This article ranks us as #15 in terms of desirability to NBA players. While I understand some parts of his argument, I would think we'd be much higher to NBA players focused on postseason play over the next 5-10 years. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/steve_aschburner/06/29/free.agent.ranks/index.html
I was just about to post this. While our ranking seems about right, I didn't understand this part -- The crowds at the Rose Garden are some of the best in the league, and will continue to be now that the jailblazer era is over. Pretty weak argument in my opinion. Don't know how I feel about Detroit being ahead of us.
considering it was the first time that A: the Blazers sucked that bad, B: we weren't coming off of 6 titles in 8 years (when Chicago sucked) , C: the team had incredibly loyal fans for basically 28 straight years and D: we aren't coming from a population base of over 2.8 million people in the city and 9.5 million people in the tri-state area, I say we did pretty good.
even the rebuilding. until we started winning, the crowds were gone. like it or not, blazermania is kind of bandwagon....they'll cheer when they win, won't come to the games when the team sucks.
Players who like the game and a good home crowd, would like it here. Big shot big city dudes wouldn't. It is nice how our city attracts the type of players we want. Nice guys with skill.
Let's be honest though. The Blazers drove the fans away with their crappy management. It took awhile for them to earn the trust of the people back.
12,666. That number held through good times and bad. Kind of funny to see it now because stadiums are much bigger, but it in it's time that streak was impressive and negates any good bandwagon argument. If anything, blind loyalty for too many years allowed the franchise to make poor personnel decisions. I'd credit the franchise turnaround on some good personnel decisions that were spurred on by (1) team management in deep fear of fans chucking their season tickets and (2) excellent lottery ball play.
Where in the NBA is this true? There were some really empty arenas around the league last season. Even when we played at Utah it was empty, and that place is usually always full. I can't think of one bad team that fills the seats.
Atlanta is the only one I think he rated too high (maybe Denver) But Atlanta at #9? I will believe it when i see it.
