So like.... are we too good to tank now?

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I think the team knows, that most forum fans want the team to lose and they want to prove the opposite is in the best interest of the players.
 
Wizard Mentor said:
I'm wondering if we can win 30 games, and how you all would feel about that. Personally, I see 30 wins by a very young team puts them squarely on the path of legitimacy.
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Portland's average age is 24.0; they are on a pace for 32-33

last season, Orlando's average age was 24.0 and they won 47 games; OKC's average age was 23.4 and they won 57 games

this season, age-wins-projected wins

24.0 - Portland - 19 wins --> 32.5 wins
24.6 - OKC - 37 wins --> 66 wins
24.8 - Houston - 32 wins --> 56 wins
24.8 - Memphis - 32 wins --> 54.7 wins
24.9 - Orlando - 24 wins --> 30 wins
25.0 - Atlanta - 22 wins --> 37.6 wins

I'd imagine Orlando is considered legitimate and the Blazers are within range of the Magic. Orlando was a lot more more legitimate last season but have been really snake-bit by injuries this season

while Portland's average age is 24.0, three of the top 5 scorers have an average age of 27.0 when the average age in the NBA is 26. If the Blazers trade Grant their average age could drop a little...unless they trade for an older player or two (on expiring contracts)
 
On a serious tip, I have been hearing,reading people talking about how exciting we could get into the play in……isn’t that why we FIRED Scotts? And now THAT is the goal for some? Help that make sense to me.
 
THE HCP said:
On a serious tip, I have been hearing,reading people talking about how exciting we could get into the play in……isn’t that why we FIRED Scotts? And now THAT is the goal for some? Help that make sense to me.
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There’s a difference making the play in with one of the oldest teams vs the second youngest. One is seen as a disappointment and the other a sign of growth. For the record I don’t want to make the play in, I want one more high lotto pick.
 
wizenheimer said:
while Portland's average age is 24.0, three of the top 5 scorers have an average age of 27.0 when the average age in the NBA is 26. If the Blazers trade Grant their average age could drop a little...unless they trade for an older player or two (on expiring contracts)
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If they traded Grant for older players on expiring contracts.....do we care how old they are? Sure it takes away from being "the youngest team", but again if they are not getting any minutes it does not make any difference.

Last night the top 3 scorers were Ayton, Sharpe, and Scoot. That is an average of 22.3
Sometimes Deni (24) will be in the top 3 and sometimes Ant will be in the top 3 (25)
Strictly from an age perspective........ that is pretty young.

That of course is if Grant is traded.
 
Orlando had a #1 pick, a #
Pinwheel1 said:
If they traded Grant for older players on expiring contracts.....do we care how old they are? Sure it takes away from being "the youngest team", but again if they are not getting any minutes it does not make any difference.

Last night the top 3 scorers were Ayton, Sharpe, and Scoot. That is an average of 22.3
Sometimes Deni (24) will be in the top 3 and sometimes Ant will be in the top 3 (25)
Strictly from an age perspective........ that is pretty young.

That of course is if Grant is traded.
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Scoot, Sharpe, Deni, Camara, and Ayton. Make it happen Billups! It's Captain Obvious.
 
We often refer to purgatory around here as being stuck as a team good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to advance more than, maybe, one round. Teams can get stuck in draft lottery purgatory as well - draft picks that don't work out for whatever reason, players who never mesh well, injuries...whatever. I think that the Blazers accomplished the equivalent of five good drafts by drafting Sharpe, Scoot, and Clingan, and trading for both Deni and Toumani. Those guys all look to be long-term starters, with at least a couple having All-Star potential. Some will say that we don't have a superstar yet, but that remains to be seen. I'd love to snag someone in this current draft class with that potential, but it's looking less and less likely given how well the Blazers are playing. The Blazers may turn out to be one of those true teams who become contenders with a balanced roster instead of having role players around a superstar or two.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Why does Ant "have to go"?
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because you like Ant very very much and we like you sad?

seriously curious, you seem to really really want the same team going forward with the only rotational change being Grant-->gone. Basically, a roster reboot

which apparently means the Blazers re-sign Simons and Ayton in 2026

where do you see the trajectory of that team? What's the ceiling? I'd estimate the high water mark for that team is 45-48 wins in the best year; 33-35 in the worst. The Dame/CJ/Nurk era averaged 42 wins over 7 seasons with a high water mark of 53 and a worst of 27. If you delete the first tank-job, the average was 44 wins. And in those 7 seasons they won a total of 5 playoff games past the 1st round. They barely qualified as a pretender, and that was probably only for 1 or 2 seasons

and most people believed the Dame/CJ era was a sad purgatory: not good enough to contend; not bad enough for high draft picks; not savvy enough or willing enough to risk taking advantage of opportunities to upgrade

so, what's the point of landing in a purgatory like that, or worse? Is it treading water hoping for a miracle? Do you really think this current team can grow into a contender winning 55 games a year and several playoff series? Or does all that not matter because you like the players so much?
 
Ant needs to come off the bench. If Billups can't do that, either Ant needs to be traded or Billups needs to be fired. You can't have a coach making dreadful lineup decisions.
 
blazerfan11 said:
Ant needs to come off the bench. If Billups can't do that, either Ant needs to be traded or Billups needs to be fired. You can't have a coach making dreadful lineup decisions.
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Are we still blaming Billups for this teams play? I forget sometimes.
 
This is Deandre Ayton dribbling down court on a fast break after grabbing the ball from a crumpling/falling to the ground Paolo Banchero who was mugged by a Sharpe and Ayton double team.

Ayton finishes this fast break with a nice pass to Shaedon Sharpe trailing and running down the middle. Sharpe dunks the ball over a helpless Tristan de ilva.

upload_2025-1-31_10-38-8.png

upload_2025-1-31_10-41-50.png
 
wizenheimer said:
because you like Ant very very much and we like you sad?

seriously curious, you seem to really really want the same team going forward with the only rotational change being Grant-->gone. Basically, a roster reboot

which apparently means the Blazers re-sign Simons and Ayton in 2026

where do you see the trajectory of that team? What's the ceiling? I'd estimate the high water mark for that team is 45-48 wins in the best year; 33-35 in the worst. The Dame/CJ/Nurk era averaged 42 wins over 7 seasons with a high water mark of 53 and a worst of 27. If you delete the first tank-job, the average was 44 wins. And in those 7 seasons they won a total of 5 playoff games past the 1st round. They barely qualified as a pretender, and that was probably only for 1 or 2 seasons

and most people believed the Dame/CJ era was a sad purgatory: not good enough to contend; not bad enough for high draft picks; not savvy enough or willing enough to risk taking advantage of opportunities to upgrade

so, what's the point of landing in a purgatory like that, or worse? Is it treading water hoping for a miracle? Do you really think this current team can grow into a contender winning 55 games a year and several playoff series? Or does all that not matter because you like the players so much?
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My choice would be to get as much young talent on this team as possible so that next year we can compete for a playoff spot. And yes I include Ant and Ayton as being young as well, as they are just entering their prime. Add a lottery pick this year and try to win next year.

Who knows if that means purgatory or not. Who knows how much they will all improve. Who knows if we get a Jovic in the 2nd round or Giannis with the 15th pick? Who knows if we were to tank yet again ..... if that player ended up with bad knees, multiple broken legs, or bad feet after a couple of years? (we have seen it all)

All I do know is that the obsessive desire to get rid of Ant and Ayton makes zero sense to me without a solid return. If we have to trade them fine, but I don't think we do.
 
HailBlazers said:
How many games have you attended this year?
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Two. Too busy with my kids to go after college and HS seasons start up.

But that doesn't matter. Once again, it takes sacrifice to build a winner. That means there will be a lot of empty seats while we're losing. Season ticket holders will drop season tickets.

But they'll all come back once you get the base and can start trying to win again.

I maintain that attendance would probably have been better if we'd given the young guys the team early last season.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Sure but there is a limit to it. If you are a season ticket holder then I applaud you for your sacrifice. If you rarely go to games, then you need to consider the toll it takes on
everyone else.
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I definitely applaud season ticket holders. That's great if that works out for them.

I don't feel bad for any season ticket holders. They are more than welcome to drop their season tickets.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
My choice would be to get as much young talent on this team as possible so that next year we can compete for a playoff spot. And yes I include Ant and Ayton as being young as well, as they are just entering their prime. Add a lottery pick this year and try to win next year.

Who knows if that means purgatory or not. Who knows how much they will all improve. Who knows if we get a Jovic in the 2nd round or Giannis with the 15th pick? Who knows if we were to tank yet again ..... if that player ended up with bad knees, multiple broken legs, or bad feet after a couple of years? (we have seen it all)

All I do know is that the obsessive desire to get rid of Ant and Ayton makes zero sense to me without a solid return. If we have to trade them fine, but I don't think we do.
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I know we will not get a Jokic in the 2nd round. Something like that is so rare that it's not even worth considering.

The odds of us hitting legit stars with our top pick in our last four drafts are also incredibly low.

And if they don't all become stars then we don't have enough without counting on becoming incredibly lucky against all odds.

This is a very disappointing plan.
 
THE HCP said:
I miss the days of being the best offense and worst defense at the same time. Those games were fun and we made the playoffs.
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Oh, you don't give a shit about defense? I would never have guessed
 
THE HCP said:
On a serious tip, I have been hearing,reading people talking about how exciting we could get into the play in……isn’t that why we FIRED Scotts? And now THAT is the goal for some? Help that make sense to me.
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Getting an Emmy nomination is a huge achievement for you, and a disappointment for, say, Stephen Colbert. Get it now?
 
Currently in 7th for draft lottery position. A reasonable "bad" run in the second half, and they can get to 5th. The tank goes full bore post-All Star weekend.

Ant, Grant, Ayton, and Thybulle are just a matter of time as Blazers. Hoping for Ant and Grant gone in February.
 
Phatguysrule said:
The players should have always been trying to win. I don't think anybody is suggesting otherwise.
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I think Chauncey should have been too. This all comes down to Joe and if we were in this spot and Joe had moved Ant and Jerami in the off season then I wouldn't be angry about our waning chances at picking in the top 3. The fact is Ant and Jerami are still contributing to these wins and besides a drubbing like last night where Ant's contribution was negligible a lot of our wins have come when one of those two are the biggest contributor to closely contested games.

So it's just Joe. If this team has all of the necessary pieces right now to contend in the future (which I highly doubt) then Joe gets the credit but if we needed to move those vets so we had less wins right now and thus had a better chance at a high lotto pick then the blame goes on Joe.

Let's hope Jerami and Ant are gone by Thursday, that we have some prospects or picks to show for it. Let's see what happens in terms of wins during the rest of this season and we'll move on from there. I for one still think that tanking is our best option this season. Just too good of a draft and very little chance that we get these young guys playoff experience, so we might as well get the best pick we can.
 
blazerfan11 said:
Ant needs to come off the bench. If Billups can't do that, either Ant needs to be traded or Billups needs to be fired. You can't have a coach making dreadful lineup decisions.
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Let's evaluate after the trade deadline and see where he goes with it. If Ant is still here, I 100% agree it's time to bring him off the bench, though a part of me prefers him playing with the best defenders. Oooof. It's complicated.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
All I do know is that the obsessive desire to get rid of Ant and Ayton makes zero sense to me without a solid return. If we have to trade them fine, but I don't think we do.
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so you're in favor of re-signing them?
 
blazerkor said:
I think Chauncey should have been too. This all comes down to Joe and if we were in this spot and Joe had moved Ant and Jerami in the off season then I wouldn't be angry about our waning chances at picking in the top 3. The fact is Ant and Jerami are still contributing to these wins and besides a drubbing like last night where Ant's contribution was negligible a lot of our wins have come when one of those two are the biggest contributor to closely contested games.

So it's just Joe. If this team has all of the necessary pieces right now to contend in the future (which I highly doubt) then Joe gets the credit but if we needed to move those vets so we had less wins right now and thus had a better chance at a high lotto pick then the blame goes on Joe.

Let's hope Jerami and Ant are gone by Thursday, that we have some prospects or picks to show for it. Let's see what happens in terms of wins during the rest of this season and we'll move on from there. I for one still think that tanking is our best option this season. Just too good of a draft and very little chance that we get these young guys playoff experience, so we might as well get the best pick we can.
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Agreed
 
After we trade our vets we will start losing.
 
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