Some support for "pessimistic" posters:

Questions and answers at Blazers Edge http://www.blazersedge.com/2011/6/2...-june-30th-2011-semi-cranky-edition#storyjump

"Why are you so negative about the team all of a sudden?

Sigh... I hate this kind of thing. When you say something that goes against the grain to the positive people call you a homer fan optimist. When you say something that goes against the grain the other way people call you a negative-Nelly pessimist. Trying to attribute statements you don't agree with to somebody's emotional state or slapping them with a broad (and untrue) label just seems...silly.

Here's the deal: When Charlotte had Raymond Felton I figured he was a serviceable guard but did not go gaga over his contributions or where he led the team. Neither did Charlotte, as they traded him to New York. When New York got Raymond Felton I did not think he was going to lift them to the next level. He did well there, but ultimately the Knicks agreed because they traded him to Denver. When Felton came to Denver I did not think he was going to revolutionize their roster and style of play. Neither did they, as they traded him to Portland. Now that he's come to Portland my assessment of him is supposed to change, just because he's a Blazer now? He's the same guy he always was: a good, not great, point guard with some legit skills and equally legit flaws. How is that any more negative of an assessment than I had six months ago, other than not automatically buying into the company line that the Blazers have finally found their PGOTF...rather needing to see it happen on the court first? In fact it's not that much more of a negative assessment than I had of Andre Miller's future in Portland, which I deemed short despite his generally good play and plenty of protests to the contrary.

Continuing: If the Sacramento Kings were sporting a Top 8 of Aldridge, Wallace, Matthews, Felton, Camby, Batum, Roy, and Oden my assessment would be that they could be scary if they ever got fully healthy but that was probably not going to happen so they'll be a nice enough team that probably will bow out in the early playoff rounds again. I'd probably opine that to change their fate they either needed a recovery miracle or a solid kick in the pants roster-wise. None of the moves on draft day would qualify as a kick in the pants. Again...I'm supposed to change that assessment just because the uniforms say "Portland" and not "Sacramento"? That would be disingenuous. Nor is it that negative of an evaluation given the circumstances. Nobody said the Blazers would stink. They just didn't make enough of a move to change their probable destiny, leaving themselves relying on Roy and Oden again.

Why don't you like Nolan Smith?

OK, you can stop now. Really.

Nobody dislikes Nolan Smith. Before anointing him as the Next Great Get (or even a solid rotation player) we need to see how Smith is different than Sebastian Telfair, Jarrett Jack, Jerryd Bayless, Sergio Rodriguez, Petteri Koponen, and perhaps Elliot Williams...all of whom were first-round point or combo-guard picks and none of whom have stuck with the team (or in the case of Williams, played for the team) so far. This organization has a history of picking point guards who don't pan out. The onus is on them and Smith to show that this time is different.

 

I can share a little bit of Dave's "pain." His assessment of the team's prospects has flattened and even nosed down a bit and the sunshine pumpers are letting him hear about it.

Similarly, I'm definitely pessimistic about this team's fortunes and have been for about a year and a half (strangely coincident with Greg's knee exploding against Houston) but ask anybody who's "known" me at various message boards for awhile and they should concede that I haven't always been down on the team ... in fact I used to be pretty optimistic about their chances, but facts and momentum change and when I started to see those changes I pointed them out -- much to the chagrin of many of you I know.

Unfortunately not much has changed lately to sway me from the impression that the team is on somewhat steady downward arc. Certainly we've added some nice players in Matthews, Miller (adieu) and Wallace, but each feels a little bit like patching a slowly sinking boat with bubble gum when key pieces like Brandon and Greg have foundered so badly and the owner appears increasingly unstable.

Who knows, maybe we'll see a drastic reversal of fortune in the next year or two, but I'm with Dave, the onus is on "them" to show that this time is different.

 

It almost seems as if that post is all about the "stop labeling me i'm tired of being labeled one way or the other". He made good points but underlying it was the fact he isn't homer and is proud of that. Good for him.
I'm a homer and will always be one, its just how my brain works if thats not how yours is set up well then I may disagree with you on points and your going to disagree with me on points. Thats what makes basketball talk fun, its mostly hypothetical. People tend to get really annoyed because they are one extreme or the other and if you don't agree with them they'll call you out about it, if you don't like that then you probably shouldn't be posting your opinions on a website.

 

Seriously, it's melodramatic crap like this that annoys people. So our billionaire owner is finding a hard time getting the right fit for GM of his team. Big deal, he's entitled to make employee changes as often as he sees fit. That in no way makes him "unstable". Does it make him hard to work for? Apparently - at least for the guy in that position. But for god's sake, being picky doesn't make someone unstable.

 

Cha didn't trade felton, dave

 

I don't mean unstable in the "lock him up in a padded room" way, I mean he's very erratic with his front office.

If there's one constant with winning organizations vs. organizations that struggle to maintain any sort of momentum it appears to be the level of consistency and vision that an owner displays; an apparent inability to hire the right guy and swapping out GMs like underwear is symptomatic of somebody without much patience and probably not much vision.

 

It's interesting that in the two most important positions for a basketball organization, general manager and point guard, we have had the least stability and continuity.

 

I heard we're trading for Chris Paul.

 

I'll agree in part with this, but if there are good players and good coaching none of that matters. And we obtained good players, but due to injuries the team wilkl never reach its potential. Nonetheless, mostly our second team and a good and stable coaching staff has made the playoffs 3 years running. In my 35 years of being an NBA fan, no team has gone what we have injury wise and made the playoffs 3 years running. None.

How bad can we really be?

 

One of the guys responsible for keeping the team afloat just got traded for a player many of us are unimpressed with. Another (Camby) looks like he is reaching the end of the trail. The team has gone from 54 wins to 48 wins, and could well slip another notch.

How bad can the team really be? Maybe not 50-loss-season bad, but not get-excited-good either.

 

Maybe so, but I'm happy to see us make the playoffs and I'm sure we will this next season (whenever that may be). A consistent playoff team is hard to build.

 

He certainly weakened his argument by using the route of who had already traded the guy instead of using statistics and analysis; I don't think he is trying to attack the trade, just not something to be excited about. I don't really have a problem with him being kind of a blowhard,he seems to put a lot of work into the site and it does have some useful information.

 

Is this a playoff team next year? I'm not really that sure. If Aldridge can pull off "beast mode" for a full season, averaging 24/9, then yeah. Or if Batum or Matthews or Felton can give us a quantum leap in productivity, sure. Or if Williams or Smith turn out to be Michael Redd-like non-lotto heists, definitely. Or if Oden can stay healthy for half a year, definitely. But it seems to me there are just as many (more?) things that can go wrong that would derail that from happening.

Every year I tend to be much more optimistic than most, predicting 55-62 wins over the past three years. (And I might've been right every time if not for Oden/Roy knees.)

But this year I'm kind of glum. Miller won us a lot of games, and I don't see Felton replacing that productivity. I'm thinking 47 or 48 wins and an 8th seed are about what I can realistically hope for.

 

What a Gloomy City.

Summer Can't arrive fast enough.

I'm fine with Felton, Less so on Passing on Faried. But hey, lock-out happens G.O. comes back raring to go and I'll have confidence in this team, against anyone.

 

Anyone else bothered a little by that first answer . . . it sounded so patronizing to me.

Only been to BE a couple of times (linking over from this site). Good for him for being such a Blazer fanatic he spends all this time on the webstie givng Blazer fans who want it, lots of info about the Blazers.

Can't fault him for being passionate, but he does seem a little full of himself.

 

Kinda hard avoiding pessimism with how things have gone the past two seasons. The biggest contributing factors have been Greg's health and Roy's healthy, but I think a lot of things came crashing down on us. Rudy turned out to be a bust, we traded Martell for a stiff, Frye left and had a big year, Bayless was traded for a draft pick, Joel was injured twice.... it was just one thing after another.

 

I'm not optomistic or pesimistic, but I am always HOPEFULL!

This team is very good if they can get all/most of the parts playing together.

But that is true of all the teams in the NBA.

If Miami were to lose Wade to injury, they would be like Cleveland all over again.

If Orlando would lose Howard..........

If Dallas were to lose Dirk.............

If Porland gets the parts back i give them a good chance to win it all.

So I am HOPEFUL, thats all.