sorry if its been posted, I didnt see it though. Hoopsworld off-season read on Blazers. Some interesting tidbits. But nothing we dont already know, and kind of a short article http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=12691
Depends on how you define broken. Right now we are good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to get out of the first round. Next year we will probably be good enough to make the playoffs again, but without any changes we probably won't get out of the second round if we can get through the first. Our entire team isn't broken at all, but like the article says, we need an upgrade at a couple of possitions in order to take the next step.
I think they are doing it for every team. so in this case like the article said at the end "fix them with little tweaks here and there, to make them into a championship contender"
I agree halfly with your sentiments.. We got the worts possible draw of opponents that we could have in the playoffs.. if we played the Spurs, Hornets, Jazz, probably Mavericks we would have gotten 2nd round. I used to include the Nuggets in that group, but they are starting to prove me wrong that they are in that upper echelon this year. So are we contenders? no.. but we were good enough to get out of the 1st round this year.
I agree with it too. There are some upgrades to be made to help now, while transitioning our young guns liek Bayless and Batum into more consistent players, and then eventually starters.
Well, the Mavs swept us in the regular season so I'm not sure how you can include them. Utah would have been tough because they are tough to beat at home, and we probably would have lost game 1 to them also. The Nuggets would have killed us. they are so much better than we are right now. They all gelled and lifet their games for the playoffs. NO is the only team I can see that we SHOULD have beaten in the first round, and even that would have been no cake walk if healthy. SA knows how to play in th eplayoffs, and they probably would have won game 1 also.
I think the way we were playing to end the season, we would have figured out the Mavs. I agreed with your Denver comment, hence why I said I wouldnt include them. Utah sorry we would have beat they were a worse road team than we were. San Antonio knows how to play, but Duncan was on one leg, Ginobli was out, people can know how to play in the playoffs all they want, but you cant help much on one leg, or in street clothes.
Wait-a-minute. Didn't I just read that Bill Simmons says Oden shows NO promise???? Someone needs to get these writers on the same page! Gramps...
I'm not convinced the Blazers have to upgrade a couple of postions to take the next step. With such a young team and their first playoff experience, one has to figure this squad alone will get better. A high percentage of the team's players are still improving (by leaps and bounds)each year . . . not alot of other playoff teams can say that. I'm all for upgrades . . . but the Blazers will continue to get better, with or without upgrades.
PG has to upgraded for this team to do anything next season. The other possitions that needs to be upgraded are SFand back up PF. Batum is nice, but still too young. Outlaw is a scorer that does nothing else. Webster has been inconsistant throughout his career. I think the team can get by with Webster and Batum though. The other possition that absolutely needs to be upgraded is our back up 4. Frye should not be that guy. The team certainly doesn't need any major overhauling though, just some tweaks.
+1 At this point pretty much staying pat, maybe moving Outlaw/Sergio (Sergio more so) if the right deal comes along, and sign an impact player (vet, former champ) if the right one comes along seem like all that needs to be done. Bayless may be the slasher we need at point, and all our rookies are going to improve drastically next season (yes, even Rudy although probably less so). I'd say we're looking like a second round/WCF team next year as is.
I know Jason Fleming really well. He and I both covered the team at the same time for Hoopsworld. He has stuck it out, while I went on to do other things. It's a nice article, but it's pretty much everything that we have said here for the last few months.
