For me I have to say no. This late season collapse has been depressing to be honest. I thought we would win 38 games and it looks like we'll fall short. I've been happy with Lillard obviously, but the rest of the team has let me down. The defense has been downright atrocious. What do the rest of you think?
I expected 25-30 wins. Wanted to see some improvement from Wes/Nic, Dame to be one of the top rooks, LA to embrace his leadership role, and provide Olshey enough pieces/assets to significantly improve the team this summer. I think we're exactly where I hoped to be before the season started. The lack of effort over the past few weeks has coincided with us being knocked out of the playoff hunt-- it shouldn't be too much cause for concern as guys are just worn out and have little more to play for.
Individually, I'm not disappointed in players at all, but I was hoping for a little more out of the team for the last 15 games than this. Ah well. It's not a big deal overall.
Not disappointed, as much as I had hoped for bigger production from Batum (injuries didn't help). I like what Lillard did, but the rest of the team didn't really scream "look out world, here we come!" Defense was non existent.
Yes and no. I didn't give a concrete prediction as I thought our team would win 30 something games (low end being a bit of a disappointment and the high end being more than I expected). Offensively our team performed better than they did last season. Defensively not so much. Hopefully the team will fix the sieve known as our defense and the opposing team's points in the paint. Rookie expectations. Mine were pretty low because I wasn't expecting either rookie to have a break out year this season. Let's say I was pleasantly surprised Lillard had one of the best rookie campaigns in quite some time. Overall, I'm happy with the team. They fought through most of this season unlike last season's debacle. Time to continue moving forward and find a defensive coach. Go Blazers!
Overall met expectations, Damian exceeded, glad for the late season collapse so we keep the 12 pick, gives us more flexibility in the offseason, want a new defensive coach next year
I said 32 wins ... so no, they didn't disappoint me; they're right on target (maybe a little better than I expected)
Given the number of rookies on the squad, what they've done is about the best you could reasonably expect. I would like to have seen if they could have pulled into the playoffs if the injury bug hadn't hit the starters, but given the number of minutes they've been playing, that was perfectly predictable as well. I think that the starters have shown that they can compete with just about anyone when healthy, but there is a huge need for a deeper bench and a center who can defend. I think those needs can be addressed this summer, so overall I'm satisfied with this season and the chances to progress next year.
They played above .500 ball until injuries hit (Batum, and to a smaller extent the last two weeks with LMA). I thought they'd be 41-41. So yeah, there. Lillard as RoY and even better than I thought he'd be. So yeah, there. Defense was atrocious, and the LMA-as-New Dirk was as good as New Coke. Nope, and nope. I feel as if there was very little development from the stable of young bigs (Hickson, Freeland, Leonard), which will force the team to be in desperation mode for a "veteran" C this summer. Which sucks. So no.
For supposedly having a 4 of 5 starting spots solidified, I say no. We have so much cash committed to a starting lineup that can't score or defend. I know JJ is playing out-of-position, but he's not solely to blame for all the points lost in the paint. The team is just brutal on rotations and team rebounding. And for all this talk of bad bench, our starting lineup routinely falls way behind before the first substitution even happens.
I think i expected around 35 wins (don't remember exactly), so yeah, they're around there. Lillard certainly has.
It's not the wins or loses that make me say that this team did not meet expectations. It is the way they are closing out the season, with very little effort or heart, that makes me say that. The Rose Garden used to be a hard place to come and play a basketball game with the Blazers capable of pulling out a victory against anyone. To give up on the season and take no pride in playing at home . . . I expect more.
I thought 41 wins. Honestly, I actually thought Lillard would be right around as good as he is now, all the way back to preseason. So I'm not really that surprised by him. I'm really, really disappointed in our bench. With so many young guys I knew it would be hard some nights, but I thought we'd see several more nights like last night with Will Barton, where maybe we lost but a rookie bench guy showed us something phenomenal. Looking back, I think Leonard's one big game and the one Barton game are the only two that stand out. That's a terrible omen over an 82 game season. Elliot Williams was injured again. Batum seems injured, and isn't sitting out the summer to rest up. Matthews looked good overall, but we played him too many minutes. I thought we'd have a real battle for the starting C spot at the beginning of the year between Hickson, Leonard and Freeman, and it never materialized because none of them were terribly great. Stotts did a terrible job with Aldridgitzki. He needs to dig a deep, dark hole and bury all his plans for LaDirkus in there forever. Nate did one thing consistently right in the post-Roy era--get LaMarcus in the post and force teams to adjust. Shame we wasted so much time on trying to convert LMA into a Euro. Overall a pretty disappointing year. Yet again.
I very much agree with this sentiment. There is very little sense of urgency in this squad to stop the bleeding of the losing streak. I have a bad feeling that the vets on this team have learned too many bad habits in the previous losing seasons to unlearn them.
Newsflash. All teams that are out of playoff contention mail it in. Sprinkle in some injuries to the few good/decent players on this team and this is what you get.
Lillard exceeded my expectations, and I had high expectations. Great rookie season from him. Aldridge continued being a beast PF. 2nd all-star appearance and just overall great play Hickson stepped up big this season. His defense is underwhelming, but he's a beast that mostly played pretty hard. Hope there's some way to keep him as a backup. Wes was Wes. He's been rock solid through the countless injuries. Leonard did enough to not be considered useless. He can put up pts on offense, but he's playing away from the basket and that doesn't do much for me. I want a center. I don't really care much for the Eurotrash style. His defense is atrocious and his rebounding has been underwhelming as well. Batum....where to start. There was a 3-4 week stretch where he looked like he was going to take the next step. Then the old passive, inconsistent Nic Batum showed up and he's been pretty ehhh for the final 2 months of the season. For the most part he's still the same player in that he shoots a lot of jumpers and shows no consistent ability to put the ball on the floor. Overall he didn't meet my expectations for him as he's still pretty much the same player he's always been. Terry Stotts - The offense has been nice (although they still rely on jumpers), but I think it's clear he's best suited as an offensive coordinator and not a head coach. The defense is atrocious. I think we knew he was stopgap coach, though. No one else really matters.
