re: You have to Make the Playoffs or you Die

I'll just let you guys (most of you anyway) enjoy your circle jerk. I won't put down the pels on your own board. I like Heild and AD. You guys aren't really talked about on any other board as even playoff contenders but you guys can play pretend that you're in the same group as Portland, HOU, DAL, MEM, etc..

You do realize that before last season, when the Pels were absolutely decimated by injuries, Portland wasn't mentioned in the same breath as the Pels? A lot of things happen in an offseason. The fact is, the Pels have Anthony Davis and that is the biggest piece to the puzzle. Now, they have to make a few good moves and get healthy. If that happens, I'll take that moving forward.

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I'll just let you guys (most of you anyway) enjoy your circle jerk. I won't put down the pels on your own board. I like Heild and AD. You guys aren't really talked about on any other board as even playoff contenders but you guys can play pretend that you're in the same group as Portland, HOU, DAL, MEM, etc..

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That's some revisionist history. Pels were considered a playoff lock last offseason and people were saying that Portland had a catastrophic off season and would be a lottery lock.

Things change. The season is always fluid.

And lol at you not coming on here and putting down the Pels.

I haven't trolled you guys since maybe January?

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Pels were considered a playoff lock last offseason and people were saying that Portland had a catastrophic off season and would be a lottery lock.

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I mean, yeah, everybody overreacted to Portland's offseason. They also forgot how good Aminu was with the Mavs. He was the only thing they had going for them in the series against the Rockets. CJ was going to make the next step. We all saw it when he was healthy. I think he's a more steady player than Lillard, Lillard can can always break open a game though and go for 40 much like he did vs. the Warriors after the ASB. Portland had almost 0 chemistry coming into this season. They struggled early but figured it out. I'd write us down as being a top 5 seed in the West next season. I have faith in Olshey and Stotts to make the right moves. That's what got us into the Playoffs last year. Olshey and Stotts.

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Feel free to make the argument. I would enjoy hearing an outside perspective on why the Pelicans are or are not playoff contenders?

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As I pointed out a week ago, it's a guard driven league. It (almost) doesn't matter what AD does if your guards can't make plays. Drafting Hield was a huge positive IMO. I feel much beter about the Pels today than I did a week ago when I made that statement. I can see the Pels sneaking into the Playoffs as a 8 or 7 seed. They need somebody to pair with Hield as a handcuff when he comes off the court. I'm not a Tyreke fan but IF he commits to being a 6th man much like Crawford did once he got older, you guys will be competitive. However, I wouldn't feel safe with Tyreke being the "key" to your success (obviously AD and Jrue's health is most important, to get over the hump, you'll need somebody else to emerge to take the pressure off of them.)

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You do realize that before last season, when the Pels were absolutely decimated by injuries, Portland wasn't mentioned in the same breath as the Pels? A lot of things happen in an offseason. The fact is, the Pels have Anthony Davis and that is the biggest piece to the puzzle. Now, they have to make a few good moves and get healthy. If that happens, I'll take that moving forward.

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Things change. Analyst are just guys who get paid to voice their opinions. It took a career year from EG and an AD three for the Pels to make the playoffs the year before last. Tbh I thought you guys would finish around the same record. Injuries prevented that. As I've mentioned in this thread, you guys just don't have the depth. Portland's bench could start in NO. Crabbe or Henderson would be starting SG and Harkless would start at SF if we put them on the Pels roster last year.

It's been four years and you've only made the playoffs once with AD. Doesn't that concern you guys? That's not comparable with the FO's in Dallas, in Houston, in Portland. As the Crewz pointed out about SAC, their core is rotten. Hasn't the core been rotten in NO? Why else haven't you guys had more success if it isn't? You guys need a culture change, and IMO the draft helped kickstart that. At least KG made the playoffs consistently in MIN. NO was/is closer to being SAC than to being any of the teams mentioned above.




I had a few more points to make but forgot them.

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Thanks for the solid contribution. I hope you post more insightful information here.

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As I pointed out a week ago, it's a guard driven league. It (almost) doesn't matter what AD does if your guards can't make plays. Drafting Hield was a huge positive IMO. I feel much beter about the Pels today than I did a week ago when I made that statement. I can see the Pels sneaking into the Playoffs as a 8 or 7 seed. They need somebody to pair with Hield as a handcuff when he comes off the court. I'm not a Tyreke fan but IF he commits to being a 6th man much like Crawford did once he got older, you guys will be competitive. However, I wouldn't feel safe with Tyreke being the "key" to your success (obviously AD and Jrue's health is most important, to get over the hump, you'll need somebody else to emerge to take the pressure off of them.)

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Assuming we take your premise that this a is a guard driven league at face value(which I don't think is a hard truth, if anything it is a forward dominated league barring a few guard driven ones), then the Pels with Jrue, Evans, Gordon(potentially), Qpon and Hield are fairly solid as far as that goes.

With mainly just Evans, Gordon and AD the team won 45 games.

I don't think there are any indications Evans is the cornerstone of our guards. That will go to Jrue as has been made clear by Gentry. But even if he was, again, 45 wins.

The Warriors, Spurs, and OKC(assuming Durant stays) are your basic locks 1-3. From there I think the Clippers are the favorite for 4 and then things get murky.

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It's been four years and you've only made the playoffs once with AD. Doesn't that concern you guys? That's not comparable with the FO's in Dallas, in Houston, in Portland. As the Crewz pointed out about SAC, their core is rotten. Hasn't the core been rotten in NO? Why else haven't you guys had more success if it isn't? You guys need a culture change, and IMO the draft helped kickstart that. At least KG made the playoffs consistently in MIN. NO was/is closer to being SAC than to being any of the teams mentioned above.

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If you are asking this you are either trolling or ignorant. Either way that is going to end a lot of your credibility speaking about the Pelicans projections and roster. Begging the question is not a credible argument.

Even fans that barely pay attention to the Pels that I come across elsewhere are keenly aware of how injured the Pelicans have been. Do we need to go down he list? If the argument was then how likely is it the Pelicans stay healthy when history says they won't? Then I would be right with you, but you seem to be ignoring injuries and making the case the core is rotten. Which is a pretty tough pill to swallow when that core has yet to play together much at all. And the few instances it did the numbers were pretty good. And if Ryno and Gordon leave they will never have. So this line of reasoning seems at best ignorant and at worse uninformed arrogance or trolling.

I was honestly expecting a bit better breakdown then what you have presented. Not just a long winded attempt to "beg the question."

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Even fans that barely pay attention to the Pels that I come across elsewhere are keenly aware of how injured the Pelicans have been. Do we need to go down he list? If the argument was then how likely is it the Pelicans stay healthy when history says they won't? Then I would be right with you, but you seem to be ignoring injuries and making the case the core is rotten. Which is a pretty tough pill to swallow when that core has yet to play together much at all. And the few instances it did the numbers were pretty good. And if Ryno and Gordon leave they will never have. So this line of reasoning seems at best ignorant and at worse uninformed arrogance or trolling.

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AD played 61 games this year. Played 68 the year before and 67 the year before. Only one playoff experience. At some point you just have to blame something else other than injuries.

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I was honestly expecting a bit better breakdown then what you have presented. Not just a long winded attempt to "beg the question."

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I don't claim to be analyst nor do I pretend to act like I know everything. I watched 12-15 Pels games last year and I check this board a few times a week dpending on what's going on in the NBA. I was just giving my $.02 as an outsider. I wouldn't really listen to most of you when in comes to Portland basketball either after reading this board over the last 2 years.

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Interesting. I think most around here wildly underrate Lillard. Not that you're saying CJ is better, but just interesting to hear from a PDX fan

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Lillard is our "superstar". He takes superstar shots. He'll run down the court just to jack a three early in the shot clock. He'll take contested shots he shouldn't. He does it because he's really freakin' good. CJ plays within the offense. Takes better shots. Don't get me wrong, Lillard is the difference between Portland and the Suns.

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You do realize you're talking to a PDX fan, right? Portland played a game with IIRC 7 healthy players on the team '09 or '10. Those two years we experienced more injuries than you can imagine. I understand injuries can derail a team real quick. I saw it destroy a team right before my eyes. Despite all that, we still won like 54 games and 50 games. Luckily we got Lillard for Gerald Wallace otherwise I wouldn't be on here talking about Portland. The West was stronger then than what it was last year.




After some research, I found this graphic:

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I am asking you a very simple question, find me the number of games missed by those players since they have all been on the roster together. Pels fans know this almost intrinsically but it seems either you are intentionally avoiding the context or are just unaware of it.

I didn't ask for Portland's roster when they had 2 of their 3 best players playing almost the entire season with a coach and system that was well established.

I'm not going to play a silly numbers game with you. There's plenty of teams who have made playoffs despite injuries. I know this year the pels were ravaged with injuries. I'm talking about a three year window. Ever since you guys made the decision to win now and get Jrue. There's not even a playoff win. You make excuses but I bet you wanted Monty fired and more than likely want Demps gone. Why can't they dance to the same injury song? The core is rotten. That's why EG and RA are in their way out and why half the fan base wants Reke gone as well. Blame injuries, blame Demps, it's not my team I don't care.