The First 25 Games

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I expected someone to confidently state "25-0!".

I'm thinking 6-8 wins. Difficult to know as we don't know much about so much of the team nor what style they'll play. Could be higher, fair chance it is lower.

I want to see movement, excitement and growth. If we go 0-20 and then win 5 in a row, I would be happy. Would tend to indicate gelling and improvement.
 
wizenheimer said:
I hadn't really looked at the schedule until tonight. Those first 25 games look like a real gauntlet:

@ Los Angeles Clippers
Orlando Magic
@ Philadelphia 76ers
@ Toronto Raptors
@ Detroit Pistons
Memphis Grizzlies
Memphis Grizzlies
@ Sacramento Kings
@ Los Angeles Lakers
@ Utah Jazz
Cleveland Cavaliers
Los Angeles Lakers
Oklahoma City Thunder
@ Phoenix Suns
Utah Jazz
@ Milwaukee Bucks
@ Indiana Pacers
@ Cleveland Cavaliers
@ Utah Jazz
@ Los Angeles Clippers
Utah Jazz
Dallas Mavericks
Golden State Warriors
Phoenix Suns
Washington Wizards

what do you think Portland's record will be 25 games into the season? I'm seeing 7-8 wins and I may be aiming a bit high?
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The only must win game is the Warriors. I would guess 10 wins. There aren’t that many for-sure wins, but I’m guessing guys like Brogdon, Williams, DA can change a game or two and we win more games than expected.

When some of the vets are traded like Brogdon and maybe Thybulle, we could get a lot of those L’s back. Williams also should be sitting when we tank the rest of the season.
 
I would say 6-8 capable wins. Due some of these teams might play down to our level or might be better then anybody thinks.
 
That is a tough start to the season we’ll be lucky to win 6. If we win more than that it’s because Scoot or Sharpe end up being even better than we thought
 
Rob Mahoney and the guys got us at 29th in their preseason ranking only ahead of the Wiz.
IMG_8941.jpeg
 
Mediocre Man said:
That is low
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probably a little low

but when I look around at the teams using last season as a gauge, updated for this season, I see a group of 8 bottom dwellers:

Indiana Pacers
Washington Wizards
Orlando Magic
Charlotte Hornets
Detroit Pistons
Portland Trail Blazers
Houston Rockets
San Antonio Spurs

* Charlotte is getting LaMelo healthy, reportedly, and they are getting Miles Bridges back after the first 10 games. They'll be better
* Houston added FVV, Dillon Brooks, Amen Thompson, Jeff Green, and Cam Whitmore. They'll be better
* Indiana only added Bruce Brown & Jarace Walker. Might not be much better but likely won't be worse than last years 35 wins
* Orlando was looking good at the end of last season and added Anthony Black and Joe Ingles. Better
* Washington? Added Jordan Poole and Landry Shamet. No change that I can see. 35 wins last year
* Detroit? will likely still suck
* Spurs added Wemby, Khem Birch, and Cedi Osman. How good will Wemby be? How healthy will Zach be?

I can see 2 or 3 of those teams being better than the Blazers. Maybe Blazers can climb to the top of that group; maybe not

I don't see Portland catching any of the next tier of lower level play-in teams: Utah, Dallas, OKC...Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta. But I suppose it's possible
 
wizenheimer said:
probably a little low

but when I look around at the teams using last season as a gauge, updated for this season, I see a group of 8 bottom dwellers:

Indiana Pacers
Washington Wizards
Orlando Magic
Charlotte Hornets
Detroit Pistons
Portland Trail Blazers
Houston Rockets
San Antonio Spurs

* Charlotte is getting LaMelo healthy, reportedly, and they are getting Miles Bridges back after the first 10 games. They'll be better
* Houston added FVV, Dillon Brooks, Amen Thompson, Jeff Green, and Cam Whitmore. They'll be better
* Indiana only added Bruce Brown & Jarace Walker. Might not be much better but likely won't be worse than last years 35 wins
* Orlando was looking good at the end of last season and added Anthony Black and Joe Ingles. Better
* Washington? Added Jordan Poole and Landry Shamet. No change that I can see. 35 wins last year
* Detroit? will likely still suck
* Spurs added Wemby, Khem Birch, and Cedi Osman. How good will Wemby be? How healthy will Zach be?

I can see 2 or 3 of those teams being better than the Blazers. Maybe Blazers can climb to the top of that group; maybe not

I don't see Portland catching any of the next tier of lower level play-in teams: Utah, Dallas, OKC...Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta. But I suppose it's possible
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I think Utah might get down with being crummy. They might have overachieved with Lauri in All-Star mode. While their overall depth is a better then Portland, I don't see the Jazz sweeping the season series, delivering KO's on the Blazers.

The Hawks might be an outlying tanker. A not-so-shocking Trae Young trade would signal a rebuild. Atlanta already has one foot out the door to start over.

The Raptors are too good to tank, but major mid-season trades can change everything.

The Bulls underachieved. They have All-stars. Chicago looked amazing against Portland last year. Maybe they'll figure out consistent winning? Or just turn into a 2022/23 Wizards. Everyone shoot jumpers and put playing harder in the back burner.

Did Houston get better? Egads not really, they signed expensive Free Agents that nobody wanted.

Pacers? I'm one of the few that thinks Sacramento got the way better end of the Halliburton trade. Fancy passes, sure. Lot's of stats, OK. How is the win column doing in Indiana? They haven't made any big moves to improve their roster. Tanking opportunities may arise in Indiana.

It seems the upper echelon of lottery teams are not set in concrete. The bottom 5 probably are. Spurs, Pistons, Hornets, Wizards, Rockets. The better spectrum of tankers is where Portland is currently at. And expect some variables to shake up the standings.
 
Wizards will be bad, they lost Beal and Porzingis. Poole is a big step down.

In general Id say bottom of the east looks poor, much worse than the west.

Nuggets
Suns
Lakers
Kings
Grizzlies
Warriors

Thunder
TWolves
Pelicans
Clippers

Mavs
Rockets
Blazers
Jazz
Spurs

Quick estimate is Id rank the west like this with theee tiers of playoffs playin lottery. I wouldn't be surprised if we're last or if we're 10th and sneak into the playin. Normally 1-2 teams have major disappointment from injuries, 1 team just fails to meet expectations, and a projected bad team or two greatly exceed expectations.

If we stay healthy, get good growth from our youth, and keep our vets all year (Brogdon Grant Williams Thybulle) we could greatly exceed expectations. Would love to see that.

If not - let's look for growth from our young guys and start looking at the draft in January.
 
Whyachi said:
I think Utah might get down with being crummy. They might have overachieved with Lauri in All-Star mode. While their overall depth is a better then Portland, I don't see the Jazz sweeping the season series, delivering KO's on the Blazers.

The Hawks might be an outlying tanker. A not-so-shocking Trae Young trade would signal a rebuild. Atlanta already has one foot out the door to start over.

The Raptors are too good to tank, but major mid-season trades can change everything.

The Bulls underachieved. They have All-stars. Chicago looked amazing against Portland last year. Maybe they'll figure out consistent winning? Or just turn into a 2022/23 Wizards. Everyone shoot jumpers and put playing harder in the back burner.

Did Houston get better? Egads not really, they signed expensive Free Agents that nobody wanted.

Pacers? I'm one of the few that thinks Sacramento got the way better end of the Halliburton trade. Fancy passes, sure. Lot's of stats, OK. How is the win column doing in Indiana? They haven't made any big moves to improve their roster. Tanking opportunities may arise in Indiana.

It seems the upper echelon of lottery teams are not set in concrete. The bottom 5 probably are. Spurs, Pistons, Hornets, Wizards, Rockets. The better spectrum of tankers is where Portland is currently at. And expect some variables to shake up the standings.
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Can the Hawks even tank? I thought they still owe all those picks and pick swaps to San Antonio.
 
“Do not try and bend the schedule, that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth… there are no losses. Then you’ll see that it is not the schedule that bends, it is only your team.”
 
I think when we win games this year, it will be with defense more than offense. A real departure from previous years. I assume lots of transition buckets as a result.
 
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