Game 77: Portland vs Washington 4:00pm Root+

[JasonStern]

two useless wins

They aren't useless. They give Shem a reason to validate Chauncey Billups as head coach.

Would it kill you to stop making sh** up??? Would it??? It's like talking to a Trump supporter. Let me put it to you this way. If you have to lie to make someone look bad, what does that say about your integrity? Or your credibility for that matter? Of course I'm trying to reason with someone who thought that the Blazers would have made the playoffs with Terry Stotts instead of Billups the season where Dame played 29 games and was playing injured in the games he played. But look who I'm replying to. Someone who wasn't aware the Blazers had a 3 game winning streak this season.

Are you okay? You never used to take things so personal.

But yeah. Stotts would have taken us to the play-in, which we would win. Then get swept by Denver (or whoever) and waste another year of Dame's prime. The Dame era was honestly as much treadmill as that 2008-2017 Hawks era, one of the greatest "we care enough to get fans to buy tickets but not actually compete" runs of all-time. The playoff performances are surprisingly matching, with one conference finals appearance being the peak. And a lot of "well, we tried" years with no one being held accountable other than maybe the coach.

[Wizenheimer]

I would say Ant and Grant also deferred to Dame. Shaedon is a second year player who was coming off the bench often because our organization is too obsessed with mismatched guard lineups. Shaedon has shown a willingness in the past when it was clear he was the guy on the floor. I'm not going to make a judgment on his on-court personality and willingness to take the lead, be the guy until he's in a lineup with Scoot and other younger guys.

That's just me. I'm really hopeful we see Scoot and Shaedon under the guidance of a different coach and with Ant shipped out. My dreams are probably too much, but is what it is.

Also I agree re: Banton chucking and over-dribbling. If he gets those under control, very good bench guy imo and still young. If he continues to chuck and over-dribble, I would prefer we move on in the future and not let him take up minutes from other guys.

that's fair and I certainly agree about shipping out CJ....I mean Ant

and as I said I'm hopeful for Sharpe, just a bit worried about his durability and desire

[Shem]

They aren't useless. They give Shem a reason to validate Chauncey Billups as head coach.

Would it kill you to stop making sh** up??? Would it??? It's like talking to a Trump supporter. Let me put it to you this way. If you have to lie to make someone look bad, what does that say about your integrity? Or your credibility for that matter? Of course I'm trying to reason with someone who thought that the Blazers would have made the playoffs with Terry Stotts instead of Billups the season where Dame played 29 games and was playing injured in the games he played. But look who I'm replying to. Someone who wasn't aware the Blazers had a 3 game winning streak this season.

Are you okay? You never used to take things so personal.

If anything, you're making this personal because I've embarrassed you by digging up old quotes proving that you are full of yourself. And you hold a grudge for it to a point that you'll make sh** up. These are personal attacks on me because of your pride... your ego to the point you now feel the need to take cheap shots at me out of the blue. Get over it!

But yeah. Stotts would have taken us to the play-in, which we would win.

So you're going to double down that the Blazers would have made the "play-in" the year Dame played 29 games? This is the part of the fire Billups crowd that I don't understand. And that's OVERVALUING the talent on the roster. The roster isn't as good as you think it was.

First you have to make an argument on a season where Blazers made the playoffs where Dame missed 53 games (or a season where he missed more than half of the games). That never happened. In fact, how many times did the Blazers have a losing record at the all-star break and Dame went on a rampage to carry the team to the playoffs?

Just look at Monty Williams. Two years ago he coached a team to 64 wins and the Suns ended up with the best record in the NBA. The year before that, he coached the Suns to the Finals. And yet, this year, Monty Williams's team will likely have the worst record in the NBA.

Think about it. 64 wins and the best record to 13 wins and the worst record in two seasons. It's almost like talent matters more than who the coach is. Dame being a top 75 player of all-time had something to do with those seasons where the Blazers creeped into the playoffs because he went into mega superstar mode during the 2nd half of the season.

Go back to the 2020 season. The year COVID interrupted the season. When the season shutdown in March, the Blazers were 29-37 and that's with Stotts at the helm and a healthy Dame too. When the season resumed in late July and early August, Dame went nuclear to win the Bubble MVP and the Blazers finished at 36-39 to get the 8th seed after beating Memphis in the play-in game.

Do you really think the Blazers would have made the playoffs that season without Dame? And yet you're arguing that the Blazers had enough talent to overcome Dame's injury with a shot at the playoffs in the 2022 season if only they had Stotts as the coach. I'm sorry, but the Blazers would have been lucky to have made the playoffs any of those years with whomever was on the roster besides Dame.

Management has made a clear signal that they want to rebuild and tank this season and so many people have this idea that if the team had a different coach than Billups that this team would have made the playoffs. There's a reason we haven't seen Malcolm Brogdon during the 2nd half of the season. It's because the Blazers are 15-24 with Brogdon and 6-32 without him. Had Chauncey decided to try to win at all costs and hinder development from our young players, this team could have easily won 30-35 games with Brogdon getting big minutes. Assuming he's completely healthy the whole season. But that would have hurt Sharpe and especially Scoot's development this season.

Guess what??? We're likely tanking again next year too.

The fact is, you only made that argument originally about the Blazers would have made the playoffs with Stotts in the 2022 season because you forgot that that Dame played 29 games that year. Just like you forgot the Blazers had a 3 game winning streak. But instead of realizing your mistake, you doubled down. Just like you doubled down on saying you wanted Drummond in the 2012 draft even though I dug up a quote saying you wanted Barnes. Even when I proved that wasn't the case, you still doubled down on it despite the evidence.

[Shem]

that's fair and I certainly agree about shipping out CJ....I mean Ant

I see Ant more like a very poor man's Dame in terms of style of play. But yeah, I do want to see him traded. But his value is going to take a hit because of his fragile body. Ant has missed 31 games this year and missed 20 last year. These last two years were the first two years he's been put in the regular rotation and he can't play at least 70-75 games yet.

and as I said I'm hopeful for Sharpe, just a bit worried about his durability and desire

I'll give Sharpe a pass on his injury this year because he did play "80" games last year. One of those games he was held out was to make sure the Blazers lost for draft position. Had Sharpe missed a lot of games last year via injury, then I'd be concerned. Example: Michael Jordan played all 82 games his rookie year, but only 18 his second season. But then didn't miss a game until his 5th year. Though I do know that Sharpe had been playing though the stomach injury, the same injury Dame had, but not nearly as long as him. I'm glad they shut him down to get it done. But before I could tell something was wrong with him several games before they shut him down. It also had something to do with his deferring more than usual (despite Grant and/or Ant) because his body wasn't right.

One thing I noticed about Sharpe is it depended on who he's playing with. If Ant and Grant are out there, he'll defer to them. When one or both aren't, he's more aggressive about his offense. Hopefully the Blazers trade both Ant and Grant this offseason.

Shaedon is a second year player who was coming off the bench often because our organization is too obsessed with mismatched guard lineups.

Sharpe started 25 of the 32 games he played this year. Like with Scoot, when coming back from injury, they start off coming off the bench with minutes restrictions. The problem with Sharpe was he was trying to play through the injury that clearly needed surgery.

[The Sebastian Express]

that's fair and I certainly agree about shipping out CJ....I mean Ant

I see Ant more like a very poor man's Dame in terms of style of play. But yeah, I do want to see him traded. But his value is going to take a hit because of his fragile body. Ant has missed 31 games this year and missed 20 last year. These last two years were the first two years he's been put in the regular rotation and he can't play at least 70-75 games yet.

and as I said I'm hopeful for Sharpe, just a bit worried about his durability and desire

I'll give Sharpe a pass on his injury this year because he did play "80" games last year. One of those games he was held out was to make sure the Blazers lost for draft position. Had Sharpe missed a lot of games last year via injury, then I'd be concerned. Example: Michael Jordan played all 82 games his rookie year, but only 18 his second season. But then didn't miss a game until his 5th year. Though I do know that Sharpe had been playing though the stomach injury, the same injury Dame had, but not nearly as long as him. I'm glad they shut him down to get it done. But before I could tell something was wrong with him several games before they shut him down. It also had something to do with his deferring more than usual (despite Grant and/or Ant) because his body wasn't right.

One thing I noticed about Sharpe is it depended on who he's playing with. If Ant and Grant are out there, he'll defer to them. When one or both aren't, he's more aggressive about his offense. Hopefully the Blazers trade both Ant and Grant this offseason.

Shaedon is a second year player who was coming off the bench often because our organization is too obsessed with mismatched guard lineups.

Sharpe started 25 of the 32 games he played this year. Like with Scoot, when coming back from injury, they start off coming off the bench with minutes restrictions. The problem with Sharpe was he was trying to play through the injury that clearly needed surgery.

Shaedon started the season coming off the bench with a lineup of Scoot/Simons/Matisse/Grant/Ayton. Shaedon only started because Simons got injured. The intention was clearly for him to come off the bench before injuries made that a necessity to change.

That determined his role prior tot he season and he was not put into position for the season as a whole (prior to his own injury) to be the guy. He deferred to the veterans, because I believe Shaedon is a team player and does what is asked of him.

[Shem]

that's fair and I certainly agree about shipping out CJ....I mean Ant

I see Ant more like a very poor man's Dame in terms of style of play. But yeah, I do want to see him traded. But his value is going to take a hit because of his fragile body. Ant has missed 31 games this year and missed 20 last year. These last two years were the first two years he's been put in the regular rotation and he can't play at least 70-75 games yet.

and as I said I'm hopeful for Sharpe, just a bit worried about his durability and desire

I'll give Sharpe a pass on his injury this year because he did play "80" games last year. One of those games he was held out was to make sure the Blazers lost for draft position. Had Sharpe missed a lot of games last year via injury, then I'd be concerned. Example: Michael Jordan played all 82 games his rookie year, but only 18 his second season. But then didn't miss a game until his 5th year. Though I do know that Sharpe had been playing though the stomach injury, the same injury Dame had, but not nearly as long as him. I'm glad they shut him down to get it done. But before I could tell something was wrong with him several games before they shut him down. It also had something to do with his deferring more than usual (despite Grant and/or Ant) because his body wasn't right.

One thing I noticed about Sharpe is it depended on who he's playing with. If Ant and Grant are out there, he'll defer to them. When one or both aren't, he's more aggressive about his offense. Hopefully the Blazers trade both Ant and Grant this offseason.

Shaedon is a second year player who was coming off the bench often because our organization is too obsessed with mismatched guard lineups.

Sharpe started 25 of the 32 games he played this year. Like with Scoot, when coming back from injury, they start off coming off the bench with minutes restrictions. The problem with Sharpe was he was trying to play through the injury that clearly needed surgery.

Shaedon started the season coming off the bench with a lineup of Scoot/Simons/Matisse/Grant/Ayton. Shaedon only started because Simons got injured. The intention was clearly for him to come off the bench before injuries made that a necessity to change.

That determined his role prior tot he season and he was not put into position for the season as a whole (prior to his own injury) to be the guy. He deferred to the veterans, because I believe Shaedon is a team player and does what is asked of him.

That is true that Sharpe came off the bench the 1st game and you do have a point that had Ant never got injured in the first game he would have continued to come off the bench for the time being.

However, I do believe that Sharpe earned his starting role according to the reports I read and would have stayed in the starting lineup the rest of the reason had he stayed healthy. The other 6 games he came off the bench was because of the minutes restrictions because of his injury. Chauncey did the same thing with Scoot until those restrictions were lifted and became the starting PG again.

[JasonStern]

Would it kill you to stop making sh** up??? Would it??? It's like talking to a Trump supporter. Let me put it to you this way. If you have to lie to make someone look bad, what does that say about your integrity? Or your credibility for that matter? Of course I'm trying to reason with someone who thought that the Blazers would have made the playoffs with Terry Stotts instead of Billups the season where Dame played 29 games and was playing injured in the games he played. But look who I'm replying to. Someone who wasn't aware the Blazers had a 3 game winning streak this season.

Are you okay? You never used to take things so personal.

If anything, you're making this personal because I've embarrassed you by digging up old quotes proving that you are full of yourself. And you hold a grudge for it to a point that you'll make sh** up. These are personal attacks on me because of your pride... your ego to the point you now feel the need to take cheap shots at me out of the blue. Get over it!

You lost me. I have over 11,500 posts on RealGM. I am the first to admit I probably said some dumb ish over the years. I lurked for years before that. And only signed up because someone made some Jerryd Bayless T-Rex hands comment that irritated me enough to actually register. Wizenheimer usually keeps me out of trouble by using his "facts" to "prove a point".

But yeah. Stotts would have taken us to the play-in, which we would win.

So you're going to double down that the Blazers would have made the "play-in" the year Dame played 29 games? This is the part of the fire Billups crowd that I don't understand. And that's OVERVALUING the talent on the roster. The roster isn't as good as you think it was.

Yes, because the Blazers wouldn't have rested Dame under Stotts. As such, they would be a treadmill team. And do you realize what current management wants? Not a rebuild. Enough tickets sold to turn a profit. Management was perfectly fine wasting Dame's prime going 41-41 and reaching the play-in. Dame understandably forced their hand.

Does it even matter? 8th seed swept versus top 6 draft pick? Still hard to watch, presuming anyone actually has Root+.

[Shem]

But yeah. Stotts would have taken us to the play-in, which we would win.

So you're going to double down that the Blazers would have made the "play-in" the year Dame played 29 games? This is the part of the fire Billups crowd that I don't understand. And that's OVERVALUING the talent on the roster. The roster isn't as good as you think it was.

Yes, because the Blazers wouldn't have rested Dame under Stotts.

The GM makes the call about the roster, not the coach. It wasn't up to Chauncey to when it came to who's active to play and who isn't. Is it possible that you're holding Billups responsible for something he had no control over?

And did you NOT see Dame's play in the 29 games he played that season? Look at his stats for starters. He didn't look right. I thought it was pretty obvious to anyone who had seen Dame play his whole career that something was wrong with him since the start of the season. It didn't help that Dame didn't get a chance to rest himself properly that summer since he played the the Olympics to get his gold medal.

Usually Dame rested his ongoing stomach injury during the offseason for about 4-5 years of his career. The summer of '21 didn't let him do that. The good news for Dame is that he learned about what he was going through because of playing with Jrue Holiday during the Olympics and allowed himself to sit out and get the surgery and rest he needed to recover from it.

BTW, here is a screenshot of a text message I sent to Chad Doing (who I know in real life) weeks before the Blazers shut Dame down.