Game 47: Portland vs Milwaukee 7:00pm TNT

[PDXKnight]

Getting Avdija was such a great trade. The guy is an all-star in my view. He does everything, and plays with great energy.

Yeah, Avdija was absolutely worth the price and then some. Looking like a near steal now.

We will see if that 2029 first is any good because that's the only thing that could make the trade close in value. Otherwise it's a pretty clear win for pdx already

[zzaj]

Aaaaand, another Battle won but War lost...

I honestly can't blame Billups at this point. Billups is playing for his next job, what does he have to lose? He shouldn't really be leading the tank anyway.

Every game won on the backs of the trio of Grant/Ayton/Simons is a loss for the franchise.

Now, Deni had himself a game, and Grant looks like he belongs in the Gleague...but take away 21/14 and 25/3/7 and the outcome looks very different.

[Norm2953]

Getting Avdija was such a great trade. The guy is an all-star in my view. He does everything, and plays with great energy.

Yeah, Avdija was absolutely worth the price and then some. Looking like a near steal now.

We will see if that 2029 first is any good because that's the only thing that could make the trade close in value. Otherwise it's a pretty clear win for pdx already

Indeed for nobody knows who will be in the 2029 draft and its the middle pick of picks owned by Portland

[Walton1one]

Was at the game tonight. This game is really an indictment on how bad (top heavy) the EC is. I don't know how MIL is 26-18, there is literally no one else who can reliably score besides Giannis & Dame. I don't think they had bad games, but they lost b\c:

1) POR played above their norm (51%\42.9%) & 2) Not one other player on MIL roster could provide any significant help. Lopez hit a couple 3's in the 2nd half, but beyond that, awful across the board.

Middleton was horrendous tonight, he has been most of the year, no wonder they are open to trading him, he looks cooked out there. 0pts in 15min. I know Grant is having a down year but Middleton is like "Hold my beer" bad.

Avdija just keeps playing better & better, 30-9-2, just an all-around impressive performance.

Simons was hitting some ridiculous shots tonight & Ayton 21-14, looked like he actually wanted to play tonight.

But there is the dilemma, Simons 38min, Ayton 34min, Scoot 27min, Clingan 11min (RW3 did not even play)

Grant played 16min then went out with an ankle injury, so doubt we see him for a few games (or the rest of the season if he remains with the team after the trade deadline)

The bottom line though is that these wins are just nonsensical, and this is just another nail in the coffin of POR chances at getting a top 4 pick. I know there are some fans out there who think the vets (like Simons) are worth keeping, and nights like tonight might make you believe it, but the reality is not one of these vets is leading this team anywhere of significance, so playing them heavy minutes\high usage at the expense of their youth (which they invested in heavily, 3 lottery picks) is beyond shortsighted.

Now maybe Cronin will get off his butt and make a trade or two at the deadline, but based on prior history, I am extremely skeptical. Nor do I see Ayton changing his stripes (lazy ways) or Simons being Dame 2.0 (wait until he ever makes the playoffs and see how teams scheme\defend him into irrelevance). So, welcome to the Chicago Bulls, who have been irrelevant for the last 9 years, that is this teams' fate. CHI may have finally woken up and decided to do something about that, I don't think this franchise will until Cronin is gone and new ownership is in place.

[Shem]

Clingan needs to play a lot more. Dude is an impact big

In an ideal world yes. But he doesn't have the stamina to do it. Plus he's a little injury prone and is dealing with playing more games than he ever did in a college season while having those stamina issues. His size has a lot to do with it. He's going to be a major project. But staying healthy could be challenging because of his massive size.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Clingan should be able to play more than 11-minutes.

[Tim Lehrbach]

Yeah, Avdija was absolutely worth the price and then some. Looking like a near steal now.

We will see if that 2029 first is any good because that's the only thing that could make the trade close in value. Otherwise it's a pretty clear win for pdx already

Indeed for nobody knows who will be in the 2029 draft and its the middle pick of picks owned by Portland

I agree that the Blazers paid a fair price for Deni. Good trade... if they reap the rewards of Deni's growth either through him contributing to a winning Blazers squad or through flipping him for an even better asset. The trouble with the Deni trade is that it may do neither. We may get to watch a very good, exciting player for a few seasons who walks before the games start to count again. But I don't mean to be a downer. Excellent player and a worthy acquisition. Now it's up to the team to take meaningful strides in the rebuild: Simons, Grant, and Ayton ain't it.

[BlazersBroncos]

Sharpe is sliding into rough waters.

There is a VERY good chance BPA when we pick is a SG - VJ and Tre are pure SG and Kasparas and Harper are combos. I have not seen enough consistent flashes from Sharpe to pass any of those 4 guys up at this time. And I strongly think Sharpe is position locked at SG.

If we dont end up winning the lotto or end up w/ Ace (Who I would argue isnt clearly better than any of the 4 guards I listed) then we could be in a very unappealing spot - needing to pay Sharpe despite drafting a SG / CG or trade him for likely less than his worth (Due to said impending extension)

(OT - VJ is looking more like Oladipo by the minute IMO)

[JasonStern]

Yay! A nationally televised game!

Didn't see Portland sweeping the Bucks this season. Line was -6 Bucks. ~70% of the bets were on the Bucks, but ~60% of the money was on Portland. Took a super boost bet on Dame. 29 points, 7 assists. Lost that. Figured if he was going to have a lights game shooting, it'd be at Moda, especially with Simons and Scoot being the primary defenders.

Young core looked solid. Deni looked like a stud. Sharpe was a highlight reel. Scoot looked solid off the bench in backup minutes. Clingan seems to be coming along fine.

Congrats to Chauncey for moving up to 29th best coach in the league. Sure, that just places him ahead of Doc Rivers. But, progress!

Both Simons and Ayton put on great games. Simons is pretty much WYSIWYG. But when Ayton has MotivAyton, he's a fun player to watch. Unfortunately, from what I've seen that's like 1 out of every 5 games. But Suns fans blatantly warned us about that, and many Blazers fans played the damaged girlfriend "I can fix him!"

Still don't get the need to trade Ayton or the desire to trade Simons. I'm looking at Houston overachieve. How did they do that? Drafted well, then signed an, at the time, not sexy, overpriced Fred Van Vleet using cap space. Both Ayton and Simons aren't going to get back anything of value in a trade. And both expire at the same time, freeing up $63.2M in cap space. Unless you think this team can contend in 25/26, don't make a move just to make a move. Grant, on the other hand, is locked up through 27/28. Take anything that doesn't involve salary going past 25/26. Would this cap space land us a star? No. But it might add some solid depth at key positions that we would be missing.

[Pattycakes]

Yeah, Avdija was absolutely worth the price and then some. Looking like a near steal now.

We will see if that 2029 first is any good because that's the only thing that could make the trade close in value. Otherwise it's a pretty clear win for pdx already

Indeed for nobody knows who will be in the 2029 draft and its the middle pick of picks owned by Portland

Based on the fact we still have two picks that year, I think this trade has to be a win. Chalk it up

[PDXKnight]

Clingan should be able to play more than 11-minutes.

He should get 20 and ayton around 28 at center imo. Then next year try to flip those minutes around toward clingan along with starting him as well. At least by then if ayton becomes disgruntled we can just buy him out