If you're any kind of NBA fan - especially during the last couple of years - then you've undoubtedly heard about it by now.
The Portland Trail Blazers are the team of the future.
You've seen them go all out on draft day with trade after trade. You've heard about their new cutting-edge general manager, Kevin Pritchard.
You know about Brandon Roy, Portland's first All-Star since Rasheed Wallace and the 2007 Rookie of the Year. You know about their fate of winning the 2007 draft lottery and landing much-hyped center Greg Oden with the first pick.
And you know about their head coach, Nate McMillan, who has excelled in bringing together a young core that was once locked in the basement of the entire NBA.
Now, the nickname of the "Rose City" fits Portland to a tee. The outlook for the next several seasons - not just next year - is beyond rosy. Ask most Blazer fans today about the team's championship aspirations for the next decade, and the question with them won't be about "if." It will be about "how many?"
And all you can do is sigh - and wonder what in the heck has led to such ridiculously optimistic premonition.
This "Era of Good Feelings" was supposed to have started in Portland by now. The Blazers were supposed to have been what the Hornets were in '08. It was Portland, and not New Orleans, that was supposed to have won over 50 games, their division crown, and take San Antonio to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals. And it was the Blazers who were supposed to have acquired that "one last missing piece" (like James Posey) this offseason to help make them a legitimate NBA heavyweight for next season.
That was before Greg Oden missed his entire rookie season after undergoing a microfracture knee surgery.
That was before a promising season that was headed for a playoff berth and included a 13-game winning streak ended with a 41-41 finish and nine games out of the eighth seed.
And that was before Oden himself waffled back and forth when asked about the status of his knee - 85 percent, 95 percent, 75 percent, 100 percent? - before questioning when it would be before he'd be 100 percent healthy.
When looking at the Blazers, you can't ignore this simple fact: Nobody has seen this team play together even once yet. Nobody has seen Oden play a single game in an NBA uniform. Who knows how long it will be before anyone sees him play a game at 100 percent health in an NBA uniform? And when it comes to Oden, Blazer fans will point at the 2007 NCAA national championship game when Oden abused Florida's interior for 25 points and 12 boards.
One game does not a career make, and if anyone wants to point to Oden's college prowess as a reason for his NBA success, mention the fact that he missed a good portion of his freshman year after surgically repairing a ligament in his right wrist. To some, being such a force despite such injury concerns may be a good sign and reason to wonder "what if," but coming off a microfracture surgery is far different than repairing a ligament in the right wrist.
56 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Mike Turnell 11 months ago
Roy was the Western Conference Player of the Game; I think his inclusion was justified. Also, I don't mind if this is Roy's ceiling (although I don't think it is), he's averaging about 20 ppg, 6 apg, and 5 rpg is all this organization can ask for. As for Aldridge, the kid's young. 18 ppg and 7.6 rpg isn't that bad when you're only 20 years old. Finally, you only analyzed two players. Their entire roster is what makes this team special. Guys like Outlaw and Webster (who have been reported to have vastly improved) are solid role players. Bayless, Fernandez and Oden combine to create one of the best incoming rookie line-ups. Pryzbilla and Blake are good players and veterans who bring rebounding and some depth to the young PG position.
I would say this team has more to offer than you analyzed in your article. While some of your points are valid, they only view one facet of this versatile team.
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Tyler McCann 11 months ago
Wow you sound like a hater. Whats up with that???? Portland took the league by storm last year when everyone wrote them off after Oden got injured. Yeah we have alot of unproven players on this team. But would you take this team or a team like the Spurs, Nuggets, Suns, Or Even the Celtics for that matter for the next 3 years? I am one of the biggest Blazer fans out there and have endured all the crap that has happened to happen and never once went and rooted for another team. I have high expections for this team. But I am also grounded that he have alot of work to do to get to the top of the NBA. I I look @ this in a matter of 2-3 years that we will have won or be winning the championship and be the team to beay, like back in the 8o's-90's. But one thing that I know for sure is that RIP CITY IS BACK BABY!!!!!
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bob smith 11 months ago
ROFL.
We drafted the 3 best players from the 06-07 draft, combined. I wouldn't give up Roy, LMA, or Oden for Durant straight up. We have the best young talent ever assembled, a billionaire owner, a top 5 GM in the league (that's being polite, ask Larry Bird, Kevin Mchale, John Paxson, etc), and over 20+ million dollars in cap space after the season.
This guy must be a Warriors fan.
Oh, by the way. Lamarcus has a chance to be better than Roy AND Oden. Don't take my word for it, how about reading a quote or two from Portland's Front Office. And I think they know what they're doing.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
I'm not a Blazer hater...I just don't see why Blazer fans are so obsessed with the fact that they're destined for parade after parade on the streets of downtown Portland. Save Amare Stoudemire, microfracture surgery has ruined careers. Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill are nothing more than shooting stars after what happened to them and their knees. It has dashed so many careers...Stoudemire's success story is just one. Oden had microfracture before his career even began! Who knows how he comes back from that? Just envisioning a team that magically gels together before your eyes doesn't mean that's it's destined to win or even compete for championships.
The last two teams to just throw together a ton of lottery picks - Chicago and Boston - failed miserably. In fact, Boston had to trade nearly its entire young core of players to bring in the Big 3, and THEN did they win a title. Chicago? We saw what happened to them this year after capping out at 49 wins in 07.
And saying that this team will win a title in 2-3 years...how can you predict even then what will happen by 2010 or 2011? You know that LeBron James will be in the prime of his career by then, right? You know that teams like New Orleans and Orlando are building legit powerhouses right now. Memphis has a young core and just added O.J. Mayo. And OKC...don't forget that they have a great young nucleus.
Let's talk about making the playoffs first before we start honking about championships...whether they be this year or 2015.
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
He's not a Blazer hater, he's a Blazer Fan hater... NO OPTIMISM AROUND HERE UNTIL AMAR SAYS ITS OK!
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
By the way, I find it funny the two teams you're trying to hold up as sobering examples of young teams gone wrong are Chicago and Boston - the two teams the Blazers can thank for Aldridge and Roy. Are you really comparing Kevin Pritchard to Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge?
Feel free to point to the fact the Blazers haven't won anything yet - its the only card you've got to play.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
And to the guy who claims that the Blazers have "the best young talent ever assembled"...ROLMAO!!! This article is targeted SPECIFICALLY for homers like you! We've never even seen Oden play! And all the Rudy Fernandez hype...has anyone actually seen HIM play outside of just youtube videos?!?!?! Do you automatically assume that he's just going to come in and start playing with NBA players like he's Manu Ginobili???
No, I'm not a Warriors fan, for sure (far off, actually), but it was a shame that Davis was shafted in favor of Roy. Davis had better stats everywhere and played for a better team. To call Brandon Roy an All-Star is a sham. Let's see if your boys can make the playoffs first and make me eat it before YOU, of all people, start questioning my credibility.
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
Amar wrote:
"And to the guy who claims that the Blazers have "the best young talent ever assembled"...ROLMAO!!! "
Not that you seem to care, but here's a couple more facts for you. In the entire 60 year history of the NBA there have been exactly two teams younger than the 2007-08 Portland Trailblazers. Those teams won exactly 15 and 16 games for a total of 31 wins between them. Last year those VERY young Portland Trailblazers won 41 games - and did it without their No. 1 overall draft pick and future franchise center. Think about that for a second. The third youngest team in league history won 41 games with Joel Przybilla starting at center.
Before you hurt yourself ROLMAOing all over the place, you may just want to consider that what the Blazers did last season was totally without precident in the history of the NBA. No other team that young had even won 20 games, let alone 41. Gee, maybe there is something to this whole "the best young talent ever assembled" theory. Take that extremely young 41 win team and add Greg Oden AND Rudy Fernandez AND Jarryd Bayless and all of a sudden such claims of "the best young talent ever assembled" don't seem so ridiculously funny, do they?
And, Portland fans aren't the only ones making such claims. They are also coming from national columnists (Bill Simmons) and NBA experts (John Hollinger). I suppose they're "myopic homers", too.
BNM
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Mike Turnell 11 months ago
You had credibility until you said "ROFLMAO."
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
When did Grant Hill have microfracture surgery???? NEVER. If you're going to make irrelevant arguments, please at least get your facts straight. For the record, Hill has had a series of ankle injuries and surgeries. He hasn't had knee problems or microfracture surgery.
And siting guys like Penny Hardaway and Allen Houston who had microfracture surgery nearly a decade ago, and at an older age than Oden, is alo irrelevant. Back then, microfracture surgery was in it's infancy. It was used as a last resort to try to extend the career of a plyer who had SEVERE cartlidge loss from playing years on a damaged knee.
The prognosis these days is much better. The surgery is now performed much sooner as a preventative measure - not as a last resort. Prior to the surgery, Oden's doctor said he could have played on the knee for three or four years, but at that point the damage would be worse and his pronosis for a full recovery less. Given Oden's young age, the very small affected area and the location (non-weight baring area), his prognosis for a full recovery is excellent.
And, while you may consider me a "myopic homer", I'd prefer to take the prognosis of a trained medical professional over a clueless hater who can't get his facts straight any day of the week.
BNM
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
Written like a true Cavs fan stuck living in Portland (a one pro-team town - yet you're surprised all people think about is Blazers?). You could blame a lot of Blazer fans for being prematurely optimistic, but I don't really know what is sadder - fans finally being this happy again with a franchise that had absolutely let them down in every way for half a decade, or someone spending this much time writing an article just trying to pee in their Cheerios.
Three Things:
1) Roy as All-Star - You make the stat argument for Baron, and then cite end-of-year records (they play the game in February). You conveniently forget to mention that the teams had pretty similar through 49 games (roughly early February) - Warriors were 29-20, Blazers were 28-21. Were the coaches supposed to vote for Baron over Roy because they shoulda known the Blazers would fade? Should they have ignored the 13-game winning streak Roy led them on? Do you think Roy failed to live up to his selection with 29 minutes (led the West), 18 points on 8-10 shooting (tied with Stoudemire and Anthony), 9 boards, 5 assists and 0 turnovers? Seems he fit in pretty well with that crowd.
2) You pan Aldridge for his shooting percentage, but I bet you didn't look up the stats for the league last year... He ranked tied for 39th in the league in FG% (tied with Rip Hamilton, a widely lauded shooter). You might have expected him to place higher simply because he's 6'11", but that's pretty flawed reasoning. He was 30th in the league in shots at 1,160, and only nine players took more than 1,100 shots and had a better FG% than Aldridge.
3) Seems you're trying to make the point that all this optimism is baseless, but you fail to balance it with any mention of what is fueling it - check out the Oregonian's story and blog posts about Roy this week (I'm more excited about the leader he is than just the player he is), the addition of a bright young talent like Bayless (summer league notwithstanding, he looks kind of promising, right?), and the fact that they're pretty much adding the best non-NBA player from last year - Rudy Fernandez. You highlighted some fine examples of downside, but the big picture is pretty rosy.
I guess I like that you're looking out for all of us fragile-hearted Portland fans, trying to keep us away from such unhealthy optimism after all that heartbreak we've endured. But, I've said it at MVN - where's the risk in believing?
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
For the record, LaMarcus Aldridge was 26th in the league at 1.24 blocks per game - right behind Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett (25th in the league at 1.25 BPG). Not bad for a 2nd year softie.
BNM
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
And 29th in rebounds at 7.6.
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Doran Lower 11 months ago
"Baron Davis had Brandon Roy cleaned up..."? "Inexplicable"? (Coaches decisions)
Baron Davis
Los Angeles Clippers
Position: G
Height: 6-3 Weight: 215
College: UCLA
Player file | Team stats
2007-08 Statistics
PPG 21.8
RPG 4.7
APG 7.6
SPG 2.3
BPG 0.5
FG% 0.426
FT% 0.750
3P% 0.330
MPG 39.0
Brandon Roy
Portland Trail Blazers
Position: G-F
Height: 6-6 Weight: 229
College: Washington
Player file | Team stats
2007-08 Statistics
PPG 19.1
RPG 4.7
APG 5.8
SPG 1.1
BPG 0.2
FG% 0.454
FT% 0.753
3P% 0.340
MPG 37.7
After Looking at the Stats above, your reasoning at the "final horn" doesn't seem to hold a lot of water. As a matter of fact it appears Davis tosses up a lot more shots (many more ill-advised than Roy, in my opinion) to get the higher PPG.
I don't have full individual player stats at the All Star break, but the "29-20 vs 28-21 teams record at the break argument" seems sound, I'm curious what you Amar would say to that. I can, however; provide you with head to head scoring averages through the end of January (and they are Roy 19.3 PPG and Davis 22.3 PPG) Those are pretty comparable to the full season scoring stats and I and guessing the other stats at the break aren't that far off from the final stats either.
It seems that though we probably are quite myopic (hey we live in Portland) that you are a little guilty of myopia in your approach of the issue (focus on the small market optimism), would you be writing this article if Ainge hadn't gifted the Blazers with Brandon for Telfair, and Boston had the ping pong balls bounce their way and Oden was in Boston right now and they were one of the younger up and coming teams in the NBA?
It is true that Portland and some of it's players are unproven, but if we had a wait and see attitude instead of an optimistic one, wouldn't we then be guilty of being bandwagon fans?
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
Nicely done - I figured someone would double check his blind assertion that Baron had Roy "cleaned up" statistically. We see stats that look fairly comparable in the big picture. But Amar, with his non-homer, unbiased point of view, would probably never value 2.7 points, 1.9 assists, 1.2 steals, .3 blocks and 1.3 minutes per game more than when its actual truth behind what he thought was a sound argument.
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Don Wayne 11 months ago
Everyone...Amar is from Ohio. He's an Ohio State fan. Lives in Portland but his heart is in Ohio. Nothing wrong with Ohio State, mind you...heck we got Greg Oden from Ohio State. But you have to understand the mentality of Ohio State fans. The grass is greener there. The teams are more pure. I'm not knocking them at all, really. My brother's a Buckeye - got his Masters from there and still lives there. I understand their mentality.
This is the thing Amar. I agree with you in one respect. Portland has not done ANYTHING yet. It's a little early to crown them with the NBA 2010 championship. But nearly everything that has happened over the past two and one half years in the Blazer organization has met or exceeded expectations. That's true with the expectations of the fans, the media and the team itself.
Let's look at the top 8 guys for Portland, shall we?
Brandon Roy - ROY, all star (whether you agree with that or not), and all around great team leader. First round lottery pick in 2006. Played up to and past most projections so far. Was doubled for most of the year last season.
LaMarcus Aldridge - #2 pick in the same draft with Roy. Has a slightly lower shooting % than some other bigs, because he is more of a finesse guy and likes to shoot it from the perimeter a bit more. However, if not needed down low, nobody with a decent BB IQ would argue much about his ability to contribute at a very high level. Has a chance to be a vey special player. If Portland only had a powerful low presence, LaMarcus could dominate and draw out the opposing bigs.
Greg Oden - Oh, that's right! Portland does have a dominating inside presence. The number one pick overall last season will be in the middle. LaMarcus will be fine. In fact, this is so much a given, he's the only guy outside of LeBron James I can think of who has come into the league in the past 10 years that most people can say with complete confidence - he will dominate. In Oden's case, there is a contingency. That is that he must stay healthy...and that's not a guarantee, but it looks like he will be fine. Let me just say that the reason that anyone who knows anything about BB takes has complete confidence in Oden's ability to dominate, is simply because he has the physical tools that are totally out of par with anyone else in the NBA. If he is 60% of the player that he should be, he will be very, very good. That's not a projection. That's reality, right now.
Rudy Fernandez - Unlike Oden, this is a projection. Your YouTube comment was right on in my case. I haven't seen the guy play in person. He's never gone up agaisnt any real NBA competition. But I think we can take a certain level of confidence in the fact that Pritchard is extremely high on the guy. This is the same Pritchard who has shown time and again that he is one of the best judges of BB talent anywhere. Personally, I think Fernandez will take a few months to adjust. We'll see.
Travis Outlaw - Developed a reputation last year as "Mr Clutch", hitting several big shots. An incredible athelete, this is a guy that most people feel has not hit his stride yet. Reports from the Blazer insiders are that he has taken his game very seriously this past off-season. Unlike last year, he is in game shape now, and looks to be on the next level. If true, this could be the nail in the coffin for the rest of the NBA.
Martel Webster - Has supposedly picked up his shooting this off-season. Great player with plenty of room to be great. Will battle Travis for the starting SF role. Scored 24 points in one quarter last year. If only he had the consistency to add to his talent, he'd be in the all star game every year. Whether or not that develops, he will burn plenty of NBA teams. He is very good...right now.
Jerryd Bayless - The guy seems to have potential to be another perennial all star. I'm with you on this one though - I'll believe it when I see it. I think he has some liabilities, but they are correctable. The jury's still out though. Won Summer League MVP, but for me, that doesn't say too much. What does impress me though is that he has incredible speed, quickness and athletisicm.
Channing Frye/ Joel Pryzbilla - Okay, I couldn't pick which one to stick in this spot. Joel is a good NBA defending center, and could start for many NBA teams. Doesn't have a great offensive game, but won't need one in his new role. Channing is one of those guys who has all of the potential in the world but needs work. He seems to be nearly a clone of LaMarcus, but his game isn't as advanced yet. Like Outlaw, the word is that he is improved over the off season.
So, this is the deal. Even though some of it is only projection, Portland had a good team last season (only fading at the end because of injuries), and will be much better this year, even without all of the additions. Their inexperience isn't nearly as much of a factor. I think they will shock some people this year. But, in the end, it's still a projection and a fantasy until we get to play.
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Vishal Panchmatia 11 months ago
This column is a farce in every way. Do i agree that blazer fans need to temper their expectations? Yes. However, all the points brought about by the author are specifically driven to place the blazers squarely in the crosshairs of mediocrity. Let's go through this one-by-one...
1) The single most damning point brought out by the author is Greg Oden's injury. I am glad some of the other readers brought about two very important points about the microfracture injury, that he had it when he was very young as a precaution, and that microfracture surgery has come a long ways since the days of Anfernee Hardaway and Allan Houston. Once upon a time, Tommy John surgery was considered a roll of the dice on a pitcher's career prognosis. Nowadays, pitchers are having Tommy John surgery as a precautionary measure at the slightest hint of pain; in fact, many pitchers have increased the velocity of their fastballs as a result of this procedure. The point is not that Amare Stoudemire is the only one to have come back from the procedure; the point is that he came back because he was young, had it recently, and did not have significant damage beforehand. In fact, you could say that Oden's chances of recovery are even higher than Stoudemire's since Phoenix did stupidly try to have Amare come back too early in the middle of the 2005-2006 season and ran a high risk of causing significant, irrepairable damage as a result. Streetball cameos aside, Oden's been strictly kept off the court during his rehab, because, as Blazers insiders have repeatedly stressed, the team is on a timetable that aims for serious contention 3 years from now, not next season.
2) Oden's injury segues to another fallacy assumed by the author - his supposed contribution to the Blazers cannot be taken just by information on a stat sheet. Unfortunately, it seems as if the author has kept his head buried in stat sheets and has not watched enough basketball games. A player's contribution cannot be simply measured by the numbers he puts up on the court - that's why Kevin Garnett was taken much more seriously as an MVP candidate last year than LeBron James. Oden is a much more polished post player than LaMarcus Aldridge is or ever will be. His mere presence in the post is not meant to mask the weaknesses of Aldridge as much as it is meant to free up space for Aldridge to have a more significant impact on a game. As the only viable big man on the Blazers last year, Aldridge was drawing attention on the offensive end like bees take to honey. Completely forgetting about Joel Pryzbilla on the offensive end is a very viable strategy that rarely backfires; the same cannot be said about forgetting about Greg Oden, as he can torch you on offensive put-backs alone with his tremendous size and athleticism, as Joakim Noah and Co. found out the hard way in that infamous championship game.
3) Nothing annoys me more than the pundits who thump their chests and join en masse in crying out loud about Brandon Roy's ceiling being low. Frankly, the Blazers don't need Brandon Roy to be the next LeBron James, as this Cavalier fan will have you believe (and speaking candidly, seeing the way James completely obliterates teams by himself on the court can jade anyone's eyes). And bringing up Roy's fall in the NBA Draft as a plausible reason to believe he's reached his ceiling is like saying doubt amongst NBA teams about Michael Jordan's ability and subsequent "slide" to #3 limits him to being no better than Hakeem Olajuwon in any permutation possible. Teams make mistakes, and others capitalize. The Blazers were so thrilled with Roy's fall that Pritchard celebrated by making the Wolves draft him just so he could pack another trade into his resume. Point being, Brandon Roy has shown nothing but progress during his few seasons in the NBA, and has shown no reason for the serious doubt on his ceiling that writers love to point out. He's still young and is about to enter his prime, which tapers perfectly with the timeline the Blazers have set for contention. Does that mean his feet/knees/back/ankles are not going to be broken/torn/sprained/strained? Emphatically, no. But until that happens, don't come crying to me and hold that possibility against him. If you're going to mar Greg Oden's future based on his past, at least be fair and do the same for Brandon Roy, because his past has only shown uncurbed progress.
4) The most important bargaining chip, and the most important tocsin of the Blazers' ability to contend in the future, has been completely overlooked by this author: their vast amounts of bargaining chips. Much like a baseball team accumulates prospects to eventually trade for that final piece of the puzzle (see: CC Sabathia trade), the Blazers have accumulated resources that can make any other NBA team blue with envy. Joel Freeland, Nicholas Batum, Petteri Kopponen, and (until recently) Rudy Fernandez all honed their skills in Europe; Sergio Rodriguez honed his skills in Europe as well until joining the Blazers for the last few years. What does all of this mean for the Blazers? In the age of the salary cap, the Blazers have found a way to use their wealth to their advantage. By buying draft picks and stockpiling players to stash in Europe, the Blazers have added bargaining chips for any future drafts, and essentially set up their own minor league system that skirts the lack of space on NBA rosters. So when the Blazers need to pick up that flashy point guard or that valuable 6th man, the Blazers can trump other teams' offers by throwing in a European player on top of their offer. This cannot be underestimated. No matter how rich the Yankees were, they could not pry a Sabathia or a Rich Harden away in a trade because of the lack of prospects; just the same way a team will not easily pry a Carmelo Anthony away in a trade unless significant building blocks for a rebuilding project can be offered in return. The biggest failure of the Chicago Bulls was their inability to pull the trigger on a trade that would concede many of these "building blocks" for that final piece of the puzzle; with the way Kevin Pritchard is willing to trade his salad fork for your soup spoon over dinner, I highly doubt that will be a problem the Blazers will have in the future.
I am sure I have forgotten many points in need of disparaging, but my comment is reaching lengths only Bill Simmons' Mailbag columns can rival. I think I can conclusively say that this writer is dipping into Dan Shaughnessy's inflammatory bag of tricks in trying to needlessly incite a fan base by skewing as much data and blowing as much smoke into our eyes as possible. Writing such as this has no place in the Bleacher Report, and the author would be wise to do a little more research before his next piece.
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Don Wayne 11 months ago
And Amar...if you don't understand all the hype, you shouldn't be living as a sports fan in Oregon. This state is hungry for a team they can be proud of...especially after the Jail Blazer years. We think we have it now.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
Vishal-
You signed up on here just to post that? I'm truly honored...hahahaha.
Rob-
No hard feelings, dawg. It had to be done.
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
No worries Amar - but I think all you were after was a bunch of responses to your post (which you certainly got).
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Tyler McCann 11 months ago
Amar, you say that Lebron James will be in his prime in the next 2-3 years??? So where is he now??? He will never win a championship with the Cavs, Knicks, Nets, the only way that he will ever win a championship is if he teamed up with Kobe in LA. Point blank period. He is a great player and awsome team mate I will give you that. But as he has shown with all the players he has played with that he cannot win it all. I take offense that you cannot even fathom that the Blazers will in the next 2-3-4 years will be competing for the NBA title. I understand your what you are sayin about the mircofracture situation, but Zach Randolph(damn I hate even saying that basterds name) came back just the same.......A slow, ball hoggin, rebound stealing, jackass as ever. So to only say that Amare is the onlyto fully come back from it B.friggin.S. Bro.....Lets take it back to the oden days(pun intended) if you can rember John Stockton same back from it just fine. Oden has done everything and then some that Amare has done......to me it just sounds like amar is a super star fan and thats it. I cannot wait to see what will truly happen this season, and to see the brand new players in action and to see how they all gel.
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ripcityphil 11 months ago
Naming two writers who might not agree with what the majority of people in the know think about the Blazers future doesn't mean much to me as a fan. I will take the majority vote on this one.
I will take Lamarcus Aldridge shooting 48% from the field any day, his first full season he averaged over 17 points and 7 boards you think he didn't do well?????
You get a Boob Award for making that statement.
The bottom line- there are a lot of things to be excited about in Rip City - especially the future of the young team.
I expect them to make the playoff's next year and not get swept in round one .....................which is not being myopic.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
ripcityphil-
Having them make the playoffs this season isn't Blazer Myopia. Expecting them to win championship after championship IS Blazer Myopia. I'm not saying that this team sucks...I'm saying that this team has a lot of flaws in it that will prevent it from being an ironclad dynasty that many are not only predicting, but expecting.
That's my point. When I hear people in Portland already making plans for parades, it leaves me scratching my head.
Tyler-
If you take offense to me ripping the Blazers, I take offense to you ripping on my boy, so I guess we're even. How is LeBron incapable of winning a championship? Were you asleep when he scored the last 25 points for the Cavaliers and 29 of the last 30 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals in '07 vs. Detroit, including ALL 18 POINTS IN BOTH OVERTIME PERIODS???? Are you insane? He took a bunch of castoffs and misfits to the Finals. Not only that, but his supporting cast of rejects took Boston to Game 7 of the East semis, where they were down by 1 with two minutes to go and made the Celtics rely on a P.J. Brown jumper in the clutch to pull away late. Are you kidding me, dude??!?!?! You're saying he doesn't have what it takes to win a title???
And he's only 23 now. The prime of his career will be when he's 25-29. Look at Kobe's career, and you'll see that once he turned 25, all bets were off.
Speaking of Kobe...how dare you say that LeBron needs to ride Kobe's coattails if he wants to win a title? Did you not watch how the Lakers were beaten around like a rag doll against Boston? Do you think anybody who is a LEADER would see their team collapse and blow a 25-point lead in Game 4 of the freaking NBA Finals when the world is watching? I'm not as high on Roy as Blazer Nation, but I know he's a leader and not even he would let that happen if Portland was in such a situation. When the Cavs had Boston on the ropes in their seven-game series, LeBron helped deliver the knockout punch. Kobe??? What did he do???
To dismiss LeBron like that shows how much of a farce you are and how much about basketball outside of this little pocket of the country known as Oregon you know about. Wow...just wow.
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
Boy I saw this coming. You right this half-baked crap about the Blazers, bait someone into doing the same thing about "your boy," and then bull the "Wow... just wow" thing.
Blazer fans aren't the idiots you're treating them like (nobody is planning parades dude). If you have made a couple defensible arguments in your post nobody would be here responding (which would have defeated the purpose of your article). Instead you went inflammatory, and then you get goaded into this exact post, prattling off history that all did nothing to prove the commenters point.
You're telling us not to get ahead of ourselves by "planning parades," yet you reserve the right to do it yourself with LeBron simply because he's made the finals. NEITHER HAS WON ANYTHING YET. You should play by the same fan rules you hold other teams fans to.
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
Yeah, I know I spelled "write" wrong.
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
Amar,
This is this is the Portland Trailblazers board. Please take your myopic homer opinions on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Cavs board where they belong. Nobody here cares about the Cavs.
BNM
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
This is a Portland Trail Blazers (two words, but you seem to be in the know, right?) board? That's news to me...when I look up top, I see "Bleacher Report: An OPEN SOURCE Network."
Funny...I thought I was the one that didn't have a clue. But hey...at least I can read.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
Rob-
I guess the mistake I've made here is taking the views of Gavin Dawson to be the views of every Blazer fan. He's the one already calling out the spot he'll be at when the parade(s) happen. Too much local sports radio for me, I guess.
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
Amar,
If you look at the top of this page, right above the title of your article, you will see:
NBA>>NBA Northwest>>Portland Trail Blazers
So, yes this is the Blazers section of this web site.
The Cleveland Cavaliers also have a similar section devoted to discussion of their team and players. In case you are unable to find it on your own, here's the link:
http://bleacherreport.com/cleveland-cavaliers
Please take your gushing about LeBron and his chances of leading Cleveland to an NBA title to that board where is belongs.
And for future reference, you may want to check out these links as well:
http://bleacherreport.com/new-jersey-nets
http://bleacherreport.com/new-york-knicks
BNM
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
Dude, c'mon. Gavin Dawson (paid to attract listeners by any means necessary) says something and you decide to try and rile up the whole fanbase with it? Bleh. No article on why Dawson is wrong.
No article on the real issues the Blazers face over the next few years and how the road to a championship could be detoured, you decided to trot out the the Oden injury, question Roy's all-star selection, and use poor stat analysis to try and degrade Aldridge. Yeah, this wasn't a very good article. But you're basking in the response, right?
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Drew Barton 11 months ago
any Gavin might be "too much"...not to crack too harshly on the Fan but once Rome left, what is on there worth listening to?
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
And for the record...I've never "planned parades" for LeBron. Saying that he's incapable of winning a title is baseless...and pointing out to the fact that he's been to the Finals before one more thing to point to as a Cavs fan than anything the Blazers have to point to. LeBron's not the one coming off of microfracture surgery. LeBron's not the one who has missed over two dozen games in two seasons with a heel injury. LeBron's not the one who finished nine games out of a playoff spot last season. He's FAR closer to winning anything than Portland is. All I'm saying is to lay the groundwork first and try to measure up against the heavyweights in the West before proclaiming yourselves as "The Team of the Future."
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
And by "groundwork" I mean paying your dues and taking your lumps like LB has been doing for the last three years.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
It's general NBA...I'm the one who created the tag in the first place.
Wow...a guy telling me what I can and can't discuss on an article that I myself wrote. Get a clue dude...and the Knicks and Nets threats are all you've got because Portland is on the fast track to mediocrity...just as they were throughout their "heyday" in the 90s.
You had Jordan shoot you down in '92...another #23 has taken birth to slam the door on Portland's championship hopes for the new generation. That is...assuming your nice little team of good guys gets there in the first place. Here's betting they won't, so don't worry about LeBron, because apparently he doesn't concern you.
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
Dude - you really look at this team and think they're on the fast track to mediocrity? Are you saying that because you believe it or because you're trying to drive more comments? Or because you're stick of hearing about it on the radio?
You realize most "in the know" people recognize the potential building here (proven or not), right? But, you don't see it at all? You're making yourself look clueless dude. Really.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
Rob...that's why they play the games. Nobody won titles based on "he saids, she saids" before. I remember when the Orlando Magic in the mid 90s were pinned for many titles after '95. The Larry O'Brien trophy is nowhere to be found in Orlando.
Let's not talk about a team's potential based on what the masses are saying. These are my opinions, and I'm sticking to them. Nothing is ever a guarantee in sports. Ever.
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
I'm not trying to jump ahead of the games to be played. But you are choosing to avoid evaluating the team as it is today just because of what everyone else is saying. Do you really thing this team, as currently put together, is destined for disappointment?
There is a whole middle ground between mediocre and dynasty, yet you think their destined for disappointment because you're sick of hearing people talk about their potential? It seems like you're unwilling to cede the middle ground. None of us are asking the NBA to cancel the next decade and hand us 5 trophies. But you're trying to squash optimism and potential because of Gavin Dawson squawking on the radio.
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
Amar wrote:
"I remember when the Orlando Magic in the mid 90s were pinned for many titles after '95. The Larry O'Brien trophy is nowhere to be found in Orlando."
Another totally irrelevant "argument" by Amar. What, pray tell, do the mid-1990s Magic have to do with the current Blazers. They had incompetent management, stupid fans and cheap ownership that ran Shaquille O'Neal out of town without even getting anything in return. Portland has a competent GM, fans that are behind the team and the richest owner in sports. The two situations are totally unrelated and dissimilar.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
It's general NBA...I'm the one who created the tag in the first place.
Wow...a guy telling me what I can and can't discuss on an article that I myself wrote. Get a clue dude...and the Knicks and Nets threats are all you've got because Portland is on the fast track to mediocrity...just as they were throughout their "heyday" in the 90s.
You had Jordan shoot you down in '92...another #23 has taken birth to slam the door on Portland's championship hopes for the new generation. That is...assuming your nice little team of good guys gets there in the first place. Here's betting they won't, so don't worry about LeBron, because apparently he doesn't concern you.
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
Amar,
Click on this link:
http://bleacherreport.com/portland-trail-blazers
and tell me again how your article and comments don't appear in the Portland forum. So, I'll ask you again to post you comments about LeBron and the Cavs in the Cavs forum where they belong. They are of topic in this forum and shouldn't be here. They have nothing to do with the original article and don't belong here. I'm not telling you what you can and cannot post, I'm just asking you to do the courteous thing and post your opinions on the Cavs in the Cavs forum where they belong. I don't come here to read about LeBron and the Cavs, I come here (the Blazers board) to read about the Blazers.
Your comments about Michael Jordan and the Blazers teams from the early 1990s, like most of your other comments about the current Blazers team, are totally irrelevant. What happened 15 years ago has no baring on what will happen next year. All those guys that played back then are retired. How does what they did, or didn't, accomplish 15+ years ago have any impact at all on the current Blazers roster and what they may, or may not, accomplish? It doesn't have any impact what-so-ever, and to suggest that it does shows you are clearly a hater whose entire motivation is sour grapes, not rational discussion.
Your article and follow-up comments are full of factual errors and strawman arguments. Even if you did have a valid point in there somewhere, it would be hard to give you any credibility based on your inability to get your facts straight and basing the crux of your argument on irrelevant tangents.
BNM
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lance mick 11 months ago
Testees
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ripcityphil 11 months ago
Amar,
Gavin was behind the promotion "Draft The Stache" a few years ago.
Everyone who is a fan of the team including Gavin has an opinion but sometimes they get carried away.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
Yeah, in retrospect, that was one of the most inexplicable things to ever happen for the local Portland sports media. He had the entire city aboard that crap. Two years later, Morrison is almost out of the league. It's amazing how much of a bust he has become.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
One thing is for sure....
The commenters and posters who have restrained from name-calling clearly know what they're talking about. If you need to resort to insulting people and flinging mud, then you clearly need to put a sock in it. If that's the only way you can make an argument, then you have a bit of growing up to do.
Another thing: If I had written a column like this slamming the Cavs (my team), the fan base may not have been so quick to defend the team like a first-born child like Blazer fans have been. I'm pretty much a nobody in the realm of sports writing, and what I say or think doesn't matter much, but the way Blazer Nation has wasted no time in defending their team - even though some of the guys haven't even been on the squad for more than two years - has definitely won my respect. Kudos to you guys: The NBA definitely needs more markets like Portland.
That said, you guys aren't winning anything any time soon.
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Rob Houston 11 months ago
Just so I'm clear - we aren't allowed to predict future Blazer championships (because they haven't played the games), but you can predict that the Blazers aren't going to win anything any time soon (because you're sick of Gavin Dawson, becuase of Oden's knee, because you don't think Roy should have been an All-Star, and because Aldridge only went for 17.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.2 bpg, and .484 fg% in his first year as Z-Bo's replacement at PF).
If you're scoring at home, of those four reasons, three don't matter and one is news that is over a year old.
The response you've garnered here Amar isn't an indicator that you're an important blogger, or that we as Blazer fans can't stand to hear anyone express an opinion contrary to ours. Its an indicator of how undeniably bad this post is, and that we as fans have our standards for web-commentary set way, way higher than this. Do you think Henry Abbott would take this post seriously? Do you think readers of Blazers Edge would think there is a single good or new idea here? Do you even care?
I wish people wouldn't get to the point of insulting you, but you've got a discourse going here in the comments that is proving over and over that your article sucked. And you're willing to look like a fool trying to defend it (while trying to provoke more response - see paragraph #1 of this comment).
Let me make my point as clear as possible - we're not defending our team, because you really offered no credible theory to defend it against. We're attacking the complete lack of objective analysis that is supporting the opinion you've advanced here. Amar, if you step back, and read this again with an open mind a week from now, you'll see that this would have qualified as average work from someone like Faris. Maybe you're happy with writing a crappy article that gets a big response, but I think you've got better in you.
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Mike Turnell 11 months ago
See, I don't expect a championship anytime next year, but I do expect something. How can you expect a 41-41 team to be bad after adding guys like Jerryd Bayless, Greg Oden, and Rudy Fernandez? It just doesn't make sense to me. After a couple years of these guys playing together, the team can only get better.
Also, Oden's knee isn't a big wreck like other micro-fracture victims. It was described as very minor and that he would play after a year. He's been able to run and play for a while now considering that incident where he played a pick-up game at the gym.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
Rob-
I'm not telling anybody what they are and aren't allowed to predict. I'm just giving you my views on why I think it's wrong to predict as much success as has been predicted. The world would be a terrible place if it depended on me telling what people are and aren't allowed to do.
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Brandon Walsh 11 months ago
Amar wrote:
"Yeah, in retrospect, that was one of the most inexplicable things to ever happen for the local Portland sports media. He had the entire city aboard that crap. Two years later, Morrison is almost out of the league. It's amazing how much of a bust he has become."
No he didn't have the whole entire city aboard. At his big "Draft the Stache" rally the day Morrison worked out for the Blazers he had 20 - 30 people show up. This event was heavily promoted for weeks on 1080 The Fan where Dawson worked. They made something like EIGHT songs about Morrison that were played over and over on the station. They gave away free t-shirts. And they could still only get 20 - 30 people to show up and show their support of Morrison.
Most of the people on the Blazer discussion boards were laughing at Dawson and the whole "Draft the Stache" nonsense. It was not a city wide movement. There was no groundswell of local support. It was the pathetic obsession of one ill-informed individual. He got a couple of his cronies at the fan, who knew even less about NBA basketball than he did, to play along, and of course, John Canzano, but other than them and 20 - 30 others, that was it.
BNM
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
LOL...I can't believe how many people signed up for an account here just for the right to comment on this article. I hope you are happy, Bleacher Report! You got what you wanted! :)
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Jim Truesdale 11 months ago
Didn't Zach Randolph have a career year after micro-fracture surgery? Wasn't his knee in worse condition than Oden's? Doesn't Oden have the same physical therapist, as did Randolph post surgery?
I know we shouldn't add fuel to the fire. Just felt like there were some points that weren't made..
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
LOL...I can't believe how many people signed up for an account here just for the right to comment on this article. I hope you are happy, Bleacher Report! You got what you wanted! :)
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Jim Truesdale 11 months ago
I didn't sign up with an account with bleacherreport to comment on your inaccurate post. I have been a member for several weeks but just haven't felt a need to comment on any posts. All that being said, Amar, are you Stephen A.?
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Kevin Farrell 11 months ago
He could be. Good call.
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Amar Panchmatia 11 months ago
LOL, no I'm not Stephen A. Smith. But that comparison may have been the harshest thing said about me on this entire comments list which itself is about 10 articles of its own.
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Kevin Farrell 11 months ago
Overall I think you have to agree with what the author is saying. The Blazers still have away to go before they can win an NBA Finals. But I will say that they scare every team in this league and they didn't have to make any trades for a star player or even a solid vet. They are set up better than any other team in terms of talent to make multiple championship runs.
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Scott Orman 10 months ago
POPPYCOCK!!! The Blazers are going to RIP and ROCK & ROLL! Oden will dominate.
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