The Ringer NBA Show spent nearly 20 minutes discussing the Blazers as part of their preseason power ranking series. Not surprisingly, they ranked Portland second to last behind Washington, but they had some good discussion of the Lillard trade, the guard rotation, the trade value of guys like Jerami Grant, Robert Williams and Anfernee Simons.
It was good to listen to some nuanced discussion and not just a three-minute blowby that a lot of these podcasts do when talking about teams with low expectations.
[https://www.theringer.com/2023/10/5/23904531/nba-preseason-power-rankings-part-1](https://www.theringer.com/2023/10/5/23904531/nba-preseason-power-rankings-part-1)
by philthyphil7
15 Comments
You may be right
I may be crazy
Oh, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for
Turn out the light
Don’t try to save me
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right
I just feel like there’s no way this team is 29th based on the talent on the roster. Might not make the playoff, but I have a feeling they will compete for a playin spot if scoot comes in a makes an impact like I think he will
Kinda wild they have us being worse than the rockets. I think none of these people realize we had to shut down ant and grant (and Nurk) too to tank, it wasn’t just dame.
We’re not last! We’re not last! …
No expectations, no pressure, no problem
20th more likely.
Btw Wizards are intriguing team in a way…did the Orlando style blow up
Theres no way were worse than the hornets or the spurs or the pistons. Maybe the rockets. The ringer is a website for people who are professionally wrong all the time.
If they’re the 29th team, then Chauncey needs to go. With the talent they have, I feel like they should be right outside the play-in record wise. I mean they basically had to field a G League team to lose 49 games.
Before you get upset, this is the BEST place to be in.
Got to ask where we want to be. I’d say 29th is definitely about the mark. Think about Williams and Brogdon, both massive value at the deadline for competing teams (if Williams is healthy can see him being really attractive in the West with Jokic). If we tank for another year we could find ourselves with a strong FRP, plus two late FRPs from trading those guys. That’s a hell of a lot of capital to go into next year with. If we try to compete this year, we know we’re not getting far, so seems like a bit of a waste.
IMO these guys are idiots – they clearly did very little research on the Blazers before prognosticating that the team would be second worst.
I’m incredibly excited but also scared for this season. I want us to have one more year of favorable draft positioning, but I also don’t want any part of tanking with our young group. Best case scenario is that we lose the majority of games but are competitive in those games. Also don’t want a high draft pick and we’re just awful overall. This roster gives me hope, but would love to be mini OKC where we’re fiesty, but we are still able to smartly build for the future.
Anyone who has the spurs ahead of us is fucking stupid
Top 97% 😎
I honestly hope they’re right, and we get a nice lottery spot. However, I think we are going to be near the bottom-middle of the pack.