Last 41 W-W-L-W-L-W-W-W-L-W-W-W-W-L-L-W-W-L-L-L-W-L-L-L-W-W-L-L-W- W-W-L-W-L-W-L-W-W-L-W-W

So yeah.

I took the last 12 games off. I am a student and I took the time off from blogging just like I did from school. But, I did not take time away from the Blazers. While the rest of my family was off puzzling and strengthening their familial bonds, my brother in law and myself were enamored over Dame’s game winner in Oakland or swooning over Nurks 5×5. These last 12 games have given me (and I think Blazer fans in general) more hope in this elusive team. After every single game, win or lose, someone in the twittersphere mentions that this is the best record since the 2014-2015 season at the halfway mark. Then that link kicks you behind your knee and reminds you that we’re at the halfway point of this season. No fucking way. As I go through the highlights of this season so far I see a lot of highs and lows, buying and selling, hot takes, and I try to weigh all of them to determine where this team is at the halfway point of the season. So I am going to see what are the 5 things that are new this season and what arcs have already taken place.

This team needs either Nurk to become an All-star or to trade for a legitimate start in order for this team to become a title contender. The trick is to not give up the bank or completely wreck the foundation that this team has. Some players (AD) would be worth that. But don’t let recency bias let you believe that any player with a year left on their contract is going to stay. Do any of these players really push the Blazers over the contender hump?

Kevin Love

Otto Porter Jr.

Jimmy Butler

Brad Beal

Tobias Harris

Anthony Davis

Chandler Parsons

The Nik Stauskas Project is going to be cancelled. A white hot start and a ugly series of dunks being blocked and irregular play has placed Sauce Castillo in deep end of the bench. Remember when he was better than Lebron?! Rest in peace Big Nik Energy.

Nurk is playing consistently in Bosnian beast mode. His play has created so much space for Dame and CJ, and forced teams to adjust to his clever play in the paint. The offense and now run smoothly through Dame, CJ, ET(?), and now Nurk. Dame probing early to see how teams will play them allows for Terry to see which player will be the most effective focal point to run the offense through. Lately running it through Nurk has been a very successful endeavor. Doug Patrick just wrote about it.

Seth Curry is slowly improving into a Blazer favorite. He didn’t have a shaky start, but he didn’t really blow Ripcity away either. But, his steady defense and consistency (at least compared to the rest of the bench) has allowed him to settle into a trusted role. Plus, we’ll take every opportunity to shit on his brother and having him on the team provides more chances to do that. Just by having him on the team strengthens the dichotomy between the Blazers and Warriors.

Dame is a untradeable full blown superstar. Bill Simmons’ weed guy deserves a huge fucking raise, because having Damian Lillard at 14 is requires the same stoned imagination that created Mr. Pickles. He has had 3 all-NBA seasons and has constantly been dismissed by the national media. You would think that a 1st team all-NBA season would rally the troops. Sadly he still trails behind the Derrick Rose and slumping Klay Thompson’s of the world in terms of respect and attention.

I wanted to look at where each player was at the halfway point. After 41 games I hope that each player has shown their true colors. That is still TBD and we all know that players in the regular season can be vastly different than in the playoffs. So I tried to boil down each player into one sentence. Each player has more going on, but looking at what the first half of this season has changed or shown from each player.

Dame has cemented himself as a perennial all-star.

Nurk is a legitimate pillar in the franchise.

No one has any idea of CJ’s value – Good or bad.

Zach Collins is 21 years old and has the consistency of a 21 year old.

Aminu is super undervalued as a Portland Trail Blazer.

Mo Harkless is both overrated and underrated.

Nik is more Tabasco than Secret Aardvark.

The bench lives or dies at the hands of Seth Curry.

Evan Turner requires a very specific role to be useful and is still not worth 70 million.

Meyers is the slowest improving player in existence.

Biggie is 10 20 years too late to the NBA.

Terry refuses to trust Jake Layman, with modest reason.

Dame and CJ are too good to allow Wade to have any minutes.

Rookies-TBD

Terry is not the problem and is clearly an above average coach.

Neil should be in hot water, but with ownership change, we have no idea.

The first half of this season has posed a lot of questions. Not just the basic questions that every team wrestles with. The fickle nature of having a superstar like Dame requires a certain level of urgency that is placed on an organization. The overall restlessness of the fan base is growing with every game. With the Warriors showing signs of mortality, and Dame nearing the peak of his game, this organization is going to have to pick a direction. As it stands this team is not a championship contender. They’re close though. Closer than most people want to believe. So what are the questions I want answered by the end of this season? Great question me. I’ll answer your question with a list of questions!

Will Neil make a Nurk-like trade this season?

Who is more likely to take a All-star leap; Cj or Nurk?

Which is more likely – Mo becoming consistent or the bench unit?

Is having the offense run through Nurk going to supplement what this team was missing in the playoffs last year?

Do we really miss Ed and Bazz?

Will the Blazers win 50 games?

We have 41 games, an all-star break, and playoffs to find out.