This off-season is the worst I can ever remember as a Blazer fan. The reason is two-fold: 1) There may not even be an NBA season in 2011-12. This is too depressing to even contemplate. 2) Even if there is a season, this Blazer team is nothing exceptional. Roy is done, and Oden may never be anything close to healthy. Without those two guys, we are just an ordinary to slightly-better-than-ordinary team. I don't think I've ever been so pessimistic about our chances in the upcoming season. I hate to feel this way, so someone please talk me out of it . . . The only silver lining on this dark cloud is that Oden may (please, God) finally get healthy and start resembling an actual NBA player. If that happens, all bets are off--but that's a very very thin silver lining . . .
I'm pretty excited for the team. While it probably won't happen, Felton/Wes/Nic/Crash/LMA is a pretty exciting (on paper) bunch, and I'm still holding out promise for a healthy Oden showing up by Christmas. I'm skeptical of the "Roy's knees are healthy again!" news. It could be true, I guess. We're not horrible, and we're not hopeless...I agree with your #1, but not your #2.
If there is a season, the team will make the playoffs, with or without Greg and Roy. I am pessimistic of their chances for a championship, but I'm not more pessimistic of their chances compared to the lotto teams we had not so long ago.
talk about depressing... those teams had zero chance of being 500 let along making it out of the first round. While I crossed my fingers in hope, at no point did I feel confident that the players Nash drafted were the real deal, so the future wasn't even something I was looking forward to. Each of the three seasons was worse then before until they had the worst record (and attendance) in the league... As far as Portland's chances with or without Roy, keep in mind that they had a much higher winning percentage without him then with. It's not beyond the realm of possibilities that he could contribute to a successful year, but they don't need him and Greg to be playoffs good. Heck, Camby being healthy again would be a huge shot in the arm for their chances. Of course a healthy Oden could really help matters. I'm actually pretty optimistic about the team's talent. The labor dispute sure is the suck though. STOMP
If the off season leads to allowing the Blazers to take Roy off the books, that would be a pretty good off season.
Yes, but we were a bad team slowly making its way upward. We knew we had to get a lot better to compete for a title, so the expectations weren't very high. In this case, we've been building for a championship for several years, and thought we had just about gotten there--and then lost Roy and Oden (again). For me, at least, it's a whole different feeling. We were so close, and now we're slipping back into the middle of the pack again. ??? We were "playoffs good" this year, and yet we flamed out in the first round. I don't see us any better next year, unless Oden makes a comeback. As for the winning percentage without Roy, that's just crazy talk. We are a better team with a healthy Brandon Roy, especially in the fourth quarter. As in, "their chances to win a title"? I don't think so. A healthy Camby would help, but he's old and on the downside of his career. He is not going to turn us into a playoff powerhouse--and he certainly won't get us a title.
I think all Blazers fans have a chronic case of blue balls which is slowly waning into sexual apathy. We were teased so much by what could have been, waiting for the release that a championship would bring. It never came(so to speak) & it probably won't be coming anytime soon. A lot of people were targeting 2010-2011 season as the breakout year we'd show the league what we were made of. The predictions were that we could be champs by now, at least that was the thought back in 2007 when we drafted Oden. Four years later, we're probably further from a championship now than we were then, given Roy's injuries/contract & Oden's injuries. I don't think it's the worst off-season ever. At least there is a chance for playoff action next season. If the new CBA allows us to dump Roy's contract that could breath new life into our future prospects.
What I miss isn't really basketball, it's any activity with the player names I want to read about. This could be remedied by having the Blazers play safe, non-injury risk games, like shooting rubber bands at each other or making those little paper triangle footballs that we used to flick at each other in the 6th grade when the teacher turned her back. That always pissed her off. Did anyone else here do that? If we must miss a season, it's better now, than when we're an elite team at its peak, that would have been mopping up the league. But the biggest reason is, you're too young to die. Don't do it. There are prospects out there. You need to meet 3Brainiac.
Basketball is only a game. It ebbs and flows. One season down and another its up. I don't fret it, I just watch it. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. One, five, ten years, it will be something/someone else. Be patient and wait. Stern won't live forever.
Do you honestly believe what you are typing? The Blazers were a bad team getting worse every year under Nash until they were the worst team in the league (if you believe the standings). The team wasn't slowly making it's way upward, they were circling the drain going down down down the toilet directly because of Nash's moves. Opportunities to improve existed, he just missed them again and again. The worst was dealing out of the opportunity to draft Chris Paul or Darron Williams because he already had Sebastian Telfair. Last year ST was seated front row on the pathetic Timberwolve's bench right next to Martell. right, we made the playoffs this year... thats better then being the worst team in the league on a downward trajectory. a healthy BR is a pipe dream that in all likelihood will never happen... I was trying to be nice about his chances. My main point was that even without him they were better record wise then with him and made the playoffs... being a playoff team is better then not being one for most every Blazer fan but you apparently. Greg is the one who potencially could make the biggest difference IF he were finally able to enjoy a stretch of health. Much like Walton, I believe his talents just need an opportunity to shine when it matters. Portland pushed the champion Mavs to a 6 game series with a severely limited Camby. Gathering a trend from the rest of your astute observations, I'm going to stick with my gut and take your doubt as a positive. I'd love to see a healthy Marcus backing up LA and Greg. That would be awesome STOMP
A lot of that due to miracle play by Roy. The team was out of gas by Game 5. I'd have my doubts we could have gone much deeper than we did. I hope we can lower LaMa's minutes down to like 30 - 35mpg, instead of all the nights he was running in the high 30s to low 40s.
funny how one poster is saying I'm giving Roy too much credit and another is saying I'm giving him too little. Roy's inability to stay with anyone on the Mavs on D sure didn't help their cause the rest of the series, and thats unlikely to change... but if Wesley wasn't dragging a leg around they wouldn't have had to rely on him so much right? A team enjoying good health among it's core players helps it's cause to advance in the playoffs was the point I was making. The Blazers had one starter out (Greg) and two core players (Camby, Matthews) pretty limited. Compared to where they could have been physically, it's reasonable to think that their chances of advancing improve with some better luck on the health front. A healthy core of these Blazer players = more gas in the tank & and at least for me significantly more hope then rooting for one of the worst teams in the league on a downward trajectory like we were just a short time ago. STOMP
You're overlooking lots of things, I'm afraid. For starters, we don't have enough good shooters on this current Blazers squad to challenge for a title. The only thing that can possibly make up for that is a healthy, dominant Oden--and we all know how likely that is. We also still don't have a top notch point guard to run the show. And Camby's age is already starting to work against him. Good health always helps, but it can't disguise the weaknesses on this current Blazer team. Yes, we may make the playoffs by the skin of our teeth, but this team has lost its look of glory, and you know it as well as anyone.
Absolutely right. We barely sneaked past Dallas in two games, while they totally dominated us in all the others.
sure they do. Both their backcourt starters can spread the court as well as Nic. we do??? yeah, if only Portland had someone really talented like a 35 year old Derrick Fisher, or Avery Johnson... then they'd be a shoe in. Excellent point! they're one of the few teams in the league that IF healthy could contend. I don't expect that you know this, but thats an opinion I share with more then a couple posters here. To me thats a much much better position to be in during the offseason then knowing the team absolutely sucked back when pathetic John Nash was nosediving the franchise. STOMP
Ask the Raptors fans how their team is. Or the Pistons fans. You're spoiled, OP. We have one of the top 5 PFs in the league and other very talented young pieces around him. Are we favorites to win the title? No, but was Dallas a favorite this time last year? Not a soul picked Dallas.
