Do Portland Trail Blazers Fans Owe the Team Patience?

Do Portland Trail Blazers Fans Owe the Team Patience?

In today’s show we’re diving deep on the Trailblazers rebuild talking patience the path and what work is still left to be done welcome to locked on Blazers let’s get into it you are locked on Trailblazers your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every

Day what up world is your past first point guard and Trail Blazers reporter Mike Richmond you are listening to another episode of Locked on Blazers part of the locked on podcast network available wherever you get podcasts and also on YouTube thanks for making this show your first listen coming at you

Each and every weekday Monday through Friday so make it a part of your daily routine make your first listen tell your friends to do the same locked on Blazers your team every day in today’s show we’re diving deep we’re getting a little theoretical and we’ll even get into the

History books a little bit a a a a sort of deeper more and uh more philosophical look at rebuilding uh I want to talk about the Blazers path forward the sort of patience required for a team that is where they are I want to look at how other teams have uh pulled themselves

Out of similar situations and what we regard as successful rebuilds and then I want to talk about the work still left to be done because that is the real question for the Blazers not kind of where they are but where the heck are they going that’s what we’ll do to close

The show but but let’s I want to talk about sort of where they stand in the in the sort of present tense um and I want to talk about it in more more theoretical terms there is this idea this actually let’s start here there was

An idea floated to me that I shared with you dear listeners on the podcast this is a long time listener to the program Dr J shout out to you Dr J hope you’re hope you’re doing well out there but Dr J shared this with me maybe

About early fall like right right at the start of this right before the season kicked off roughly or maybe maybe it was this Summer that it was that uh but prior to prior to the games being played this year that this wasn’t actually year year one of a rebuild but this was you

Could view it as year three of the rebuild because they you know they tanked to um they they they made the big trades and then they tanked to get Shady sharp and then they um and then they made some other moves um and then they tanked

Again to get to get Scoot and now they’re moving forward after they’ve traded um uh after they’ve after they’ve traded Damen Lillard and now they’re they’re launching year three of the rebuild and it’s a two bad years where they finish with top seven picks in the

Draft so those were actually two the two first years that rebuild and now this is actually like this is the soft launch of year three of a rebuilt and I I I kind of teased it out and talk and talked through that idea and I think I’ve seen

Other people run with it not crediting Dr J who I believe originated the idea but um but you know the podcast has reach and I appreciate it um but I think it’s pretty clear uh where the Blazers are now that this is not year three of rebuild this is those those first two

Years were the tear down portion that’s to get to the studs and now they’re building back up and building back up has had some challenges they’re a bad basketball team they’re 15 and 42 um and this season has been challenging right because of injuries that derailed some

Of their sort of larger plans with Rob Williams at the beginning of the Season uh shanen sharpskin end up playing you know 35 games this year scoot Henderson is out for an extended period of time now you’re not getting malcol brogs in the back half of the Season even to see

Like hey this is an interesting vet that maybe can be part of whatever is next uh now DeAndre Aton is injured um it’s like you’re just you’re they’re beat up and they’re bad and when you combine those two things like hey this season has been choppy because of the inconsistency and

All the injuries and they were already going to be bad right like if they were fully healthy what do they win like generously like seven more games let’s call it 10 more games right let’s be as generous as possible be 25 25 and 33 um 25 and 32 they’d be like

Still out of the playin maybe on the edge of the playin but like you know like not a particularly good team I think 10 more wins is really generous from my perspective but that’s neither here nor there so now it’s this point in the season where it’s trying to be a Blazer fan

It’s tough It’s it is a it is a trying time and and and I I commend you if you’re listening to this program like I I sincerely appreciate the support and also like you’re a sicko you love this team or at least you love to hate this

Team or something like what you have is this deep emotional connection for on for For Better or For Worse that’s what the the fun part about sports are the emotional connections we develop with the teams that we like um I’ve said before in this program that I don’t

Really consider myself a Blazers fan and I really don’t because I don’t have a deep emotional connection with the team I have a deep emotional connection with the uh with the Tar Heels the North Carolina Tar Heels Carolina basketball can make me sad it can make me mad can

Make me extremely happy I like I really love the NBA um I spent a lot of time thinking about the Portland Trailblazers as evidence by the 250 podcast I put out a year about the team I still have plenty of fun watching highlevel basketball and then and going attending

Blazer games is still a great joy but like the emotional connection isn’t there for me but I I I and I say that not to like brag as some sort of like holier than thou media member I say that is to to to respect what it means to

Care about a team to care about a team means to develop an emotional connection It’s Entertainment and there are the sort of pragmatic fans pragmatic folks around the league even some media members who who who really think like losing is actually this virtuous task because you’re collecting assets and

Building up your draft stock and you will move forward with all of these things and actually the this this this is good friend and I think there is some obvious logic to that but like losing is hard if you like something watching them lose is hard um the pragmatist may be correct but

That doesn’t change your emotional emotional connection to something and this is a challenge and so then it’s you get to this point where it’s like you need to be patient with this team cuz they’re young and they’re rebuilding and this is year one of a rebuild pretty

Clearly after two years of a tear down and then you’re left with this question of whether patience is virtuous or arduous is is patience a virtue or is patience Fool’s Gold that they Hawk to someone who roots for laundry because you know what patience does if if if you buy into

Patience teams can keep selling it to you it has an endless supply of requesting your patients an endless supply but it’s also probably a necessity even if it’s unfun and even if it’s ugly and even if it’s like and I think this is the most damning part of the Blazer season

Boring even if it’s boring but that’s where they are and why I want to talk about this in theory is because I what I want to kind of launch into in today’s show is like I want to look at some other rebuilds around the league and we’ve done this in the past

But I want to revisit them and talk about how they gone from being truly stinky bottom of the bottom of the garbage pile to something else and kind of look at a couple different Paths of teams um three different teams and how they have have pulled out of it

Because the the Blazers are here and this they’re not going to be a good basketball team next year um I I’m certain of a couple things one no matter what happens this summer they’re going to talk about at media day how they finally got CH players that fit

Chony bs’ style of play I will I will lose my mind on the show when they say that but I know they’re going to say it they finally got players that fit johy bips style of play they’ve been telling us that a lot we we’ve had we’ve had a

Lot of that uh but what what they are what they have not done the last couple years is promised to be good they’ve promised to be one year the most connected team and one year a team that um you know really that is committed to finding what works and

Doing things the right way is kind of the message was this year we’re gonna we’re going to do the things the right way like but they haven’t they haven’t promised to be good and you could just look at the roster and look at the level of talent and know that they’re not

Going to be very good next year better sure sure you know there’s hope that there’s some real internal Improvement and Shane sharp makes a leap and Scoot Henderson is not um like one of the worst players in the league for for 35 games to begin the season like he was

This year and and and all that and you get the good version of DeAndre and for more games and everything right there there’s Improvement might be there but like good the West is too stacked um you know some teams are going to get old some teams are going to get worse but like

The West is just too stacked to expect the Blazers to be like I think they’ll finish fifth next year it’s just it’s it’s wacky to do that in my opinion so if you’re looking out on the horizon and you’re like they’re going to stink again you need to be one of two

Things patient or check the heck out and I guess the third thing is like this cold dead pragmatist who says like I will strap in to watch 82 games because two years of losing is actually great and it builds character and that’s the people who think patience is a virtue

And that suffering is a reward and um those people might just be Buddhists and I and I support their cause and their uh I think their approaches actually um really will enter the sort of sensation of suffering at some point but um come on now you can admit something’s not

Fun patience is necessary and also it stinks so let’s look at how some other teams have taken that path and what patience might look like and then we’ll bring it back to the Blazers to close the show and kind of uh see what patience has looked like for a couple

Different teams uh before we do that I want to tell you you dear listener about eBay Motors my friend Josh Lloyd the host of locked on Fantasy Basketball has teamed up with our partners over at eBay Motors to bring you some of the best fantasy picks each week all season long

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He fell on his hand it looked like it hurt he got x-rays they were negative so he doesn’t have a broken bone in his hand but he did not play in the second half He’s listed out he was ruled out with a right-and sprain blers have not provided an official update but

Um it didn’t look good and he didn’t play and we are and it is it is truly unknown heading into a three-game road trip if and I think this is the point Josh makes here if deand dton is going to miss an extended period of time do

Breath is the is the player who’s going to benefit the most and reath has shown when he plays and plays big minutes he’s not going to be like a 25 Point per game Monster but he’s going to be productive he’s a good offensive rebounder he shoots threes uh he can block shots when

When he’s kind of standing in one place and and uh can like stand right at the rim and be big uh he’s he is an opportunity if DeAndre and were to miss a lot of time or or even just a little bit of time and you need someone for for

The weekends wreath would stand to benefit and play a big minute role if Aon is out uh you know we will see no broken bones is a really good sign but um no official timeline yet which either means that he’ll miss one game or all of the games for forever because you never

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Of these prices you’re burning rubber baby not cash keep your ride or die live at ebaymotors.com eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers eligible items only exclusions apply all right so we talked in sort of big theoretical terms about patience and the types of fans they are and the

Blazers where they are they’re going to they’re going to demand your patience because they’re proud in this for a little bit so what I want to do here in the second segment is talk about some teams that have been in it and how they got out of it and what that looks like

The three teams I want to highlight here are the Oklahoma City Thunder the Sacramento Kings and the Houston Rockets if you’re an everyday listener you know that I have kind of circled these teams as different types of paths uh because they have taken their teams that have taken different routes um and find

Themselves in varying degrees of success as they pull out of those routes as they navigate out of those routes I guess because you’re still on the route the Thunder is every is the one everyone wants to point to basically impossible to duplicate in specific terms you’re not

Going to duplicate what the Thunder did Damen Lord exploded the franchise in 2019 he waved bye-bye exploded the franchise it’s trade Paul George trade Russell Westbrook see you detonated from 37 ft out incredible moment talk about getting some Joy from a Blazer game incredible moment very lucky to be in the

Gym but the pivot included getting sheay gildas Alexander and five first- round picks from the Clippers it included getting Chris Paul from the from the Houston Rockets and it included being like just a straight up good basketball team The Following Season uh that that’s the bubble Year and that team won 44

Games made the playoffs with Chris Paul and Dennis schruder and Danilo galinari and a young SGA and then the following year they really blew it up that’s when they started to go truly young that’s the 2020 2021 year the season that started in December they won 22 games

That year and Shay guilds Alexander played at 35 in just 35 games of a 72 Game season half this season but he averaged 23.7 points he Aver 24 points per game he was very clearly about to be himothy shalam him Neutron whoever you want to

Be him Hinson he was he was he was clearly very good not as good as he is now but he was clearly very good and that allowed them to not that allowed them the the freedom of patience because they had the building block and they had a million draft

Picks they didn’t need to do they didn’t need to continue to move assets around they were able to you know move on from Chris Paul and they were able to you know continue to um you know continue to make moves but but they had it with SGA

And they had the picks so they were given this they the the way they exited the previous iteration of the team while they spent you know the following year they go 22 and 50 that year SGA is awesome they the following year they go

24 and 58 um SGA plays 56 games and they go uh he averages 25 a game they draft Josh giddy he’s clearly like at least an NBA starter or NBA rotation player The Following Season or in the 2022 draft the following summer they they get two

Of the three best players in the draft in in the 22 draft class Chad holgren and and and Jay duub and and Jaylen Williams like they just nail a draft so incredibly hard you know Chad hren looks like he’s going to be a multi-time All-Star Jaylen Williams the only reason

I won’t say he’s going to be an All-Star is because there’s not enough spots in the West for that many allst stars but he is supremely talented uh as as like in year two he’s he’s just freaking good um you nail those draft picks the the

Following year or that year as as Chad doesn’t play but but but um SGA continues rise jdub is already really good they go 40 and 42 they finish in 10th they win they win a a playing game but they don’t they don’t make the playoffs now they’re 41 and 17 they’re

Freaking great they’re they’re like could conceivably make the Western Conference Finals they could conceivably win the title I wouldn’t pick him to win the title cuz I think there’s some truth to have to be there um and they haven’t even played a playoff series yet so I

Think like if they had played one playoff series maybe I’d be pretty bullish on them because I think they’re really good right they’re really good um they’re maybe not big enough to handle the Nuggets but also they’ve handled they’ve handled them okay they’re pretty good they’re pretty good um can you

Duplicate that I don’t know I don’t think so I think that’s UND duplicatable how are you going to how are you going to trade Paul Jord for five draft picks you couldn’t even do you couldn’t even do it again because you weren’t just trading for Paul George

You were trading for the rights to also sign Kawhi Leonard it was a whole Perfect Storm they capitalized on it it launched the rebuild but even then they spent two years bad 22 wins and 24 wins last year missing the playoffs and now they’re now in just four seasons removed

Right from the from the tear down uh from in 2019 a year where they were like good with weird vets and then they pivoted um you know so five years since since the 2019 season in Five Seasons they’re a juggernaut like they’re they’re they look like they’re going to

Be good forever um and that’s not how it works in the MBA your your your your windows always short but it looks like they’re going to be good for an extended period of time the next team I want to look at is the Sacramento Kings the Sacramento Kings were bad

Forever I don’t think you can repeat what OKC did I think unfortunately you can repeat what the Kings did they’re bad forever half the league makes the playoffs more than more than half the team in each conference makes the playoffs the Kings didn’t make the playoffs for 17 Seasons

Ex 16 Seasons from 2006 to 2023 they didn’t make the playoffs oh no oh no terrible ownership incredibly bad mismanagement terrible drafting some terrible designes along the way um every everyone they could miss they missed in the in the sort of um in that middle 2000s first decade of the 2000s stretch

Jimmer fet over CJ McCollum Thomas Robinson over Damen Lillard to name a couple um they just did it wrong in 2017 they drafted dearen Fox he didn’t make the playoffs until 2023 year six he was great great that year all-nba All-Star incredible but six years after they

Drafted a Cornerstone right that takes a lot of patience that’s what I’m talking about it’s repeatable you can do that you can draft a player that’s that’s good continue to invest in them and continue to build around them but you’re going to have to survive some

Missteps the kings were able to do that and then in in in the 2122 season they weren’t very good they had um you know they had only won the most games they had won since 2006 when they made the playoffs following that was those they

Won 38 games they had never won a 39th game uh since 2000 the 0708 season like just a lot of years of stink but they go 30 and 52 in the 2122 season uh that’s that’s the last year of Luke Walton at the trade deadline that year they make

The big trade they’ve drafted Tyrese Halton he looks like he’s going to be a special player but he’s a weird fit with with dearen Fox because he’s also a point guard and it’s like huh and they make the the Bold choice right they make the Bold choice of trading the younger

Guy and not the older guy and they trade for an established All-Star they say do Fox we know what he is we don’t know what Tyrese halberton can be but people bet on WE and by letting another team bet on his success we can you know bet

On his potential we can get better they trade Halbert to the Pacers they get to Mono sabonis he makes an All-Star team they go 48 and 34 last year but also that summer they trade for Kevin herder they trade for um Harrison Barnes they trade for Trey ly they signed Malik monk

Um they draft Keegan Murray like and they built this 48- win team that’s like oh this team’s good like it’s just they’re just like legitimately good now they’re back they’re 33 and 24 they’re seven they’re like you know right in that playin avoid the playin range it’s

Kind of it’s it’s up there like I think the Kings could could conceivably climb like to fifth but also they could drop to 10th like but they’re in the mix yet again and they’re good yet again um here’s the problem how much better can the Kings get depends on how good Keegan Murray

Can be if Keegan Murray ends up being excellent they can get very very good if he doesn’t they’re a little bit stuck because their roster is expensive and they don’t have a bunch of tradeable parts and it’s it is it is very real that some teams get caught being pretty good they

Don’t get enough CH that’s like the Damen Lord Blazers they were pretty good for a long time one year they won 53 games and made the Western Conference Finals it’s a freaking great season but they never had a slice of that Championship Equity they never had a

Slice of the pie and I think the Kings find themselves in a very similar situation that’s a very successful rebuild it 16 years of of stink you you you nail a draft pick you trade that draft pick for an All-Star you build a really good team a really fun and

Rewarding team ask any Kings fan last year’s as rewarding as it gets they’re good again this year out of the rebuild it took almost 20 years of patience but when they kind of got it right they’ve they’ve set settled in on being a competitive team probably for you know a

3 four five year window perhaps longer depending on how good Keegan Murray is that seems repeatable that seems doable that seems like something you could do again but the Blazers maybe don’t want to do that they want to be this last team it’s been reported by a couple

Different places Brian Windor of ESPN and where I first heard it was Jake fiser of Yahoo sports said the Blazers kind of have their eyes on being the Houston Rockets interesting what does that look like let’s talk about that to close the show and talk about the rest of the work

That needs to be done for the Portland Trailblazers to even to even get that far but before we do that I want to tell you all about grammarly do you need to write at your job well no matter what kind of work you do how you communicate is key so whether

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For free at grammarly /p podcast that’s grammarly g r a m m a l y.com podcast easier said done still a pass first point guard I’m still Mike Richmond you are still listening to lockon Blazers OKC’s path is hard to Duplicate King’s path think you can duplicate it but it shows the pitfalls you can spend a long time in the desert and then when you get when you get it right you are forced to take a big risk and that big risk can get you back to

The middle in a hurry and then it’s really hard to move from there then you got to get all the stuff right around the margins the Kings have basically two All-Star level players on their team they’re really they’re really good they’re like they’re really good and yet and yet they’re they’re pretty they’re

Outside of the true Inner Circle of contenders OKC I would assume they’re also still on the outside of a true Inner Circle of contenders but they they look like they could get there and they’ve just been outrageously good this year so I don’t want to dismiss them outright but the

Team that is reported that sort of the Blazers kind of I don’t know fancy themselves I I kind of think um they just pref the reporting from Brian Wist and and Jake fiser of ESPN says the Blazers kind of um they view next year’s team as they’d rather be the

Rockets which to me means that they would rather have veterans on the roster they’ rather have veterans on the roster because they don’t want to necessarily just hand over the Reigns to the youngsters and be objectively terrible objectively terrible but like what it really reads as is like they’re comfortable not trading Malcolm

Brog and Jeremy Grant more on that in a moment but following Houston Rockets path is going to be a challenge even in and of itself the the Rockets it’s to to begin that 20 2021 season that’s again that’s the the the season that started in December they traded hard in like

Eight games into the year but they went 17 and 55 they’re terrible following year they draft Jaylen green they draft Alber shenon at 14 um they go 22 20 and 62 that year the next year after that they draft they’re back in the top five they draft um they draft Jabari Smith Jr

And they draft tar een later in later in the lottery they go 22 and 60 so they’re back in the lottery again this this year they they end up fourth they get Aman Thompson and then the 20th pick they get Cam Whitmore this is a team that’s trade

Away Russell Westbrook for Stuff trade away James Harden for Stuff um they’ve you know they they they are um they’re they’ve got they had picks a bunch of picks you know what is that six top 20 picks in over across three seasons and whether all six of those guys pan

Out seems like Jaylen green might be the odd man out there and T E’s been injured a bunch this year but he’s been good when he plays like they got a good young core and then they signed this summer some vets Fred Van vet got a big contract

Dylan Brooks got a big contract they added Jeff Green to the core like that’s kind of balancing veterans who are going to play ahead of and playing them alongside and maybe ahead of some youngsters they’re 25 and 33 this season that’s the 10 10 extra wins we give the

Trailblazers if they had just been healthy I don’t think they’re wi 10 extra games but that’s the 10 extra wins they also hired em Oka this summer that’s a huge addition they’re an elite defensive team under udoka this season and that’s even playing Alon shenon as you know their best player in

Their centerpiece and shanon looks like a dude who should always be getting barbecued on defense the way he moves the way he runs up the court his just like lateral quickness but they’ve built a really good defense I mean Fred vanley and Dy Brooks are really good defensive

Players that helps Aman Thompson’s a good defensive player as a youngster that helps but like they have a you know they have like someone who should be an obvious wink link and like oh impossible to build a good defense with shenon like a non a namin protector slow Center well

Guess what they’re the sixth best defense in the league like they’re freaking good um but but they’re 12 the 12th best team in the west they’re out of the playing they’re still probably searching for that foundational piece whereas OKC has Shay gois Alexander and they have ch

Hren and Jay dub and they’ve got a trio that’s really good and the Kings have dearn Fox and All-Star and and sabonis and All-Star neither of them made it this year but it’s it’s not a lot of spots you know but like they each made in the past Seasons all NBA Seasons a

Season ago like they’re they’re very good players Houston doesn’t have that they got a bunch of good players a bunch of intriguing young players but they don’t have that and I think that’s the challenge and that’s kind of why I am skeptical of the Blazers wanting to be

Houston how do you build forward like Alber shenon is really good he’s better than any player on the Blazers roster he’s really good Fred Van vet might be better better than any any player in the Blazers roster like but even then those dudes are short of like tier one stars that you can

Build a foundation on moving forward and like compete for for where you want to go I think one of the interesting things about kind of thinking about this is like what do we consider a success right the Rockets are pretty clearly not a success yet but they’ve got a lot of

Parts and and they’re located in the fourth largest city in America and they have a history in Houston of attracting Talent there right like they the Houston is uniquely positioned to add stars in a way that other cities aren’t um and they could cash in a bunch of these

Youngsters and some of the picks they have and probably trade for a star better than better than a lot of teams in the league they’re positioned to make that move but they still need that move to get where they want to go Houston is short of it and still a move away which

Is why I’m skeptical of the Blazers following that path there is work left to do for the Blazers and I think that’s the frustrating part of the season for me is that if they want to pursue this Rockets path like that would be a distinct Improvement you hire a really

Stinking good coach you continue to stack you know more young players Blazers have two draft picks again in this draft this would be this would kind of be a similar Rhythm to what the blaz what the Rockets have the last uh three seasons post Harden you add you you know

You hold on to your vets uh around like I think Dylan Brooks is probably more impactful than Jeremy Grant just because he’s so good on defense but it’s like that might be that might be personal preference because Brooks can be pretty destructive on offense as well but

Like even if you do even if you follow that path and you hold on to your vets and you and you there’s still work to be done I think the frustrating part about this season for me for the Blazers is that they’ve punted on the decisions for

The future and one of the reasons they probably punted on the decisions for the future is because the trades out there that could have been made and that they were interested in making just didn’t have great returns and they said why would we chase a bad return now we have

The we have the benefit of patience because we don’t need to rush but not needing to rush is not the same as not needing to make a decision and I think that’s the challenge the Blazers don’t need to rush but this summer they’re going to need to make big

Decisions one of the four guards and probably one of either Malcolm brogon or Anthony Simons needs to be traded before next season they need to add more help in the front Court both in the at the center spot and they need more viable forwards who can play in the league

Whether they add those via like they’re just not going to be a player in free agency the way Houston is it’s hard to duplicate it so they’re going to get better via the trade market and via the draft and because they didn’t make any moves in season Beyond adding Delano

Banson who’s fun but like not that type of player they just have so many big decisions ahead of them massive ones they don’t have the they don’t have the um they don’t have the same pull as the city of Houston in NBA circles it’s just Portland ain’t

That so they can’t follow it to a te but they could follow the spirit of it young players around veterans and and you move forward but if you do that you are not OKC and Sacramento you are a team that’s 25 and 33 and is still waiting to take

The next big swing to jump back up into the we are a legitimate playoff team we are a legitimate team that could win a playoff series I think a rebuild is successful not when you win a championship right because that is a stupid way to judge basketball teams and

People who say like oh they didn’t they never wanton a title so it doesn’t matter just learn to enjoy something weirdo um but if I think a rebuild can be successful when you can go into a playoff series and say we can win this

In the west it’s loaded so to go into a playoff series and say we can win this you probably can’t finish seventh or eighth right you have to finish sixth or above and you have to either go win on the road or earn home court advantage during the regular season so you feel

Good about starting at home and say we can win this doesn’t mean you have to win it like I I think the Kings rebuild has been successful because they could go into a playoff series this year and talk themselves into winning it they could have won a playoff series last

Year they just lost in in game seven the Rockets aren’t there yet they’re not even a playoff team much less a team that can talk themselves into winning a playoff series and the Blazers are behind Houston in terms of asset collection and appeal as a market and I think that’s where the patience

Comes in it is both arduous and necessary root for this team because you love this team because you have an emotional connection because that’s what sports is entertainment and that that’s what you love is that you develop an emotional connection and you are entertained by

It if you need to check out because this is too much losing and too boring and all of those things by all means check out I’ll be here when you get back I mean maybe stay subscribed or whatever but like I’ll be here when you get back

But patience is you are going to be asked nay demanded of you that you be patient with the Blazers because if you look at those three teams I highlighted here Portland is behind two of them a great deal and maybe a step behind Houston and a step behind Houston is

Still a step away from the next thing from from a from like convinc from building a playoff level roster that means it’s going to take more patience it’s going to take more time and it might be a full another full season of this and that is hard to

Stomach in part because they’ve delayed some of the big decisions they have to make we’ll talk about those big decisions more moving forward because they are the fascinating part to me when do they make the big decisions and what do they do because I think it’s pretty

Clear that amre Simons is not like a foundational building block I think he’s established that this year that he just can’t be um but it’s really challenging to say we choose scoot Henderson and Shaden Sharp Shaden sharp basically a full loss season scoot Henderson mostly bad to begin his rookie year with some

Promise lately but to choose them over ant might be reasonable but it’s that’s a big decision right that’s a that’s a big decision to make I’m ready for the Blazers to make those big decisions I’m ready for them to choose a direction to pick a path I’m

Ready for them to reward your patience with a little more little more Victorious basketball but I want to recognize now that might be many many many games away we might be talking 150 more basketball games if you en count the rest of this season um more like

190 patience is going to be required unless you opt out but if you can find that emotional connection you can find the spirit you can find the enjoyment the adding Parts along the way and the decisions they make can be enoy enjoyable and I will help I will do my

Best to help sort of Shepherd along your enjoyment of those decisions the minutia the big things the little things and all of it in between tell your friends about the podcast I appreciate you listening I’ll talk to you Soon

Is patience a virtue or is it fool’s gold hawked poor saps who root for laundry. Probably both. Let’s talk about the Portland Trail Blazers, rebuilding teams in the NBA, the necessity and challenge of patience.

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