Can we please get something straight with this "contender" stuff...

[Kaydow]

I actually get a kick out of MB's homerism. At least once a game he makes a call before the official does "And they dump it into Shaq, who travels with the ball, score it and they are going to call a foul. on. Joel. oh my." Or "Mayo out of control drive to the basket . . . Offensive Foul! No, they are going to call a blocking. foul. on. Blake." I love it. Between him, Rice, & Wheels I think they want to win as bad as we do.

As for the contenders theme . . . before the preseason the Blazers were the darlings of the Western Conference. How many times did we hear "If anyone can unseat the Lakers, it's the Portland Trailblazers". Were we contenders then? Even those who doubted thought the team was a year or two away, but had the right pieces in place. So much has changed since then. Pretty much everything that had to go right for us has gone wrong. It very well could be a lost season. But that's better than a lost decade! I hope they at least try and see what the young guys can do, so next year we know better what we DO need to be contenders.

 

[oldmangrouch]

We don't know, but the history of athletes with patella fractures gives us a good indication that he should be fine when he returns. Just like with anything else, the best we can do is play the percentages. Odds are that Oden will be back and fully healthy at the beginning of next year. We go with that.

For sake of argument, let's assume that's correct. Batum's injury is also something that players often fully recover from. Of course, this will set their careers back because of lost development time. At the begining of next season, they may well be back to where they were at the begining of the 08 season. (and that's the optimistic view)

Outlaw's broken foot? Maybe. Foot injuries are hard to predict.

Rudy's back? That is bad news. Players with back injuries generally have problems the rest of their career.

Bottom line: it seems suicidal to just stand pat and hope all 4 players are healthy and productive next season. The team needs to trade - not to salvage this season, but to reload for the future.

 

[Deebag]

Um, yes we were contenders. We tied for 2nd place in the West last year. We blew the Lakers out twice. Coming off a 54 win season, we added a veteran borderline all-star PG and Oden improved leaps and bounds. We're a young team with a high ceiling, every player has gotten better from another year of experience. The only reason why we're not contenders is because of injuries. But erase them and we are. Maybe not favorites, but contenders definitely. Do you know the definition of a contender? To say the Blazers had zero chance of winning it all is ridiculous. Of course the chances aren't as high as we want, but it's still a pretty decent chance, especially given our margin of victory stats from last season and at the beginning of this year.

 

[Ed O]

Um, yes we were contenders. We tied for 2nd place in the West last year. We blew the Lakers out twice. Coming off a 54 win season, we added a veteran borderline all-star PG and Oden improved leaps and bounds. We're a young team with a high ceiling, every player has gotten better from another year of experience. The only reason why we're not contenders is because of injuries. But erase them and we are. Maybe not favorites, but contenders definitely. Do you know the definition of a contender? To say the Blazers had zero chance of winning it all is ridiculous. Of course the chances aren't as high as we want, but it's still a pretty decent chance, especially given our margin of victory stats from last season and at the beginning of this year.

I don't think it was realistic to consider us contenders (top 5 or so) this year. We had too many young and unproven players. We had too many things go right last year for them to be duplicated, from lack of injuries to career years by journeymen.

If everything went perfectly, of course we would be contenders. That can be said regarding half of the teams in the NBA, though.

Ed O.