Game Thread PLAY-IN GAME# 1: GRIZZLIES VS BLAZERS - AUGUST 15, 2020 - SATURDAY, 11:30, ABC

[CupWizier]

It would be an absolute thing of Beauty to win the first one Tuesday!

Yes, and steal home court advantage.

 

[kjironman1]

Yes, and steal home court advantage.

Yep that home court with the computer enhanced advertisements on it and the video fans clapping and smiling that i'm not sure the players can even see?

 

[Shaboid]

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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Portland Trail Blazers</a> (@Trailblazers) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2020-08-15T22:21:48+00:00">Aug 15, 2020 at 3:21pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

Look at how much water there is in the refrigerator. How in the world is Nas suffering from dehydration?! He must have fallen asleep poolside for a few hours or something.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Look at how much water there is in the refrigerator. How in the world is Nas suffering from dehydration?! He must have fallen asleep poolside for a few hours or something.

Few hours? More like a few days.

 

[Shaboid]

Few hours? More like a few days.

Nah, dehydration is real down here man. When I first moved I was working at a golf course for a few weeks while looking for a permanent gig and being outside for 5 hours a day had me coming home peeing practically brown occasionally. I was staying as hydrated as I could, too.

 

[theprunetang]

Nah, dehydration is real down here man. When I first moved I was working at a golf course for a few weeks while looking for a permanent gig and being outside for 5 hours a day had me coming home peeing practically brown occasionally. I was staying as hydrated as I could, too.

I work as a field biologist here in Florida. I spend 10+ hours a day out in the shit. Dehydration is really real. No doubts or jokes.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Nah, dehydration is real down here man. When I first moved I was working at a golf course for a few weeks while looking for a permanent gig and being outside for 5 hours a day had me coming home peeing practically brown occasionally. I was staying as hydrated as I could, too.

Were you still dehydrated a week later?

Ive never been to Florida, but I lived upstate New York. It doesn't get the humidity fanfare that the SE does, but upstate NY in the summer was EXTREMELY humid, I just cant compare to FL or LA or anything, because ive never made it down further south than DC.

Im Italian, im a big guy. I sweat and when I get heated up, I cant stop. And Ive pissed brown., But never taken 5 days to rehydrate.

Also, do you have state of the art medical and training staff and facilities at your disposal?

Not trying to minimize your statement or trivialize your weight on the hydration issues down there, but Im still having a hard time buying it. Even if he was outside all day, the next four days stay indoors with AC. No reason he cant get rehydrated in 48 hours, just like MMA fighters do.

 

[Shaboid]

I work as a field biologist here in Florida. I spend 10+ hours a day out in the shit. Dehydration is really real. No doubts or jokes.

It can be brutal, I agree. If you don't have a gallon of water you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[handiman]

So I re-watched the game and I don't want to be labeled as a hater but CJ's defense was awful. The guy played really good defense like maybe 10% of the plays he was involved with, he was solid on maybe 20% of those plays and then for the other 70% of the plays in which CJ was an on ball or should have been a help defender he was absolutely terrible. His scoring and dribbling were second to maybe Ja but he was phenomenal in those two areas and overall despite his +/- (which can often be somewhat deceiving game to game) he was a net positive but not by a lot. His defense is just such a liability. Earlier, I did what so many of us do and I just ignored all of the blow-bys, all of the pull up jumpers he was out of position on and all of the times where he made a bad decision when or when not to help but mostly the blow-bys and jumpers he gave up. I ignored those because it was a rare night where he made quite a few really good if not great defensive plays but highlights aren't what makes a player solid on either end. I love CJ but even on nights like tonight his defense at a position that he shouldn't be playing can almost cancel out such great scoring.

By the way, I don't put all of the blame on CJ for this, we have a coach that prioritizes offense so heavily that defense is an afterthought to CJ and to everyone else on the team. So CJ's teammates are going crazy over his performance tonight because no one talked about or will talk about all of the numerous lapses he had on D or if the did or do it's not too important.

They were assigning CJ to Morant much of the game, presumably so Dame could save some energy on that end. That's a near-impossible ask for someone with a back injury. Putting Trent on Morant was the best move of the night. I don't recall exactly when that took place, but it seems like it might have coincided with CJ's 4th quarter eruption.

That said, I don't remember who was guarding Brooks when he made late shots... Had CJ switched over to him?

 

[theprunetang]

Were you still dehydrated a week later?

Ive never been to Florida, but I lived upstate New York. It doesn't get the humidity fanfare that the SE does, but upstate NY in the summer was EXTREMELY humid, I just cant compare to FL or LA or anything, because ive never made it down further south than DC.

Im Italian, im a big guy. I sweat and when I get heated up, I cant stop. And Ive pissed brown., But never taken 5 days to rehydrate.

Also, do you have state of the art medical and training staff and facilities at your disposal?

Not trying to minimize your statement or trivialize your weight on the hydration issues down there, but Im still having a hard time buying it. Even if he was outside all day, the next four days stay indoors with AC. No reason he cant get rehydrated in 48 hours, just like MMA fighters do.

My guess is the Blazers are being nice to Little and not saying he has uncontrollable diarrhea. That shit will dehydrate you easy.

 

[Shaboid]

Were you still dehydrated a week later?

Ive never been to Florida, but I lived upstate New York. It doesn't get the humidity fanfare that the SE does, but upstate NY in the summer was EXTREMELY humid, I just cant compare to FL or LA or anything, because ive never made it down further south than DC.

Im Italian, im a big guy. I sweat and when I get heated up, I cant stop. And Ive pissed brown., But never taken 5 days to rehydrate.

Also, do you have state of the art medical and training staff and facilities at your disposal?

Not trying to minimize your statement or trivialize your weight on the hydration issues down there, but Im still having a hard time buying it. Even if he was outside all day, the next four days stay indoors with AC. No reason he cant get rehydrated in 48 hours, just like MMA fighters do.

Everyone is different and I don't know what caused his dehydration, but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes a fewdays to get back into game shape. Also, not sure how/what the concussion protocol effected his body and recovery. Too many factors.

 

[Orion Bailey]

I work as a field biologist here in Florida. I spend 10+ hours a day out in the shit. Dehydration is really real. No doubts or jokes.

It can be brutal, I agree. If you don't have a gallon of water you're gonna have a bad time.

So will you guys go figure out WTF is up with little then? Deliver him a truck of bottled water? I think we may need him in this series.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Everyone is different and I don't know what caused his dehydration, but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes a fewdays to get back into game shape. Also, not sure how/what the concussion protocol effected his body and recovery. Too many factors.

Wait. did I miss sometrhing? He had a concussion?

That changes everything if so.

 

[Shaboid]

Wait. did I miss sometrhing? He had a concussion?

That changes everything if so.

It was a while ago, but yeah.

https://www.blazersedge.com/2020/7/28/21345307/nassir-little-cleared-concussion-protocol

 

[Orion Bailey]

It was a while ago, but yeah.

https://www.blazersedge.com/2020/7/28/21345307/nassir-little-cleared-concussion-protocol

Gotcha. Thanks. Missed that or something. Yeah, that changes things. Concussions are weird too and have different effects on people.

 

[James lamphear]

That’s why if Collins is out we won’t even notice him

If you don't come back into this forum we wouldn't miss all your negative opinions.

 

[kjironman1]

My guess is the Blazers are being nice to Little and not saying he has uncontrollable diarrhea. That shit will dehydrate you easy.

I can understand this also. But if that was the case it would be a Covid-19 symptom. So again if this is the case he would have to quarantine.

 

[tlongII]

You guys have such a hilarious lack of awareness of why people think we should trade CJ. The problem with CJ is not scoring. You guys always get so worked up when he scores. The guy is a scorer and nothing else. Literally nothing else. He doesn't defend, he isn't a distributor, he is a streaky scorer. That's it. And he's usually really good at it, but the problem is that Dame is also not really a good defender. Now pair that up with Melo.

So when you wonder why people get frustrated with CJ, it's partly because when he's cold he doesn't know when to stop shooting, and then the fact that the guy can't play a lick of defense. Would we have been in this situation if we weren't such a god awful defensive team? Right now we are having to play our starters an absurd amount of minutes to make up for the fact that we don't have a bench and we aren't playing even the smallest amount of defense.

It's such a frustrating problem. On the one hand, we have guys who can make shots now, which we did not have last year. But on the other, we are just giving up free shots at the basket. This is the worst defense I have seen from this team in a long time. We just let Ja Morant do whatever the hell he wanted. CJ was a huge part of that.

So I really like CJ, he's a good dude, he can score in bunches, but he has his flaws and those flaws are amplified on this team. If you want to call me a hater, go for it. I don't care. I have been saying the same things about CJ for years. It's great when he goes off and helps get us a win, but would we have needed him to go off if we could consistently get stops?

Yep you’re a hater. The league is about scoring now. It’s essential to have multiple guys that can create their own shot and take over games. CJ is one of the few guys that can do that.

 

[GoBlazersGo]

"Ha, water!? You mean the stuff that's in toilets!?"

Better cut-out the middle man and get this kid some Brawndo!

 

[Orion Bailey]

View attachment 33001 "Ha, water!? You mean the stuff that's in toilets!?"

Better cut-out the middle man and get this kid some Brawndo!

View attachment 33000

Electrolites are the answer to everything!!!

 

[GoBlazersGo]

Electrolites are the answer to everything!!!

"It's got electrolytes!"

 

[wizenheimer]

This makes me so sad.... but Dame made his peace with it. So I guess I can too.... but honestly it could take another decade or more to find someone as good as him. He's a generational player.

definitely more

it was 30 years between Drexler and Dame, and 45 years between Walton and Dame

The second CJ signed his extension, I think the small chance of us ever getting over the top went out the window. Not because CJ is horrible, but we won't have the resources to surround Dame with the talent he needs to win it all. Unless we draft some all-NBA player in the 2nd round, I think 1st and 2nd round exits are going to be the common outcome; regardless of the coach.

agreed. That CJ contract is a huge impediment to flexibility. It wouldn't be so huge an impediment if it was intended as a trade asset, but it's safe to say that as long as Olshey is GM, and Stotts is coach, CJ will be a Blazer

 

[CupWizier]

Yep that home court with the computer enhanced advertisements on it and the video fans clapping and smiling that i'm not sure the players can even see?

It's the presence of Big Red and Brooke sitting in the virtual stands that will propel us.

 

[wizenheimer]

They can pay Nurk.
They can Pay Trent.
.

can they really though? I'm just asking

to start with, for it to be an issue, both Nurk and Trent would need to maintain their upward trajectories. That's the only way Portland has a hope of contending. If those two stay healthy and continue to improve, what will they get for next contracts?

Trent's new deal will come after next season. He'll be a classic 3 & D player, with tons of upside. What will he get on the open market...25M/year?....20M?....30M? Crabbe will have been paid 19M/year 5 years earlier so 25M seems reasonable

and Nurkic. He's definitely due for a big raise if healthy. Does 25M/year seem right to you? Does to me. And he's due for that deal in 2022

so then:

Damian Lillard $47,250,000
CJ McCollum $33,333,333
Jusuf Nurkić $25,000,000
Gary Trent $25,000,000

130.5M......that's likely well over the salary cap, and that's for only 4 players. If the cap is around 125M, for instance, the tax line would be around 150M. Blazers would only have a 20M margin to carry 10 more players when the average salary is around 8M. That's a hell of a lot of tax liability

again, this is an assumption that Nurk and Trent will both be worth keeping. They need to have that kind of value on the court, and be paid accordingly, if Portland has any hope of contending

 

[kjironman1]

can they really though? I'm just asking

to start with, for it to be an issue, both Nurk and Trent would need to maintain their upward trajectories. That's the only way Portland has a hope of contending. If those two stay healthy and continue to improve, what will they get for next contracts?

Trent's new deal will come after next season. He'll be a classic 3 & D player, with tons of upside. What will he get on the open market...25M/year?....20M?....30M? Crabbe will have been paid 19M/year 5 years earlier so 25M seems reasonable

and Nurkic. He's definitely due for a big raise if healthy. Does 25M/year seem right to you? Does to me. And he's due for that deal in 2022

so then:

Damian Lillard $47,250,000
CJ McCollum $33,333,333
Jusuf Nurkić $25,000,000
Gary Trent $25,000,000

130.5M......that's likely well over the salary cap, and that's for only 4 players. If the cap is around 125M, for instance, the tax line would be around 150M. Blazers would only have a 20M margin to carry 10 more players when the average salary is around 8M. That's a hell of a lot of tax liability

again, this is an assumption that Nurk and Trent will both be worth keeping. They need to have that kind of value on the court, and be paid accordingly, if Portland has any hope of contending

The statement is simply "They can pay Nurk" "They can pay Trent". The Blazers have their rights. They can pay them.

 

[wizenheimer]

The statement is simply "They can pay Nurk" "They can pay Trent". The Blazers have their rights. They can pay them.

sure, they can. They can also pay 200M a year in luxury tax...that's an option open to them too

but you were responding to Tince's post talking about how CJ's contract was crowding out flexibility and making opportunities for upgrades more difficult. Looking at how any new contracts add to the Dame/CJ contract situation is germane.

 

[AldoTrapani]

If you don't come back into this forum we wouldn't miss all your negative opinions.

That wasn’t a negative post. I could have been “oh the sky’s falling Collins is hurt” but I’m being optimistic without Collins and Gaberial taking his minutes WE WILL BE JUST AS FINE. Learn the game then post

 

[AldoTrapani]

definitely more

it was 30 years between Drexler and Dame, and 45 years between Walton and Dame



agreed. That CJ contract is a huge impediment to flexibility. It wouldn't be so huge an impediment if it was intended as a trade asset, but it's safe to say that as long as Olshey is GM, and Stotts is coach, CJ will be a Blazer

How long it take between Dirk and Luka? You just need smart management

 

[blazerkor]

That wasn’t a negative post. I could have been “oh the sky’s falling Collins is hurt” but I’m being optimistic without Collins and Gaberial taking his minutes WE WILL BE JUST AS FINE. Learn the game then post

Hold up... you just told someone to "learn the game and then post" with all of your outrageously wrong takes on Dame and on how we should play the game and how games are over when they clearly aren't and how you always seem to back the wrong horse (players and teams). I mean, REALLY?!? I don't mind that you're wrong so damn often but don't be condescending to other people in here, I mean not on that level where you're telling that they're to inaccurate to post. Unless of course you doing that... I mean you especially, was meant to be ironic.

 

[HailBlazers]

Hold up... you just told someone to "learn the game and then post" with all of your outrageously wrong takes on Dame and on how we should play the game and how games are over when they clearly aren't and how you always seem to back the wrong horse (players and teams). I mean, REALLY?!? I don't mind that you're wrong so damn often but don't be condescending to other people in here, I mean not on that level where you're telling that they're to inaccurate to post. Unless of course you doing that... I mean you especially, was meant to be ironic.

No it's meant to troll, that's what trolls do, troll.