Hello Forum, I don't hang out here much for reasons of either disloyalty to the team or expecting a championship every single year. 29 teams every year go home without that ring and many a lot longer then us. People may not believe me but I have been a Blazer fan since year number one and my first games I attended was on January 9th, 1971 and the Blazers toasted the Knicks 114-96. Still have my first program from that game and I remember the Oregonian sports section the next day with a full page write up on the young expansions teams awesome victory! Ok...enough of my history. I am not one of those that examines salary caps and trade values or bird rights or whatever....I am a fan and I know what I see and what I feel. With the release of Hood and Trent this year and the acquisition of Powell my whole mindset of the season changed and brought me back to 1977. Why you ask? We now have a team where contributions come from so many sources and that is the success of a championship team. When you have 6+ players who can score in double figures every night, you are going to win and compete in a lot of ball games. Very similar to 1977. I have always been a believer that you ALWAYS start your best scorers in the first quarter. Why? So you don't dig a hole...which has been a Blazer issue for years. You had starters where you may have 3 scorers and 2 defenders, and more often then not the Blazers found themselves in early holes they had to dig out of and ran out of gas. Back in the old days, you always started the most productive offensive players....and you either get a lead or sustain a push and then let your second team try to maintain a level playing field with the other teams second string. It is a good formula. Proof? We now have Lillard (scorer) - McCollum (scorer) - Powell (Scorer/Defender) - Nurk (Defender/Scorer) and RoCo (Defender/Scorer) starting and guess what? The Blazers nearly score 30+ in the first quarter now and do not have to dig themselves out that hole nor spend the energy to fight back the whole game from 20 points down. When we had Jones and Kanter in the starting lineup, things were not so good...agreed? Not to mention when we do sub around the 5 minute mark, Carmelo has been on fire and Ant is coming into his own from 3 land...even better then Gary Trent. One of the best trades ever was letting Trent and Hood go for Powell as that dude can finish at the rim...and can bust the 3 from the corners pretty damn good. I like it ;-) Then we have the ongoing Stott's issue that I am so sick of hearing. Yes, there has been a few times (and I mention few) that he has made bad decisions over the years in very rare situations. The Phoenix game being one of them by using a challenge and losing a timeout....not good. BUT...overall this guy has been a coaching stud and dealt with some of the most horrific situations anyone could throw a team and a coach. He has pieced together lineups for 8 years and made them work good enough to make the playoffs every year. That is something special and do not lose sight of that. He does not shoot the shots nor does he control when CJ or Dame decide to do what they do. All he can do is give them his best advice and hope that star quality players make the right choices. To play Melo or not at end of games is a crap shoot (if I was a coach) because some nights he is on fire and other nights not so much...you have to do what you have to do. I think he has done well and for those of you that want a championship every year...your idiots. Like I said, 29 other teams go home with their head down every year...but you don't see the Spurs firing Pop...right? I look back to the Adelman years (88" - 94") and this coach had a 291-154 record and the Blazers fired him!!!!!!! He took them to TWO NBA FINALS!!!! How do you fire a coach like that??? It is all part of the Blazers "making bad decisions" history which has plagued this team for years. Think about it...instant gratification has been this teams downfall for years (at least since the Walton days). Anyhow, my point of this thread is that I see something special with this HEALTHY Blazer team. It reminds me of 1977 when the wealth was spread around and you had 6 players every night scoring in double figures, sharing the ball and having chemistry between the players. I thank Mr. Lillard for that as he is the glue of this franchise...and his performance has been outstanding since his rookie year. Anybody that says otherwise has no eye for greatness. As for the CJ haters (or ones who want to trade him) yes, his defense is not what a Wes Mathews would bring, but this man has skills offensively way beyond what Wes could ever deliver and has taken this team to a level we have never had in years. I have faith...this year more then any. The OKC and Denver series from a couple years ago was great...but I think this team actually has a chance at a conference finals and winning games. All the way? Maybe...but no sweep this year. Just my thoughts...let the bashing begin...;-) peace out, daddylogan
The team is talented. Much more talented than what Denver is throwing out there. Criticisms of Stotts for continously running drop, having the most stagnant offense in the league, and for not having an answer for when teams trap Dame other than to run more 40ft high PnR are legitimate. No coaching "stud" does that. Thankfully, the Nuggets are less talented and dont have the pieces to truly exploit our weaknesses. We should win this series.
If we beat Denver then that second round will say a lot... If we can make the WCF this season then...
Welcome. I can't help laughing, not at you, but because there is a long thread here about how this is the worst Blazers team ever.
Thanks for the post, OP. I am normally a sunshine pumper and last night i joined the dark side in the game thread. Mostly it was a reverse jinx kind of thing but i must admit, it felt good bitching for a bit. Even though it's not my style. I love this team, i love the make up. We can beat you from anywhere on the court and finally have a player in RoCo that is a true 2.5 and D Wing player. I consider him 3 and D but folks would jump all over that statement since he hits 4-5 less threes per 100 than their true definition. This team is built to succeed in the playoffs and Dame is playing his best ball of his career, getting buckets at all three levels at a high rate.
This is awesome! I can always tell when a poster has watched and probably played sports for years. This is what "realistic' is all about! Set the Negs down. By the way every damn team in the league runs "Drop Schemes". Oh there is that word again. SCHEME..... You can't sound smart if you don't use that word. Go Blazers! Kjironman is a fan!!!
I'm not going to proclaim this as one of the best Blazer teams yet. Not after a hot 2nd half against a team with a depleted back court. Portland got hot at the best time of the season and ended up 12 games over .500. But before that their record was 32-28. And just two seasons ago the Blazers ended a season 24 games over .500 and made it to the WCF. Game 1 of the first round doesn't make this team better than the 2019 version; or the versions with Dame, Aldridge, and Matthews NBA windows generally seem to open and close rather quickly; a few years at most. The Walton teams were much better but the window was closed by injury. Several versions of the Drexler team were better, and their window was open for a while, but they blew opportunities. Maybe 3 of the Sabonis-Pippen-Grant teams were better, but again, blown opportunities. It could be argued that for one season the Roy-Aldridge team was better, but again, injuries. the current team offers some decent reasons to hope, but this Nuggets team is not a good test. If Blazers make it to the 2nd round and beat the Lakers or Suns, then yeah, they can start being considered one of the best; providing they can win at least 2 or 3 games in the WCF instead of getting swept
This team is too small to be truly elite--we're outsized at three positions--and some past Blazers teams 76-78, 1990-3, 1998-2000 have been. We also lack depth and aren't that good at defense #understatement. I think of the current team as a "glass cannon", which is a term used in some video games... meaning a character that can do a lot of damage but dies pretty easily. That's how I see this team: we're dangerous but fragile. I think we're good, and if things break well (like our current matchup) things can go well for us. It's a fun team to watch. But while I admire your enthusiasm and optimism, I just don't agree we're one of the best Blazers teams ever.
This is incorrect. There is a thread stating that this was the worst blazer team of my lifetime. I’m not old enough for it to be the worst blazer team ever. Also, Neil must have agreed because he made a pretty substantial trade.
This thread says "one of the best Blazer teams he's seen in his lifetime".....and the Adelman connection in the thread really coincides with how I look at Stotts....I think he and Adelman were very similar in their approach to coaching....I loved the Walton team and Drexler team as well but to me with Nurk back and Powell added, this group is special....our bench destroyed Denver's bench in game one....if we stay together I still think we can beat anyone and I think we have the best leader in the game
If it was realistic he wouldn't have lied about Stotts so gratuitously. Lots of text, lots of little lies. True Portlander I assume.
It's a three man bench. His usage of the bench has been pretty awful for a number of players over the years. He ran the team into the ground in WCF in 2019, but no one likes to remember that. No one likes to remember Dame not even able to stay behind a painted line because his legs were giving out and because not enough oxygen was going to his brain. That overtime game was pure luck that Denver also chose to play in such terms. Had Stotts decided to bring some energy, two of those overtimes wouldn't have happened.
Bones, how can you say they Have The Most Stagnant Offense in the League? I know you have some decent round ball knowledge and insight but that statement? I think you are probably talking about P&R/P&R/P&R and sure they do that a lot as do many other teams. However, they also now have weapons besides Dame & CJ and they are passing the ball around more. I will agree they get stagnant if Dame slowly brings the ball up and allowing D to get set. I think if you look at their offensive ranking they are more than decent and at times simply potent.
Literally ranked second in offensive efficiency. https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/offensive-efficiency But FiRe sTottS! WTF?
Sounds like you have a problem with someone being from Portland. Sorry but most Blazer Fans are from Portland. Try to keep up here. You do understand Portland is one of the very best cities in the country for a whole bunch of reasons.
