Reddit thread on what changes the Blazers need to win a title

[Chris Craig]

Aldridge will return next season. Probably not enough though

 

[riverman]

Where's crabbe anyway?

Nobody picked him up last I saw he was still a free agent

 

[jlprk]

Eh, if Oden or Roy had stayed healthy (let alone both) there's a pretty good chance we have a championship in the past 12 years, which is more than most teams can say.

We lost three franchise-level talents (if you also count Aldridge) for absolutely nothing. Zero compensation. Look at any championship team and try to imagine what that would do to them. We also were in prime position to contend until Wes blew an Achilles.

We've had our shots, and we just got really unlucky with injury (and Aldridge's weird mindset). We might have lost anyway, but we'll never know. We lost before ever really facing an opponent. But we were in position.

The present administration (the long long decade of Olshey and Stotts) didn't get us Roy, Aldridge, and Oden. You might as well bring up the major losses from the Civil War of 1861-65. And Aldridge wasn't weird to jump from a mediocre coach to the best coach.

 

[PCmor7]

Reddit told me Jody needed to buy GameStop stock for the Blazers to win a title.

 

[riverman]

The present administration (the long long decade of Olshey and Stotts) didn't get us Roy, Aldridge, and Oden. You might as well bring up the major losses from the Civil War of 1861-65. And Aldridge wasn't weird to jump from a mediocre coach to the best coach.

I didn't realize Aldridge was hoopin from 1861-65...did he make one allstar team over those 4 years?

 

[wizenheimer]

Nobody picked him up last I saw he was still a free agent

hope Crabbe has enough money to get by:



I worry about Evan Turner too:



also, France is an expensive place...I hope Nic Batum has been planning ahead:

 

[riverman]

hope Crabbe has enough money to get by:

View attachment 36489

I worry about Evan Turner too:

View attachment 36490

also, France is an expensive place...I hope Nic Batum has been planning ahead:

View attachment 36492

Evan Turner is coaching with Brad Stevens now...smart move on his part...Mo and Meyers are polishing the bench most games....Chief hasn't played from injuries since he joined Orlando.....I don't worry about any of these guys...they all get paid...Crabbe I think produced the least post Blazer career of any of them....Nico and Wes have been meh.....Wes got 80 million from Dallas ..he did ok

 

[jlprk]

Every. Single. One.

Every single second round pick Neil brought to Portland in the draft has panned out and gotten a second contract. Not really debatable. That is the best drafting record of any other GM in the second round, tbh. He fucked up in 2017, probably his biggest mistake period, but his second round record is unmatched.

Yeah, but he traded away half of the 2nd-round picks he ever got. Years ago, when I'd complain that he had just overpaid another couple of picks for a journeyman, people would post that 2nd-round picks are worthless. I'd answer, not for him.

 

[riverman]

Yeah, but he traded away half of the 2nd-round picks he ever got. Years ago, when I'd complain that he had just overpaid another couple of picks for a journeyman, people would post that 2nd-round picks are worthless. I'd answer, not for him.

They sure seem to put some life into the G league though....30 pt games...everybody playing for a job and perks instead of a bus and Motel 6....we need a G league team dude!

 

[kjironman1]

Mo and Meyers are polishing the bench most games

Mo and Meyers were both out with injuries last i looked.

 

[mook]

The present administration (the long long decade of Olshey and Stotts) didn't get us Roy, Aldridge, and Oden. You might as well bring up the major losses from the Civil War of 1861-65. And Aldridge wasn't weird to jump from a mediocre coach to the best coach.

I was responding to the idea that a small market team like ours has not hope of winning a championship. We clearly did, and not really that long ago. In the past 12 seasons I think we coulda been a contender in probably 5 or 6 of them if just Greg Oden had stayed healthy. If Oden, Roy and Aldridge had all reached their potential and stayed healthy, I think there's an excellent chance that we have a dynasty-level team. (We probably don't get Lillard in such a scenario.)

But this has little to do with our current management team. I wasn't addressing that topic.

 

[Minstrel]

I was responding to the idea that a small market team like ours has not hope of winning a championship. We clearly did, and not really that long ago. In the past 12 seasons I think we coulda been a contender in probably 5 or 6 of them if just Greg Oden had stayed healthy. If Oden, Roy and Aldridge had all reached their potential and stayed healthy, I think there's an excellent chance that we have a dynasty-level team.

Especially when you slot in Batum too. Batum never really progressed to max level talent, but he'd have been overqualified as the fourth-best player on the team. A healthy Oden and Roy, plus Aldridge, Batum and Matthews as they panned out, would have been the most talented team in the league.

 

[mook]

Especially when you slot in Batum too. Batum never really progressed to max level talent, but he'd have been overqualified as the fourth-best player on the team. A healthy Oden and Roy, plus Aldridge, Batum and Matthews as they panned out, would have been the most talented team in the league.

The Warriors, the Durant/Westbrook/Harden Thunder, the Spurs, the LeBron Heat, the Shaq Lakers....I'm probably missing a few, but there aren't many examples of teams even in position to form a dynasty since 2000. We were definitely in that rare pocket.

Heartbreaking to think about, isn't it? It's probably the only chance we had at a dynasty that I'll see in my lifetime. After all, over 21 years fewer than 10 franchises ever had dynasty potential, so 20+ weren't in the running. It's so rare to have the stars align.

Our stars got sucked into a black hole of injuries just as they were starting to align.

On the plus side, the other major "What if?" team of this millennium, the Thunder, suffered wounds that were self-inflicted. It'd probably hurt more to be a fan of the Thunder when you look at what they could have had if they'd just used a little sense.