Most pleasing development(s) this season?

I thought about turning this into a poll, but that's pretty limiting, but anyway, after clearing the haze induced by witnessing too many injuries and a lot of battered expectations, what do you think will be the one or two pleasant surprises you take away from this season?

For me, it won't be the scoring explosions of Jerryd Bayless, the sublime 31/7/7 game of Nic Batum, nor even Miller's 52 point outburst against the Mavs. Once the season is over, I think I'll look back and the play of Dante Cunningham will stick with me the most; he's never going to be a star, he'll probably never even be a starter, but with that sweet mid range jumper, heady defense, toughness and ability to play two positions at a reasonable level, all as a rookie, I get the feeling he's going to be a pivotal part of the Blazers rotation for years to come as a sort of glue guy off the bench -- exactly the kind of player any team with championship aspirations needs rounding out their 6th-9th spots.

 

The mature nature of this team and them starting to transform from a potential, potential, potential team to a long-term very good team that knows how to win and expects to do so.

You look at the very pleasing 2008-2008 team - like this team it played a lot without Oden, but unlike this year's team - it actually had a good center for most of the year (in Pryzbilla) - and yet, this team just knows how to win despite the fact that the overall talent is about the same when you actually consider available bodies for games.

This team is mentally tough, some of it are the vets, some of it are the maturing young stars and some of it is overall "culture" that was discussed ad-naseum over the years, The management group, the coaching staff and the players are just prove that all the "culture" talk was not just empty talk. They might not be considered tough by some - but how can any team that endured as much hardship as this team endured this year win as often as they did. They are becoming tough, hard nosed - even if they are still not as consistent doing it as we expect them to be.

I think it is pretty clear, seeing that - that this team has the talent and the toughness to be a contender given a slightly less disastrous injury year.

That team (2007-2008) went 41-41 and you got a feel that they overachieved. This team is on pace to 47-49 wins - and they are not happy about it.

 

I'm not sure Dante's play was the most pleasing development to me, it sure was the least expected though.

I'd have to go with Nic coming back from shoulder surgery with such a vengeance. I just can't keep my eyes off him when he plays (much like Oden).

Bayless doubling his PER is a close second.

Also, KP showing he WILL trade favourites if it's a deal that makes sense.

I sort of expected this from Miller (not the 52 of course), it was only a development after seeing how McMillan struggled to use him early.

 

I don't view the few stat explosions by a few players as developments. I like to think of develpments as a player showing up showing he can play in the league, or having improved their game.

IMO the only guy on the roster that fits that bill in the season so far is Cunningham. He has shown he can play in this league.

Brandon and Lamarcus - Neither player showed any improvement. SSDY. (Same shit, different year).

Rudy and Bayless-Both are just starting to get the minutes they need to improve IMO. Hopefully by year end they will gel. I have started to see some improvement from them since the trade was made.

Batum-He has shown some improvement. But his performances are sketchy. 20 one night and then several nights of not breaking 10 points. Not the pattern you want.

Webster-Fail.

 

I've got chest hair now, it makes me happy. I don't know what else I want to develop, though.

 

The continued development of Oden.

 

None. I am not pleased with the development this season. Everyone seems to have taken a step back, if not worse, across the board.

Dante is a good player, but he's just an 8th or 9th guy on the team. Getting hyped about a guy that will play 10-12 minutes a game for his career...well, it is just kind of indicative of how shitty this season is.

 

My most pleasing development is also my biggest disappointment. Greg Oden. When he was healthy he showed me he had the makings of a franchise/championship center (23 PER). Now, who knows if he can actually get there with all the injury issues, but there's at least that carrot hanging out there.

At the worst I kind of feel like he'll have a Sabonis-like impact, where he can't give you a ton of minutes and you can count on him being injured for 10-40 games/year, but the minutes he gives you are very high quality. At the very best he full recovers, puts all the injuries behind him, continues improving and we have maybe the best center in the game.

The best chance we have at a championship is still with Greg Oden. I felt that going into this season, and I still feel that way. When I put it that way, it doesn't sound like much of a development. But when you balance out yet another major injury with his fantastic on-court production improvement (a net PER improvement of 5.1), a lot has happened.

 

Oh yeah, ODEN was playing GREAT and hit a stride...then we got it YANKED and get to hear this Durant bullshit 24/7.

 

Yea the only way a championship will ever happen is if Greg steps up to be a tier 1 player IMO. We have a tier 2 player in Roy, and a bunch of role players, and even some of them aren't really good role players in my book.

 

I don't know about that. Brandon looked like an elite scorer in December. I never knew he had that kind of ability in him.

 

Healthy Oden + Roy + ANY SCRUBS = Championship Window.

 

Don't fool yourself. Elite scorers show up every night, not just a stretch of games in the middle of the season.

 

Webster = Elite Scorer in January!

 

That 25pt streak was pretty impressive, though. He just ran out of gas and got injured in January.

 

Oden, Batum and Bayless improving significantly from last season. Far and away the most pleasing developments to me.

Most disappointing was Oden's injury (of course), Aldridge stagnating and Fernandez regressing (though hopefully those last two have some non-lingering injury component).

Overall, though, the positive developments well outweigh the negative ones, for the future. Had Oden not been hurt, I think Portland would be contending for at least the #2 seed and possibly even the #1 seed.

 

Kobe has been hurt all season. Like badly hurt. Listen, I don't like the Laker, but I have to call bullshit when I see it. I call bullshit on that one.

The facts are, that the only tier 1 players in this league are Lebron, Kobe, Wade and Carmello. All of the other players in this league are a tier below them in ability. 25 point streak record? Who cares. How about averaging 26 to 29 points per game, period.

Let's take a look at the difference between an elite level scorer over the season and Roy.

We'll take the who i consider the "worst" of the guys I mentioned above, Dwayne Wade.

Brandon Roy, 50 games. 1097 points scored during the season.

Dwayne Wade. 59 games 1557 points scored during the season.

Is 9 more games played worth 557 more points scored over the season?

Brandon Roy is a tier 2 player. A good player. But do not confuse him for elite.

 

I think I was most impressed with the way the team - and I give Nate a lot of credit here - was able to keep winning games, and likely make the playoffs, after losing more players to injury than probably the whole rest of the Northwest Division this season. That's the hallmark of this season, IMHO.

A close second is how Nicolas Batum came back from injury. He's the same solid defender he was before, but is more willing to score. And I am beginning to buy him as that "third or fourth very good player" that a championship team needs.

Otherwise?

Jerryd Bayless' development is good to see, but not outstanding. He's still inconsistent, but he's making progress. About what I'd expect - not that it's a bad thing, just not a surprise.

Fernandez is coming around, and if he can be happy in Portland, I think he could be a very good sixth man for a championship-calibre team. I'm a little closer to buying that than I was a year ago.

But the positives are largely outweighed by the questions. Will Przybilla ever be the same? What about Oden? What's with Brandon Roy's hamstring? Can LaMarcus Aldridge ever be fully deserving of the #2 pick in the draft? Will the championship window ever truly open?