Is this the best Blazer team ever assembled?

Yes

 

I still think the lockout 1998-1999 team was my favorite though. That team had a ton of heart. I think the series against Utah was my favorite of all time. We were such underdogs in that series. Brian Grant cemented his place in Blazer lore because of that series.

 

That's my second favorite now. I was actually pissed on the moves we made that summer.

Grant taking the Malone Elbow and going back out immediately with his noes bleeding was the turning point of that series imo.

 

The moves weren't bad. They made us a legit contender, and I don't think we really lost anything by trading Rider/Jackson/Cato/etc. Getting Pippen and Smith were huge at that time. The problem was making the trades for Davis and Kemp. We should have let Grant leave for his huge contact and just played Jermaine more. Hindsight is 20/20 though.

 

A simple "no" should suffice.

But actually, it's not that simple. Talent-wise, you'd be very hard-pressed to beat the Sabas-Sheed-Pippen-Smith or the Drexler-Porter-Williams-Kersey-Duckworth teams, or even the Roy-Aldridge-Oden (for all of his 82 games) teams, but this group is really playing together well. So "no" to "is this the best collection of talent?" but "maybe" to "is this the best at functioning together as a cohesive unit?"

(I'm sort of assuming we mean "other than the championship team".)

 

Ditched us? How can you heartlessly say that with all due malice, management doesn't cruelly kick our heroes into the street...every single time??? If this team were a caravel, the Captain would be hanged from the mast for shoving his best sailors overboard.

 

Out of 14 votes, you're the only one who voted "Yes." Even though you put it at the top of the list to grab our attention. It's lonely at the top!

 

Pfft and i will be the only one that can tell you I was a believer since day one!

You fence straddlers can suck it!

 

That would be John Brisker. I was a Sonic fan here in Bellingham when Coach Bill Russell sent him down to the Eastern league for being uncoachable. A couple of years later, he died on a secret mission in Africa.

 

I said yes, but with a qualifier: I think it can be as good as the '77 team and the '90-91 team but we have to gain experience and get lucky injury-wise.

 

I think a lot of it hinges on staying healthy and young guys developing. If CJ can keep scoring 10-12 points off the bench, that will be HUGE.

 

Mags, you're killing me. My goal was to be more even keeled this year. We're not as bad as the 1st half of the Hornets game, and we're not as good as the 1st half last night vs Nugs. It's a long, grueling season in a loaded Western Conf. But man did we look good last night! I liked what I saw from Crabbe and CJ. Crabbe had a 3 go in/out then almost had the dunk of the season when he followed that missed shot with thundering dunk attempt (he was fouled!) I answered I don't know yet. A lot of it depends on the bench play. The Dec schedule is brutal! 5 game & 4 game road trips. I think there are 4 back to backs. Depth is going to be a factor for sure. But if our young guys continue to improve, this has a chance to be the best Blazer team I've seen.

 

I think we finally have a bench we can be proud of. Crabbe will be an excellent back-up for Batum. Blake has shown he is a defensive specialist off the bench. And we all know Kaman.

 

Different Eras, very few players "own the paint" anymore.

 

That's because there are no Russells or Waltons around.

Same reason for why music sucks compared to the 60s.

 

And because the rules have changed too.

 

No it's because the league has changed their rules. You can't camp in the paint, use your hands to hold a player back and the NBA won't allow guards to be touched