It is now safe to say we are contenders.

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TBpup said:
Portland's bench (minus the 3rd stringers) is still one of the bottom benches in the league. Just because it is improved over last years historically bad bench, does not mean this group is productive. In the majority of stats/advanced stats you look at, Portlands bench ranges from #28-30 in most of them.

:matrix:
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Hawes! :lol:
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
We have their exact record after 40 games.

hoop fam
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So that means we are exactly the same team? That means nothing. The lakers may have the same exact record this year as some team last year. That doesn't make them the same exact team. That's just purely coincidental based on the conditions of the schedule for that year.
 
Strenuus said:
So that means we are exactly the same team? That means nothing. The lakers may have the same exact record this year as some team last year. That doesn't make them the same exact team. That's just purely coincidental based on the conditions of the schedule for that year.
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Would you say the clippers were legit contenders last year? They were hot as shit and went undefeated in December. Great ball movement and chemistry and blew teams out.

Really similar to this team, built by the same GM.

hoop fam
 
KingSpeed said:
Why worry? Focus on the next game, sure. But what is there to worry about? I doubt the players worry about games.
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Sometimes I forgot how funny you can be (cue Pesci rant).

The Blazers shouldn't think about being title contenders, they should be thinking abut Houston. Same with us fans. Don't put the cart before the horse, don't count the chickens before they hatch, etc.
 
BigGameDamian said:
We saw what the bench can do tonight.
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we saw what the end of the bench can do. The bench isn't depending on Barton, Meyers, Robinson, CJ and Wright for major minutes, alone.
 
Vegas has us at the same odds as the Clippers and Warriors for winning it all. Indiana, Miami, OKC, and SA are the only teams with better odds, but the gap is pretty huge between us and them but less than when the season started.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
Would you say the clippers were legit contenders last year? They were hot as shit and went undefeated in December. Great ball movement and chemistry and blew teams out.

Really similar to this team, built by the same GM.

hoop fam
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Never did I think the Clippers were contenders. Griffin just wasn't at the time a great PF. They were highlight stuffers... I knew they were fools gold. Now, part of that is I hated the inundation of them.. however, I could see right past it. Their main ball movement was vertical, while ours is more horizontal. We are different teams.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
On any given night. But in a 7 game series it's a different story. Right now I say we are a "dark horse" due to our lack of playoff experience. We are playing great now but these kind of teams pop up every few years out of nowhere.

I say the true contenders are the four teams in the conference finals last year still.

hoop fam
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The Grizzlies are contenders? They were in WCF.
 
oh, I meant OKC. Forgot they went down with Westbrook's injury.

in any case, we're no different than the Clippers were last year or the Grizzlies were the past 2-3 years. Good basketball, good record...seemingly out of no where with lower key guys. They were on the top of the league at times and made some noise, but I didn't think they were really legit "contenders". IMO, you only earn that with how you do in the playoffs.

Basically its these stages of a team.
Great regular season team---> Great Playoff Team-->Contenders-->Championship Window open
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
oh, I meant OKC. Forgot they went down with Westbrook's injury.

in any case, we're no different than the Clippers were last year or the Grizzlies were the past 2-3 years. Good basketball, good record...seemingly out of no where with lower key guys. They were on the top of the league at times and made some noise, but I didn't think they were really legit "contenders". IMO, you only earn that with how you do in the playoffs.

Basically its these stages of a team.
Great regular season team---> Great Playoff Team-->Contenders-->Championship Window open
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So Dallas jumped 3 of those stages in a year.
 
Yes. It happens. Just a mix of the timing of a team's hot streak at the right time. How many people were proclaiming them "contenders" at this point of the year. Its completely homeristic and stupid to do so.

The season isn't even halfway done, if we fall to the 4th or 5th seed in the west, then what...this "contenders" shit looks dumb. Its like a swing of 3-4 games to that spot.

Playoffs start in May not now. These road means me fuck-all if we get a bad playoff matchup who adjusts to us over a 7 game series.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
Yes. It happens. Just a mix of the timing of a team's hot streak at the right time. How many people were proclaiming them "contenders" at this point of the year. Its completely homeristic and stupid to do so.

The season isn't even halfway done, if we fall to the 4th or 5th seed in the west, then what...this "contenders" shit looks dumb. Its like a swing of 3-4 games to that spot.

Playoffs start in May not now. These road means me fuck-all if we get a bad playoff matchup who adjusts to us over a 7 game series.
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I hear what you're saying and I actually agree with you that the contender thing is getting thrown around haphazardly. However, there is an outlier giving them a little bit of a window to talk... We are a little bit on the same trajectory as that Dallas team. I am in no way, however, saying we are going to win a championship or that we'll even make it that far. I'm just simply showing this.
 
TBpup said:
Portland's bench (minus the 3rd stringers) is still one of the bottom benches in the league. Just because it is improved over last years historically bad bench, does not mean this group is productive. In the majority of stats/advanced stats you look at, Portlands bench ranges from #28-30 in most of them.

:matrix:
Click to expand...

We are the only team in the NBA to have the same starting lineup all season so most teams have guys who sometimes start on the bench part time...this affects our bench stats in a unique way.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
Yes. It happens. Just a mix of the timing of a team's hot streak at the right time. How many people were proclaiming them "contenders" at this point of the year. Its completely homeristic and stupid to do so.

The season isn't even halfway done, if we fall to the 4th or 5th seed in the west, then what...this "contenders" shit looks dumb. Its like a swing of 3-4 games to that spot.

Playoffs start in May not now. These road means me fuck-all if we get a bad playoff matchup who adjusts to us over a 7 game series.
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You don't become a contender during the playoffs. You are either a contender or you aren't. A contender is a team that has a chance to win the title this year. We are one of those teams. Playoffs start in April. And we'll be at the halfway point TOMORROW.
 
Strenuus said:
I hear what you're saying and I actually agree with you that the contender thing is getting thrown around haphazardly. However, there is an outlier giving them a little bit of a window to talk... We are a little bit on the same trajectory as that Dallas team. I am in no way, however, saying we are going to win a championship or that we'll even make it that far. I'm just simply showing this.
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Yep. Dallas got knocked out of first round the year before and had a time during their championship season where they lost 9 of 11!!
 
And there are 5 games between us and the #5 seed. Gonna be 6 games after tomorrow.
 
I gauge being a contender by beating the contenders on a regular basis, which we've been doing. That's my 2 cents on the subject.
 
Much improved and highly competitive - yes. Not a contender. This roadtrip confirmed that the team is good, but not elite. The defense just isn't good enough.
 
You go .500 against playoff teams on the road in the playoffs, you're going to go a couple of rounds.
 
Until Blazers show that this roster and style of play can be successful in playoff basketball, I do not think it is safe to say we are contenders.
 
oldmangrouch said:
Much improved and highly competitive - yes. Not a contender. This roadtrip confirmed that the team is good, but not elite. The defense just isn't good enough.
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I dunno; you never play back to backs in the playoffs (unless they change that rule if we make it to the WCF). Our defense stinks, but the only time our offense stops working is when we fall over from lack of sleep.
 
BlazerCaravan said:
In other words: shut up until May.
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Well sort of. :) I think playoff basketball is a different style ball than regular season. Will be interesting to see how this high powered offense / low power defense plays out in the playoffs. To say that this roster and their style of play will automatically translate into championship contender basketball in the playoffs seems to ignore that traditionally defensive teams thrive in the playoffs.
 
Treaty_of_Batum said:
Until Blazers show that this roster and style of play can be successful in playoff basketball, I do not think it is safe to say we are contenders.
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You mean, once we win the championship, then we'll be contenders? Makes no sense.
 
KingSpeed said:
You mean, once we win the championship, then we'll be contenders? Makes no sense.
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Becasuse I didn't say that. I said once Blazers prove this style of ball can be successful in playoffs . . . which does not mean winning the championship. Winning a tough first round series might do it. ( Even losing a tough 6-7 game series to a contender)

My point I think regular season basketball and playoff basketball are different. I don't think it is safe to assume this basketball will translate into playoff contending basketball.

Hopefully it will, but you ask if it is safe to just say they are . . . Isay no, but then again I'm all about safety.
 
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