If you miss 30 threes and don’t lose by 20 then it should be counted as a win.
Ok, I’m ready for the regular season.
toadtruck
nba refs are going to be the death of me. don’t even care if we missed 50 threes, call the fucking game down the middle
clumsy_aerialist
Down go the Blazers.
sean_buttcannon
We looked like a young team with all our vets not playing Vs a championship contender. 🤷🏻♂️
Need to drastically cut down on fouls. Moses sucks. Minaya should get a roster spot. Scoot and sharpe rule. Go blazers.
JPD050409
this gon be a rough 2 years at the least
Sa-Tiva
Loving what i’m seeing from Sharpe the last couple games. Hes picking up where he left off last season.
Piano9717
Another preseason game, another recap:
The positives:
* Skylar Mays is a good table-setter. He got put in a terrible situation with the no-offense lineup at the start of the 2nd quarter (playing with Brown, Minaya, Walker, and Rupert is gonna make any point guard look bad offensively) but he takes care of the ball, controls the pace, and gets guys the ball where they need to get it. I really like what I see, especially for a two-way guy. Not to mention he seems to be a decent shooter as well.
* Toumani Camara has tremendous instincts on defense and might legitimately have 1-5 switchability. He covers SO much ground on closeouts yet stays disciplined and on balance with his feet. And he has great timing as a weakside rim protector. If Chauncey is going to switch more heavily this year he might be a real asset there maybe even as a small ball 5 for stretches (I know most of the sub hates small ball but it can be really effective in the right matchups). * Sharpe looked pretty good. I liked the flashes of PnR creation he displayed, and he had a couple pretty nice looking passes to the roller. He also looked engaged in the offense and didn’t disappear into the corner for multiple possessions in a row. * Reath has great touch and fluidity on offense and just generally has an intriguing skillset on that end of the ball. I think he’s had a pretty good preseason so far and to me, he’s shown a lot more than Brown so far. That being said, he doesn’t seem to be switchable, or much of a rim protector so his defense will probably be ugly at times – personally I wish the emergency center was a defender instead of an offensive guy (maybe that’s because I have PTSD from watching guys like Skal Labissiere, Harry Giles, and Trendon hemorrhage points at the rim whenever they came into the game). * Kevin Knox might be able to eat minutes as like a 11th man (so basically out of the rotation but playing in case of a wing injury). I generally liked what I saw last season and he’s played decently so far this preseason. Still not a very high IQ player and doesn’t really have great feel for the game, but he’s big, physical, and can shoot the ball. You could do worse for an end-of-bench wing.
The negatives:
* A lot of us have gotten spoiled by great guard play from Dame, CJ, and Ant (and even our backups like Napier and Mo Williams have always been top tier). Gotta be ready for some growing pains from this year with this really young rotation – a lot of us forget that Dame is really magical and a top-5 offensive player every year.
* I HATE OUR 2-3 ZONE SO MUCH. It’s not slowing teams down and we are just guarding spaces in the floor instead of trying to match up out of the zone so it’s just way too easy to break down. Plus, it feels like Chauncey is trying to use it to cover up our awful man defense but the guys need to learn how to play man defense as well in order to win. Just feels like trying to patch a sinking ship with bubble gum and scotch tape (as someone said in the last game thread). * Fouling is going to be a real issue with such a young team. We are really undisciplined on defense and constantly out of position and thus in scramble situations which leads to fouls. The zone is also leaving guys wide open and forcing hard closeouts when the opponents swing the ball from side to side which also contributes to the fouling. * Moses Brown is terrible. Like I said in the previous two recaps, he never leaves the paint on defense (he got called for a defensive 3 second and could have been called for several more) yet is somehow always in no-mans land. He also has really bad feel for the guy behind him in the dunker spot, and just doesn’t seem to move his feet well enough to play PnR defense at this level. He gets some nice dunks and blocks, but his overall team defense is nowhere close to being a rotation NBA player. * Scoot looked a bit rough with the turnovers but that’s to be expected with such a young team. The good thing is that most of the turnovers looked to be miscommunications rather than playing out of control, which is all too common with young guards. There wasn’t much good about this game for him, but the bad looked all fixable. I definitely do look forward to seeing how he grows at finishing through traffic. From watching him in the G league and the preseason, it seems like he has a similar problem to early-career Dame and Ja where he takes off too far away from the rim off two feet and tries to finish through the big, instead of either getting to a floater (Ja) or taking one more quick dribble and finishing under or around the big (Dame). * Kris Murray looked pretty rough. He seemed like he was forcing a little bit and not really playing a role – not sure if that’s because the game is moving too fast for him, or if it’s because he’s completely lost confidence in his shot. Regardless creating off the dribble doesn’t really appear to be part of his game, and he’s been ice cold from three in the preseason. Not a good showing for sure.
dms_99
If you don’t like that, you don’t like Blazers basketball
alandwarinasia_
billups be like ‘the zone will continue until morale improves’
BehavioralSink
The stats finally mean something starting next Wednesday. Looking forward to opening night!
rexter2k5
Said this in the game thread, but I think it still applies:
People are gonna have to drastically change how they watch the Blazers.
It’s a matter of quality that Blazer fans go into every season expecting to compete, but the last time we went 3 seasons under 35 Ws was 16 years ago. Before that, it was just under 30 years.
We’re due a rebuild not only for the franchise, but for peoples’ expectations.
ValhallaPDX
Rupert was Poopert
ArmorKing1992
I assure you, brothers… the sun will shine on us again
Scalmaa
Conditt clears Moses it isnt even close lol
rico-swayze
Murray going to shoot himself out of the league at this rate
harmonic-
the people who talk about this being a ‘sneaky’ play-in team have no idea how sneaky that would have to be lmao
peace2everycrease
PLEASE GOD NO MORE ZONE
shelvino
I don’t understand why we wouldn’t want our team to play together in preseason. I guess it is good for tanking by not having the team play together before the season so they look more lost and we lose more games. But still, we are a young team why do we have to rest guys like Simons and Ayton when you got KD/Booker playing? Was there any injuries reported? I get it, its just preseason but its a new young team, I feel like they should be playing to get used to each other and make lives easier for the young guys. I understand tanking can be valuable, but Scoot looked miserable out there. Even when we had Eubanks during the tanks, it at least gave our guys a steady offensive presence that can also block shots. If we got to see guys like Knox/Murray/Duop/Brown play PF/C, I think that is just going to make guys like Scoot/Sharpe life harder. I wish they could have grew some chemistry with Ayton. I totally understand the idea of tanking to get better draft capital, however losing like this just can’t be good for players development. I don’t mean losing in general, but losing because have NO capable center and are forced to foul almost EVERY single possession and everyone is forced out of position because of our lack of a capable big. I mean did we think that any of our young guys got better tonight after that awful defensive scheme? The defense was so hard to watch. Sharpe passing looked fantastic again, so excited for him. His passing is what makes his ceiling so special for me.
NobodyWins22
Why did Billups rest Ayton tonight? Didn’t DA rest last game too? I wonder if he’s injured and their choosing not to disclose. Because resting a brand new player who needs as many reps as possible playing with new teammates and in new system is a bit puzzling. Especially a 25 yr old.
tomhalejr
7-37 from 3: This is the shooting gravity issue. Without Ant and Grant (Tisse, Mookie Dew) there is no shooting gravity to open the floor.
Scoot: Is 19. Without the gravity of the vets, he had nothing. The C squad just didn’t leave him anything to work with. He’s not a 22 YO Dame. You can’t expect to just set a pick, and have the guy go out and create 20 PPG every night.
Shae: Is 20… Looked like the best player on the floor against PHX’s C squad. Completely lost within any semblance of structure.
Bari: Looks like he knows what role POR wants him to play, as a 20 YO.
Reath: If he has played well enough for someone to throw a min NBA contract at him, POR might have to beat them to it. Moses isn’t fully guaranteed. If it’s between the two, Reath being able to stretch the floor a bit as the third big/insurance policy could be more necessary than Moses’ mass.
Murray: The 3pt shot isn’t falling, but he’s trying to work to do different things. He might need a little more time on the peninsula with 2M(?) and Rupe. But, you can see with another year or two of NBA PT and 10-15# that he could be a smart two way NBA player.
Minaya / Knox: POR will have one or two roster spots, if they want to go to 15 or not, depending on Moses/Reath. POR didn’t pick up Knox’s $3M TO, and the guaranteed contract would be $2.3M… So I just have to wonder if POR might be leaning more towards Minaya?
20 Comments
If you miss 30 threes and don’t lose by 20 then it should be counted as a win.
Ok, I’m ready for the regular season.
nba refs are going to be the death of me. don’t even care if we missed 50 threes, call the fucking game down the middle
Down go the Blazers.
We looked like a young team with all our vets not playing Vs a championship contender. 🤷🏻♂️
Need to drastically cut down on fouls. Moses sucks. Minaya should get a roster spot. Scoot and sharpe rule. Go blazers.
this gon be a rough 2 years at the least
Loving what i’m seeing from Sharpe the last couple games. Hes picking up where he left off last season.
Another preseason game, another recap:
The positives:
* Skylar Mays is a good table-setter. He got put in a terrible situation with the no-offense lineup at the start of the 2nd quarter (playing with Brown, Minaya, Walker, and Rupert is gonna make any point guard look bad offensively) but he takes care of the ball, controls the pace, and gets guys the ball where they need to get it. I really like what I see, especially for a two-way guy. Not to mention he seems to be a decent shooter as well.
* Toumani Camara has tremendous instincts on defense and might legitimately have 1-5 switchability. He covers SO much ground on closeouts yet stays disciplined and on balance with his feet. And he has great timing as a weakside rim protector. If Chauncey is going to switch more heavily this year he might be a real asset there maybe even as a small ball 5 for stretches (I know most of the sub hates small ball but it can be really effective in the right matchups).
* Sharpe looked pretty good. I liked the flashes of PnR creation he displayed, and he had a couple pretty nice looking passes to the roller. He also looked engaged in the offense and didn’t disappear into the corner for multiple possessions in a row.
* Reath has great touch and fluidity on offense and just generally has an intriguing skillset on that end of the ball. I think he’s had a pretty good preseason so far and to me, he’s shown a lot more than Brown so far. That being said, he doesn’t seem to be switchable, or much of a rim protector so his defense will probably be ugly at times – personally I wish the emergency center was a defender instead of an offensive guy (maybe that’s because I have PTSD from watching guys like Skal Labissiere, Harry Giles, and Trendon hemorrhage points at the rim whenever they came into the game).
* Kevin Knox might be able to eat minutes as like a 11th man (so basically out of the rotation but playing in case of a wing injury). I generally liked what I saw last season and he’s played decently so far this preseason. Still not a very high IQ player and doesn’t really have great feel for the game, but he’s big, physical, and can shoot the ball. You could do worse for an end-of-bench wing.
The negatives:
* A lot of us have gotten spoiled by great guard play from Dame, CJ, and Ant (and even our backups like Napier and Mo Williams have always been top tier). Gotta be ready for some growing pains from this year with this really young rotation – a lot of us forget that Dame is really magical and a top-5 offensive player every year.
* I HATE OUR 2-3 ZONE SO MUCH. It’s not slowing teams down and we are just guarding spaces in the floor instead of trying to match up out of the zone so it’s just way too easy to break down. Plus, it feels like Chauncey is trying to use it to cover up our awful man defense but the guys need to learn how to play man defense as well in order to win. Just feels like trying to patch a sinking ship with bubble gum and scotch tape (as someone said in the last game thread).
* Fouling is going to be a real issue with such a young team. We are really undisciplined on defense and constantly out of position and thus in scramble situations which leads to fouls. The zone is also leaving guys wide open and forcing hard closeouts when the opponents swing the ball from side to side which also contributes to the fouling.
* Moses Brown is terrible. Like I said in the previous two recaps, he never leaves the paint on defense (he got called for a defensive 3 second and could have been called for several more) yet is somehow always in no-mans land. He also has really bad feel for the guy behind him in the dunker spot, and just doesn’t seem to move his feet well enough to play PnR defense at this level. He gets some nice dunks and blocks, but his overall team defense is nowhere close to being a rotation NBA player.
* Scoot looked a bit rough with the turnovers but that’s to be expected with such a young team. The good thing is that most of the turnovers looked to be miscommunications rather than playing out of control, which is all too common with young guards. There wasn’t much good about this game for him, but the bad looked all fixable. I definitely do look forward to seeing how he grows at finishing through traffic. From watching him in the G league and the preseason, it seems like he has a similar problem to early-career Dame and Ja where he takes off too far away from the rim off two feet and tries to finish through the big, instead of either getting to a floater (Ja) or taking one more quick dribble and finishing under or around the big (Dame).
* Kris Murray looked pretty rough. He seemed like he was forcing a little bit and not really playing a role – not sure if that’s because the game is moving too fast for him, or if it’s because he’s completely lost confidence in his shot. Regardless creating off the dribble doesn’t really appear to be part of his game, and he’s been ice cold from three in the preseason. Not a good showing for sure.
If you don’t like that, you don’t like Blazers basketball
billups be like ‘the zone will continue until morale improves’
The stats finally mean something starting next Wednesday. Looking forward to opening night!
Said this in the game thread, but I think it still applies:
People are gonna have to drastically change how they watch the Blazers.
It’s a matter of quality that Blazer fans go into every season expecting to compete, but the last time we went 3 seasons under 35 Ws was 16 years ago. Before that, it was just under 30 years.
We’re due a rebuild not only for the franchise, but for peoples’ expectations.
Rupert was Poopert
I assure you, brothers… the sun will shine on us again
Conditt clears Moses it isnt even close lol
Murray going to shoot himself out of the league at this rate
the people who talk about this being a ‘sneaky’ play-in team have no idea how sneaky that would have to be lmao
PLEASE GOD NO MORE ZONE
I don’t understand why we wouldn’t want our team to play together in preseason. I guess it is good for tanking by not having the team play together before the season so they look more lost and we lose more games. But still, we are a young team why do we have to rest guys like Simons and Ayton when you got KD/Booker playing? Was there any injuries reported? I get it, its just preseason but its a new young team, I feel like they should be playing to get used to each other and make lives easier for the young guys. I understand tanking can be valuable, but Scoot looked miserable out there. Even when we had Eubanks during the tanks, it at least gave our guys a steady offensive presence that can also block shots. If we got to see guys like Knox/Murray/Duop/Brown play PF/C, I think that is just going to make guys like Scoot/Sharpe life harder. I wish they could have grew some chemistry with Ayton.
I totally understand the idea of tanking to get better draft capital, however losing like this just can’t be good for players development. I don’t mean losing in general, but losing because have NO capable center and are forced to foul almost EVERY single possession and everyone is forced out of position because of our lack of a capable big. I mean did we think that any of our young guys got better tonight after that awful defensive scheme? The defense was so hard to watch.
Sharpe passing looked fantastic again, so excited for him. His passing is what makes his ceiling so special for me.
Why did Billups rest Ayton tonight? Didn’t DA rest last game too? I wonder if he’s injured and their choosing not to disclose. Because resting a brand new player who needs as many reps as possible playing with new teammates and in new system is a bit puzzling. Especially a 25 yr old.
7-37 from 3: This is the shooting gravity issue. Without Ant and Grant (Tisse, Mookie Dew) there is no shooting gravity to open the floor.
Scoot: Is 19. Without the gravity of the vets, he had nothing. The C squad just didn’t leave him anything to work with. He’s not a 22 YO Dame. You can’t expect to just set a pick, and have the guy go out and create 20 PPG every night.
Shae: Is 20… Looked like the best player on the floor against PHX’s C squad. Completely lost within any semblance of structure.
Bari: Looks like he knows what role POR wants him to play, as a 20 YO.
Reath: If he has played well enough for someone to throw a min NBA contract at him, POR might have to beat them to it. Moses isn’t fully guaranteed. If it’s between the two, Reath being able to stretch the floor a bit as the third big/insurance policy could be more necessary than Moses’ mass.
Murray: The 3pt shot isn’t falling, but he’s trying to work to do different things. He might need a little more time on the peninsula with 2M(?) and Rupe. But, you can see with another year or two of NBA PT and 10-15# that he could be a smart two way NBA player.
Minaya / Knox: POR will have one or two roster spots, if they want to go to 15 or not, depending on Moses/Reath. POR didn’t pick up Knox’s $3M TO, and the guaranteed contract would be $2.3M… So I just have to wonder if POR might be leaning more towards Minaya?