Nice! I continue to be impressed on how we win games when we play like shit. Sign of character and a mentally strong team. Def. not impressed w/ how we played, but we will get better as our chemistry grows, imo. But still, i'm not a fan of Hollinger's rankings. Well... actualyl I guess i am a fan as long as he has portland high...
Yeah think about it when we finally get our ish together and start playing better. Wow!!! We are going to be good. I cannot wait for the playoffs.
No. 4 team? Yeah right... Doesn't Travis Outlaw need to be traded? Isn't Rudy stinking it up? LaMarcus Aldridge... I would trade straight up for Z-Bo or back to Chicago for Tyrus Thomas. Greg Oden, can't we call him a bust after 10 games?
By the time you are halfway done with the season, all the power rankings and the like are just popularity and "who is hot" polls. By that time, the win/loss is the dominant power rank. iWatas
Diddly = A small or worthless amount. Poo ... well, I will let you figure it out yourself. I would say that the exact position the Blazers are in are definitely... interesting - but they probably tell us that this time is a better than average team - which is something we already knew. They are not as good as the rankings put them - but they are very likely to make the playoffs this year.
Hollinger's power rankings aren't subjective. He doesn't order them based on his opinion. He uses a formula that is basically driven by point differential. I think that, plus Sagarin's rankings (which are largely driven by strength of schedule adjusted win/loss) are the best two things to look at during the season. Wins and losses are what ultimately count but, due to strength of schedule and luck with close games, aren't necessarily the best measure of "true ability."
I bolded the part that is factual. Rankings by anyone mean nothing, so for once I'm not just singling out Hollinger for being worthless; it is all about the seeding come April.
The design of the system is subjective. The actual rankings aren't. My point is not that Hollinger's belief system isn't involved at all, but that he's not going by his own opinions on the teams as "popularity" or "trendiness" implies. He's decided point differential is the most useful measure, which is subjective, but doesn't affect the rankings with his subjective opinion of each team (as most power rankings do).
