No. I’d say the year we started Charles “The Spider” Smith and Sergei Monia. Ha Seung Jin was part of the regular rotation and we were over the top excited about the Vladimir Stepania signing
I think the difference is now we don't have Mike Barrett talking about how Ha had put on 15 pounds of PURE muscle and was developing at a quicker pace than Yao Ming was, and that Vlad the Impaler Stepania was dominating the local Y. It's harder to have hope when we aren't hearing about how Keljin is throwing it down in practice and it's literally moments away from being the next Billy Ray Bates and Michael Ray Richardson rolled into one guy!
I was around when the Walton team crumbled. Blazers were the champions and 50-10 the next season. Walton got hurt again. Lucas did too. Walton's was serious, then he signed with the San Diego Clippers while suing the Blazers. In 1977 they won a championship and had a dynasty in hand. 9 months later it was all gone those were dark days
Turbulent is different than darkest days. The title of the tweet might be on to something. Changes are turbulent. Darkest days? Nah, way misleading thread title.
This team has no pulse. They are very difficult to root for. In fact, most games, I find myself hoping they,,,,well..........nevermind.
I don't think there is an argument to be had. We know there is talent on this roster. We know we have one of the best in the game and one of the best small guards to ever do it leading this team. We know that the biggest hindrance to making the moves that make sense with our mismatched talent just got sent packing. It's a very exciting time to be a Blazers fan. All of this has been dampened by Dame's ab injury (I dare you to find me one player in NBA history whose career was derailed by an ab injury) and media covering the coach/GM turnover that had to happen as a chaotic harbinger of imminent dark times.
This team with a hobbled Dame, that most of us have been preaching for years has a bunch of guys on it with talent that have no business playing together because they don't fit. Yeah, it's a bummer to be a little below .500 at any time but imagine that Neil has been the only thing holding us back from getting some value in return for CJ and ridding us of the horrible combo that Dame and CJ are. You don't have to imagine that we have a great back court partner to pair with Dame upon CJ's exit because Norm is definitely that. We have RoCo whose reputation will not let GMs throughout the league fail to bid on him if we put him on the block. Nurk just turned in a 30 point game so we either figure out how to make him work and try to extend him or move him for incoming value. Yeah, if Dame stays hurt (not logical) and we don't make obvious moves (not likely) this team has no pulse.
The reason this is one of, if not the darkest time is there is no direction. It’s been a multi year holding pattern
One that just ended, during with we got to see dazzling performances from Dame. I just don't see how it compares to the Telfair days. I don't see how it's worse than when we saw Roy and Oden's knees cripple a promising future that was likely a dynasty. I don't even see how these are darker days than when Clyde was traded for Thorpe and this team endured for a period of time led by Cliffy and not much else. As far as not having direction... both having three GMs in under two years (4 if you count Chad) and Nash/Patterson felt more fucking rudderless than this transition of power. Maybe it's PTSD from those experiences that have people projecting a lack of direction upcoming but I think the clouds actually just parted.
in the past 6 months, we fired the coach & GM, and the president resigned. that's anything but a holding pattern.
exactly what i was thinking. if anything these developments of the past few weeks has been a positive. we're getting a new guy at the helm who could steer us in multiple different directions, while dame remains fully committed. i'd say these were all positives.
My fear is this could lead us to our darkest days. My biggest fear is they decide to move Blazers to Seattle. I don’t like how there’s not anyone in upper management or owner who is talking to media/fans. That’s never a good sign
cronin/hankins/billups are holding a press conf tmrw at 10 AM. the fears of seattle are completely misguided in 2021. Adam Silver is not going to let that happen, and the contracts with the city are set in stone.
I don't worry about them moving...they won't ...they own the Moda and don't lease it...they're not giving that cash cow up for a city to compete with baseball and football for fans and ticket sales....Portland is a profitable franchise right now with a vibrant fan base. They could invest in a G league franchise in Seattle....we need a G league system to develop our rookies
Even if they weren't set in stone, where are they going to play? Go from the main tenant in a building they own, or be the 2nd host in an arena they don't own, in a city where they have to complete with NFL, NHL, MLB, MLS and college football and basketball for dollars.
