I like our young core, but it’s also more of the same old. Portland has almost always has develop our own talent because it’s hard for us to attract stars. Like if you look at the list of players who have been all-stars who have played for the blazers in the last 30 years, by far most were drafted by the blazers/traded for very early in their career. The two most notable exceptions are probably Rasheed Wallace and Carmelo Anthony (who’s peak playing years were after or before they played ok Portland).

The result is we often put together really solid, promising teams that just lack that X-factor to take us past the first round in a play-off series.

I like Camara/Thybulle/Ayton/Walker, but I think most of those players’ ceiling is “good 6th man or 4th option starter” type players.

Sharpe and Scoot might have the most explosive potential of our young players, but it’s hard to say if they will ever turn into the kind of player you need to go deep into the playoffs. And realistically, they BOTH need to be all-star caliber players.

So, basically, I’m optimistic about us looking better in the future, but I’m also trying to be realistic about our ceiling.