What is krack alac in fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dan's Valley coming
at you with another twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four NBA team look Ahead.
We're onto the Portland Trailblazers, and so you know what that means for
I don't know how many years running, probably five, but she's been on
the podcast way more than five times. My good friend, Tara Bowen Biggs.
She is the co host of the We Have a Take podcast. You
can find them wherever you get your podcasts. I include a link to their
Twitter and their podcast feed as well in the YouTube and podcast descriptions here.
You can follow Tara on Twitter at tcbb IgGs. I recommend doing that immediately
post haste. Tara, welcome back. How are you doing? What are
we even gonna talk about? There's nothing to talk about with this team.
I'm very, very worried we're gonna run out of things to say. I
know, nothing going on with the Trailblazers. It's like, you know,
let's talk that for like five minutes and then we can talk about like whatever
else you you know, want to want to talk about. I'm making a
trip out east in January, So maybe you can tell me all the cool
places to go. Uh, you're going to the city, so I know
nothing about it. I can I can tell you what you arenos you're going
to be seeing the games at since you're gonna go see the Blazers play the
next and the net. That's about That's the extent of my information on New
York City. Yeah. So actually, though, seriously, I'm so excited
to talk to you about what's been going on with the Blazers. It's been
a wild off season, non stop, well start and stop with the drama,
and but just lots of interesting things are going on, and I'm excited
to answer some of the questions that you sent my way. And I do
think that collectively, the NBA intelligensa ohes you and I thank you. As
my dogs disagree. They're going off in the background. But we power through
anyway, because we put this podcast on the books and then the Damian Lillard
stuff like happened a week or whatever later, And so I'm of the firm
belief that had we not put a podcast on the books and that the universe
didn't want to make sure that the Blazers were at least somewhat settled, so
none of our information was dated. The Damian Lillard trade song would still be
dragging on and so on, behalf of Tara and I World. You're welcome.
Yeah that was I don't know. It took a while before I heard
my I got my annual you know request from you, and I was a
little bit freaking out that like, this is the year, this is the
year that he was like, why on earth I gotta come, I gotta
talk to somebody else from the Blazers. So I was very thrilled when you
reached out again, please don't be and it's always gonna happen. It's just
honestly, I was just like this damn stuff, just hurry upward. And
then eventually I was like, hey, if we put it on the books
for October, like it might happen right before we record. Yeah, so
thank you. So we have to start there. That is the only place
to start. How do you feel ultimately about how it all played out and
sort of the discourse that surrounded it and came with this entire situation. So
overall, I would say great. Considering our franchise player, Damian Lollard,
who I have loved having on this team for so long, who has meant
so much to this community, meant everything to the team. Considering the fact
that he has now gone. Personally, I couldn't feel any better about how
it all ended. I've said over and over and over a million times.
Damien is a storyteller. And while he didn't manufacture this story that ended with
him getting traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, when you look at it, like
it was the best story that could have been written, so so many things
that and I'm speaking for myself, but I have to say I think I
probably represent a pretty big chunk of the fan base because so for me,
it was like, Damien's here until he's gone. That was I was like
the same way with LaMarcus. He's here until he's gone. Then LaMarcus,
you know, was gone. When Damien asked for a trade, I was
like, Okay, he's gone. I'm going to accept that. And I
think everybody could see it coming. It was not a surprise on July first
when he asked for a trade, and you know, immediately we all went
into our like we started making our Damian Lillard playlists, reaching out to each
other going how are you doing? Are you okay, how you're feeling,
you know, giving each other extra hugs when we saw each other in person
sharing our favorite Damian Lillard moments, like we all we got that out of
our system, you know, and like by July fourth, we were like,
okay, so when's this trade happening? It was it was really like
gave us a chance to like pre grieve. You know. What is there
like a fan base sentiment on how the request sort of played out? Because
there's like these two it feels like I think a lot of people end up
in the Okay, this is a gray area. Both sides could have done
something better, but like you had a front office that apparently wasn't as forthcoming
with him or told him things that he thought he was promised that they would
make trades and then didn't. And then you have his trade request which was
one team. I know he added Brooklyn Milwaukee sort of at the end,
but it was one team, and so like that added fuel to like this
just what became a very contentious fire. What is like sort of the fan
base sentiment on that, is it skewing more towards like you support the team
rather than like the player, and you wanted the team to get the best
possible return or was it like the way he requested a trade in the sense
of yes, it was his right to request a trade, but giving them
one team for so long, was there any sort of animosity towards that.
I in my in my opinion, I didn't feel any animosity really towards Damian
about that. Where I felt a little bit more problematic was whoever convinced him
that there was only one team that he could go to. I feel like,
for some reason, for him, it was like one team or nothing,
and that just seemed like that just didn't make any sense. But for
some reason he believed that, And that seems to have like what made him
ultimately sad in the end when he got traded somewhere else. Wasn't the trade
that you know that he wanted to but to go to dial it back to
what you're talking about, sort of the sentiment about you know, Dame,
you know what the what the team did. If you go back to like
draft night, that was when it was like written on the wall, right,
it was like, Okay, this is this is what's gonna happen.
When they took Scoot the Blazers are so or a large part of our fan
base is so scarred from the Michael Jordan situation. We didn't need Michael,
We had Clyde Druckscher, Drexler, we didn't need Kevin Duckler Worth, you
know, we wanted Greg Godin like we were. So we've been so scarred
by those two decisions that when they took Scoot it was like, uh,
oh, we've never been here before where they they took the best player that
was able and they have that guy already playing that position, sitting right there.
And so that's when it was like, Okay, the direction has been
it has been chosen, and that was what a lot of us wanted.
We just wanted a direction. We just wanted to know where is this team
heading. Are we going to try to build around him or are we going
to try to build a new team. And at that point it became clear
and it was like a matter of relief to me. I was really glad,
And that is not a comfortable place to be for the GM. And
I'm not saying like this is the big greatest GM on the planet or anything,
but I thought that was really brave of him change to choose a direction
that did not involve Damian Lillard, and it was a tough decision and it
could have gone bad, and so far, I think he's been given pretty
good grade for how it's it's worked out so far. Do you think there
was an element though, of like, did Billy Cronin really make this a
joke? Cronin, Billy Crona, Oh my god, did he really make
this decision? Because Scoot was there, like the hornets you thank you,
Charlotte, Scoots sitting there, and then it almost felt like from and again
I'm like a million feet away from the situation, it almost felt like they
were trying to force Damian Lillard to make the trade request because they wouldn't have
traded Dame by their own accord. And so it's like, you know,
I think you already answered my questions where it was was this the right time
not just because they got scooped, but because you didn't see a pathway forward
to contend on Dame's window. And I think even when you saw some of
the names that were out there for the number three pick, like people were
talking about og Annobe at one point the number three year, it is like
OG's a good player, he doesn't elevate this Damian Lillard team the title contention.
So it seems like the fan base believes it was the right time,
But like, did this Like I'm trying to just how hard of a decision
was this actually based off how the events unfolded were it was Scoot's just sitting
there, and it doesn't seem like, like, do you think this team
would have made the decision by their own accord to move Damian Lillard following this
this Scoot pick or were they really trying to get it to that Dame was
the one to initiate the end of this era. I don't know, because
when you talk about when it was the right time, you know, we
could we could go back years and identify several right times when it could have
been the right time, uh to move Damian Lillard. And when you know,
when Cronin came in and he traded CJ, that was kind of like,
Okay, we're moving in a different direction. And then after seeing what
they could build without CJ and it just never clicking and never being the right
team. I mean, I feel like, you know, Joe deserved a
chance to see what he could do around Damian Lillard. But and I think
he I think he probably did did try, but it's just, you know,
it's tough. Like that's the thing is, it's hard. It's so
hard to be a GM and I think sometimes, like you know, I
would forget why don't you just do this? Why don't you just do this?
And we have all these conversations around the water cooler or in the bar,
like why didn't you just this? Well, it's like it's hard.
It's a hard job. And when you look at how it all ended up,
I feel like the Blazers are in a good place right now. So
what did you make of the Well, I guess first it's twofold. What
did you make that he didn't go to Miami? That surprised you at all?
Into what did you what was your initial impressions? And now you have
some time to you've had some time to sit on it. Of the return
that they ended up getting when they re routed, Drew Holliday, I loved
everything about how it turned out. First of all, the one thing that
I didn't like about it, like as already said, is that Damien was
sad that he didn't get to go to the one place that he wanted to
go. To and somebody told him there was only one place. That was
the only thing. I'm sorry to try. He got to go someplace where
he has a better chance of winning a title. That's all. No,
But for those of us who really want Damien to succeed and win a title,
we're like, oh my gosh, he has a great chance of actually
winning a title right now, he's going somewhere where he's not the best player
on the team. And by the way, he's going to be reunited with
Terry Stutts, who so many of us loved and just wanted to see Damon
Statts contend for a title. And now they're going to actually do that.
And not only is Terry Stotts there as an assistant coach, Pat Conaton former
teammate, Robin Lopez a former teammate. I mean, it's just like it
couldn't have ended up. I feel like he has a real chance to contend,
and that's what we've wanted. We've just wanted him to have a real
chance. I'm sad that Wes Matthews didn't I know what it was like,
let's just get the Bamans. Does LaMarcus come out of retirement, maybe let's
really get the band to come back together. But not only was I happy
with how that part of it turned out, because Dame has a real chance
to contend. What they did next trading Drew Holiday to Boston. I mean
that was not only did they, you know, give the Milwaukee Bucks a
leg up on Miami, who thought that they were going to win the championship
this year. Then they went and made the Celtics better. So now these
two top teams in the East are going to be fighting against each other for
supremacy for the next four years. Guess who holds their draft rights after that
we have we now have unprotected picks, you know, after they've those are
yeah, and they're way off like the Milwaukee picks. I did find.
I didn't know this, and I don't know if you knew this when I
was writing something the other day. That first swap they have with Milwaukee is
actually top fifteen protected. So it's not like the twenty twenty eight thing.
To me is kind of like eh, but like having twenty twenty nine and
then two thousand and thirty and then you have Boston, Everyone's like, yeah,
Boston's playing the team most likely to be good and I'm like, are
you guys looking at their payroll right now? Like Jalen Brown's not gonna be
there, like they might slow Jason Tatum, who outually having I thought it
was very smart, and I feel like, I know other teams have done
this, but like Joe Cronin making this decision to prioritize those distant picks,
if we're being honest, there's a good chance that he's not the one who's
making those picks because job stability in the NBA is just non existent at these
levels. And so I thought that was a real like guts it was the
smart move. But I think it was a gutsy move because I even tend
to romanticize these distant first round picks. But if you're looking at it from
a this coast to your point about it being hard to be an executive,
if you're looking at it from a I'm trying to do my job and maximize
my time here, make sure that I'm still employed by then prioritizing those picks,
is it necessarily the smart way to go? I think you could argue
is a job stability because he's now telegraphed, Hey, this is going to
be a long whatever. But I do give him kudos for like that's all
Milwaukee had to offer. Okay, fine, like there was other stuff in
Boston. It's like to prioritize these distant picks, I think was actually a
really good sign for the organization. Yeah, especially after the two teams are
gonna be battling it out, and that's I didn't even think about it that.
I just laughed because Miami, like or Portland in two in one fail
swoop took off Miami's two top targets and Damon Giannis because now Giannis isn't going
to ask for out. And then I laughed because by Milwaukee thinking they were
doing a favor by not giving Drew Holliday a heads up, which I didn't
understand that at all. I think communication would have been the real form of
respect. Whatever. They end up improving their biggest rival in the conference because
they didn't, like they could have built a three team trader. Maybe Drew
Holliday ends up elsewhere because they didn't want him in Boston. So I didn't
even think of it from the Blazers end, where it was just like that's
a great that's a great point. It was. It was just a thing.
It was just Chef's kiss. Every every tweet that came out following it,
it was just like, oh, that's perfect. And it was like
the thing about Miami is there's two things I want to say about the Miami
aspect of it. Number One, I felt like poor Tyler hero, like
my co host Rose says, he caught a lot of strays in this because
it's not his fault that he's who he was and that he wasn't who the
Blazers needed. The Blazers simply did not need. Yeah, they did not
need him. And that leads to my second point, which is like,
if I was Damian Lillard and I wanted to go to Miami and I assumed
that Miami wanted me, I would be looking would have been looking at Miami
going like are you guys trying? Like are you even trying to get me
to come to this team? And it's like when you look at it in
the end, it's like, well, Miami wanted Damian Lillard. They just
wanted it to be easy. They just didn't want it to be hard,
you know. So it's like, sorry, yeah, I'm told. I
mean, I'm with you on that front. And I feel I really do
feel for Toddler. I mean, mad Men meme, that's what the money's
for, Like, that's to endure this. I understand that. But he's
good. They just didn't need him. I do think it's an interesting element
of well, they clearly and this isn't spicy, like, well, look
what they got for Drew Holliday, They wouldn't have got that for Tyler Hero.
Like most shit, Drew Holliday is a better player. That doesn't mean
Tyler Hero is bad. So I'm just elated that that whole back and forth
between like people I think underplayed like Miami. If they did their best offer
I think was a real offer, it just wasn't gonna be as good or
fit what the Blazers wanted as what they ended up getting. It's like both
things could be true, but from what we understand, Miami never even came
close to putting their best offer on the table. So, and why wouldn't
Portland be frustrated by that? Because, as you said, you wanted Damian
Lillard, a top ten, top fifteen player for as easy and as little
as possible, and it just unless you have a no trade clause, it
just doesn't work that way. It sure went on on for a really long
time, but in my opinion, it was worth it, yeah, for
sure. And how like it was a long I mean basically the stuff started
even before the draft, but like this was all just in the ether.
So from like draft night on, we're just caught in this like limbo.
And some of it was like a very like fiery, like just contentious limbo.
So like that's that's not even fun. I'm here for the jokes and
the chaos, the not the anger. Yeah. Yeah. And I think
the one of the things that was a pretty common theme amongst the fan base
is that we just wanted to make sure that this separation from Damian Lillard made
it did not make it so that he could never come back. Like,
we did not want this to be a contentious, ugly separation because we so
many of us again I'm speaking for myself and people of similar mind, not
everybody. We love this man and what he has done for our city,
for our community, put the Blazers on the map again, made us relevant,
and what we didn't want is for the separation to be bitter and something
that he'll never want to come back to. So I think feelings were initially
hurt, but I got you got to think that once he realized that he
gets to play with Jannis now and he has a real chance to contend that
the team was actually trying to get him to a good space and that we'll
be able to you know, smooth over whatever happens, and he will always
be welcome here. This might be a weird place to segue because we have
so many new players and direction things to talk about, and you kind of
actually touched upon this on your latest pod with Kaylen Cooper. Do we have
like a feel for what type of head coach Chauncey Billups is and is it
if we don't and it sounds like you don't necessarily have a great feel.
It's made me feel better because I'm like, I'm like clearly missing something here.
Is it his fault that we don't have sort of a feel like what
is just your impressions of the Chauncey Billups head coaching experience and so far?
Yeah, I really think we just don't have any data, Like he's had
basically four different teams, you know, and everyone completely different. Every team
has a was trying to do something different, Some are trying to win some
are trying to lose, some are trying to win with different players, and
somebody some are trying to lose with different players, Like we have no idea.
I have no idea. And yeah, that's a big topic around here,
is that, like this is kind of the make or break year if
he can't show who he is with this particular team, who we've been told
is actually the kind of players that he's been interested in playing, who are
capable of playing the type of game that he wants to coach them into.
Okay, let's see it. Okay, can you get these guys organized?
I mean, it's no shock to say this is not going to be a
good team this year. They are, you know, there's lots of promise,
but you know we're years away from a good team. Our point guard
is nineteen years old. He's never played against players who are better than him,
a like I have, and I have concerns about the fact that,
like the three players that are our future are all guys who like never have
played high, highly competitive games before. We can talk about that later,
but as far as the coaching goes, this is a great opportunity for Chauncey
Billups to show that he can get these guys to rally around him, he
can get them organized, he can get them even just playing some of the
basic like he has to like, we have four rookies and two guys who
are this is their second year, so half their roster, yeah is you
know half the guys who are and you know a lot of these guys are
going to play too, you know, have no or extremely limited NBA experience.
So he's been talking about in practice like he has to go back to
the very very very like do you understand what I just said to you?
Let's run it. Oh no, you don't get it. Okay, I'm
going to have to tell you again. So we're going to see if he
likes doing that, and we're going to see if the way he does that
gets results. All along he has had the loudest vocal support of the players
every different iteration, well maybe not the first iteration that he that he had,
but you know, Josh Hart, Jeremy Grant, those guys have have
all said positive things, and they've all talked about you know, and and
Damien. You know, they all they all liked him, and he seemed
to have the trust of the players. Now this is like a golden opportunity
for him to show what he can do, and if he can't, he's
got Scotty Brooks right next to him. Well, it's kind of interesting because
Scottie Brooks, like we were I was talking about this with a friend this
morning, like he must either really like coaching with coach Phillips or he sees
maybe possibly a special an opportunity for himself in the future. I think it's
because he really likes coaching with Billups. But I mean it's golden opportunity right
now to show us what he's got that are having to survive the Washington Wizards
made him like, you know, and I don't ever want to have to
be like a head coach again. I'm content being the guideline, the guy.
Yeah has there been And I'm sure there has. I'm just not as
plugged into like the comments and the tenor of what's coming out of training camp
preseason. Are there any clues to how like this team is going to play
at either or both ends of the floor this season. I think you look
at them and say, like, yeah, they need to be fast,
but like, does it sound like they're committed to doing that as Chauncey said
anything about identities that he's hoping to install with the group that they currently have,
yes, fast, which is no big surprise considering how young an athletic
all these all these players are. But there's also been a little bit more
of a focus, both from people who talk about the team and from the
coach himself into them just like getting into sets faster, so not just like
running and lots of fast break, but actually being able to get into sets
faster than they have. It's it's hard to know what they're gonna look like
because I am so used to watching one thing for the last eleven years.
Like for the last eleven years, Damien has brought it up the court.
Everybody got set, we saw and then you know there's an io ball or
maybe he kicks it out and that's it. It's been the same thing reliably.
It works, but it's been the same thing every year, and so
like even the two preseasons games, it looks nothing like that at all.
It looks very chaotic. It looks like them running down to the other end
of the court and then like, ah, well, now what are we
doing? Which is why I think it is really important that we've got guys
like Anthony Simon's and Malcolm Brogden and guys who've done it before, Because like,
I think that will speed up there figuring it out if they have at
least a couple guys with experience on the floor. So anyway, speed,
athleticism, you know, all the things. They've got great vibes, Like
they said, vibes as many times as they said fast. So if nothing
else, they're gonna have great vibes, fast vibes maybe even Yeah, And
would you expect them just based off this personnel, because like to be like
a just as aggressive on defense as they are on offense, to where I
think if when I frame it as the offense, it's by playing fast.
You might not be inefficient, but you'll create opportunities you're not equipped to create
in a half court because of your lack of proven self creation and you're trying
to experiment with shade sharpon balls, scoots running point for the first time.
So just playing fast and chaotic as a way to sort of paper over those
learning deficiencies, I think you can do that defensively and people don't necessarily think
about that a lot where it's yeah, if you're gonna you might fall aton
by trying to force a bunch of turnovers and taking a bunch of gambles,
but it might lead to opportunities at the other end or get you stops that
you're not gonna get anyway, because you don't trust your young group, as
you just outlaid, I didn't even until you framed it that way, the
fact that they just have like six or more of these that have two years
or one year or fewer experience in the NBA. Would you expect them to
be like hyper aggressive on devas because that's not something they've done for I know
they ended up doing pretty well, I think it was twenty one, twenty
two and forcing opponent turnovers, but like if you go through Blazer's history,
like the past decade, they're not forcing a ton of turnovers. And so
do you would you expect them to be kind of I love the words you
used. Would you expencd them be just as chaotic on defense? Or do
you think that they'll try to maybe stay a little bit more conservative? So
I believe that or I don't believe. I think that you can get more
immediate results by focusing on the offense, right now and playing some just basic
fundamental defense. Oh okay, And I think that with such a young crowd,
it's really going to be the coach's choice. Do I want to throw
them in and really have them learn the hard way how to play defense from
game one? Or do we want to start working on some things that we
can really prove at a faster rate and maybe like have these guys feel a
little bit more successful a little bit earlier, because defense takes a long time.
And like that's kind of what coach Statts would do, Like when he'd
get a new team, they'd focus on offense first, and they get their
offense going well. And we know Stotts is an offensive coach, but like
because then you don't have to worry about that part, Like you get the
offense cooking, and then you go back and you try to work on defense.
Now, we saw how successful that was, So maybe that's not the
way to go. Maybe the new coach says, hey, you know what,
we're going to really focus on defense first, and given his background and
he's supposed to be, you know, this great defensive mind, maybe that's
the way that they're going to go. So I really have no idea which
direction he's going to go. I'm open to either. And you know,
now that I think about it, I think the Blazers or Cronin seemed like
way too obsessed with DeAndre Ayton. I am intrigued by what he does outside
of Phoenix, but having knowing what we saw from him defensively two years ago,
and then now having Robert Williams the third at least both of them,
for now having those guys being able to in theory cover up even if you
want to play a little bit more conservative where you're not gonna come up as
high with them, or maybe you don't want r W three switching. People
hate when I call him r W three. They want time Lord come or
r Dub like coming up like you have the having those guys as sort of
you know, I mean Robert Williams with just his rotations and stuff. Maybe
having the the center position on lock in theory. From a defense like Deandreton's
still a pretty good defender. I don't think he's this gross defender. Maybe
that actually helps everybody because from my perspective, you you've already sold me on
it, like of not having to go to the chaotic round. I'm just
like they're not gonna be able to do anything. But I keep forgetting that
they have these two proven guys who will be there to cover up stuff.
So yeah, you could be aggressive, but DeAndre eight and his peak was
really good at directing people on defense, like and calling out stuff. And
I think Robert Williams the third has played in so many different kind of base
defenses, the nuances of which fly straight over my head, so I won't
get into those, but like, having that much experience just from the bigs
probably makes things. And even having like matissetibles on this roster like you have,
and Jeremy Grant, who's I think he's a fine defender. He's probably
become I think people used to view him as like an all defense type.
I don't know if he's that guy. There's like guys who have played before,
and I'm of the belief that and maybe this is just because I struggle
to understand what's happening defensively, that's where the biggest learning curve is. And
so to have these let's say, three players who are like they're veterans and
like they're gonna play and they're there, I'm just wondering if that streamlines the
defensive development more than people think in a weird way, because we're gonna get
into scoop shade and the whole thing is like it might be tougher on offense
to figure that out just because these guys aren't gonna create like Jeremy Grant can
do some of it on offense. I don't really want to see it from
beyondreyt and quite frankly, but they're all actually good and proven battle tested defensively
for the most part. You saying all that just really made me think of
it and that they could be in a better set up defensively than I was
considering. Yeah, and so I want to talk about both DeAndre Ayton and
Williams and Brogden too. The thing about adding them to the team is something
that I've been talking about like all summer. Before the trade happened, I
was so worried, and it kind of goes back to me I was saying
earlier. I was so worried about the fact that there was nobody on the
team who had gone into deep runs and had proven themselves through you know again
deep runs. I mean, Jeremy Grant went to the Final four in college
and then he had I think one one run to the conference finals and then
everything else was like a first and out. You know, Anthony Simons didn't
play college. Shade and Sharp didn't play college, attended college, didn't play
college. Scoot g Leige ig Night not a winning team. These guys that
their Blazers are hinging their future on do not have any experience with winning.
And so I was really happy with Aid and Williams Brogden as all being these
guys who've been there. And that doesn't mean that like this year, they're
our players are going to know how to make it all the way to you
know, the conference finals or whatever, but just I was really wanting to
have people who had a hunger for that kind of thing, just because these
guys that our future are supposed to be the future of our franchise just have
not had that. You know. It's I mean, they just haven't.
You know, g Lee, gig Night not good record. And I'm sure
Scoot learned a lot and I think he learned a lot about being a professional,
but they weren't winners. And you know, Shaden attended Kentucky but didn't
play, and you know, Anthony took a year at IMG Academy, and
so anyway, I was happy to have these additions. The other thing I'll
say about Ayton, I love the addition of Aten because there is no risk
to this, right, no risk. You know, if it doesn't work
out, they gotta paid somebody. When you look at their at their roster,
you know they're gonna have to have somebody on the on you's getting making
a lot of money on the payroll. He's young, and he's young,
and I think, you know, it's you know, and we all talk
about the change of uh, you know, change of scenery. It's going
to be great for a Nurkic. It's going to be great for you know,
it could potentially be great for Nurkic, could potentially be great for Ayton.
Let's give it a try. Why not, you know, Like I
said, no risk. So from let let's start with the bigs. Then,
So what have you like learned or what are you most intrigued by in
watching DeAndre Ayton on this team. So the first thing that I did is
I went and I looked up Haud him any dunks he had, and he
had one hundred and ten. And then I started reading Phoenix blogs and everyone
was like, oh, he's always turning up dunks and I was like,
oh my god, one hundred and ten dunks. I'll take it. But
so we've had a couple of flashes in preseason games of him like just speeding
down the lane in a way that nur Kischen really didn't do. But what
I think is going to be nice about Ayton is that I have a soft
spot for guys who had a really high pick and wasn't really their fault,
you know that they were like the high pick. I mean, he was
a number one draft pick, right, and so in Phoenix that was always
going to be his label. You are the number one pick. You should
be doing everything for us and you should be perfect at all times. Like
that's what I would expect out of a number one pick. And I think,
you know, being somewhere where he's going to have a different role completely,
he's maybe the best player on the team right now, and that was
not the case when he was in Phoenix. So I think there's a lot
of potential for him. It could be good. I want to see him
do some like really good screening. That's like that was like a key thing
that Nurkic did really well. Is like he protected Damian Lillard and Anthony Simon's
like he was a great big brother on the field for those guys because he
really protected them and got them space. And I haven't seen like two preseason
games, what have I seen so far, so I'm but that's definitely something
that I'm going to watch for him, is like how is he going to
protect Scoot? How is he gonna help Scoot offensively you know, get space
to operate, and you know, lots of potential there. I'm very optimistic
about him, even if the Blazers are not a good defensive team having like
a bounce back defensive year, because I think when you look at Phoenix last
year, they were just ill equipped to defend both sides of the pick and
roll and it put a lot, It put a lot on eight and and
put him into some really bad situations. I think some people's like other lasting
memories of him is getting torn apart by like the Jokitch Murray pick and roll,
and it's like, well, everybody's gonna get torn apart by that U
And also just having tyble, having Grant even just shade and sharp from a
physic like a physical you know build perspective if he didn't have any of those
types of guys last year they had Josha Kogi. But like he's not playing
a ton of minutes, so that might actually make life a little easy.
Like even having someone like get Jeremy Grant and then Wati's time on the court
at the same time, if they ever go with those minutes, I think
that does a lot for him. I'm a little bit more curious about him
offensively on this team because I do think he's best suited. He can be
a very good screener and create space, as you mentioned what he wants to
be. And I know that he had one hundred and ten dunks like you
were going to see him in transition, like take a hook shot when it
should be a dunk and it it'll We're used to that. The stakes are
low, so it's fine. But because he doesn't have I think Brogden,
if you if they're gonna hold on to him for a little bit, would
be important here. He still needs to be set up and his scoot is
shaden. I think Ganfrey Simons has improved enough to where they can do that.
But like, because everybody is so young, will there be a reliable
table setter for him to like go to that pick and roll to find him
in the pockets, and can he be more committed? I think the other
problem in Phoenix, like you mentioned vibes, the vibes were just off there.
I don't know what happened, but like they got rid of Monty,
they got rid of Chris Paul and now eight and is gone. The vibes
were just off. And so if the Blazers have better vibes, is he
willing to roll harder, get to the rim more on those things? So
I'm fascinated to watch it, but I worry that and you talked about this
on your podcast with Kaitlin Cooper. The vast majority of the looks for his
career have just come off as this, And if you want to explore the
post game, the face up game, I don't know that I've seen enough
from him to think that I want to see more of that. And I
know the stakes are low enough that the Blazers can do that, and they
probably should. That's where I think I'm most I guess fascinated and concerned about
how much value it seems like Cronin in the front office, because, like
I don't know if you read the piece, and I'm sure you just know
it's like the Aighton was coming no matter what the Damian Lillard trade was,
Like they didn't Phoenix didn't know who they were getting aside from Nurkice and maybe
not little like they knew that eight and was going to Portland. The Blazers
were willing to take eight and they wanted eight and and so I think that's
in. I think it's a reasonable we'll bet to make. It's just offensively,
I'm a little concerned about whether right now he's in an environment where we
can see him improve a great deal. And I think that the thing is
is that his improvement right now is not who we're worried about, right you
know. I Mean, he's what twenty five, twenty six, he needs
to be steady, I think we've got And that's a you know that for
a guy who you know, had a knock on him about his consistency,
Like that's what's being asked, and like can he be a good support for
these other guys who they are really invested in. And I just think if
it works out, it's like a great thing. It's like when Nurkic first
came to Portland. Nurkic was not the centerpiece of that trade. The draft
pick was the centerpiece of that trade. And Nurkic got here and he woke
up and was like we all got nerk fever, and you know, it
turned out, you know, better than we ever expected. So that's kind
of the thing with at And it's just like if it works out, great,
and if it doesn't, then you know, it's like, this is
the time give him. They have Robert Williams the Third as well, and
so what are you, like, what's most intriguing about him you? And
also do you think that they're actually like what is the status of this two
big thing? Where it's like do they view both of them as like Robert
Williams the Third is cheap? It's like we can just he doesn't play a
ton of minutes, he gets injured all the time, anyway, or do
you think that this ends up being sort of a layover from one of these
two dudes. So with regards to Robert Williams, I refused to really learn
or get excited about him until he's on the floor because so far he hasn't
made it the first two games, and I was burned so hard last year
by Gary Payton the second that I was like, I am not getting a
tester, And until we see the floor, I would assume that all of
these guys who came in here with any experience are not necessarily on the roster
for the rest of the season. But maybe if they like it here and
they fit in really well and happen to have really good chemistry with some of
these younger players who are supposed to be the intended future of the franchise,
and maybe that will be the case for him. But so far, I'm
all on board with Moses Brown and I am totally open to time Lord being
awesome as well. But like I said, until he hits the floor,
I am not getting attached or giving my heart to him because I got so
burned by Gary Payton last year. Assuming he does take the floor, and
I think this has been a big topic of discussion, do you think the
Blazers will try the two big stuff? I mean I don't. I don't
think they need to, but they I mean, this is the year to
try everything right, but they do. They do have a lot of guys
who could potentially be playing forward minutes, so it's gonna be a big balance
of like who do you want to develop, who do you want out there
getting the minutes? And so I mean, I kind of think that he'll
probably just pretty much be the backup center, but I'm sure that they will
try for even limited minutes just to see what it looks like. Again,
we have no idea what Chauncey wants to do. We have no idea what
his style is. You know, the only thing that we know about him
is when Neil Olsha gave him like more guards than anybody should have on the
team. He went and played all his guards and was like, you're gonna
give me guards? Here you go. That's all we know about Chauncey.
So, yeah, again, big question mark the Brogden stuff. Do you
expect him to be here, be in Portland longer than most people are thinking,
like they view him as, oh, we have a like a real
backup point guard for the most part. And then also you mentioned in terms
of setting up younger dudes and then helping them behind the scenes off the floor,
do you think that he could end up being in Portland it was just
to the trade deadline, where do they rather than move him now? They
may be trying to build his value back up because we know all about the
scuttle trade to La because they were worried about his injury history. Yeah,
I think he might go on the list of what we call certified Blazer cuties,
who are guys who were here for a short time but made a really
big impact. Like Josh Hart, a guy who was not here for a
long time but made a huge impact just with his presence. And you wasn't
a Blazer for a long time, but it was a good time. I
really don't think that Brogden is going to be here that long. I think
this is a great chance for him to remind everybody that he's a guy who
will really improve the chances for a contender. I think it's really important that
he's here now for a couple of months. I think that the Blazers are
going to really benefit from him being here. But I just feel like there's
going to be too many teams who need someone just like him come the trade
deadline. All right, we're finally on to Scoot Henderson, which I'm sure
so many people have been waiting for. What most intrigues you about Scoog?
What are your general impressions of him so far. So one of my favorite
things about Scoot so far was it at Summer League. We were sitting there
watching him play and there was a whole row of Laker fans behind us who
were over the moon about Scoot, and so I was like, ha,
he came to Portland. So that was an exciting thing about him. I
think that Scoot he is strong, he is fast, he has great court
vision, he has all these things that you want to point guard to have.
Past first point guard, I think the team is going to play an
exciting kind of ball and that's probably the thing that I'm most excited about,
because as much as I love Damian Lillard, those were not the most exciting
games to watch. And you know, it was fun when he was on
a heater, there's nothing like it. But also when he's on a heater,
it's the same every retrip down the court. And I was thinking about
this Dan, about the difference between watching the teams in the past to watching
this year's team, and I've thought about it. So I used to watch
a lot of Hallmark and then I switched to Bravo ooh, and like I'm
like, oh, my gosh, that's exactly what's happening with my basketball viewing
Hallmark. You know what's gonna happen. It's gonna be reliable, it's fine,
it's gonna you know, gonna go through the same formulae thing every time,
and then you know it's it's gonna be over. Then you go to
Bravo, where it's just utter chaos and there's table flipping and there's crying and
there's people hugging and there's people fighting, and it's just like utter chaos and
also really juicy and fun to watch. So you might end up going at
the end of the episode going, oh my god, what did I just
watch? That was so fun. That's kind of what I feel like I've
gone from. I've gone from watching Hallmark to watching Bravo when it comes to
watching a team led by Damian Lillard to watching a team that's going to be
led by Scoot Henderson, who just has a whole different approach to the game.
As far as I can tell, he should be because they were twenty
second in average possession time on offense last year. That we know that's gonna
like shoot way up like he is someone who I think that they can get
to like just push after another team makes a shot, where it's like even
off of missus, Like this team wasn't particularly fast, but it's easier to
play faster off misses and turnovers. But this feels like someone who maybe not
right away, but at least by the end of the season, like even
out of the inbounds, like he can just create havoc, like just getting
up the floor, getting you into your set, or catching defenses before their
set. So I'm really fascinated to see how committed they are to really playing
in that manner, because I think that's the best way for them offensively to
catch teams off guards is to push everything with scoot, like not just in
transition, but like even sort of to up your your half court speed.
Yeah, and that's a pre cul you know. In order for that to
happen, they have to get the rebounds, which hasn't been there forte and
the other team has to miss, So, you know, I think that
will be fun. But I really think towards the beginning of the season anyway,
I think Anthrony's gonna hold the ball a lot, and so I don't
think a lot of the and the offense is going to be initiated by Scoot,
but just his ability that like when he does get the ball, that
he has a really quick decision making mechanism, and so it's I think it's
gonna send people like going one way or going the other way because you know,
they just don't they don't know which option that he's going to take,
and he's going to be able to make that decision really quickly. So I'm
not sure how much of the chaos is going to be from him initiating the
offense, but I think from him and his capabilities being a part of the
offense at least at the beginning, it's going to just it's going to show
some interesting things. You know, he gets like a half an inch and
he's like snaking through in ways that Damien couldn't do for many years. Damien
eventually got there, but you know, Scoot's you know, starting off with
this ability to like get in there and finish at the rim in a fun
way. Do you have any concerns or questions about like just his game or
what you know about him leading in I think for a lot of people it's
the jumper, like to both the pull up jumper in between or like,
is he gonna be able to you know, if you're going to play off
the ball a bunch, can he knock down some of those threes off the
catch. I'm totally willing to be patient on that. Really, the biggest
thing that I'm concerned about is what I've already talked about is just the winning.
Like I know they say that they want to win, but he hasn't
played on a team that put an emphasis on winning. The team was on
player development, you know, when he was on Ignite, and that's going
to be another thing. So I just I want to see the fire in
him that and you know, we saw glimpses of it a summer league,
you know, just the way that he was like such a team player and
such a great champ, you know, cheerleader off the bench or whatever.
But I want, you know, I want him to take every game personally,
and even if they don't win, I want to see like a guy
who's really really hungry to win, just because not that I'm saying that he's
not, but he just wasn't playing on a team that was like that before.
What were your general impressions of the rookie Shaden Sharp experience Shanden brought a
lot of joy last year and a year that was pretty joyless. But I
don't think and you know, like Shaden's dunks or just a thing of beauty,
not because it was like they were necessarily like so strong, but just
because like his form was perfect. Like if you get stills of Shaden dunks,
his toes are pointed, his legs are parallel, his arms are like
perfectly positioned. They're they're aggressively aesthetic. Yes, yes, I love that.
I love that. Yeah, they were, they were just beautiful,
But I don't think that's really the shade and sharp that we're gonna see.
You know, a guy who can like dunk beautifully that's not really useful to
the team, a guy who can shoot, a guy who can create his
own offense, a guy who can be like, oh I can't shoot this,
but I see who can? You know. So I think I think
we need to see a lot more of that, And I think we did
at the end once they shut everything down and just handed in the ball.
I think we did see more of what the shade and sharp game is gonna
be, which is less dunky and more just like reliable scoring and you know,
I've heard you say about whether or not you could have ever googled the
word assist. I think I wrote it, Did I say that I did?
But you know, when when he was handed the ball for those ten
games, he went from you know, like one and one point five to
like four, So like when he had the ball more, he was able
to find people more. And so I think the game that I love so
much of Shaden, which is those beautiful, beautiful dunk highlights, I don't
think that's going to be the game that we're going to see so much this
year because I think that he knows that his real value is not in like,
you know, trying to make it to the dunk contest, but it's
being a reliable scorer who can make smart decisions when he's got the ball in
his hands. Do you think he's capable of making those like those passes outside
of like like if they if you're just in the half course he did,
at least from the games I watched before the shift, like he got a
tunnel vision on like some of his drives, like the past percentage was not
high, iss his percentage was obviously even even lower, Like do you trust
that he has that consistent level in him or does he need to be We'll
just keep throwing this word out there, embroiled in the chaos, and that's
how he's going to get his assist or do you trust that he could maybe
be someone who kind of breaks things down from that standstill? I I don't
want to say I don't trust anybody right now, but he's twenty, he's
in his second year. He's not there yet, and I think that's that's
the biggest challenge that I am having with this year, and I think a
lot of other fans in the fan base are having, is we've got to
reset our expectations and we've got to be like, well, just because you
know, Shane's got a year under his belt, he's gonna have everything down.
He's not going to have everything down. And we also have questions about
the coach. So no, I don't trust it. That doesn't mean that
I don't think that he could get there, but right now today, like
before the season starts, no, I don't trust it. He needs a
lot more practice, a lot more practice, and he's going to get it,
which is great. It does sound like you think that they are going
to give him sort of that runway to try these things out though, Is
that correct? Yeah? I think yeah. I think that there's going to
be a lot of it's for Shaden and Scoot. I don't think there's going
to be as many for Shadan because I don't think they need to rush him.
I think Scoot they kind of need to rush because they kind of need
to. I mean, they have anthroony who can play point guard, but
I better at passing, like incrementally year by year. It feels like he's
just better. Yeah, but Scoots the guy that, like you want to
have as because that's his natural position, that's what he wants to be doing.
So I don't think that they're in as big of a hurry with Shaden,
So I think they'll you know, prioritize making sure Scoot hasn't in it.
So I don't think that they're gonna, you know, hand Scoot the
ball and be like, go for it. I think they're going to put
Scoot in or sorry. I don't think they're going to hand Shadeen the ball
and say go for it. I think they're going to put Shaden in and
say, be a part of this offense and do the things that we've didn't
run run the things that we've run in practice, and let's see how you
do when we do those things. Did this pivot into a rebuild, clarify
or complicate hate Anthony Simon's place with this team long term? That's a good
question. I hadn't really thought about it from his point from that point of
view, but I have been wondering, like how he feels about it.
We were all very very concerned about how Damien felt about it. And you
know, Anthony, although he's young, has been there for like I don't
know, it's fifth or sixth year, So he's their longest tenured player now,
right, Yeah, Okay, yeah he is. He's a long person
who's been on the roster longest. So I think potentially it could really be
exciting for him because if he's patient to wait around for these other guys to
develop, I think they could have something something exciting. But I just I
just don't know if this is where this is the best place for him with
these with these young guys. I just I keep looking at him, going,
I hope he's happy. I wonder if he's happy. I wonder if
he's happy with how things went. He's not player red, but also he's
I know you mentioned like the other young guys, he's only twenty four,
Like it's not And we also saw like the past couple of seasons, like
when after Dame gets shut down, like every time, it's still really good.
Like this is not just that he's dependent on being the secondary option,
Like no, he's not a capslock point guard, but like especially last season,
like he really impressed during a lot of the stretches that he's playing as
what's called the league guard for lack of like a better term. And so
you know, eventually they're gonna move Brock than you already meant like you said
that, so there will be reps there for him to be like a pretty
prominent part of their development. I think it would be more of an organizational
decision where they decide. And this was a question I had for you,
like do they not think that they can get away with playing sharp Simons and
scoot together? Is that too like guardy for them? Like too too familiar?
Well, between them, they probably have about four or five inches on
the previous three guard lineup. Is he six y five or six? I
don't know, I'm gonna look that up. I think he's six' five.
Yeah, I don't remember, but collectively they are taller. They're getting
there shortened him. Yeah, yeah, so collectively they're getting there. Again,
it's so much like, what does this coach want to do with these
guys? And you know, is Anthrony gonna get the playing time that he
wants. I think that'll that'll be a big deal because also we've got Malcolm
Brogden, who's gonna want to plague because he wants to show what he can
do. And then we've got these two young guards who we need to get
out there and get as many reps as we possibly can. So again,
it's just there's so many questions about what does the coach want to do that
we just kind of have to wait and find out. I think they probably,
at least I would imagine they play a bunch of time together. The
key as to whether it could work long term. And I'm curious, you
agree to be can shade and sharp defend wings And we didn't see so we
saw some of it last year, but like he was kind of moving around
and wasn't on these like primary assignments a lot of the time. He's long
wingspans like it is over seven feet or it is seven feet, so he's
long enough to do it. Six six is just sort of like that borderline
size where it's healing defender. Is he not? I guess with the length
and just the physical explosiveness, you could make the bet that he is.
But he actually might be because Simon's works on the ball. Off the ball,
he is so scalable on the offensive end. It really just might come
down to do you think that you can play league average defense or get enough
wing defense out of having that trio is a big part of your team.
And we've talked about this whole group without even mentioning Matisse Stible, so it's
like there's a whole other guy you think of him last year. I mean
again, I think he's got a skill set that is important to the team,
somebody who has proven to play defense. And since he's been here,
I've seen other players on the team attempt more behind the band, behind the
bat, you know, poke when you poke it out from behind like Matisa
always does. I've seen our players do that now too, So obviously he's
rubbing off on the rest of the team, which is exciting. So I
think that he's been a good addition to the team, and he seems happy
here and he's again right in that age range, which is nice. So
these guys, I think it's just going to be a matter of what does
the coach want, which groupings gel the best and have sort of the best
communication, and then who can come who can emerge as the vocal leader on
the team. That's a big question. I don't think it's necessarily Matis,
but that's where we started this question. Well, I mean, it is
a tough question because some of these guys are so temporary. Will they feel
inclined to be the vocal leader on this team? And to that end,
we're the odds that Jeremy Grant is still on the roster past the trade deadline.
I don't know. He's another one that's hard to read. Like Matis,
these guys are just like so chill, and they go out there and
they do their job and they answer the questions and they seem content. They
also seem like they have skill sets that other teams might really find valuable.
And how much longer is our team going to try to store up assets if
they're going to keep trying to fill the cupboard with players or with picks,
which one is it going to be and which one is best for our future?
So I would probably guess that he's not going to be on the roster
after the trade deadline, but we'll see. I agree with you, and
I think the contract isn't as scary as people painted it to be. But
if you're I do think it's fair to be concerned about how it ages.
It probably makes smart to move him once he's eligible, sooner rather than later,
when teams still view him as a need and are willing to eat like
the back like the risk on the back end of that, and you just
have to assume less he's kind of thrown off kilter by the new just dynamics
here that now the pseudorandum later makes the most sense to move him because he's
never, in theory, going to be better than he is over the next
like year or two. Yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense
for that reason. And I mean, although like with contracts, I never
worry about contracts anymore. Like they can make anything work, right, We
saw Ruffer Westbrook get traded on his and John wall get trade on his money.
Yeah, I get it, they can make anything work. But I
think I think it's that somebody will need his skill set and that he is
somebody who could probably easily adapt to whatever situation. He wouldn't be a hard
person to work into any And if suddenly, you know, Celtics are that
close, or somebody else in the East wants to enter this, you know
race, maybe Miami, like you could use him, give us the call
Miami. And yeah, so you're right, like the contract doesn't actually matter.
I guess if you just want to make sure, if you're the Blazers
and we're turning Jeremy Grant into a first round pick, I would say sooner
rather than later. It makes more sense. Like from looking at it,
I'm just but teams have shocked us before where they've just held on to guys
you think they're being moved that year. And then I mean, look at
everyone thought Lowry Marketen was going to be like this transient presence in Utah.
Now he's like this centerpiece of the franchise. I don't think that happens here,
but like he could be here, you never know, could he go
through some of like the other players on this roster. And you can just
give me your thoughts or fun facts or whatever. About them. Maybe what
type of role you expect him to play? Do I need to begin with
Moses Brown. I didn't expect you to be so hot on Moses Brown.
Well, so Moses was drafted by Portland or he was signed originally by port
I think he went undrafted, but he played in Portland for his first year,
and he was this tiny little twig and he just looked like a like
a gazelle out there with his just like very long, slanky stride, just
kind of like fast forward. He is big dude. He's put on a
lot of weight, he knows how to throw it around. He is like
a fantastic talker like I the first game of granted it was against a New
Zealand Breakers team that's just not an NBA team, but I was in a
good position to watch him the whole game, and he talked steadily while he
was in there, and this team really needs somebody who can talk, and
for whom that's not like a new skill that they're learning. So I really
liked it. And he's gonna be the third center. But given you know,
maybe the injury history, or given whether or not Ayton works out,
I think we're gonna see a little more of Moses Brown. So I'm excited
about him, and it's great to It's always great to have a little homecoming,
and just especially to see somebody who has really like he's really improved game
a lot since the last time we saw him. He's worked really hard to
get there. He's good enough. He is a good rebounder too, and
so if you're concerned about getting rebounds, like he is someone who will definitely
because you're out of if you're playing Jeremy granted toon. He's just never been
a good rebounder, like you need your big to be a good rebounder.
Yeah, we every year, the Blazers rebounding over the last three years has
gotten progressively worse compared to the rest of the league. So we really are
hoping to find somebody who can really kind of organize the team in that way.
I was saying the other day that I kind of wish Ed David,
a guy like Ed Davis would come in because Ed Davis used to be able
to kind of just organize the rebounding squad like they just always sometimes they would
all crash into each other because they were all going for the same ball,
and he'd get him kind of organized. What I've seen of the two games
I've seen so far, it was just more like everybody was like I thought
you were gonna get it. I thought you were going to get it,
and then it just kind of lands in Jeremy Grant's hands. So they have
a lot of opportunity here. And maybe Moses Brown, could you know,
be that guy who, with his vocalness that he's shown so far, can
kind of organize him on that end. How about any impressions or thoughts on
too, MANI Kamara yet? And if you don't, I have a ton
don't want no. I would love to hear yours, because I've except for
that. People are like, ooh, this is like kind of a sneaky
good addition to the team. Yeah, tell me about what you're excited about
with him. Oh one, I won't pay credit for being for knowing about
him. But I was talking to the Timeline podcast for The Sun's podcast and
they were over the moon about Kamara. This is before the NuRD Is trade,
and so I went, I watched some of him. I'm smitten.
This is just he's not super long for like a six to seven. I
think he has a net neutral wingsman like he just fills so many gaps,
and there's like he can actually help with offensive rebounding, Like you're worried about
rebounds and this team is probably gonna miss a lot of shots. He will
get in there for offensive like he will. He will get in there.
He is super switchable on the defensive end. And so if Chauncey wants to
switch a bunch with this group, play some lineups that can switch, because
you have two bigs and eight and an R dub who can switch reasonably,
well, I think he ends up being great for that. He is not
a ball stopper on offense, and I'm very curious. I don't understand.
Not that I don't understand, I'd like to know what he turns into as
a score. Really, it feels like he might be someone who needs to
be kind of cutting, being on the move, more of a play finisher.
But like he showed, and I'm always very hesitant to ascribe any value
to what we see in summer league. He's not going to get the reps
in in Portland that he got in Summer League. There is some on ball
stuff to what he could do. I don't know if he's like he'll maybe
he'll get all the way to the basket. I think he's just so plug
and play defensively versatile. He will make the I think he will place some
of like the NOAs hustle, like when you saw moments of that. And
I'm hoping that they give him minutes because i think he could be a really
good, good, at least a rotation NBA player. Yeah, I mean
all of that Premiere Mouf to God's Ears. Give him minutes. I mean,
that's that's what it. That's just what it is. It's just like
who's gonna get a chance to get on the floor, who stays healthy.
We we just are really gonna hope that everybody stays healthy. But if everybody
stays healthy, some people aren't going to get it. But one exciting thing
about Portland's years, this is the first time we've had a G League team.
Oh so a lot of these guys who like you know, so he
might if he's not getting a chance to play for the Blazers, he may
get moved, you know, to play some G League time, which is
really we're really excited about that. I will say I don't watch G League,
but this player if he's going to spend time in the G League.
I will watch Ray Rupert. Uh huh, you have a sort of impressions
of him so far. I mean again, Uh, Brian Repair has reportedly
grown an inch since he got here, and I mispronounced his name. Correction.
I don't know. I I think that's how it is. You know,
I was always like, how come like all the guys that I went
to high school with went away to college and then grew like six inches,
but none of the NBA players who come to my team ever grow that for
grow. But apparently he has grown, apparently Shade and I think has grown
as well, young raw talent. Let's just see how the coach decides he
wants to use him. I probably would be shocked if he did. I
expect him to spend a lot of time not with this team, but you're
already his standing reach is absurd. He you mentioned raw. He is super
raw on offense, but for a team that wants to play in transition,
and I think he seems if you give him enough space, I kind of
trust him to like get downhill with the ball in his hands, going against
defenses, it's going to be And this is a cliche the shot, but
the physical tools on defense, or he could be a not smart defender and
still be a good defender. That is just how physically ready he seems.
And I hope he turns into a reliable offensive player because I think he can
be let's throw the word chaos out of there, like he can be a
He could be an agent of chaos, chaos Asian on the defensive end from
day one. Maybe not, Oh he's a good defender, but you want
to create chaos repair like can do that, you know. Chaos is definitely
the theme and what I'm hoping for the team in general this year is that
they can have like productive chaos that they may catch other teams by surprise,
because I don't think anyone's going to be spending a lot of time going too
deep in the scouting reports for the Trailblazers, but we're hoping that they can
catch them by surprise and sneak in there and take it take advantage of maybe
people who weren't prepared for what they've got, or that they surprisingly will put
some stuff together that they had been working on, laboring through and practice,
not quite being able to do it, and then suddenly it'll like all you
know, come into place and it can create chaos, and the other teams
like, what has happened that that's what we're counting on, is that kind
of productive chaos this season. And finally, at least of the players I
have listed, Jabbari Walker seems like he might be in line for a bigger
role just by virtue of okay, they need a backup for maybe they view
it as, oh, we didn't get to Chris Murray yet either, but
Jabari Walker, what type of role do you expect him to play? Jabari
from the moment he stept on the court at Summer League showed that he's really
smart, really good decision maker, and he has grown a lot, Like
physically he has more weight that he people were bouncing off of him in Summer
League raw yeah, and he's he's gotten even stronger this year. So I
think that he's ready to take that leap and to get real minutes. Like
last year it was still like, oh we're gonna see Jabari. Yeah,
we got Jabari minutes, and so I think that he could be like I
think that he will be a part of of the rotation. He's also a
good rebounder. And he's also a good you know, he's not a playmaker,
but he's got great vision. So I don't necessarily know that he's going
to be out there like creating a lot of plays, but I think he
can see like where the ball needs to be so that it can turn into
offense. And it's still three point shooting is kind of the swing skill for
him, right. Yeah, he's still developing there. What about Chris Murray,
do you expect him to kind of be in the rotation right away.
I think everybody's going to be in their rotation right away. I think coach
is going to try everybody out. I could see him, you know,
playing, I could see him also getting a lot of time in the G
League. It's just like the G League. Not only is you know,
it's close. It's like, you know, ten miles away from the the
G League arena is like ten miles away from the that's a big deal if
you want to shut all the players to and front I know, Indy,
yeah, and just point out in our discord, like they're moving their G
League team to be closer to the professional team, which is so the fact
that it's close is good. I didn't realize it was that close. Yeah,
So I think that that he will probably get some a lot of time
down there. I'm very curious to see. I'm I wonder if his draft
stock would have been as high if Keegan Murray didn't just have the season he
did, because I do think he's a lot of people compare him to Keegan
Murray, which okay, fine, I don't see it like with Whatkegan,
Like if he can do some of the motion shooting stuff, which I think
when you look at this roster you have Anthmy Simons, there's not like a
ton of motion shooters, like someone who can run around fly off the ball
right now. If he can do that, I just don't know if he
can like Keegan Murray did it as a wing. I don't know if I
view Chris Murray is what I'm saying. I'm not big on positions, but
he feels like a pure for to me, Like did you get that vibe
seeing anything from him at all? Or like you're just too early to tell?
Well, I for a large part, I think it's too early to
tell. I think also that you're right that Keegan's success probably helped Chris,
But I also think that because they've played together, that they're not mirror images
of each other, like they played differently because they've had to play together for
so long that they don't play the same way. And you know, I
guess Chris did a lot of the setting up of Keegan and when he decided
to you know, stay was Iowa for you know, for an extra year.
You know, he didn't play the exact same role that Keegan did.
So I think, you know, he definitely or not definitely, but I
think Kegan, Yeah, Keegan's great performance last year probably helped him. But
I also think that they're like totally different players, that's all. You always
give a different perspective that makes me think where it's like, well, they
played together for so long, then Chris isn't going to have the time to
explore these skills. If that's how Keegan Murray needed to be used. Never
even would have thought of that. That's that's why we bring you on here.
Tarry actually makes me think coherently, are you ready for the cookie cutter
portion of the podcast? Uh? This? So the first question I have
is there any underrated strengths or concerns about this team that we didn't discuss that
you also think aren't getting enough attention. Well, I brought it up.
But the G League thing, I think really is actually a big deal,
and I think it'll be really interesting to see how that goes. And that's
something that I don't think people outside of the Blazer fan base really understand,
and I think it's something that they're going to try this year, and I
think it'll be a good thing, especially given how young this team now is.
He I think we yeah. I mean, I didn't even hold you.
I didn't realize how close it was so clearly. I didn't give it
a second thought. And that's good to have if guys like Kamara or or
Murray or Rupa are not going to be in the rotation, having that outlet
to where it's more easy for them to get run outside of the professional club.
I think it's a really and they still get to then practice with the
actual club because it's so close like that, that's actually a big deal.
M I know, the we've kind of already mentioned this, or you've already
mentioned that the rotation you expect to be all over the place. Can we
start here, though? What would you expect to be? And I didn't
see anything definitive. I did try to look, but what would you expect
to be sort of the opening night starting five? So I think on the
opening night we're gonna see Scutin Anthrony, and I think that Matisse is going
to play the three, and then of course Jeremy and DeAndre Ayton. I
think a lot of people are wondering if it's going to be Shaden, but
I really think it's going to be Matisse. And I think that's to give
Scoot as strong of a start as possible so that he's surrounded by the best
players, and then Shanden will be like coming in off the bench. And
so if that is so, if that's the starting five, who would you
expect to be the most used five players after that? Shayden's a lock,
we can agree on that. Yeah, yeah, Shaden, Brogden, Williams
Jabbar. Sorry, how many is that for? Yeah? Gosh, I
don't know. There's Chris would be Chris Murray just because he was drafted in
the first round. Yeah, God, who I have left? Moses Brown?
Your guy, Moses. I wouldn't be surprised if Moses gets more time
than Chris. And it kind of depends on you know, again, which
way the coach goes, does he want somebody? Because I would think that
with his lineups, he's gonna want to have a balance of guys with a
certain amount, Like he doesn't want to throw just rookies and just you know
first and second you're guys in together. He's gonna be wanting to have,
you know, guys with some experience. So I wouldn't be surprised if Brown
saw a little bit more time than Murray, at least at the beginning.
Based off everything you know about this roster is constructed, your concerns, your
thoughts on them. Do you expect this group to be better on the offensive
end or the defensive end? Offense? I think we're gonna start with offense
and then we'll build defense in. Is there a my favorite question to ask,
they're a weirdo wacky, they won't try it, but they should line
up that you think they should roll out. I mean, I think for
teams that have that know who their players are, Yeah, But for the
it's all weird wacky lineups. I don't I don't think there's a specific one
because we haven't seen them. There's four guys on the team, that were
there last year, So I think I would like to see them kind of
lean into like what's the most versatile maybe but weirdo defensive lineup we could throw
out there, and I know the offense could probably look terrible during these minutes,
but I want to see the R dub and eight and then maybe throw
like Sharp and Tible and probably Simon's are scooted in there is like creation.
But I also would be like, if we're just trying to really go for
kasts, like let's throw Kamara in there and it'll just be two bigs,
some wing defense from some good wing defenders. I don't know who's creating for
you in that. Maybe that's how you get Sharp Reps' is like, oh,
it's kind of we're giving Scoot arrest Simon's arrest. They're on the bench
at the same time, which probably is not a good idea quite frankly offensively,
but let's see what Shane Sharp can do kind of leading those groups of
four guys well, and you give me an idea. It has been so
long since the Blazers had more than like one guy over seven feet. I
want to see the five tallest players, just see what that's like Ayton Williams,
Moses Brown, Jeremy Grant, and then Jabari Walker. Would that be
the five biggest players? I think, uh, well we could. We
could call up Ebu Bajie from the G League. He could play. He's
tall, he's local enough that you could do that. There you go,
Yeah, Okay, So I sorted by height. So we've got Moses Brown
at seven to Ibu Bajie at seven to one, DeAndre Aighton at seven,
John Butler, he's another two way player. He's seven feet tall and he
really is a three wop wreath. He's another fun guy. Let's see if
we really wanted somebody who could handle the ball. Yeah, let's throw in
uh Tomorrow Kamara to money Kamara or throw him in there as the ball handler
just because he does have I think it's like it's like a nine foot standing
reach. That's definitely not true. But Ryan Repair, I know he's only
six six, but he's got the standing reach, So can we include it.
I just want to see him anyway, weirdo and I want to see
it. All right, We'll put him. So we'll put in Rion Repair
and then we'll have Moses and DeAndre and uh, Jeremy, and did I
say Robert Williams will put him? Yeah, you know, three centers at
once. It's kind of the response to they don't have a ton of centers,
but they did play four guards at one point, why not three centers.
Yeah, I'll tweet you that alert when that when that land up goes
in. Yes, please. So as we record this, their current win
total is at twenty seven and a half. Recording this on the fourteenth,
it'll go live on the fifteenth of October. Would you take the over the
under on that? Trying to factor in any sort of let's call it chaos
that could happen with them maybe making other moves. Well, of course,
my heart says over, but my brain says under. It's gonna be a
long season. It's gonna there's gonna be somerough, there's gonna be some rough
nights, and there's gonna be a steep learning curve. So I'm gonna take
the under. Would you expect them? I'm with you just because I think
this is one of the organizations that will be experimental enough to where maybe they're
bad, but they're fun bad and they're valuable bad because they're getting information about
their future, and I think that's very important. The other thing I will
say is we didn't see this from Utah right away because they were better out
the gate. I don't think Portland will fall into this trap. They will
trade their way out of being competent. I'm just if Malcolm Brockton's doing too
well, he's gonna get traded earlier than people expected. I think that's the
ethos that Joe Cronin is gonna end up tilting towards. That's just a gut
feeling, not an a knowledge on it, But that would be my guess.
Yeah, I think that's a good guess. But have you factored in
the end season tournament. What if the Blazers come out the gay like last
year's Jazz, and they're in contention for the tournament. Maybe they hang on
long enough to win that tournament and it becomes the Cronan Cup in honor of
Joe Cronin, and then they make their then they make their changes. Honestly,
so I would not predict them to win that tournament if others' care.
But when you say that, I just said they're not the Jazz. But
when you look at the level of competent NBA players on their roster, Jeremy
Grant, Robert Williams, DeAndre Ayton, Matista Ibel shooting thirty nine percent from
three again on like four times per game. We know Simon's is a really
good NBA player, and Scoot could be the rookie. I know Wemby's out
there, but Scoot could be no worse than like the second or third best
rookie, Like he could be good out the game. It happens, maybe
this team does. I'm glad I did over Unders already because if we'd done
this podcast after I talk to you, I might have been like an existential
crisis. Are you sure you're not a Blazer fan at heart? Dan?
You are just doing the typical Blazer fan thing right now, Like wait a
minute, now they have five well don't you mention Brogden. So they just
have five guys that you know, were good NBA players, plus Scoot,
who's going to be one day a fantastic NBA player. So it's not outside
the realm of possibility that he's a good NBA player out of the gate.
And so now I'm like, they stretched like six, really and what if
Shane Sharpson year two, you can just get better. I think you're talking
yourself into it. In past years, Dan, I think that is actually
how it would have gone in past years when we had a different GM who
was always putting the best team around Damian Lord that he'd ever put Damian Lord
out, and we were running out Anthony Tolliver and Scalavca, both of whom
I love and are lovely players. Like the Blazers could run out their five
best players, they're seven or eight best players and do fine. But this
is the thing that we're trying to get out of. We're trying to get
out of doing the best that we can and doing the best development that we
can. So I one hundred percent hear you, And I'm trying to be
a responsible fan of a building team rather than a like, yeah, I
mean, yeah, you could put all those guys in and they could be
absolutely fine, but then all these people that the team tanked to get are
sitting on the bench, and that's not really what they want. I don't
think. Yeah, I think if you gave them truth serum, because no
one will says on the record that Joe Cronin probably his fingers crossed that they're
fun and have the worst record in the Western Conference. And I think the
only team right now that I'd be prepared to say could be worse than them
is the Spurs. I don't know if you've given that any thought. I
could be. I think the Spurs are the I think the Blazers and the
Spurs are the only two teams in the Western Conference who aren't trying to win
this year. Even the Rockets are not gonna win. They think they're going
to though, so like that's a different mindset. Oh, go ahead.
I was just gonna say I want them to at least be trying to win.
And I mean I want the players out there they were trying. Yeah,
I want them to. I mean the players are always trying to win.
I want the organization to be fine. I do not want to have
another year or half the season of like being mad because they won. That
is not fun. That is not where I want to be. I want
to embrace every game and be happy at the end of every game that they
tried and they were in it, and you know, it's okay if they
win, and it's okay if they lose. I this might be a little
bit of a role reversal here because we've already had it, because I'm talking
myself into the Blazers winning like seventy games apparently. But the more I think
about it, this could be they could pick up too many wins earlier on
in the season and if they end up not making like the Jazz didn't start
trading people until February. Basically, if they go that route, you might
be in for some rough games where you're not seeing sharp and scoot and like
the players who are important of the future might be too good at the moment,
which is more out of respect I think, for I fell into this
trap with the Jazz, which is maybe why I'm over accounting. But there's
like real NBA talent on this roster, as bad as and as developing I'll
say as they are. It's it's a lot of real NBA talent, and
so they could pick up I think, more wins early on and people might
be expecting well, and wouldn't that be an easier pill to swallow if they're
passing around the Cronin cup every night from house to house. I I'm rooting
for that to happen now, just because that no one's like people would be
like, oh, they Spurs have Wenby, like yeah, maybe they would
win. No one's saying that about the Blazers. I think the only the
less the only team that's less likely to be the in season Cup pick among
people will be the Wizards, who are probably gonna be the worst team in
the NBA. Has there I've kept you for way too long. Is there
anything else I having to asked you about or anything that you think needs to
be discuss before I let you go? I don't think so. And I
know, like at the end of a job interview, you're always supposed to
have a question for the people who ask you all these questions, and I
never have a question, And I never have a question for you because you're
so thorough and all of your researching every team. So I appreciate that so
much. I appreciate how I've turned you into a little bit of a Blazer
fan here and now what happened during the Challenge podcast, I have no idea.
I love it. Maybe I can talk to you into coming into the
city and watching the Blazers play when yes, well it's easy for me to
get into the city. So if you and your husband have free time,
let's try and sync up. Are you able to very quickly? Just tell
our listeners where they can find you on social media and where they can find
your podcast. For sure. I am still hanging out on Twitter at tcbb
I GGS, and I'm also on Instagram at that same handle, and my
podcast is called We Have a Take, and it is under at We Have
a Take, and we're a weekly fan pod about the Trailblazers. We try
to look at it from a fan perspective. And this year is really like
every year. We do deep dives on all of the players and that takes
up most of our time for the last couple of seasons. So we're going
to be learning more about all these new players and we fall in love with
every one of them and think, oh my god, this is the most
fun team we've ever had, and I fully expect that we're going to do
that again this year. So thanks for having me on, Dan, It's
been really great. It's always great to talk to you. Oh, of
course, thank you forgiving me so much of your time. As always,
I will include everyone who's listening the links to Tara's Twitter and the podcast again
in the pod and YouTube descriptions. You also do I think it's a great
segment that really gets the podcast on the right. But the ice breaker stuff
is fantastic, So go check them out. And when you guys have interviews
you and Rose, I want to say I'm so bad with names. You
do a really great job with that. So go check them out again links,
podcasts, and YouTube. Tara, thank you so much for coming back
for year five or year four, whatever this number it is, and rest
asshured I will be m and your d MS again. It'll be very awesome.
Thanks Dan, mm hmm