PDX: mediocre destination for NBA players

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15. Portland: Can't quibble with the talent assembled, the stability of management and coaching or the ego-goosing that comes when you're one of the big shots for the only game in town. A lot of NBA players, though, are urban guys and, until they truly experience it, the Pacific Northwest is way out there somewhere. The crowds at the Rose Garden sagged, too, when the team's fortunes did, in contrast to a place like Chicago.
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Ouch.. the guy seems like a bit of a jerk.
 
mobes23 said:
This article ranks us as #15 in terms of desirability to NBA players. While I understand some parts of his argument, I would think we'd be much higher to NBA players focused on postseason play over the next 5-10 years.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/steve_aschburner/06/29/free.agent.ranks/index.html
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I was just about to post this. While our ranking seems about right, I didn't understand this part --

The crowds at the Rose Garden sagged, too, when the team's fortunes did, in contrast to a place like Chicago.
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The crowds at the Rose Garden are some of the best in the league, and will continue to be now that the jailblazer era is over. Pretty weak argument in my opinion. Don't know how I feel about Detroit being ahead of us.
 
considering it was the first time that A: the Blazers sucked that bad, B: we weren't coming off of 6 titles in 8 years (when Chicago sucked) , C: the team had incredibly loyal fans for basically 28 straight years and D: we aren't coming from a population base of over 2.8 million people in the city and 9.5 million people in the tri-state area, I say we did pretty good.
 
Erroneous Subterfuge said:
The crowds at the Rose Garden are some of the best in the league, and will continue to be now that the jailblazer era is over. Pretty weak argument in my opinion. Don't know how I feel about Detroit being ahead of us.
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He was talking about us during the Jailblazers era.
 
B-Roy said:
He was talking about us during the Jailblazers era.
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even the rebuilding. until we started winning, the crowds were gone. like it or not, blazermania is kind of bandwagon....they'll cheer when they win, won't come to the games when the team sucks.
 
Players who like the game and a good home crowd, would like it here. Big shot big city dudes wouldn't.

It is nice how our city attracts the type of players we want. Nice guys with skill.
 
BTOWN_HUSTLA said:
even the rebuilding. until we started winning, the crowds were gone. like it or not, blazermania is kind of bandwagon....they'll cheer when they win, won't come to the games when the team sucks.
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Let's be honest though. The Blazers drove the fans away with their crappy management. It took awhile for them to earn the trust of the people back.
 
B-Roy said:
Let's be honest though. The Blazers drove the fans away with their crappy management. It took awhile for them to earn the trust of the people back.
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if they were winning, people would show up players be damned.
 
12,666. That number held through good times and bad. Kind of funny to see it now because stadiums are much bigger, but it in it's time that streak was impressive and negates any good bandwagon argument.

If anything, blind loyalty for too many years allowed the franchise to make poor personnel decisions. I'd credit the franchise turnaround on some good personnel decisions that were spurred on by (1) team management in deep fear of fans chucking their season tickets and (2) excellent lottery ball play.
 
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BTOWN_HUSTLA said:
if they were winning, people would show up players be damned.
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Where in the NBA is this true? There were some really empty arenas around the league last season. Even when we played at Utah it was empty, and that place is usually always full. I can't think of one bad team that fills the seats.
 
HispanicCausinPanic said:
Where in the NBA is this true? There were some really empty arenas around the league last season. Even when we played at Utah it was empty, and that place is usually always full. I can't think of one bad team that fills the seats.
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I THINK YOU PLAYED THEM ON SUNDAY WHEN THE MOORMONS WERE IN CHUUCH
 
B-Roy said:
He was talking about us during the Jailblazers era.
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Atlanta is the only one I think he rated too high (maybe Denver) But Atlanta at #9? I will believe it when i see it.
 
the main draw of portland is a rich owner and certain guys who like the chill, laid back NW style.
 
i'm surprised with houston, it seems like a dirty city. and detroit > PDX? wtf.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Atlanta is the only one I think he rated too high (maybe Denver) But Atlanta at #9? I will believe it when i see it.
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If you are a rich young african american male, the ATL is a pretty nice place to live.
 
San Antonio 10? Great orginazation, but the town!?!?!?!?!?! River walk, Alamo and that's it. Bored after 2 days!
 
BTOWN_HUSTLA said:
even the rebuilding. until we started winning, the crowds were gone. like it or not, blazermania is kind of bandwagon....they'll cheer when they win, won't come to the games when the team sucks.
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A) I think the article is talking about right now, who cares about 3 years ago if you're a current FA. So to even bring this up in the article is puzzling.

B) Portland has proven itself to be far from a bandwagon fanbase, that's ridiculous. The jailblazers did enough to turn any fanbase off, and combine that with a few horrible seasons on the court and that slimy, distrusting front office we had, and you have the perfect storm. That was a rare situation that I wouldn't expect to happen again anytime soon. The crowds have been great all the way back to the 70's, and three years shouldn't outweight all those other years.

The way the national media destroyed the Blazers every chance they got during the jailblazer era makes an article like this, which paints the fans as fairweather, a little hypocritical.
 
BTOWN_HUSTLA said:
i'm surprised with houston, it seems like a dirty city. and detroit > PDX? wtf.
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They didn't judge the city of Detroit. It was Auburn Hills and the rest of the fancy suburbs like Birhmingham.
 
Erroneous Subterfuge said:
A) I think the article is talking about right now, who cares about 3 years ago if you're a current FA. So to even bring this up in the article is puzzling.

B) Portland has proven itself to be far from a bandwagon fanbase, that's ridiculous. The jailblazers did enough to turn any fanbase off, and combine that with a few horrible seasons on the court and that slimy, distrusting front office we had, and you have the perfect storm. That was a rare situation that I wouldn't expect to happen again anytime soon. The crowds have been great all the way back to the 70's, and three years shouldn't outweight all those other years.

The way the national media destroyed the Blazers every chance they got during the jailblazer era makes an article like this, which paints the fans as fairweather, a little hypocritical.
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If the blazers somehow went 18-64 or something, I'm sure the rose garden would be half empty.
 
HispanicCausinPanic said:
If you are a rich young african american male, the ATL is a pretty nice place to live.
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I am white and i love visiting Atlanta as well. But we rarely see top free agents go there. One year of a semi filled arena does not convince me that they have any fan support. That place is almost always empty. It is not a top 10 franchise.
 
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