Where the Portland Trail Blazers Rank in the Western Conference | Blazers Uprise Live

Where the Portland Trail Blazers Rank in the Western Conference | Blazers Uprise Live

What’s going on everybody? Welcome into Blazers Uprise Live here on Monday, August 11th, 2025. We are in the dog days of August. We’re in the dog days of August. just waiting for the Blazers season to begin, but we still got streams for you. We’re just doing them every Monday right now. So, shout out to Eric. He’s at Disneyland right now living his best life. I’m here. I’m still rocking the glasses. Today, we’re going to talk about the Blazers ranking in the Western Conference. What teams are they better than? What teams are better than them? What teams is it debatable for? And we’re going to get chats input. Shout out to you if you’re watching this back after the fact. I know there’s a lot of you that watch back after the fact. We appreciate you. As we’re going live here, a little late. Little late. 10:17 p.m. here on the West Coast. I just got back from the beach. I don’t know if I look any tanner. I don’t know. I I probably doesn’t show up on the webcam, you know it’s it’s a little dark in here, but I just got back from the beach, Tieleamok area, camping by the beach. It was very, very nice. Hopefully you guys had a great weekend. You could let me know what you did this weekend in the live chat or the comment section. Hopefully you had a great one. Hopefully you are living your best life like Eric Brandt is. But today, I think this is going to be a pretty fun stream as we start to preview next season. We’re going to start previewing next season. We’re going to start talking about what needs to go right for the Blazers in order to achieve their goals to become a 2026 NBA playoff team because that is ultimately the goal. And a lesser goal, if you’re being a little bit more pessimistic, is hopefully they will have another game beyond game 82. But just how feasible is that for this young Portland Trailblazers team that took a step last year but still has some major question marks around the roster. We’re going to discuss it all today. We’ve been getting some workout clips from Scoot Henderson working with I believe his name is Chris Johnson. His trainer Drew was in the lab with Scoot, which is pretty cool to see. The two guard teammates next year were working out together. took a picture together. So, the mentorship starts early in August and the regular season is one in the off season in a way. It’s good to see Scoot putting in the work. We can just hope that other Blazers are putting in that work. Maybe it just isn’t as publicized as Scoot’s offseason workouts have been on YouTube, but they’ve been fun to watch. I’ve been enjoying them. I think Scoot’s in for a big season next year. He’s going to need to take another step this upcoming season if the Blazers are going to make the playoffs. Last stream I talked about how important Scoot Henderson and Shaden Sharp were for the Portland Trailblazers to truly make that next step next season. So, if you missed that stream, feel free to go back and watch it. I went into what it would take for Scoot and Sharp to take that next step, what they need to improve upon this upcoming season. But this this stream is just going to be a stream where we talk about the team as a whole and really set some expectations going into next year for the first time after the 2025 off season. And I know trades could still happen. It’s August 11th. We’ve seen trades happen in late August, early September before. It’s not like there’s a trade deadline during the off season. trades can happen at any point, but at this point, at this point, I think the Blazers have the roster locked in. And if you were holding out hope for a Jeremy Grant trade, hopefully you have gotten to the acceptance stage of grief and just accepted that Jeremy Grant’s going to be on this team next year. Hopefully, he can play a good role off the bench. Hopefully he doesn’t start over Sharp and Scoot potentially. Man, the starting lineup this upcoming season is going to be such a important storyline. Such an important storyline, especially as we head into late September into media day and we get to hear Chanty Bilip speak about how he’s going to approach the starting lineup. And then of course preseason game number one, I believe it’s on October 9th. And I expect them to try out some different starting lineups, but it’ll be very interesting even in preseason just to see who the Blazers trot out there in their starting five. With that first preseason game being October 9th, that means we have less than two months, less than two months until the preseason. I can’t wait. Hopefully, you can’t wait as well. Every time NFL preseason starts, it starts to make me itch for basketball season. But I will say as a diehard Mariners fan, I’m enjoying I’m enjoying things right now. I’m enjoying things right now. Normally the summer is just waiting for football to start and then waiting for basketball to start. No, I’m I’m I’m falling in love with baseball. So, shout out to you Mariners fans out there. It’s been quite a ride. I finally have a good team again. Hopefully the Blazers can join them this upcoming season. Hopefully my 49ers can join them this upcoming season. We’ll see. But maybe things are looking up. Maybe things are looking up. And hopefully things are looking up for this Blazer team. Michael Hall asks, “How many preseason games this year?” We got four on the schedule. They could always add one. I was surprised they did not go to China. Having Yong Hansen on the roster, it’ll be fun to watch him in preseason. Of course, Sam Douly says, “Ghost Row.” Sam, you got to be careful with that in your man. You got to be careful. They’re falling apart. They’re falling apart. And I love it. I love it. Anyway, how I’m going to rank the Blazers in the Western Conference is I’m going to go team by team, but I’m also going to kind of segment it. The first thing I want to start with is the teams that I’m very very confident in being better than the Portland Trailblazers where it would take an absolute miracle or a travesty or just something so insane for the Blazers to be better than these three teams. And there’s really not much to say. We all know why these teams are good, but I’ll touch upon basically every team in the Western Conference and the good and the bad and how the Blazers might end up being better than them. And that in a way will set the Blazers floor and ceiling. Okay, I should probably put four teams in this category, but there are really three teams that stand out as the cream of the crop in the Western Conference this upcoming season for me. And of course, we got to start with the defending champion, Oklahoma City Thunder. They won 68 games last year, 68-4. They won the NBA finals in seven games against the Indiana Pacers. Get well soon, Tyresese Hallebertton. But that team was one of the youngest teams in the league. They I believe the youngest champion ever if I recall correctly. Um Bear or maybe it was the Blazers in 77. I know the Blazers and this year’s Stunder team were the two youngest NBA Finals winners ever. They’re just going to get better. They they didn’t really do much with their roster, which why would you? They didn’t have to. At some point, the Second Apron’s going to start giving that team some questions. The new CBA is going to make it harder for a team like OKC to keep their core together long term and pay the amount of money that it’ll take to keep that team together. But they don’t have to start facing those questions right now. They’re obviously the team to beat in the entire NBA. And it would take it would take an absolute miracle for the Blazers to be better than that team. All right, the second team who I think was a big winner this off seasonason, the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets right now might be my number two team in the West and might be the top threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They brought back Bruce Brown on a minimum contract, minimum contract, which was a shocking sighting. They traded for Jonas Valenunis to back up Nicola Joic. He then wanted to go sign for a team in Greece somewhere in Europe in the th in the Nuggets said, “No, you’re going to back up Joic.” So, you got Valenunis, you had Bruce Brown, you trade Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson. Cam Johnson being a better player and I believe a better fit than Michael Porter Jr. They also bring in Tim Hardaway Jr. like they just completely upgraded their depth around Nicola Joic and their depth is what helped them win a championship a couple of years ago and had been since depleted when they lost Contavius Cwell Pope and Bruce Brown. Now they bring Bruce Brown back. They bring some other pieces. I love what the Thunder or the Nuggets did this past off season and I think they are the closest threat to the Thunder. I don’t think the Blazers are going to be better than the Nuggets, but we can hope. The third team is the Houston Rockets. Of course, 52 and 30 last year, the second seed in the West. They add Kevin Durant for Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks. They obviously got better. They’re also young, so you expect those young guys to get better. I don’t think the Rockets are going to be a team that the Blazers can surpass. I think Amen Thompson could take a thirdyear leap to true stardom. Last year he’s kind of a defensive star that did some cool offensive things. I think offensively he could be like a 20 and5 guy this year. Like I think he could be their number two or number three scorer. I’ve always been super high on Amend Thompson. He’s insane defensively. I think this year you might see a bit of an offensive jump. Um, be interesting to see what his usage is. Uh, but it’s not like it’s not like you’re really adding a ton of usage when you trade Dylan Brooks and Jaylen Green for Kevin Durant. Like Durant will take a few more shots than Jaylen Green, but Jaylen Green got a lot of shots up. So, it’s not like Amen Thompson’s usage is going to, you know, if anything, I think he’s going to be utilized a little bit more. Um, be interesting to watch him next season. The fourth team that I thought about putting in this tier and I’m like tempted to is the Los Angeles Lakers. Of course you got Luca. He looks shredded. Luca Donic looks like he wants to go on a revenge tour this year. And what I mean by that is it looks like he wants to make the Dallas Mavericks look insanely stupid for trading him because he’s fat by kind of proving their point that he could be in better shape and getting in better shape and getting lighter. And who knows what that does for his game this upcoming season. It’s going to be interesting to watch. But it looks like Luca needed a reality check. And I guess the reality check was the trade in order to get in shape because he looks like he’s in great shape right now. At least compared to what he was last season. And then of course you got LeBron age 40 to 41. He’s still a star caliber player. They had DeAndre Aton. I do think I do think with him just being a lob target and him being kind of in a contract year with a player option uh you know he he cares about his money. He cares about getting that next contract and Luca’s a good lobthrower. I think he will be a decent big in LA and I think he’ll be a little bit more bought in than he was in Portland unfortunately. But that’s DA for you. Outside of that, still questions about the role players, which is why I won’t put the Lakers in the same tier as the other teams. But I would be very surprised if the Blazers could give them a run for their money. The Lakers would essentially need a bunch of things to go wrong. I just think they are a pretty safe bet as a 50- win team. And I don’t have the Blazers as a 50- win team. If the Blazers are 50- win team next season, we’re all very, very, very happy. But it would take so many things to go right. If we’re predicting the Blazers to be a 50- win team, then I feel like you could make the case for 10 other Western Conference teams to be a 50-in team. So, realistically, I don’t think you can put the Blazers above the Lakers or any of those other teams. Okay. Okay. So, this next tier, you know what? I’ll put the Golden State Warriors in the Lakers tier. The Golden State Warriors lit the world on fire with Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry together. They still have the Kaminga restricted free agency hovering in the air. So, who knows what happens there that could affect their outlook going into next season. But I think with how good they were with Steph and Jimmy, of course, beat the Rockets in the first round. It it’s really you really can’t overlook the Golden State Warriors. They won 48 games last year. Uh yeah, those guys are a year older, but ultimately that’s a veteran laden team that’s going to know how to win basketball games. And they also, you know, assuming they bring back Kaminga, Pimsky, they do have a couple young players that could take another step. They still have uh I believe they still have a couple assets that they could put in play to improve that team. It’s going to be tough for the Blazers to pass up the Golden State Warriors. I’ll put them in the Lakers tier as well. It’s really hard to make a case for the Blazers being better than the Warriors. Okay, so that’s five teams that I really can’t make a case for the Blazers being ahead of them now. Oh, well, I’ll also throw Minnesota in there. That’s six. I’ll throw Minnesota in there. I mean, Minnesota is just one injury away from me for Anthony Edwards from being an 11th or 12th seed. I feel like they rely on him as much as maybe any team relies on any single player other outside of Denver with Joic. I mean, of course, SGA and OKC MVP, but even without him, I expect that team to win basketball games. Minnesota needs Anthony Edwards. He’s been relatively healthy. So, I’ll also put Minnesota in that tier with the Lakers and the Warriors, teams that I can’t make the case for the Blazers being better than unless they just get devastated by injuries. So, that’s the top six teams. Everything else is playing on down. What I’ll do is I’ll go to the bottom of the standings. These are the teams that I think will for sure be worse than the Portland Trailblazers that you can easily make a case for the Blazers being a better team than these teams next season. First, if you guys have any thoughts on those first six teams, let me know in the chat. I’ll answer your questions or read off your thoughts here for a couple minutes and then we’ll get into the true bottom feeders, which the Blazers are not in that tier anymore, which is great. The Blazers don’t belong in that tier anymore, which is cool to say. Although that tier is dwindling with how loaded the West is. Did you say Houston? Absolutely. The top six teams in the West next season in my opinion are the OKC Thunder, Houston Rockets, LA Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors. There’s another team that I think could definitely end up being top six, but I think they have more question marks and more re It’s a more realistic possibility for the Blazers to potentially surpass them. You guys can guess what that team is. Miles Martin says, “Are the Warriors really a lock? Feels like they’re on the verge of aging out. I mean, they were like 20 and two after adding Jimmy Butler last year or something insane like that. So, they’re really, really good. They won in the first round and then won game one against the Timberwolves and then Steph hurt his ankle. So, yeah, I I I I’m very comfortable putting Golden State in my top six teams next year. Very very comfortable with it. I thought they would go on more of a run last year’s playoffs and it looked like they were about to and then Steph had his injury. Eric Hosa says, “Tory, but I think every team in the West got better except the Warriors.” Yeah, but if you just look at the Warriors as constructed with Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, they were very, very good to begin with. So, I don’t look at Golden State as a 48 win team. I look at them as a 50 plus win team as currently constructed even though they didn’t get better. Aromancer, shout out to him. He says they were 23 and seven. 23 and seven over the course of an entire season, that equates to probably, if my math is correct, a 60- win team. So, even if they do take a step back due to age, they’re still probably a 50- win team, right? Assuming health, of course. And and that’s the thing with any of these teams. Like, we’re trying to assume that these teams are going to have a normal year injury-wise. But also we do have to take into account like some other players that are uh for lack of a better term non-durable. What’s the phrase for that? I don’t know. Injury-prone. There is a team that I think is very injuryprone. Um Trist says I think Golden State ends up being the 10 seed this year. Man, I I don’t see how you can take a team that was 23 and seven as currently constructed and think they’re going to be the 10th seed, but I might be wrong. I might be wrong. Butler is low-key. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think he’ll have a decent year healthwise. He’s not going to have to do as much. He’s not going to have to do as much in Golden State. I love his fit. I’m I’m I just disagree with chat on the Golden State doubt, but we’ll see. We’ll see. Now, let’s talk about the teams that the Blazers are better than. Team number one, the Blazers are surely better than the Utah Jazz. Despite them publicly claiming they want to be competitive next season, any team can say that they want to be competitive. I mean, the Los Angeles Angels, who have sucked for years, if you know baseball, you’ll get this analogy, right? They win one game before the trade deadline and they decide, “No, we don’t want to sell. We want to we want to buy. We’re a competitive team.” and they are currently, I believe, six games out of the playoffs, which in baseball this time of year is actually a lot. So, the Jazz, they can say they’re a competitive team. They can say they want to win basketball games. They don’t have the roster to do it. They don’t have the roster to do it. Li Markin is your best player. You’re going to rely on Ace Bailey, who has a lot of upside, but has some very clear flaws that he’s going to have to work through over the first few seasons of his NBA career. You’re going to rely upon him to be a key cog in your offense. Is Cody Williams going to finally show why he was the 10th overall pick? Is Kee George finally going to figure out how to be a somewhat efficient volume shooter? Like is Walter Clayton like is he going to be a surprise rookie? Breakout rookie. He could be, but Walter Clayton is not carrying a roster like that. It’s just a It’s just a bad roster. It’s the worst roster in the West. I’m very comfortable putting them at the bottom of the West. Very very comfortable with that. I don’t know if you can put any other teams in this category, chat. Would you put any other teams in the category of the Blazers are for sure better than this team? Because I think you can make a case that like either way for a bunch of different teams. Like I’m not saying the Blazers are the 14th ranked team in the West. I just could see people being able to make a solid case for every other team against the Blazers. Even if I don’t agree with it, even if I don’t agree with it. Now, there will be a tier of teams that I’m I think the Blazers are better than and I would put ahead. It’s a different tier though than than the Jazz. Okay, I’ll start I’ll start with the New Orleans Pelicans. They were 21 and 61 last year, but they were absolutely decimated by injury. Decimated by injury. Dejonte Murray probably won’t play the first couple months of the season as he’s coming off an Achilles injury, but when he’s back, you could be looking at a lineup of Dejonte Murray, Jordan P, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy the third, and Zion Williamson. Like, that’s not that’s not the worst lineup. Trey Murphy showed some signs of breaking out into a star last year. Herb Jones is a defensive stalwart. He’s elite defensively. He’s kind of like their version of Tommani Kamara. Dejante Murray. We know what he can do. They do have some intriguing young pieces off the bench. I don’t think Jeremiah Fears or Derek Queen will factor into them winning games this year. I think those guys are both young projects with some high upside down the line, but I don’t think they’re going to be ready this year. But I think you could you could you could make the case that if Zion has a healthy year, the Pelicans are better than the Blazers because Zion is just better than anybody on the Blazers and they do have some other good role players. I think that’s the case for New Orleans being better than the Blazers, but I think it’s more realistic that Zion continues to deal with all the problems and injury struggles that he’s always dealt with. And right now I would bet on the Blazers being better than the Pelicans because I the Pelicans are an injuryprone team with an injuryprone star that has always had issues and I don’t expect them to play anywhere close to a full 82 game season. That is why I put the Blazers over the Pelicans. I think they’ll be better. But you could make a case for the Pelicans. Eric Olsson sums it up great. The Pelicans are always hypothetical. They they are. They are. Over the past few years, when Zion’s healthy, they’ve gone on some decent runs. They’ve won some games. So, we’ve seen it before. The next team that I think the Blazers are better than is the Phoenix Suns. I think the Blazers are a better basketball team is currently constructed than the Phoenix Suns. Of course, the Suns this past offseason traded Kevin Durant for Jaylen Green, Dylan Brooks, as well as the 10th overall pick, which became Kaman Malawatch. I think the Suns killed the draft. I think the Suns were absolutely great in the draft, but I don’t think that’s going to translate into them being better than the Blazers this upcoming season. I think defensively they’re still really going to have some issues. I think they’re going to be a mediocre offensive team and probably close to a bottom 10 defense. A Jaylen Green Devin Booker backcourt has some serious question marks in terms of fit offensively. Who’s your point guard there really? And if not one of those guys, who are you starting at point guard? They have Jared Butler. They have Jordan Goodwin now. Neither one of those guys are going to strike fear into your hearts. And then you’re playing one of Devin Booker or Jaylen Green at the three. And then what? Who? Who here who you playing at the four? Dylan Brooks gets some time at the four. Does Rasher Fleming play at all? I assume it’s going to be Ryan Dunn starting at the power forward position. They also got Mark Williams, but he’s always hurt and his defense is overrated. I don’t think the combo of Jaylen Green, Devin Booker, and Mark Williams defensively is good. I think that’s a pretty bad defensive trio in your starting lineup. And I think offensively, you got some scoring punch with Booker and Green. Outside of that, nobody’s going to impress you offensively on that team at all. And Jaylen Green, if he’s going to be their point guard, that is not a good role for him. So, I think the Blazers are just a better team with more depth um and a much better defense than the Suns. Arrows getting faked out by fake trades in chat there. He says there are rumors about Trey Young to Phoenix. Yeah, I’m sure the Hawks are going to trade Trey Young for like two second round picks and crappy salary. I mean, the the Hawks are not trading Trey Young this off season. And if they are, it’s certainly not to the Suns. The Suns don’t have assets. So, I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re talking about here. I think the Suns team’s pretty locked in. I think they had a decent off off seasonason all things considering, but it’s one step in a long process of trying to get that team out of the hole that they dug themselves in by trading for Kevin Durant and then buying out Bradley Beal’s contract. So that’s three teams that I would put the Blazers ahead. The Blazers up to 12th. Okay. Now, the other team that I would put in this tier that I think the Blazers are better than is the Sacramento Kings. The Sacramento Kings, they have some offensive talent on that team. They signed Dennis Schroeder this past offseason. They have Schroeder, they have Lavine, they have D Rozan, Keegan Murray, Deon Sabonis, that’s their fiveman daring lineup. Of course, mid-season last year, they traded De’aran Fox away. So, it’s funny. At one point a few years ago, they had Hallebertton and Fox and now they have no good point guards and they had to probably overpay Dennis Schroeder to fill that role. Kind of funny. They’re apparently trying to swing a trade for Jonathan Kaminga. That that starting five though as it is currently constructive constructed I think is disgusting offensive. I’m tripping over my words. Disgusting defensively. Sabonis D Rozan Lavine Schroeder is a really rough start to your defense. Keegan Murray can only do so much for you on that end. They do have some nice young bench pieces. Devin Carter, Nick Clifford, Maxim Reno. I like some of the value that they’ve gotten for young talent the past couple of years in the draft, especially this past year. I loved them picking Nick Clifford at 24, Maxi Moreno at 42, but are those guys going to really be able to keep that team relevant? Probably not. I think they might be sellers at the deadline. And I just think even though you have some offensive firepower in that starting lineup, like Schroeder’s never been the best three-point shooter, Demar De Rozan’s never been the best three-point shooter. Keegan Murray’s kind of limited on that end. It’s not as good as it seems. So, I I would take the Blazers over the Kings right now. I think the Kings are going to be a 34 35 win team. I think the Blazers are going to be a bit better than that. So that puts the Blazers at 11. That puts the Blazers at 11. Chat, are there any other teams that you would put the Blazers ahead of right now in the Western Conference? Because for me, I don’t think there are. Miles Martin says Zack Lavine was quietly very good last season. I mean, here’s the thing. Zack Lavine has had very good seasons, but it never really seems to translate to winning basketball games. Chris S says, “Nah, I have them 11th two.” Cor says, “No.” Stanley says, “Kings have decent players, but the fit is terrible.” Absolutely. Absolutely. They have some name recognition on their team, but it it’s a mess, man. It’s a mess. Like, I I personally think they should be trying to sell, trying to start Nick Clifford, giving Maxim Renault minutes, starting Devin Carter. Here’s the thing. If the Blazers are truly better than those four teams, then it just takes one team above them having bad injury luck for the Blazers to move up to 10th. That’s the good news for the playing. Right now, I think it’s kind of 50/50 on if the Blazers make the play this upcoming year. Grizzlies might be the second worst team in the West. In what world? They were a 48 win team last year. I I know they traded Desmond Bane, but they signed Ty Jerome. Jaylen Wells is going into year two. Zack Ed is going into year two. Jaw missed a decent chunk of time last year. I know he misses time a lot, but I I just don’t buy the Grizzlies on paper being worse than the Blazers. I think they fall in the tier of you could make the case for the Blazers being a better team than them, but I don’t think they will be. All right. And I mean, I guess we’ll start with Memphis since that’s the topic. Memphis is still going to be a really good defensive team. I love the addition of Ty Jerome to offset some of the loss of Desmond Bane. Tai Jerome last year when he started for the Cavs, at least during the regular season. Um, he struggled in the playoffs, but during the regular season when he started for the Cavs, he was arguably in the same realm as Desmond Bane production-wise. Like he has some big big game for games for the Cavs off the bench. Was insanely efficient for them. He’s a six foot five guard that can pass, shoot the three. Not as good defensively as as Desmond Bane is, but I think he can replace some of that punch. Not all of it, but some of it. I think that was a great signing. An absolutely great signing. And then I think they’ll just rely internally on like Jaylen Wells taking another stab. Maybe some of their bench players doing a little bit more. They have Scottie Pippen Jr. who was solid last year, but they were a 48- win team with Jaw Mar playing 50 games. So, I just I do struggle to see the argument that the Blazers are better than them. But, I guess if you want to say Jaw always has problems and they’re really going to miss Desmond Bane, that’s the way you could try and explain how the Blazers could be better than them, especially if you think the Blazers are just going to take a massive step. But I think it’s going to be tough for the Blazers to beat out the Grizzlies next year. And I would put the Grizzlies ahead of them. The San Antonio Spurs were worse than the Blazers last year. But if I had to pick which team I think is going to be better next season, I would pick the San Antonio Spurs. They have Victor Winyama who if he takes a step in year three could be a top three player in the world. Top four player in the world. Maybe I’m not going to put him ahead of yoic as her SGA, but after that I think there’s a very realistic possibility that WBY next season is the next best player after that. They didn’t really make a swing this off seasonason, but I think adding Dylan Harper is going to help them. Another year of Stfan Castle is going to be a good thing. Like he’s going to be better next year. I think he’s going to be more efficient. I think defensively that team is an absolute nightmare to deal with. I think Carter Bryant is going to be the best defensive rookie. I think he’s going to make an insane impact on that end. I mean, you could put out a lineup out there with um Stfan Castle, Carter Bryant, um Jeremy Sohan, Victor Winama, and I feel like I’m forgetting a name as well that you could probably throw in there defensively. I mean, that’s a nightmare defensive unit. has a better defensive unit than the Blazers can put out there. The Blazers making the playoffs are going to have to hang their hat on the defensive end, but I think the Spurs have a better defensive roster on paper than them. And a lot of it starts with Victor Wimbadyama who if he is healthy enough and plays enough games next year will win defensive player of the year. And then of course you have uh Darren Fox. I mean, I guess that’s the guy I’m forgetting about, but I was thinking of defensive defensive players. You got Darren Fox, a full season of him. And you could make the argument that the Blazers are better than this team because they might struggle with three-point shooting in a way that the Blazers don’t even struggle with it when you have Castle. Um, Carter Bryan, who knows if he’s a good three-point shooter as a rookie. Jeremy Sohan has had his issues. Darren Fox hasn’t always been the best three-point shooter. Dylan Harper might struggle with his three-point shot as a rookie. Like, they have some shooting questions around Wemby, but the Blazers also have shooting questions. The Spurs have the better player and probably the better defense. I would put the Blazers borderline top five right now. I’d put the Spurs like next year probably in the top five if they’re healthy. I think they’re going to be a phenomenal defensive team and I think they’re going to take a big step because of it. Greg Mox says, “I think we have more defensive players than the Spurs.” I mean, like, if you’re talking about like fifth and sixth best defenders, maybe ours is better, but WBY is going to be defensive player of the year next year if he plays 65 games. like he he’s a game changer like nobody else on that end. So Spurs are going to be a problem. Spurs are absolutely going to be a problem for the Western Conference, a problem for the Portland Trailblazers. Luckily, the Blazers have Donovan Klingan. They have some size at least. But the funny thing is the game plan against WBY has been to guard him with a power forward and put a center on Sohan and let Sohan shoot and have the power forward kind of chase WBY around the perimeter and then have the center waiting at the rim for him. The Blazers could put out an alldefensive team as a lineup. The Blazers do not. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. The Blazers do not have five alldefensive caliber defenders. You could make the case that they have three with Tumani Klingan and Drew Holiday, but I don’t think Drew Holiday is even that level of defender anymore. He’s still really really good, but we’re talking about top 10 defender in the league at 35, but if you want to be nice, the Blazers have three all defensive caliber guys. Matise never made all defense. Matis’s defense is overrated. Matis’s defense is overrated. Robert Williams, I mean, if if he can play more than 15 minutes a game for more than 15 games in a season, sure, you can put him in that conversation, but he’s probably not going to have a big role next year. You also don’t want him playing next to Klingan. I I mean he literally doesn’t play. He literally doesn’t play. So I’m not really like taking that into account. And Jeremy Grant also is absolutely not an alldefensive caliber guy. Miles Martin says Batis makes smart defense plays but is okay on ball and on switches. Switches. I I think Matise I think Matise gamles too much. I like there was multiple postgame shows last year where we were breaking down a play on the screen. We took images or took screenshots where like Batis is standing out near half court like on defense watching the offense because he gambled so hard on a steal. He ended up at half court, didn’t get it, and basically is just like watching the offense go five on four. Like Matise has Matise makes some insane defensive plays, but his ambition on that end, trying so hard to get steals and deflections, bites him in the ass a lot more than I feel like people want to admit. And you got to take the good with the bad, but both exist. Both exist. There’s a lot of defensive breakdowns because of him that can get masked if he has a lot of good defensive players around him. But I don’t view that as like, oh, he’s a top 10 defender in the league. Because a top 10 defender in the league is like Tammani Kamara who can make all those plays without having those defensive breakdowns, without having to gamble all the time. But I mean, Tammani was a second team all defensive guy. He’s the best defender on our team. Like I feel like we’re not giving enough respect to all the other really really good defenders in the league. Like like if we’re if we’re saying the Blazers have if if we’re saying Jeremy Grant’s an alldefensive member, then there’s 60 other alldefensive members in the league. Like Castle’s one, Carter Bryant will be one, WBY obviously is one. Um, Solhan is one. But yeah, Greg Mox says, “I think Matise was just getting warmed up considering how long he’d been out. Matis still looked really good to me after the break.” Matis has always played this way, though. So, it’s not it’s not Matis getting warmed up. Matis has always had a problem with gambling a little too much. And sure, he gets some steals, but you want to know, let let me let me look this up. Okay, let me look this up. We’re going to look up how many steals Matis Styel got per 100 possessions. Just to put this into context, Matis Thyel for his career gets 3.7 steals per 100 possessions. Last year in a small sample it was 5.1. We’re talking about when he plays a full season, less than 4% of his defensive possessions end up in a steal. What about the other 96% of possessions? Sure. Like he he’ll get a deflection here. Get a deflection there, right? For his career, 3.7 steals per 100 possessions, 1.9 blocks. So that’s 5.6 stocks is what they call it. It’s steals plus blocks. 5.6 stocks per 100 possessions. So that’s only 5.6% of defensive possessions he’s getting a steal or a block. I put a lot more value into the other 95% of possessions compared to just the 5% of possessions that he gets a steal or a block. And yeah, he’ll disrupt things on more possessions. So you got to give him a little bit more credit than that. But the bigger point is there is a ton of defensive possessions where he’s not making that impact. On what percentage of the of those possessions is he gambling too much, out of position, etc. Right? Like that’s the thing is you can’t just base defense off steals and blocks. It’s very flawed to base defense that way. So like the bigger point the bigger point is Matise does some really good things defensively. He also does some bad things defensively and it kind of goes hand in hand together. So he’s a mixed bag. I like him as somebody that you can throw into the game to like really just try and randomly disrupt things in a way that few other players can. But I don’t like him as a guy that you have to like consistently rely upon to be a very good defender. Eric Olsson, I agree with him in chat. He says, “His playing the passing lanes is good, but bro plays horrible team defense.” Yeah, the team I don’t know if I’d go all the way to horrible, but the team defense is questionable. Um, for sure. For sure. Like there will just be possessions where like Matise will say screw screw where I’m supposed to rotate. I’m just gonna try and like fly towards the ball and jump and hopefully I get a hand on it. And sometimes it works and sometimes it’s really really bad. So Matt Cardell say Matt Cardell says five steals per 100 team possessions. That’s insanely good. Yes, but that’s still only 5% of possessions, which is the bigger point is that you can’t base defense off of steals because it’s literally only 5% of possessions when it’s really good. So, what about the other 95% of possessions? Anyway, let’s go back to ranking the Blazers in the Western Conference. We talked about the Grizzlies. Let’s go to the best team that I have in the tier that maybe the Blazers might be able to be better than them and that is the LA Clippers. And the main reason is Kawhi Leonard is insanely insanely injuryprone and they traded Norman Powell who carried them last season when Kawhai was out. They traded him for John Collins. John Collins is a decent player, but John Collins won’t be able to carry the offense the way Norman Pal carried the offense as a big man in my opinion. He put up some nice stats on an awful team last year when he was playing on a better team in the h in the Hawks before they traded him to Utah. His production was declining. I think he who he’ll be for the Clippers this year is somewhere in the middle of those two situations. But that’s not as good as Norman Pal. Like I don’t mind the trade cuz they have some perimeter players and wanted to beef up their front court, give them a little different look, I get it. But if Kawhai misses any time, Harden’s a year older, you don’t have Norman Pal to carry that offense anymore. And I’m taking the Kawawaii thing into account because that dude always deals with injury problems. And if he does, I think you could make a case for the Blazers being able to be a better team than the Clippers. They were a 50- win team last year with Kawhai missing some time, but if he misses a similar amount of time this year, I’d expect them to be worse. Nathan says Beal is better than Norman Pal. I I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I don’t think Beal is like Washington Bradley Beal, man. Can Beal still carry an offense? Elizabeth Allen says, “I can’t believe Beal is barely 32. It feels like he’s 40.” You know what it is? It’s well, he came into league when he was 19, but also he’s I think definitely declining. And the reason why he’s declining a little bit sooner is because he’s been a little injuryperrone the past, you know, six seasons or so. He hasn’t played more than 60 games. The last four seasons it was 40, 50, 53, 53. Every year it seems like he’s dealing with some sort of injury that’s bothering him. Um, and that overtime adds up. I would take I would probably take Norm over Beal at this point. Like Beal had real opportunity in Phoenix. They didn’t have like they had KD and they had Booker but outside of that they had nobody that you could rely upon to create a shot and it feels like he should have did more in Phoenix. He averaged 32 minutes a game last year. Shot averaged 17 points per game. Norm, meanwhile, for comparison’s sake, and yes, a lot of this was without Kawhai where he was with Harden and was kind of like the top two option, but it was 21.8 points per game in 32 minutes. So, Norm was in legitimate All-Star conversations last year. Bradley Beal. I I just maybe he could maybe he could bounce back and be a little bit like old Beal, but with Harden being another year older, with Beal being another year older, you traded Norman Pal miss’s time, that’s a team I think the Blazers could surpass. Beal was underrated due to his contract in my opinion. I mean, he’s not on that contract anymore. He’s a bargain for what the Clippers pay him. But yeah, I’d take Norm over him right now. It’s a legitimate debate though. I think the Clippers will be better than the Blazers even if Kawhi does miss some time. But you could absolutely make the case that if Kawhai misses time, the Blazers could be better than them. I think you could make a case either way. The next team we’re going to talk about, and this is the last team we’re going to talk about, the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks. I don’t know what to think of the Mavericks going into next season because they’re not going to have Kyrie for half the year. You’re going to have a full season of Anthony Davis, but he has been a little injuryprone as well. If they I would put the Blazers ahead of the Mavericks if they didn’t move up in the lottery. But the fact that they moved up and got Cooper Flag and I expect him to be really good as a rookie. And you got Flag, you got AD, they brought in D’Angelo Russell. That’s an underrated signing. They needed some ball handling with Kyrie being out. You still got PJ Washington there. They still got Gaffford. They still got Lively. like they got some decent role players. It was just like who’s gonna step up next to AD? Oh, you got Cooper flag. Maybe he struggles to as a rookie, but I think if I had to bet, I would bet the Mavs figure it out, even if they’re neck andneck with the Blazers, I think adding Kyrie back into that mix. And also, I think they’re a team that could be very aggressive at the deadline. Like I would bet on Dallas ending up with a like three to four more wins than the Blazers this upcoming year. I think that might be the next team after the Kings, Jazz, Pelicans, and Suns for the Blazers to have their eye on. Of course, that was the team that beat the Blazers out by three games this past year for the 10th seed, but of course, last season was just such a weird year for the Mavericks, it’s hard to take that into account at all. But yeah, like in the in the best case scenario, I think the Blazers are better than the Jazz, the Pelicans, the Suns, the Kings, the Spurs, the Mavericks, and maybe one other team. Like if you want to throw the Grizzlies in there or say like the Clippers are super injuryprone or another team gets decimated by injuries, that’s seven teams the Blazers would be better than. That would make the Blazers the eighth seed. I have a really tough time predicting the Blazers to be anything higher than the eighth seed or even coming up with a universe in which the Blazers are better than the eighth seed. I mean, last year the eight seed was a 48 win team. The Blazers were 36 wins last year. I think, you know, even if they win 41 42 games, that still might be good for only the 11 seed. You could legitimately see 11 teams be above 500 this year. You saw eight teams win 48 games that were 14 games above 500 last year. So, the West is super tough. If we were ranking the Blazers in the East, I think it’d be a lot more fun. I think it would be easier to put the Blazers a little bit higher. But with a loaded Western Conference, the Blazers are either going to need to take a massive step, a bigger step than I foresee, or they’re going to need a lot of injury luck or bad injury luck to teams around them. Anyway, give me your thoughts on Portland’s rank in the comment section or the live chat. Where would you rank them in the Western Conference right now? Tell me the number. I’m going to do a chat poll. All right. Tori’s predictions were too positive, too negative, or just right. All right, Tori’s predictions. I’ll say Tori’s rankings for the Blazers. All right, that’s the chapel. Tori’s rankings for the Blazers were too positive, too negative, or just right. Vote in the chapel. But right now we have 40% say too positive, 53% say just right, 6% say too negative. The poll percentages are changing, but I need to take the screenshot. Okay. And then everybody on the internet that complains about me being too negative, I just need to uh just have that ready to go. That’s why I made this poll so they had I had some ammo for the internet trolls. That’s the only reason. Jokes aside, Brando Sullivan says, “Being very optimistic and counting on other teams having some serious injuries in the Blazers shocking everyone with the fifth seed. I mean, the only way the Blazers get the fifth seed is if they don’t solely rely on injury luck. It’s like if they just take such a huge step that all of a sudden they’re as good as teams like the Clippers and maybe the Timberwolves in the regular season. and they belong in that conversation. I just don’t foresee that sort of step. Todd Key says, “We have a better roster than Houston.” How do the Blazers have a better roster than a team that won 52 games last year and then added Kevin Durant? Why are you saying the Clippers are a good team? I told you they are overrated bums. I mean, they were the fifth seed last year with their best player missing a lot of time and almost beat Denver in the first round. Anyway, those are my rankings. I would want to know what Eric thinks of him. Um, I think he’d probably be similarly aligned. I think he’d probably also put them 11th. I think the Blazers can have a successful season and be the 11th seed by the by the way. Like if they’re the 11th seed because they win 42 43 games, their defense was sixth ranked and their offense showed some signs of life, but the West was just so freaking stacked that they couldn’t get above that and those 42 43 wins were good enough for 11th. That I think is a successful season for the Blazers. We got Todd Keith doubling down. Says, “We’re better than the Rockets, bro. You didn’t answer my question. How are we better than a team that won 52 games last year that is very young and then added Kevin Durant?” Just it’s just just I mean, we can say we’re better than the Thunder, too. We We can say that, but I mean, why? How? I don’t understand. I’m not sold. I’m not sold. I don’t think chat sold either. You’re going to have to do some selling. Listen, if you’re right at the end of the year, props, but I’m not sold. If Yong becomes an all-star, would you be a certified crony? No, I’d be a certified schmidz schmittzy. Yeah, we’re better at center. They had an all-star center last year. What do you mean we’re better at center? Denny and two are better than what they have. two is not better than Amen Thompson. Um, Denny’s not better than Kevin Durant. They literally had an all-star center last year. I’m sorry, Todd, but it just seems to be like you don’t know don’t know what the Houston Rockets are or don’t know about their team. If swap rosters and you’re loving them in Thompson and you’re hyped about Kevin Kevin Durant and you would not be saying that that roster is worse if it was our roster like to me it’s just we’re being a little biased here. Anyway, Kamar is way better than Thompson. What WTF are you talking about? What are you talk? Amin Thompson was Amin Thompson was first team all defense last year. Amen. Thompson is one of the most dynamic athletes in the league. Amen. Thompson last year averaged 14 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Like you have no case for acting like I’m crazy for saying Amin Thompson’s better than Tomati. Man, I’m sorry. Amin Thompson is really, really, really good. It’s not an insult to Tammani at all either. Amen Thompson is legit. And you have no case for saying Kamar is better than him. Amen. Thompson was more efficient last year, scored at a higher rate, assisted at a higher rate, rebounded at a higher rate and got more votes for defensive player of the year and was first team all defense. So, I I just Anyway, if he was our player, if a man was our player, you would not be saying that’s crazy. Anyway, I love Tammani. I love I absolutely love Tammani. And I’m as high on Tammani as most people, but don’t don’t sleep on a men. Don’t sleep on a men. Anyway, I’ll keep answering questions, responding to chat comments for about 10, 15 minutes and we’ll end the stream. Appreciate you guys being lively in the chat. It’s fine to think Kamar is better. I think he could have been voted first team easily. I mean, anybody can say any player is better. Like, why is he better? How is he better? I just brought up stats and defensive team voting and this was on a winning team. Like a men probably has a bigger offensive role and scores even more for the Blazers. How is Amen better? I literally just answered that. He scored at a higher rate, more efficiently than Tamati. He rebounded at a higher rate. He assisted at a much higher rate. He’s a better ball handler. And he was voted as a better defensive player last year. How How is How is How is Tammani better than Amen? Tammani’s a better three-point shooter. I’ll give you that. He’s better at certain things. He’s not better overall. Tommani can basically guard one to five. A man can guard basically anybody. I I I just I just I I feel no offense to some of you, but I feel like some of you just get caught up in watching the Blazers and don’t watch enough of the NBA, but you’re entitled to your opinion. I just think if you took somebody that’s not a fan of either team, like basically everybody is going to take a mener says, “I’m going to log all the NBA games I watch this year.” That’d be pretty cool to see. You can share that with us at the end of the season. Oh, yeah. I didn’t even say amen’s a better athlete. I didn’t even bring that up. He’s better. He’s like maybe the most dynamic athlete in the league. He’s insane. The eye test says to money is better. Your eye test can tell you anything. That’s not a real reason. Also, why are we cherry-picking a fiveame sample size instead of a full season? Okay, so a men scored slightly below his average against Tommani. So that means Tammani’s better. So if I’m What are we What are you talking about, brother? You’re struggling. You’re struggling. You’re struggling. Um anyway, so you know, if a men scored slightly below his average against the Washington Wizards, that means that um Anthony Gil, who played for them last year, is better. Anyway, I have I have no one to talk to but chat. It’s August. Welcome to August Blazers Uprise, where we have arguments about amen verse to money. Adam Smith says, “Seeing Scoot’s focused workout vids the last month and a half can’t help but add to the optimism. He’s learning how to see the floor and make quicker reads and working on counter scoring shots when the paint is clogged. Yeah. I mean, listen, like pretty much every NBA player is probably putting in similar work. Like the thing is with Scoo, he does work hard and does know what to work on. You’re not really going to get that from like a workout tape, though. Like I could go make a workout tape, you know? Like anybody can make a workout tape. Ben Simmons workout tapes in the offseason. show him making three-point shots and we know that dude does not make three-point shots. Like I could probably take somebody out of chat and they’re more likely to make a three-point shot than him. But offseason workout tapes, you know, they always look good. So I I I just I don’t want to take away from the optimism. I just want to say take it with a grain of salt. And this is coming from somebody who believes in this work that Scoop puts in. He puts in a lot of good work. He knows the right things to work on. and I expect a big year out of him next year, but just I I try not to get too carried away by anything in terms of offseason workout videos, but his his shot looks good in those videos though, and I do like the stuff that he is working on. So, I agree there for sure. Connor, I’m glad you’re here to tell the story. I’m glad that uh you know, glad that it worked. Um Katie going to be in shambles opening night watching OKC put up their banner and watching SGA and all the other players get their first rings that he couldn’t win with Harden or Westbrook. Yeah. Did you see the NBA Central thing that it was a post about what KD said about OKC? I don’t know where it was credited, but NBA Central aggregated. It was kind of wild, man. It’s what they were teaching Scoot, which is hopeful. Yeah. I mean, that guy’s a legit trainer. There’s a reason why a ton of NBA players work out with him. It was a random Twitter beef. Yeah, KD is is active on Twitter. Anyway, the results are in. 50% say just right. 26% say too negative. 24% say too positive. Some people troll voted too negative because I said, “See, this is proof that I am not negative.” Connor admitted to it, so I assume there’s probably a lot more like him. I skewed the results. What are your thoughts on what’s been going on with the WNBA people throwing toys on the court? Thank you for keeping it family friendly. Um, yeah. How do you How do you stop that? I I don’t know. Apparently, security can’t. It’s kind of dumb. Like, it’s I don’t really have many thoughts other than kind of what Miles Martin says. That’s nasty and immature. It’s just one of those things. Somebody did it, so now it’s a trend. So, now other people do it, and they’re not effectively stopping it. Adam Smith. I I also enjoy seeing what they’re focusing on as well. Like I’ve watched all those videos for a reason. It is cool to see like some insight into the offseason process for them. Connor, people going out and buying those just to go to games and throw them on the court is weird. Yeah. Why are you wasting your money just to do that? I Oh, man. Oh, yawning. I’m yawning. I was going to bed at a at like 10:30 this weekend, which is very early for me. So, I’m actually starting to get tired on stream for once. It’s very uh it’s very strange. Um anyway, I will try and live stream on Thursday. Maybe I will go find Stephen Vaughn. Maybe I’ll bring Stephen Vaughn in. Eric’s going to be back next Monday. I kind of like the once a week streams, not going to lie. It’s not like there’s a ton of stuff to talk about. I still want to make these episodes as entertaining as possible for you guys and still hit on topics. We’ve always found a way to find topics in previous August and Septeers, but this year I feel like August and September is super dead. We don’t have the Dame saga and there was more like Grant rumors and stuff last year. But yeah, no, I appreciate you guys hanging out with me for the solo stream. Hit a like on the stream. Easiest way to support the channel. We’ll have uh preseason games, postgame shows in October, and then of course our regular postgame shows as well. Those are right around the corner. The NBA schedule should come out soon, actually. So maybe I’ll do a stream for that if it’s out by Thursday. It normally comes out around this time of year. Um, might drop a video for that. I don’t know. Definitely we’ll do some sort of content around the schedule release, just kind of breaking it down. Um, at the end of the day, we kind of know what teams the Blazers are going to play. We know they’re in season tournament group, but it’s always interesting to see when the backtobacks come and the long road trips and that sort of stuff. So, we’ll cover that for sure. Right now, we just have the uh the preseason uh schedule. Ricky says, “Nobody cares about preseason games.” I mean, that’s not true. We’ve seen that from previous seasons where there’s a ton of people that will still tune in for some preseason talk, especially like Yon Hansen. It’ll be interesting to see him play like you can it really is time to end the stream for me. You can read a little bit into preseason. You can’t read too much into it, but listen, Chantia is like never wins preseason games. So maybe he can win a couple this year and really change the tide. But I think the biggest reason to watch preseason games is just to see what sort of offensive system they’re going to try and implement with these new assistant coaches and Chanty admitting what he needs to improve on with a lack of player movement and the half court offense which was a issue that plagued the Blazers last year. It’ll be interesting to see if they’re like trying to rectify that this season based off the preseason. So, there is definitely some things to be looking out for in the preseason. And that’s what we cover in the postgame show. We break down um important stuff like that. You know, it’s not so much about win or loss. It’s about, okay, do these players look better and what are they trying to do differently this year just based on what we see in the preseason. But here’s the thing, we’ve seen some different things in the preseason under, say, Terry St, and then it goes away in the regular season. So, you never know if it’s going to last, but it’s always interesting to see what they’re trying to do. What’s up, Carson? You’re here right as I’m leaving. Good to see you, though. Adam Smith says, “I still have dreams of seeing Grant go or for anything young or expiring trade deadline. I suppose we will know much more how the team steps forward and adjusts.” I Yeah, Grant’s stuck here. Grant’s stuck here. Um, the Blazers would be lucky to trade him for crappy expirings. There was some media that tried to tell you that he was still on a good contract. Cronin still signed him to a good contract and they absolutely tried to trade him this off seasonason and for some reason he’s still here. So, that doesn’t add up. You know, it doesn’t add up how they have somebody they really want to trade and he’s supposedly tradable yet he’s still here. And somehow that’s that’s not a critique of the front office. Doesn’t make sense to me. Well, actually, it does make sense to me because the reality is the Blazers are stuck with a negative contract with Grant. He is a negative contract. Miles Martin says Windhorse called it an untradeable contract. It is I started saying so you know seven months ago while other media guys were trying to say that I was wrong that it was a good contract they’d be able to trade the contract. Yeah. So, we’ll have a lot of streams leading up to the season to talk about what his role needs to be and how his usage needs to be in the offense. I’ll end the stream off reading this comment from Adam says, “Tori, we get to see this new Mariners team story unfold. They have a good chance as nearly any team. That lineup’s That lineup is flex. That lineup is cold. Hopefully the starting pitching can really find their groove even more like they had last year when they were winning games. The Mariners are going to give me the best chance at a championship, I think, over the next three to four years. this year is I I believe man. I believe if if the Blazers are playing on a night of the World Series and the Mariners are in it. I don’t know if there’s going to be a postgame show for me, man. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m trying to I’m trying to save, you know? I’m going to start saving money right now in case they go to the World Series. I’m just going to say that right now. I bought I bought a Julio jersey. I believe, man, I’m falling in love with baseball again. It’s fun. It’s fun. If you don’t like baseball, I that sucks because I don’t know what else you’re doing sports-wise at this time of year. Unless you’re watching soccer like Connor. Unless you’re watching the Timbers. Arrow says, “Mariners fans never learn.” Arrow, you don’t know. You don’t know what you’re talking about with baseball if you think this Mariners team is anything like their previous teams. They actually traded for two bats. They actually went out and tried to get better and got legitimate hitters. That is something they never do. So, it’s different. I’m telling you, it’s different. All right. All my teams are making moves. I like the Blazers brought back Dame. It’s been a good couple of months sports-wise. I love it. Anyway, Tori, what are you guys talking about? Lol. Nice background. Thank you. We’re talking about baseball. We’re talking about baseball because it’s August. Shout out to all the Mariners fans out there. Anyway, appreciate you guys hanging out with us. We’re out of here. Subscribe, hit the like, all that good stuff. We’ll try and catch you again on Thursday. If not, definitely next Monday. Stay tuned. And I’m out of here. I’ll catch you next time. Until then, as always, peace out. Go Blazers.

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