It seems like so many feel we will still miss the playoffs..why?

I feel like everyday i read at least 1 article saying the blazers need oden to be special to get to the playoffs. I mean i think he helps but nobdoy is gonna convince me that dallas, denver, Sac, GS are better then portland. I know injurys happen but if we stay fairly healthy...it would be a disgrace if we missed teh post season. I just dont understand where these writes think we are still a lotto team?

 

cause were a young team that is plagued with injuries in a deep western conference. 8th seed at best. if we do better, id be extremely surprised.

 

At this pace I think the Blazers will outpreform most peoples expectations. The Mavs and Spurs could be firmly entrenched behind us in the standing by the time they get their acts together. The reason some people aren't predicting the playoffs is because in this world you haven't made it till you can prove it. For that reason and that reason alone other teams get mentioned above the young up and coming Trail Blazers. IMO Rudy alone gets us another 6 wins or so when adding him to last years team, add the developement of Outlaw, Webster, Sergio, Roy, Lamarcus and that should be 8 wins. Add on a half healthy Greg Oden and I expect us to finish the season with around 54 wins. The great thing about the Blazers is this team has chemistry. We haven't even used our starting lineup in the regular season with Oden only playing 1 1/2 games and Webster being out all season so far. Barring and major injuries to ROY, (we can survive any other injury IMO) we will make the playoffs.

 

I think that what we will see this year is the West will be top heavy, not as competitive in the bottom 4 teams that make the playoffs. But I agree, that as above, many members of the media are in the "Show me you deserve to be in the playoffs" boat. In other words: Prove it.

The Blazers are playing great right now. The question is, how will they handle it when a losing streak comes up? Because it will.

Also we are still waiting for Brandon Roy to play a whole season without missing a major portion unhurt. I am hopeful, with the additional guard talent brought on this year, that will happen.

 

"We," lol.

Transparent phony.

 

No disrespect, but barring an injury to a key guy, when do you see us having a bad losing streak? We just got past LA, SA, Suns, Rox and Utah at 2-3. How can it get tougher than that?

 

Because mixum is having a mixum moment.

 

When the team happens to play poorly for a few weeks. It happens to most teams.

 

Am I the only one who feels like the Blazers are doing better than expected? I figure a play off team just needs to win at home and win on the road against the weaker teams. That will give you a pretty good record.

Since the Laker beating the team has looked pretty good. They're undefeated at home and have picked up some road wins that I didn't expect. I'm thrilled they're above .500 right now, this group has a tendency to start slow (remember last season, how long did it take them to get a road win?). Looking back I don't even think the Laker game was that bad. I think the Lakers had the whole summer to stew on how they rolled over in the finals and have come out this season with a mission.

The Blazers are in a different place, we're just starting our play off journey. I really think they'll get in but they definitely won't have home court. It'll be great experience to build on but I would be shocked to see them get out of the first round. I think we just need to step back, let it happen, and enjoy the ride. I love bringing Greg off the bench. When I watch him he looks like he's trying too hard and when he gets some minutes he'll work himself into the team and the game. This is a good team even without Greg!

 

Because this is the toughest stretch schedule wise of the season and we seem to be doing alright so far.

 

seems more like an anti-mixum moment

 

Don't be try'n to knock off my rose colored glasses!

I think we're deep enough that we (hopefully) won't have a long stretch where we play poorly. That's my story, and I'm stick'n to it.

 

Exactly, in fact, I think this might benefit the Blazers in the long run. They're proving they're for real without Greg. Greg is going to continue to get more and more comfortable on the floor. He may not be an "offensive threat" this year but we've got plenty of other options and the guy is a work horse. You know he's going to be spending his off seasons working on getting better.

By the end of the season we'll be playing at home more, hopefully Greg will be worked into the starting line up by then (if not, oh well, he'll get there eventually), and we'll be peaking at just the right time for the play offs. I'm going with the what doesn't kill you makes you stronger thing and so far it's working out okay.

 

I personally think that Blazers can make the playoffs this season even if Oden doesn't play a single game. Without Oden, we are a damn good team on the rise. With Oden, I don't know. Haven't seen him play enough. Remember- our team won 13 games in a row last season. We have a very capable team.

As for the Spurs, I expect them to finish above us. It's way to early to right off a team that is as good as they are when healthy. The Mavs are another story. I think we can finish ahead of them. But they haven't had Josh Howard so far this season, have they? Why is he missing games? Remember, when thinking about SA and Dallas' slow starts, that the 2006-07 Mavs started 0-4 and they still ended up winning 67. And remember how mediocre Utah and Houston were for the first third of the season? And then they zoomed right past us.

Anyway, all of that said, I believe the Blazers will make the playoffs this season.

 

That's true, especially for a young team but I didn't expect them to bounce back from the Laker beat down like they did. They were dominated and I was worried that would kill their confidence and we'd have a losing streak right off the bat. I think that would've happen if it was last season. They surprised me and came out against the Spurs like the 1st game hadn't happened. I can see that these guys are starting to believe in themselves.

 

You're not alone, I figured there was a better than average chance we'd be 2-6 at this point in the season.

 

You're not the only one. I'm really happy with the team's start. I thought there was a chance the team could have been buried early. Instead, with the exception of the Lakers game, they've basically been competitive against everyone and won a fair amount.

That's the formula...win 'em all at home and split on the road!

 

I don't think this squad can win 50 games and I don't think less than that will get us in the playoffs. I do feel we will battle till the end for the 8th spot. Denver getting Billups could be the nail in our playoff coffin. That was the guy I wanted.

 

Howards only missed one game this season. He's been there, he's not the reason they're not winning.

 

Thanks for the info about Howard. So they're just bad then. It's early though. We'll see what happens.