]

Why be hateful? I said "secretly" high.

I think Josh is great. But. He is a borderline starter and not a 3. Can we resign him? Or more likely, if he gets what he deserves, should we resign him? I just think he is an asset that could be used to upgrade at that position. Keon, Winslow, anyone should be moved if an upgrade is available because...

...at this rate our pick is gone to Chicago and poor Dame is playing his old man heart out. Win at all costs I say. Go all in.

Certainly the coaching staff is responsible for our awful defense.

agree, in that everyone but Dame should be viewed as an asset to upgrade team if possible.

 

[Propagandist]

This team is a work in progress. That includes the roster, the coaches and the players.

New team for a lot of the players (or new environment for the rookies, 2nd year players), new roster and an unexperienced head-coach. Add the obvious roster shortcomings (length, athletic skilled bigs) - and it is far from the goal.

I thought this team was 43-46 wins with no health issues, with the health issues they are playing around .500 ball - which is to be expected. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward and it will become more urgent next year imho. Does the Dame / Ant pairing work? Is there a way to live without an upgrade in Center (Nurk is high skill, low athletic ability and Eubanks is the opposite)? Will Sharpe make a jump from being a nice high-flying bench player to anything else? Does GP2 help improve the defense (because so far, despite the better roster, it does not look any better than the last years of Terry's reign with worse defensive roster).

Coaching - the defense started great but is regressing, the offense was pretty nasty at the start of the year but we seem to at least have a bit more off-the-ball movement as time goes on - there is definitely stuff that needs to improve.

Say what you want about @THE HCP - but he predicted a .500 tear and seems like he is pretty much on the money (not sure he will know what to do with the feeling of being right, for a change).

I love me some @THE HCP, I wouldn't say a thing.

As for the coaching...I don't know really, but I think, like Terry's teams, in-game adjustments either don't come or don't work. It feels like a theory vs reality thing and we are still in the theory phase...

And isn't that a big part of this? We have an unproven coach, who deserves zero loyalty, and is struggling through his first couple of years AT THE SAME TIME as our (arguably) greatest player in franchise history is sacrificing everything for this team. I hope at some point the stars align, but it certainly seems like a long shot.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Why be hateful? I said "secretly" high.

I think Josh is great. But. He is a borderline starter and not a 3. Can we resign him? Or more likely, if he gets what he deserves, should we resign him? I just think he is an asset that could be used to upgrade at that position. Keon, Winslow, anyone should be moved if an upgrade is available because...

...at this rate our pick is gone to Chicago and poor Dame is playing his old man heart out. Win at all costs I say. Go all in.

Certainly the coaching staff is responsible for our awful defense.

Josh is NOT a borderline starter - he's an ideal role player. You're right that he's not a three - but the real problem is that Anfernee is not a two. At least, not if Dame is the one.

 

[MickZagger]

It’s a roster issue. We have 3 guys that you can count on to consistently knock down jumpers. We lack depth in size on the interior and we lack long perimeter defenders.

We start games out strong then get exposed as it wears on.

outside shooting and perimeter defense are paramount in todays NBA. Our options for that are limited.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Of course the MAIN problem is that Chauncey has some weird vendetta against Jabari Walker

 

[BBert]

It's me.

It's always you.

 

[riverman]

When we looked the best the zone was working...teams have game planned for that now and we had a brutal early season schedule so we're probably ahead of the curve and still not digging a big hole in the west...the west is bunched up. I think it's sort of been tryouts for who stays and who goes at the deadline and now we're about to the point where some players can be moved...some a few weeks away. This has been a hot and cold start to the season ..turnovers are still a problem as well as allowing second chance points from the opposition. Chauncey I think has done ok but has probably blown a couple of end games this season as well as won us seeveral that might have easitly been losses...I don't think the coaching staff is our issue. I think bench scoring and defense are areas we need to shore up.

 

[HansenYang]

Of course the MAIN problem is that Chauncey has some weird vendetta against Jabari Walker

When Walker gets into the game - he just looks a little 'doughy' and slow to me.
Hopefully he can really commit to a NBA training regimen and reshape his body.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

We aren’t .500. We are .530 which is a big difference over 82 games. Our schedule is getting way easier soon. We are still in contention for the #1 seed believe it or not. Especially since we are 2-1 vs Suns, 1-0 vs Pelicans, 1-0 vs Kings, and 1-1 vs Nuggs. We can lockdown all those tiebreakers. Just going .650 the rest of the way with easier schedule and healthy Dame gets us to 50 wins. Keep in mind, the Celtics started the season 18-21 last year and made it to the NBA Finals. It’s a long season. Like Strenuus says…

 

[Rastapopoulos]

When Walker gets into the game - he just looks a little 'doughy' and slow to me.
Hopefully he can really commit to a NBA training regimen and reshape his body.

I guess I know what you mean, although some players never get definition. That might be the reason Chauncey isn't playing him more, but I think it's more that he can't stop himself playing Jerami as many minutes as possible.

 

[Propagandist]

We aren’t .500. We are .530 which is a big difference over 82 games. Our schedule is getting way easier soon. We are still in contention for the #1 seed believe it or not. Especially since we are 2-1 vs Suns, 1-0 vs Pelicans, 1-0 vs Kings, and 1-1 vs Nuggs. We can lockdown all those tiebreakers. Just going .650 the rest of the way with easier schedule and healthy Dame gets us to 50 wins. Keep in mind, the Celtics started the season 18-21 last year and made it to the NBA Finals. It’s a long season. Like Strenuus says…

I think two games above qualifies as "hovering around."

My point is that it doesn't seem to matter who we play, we will be within 1 with thirty seconds to go. Then flip a coin on the result, which pretty much spells .500 for the future. BUT we are trending downward. I mean we lost BACK TO BACK to OKC. We just aren't very good.

And we are not the Celtics. We cannot and do not play defense. Our coach isn't Ime who tutored under Pop.

Our one hope is Cronin. He said repeatedly that we will be active and the roster is not finished. Otherwise--and what I expect to happen--is that Dame will kick us into gear, kill himself to get us in the playoffs, and we'll flop. Along the way, I'll get delusional again and come April? A FIRE CHAUNCEY thread will appear...

 

[Phatguysrule]

...all the way to a championship over Shaq and Kobe.

Inspired for like 4 months after the team who gave him everything finally kicked him to the curb. And the team they kicked him to didn't even want him.

If Only he'd been that inspired a year or two earlier...

 

[TBpup]

This is the same thing as it's been been season after season after season.

A group of us that maintain a text chat, were having a merge phone call. One of the people who rarely says anything chimed in. To give context, they are one of the leading software engineers for a company that caters to Fortune 500 Companies.

"This team is basically the same year after year. The owner changes, the coaches change, the players change, the game plan may change, but the identity is still very similar to what it has always been. There is one constant through this whole thing....Dame. He is the best player and the leader. It is his team and isn't likely to change for much better or much worse until it is no longer his team."

They listen in to these chats/texts threads for years, but this is the first time they have ever spoken up. Everyone else went dead silent.

 

[Propagandist]

This is the same thing as it's been been season after season after season.

A group of us that maintain a text chat, were having a merge phone call. One of the people who rarely says anything chimed in. To give context, they are one of the leading software engineers for a company that caters to Fortune 500 Companies.

"This team is basically the same year after year. The owner changes, the coaches change, the players change, the game plan may change, but the identity is still very similar to what it has always been. There is one constant through this whole thing....Dame. He is the best player and the leader. It is his team and isn't likely to change for much better or much worse until it is no longer his team."

They listen in to these chats/texts threads for years, but this is the first time they have ever spoken up. Everyone else went dead silent.

I feel that in the undercurrent but I cannot agree that Dame is the problem.

 

[AldoTrapani]

You gotta blow it up guys. Why ya like this shit every year is beyond me

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Dame is Dame. You could of course build a championship team around him, but I think the risk with him, as with all great scorers, is that when things get tight the team always looks to him. Golden State have avoided this by having somebody other than Curry be the dominant personality (and also having great defense and other great scorers that complement him rather than duplicate him, of course).

I think it's pretty fucking obvious that Anfernee is not going to be everything he could be until he moves away. (A la CJ.)

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Why be hateful? I said "secretly" high.

Everybody who's high THINKS it's a secret. But we can see your bloodshot eyes.

 

[TBpup]

I feel that in the undercurrent but I cannot agree that Dame is the problem.

Which no where in there does it say Dame is the problem. They simply identified him as the leader (which he is) and that for good or for bad, no much has really changed one way or the other over the years despite changes in everything around him. He has led them to the Playoffs most year.....Good. They have done very little in the vast majority of instances when they got there.....not so good.

If you had a taller, longer, more defensive oriented guard next to him, I think some of this would have been remedied. Instead, the Blazers have gone with quite a bit of a replication of Dame's strengths and weaknesses right next to him when that has been proven over and over again not to be a successful recipe.

 

[STOMP]

It's always the talent. Portland has some, maybe a bit more then average, but it doesn't fit together very well which many posters have been pointing out for a while. The addition of Grant has elevated the team from bad to mediocre... their record is an accurate reflection of who they are IMO. Cronin somehow pulling another quality Big from his hat plus Sharpe taking the big steps forward we all hope for and maybe they're approaching legit contender status in a year or two.

But to quote Rush on Dame & Ant, if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice

STOMP

 

[julius]

The bench sucks, because they're either young (Sharpe, Johnson, Walker, Brown III) or really in a role that is above their talent (Eubanks, Winslow) or just in street clothes (Payton, Little).

The team started off better than they are, and have hit reality. Since they went 10-4, they've gone 7-12. Even taking into account the injuries to Damian, the team just doesn't have any punch off the bench and that's their biggest issue. But we should have all known that going into the season.

You don't win many games when your bench scores 12-14 points.