From Golliver: While being another thought on the Blazers contrary to the SI piece, it allows me to shamelessly promote that Simmons must be reading our stuff. (post 15 )
I already picked us to win 41 provided there are no injuries, but that won't get us into the playoffs. Should be some fun games to watch, though, like the 2007-08 season (my favorite season of the last decade.)
I can scarcely imagine a scenario wherein we win 41 games, outside several other team planes crashing.
I think if Lillard, LMA, and Batum stay healthy, the Blazers should win 41+ games and make 6th-8th seed.
Really? When I think of the Blazers, I think of an All Star PF, a PG stud, a do-it-all small forward, a few decent role players (Hickson, Matthews) and a shitty bench. That seems like a classic recipe for a .500 or so team. Especially in an era of superteams. In any sane time the talent of Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Pau, Nash, Howard and Kobe would be spread out over 5 teams instead of 2. Consequently there are more beatable teams out there than there normally would be. That alone may translate to an extra 5-6 wins for our team. It's really young, so I appreciate that I'm being a little optimistic in my expectations. But Lillard may actually be even better than we all think this year. If he pulls off Damon Stoudamire-type rookie numbers (19/9), look out. Ditto if Batum or Aldridge take off in the revamped offense. These aren't pie-in-the-sky, never-gonna-happen scenarios. They are scenarios that happen every year to one team or another, especially when there's a major overhaul in the offense. It's certainly imaginable (at least to me) that they happen for this team.
What's missing from the conversation is that some other teams competing for the 8th seed have sustained serious injuries already. Nevertheless, I'm nervous about predicting playoffs.
The one thing that tempers my enthusiasm (though I'm still predicting 8 seed and 41 wins) --besides the unpredictable freak injury bug-- is that I don't think this team has a Christmas 13-game winning streak in it. I think that there is a high probability of a slow start, whether by Stotts not taking off the training wheels or the D and rotations not gelling...followed by some solid play...followed by a potential for an en masse hitting of the rookie wall. If all of those happen, we might be hurting. But if we can weather either the beginning or the end of the season, I think there's a good shot. And I'm interested to see what the trade deadline brings...either liquidation or complimentary pieces or asset gathering?
