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@Portland Trail Blazers

Am I delusional or are we gonna be a lot better than expected?



Fan fuel has us as the third worst team. Anfernee and Jerami have shown borderline all-star play and Ayton is a very solid pickup for roster balance. Scoot and Kris are way more experienced than average rookies and Shae could take off. Unless we intentionally tank I don’t see how we’re a bottom 5 team.

by pdxjoseph

40 Comments

  1. If Grant is around we wont win under 30 games, IMO. Ant is too much of a bottom raiser; and if you have him along with Ayton and Grant we’ll be too good to outright suck.

  2. Bio_where

    Which teams ranked above us do you think we’re better than? Argument could be made we’re better than the spurs, magic, and pistons, but that’s about it right now. You describe Grant/Simons as borderline all stars. The teams ahead of us have players that have actually been all stars.

    I don’t see our ranking as being down on the blazers- we’re just young and have a lot of unknowns that need to be big contributors. We’ll be a blast to watch and we’ll lose a ton of games.

  3. Bloody_Red_

    Better than 28th but definitely not a playoff team

  4. zarepath

    what’s delusional is not firing Billups

    once we do that, yes, agreed

  5. Trick_Weapon

    A few teams are overrated here:

    Rockets
    Pacers
    Nets
    Mavs
    Magic
    Bulls
    Pistons

    I think we will be better than the Spurs and Pistons.

    The rest of the teams on this list I think we have a shot of being better than.

    One other team will almost certainly collapse due to age / injury.

    Our ceiling is likely 20th, but we’ll likely be 25th.

  6. 1nsider

    We really want lottery picks this year and the next. We want to draft Cooper Flagg.

    I think realistically only our 4 vets are plus contributors.

    We are gonna be developing so many players and schemes its not possible for our vets to carry that. Lillard could get us to maybe play-in. Unless Shaedon is WAY better than the glimpse at summer league we are a bottom tier team.

    We will finally get lottery picks the honest way of being very bad instead of tanking.

  7. youknowimsomegood

    Rebuild is most probably painful

  8. SongBig1162

    Barring injuries I’m slotting us in right next to the pistons (the jrue trade to me determines if we are above or below although I might lean below just due to Monty being the coach for the team now). Don’t forget scoot is 19 having experience compared to rookies isn’t as important when you haven’t played against legit NBA players. There will be an adjustment.

  9. honestqbe

    I think warriors 12th is surprising… I’d put them higher

  10. It’s hard to look around the western conference and see wins… feels stacked right now, maybe in a different year we’d be a surprise

  11. iWr1techky12

    If we stay healthy and don’t trade grant, I think there is a world where we are a play in team. We are still gonna be pretty bad at the end of the day but I’ll be surprised if we are a bottom 3 team.

  12. AniMonologues

    Why the fuxk are the Lakers Top 5

    Stupid fucking ranking

  13. Rhuarc33

    Rankings before the season starts mean nothing. In fact until at least mid season they mean nothing and are usually not accurate at all. That said my realistic high side expectations are like 22nd. My hopeful are like 16th.

    But grain of salt. Preseason expectations on a revsmped team that hasn’t played together… My expectations could easily be easy off too.

  14. docproc5150

    It depends on if the Blazers front office wants us to be that good. Ayton, Grant, and Simons are all capable vets. The league is looking at us like we are a bunch of 19 and 20 year old prospects. If our vets play then we are absolutely better than 28th

  15. Elegant_Conflict8235

    It’s all up to the FO if they’re still in tank mode. That might be where we end up

  16. MitchDuafa

    The blazers could be better than expected but probably don’t want to be.

  17. Crafty_Contribution6

    I kinda have the same thought that we’re gonna perform but better than anybody would have thought. I don’t just a feeling but let’s see how it goes…

  18. Wild-Exchange6257

    I think so, at least until the deadline when I believe Grant and Matisse could be shipped out. We should get a starting SF as part of the Jrue trade so….

    Scoot (32) /Ant (16)

    Ant (16)/Sharpe(32)

    Matisse(24)/Murray(20)/Camara(remix) J-Walk(4)

    Grant(35)/Jwalk(13)/Camara(remix)

    Ayton(34)/Brown+Reath (14)

    That’s the closest guess I have until the Jrue deal. That’s a fun team that has a punchers chance to win on any given night.

  19. butterflyhole

    I feel our best outcome is being #20. Our bench is going to be really bad

  20. TrumpedBigly

    No, you’re not being delusional.

    The O/U is on the Blazers winning 28.5 games.

    I find it ridiculous to think this team won’t win at least 29 games.

  21. TrumpedBigly

    Assuming everyone is healthy, the Blazers win more games than they did last year.

    Yes, losing Dame hurts, but they have Scoot, Sharpe has a year of experience, and Ayton is a big addition.

    ETA: We also don’t yet know what player they will get for Jrue.

  22. DankTriangle

    I could optimistically put us around 22. Maybe 20 if Ayton realizes his potential in a new place.

  23. TrumpedBigly

    The 2024 draft has no one at the top so there’s no reason to tank.

    I expect the Blazers to at a minimum win 30 games.

  24. elecorby

    I think its a fair ranking based on previous seasons performance and the loss of Dame. Easily mended if Scoot lives up to 75% of his hype

  25. Songsforyourmom

    As others have somewhat mentioned, we have to remember that this is year 1 of a complete rebuild. Do the blazers have the talent to be better than a bottom 5 team? I would say yes. Do they want to go out and win as many games as possible this year? No. This is Chaunceys first year where he can implement his offensive and defensive schemes. We saw glimpses last year but when Lillard was on the floor they reverted back to iso heavy basketball. There is no incentive to sacrifice development and picks for wins this year.

  26. Bigburrbike

    This team is built to be a win in three years team as currently constructed (assuming holiday is gone in a week)

  27. ejiggle

    Probably not lol. We have a bad coach and management wants to tank—expect the worst.

  28. caronare

    We won’t be good next year. Doesn’t matter. It’s solidify our core year and build upon that and beyond

  29. random_sociopath

    We have a pretty flawed and young roster. 28 seems about right at this point in a rebuild. Sharpe needs to show consistency and Scoot needs to prove himself in the league. Ayton and Grant are Ayton and Grant, and then we don’t have a reliable 3, unless you’re also starting Ant which would just repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past.

  30. dont_care-

    As it stands now you have to include jrue (until he is shipped and we know what assets we get back). So here is the lineup:

    1) jrue
    2) ant
    3) thybulle
    4) grant
    5) ayton

    That’s a reasonable veteran unit that isn’t bottom 3 in the league.

    Bench: Scoot, Sharpe, ???

    Super young but immense upside bench unit.

  31. the_truth15

    I feel like we are much closer to a border playoff team. We got a lot better on defense.

  32. I definitely don’t think they are bottom three

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