Looking At This Season As Work In Progress

[BonesJones]

Honestly, the dream lineup for the future would be Dame/CJ/Star SF/Prince/Vonleh

 

[ripcityboy]

I think "A Work in Pogress" would be a great name for the history of pro sports in Portland, or Oregon, in general.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[Natebishop3]

Kris Dunn has star potential. This draft is a little deeper than most think.

Kris?

 

[Dan Marang]

January feels a whole lot like a mirage when I see who we've been beating. Only the OKC game stands out as impressive, so I'm not sure how instructive it is to look at this team on a month by month basis, when there's so much variance in terms of home and away splits, quality of opponent, etc.

I see the next two months being brutal. If they win 10+ games I'll be impressed.

The simulations (538, BBRef, ESPN BPI) have the Blazers winning 15 games (at best) of the next 29.

I've said it before, the next 30 days will make or break this team as far as the whole playoffs/draft perspective goes.

 

[Dan Marang]

Kris?

Call me Chris one more time! haha Rome was the original troll... one of the best clips ever

 

[Pinwheel1]

Kris Dunn has star potential. This draft is a little deeper than most think.

I think Dunn and Buddy Hield both have star potential. But I am counting them. It's the others I think will need time.

 

[Blazers Roy]

May i just remind some you guys who refuse to hold on to October-Novemberish stats that we dropped like 8 close games back then?
It's not like we were getting stomped on back then.

So we're not completely legit at the PF position now, Clippers don't even have a SF.

 

[Draco]

May i just remind some you guys who refuse to hold on to October-Novemberish stats that we dropped like 8 close games back then?
It's not like we were getting stomped on back then.

So we're not completely legit at the PF position now, Clippers don't even have a SF.

Who are you yelling at because I don't see them?

 

[Blazers Roy]

Who are you yelling at because I don't see them?

YELLING?!?!?! I'M NOT YELLING AT ANYONE!!!

 

[Orion Bailey]

1. I can see that many of the individual players are improving.
2. I can see that the team is player better collectively (as a unit).
3. The team is playoff relevant, and it's fun to actually check the standings and see how other teams around us are doing.
4. The team has a fun style of play.
5. Things can go wrong during a game and we can still win (Lillard didn't hit an outside shot in the whole game against Milwaukee, and we still won).
6. The team plays hard.

However, things aren't perfect:

1. We could easily go on another 5 game losing streak.
2. Vonleh is improved a lot, but we still haven't seen his 3 point shot, or his post game. He's invisible out there sometimes. He hasn't reached the comfort level I would like him to have yet.
3. Biebs - when he's on, we're a much better team. I will concede that he's an intelligent player overall, but his indecision leads to cringingly poor decisions, which drive me (and others) nuts. He's a bit slow-footed, but he has learned to go "straight-up", so he's definitely improved.
4. Plums is a great passer in the high post, but he'd be better if he actually looked at the basket in that position.
5. All of the players have things to work on (our guards could become better defenders, for example).
   
6. We still have a poor record against +.500 teams.
7. We're still in our infancy. A 9-16 road record is fine for a borderline playoff team, but not for a bona fide playoff team.
8. We still don't have a big that Stotts is comfortable putting in the post.
9. I am very comfortable with our "Big 2" + awesome role players. However, I'd like a "Big 3" - NO has work to do, and I don't mean for another "good" player", we need one more amazing player.

Great post. I would like to expand a bit however...

1. I can see that many of the individual players are improving.
2. I can see that the team is player better collectively (as a unit).
3. The team is playoff relevant, and it's fun to actually check the standings and see how other teams around us are doing.
4. The team has a fun style of play.
5. Things can go wrong during a game and we can still win (Lillard didn't hit an outside shot in the whole game against Milwaukee, and we still won).
6. The team plays hard.

However, things aren't perfect:

1. We could easily go on another 5 game losing streak. Especially with the upcoming schedule
2. Vonleh is improved a lot, but we still haven't seen his 3 point shot, or his post game. He's invisible out there sometimes. He hasn't reached the comfort level I would like him to have yet. Refer to your first sentence on this. He is improved alot. Ive seen most of that improvement as of late. I dont see any reason why he cant/wont continue to improve to fill in all the other gaps you noted in his game.
   
3. Biebs - when he's on, we're a much better team. I will concede that he's an intelligent player overall, but his indecision leads to cringingly poor decisions, which drive me (and others) nuts. He's a bit slow-footed, but he has learned to go "straight-up", so he's definitely improved. Ive seen him be less hesitant as of late, but I hear ya. I think he might just have another level to reach yet though, and why? Because I do belive he has the same drive and determination as Dame and will bust his ass to get there.
   
4. Plums is a great passer in the high post, but he'd be better if he actually looked at the basket in that position. Ehh, I'm on the fence on this. Depending on who that third star is that ytou say we need (and I agree) I'm not sure I want him offensive minded unless its put backs off of rebounds, or rolling to the basket dunks. I do not want him taking distance shots from the high post, nor do I want to see him drive from there, as was VERY evident in last nights game on several plays of which he tried to do just this. He is best suited, being a go through with his passing skills and then following the person he passes to to the hoop. Screens, rebounds. He doesn't need to be looking at the basket at all from any distance in my opinion... not when we have so many other good shooters on this team.
   
5. All of the players have things to work on (our guards could become better defenders, for example). I think you could say this for most players on most teams though,. so this is a bit moot...except, we have room to grow and get better to improve, unlike most of the other teams who need to.
   
6. We still have a poor record against +.500 teams. This must be rectified and this next stretch will be very telling how much we have actually improved. If we can go .500 over the next 10 games, we are looking pretty damn good in my opinion.
   
7. We're still in our infancy. A 9-16 road record is fine for a borderline playoff team, but not for a bona fide playoff team. The record is skewed from early season dysfuntional play. Again, let the next ten games playout and see how this sits.
   
8. We still don't have a big that Stotts is comfortable putting in the post. This is true, but is it needed? Not if Vonleh keeps improving.
   
9. I am very comfortable with our "Big 2" + awesome role players. However, I'd like a "Big 3" - NO has work to do, and I don't mean for another "good" player", we need one more amazing player. Yep, maybe not an all star, but definitely a star that is capable of putting up big numbers any night. I'm not convinced Vonleh cant turn into this guy. Crabbe too, but then we dont need that from Crabbe. It would be great if he would be happy as a long term 6th man. I think he brings intense defense as the first guy off the bench and is a true offensive threat. If he will sign and accept the role for the next 4-5 years, and Vonleh continues to improve, we have 4 guys who are serious threats, with a bunch of quality roll players. My hope is this happens, because it is hard to build cohesion by trading all the time. Teams get better over a LONG period of time of playing together. It doesn't happen in half a season. Yes, they get better, but not near max level of play.