Portland Blazing a trail....MO

[Porckchop]

Do you believe this team is a contender as it stands right now?

[worldK]

I like what portland did this offseason. They have a solid starting 5 last season with no bench. They upgraded their bench and are now 2 deep at each position. They swap hickson for a legit 7ft center in lopez. They also have a lot of good pieces signed for reasonable deals that can only help them when they decide to make a trade. They are in good spot right now.

[kekgeek]

Do you believe this team is a contender as it stands right now?

No, but klove is not the problem

[Riverside_Viking [enjin:6662498]]

I'm not on board with those who think Portland had a better offseason than the wolves. Portland has added depth, I agree, but a team that went 33-49 doesn't have the luxury to only add depth. 33-49 means your starters aren't good enough, and you need to seriously upgrade your starting 5 before you start looking at depth. The wolves realized they needed more than depth...they seriously needed an elite 3-point starter, and they got that in spades with Martin. Portland added a gaggle of back-ups who are either in decline (Williams, Wright) or never were or will be (Lopez, Robinson). Those four names are not going to take a team to the second round of the playoffs.

The other offseason move is the draft, and I am on record in other threads that Muhammad/Dieng is a better draft than McCollum. The jury is out on this one as none of the three looked very NBA ready in Vegas, but Portland has to be concerned about CJ's 35% shooting combined with more turnovers than assists.

I think Portland improved 7-8 wins tops, the Wolves closer to 15.

Portland starting 5 was fine last season Lillard is a stud, Mathews isn't a superstar but he is a Starting caliber SG, Batum continues to just get better and better, Aldridge is a all star and hickson in this nba is a starting C, the problem was they had absolutely no bench what so ever. They fixed that this year. However Mo Williams is a bum he has made a career off of lebrons jock strap. But even so McCollum and Robinson gives them a good gaurd and big off the bench.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Robinson is a decent rebounder, but honestly, I've never been that impressed by him. Yeah, he has a big body, but even at Kansas I didn't like him. He's overrated and all the hype is still off his draft spot. Mo Williams is whatever. Good for the Blazers I guess.

[Porckchop]

If KLove is a top 10 player in this league than this team, as is currently constructed, should be a contender. Thats what top players are supposed to bring to the table. If he's not able to do that than whats the point? Get a boat load of assets in return for him and hope next years draft reaps rewards.. No one wins championships on the shoulders of Pfs anymore.

[Coolbreeze44]

Do you believe this team is a contender as it stands right now?

No but prematurely dealing Love would put us back to square 1. We just can't do that now.

[60WinTim]

The Wolves are a contender.

Two years ago they were a .500 team with Love, surrounded by a Rookie Rubio and a baby Pek just coming out of his shell. That up and coming trio was surrounded by a handful of journeyman players (Luke, JJ, Webster) and a bunch of bozos (Wes, Beasley and Dorko). But it was still a .500 team up until Rubio's ACL injury.

The last year and a half has been wasted by injuries, but the bozos have been replaced by Martin, Bud, Cunningham and Turiaf.

So now our once-again healthy trio is ready to embark on a new season, surrounded by competence. They are a contender.

[Leado01]

Trading Love would be insane unless we were trading him for Kevin Durant.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

If KLove is a top 10 player in this league than this team, as is currently constructed, should be a contender. Thats what top players are supposed to bring to the table. If he's not able to do that than whats the point? Get a boat load of assets in return for him and hope next years draft reaps rewards.. No one wins championships on the shoulders of Pfs anymore.

Oh how you forget about Dirk's NBA Finals just several years ago...

NO player in the NBA can carry his team by himself other than LeBron James. Durant can't. Rose can't. Chris Paul can't. Everyone needs help. I think Love finally has help now. He had enough help the last two years to get into the playoffs but injuries fatally derailed their hopes. Just watch this season. I'm fully confident the Wolves turn heads.