2nd best in the west!

[Chuck Taylor]

Well...we did win the most games against Dallas in the playoffs...makes you feel a little better, right?

 

[illmatic99]

Not really, I still think we would have beaten Dallas if our bench players played with any sort of consistency. And I don't intend to take anything away from Dirk, but LA coasted this year. They looked like they didn't even want to give a fight.

 

[RoyToy]

Blow it up!!!!

Couple moves and the Blazers can contend. Blowing it up would be stupid.

 

[Chuck Taylor]

Not really, I still think we would have beaten Dallas if our bench players played with any sort of consistency. And I don't intend to take anything away from Dirk, but LA coasted this year. They looked like they didn't even want to give a fight.

Our bench was our biggest downfall all year. You can't say "we would have won if it weren't for our biggest downfall". Not looking to rehash the Dallas series....just saying I feel a little better that they've made it to the finals.

 

[Rhal]

Doesn't' really make me feel any better when the team that beats us gets to were I wanted the team to be.

 

[illmatic99]

I guess so.

TBH, it's making me feel worse to watch them get this far, because I picked us to beat them. I'm jealous.

 

[Chuck Taylor]

I guess it just makes me think we're not as far off as I thought we were when we bowed out.

 

[Nikolokolus]

We were one Brandon Roy miracle quarter (or epic Dallas collapse if you prefer) from being shown the door in 5 games. If it makes people feel better to think that we competed that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking that this team is even close to competing for a championship, nevermind getting to the second round.

 

[mgb]

We were one Brandon Roy miracle quarter (or epic Dallas collapse if you prefer) from being shown the door in 5 games. If it makes people feel better to think that we competed that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking that this team is even close to competing for a championship, nevermind getting to the second round.

OTOH, we were close to winning the first game and if we had done that I think we would have won the series.

I do like Mavs doing well I think it does make the loss a little easier to take,,,not much, but a little.

 

[Shooter]

We were one Brandon Roy miracle quarter (or epic Dallas collapse if you prefer) from being shown the door in 5 games. If it makes people feel better to think that we competed that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking that this team is even close to competing for a championship, nevermind getting to the second round.

Absolutely right. Points to you.

 

[roywonder07]

We were one Brandon Roy miracle quarter (or epic Dallas collapse if you prefer) from being shown the door in 5 games. If it makes people feel better to think that we competed that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking that this team is even close to competing for a championship, nevermind getting to the second round.

It took a miracle to win game 4 but we were also robbed of game 1. But I do agree with you that we aren't close to competing for a championship. We were inconsistent all year long. We'll shoot 55% one day and 35% the next. It's all about consistency and being able to dominate the elite opponents. We were never that team this year. Sadly, we haven't done that in about 11 years.

 

[BlazerBeav]

We were one Brandon Roy miracle quarter (or epic Dallas collapse if you prefer) from being shown the door in 5 games. If it makes people feel better to think that we competed that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking that this team is even close to competing for a championship, nevermind getting to the second round.

We were also one free throw parade away from taking homecourt advantage in game 1, but some of us just prefer to accentuate the positive. By the same token, of course, Dallas' win in game 4 at OKC doesn't count either?

 

[oldguy]

Add a healthy Greg to this team and they absolutely are a contender.

Go Blazers

 

[craigehlo]

Add a healthy Greg to this team and they absolutely are a contender.

This contender talk is hilarious. I know it's been a long time since we've seen Oden on the floor, but the Blazers weren't a contender with him AND a pre-injury Roy.

The new GM will need to get another consistent scorer in this lineup if there's any hope getting to the 2nd round. Let's talk 2nd round before we talk contending for anything other than a draft pick in the low 20's.

 

[Mediocre Man]

We were one Brandon Roy miracle quarter (or epic Dallas collapse if you prefer) from being shown the door in 5 games. If it makes people feel better to think that we competed that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking that this team is even close to competing for a championship, nevermind getting to the second round.

Exactly. If I repped you'd get some. The people that think we are a couple of moves away are dillusional. It's what the owner thinks though, so maybe you guys could work for the front office.

 

[oldguy]

This contender talk is hilarious. I know it's been a long time since we've seen Oden on the floor, but the Blazers weren't a contender with him AND a pre-injury Roy.

The new GM will need to get another consistent scorer in this lineup if there's any hope getting to the 2nd round. Let's talk 2nd round before we talk contending for anything other than a draft pick in the low 20's.

You're entitled to your opinion. The Blazers took the first or, at worst, the second best team in the league to six games. The team that swept the defending champs. The Blazers would have crushed Dallas with both Brandon and Greg healthy. It's hilarious that you would think otherwise.

You can dispute whether Greg will ever get healthy, making my hope a pipe dream, but I don't know how you make a case that we couldn't have beaten Dallas with healthy Greg. How do you argue that being the second best team in the west is not a top five team in the league?

Go Blazers

 

[BrianFromWA]

the part about DAL's run that encourages me is that you don't need to be defensive stalwarts individually to play good team defense. It's proven now. JJ Barea is not Gary Payton, Jr. Jason Kidd isn't Jason Kidd 2001. Dirk isn't Ben Wallace, and Peja's next defensive stop will break Jason Terry's record for longest span between them. That said, they were able to take away what we wanted to do, and figured out the triangle pretty effectively.

SO...Add Jimmer and JJ Redick to Crash, LMA and Oden. Championship! (Edit: If you think Wes is a better fit than Redick, I won't howl too much)

 

[Mediocre Man]

The Blazers would have crushed Dallas with both Brandon and Greg healthy. It's hilarious that you would think otherwise.

As it is hillarious that you make a blanket statement like this, but you can't make statements like this when you have absolutely nothing to back it up.

 

[illmatic99]

This contender talk is hilarious. I know it's been a long time since we've seen Oden on the floor, but the Blazers weren't a contender with him AND a pre-injury Roy.

That team did not have Wesley, Dre, Wallace, or even LaMonster.

With a healthy Roy and a Nov. 09 Oden, this team absolutely is a contender.

Dre/Roy/Wallace/Aldridge/Oden
with
Rudy/Wes/Nic/Camby coming off the bench.

Are you kidding me? That is one sick rotation.

 

[e_blazer]

Enough with the blanket statements about the Blazers contending or not contending with their current roster (or even with a couple of changes). IMHO, winning a championship has more to do with a team catching lightning in a bottle than it does with assembling the perfect roster. If I had the inclination (and I don't), it wouldn't take more than a few minutes searching this board to find posts by many of us from earlier this spring where we were hoping the Blazers would end up matched against the Mavericks because that was the best chance of getting out of Round 1. The Mavs were the old team that was mentally fragile. Obviously, they've put that notion to rest by waltzing through the West to the NBA Finals. Their roster didn't improve; they simply got hot at the right time and gained the confidence necessary to win. Staying healthy and playing with confidence and cohesiveness are the intangibles that a GM can't really game for. The Blazers need to make some moves to put themselves into the best position to compete, but more than that they, like everybody else, are going to need some good breaks for a change in order to play for a title.

 

[PapaG]

The Blazers need at least one MVP-level player in order to be a contender. That's the way it is in the NBA.

 

[e_blazer]

The Blazers need at least one MVP-level player in order to be a contender. That's the way it is in the NBA.

I think that's a bit of a chicken/egg issue. Are MVP candidates what leads a team to contention or are they created by the media as a team pushes itself into contention? If LaMarcus puts together a full season of what he delivered for a couple of months this year and the Blazers end up with 55 wins next season, would he not then be an MVP-level player?

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I'm happy for Dallas. That franchise has taken a lot of heat in the past few years. Statements like choking in playoffs, losses in the first round, Cuban building rosters for regular season but not playoffs. But Cuban and Co stuck to their guns of accumulating as much talent without care of cost of player and salary cap.

To me, Blazers are a playoff team that needs some things to go their way to be championship contenders. They are in no different position than 75% of the playoff teams. With PA, I think the chances of things going the Blazers way increase. Getting Wallace was really stepping up. Couple more of those type players and we are right in this thing.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Who are the elite western confrence teams next year?

There was a differnece between the Mavs and the Blazers, but that gap is reachable.

OKC is a force, but in hindsite was the Perkins trade a good one or bad one? That team will get better but they must now add talent via trades and it will get tougher on them.

Denver, SA, NO, Memphis . . . any given series

 

[Mediocre Man]

The Blazers need at least one MVP-level player in order to be a contender. That's the way it is in the NBA.

This is probebly the best post in the thread.

 

[blazerboy30]

We were one Brandon Roy miracle quarter (or epic Dallas collapse if you prefer) from being shown the door in 5 games. If it makes people feel better to think that we competed that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking that this team is even close to competing for a championship, nevermind getting to the second round.

Gimme a break. Did you watch Dallas come back from 15 points down with 5 minutes to play in the 4th quarter? Let's ignore their miracle comeback while pointing out ours just to keep the "I'm so level headed and the only fan who can view this team objectively" shtick going.

 

[magnifier661]

Gimme a break. Did you watch Dallas come back from 15 points down with 5 minutes to play in the 4th quarter? Let's ignore their miracle comeback while pointing out ours just to keep the "I'm so level headed and the only fan who can view this team objectively" shtick going.

Point blazerboy30. Nothing against Nikolokolus, but blazerboy30 has a huge point on your post. Also, what about Dallas's comeback in game 1 against the Lakers? Regardless, a win is a win and a loss is a loss. I mean if we are doing the "technicals"; we can account for games 1 and 2 being favored by Portland; since they came into the 4th with a considerable lead.

 

[anonymous gambler]

We were also some biased refereeing away from winning game 1.

 

[e_blazer]

Point blazerboy30. Nothing against Nikolokolus, but blazerboy30 has a huge point on your post. Also, what about Dallas's comeback in game 1 against the Lakers? Regardless, a win is a win and a loss is a loss. I mean if we are doing the "technicals"; we can account for games 1 and 2 being favored by Portland; since they came into the 4th with a considerable lead.

And don't overlook their 17-2 run against the Thunder that gave them the win in OKC in Game 3.

Nik and the other "realists" on the board have some valid points that the Blazers' roster isn't where we'd like it to be in order to be considered true contenders. That said, I'd be more than willing to bet that a look on a few Mavs message boards around the web would reveal plenty of other Maverick fan "realists" dogging the Mavericks' chances in getting out of the first round this year.

The way I see it, some of us here suffer from an overly-rosy view of the Blazers, ignoring shortcomings in our players, coaches and management, while others seem to only be able to see and talk about the negatives. We fans are a bit crazy, but I guess as long as we're all pulling for the team to do well, we ought to be able to get along together.

 

[anonymous gambler]

And don't overlook their 17-2 run against the Thunder that gave them the win in OKC in Game 3.

Nik and the other "realists" on the board have some valid points that the Blazers' roster isn't where we'd like it to be in order to be considered true contenders. That said, I'd be more than willing to bet that a look on a few Mavs message boards around the web would reveal plenty of other Maverick fan "realists" dogging the Mavericks' chances in getting out of the first round this year.

The way I see it, some of us here suffer from an overly-rosy view of the Blazers, ignoring shortcomings in our players, coaches and management, while others seem to only be able to see and talk about the negatives. We fans are a bit crazy, but I guess as long as we're all pulling for the team to do well, we ought to be able to get along together.

I think we've got a pretty decent core to our roster- Two near all-star level players on both sides of the floor in Aldridge and Wallace, a good veteran point guard in Miller, decent 2 guard in Matthews, possible future star in Batum, a wildcard in Oden- we just need a good GM to fill in the holes. I don't see why we can't compete with anyone in West- we need to add some depth, maybe a good center like Nene/Chandler/Kamen.

I think we could have beat Dallas had we had a bit better shooting off the bench and no Brandon Roy ( I think his resurgence made Aldridge drop off...)

Bring back Trader Bob- he could do it.