Hollinger (always a blazer guy) says 7th seed but likes teams future (1 Viewer)

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I think the Spurs are old, Mavs have lost big parts in JJ and Tyson their speed and Muscle, the Lakers may mail this one in if Kobe doesn't get Dwight... I see the Thunder, Nuggs, Lakers, Blazers, CLippers and Mavs the rest treading at best!

East is Miami, Chicago,Celtics...

okc and miami finals....

Hmm the west seems much more loaded with talent than the East. That's why I'm not sure yet if OKC gets out.

Their defense concerns me a little.
 
Hmm the west seems much more loaded with talent than the East. That's why I'm not sure yet if OKC gets out.

Their defense concerns me a little.

As long as they still have that ball hog taking shots away from durrant, I don't count they go any farther than they already have. Durrant has to always be the #1 option
 
As long as they still have that ball hog taking shots away from durrant, I don't count they go any farther than they already have. Durrant has to always be the #1 option

I'll throw you two curveballs. What if Westbrook's jumper improves a little? He might not be such a ballhog then.

Of course Dirk and Nash failed pretty bad in Dallas when they were young.... The Blazers aren't chop liver. I would love to see you guys play them.
 
I'll throw you two curveballs. What if Westbrook's jumper improves a little? He might not be such a ballhog then.

Of course Dirk and Nash failed pretty bad in Dallas when they were young....

You are somewhat a laker fan, so you should know what I mean. Durant needs a big guy or a pippen type player. If you have Westbrook and durant taking the majority of the shots, that leavs unbalance in the offense. Pippen was more of a facilitator for Jordan, while on the flip side, shaq dominated the post while Kobe dominated the perimeter.

If I was okc, I wold try and package Westbrook and Perkins for Howard. That would instantly make them the team to beat in the entire league.
 
You are somewhat a laker fan, so you should know what I mean. Durant needs a big guy or a pippen type player. If you have Westbrook and durant taking the majority of the shots, that leavs unbalance in the offense. Pippen was more of a facilitator for Jordan, while on the flip side, shaq dominated the post while Kobe dominated the perimeter.

If I was okc, I wold try and package Westbrook and Perkins for Howard. That would instantly make them the team to beat in the entire league.

What if some other team makes a slightly better offer than the Westbrook deal? Would you trade Durant for Dwight Howard?

For example, I would trade Griffin for Dwight Howard. Maybe I would consider trading Howard to the Lakers for Gasol and Bynum. So if it came down to it, would you trade Durant for Howard? I would if Dwight signs an extension.

The Heat defend Dwight Howard well btw. ;) The Blazers played us damn well last year too. They're underrated by Hollinger imo.
 
What if some other team makes a slightly better offer than the Westbrook deal? Would you trade Durant for Dwight Howard?

For example, I would trade Griffin for Dwight Howard. Maybe I would consider trading Howard to the Lakers for Gasol and Bynum. So if it came down to it, would you trade Durant for Howard? I would if Dwight signs an extension.

The Heat defend Dwight Howard well btw. ;) The Blazers played us damn well last year too. They're underrated by Hollinger imo.

Durant is a once in a lifetime player in the nba. He could be mentioned I the same breath as Jordan and Kobe as one of the greatest sgs to ever play this game. Howard, as dominate as he is, is not at the same level IMO. Westbrook and Durant is actually better than westbrook and Howard IMO.
 
Durant is a once in a lifetime player in the nba. He could be mentioned I the same breath as Jordan and Kobe as one of the greatest sgs to ever play this game. Howard, as dominate as he is, is not at the same level IMO. Westbrook and Durant is actually better than westbrook and Howard IMO.

Hmm I don't think Dwight Howard's skill set would be affected by Westbrook though. And you could still surround Dwight with a bunch of shooters like Harden and whoever.

Whereas Durant took a considerable dip last year playing with Russell. His PER was below 24 and 87% of his field goal attempts were jumpers. Dwight's usage rate is lower than Durant's.
 
HCP needs to stick this shit on a bulletin board or something.
 
HCP needs to stick this shit on a bulletin board or something.

Word.

We've played our best when being the underdog though, + I think it will help us this year with teams having less time to prepare between games.
 
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WoW.

17th? Sounds like nonsense.

I think a lot of these prognosticators are thinking the loss of Roy will be a huge blow to the team. What they don't realize is that Roy missed a lot of the regular season last year, and played like crap when he did play. They remember that 4th quarter against Dallas and think that's the Roy we're losing, not the PER = 13.9 guy who couldn't guard anyone. Roy was 8th on the team in WS/48 and with an ORtg of 105 and DRtg of 110, it's debatable if he helped, or hurt the team last season. He was bascially playing at below replacement player production last season.

The Oden "setback" will probably also temper enthusiasm from many in the national media. Never mind that we won 48 games without him last season and go into this season deeper up front that we did last year. At least we won't be starting 6'8" Dante Cunningham at center this season.

BNM
 
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17 is certainly possible but so is 7. I think one could argue that we are better than Houston, Denver, Inidana, Orlando, NY, Philly, and SA.

Also a shot at being better than the Clips and Memphis. I would put us as high as 7 and as low as 12. But 17 is certainly possible.
 
More crappy rankings: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...r.rankings/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2

15th overall and 8th in the west. Denver is 3 (WTF)
Brandon Roy is gone and Greg Oden is, per usual, at least temporarily out of service. Still, the Blazers soldier on, picking up veteran role players like high-scoring combo guard Jamal Crawford and wizened center Kurt Thomas, who somehow makes a virtue out of his immobility. Coach Nate McMillan, who continues to run a tight ship while owner Paul Allen confines his bloodletting to the front office, will once again test the diligence of opposing defenses by milking the shot clock. With Roy's retirement and Andre Miller's departure in exchange for Raymond Felton, McMillan will break in a new backcourt and rely on the hard-nosed skills of swingmen Wes Matthews, Gerald Wallace and especially Nic Batum, whose improvement would go a long way toward clinching a playoff berth.

It's as if they do no research whatsoever.
 
One thing we really haven't touched on is how much more important depth is going to be this year. The schedule is going to punishing and I think we're going to see more injuries and fatigue this season. Teams like the Spurs are probably going to shoot for a low seed just to keep their guys rested for the playoffs.

I think our depth will be a source of strength this year assuming our league leading bad luck injury streak has ended
 
It's as if they do no research whatsoever.

Yeah, I think they just look at additions and subtractions from the roster and as BNM said above assume we're losing an All-star with Roy and a solid big man in Oden.

I mean it's certainly possible we have a poor season; maybe Aldridge doesn't repeat last seasons improvements, Batum continues to flat line at the same level of play as he has since his rookie year, Gerald starts to decline now being almost 30, Crawford, Felton and Wes could form a mediocre guard rotation and Camby played like crap last season. Miller was our second best player last year and we may end up desperately missing his alley oops. Now I don't expect all of those things to happen, but I could understand an analyst projecting a number of those scenarios to play out and the team to struggle.

But none of these rankings are using that type of reasoning, they all list Oden and Roy as the reason for our downfall. Heck Chad Ford gave us a D grade in the offseason partly because of Paul Allen in the lockout? How the hell does that impact todays roster?
 
I'm curious as to why he thinks San Antonio and the Lakers will be higher than the Blazers. This is not to suggest the Blazers are more completely talented than them, but with Duncan/Manu and Kobe all up their in age and their relative lack of depth you would think this would be the year these two teams were lower in the playoff tier than the younger rotations (which Portland is a part of even with Camby and Thomas).
 
I see us finishing 3rd assuming we're relatively healthy.
 
Portland will finish 4-6 and the world will proclaim what a magnificent coaching job Nate did, when in reality, we are better without Roy
 
Somewhere between 7 and 9 in the west seems about right to me.

And I might be alone in expecting the Blazers to finish in the lowest ten in pace this year.

Ed O.
 
Somewhere between 7 and 9 in the west seems about right to me.

And I might be alone in expecting the Blazers to finish in the lowest ten in pace this year.

Ed O.
 
Portland will finish 4-6 and the world will proclaim what a magnificent coaching job Nate did, when in reality, we are better without Roy

Blazers finished 4th with a healthy Roy in his best season as a pro

Gotta love the facts
 
Hollinger schmollinger.

This team will surprise people, play great D and have great chemistry, and score a lot of easy buckets.

We will be right there for the NW division and finish 4th or better.
 
Scanning Hollingers article again, he does have all the teams very close. From #2-8 each seed is one win better then the seed below them. Thats only 6 total wins difference from the 2nd seed to 8th seed. But then he has a huge 5 win drop off from the 8th to the 9th seed.

All we got to do is win 3 or 4 more games then he predicts and we get HCA in the first round.
 
Blazers finished 4th with a healthy Roy in his best season as a pro

Gotta love the facts

This team is better without last years version of Roy. That is what I am saying. All the media will think it's magic, but in reality, we are a lot better on paper
 
Scanning Hollingers article again, he does have all the teams very close. From #2-8 each seed is one win better then the seed below them. Thats only 6 total wins difference from the 2nd seed to 8th seed. But then he has a huge 5 win drop off from the 8th to the 9th seed.

All we got to do is win 3 or 4 more games then he predicts and we get HCA in the first round.

Exactly, this was the point I tried to make earlier.

It is not that big a deal.
 
I thought this might be worth looking at half-way through the season

*bump*
 
right, but this is a hollinger thread, not to be affiliated with the very threads of reality
 

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