The game 7 collapse against the Lakers was not as bad as the time Chris Andersen destroyed the city of Portland in the dunk contest. I still have nightmares. [video=youtube;K_ksqrFQPgU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_ksqrFQPgU[/video]
Can you argue with Chris Andersen being a good player who always overacheives against the Blazers? So yes, it's just one example, you can also talk about the mile-high stadium and 2nd game of a back-to-back and all of these "excuses" are before we even mentioned Chauncey, Carmelo, Nene, etc. But do you tell me that Denver NEVER lost to a team on a 2nd night of back-to-back, at home? Can you tell me it never happens or do you only tell me we're not good enough? And to beat a team that's the 1st seed in the entire league are we good enough? So, my opinion, even prediction, is that we can beat the Spurs in the 1st round if we play them but we will have to be MUCH stronger mentaly. Cause there could be a 100 excuses for why we're supposed to lose and EVERYONE will expect us to lose. And the Spurs are not a bad team even if they don't have Chris Andersen or the other players mentioned. They have the best record in the league. Even if we win the series we will have another team and another team and we can pray not to meet the Nuggets (and the Lakers? and the Thunder? and Dallas?) or we can tell ourselves - yes, we're probably not going to be much better than the 8th seed but also tell ourselves that we can beat any team on any given night, not just the Spurs but also the Nuggets and even the Nuggets in Denver with Chris Andersen playing. I'm not going to repeat that I think we have a deep team, a 9-10 player rotation that is at least better than most. I know that even the most homeristic Blazer fan will acknowledge that some teams are better than we are, "on paper" or on a message board, but even if you can't acknowledge faith or inspiration, they should at least play together and stay connected on defense and on offense and by doing so, be better than they are on paper.
lol, I really don't think many of us expect us to get out of the first round of the playoffs this year. We are an injured team playing on fumes that really isn't as good as most of the playoff teams. People have already admitted this on this board. This isn't the year were gonna be contenders and unless some things change we probably wont be (health being the big thing that needs to change). Even with that were not gonna be able to make a move to make us a contender so were not moving Aldridge/batum/mathews end of story.
OK, that's a start: LMA, Batum, Wesley are keepers. And what is Rudy? not a keeper? and Joel Pryzbilla - not a keeper? I would say Andre Miller is not a keeper if he keeps playing like there are no other players around him but he could be a keeper. Patty Mills is not a great player but is he not a keeper? and if we want to trade him - are we going to even get equal value? Armon Johnson is a keeper no matter how you look at it, even if it means Patty Mills Is a great player. Who else? Dante? Do you want to trade Dante? Do you really think there's anyone in the entire league that can do what dante does better than Dante? If there's anyone it might as well be Chris Andersen. Aldridge I have a problem with his lack of defense, Andre I have a problem with him thinking it's his team to run or whatever and him suffocating the offense instead of making the first pass and then playing like a normal player. The other players I don't even have a problem with. Do I need to repeat that Batum and Mathewss make for probably the best SF combo we've had in years? So, if you want to discuss the trade-idea: it could be LMA for Love which is very comparable statistic-wise etc, we may not be the winners of such swap but we wouldn't be the clear losers. Then there's Miller and Oden for Rubio. Rubio is a great player and point-guard and at least he could pass to Rudy when he's open. Losing Oden hurts, especially if he returns to form and make us regret it for years and years. But right now, are we not regreting "trading" Durant for Oden? Isn't it a good idea to at least get something out of this, then regret that Oden is doing well and not keep him on the bench for all but the 15-20 minutes a year that he'll stay healthy before he injures himself again? So, if I had to grade this trade-idea I would give it 'incomplete'. If Oden returns to form and plays like the beast he is there's no reason whatsoever to make this trade. If he doesn't return to form and we get Rubio to agree on coming to the league, this trade could make us better.
That's pretty remarkable...not having Chris Andersen and still not being a bad team. Sometimes I think the only good team in the league is Chris Andersen. I mean, the Denver Nuggets. No, wait, I did mean Chris Andersen.
