享受失去的燃烧赛季的三个理由

With 24 games left in the波特兰径丝滩赛“赛季”，该团队目前坐了10场比赛.500，在手中的第一轮ko之间等距离Golden State Warriors和12日在NBA的西部。While fully acknowledging the positives and negatives to either side of the “tank vs. playoff push” argument, it stands to reason that Portland has had no actual shot of doing anything of significance this season for quite some time.

But with games to still be played through the second week of April, how can fans find joy in the actual on-court product for the rest of the season?

当然，关键是管理期望. If you’re going to get mad every time the Blazers fall to a playoff caliber team or cough one up in the fourth quarter, you’re going to (continue to) have a bad time. Personally, I’ve had to temper my expectations several time throughout the year. Asking, “为什么慢开始？” only makes sense for so long before it becomes, “Why are they underachieving this season?“或者最终，”How bad is this team, actually?”

Along with those changes, I’ve had to adjust what brings me enjoyment each game. Two seasons ago, in the last year of the拉玛尔·阿尔德里奇/Wesley Matthews/Nic Batum era, I needed wins, pure and simple. Last year was such a surprise that everything on top of a .500 record felt like gravy to me. At this point, we’re all forced to look beyond win-loss column in order to find something to talk about with this team. Here are my big three:

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Jusuf Nurkic.

Even if it’s not at the top, I’m pretty sure that this one is high on everyone’s list right about now. When Portlandtraded Mason Plumlee to Denver本月早些时候，Blazers篮球业务总裁Neil Olshey设法移动了球队，球队没有合理的理由为今年夏天支付Nurkic的大型年轻的前景。

Plumlee在近年来在波特兰的近两年的Stint期间最大化了一项很好的工作，并做得很好，但我非常有趣by what Nurkic can potentially bring to this rosterin terms of post scoring, rebounding, and defense. He doesn’t excel at any of those things yet but, watching the three games he’s played as a Blazer, the tools are all there.

If nothing else, I’m excited about the prospect of watching Nurkic get the opportunity to play 25-30 minutes a night and work his way through all of his mistakes—an opportunity not afforded to him in Denver. Nurkic wasn’t totally blameless in that situation, but one thing that’s not his fault isNikola Jokicbreaking out and looking like the next great big man in the league. Young players need time and often need to know that they aren’t going to get jerked out of the game when they make a mistake; just look at Moe Harkless in prior years, for example.

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Sink or Swim, Leonard and Vonleh

谈到需要时间的年轻球员，作为一个非季后赛团队的一个好处是没有真正的危险，可以在大分钟大的几分钟里玩你未经证实的年轻人。他们有机会发展，你的团队在六月获得了更多的乒乓球，每个人都赢了。波特兰去年尝试过Noah Vonleh早期，开始他54场比赛，然后才清楚燃烧者是一支季后赛球队。一旦团队将黑关远插入阵容，他和团队都起飞，粉丝在近期记忆中有一个更令人难忘的季节。

今年有很少的股份，波特兰已经回到了开始阵容中的vonleh，Meyers Leonard- 羽毛的交易和彻底消失德戴维斯this season—has an opportunity to sink or swim on the court with Vonleh. I wrote apiece on Leonard’s struggles上个月和评论部分在两个前面非常活跃 - 与伦纳德的被捍卫者说，他很少收到一致的分钟和批评者，指出他已经开发了四年半的时间。

This is the perfect opportunity for both players to work through their mistakes and essentially “put up or shut up.” It wouldn’t be a fair expectation to expect either player to develop into a major weapon in these last 24 games, but the opportunity for any hint of upward movement is there for the taking. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do with it, given steady minutes.

照片由Patrick Smith / Getty Images

得到你的，凉爽的微风

Allen Crabbe.从地板和3点线上拍摄了职业生涯，但已经有了stillmanaged to be a disappointment this season in the eyes of many. I don’t even mean that in relation to his contract and what the team is paying for 10 points per game (just in terms of a borderline knockdown shooter not being aggressive enough to exert his will on the game). With Evan Turner out of the lineup for at least a few more weeks—and I maintain that the team may shut him down to maximize those lottery chances—Crabbe有机会以大时间为止，但只显示闪烁。

A.c。倾向于依靠别人经常让他起身，并且在麦卡夫姆这样的守卫时Damian Lillardwho aren’t shy about letting it fly, if you’re not going to be aggressive in crunch time, you’re not going to get the ball. Crabbe, a 43 percent 3-point shooter this season, has taken six total 3-pointers in the last four games—a span of 113 minutes played. Whether that’s systemic, him not looking for his own shot, or a combination of both, Crabbe has seven weeks left to make a bigger dent in the offense. With the team likely playing out the string, I’d like to see if he’s capable of doing so.

What will you be watching for over the next 24 games?