Sporting News: Blazers are #3 next year

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Shooter

Shooter

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1. L.A. Lakers. Even if they don't keep both Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom, they have a terrific front line and are likely to have Phil Jackson back. Oh, and they have Kobe Bryant.

2. Cleveland. This should be a no-holds-barred offseason designed to ensure a trip to The Finals -- and designed to keep LeBron James in place.

3. Portland. The Blazers' ascension has been steady. Coming off a 54-win season and a taste of the playoffs, they're ready for the next step.
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http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/art...poll-maybe-next-year-will-be-kobe-vs-lebron-0

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They must have us making some major moves this offseason. With the roster as is, I'm not sure we jump Denver in the West, and Boston and Orlando (depending on injury issues and their offseason moves) have a pretty strong argument for being better than us. Houston seems injury prone, and San Antonio and Dallas need some makeovers to compete again.

Right now, I'd say:

1. L*kers
2. Cleveland
3. Denver
4. Boston (assuming a healthy KG)
5. Portland
6. Orlando (I'm assuming they struggle to replace Turkoglu)

-Pop
 
Wow.. that's some good stuff. I'm already excited for next season to start and see if we can make that next step. This is a really exciting time right now... although we still have yet to win a playoff series with this group. I just hope we're not just a trendy pick and we fall flat on our faces.
 
This team as put together right now probably struggles to get out out of the first round again.
 
Mediocre Man said:
This team as put together right now probably struggles to get out out of the first round again.
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If Rudy Oden Bayless and Batum improve anything like Roy and LA did in their 2nd years I don't see getting out of the first round being some insurmountable barrier.

btw... I agree with SodaPopinski's rankings

STOMP
 
Mediocre Man said:
This team as put together right now probably struggles to get out out of the first round again.
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you do realize had the old rules been in place, we get the 2 seed and prolly face off against LA in the WCF, right? I don't give a shit if dallas swept us in the REGULAR season..with HCA we take them and smoke NO as well.
Some people are too hard on this team.
 
BTW, while I have us at #5, I think we need a major addition to get up to the top 3. We aren't jumping if we get Ricky Rubio (as a matter of fact, I'd drop us in the rankings if we traded away proven NBA players for him) or if we get Stephen Curry.

We need experience, and no-brainer-starting-quality experience.

-Pop
 
Mediocre Man said:
This team as put together right now probably struggles to get out out of the first round again.
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Yeah, only if we draw Houston again, though (assuming there will be no chance to draw the L*kers in the first).

Otherwise, just like would have happened this year had we not drawn Houston, I think we advance past the first.
 
MAS RipCity said:
you do realize had the old rules been in place, we get the 2 seed and prolly face off against LA in the WCF, right? I don't give a shit if dallas swept us in the REGULAR season..with HCA we take them and smoke NO as well.
Some people are too hard on this team.
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Nice. I don't care if we couldn't come close to competing with a team in the regular season, come playoff time we would've killed them.
Some people will never take off their rose garden colored glasses.


We lost to Dallas twice at home as well, not on the road.
 
This is 100% on Oden's shoulders (as currently constructed). If he regains his athletic freakishness and can stay on the court for 30-35MPG - we will take a big big step forward. If he does not - we are probably again a 50+ wins team with little chance of making the conference finals.
 
I'd love to see that but would prefer to stay in underdog status for a while. I don't think we're going to sneak up on anyone with this kind of press. :cheers:

I'm not so sure we need to make a big trade for a veteran or move up in the draft. If GO can make the kind of improvement that Brandon did his second year that might be the only thing we need to get us out of the first round of the play offs. We'll see what happens after that.

I can't wait for next season to start!!!
 
Spud147 said:
If GO can make the kind of improvement that Brandon did his second year that might be the only thing we need to get us out of the first round of the play offs.
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Exactly right. What everybody seems to be discounting is Oden's very likely improvement from last year to next year. The guy can only get better, and same goes for many of our players. This team is coming together, and we have to start believing in them!
 
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Personally, I think they have us 2 spots too low.
 
SodaPopinski said:
Right now, I'd say:

1. L*kers
2. Cleveland
3. Denver
4. Boston (assuming a healthy KG)
5. Portland
6. Orlando (I'm assuming they struggle to replace Turkoglu)
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I would move Boston and Portland ahead of Denver. Boston was superior to Denver all season until Garnett got hurt, and I'd expect them to remain ahead of Denver next season with Garnett back. Portland was essentially neck-and-neck with Denver and Portland can expect improvement from Bayless, Rudy, Oden, Batum and Aldridge (at least as a group--every one of them may not improve significantly, though I expect all of them will). Denver's players are closer to/in their prime and arguably their most important player, Billups, could decline.

So I'd have Portland #4 in my pre-season rankings, based on current rosters. If Pritchard makes an impressive move, Portland could move up.
 
I think it's pretty funny that articles like this come out even though nothing has changed since the playoffs. Has anything changed for any team, since the end of last season? Nope. So why would you write this article now?
 
hasoos said:
I think it's pretty funny that articles like this come out even though nothing has changed since the playoffs. Has anything changed for any team, since the end of last season? Nope. So why would you write this article now?
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Same reason why ESPN and Yahoo!Sports come out with their preseason NCAA football rankings a couple days after the national championship game. Because internet dorks like us eat it up. And page hits determine what you can charge for advertising.

-Pop
 
They can't be the number 3 team in the league until they can beat one full strength western conference playoff team on the road. As of right now they haven't done so. Until then, they are probably the 4th or 5th best team in the west and 7th or 8th overall.

It seems to me, the rankings should be as follows (assuming all teams are at full strength):
1.) LA
2.) Boston
3.) San Antonio
4.) Orlando
5.) Denver
6.) Cleveland
7.) Houston
8.) Portland
9.) Hornets

I could be talked into swapping LA and Boston since a healthy KG would be more then a handful for Pau. This also assumes that Manu comes back healthy next season.

Portland is going to have to make some huge strides to move up on this list even a couple of spots. As constructed right now it would require Batum, Bayless and Oden come back FAR better then they were this year along with growth from Rudy. I don't know if this is something Portland should really count on. Four big question-marks going into the season is about three too many for a real contender.

Let's put it this way: Is LA hoping some of their guys get better next year in order to contend? Nope. They know exactly what they are going to get from nearly all of their major contributors. As of today, Portland has no fucking idea what more they will get out of Bayless, Oden or Batum.
 
LittleAlex said:
They can't be the number 3 team in the league until they can beat one full strength western conference playoff team on the road. As of right now they haven't done so. Until then, they are probably the 4th or 5th best team in the west and 7th or 8th overall.

It seems to me, the rankings should be as follows (assuming all teams are at full strength):
1.) LA
2.) Boston
3.) San Antonio
4.) Orlando
5.) Denver
6.) Cleveland
7.) Houston
8.) Portland
9.) Hornets

I could be talked into swapping LA and Boston since a healthy KG would be more then a handful for Pau. This also assumes that Manu comes back healthy next season.

Portland is going to have to make some huge strides to move up on this list even a couple of spots. As constructed right now it would require Batum, Bayless and Oden come back FAR better then they were this year along with growth from Rudy. I don't know if this is something Portland should really count on. Four big question-marks going into the season is about three too many for a real contender.

Let's put it this way: Is LA hoping some of their guys get better next year in order to contend? Nope. They know exactly what they are going to get from nearly all of their major contributors. As of today, Portland has no fucking idea what more they will get out of Bayless, Oden or Batum.
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No fucking idea? Really?
 
The Professional Fan said:
No fucking idea? Really?
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Yes, really.

Roy and LMA spoiled us. They worked their butts off and showed incredible improvement in their second season. Not everyone has the maturity, work ethic, etc, to do that. I would bet that their growth curve was well above average - and you can't just assume that of every player.
 
oldmangrouch said:
Yes, really.

Roy and LMA spoiled us. They worked their butts off and showed incredible improvement in their second season. Not everyone has the maturity, work ethic, etc, to do that. I would bet that their growth curve was well above average - and you can't just assume that of every player.
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We don't know where he's going to be exactly, but it doesn't follow that we have NO idea where he's going to be.

Is he going to be worse than last year? I guess it's possible, in spite of having additional time to recover from his injury. I think it's much more likely, though, that he's going to show moderate improvement as most second year NBA players do.

Saying we have "no fucking idea" what he's going to give us is an odd position to take, IMO, except insofar as we have no fucking idea what ANYONE will give us.

Ed O.
 
With absolutely no changes, just internal improvement and growth from their young players (mostly Oden), I see no reason they aren't a dark horse next year and a contender by 2011 at the latest.
 
I think one can argue we know what we have right now from Batum and Oden, and the only question is how much they improve. I cannot imagine either of those two getting worse. I think the biggest concern is injuries. We were relatively unscathed this season of serious important injuries.
 
Ed O said:
We don't know where he's going to be exactly, but it doesn't follow that we have NO idea where he's going to be.

Is he going to be worse than last year? I guess it's possible, in spite of having additional time to recover from his injury. I think it's much more likely, though, that he's going to show moderate improvement as most second year NBA players do.

Saying we have "no fucking idea" what he's going to give us is an odd position to take, IMO, except insofar as we have no fucking idea what ANYONE will give us.

Ed O.
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OK, Little Alex could have worded his post a bit more artfully - but his underlying point is still valid. Some fans are prepared to just assume that the team is somehow going to get a LOT better without any significant roster moves. That is a wild leap into the void.
 
Alright. We've arrived! After years of being in the gutter....this is it!
 
oldmangrouch said:
OK, Little Alex could have worded his post a bit more artfully - but his underlying point is still valid. Some fans are prepared to just assume that the team is somehow going to get a LOT better without any significant roster moves. That is a wild leap into the void.
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Not "somehow." Developing with age is not black magic. It's the expected result for players as young and inexperienced as Oden, Bayless, Batum and Rudy. There have been studies of pro athletes, and the average career arc is pretty predictable. Big yearly gains for players who are around 18-23, then smaller yearly gains as they get closer to their prime (starting around age 26-27).

Sure, some players fail to develop much but they're the exceptions. There will be players who develop faster or slower than the norm...but the norm is still the expected route unless we have some special reason to believe these players will be different (like an injury or a documented lack of work ethic). Oden and Bayless are already reportedly working hard and I've heard nothing to suggest Rudy or Batum are lazy or uncommitted to work.

We have some idea. We don't know for certain. Those are very different statements.
 
Of the games in regular season and playoffs that we lost by 5 or less OR went into OT, 5/10 we were out rebounded and coincidentally Old Greg got into foul trouble or did not play due to injury. The other 5 Old Greg had pretty good nights. That being said, these small tweaks in his game do directly improve our victories. :ohno:
 
westnob said:
I think one can argue we know what we have right now from Batum and Oden, and the only question is how much they improve. I cannot imagine either of those two getting worse. I think the biggest concern is injuries. We were relatively unscathed this season of serious important injuries.
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Well I guess your idea of important injury and mine are two different things. I felt Greg going out with the knee chip was a pretty big hit on the team, as he was just starting to roll. Martell being out the whole year made it hard to feel the extent of that injury. It may or may not have been important, we don't know how Martell was going to play.
 
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