I hate to say it cause I love what Dames meant to the Blazers but when you question if he’s as good of a leader as we think, Ive been starting to kind of wonder that at times too. Obviously its not all on him but its the same stuff every year...
He can be a great leader, but not even the best leaders can teach a horse to drink water. Or whatever the saying it. The team definitely is going through their typical lackadaisical effort phase, where you honestly question whether or not the team has tuned out the coach. CJ has been a real disappointment this year.
You hit the nail on the head about CJ. Last night, it only seemed like Dame cared. Maybe he needs to light up his team. Too many players seem comfortable like you said. Good post. Blazers are in need of a scoring forward. That position is becoming an abyss. I'm tired of seeing too many of Dame's perfect passes go unfulfilled by lousy shooting, and over passing.
Dame has shown a serious lack of urgency. Even when he gets fired up, his team-mates are more likely to stand around and watch rather than follow him. This flows directly into the issue of willful blindness on the part of the media. A team doesn't implode like this without a reason - and nobody in the local media has enough professional pride to even acknowledge the problem.
Great take. As a Blazer fan, I feel like the dog of a violent, sociopathic meth-head who has been chained out in the cold and left to die. The only reason I'm not raging is that I have given up and am just waiting for the last of my love for the team to whither away.
I don't like to either. Everyone knows I love Dame. But, in my opinion, hes yo even keeled and probably doesnt get on guys enough. Obviously, I cant tell from where im at, but the results would say as such.
Some of your posts inspired parts of this video. You made me think about the media scene and its true. Right down to the softball questions.
The kid gloves the media uses when dealing with Stotts for the most part borders on irresponsible. Every once in a while there is a mildly tough question but it is often deflected or nor really answered and there is no serious follow up. Olshey doesn't make himself available enough to local media for them to ever ask a tough question. The only time he gets in front of a local mic is with Blazer reporters like Brooke. No accountability either way. And anyone that does question them in the broader media has significant pressure put on them. Some of them are friends or clients and some of the stories I've heard dictatoresque.
Dont take this as me coming in to argue with you because I mainly agree. I think a couple guys Canzano in particular doesnt really deserve the benefit of the doubt of ANY of the local sports teams. I kind of like Isaac Ropps personality but of the local guys he is so clueless when it comes to the NBA and the Blazers I could never figure out why he was on a basketball show to begin with. I listen to primetime and his coverage of the Blazers has almost always come across as completely uneducated. He’s actually gone on and gave 10 minute rants about trades NO shouldve made when in fact they didnt even work under the rules... I absolutely agree though that local media has been completely neutered by NO and Stotts. I hardly bother to listen to the interviews anymore. Its painful watching how uninspired the team seems to be. They lose and look like they hardly care...
Oh Ropp should've never been given that job in the first place, and I dislike Canzano as much as everyone. Im just saying theres a lot there to go off of, and there's a lot of stuff I've heard (from reputable sources like @TBpup). The media scene is a joke outside of Rip City Radio. We gotta market True Blazer Fan better. I gotta figure out a way for more people to find out about our content.
Too much of the local content is made by guys who either work for the Blazers or work with affiliates of the team. While I wish they’d ask better questions and toughen up, it is their livelihood. So I get it. I hope TBF catches on, because the media around here is way too scared of the Blazers...
@BonesJones ....good point about The Outsiders being a forum that doesn't deal with being very questioning or critical of the Blazers and that getting rid of Talkin' Ball silenced another objective voice. It's now basically down to employees Casey Holdahl, Brooke Olzendam etc. I suppose Freeman at The Oregonian could do something more than a fluff piece but I haven't seen anything from him in his time there so doubt it starts now.
Not in the least. At 5-29, we would be discussing the hope that a top Lottery pick might bring and how that might change the direction of this franchise I imagine. This team got blown out of last year's Playoffs while owning HCA. Then made no changes but adding a couple bargain basement shooters who are limited in almost everything else and are missing Vonleh and Davis from last year's squad who were two of it's better defenders.
