George Karl thrives on strong-willed characters. He lives his life vicariously through them. This will turn out well.
Who cares if they got stronger. According to a lot of people in here, all Portland has to do is stay healthy and they will......at worst.....go to the WCF.
There is a difference between "cares" and knowing that there is not much you can do it - the league is structured in such a way that one team can not really stand in the way of other teams acquiring players. On the other hand - if you can not see that health was a huge detriment to this team last year... well, the problem is not with the people on this board, it is with you...
This team, as it is built right now, has no hope of getting to the WCF. They play shitty defense, their offensive gameplan is not at all suited for the playoffs, and we don't have the inside post game we need to go along with all of the shooters Nate seems to want.
This team, as currently constructed, without Batum and Camby but with a healthy Oden - was 2nd in the league last year in defensive efficiency. There goes your shitty defense argument down the drain. The inside game again falls on Oden - that's what he was drafted to do - and even if he is not the greatest interior presence in the NBA - he is an interior presence. The entire offense not working in the playoffs based on a series where Roy was a shell of himself - is again somewhat of dramatization... So, with that, I think, you have just painted yourself into the "health actually was a big deal" camp...
Portland is absolutely horible defensively. They have guys at the rim that allow for poor defenders on the wings. Nate even came out and said that the team needs more perimeter defenders. Nate also said he wants Greg to concentrate on rebounding and defense. He doesn't want him involved in the low post offense. Brandon Roy said the team struggled early because they were trying to get him involved. Will the team be better, as is, if everyone is healthy? They certainly should be. Are they good enough to get to the WCF? No.
Clearly our playoff game plan, which is to have our superstar miss half the games and get a PER of 4.5 when he's in, sucks. Not to mention the way the plan involved dislocating Batum's shoulder and leaving Oden off the roster. Nate is so stupid for devising such a game plan. Damn his eyes.
Does last year's team that won 2 games against the Sun get out of the first round with a healthy Batum, a healthy Oden and a healthy Roy? No doubts in my mind. In the 2nd round, that same team you think does not win against the Spurs (a team the Suns swept last year)? Heck - I have no doubts that last year's team would have gone out of the first round if only Roy was healthy... - with Batum and Oden in the fold as well - it would have been a cakewalk... Yeah, this team, healthy, was very likely to make it to the WCF IMHO, actually, they would have probably been a much harder hurdle for the Lakers than the Suns were.
Damn dude. What are you talking about? "This team, as built right now" meaning that team we played most of the season with last year? Of course that team was bad defensively. We didn't have Oden, Joel, Batum or Camby. But that isn't how our team is "built right now". Are you seriously trying to ignore all of the injuries we faced?
No. Oden, Batum and Camby are all very good defensive players. Miller, Roy, Bayless, Rudy, Aldridge and the others, aren't. Joel probably won't play well, if at all. babbitt doen't look like a good defender at this point either.
