Boom wrote: Mon Oct 05, 2026 2:11 pm This team is nowhere close to the Knicks or any playoff contender for that matter.
BTW Brunson forced plenty of shots in the playoffs. He's an undersized high usage guard similar to Lillard. The difference is that he's in his prime and has a smart front office that took substantial risk building a very good team around him. The Blazers on the other hand had an opportunity to trade for OG Anunoby, but they were too cheap in their pursuit.
You are right that Brunson compares on some level to Lillard, albeit he is more efficient. Better shooter and less turnovers. He's like Lillard might have turned out if Olshey hadn't made him the center of the universe. I really like Towns and Anunoby on that team though. I wish Clingan and Toumani could get to that level, but I guess it would have happened by now. I am secretly hoping that having Ja on the team will open those guys up for more offense. He has a skill for penetrating defenses that these guys haven't seen yet. If not, maybe they can use these upcoming picks to draft strong guys at those positions for the next round of team evolution. Get a really efficient scoring power forward and move Toumani to wing. That feels like the fix to me. It doesn't have to be Giannis, but something in that direction.
PG Ja/ Scoot
SG Toumani/ Sharpe
SF Deni
PF Draftee somewhere between Giannis and Paolo Banchero
C Clingan/Williams
Toumani's more natural position is small forward/wing. Starting him at the four creates a gaping hole in the lineup for a reliable post scorer/finisher. So since they have Deni already at small forward, I would try Toumani at the other wing spot or bring him off the bench instead of Sidy or Vit or whatever other scrub they plan to give minutes to. I think my lineup would work a lot better than the way it is now, and my hypothetical power forward would be a better rebounder too.
Interesting idea of putting Toumani at the 2, I could see that. He could be a better version of Evan Turner.
Dame with Deni is the way, though, at least for now. If Dame is back to form, those two should play brilliantly off of each other. They make far more sense on the floor together than Ja and Deni. Even if you think Dame is only half as good as I do, he still fits better with Deni.
EDIT: To argue with myself though... another big X factor here is we've never seen Ja on a team where he's not the best player. Maybe his shooting percentage improves significantly when Deni dives into the middle and attracts all the attention. Teams will definitely give him the opportunity to shoot the kick-out.
Double edit: Nice little analysis from a former Blazers coach.
Not exactly groundbreaking. Dame has played next to undersized guards for most of his career. You just have to go back to the 80s to find a team to have any success with that formula.
Yeah, P.J. suffered oxygen deprivation when Latrell Sprewell choked him and hasn't been the same since.
First pre-season game tonight. Blazers go with their starters vs Golden State's scrubs (and I do mean end-of-the-bench, vet minimum scrubs), and the Blazers struggled to prevail. Deni and RWIII were Portland's best players, with honorable mention to Micah Potter and Jeremy Sochan, who are looking like solid acquisitions. As expected with Lillard and Ja starting, the opposing guards both had career nights. If those two are the starting guards, it's going to be a long season.
Fun night at Moda! Lillard looked great in his first night back, he was the clear floor general of the first unit. Shot looked great and he moved just fine. Looked like he'd never left, and the 1s jumped out to a comfortable lead before sitting. Deni did Deni things, also looked ready to pick up where he left off last season. More than once he benefited last night from Dame pulling guys out of the paint. Ja looked more like a guy who hadn't played in a year. His athleticism is there, and he had a couple nice assists, but more often than not he was forcing the issue or out of position. He shot one three that was pretty off the mark. Holiday had a nice stretch in the second half alongside Scoot Henderson, who had a ton of hustle plays that won't show up in the stat sheet. Most impressive player was absolutely RWIII, dude threw a block party and everyone was invited.
Big takeaways, to summarize:
- Dame and Deni played beautifully together.
- Ja needs more time.
- RWIII is our best center.
- Scoot looks ready to take the next step.
If the season started today, Dame and Jrue are our staring guards. Scoot might make it easier for Cronin to make a deal for Jrue though. Ja Morant looks healthy but we really need to be patient with him.
I will admit to being a little discouraged watching Ja. I know one has to get timing back, but he looked slight and several times it seemed like he wanted to launch himself and found that he couldn't manage it. I know that feeling well as I have gotten older, lol. He is going to have to adjust his game to a new physical reality, and who knows how long that will take, or if it will happen at all to any great effectiveness. One thing seems very clear to me - the Blazers defense is a delicate thing and they can't afford two terrible defenders like Lillard and Ja playing at once. NBA starting guards are going to eat them alive. Jrue needs to start. Even Scoot would be better.
I think Ja will get his groove back, but I really think he should be with the second unit for now, and that's not just because I love Dame. He needs time to adjust. Also I think Ja and Scoot could be a really formidable duo with the second unit. Let Dame & Jrue play old man ball with the starters, then let Ja & Scoot bring energy off the bench. They can throw lobs to RWIII and not have to worry about sharing the paint with Deni.
Anyone watching tonight's game? I need to renew my Blazervision, but looking at the comments on BlazersEdge and looks like people are loving this starting unit of Dame, Scoot, Tou, Deni, and Clingan. And apparently Ja is having a nice game as sixth man. Curious to hear some thoughts.
Just turned on the latter part of the 2nd quarter. Nori is mixing and matching the guards. They all look good, but once again, these are not Sacramento's starters. I think they are getting a feel for playing together and Ja and Lillard are getting timing back after long layoffs. One noticeable thing from the first half is way less turnovers than usual. I would think that with so many point guards, we would see a lot less, but these are the Blazers, so one never knows. Also, Lillard and Scoot already have three fouls. Not sure how much that matters, but Scoot seemed unhappy about that third one. Toumani also hit a couple from well beyond the arc. Hopefully he can do that more this season; it would really help the offense.
Deni with three and-one's in a row. Dang that guy is a beast. Ja just checked in for Dame and the defensive intensity increase was noticeable. He may not be the best defender, but he is much more enthusiastic about it than Lillard is. He looks a little more comfortable than he did in the first pre-season game.
Sidy is fun to watch in these games against other team's backups. He just took two charges and went coast-to-coast after defending a guy's shot.
Scoot and Ja are doing a lot of driving and kicking out to open guys on the perimeter. Lillard is doing a lot of shooting and not much else.
Anyone who thinks Ja and Deni don't work well together is all wet. Ja gets past his man and then kicks it to a waiting Deni who drives it all the way in for the layup. I could see them doing that play all day long.
Dame had four assists, three rebounds, two steals, no turnovers, and a team-high +32. Looks good to me.
Ja also appeared to have a much better game. Love that he got to the foul line as much as he did. I'd like to see his +/- be more than +5 in a game we win by such a large margin, but as I said a couple days ago, I think it's clear he needs a bit more time to get back into the swing of things. Not only is he coming back from a long layoff, but he's likely working into a new bench role for the first time in his career.
Scoot appears to be making a strong case for starting alongside Dame. I didn't expect he might start ahead of Jrue, but he's been playing like the second-best guard on the team so far.
Yeah, Vit Krejčí had a steal, a rebound and an assist as well. He still sucks. Lillard had most of that +/- before I turned it on, but some he got just by being in the game when Deni went off on that three-point-play spree. Lillard himself tied for most missed shots on the team, including several open threes. Scoot and Ja were the real facilitators in this game. I don't think Lillard can get by his guy consistently anymore, which means either Scoot or Ja will have to play alongside him. His 'defense' is a joke and will be a problem all year whenever he is in. He was lucky that tonight Sacto didn't have any scrubs that were good enough to take advantage like the vet min guys on Golden State did the other night. I agree that Scoot might be the best choice for starting if Lillard is the other guy, but nobody has been talking about Scoot being the starter.
