I wanted to start a series of threads about what I'll be looking for and hoping for from the team this year. I'm going to start at the very end - the playoffs. The base line I'll use to measure team success isn't wins/losses or how the players developed (though I'll look extensively into that), I'll use playoff wins. For me, the season won't be a success unless we win TWO playoff games. Fewer than that and we're just fodder for higher seed teams. More than that and we've demonstrated we're up and coming in a serious way. This assumes that since our team is young we will be at least to some extent on the rise. What's the minimum playoff success in which you'll consider the Blazers to have had a good year?
I feel the same as you, WM; winning two is a sign that we can at least hold our own a bit, gives us a bit of hope for growth. It also puts us back at the lofty heights of the best of the Roy-led Blazers. I want Damian to get a taste, too. He needs to win games in the post season.
I agree the goal is to keep Aldridge, but I don't think second round is imperative for that. I selected 2 games because that's enough to show Aldridge that the team is getting significantly better and he can stick around for the team on the rise. Lets say as a 7th seed we match up against OKC, who goes to the finals. I think Aldridge would want to win, but could understand losing in a circumstance like that. But he would at least want to be competitive against them, hence 2 games. We have the same reason, just different marks of what could be seen by Aldridge as worth continuing.
Another advantage of getting to the playoffs even if we lose is that since the playoffs can be a totally different game we would be able to get a preview of what piece(s) we are missing to advance in the playoffs. In other words it gives us more info about what direction to take to make the team better
In my opinion, our immediate success hinges almost entirely on Lillard. We know what we have in Aldridge, but we need Lillard to take a big step next season for us to be considered legit contenders. If Dame can step up to an All-Star, paired with Aldridge, I think we're a top five team.The key to getting out of the first round is HCA. If we can get to 4th, as hard as that might seem to imagine, it will really help get us over that hump.
Aldridge himself said that he thought the team should make it to the playoffs next year and make it to the 2nd round the year after. (He said this at the end of last year). I'm sure the LMA thing is overblown. My take is that his reaction to Olshey was exactly the same as the owner's reaction was: Just tell me we're going to field a competitive team next year.
Even if Lillard takes a big step, that's not enough. We need Meyers to take a step forward, and Lopez needs to be able to hold down the inside defensively. Without that, we are kind of screwed. The Blazers actually have good perimeter defenders but there has been nobody to funnel the offense towards. If the D, specifically inside, doesnt improve this year, the Blazers will be on the outside looking in.
If this team can crack the playoffs that's probably good enough to call the season successful ... I don't think that's enough to convince Aldridge to want to re-sign, but that's another topic altogether.
Nah, that's not true at all, so far as we know. What a ridiculous parameter to set without actually knowing it.
Well, the poll results are very interesting. At this point about half the people would consider it a successful season if we just made the playoffs and got swept while over a third think that we need to win a playoff series! So, an interesting mix of what I consider to be high expectations and low expectations.
I voted series because anything less means simply sacrificing a lottery pick in a great draft for an extra few games
