What constitutes being a "Fan"? A Jerry McGuire Moment........

The team is good. It can be improved. These aren't incompatible concepts. Players should be developed AND players should be traded.

Also, I hate to inform some people of this, but the Portland Trailblazers aren't a cake. They're a professional sports team, made up of varyingly good players. Sports teams are handled differently than cakes.

 

Yes. What he said! It is a bit ridiculous that you can have people go from "we're going to the championship" to "this team sucks, fire this guy, trade that guy". If a poster is going to be that radical, at least be consistent.

 

basically your are either in the "wait till nextyear KP club" OR the "make the playoffs now and start becoming winners again club"


6 years is long enough to be out of teh playoffs. thats sad for a organization who was in 21 years straight.

if you think these guys can make the playoffs and just start winning playoff games...you are deeply mistaken. YOU NEED EXPERIENCE IN POST SEASON PLAY

 

That is exactly my point right there. Nobody with any common sense thought at the beginning of the season we were going to make noise in the playoffs. (Sorry if you thought this or still do) In my opinion, we are a couple seasons from contending. So these ups and downs of the season that the youngest team in the league are having, came as no surprise. I thought we would squeek into the playoffs and win a game or two, but we need to build team chemistry and acquire some experience. MIX if you realize this team needs to gain so much experience, why re you so down on them?

 

Bodyman... I think Nate is a brilliant coach. Absolutely amazing. Look at our lineup. Blake, probably shouldn't be starting in NBA. Roy... Allstar... enough said. Batum... give me a break. Aldridge is good... but has weaknesses. Oden has been not so hot. So given that lineup... name a coach who would have this team with a better record right now... or win 13 straight last year. I don't think there is one. We are playing way over our heads in my opinion... and Nate is the reason.

 

dont leave us hcp! I noticed you have posted less...major bummer

 

It's all fun and games until someone steals your cake, and then moves it to Oklahoma City.

 

Agreed. In the back of my head (the homer part of my head), I had dreams of being this year's New Orleans, a team that comes out of nowhere to become a very legitimate contender. Realistically, however, that is a pipe dream.

As others have said, Oden is coming back from surgery and considerable time away from playing basketball. Strike 1, he is going to be rusty. Strike 2, he is playing against a level of competition that he has never faced before. Strike 3, the reffing and rules in the NBA are different than in lower levels. This is a development, learning and get the rust out year for Greg.

Webster getting hurt put a major crimp in things at the SF position. There are many camps out there about SF but I think, of the people we have, Martell is the best starting quality SF Portland has.

We are giving significant time to three rookies; Oden, Batum and Fernandez. Batum already wrote about the "rookie" wall in his blog and I'm sure the others have/do face it to a degree at various times.

Our depth has proven to be somewhat a chimera and, as evidenced by the numerous "trade XXX" or "XXX Sucks!" posts, there has been much dissatisfaction with how some of the reserves (and/or starters) have played.

In short, the cake is baking and as it does so, it gives KP and management more insight into team needs, both short and long term. I appreciate that KP isn't a Trader Bob, making trades, seemingly just to make trades at times but that he seems to carefully consider options and gets the most bang-for-the-buck whenever a move is made.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Blazer trade mid-year, but then again, if the right deal/deals do not materialize, I also would not be surprised if nothing is done before the trade deadline.

Gramps...

 

It was a joke whether intended or not.

 

It will be faster to name THE coach who wouldn't have a better record with this team. Mo Cheeks.


Hey, didn't we have that guy too?

 

I think Paul was the over-the-top component.

No-one on the Blazers is playing at an MVP level, so New Orleans isn't a very good comparison. I think that the championship Pistons are probably a better touchstone for this particular team. Or maybe a much better version of those Memphis playoff teams under Hubie Brown.

 

Some of the gripes have merit.

Nate McMillan is a horrible offensive X's and O's coach. I'd go as far to say that he's as bad, if not worse, than Mo Cheeks in that area. Offensive mastermind he is not.

Greg Oden doesn't even look half decent. Not even close. I know he's coming off an injury but it's just basketball. It's not that hard. Remember, Greg, it's a childs game! quit acting like it's the hardest thing to do in the world. A lot (ok, most) of his fouls are straight up bone headed.

I can only imagine how much more developed the players would be if we had a decent coach. Nate's more of a motivator than he is a head coach.

 

I'm looking forward to you suiting up for tomorrow night's game and showing us all how it's done, then.

 

You've pretty much nailed it. I usually watch for the usernames. It's not scientific, but I keep it in mind when reading.

There's a group of very positive people, and a group of very negative people.

The positive people WILL NOT listen to any complaints about certain people. (Read: Travis Outlaw, Nate, maybe Greg and LMA). This team is going to win it, as they are now. They're on their way to a championship very quickly, and every win shows why. If they win one where they dominate, it shows they're dominant. If they win one where they play poorly, well that's what champions do. If they lose, it's because they're tired (have you seen the schedule to start the season? OMG!), or had one bad game, or the refs stole it from them.

The negative people WILL NOT listen to defense of the things that are wrong (Read: Travis Outlaw, Nate, Sergio, maybe Blake and Greg). This team needs to make changes, and NOW. The cake is done baking. A few trades need to happen. Bayless will fix all PG problems and is a great defender and needs to start NOW. Fire Nate today, trade Travis for a chicken pot pie if necessary. Oden gets a little longer, but it's obvious he's not going to be dominant, just servicable. This team will not win a title unless we get a better [PG/SF/backup PF/coach] and there's no point in waiting any longer to make changes.

Those are intentionally-comically-stereotypical summaries, and different people will have different nuances of those arguments. I could place explicit usernames next to each of those groups, but the goal is not to call people out. But instead to simply remind everyone that individual fans are not bi-polar; the louder ones simply pipe up based on the current play of the team.

It's very much like watching Democrats and Republicans. The middle ground is lost because the outliers are yelling.

 

I like "bi-polar" fans . . . it makes the board interesting.