Keys to the 25-26 season

[dckingsfan]

Hey All,

Could you give me your keys (things that are most important) to the 25-26 season for an optimal outcome...

Possibly in priority order? I am interested to see if your list corresponds to my list.

[zzaj]

"optimal outcome" is a little bit loaded in variance, but...

If the optimal outcome is the team progressing overall, given the roster and regardless of W/L record:

(NOTE: staying injury free is always going to be number one for me. IMHO, injuries decide who is the NBA champion every year)

1) Maintain a Top 12 defense and jump up to a top 10-18 offense.
2) Emphasis on an offensive system that utilizes the strengths of the roster makeup.
3) Consistency and skill jumps from both Sharpe and Scoot.
4) Clingan maintaining his defensive focus, not fouling, and a skill jump on offense around the basket.
5) Grant buying in and learning to thrive in an offense that does not emphasize his USG in the midrange.

[oldfishermen]

Most important is player development.

#1, Scoot, is he our PG of the future?
#2, Sharpe, is he a keeper, or not?

The ranking lines get blurred for the rest of the roster.

[dckingsfan]

..."optimal outcome"...

yeah, I was trying to leave it a bit vague since others might have a perspective that I don't...

[Norm2953]

I'm interesting to seeing how the new, revamped coaching staff works in Portland.

Coach Splitter might be a very important hire as a big man coach for DC and Yang

[DusterBuster]

Most important is player development.

#1, Scoot, is he our PG of the future?
#2, Sharpe, is he a keeper, or not?

The ranking lines get blurred for the rest of the roster.

Pretty much where I'm at. Those two are the keys of this season. They're both in pretty make-or-break season to show they can be franchise players vs just nice-to-have players.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I got a lotto keys...

Individual Keys
* Scoot proves he was worthy of the #3 pick.
* Sharpe takes fewer 3s, improves his handles,
and plays some defense.
* Clingan develops some offense.
* Rupert gets playing time and plays well.
* Yang improves his endurance, figures out his offensive game, and improves defensively.
* Grant finds his offensive game and picks up his defense.

Team Keys
* Top 5 defense
* Top 20 three point %
* 22+ assists
* 42+ wins

[dckingsfan]

Team Keys
* Top 5 defense
* Top 20 three point %

I like it - that alone would make us a playoff team.

[dckingsfan]

I guess if we are going "win the lottery level" (which I like). To go with yours...

Deni plays like he did at the end of the year but cuts down on the TOs.
Camara plays D like last year.
Sharpe plays like he wants to play D.

Okay, right there it is way to much to ask for - but... Billups sticks to his guns and plays those that actually play defense.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I fully expect the guys to pick up where they ended the season... Deni playing great, Camara playing serious D, Clingan manning the middle, and then Sharpe improves his game by shooting fewer 3s and hitting them at a higher clip...36% and attempts to play D, then bring back a motivated Grant, an improved Scoot, and add Jrue. If they get anything good from Yang or Rupert, that's a bonus!!!

[PDXKnight]

^ Yes I think Grant playing more motivated or at least not obviously dogging us is critical.

[Wizenheimer]

maybe the biggest key is getting Grant to buy in to a 6th man role. Just about every rotation that actually makes sense has Grant coming off the bench. Making Sharpe a backup in his 4th season would be idiocy is the reason was to make Grant the starter

[DusterBuster]

maybe the biggest key is getting Grant to buy in to a 6th man role. Just about every rotation that actually makes sense has Grant coming off the bench. Making Sharpe a backup in his 4th season would be idiocy is the reason was to make Grant the starter

I'd argue you have to get buy-in for Billups moreso than Grant to see Jerami in a 6th man role.

[Walton1one]

Stay Healthy.....

Prior to LY, POR had a rash of injuries and guys who missed a lot of games (Only Camara & Walker played more than 70 games) and they finished with 21 wins...

LY, they were surprisingly healthy (and the rest of the league had a LOT of injuries) and lo & behold they won 36 games, particularly key guys like Toumani, Deni & Sharpe.

Now some people want to tout their defense and young guys markedly improving and that has some truth to it, HOWEVER, other teams facing major injuries (NO, DAL to name a few) and most teams' general apathy when playing POR (resting players, angling to lose the game not win it) had much more to do with POR "improvement" than anything else. That is the reality, no matter how rosy your glasses are...

Camara played 78 games
Deni 72 games (was held out last 4 games)
Sharpe 72 games (was held out last 2 games)
Clingan played 67
Scoot 66
Grant, who was awful, played 47 & Williams, who is perpetually injured played only 20

But hey, they just got Jrue! I would remind you he played 62 games LY (his lowest since 2019-2020):

had his worst FG% since 2015-2016 (44.3% would rank 9th on LY team)
had his lowest 3ptFG% since 2018-2019 (35.3%, would rank 8th on LY team, which was pretty bad 3ptFG% team, ranking 26th)
had his lowest PPG (11.1 PPG) since his ROOKIE season
has his lowest assist total since his ROOKIE season,
had his lowest scoring efficiency since 2019-2020 (which would have been tied for 11th on this team w\Simons)
had his lowest A\TO since 2019-2020
and has not played over 70 games since 2012-2013

I think POR improvement was a little bit of a mirage LY and Cronin\Billups doubling down on that is foolish not just in the short term but in the long term as well, but IF POR is going to be improve their record\standing in the WC over LY, which IMO looks to be stronger than it was LY, then they have to stay healthy.

Particularly, the 5 young guys (Camara\Avdija\Sharpe\Scoot\DC) cannot miss a major amount of games, Jrue has to play north of 60+ games & reverse or equalize his declining play & then hope guys like Grant can rebound from his poor performance LY, that Thybulle stay healthy and not regress to his career sub-par norms, that Williams....can provide anything...that is a tall ask and banking on a whole heck of a lot going right

[dckingsfan]

Stay healthy is definitely a key. I think the overall wins will be driven by #1 Chauncey, who he plays and how he dictates the team will play; #2 if one or more of the youngsters improve materially and the others don't take a step back; and #3 the health of the older players (Holiday, Grant and Thybulle) along with no devastating injuries to the younger players.

That "could" get them to .500 and a play-in slot. Better if two or more of the youngsters materially improve.

[DusterBuster]

Stay healthy is kind of a key every season for every team lol

[Wizenheimer]

Stay healthy is kind of a key every season for every team lol

yep...the Spurs would have won 7 or 8 championships but Duncan was injured during the playoffs a couple of times; so was Manu; and Parker

hot only health, but health at the right time

[DusterBuster]

Stay healthy is kind of a key every season for every team lol

yep...the Spurs would have won 7 or 8 championships but Duncan was injured during the playoffs a couple of times; so was Manu; and Parker

hot only health, but health at the right time

Yep. I mean, health and luck play into rings more than any of us want to admit.

I think the NBA we grew up with, that was less so (but still impactful like you mention). You watch tape of 90's and 00's games, it's like half the speed of todays games. Part of that is different defensive rules, plus players are training as crazy as they are today so the offseason training requires them to be less present mid-season because of how insane these players are working. Might even call it the LeBron effect, for all the ways he changed the game, I think how players worked on their bodies in the offseason is the biggest. Factor in the new CBA as well... you get to a point where parity like this was always going to be the end point because we're making it harder and harder for players to stay healthy with the stress they're putting on their bodies year in and year out.

So the health factor is way more of a thing now than it was before. I think the rise of major year long injuries for players - even younger players - is a pretty clear sign of that. I just don't know if even that teams getting 3-5 rings in 5 years will ever be a thing again to be honest, even with a young team.

And for teams that DO win a ring, I think that injury factor for the other side is even more pronounced, which is part of the parity we see today.

Lots of rambling to basically said what you said, be healthy - but not just that - be healthy at the right time (luck).

Hell, the Pacers are that perfect example (in both ways). Perfect health for a full Finals run, than a young player in the START of his prime gets a devastating injury.

Long way to say, this is very much a new era of the NBA. It's why, even with a Wemby in the league, I'm not as concerned for a 5-10yr domination run like the Bulls or Lakers... same for OKC.

We'll see tho, maybe SGA will prove me wrong... but I also thought Jokic would be that unstoppable force.

[dckingsfan]

I fully expect the guys to pick up where they ended the season... Deni playing great, Camara playing serious D, Clingan manning the middle, and then Sharpe improves his game by shooting fewer 3s and hitting them at a higher clip...36% and attempts to play D, then bring back a motivated Grant, an improved Scoot, and add Jrue. If they get anything good from Yang or Rupert, that's a bonus!!!

I don't think it is arguable that Deni and Camara were the Blazer's best two players last year. They are also in that part of their careers where they can get marginally vs. material better. But marginally better would be really good.

If Deni stays the same but ONLY cuts down on TOs, that is a pretty good bball player. If Camara has his TS% go from .547 to .572 to anywhere near .600 that is a really good bball player. That would be two of the best forwards in the league. That would be a good outcome all by itself.

[Wizenheimer]

Stay healthy is kind of a key every season for every team lol

yep...the Spurs would have won 7 or 8 championships but Duncan was injured during the playoffs a couple of times; so was Manu; and Parker

hot only health, but health at the right time

Yep. I mean, health and luck play into rings more than any of us want to admit.

I think the NBA we grew up with, that was less so (but still impactful like you mention). You watch tape of 90's and 00's games, it's like half the speed of todays games. Part of that is different defensive rules, plus players are training as crazy as they are today so the offseason training requires them to be less present mid-season because of how insane these players are working. Might even call it the LeBron effect, for all the ways he changed the game, I think how players worked on their bodies in the offseason is the biggest. Factor in the new CBA as well... you get to a point where parity like this was always going to be the end point because we're making it harder and harder for players to stay healthy with the stress they're putting on their bodies year in and year out.

So the health factor is way more of a thing now than it was before. I think the rise of major year long injuries for players - even younger players - is a pretty clear sign of that. I just don't know if even that teams getting 3-5 rings in 5 years will ever be a thing again to be honest, even with a young team.

And for teams that DO win a ring, I think that injury factor for the other side is even more pronounced, which is part of the parity we see today.

Lots of rambling to basically said what you said, be healthy - but not just that - be healthy at the right time (luck).

Hell, the Pacers are that perfect example (in both ways). Perfect health for a full Finals run, than a young player in the START of his prime gets a devastating injury.

Long way to say, this is very much a new era of the NBA. It's why, even with a Wemby in the league, I'm not as concerned for a 5-10yr domination run like the Bulls or Lakers... same for OKC.

We'll see tho, maybe SGA will prove me wrong... but I also thought Jokic would be that unstoppable force.

the Pacers drank out of both sides of the cup. For the most part of their 2 year playoff run they kept getting matchups with teams missing key players. They beat the Bucks one year with Giannis out; and beat them the following season with Dame out and Middleton gone. They beat the Knicks 4-3 two years ago when Randle was out and Robinson was injured. Then they went up against a healthy Celtics team and got swept

this year, after the Bucks they got the Cavs when Garland was injured and Hunter was hobbled; and they jumped the Cavs because of that. And in all of these series, the Pacers had nearly perfect health.They beat a healthy Knicks team in the ECF...and then, game 7 of the finals....pooooof!