What Team Building Lessons Can the Trail Blazers Learn from the teams still left in the Playoffs?

What Team Building Lessons Can the Trail Blazers Learn from the teams still left in the Playoffs?

in today’s show with round two in the books and the Conference Finals on tap we talk lessons from the playoffs what can the Blazers learn from the teams remaining in the Hunts and the teams that just got knocked out welcome to lockdown Blazers let’s get into it you are locked on Trailblazers your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday what’s up world it’s your past first point guard and Trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond you’re listening to another episode of lock on Blazers part of the locked on podcast network available wherever you get podcasts and also on YouTube thanks for making this show your first listen coming at you each and every weekday Monday through Friday so make it a part of your daily routine make your first list and tell your friends to do the same it’s lock on Blazers your team every day in today’s show we’re talking lessons from the playoffs our way of sort of checking in on what has happened happening in the postseason and tying back the things that we’ve learned and the teams that have had success and what that can mean for the Blazers future uh if you’re an everyday listener you know that I love the second round of the playoffs it’s my favorite time of the year you still get games every single night of the week uh you’ve kind of um separated the wheat from the chaff you mostly get good teams uh sometimes you get injured teams but for the most part if you win a playoff series in the in the current particularly in the Western Conference uh apologies the Cleveland Cavaliers I think uh for the most part if you win if you win a playoff series you’re a good team you get you’re down to you’re down to eight good teams and it’s and it’s really good basketball it’s my favorite round of the whole playoffs I like it better than the Conference Finals I like it better than the finals not that those games aren’t good and magical and all for all those things but um this is the second round is my favorite time of the year and now it’s done I’m talking to you after the Minnesota Timberwolves went on the road and won in Denver to knock off the Champs and head to the Conference Finals uh the second Road team to win a game seven today as the Indiana Pacers rolled over the short-handed Knicks to make the Conference Finals as well so we are down to four teams Dallas and Minnesota in the West Boston and Indiana in the East we are guaranteed a new champion and for the sixth straight year this was this was shared by Kevin Harland on the TNT broadcast for the sixth straight year the defending champ failed to reach the Conference Finals did not P get past the second round not since the Warriors in 2019 as a team that has won the title made it past the uh made it past round two and back to the at least the Conference Finals much less uh much less to the final round uh so we’re guaranteed new champion and we’re continuing this stretch of parody in the league where every year there are new finalists or at least close to it because the the the Celtics gets the Celtics get there every season and disappoint maybe this is the year that they finally won’t so with that in mind with the sort of like there’s a ton of parody in the league um it has never been we don’t have that dominant Club right now uh Denver looks like it for portions of the season but we know they they didn’t even finish with with with you know one of the top records right or with the top record in the west um they they’re not that right and as a proof of it is Minnesota won the Celtics are really good but they haven’t won a title so you can’t be a dynasty with like can’t be a dynasty by always making the Eastern Conference Finals um it’s we don’t have that dominant team we have a fairly wide open field and thus the sort of team building coupled with a sort of lessons from the new CBA the most punitive CBA in league history um I I think we’re getting important lessons in team building so that’s what I want to do in today’s show is kind of walk you through the teams that are left and the teams that are recently eliminated what kind of lessons did we learn le start in Minnesota what a freaking run right they go they win two in a row in Denver it seems like they’re going to sweep the freaking Champs they lose three straight nickel yage puts together as good game five performance as you’re ever going to see from an individual one of the best second halfs I’ve ever seen someone play and what does Minnesota do they beat the snot out of them in game six and they come back in game seven and come back from a 20o deficit in the third quarter to in the end cruise to a win and what they didn’t really get threatened late once Anthony Edwards hit a three with about three minutes left ball game a 30o second half swing um what is the lesson from Minnesota and I will tie this back into the Blazers at at the very end but I think um broadly speaking I kind of want to just talk about basketball for a little bit but uh but I promise this is this this is in the in the the lens of the Portland Trailblazers as as we go through this um the the lesson from the from Minnesota is when you have a chance to acquire topend talent to pair with your already young top-end Talent do it if do it if and if is the key part for Minnesota if you can maintain your depth if you can maintain your depth because I think we’ve seen it in other places where teams have tried to um acquire Kevin Durant and build super teams and you and those those teams those type of roster builds have not had enough depth to be good I think the suns are you know they were pretty they had a pretty good regular season record despite their health but they just got exposed because they they don’t they didn’t have enough depth they didn’t have enough enough talented players to match up against a team that is as good as the Wolves obviously like the wolves are like Championship level good and so the sun’s kind of getting rolled by them in the first round of the playoffs maybe it looks a little better but like when you’re making the big swings when you’re acquiring the high-end Talent do it the lesson for Minnesota is do it if if you can maintain your depth if you don’t have to sell all off all of your prospects to do it obviously Minnesota is like going to be light on draft picks um they’re going to have to really nail some because they either o picks or o swaps like have to nail some some of that probably won’t be swapping but uh nail some of their own late draft picks like that that’s that’s their path forward um they’re going to be a really expensive roster so it’s going to be hard to you know hard to hard to make moves in the new new CBA but like the lesson is go for it when they went for it last season they make this Rudy gobear trade and they struggled and it seemed like the worst trade in NBA history some people were calling it in certain circles and they come back this year and they’re awesome and Anthony Edwards takes a huge step forward and they’re excellent and they’re excellent because of Rudy goar I I I want to be I want to be clear about that ant drives the bus an Edwards drives the bus he’s he’s their best player and and and and the engine of that team but the reason that they’re so good is because they’re the best defensive team in the league and the reason that they’re the best defensive team in the league is because Rudy goar holds it down and he got punked in game five the MVP gave it to him in a way that he just couldn’t hang right like he couldn’t hang it was like well I’m giving up buckets to one of the best players ever and I’ve got no shots and I’m supposedly one of the best defensive players of all time and I got no shots I thought Rudy goar was great in game six I thought he was great in game six and I thought he was darn good in game seven not as good as as as dominant as he was uh in game six but he was darn good in game seven darn good in game seven they won the game they won as many games as they did the regular season because of their Elite defense and then you have this Elite defense and you allow an Anthony Edwards to be to drive the ship he wasn’t very good in game seven like efficiency wise he did um get a ton of attention and his attention opened up everything and allowed them to go get offensive rebounds and all those things like I I’ll throw out the stats a little bit in a game seven you just try to win the game um and he his impact Anthony ever’s impact was obvious but the lesson from Minnesota and and when the if the Blazers should they get there right because there’re a lot of steps away is that when you are a team like Minnesota’s a good example right um where you’re not going to be a big factor in a free agency like the biggest free agent that’s on the roster is um is is Kyle Anderson right it’s like someone who’s who’s maybe not going to play a ton in certain matchups um you know they mostly have raed players players players they’ve drafted and players they’ve acquired via trade Conley and Conley and and goar you if you have an opportunity to acquire top end Talent without giving up your depth you do it because your depth is going to win you the game Nas Reed coming in the game in the last six minutes won them the game but they get there because they’re so good with with the group they have that’s the lesson from Minnesota I want to talk about the lesson from the Indiana Pacers and I want to use a word that people don’t like I want to talk about luck cuz luck is a factor and it’s always a factor and it’s a factor for the really good teams as it is for the okay teams and the way you get lucky is you make sure you have an opportunity let’s talk about the opportunity that the Pacers created for themselves and the good luck The Good Fortune they found themselves having this we’ll do in the second segment lessons from the playoffs as we roll on heading to the Midwest actually I guess further east into the Midwest join me in that second segment won’t you first though I want to tell you that Today’s Show is brought to you by Yahoo finance wouldn’t you like to see all of your Investments all in one place wouldn’t it be great if you could see your investment accounts and your retirement accounts in one single spot with Yahoo finance you can consolidate your views from multiple accounts into one Hub and access expert analysis you need to tend to your entire portfolio with confidence so if you got a 401k and you got an investment account with a Roth IRA somewhere you’re going to see it all right there with the tools that Yahoo finance provides for more than 25 years Yahoo finance has been the brand behind every great investor whether you’re a seasoned investor or looking for extra guidance Yahoo finance gives you all the tools and data you need in one place the number one Finance destination producing a holistic look at fi at the financial news cycle including breaking news original editorial 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um you know he’s a he’s a champion he’s an all he’s an all NBA guy former all NBA guy like he’s he’s he’s really good and he played like it and the reason that you trade for someone of of siakam’s caliber was fully on display in round two and fully on display in in Madison Square Garden in game seven he was great he’s great but you can’t deny that the Pacers didn’t get lucky in round one they you know they’re they’re the six seed right so they they they did what they needed to do to avoid the playin incredibly important the regular season still rewards you for being good right because if you fall down in that um 7even through 10 range you’re in the play in you got to you know you’re going to have to play one if not multiple single elimination games then you’re going to play a top seed like just your path is going to be really hard if you get one of the top six seeds you get rewarded um you know either homec court advantage or or or or or a slightly less strenuous path and for the Pacers they got a buck team that um they had played well against during the regular season but like all those were like pre- Christmas games I don’t know if they mattered uh but yanis TBO got hurt Damen L got hurt they beat a they beat a Bucs team that was short-handed and you don’t apologize you keep it moving you head on to the next round then they faced the Knicks and the Knicks looked awesome against the against the Sixers but they just couldn’t stay healthy they lose Mitchell Robinson they lose oan and noi Josh Hart was banged up Isaiah hartstein was banged up um at the end of the series well Jaylen Brunson was playing hurt and at the end of the series he breaks his hand fractures bone in his hand in game seven like Pacers were rolling they were dominating game seven they were they were um you know they they bounce back from getting punked in game five to win handily in game six and then win a game on the road um you do you do that because you are good right and you play well and like you could say like I I one thing I’ve noticed or I’ve learned I don’t know I’ve noticed I’ve learned um doing this podcast doing talking to a microphone for however many years I’ve been doing it four and some change um like people the fans don’t like luck they don’t like the word luck because luck implies that putting Aaron n Smith on Jaylen Brunson didn’t change the series luck implies that Tyrese Halbert and being more aggressive and the pace just cutting down their playoffs didn’t win the series luck implies that uh Pascal shakum realizing that he just had space to operate in the mid-range and if he went to his office and shot over guys who were smaller because they didn’t have an they didn’t have a someone to guard him and he could get his jumper off that that implies like that that the strategical tweaks and the good play of players on the team didn’t have weren’t a factor and I I that’s not what I mean what I mean is when you are building a team and you are trying to give yourself an opportunity right like I don’t think the Pacers at any point the season probably said we can win a title like maybe the players did and some people there but like I don’t even think like the people that build the Pacers roster were like sitting around like we can win the championship watch how we do it I just don’t believe that but they knew that like we’re better today by adding Pascal seak we’re closer we Tyrese halberton is too good of a player to pass on an opportunity to get a good player this is the sort of the same lesson but um instead of uh they didn’t make this leap into like Elite territory like the te wolves did they stayed like okay we’re a solid team were probably a year and a couple moves away but they gave themselves the opportunity by being good by being talented enough and then when the opport like by being talented enough they got themselves in the playoffs they put themselves in a position and then when things broke their way they took advantage of it um I think there is a certain fan and and certain media type of media people and I think this is like a fine opinion to hold but I don’t hold it that if you’re not like in that Championship Inner Circle that you’re not good enough and that the season is like you know the goal ultimate goal is a title short of that you you are in some ways a failure I don’t believe that I believe there’s a lot of ways to have successful seasons and I think that the Pacers are I don’t think they’re going to win title I don’t think they make the champ make the finals I they going to lose the Celtics but they certainly could win because they put themselves in the position and when you get in the series you have an opportunity to but if they don’t the things they did and the steps they did to get here and learn the lessons they did to get here are invaluable they’re invaluable and you can have a successful season in my eyes and come up short I think it should be celebrated making conference like it’s really hard to win a couple playoff series in the NBA winning two is the mark of good teams you can’t fake the funk at this point you can get lucky you can you can be you can seize an opportunity that was in front of you but um you can’t fake the funk like the the Pacers are are are good enough and Scrappy enough that I think they’ll give I would be I wouldn’t be surprised if they win a couple games off off the Celtics I wouldn’t be surprised if it went to seven based on the way Boston’s playing um but Boston is really talented I I would be worried about them speaking of Boston I think the lesson from from really good teams is hard to like apply back to the Blazers like for the Blazers like the Minnesota thing is like simple right it’s like if you draft a star like Anthony Ed Anthony Edwards which you hope to do either you hope that that player’s already magically on the roster or you hope to do in the next couple drafts if you draft a player that good take the opportunities when you can for the Pacers it’s like if you have that player on the team when if you acquire Tyrese halberton um via a player you traded or the player you drafted in Paul George if you believe in the transitive properties of Trades I don’t think that’s exactly how it works but um like if you have good young players take the opportunities to improve and even if you don’t think you get yourself into the the The Winner Circle you know like or like the contenders Inner Circle of contenders gave yourself an opportunity punch your chance you might make the Conference Finals and have a really rewarding and and and valuable season for the Celtics it’s like they made the finals in 2022 they made the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago it’s like they’re their their lesson is not as clean for the Blazers because it’s like seven years ago in back-to-back drafts draft like two of the top 25 players in the NBA and then just like March Forward Forever with those two players right like that is maybe the lesson right but the lesson like in the sort of more immediate time for the Celtics is no matter how how good you are you have to keep taking risks if you don’t get there and the Celtics took risks I think trading Market smart um and in some ways is risky just on from a cultural standpoint right like it like he had he’s like a he had a real um presence about him even if he was a little a little bit chaotic but you trade Marcus Smart you trade Malcolm brog the Sixth Man of the Year you trade Time Lord Rob Williams to add Drew holiday and add Chris Chris abs porzingis and you’re the most talented roster in the league like like even if you have been to the finals and been to the Eastern Conference Eastern Conference Finals and been as good as they’ve been consistently um you have to keep improving and taking risks because your window with any certain core is always shorter than you think like whatever whatever you think like okay and I I think this a lesson for OKC I’ll mention this in a second is like if you think like okay we’ve got we’re good enough that we have a five to sevene window cut it in half you have a two and a half to three and a half year window like right like you have Four Seasons at the most because it’s things are going to change people are going to get hurt money’s going to come up another team is going to send like it’s just you never you always have to go for it and the Celtics because they’ve been so close and like you know they’ve they little got a little Icarus in them they’ve pretty close to the Sun and had their wings melt uh particularly when when Steph Curry burned them down like it’s you got to keep you have to keep tweaking and that means you have to take risks and even though adding Talent is is always good right Drew holiday is really good Chris Taps Bing is darn good like even though that that’s like the path it’s not always that simple right like um it has an inherent risk it hasn’t changing up a core has an inherent risk but I think this lessons from the the Celtics I’ll be it further down the road as I continue to take those risks I want to talk maths I want to talk OKC and a little bit of Denver and then I want to talk about identity team identity as it belongs to the Blazers as it applies to the Blazers excuse me that’s what we’ll do to close the show join me in that third segment won’t you but first I want to tell you that Today’s Show is brought to you by FanDuel America’s number one sports book and it is winner take all time in the NBA and in the NHL and fanduel’s giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet go to FanDuel put $5 down on something you win you get your you get your bet right they’re going to give you 150 bucks to bet on whatever you’re looking at so spreads money lines player props and more visit fanduel.com lockon and make every playoff shot count FanDuel America’s number one sports [Music] book still a pass first point guard I’m still Mike Richmond you are still listening to locked on Blazers let’s talk lessons I think the Mavs are um one of the best sort of lessons for a team building um exercise that that exist in these playoffs right now the Celtics are up there because they just built such a good team but it’s like the Mavs are they have the marketting efficiency on what it takes what has recently and recent seasons has taken to win a championship and I think if the Celtics win um or if or if Minnesota wins maybe the Ascension of Edwards will will knock this out but like for the most part what you need is one of the five best players in the world and maybe one of the three best players in the world and the Mavs have that and when you have that you can win title it’s just you can’t do that if you don’t have the right team around that top five top three player I don’t know what Luke is top five top three he’s one of the best players in the league without a doubt he is a force in and of himself he’s terrifying for defenses he makes teams make tough decisions every time he touches the ball um you know there’s some complaints about his style and it not working or whatever but sure has been working and the reason has been working is because the MAV has built an excellent defense around him excellent defense around him they were the most aggressive team at the trade deadline um and the lesson for the Mavs is not about maintaining your depth it’s not about um you know making sure you’re in line to take advantage of opportunities when they when they present themselves Allah this year’s Pacers and the 2019 Blazers it’s never waste a season of the guy when you have the guy never waste a season never waste a season of the guy last year they wasted a season of of Luca Don’s career they wasted a season of him because they weren’t good they took the Kyrie Irving swing and they just weren’t good enough they were too small on the wings and even the wings they had that with were size weren’t Dynamic enough they weren’t big enough in the middle you know just too much Dwight Powell too much too much on Maxi clis plate who’s a good player but just like you can’t it can’t be every the answer every question can’t be Maxi clba it’s got like he was hurt in this this series and they won anyways I’m a big Maxi CBA believer I think he’s an excellent Defender really good role player but like the answer to every question if every question is who’s going to guard him who’s going to be our size if every answer is Maxi clay your team’s not good enough and the Mavs did not stand Pat at this at this deadline they were a pretty good team like they’re going to make the playoffs regardless because luuk is really good and Kyrie’s Kyrie’s really good and they they were kind of had an up and down year but then when when they but they were at times like you know right in the mix and I think they were probably going to be a top sixish team or right on the cusp um they were they were going to be talented but they weren’t good enough they weren’t good enough to win multiple playoff series prior to the trade deadline and then they went and made they were the most aggressive team most aggressive good team at the trade deadline most aggressive good team at the trade deadline you get PJ Washington you get Daniel Gafford you you know you move around assets to make those trades work now they play 48 minutes with a big rim protecting Center all the time they have big wings with PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr so they don’t ever play basically they don’t play basically anyone who’s ever at Kyrie Irving’s height or smaller with Lucas so freaking big you play big wings who can attack a little bit off the catch they’re not Elite play like Playmakers or creators but when you have Luca and Kyrie you have an identity what you need is guys that are complimentary to that identity our identity is we have two of the best shop makers and shot creators in the league Luca is a heliocentric monster and Kye Irving is one of the best most creative scorers in the history of the NBA and what we need around them is Shooters Defenders and guys who can attack a close out Derek Jones junor has played the best basketball of his career in Dallas PJ has been really good in the playoffs for for the Mavs and the thing with Daniel grafford and Derrick Lively really works and one of the reasons that I you got to look at the Mavs is because they traded up in the draft to get Derrick Lively know what you need know your identity we need size we need Defenders we need Shooters and go get it we need a rim rolling defensive Center who’s that in our draft range who can we reasonably trade up and get Derrick Lively go get him he’s been he was freaking great in this Playoff round great great dominated a team like NOC which brings me a little bit to OKC here so like the lesson from the lesson from the Mavs is once you like the thing you need to have a chance is one of the five best players in the league never waste it be aggressive in in doing so and that doesn’t need to be huge swings right they took their huge swing with Kyrie Irving right and and and eventually that worked and that pairing has been good but like what they did this year was they didn’t say hey we have a we have a really good top end Talent they said our role players need to make sense their team is Awesome on defense because the role players make sense they just don’t let you score at the the rim you have to beat them by knocking down shots and they fly around they clog the paint and they fly around and don’t give up super super easy looks from three um they they dare bad Shooters to shoot and they close out hard and they do not let anyone score at The Rim they’re freaking great defensive team right now they’re playing incredible and they’ve been playing great defense since the trade since the trade deadline they’ve been one of the best defenses in in the league they they they knew what their identity had to be and they went and built it OKC is perhaps the reverse of the Mavs they were really good this year their identity was defined they’re a five out team built around guys on the perimeter who can shoot and make plays but specifically they want to be five out because their best player Shea gildas Alexander likes to dribble and take mid-range jumpers so you need he needs that space right he needs the other four guys at the perimeter for the most part to give him that space But A friend of mine the day of the trade deadline text me and said that the OKC is going to regret not getting a big like they’re going to regret it they’re going to regret it and what do they do in this playoffs I I I I think they regretted not being big enough when you are when you are as good as they were there is some risk in adding in tweaking things right and making like a big splash I don’t think they necessarily needed to make a big splash right because you don’t want to mess up the chemistry I kind of talked about that earlier like um with with the Celtics you don’t want like a really good teams there there is a a subtle balance of of the chemistry and particularly OKC they’re young they’re ascending this is like their first year of being Elite first year being in the playoffs and they’re freaking the number one seed but like you look at the west and you say okay well to win to do what we want to do this year we have to beat either Denver or Minnesota uh to get there right they didn’t have to deal with any of them they just couldn’t hang with Derrick Lively and Daniel Gafford they couldn’t hang with that size like Chad hren is a really good player I think he’s excellent and he’s going to be good for a long time he just they needed more size in the at the end of game six the game that they lost to close the series they played they played Chad next to Jaylen Williams uh that’s Jaylen Williams Arkansas the other big guy cuz they desperately needed more size this was a team that didn’t need to make a big swing but they needed they needed to address a specific weakness which is they just weren’t big enough along the front line adding bismack bomo for insurance is not the solution that wins you a title but like is Kelly linic even is like Xavier Tilman who ended up going to the Celtics is is like just a a bigger body who can defend is that is that a better option um you know it’s hard to say like they they should have been the team to get Daniel Gafford but like maybe they should maybe they should have been the team to get Daniel Gafford like maybe they certainly they could have facilitated it with the assets they have um could could could have made the move but I even think like like even a lower level like a Tilman or Kelly o LX probably the sameish level as Gafford but like even a Xavier Tillman level Edition where it’s just like how about a big body that can play in the playoffs doesn’t need to play every night but can play in the playoffs if we need to go big if we need another if we need more size eventually the size beat beat him up I think is going to be fine but under my like my reasoning whatever you think you’re play whatever you think your contention window is cut it in half I would be worried about not worried I would star the idea that this was a season when you knew you had a weakness and they chose not to address it obviously there’s drawbacks with with all those things like and and maybe you know without a without every player on the floor being able to shoot threes and make plays a little make you know drive and kick right that’s their whole offense uh like with with having a guy who can’t do that maybe that takes a lot away what you do but they lost cuz they weren’t big enough right they like they should have lost in five they stole a game right Dallas dominated them they were way better than OKC in the series um I think that’s an interesting interesting lesson in team building and it’s about knowing your identity because I think in some ways um OKC didn’t didn’t make a change because they didn’t want to to disrupt their identity and Dallas made changes because they specifically saw what their identity had to be um I want to mention them briefly like they’re just they just didn’t have enough depth when they won a championship they got big minutes off the bench from from Bruce Brown and from from uh from Jeff Green and then they had Christian Brown play a little bit in the finals like but in game seven uh the non yic non Jamal Murray nuggets made eight shots eight field goals it’s not enough uh what you can’t do and and they’re going to have some challenges is you can’t their starting five is like a perfect mat match hard to win a league against without depth they could have won they were up 20 in in the second half of game seven they absolutely could be in the Conference Finals right now so I don’t say like I don’t mean to say like they screwed it up but you you knew what the the identity was that they had seven darn good playoff guys and they they knocked it down to like five and a half Christian Brown’s fine but five and a half uh I’ll give Brown half playoff guy like can you win with five playoff guys like if if some point you the the nuggets are really good they’re going to be right back here again cuz they’re really good but they have to you know um they know what their identity is and they’ll continue to do it but they had to add depth for more guys that fit their identity so I’ve used that word a lot the I word identity and I want to talk about this specifically in in relation to the Blazers because I think the lessons are clear take risks if you if you can maintain your depth be opportunistic because there’s if you can upgrade your team there’s no reason to say hey we’re not a championship level team let’s not upgrade um always always looking to improve like like Boston and if for and for and for Dallas the other team in in the final in the conference final here it’s like once you understand your identity go go out and get the players that fit it but here’s the thing I think Talent has to Define identity um there is you know I think the Blazers have types of players they like they like longer physical Wings right and that’s seems to be a prototype that fits for a lot of guys Blazers haven’t found a like two-way Wings yet guys who can play offense and defense but they seem to have a lot of like defensive minded tough wings that seems to be a thing that they they’ve kind of prioritized over the last 15 months in adding or so or two years I guess if you count Jabari Walker as well and you should um but they can’t start to build their identity until they have a guy and they don’t have that right now if it’s shanen sharp if it’s scoot Henderson if it’s still Anthony Simons whatever it might be um and I I I don’t think is like capable of that talent-wise to build around um and Scoot and shade and sharp certainly aren’t there now but but they are younger so certainly grow in believably they could grow into it but it could be some of new draft this year could be some of new draft in 2025 you can’t just you can’t determine your identity until you have a what your your your best player your most talented player determines your identity the Pacers play incredibly fast and wide open because Tyrese halberton lets them do what they do right the Mavs play with SI and Shooters around Luka donic with you know Defenders that can really clog up the paint and and be big and that’s their strength on defense right and they don’t have a lot of other dudes who need to dribble and and create off the they have two guys who dribble and create right because they have Elite creators they know their identity Minnesota play giant at all times the reason they won the game at the end of the game is because they put another big guy in and he and nazre crushed the um the the nuggets sound the stretch freaking blocking yic shots making drives uh swooping jelly drives and um dunking home misses like they they play to an identity the Blazers need to establish an identity but you establish an identity with talent I think you can have a type of player you like and you can have a style you like to play but you don’t establish your identity until you have that player and that’s the step for the Blazers before they get to all these steps and all these lessons that Talent has to be there that Talent base they need topend talent they don’t have it yet and when they get it they can start to apply these lessons to what they want to be but the next step for them is just to add a player that can Define their identity and then you take these lessons and you know no learn what you’ve learned watching the good teams and try to avoid their mistakes avoid their pitfalls and follow and follow the path um as best you can once your identity is established of of being of what the what the successful teams have done try to try to copy that blueprint that’s going to do it for today’s show um thanks for rocking with me and letting me talk low Hoops um second round rip I love you Conference Finals you’re cool too uh we’ll watch those games as well morar shows this week it’s what we do five days a week wherever you get podcasts and also on YouTube tell your friends about the program I appreciate you listening I’ll talk to you soon [Music]

What can the Pacers, Celtics, Mavericks and Timberwolves teach the Trail Blazers about team building?

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