Chad Ford on chat wrap up

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magnifier661

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http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/41939

Evan (PDX) - - - Admit it, Chad. You and everyone else at ESPN were so down on the Blazers... but for the wrong reasons. A more uptempo offense works, and Brandon Roy would've mucked that up.

Chad Ford (1:28 PM)

I was pessimistic, yes. They've played much better than expected. I had serious doubts about Nate McMillan's pledge to play faster. Every coach says that in the pre-season. Few make good. He has. If Blazers play like this all year, he's hands down the Coach of the Year in my opinion. Few coaches can adjust their system the way he's been forced to over the past few years.
 
The season is still way too early. Absolutely nothing has been proven out at this point. Obviously, assclown is still a work in progress.
 
HOLLINGER:

Nate (Portland)

Is Portland's start an aberration, or do you see them remaining a contender throughout this shortened season?

John Hollinger (12:33 PM)

Depends on how we're using the word "contender", but I do think they can get a top-4 seed.
 
I mean, I think the clips and thunder could finish above us. No one else really jumps out at me.
 
Nate has made adjustments this year, and like Chad said, if it continues then we will be fine. If Nate goes back to what he has done his entire coaching career then we are in trouble
 
JFizzleRaider said:
I mean, I think the clips and thunder could finish above us. No one else really jumps out at me.
Click to expand...

Kobe won't let the Lakers be a bottom-half seed. Bynum's playing well enough to make it work. I see the top 4 as OKC, LAC, LAL, and PDX in any order. It's just so up in the air right now. MEM is going to have some trouble without Z-Bo, SAS will have some trouble with Manu, DAL will have some trouble without Chandler, and DEN will have some trouble without Melo (and with a hobbled Nene). One of them might not make it to the playoffs if MIN really lights it up.

The west is so ridiculous right now. But we knew three years ago that this would happen. Remember, this was going to be our first major championship run year in a world where Oden and Roy were both healthy. Man, we would have had it in the fucking bag. Still might have a good shot though.
 
David (PDX)

I'm a huge Blazer fan, but it seems like the praise the Blazers are getting might be a little hasty. How much will tonight's game against what I believe is an underrated Lakers team tell us?
John Hollinger (12:45 PM)

It's one game; generally it doesn't tell you a ton unless it's a blowout. Look for the tempo, though; Portland's bench should be able to crush L.A.'s second unit, especially if they get in an up-and-down game.
Click to expand...

I see this in the same perspective. It's just one game, but what he forgets is this is against the Lakers. Beating them when we are supposed to hasn't really been our forté. We usually choked against them for some strange reason. If we blow them out, then it will be a huge confidence boost for our team.
 
BlazerCaravan said:
Kobe won't let the Lakers be a bottom-half seed. Bynum's playing well enough to make it work. I see the top 4 as OKC, LAC, LAL, and PDX in any order. It's just so up in the air right now. MEM is going to have some trouble without Z-Bo, SAS will have some trouble with Manu, DAL will have some trouble without Chandler, and DEN will have some trouble without Melo (and with a hobbled Nene). One of them might not make it to the playoffs if MIN really lights it up.

The west is so ridiculous right now. But we knew three years ago that this would happen. Remember, this was going to be our first major championship run year in a world where Oden and Roy were both healthy. Man, we would have had it in the fucking bag. Still might have a good shot though.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I just dont think lal has the depth this year. Im penciling in a bynum injury though. I think we end up third seed.
 
We haven't had any injuries and we haven't played any back-to-backs.

If this keeps up all year, we can definitely finish with HCA.

:)

Ed O.
 
Ed O said:
We haven't had any injuries and we haven't played any back-to-backs.
Click to expand...

Mon 26 vs Philadelphia W 107-103
Tue 27 vs Sacramento W 101-79

But you're right in principle -- our schedule has been a cake walk compared to some others...
 
If we get an emotional win tonight it will be really hard get up for PHX in 24 hours, so either way that will be a test sort of. It's a good thing that game is also late thanks to ESPN schedule.
 
crowTrobot said:
If we get an emotional win tonight it will be really hard get up for PHX in 24 hours, so either way that will be a test sort of. It's a good thing that game is also late thanks to ESPN schedule.
Click to expand...

On "The Fan", they predicted a win tonight and a let down game tomorrow in Phoenix. Would be nice to win both. I know it could be hard though. It will be a true test on just how "posied" this team is and their drive to be the best.
 
ABM said:
Roy was addressed in the op.
Click to expand...

And Oden doesn't count because he never plays, yeah yeah.

What I'm really trying to say is that "we haven't had our big injury yet" isn't a reason to be skeptical of a new system. "We're only 5 games into the season" is legit; even Windows doesn't update its time remaining prediction bar until 10% of the task is done. And that thing is notoriously inaccurate.
 
BlazerCaravan said:
Other than Roy retiring and Oden being out for (most of?) the season. :devilwink:
Click to expand...

Heh. Well, I think that those things happened before most predictions of the Blazers being mediocre were made. :)

Ed O.
 
We've been great so far, but beside the Thunder the west is wide open this year. If you repeated this season 10 times you'd have 10 vastly different seedings, it's mostly going to be a crapshoot. Whoever gets the #2 seed could get destroyed in the playoffs by the 7, so while I'm hoping we get a top3 seed and out of the first round the playoffs are going to be a dog fight even more so then other recent years in the west.
 
The Blazers have had a relatively easy schedule so far, with many teams having played 2 more games than the Blazers. It's been great that the players have been able to get their legs a bit and develop some chemistry going while the schedule's been favorable. The schedule's about to get a lot tougher so we'll see what this team is really made of over the next couple of weeks.

Long term, I think injuries are going to be even more of a factor than ever before in determining the finish order in the West. The Blazers roster is pretty thin and old up front. I hope Camby and Thomas are taking their vitamins.
 
e_blazer said:
The Blazers have had a relatively easy schedule so far, with many teams having played 2 more games than the Blazers. It's been great that the players have been able to get their legs a bit and develop some chemistry going while the schedule's been favorable. The schedule's about to get a lot tougher so we'll see what this team is really made of over the next couple of weeks.

Long term, I think injuries are going to be even more of a factor than ever before in determining the finish order in the West. The Blazers roster is pretty thin and old up front. I hope Camby and Thomas are taking their vitamins.
Click to expand...

Realitively easy in terms with games played and days off; but the teams they faces weren't. Only Sacramento was a gimmie. The rest are very good teams.
 
I think that's a good point - other than the Kings, we've played nothing but playoff teams so far.
 
magnifier661 said:
Realitively easy in terms with games played and days off; but the teams they faces weren't. Only Sacramento was a gimmie. The rest are very good teams.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I should have made that more clear. The teams that the Blazers have played have been good. It's just that the team has hasn't had the back-to-backs and has had more rest than some of the other Western contenders.
 
so can someone explain to me the reasoning behind OKC being #1 on everyone's lists? I mean, they're a good team, and they might end up as the 1 seed, but I've watched 3 games of theirs (@MIN, @DAL, v.us) and they went 1-2 (barely beating MIN and losing by double digits in the others). Durant needed a 30' 3pter at the Buzzer to beat DAL at home in another one. They remind me a little of us in 2009-10, where everyone was on our wagon about finally becoming big boys in the West (except it wasn't nearly this unanimous) and if LMA had been openly feuding with Roy during the year about being the top dog on the team.


Yeah, Westbrook and Durant are good. Harden's getting to be useful, and Ibaka/Perkins/Collison is a decent big rotation. But this isn't the 86 Celts (or even 2000 L*kers). I don't get all the love, I guess.
 
BrianFromWA said:
so can someone explain to me the reasoning behind OKC being #1 on everyone's lists? I mean, they're a good team, and they might end up as the 1 seed, but I've watched 3 games of theirs (@MIN, @DAL, v.us) and they went 1-2 (barely beating MIN and losing by double digits in the others). Durant needed a 30' 3pter at the Buzzer to beat DAL at home in another one. They remind me a little of us in 2009-10, where everyone was on our wagon about finally becoming big boys in the West (except it wasn't nearly this unanimous) and if LMA had been openly feuding with Roy during the year about being the top dog on the team.


Yeah, Westbrook and Durant are good. Harden's getting to be useful, and Ibaka/Perkins/Collison is a decent big rotation. But this isn't the 86 Celts (or even 2000 L*kers). I don't get all the love, I guess.
Click to expand...

It's early. Some teams are playing better now than they will later and some are doing the opposite
 
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