People always give Neil shit about not taking chances. Playing devil's advocate here, maybe he was taking a huge one hoping that LMA might change his mind. He held out hope til the end. Talent like his does not come around very often. I complain about him being the #1 option on those teams, but I sure as hell wish he was still on the team. With the right attitude ( I know a big if) he would still make this team a hell of lot better. To me that is a risk worth taking. Much better then say tanking and taking a risk in the draft.
Even when Wes got injured that was still a great team in the context of that NBA season. Unfortunately, and unforgivably Aldridge quit on that team as soon as Wes got injured.
Well, and it was after the trade deadline, so it isn't like changes could have happened at that point. There were a few weeks before AA got banged up too we were able to maintain some hope of salvaging, but it was very much looking for the silver lining at that point.
That team started sucking long before Wes got hurt and in the playoffs, they still had two All Stars and couldn’t win 2 games in the playoffs. Yes the Afflalo team looked good for 5 games but it was just 5 games. We played 5 good games last year too.
1) GS won 67 games that year. They had absolutely popped. 2) We were 24-5 the season before too but both seasons, we played like crap after quick starts. 3) Was Mo Williams on our team in 2015? I don’t think so.
Injuries ruining what coulda been, sounds par for the course to me. What this franchise needs is something MAJOR to break our way once, something to make us forget taking Sam/Greg over Jordan/Durant and losing Superstars we did get early in their careers to injury or important role players during great “coulda been” seasons. I really feel like this franchise has had more than it’s share of bad luck. It’s our turn! Ok goodnight.
They might have been better, but less upside. I think we saw the best of them right before Wes went down and I dont think they were quite there. one pc away still to win it all. What I absolutely disagree with is that that team was more fun to watch. It was boring ass half court ball with iso's to LMA in the paint. Our team now has so many more options it seems and the cutting/slashing has been much improved along with the swinging of the ball. This team runs more. They may be less consistent, but I love watching this team now, as frustrating as they can be, over that boring ass iso LMA shit. As a season ticket holder, yes I want this team to win, but only one team wins a years, so the consolation prize for a successful season is exciting play. To me the Blazers are providing that as much as any team since the 00-01. Even Oden/Roy/LMA was boring as hell.
I had forgotten how the team was 30-8 that year, but pretty much went .500 the rest of the year (21-23). And before anyone brings up the Wesley injury as to reason they finished the season poorly, don't. They were 40-19 before the injury and finished the season 51-31. So after they were 30-8, they went 10-11 up until Wesley got hurt. Then Wesley got hurt and they went 10-12 (winning the game he was hurt in).
You're right im mis-remembering the GS thing. THat was the year prior. But no one had the Warriors as clear favorites that year.
And he had made it quite clear to a number of people close to him. One of those was an acquaintance of mine and he had made it very clear to them that he was leaving the season before. It wasn't like this is something that snuck up on Neil.
It wasn't just the wes injury, Rolo, and LMA both got hurt in that stretch to end the season, but the Wes injury was the final nail, you could tell that took the wind out of them and they never found it again. Would they have recovered had he not of gotten hurt? I don't know, but I do know the moment I saw that play I texted a few friends that, that was the end of the LMA era in Portland and that was it. You could tell the heart had been ripped out.
