Game 81: Portland vs Dallas 5:30pm Root,Root+

[Brandon-Clyde]

vs



Time: 5:30pm
Place: Dallas
TV: Root,Root+


GLB of the game Natalie Martinez

Spoiler:

[Blazinaway]

wow, 2 games left and what a superb tank we have done, though hope we do not have the need for tanking in the future

[DeBlazerRiddem]

wow, 2 games left and what a superb tank we have done, though hope we do not have the need for tanking in the future

Unless the league changes then of course we will tank again. The league incentivizes this crap. It's the "smart thing to do" with the current system. All on this flawed notion that the worst teams deserve the best young talent. That they cannot improve at all without a very top pick. As if we didn't rebuild around a 6th pick, as if Milwaukee and Golden State didn't win titles without any top draft picks. As if bad teams don't purposefully keep themselves in the gutter hoping to eventually draft a LeBron to save them, even though LeBron didnt bring a title to the team that drafted him until he returned as a free agent.

I dunno, sometimes I wish I had better words to explain how the lottery system can actually perpetuate and create bad teams rather than saving them from themselves like people think it does or should. And I'm not sure I have a better system, so I'm not trying to defend or come up with some other specific system as better, but yeah right now the smart move is for non-contenders to tank and it destroys the late season competitive balance necessary for the league to properly function. Bottom line, extra wins should NEVER hurt a teams ability to build themselves for the future, winning should ALWAYS be a good thing for the entire franchise and any system that goes against that is broken IMO. A league in which there are meaningless games, where it is smart not to bring Lillard, Simon's or Nurk back for a couple games, becomes a joke and a huge insult to fans who pay to see the best product their team can put out every night. The cynic in me almost things the purpose of the late season race to the bottom is to create a permanent underclass of farm teams rather than a way to truly give struggling teams a path forward and put all those hopes and expectations on a 19 year old.

[ducler]

Read on Twitter

[m0ng0]

Hehe one player averaging double figures in points

[Brandon-Clyde]

1st quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[Brandon-Clyde]

2nd quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[Brandon-Clyde]

3rd quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[Brandon-Clyde]

4th quarter GLB pic

Spoiler:

[Norm2953]

It'd be hard to be a Blazer fan if we saw a repeat of the 2021-22 season, next year

[monopoman]

With this loss the Blazers are now locked with at least the 6th worst record, and have a very small shot of being tied for the 5th worst record.

[HoopsFanAZ]

Mission accomplished. Now at 6.
Next up, play-in and Go Spurs!

[DusterBuster]

Real Blazers MVP is Brandon-Clyde, if you’re a real poster and not a bot or paid RGM employee… hats off bro.

[Wizenheimer]

wow, 2 games left and what a superb tank we have done, though hope we do not have the need for tanking in the future

Unless the league changes then of course we will tank again. The league incentivizes this crap. It's the "smart thing to do" with the current system. All on this flawed notion that the worst teams deserve the best young talent. That they cannot improve at all without a very top pick. As if we didn't rebuild around a 6th pick, as if Milwaukee and Golden State didn't win titles without any top draft picks. As if bad teams don't purposefully keep themselves in the gutter hoping to eventually draft a LeBron to save them, even though LeBron didnt bring a title to the team that drafted him until he returned as a free agent.

I dunno, sometimes I wish I had better words to explain how the lottery system can actually perpetuate and create bad teams rather than saving them from themselves like people think it does or should. And I'm not sure I have a better system, so I'm not trying to defend or come up with some other specific system as better, but yeah right now the smart move is for non-contenders to tank and it destroys the late season competitive balance necessary for the league to properly function. Bottom line, extra wins should NEVER hurt a teams ability to build themselves for the future, winning should ALWAYS be a good thing for the entire franchise and any system that goes against that is broken IMO. A league in which there are meaningless games, where it is smart not to bring Lillard, Simon's or Nurk back for a couple games, becomes a joke and a huge insult to fans who pay to see the best product their team can put out every night. The cynic in me almost things the purpose of the late season race to the bottom is to create a permanent underclass of farm teams rather than a way to truly give struggling teams a path forward and put all those hopes and expectations on a 19 year old.

to start with, I don't agree that tanking is that big a problem. There are always going to be crappy teams; if tanking incentives makes for 3 or 4 more it's just a matter of degree

and it's not the lure of high lottery picks that locks teams into years of being bottom feeders, it's simply bad management. For every Minnesota there's a Phoenix; for every Sacramento there's a Memphis. Many teams over the years, like the current Suns and Grizz, have used high picks to become contenders. And the blunt reality is that bad management starts with bad ownership. If the league wants to make a better product, they need to do a much better job of due diligence when it comes to approving sales of teams

I've suggested before that the lottery actually needs to be essentially 13 lotteries. All 14 non-playoff teams with a 1 in 14 chance at the #1 pick. Then, another spin of the balls in the globe with all 13 teams having a 1 in 13 chance at the #2 pick; then another spin with a 1 in 12 chance. In other words, there would be no incentive for a race to the bottom

I've even thought about have 14 lotteries and each lottery would have 14 teams. For instance after #1 is determined the next lottery would bring in the play-off team with the worst record. You could at least do that till all of the play-in teams that advanced to the playoffs have at least one shot at a top-14 pick

that would effectively disincentive tanking

[BlazersBroncos]

Not sure what people see in Brandon Williams, seems like one of the most dime-a-dozen archetypes avaliable, small shoot first guard who isnt a pesky defender really.

[Norm2953]

Real Blazers MVP is Brandon-Clyde, if you’re a real poster and not a bot or paid RGM employee… hats off bro.

No question Brandon-Clyde deserves all the credit

[JasonStern]

Real Blazers MVP is Brandon-Clyde, if you’re a real poster and not a bot or paid RGM employee… hats off bro.

No question Brandon-Clyde deserves all the credit

Truth. The GLBs are a major reason I didn't check out months ago.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Thank you all for the kind words. I do enjoy making the threads and especially the GLB's

[dunlop212]

One thing to be said for tanking. This board seems more active than it was last year. Oddly, fan interest in Portland is higher when they are terrible.

[DusterBuster]

One thing to be said for tanking. This board seems more active than it was last year. Oddly, fan interest in Portland is higher when they are terrible.

I don’t know if that’s actually true about board activity. Seems about the same. However last year was quite a slog and the treadmill feel was strong that year gave no real hope for improvements or change.

At least there’s some intriguing with a reboot here.