Battered Blazers Search For Winning Formula

[Strenuus]

I think Kerry Eggers nailed it. Although I think Neil is taking more heat than he suggests in his article. The Blazers have a talented roster with some depth that is waiting to be fine tuned. I'm not sure what Neil is doing but there is no reason to take those three first rounders and add to the depth that is in place. That is a lot of the problems with this team. It's completely imbalanced and we have players who don't want to be here or don't like their roles. The last thing he needs to do is add three more players to an already deep roster which will cause further problems.

I spend a ton of time trying to figure what he is doing. And here we are again. You started the rebuild process two years ago Neil. Take the assembled talent and do something amazing with it. If you can't, quit stealing the owners money and GET OUT! I for one don't believe you have a clue on what you are doing.

Do you have verified sources stating this? That's a pretty massive claim to make.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Do we hate Eggers or not? I lose track of which Portland writers we ignore.

It's simple. If they say anything negative about the team, they suck and know nothing

 

[stampedehero]

We will see his post game vision quite a bit from now until the end of March

 

[Strenuus]

It's simple. If they say anything negative about the team, they suck and know nothing

Guess this just debunked that. No one hates Eggers.

Well, except maybe Olshey now.

 

[TBpup]

(See the Bald Faced Shithead for the alernative current of this battery!)

No thank you. Any link to an article the Mad Clown wrote needs to come with a warning.

 

[Boob-No-More]

That ain't hard to be bro! Like a black guy going to an all white school being voted Best Dancer!

Carrying your analogy forward...

It's all relative. If we had the equivalent of this:

and this:

Being voted best dancer would be impressive, regardless of race.

Unfortunately, in our local media, we don't even have the equivalent of this:

or this:

BNM

 

[rotary111]

I guess I don't understand the people complaining about taking multiple picks into the draft. 3 picks can be turned into 1 really good pick in a heartbeat. It doesn't mean that we must bring back 3 rookies. I'm guessing that there are several teams that would love to have more than 1 pick in this draft.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

3 picks can be turned into 1 really good pick in a heartbeat.

Sorry but no. No one is going to trade a really good pick (talking #5 and above) for our 3 picks.

If we had the #5 pick would you be happy if we traded it for the #10 and 2 other low draft picks?

 

[Schilly]

I would rather have the #22 and/or #28 pick on the bench than Quarterman.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Sorry but no. No one is going to trade a really good pick (talking #5 and above) for our 3 picks.

If we had the #5 pick would you be happy if we traded it for the #10 and 2 other low draft picks?

Once again, people need to look at it as we are doing thw trade.

The NBA is a star league. Having a deep bench means shit if I have 4 all star starters

 

[Wizard Mentor]

I was hoping the blazers would win 50+ games this year - they won't. Several players have underperformed based on how they played last year. Comparatively, we suck!

The article provided ZERO NEW INFORMATION, and ZERO INSIGHT as to why we suck this year. The latter would have been very interesting. Do people actually think we don't know that we suck? The article was OK, but nothing special.

Yes, absolutely, I am a homer. I like articles that provide zero new information and zero insight better if they are positive.

 

[e_blazer]

I thought that this section was the meat of Eggers' article:

Last week, in a short on-camera interview with Blazers Broadcasting's Brooke Olzendam, Olshey suggested the Blazers "are probably a six-point swing overall from being a six or a seven seed, versus where we are today. We're right there, right on the cusp. …"

A six-point swing per game, maybe. Portland currently stands 10 games behind No. 6 Memphis and 8 1/2 games back of No. 7 Oklahoma City. The Blazers are 1-4 in one-point games, 6-7 in games decided by three points or fewer. If they'd gone 13-0 in those games, they'd still be only 30-26 and a game and a half-game back of OKC in eighth place.

Olshey's math doesn't work, and his offseason moves haven't, either.

It's a results-oriented business. Allen's plan is to win an NBA championship. That's what he hires his GMs to help him do.

He basically called BS on Olshey's assertion that this team is close to being the rising team that we'd hoped for and which was worth the money he spent last summer. It is a results-oriented business and Olshey's ass is on the line unless he's able to pull a rabbit out of the hat (or wherever else he can find one) and give PA a reason to believe that there's hope for next season.

 

[ripcityboy]

I was hoping the blazers would win 50+ games this year - they won't. Several players have underperformed based on how they played last year. Comparatively, we suck!

The article provided ZERO NEW INFORMATION, and ZERO INSIGHT as to why we suck this year. The latter would have been very interesting. Do people actually think we don't know that we suck? The article was OK, but nothing special.

Yes, absolutely, I am a homer. I like articles that provide zero new information and zero insight better if they are positive.

Portland sports fans in general have to be the most relentlessly positive in all of sports. Go to some boards for Philly or NY Sports fans. Their complexes have complexes. Timbers fans will brigade you online for even criticizing front office management. Blazer fans aren't anywhere near bad, but I love the "HOW DARE YOU!" threads some Blazer fans post on Reddit sometimes. But as a homer as well, I love our fan base quirks and what makes us, "us." Eventually I am sure some former corporate psychologist will find a way to deprogram human beings from being to negative in any way shape or form. It will be viewed as a cognitive dysfunction that should be irradicated from humanity.

 

[BigGameDamian]

This is laughable.

 

[Minstrel]

The Blazers are 7-11 in those close games that Eggers identified. That's a .389 winning percentage. Their actual winning percentage is .411. They might have been very slightly unlucky in close games, but hardly in some gigantic fashion. They've lost a bunch of blowouts too. Their Pythagorean winning percentage (expected wins and losses based on points scored and allowed, to factor out the luck involved in close games) is .395, according to ESPN, good for 22nd in the league (with a big gap between 20th and 21st).

So, yeah, I think Eggers is right to call BS on Olshey's claim that they're right on the cusp of being a good team and they just got unlucky with close games.

 

[rotary111]

Sorry but no. No one is going to trade a really good pick (talking #5 and above) for our 3 picks.

If we had the #5 pick would you be happy if we traded it for the #10 and 2 other low draft picks?

What if that really good pick is a PF who slipped in the draft like happens almost every year. Past drafts have great players all the way to the 2nd round. (Hassan Whiteside, 2nd round number 33. super rare.) What we need isn't a guard or SF which could dominate the top of this year's draft. I respect what your saying but teams need different things. Late bloomers happen in college too. The end of this year or even in the tournament we will see someone skyrocket up the board. I'm not saying we get in the top 5 just a consolidation pick higher up than what we have to fill a need.

 

[Minstrel]

What if that really good pick is a PF who slipped in the draft like happens almost every year. Past drafts have great players all the way to the 2nd round. (Hassan Whiteside, 2nd round number 33. super rare.) What we need isn't a guard or SF which could dominate the top of this year's draft. I respect what your saying but teams need different things. Late bloomers happen in college too. The end of this year or even in the tournament we will see someone skyrocket up the board. I'm not saying we get in the top 5 just a consolidation pick higher up than what we have to fill a need.

Yeah, if the Blazers want to move up from 10 to, like, 8 because they see a good fit dropping, they might have the ammunition to do that.

 

[ripcityboy]

The Blazers are 7-11 in those close games that Eggers identified. That's a .389 winning percentage. Their actual winning percentage is .411. They might have been very slightly unlucky in close games, but hardly in some gigantic fashion. They've lost a bunch of blowouts too. Their Pythagorean winning percentage (expected wins and losses based on points scored and allowed, to factor out the luck involved in close games) is .395, according to ESPN, good for 22nd in the league (with a big gap between 20th and 21st).

So, yeah, I think Eggers is right to call BS on Olshey's claim that they're right on the cusp of being a good team and they just got unlucky with close games.

Neil's a really good spin doctor. He finds ways to maximize press from positive small trades and dismisses large amounts of negative press from other actions. I am sure being in Hollywood for so long helped him realize the importance of press. He realizes that recurring negative voices around the Blazer organization have the effect of a big stone in a small pond like Portland. So he cultivates outside sources and gets rid of people (CSN Fiasco) who won't push his agenda. It kinds of reminds me of Brian Cashman from the Yankees. That little horney weasel has been the Yankees GM for over 20 years. He found out quickly that if he released info to NY reporters on players that didn't do well. The fans would follow and remember.

"YOU CAN'T BLAME CASHMAN FOR THAT! THE NY POST ARTICLE SAID HE WAS AGAINST IT!"

"IN OLSHEY WE TRUST. WE CAN'T ATTRACT FREE AGENTS. LOOK AT THAT TRADE HE PULLED OFF."

In a league where perception is everything, having people react the way you want them to is the best job security. Because nobody but a few industry insiders are probably going to know the difficulty or magnitude of the decisions you make which truly show your ability. Unless of course your an absolute failure. But Neil isn't. He's obviously very capable and very crafty.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

Do you have verified sources stating this? That's a pretty massive claim to make.

Of course not just that cool thing called intuition.

The roster from player 1-12 has very little to give game in and game out. They're not directed or focused on the common goal of winning if that is indeed what it is. Something else has them occupied.

 

[Strenuus]

Of course not just that cool thing called intuition.

The roster from player 1-12 has very little to give game in and game out. They're not directed or focused on the common goal of winning if that is indeed what it is. Something else has them occupied.

lol. Okay. intuition makes rumors, I guess.