This Forum is a Ghost Town: Who Killed It?

[zzaj]

I am witholding judgement on the trade return on Lillard. Until the value of those future picks is revealed, it's impossible for me to judge.

well, there is Golden State's pick this season, but if they make the playoffs that pick would be 18-20 in a weak draft. Even if they don't make the playoffs, the pick would likely be 13 or 14....in that weak draft....for arguably the best player in franchise history and by far the most loyal until Cronin essentially maneuvered him into the corner of asking for a trade

the first un-protected pick isn't until 2028. That's 5 long years after Dame was traded and as we've seen with Sharpe and Scoot, the odds are, even if it's a good pick, Portland wouldn't see a real pay-off on that player till his 3rd or 4th season; that's 2031-32 in case you're keeping track; 7-8 years from now.

Well, you can go ahead and hold off gauging the Dame trade until then, but when the payoff for trading Dame is Camara, 31 year old Brogdon, always-injured Timelord, and a couple of unknown unprotected first's that far out from the trade....I'm gauging it a crappy return

There about a million ways the "trade Lillard" scenario is getting viewed, and skewed by "reports" of what was available, unavailable, 'who said whats', etc...99% of it is conjecture. What we do know is that Lillard publically wanted out, so that automatically is going to change the trade parameters.

ok...but isn't the reality when a player of Dame's stature is traded it's because they almost always are demanding to be traded?

Yeah, I said at the time of the trade this was a move to set up the team for the 2030s. I still stand by that. If Scoot and Sharpe are going to amount to anything, they will be in their prime when those (hopefully) high draft picks convey. But as both of us have pointed out, it's a pretty huge ask to have a fanbase wait a decade.

As to your second point, I suppose that's true. And like just about every other star player that gets traded, there is a trail of "should haves" and "could haves" that follow...when none of us really know the reality of any of that.

I guess my point is that, at current face value the Lillard return was poor. But we don't really know the actual value yet because a big portion of that value is future picks.

And I want to point out that I'm not trying to stand up for Cronin here--I think he's made plenty of blunders. I am just witholding judgement on whether the Lillard return should be included in that.

[JasonStern]

I hate those "good luck babes" that are posted. I can't believe that is still going after all these years. The dedication to posts those every game, 82 games a year for several years now.

Agreed.

Also I think the other Blazer forums have more action. The layout and platform is just a little better IMO

Here's the thing about those "good luck babes" should I have mentioned. I was still married when that started and I've been divorced for 6 years. I think it's been going on for about 8 years if I recall correctly. That's insane to do something like that 82 games a year for that many years. And to pick one out for every game and have pictures ready for each quarter while most don't even like it here.

Leave the good luck babes alone. We had this discussion years ago and came up with an amicable solution. As long as Brandon-Clyde tells you in the post that there is a picture of a beautiful woman that is work safe and hides it in a spoiler that you have to intentionally click to see, the horror of seeing a female body is entirely on you.

FWIW, I appreciate them. There have been a few times I've been exposed to actresses and musicians that I otherwise never would have known about.

[DusterBuster]

Jodie. Jodie did.

[JasonStern]

Jodie. Jodie did.

And switching to Root.
And trading the team's best player since Drexler.
And Scoot not living up to his pre-draft hype.
And a concerning amount of injuries, legit or "shut it down".

I don't remember the thread, but someone was arguing that Brogdon wasn't shut down. But, what are the odds that him, Grant, and Simons all suffer mysterious injuries 73 games into a season where we are 14th in the west. The good news here is that the young players are getting a chance to play. Banton looks like a keeper. Camara has been a gem. Some of the other players show flashes. If you brought Brogdon, Grant, and Simons back, what does that get you? 2 more wins? Maybe? Pass Charlotte to be the 5th worst team in the league? Eh.

[The Sebastian Express]

Jodie. Jodie did.

And switching to Root.
And trading the team's best player since Drexler.
And Scoot not living up to his pre-draft hype.
And a concerning amount of injuries, legit or "shut it down".

I don't remember the thread, but someone was arguing that Brogdon wasn't shut down. But, what are the odds that him, Grant, and Simons all suffer mysterious injuries 73 games into a season where we are 14th in the west. The good news here is that the young players are getting a chance to play. Banton looks like a keeper. Camara has been a gem. Some of the other players show flashes. If you brought Brogdon, Grant, and Simons back, what does that get you? 2 more wins? Maybe? Pass Charlotte to be the 5th worst team in the league? Eh.

Well Brogdon was shutdown in early-mid February with right elbow tendinitis which he's been receiving treatment on, and he had right elbow tenditnis while in Boston. So that isn't 73 games into the season.

I've no doubt Grant is being kept out and Ayton too. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see either of them the rest of the way, especially with us so close to the Spurs and the Hornets. I believe Simons came up limping in one of the games with his knee and did receive a MRI, so I believe that injury is real but wouldn't be surprised again if we don't see him the rest of the way.

There's nothing mysterious about Malcolm's injury. I'm begging us to do better and at least use basic google searches to see injury history and press release dates.

[monopoman]

The NBA in general is getting more boring over time the 3 point shot has solved the game, good teams are those that can hit the 3 point shot like it's nothing since guarding them is far more challenging.

I would be more interested in the Blazers if Scoot or Sharpe was showing that they had superstar potential but that has not come to fruition yet. The only upside is they are both still super young and they could get a lot better in the future. So we have no clue really what they will become down the line they do have the potential to still be damn good someday.

This also is the biggest lull for the Blazers since the days before Brandon Roy, we went from having a Roy led team to a short period with just LMA into the Lillard era. This might be the worst team on paper for the Blazers since Roy joined the team which is a pretty rough change of pace for Blazer fans.

Anyways I hope the NBA makes some major changes to punish the 3 point shot because as more and more time passes it becomes everything. The fact that a average 3 point shooter can produce more points per shot pretty much almost any non-elite mid-range scorer is ridiculous. It's obvious though that at the top levels this is not seen as a problem so I don't know if or when they will ever change it.

Making this even more true the best team in the regular season by a landslide this year is the Celtics and guess what they have the best 3 point shooting and have taken the most.

[Effigy]

This year it's because the team sucks, but even a couple years ago when we were making the teams, we'd be lucky to get to a second page on the game thread. 8-15 page game threads were a Loooooong time ago.

[JasonStern]

Jodie. Jodie did.

And switching to Root.
And trading the team's best player since Drexler.
And Scoot not living up to his pre-draft hype.
And a concerning amount of injuries, legit or "shut it down".

I don't remember the thread, but someone was arguing that Brogdon wasn't shut down. But, what are the odds that him, Grant, and Simons all suffer mysterious injuries 73 games into a season where we are 14th in the west. The good news here is that the young players are getting a chance to play. Banton looks like a keeper. Camara has been a gem. Some of the other players show flashes. If you brought Brogdon, Grant, and Simons back, what does that get you? 2 more wins? Maybe? Pass Charlotte to be the 5th worst team in the league? Eh.

Well Brogdon was shutdown in early-mid February with right elbow tendinitis which he's been receiving treatment on, and he had right elbow tenditnis while in Boston. So that isn't 73 games into the season.

I've no doubt Grant is being kept out and Ayton too. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see either of them the rest of the way, especially with us so close to the Spurs and the Hornets. I believe Simons came up limping in one of the games with his knee and did receive a MRI, so I believe that injury is real but wouldn't be surprised again if we don't see him the rest of the way.

There's nothing mysterious about Malcolm's injury. I'm begging us to do better and at least use basic google searches to see injury history and press release dates.

I'm not saying Brodgon is faking an injury. Whether he is injured or not doesn't make any difference. The Blazers wouldn't play him. We're clearly in tank mode for the rest of the season, giving the young players reps and seeing what g-league talent we want to retain.

[Tim Lehrbach]

I was all alone on the Fire Olshey wagon (and given lots of crap about it).

Untrue. I called Olshey a P.O.S. from day one.

[Tim Lehrbach]

As to the thread's topic, Blazers management is responsible for killing the enthusiasm of fans and activity on this board. I also somewhat agree with the point made earlier in the thread that Blazers fans are "overrated," to the extent that means we are fair-weather. We were spoiled by the early Paul Allen era, when the team would churn through high-level players and always remain competitive. This is not a fanbase that wants to "trust the process," and I am one such fan. I do not believe in the tanking ways of the contemporary NBA rebuild. The best franchises win now, win later, and have a plan for doing both. Olshey and Cronin are just poor horse traders, making value bets and usually losing them. Firing Stotts was disastrous (unpopular opinion, but it also accounts for the departure of two of our most active contributors here). I was fully sold on Scoot and still believe in his upside, but he's been terrible as a rookie. Similarly, I thought the Blazers got the best talent in Sharpe's draft, but he's showing little growth or signs of the high ceiling we assigned him.

In short, there has been precious little to cheer for or find remotely interesting in recent years.

[Shem]

I was all alone on the Fire Olshey wagon (and given lots of crap about it).

Untrue. I called Olshey a P.O.S. from day one.

Well, if you want to open that can of worms, a lot of people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame. I'm sorry, but like 70%-80% of this forum was pissed off at the Dame pick.

[Shem]

And switching to Root.
And trading the team's best player since Drexler.
And Scoot not living up to his pre-draft hype.
And a concerning amount of injuries, legit or "shut it down".

I don't remember the thread, but someone was arguing that Brogdon wasn't shut down. But, what are the odds that him, Grant, and Simons all suffer mysterious injuries 73 games into a season where we are 14th in the west. The good news here is that the young players are getting a chance to play. Banton looks like a keeper. Camara has been a gem. Some of the other players show flashes. If you brought Brogdon, Grant, and Simons back, what does that get you? 2 more wins? Maybe? Pass Charlotte to be the 5th worst team in the league? Eh.

Well Brogdon was shutdown in early-mid February with right elbow tendinitis which he's been receiving treatment on, and he had right elbow tenditnis while in Boston. So that isn't 73 games into the season.

I've no doubt Grant is being kept out and Ayton too. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see either of them the rest of the way, especially with us so close to the Spurs and the Hornets. I believe Simons came up limping in one of the games with his knee and did receive a MRI, so I believe that injury is real but wouldn't be surprised again if we don't see him the rest of the way.

There's nothing mysterious about Malcolm's injury. I'm begging us to do better and at least use basic google searches to see injury history and press release dates.

I'm not saying Brodgon is faking an injury. Whether he is injured or not doesn't make any difference. The Blazers wouldn't play him. We're clearly in tank mode for the rest of the season, giving the young players reps and seeing what g-league talent we want to retain.

Brogdon is the Blazers best player. He's so underrated that people don't notice how he's our best player.

The Blazers are 15-24 with Brogdon.
The Blazers are 4-31 without Brogdon.

Those types of win-loss ratios are not a coincidence.

[JasonStern]

I was all alone on the Fire Olshey wagon (and given lots of crap about it).

Untrue. I called Olshey a P.O.S. from day one.

Pretty confident you can find dozens of posts, if not entire threads, of me ****ing on Olshey. My avatar is literally me mocking him and his protege in Cronin.

I was all alone on the Fire Olshey wagon (and given lots of crap about it).

Untrue. I called Olshey a P.O.S. from day one.

Well, if you want to open that can of worms, a lot of people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame. I'm sorry, but like 70%-80% of this forum was pissed off at the Dame pick.

Olshey was on the job for like 5 minutes when Dame was picked. That was a scouting staff pick. If you're giving him credit for that, you also have to admit he then immediately blew the second lottery pick in that draft on Meyers Leonard.

And I'll eat crow on that draft. I wanted Drummond, who went on to have a solid (but not Dame tier) career. All-star, all-NBA appearance.

I never hated the Dame pick. I just thought we could, per rumors, moved up giving some value I don't recall what - so you can see how inconsequential it would have been, to Toronto at 8 to draft him. It was leaked at the time that Terrence Ross was Toronto's pick. And he wasn't a top 8 player in draft projections.

When we didn't do that, I was griping that we took Meyers Leonard over Jeremy Lamb or John Henson.

But that was an interesting draft. Draymond Green I was super high on. Khris Middleton I was not. Both had outlier careers as 2nd round picks.

I watch random March Madness games, and fall in love with certain players. Especially the ones on my teams. Still bummed we passed on Dillon Brooks for that fat guy that died. Still convinced N'Faly Dante and Jermaine Couisnard are worthy of 2nd round pick consideration. Especially in this weak draft.

[Blazinaway]

Two 60 pts losses, tanking, and key young guys either hurt (Shae) or playing badly (Scoot) tends to seriously dampen interest in this team and season

[Blazinaway]

Well Brogdon was shutdown in early-mid February with right elbow tendinitis which he's been receiving treatment on, and he had right elbow tenditnis while in Boston. So that isn't 73 games into the season.

I've no doubt Grant is being kept out and Ayton too. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see either of them the rest of the way, especially with us so close to the Spurs and the Hornets. I believe Simons came up limping in one of the games with his knee and did receive a MRI, so I believe that injury is real but wouldn't be surprised again if we don't see him the rest of the way.

There's nothing mysterious about Malcolm's injury. I'm begging us to do better and at least use basic google searches to see injury history and press release dates.

I'm not saying Brodgon is faking an injury. Whether he is injured or not doesn't make any difference. The Blazers wouldn't play him. We're clearly in tank mode for the rest of the season, giving the young players reps and seeing what g-league talent we want to retain.

Brogdon is the Blazers best player. He's so underrated that people don't notice how he's our best player.

The Blazers are 15-24 with Brogdon.
The Blazers are 4-31 without Brogdon.

Those types of win-loss ratios are not a coincidence.

Yeah Scoot may be a Gen Patton or Rommel level tank commander

[Blaze the Nugz]

The r/ripcity board is extremely active. That's where I went.

[Shem]

Untrue. I called Olshey a P.O.S. from day one.

Well, if you want to open that can of worms, a lot of people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame. I'm sorry, but like 70%-80% of this forum was pissed off at the Dame pick.

Olshey was on the job for like 5 minutes when Dame was picked. That was a scouting staff pick. If you're giving him credit for that, you also have to admit he then immediately blew the second lottery pick in that draft on Meyers Leonard.

That's what we call a strawman. I NEVER gave Olshey credit for the Dame pick in my last reply. All I said is

"people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame"

Where did that include me?

This was the thread I was talking about.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190709

I never hated the Dame pick. I just thought we could, per rumors, moved up giving some value I don't recall what - so you can see how inconsequential it would have been, to Toronto at 8 to draft him. It was leaked at the time that Terrence Ross was Toronto's pick. And he wasn't a top 8 player in draft projections.

BTW, You did hate the Dame pick. And I'm going to open this can of worm only on you since you decided to strawman me.

Damian Lillard, Meyers Leonard - both positions of need and not necessarily the best players available. that said, I wouldn't be surprised if the blazers are legitimately interested in lillard given their longstanding tradition of blowing a draft pick on a point guard.

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1186457

waiters at 4? if we **** this up and pick lillard...

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190411

Wallace trade not a mistake. Drafting Lillard with the pick we got from him, probably is.

specifically passing on barnes at #6 and then, based on OP's premise, losing batum. but we'll see.

BTW, you wanted Barnes, not Drummond.

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1195054

not to be negative, I'm sure lillard will be a solid pick, but until he goes up against nba competition, how exactly has the bayless 2.0 fears faded away?

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190800

[DusterBuster]

Between my age, what Wemby looks like what he’s going to be for the next decade, and that the Blazers are probably in for a 5-10 year rebuild, I’m officially on the bandwagon train. I’ll be back (if this site is still around) when the Blazers ever have a remote chance.

[DusterBuster]

Well, if you want to open that can of worms, a lot of people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame. I'm sorry, but like 70%-80% of this forum was pissed off at the Dame pick.

Olshey was on the job for like 5 minutes when Dame was picked. That was a scouting staff pick. If you're giving him credit for that, you also have to admit he then immediately blew the second lottery pick in that draft on Meyers Leonard.

That's what we call a strawman. I NEVER gave Olshey credit for the Dame pick in my last reply. All I said is

"people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame"

Where did that include me?

This was the thread I was talking about.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190709

I never hated the Dame pick. I just thought we could, per rumors, moved up giving some value I don't recall what - so you can see how inconsequential it would have been, to Toronto at 8 to draft him. It was leaked at the time that Terrence Ross was Toronto's pick. And he wasn't a top 8 player in draft projections.

BTW, You did hate the Dame pick. And I'm going to open this can of worm only on you since you decided to strawman me.

Damian Lillard, Meyers Leonard - both positions of need and not necessarily the best players available. that said, I wouldn't be surprised if the blazers are legitimately interested in lillard given their longstanding tradition of blowing a draft pick on a point guard.

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1186457

waiters at 4? if we **** this up and pick lillard...

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190411

Wallace trade not a mistake. Drafting Lillard with the pick we got from him, probably is.

specifically passing on barnes at #6 and then, based on OP's premise, losing batum. but we'll see.

BTW, you wanted Barnes, not Drummond.

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1195054

not to be negative, I'm sure lillard will be a solid pick, but until he goes up against nba competition, how exactly has the bayless 2.0 fears faded away?

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190800

All fair call outs. Dame proved all them wrong literally 1 game in. His whole rookie season he was neck and neck with Anthony Davis which no one saw coming.

Scoot was a “can’t miss prospect” and compared to DRose. To say he’s fallen short of that is a laughable understatement. Plenty of reasons why he can still be a productive NBA player (youth primarily), but his DRose comp has been downgraded to DFox in one seeason. At 3, you live with that since you had no other option I suppose, but the Blazers have way less to build off of than hoped at this point.

[JasonStern]

Well, if you want to open that can of worms, a lot of people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame. I'm sorry, but like 70%-80% of this forum was pissed off at the Dame pick.

Olshey was on the job for like 5 minutes when Dame was picked. That was a scouting staff pick. If you're giving him credit for that, you also have to admit he then immediately blew the second lottery pick in that draft on Meyers Leonard.

That's what we call a strawman. I NEVER gave Olshey credit for the Dame pick in my last reply. All I said is

"people were calling for Olshey's head for drafting Dame"

Where did that include me?

This was the thread I was talking about.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190709

I never hated the Dame pick. I just thought we could, per rumors, moved up giving some value I don't recall what - so you can see how inconsequential it would have been, to Toronto at 8 to draft him. It was leaked at the time that Terrence Ross was Toronto's pick. And he wasn't a top 8 player in draft projections.

BTW, You did hate the Dame pick. And I'm going to open this can of worm only on you since you decided to strawman me.

Damian Lillard, Meyers Leonard - both positions of need and not necessarily the best players available. that said, I wouldn't be surprised if the blazers are legitimately interested in lillard given their longstanding tradition of blowing a draft pick on a point guard.

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1186457

waiters at 4? if we **** this up and pick lillard...

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190411

Wallace trade not a mistake. Drafting Lillard with the pick we got from him, probably is.

specifically passing on barnes at #6 and then, based on OP's premise, losing batum. but we'll see.

BTW, you wanted Barnes, not Drummond.

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1195054

not to be negative, I'm sure lillard will be a solid pick, but until he goes up against nba competition, how exactly has the bayless 2.0 fears faded away?

LINK:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1190800

I don't even get what you're trying to prove. If it's that I post stupid crap, yeah. I've been doing that for like 15 years.
Drummond was my pick. You can find the post or posts I made after the combine, where his numbers mirrored Dwight Howard. But I thought there was a 0% chance that he would slide to #6.
Did I want Barnes over Dame? Absolutely. He's still in the league, had a 19/5 season, made the rookie all-star team, etc.
Barnes and Drummond shouldn't have been available at #6. But you had Dion Waiters getting picked out of nowhere. And Thomas Robinson getting picked by the then perennial bad Sacramento...
I didn't hate picking Dame, I hated the Dame pick. Big difference. The Blazers had two lotto picks and we used the best pick we had since Aldridge on some 3 or 4 year guy out of Weber State. What conference are they even in? I never saw the guy play. If the Blazers were going to draft a back up point guard, you don't use the #6 pick to do it. Especially when you have #11 pick and options to move up if you absolutely want some usage heavy point guard.
The draft is a crap shoot. Wizenheimer wanted Thomas Robinson. He was smart enough to preface that with "I do not follow college basketball. I want power forward depth. So, I guess that guy".
I ate crow on it. I'm sure in hindsight Wizenheimer would admit "yeah, that was a position of need but I made it pretty clear I didn't follow the NCAA, so I was just throwing darts at a board."
If you're fine holding quotes from 12 years ago about a draft, not knowing who picks ahead of us, who should the Blazers draft this year? Maybe I can give you some flak in 2036.