Post#23 » by Dzon Dilindzer » Mon Apr 4, 2022 1:34 pm
this season has been a blessing in disguise for the trail blazers, literally the best thing that could have happen to this franchise, we got rid of neil olshey, cj mccollum & powell and terry stotts bit earlier, all of whom were a problems
ever since he was hired, chauncey billups has been saying all the right things, but that was only theory, its whole other thing to implement what he was saying and he tried to do it, but it was impossible with cj mccollum & powell, who are ball hogs and even dame is a shooting first point guard, then you have simons who was looking to get his, so it was a recipe for a disaster
dame lillard surgery helped him a lot, cause he sorted out the abdominal issue thats been bothering him for years and i fully expect him to be back to his best next season, but also cj mccollum injury and powell being out for some time, really helped chauncey billups, simons, little & nurk, cause all of them got bigger roles in which they excelled and it allowed chauncey to implement his system and even though team was losing games (due to lack of talent), they still played the right way on both ends of the floor, giving their best effort and everyone got touches and they were happy and i think it also showed to the front office that cj mccollum & powell must get traded, which is exactly what happened
simons has been playing like someone who will be an all-star in the future and his improvement in playmaking has been astonishing, given hes actually a shooting guard being converted into poing guard, then you have nurk who started playing like pre leg injury nurk or even better and then you have little who unfortunately got hurt, but he showed enough to the front office and chauncey, to be sure that hes starter on this team going forward and pieces we got back in the trades, hart & winslow, also fit in really good
simons & nurk will get re-signed, that much is clear and they probably have their contracts agreed already, given they got shut down in their contract seasons and the rumour has it that trail blazers will pursue jerami grant, which they already did, but failed, but if we get that pelicans pick, it changes things
what i saw from chauncey, simons, nurk, little, hart & winslow, really got me excited and if dame can adjust his game to the system, which will alow him to be a difference maker, rather than having to carry the team, it would do the wonders for himself and for the team and then like i said, we need to sort out the forward position
i commend joe cronin for having the courage to make big moves, unlike neil olshey and even though the consensus is that he **** up the trade with the clippers, he still did a nice job so far or at least thats what i think, but i wont have my opinion on him until hes done with the moves, until we get the whole picture
simons, nurk & little are great fit with each other (so are hart & winslow, but i assume they wont start next season), dame & nurk are great fit too, so it remains to be seen how dame does with simons & little
trail blazers could be a really, really good team next season, but that will depend on two things:
- whether dame lillard can buy into chauncey billups system
- what will the trail blazers do with the forward position
lets see where our own pick ends up and if we get that pelicans pick, theres work to be done, but im optimistic
Masai’s Rebuilt Raptors 
