Portland Trail Blazers Thread

[thomas time]

yep it's going to go up way more in 2017 too

[Phalanx]

Nice win tonight vs. the Celtics. Blazers now 1.5 games back of Memphis for the 5th seed. If they catch the Grizzlies, they will almost certainly have the tiebreaker as well (conference record). Not sure if it's better to play the Thunder or the Clippers, but they might as well play for the higher seed since the Blazers lose their draft pick anyway.

[Duckattack7]

Rather play the clippers

[UOducksTK1]

I'm still shocked how well the Blazers have played this year.

[buckmarkduck]

Portland blows out Miami, for their 4th win in a row. Hoping we can catch Memphis. Btw why the hell are they still in the west? Put them in the east, like they should be. I'm tired of them always being a thorn in our side, and the east needs another quality team.

[Phalanx]

Portland blows out Miami, for their 4th win in a row. Hoping we can catch Memphis. Btw why the hell are they still in the west? Put them in the east, like they should be. I'm tired of them always being a thorn in our side, and the east needs another quality team.

There has been speculation in the past that they could move back West, possibly to Seattle. Maybe the league is holding off on reassigning them to the East for that reason. P.S. Memphis is actually further west than every eastern team I can think of, and they are also directly north of New Orleans. So geographically, there probably isn't a lot of reason to reassign them.

[thomas time]

blazers beat Kings and OKC to get a tie with Memphis right now. Grizzles got G.S. twice, at Clippers and at Mavs, while blazers got Minnesota and Denver at home. Looks like blazers will end up the five seed and play Clippers, heck of a season by this team. It will be interesting to see where Terry finishes in coach of the year and Olshey for G.M. of the year.

[UOducksTK1]

Fwiw, we are 1-3 against the Clippers and 2-2 against OKC. Not sure if there were any injuries in those games, but people want that 5 seed so badly, but perhaps finishing as the 6 seed might not be so bad?

[oregontrack]

last summer i was rooting hard for a top 5 pick, but losing our 1st rounder to denver is the farthest thing from my mind now. the development of all these young players, and watching them succeed while playing such a fun brand of basketball, is so worth it.

cap space normally isn't our friend, but it's going to come in handy in re-signing a lot of these guys. i would:

1. let meyers leonard walk
2. re-sign maurice harkless. his move to the 4 has been so much fun to watch, the kid is bringing it at both ends of the court. he'll likely demand more than his QO on the open market -- pay him. his positive effect on defense and the role he's played in expanding aminu's game -- since the move, aminu has registered 3 of his 4 career 20 point games -- can't be stressed enough.
3. try to bring back gerald henderson. this depends on whether or not he's comfortable as a 6th man going forward, because he's not starting over CJ. henderson seemed like nothing more than a cash dump by charlotte in the batum trade, but henderson has carved out a niche role on this team. kudos to olshey for not trading him at the deadline, when the playoffs were still up in the air. we have cap space, and we're not likely to land any big time talents to make this team go from nice playoff team to instant contender -- my argument here is to keep this group together and let it grow, even if that means overpaying for a back-up guard.
4. same goes for allan crabbe. crabbe can guard multiple positions, doesn't mind coming off the bench, and he continues to develop as a 3-pt specialist offensively. several teams are going to come after him, and offer more than his QO. if a contender whisks him away there's no stopping that, but i want to make an effort to keep him. WE HAVE THE SPACE.
5. ignore what i just wrote if we offer hassan whiteside a max and he accepts. our funds aren't UNLIMITED, and we have to think about CJ's upcoming extension. but whiteside is going to have a legion of suitors, and even though he'd be a fantastic defensive centerpiece for us it's unlikely he'd sign here. BUT MAYBE!
6. watch all the young pieces continue to grow. this was CJ's first year starting (or playing a whole season). this was aminu's first full season starting. harkless, within the last 10-15 games, is just now finding his calling in the association. vonleh is still super young and could develop into something. lillard is about to enter his prime. crabbe gets better every season.

[oregontrack]

Fwiw, we are 1-3 against the Clippers and 2-2 against OKC. Not sure if there were any injuries in those games, but people want that 5 seed so badly, but perhaps finishing as the 6 seed might not be so bad?

well, one of those games was obviously last night, where durant, westbrook, ibaka, and roberson all DNP. i honestly can't recall the other thunder win.

i don't think we'll beat either in order to advance, but we match up better with the clips.

[buckmarkduck]

last summer i was rooting hard for a top 5 pick, but losing our 1st rounder to denver is the farthest thing from my mind now. the development of all these young players, and watching them succeed while playing such a fun brand of basketball, is so worth it.

cap space normally isn't our friend, but it's going to come in handy in re-signing a lot of these guys. i would:

1. let meyers leonard walk
2. re-sign maurice harkless. his move to the 4 has been so much fun to watch, the kid is bringing it at both ends of the court. he'll likely demand more than his QO on the open market -- pay him. his positive effect on defense and the role he's played in expanding aminu's game -- since the move, aminu has registered 3 of his 4 career 20 point games -- can't be stressed enough.
3. try to bring back gerald henderson. this depends on whether or not he's comfortable as a 6th man going forward, because he's not starting over CJ. henderson seemed like nothing more than a cash dump by charlotte in the batum trade, but henderson has carved out a niche role on this team. kudos to olshey for not trading him at the deadline, when the playoffs were still up in the air. we have cap space, and we're not likely to land any big time talents to make this team go from nice playoff team to instant contender -- my argument here is to keep this group together and let it grow, even if that means overpaying for a back-up guard.
4. same goes for allan crabbe. crabbe can guard multiple positions, doesn't mind coming off the bench, and he continues to develop as a 3-pt specialist offensively. several teams are going to come after him, and offer more than his QO. if a contender whisks him away there's no stopping that, but i want to make an effort to keep him. WE HAVE THE SPACE.
5. ignore what i just wrote if we offer hassan whiteside a max and he accepts. our funds aren't UNLIMITED, and we have to think about CJ's upcoming extension. but whiteside is going to have a legion of suitors, and even though he'd be a fantastic defensive centerpiece for us it's unlikely he'd sign here. BUT MAYBE!
6. watch all the young pieces continue to grow. this was CJ's first year starting (or playing a whole season). this was aminu's first full season starting. harkless, within the last 10-15 games, is just now finding his calling in the association. vonleh is still super young and could develop into something. lillard is about to enter his prime. crabbe gets better every season.

We'll see, but the cap is supposed to increase pretty significantly this off season.

[oregontrack]

yes, roughly $19 million.

[bb3065]

Fwiw, we are 1-3 against the Clippers and 2-2 against OKC. Not sure if there were any injuries in those games, but people want that 5 seed so badly, but perhaps finishing as the 6 seed might not be so bad?

Yes very true, but remember: One of the losses was the infamous CJ McCollum clarical error game, and the other took a JJ Redick game winner for them to beat us. We could have have arguably been 3-1 or 2-2. Overall, I'm much more confident we can win at least one game in LA than OKC (two blowouts).

[thomas time]

the other win vs OKC was here when Dame scored like 17 points or so in the final 3 minutes or so to win. I don't think blazers will be close in either series, lucky to win one game vs either team, but think Clippers are the better matchup.

[thomas time]

I agree with going after Whiteside, I had him on my fantasy team and he finished 8th in the whole NBA for fantasy ranks. The guy gets double doubles and even a couple triple doubles coming off the bench. Also agree assuming they don't land Whiteside, to bring back Crabbe and Gerald. It's so nice having both of them to be scorers off the bench to go with C.J. when Dame goes out.