Here's to the last day of the most entertaining offseason, ever.

[Samuel]

I have to say, this has been the most entertaining offseason I can remember. Most offseasons in Portland Trailblazers history have consisted of a ho-hum NBA draft where we pick up a Reggie Smith, Randolph Childress or Nikita Morungov, followed by two months of straight media blackout (and no trades), plus a completely non-televised preseason where none of the starters play.

Not this summer.

This summer we had:

• The built up expectations of Greg Oden's rehab/comeback.
  
  
• A froth of excitement leading up to the draft based on Pritchard's track record of activity
  
  
• Another active draft where a highly touted rookie falls into our lap, the most complained-about Blazer is traded, and another praised Euro is added.
  
  
• A new sports talk radio station where at least 50% of the chatter is Blazers-related (and Blazers-staffed!)
  
  
• A summer league season where our rookie outperforms the 10 guys drafted before him to win MVP honors (and we can see it all...online).
  
  
• The Summer Olympics where we get a special, sneak preview of a new player on the biggest stage in the world.
  
  
• The continued rehabilitation of Oden, complete with media coverage, video, and a near-complete roster of scrimmages in September.
  
  
• An unhealthy dose of heart attacks: Martell Webster, Channing Frye and Brandon Roy's surgeries, Greg Oden and Steve Blake's training camp injuries.
  
  
• A well-attended and well-covered preseason that results in one of the most exciting Blazer highlight reels ever made (see below)
  
  
• An SI NBA preview issue where the lead article features the Blazers.
  
  
• A poetic, nationally televised season opener in the same arena where the franchise suffered a blow that it has yet to completely recover from.

So let's savor this final day of this unique offseason of expectations. I doubt we'll ever see another like it.

[video=youtube;pWqSjBYqZio]

 

[THE HCP]

I kinda' miss the off seasons that were dull. Where we have the 29th pick.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

you forgot the influx of S2 aka RIP CITY TWO!

 

[Nikolokolus]

I kinda' miss the off seasons that were dull. Where we have the 29th pick.

Word, yo.

 

[BlayZa]

after watching that highlights package again... its got to be said.... RUDY IS FRICKING AWESOME!

 

[mgb]

you forgot the influx of ** aka RIP CITY TWO!

Fixed it.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

*** ****!

 

[BenDavis503x]

Cool thread, thank you.

 

[dpc]

Can't wait for tomorrow night. Going to be a late night for me.

 

[MaxaMillion711]

one thing i can say to you guys i got from the blazers.com podcast. the most exciting time for a championship team is road to get there. that time is now. enjoy the regular season. enjoy the playoffs, God willing. after we win a ring, THEN you can nitpick and complain. but there is only one chance we have to truly enjoy the team without pointing out the flaws. and that is the road to the title. so try not to be so critical and just enjoy our fun team play basketball

oh and that video? its "#94 - Top Rated (This Month) - Sports". the world likes the blazers

 

[Nikolokolus]

one thing i can say to you guys i got from the blazers.com podcast. the most exciting time for a championship team is road to get there. that time is now. enjoy the regular season. enjoy the playoffs, God willing. after we win a ring, THEN you can nitpick and complain. but there is only one chance we have to truly enjoy the team without pointing out the flaws. and that is the road to the title. so try not to be so critical and just enjoy our fun team play basketball

oh and that video? its "#94 - Top Rated (This Month) - Sports". the world likes the blazers

A nice idea, but utterly impossible on a sports message board.

I have a feeling there's going to be very little patience for setbacks and shortcomings amongst a fairly large chunk of the fan community, it's a damn shame because they'll undoubtedly play hard and put on a good show most nights but I think the first month has the potential to take a lot of wind out the team's sails.

 

[ucatchtrout]

and on the 28th day we finally get to see them play

Only a few days left until the season opener in Los Angeles. I thought last summer there was more anticipation and conversation about the upcoming season than I had ever seen. Well, this year there has been even more. I’ve been hungry for a chance to see what this group of players can do. The last few months have been fun, the draft, training camp, the arrival of Rudy, our first glimpses at Oden playing in the red and black, and that first preseason game against the Kings.

There has been a lot of news about this team over the summer. Some stories have caught my interest more than others. Whether the Darius Miles experiment in Boston or which player would fill the fifteenth roster spot fancied you more….one thing is certain. We will no longer have to distract ourselves with this stuff. Tuesday the 28th in Los Angeles our season will begin. We’ll finally get a chance to just kick back and enjoy watching this team grow together.

Sure, the speculation will continue. Is Nate really the best coach for the team? Should we start Outlaw or Batum? Or should Rudy be the starter and Brandon Roy moved to small forward? What about that bounty on Greg Odens head? But now we get to actually see our guys play. We get to ooh and ahh at the slam dunks and the fast breaks, and we get to grumble about officiating calls, and the coaching, and the play of whatever player that we’ve decided to make our personal scapegoat.

It seems fitting that we open the season against the Lakers, a team many of us see as our biggest rivals. The stars will be out in LA, and it will be interesting to see how our guys match up against a team that made the finals last season and is picked to do so again this year.

The two voices in my head have been arguing about this game for a couple weeks now. I can’t get them to stop. One says Phil Jackson will have the Lakers ready to go on opening night on their home court, and that Kobe and company will pull away and beat us by ten or more. The other voice says we’re going to surprise some people and make an opening night statement to the league.

I think that’s something thats more likely to occur Friday night in Portland when the Spurs come to town, than it is Tuesday night in Los Angeles. But I do think our guys will be ready to play and will not embarrass themselves in Tinseltown. The spotlights will be all over Greg Oden in his matchup with Andrew Bynum. With all the recent talk of bounties on Greg I see him taking this game as an opportunity to show everyone he will back down to no one. I heard him say that was the purpose of all the fouling he did last year in summer league. All those fouls had some people worried that he’d be in foul trouble a lot. Well, it certainly hasn’t been an issue in preseason.

By all accounts the Blazers have one of the toughest schedules in the league for the first couple months of the season. By the time midseason rolls around this bunch will be battle tested. I think they are as ready as we are for the season to start.

Let the games begin.
http://www.clubblazers.com/

 

[Crimson the Cat]

Here frickin here!

 

[Masbee]

• Another active draft where a highly touted rookie falls into our lap, the most complained-about Blazer is traded, and another praised Euro is added.
  
  

Just a small correction to your fun list:

Bayless didn't "fall into our lap". He slipped in the draft and KR and the boys siezed the opportunity by working hard to make a trade and snatch Bayless.

 

[Samuel]

[/LIST] Just a small correction to your fun list:

Bayless didn't "fall into our lap". He slipped in the draft and KR and the boys seized the opportunity by working hard to make a trade and snatch Bayless.

Hrm. I still think my description fits the situation, albeit a little more briefly than yours. Semantics, I suppose. We can all tell the story in our own way. You're entitled to yours.

 

[<-=*PdX*=->]

I took a drink to this title!

 

[Ed O]

the most exciting time for a championship team is road to get there. that time is now. enjoy the regular season. enjoy the playoffs, God willing. after we win a ring, THEN you can nitpick and complain. but there is only one chance we have to truly enjoy the team without pointing out the flaws. and that is the road to the title. so try not to be so critical and just enjoy our fun team play basketball

I don't follow (nor ascribe to, obviously) this logic.

If I knew that we were going to win a title? Sure, I'd relax and enjoy every minute. Savor every flaw and gloss over every loss.

Of course we cannot know that except in retrospect, and the way that I enjoy being a fan is to watch and communicate (comment and read/listen) about what the team is doing... good and bad. That has little to do with whether the team wins a title or has just won a title... except insofar as the tone of the topics changing and the thrill that I get when the Blazers win.

Ed O.