But, this is true for all other playoff contenders in the West. It's not just the Blazers that enjoyed easy games against the bottom of the conference teams. So did the Thunder, the Lakers, the Jazz, the Nugs, the Spurs, the Suns... In other words - I do not think the West got better compared to last year as far as it being harder to get into the playoffs if you are a good team.
Most people said the Spurs had gotten better (some even felt MUCH better) with the addition of Richard Jefferson. This infuriated Blazers fans who felt RLEC should have been flipped for Jefferson. The truth was Jefferson was past his prime and not much of a difference-maker (as some did predict) and the Spurs were, at best, no better and probably worse. As far as I'm concerned, the Spurs are still constructed around Duncan, Ginobili and Parker and those three determine, in the main, how good the Spurs are (unless and until they acquire a new star-level player). Only one of those guys is likely to remain stable or improve over last year--Parker. I doubt the Spurs will be as good as last year and I think they may well be worse. The wild card, I guess, is Splitter. But until I see him perform in the NBA, I'm definitely not going to assume he's a significant difference-maker.
While this is generally true - I think Splitter is a very big upgrade for them. In the last 5 years or so they had one good big - Duncan, who was declining every year. With all due respect to wonder-boy Blair - this did not change at all last year. Having Duncan play next to another "live" big - even if he is not an immediate star in the NBA - is a big deal for them. I expect them to be better than last year, even if not significantly so.
I think the teams that got better didn't get good enough, and the good teams that troubled us for the last few years either didn't improve, or slid back a little. while there are less assured wins, there are also less assured losses.
Going on alphabetical order here, F being 7 letters before L, I think it would make the Blazers Ulazers.
^^^^ Come on now, your not that gullible are you? I guess when people feel strongly about something, they see/look for it everywhere.
He will be as soon as the Blazers get him the prescription goggles he clearly needs to shoot straight. Luckily, Buck Williiams is on the roster and he knows a guy that can make them. If this does not work - they will have to go to Crazy Joe's military surplus store to buy one of them little focuser/finderscope thingies to mount on the ball.
I think we can see what a big difference having a solid Center playing makes to how this team performs, is many facets.
Yes, because of that. Now he's going into the regular season with something to prove. Besides, 5 for 50 isn't even that bad. It's not 2 for 50.
