Are the Blazers going stale? I don't think apprehensive describes the general state of Blazer fans. Maybe a word like indifferent is more apt. We're in a drought and it's longer than any in franchise history. Small town market, it's expected that genuine championship runs are cyclical. 7 years before our first one. A longer 12 years for the next. A shorter 7 years for the last one. And now we haven't realistically expected to compete for a championship in 16 going on 17 years. Seven to twelve years really isn't that long to between runs. There's sentimental connection between the eras and, generally, a few of those in between years are really entertaining as the teams coalesce. In other words, there's enough going on to keep the yawns at bay. That doesn't exist right now and boredom is filling the void. Boredom, indifference, stale. All basically the same thing. This franchise and city really needs a shot in the arm. A Dream of Spring to steal from Martin.
What he would've been and what he was are two very different things. I don't see Sidney Moncrief in the hall of fame based on what his career would have been sans injury. By that logic, we should be retiring Oden's number too, based on what he would've been had his knees not given out. Roy deserves respect, sure, but not necessarily that honor. IMO, it is reserved for those whose accomplishments merit it, not also for those whose talent coulda/woulda/shoulda gotten them there too. Honestly, Cliff Robinson and Rasheed Wallace each accomplished more in a Blazer jersey than Roy did. He was great while he was here, but he doesn't belong in the rafters.
The bottom line for me is, you can retire the jersey of a player who never went to the 2nd round... And I love BRoy
I'm gonna focus on "stale". I don't really see a sense of urgency on the part of the Blazers this summer to get better; I thought in past years there was more working out together and working out individually. I know that there are young teams out there like the Lakers and Heat who have most of the team working out together already for a month or so. There are probably others. All I hear from the Blazers is an earlier report about Layman, Connaughton and Harkless working out together. (Harkless reportedly working the hardest). That was a while ago. For the last couple years heard that Lillard was trying to get together with Gary Payton to work on his defense. Never happened and now don't even hear anything. Haven't heard anything about Lillard or McCollum consistently working out or working on any specific skills or working with the rest of the team. Just snippets about playing with Melo and somebody else. So, yeh, I am a little concerned. I guess the counterargument would be that they don't want to suffer burnout (I wonder what Marbury would say about that after grueling two a days in China and still playing strong at 40?) Or that they are waiting for Nurkic to be healthy so they can all mesh together? Seems like there is plenty to work on without him.
That's no way to judge a player. It wasn't his fault they didn't move on. That would be like not allowing Stockton, Malone and Barkley into the HOF because they didn't win a ring.
