A solution of a different variety...

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by yenniedn, Feb 7, 2009.

  1. yenniedn

    yenniedn Transplanted Blazer Fan

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2008
    Messages:
    1,692
    Likes Received:
    323
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Occupation:
    Enterprise Software Sales
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Here are some ideas:

    How about we DON'T fire Nate.

    How about we DON'T trade Oden.

    How about we DON'T label Oden a bust.

    How about we DON'T diss Roy for being the best player on this team, even when he has off nights.

    How about we DON'T blame Batum for not already being T.Prince or Pippen at 20 yrs old.

    How about we DON'T just make any trade just for the sake of making a trade.

    and instead . . .

    How about we FIRE and/or TRADE all of the up and down, panicking, whiny-ass pansies that call themselves "fans" on this board to the Clippers, Grizzlies, Kings, Wizards, etc.???




    For the love of God, who here doesn't realize that this is, for all intents and purposes, the youngest friggin' team in the friggin' league that's playing .612 ball and currently tied for 4th in the Western Conference???

    Who here doesn't understand that it's a 82 game season full of ups and downs, whether you're a young team or a veteran one? Last I checked, the Celtics (you know, those guys defending the NBA title from last year) went through a stretch where they lost 4 straight and 7 out of 9.

    And break it down to each individual game and you'll see that almost every game has its ups and downs, changes in momentum, multiple scoring runs by either team and stretches where a team can just downright play like crap. And some nights, a team just may not "have it" and fall flat on their faces - even against inferior competition. And some times a good team can even get in a funk and not be right for weeks. To expect a team to do everything right every minute of every game, every game of an 82 game season is ignorant at best. The last team that went 82-0 was way back in . . . oh, that's right, never!

    What matters is that - despite the (lack of) experience & overall maturity, scoring droughts, defensive lapses, bad officiating, questionable play calling, questionable coaching and whatever else you want to throw in there - you score more points than the other team when the final clock hits 0:00. And this year, these young Blazers have been able to accomplish that 30 times and failed only 19 times. Only about 8 or 9 teams can say they've done better than that.

    Get a grip people. The way some people here live and die with every game is, for a lack of a better word, idiotic. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Do you want to have this Blazers team even with its pros and cons . . . or would you rather be, say, a Wizards fan? There are no perfect franchises - but there's so much more positive here than there are negatives and it's annoying as all Hell to have a handful of bitches piss all over this team every fucking chance they get.

    Who here honestly thought that this team was seriously and realistically going to contend for a title THIS YEAR? I'd love to see some hands raised if you thought this Blazers team would be NBA Champs this year. If you thought this was "our year," then you're serious homer that no one can talk any sense into. You're probably better off bandwagoning the Lakers, Cavs or Celtics at this point.

    As for the more sane and reasonable people remaining, everything that this (again, YOUNG) team is doing is AT LEAST meeting the expectations of anyone with an inkling of common sense. If you can't be happy with a young team meeting/exceeding their expectations, at least give them the credit they deserve for where they stand right now - which is 4th in the West! Have a little faith. Have a little patience in a team that is being built to win big in the very near future - but probably not THIS very season!

    Enjoy the team's talent, wins and overall success - it's a lot more than we've had over this past half decade and a helluva lot more than 2/3rds of the other teams in the league right now.

    /rant
     
    HailBlazers likes this.
  2. free_lafrentz

    free_lafrentz Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2009
    Messages:
    474
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Occupation:
    student
    Location:
    Eugene
    thank you. repped.

    For every "panic" thread someone posts on this forum we ought to counter it with something like this.

    I heard from one of my friends back east that Portland has the "most annoying" fans in the NBA. He went to a Knicks game against Portland. He sat next to two blazer maniacs and all they did was complain.

    Enjoy the ride a little.
     
  3. HailBlazers

    HailBlazers RipCity

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Messages:
    19,974
    Likes Received:
    17,185
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    PDX

    Seriously it must be due to our lack of other pro sports. People are acting like they bet the 401K on every game. I enjoyed last season more than any in a long time, and that included watching them lose, because they were still exciting to watch. This year has only gotten better. We've had some real quality wins against tough teams all while the Western conference is crazy competitive. On any given night we can dominate or lose. The drama really has fit the bill. At every turn something unforeseen has happened in the development of this team. Its exciting, intriguing, and it's only just begun!

    To all the little children: You can't bake a cake and eat it too!
     
  4. roydezlaw

    roydezlaw Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    437
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Hmmm...I wonder if he was sitting next to Mixum or Shooter or maybe Eric?
     
  5. Ghost Pepper

    Ghost Pepper Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    1,610
    Likes Received:
    18
    Trophy Points:
    38
    I think there has to be an agreed upon middle ground between growing pains of a young team and a loss of direction at the helm.

    B Roy, LA and Outlaw have saved this team more often than not with pure talent. I'm not sure that's the same as well coached and able to execute on the next level to make a playoff run. I believe a team should have a coaches signature on it. I don't know what that is with Nate. Do any of you? It's not defense, the offense is basically who's hot, and jump shots ,and it appears to me more often than not the substitutions seems routine rather than well planned.

    Yes this team is very young and much of this learning curve is expected but do you see this team as a whole getting better or do you see certain players getting better?

    Before most games you hear how the team spent the prior practice working on defense and then like last night the other teams beats the crap out of us in the paint. That's concerning, because many of the other teams points often go completely unchallenged.

    So I guess the question is when is a happy medium to push a panic button?
     
  6. yenniedn

    yenniedn Transplanted Blazer Fan

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2008
    Messages:
    1,692
    Likes Received:
    323
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Occupation:
    Enterprise Software Sales
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Seriously, some people just are never happy. You come into a season with a certain level of expectations and when they see the team meeting their expectations, they jack it up to some retarded level so as to become disappointed because the team isn't smashing everyone, every night. Coming into this year, I figured this was a good team that would make the playoffs but would really need some time to pull it together before becoming serious contenders. Sure enough, they're pulling it together pretty well. Of course, it'll come with some setbacks and lapses. But they're exceeding my expectations. I'm not about to revise my expectations to being a #1 or #2 seed in the West and winning the title because it just isn't realistic. If it happens, that's beyond awesome - I just don't expect to so I don't piss myself everytime there's a little bump in the road.

    You're probably right - they're the only team in town so they'll be scrutinized to no end. I think even if Portland ever got another pro team, there'll be the same bullshit here.

    I'm honored you took me off your ignore list to bless this thread with a reply. Just the mere fact of you mentioning a "panic button" speaks to where you're at. There's very little to no reason for this team to be "panicking" at this juncture. Granted the West playoff race is tight but we're still in fourth and several of the teams below us are either walking wounded (Utah & Houston), on the verge of being dismantled (Phoenix) or just as or more inconsistent than we are (Dallas). The team we're tied with is currently without their best player, which is a much more significant hit to them than us not having Blake. So tell me, why panic? Why even think about panicking?
     
  7. oldmangrouch

    oldmangrouch persona non grata

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2008
    Messages:
    12,403
    Likes Received:
    6,325
    Trophy Points:
    113
    "Happy medium". That's a good term for it.

    I understand why people get upset with the "ohmygawd trade everybody!!!" threads. On the flip side, some of us are equally annoyed with the "we have the 12 best players in the NBA and should never, ever make any trades!" rhetoric.

    People need to both stop panicing AND stop pretending that this team is a finished product.
     
  8. DaRizzle

    DaRizzle BLAKER

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    9,631
    Likes Received:
    104
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Torrance, CA
    good rant yenniedn...you layed it out pretty well but I donk know if it will work...

    I tried(link) :devilwink:
     
  9. Ghost Pepper

    Ghost Pepper Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    1,610
    Likes Received:
    18
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Panic for me is when our "DEFENSIVE COACHED" team in another month continues to be torched in the paint every night like last night, and the Dallas game before, and so on and so on. If this continues for another month three things will have happened...

    Teams will simply know where to attack us and our losses will mount up in a hurry. The west as we all know is to tight for a skid of any duration. We then don't make the playoffs ,and Greg, LA and ROY are still looking like they don't know how to play with one another. That's NOT what I want to see happen, yet I feel it could swing that way in a hurry now that every team in the NBA knows that we can't defend at all! The strangest part for me is that Oden was drafted to bring us that toughness in the middle on defense.


    Panic is not for me, but for the Blazer organization trying to build something in Portland to quick to fast. They're the ones talking playoffs not me. I'd be just as happy letting Oden, ROY and LA have a new offense created for them and let them implement it all year long so next year they are killing teams. I see no great offense for these three here, so making the playoffs seems very shortsided to me when our foundation is in this much flux.

    New offense, new coach and build the foundation right! The rest will follow.
    Imagine how crazy everyone will be if this team doesn't make the playoffs this year and Oden doesn't look like a franchise center by June?
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2009
  10. C_note

    C_note Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    650
    Likes Received:
    124
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Nah, Oden is clearly a bust. I say we trade him for a goat, then shoot the goat...
     
  11. LameR

    LameR Ha Seung-Jin Approved!

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2005
    Messages:
    2,175
    Likes Received:
    137
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    Soccer Coach
    Location:
    Cincinnati
    But...but...the logic!? Nice thread.
     
  12. GODunk

    GODunk Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2008
    Messages:
    58
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    8
    We can't have a common sense approach, now can we. I say we shouldn't make a trade unless someone absolutely knocks our socks off. We don't need role players on the level of Nocioni. I hope if we do a trade it is someone that can provide the third scoring threat we need.
     
  13. yenniedn

    yenniedn Transplanted Blazer Fan

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2008
    Messages:
    1,692
    Likes Received:
    323
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Occupation:
    Enterprise Software Sales
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Thanks, Rizzle - looks like you beat me to the punch by about three months!

    Once again, you prove yourself to be one of the most knowledgeable Blazer fans in here . . . oh wait . . .
     
  14. bigbailes

    bigbailes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    2,551
    Likes Received:
    1,613
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Laredo, TX
    i agree with everything you wrote, except the nate stuff. i think he was great for purging us of the jailblazers but his days are numbered here.
     
  15. MrJayremmie

    MrJayremmie Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    3,438
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I'm not a fan of the bitching and the up-and-down/the sky is falling rants on this board, but honestly, threads and posts complaining about people that are complaining are getting nearly as annoying as the real thing.
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2009
  16. LittleAlex

    LittleAlex Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    2,824
    Likes Received:
    54
    Trophy Points:
    48
    I think fans wondering and complaining about the team allowing opponents to shoot over 55% in the first quarter of almost every single game they have played is only natural. If it happens once or twice, then you just chalk that up to "it wasn't Portlands night". When it happens 90% of the time, then it is a real problem.

    Right now Portland has a very real issue, and some folks have different opinions on how to address that issue. Some folks want to wait and see. Some folks want to blow up the whole team. Most people are somewhere in the middle (like me).

    If this trend continues, Portland will have to do something about it. Since you can't fire players, the coach is the most natural change to make. I would say Nate's job depends on him getting his team to play defense for the first 12 minutes of the game. If he can't do that by the end of the year, then he needs to be let go.
     

Share This Page