Pre-season

[Norm2953]

I wonder if Scoot is one of the guys who is playing his way into shape.

It's going to be a work in progress with this team. Hoping Scoot, Clingan and Deni
develop , perhaps in spite of the coaches. Hoping Sharpe makes it back and plays up to
his physical ability.

In spite of the overall negative vibe on this board, this team has some building blocks
for Camara is a nice player and if we're stuck with Grant, a front court with Grant,
Camara and Deni is a serviceable front court.

Portland badly needs SS to be their Clyde Drexler but Clyde in his first five seasons in the league
missed 10 games while Sharpe missed 50 games in season 2 and is going to miss the first 4-6 weeks
in his third season.

[m0ng0]

I wonder if Scoot is one of the guys who is playing his way into shape.

It's going to be a work in progress with this team. Hoping Scoot, Clingan and Deni
develop , perhaps in spite of the coaches. Hoping Sharpe makes it back and plays up to
his physical ability.

In spite of the overall negative vibe on this board, this team has some building blocks
for Camara is a nice player and if we're stuck with Grant, a front court with Grant,
Camara and Deni is a serviceable front court.

Portland badly needs SS to be their Clyde Drexler but Clyde in his first five seasons in the league
missed 10 games while Sharpe missed 50 games in season 2 and is going to miss the first 4-6 weeks
in his third season.

Playing Sharpe out of position was TABOO, why would we play Deni out of position? With the lineup presented with Deni, Grant and Camara someone is playing out of position... however when they're was talk of Scoot, Simons and Sharpe that was unfathomable. Weird

[Tim Lehrbach]

In spite of the overall negative vibe on this board, this team has some building blocks
for Camara is a nice player and if we're stuck with Grant, a front court with Grant,
Camara and Deni is a serviceable front court.

Clingan could be a nice piece in that frontcourt, too.

I know I add to the negative vibe, but it's really just about the team's lack of high-end talent and the disappointment that Scoot and Sharpe, the prized prospects of the rebuild so far, ain't it yet. It's deflating. It just feels like it will be a long time before we get to see quality Blazers basketball again, and it's hard to get excited rooting for guys who aren't likely to be a part of it.

I can squint and see a good future in Scoot-Sharpe-Camara-Deni-Clingan and the next two years' picks. I give Scoot and Sharpe a hard time for their poor starts, but we all may have expected too much, too soon -- as others have pointed out. They are hella young still, and Sharpe's progress has been interrupted by injuries. I am still rooting for both of them.

It's not quite as bleak as the nadir of the 2000s, when our hopes were in Sebastian Telfair, Martell Webster, and Viktor Khryapa, while the team still employed Ruben Patterson. And, whaddya know, we leapt out of those down days by striking draft gold in Roy and Aldridge. Things could turn around sooner than I project.

[Tim Lehrbach]

I wonder if Scoot is one of the guys who is playing his way into shape.

It's going to be a work in progress with this team. Hoping Scoot, Clingan and Deni
develop , perhaps in spite of the coaches. Hoping Sharpe makes it back and plays up to
his physical ability.

In spite of the overall negative vibe on this board, this team has some building blocks
for Camara is a nice player and if we're stuck with Grant, a front court with Grant,
Camara and Deni is a serviceable front court.

Portland badly needs SS to be their Clyde Drexler but Clyde in his first five seasons in the league
missed 10 games while Sharpe missed 50 games in season 2 and is going to miss the first 4-6 weeks
in his third season.

Playing Sharpe out of position was TABOO, why would we play Deni out of position? With the lineup presented with Deni, Grant and Camara someone is playing out of position... however when they're was talk of Scoot, Simons and Sharpe that was unfathomable. Weird

My guess is you are perceiving another slight against Simons in fans' aversion to a Scoot-Simons-Sharpe starting trio. It's not Anfernee's fault that Blazers fans are wary, and weary, of undersized lineups. But yeah, there will be more tolerance for playing the bigger wings down a position on account of their size and relative youth.

I can admit that I have no idea whom I would start on this team.

[PDXKnight]

Scoot feels like jekyll and hyde sometimes

[Norm2953]

I wonder if Scoot is one of the guys who is playing his way into shape.

It's going to be a work in progress with this team. Hoping Scoot, Clingan and Deni
develop , perhaps in spite of the coaches. Hoping Sharpe makes it back and plays up to
his physical ability.

In spite of the overall negative vibe on this board, this team has some building blocks
for Camara is a nice player and if we're stuck with Grant, a front court with Grant,
Camara and Deni is a serviceable front court.

Portland badly needs SS to be their Clyde Drexler but Clyde in his first five seasons in the league
missed 10 games while Sharpe missed 50 games in season 2 and is going to miss the first 4-6 weeks
in his third season.

Playing Sharpe out of position was TABOO, why would we play Deni out of position? With the lineup presented with Deni, Grant and Camara someone is playing out of position... however when they're was talk of Scoot, Simons and Sharpe that was unfathomable. Weird

That front court group was their forwards with a center group of Ayton, Clingan and hopefully TL.

Lots of teams play small if they have a big, defensive big like Clingan for they can cover the other teams
on the perimeter for their big can protect the rim. Deni, Camara and Grant would only play together if
the other team needed a 3

[Norm2953]

In spite of the overall negative vibe on this board, this team has some building blocks
for Camara is a nice player and if we're stuck with Grant, a front court with Grant,
Camara and Deni is a serviceable front court.

Clingan could be a nice piece in that frontcourt, too.

I know I add to the negative vibe, but it's really just about the team's lack of high-end talent and the disappointment that Scoot and Sharpe, the prized prospects of the rebuild so far, ain't it yet. It's deflating. It just feels like it will be a long time before we get to see quality Blazers basketball again, and it's hard to get excited rooting for guys who aren't likely to be a part of it.

I can squint and see a good future in Scoot-Sharpe-Camara-Deni-Clingan and the next two years' picks. I give Scoot and Sharpe a hard time for their poor starts, but we all may have expected too much, too soon -- as others have pointed out. They are hella young still, and Sharpe's progress has been interrupted by injuries. I am still rooting for both of them.

It's not quite as bleak as the nadir of the 2000s, when our hopes were in Sebastian Telfair, Martell Webster, and Viktor Khryapa, while the team still employed Ruben Patterson. And, whaddya know, we leapt out of those down days by striking draft gold in Roy and Aldridge. Things could turn around sooner than I project.

Some of us have sat through some really ugly years with the Blazers.

I do think there are some keepers on this Blazers roster for Camara, Deni and Clingan are solid guys. Team badly
needs one of Scoot/Sharpe to be another keeper. Sharpe has the physical talent to be the player they need but
unlike Clyde who was a solid. dependable player whom the team could depend on playing 75-80 games a season,
Sharpe has missed lots of games and continues to miss time on the court with Scoot.

Real chance Scoot is going to follow a path that Jalen Suggs is following in Orlando. He needs also to stay healthy
and play in 75-80 games this season. Unlikely he will progress to the status of being worthy of #3 pick in a draft
but looking back in the last couple of drafts, its been a long time since Luka was the #3 pick

I don't know if Chauncey is really bad coach for perhaps on a veteran laden team that has lots of guys who already
know how to play, he might be a good coach for he seems to connect well with his players and they play hard for
him. On a team that needs a coach that knows how to develop talent, he's coaching the wrong team.

[Tim Lehrbach]

Real chance Scoot is going to follow a path that Jalen Suggs is following in Orlando.

I do like Suggs. Do you mean the reinvention as a defense-first, off-ball player? Or just the tough start, followed by finding his way gradually? I would welcome Scoot having Suggs-level defensive impact, of course. I am (still) hoping he's a more dynamic creator than that even if he settles into a lower-usage role eventually.

[Tim Lehrbach]

I don't know if Chauncey is really bad coach for perhaps on a veteran laden team that has lots of guys who already
know how to play, he might be a good coach for he seems to connect well with his players and they play hard for
him. On a team that needs a coach that knows how to develop talent, he's coaching the wrong team.

I never really know how to evaluate coaches. My humble opinion is that I think the Blazers have been generally lucky to have very good ones: Ramsay, Adelman, Dunleavy, McMillan, Stotts. Billups may be a good coach someday, but I agree that he is not the appropriate guy for the task of growing these young talents.

[dckingsfan]

I went to the game last night in Sac. Couldn't tell who was coaching - didn't look like Billups, so there is that.

Sac shot horribly from 3 - I think they were down to 15% at one time in the game.

I thought Scoot did fine. He did struggle to create for his teammates, his passes were a bit late but I thought he took care of the ball well and applied pressure on D. Very solid outing.

Grant was Grant, spreading the floor and hitting a couple of 3s. He didn't play that much.

Camara didn't do all that much defensively but hit his shots.

Avdija was really good on the defensive end. Also boxed out and grabbed rebounds. When they took him out the first time Sac went on a run. His shot was definitely off and a couple of passes weren't expected by his teammates.

Ayton was outplayed by Sabonis. But didn't play poorly.

Clingan off the bench was terrific. Rebounded, took up space, played solid D. I think he is going to become a solid C in the league. He missed his 3s but wasn't afraid to shoot them (one was a brick coming at the end of the shot clock). His passing is really good for a rookie.

Walker was also really good. He was hitting his 3s and that made all the difference. As a note, he was playing small forward on the defensive end from what I could tell. Banton was solid as well.

Reath, Rupert and Graham didn't seem to have it.

[zzaj]

I was only able to watch a little bit, but here's what I saw...

The Blazer length really bothered SAC...Camara, Rupert, Deni, Murray, Banton, Clingan, did just enough to make SAC look mostly uncomfortable in stretches. I think I heard on the radio that the Blazers are now the NBA's longest team?

Scoot looked much more natural than in game 1. I expect there will be ups and downs his first 2-3 years--PGs take a while. Mainly, he did a better job of taking care of the ball and didn't seem as sped up.

Clingan looked like he shook off game 1 jitters, similar to what happened in summer league. As I've said before, he looks like a "system" guy and I expect him to average a double double long-term. The PnR game looked pretty bad with pretty much everybody...that's something that will need a lot of improvement.

I didn't really see much of Deni, so I can't comment on him.

[Norm2953]

Real chance Scoot is going to follow a path that Jalen Suggs is following in Orlando.

I do like Suggs. Do you mean the reinvention as a defense-first, off-ball player? Or just the tough start, followed by finding his way gradually? I would welcome Scoot having Suggs-level defensive impact, of course. I am (still) hoping he's a more dynamic creator than that even if he settles into a lower-usage role eventually.

It's going to take Scoot some time for he's got the physical tools to be a solid defender but not having the
perimeter game that the elite PG's have limits his ceiling. He's just going to be a 12 ppg scorer which is
what Suggs is. It'd be nice if stayed healthy and gave the team 75+ games, settling into a groove as the team's
PG.

[dckingsfan]

I was only able to watch a little bit, but here's what I saw...

The Blazer length really bothered SAC...Camara, Rupert, Deni, Murray, Banton, Clingan, did just enough to make SAC look mostly uncomfortable in stretches. I think I heard on the radio that the Blazers are now the NBA's longest team?

Scoot looked much more natural than in game 1. I expect there will be ups and downs his first 2-3 years--PGs take a while. Mainly, he did a better job of taking care of the ball and didn't seem as sped up.

Clingan looked like he shook off game 1 jitters, similar to what happened in summer league. As I've said before, he looks like a "system" guy and I expect him to average a double double long-term. The PnR game looked pretty bad with pretty much everybody...that's something that will need a lot of improvement.

I didn't really see much of Deni, so I can't comment on him.

Yep, good points all. Only one thing I would comment on. Sac had an amazing number of open 3 point attempts... they just couldn't hit them (felt like all of them).

And yes on Clingan not being all that in the PnR. But... I think he will get there in spades on both the PnR and PnP.

[zzaj]

I was only able to watch a little bit, but here's what I saw...

The Blazer length really bothered SAC...Camara, Rupert, Deni, Murray, Banton, Clingan, did just enough to make SAC look mostly uncomfortable in stretches. I think I heard on the radio that the Blazers are now the NBA's longest team?

Scoot looked much more natural than in game 1. I expect there will be ups and downs his first 2-3 years--PGs take a while. Mainly, he did a better job of taking care of the ball and didn't seem as sped up.

Clingan looked like he shook off game 1 jitters, similar to what happened in summer league. As I've said before, he looks like a "system" guy and I expect him to average a double double long-term. The PnR game looked pretty bad with pretty much everybody...that's something that will need a lot of improvement.

I didn't really see much of Deni, so I can't comment on him.

Yep, good points all. Only one thing I would comment on. Sac had an amazing number of open 3 point attempts... they just couldn't hit them (felt like all of them).

And yes on Clingan not being all that in the PnR. But... I think he will get there in spades on both the PnR and PnP.

Yeah, PnR play goes both ways--it's on both players for success. From what I recall in the Gleague film I saw a couple years ago, Scoot wasn't exactly Stockton in navigating PnR plays. He was largely an open court player. Of course, last year he had Ayton as a partner toward the end of the year, and Ayton is pretty bad at the intricacies of PnR play.

The good news is that Clingan was pretty good at it in college, and seems to be a fairly cerebral player, generally. Like you, I would hope that Scoot/Clingan and Deni/Clingan PnR develops into something reliable in the halfcourt. It certainly should...

[Walton1one]

Scoot feels like jekyll and hyde sometimes

I mean he is a 20yr old playing PG in the NBA. The hope is we see more good nights to offset the bad ones, but I fully expect to see a fair bit of both this year.

It was pointed out in a podcast that there have been only two PG (20 & under) who entered the NBA and played great from the jump, Trae Young & Ja Morant, and Trae is the only one who was 19, so the outlier opinion is expecting Scoot to come in and play dominant at age 19 (let alone age 20). I think the context is important.

As for impressions from the SAC game. My #1 takeaway?

There was a 5-minute stretch to start the 3Q, where POR had a lineup of Scoot-Camara-Murray-Avdija-Clingan. During that 5-minute run, POR outscored SAC 12-6.

The ages of those POR players? Scoot (20) - Camara (24) - Murray (24) - Avdija (23) - Clingan (20)

So yeah, maybe they should focus on playing the young guys? Yeah, they will lose plenty with those guys as well, but THAT is where the future of this team lies, not with guys like Grant\Simons\Williams\Thybully & Ayton

Other observations:

Camara has looked good in both games, very active, on offense & defense, a total pest on defense, he was pissing Fox off, which was good to see.

The starting SG in Sharpe's absence should be Camara. Great size (6'8), has the ability\desire to guard opposing guards (he was all over Fox), the other options (Banton\Graham) are not worth anything more than garbage minutes, and the #1 reason? This avoids the Simons\Scoot pairing which is not good, start Camara at SG, have Scoot come off the bench to replace Simons.

I don't like it, Scoot should be starting, however, starting him alongside Simons is not going to help his growth only stunt it. Scoot is NOT an off-guard, he is a PG, he needs the ball in his hands, and that won't happen when he is sharing the floor with Simons, who is high usage.

Avdija looked rusty and frustrated, but I think that was frustration with himself, he is a real bulldozer going to the hoop

That DHO that POR runs to start their offense at the top of the key is dumb and absolutely worthless, this team needs a real X\O coach badly.

Ayton looked good.

Grant, 2nd game similar stat line 9 point - 0 boards - 0 assists. Friday's game? 15 points - 0 rebounds - 0 assists.

Scoot had a good game, still gets a little careless with his dribble and has a tendency to drive himself into trouble and look for passes that just are not there (not with NBA caliber players), but had 1 TO 7 assists, 2 steals, 4 boards, 17pts and got to the line frequently (6-8).

Walker hit 3 3pt shots, cool if it is a real trend, but I am not buying it.

Murray does a lot of the little things well, but he has to improve his shot if he wants to be a meaningful rotation player

Banton plays with blinders on the offensive side of court. He takes way too many wild shots\poor decisions with the ball, he is not a rotation player that a good team can count on.

[Walton1one]

Something to note about tonight's POR game (don't think it is on the TV). Playing Ratiopharm Ulm, one player of note to pay attention to is Ben Saraf, could be a lottery pick next year.

[BlazersBroncos]

Something to note about tonight's POR game (don't think it is on the TV). Playing Ratiopharm Ulm, one player of note to pay attention to is Ben Saraf, could be a lottery pick next year.

Really high on this kid. Only have seen highlights but he is the first prospect I have seen who I am willing to make the Manu comp with - albeit he isnt the athlete that Manu was (That guy was highly underrated as a explosive athlete)

[PDXKnight]

Something to note about tonight's POR game (don't think it is on the TV). Playing Ratiopharm Ulm, one player of note to pay attention to is Ben Saraf, could be a lottery pick next year.

Really high on this kid. Only have seen highlights but he is the first prospect I have seen who I am willing to make the Manu comp with - albeit he isnt the athlete that Manu was (That guy was highly underrated as a explosive athlete)

Manu would've been widely considered a superstar if he shot the ball more. He impacted the game as much as anybody

[zzaj]

Just watched the whole game against SAC...and two things I find concerning:

1) The Blazers run ZERO plays for the SF position. For whatever reason it's the same story with the Blazer offense...The SF scores on broken plays or camps in the corner. They didn't run anything for Batum, or Wes (when he played SF), nor Aminu/Harkless (not that they should have). The last time I remember actual plays being run for the SF position was Scottie Pippen and Detlef Shrempf.

This needs to change in a big way. Deni is the first player in a long time that the Blazers have had that is a true triple threat at the SF position.

2) I have been on the "give Scoot time" train since before he was drafted, although I didn't love the pick--but understand why he was picked. But watching him carefully, his "feel" on both ends of the ball is just sooooo far away. My worry is that he's an empty stats player--a PG version of someone like Ayton or Whiteside. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Scoot ends up averaging 18/6/8, but doesn't have that "thing" that really contributes to winning basketball.

Also, watched some of the CHA/NYK game. Blazers should have kept Kolek. 7/8/9 and he had an off shooting night. Miller got hot from 3.

Lotta good play from this last rookie class. Edey highlights make him look unstoppable as an offensive player in the paint. Williams, Da Silva and Risacher looking pretty dang good, too. Lots to like in this last draft class...

[BlazersBroncos]

2) I have been on the "give Scoot time" train since before he was drafted, although I didn't love the pick--but understand why he was picked. But watching him carefully, his "feel" on both ends of the ball is just sooooo far away. My worry is that he's an empty stats player--a PG version of someone like Ayton or Whiteside. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Scoot ends up averaging 18/6/8, but doesn't have that "thing" that really contributes to winning basketball.

This worries me as well. Its a bit like DSJ's rookie season. Usage at the PG spot will produce raw stats in nearly any player.