Suns @ Trail Blazers 10-10-18 (preseason finale)

[CardsSunsDbacks]

And with Lilliard and McCollum playing.


Oh we are pretending like those guys don’t count?

Oh come the F on. In no way did I dismiss that. However we look a lot different with a much tighter rotation and Booker playing. Does that mean we win this game with everyone playing on both sides? Not necessarily, but we would be executing a lot better in that situation.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Oh come the F on. In no way did I dismiss that. However we look a lot different with a much tighter rotation and Booker playing. Does that mean we win this game with everyone playing on both sides? Not necessarily, but we would be executing a lot better in that situation.

Agreed but the addition of the blazers bestvtwo players likely keeps the margin consistent. So we might look better but the result likely remains the same if everyone plays.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Its the final game of preseason. Time to evaluate the end of the bench players. It is probably the worst of all games to try to take away anything from.

 

[Mainstreet]

My biggest issue is that Booker isn't really going to help on the defensive end. If anything, he's liable to make it worse. I get it though, defensive schemes are complicated and take time to work through the kinks. I just hope the team perseveres through these rough patches to get to a point where they can build that hive-mind like defensive execution.

I didn't see the effort on defense last night either. This is the second time in preseason the Trail Blazers have bulldozed the Suns. Anything the Blazers wanted to do, it was there for the taking. If the Suns play defense like this in the regular season it's going to be a long year.

 

[Hoop Head]

I didn't see the effort on defense last night either. This is the second time in preseason the Trail Blazers have bulldozed the Suns. Anything the Blazers wanted to do, it was there for the taking. If the Suns play defense like this in the regular season it's going to be a long year.

The Blazers have our number. It's not unusual for a team to have an edge on another team even though when comparing rosters it doesn't look like they are that much different. The Blazers have a lot of junk on their roster outside of Lillard and McCollum. I'm not saying we're better than them but our talent compared to ours should not lead to the blowouts the last 2 games have been. It's preseason though so it's nothing to worry about too much, especially since the Blazers aren't in our division. They're also a playoff team so getting throttled by them is better than getting owned by the Kings, for example. I think the Blazers have had the Suns number for a while though, it didn't start this preseason. They always seem to thump us pretty good.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Blazers have our number. It's not unusual for a team to have an edge on another team even though when comparing rosters it doesn't look like they are that much different. The Blazers have a lot of junk on their roster outside of Lillard and McCollum. I'm not saying we're better than them but our talent compared to ours should not lead to the blowouts the last 2 games have been. It's preseason though so it's nothing to worry about too much, especially since the Blazers aren't in our division. They're also a playoff team so getting throttled by them is better than getting owned by the Kings, for example. I think the Blazers have had the Suns number for a while though, it didn't start this preseason. They always seem to thump us pretty good.

I think the Trail Blazers are more than Lillard and McCollum. They have Nurkic as well. The Suns could probably use some of their "junk."

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I think the Trail Blazers are more than Lillard and McCollum. They have Nurkic as well. The Suns could probably use some of their "junk."

They have a ton of guys that can shoot the ball. Now that I think of it, who do they have that can't shoot the ball? They are a team that is going to likely average 110+ points this year and that has a lot to do with all those shooters.

 

[Mainstreet]

They have a ton of guys that can shoot the ball. Now that I think of it, who do they have that can't shoot the ball? They are a team that is going to likely average 110+ points this year and that has a lot to do with all those shooters.

I agree about the shooting part although I have not broken down their entire roster.

Although the Trail Blazers have not gone anywhere for a number of years, they have always been one of the most talented teams in the NBA. They have tremendous scouting.

 

[Hoop Head]

I think the Trail Blazers are more than Lillard and McCollum. They have Nurkic as well. The Suns could probably use some of their "junk."

I know their players might be more than junk but their contracts make them junk and keep them from upgrading their roster. They're paying Meyers Leonard, Mo Harkless, and Evan Turner about $43 million annually compared to Lillard and McCollum $55 million. Add in Nurkic to those 5 and they're on the hook for $110 million between those 6 players for the 2019-20 season. They're tax payers this year also. Turner and Leonard are their worst deals. Turner is due $18.6 next year so they will have trouble dumping him. Mo Harkless had an incentive where he needed to shoot 35% or higher from 3 to get a half million dollar bonus and didn't shoot a 3 for the final 5-6 games so he didn't miss it. That isn't someone you want on your team, especially during a playoff hunt. He passed up some wide open shots also. One game is ok, I think, as long as the playoffs aren't on the line for that game but that wasn't the issue for them, they needed wins to stay ahead of other teams.

They have a ton of guys that can shoot the ball. Now that I think of it, who do they have that can't shoot the ball? They are a team that is going to likely average 110+ points this year and that has a lot to do with all those shooters.

Nurkic and Evan Turner, who are starters. Caleb Swanigan & Chinanu Onuaku are more traditional 4's who can't shoot from 3 also. They have a great backcourt, probably the best in the NBA, and both are good distributors so it keeps the ball moving and everyone involved.

I agree about the shooting part although I have not broken down their entire roster.

Although the Trail Blazers have not gone anywhere for a number of years, they have always been one of the most talented teams in the NBA. They have tremendous scouting.

I don't know about scouting for prospects in college but they seem to know other teams well. If you check out their roster you'll see there was some turnover but they should be ok. Signing Seth Curry was big for them. I can see a 3 guard lineup of Lillard, McCollum, and Curry spread around the arc with Turner as their PG of sorts, finding the open shooter. Put Nurkic in with them in the high post and you can stretch the floor, get open looks, and have 4 guys who can create for themselves and others.

I like the Blazers but they won't get better without being able to make moves and they don't have any good players to trade except maybe Zack Collins but that might be a mistake. Who knows how he'll end up. With Nurkic there though Collins is expendable if he can be combined with another player to dump a salary or bringing in a good PF who can shoot.

Here's their roster.
Here's their payroll.

 

[Mainstreet]

What's bad, the only two games the Trail Blazers have won are against the Suns not including the Kings game tonight.

 

[Hoop Head]

What's bad, the only two games the Trail Blazers have won are against the Suns not including the Kings game tonight.

We went 2-3, which isn't awful since we beat the Warriors in one of those 2 wins. 2 of our losses were the Blazers and the other was the first game for a lot of our guys. We had more roster turnover than Sacramento. The Blazers just have our number. I don't remember if they beat us that often with Aldridge but Lillard has always shown to play. He and Bledsoe had some good back and forth games. I actually liked seeing Booker and Bledsoe vs McCollum and Lillard. They have beat us 7 out of 8 times in the last 2 years. The one win was in overtime with Bledsoe draining a 3pt buzzer beater.

 

[Superbone]

It's on NBA League Pass. Set up my DVR last night. 755 or thereabouts on DirecTV. Pretty sure it's the Portland broadcast so keep your barf bag nearby. Those guys are the worst!

I have to apologize to the Portland Trailblazers broadcast crew. I forgot that Kevin Calabro replaced Mike Barrett a couple years ago. Barrett was a horrible homer. Calabro and his partner are quite good. I heard them again tonight while watching Blazers/Kings.

 

[Mainstreet]

We went 2-3, which isn't awful since we beat the Warriors in one of those 2 wins. 2 of our losses were the Blazers and the other was the first game for a lot of our guys. We had more roster turnover than Sacramento. The Blazers just have our number. I don't remember if they beat us that often with Aldridge but Lillard has always shown to play. He and Bledsoe had some good back and forth games. I actually liked seeing Booker and Bledsoe vs McCollum and Lillard. They have beat us 7 out of 8 times in the last 2 years. The one win was in overtime with Bledsoe draining a 3pt buzzer beater.

I guess I'm not giving the Suns excuses this season.

 

[Suns_fan69]

I have to apologize to the Portland Trailblazers broadcast crew. I forgot that Kevin Calabro replaced Mike Barrett a couple years ago. Barrett was a horrible homer. Calabro and his partner are quite good. I heard them again tonight while watching Blazers/Kings.

Kevin Calabro is great. I remember watching Sonics broadcasts with him in the 90s and he was always fantastic.

 

[Yuma]

Trail Blazers have always been under performers. Bill Walton was on fire when they won. They have had some of the most talented rosters of all time. They won one world championship, which that this point I would gladly take LMAO. But seriously, they should have won more than one. Arguably with the Celtics and Lakers back then, mostly Celtics, it was amazing they won one. However after that they had spme VERY good rosters.