Dear lord I'm ready for training camp, pre-season anything!

Wow, this summer has been brutal especially on this board. It's all I can do to come here anymore because it's degenerated into an absolute complain fest. I mean with every player under the microscope for months it's gotten really bad. Apparently we have a garbage front line from what I've been reading and if Roy doesn't average 75 points per game this team is doomed.

Also if we had only drafted the Kevin's, both Love and Durant we'd obviously be winning multiple rings each and every year and only fielding 2 players.

For god sake people this is a blazer fan forum not a drunken meander down apathy lane, heading towards complete depressive meltdown way.

Man up people for god sake this team is good, we have the guys we have until Cho pulls the trigger on a trade so lets support the guys for crying out loud. Over analysis of players weakness should be saved for after the fail next season. That's what we need to save our meltdown juice for.

GO BLAZERS!

 

It is exciting knowing that they finally did the right thing in rehabbing Greg the right way to ensure he gets a long, healthy season in next year. So the air is thick as honey with anticipation of Oden and Camby being the best defensive duo we've seen since Duncan and Robinson. I think it will be something to keep souvenirs and keepsakes from, a very special defensive season that may set some records and be talked about for years to come.

Didn't I hear an ad that they are playing a fan appreciation intra-squad scrimmage? Might be exciting to see the guys get out there here and maybe see Oden match up against Camby and just see Oden hit the floor for the first time since the injury (assuming they aren't going to hold him out of a scrimmage for the fans). Should be pretty exciting.

 

Hoops? Shit man, the NFL kicks off this week.

 

USA basketball is holding me over for the time being. Im going to try and get into the NFL again this year. I've taken a 3-4 year break from giving a shit about anything football related. First fantasy football draft in 6 years tomorrow!

 

This board has been brutal because there are a lot f us who are tired of losing games to injury and then not seeing any improvement from a team that is not ever going to win a championship. We need to see some moves that will make us a contender.

 

This is the mind state that frustrates me.

 

I think you've got those. You've got rid of guys who maxed out their talent and had no basketball IQ in Webster and Outlaw and brought in Camby, Matthews and Babbitt. You've got twin towers now ala Robinson & Duncan in Oden and Camby - well enough to make the Blazers a contender. Or you can look at it as having the Sheed/Ben Wallace perfect fit of dominating defender with soft touch PF in LMA and Oden. You can look at it as having a smothering defense with Matthews, Batum, Camby and Oden on the floor for a large amount of minutes in any given game. There is any number of ways to look at the balance, depth and dynamics of the roster that would lead any Blazer fan to think they are poised right now to be a top contender and doing nothing and letting this near perfect storm gel and hit the league in full force by the playoffs.

 

+1
I feel that the only thing really keeping up from being a contender is health, if we can have a healthy team like the thunder last year... we will dominate.

 

"A complaint about the complaint box. Delicious."

And I echo nik...the NFL starts up this week. That will easily tide me over to the start of the NBA season.

 

They've been playing that intra-squad scrimmage for years now. Its called Fanfest. Where've ya been Hollinger?

 

I know, I'm stoked. My Saints kick it off against the Vikings on Thursday.

 

I hear ya. I took a 10 year break from the NFL until last year, and fantasy league is a great way to get re-acclimated. In a lot of ways, Football provides essential sports elements that are currently lacking in the NBA. The outcomes are unpredictable, the players typically give full effort, the media analysis is top-notch. Its a fantastic diversion until the NBA season really gets going. Its welcome medicine to the underwhelming hangover from Portland's last season. My draft results didnt go so hot. Hope to avoid pick 5.

 

I'm excited about the NFL season starting too! Cowboys @ Skins Sunday nite!!

I'm happy with the Blazers team we have and just feel they need to play together and stay healthy. I'm very excited about this team and am tired of whiners like BB that don't appreciate what they have!!

GO COWBOYS!!

GO BLAZERS!!

 

I have higher expectations for the Cowboys then the blazers this year. SUPERBOWL ON OUR HOME TURF HERE WE COME!

Still can't believe we were able to draft dez bryant. Got high high hopes for that kid.

 

[video=youtube;HofoK_QQxGc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HofoK_QQxGc&feature=related[/video]

 

I'm not saying they usually don't rehab the correct way, I'm just saying they did a superb job to ensure a perfect recovery.

Remember he was injured way back in December of 2009, and a good number of teams would have put him on the fast-track to attempt to get him back in time for a deep playoff run had they actually gotten deep in the playoffs as the medical range on the injury was that he might be able to play on the knee with a brace at some point in the playoffs.

The medical staff took a completely different route and decided to send Greg back to Indiana where he could go home and begin a very strict rehab schedule being told what he could do by when, all in the comfort of his old home being taken care of by his mother, and not going out clubbing and in the spotlight back in Portland.

They additionally made a great choice to set a very long-term 10 month timeline up to make sure he had the full time needed to rehab and no reason to rush him back. So they've not advanced him into the next phase of each recovery until 150% of the recovery time for each phase as to ensure he's not putting any excess stress beforehand in any way. Then just to add one last great move, they've saved the mental aspect to Greg by completely leaving the timeline and recovery info as confidential and not leaking one piece of it to the media and they aren't letting anyone give any specifics on it. So nobody can judge how it's going or what he's doing because it is all happening behidn closed doors.

So it was one of the most brilliant rehab jobs I've seen so he'll be coming out of this thing in October with the timeline 100% complete and he'll be 103% physically healed (as far as the patella) and he'll be at least 95% mentally ready to go. So one of the best rehab assignments I've seen a medical staff and front office do in years. Should pay huge dividends for Oden and the team this season.

 

Really depends on how our OL holds up. Preseason doesn't mean much, but we didn't do very well even when the starters were in. Skins game will say a lot. We need a win bad, a loss and I think we are going to have a lot or problems this season. What sucks is you never know when it's a Cowboy/Skins game.

 

I think I am being fairly realistic about the Blazers. We have some excellent players, that if healthy, have an outside chance of competing for the championship. But, that does not mean that there are not still problems with the Blazers, as with every team. Really, the one big issue is PG. Miller is a very good PG, so this is not a knock on him, but he iw just the wrong type of PG for the Blazers.

The blazers have potentially one of the best defensive front courts with a rotation of Oden, Camby, LMA, Batum, Przybilla, etc. The Blazers should be willing to sacrifice defense from the PG spot in exchange for 3pt shooting and assists. Miller has the assists, and he can take it to the hole, but with Greg et.al. back this season I think that there will be less opportunity for to take it to the hoop.

And if the Blazers are not able to get their hands on a top flight PG, I think we need to make a trade with the Twolves and pick up luke ridnour on the cheap. He would be a great backup to Miller and could be switched in for certain situations.