there is some luck of the draw to NBA success regarding health. If last year Portland had James Jones totally healthy for most of the year instead of sort of healthy for half would they have only won 41 games? Now they've switched out Jones and Jack for Rudy Greg Batum & Bayless and (minus Webster to injury) everyone else is another year along into their young careers. As for last year's team chemistry, how long was Jones there before? So far this very young team has been smoking hot going 17-10 against a who's who of contenders with 16 of those games coming on the road. Of course there are scenarios where things (injuries and whatnot) could conspire to derail the club, but the playoffs that many of us predicted look to be likely... in fact they look like they're very likely to be hosting the first round. Injuries happen to every player so obviously a team's record might not be all that it could without it reflecting real failure of the players. DaRizzle is playing the Devil's Advocate arguing the realistic worse case... not the most likely STOMP
