Which tells you how bad Portland sucks when even the locals express no real interest in coming home to play. The ironic thing is, the people whining about the perception that Portland isn't a draw are a big part of the reason why it isn't. The city has an identity crisis, wanting to be leave-us-alone weird and recognized as mainstream at the same time. Attention craving loaners. It all adds up to one big mess, just like the road system.
The californians trying to pawn themselves off as oregonians are the ones that want to be mainstream.
Hahahahahhaahahha come on man. NBA players don't give a shit about your perception of this city. We don't have a night life or any of the things that a young black guy wants in a city. We are white as fuck. The things that annoy you aren't even remotely what keeps them from signing here.
I dont agree. I know plenty of young professional black guys that got fucking PISSED when oden said what he did about our city. Its because most of these guys are on the east coast, or come from cali if they are west coast guys. We havent had problems with washington guys playing for us. Got jamal crawford to sign here because he knew what the pacific nw was about, until most blazers fans treated him like shit and he couldnt wait to get out.
I thought getting rid of Mike & Mike and hiring Calabro was a sign that we were entering the "big leagues" and "entering the national spotlight" and no longer "little old Portland"... at least that's what some of you thought. Guess you were wrong?
Ding ding ding. Portland fucking sucks. Been getting worse and worse the last ten years. And don't get me started on the roads , LOL
So, why do we keep striking out on white players, too? Parsons, Kanter, and Hedo come to mind immediately. I can buy the east coast thing somewhat, but your second point is the bigger key as far as I'm concerned, and part of what I was hinting at previously. Portland fans love to pat their own backs over being the best fans in the league, but it's not really a great fan base to play for. Rabid, but way too emotional. Roy wasn't even turned on while he was here, and he never really expressed any love for the city. Until you can admit that Portland sucks, you'll never understand why it isn't a draw to free agents.
Why do you.... special.... individuals keep listing Kanter and Hibbert..... we SIGNED Kanter. Why did we strike out on him? He was a restricted free agent. He signed the offer sheet. They matched. I mean.... come ON dude. Parsons is from Florida. That's the best thing I can think of. He doesn't want to live in the furthest fucking state from Florida (outside of Washington.) Hedo is Turkish... he wanted to live in a more multi-cultural city. We're white as fuck.
Good point on Kanter. We'll never know if he actually wanted to come here or if he was just using us knowing that OKC would match.
Never will know. Some could be ok with the new team, and some could literally just want the money and tank with their new team until they are traded.
"Some scoffed. For two decades, it has been said that big-name free agents would never come to _______. Sure, ______'s lack of cap space worked against the team for most of those years, but still the narrative continued. " In case you're wondering, "Boston" is what fills in the blank. That quote is from this article: http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4723450/finally-boston-is-a-free-agent-destination I think that the same thing is going to be true of the Blazers. Portland is never going to be a free agent destination....until it is.
