Game 59: Portland vs Memphis 5:00pm Root, Root+

[Norm2953]

Dame would have to come back prior to the end of the season for the team to re-adjust to him.

Even with Dame, I'm doubtful Portland could beat The Wolves or the Clippers if they get PG back
in the play-in game. Let's just enjoy this stretch of games when it was fun to watch the Blazers
play.

is it really worth it losing our lotto pick (potential for top 4 if lucky) to win play in games when you have 0 shot at competing in playoffs

Depends what our end goal is. I don’t think picking number 14 vs number 8 is gonna be a game changer as most of the talent is in the top 5 anyhow. Yeah there’s an outside shot we win the lotto but at best it’s around a 20-25 percent shot we get in the top 4 and only around 4-7 percent odds we win the lotto anyhow. I think dame would be much happier to see his new sidekick anf being a great leader and carrying his team to an inspired late season run for the playoffs even if it comes up short. That’d give dame a lot to look forward to when he returns especially if we can make some decent roster moves this summer

I think pick 14 would bring the badly needed backup center for Portland literally has nobody behind Nurk with the release of Zeller.

The higher of the two picks will be around 9-10. The mid-lottery is somewhat deep in prospects and I'm hopeful one of the 6-10
players is a Blazer. If Dame/Ant are the backcourt, Hart will be a solid third guard and Little's return with Winslow along with the
FRP and perhaps a player gotten with the TPE might make Portland solid. This is not counting guys like Eleby, Watford and others
like DSJ, McLemore and all those 6-5 guys they got at the trade deadline

[Pattycakes]

Justice Winslow and J Hart making me feel crazy for loling at these trades. Screw the tank, always. Watch us make the play-in/NO falls out and gets us a great pick and we still get ours.

[PDXKnight]

Justice Winslow and J Hart making me feel crazy for loling at these trades. Screw the tank, always. Watch us make the play-in/NO falls out and gets us a great pick and we still get ours.

I know it’s crazy talk at this point but i don’t think i’ve ever wanted to see a player elevate his game to all star level post trade more than Josh Hart. Would be so cool to see anf and hart make the all star game next year. Not saying it’s likely but man it’d be awesome

I do think hart is primed for a breakout though, 18 ppg /7 rpg/5 app type of line wouldn’t shock me to close out this season. Probably will go down once dame returns but nonetheless i think i’ve seen enough from him to start him at sf going forward barring an off-season addition. Yeah he’s not heavy set but he’s a heckuva lot more capable of playing sf than any of our tweener guards were

[PDXKnight]

Justice Winslow and J Hart making me feel crazy for loling at these trades. Screw the tank, always. Watch us make the play-in/NO falls out and gets us a great pick and we still get ours.

If we didn’t basically have our top 3 pick in anf id wish we were tanking because outside of him the cupboard is fairly empty at the moment in terms of young talent. But i like seeing a young star that can carry a team to wins that is highly encouraging to me moreso than getting a high pick even.

I think the pels pick could really do anything. It’s not gonna be top 4 short of a major lotto bounce but could be anywhere from 6-14 if they don’t win in a play in. Lakers could fall below the pels or the spurs and kings could jump new orleans. Really depends on cj’s transition there which might take the rest of the season. New Orleans last game gave up 27 pts to tyus jones thanks to cj, i don’t think it’s foregone that they win tons of games, but they could sneak in the play in especially if we or someone else tanks to end the season

[DusterBuster]

I get the allure of Top 4 picks, and supposedly they’re can’t miss prospects in this years draft, but even in drafts with those “can’t miss” prospects… they can miss. There’s just no guarantee how those players will pan out.

You obviously want to get there if you can for the chance at them, but there’s no guarantee they actually will be franchise changing. Just ask the Kings. Or Pelicans… Zion was gonna be their post-AD savior. Sixers with Fultz. Blazers Oden

[BlazersBroncos]

Justice Winslow and J Hart making me feel crazy for loling at these trades. Screw the tank, always. Watch us make the play-in/NO falls out and gets us a great pick and we still get ours.

I know it’s crazy talk at this point but i don’t think i’ve ever wanted to see a player elevate his game to all star level post trade more than Josh Hart. Would be so cool to see anf and hart make the all star game next year. Not saying it’s likely but man it’d be awesome

I do think hart is primed for a breakout though, 18 ppg /7 rpg/5 app type of line wouldn’t shock me to close out this season. Probably will go down once dame returns but nonetheless i think i’ve seen enough from him to start him at sf going forward barring an off-season addition. Yeah he’s not heavy set but he’s a heckuva lot more capable of playing sf than any of our tweener guards were

Ya, Hart is for real. He is going to end up being the best SF by a wide margin that we have had since Batum.

I love that he plays with urgency, RoCo was such a coaster.

[JasonStern]

I forgot watching Portland basketball can be fun.

Yeah. I'll eat crow on this. I thought I was done with this team for the year, but the young guys are playing their hearts out. I'm sure there will be some rough patches between now and the end of the year, but I'm rooting for the players.

Dame would have to come back prior to the end of the season for the team to re-adjust to him.

Would he? I mean, this team is effectively playing street ball and it's working out great...

is it really worth it losing our lotto pick (potential for top 4 if lucky) to win play in games when you have 0 shot at competing in playoffs

Draft is a crapshoot. Player development and culture aren't.

I wish we deal trent that’s still a major blow.

Your wish is Olshey's command!

[BlazersBroncos]

Would he? I mean, this team is effectively playing street ball and it's working out great...

IDK about that. We are playing more unselfish and relying on the Ant / Nurk PNR + player movement to score. Such a breath of fresh aid after the near decade of Dame and CJ playing 'your turn, my turn' ISO ball.

Justice has been really good so far, but I do see some streetball when he drives to the basket. Pretty reckless, but makes up for it elsewhere. I thought he was a 4M sack of potatoes when we got him, boy have I been wrong. I love the idea of keeping him around as a backup PF.

Hart + Winslow are basically the type of players I thought we were getting with RoCo and Nance. They have been much better than the latter, albeit its been a tiny sample size. But they defend, play unselfish and unlike the old two are hungry and hustling.

[Norm2953]

Justice Winslow and J Hart making me feel crazy for loling at these trades. Screw the tank, always. Watch us make the play-in/NO falls out and getsolids us a great pick and we still get ours.

If we didn’t basically have our top 3 pick in anf id wish we were tanking because outside of him the cupboard is fairly empty at the moment in terms of young talent. But i like seeing a young star that can carry a team to wins that is highly encouraging to me moreso than getting a high pick even.

I think the pels pick could really do anything. It’s not gonna be top 4 short of a major lotto bounce but could be anywhere from 6-14 if they don’t win in a play in. Lakers could fall below the pels or the spurs and kings could jump new orleans. Really depends on cj’s transition there which might take the rest of the season. New Orleans last game gave up 27 pts to tyus jones thanks to cj, i don’t think it’s foregone that they win tons of games, but they could sneak in the play in especially if we or someone else tanks to end the season

Draft is supposed to be more thin in comparison to the 2021 draft but solid in the mid-late lottery.

I doubt there is a franchise impacting player in this draft class but picks 6-14 will have a lot of good players. We should be
able to get two players who will offer up rotation minutes for next years team.

[PDXKnight]

I forgot watching Portland basketball can be fun.

Yeah. I'll eat crow on this. I thought I was done with this team for the year, but the young guys are playing their hearts out. I'm sure there will be some rough patches between now and the end of the year, but I'm rooting for the players.

Dame would have to come back prior to the end of the season for the team to re-adjust to him.

Would he? I mean, this team is effectively playing street ball and it's working out great...

is it really worth it losing our lotto pick (potential for top 4 if lucky) to win play in games when you have 0 shot at competing in playoffs

Draft is a crapshoot. Player development and culture aren't.

I wish we deal trent that’s still a major blow.

Your wish is Olshey's command!

Typo “i wish we didn’t deal trent”

[PDXKnight]

Justice Winslow and J Hart making me feel crazy for loling at these trades. Screw the tank, always. Watch us make the play-in/NO falls out and gets us a great pick and we still get ours.

I know it’s crazy talk at this point but i don’t think i’ve ever wanted to see a player elevate his game to all star level post trade more than Josh Hart. Would be so cool to see anf and hart make the all star game next year. Not saying it’s likely but man it’d be awesome

I do think hart is primed for a breakout though, 18 ppg /7 rpg/5 app type of line wouldn’t shock me to close out this season. Probably will go down once dame returns but nonetheless i think i’ve seen enough from him to start him at sf going forward barring an off-season addition. Yeah he’s not heavy set but he’s a heckuva lot more capable of playing sf than any of our tweener guards were

Ya, Hart is for real. He is going to end up being the best SF by a wide margin that we have had since Batum.

I love that he plays with urgency, RoCo was such a coaster.

I think roco was good but clearly aging, wish we could’ve gotten him 4 years earlier.

Seems like little can either play 3 or 4 but depending on what other roster moves we make he could be our best 3 in awhile as well. I don’t love the idea of jerami grant but if we’ve exhausted other possibilities and can bring in grant for the tpe + one of the guys we draft maybe that’d hold some merit.

[Pattycakes]

I know it’s crazy talk at this point but i don’t think i’ve ever wanted to see a player elevate his game to all star level post trade more than Josh Hart. Would be so cool to see anf and hart make the all star game next year. Not saying it’s likely but man it’d be awesome

I do think hart is primed for a breakout though, 18 ppg /7 rpg/5 app type of line wouldn’t shock me to close out this season. Probably will go down once dame returns but nonetheless i think i’ve seen enough from him to start him at sf going forward barring an off-season addition. Yeah he’s not heavy set but he’s a heckuva lot more capable of playing sf than any of our tweener guards were

Ya, Hart is for real. He is going to end up being the best SF by a wide margin that we have had since Batum.

I love that he plays with urgency, RoCo was such a coaster.

I think roco was good but clearly aging, wish we could’ve gotten him 4 years earlier.

Seems like little can either play 3 or 4 but depending on what other roster moves we make he could be our best 3 in awhile as well. I don’t love the idea of jerami grant but if we’ve exhausted other possibilities and can bring in grant for the tpe + one of the guys we draft maybe that’d hold some merit.

I'm a fan of just keeping the cap space reserved for the future than paying Grant a max deal honestly.