Just watched their 1hour special on the limited schedule dates that were released and the question was, "Who can compete with the Lakers out west OKC, Dallas,SA, or maybe eve Portland?" (Take this for what it's worth considering the sources) but Craig Sager said..... People are forgetting the Blazers, they have enough talent and toughness thanks to their coach Nate McMillan to compete with LA, also the Mathews pickup was nice. Chris Webber said....... I agree, watch out for Portland. There coached great, they play great D, they control the pace of the game, they have a superstar in Roy and most important, THEY PLAY DEFENSE... from Przy, to Oden to the French guy! I hope they are healthy enough to see them challenge LA. Sager- The past 2 seasons we all said this team has to rely on Greg's health, but now they have Camby! He solidified there D last year.... very deep team!
I think he was recalling the end of the season interviews with GO and saying Oden needs to watch out for French Fries.
It kind of caught me offgard when Sager said it. Webber I could see because I have grown to respect his work on TNT. (Way better than Charles) But for some reason I was kind of surprised by Craig. I guess it is because I really have never heard him comment on anything other than asking questions in an interview. Good to see a little Blazer Love.
Time for the Blazers to nut up now, and follow through with all these expectations that these 'experts' think we can do. I think last season, most of the ESPN analysts picked the Blazers to win the NW Division title. I just hope for the team's sake that we can prove what a lot people think we can do instead of just talking about our potential all the time.
I thought most picked Denver after they reached the western finals the year before. In any event this year it will be a little bit more split between OKC, Portland, Utah, and Denver. They are all getting some love.
A healthy Portland team is the only team out West that will have any chance of beating the Lakers in a playoff series in 2011.
I have higher hopes this season then last mostly because of how tough the team showed itself when everyone was going down with injuries. Blazers could have thrown in the towel when Pryz went down 10 games after Oden but we fought threw and still got 50 wins. So with a fully healthy team and getting Mathews and keeping Camby, this is going to be a fun season to watch.
Here's the part when they comment on the Blazers. http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2010/08/03/20100803_schedule_beat_la.nba/
First time he's ever given an opinion, other than a postgame negative question to Sheed once that made Sheed turn around and walk out on national TV.
This is a British guy pretending to be a French guy. That's like Joel Freeland pretending he is Nicolas Batum. This guy you DO need to watch out for. [video=youtube;Z-2yMBrWnds]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-2yMBrWnds[/video]
