Game 9: Portland vs Brooklyn 7:00pm SNW

[monopoman]

Well if portland loses enough that could work with out well. Imagine if they get a top draft pick and then have nurkic and collins ready to go next season. but i think it's more likely that they will find a way to make the playoffs this season.

Meh a little early for that talk, they are not looking great right now but Houston sucked ass in the first 10-15 games of last season and yet they won 53 games same as us.

Right but if they did pull a top draft pick that would be sort of like what the spurs did to get duncan. I think its more likely they will be in the playoffs or get like a 8- 10th pick.

I think if we miss the playoffs we are likely 9th or 10th seed at worst I don't know if we are bad enough to be in the hunt for a top pick. Unless ownership packs it up and insists on sitting Damian or something.

[d-train]

Headed for the lotto?

I'm starting to think the rumors of Whiteside being a team cancer are true. We are depleted no doubt but can't even win with Dame putting up 60? Gimme a break

While Whiteside has not been great we got 0 from everyone else on the team offensively almost. Little and a few others that only took like 1 or 2 shots were mildly effective anyone that took over 10 shots had a pretty horrid shooting night beyond Lillard.

I look at the team as a unit. Of course Lillard will be good most of the time. He has the ball and a green light every play. Everyone else depends on cohesive play execution. I think the offense is sputtering because there is too much emphasis to involve Whiteside relative to what we are getting out of it. Nurkic did a better job of finding open shooters or just keeping the ball moving. Same with Kanter.

Stotts has to go back to the drawing board and completely retool the offense. It doesn't work just plugging Whiteside into the Nurkic role.

[Capn'O]

Headed for the lotto? This team just isn't fun to watch, if they continue to play with this level of "heart" I'm beginning to hope they suck bad enough to blow it up.. Team meeting and they didn't improve anything, in fact they actually look worse

I'm starting to think the rumors of Whiteside being a team cancer are true. We are depleted no doubt but can't even win with Dame putting up 60? Gimme a break

I don't think that's fair to Whiteside - he's not doing anything wrong per se but he's not great for ball movement or team defense. Very much in contrast to Nurkic. He's just not good enough to be a dump the ball guy on offense. Blazers probably just have to ride the wave and start to develop their future pieces this season and get Nurk back in shape. Disappointing after last year but I think they still have talent going forward. Maybe there's a trade in there too.

[monopoman]

Headed for the lotto? This team just isn't fun to watch, if they continue to play with this level of "heart" I'm beginning to hope they suck bad enough to blow it up.. Team meeting and they didn't improve anything, in fact they actually look worse

I'm starting to think the rumors of Whiteside being a team cancer are true. We are depleted no doubt but can't even win with Dame putting up 60? Gimme a break

I don't think that's fair to Whiteside - he's not doing anything wrong per se but he's not great for ball movement or team defense. Very much in contrast to Nurkic. He's just not good enough to be a dump the ball guy on offense. Blazers probably just have to ride the wave and start to develop their future pieces this season and get Nurk back in shape. Disappointing after last year but I think they still have talent going forward. Maybe there's a trade in there too.

We have a lot of young players that should be quite good, I like what this team has as far as assets go injuries are the biggest problem this year. Z. Collins was our best defender that has actually played minutes and we lost him, sucks when our best defender overall Nurkic is also on the sidelines.

[Matt800]

Meh a little early for that talk, they are not looking great right now but Houston sucked ass in the first 10-15 games of last season and yet they won 53 games same as us.

Right but if they did pull a top draft pick that would be sort of like what the spurs did to get duncan. I think its more likely they will be in the playoffs or get like a 8- 10th pick.

Yeah unfortunately I don't think we are bad enough to fall to the bottom. An 8 pick tends to be a crapshoot, and 8-20 doesn't get you a top talent anyhow.

I think unless Nurk comes back and can stay healthy consistently we are not a championship team (duh). So a high pick would be a consolation prize that might be nice to have. But then again if we end up with a high pick whos to say we don't just blow this thing up since that'd say a lot about the state about the team?

The good news is perhaps we finally look for a CJ deal if things get bad. But if we lose a bunch of games I doubt CJ's value will be phenomenal.

Yeah lillard/cj would need to be out for a lot of the season to get a top pick and justify keeping the core.

Cj has been bad to start the last few years. But I like that he is often good in the playoffs. If Simons ends up looking better though I would love to move cj for a better fitting guy.

[Capn'O]

Headed for the lotto? This team just isn't fun to watch, if they continue to play with this level of "heart" I'm beginning to hope they suck bad enough to blow it up.. Team meeting and they didn't improve anything, in fact they actually look worse

I'm starting to think the rumors of Whiteside being a team cancer are true. We are depleted no doubt but can't even win with Dame putting up 60? Gimme a break

I don't think that's fair to Whiteside - he's not doing anything wrong per se but he's not great for ball movement or team defense. Very much in contrast to Nurkic. He's just not good enough to be a dump the ball guy on offense. Blazers probably just have to ride the wave and start to develop their future pieces this season and get Nurk back in shape. Disappointing after last year but I think they still have talent going forward. Maybe there's a trade in there too.

We have a lot of young players that should be quite good, I like what this team has as far as assets go injuries are the biggest problem this year. Z. Collins was our best defender that has actually played minutes and we lost him, sucks when our best defender overall Nurkic is also on the sidelines.

Absolutely

[Moonbeam]

Looks like we could get Lillard’s highest scoring season yet if others are struggling to score. He jumped into 202nd place all time in the combined NBA/ABA scoring list tonight. By the end of next season, he could be in the top 100.

[Norm2953]

As I mentioned in the other thread, its going to take Stotts time to figure out this team.

Whiteside is simply not a P&R player but a rim runner much like Clint Capela is in Houston. That
puts CJ as the shooter on the wing but without Zach Collins, we've got nobody who is a threat to
score in a P&R scheme. Team seems to be mess but unless Nurk returns early, by the time Stotts
gets it all figured out, its going to take a big mid-season trade to be any threat even if they
make the playoffs.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

CJ has no accountability. Not only did he take too many shots, he took a ton of really really poor shots.

[Matt800]

I liked seeing Little. And I'm curious how much Gasol will help when he is back. He might be a good pick and roll/pop guy.

[Roy The Natural]

Headed for the lotto?

I'm starting to think the rumors of Whiteside being a team cancer are true. We are depleted no doubt but can't even win with Dame putting up 60? Gimme a break

While Whiteside has not been great we got 0 from everyone else on the team offensively almost. Little and a few others that only took like 1 or 2 shots were mildly effective anyone that took over 10 shots had a pretty horrid shooting night beyond Lillard.

I look at the team as a unit. Of course Lillard will be good most of the time. He has the ball and a green light every play. Everyone else depends on cohesive play execution. I think the offense is sputtering because there is too much emphasis to involve Whiteside relative to what we are getting out of it. Nurkic did a better job of finding open shooters or just keeping the ball moving. Same with Kanter.

Stotts has to go back to the drawing board and completely retool the offense. It doesn't work just plugging Whiteside into the Nurkic role.

Wrong... The offense is sputtering because CJ is playing like Nolan Smith out there and is forcing the issue rather than letting the game come to him. The offense is sputtering because the Blazers are giving about 20 shots to a guy who probably deserves about 5 shots with the way he's playing.

The defense is a whole other issue, but let's not get a twisted here, the offense looks **** up because CJ is out there wasting 1/4 of the team's offensive possession.

[Roy The Natural]

I don't think that's fair to Whiteside - he's not doing anything wrong per se but he's not great for ball movement or team defense. Very much in contrast to Nurkic. He's just not good enough to be a dump the ball guy on offense. Blazers probably just have to ride the wave and start to develop their future pieces this season and get Nurk back in shape. Disappointing after last year but I think they still have talent going forward. Maybe there's a trade in there too.

We have a lot of young players that should be quite good, I like what this team has as far as assets go injuries are the biggest problem this year. Z. Collins was our best defender that has actually played minutes and we lost him, sucks when our best defender overall Nurkic is also on the sidelines.

Absolutely

I think CJ vs injuries is neck and neck.

If CJ doesn't play god awful this team is 6-2 or 7-1. If the Blazers are fully healthy they're probably 6-2 or 7-1.

[zzaj]

CJ...

There was a time in his second and third year when I was genuinely excited about CJ. I thought that if he just added some things to his game over time in the offseason he was going to be a pretty complete player.

He's truly added nothing. It's shocking to me that for how hard he works (by all accounts) and as cerebral as he seems off the court, his game is filled with the most inefficient stuff. There is a incongruency there that I just don't understand.

I honestly feel kinda bad for Lillard. His loyalty is going to have to be off the charts in order for him to stick around Portland if the team plays at this level all season. Cashing 30 million in checks makes it impossible for me to feel too sorry for him, however.

[Norm2953]

I liked seeing Little. And I'm curious how much Gasol will help when he is back. He might be a good pick and roll/pop guy.

I'd have forgotten about Pau but its too much expect of Pau for him to play any extended minutes for
he's likely done. The reward for Portland if they accept it is $48 Million in expiring contracts and if
the team finishes as the 8-10 seed, a late lottery to mid first round pick. Team would finally be able
to address that crying need for a wing ever since Batum and Matthews left in 2015.

[wade44]

There's a reason Miami sat Whiteside for the entirety of the second halves in some games.The offense just bogs down whenever he's in games. Guy's a stat-stuffer but simply just not a winning type player. No way Portland allows a 17-4 run or whatever it was if Whiteside is benched

[Capn'O]

We have a lot of young players that should be quite good, I like what this team has as far as assets go injuries are the biggest problem this year. Z. Collins was our best defender that has actually played minutes and we lost him, sucks when our best defender overall Nurkic is also on the sidelines.

Absolutely

I think CJ vs injuries is neck and neck.

If CJ doesn't play god awful this team is 6-2 or 7-1. If the Blazers are fully healthy they're probably 6-2 or 7-1.

They are related, imo.

[JasonStern]

He got 60, but luckily for us he would've needed 65

/sigh

[MrDollarBills]

Good game last night folks. Dame is a beast.

Anfernee Simons is going to be a solid piece for you guys. See you when you visit Barclay's

[Blazinaway]

Good game last night folks. Dame is a beast.

Anfernee Simons is going to be a solid piece for you guys. See you when you visit Barclay's

Yeah, Dame tried but could not do it all and CJ stinking up the court surely hurt. If ANT jeeps improving I sure hope Olshey at least considers moving CJ in late Jan when he can be traded

[Sinobas]

Some are using Whiteside as a scapegoat. He's averaging 19/18 per 36 while shooting 58%. His motor is inconsistent, but Portland would be WORSE without him.