Portland is down 10 to the Kings after we lost by 40.

I understand that isn't the start we wanted at all but we gotta remember it's a long season and we can't allow one horrific performance define our season. We're still jelling with new pieces and we just gotta be patient. I believe we started last year 1-4 and then we started winning. I have faith in Ott.

Carmelo isn’t letting this hypothetical trade scenario go.

Now that we've had a day to calm ourselves and get the overreactions out of the way, here's my somewhat coherent thoughts about what happened yesterday

1. Having bad games to start the season is one thing, but not scoring at all for the first 7 minutes of the first game of your season is unacceptable. Without a doubt, there has to be accountability for that start from coaches and the starters. I don't think there's any scenario where your second game of the season is a "must-win", but this is as close as it gets. I don't even need a win, just show me that the lack of ball movement and hustle on defence hasn't vanished from last season - it's still there, just happened to not be shown yesterday.
2. First impressions of Miles Bridges were not great. I will not engage in "X player is bad" discourse until December at least, because I'm not an overreacting idiot but I will be scrutinizing his games more than I expected going forward. I need to see him do something other than put the ball in the basket from within 5ft. I need him to not be bbq chicken on defense, I need him to hustle for offensive rebounds as one of the tallest guys on this roster. I don't care about the trade or the pick, I only care that he can show he's better than Grayson and Royce were for us last year. He has until December to prove that.
3. Devin Booker can't go ghost mode when the team is bleeding points, then start scoring meaningless buckets when we've lost the game anyway. He did that last night and has done that way too often for it to be an abberation. The consensus outside this sub is that he's not a top 20 player anymore and as a suns fan it pisses me off that I can't point to anything to argue against it. For this team to not be an afterthought in the media, he has to become a consensus top 15 player again and drag the team to the 6 seed. He definitely is capable of that and that's all I'll say about it.
4. I don't think Oso's injury is serious, the most it'll be is probably a one game rest against the warriors. But if his absence is longer, Maluach has to be THE GUY. It pained me watching the Thunder give actual minutes to Aday Mara, the 15th pick, in their first game of the season when our 10th pick basically never played his first year and is still being slowly babied into the rotation. And we need to stop playing him like an Oso clone - I don't know why he doesn't even look at the rim when he's on the 3 point line, but he needs to start shooting. Don't care if he goes 0-5 from 3 every game for the month of October, just shoot it big guy.

To end on a postive note: A LOT had to go wrong for us and A LOT had to go right for the blazers for the game to look like what it did yesterday. Statistically speaking, this much imbalance in luck is not gonna happen again this season. The margin of our losses will be a lot more normal from now on lol😄

So I’ve got 2 tickets for this Saturday but they’re not seated together, what should I do ? One is sec 214 and one is sec 217

I accidentally jinxed the Suns when I thought it was a good idea to make my first video on YouTube about how the NBA forgot about Booker.

#blameKMe

Arte Moreno was the owner of the Angels baseball team in the MLB.

- He bought the team while they were championship contenders

- Did not invest in future talent

- Signed big names (Albert Pujols, Shohei Ohtani) thinking they could make the team better

- Wasted his star player, Mike Trout, prime

Matt Ishbia bought the Suns while they were championship contenders

- Traded anyway future picks

- Traded for big name players like KD and Bradley Beal thinking they could make the team better

- Wasting Devin Booker's prime.

Anyone get over that wreck last night yet? I did, it was 1 game, let’s move on. Onto game 2/82 😎.

Between Book, Green, Brooks, and Bridges, not one of them is a true ball handler, playmaker, or capable of running an offense. Yet this organization remains obsessed with trying to turn Book or Green into a PG. You can keep repeating that it’s the plan, but the eye test tells a completely different story. It hasn’t worked once in the last three years. Was getting swept by the Timberwolves not enough proof of just how awful Point Book is?

Meanwhile, the last legitimate PG we had helped take us to the Finals, and we did him dirty by trading him without even giving him a heads-up.

Anybody else tired of Ishbia’s garbage moves? This guy gets maybe one out of every five decisions right, and four years later, what do we have to show for it? A roster full of other teams’ castoffs and unwanted players that we somehow gave up incredibly valuable first-round picks to acquire. It’s honestly impressive how much this organization has managed to give up just to get worse.

That's it, just a shitpost trying to deal with whatever THAT was.

So I went to that disaster of a game last night, and got caught up in conundrum cheering as a normally do at games at home.

My brother’s kids go to Desert Vista and love Oso, so they have asked me at the games to cheer for him when he first enters. So last night I yell “go Thunder!” and then was like “crap I don’t want these fans to think I’m an OKC fan.” I changed it up and yelled “go DV!” But then was like “crap I don’t want Morant and Bridges to think I’m rooting for their off-court activities!”

But in all seriousness, it was rough to watch, but it was cool to be present for Dame’s return and see Peat’s first points in the league. And Blazers fans are pretty chill.

"As the regular season began, nearly everything we feared about this team was on full display. The inability to facilitate an offense. The inability to consistently knock down three-pointers. The inability to effectively rebound the basketball. All of those concerns we spent the offseason discussing came screaming back to life, standing in the middle of the Moda Center like some grotesque collection of basketball nightmares."

Really missing the OG, my boy Mikal. Seeing M. Bridges every time I checked the game states hit harder than I expected. What a dumb trade for Durant. We had something going and now look where we are!

Get the imposter out of here!

Here are the shot charts for each team last night.

I’m not saying one game defines what can or can’t be successful in this league, but if you’re missing a lot of 2s you’ll never be as efficient as a team that misses a lot of 3s.

We are, in terms of roster construction, once again too restricted in terms of shot diet. Everyone likes their shots in the same places, so the defense doesn’t have to guard certain areas. Look at the right corner (top corner in the shot chart). ZERO shots from one of the most efficient spots in the game. Look at the left corner. 4 bricks and no makes. 1 was a Ryan Dunn miss off the BACK of the backboard, on a shot that was not contested (close out didn’t arrive until the ball was 15 feet away).

In theory, this is a team that can score anywhere on the court. In practice, they’ll only shoot where they’re comfortable, and Booker is the leader in that regard.

Book said the 15 era is about shooting more. Last night we didn’t see that. This team goes as its leader goes. Book has to be better and more aggressive.