After this pre season nightmare... what are your expectations for Nov?

I do not believe you can throw a team under a bus just because you believe in it's individual members... It's a different belief system, apparently.

 

13-6 at the worst by the end of Nov.

 

im not throwing them under the bus... im being honest... this team could struggle big time.

 

How is MIXUM throwing the team under the bus?

I think this is a valid thread. I expect the team to struggle early, because it seems far-fetched to me that suddenly Blake/Miller will start stopping penetration and that Blake/Miller will start doling out a bunch of assists.

I'll go with 9-7 after 16 games, and then things start to become more fluid and the team gets on their annual December roll.

 

He was not. He claimed that KP did last year after the trade deadline - which proved to be a very poor prediction.

In other words, I am trying to infer that just because he believes or does not in a specific rule - does not mean that this rule applies in the real world.

I think it is a valid thread as well. I just pointed that dismissing someone's opinion because of a "belief system" that does not seem to be well supported by historical data - is a murky proposition.

I am a bit more optimistic. I think we will have up to 5 games of adjustment and then we start rolling.

The pre-season so far, had too much change, experimentation and small-injuries for me to consider as anything other than an anomaly.

 

Internet trolls are interested in meeting their own attention-needs, which are often unmet in their real life, and may suffer from various psychological disorders.

 

I think the schedule is favorable enough for them to come out better than that. If it was this years team with last years schedule with all the road games. I would be more concerned.

 

Sounds like an awesome fortune cookie.

 

so you don't think the team and coaching staff will approach games differently and play differently now that they actually count for something?

 

I expect the team to be about 10-6 for that period.

 

I haven't the slightest idea what to expect from the team after this off season.

That is slightly troubling but not overly so.

I an hoping to see some that new commitment to defense I have heard so much about.

Record after the first 16 games? I would say 9 and 7 with a couple of losses early while the actual starting lineup gels. Whoever that might be.

 

I didn't view it as a total nightmare or disaster. It probably didn't go exactly how Nate wanted it to go, but there were some good things that we saw, particularly the play of Greg, which was probably the most important thing we wanted to see. I don't think expectations should be lowered just based on six meaningless games. This team will still be a top-four team in the West.

 

While I have been dissapointed in the pre season with the results so far, it is mostly from an aspect of role players on the team not growing, not so much worrying about the big gunz that carry the team from night to night. For the most part, the Blazers have only had 1 or 2 at the most, of their top tier players playing each night of the pre season. I think the team might start off slowly because those top tier players have not been playing together much in the pre season and will show some rust, but then should pick it up as they play together more.

 

This

 

I sure hope so, but that could actually be a regression from last year, at least in terms of overall record.

 

My only real concern about the preseason has been Rudy's health and Roy's poor start. Roy will play himself into shape, though, and Oden has looked better than I'd hoped. Miller has already demonstrated he's the best PG on this team, which is nice to get established early.

Webster and Outlaw were about as good as I expected. Aldridge hasn't been dominating much, but what do you expect in preseason with a guy negotiating a big contract. Przybilla is Przybilla. Blake is hitting threes, but seems off. Rudy and Batum, predictably, seem worn out from the summer Euro games. Bayless seems ok when allowed to play SG.

Overall, this has the look of a team that's out of joint a little. But it's also easy to see how it'll come together.

 

I think Nov will be a little rocky. But how the Blazers do in November is only slightly more important than how they did in preseason. I think by April they'll be rolling!!

10-8

 

It could be, and the bottom feeders of the West got a lot better except Sacramento so it could make it harder to reach 54 again. But the only way I see this team regressing is if we failed to get HCA for the first round, and not win a playoff series this year. And by March and April, I expect this team to be playing its best ball. Either that or just being an experiment gone wrong.

 

i expect portland's record to be between 13-6 and 16-3 at the end of november. during that stretch portland has 4 road games i would consider difficult(at new orleans, at charlotte 2nd night of a back to back 4th game of the road trip, at atlanta, at utah on the 2nd night of a back to back) and 3 home games that i would consider difficult(denver, atlanta, san antonio though the spurs have a game the night before and the blazers have a couple days of rest).

for just the november record, i'll go with 12-4(and i would predict 15-4 overall at that point).

if portland really only has an approximately .500 record after november, that's not a good thing because the schedule gets pretty tough from december through february before getting easier again at the end.

 

i say 11-8 at best