My eyes tell me that the team has bought in. We have one of the youngest rosters in the league and play hard every night. Defensively we are communicating and despite the injuries remain competitive. If you were realistic about how the season would play out we are overachieving to this point. PaTiEnCe rip city ✌🏾
Playing hard and winning/losing games doesn’t paint the whole picture. Nor does “communicating on defense “more””. It’s kind of like using the analogy that we should keep said player like CJ Elleby on the roster because he tries really hard… We get it, but the kid was never meant to be on the roster to begin with.
And I know that it’s early, but I don’t really get how the team’s overachieving. Thus far, Portland has beaten 3 bad teams - Detroit, Toronto, and Memphis. Games that the team should be winning due to the sheer young talent that the roster brings.
As for actual team stats so far:
Last in PPG, 2nd to last in FG%, 2nd to last in 3P%, middle in RPG, dead last in APG, 5th worst in TOPG, and middle of the road in DRTG / Opponent’s PPG
These are pretty bad stats 8 games in.
Buying in is one thing, but having a mediocre/bad coach is another. Of course the team’s going to buy-in - there’s nothing really to lose other than to build. Billups still exhibits his bad habits pretty regularly, which people have highlighted, along with myself, on here many times.
The question then becomes as to whether or not that he breaks these bad habits and actually improves on his coaching. And I’m not confident about that. Most would agree that he was a bad hire and still is a bad fit for the organization.