How did the Blazers Arrive At Mediocrity and Where Do They Go From Here?

They were also offered Duncan for the pick. The only team in the entire league who I would of thought might think about it was PDX, with the Bowie over Jordan thing. Shoulda listened to Aldridge instead of Roy.

 

I'm not really recalling anything. I literally was privy to the pics. Doctors warned anout the damaged cartilage, hips and leg length. They gambled and lost

 

How sweet would it of been to trade picks with Seattle and take their second or third best player as compinsation.

 

Nope, I've nitpicked others, I'm moving on. Plenty of other stuff to talk about.

 

Dead wrong here

 

Except if we had traded picks, they probably would have taken Durant. If they wanted to trade it's because they assumed we wanted Durant.

 

On what point?

 

smfh

 

27 of 29 teams.

 

In fairness to that announcement, it's the second time without needing an injury to another player....I think, anyway

 

That's good to hear. I didn't mean any malice and I think you are an excellent poster.

I'll buy you a beer or hard cider the next time you're in town.

 

The how’s and why’s of the mediocrity are completely overlooked. It starts with Lamarcus Aldridge. In 2015 he lead everyone on saying he wanted to be the greatest Blazer of all time etc. the team was on a roll moving upward we made the trade to bring in Afflalo to bolster the bench. Then Wes ruptures his Achilles. Fast forward to that summer Neil knew Lamarcus was leaving so opted for a full tank job rebuild, let the starters walk traded one for a rookie who was really young and a bit of a project... the summer of 2015 roster movements were designed to net the Blazers a top 5 pick in the 2016 draft, in fact a lot of analysts picked them to be dead last. But they weren’t, CJ and Crabbe showed up, Plumlee proved to be an effective distributor of the ball and the Blazers made the playoffs, then they got lucky. Injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin allowed Portland to move to the 2nd round. An injury to Curry allowed Portland to take the Warriors to 7 games we all know this was misleading, but it was enough that the decision makers decided the team was in win now mode when the original plan was rank and rebuild. To win now you keep the guys who got you there and spend money to bolster the squad, so they did... and the team realistically was still that lotto team they had built but by bolstering and retaining they locked into mediocrity... it’s the ultimate demon of being greedy and moving to go over the top prematurely.

 

A bit of a nitpick--the Blazers only took the Warriors to 5 games in 2016. Your point may still not be wrong, though, as taking even a game off the 73-win Warriors in the playoffs may have given the Blazers' brass overmuch confidence.

 

Oops my bad on the detail, my point remains the same and to add to it the overconfidence is has many factors. 1st is obviously team priorities overall is winning, but the 2nd part is PR driven. The fan and media backlash of continuing with the initial plan of a year down rebuild would have been huge and would have required letting all the FA’s walk And filling out the roster with 2nd round picks and cast off FA’s. Now let’s fast forward to today. If you look at the other moves Neil has made they are much more in line with the rebuild. Cutting bait on Crabbe, acquiring a 22yo Nurkic and trading up to get Collins, all rebuild moves. But where does the team go from here? The answer is simple in theory harder in execution and would definitely not be popular with casual fans....

Cut bait and swing big.

Get rid of players that are keeping the team at the level they are but don’t factor into the next 5 years (Aminu, Davis, Turner not likely moveable yet).

Then make a big bold move by breaking up the back court, BTW I personally think it’s much easier to find a 6’5” SG or a 6’8” SF than it is to replace a top 8 nba PG.

Basically strip this team down to Dame, Collins and Nurkic + whatever stragglers are left (Pat C hopefully) and start moving forward.

 

I swear I've thought of this. I went to a petting zoo in Skamania County and those lil' goats were the cutest fucking thing ever. IDGAF what y'all say about me. I'd tie a leash on that MF and walk it!! Pickin' up goat pellets.



The little ones are cute but these MFs right here??? They haunt my dreams!!

 

I had heard that everybody BUT Orlando (Dwight Howard) and Houston (Yao) were taking Greg.

 

Never look any goat of any size, in the eye directly...