Man, this season sucked ass. Was it really worth it fighting to avoid a lockout? Let us count the ways this season stank: 1. Brandon being forced to retire. This would be enough for any season. While not on the level of Magic Johnson retiring because of HIV (we all thought he was a goner), and we had some idea this was coming last season, this still was a kick in the 'nads of massive proportions. 1a. Oden being waived. Again, this shouldn't've been too much of a shock, but it still hurt. It was like watching your dog being run over, thinking that he might be okay, and then watching an asteroid fall on him. 2. Felton essentially destroying the franchise I had high hopes for Felton, I really did. He won an NCAA championship. He came high-praised as a great lockerroom influence. He was almost an All-Star with the Knicks. And then he turned out to be a fat pouty loser. The fact that he's now playing actually pretty damn well is just extra hurtful. It raises the possibility that some in the organization might lobby to keep him after we fail in all our efforts to get someone better (DWill, Rondo, Dragic, hell even Sessions). Those Nate-Haters among us can at least thank Felton for getting Nate fired. 3. Crawford I never wanted us to sign Crawford, so this didn't hurt THAT much. But boy, he really proved his haters right, didn't he? Way to spoil that "local boy, Roy-buddy, turns down better offers to come home to the Northwest and carry on the Brandon legacy" storyline, Jamal. 4. That Whole Nuggets Trade Yes, Rudy got injured. But didn't that Andre-and-Rudy-and-Faried for Nolan and Felton trade suck? And not even in retrospect - everyone hated it from the beginning. I'm still vainly insisting that Faried isn't all that, but it's getting harder and harder to do. 5. The Inexplicable Collapse Seriously, WTF? We started well. We were playing well as a team DESPITE all the adversity. And then the bottom fell out. We were comically awful. Why? Why did EVERYTHING go bad at once? 6. Batum stagnating How long can we continue to insist that there's an all-star in Nic waiting to bust out? Hire somebody to slap him and tell him to fucking put the effort in. What did I miss?
You forgot about Nate being fired. But many see that as a good thing. On the bright side, we have a ton of cap space and two high draft picks. Should be a fun off-season.
Other factor: The success of Oklahoma City. Remember when they were just a lesser copy of us? They had all the luck we didn't. Do they ever even get injuries?
Step.. Away... From the Ledge http://www.kgw.com/news/Man-chased-by-police-leaps-off-downtown-building-147583385.html But Yea, it hurts to imagine what could of been: Dre Miller Roy/Mathews/Rudy Batum/Wallace LMA/Camby/Manimal Oden/Pryzbilla
I think this season was a necessary thing to go through in order for the Blazers organization and fan base to turn the page on the Roy/Oden//Aldridge Big 3 dream with McMillan as the coach who was going to take them to the promised land. Kind of like ripping a bandage off, it hurts when you do it, but it has to be done in order for healing to take place. If Roy had returned and gimped through another season and if Oden had just had some debris cleaned out of his knees rather than needing microfracture right now, the Blazers would probably have made a lower seed spot in the playoffs and been out in the first round. McMillan would still be the coach and the Blazers would likely be hoping that Roy's and Oden's knees would somehow hold up enough to allow them to play together next season with the dream of at least one title run out of that group still dangling like a carrot. Now, with all of that brushed aside and the organization probably having a couple of lottery picks and cap space to make moves next summer we can look forward to getting on with a new building plan centered around a new coach and LaMarcus Aldridge. Yeah, this year hurt, but at least it was short and now we have something more realistic to be hopeful about for next season.
Batum is a role-player, nothing more, nothing less....always has been..... So I am not too worried about that point, but the rest of the stuff is spot on.
You could argue this is the worse season ever, but I would be hard pressed to argue that the 2004-05 team was the worst ever. We have a good opportunity to turn the frown upside down if we get lucky in this lottery. We have great cap space and a good core of players for next season. We get lucky in the draft, then we have a shot at becoming considerably better in one season.
The year they only won 21 games and only got the 4th pick was worse for me (yeah they ended up getting two of the best players in the draft, but it still sucked at the time.)
Man I was at that lottery party downtown...... what a punch to the stomach to not get the #1 pick. Anybody remember the Rise With Us sign behind Wheelz feel to the ground right as we found out we got #4?
A crap season for sure, but I like answers and I think we got a few this year, so I can live with it. Hopefully we'll look back on this phase in the franchise's history and we'll see it as the "chemo-year(s)" -- a painful but necessary "treatment" for what ails the team in order to finally get healthy instead of limping along for god knows how long slowly rotting from the inside-out.
Very well said and I agree. Yes looking at it in the "now"; it sure looks like a mess. I think we may look back at this season and laugh about how terrible things were before they got better. I have a feeling that Roy may even come back after next season; which we would have an opportunity to resign. He will be over his "Amnestied contract"; so playing in Portland will not be out of the question. <--- Hoping he is a player coach.
04/05 was better for me. I felt more valued as a paying customer cause they needed to. I had more access to the team (No Comcast) and Went to considerably more games (around 20 I believe) This year I have been to 1. Seen less than 10 on TV
Remember when Bill Simmons was getting bashed here for thinking that OKC had a better future than Portland a few years ago? I do.
Remember when we actually thought Roy and Oden would be able to play multiple seasons together. I sure do.
Yeah, you can't really beat '04/'05, because that's also the year of Chris Paul ROY after we traded down. (But then again, he only became Truly Great in ensuing seasons, by which time we were better.) I think what makes THIS season worse is that we came in with at least reasonable expectations of goodness. I mean, I predicted that the Blazers would get the 8th spot in the playoffs and I was by FAR AND AWAY the most pessimistic predictor. I don't think anybody seriously expected anything in '04/'05. Even if Martell was going to turn out good, he was still drafted right out of highschool.
Remember when the main point of a Blazers forum wasn't to make other posters look dumber than yourself? Oh yeah...forget it. That has never been the case.
