So when will people agree with me we can be a top3 seed?

[magnifier661]

I don't think anyone should be concerned about Miami until late February, and really only if they are injured.

But Miami does have the #1 offense in the league in ORTG (offensive rating) at 112.8. #2 is our Blazers at 112.7!!! Somehow Miami has the 27th ranked defense at 108.2 while our Blazers are ranked #28th at 108.6

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/defensiveEff/order/false

I don't know if this has been updated. It shows Miami 25th and us 28th in defense. It also shows we are 3rd, Miami 1st and Clippers 2nd.

 

[tlongII]

I'm guessing that if we finish with the 3rd best record in the West we'll be a top 3 seed!

 

[blue9]

CAN be? Yes. WILL be? No. LIKELY to be? No.
If the Spurs were to be decimated by injuries I think the highest we could hope for would be 4th seed (behind HOU/OKC/LAC), and we could bottom out as low as 9/10. The West really is wide open, but that plays both ways - we could end up with a decent seed OR end up on the outside looking in.
But this team does feel like it could have one of those mid-teens winning streaks in it.

 

[magnifier661]

CAN be? Yes. WILL be? No. LIKELY to be? No.
If the Spurs were to be decimated by injuries I think the highest we could hope for would be 4th seed (behind HOU/OKC/LAC), and we could bottom out as low as 9/10. The West really is wide open, but that plays both ways - we could end up with a decent seed OR end up on the outside looking in.
But this team does feel like it could have one of those mid-teens winning streaks in it.

I think you are unaware of the rules of seeding blue9 <-- See what I did there?!?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_playoffs

The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three division champions, and another team in the conference with the best record, are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees the division champions no worse than the fourth seed, and also guarantees the conference's two best teams (by record) will be the top two seeds even if the second-best team doesn't win its division. Of the remaining eleven conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their record.

That means even if a team like OKC wins the division and we have the 3rd best record, we have an opportunity to get the 3rd seed if the pacific division has a lower record.

 

[RR7]

I think you are unaware of the rules of seeding blue9 <-- See what I did there?!?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_playoffs



That means even if a team like OKC wins the division and we have the 3rd best record, we have an opportunity to get the 3rd seed if the pacific division has a lower record.

I believe what he is thinking s that those 3 teams will all be better than us record wise

 

[illmatic99]

Well I thought BBReference rated our schedule as the worst before the Pistons game but now its rated as above average.

Might be because Spurs/Suns/Nugs all won games on Monday. Is the rating dynamic, or just considers the record at the time our game vs Team X was played?

 

[magnifier661]

Might be because Spurs/Suns/Nugs all won games on Monday. Is the rating dynamic, or just considers the record at the time our game vs Team X was played.

I think it also includes, rebounds, points and other stats too. I'm not certain though.

 

[KingSpeed]

Yes , we can get 3 seed. Remember- we have CJ joining the teAm in about 6 weeks. His scoring will improve our team even more.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Yes , we can get 3 seed. Remember- we have CJ joining the teAm in about 6 weeks. His scoring will improve our team even more.

Whos minutes is he taking?

It's not like it's him or Nolan Smith anymore. It's him or Williams, Wright, Lillard, Matthews

 

[magnifier661]

Whos minutes is he taking?

It's not like it's him or Nolan Smith anymore. It's him or Williams, Wright, Lillard, Matthews

I would hope that Lillard would require less minutes, then take a little from Matthews and Mo. Maybe around 10 a game?

 

[Mediocre Man]

I would hope that Lillard would require less minutes, then take a little from Matthews and Mo. Maybe around 10 a game?

Williams is already down 5 minutes per game from his NBA career average

Lillard shouldn't get any less than 35 AT MINIMUM.

I don't see where the minutes will come from, while also keeping guys involved in the game.

Right now we have a pretty good 9 man rotation with literally 5 of those 9 able to play the 2 guard spot

 

[illmatic99]

Minimize the Mo-Dame, and the Mo-Wes time in the first half, and you can work in 15-20mpg for CJ if needed. All depends on how good he is.

 

[illmatic99]

Look at the Clippers for instance:

CP: 36mpg
Redick: 30mpg

Crawful: 27mpg
Collison: 14mpg

We can do exactly what they're doing. We even had some instances with Nic playing SG. No need for that with CJ back.

 

[magnifier661]

Williams is already down 5 minutes per game from his NBA career average

Lillard shouldn't get any less than 35 AT MINIMUM.

I don't see where the minutes will come from, while also keeping guys involved in the game.

Right now we have a pretty good 9 man rotation with literally 5 of those 9 able to play the 2 guard spot

Currently, our rotation of guards are as follows:
Lillard 37.7, Mo Williams 25.1, Matthews 33.7

Adding CJ (If he can contribute mind you) can shave 2 minutes from Lillard, 5 from Williams, and 3 from Matthews = 10 mpg

End result:

Lillard 35.7, Mo 20.1, Matthews 30.7 and CJ 10

 

[KingSpeed]

What they said

 

[Mediocre Man]

Currently, our rotation of guards are as follows:
Lillard 37.7, Mo Williams 25.1, Matthews 33.7

Adding CJ (If he can contribute mind you) can shave 2 minutes from Lillard, 5 from Williams, and 3 from Matthews = 10 mpg

End result:

Lillard 35.7, Mo 20.1, Matthews 30.7 and CJ 10

So Williams came here to play 10 less minutes per game than his career average? CJ gets 9.5 mpg? Batum and Wright strictly play the 3? right now those two are averaging just over 48 per game, so their minutes would need to be taken away from as well

 

[Draco]

There really isn’t minutes for CJ at the moment. However I’d say its highly unlikely all 8 guys in our rotation stay healthy for all of the upcoming games as well as unlikely we want to play our starters as many minutes as their currently playing for all 82 games. So when we have someone miss time it’ll open up minutes for him. With our positional versatility CJ can really get minutes from any player on the team as we can slide Matthews to SF or play a smaller lineup with Aldridge as the backup center.

CJ being injured probably doesn’t hurt us now but its means Will Barton is on deck so hopefully we don’t need him to bat.

 

[KingSpeed]

So Williams came here to play 10 less minutes per game than his career average? CJ gets 9.5 mpg? Batum and Wright strictly play the 3? right now those two are averaging just over 48 per game, so their minutes would need to be taken away from as well

Mo wasn't exactly in demand. He will do what we tEll him to do.

 

[Draco]

So Williams came here to play 10 less minutes per game than his career average? CJ gets 9.5 mpg? Batum and Wright strictly play the 3? right now those two are averaging just over 48 per game, so their minutes would need to be taken away from as well

This is the downside of depth, good players on the bench would like to get minutes. There isn’t a solution that makes everyone happy so the coach will have to get Mo or CJ to buy in. Hopefully we don’t have major injuries but odds are somebody in our rotation will miss significant time. Has there ever been one Blazers season where the top 8 players all played over 75 games?

 

[Mediocre Man]

This is the downside of depth, good players on the bench would like to get minutes. There isn’t a solution that makes everyone happy so the coach will have to get Mo or CJ to buy in. Hopefully we don’t have a major injuries but odds are somebody in our rotation will miss significant time. Has there ever been one Blazers season where the top 8 players all played over 75 games?

I am saying there is nothing to discuss. Mo is an established good NBA player and CJ is a rookie. Nothing to get on board with

 

[Draco]

Mo wasn't exactly in demand. He will do what we tEll him to do.

Yes, good point. Houston, NY and Miami all had the same mini-MLE or the larger tax payer MLE available just as us and none of those teams wanted to give it to Mo. He might not be happy with reduced minutes but if it makes our team better I expect he will accept the role. The coach needs to give the best player minutes. If Freeland is better than Meyers so be it; if CJ is better than Mo so be it. Mo will be more accepting of a reduced role if we are winning too. We are talking about CJ being the 9th man; well those Blazers teams of 1999 and 2000 were even deeper than that with more established vets; everybody bought in fine while the team was winning. Mo will be a free agent at the end of the year so I very much doubt he wants to be labeled as a complainer or selfish. He isn’t in any danger of completely falling out of the rotation as we need his PG abilities when Lillard is off the floor. Its only with CJ back he might see a few less minutes alongside Lillard.

 

[KingSpeed]

I am saying there is nothing to discuss. Mo is an established good NBA player and CJ is a rookie. Nothing to get on board with

Most of this year 's rookies picked CJ to win rookie of the year. You may be underestimating how good he'll be.

 

[Draco]

I am saying there is nothing to discuss. Mo is an established good NBA player and CJ is a rookie. Nothing to get on board with

Yes I expect that Mo will get minutes over CJ; but CJ should get a chance to earn minutes over other players just as Freeland earned minutes over Meyers. Until we see rookies in an NBA game its hard to know how they will adjust to the competition. They are big question marks that often greatly fall short of expectations and often greatly exceed expectations. Lillard made the jump from college to the NBA without skipping a beat. Many experts projected CJ to be the rookie of the year before we got Mo. This isn’t Europe where the veterans automatically are handed minutes over more deserving youngsters. If CJ displays something special he can earn minutes on the team.

 

[Draco]

Most of this year 's rookies picked CJ to win rookie of the year. You may be underestimating how good he'll be.

Yes, CJ was a more prolific scorer than Damian in college.

 

[KingSpeed]

Yes, Wes has been playing well but CJ may take some of his minutes.

 

[KingSpeed]

When I play NBA2K14, CJ, Mo, and Crabbe all play .

 

[Mediocre Man]

When I play NBA2K14, CJ, Mo, and Crabbe all play .

Well there you have it.

Thread/

 

[KingSpeed]

Something to keep in mind is that our SOS is bad is because we won the games. If we lost to Kongs twice and Denver, we'd have a much higher strength of schedule. It's a stupid stat.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I am saying there is nothing to discuss. Mo is an established good NBA player and CJ is a rookie. Nothing to get on board with

Mo has been (as recently as last year) a good player. He has not been particularly good for us, so far. Of he can't get his PER above, say, 13.5 by the time CJ comes back, he will have no valid claim on minutes.

That said, I'm not expecting great things out of CJ in the early going either. I think it'll take him a while to really adjust to the NBA game, and things will remain unsettled through the all-star break. But I hope CJ can prove me wrong.

 

[Natebishop3]

Right now our rotation is pretty solid. I think CJ will get a few minutes here and there, but until he fully comes back and earns some minutes, I don't see him cutting down Mo or Wes' minutes.