Exclusive Why I'm Excited about the 2025-26 season

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wizenheimer said:
shit...don't remind me....I had a couple of good friends who were total dead-heads. Obsessive to obnoxious levels. And I never really got into their music

I was driving to the Portland airport with one of my dead-head friends to pick up out wives who had taken a trip to Italy. It was shortly after Jerry Garcia died and my friend just couldn't shut-up about it....blahblahblah....I finally had enough and yelled, "you know what....I'll be grateful when they're all fucking dead". We weren't such good friends after that
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You know what a Dead Head says when he runs out of drugs?
 
Obviously, the biggest thing to be excited about is the internal development that could happen this year.

- Scoot, I think having both Dame and Jrue to learn from is just going round out his game, and he definitely has the tools to be a top-tier defender. I remember with every foul I saw he committed guarding the post against guys 6’10+ his rookie season, I thought to myself he is going to be a stout defender one day. I’m interested to see if Scoot learns to become a better PnR operator with Dame being more of an extension to the coaching staff this season.

- Shae, it’s really just a wait and see with his intangibles. Hoping Jrue has the biggest impact on Shae. As much as an improved shot will impact his game, I think his defense progressing would be a bigger deal to me. But he does need to get better at his shot, and he will.

- Camara, what, hoping for more volume on 3’s? Maybe more of a handle and one-on-one game for end of clock situations?

- Avdija, seeing if he can continue in his increased role as a decision maker. I’ve been full advocate of Scoot starting/Holiday finishing and Grant/Camara starting but Deni plays the most minutes off the bench, but having Holiday start at PG actually gives Deni more of an opportunity to continue in that point-foward role. Hoping for a 22/8/7 ballpark season if Chauncey starts Holiday, which I think is most likely.

- Clingan, just continuing to get a better feel for how the game is called and his finishing/conditioning. Outside of that, I’m excited to see how he continues to develop on both sides of the ball.

- Yang, any type of offensive flashes and glimpses of solid-to-good defense, and we will be dreaming of an offense built around him in a couple years.

That SIX guys that are realistically in our core that should see significant time on the court (I’m not relying on RobWill for more than 1/4 of the season). Rounding that core out with Jrue and Grant this year, then having Dame back the following year, this is a team that can really compete that year that Dame is back.

In that core of guys, I do think we have “the guy” somewhere. In some alternate universe, I can see Shae becoming DBook with Jordan’s athleticism. In another, I can see Yang being the focal point of an offense once he adjusts to the NBA game defensively enough to stay in for most of the game. I think Camara and Avdija is a very good floor at forward. Let’s see what happens in a year with expectations.
 
I think Scoot and Sharpe come off the bench. Maybe DC as well. The Conductor won’t sit Holiday or Grant. He may also start Williams. Guys will lose confidence

Excited though for all the things the OP pointed out. Hoping Yang learns the NBA and it’s conditioning quickly
 
The only must start guys are Deni and Camara. Their by far our two best players. Will be insane if they don't start.

I'd expect Clingan starts at center. If Timelord outplayed him you still want Timelord minutes and role to come along slowly. If Yang outplays anyone you still want him to prove it off the bench first.

I'd expect Jrue starts at PG. If Scoot clearly outplayed him in theory he could start but even in that case I expect the Blazers will want Jrue to be given a chance to keep that starting PG spot in the regular season.

That leaves one final starting spot, I'm expecting Grant to be given it similar to Jrue. In theory Sharpe or Scoot could earn it.

I think our starters are likely set with the above and not really going to change in training camp or preseason. After game 5 or so of the regular season if any of our bench players, Scoot, Sharpe, Thybulle, Yang - are clearly outplaying a starter they will get a chance to move into a starting role.
 
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Mediocre Man said:
I think Scoot and Sharpe come off the bench. Maybe DC as well. The Conductor won’t sit Holiday or Grant. He may also start Williams. Guys will lose confidence

Excited though for all the things the OP pointed out. Hoping Yang learns the NBA and it’s conditioning quickly
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Who is Williams sir?
 
THE HCP said:
I’m excited. Should be fun. I knew it was only a matter of time that we got in “Chauncey type guys that would buy into his system. Just know that 3 point shooting is something I REALLY miss.
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The Blazers seem to miss them, too.
 
THE HCP said:
Never been a with/without a player stat person. Who else was missing….where was the game……who were they playing……. Too much goes into the with/without
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That can be asked/said about most stats.
 
Wizard Mentor said:
It IS exciting, but it is also compelling. I can't remember so many story lines.
  • Scoot trended way up in the last half of last season. Will he continue his upward trajectory, or fall back into Amen Thompson's shadow?
  • Sharpe shot 2s with an extremely high percentage, but his 3% has been trending down. Can he reverse that? He and Lillard are the only non-plus defenders on the team. Can he improve from horrible to just bad? Bad's ok if you're an elite offensive player, but horrible is concerning. What will happen with Sharpe?
  • Camara is elite. All NBA defensive in a 37.5% from 3 package. He doesn't really need to improve, but he's young and he's healthy this offseason, unlike the last. If he just continues his 37.5%, he'll be great. However, if he does improve his all around game, it'll be amazing. If he improves his 3 pointer I may need to check my pants.
  • Deni. Also, just needs to continue to do what you did in the last half of last season. Will he? If he takes a step, all star isn't out of the realm of possible. I'm very interested in seeing what happens.
  • DC is my favorite player on the team, and he's extremely underrated. He was only 1 of 2 players who finished top 6 in both rebounding percentage and block percentage. He's an elite screen setter, making him an excellent offensive player (there is only 1 ball). He dropped to #7 because he himself is terrible at actually putting the ball in the basket. Can he improve that? Can he improved his conditioning so that he can play 30 mpg? Can he stay healthy? Can he gain more experience, and have that propel him to 1/4 of a second faster response time? If he does, watch out! He has the tools to become better than Gobert, and in a few years, he just might. Watching him on the journey is very exciting.
  • Thybulle was the opposite situation. He shot 43.8% from 3 last year in limited minutes. Can he possibly continue that? He's shown glimpses of elite 3%, but has never been able to maintain it. Can he this year? Can he stay healthy? Tune in!
  • Kris Murray has become a plus defender, check. The anti-Nurk, he dunks the ball when he's close to the rim - no flipping! However, he was billed as a 3 point shooter, and he's been a 25.1% from 3 career shooter. At a minimum, he needs to shoot 36% from 3 this year, which is a LOOOONG way from 25%. No pressure, Kris, but if you can't make the jump this season, you're off the team. We've got lots of future picks that need roster spots. Carter-Bryant and Coward were right there for the taking this last draft. I think part of the Yang obsession is that they want to give Kris one more shot. Does he take advantage?
  • My take is that last year wasn't a down year for Grant from a skills-deterioration pov, it was just extended sulking from having his role changed. Can Lillard pull him out of his doldrums? Can Joe get value for him? Will the coach have the balls to bring him off the bench? What will he play like next year? Things could go either way.
  • Rob Will, sigh. Love him, but.... you can't depend on him. it's really heartbreaking. I'm trying to write him off, for reasons of mental health. Why? Because I KNOW that if he and Jure are healthy for the whole season, we're not just a playoff team, but we'll be contending for home court. But, it's just hard to see him being healthy.
  • The Blazers will severely limit Rob Will's minutes in hopes to keep him healthy. That will open up minutes THIS season for Yang. He's a point center, and that's just fucking exciting. He has many things to work on, but most of those things are fixable, some even easily fixable. How fast can be get better? If he just improves his strength, conditioning, and english, it'll be a banner year for him and for Blazer fans.
  • I'm rooting for Billups. However, if he doesn't start our top 5 youngins, I will openly and loudly boo him (through a tv screen, but hey). This Blazers team is a speedy racecar with a bad transmission. It's time for him to fix it. Will he?
  • What will happen with the new ownership and how will that affect the basketball side? New priorities from the owner? New Arena? Blazers will very likely stay in PDX, but many of us won't breath a sigh of relief until it's actually done.

Our coach and all of our top 11 players have compelling storylines going into next season. Unlike like Ayton and Ant, who "are who they are", most all of the current Blazers can improve, some even vastly improve. Will they? and to what extent? The team is absolutely ready to take off. Having 4 top 9 lotto picks in the starting lineup is amazing (especially considering the 5th is Camara), and most unique in the history of the Blazers. Will they show their promise? "When they take off, we'll take off" said Billups. Well, it's go time. He's been preaching defense, defense, defense, but hasn't delivered on that front until the end of last season. Now, the GM has nearly eradicated all of the bad defenders from the team. Let's see if Billups can actually coach. What will our record end up as? Will we make the playin? The playoffs? Home court? DC made all rookie, Camara made all defense. Any other individual accolades coming?

And then there's Lillard. It's not obvious he'll ever be able to play again. OTOH, it's possible he returns to all-star form. Unlikely to happen for the vast majority of nba players with the same injury, but Lillard just has a different intensity and matureness about him. It'll be interesting to see how things develop for him.

Not only is this team intriguing, it's also very exciting:









So many more videos I could post, but I'll just finish with this:
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Fantastic post!
That is all i had to add to this perfection!
 
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Wizard Mentor said:
It IS exciting, but it is also compelling. I can't remember so many story lines.

So many more videos I could post, but I'll just finish with this:
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Love that last video. But it didn't have enough highlights for my liking. So I made my own version -



It's amazing how many of these highlights I remember seeing in person, or live on TV.

I'm excited about this next chapter of Blazer history!
 
Health.
Jrue, Jerami, Time Lord -- real veterans for each grouping. The team salary structure is better and looking stable.
Extensions for Toumani -- yes -- and Sharpe -- likely -- can play out. No worries, IMHO.

Jrue, Scoot, Shaedon
Deni, Toumani, Jerami
Clingan, Time Lord, Yang

Matisse, Rupert, Murray, Reath

With the exits and the grown-ups and Dame and big swings in the draft-- I like this season.
 
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