What evidence to the contrary do you have? He's certainly not playing well now that teams scouted him and took away his one offensive move, running full-speed at the hoop praying for a foul.
Patience Grasshopper. How many teams gave up on Billups before he hit his stride? Billups was almost the exact same as Bayless out of college. No outside shot. Thought he was better than he was. Just put his head down and headed to the rim. It took him a while, but he got there. Right now, the only true weakness in Bayless game is his outside shot. That is nothing that taking 600 jumpers a day in the summer can't cure. His shot mechanics aren't bad. It's not like he has a horrible hitch in his shot. He just needs confidence.
OKC has one of the top 3 scorers in the league to lean upon. Outside of Durant, my statement is still true. Durant = Freak.
The fact that he's shown an ability to play at a high level, while not a consistent level, leads me to believe that if he continues to work hard he's just going to get better and more consistent. The guy is going to live in the gym this summer working on his jump shot.
Wait one damn minute. In your post prior to the Jazz game, you said that even if we lost last night, we'd still be pretty comfortably looking at the 7th seed. We did lose last night, and now we're done?
OKC just went to OT to beat the Knicks and followed that up with a two point win over the "mighty" Twolves. And they're completely healthy and supposedly on fire. Color me not impressed.
That two more wins than we had this weekend. Plus they actually have been able to win at least 1 game from the Jazz this season. This Blazer team is closer to the T-Wolves than the Nuggets.
That's a fair question. Last season, the Blazers tended to start slow and finish strong. This season, they have shown a tendency to fade out late. I believe part of the blame has to fall on Nate and his stagnant offensive schemes....but some of the blame has to fall on the players. Too often,the players just seem to give up when the other team mounts a late charge. All teams have nights when they are just flat (eg the Celts game). This was different. The team was playing well - and then just checked out.
I mostly agree with you. Webster has been given chance after chance. Rudy may only be in his 2nd NBA season, but he has years of experience in pro ball in Spain (and international play). Both those guys are past the point where some great leap forward is likely. (not *impossible*, but improbable) Bayless.....I desperately want to believe in the kid - but my hopes are fading. Instead of building on his initial success this season, he is regressing.
Why do I have a really nasty feeling in my gut when I read threads like this? (then again, maybe it's the burrito I had for lunch?)
The odd thing is, the Blazers have been playing about as well on the road as they did last season. It is their home record that has gotten noticeably worse.
The teams we play on this road trip don't look like much. But don't forget this is a 4 games in 5 nights roady. For a team that has looked ultra-fatigued recently . . . Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. I wouldn't be all that surprised if we went 1-4 or 4-1.
Who looks tired on this team? Maybe Brandon. We are coming off the All-Star break. Don't confuse looking frustrated and confused as fatigue.
Wins are wins. We got blown out by the Knicks. The Thunder have won 9 straight. It doesn't matter how many points they won by. Being able to close tight games is impressive no matter who it's against.
