Three of the four most used lineups last year involved both Roy and Miller: http://www.82games.com/0910/0910POR2.HTM And they actually worked pretty well together. The two guys who didn't ever get to play together were Miller and Oden, because Nate was too dumb to try it. I've got a pretty good feeling about that one.
That was pretty sweet. Oden was such a beast before he went down, and Blake actually did do a nice job of spreading the floor. I just always felt that Miller should have had his chance to play with Oden, as he's an awesome lob passer. I'm more excited about this single aspect coming into next season than anything else. I just can't wait to see what Miller and Oden can do together. And the idea of Roy, Aldridge and Batum feeding on the open spaces they create--oh man oh man. The more I think about it, the more I wonder how anybody can rank this team so low.
If healthy the Blazers are one of the top 3 teams in the league. OKC is nowhere near as good as us. They don't have the necessary size to compete.
Oden has been under rated ever since his second NBA injury. That's fine let us be under the radar and then beast out on them. Unfortunately, professional scouting teams and coaches won't be fooled by dumb ass rankings. Portland IMO is a top 5 or 6 team when healthy which we will be.
I don't see why this surprises anybody. You can only have so many ho-hum years before you become a ho-hum team until you show somebody otherwise.
Well that same old Ibaka is already good. He'll be able to handle more minutes this year more than likely, which will improve those #'s. Ibaka put up gaudy rebounding numbers for the PT he played while blocking shots. Most youngsters get better in the time period before training camp too. I'm a Utah fan, and I can realize OKC is going to improve a lot, throw all hatred aside. Why can't Portland fans stop being homers and realize the same thing? I've never seen a 7-footer come back from a fractured knee cap or dislocated knee, and actually be the same player, let alone improve like many expect of Oden. Brandon Roy is injury prone too, so I would expect them to watch his minutes this year quite a bit too in attempt to keep him fresh for the playoffs.
