I understand, but that spacing isn’t stopping Jerami, Brogdon, Sharpe and Simons before his injury from getting to the line. There are plenty of lesser players on crappy-shooting teams who are significantly outperforming Ayton in areas where he should be dominAyton. At a certain point, it’s more about him than it is about the team he’s on.

Ayton’s midrange shooting is nice, but I’m worried about how weak he’s looked around the rim, at the line and handling the ball.

He’s 25th in the NBA in percentage of shots from 16 feet to the three line and 26th most accurate from that range 64.7% of makes. Pretty good for a guy his size.

But Ayton falls off a cliff between 0 and 3 feet from the basket, where he’s at 132nd in attempts, behind a bunch of dudes he has no business being behind. I did a keyword search for “Ayton” and ran into Gary Payton II first. That plays right in to his free throw attempts, at 186th right now with one attempted per game.

I know he doesn’t have a good point guard, but there are a lot of players without good point guards who he should be outperforming, especially with a max contract. He deserves kudos for the midrange shooting and criticism for his deficiencies inside.

Don’t forget Skylar Mays, who’s younger than Williams and Thybulle.

As for that core, there’s some promise, but let’s not get crazy. Every one of those guys outside of Sharpe and Ayton could realistically become backups. Sounds crazy to say that about Scoot, but I’ve seen what happened with Fultz.

Portland should take that 26-point lead as a win, and Milwaukee should be embarrassed. And let’s hope Simons is back to being himself for the next installment.

Matisse is a starting-level wing on most contenders if shooting from three like he does right now. Milwaukee, Philly, either Los Angeles and Phoenix would all have a starting slot open for him.

My thought too, but the ESPN clock is probably based off the east Coast, where it was already Saturday by the time he posted.

Toumani’s defense is great, but he’ll need to develop an outside shot. Matisse needed to, and he’s shot around 39% from three in Portland. Those two dudes hitting outside shots would be a menace on the wing.

To be fair, it’s pretty bad timing for a merch drop. Ayton is putting in his worst season so far on a crappy, small market team.

Wait until you have some positive momentum and a starting-level point guard to play with. Get those free throw attempts above 0.6 per game for christ’s sakes. Do something to disprove your reputation of softness or don’t be surprised people make fun of your hoodies.

Hopefully they let Scoot come off the bench and earn a starting role over Brogdon and Simons.

This year, Turkey Santa, I’m thankful for Blazer fans extrapolating some hustle into a championship-caliber front court.

Tissue’s pretty soft.

Tissue’s pretty soft.

Simons would be great next to Jalen Suggs or Markelle Fultz and could be Orlando’s first to third option on any given night. He just needs to be next to a larger, defensive guard who will make up for his defensive deficiencies. And that’s not to say that Simons hasn’t put in way more effort on defense this season. He’s committed on that end.

The Bucks also have the lowest defensive rating of the Giannis era since adding Dame. Giannis has to go for 40 more often to make up for Dame getting flamed.

Sarr fits the best. Portland doesn’t know if Ayton will work out long-term, especially when it comes time for a contract negotiation, and he still thinks he’s a max player. Williams will hopefully be flipped into assets. The Blazers will need front court depth about as badly as they did with Nurkic.

I’m hopeful that Simons’ return will help stabilize the roster a bit, as will Brogdon’s. Mays has done a bang-up job, but he’s routinely outmatched, especially without the outside shot.

I’m also hopeful the Blazers will bring Scoot off the bench, allowing him to build confidence against second units until he’s ready to start. It’ll also allow the Blazers a better chance of winning, which is good for his development to see and be a part of.

I like Toumani but keep wondering why he gets more run than Thybulle, who’s by far our best defender and shooting better than 38% from three since coming to Portland. Don’t they want to showcase him at least for a potential trade, if not because he’s the best option at small forward?

Well isn’t that nice. Maybe the city will do a better job patrolling the area once they have a better financial incentive.

Oh; there’s some skullduggery there.

That sucks, especially as there’s usually a line of police cruisers down the northeast east side of the stadium just a block or two away. You’d think they’d have fewer officers in Moda Center, and more patrolling the nearby streets, parking lots and garages. I’ve yet to have a problem parking at the transit center near the convention center and paying $5 for a day pass on Max.