How Come the Blazers are underachieving?

[ade]

This team has so many talented pieces and ridiculous depth. And they are all playing well. I can't figure it out.

You've got versatile rangy and athletic big men who can finish and shoot like Mason Plumlee, Meyers Leonard and Ed Davis. Their collection of wings is the best in the league. All real good athletes who can shoot, finish, playmake and defend. Almost every team in the league would love an Al-Farouq-Amino, a Moe Harkless, an Allen Crabbe, an Evan Turner. And they all bring something different to the table. The versatility is crazy.

Crabbe in paticular is the truth. Can put it in the floor, shoot, pass and defend. He's hyper efficient too...47% from the floor over 44% from 3....Actually hyper efficient isnt even the word....this dude has shoot over 80% from the floor in 3 out of his last 5 games....80% averaging over 21ppg.

Then you've got an elite backcourt of Lillard and Mccollum.

And CJ looks like he's gone to another level. He's been the top scorer in the entire league this month averaging over 32ppg shooting 41.2% from 3 and 53.8% from the field. Dude looks unstoppable out there. His game is so smooth...inside, outside, going to the rim. His offensive game reminds me of Derozan... but with elite 3point shooting.

Low key he's been better than even Dame this year....he's shot the ball better from every spot on the floor....and by a pretty big margin.

How is it that a team with this many high quality players be only 18-23 and only in the 8th seed? They can go 10 deep.every night. What are they missing?

 

[Damnshow]

they are not underachieving, they are who they are - a treadmill team

last year they actually overachieved because quite a few western teams last year sucked really bad. SO they used that opportunity and got themselves 5th seed

 

[Frump]

They play no defense and you're not going far when you're two best players are small volume shooting combo guards

 

[Rigby.]

if you made this thread 4 years ago you might've been right breh

 

[hayesc0]

they are not underachieving, they are who they are - a treadmill team

last year they actually overachieved because quite a few western teams last year sucked really bad. SO they used that opportunity and got themselves 5th seed

This close thread it's not that complicated lol.

 

[BillBanneker]

they are not underachieving, they are who they are - a treadmill team

last year they actually overachieved because quite a few western teams last year sucked really bad. SO they used that opportunity and got themselves 5th seed

this.

 

[hostsamurai]

This team overachieved last season because of weak overall conference play. it a been better to gut the roster and draft Ingram or brown, like the sixers process.

If bum ass ezeli thinks he needs to be the voice of leadership,without ever suiting up, it should raise doubts about lillard's and cj's leadership ability.

 

[ade]

they are not underachieving, they are who they are - a treadmill team

last year they actually overachieved because quite a few western teams last year sucked really bad. SO they used that opportunity and got themselves 5th seed

They have a lot more talent than their record indicates. There's no way the should be 5 games under 500 right now. Even with an undersized backcourt they have an abundance of long athletic wings to throw to opposing perimeter players and backcourts.

On top of that Crabbe has gotten better, Harkless is developing and Mccollum has become a bonafide allstar.

 

[mastermind]

They have a lot more talent than their record indicates. There's no way the should be 5 games under 500 right now. Even with an undersized backcourt they have an abundance of long athletic wings to throw to opposing perimeter players and backcourts.

On top of that Crabbe has gotten better, Harkless is developing and Mccollum has become a bonafide allstar.

last season they were predicted to finish near the bottom of the Western conference.

They just not that talented.

 

[tremonthustler1]

Defense is cheeks and Noah Vonleh didn't become what they needed: a star level big

 

[LezJepzin]

They nearly have the same record as last year at this point of the season. That crazy run they had last year got them in the playoffs .

 

[duckbutta]

they overachieved last year...what they are doing now is who they are...

actually they didn't even overachieve...they benefited from a lot of things that happened to other teams that allowed them to have a much better record than they should have

 

[Abuchunky]

Damian Lililard

 

[ade]

last season they were predicted to finish near the bottom of the Western conference.

They just not that talented.

I disagree with that assertion. If you want to say that they are undisciplined or just flat out a poor defending team i can see that. But not lack of talent.

Their backcourt is in the top 3 league wide
Their wings are all long, versatile and skilled
Their bigs are all high iq, skilled and good finishers around the basket

They should right in the mix contending for a 4-5 seed.

 

[Damnshow]

They have a lot more talent than their record indicates. There's no way the should be 5 games under 500 right now. Even with an undersized backcourt they have an abundance of long athletic wings to throw to opposing perimeter players and backcourts.

On top of that Crabbe has gotten better, Harkless is developing and Mccollum has become a bonafide allstar.

they are not that great, all these talents are something that plenty of nba teams have. Rockets got their shyt together, utah they finna make some noise in the west, grizzlies when healthy are much better too. the highest blazers can go is 7th seed (if okc start struggling majorly) which is early 1st round exit either way, 7th or 8th seed. They have high chances of missing playoffs too cause Pelicans are having a run and kings are not that behind either.

Blazers play no defense, thats the end of the story. If your backcourt is undersized you better make sure that backourt has defensive specialists (like celtics) or you better have defensive bigs. Blazers got neither of those 2