Rumble Pt. 5 (The Blazers one)
Let's enjoy this ride.
Welcome back to our rumble across the NBA.
Part 1: Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls.
Part 2: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons.
Part 3: Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies.
Part 4: Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks.
Oklahoma City Thunder – If you happen to know anybody from the Oklahoma City Thunder organization, it’s a little bit like knowing someone in Fight Club. But while their secretive nature about “what” they are doing remains unnamed, the result of their moves is laid bare for all to see. And it’s not hard to see what their strategy is as they try to create a title contender once again in the NBA’s least glamourous market.
After trading away Chris Paul and finally starting a full rebuild, the Thunder gave the keys to the franchise to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander while using the rest of the roster as an incubator to find prospects to add to their team. Lu Dort is a quality player on both ends and saw his true shooting percentage improve slightly with an increase in usage. But those two guys and Derrick Favors are probably the only two players whom you can truly say you know who they are. No disrespect to Mike Muscala, who is a decent a stretch big man. But for the most part, the rest of the Thunder are a collection of interesting, long-limbed mystery boxes.
Last year their prospect of intrigue was 7-foot forward Aleksej Pokusevski, who finished the season with a 29-point career-high night in which he helped the Clippers accomplish their plan of tanking their playoff seed. Other young players like Darius Bazley, Theo Maledon, and Ty Jerome are all interesting, but the new “Most Interesting Man” title in OKC belongs to Australian lottery pick Josh Giddey.
Giddey stood out in the draft process because he was not on anyone’s radar as recently as a year ago. A 6-8 guard, the Thunder are seemingly attempting to have the tallest starting five in the league. Giddey is a #DraftTwitter darling who has put together some intriguing highlight plays, but whose Summer League debut may have been one of the most roasted in recent memory.
The Thunder have a strong young backcourt with Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort, but their path back to relevance will likely need a couple more years. The rest of the roster is too unproven to count on and unless the youth mature faster than expected, it’s going to be another tough year for the Thunder on the court, no matter how bright their future appears with a trove of draft picks and interesting prospects.
Orlando Magic – The Magic freed themselves from successive years as a bottom-tier Eastern Conference playoff team and have gone all-in on the young players they’ve drafted over the past few years. They also acquired some interesting prospects in the process of getting rid of players from their old core group, such as RJ Hampton from Denver and Wendell Carter Jr. from Chicago.
But this season will be a big season for a lot of young players on the Magic, with many of them looking to earn their keep. While Jonathan Isaac being an Anti-Vaxxer has largely been the only Magic storyline that anybody checks for, Cole Anthony had a strong finish to last season and they added a player that might be able to once again put them in the playoff picture in Jalen Suggs.
While I don’t consider myself much of a draft person, Suggs stood out in large part due to the fact he was always playing in big games at Gonzaga. But how he stood out in those high-leverage moments, being unafraid to stretch the defense like many of the best guards at the NBA level while being an impact player on defense. The Magic may have landed a player that can help the rest of their prospects find more comfort.
I love Suggs and while I have no ill-will towards players drafted ahead of him like Evan Mobley, Jalen Green, and Scottie Barnes, having seen more of Suggs on a big stage just makes me believe he has what it takes to bring Orlando back to relevance. And while he’s on a team with a lot of other ball-handlers, how Suggs has already risen to the occasion makes me believe he’s a great pick to win Rookie of the Year.
Jalen Suggs +700 ROY
Philadelphia 76ers – Oh, the 76ers. While I respect a lot of the players on their team, namely Joel Embiid, aren’t you tired of talking about these guys? I am! I don’t know if there has ever been a team in my lifetime that has generated so much hype and so much news for them to have never even gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. And somehow, thanks to the Ben Simmons saga, they continue to create more news.
I’m going to save you the play-by-play of the past summer, which ESPN has already burned into our brain and will continue to until A) Simmons returns to the floor in a Sixers uniform or B) finally gets traded. This week’s latest installment in the saga, a gratuitous story about Simmons’ psyche before his infamous Game 7 in Atlanta, has had the story fully jump the shark.
Morey, Doc Rivers, Simmons, Klutch, ESPN, and the whole lot have made the preseason more dramatic than it needed to be. Maybe it’s all a result of having been together too long during the bubble and two compressed seasons. But I’m just sick of hearing about fucking Philly as if they are a serious contender.
Embiid will never let them be that bad, but has he ever proven on his own that he can make them that great? Seth Curry remains underrated as a player on both ends and Tobias Harris’ season last year shut up many of his critics, myself included. But they look no more a contender than they did last season when they won the No. 1 seed and failed to make the Conference Finals. At what point do the rest of the Sixers, outside of Simmons, from the front office to the roster, stop boing beneficiaries of the narrative of “Process” and start being judged by season after season of disappointing results?
Time has run out on Simmons in Philadelphia, but another season of being good might not be good enough for a fan base that was told to endure generational losing for a championship contender. It shouldn’t be, anyway.
Phoenix Suns – Everyone who jumped on the Suns’ bandwagon during their spectacular run to the NBA Finals is starting to learn a lesson that all diehard Suns fans have had to internalize for too long: enjoy the good times before Robert Sarver ruins it all.
The Suns have had some incredible peaks during their time as a franchise and last season’s Finals run brought them as close to an NBA Championship as they’ve ever been. But now that the time has come to pay up players who brought them to that franchise peak, Sarver’s notorious reputation for finding cagey ways to not pay his employees threatens to ruin a championship core.
DeAndre Ayton is reportedly not happy with extension talks and Mikal Bridges is another player who is looking to stay long-term in Phoenix. However, as one former Suns employee told me, Sarver is the type of guy who tries to pay people in pizza gift cards for hitting their numbers. While the Suns struck gold by bringing in Monty Williams and trading for Chris Paul, as well benefiting from an injury to Anthony Davis, sometimes the NBA produces finalists like that strike lighting in a bottle and never return.
Whether the Suns will stick around will depend on how Chris Paul continues to age, but the path to consistency is paying whatever it takes to keep their core of Booker, Bridges, and Ayton together. Being that we’re talking about Robert Sarver, it’s not a guarantee that happens.
Portland Trail Blazers – Well, what can I say here that I haven’t said in all of my other blogs this summer? I guess I could talk about the basketball team? You know what the situation is with ownership, Neil Olshey, the “investigation,” Dame’s status, the terrible television situation for people who have streaming services, what else did I miss? Whatever, it’s all a mess, but this is the Blazers, living in mess is a part of the franchise ethos at this point.
But there is basketball to be played and with regards to the Blazers, many of the players are the same, but the basketball should look a little different. The question remains is, will different mean better? A lot of the motion concepts, hand-offs, and flare screens that were such a part of the Blazers under Terry Stotts won’t be there anymore. And the same goes for the defense, which looks to feature more hedging and recovering, i.e. Nurkic won’t be standing at the free-throw line all the time. The Blazers incorporated some of those looks with Stotts, but it seems like that type of defense will be a more regular thing this season.
Nurkic is going to be challenged to do some different things defensively and once again, Portland’s defense will be anchored by him, for better or worse. Since returning from the injury, Nurkic’s defense has been the only thing truly missing. He’s added a 3-point shot and has shown strong post play at times, but whereas he was often stopping players at the rim before his injury, he’s getting beat to the spot more than he used to. Part of that is because the Blazers lost great wing defenders since the injury, but the Blazers look to have a little bit more on that end this season.
If the hype around Nassir Little is even 50% true, that’s a big help for Portland’s defense and Tony Snell is a solid two-way wing. As much as I love Carmelo Anthony and will miss the vibes, the Blazers will not miss him on defense. Lillard and McCollum will also need to improve defensively, but Nurkic has to hold up his end and protect the rim like we’ve seen him do before.
The addition of Larry Nance Jr. gives the Blazers a stronger small ball center option, whereas bigger players can more easily post-up Robert Covington when he patrolled the middle. And also, while he was not a sexy acquisition, Cody Zeller is a very good player when he is healthy. But the gamble with him is exactly that, whether he will stay healthy or not. But the good news for Portland with both is that, unlike last season, the Blazers have capable defensive options behind Nurkic if he is hurt, gets in foul trouble, or just doesn’t play well.
Nurkic was the beneficiary of a safety net last year with Kanter as his only real back-up. This season, if he plays poorly and sulks, the Blazers have some options where they won’t be completely vulnerable on defense. Maybe it seems like I’m overly obsessing the role players, but this has often been one of the biggest inconsistencies with the Blazers in recent years. If they can get any level of consistency from their bench on both ends, as well as Nurkic, that could make up for a lot of their other shortcomings.
Also, is this the year we finally get a mini-leap from Anfernee Simons? We’ve been hearing about it for about two years now. I’m trying to be optimistic here. Dame and CJ have shown us they can be a perennial playoff team, but getting serious help from their role players will give us more reason to take narratives about growth and depth seriously.
Nevertheless, it very well might be Dame’s last season in Portland. And I just want to enjoy it all if that’s the case. Even if I must stream games in Turkish to do it.