The demise of the Portland Trail Blazers has been greatly exaggerated

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blue9 said:
There's nothing I love more (in basketball) than bigs who can pass well (and dribble). Really hoping that last night was Meyers finally shaking off the rust and jitters, because having both him and Plumlee playing to their potential will be amazing.

I'm really having a tough time picking a new favorite player. Harkless has been tempting me, but I really like Plumlee, and before the season started I thought it'd be Meyers. It's great to finally like the team from top to bottom! It's been a looooong time since I've felt this way about the team.
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I'm a huge Harkless fan. He came outta nowhere and produced greatly. More importantly, he's giving us much needed scoring off the bench. My second favorite would be Davis. There's just something about him that screams old school Blazer basketball. A tough as nails big that is physical, works hard and never backs down. He's no Brian Grant, but he's in that same field of player type.
 
magnifier661 said:
I expected us to play hard and compete, but we are playing waaaaay better than I've ever anticipated. I think Harkless, Plumlee, and Davis look way better than I would have ever imagined.
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Are they going full magspeed?!
 
BBert said:
Teams will think the Blazers are an easy win...until they play them. Our guys are full of fight! They are all playing with a chip on their shoulders, from Dame all the way down the line.

Don't sleep on the Blazers, NBA! :)
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It reminds me of that WWF tag team, whose name escapes me. 'Oh you didn't know? Well your ass better call somebody!'
 
TBpup said:
I did as well and after this next home game against Detroit (it will be interesting to see how they handle Drummond) they have a long, tough stretch till the end of November. If they beat Detroit and are 5-2, they have 11 tough to very difficult games for the rest of the month. If after 18 games, they have 10 wins, I'l be quite impressed and very willing to have my crow served a'la mode as well. I'm still not excited about a late Lottery pick or a #7/8 seed as that is basketball purgatory but if enough players make enough big strides, okay. Contenders though are built on superstars the vast majority of the time and that is where I think this roster, no matter how much it develops, comes up short.
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This is where I stand too.

I love the kind of ball they are playing, and that will sustain me for the year regardless.. However, if they can translate this into some wins on some very tough opponents, then we'll have to have the crow catered, cause a lot of us are going to be chowing down.
 
barfo said:
Who is Charlotte?

I expect the team to be wildly inconsistent. Wouldn't be surprised to see both a 12 game win streak and a 12 game losing streak this year.

barfo
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Charlotte Harkless
 
Mea culpa. I figured there were going to be too many new moving parts and not enough offense to be competitive right away. Granted things are going to get tougher, but for now at least I've been highly impressed and surprised.
 
What really blows my mind is how this team plays together. No matter how much talent we have, there are still 4 new starters and 6 total new rotation players, we should naturally be seeing growing pains and some pretty lousy team play. But it's been the exact opposite!

These guys play amazing team ball, it's awesome to watch.

Also, I have this weird feeling we are just scratching the surface of what Harkless can do. He may just turn out to be our 2nd All Star, the dude just oozes potential.

AND we will only get better as the season goes on! Could be a very special thing happening.
 
adrenalize74 said:
Also, I have this weird feeling we are just scratching the surface of what Harkless can do. He may just turn out to be our 2nd All Star, the dude just oozes potential.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling this way. I don't know much about his pre-Blazers career, but I'm super happy that we're giving him a second shot and he's making the most of it. He just looks natural out there doing the things he does. Smooth, smart, talented, and multi-faceted.
 
blue9 said:
I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling this way. I don't know much about his pre-Blazers career, but I'm super happy that we're giving him a second shot and he's making the most of it. He just looks natural out there doing the things he does. Smooth, smart, talented, and multi-faceted.
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Completely agree; he looks like he belongs out there, and works hard to make sure he stays out there. Our kind of player!
 
Makes me even more curious what the heck happened with his prior team.
 
oldmangrouch said:
Makes me even more curious what the heck happened with his prior team.
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It's obvious they were horribly mismanaged if (a) they benched him so deep that (b) they traded him to us for a less-than-worthless protected second round pick.

This might go down as a bigger steal than the Duckworth trade.
 
It's great that some posters' (myself included) opinions, that only a few months ago were considered outlandish and/or negative, are finally being vindicated.
The pathetic lack of effort of the old regime was evident.

But, most importantly - it is refreshing to have guys that work hard on the court - and therefore fans can cheer for- regardless of win or loss.
And, excitingly, there's more to be had from this young group as they familiarize themselves with each other and start to gel.

A much more enjoyable experience to invest in this incarnation of the Blazers - that's for sure!
 
I said before the season that this team could win 24 or it could win 48, or anywhere in between vecause they're so new. Looks like they could beat my upper end!
 
BBert said:
Teams will think the Blazers are an easy win...until they play them. Our guys are full of fight! They are all playing with a chip on their shoulders, from Dame all the way down the line.

Don't sleep on the Blazers, NBA! :)
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Ah, so what you're saying is the Blazers aren't sluts. Don't sleep on the Blazers because they aren't easy!
 
Even though we have been told by other players on the team about Harkless and his athleticism it seems like at least once a game Harkless does something athletically that literally makes me say, "Holy shit where did that come from?!?!" And its not the Zach LaVine type athletic, its this really cool combo of sneaky smooth and quick but basketball savvy athletic. I already found myself looking forward to that moment each game. If he turned into an all star or whatever then thats great but I am already estatic with what he is bringing.

And as a side note after the last few years having a bench that can contribute is like:

8247%20-%20Raw%20autoplay_gif%20clapping%20crying%20gif%20paul_heyman%20wwe.gif
 
Boise Blazer said:
Even though we have been told by other players on the team about Harkless and his athleticism it seems like at least once a game Harkless does something athletically that literally makes me say, "Holy shit where did that come from?!?!" And its not the Zach LaVine type athletic, its this really cool combo of sneaky smooth and quick but basketball savvy athletic. I already found myself looking forward to that moment each game. If he turned into an all star or whatever then thats great but I am already estatic with what he is bringing.

And as a side note after the last few years having a bench that can contribute is like:

8247%20-%20Raw%20autoplay_gif%20clapping%20crying%20gif%20paul_heyman%20wwe.gif
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When Harkless drives and dunks it's like Plastic Man Stacy Augmon...you almost blink and miss it it's so quick and smooth
 
I feel like harkless might develop into that third scorer we need. He's looked pretty comfortable posting up for a guy that's rarely if ever done it in his nba career. Mix that in with a pretty decent shot and an ability to attack the basket and you might just have a legit scorer on your hands
 
From that piece:

Can we agree to be in on the Blazers this year? Because I'm leaning that way and would like some company.
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