Game 38 Portland vs Minnesota 5:00pm Root, Root+

[PDXKnight]

I am now on the absolutely get rid of Chauncey in the offseason bandwagon. I'd also like us to trade Ant (Which isn't new) and definitely Grant. I know people like Danny Marang like to try to put all the blame on these scores on the rookies, but when the rookies were out early on in the game the vets did even worse. They're just not bringing the hustle and energy of the kids. The kids make mistakes, but at least they're never lacking in energy and getting up on defense.

Truly it feels like one of those situations where road trip ends, coach comes back to town and is given his pink slip at the facilities. I expect tomorrow it will be finalized.

[Moonbeam]

I am now on the absolutely get rid of Chauncey in the offseason bandwagon. I'd also like us to trade Ant (Which isn't new) and definitely Grant. I know people like Danny Marang like to try to put all the blame on these scores on the rookies, but when the rookies were out early on in the game the vets did even worse. They're just not bringing the hustle and energy of the kids. The kids make mistakes, but at least they're never lacking in energy and getting up on defense.

Yep, a Scoot-Shaedon-Toumani-Jabari-Duop lineup is what I'm aiming for now.

I want to give Badji a good run as well. I like Simons, Grant, and Brogdon, but I don't see them as fitting with Portland's future too much. Simons is the iffiest in terms of trading, but I just don't see him becoming much more than a microwave scorer in terms of impact and value. While it's great to have a player like that, Portland needs to try to find centerpieces for the team.

[red_power]

Thank God this road trip is over! Portland posted an average margin of -27.4 over these 7 games -- that has to come close to a record for historical Blazer road trips.

Hopefully Portland can play better at home. I wonder what the trade winds will bring, particularly after January 15th.

I'm 100% sure Brogdon and Thybulle are playing the last games in the Blazers uniform.

[Braggins]

I only started following this team this season and I don't like to jump conclusions about coaches since literally every team has some portion of their fanbase that hates their coach, but this situation is not looking good to me.

I'd like to be as optimistic as some of you that they will make a change sooner rather than later, but I'm a long time Hornets fan and somehow Steve Clifford is still their head coach in 2024, so I'm not getting my hopes up. Sometimes incompetent boobs can get in good with a franchises management and stick around way past their expiration date.

[zzaj]

With a team this young, and especially with a 19 year old starting PG it was always going to be rough. We all knew that. But we all secretly hoped Scoot was as good as his hype and his opinion of himself, and we're used to PGs that can come in and do what they do pretty much out of the gate.

Also, caveat...the Blazers have probably had what? maaaaybe 15 practices since the start of the season? For a variety of reasons the NBA needs to shorten the season. I have heard that most teams are averaging 1-2 practices per week because of travel. They are literally practicing during games.

That being said, despite what seems like a daunting task, Chauncey had a pretty simple job to do: take one or two areas of each of the young players' games and make them a repeatable area of focus so that they can build some confidence and 'second nature' NBA ability, which will big picture look like "development". A lot of losing can be forgiven (including by the players, IMO) if we can see some personal growth in the players. Personally, I've seen none of that except for a bit in Scoot and some in Camara. Sharpe in particular needs to be groomed and he's just not getting set up for success. I'd love for somebody like Roy to be in his ear constantly...

I noted it a couple of weeks into the season, but Chauncey doesn't seem to really have much of an offense or defense set up for the team. And if he does, then he's doing a piss-poor job of getting his players to execute anything resembling good NBA basketball. This shouldn't come as any surprise with Scotty Brooks as his lead assistant. I never had huge love for Stotts, but you could actually SEE that he had a system in place when his players were on the court, and to his credit the teams he led often overachieved based on his coaching and Lillard's greatness and ability to run Stotts' system.

If Chauncey came in because Lillard wanted him here, I see no reason that he should be here now. I don't think Budenholzer would come here, but I believe 100% that the team would be better with him at the helm. Becky Hammon, too. It may not add more to the W column (it probably would) but more importantly we would see some structure and evidence of good coaching.