What are we seeing?

[m0ng0]

Is this Chauncey ball? Chauncey getting guys to buy in? Win or lose I enjoy this style and I don't want to see it stop.

What happens when Dame comes back? Do we revert to iso boring ball? Does Dame buy in? Check his ego and ball out? I have a feeling when Dame comes back we revert to what we had before except it's Ant instead of CJ.

I don't wanna see that again. I want to see balls out maximum effort...win or lose. Getting a look at how this plays out with Dame THIS YEAR would be great so that we have the off season to make what ever changes need to be made. If Dame cooks and makes things even more dynamic thats all the better. But if he pouts and does not play along it would be better to get rid of him now. I know he is hurt but even a 10 game sample size could be huge.

Hopefully this makes sense.

[PDXKnight]

I don’t question dame’s dedication or his willingness to sacrifice how he played before for the team.. This has been a fairly easy stretch and a small sample size and dame hasn’t had his chance to show what he can do without cj taking up a bunch of the offense either. And Dame was at probably 50 percent when he was playing so I don’t think he’s gotten a fair shake here.

Anfernee has done well with a small sample size and credit to him for that. Dame is still the better player but Anfernee season by season will close that gap. And yes maybe the anf/dame fit is questionable and i think many have legitimate questions if that works out, but i don’t for a second question dames ability to sacrifice whatever it would take for this team because for his entire career he’s sacrificed everything to remain loyal to himself and this franchise. He is the definition of a professional and everything you want in your top athlete representing your franchise. Beyond being a great player on the court he’s even better off the court which is crazy to say but he’s done so much and continues to do so much for the community.

Now if Portland got an offer we couldn’t refuse for dame i think we have to look at it given anf’s massive success & the questionable fit of the two together in the back court. But i don’t think our recent success is a result of Dame not playing but rather a result of the roster changes we have made which have allowed us to become less iso based on offense and more nitty gritty on defense which has made us far far more multi dimensional

[m0ng0]

I appreciate what you have said here, I just think Dames numbers will drop off if he incorporates himself into the new vision. Dame is trying his best to sell himself and maximize his value and digging in and being a team player is going to dip his numbers.

Sadly it's about brand moreso than winning, I guess I'm a negative person and until I see it I won't believe it. I just think there is too much at stake for Dame to buy into this...I hope I'm wrong

[Pattycakes]

We’re good. No reason to try and make it confusing or assuming the worst. Dames been our leader for ten years, and now we cleared up two other vets who were being used as crutches more than the skillful chuckers they really are. Let’s just rebuild, go young and keep Dame. It doesn’t have to be weird..

[m0ng0]

However say he is top dog 1a we are paying him a BOATLOAD of money for 20/6/4. Is that a smart move looking ahead 5 years? Dames window appears to be closing RIGHT NOw and we cannot surround him with a winner. Grant is not a needle mover IMHO. I know it's a really rough choice to make but maybe it's time...the disposable player we get in return could be fun for a bit but the picks hopefully we could Garner make us better potentially for the next 5 to 10 years.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I think you see this playstyle quite often from teams that lack talent. They play hard and catch teams by surprise in the regular season and play above their talent level for a little while...

But there is a reason why top teams and players go away from this type of playstyle, it just doesn't hold up in the playoffs against an opponent that isn't going to be caught off-guard by it.

[m0ng0]

And I suppose that's where the big decision needs to be made,. Could this style of play be sustainable with the right cast of characters? With Dames salary is he the missing link? Or is it getting young kids who's minds have not been filled with agent junk? That was my initial question can we keep up this style of play and with Dames salary is he a positive fit?

[BlazersBroncos]

I think you see this playstyle quite often from teams that lack talent. They play hard and catch teams by surprise in the regular season and play above their talent level for a little while...

But there is a reason why top teams and players go away from this type of playstyle, it just doesn't hold up in the playoffs against an opponent that isn't going to be caught off-guard by it.

We need to build up higher level talent overall to succeed in the PO's, but the play style in general isnt something that cant succeed in the postseason. We are playing hard on both ends, unselfish, more off ball movement and when a bucket is needed we go to the PRN. Its a really sustainable style, but it needs to be orchestrated by higher level talents.

I hope this style and sense of urgency can be replicated by a team that has Dame back and another high level player added. Thats how we can win moving forward.

[soobias]

I think you see this playstyle quite often from teams that lack talent. They play hard and catch teams by surprise in the regular season and play above their talent level for a little while...

But there is a reason why top teams and players go away from this type of playstyle, it just doesn't hold up in the playoffs against an opponent that isn't going to be caught off-guard by it.

GSW, PHX,MIA,CHI CLEAV, say hello amongst others

[BNM]

Are we really seeing a fundamental difference in the way this team is playing now from the way it played at the start of the season?



Over the first month and a half of the season, the team played .500 ball (11-11). Over the most recent month and a half, they have also played .500 ball (12-12). Most of their basic stats are very similar, with the following exceptions):

The team is scoring less and giving up more points, causing the margin to go from +0.3 to -3.0.

The team is making the kind of mistakes you expect from young players and players not accustomed to playing together (i.e. committing more fouls and more TOVs and shooting worse from the line). Opponents are shooting worse from the field, but we're more than giving it back at the FT line. I'll take that as a sign of greater defensive effort, although the net result is giving up 1.0 more PTS/G.

I think many of us may be blinded by how awful this team was during the month of December when the team had an absolutely brutal schedule and was dealing with a lot of line up uncertainty due to injuries, COVID, changing rolls/rotations, but now that the team is back to having a reasonably set rotation, in terms of results, it looks more like different players getting similar results than any fundamental shift in coaching style or game play. For all the talk about better ball movement, the AST/G hasn't changed and in terms of defense, we are giving up more PTS/G than we did for the first month and a half of the season.

Kudos for Chauncey for getting the young guys and new players to play as "good" as an established veteran squad. At least the younger roster has more potential upside than the one that started the season and costs less (for now), but based on the numbers, I wonder how much has really changed.

[soobias]

can you show a graf after all trades were made ?

[PDXKnight]

Are we really seeing a fundamental difference in the way this team is playing now from the way it played at the start of the season?



Over the first month and a half of the season, the team played .500 ball (11-11). Over the most recent month and a half, they have also played .500 ball (12-12). Most of their basic stats are very similar, with the following exceptions):

The team is scoring less and giving up more points, causing the margin to go from +0.3 to -3.0.

The team is making the kind of mistakes you expect from young players and players not accustomed to playing together (i.e. committing more fouls and more TOVs and shooting worse from the line). Opponents are shooting worse from the field, but we're more than giving it back at the FT line. I'll take that as a sign of greater defensive effort, although the net result is giving up 1.0 more PTS/G.

I think many of us may be blinded by how awful this team was during the month of December when the team had an absolutely brutal schedule and was dealing with a lot of line up uncertainty due to injuries, COVID, changing rolls/rotations, but now that the team is back to having a reasonably set rotation, in terms of results, it looks more like different players getting similar results than any fundamental shift in coaching style or game play. For all the talk about better ball movement, the AST/G hasn't changed and in terms of defense, we are giving up more PTS/G than we did for the first month and a half of the season.

Kudos for Chauncey for getting the young guys and new players to play as "good" as an established veteran squad. At least the younger roster has more potential upside than the one that started the season and costs less (for now), but based on the numbers, I wonder how much has really changed.

I think really it feels like more changed after the trades on feb 8th which is a small sample size. Before that was the same team so it’s not
surprising the numbers didn’t change much. Yeah we lost dame but he wasn’t playing like himself either

[JasonStern]

Blazers next 3 games are against the Warriors, Nuggets, and Suns. It seems like this topic should be revisited after that.