There comes a point in life where our souls beckon us to unplug from the machine and leave the rat race. Most people say "I wish I could do that", but few ever do. We don't need most of what we have been conditioned to believe we do and we are better off without most of it 💯

Scoot "practice-facility-and pre-season-star" Henderson

When you're just trying to watch the Trail Blazers first pre-season game and Spectrum decides to randomly do another full day of maintenance that was supposed to end by 530 but now they just updated to say the Internet won't be back on till 10pm.. I've never had a high speed internet service that was down more often. @GetSpectrum you suck

Dear @X how do we get rid of this extremely annoying in-app notification banner popping up constantly? I don't need it, I don't want it. Let me get rid of it. @grok helppppp

For posterity: With Shaedon Sharpe out - my new prediction for Trail Blazers wins for this season is 49 down from 53. *Not that anyone will read this* 🤣

Both Google and Grok say "Atlantis never existed" and that it was just straight up "made up by Plato". I didn't know the science was settled on this subject. I'm calling bullshit 🤣 Do you think Atlantis really existed?

I'm bummed out because we have gotten training videos and updates of almost every one of the @trailblazers except @ShaedonSharpe! What's our future superstar cooking up this summer (besides Mac and Cheese 🤣🫶)?

Okay.. that can't be normal

I'm gonna be honest House of the Dragon doesn't hold a single candle to Game of Thrones... Rhaenyra is not believable as a leader, she's fucking crying and has the exact same monotonous timbre and dull emotionless facial expression in every episode. She's unlikeable. Danaerys character was unlikeable but you liked her anyway, until the end. House of the Dragon has no shocking twists. No turns. No surprising new elements. The subject matter is epic so it makes it watchable, but it's completely average in almost every way. Game of Thrones is a solid 9.5 out of 10 despite the final season. House of the Dragon is low effort drivel in comparison to GoT... 5 out of 10 max.

I think there's a strong argument to be made that the Trail Blazers have three guys who could easily make the NBA All Star team next season if they simply play at the level they've played in the past. I can see Deni Avdija doing what he did last season, but with higher efficiency.. I can see @JaMorant having a ton of motivation, and new scenery reinvigorating his enthusiasm to ball out.. I can see @Dame_Lillard using the doubters who have written him off as powerful motivation to pull off a quintessentially miraculous comeback story. And maybe I'm fan boy-ing - or maybe I have just seen Dame be Dame long enough to give him the benefit of the doubt - but honestly I am somehow more unsure about Ja Morant returning to form than I am the other two - and yet I firmly believe Ja will do it. This is the most excited Ive been for this team in my adult life. I can't believe Joe Cronin isn't universally beloved for what he has pulled off - given what he started with. The past 3+ years have been a masterclass in silent steady maneuvering. If GM's could exemplify "playing with pace", Joe Cronin would be the poster boy. 🤌 I think going into this season as underdogs is just going to make the victories that much sweeter and I really can't wait to see it all come together.

And there's a large coalition of people who believe these are the good guys

"Extra pickle? Extra f*cking pickle?" 🤣 My friend went to McDonald's and asked for extra pickles on his big Mac and burgers and this is what he got... I guess this is what you get when you start giving a living wage to people in Oregon who barely deserve the federal minimum wage 🤷

One of the narratives I keep hearing on repeat from the blazers fanbase is that bringing Ja Morant in makes us even worse on defense.. the "two undersized guards" narrative that became so prevalent during the CJ and Dame era. Conversely the new narrative has become that Scoot is good on defense.. and Shaedon is terrible and unplayable on defense. But if RAPM numbers are to be believed - Ja Morant has been decent to good on defense, Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe are both basically neutral 🤷

Sharpe vs Scoot Turnovers & Ball Handling: The Advanced Stats vs Box Score Reality A lot of Shaedon Sharpe slander revolves around “he can’t handle the ball” and terrible AST/TO. Meanwhile Scoot still seems to be viewed by many as the PGOTF. The advanced offensive data from nbarapm.com tells an interesting story about who the truly poor ball handler is between the two. Handler/Creation - **Sharpe**: 365 handler possessions, TOV% **14.9%** - **Scoot**: 162 handler possessions, TOV% **24.2%** Sharpe handled way more and was still significantly more secure. His isolation was strong too (TOV% 7.8%, positive POE). Overall - Sharpe total TOV% **13.2%** - Scoot total TOV% **18.5%** Sharpe also crushed transition (elite POE + volume) and opportunistic finishes (0.0% TOV on cuts) while Scoot was negative/inefficient in those same buckets. Of course the box score watchers just see a negative assist to turnovee ratio this season from Sharpe and make their decision that Sharpe is bad. But Box score AST/TO is trash for this. The blazers forced Sharpe (natural SG scorer) into heavy creation → low assists, some turnovers → ugly ratio. But per-possession advanced metrics show he was more efficient and secure than Scoot in the exact same actions. Scoot had higher turnover rates where it hurts most (where he is supposed to excel as the "natural PG" (handler creation) and worse POE impact. The team even shifted him more off-ball because of this; confirming exactly what the stats show. The team sees it's a problem, and preferred to push Shaedon into an unnatural role rather than let scoot continue to struggle. Advanced stats expose what the eye test sees: Sharpe’s ball was safer in creation/transition spots despite the role mismatch. To me, Scoot’s turnovers in his core duties are harder to excuse. The “Sharpe can’t handle” meme is casual box-score watcher narrative. The granular data says otherwise; especially when you compare him directly to Scoot. Sharpe was ELITE in transition, isolation creation, and opportunistic finishes while being more ball-secure overall. Both are young with upside, but Sharpe’s efficiency in these areas has been underrated, his talents are understated, and his weaknesses overstated. At 23, and 6'6 with a 7'0 wingspan, elite athleticism, and elite isolation and transition scoring abilities, it would be foolish to part ways with him for still needing to polish up his game- while giving Scoot a pass for being worse with a lower ceiling and no elite traits to speak of. Any trade of Shaedon right now would be selling LOW.

From a blazers fans perspective this is exactly why we should not do the trade. We lose upside and will have horrible flexibility by adding Jaylen Brown to this roster. We struggled with shooting and turnovers last season. JB makes both those problems worse for us and he costs too much in talent, and cap space and that makes his acquisition far too risky for a team that is not 1 guy away from competing. It sells low on our young players and gets the absolute least return possible. Our young players should easily be worth multiple first round picks themselves sooner than later. Giving up an expiring starter caliber (or 6th man) caliber guy in JG, FOUR firsts and two young guys who should also be worth multiple firsts (if we are just moderately patient) Is Jaylen brown worth 8 1st round picks and $69 million per year and destroying all future flexibility? It's a no for me. Hell no even.

When Celtics fans feel this way, it makes me want him even less. And certainly not at the expense of all our best prospects and picks. I don't think he's a good fit even if he didn't cost a lot. I also don't think he's going to be nearly as good on his next team.

I've been adamant that this is all smoke and no fire so it will probably happen 🤣

Shaedon Sharpe is gonna continue to be a Trail Blazer for a long time and I'm excited to watch him reach his prime despite the haters

The Trail Blazers don't need a big move, despite the rabid clamoring of the most vocal but impatient segment of the Blazers fandom. On a team that had half its games end with a difference of 2 possessions or less, adding a real coach is good for ~4 wins, and adding one of the clutch-est players of all time in Damian Lillard is good for ~5 wins. Those two changes now give this team clarity at the end of games. In the unlikely scenario that none of their young core takes a leap; this is a ~51 win team next season. But I think we could see a leap from at least 2 young guys. So could be a 56 win team. So that's what I expect 51-56 wins. As high as 3rd, as low as 5th. Most likely: 53-54 wins and the 4th seed in the west.