Game 40: Portland @ LA Lakers 7:30pm Comcast

[Fitz303]

Loving the Davis resurgence and Leonard in garbage time

[Shem]

Meyers cut from the rotation tonight and I saw a different bench unit tonight. Stotts, are you taking notes?

[GreenRiddler]

Is Lillard the reason why we got better on defense still? It was of course having our undisputed best overall defender Aminu back that we turned things around on defense over the last 10 or so games. Along with the new defensive schemes.

It is just a shame we lost our best defender for so long this season and didn't have these schemes earlier. We would no doubt be where the Clips/Jazz/Grizz are now. Oh well, we just have to trade for a defensive PF so if we ever lose Aminu again we won't be thi crippled again.

Man oh man is McCollum balling like he Jordan lately. The guy isn't even a questionable allstar anymore, of course out west he won't make it but I wouldn't be surprised to see him ahead of notable west players when we get the peer voting results. Better believe if you do this to your fellow NBA players they will remember you. He is really reminding me of Kyrie Irving. Has all NBA potential if he isn't playing at that level already. The funny thing is this isn't even a hot streak anymore, he is just a 25ppg scorer now.

It sucks we lost that nail-bitter vs Det on such a chance possession, could've been on a 3 game win streak. I still think there is a chance we can catch up to the Thunder and have a really fun Series VS the Rockets or Spurs. Hell we ca stay at the 8th seed and still face the Rockets or Spurs. I wouldn't consider that a huge disappointment given the injuires, especially since the 6-3 seeds will be facing tough opponents aswell, this is the west after all, all 4 matchups are tough. We also have the 15 and 25-30 pick to soothe us over from missing out on a 9-13 pick.


We really need to not go to Vonleh and Ed ever again, they don't play well together, I know you can't play Meyers vs a small bench unit like the Lakers but no Vonleh and Davis pairing ever. Speaking of which Vonleh's confidence is soooo shot. Sad tbh.

glad to see Dame come on late and shutup TMZ's best local reporter in D'angelo Williams.

Holding a great offensive team to under 90points we are turning a corner on D. Scratch that we have turned acorner and are now running past the blocks.

[Norm2953]

Didn't watch much of the game (been watching the snow coverage) but I'm wondering what our old
friend from the Lakers board (Deep) thinks about not wanting to keep the Lakers pick. That's a team
that needs one of those elite PG's or a SF for ESPN estimates their chances at keeping their pick at
35%.

[DusterBuster]

Meyers cut from the rotation tonight and I saw a different bench unit tonight. Stotts, are you taking notes?

I really wish Meyers wasn't bothered to be resigned. I would be so happy if he was just on his QO or was even just released.

[The Sebastian Express]

Meyers cut from the rotation tonight and I saw a different bench unit tonight. Stotts, are you taking notes?

I really wish Meyers wasn't bothered to be resigned. I would be so happy if he was just on his QO or was even just released.

I think that was the resigning I was most disappointed with this summer with Crabbe a second just because of the sheer amount. Meyers should've been let go. I know 4/40ish isn't a lot in this new basketball economy, but damn if it doesn't feel wasted.

[PDXKnight]

Meyers cut from the rotation tonight and I saw a different bench unit tonight. Stotts, are you taking notes?

I really wish Meyers wasn't bothered to be resigned. I would be so happy if he was just on his QO or was even just released.

I think that was the resigning I was most disappointed with this summer with Crabbe a second just because of the sheer amount. Meyers should've been let go. I know 4/40ish isn't a lot in this new basketball economy, but damn if it doesn't feel wasted.

I just question with all that money how they couldn't even get a TO on the end of that deal? I actually think the Crabbe one is slightly worse since even if he lives up to all that money he has the right to opt out thus giving us only 3 years of productivity.

[PDXKnight]

Harkless is turning into a stud

He's been a stud all season!

[Downtown]

I wouldn't go so far as to call Harkless a stud, but he's a very good complimentary player and a very good fit for this roster. Like when we had Robin Lopez, he doesn't try to overdo what his skill set is but really helps the team in areas that allow the others to succeed at their positions. I guess you could use that phrase "glue player" to describe him.

Every team needs someone like that. And whether it was great evaluating or just getting lucky being in the right place at the right time, or a little of both, I have to give Olshey credit for that trade. At the time it didn't seem like a big deal.

[Wizenheimer]

I wouldn't go so far as to call Harkless a stud, but he's a very good complimentary player and a very good fit for this roster. Like when we had Robin Lopez, he doesn't try to overdo what his skill set is but really helps the team in areas that allow the others to succeed at their positions. I guess you could use that phrase "glue player" to describe him.

Every team needs someone like that. And whether it was great evaluating or just getting lucky being in the right place at the right time, or a little of both, I have to give Olshey credit for that trade. At the time it didn't seem like a big deal.

while I think Olshey's drafting acumen is overrating, one thing is is good at is finding trades for players other teams have given up on or have little interest in keeping

by my count, he's done 7 of those trades since he's been blazer GM:

* used a TPE, cash & rights to Giorgos Printezis to land Eric Maynor
* traded two 2nds and right to 2 euro players for TRob
* traded two 2nd's for Robin Lopez
* traded cash for Brian Roberts & Miami's 2021 2nd
* traded Steve Blake and RHJ for Plumlee
* traded the 2020 top-55 protected 2nd for Harkless
* traded cash for Napier

it's safe to say the Maynor, Roberts, and Napier trades are insignificant entries on either side of the ledger. I thin the TRob trade was a loser. But the Lopez, Plumlee, and Harkless trades were pretty big winners

unfortunately, Olshey crapped all over his success with the Lopez trade by letting him walk while re-signing Meyers for a contract not much less then that of Lopez. And he may be forced to crap on the Plumlee trade because of the financial straight-jacket he's put the Blazers in. That's to be determined

if I had to guess, I'd expect that's the kind of trade he may do before the deadline....that's what he seems comfortable doing

when he goes for a bigger trade, the results are worse. Batum for Henderson and Vonleh was a loser even though there may have been arguments for it. The Afflalo trade was a bad one. Maybe we shouldn't be so anxious for Olshey to engineer a bigger trade
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the Davis vs Meyers debate brings up a lot of issues. Yes, Davis should have been getting more consistent minutes at the expense of Meyers. Why Olshey has so much man-love for Meyers is baffling.

the Meyers contract is bad, but it's hard to point at any of the 3 bloated deals the Blazers gave out and say it's the worst

it's the aggregate of the decisions that is highly questionable. I think it all starts with the Dame/CJ back court. That's what it's going to be for years, and the current roster is a bad match for those two guys.