http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/03/blazers_one_more_road_loss_and.html Lets face it, Pritchard screwed up big time. All these young players hes in love with are not that good. I mean yes roy, aldridge and rudy are keepers and you simply have to wait on oden but other then batum(maybe) who else on this roster is untouchable? NOBODY. They are all average to below average players. And let me tell ya something now... bayless looks to be another very mediocre PG who wont be ready for years. This is why i was so upset we didnt make a deal. We needed more offense. On most nights we DEPEND on 2 players. We know who they are. The problem is.... nobody else can consistantly score for us. How nice would a guy like Jefferson look in the starting 5 with Nic off the bench? Would we have won a title? No but at leats we would be a lock for playoffs and a decent seed. Bottom line... we arent winning the division and adter this road trip... WE WILL BE LUCKY TO HOLD THE 8th spot. The suns will make apush and i think us getting in depends more on their play then ours cause since the twolves game... we have really sucked. Its one 1 of 2 things... We get the 8th seed. We miss the playoffs.
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It's a good article. Several things I like to point out: 1. When both Bayless and Sergio play a combined 16 points between two of them that's end-of-the-bench minute distribution and you can't really expect them to be productive. When you've entered the game and aren't allowed to make even one mistake you will be unsure of yourself and feel paralyzed. Our problem at the PG position, IMO, isn't the youngsters, it's Blake taking too many minutes. 2. Batum should play more. Some of his extra-minutes should come from Travis but most of it should be with Travis, as they're covering both forward-positions behind LeMarcus. 3. The idea of not letting Roy and Aldridge both sit on the same time is, IMO, hurting the other player's confidence. Our Forte isn't that we have the best 1-2 combo in the league, Roy is a great-great player and Aldridge is very good but they're not Michael-Scottie, Not even Kobe-Gasol, more like Paul-West/Deron-Boozer, and that also might be a stretch. Our biggest strength is our depth. We have one of the best backup SGs in Rudy, we have a great backup 3 in Travis, we have one of the greatest players I remember on the Blazers - Nic Batum - playing 17 minutes per game and we have, when healthy, the best Center rotation in the League. Don't make it a two-player team cause we're not going to win much this way.
MIXUM launching a thread like this after a Blazers road loss? Predictable as rain in Portland in the month of March.
STEP UP???? You should be a blazer after a road game with this cliche crap that im sick of. You cant step up night after night if you just dont have the talent. See.... Sergio Bayless Outlaw Frye Blake
YA KNOW WHAT ELSE IS PREDICTABLE???????? BLazers getting their asses handed to them on the road. Get ready for shock when the suns steal our spot.... or should i say earn it. Blazer fans mind set. "Lets hope Utah loses" How about... lets beat the fucking hawks? But we know how that turned out. Maybe we can beat the grizz... nah i wont hold my breath.
So then why are you angry? If the team just isn't very talented, why is it a disappointment if they don't make the playoffs? Untalented teams shouldn't be expected to make the playoffs. Further, how did you expect KP to make a big trade when he has no real talent to trade? Why do you assume other teams want the Blazers' untalented garbage? Frankly, your frustration is baffling.
Be careful Minstrel, MIXUM is actually a robot and if you catch him in a paradox his head might explode.
The fact that KP stood pat at the deadline and didn't upgrade the talent is the issue. The problems we are seeing now were evident around the deadline. I'm not sure if there's anyone that's able to "step up" on this team right now. Roy is pretty much carrying this team down the final stretch and wearing himself out in the process.
If we could have ripped off a team just for RLEC, I'm sure KP would have done it. But I'm glad KP didn't give up Batum or Bayless. I think those two guys are very important for the long run. Also, what we really need is a good PG. It doesn't sound like one was available at the deadline.
I addressed that. If you think the team has very little talent (outside of Roy/Aldridge), as MIXUM does, what kind of major trade do you realistically think KP could have pulled off? Our crap for your star? In any case, it appears Batum was the players that other teams wanted. I'd have been interested in Gerald Wallace or Vince Carter for expiring contracts, but not for Batum. I want to see the team do well this year (and I think they'll make the playoffs and have a shot to win one round of the playoffs), but not at the expense of dealing a talented player who looks like he'll be a very big part of the next ten years.
You guys bitch about trade deadline, but suddenly go silent when asked who exactly you wanted to get, and for what. In fact, some of you were rooting to get Amare pretty hard. I bet you're glad prichard didn't pull the trigger now.
Why do a few people keep harping on this? There were no good offers. That's it. Why are you such a proponent of making a bad trade?? I don't get it.
For the record, I never bitched about KP not making a trade. Sticking with this roster for this season and making adjustments next summer is fine with me. Michael Jordan recently was in town and said that he thought Pritchard was right not to give up on the young talent. I'm guessing he knows more about basketball than most of us on this board. The main thing that the Blazers need right now, IMO, is for Oden to get back to playing. The recent poor play, particularly by the second unit, certainly is in part a result of the team not having any rebounding or shot blocking presence when Joel leaves the court. I'm no basketball guru, but I'm pretty sure that fewer scoring opportunities generally results in less scoring. Fortuntately, according to this morning's paper, it looks like Greg will be back in a couple games.
Exactly there was nobody that KP and P.A wanted during the season. They had big price tags. Plus we had the huge contract LaFrentz and the Miles situation. Just like what KP said, he wanted to see how the rest of the players turned out during this tough western conference race and look at other options in the 2009 summer.
