SEASON OPENER Portland vs. Clippers 7:30pm Wednsday Root,Root+

[DC_Melo]

I think you may need to google 'tongue in cheek' my friend.

Googled it… apparently people put far more than just tongues in their cheeks

[m0ng0]

I really am unimpressed with Grant, put somebody who can rebound and actually cares at the 4. The rest is a work in progress. Maybe he can be a scoring sparkplug off the bench.

[PDXKnight]

I really am unimpressed with Grant, put somebody who can rebound and actually cares at the 4. The rest is a work in progress. Maybe he can be a scoring sparkplug off the bench.

He's not a 4, thats the problem

[Goldbum]

Ayton/Ant/Sharpe/Grant and Scoot are all much better than they looked last night. Billups isn't putting guys in position to succeed. It doesn't matter what role or position the player plays, they all look worse under Chauncey.

[Goldbum]

Can someone explain to me Thybulle's fit here. With this roster his defense isn't impactful (especially playing up a position) enough to overcome his offensive limitations. I love Matisse but he should be catching the same flight as Malcom when we get serious about development.

[zzaj]

Why would he get a free pass? It's his third year with the team. It's not just a young roster with nothing on it, we have Williams, Ayton, Grant, Brogdan, these are good NBA vets. The team should not look as abhorrent as they did yesterday. That is 100% on Chauncey.

And the Stotts comment was tongue in cheek, however, it's not unheard of for teams to rehire former coaches. Look at Clifford in Charlotte for instance. Personally I think it's about as likely that Stotts is our coach next year as Chauncey is. He needs to go.

You really think Stotts wants to come back and agree to be the head coach of a likely 20 win team? Would YOU want to do that if you were Stotts? Or would you want to wait a year or two for a middling or contending team to ditch their head coach and come knocking...OR sit back and enjoy your family, play golf when you want, and enjoy your millions?

Obviously, being a head coach is a massive commitment that takes you away from your loved ones for most of the year and is hard on your body. Stotts is in his mid-60s now. There is a reason veteran head coaches with winning records don't take jobs with losing organizations very often.

I think you may need to google 'tongue in cheek' my friend.

Okay, lol...my bad. Hard to tell on the internets sometimes.

[DusterBuster]

Yeah,I will be stunned if Chauncey is our coach next year.

I will laugh my ass off if we bring Stotts back.

I think Chauncey is getting a free pass this year and will be back.

No chance Stotts comes back.

This is definitely a “highlights only” year for me.

Why would he get a free pass? It's his third year with the team. It's not just a young roster with nothing on it, we have Williams, Ayton, Grant, Brogdan, these are good NBA vets. The team should not look as abhorrent as they did yesterday. That is 100% on Chauncey.

No argument from me. He shouldn't get one, I just think he will and the organization will give him that too.

My frustration is it's just excuse after excuse after excuse for Chauncey. His first season... "the team turned over with moving CJ finally and it was his first year as a HC, plus some injuries" His second-year "injury bug hit the team, he's still a young coach, then they tanked". This year it'll be "they turned the team over to an 18yo rookie and rebuilding, the team was put together in training camp with little time to gel, then they (probably) tanked again".

There's always an excuse, but not one explaining why his team never plays a competent offensive or defensive set.

[zzaj]

Can someone explain to me Thybulle's fit here. With this roster his defense isn't impactful (especially playing up a position) enough to overcome his offensive limitations. I love Matisse but he should be catching the same flight as Malcom when we get serious about development.

Devil's advocate..who else are you going to get? He's apparently a great lockeroom guy that is the right age to be a "vet" for the youngest of these players and can provide a good example on the defensive end and hit a corner 3. You have to have at least SOME players that don't need the ball in their hands to be effective.

I guess the Blazers could give those minutes to Camara if they really wanted to suck...and they might just do that by season's end. I could see a reality where all of Brogdon/TL/Thybulle are goners by the deadline.

[Effigy]

Can someone explain to me Thybulle's fit here. With this roster his defense isn't impactful (especially playing up a position) enough to overcome his offensive limitations. I love Matisse but he should be catching the same flight as Malcom when we get serious about development.

Devil's advocate..who else are you going to get? He's apparently a great lockeroom guy that is the right age to be a "vet" for the youngest of these players and can provide a good example on the defensive end and hit a corner 3. You have to have at least SOME players that don't need the ball in their hands to be effective.

I guess the Blazers could give those minutes to Camara if they really wanted to suck...and they might just do that by season's end. I could see a reality where all of Brogdon/TL/Thybulle are goners by the deadline.

Honestly, from what I saw yesterday, I'd prioritize dumping Simmons and Grant before those guys.

[RTG HD]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think Robert Williams fits this team better than Ayton so far.

[DusterBuster]

I know this team is young, but they do not look well coached...

They do not. To be fair, there has been so much roster turnover that it is understandable that the players will take some time to get on the same page. That said, there was very little rhythm, especially on defense. Cronin said that Chauncey "finally has his guys to run his system", but if these are the results, it's not looking good.

I harbor a bias that NBA (and honestly all sports) coaches get too often scapegoated by fans, and often don’t get a fair shake. I can go on about it but I won’t lol.

That said, Chauncey does not look good as a coach. I believe he has potential, as he clearly displayed an ability to not just understand the game, but to learn and grow his understanding as a player. So I believe it is still possible for Chauncey to someday be a good coach.

But yikes he looked bad yesterday. I get that we were overmatched against a team with far more continuity than ours (which is almost every team tbh), but since I live out of market and watch on LP, I get a lot more shots of coaches talking to players in their huddles (since LP doesn’t show most of the transitional special effects of the broadcast. It just ends a commercial and cuts to a team huddle lol).

It was crazy the disparity between him and Lue. Lue was coaching his ass off in every huddle from tip to finish. He didn’t waste a second of opportunity to talk to his players. You’d think he was coaching a playoff game 7 from his body language. Then the cameras would cut to Chauncey, standing around his huddle looking more lost than the ethical conviction of a politician while his assistants discussed with each other what to do, before eventually talking to the players.

Yep, I generally agree with the theory that coaches get scapegoated too much as well, but there are ways to tell the good ones from the bad.

You really just have to look at the coaches who can get a lot of of a little. Stotts had his flaws and the help of a perennial AS in Lillard, yes, be he also took trassssshhh ass teams way further then they had any right to go in the playoffs. That first year after LA left, that was quite literal NBA dumpster driving by Olshey and Stotts got that team to the playoffs almost every year.

Coaches who can't do that are the ones who start leaning towards just bad coaches. Mo Cheeks was like this, he's probably the closest comp from what I can remember as a Blazer fan to Chauncey now in terms of coach quality. Nice guy, seems to be good in the community and players generally speak highly of him, but couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag.

I would love to see what this team could do with someone like Mike Budenholzer. He's much more akin to a Stotts-type. I think Bud would be a perfect hire right now. He's not perfect, I know Bucks fans got annoyed by his lack of trying new things when something wasn't working, but he played actual offensive and defensive sets. The new Bucks coach looks like they're going the same way as Billups, just guys out there looking totally lost.

Generally speaking, I'm just not high on ex-players being coaches. The times they work are much rarer than the times they don't.

[zzaj]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think Robert Williams fits this team better than Ayton so far.

I don't think that's an unpopular opinion...Brogdon and Williams are probably the best players on the Trailblazers right now. That will change in a couple of years, of course.

If Williams didn't have (apparently) very serious knee issues a la Brandon Roy, he probably wouldn't be a Blazer right now.

[monopoman]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think Robert Williams fits this team better than Ayton so far.

I don't think that's an unpopular opinion...Brogdon and Williams are probably the best players on the Trailblazers right now. That will change in a couple of years, of course.

If Williams didn't have (apparently) very serious knee issues a la Brandon Roy, he probably wouldn't be a Blazer right now.

Brogdon just came off a 6th man of the year selection, so yeah it would make sense he would provide value. Simons so far also looks improved this year, He really wants to get an all-star consideration this year, in his first game he really was playing pretty damn well and showing something.

His stats weren't jaw dropping but it was a solid performance and he seems to have improved in some aspects on the defensive end.

[zzaj]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think Robert Williams fits this team better than Ayton so far.

I don't think that's an unpopular opinion...Brogdon and Williams are probably the best players on the Trailblazers right now. That will change in a couple of years, of course.

If Williams didn't have (apparently) very serious knee issues a la Brandon Roy, he probably wouldn't be a Blazer right now.

Brogdon just came off a 6th man of the year selection, so yeah it would make sense he would provide value. Simons so far also looks improved this year, He really wants to get an all-star consideration this year, in his first game he really was playing pretty damn well and showing something.

His stats weren't jaw dropping but it was a solid performance and he seems to have improved in some aspects on the defensive end.

Simons is going to have to be a 60ppg scorer to get into an ASG conversation in the West with his team only at 10 wins ...in all seriousness though, if Simons can become even close to a league average defender that would be HUGE for his value.

[monopoman]

I don't think that's an unpopular opinion...Brogdon and Williams are probably the best players on the Trailblazers right now. That will change in a couple of years, of course.

If Williams didn't have (apparently) very serious knee issues a la Brandon Roy, he probably wouldn't be a Blazer right now.

Brogdon just came off a 6th man of the year selection, so yeah it would make sense he would provide value. Simons so far also looks improved this year, He really wants to get an all-star consideration this year, in his first game he really was playing pretty damn well and showing something.

His stats weren't jaw dropping but it was a solid performance and he seems to have improved in some aspects on the defensive end.

Simons is going to have to be a 60ppg scorer to get into an ASG conversation in the West with his team only at 10 wins ...in all seriousness though, if Simons can become even close to a league average defender that would be HUGE for his value.

Being in the conversation doesn't mean he gets selected, if he is posting a very good stat line as the ASG approaches even if this team is on pace for 20 wins he will be in the conversation.

Yep, he will have to look damn good to be in serious contention but 25 PPG with a few assists/rebounds on good %'s would get him in the conversation for sure.

[zzaj]

Brogdon just came off a 6th man of the year selection, so yeah it would make sense he would provide value. Simons so far also looks improved this year, He really wants to get an all-star consideration this year, in his first game he really was playing pretty damn well and showing something.

His stats weren't jaw dropping but it was a solid performance and he seems to have improved in some aspects on the defensive end.

Simons is going to have to be a 60ppg scorer to get into an ASG conversation in the West with his team only at 10 wins ...in all seriousness though, if Simons can become even close to a league average defender that would be HUGE for his value.

Being in the conversation doesn't mean he gets selected, if he is posting a very good stat line as the ASG approaches even if this team is on pace for 20 wins he will be in the conversation.

Yep, he will have to look damn good to be in serious contention but 25 PPG with a few assists/rebounds on good %'s would get him in the conversation for sure.

Honestly, I don't really think so. Not in the West at the Guard position. Off the top of my head (and I'm probably forgetting a few) SGA, Curry, Russell, Fox, Booker, Murray will all be on winning teams and likely be at 25 PPG. That's leaving out Klay and Beal and players like Anthony Edwards and other players putting up similar numbers on teams that will be better than Portland.

In the ASG winning matters a lot, and unless you are just putting up far and away numbers that are extraordinary or there is a dearth of players at your position, you aren't going to get talked about.

[Skybox]

It's really tough to get an All Star nod on a rebuild team...the voters that aren't watching every night assume "empty stats" and they're often right. That's kind of the national knock on Simons, in general, from my perspective and I'm the guy on the ORL board constantly posting trade ideas to get him here

I don't know that he'll ever be an All-Star next to a ball-dominant guard like Scoot (or Dame)...send him here and we'll feature him in the Jamal Murray role -so he can get 25 and 6 assists every night with the ball in his hands and Jalen Suggs can save him from being worked on D.

I like your team. Be patient guys...it's going to hurt for a while.