So NOW do you understand what I'm talking about??? We are a better team this year.

You have NEVER once heard me EVER say if you don't agree with me your were a bad fan for NOT agreeing with me...EVER! I just hope people would be realistic with their expectations is all. Don't like people saying I said things that I didn't by the way.

 

hoping that you guys guys should stay realistic with your expectations shouldn't have been considered an insult by any means

 

I didn't say you said that, I said it's how you act. In my opinion, a lot of the things you say imply that people who aren't realistic (in your opinion) with their expectations are doing it wrong. You constantly talk about how people shouldn't expect much from the team this season. As I've said before, you have every right to share your opinion on the team as much as you want but I just don't think you should ever be telling people how they should feel. This goes for KingSpeed as well.. I don't think he should act like you or anyone else who thinks we will win 20-30 games this season are worse fans than he is. This is just how I see it.

 

Hey, how about them Blazers eh? Pretty good team!

 

I predict somewhere between 20 and 60 wins!

Go Blazers!!

 

way to cut it close Bert!

 

I predict The HCP will gladly eat his crow. We should have the courtesy to serve it to him warm. And daily!

 

What drives many "realists" crazy is that many "homers" don't even understand what we are disagreeing about. Instead, they fall back on pop psychology explanations of how we are holding back and protecting our feelings.

NO!

Our fear is that the team winds up in the 35-40 win territory (no play-offs and a mediocre draft pick) , and a significant chunk of the fandom LIKES that outcome!
As low as the Blazer payroll is, it is almost impossible for the team to not make a nice profit. If the fans are content with mediocrity - what motive does the team have to improve?

It is hard enough to get the team to care about the fans. Watching fans sending a counter-productive message is painful.

 

Some of us have said this all along .

Its awesome!!! Simliar to the Prince Williams Sound. Lived on a boat for a few seasons up there. Alaska is Beautiful! Obviously so is Greenland.

Great response. Helped me understand you a bit better.

This is true.

Grouch, I think when you target "the majority like this outcome", you hit a wall.

It seems many of you who are upset over this are not listening to the rest of our sentence or our reason why.

I know I have read others and I have said several times, in ANY other situation, this would be a nightmare.

This team is a UNIQUE team of lotto picks over the last few years built in four months. This team as is, will be better next year than this year. I don't care if we hold pat. It will be better. The percentages are simply too good.
I suppose what gets us optimists riled up is that many of you naysayers cant seem to see that this team isn't last year. It has upside If we finish middle of the pack, its not doomsday as if we had resigned last years team. Its not dooms day, as if we were the clips, Houston, SA, or anyone else with stars and no upside left. What baffles me is that this not a consensus thought, or is forgotten, or something, I don't know...

So when I read what you just posted, I tend to think two things... you are truly just a negative grouch or you know very little about basketball. I am not saying either of these are true, but its the persona that permeates from a post like this...

 

Orion:

When it comes to the Blazer front office, I gladly admit to be cynical and bitter. 2 years ago we made the second round of the play-offs....now we are hoping to not lose 60. I admit I can't understand why people aren't outraged.

As for basketball knowledge/evaluation....we will just have to agree to disagree. We have gone from a team that was strong at the top, but shallow, to a deep team with only one real stud. I don't see that as a formula for success. YMMV.

 

I agree on disagreeing. but here is why people are not outraged. Because most of us can now see we were never going to win a ring with the team we had whether we went 82-0 or not.
What I would think you would know and understand more than most, being an old man ( no insult, just your name) is that nothing remains the same. Everything changes and evolves. The Blazers didn't have the money or players to sign or trade for anyone good enough to take the last team any further than they went. They maxed out. Hit thier peak. This year they would NOT have been as good. Id toss money down on it if it could ever be proven.

So to play devils advocate. Lets go back in time... Knowing we just won the first round against Houston and coming into last season, what would you have done?

Maybe the front office should have traded LMA? Why would they have? At the time we were winning and it wasn't yet known we couldn't win with what we had. Plus the backlash of the trade would have been HUGE.
Not to mention LMA tied the hands of the Blazers by making them think he was gonna resign. By the time the doubt of LMA was seeping through enough to be seen, it was too late to do anything with him.
So again... what would you have done? Your pissed at the front office, because they didn't do what may I ask?
It has been very clear to those of us that have been tracking NO's moves that he did much better than most people originally thought and indeed may be seen as a genius in a year or two.

Again... tell me what you would have done?

 

But... you said it right there. We were a strong team up top but shallow. That didnt cut the mustard and we had no money to fill out the bench in any type of quality way.
Second I would say CJ is on the verge of being another real stud. GS just won a ring with the MVP, the one REAL stud on thier team then. Is that not a formula for success?
We might be seeing the end of the big three era.
No, our team at the moment is not going to win a ring or do anything in the playoffs, but the formula for success is this deep team with one real stud is young and full of upside. This IS a formula for success. Not a short term, fast food drive thru, one ring and back to the cellar, type success, but a long term stretch of years of being a winning team that has several years of contention mixed in the winning seasons.
Obvious moives still need to be made and player improvement must be had, but the formula and the foundation is absolutely there for the long term success of the next era of the Blazers.

 

Westbrook had 11 Rebs 8 Assists 48 points and Durant had 12 Rebs and 48 Points tonight.

 

Kingspeed what's happening to the Bench tonight?

 

I still think we're better than last year. Losing to Phoenix is par for the course. We'll win big tomorrow.