Prediction: Dame will win MVP of the NBA this year

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Pinwheel1 said:
I want to see a well-balanced box score, with about 6 players averaging around 15 to 20 points.
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you just described a lottery team in the West

Phoenix - Booker 26.8
Memphis - Morant 27.4
Warriors - Curry 25.5
Dallas - Doncic 28.4
Utah - Mitchell 25.9
Denver - Jokic 27.1
Minny - KAT 24.6
LAC - George 24.3

the Eastern Conference is the same way. About the only exception is Miami with Butler averaging 21.4, but they may have been the deepest team in the league. Teams use their best players to maximum advantage

Portland won't be the best version of what they can be by taking a chunk of Dame's opportunities and giving them to Grant and Hart
 
wizenheimer said:
you just described a lottery team in the West

Phoenix - Booker 26.8
Memphis - Morant 27.4
Warriors - Curry 25.5
Dallas - Doncic 28.4
Utah - Mitchell 25.9
Denver - Jokic 27.1
Minny - KAT 24.6
LAC - George 24.3

the Eastern Conference is the same way. About the only exception is Miami with Butler averaging 21.4, but they may have been the deepest team in the league. Teams use their best players to maximum advantage

Portland won't be the best version of what they can be by taking a chunk of Dame's opportunities and giving them to Grant and Hart
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You are not swaying me. I am not saying it will happen, just that I would like it to. A team with Dame and Ant averaging 20, while Nurk, Grant, Hart, and Little averaging 15, and 3 other bench players averaging 6 ppg, would lead the league in scoring. (Based on last years stats) Is it possible? Probably not.
But if it did would they be a lottery team? No way if they played decent defense. That does not prevent Dame from going off when they need him to, just that they wouldn't be relying on him every game in order to win.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
You are not swaying me. I am not saying it will happen, just that I would like it to. A team with Dame and Ant averaging 20, while Nurk, Grant, Hart, and Little averaging 15, and 3 other bench players averaging 6 ppg, would lead the league in scoring. (Based on last years stats) Is it possible? Probably not.
But if it did would they be a lottery team? No way if they played decent defense. That does not prevent Dame from going off when they need him to, just that they wouldn't be relying on him every game in order to win.
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What's funny is that offense has never been the problem for this team. Defense has been our major Achilles heel.

2020-2021 (Dame's last healthy-ish season)
Dame 28.8 ppg
CJ 23 ppg
Norm 17 ppg
Melo 13.4 ppg
Kanter 11.2 ppg
Nurk 11.5 ppg
Roco 8.5 ppg
Simons 7.8 ppg

We actually had a lot of scoring on that team. We were just dog shit at defending anyone...... and sadly none of those guys stepped up in the playoffs.

Dame 34.3 ppg
CJ 20.7 ppg
Norm 17 ppg
Nurk 13 ppg
Melo 12 ppg
Roco 9.3 ppg
Simons 6.5 ppg
Kanter 2.0 ppg
 
Pinwheel1 said:
You are not swaying me. I am not saying it will happen, just that I would like it to. A team with Dame and Ant averaging 20, while Nurk, Grant, Hart, and Little averaging 15, and 3 other bench players averaging 6 ppg, would lead the league in scoring. (Based on last years stats) Is it possible? Probably not.
But if it did would they be a lottery team? No way if they played decent defense. That does not prevent Dame from going off when they need him to, just that they wouldn't be relying on him every game in order to win.
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sorry...I think you're well off base, assuming Dame returns to form

take the previous 2 healthy years for Dame as an example and look at TS%:

upload_2022-7-18_10-41-3.png

upload_2022-7-18_10-41-52.png

other than the exceptions of two highly efficient bigs, Whiteside and Kanter, Dame is the best offensive option Portland has. He is the most efficient and he is the one Blazer who can force an opposing to defense to flex and adjust. CJ never did that and it's very unlikely Ant is ready to do that either

in those two seasons, Dame averaged 20 shots a game and he averaged about 1.46 points/shot. To average 20 points, his shots would have to drop from 20/game to 13.7/game....more than 6 shots a game, which is an absurd drop. Worse is it's Portland unilaterally doing exactly what other teams try to do and that's take the ball out of Dame's hands and take shots away from him. All for what? Some theory for what makes watchable basketball? What you're proposing might make sense when Dame slows down at 35 or 36 or 37. It makes no sense next season

shots/game:

Luca Doncic 22
Lebron James 22
Devin Booker 21
Ja Morant 21
Jayson Tatum 21
Donovan Mitchell 21
Paul George 21
Kyrie Irving 21
Kevin Durant 20
Demar Derozan 20
Stephen Curry 20
Trae Young 20
Joel Embiid 20
Giannis 19
CJ McCollum 19
SGA 19
De'Aaron Fox 19
Jaylen Brown 18
Nikola Jokic 18
Zach LaVine 18
Klay Thompson 18
Pascal Siakam 18
Julius Randle 17
Darius Garland 17
RJ Barrett 17
Fred VaVleet 17

Damian Lillard 14....LOL
 
These posted stats mean little.
Show me a stat that shows "healthy", because that is what Damian will be this year.
Show me THAT stat, otherwise..........
 
swish3 said:
Dame is going to have his best year to date and have a team coached to play defense and move the ball for better shots in what will be a fun year for Blazer fans!

Yes, Dame will be in the running for MVP in the 22-23 season, and with good luck will lead the Blazers to the NBA Championship.
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I’m feeling it too!
Go Dame. Go Blazers.
 
Giannis
Steph
Luka
Tatum
Lebron
Embiid
Jokic
Trae

Probably a few more but those guys have legit chances.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
The real game changer will be if being healthy allows him to play adequate defense.
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Here's my thoughts on that.....
Dame is a great leader....Correct?...Check.
Dame is intelligent...Correct?....Check.
Dame has seen the emphasis on defense, not only the last half of last season, but saw it carry over to SL.
Dame is The Dude. He will Abide.
 
Wade Garrett said:
Here's my thoughts on that.....
Dame is a great leader....Correct?...Check.
Dame is intelligent...Correct?....Check.
Dame has seen the emphasis on defense, not only the last half of last season, but saw it carry over to SL.
Dame is The Dude. He will Abide.
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My perspective on Dame playing defense is similar to yours on the possibility of Nas being a legit NBA starter--I'll believe it when I see it.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
My perspective on Dame playing defense is similar to yours on the possibility of Nas being a legit NBA starter--I'll believe it when I see it.
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Dame has actually a few good defensive ratings in his career, notably 2014-15 when he had a 104.9 drtg. The past few seasons have been stinkers, however, leading to a decidedly meh drtg career average of 112.1. The question in my mind is how much of that was due to injury vs. age vs. carrying the team offensively. It's going to be interesting to see if he can play solid D now that his ab injury is repaired.
 
e_blazer said:
It's going to be interesting to see if he can play solid D now that his ab injury is repaired.
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If he wants to ever legitimately enter the MVP conversation, he's gonna have to.

Again--I'll believe it when I see it.
 
e_blazer said:
Honk once if you think Dame can put up a sub-110 drtg...Honk twice if you think he can't guard a chair?
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Can we hire this guy to sit courtside and heckle Dame about his defense?

OIP.HoUJMZa6ieVTHsB56vLkygHaFj
 
joel embiid will be the front runner from the get go, last two seasons he couldve been the mvp, it was just that jokic did a little better than him, so i think narrative will be on his side

luka is a close second for me, now without brunson hell have to play better than ever to get them into the playoffs, so hes gonna put up big numbers and have a lot of crazy games
 
When's the last time a team had a back to back MVP but won only 1 series both years combined ?
 
Mr. Robot said:
joel embiid will be the front runner from the get go, last two seasons he couldve been the mvp, it was just that jokic did a little better than him, so i think narrative will be on his side

luka is a close second for me, now without brunson hell have to play better than ever to get them into the playoffs, so hes gonna put up big numbers and have a lot of crazy games
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People are forgetting Hardaway Jr was out for most of last year. Getting him back will be big for them and they added Wood. I would be surprised if they didn't finish above us. Luka is absolutely incredible.
 
SlyPokerCat said:
People are forgetting Hardaway Jr was out for most of last year. Getting him back will be big for them and they added Wood. I would be surprised if they didn't finish above us. Luka is absolutely incredible.
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I guess I've never been all that impressed with Hardaway. He just feels like an average starting 2 to me. Not bad, but not great. Nothing that stands out.
 
SlyPokerCat said:
People are forgetting Hardaway Jr was out for most of last year. Getting him back will be big for them and they added Wood. I would be surprised if they didn't finish above us. Luka is absolutely incredible.
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Dame's pretty incredible too. Or have you already forgotten Sly Pussy.
 
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