Woo hoo, we will contend for the 8th seed

[magnifier661]

He played Center for us a majority of the time.

Absolutely False.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3437/year/2012/jj-hickson

 

[Boise Blazer]

You guys do realize this is the nba, right? It's not like we have any chance of winning a championship anyway, may as well enjoy wins and making the playoffs.

I have waited my whole lifetime to see the Blazers win a championship. Im realizing more and more that when some teams win its just the perfect storm and that it is always going to very difficult as a small market team. Yes I want to win a championship, but right now I would be ECSTATIC with the 2nd round to start

 

[Nikolokolus]

Absolutely False.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3437/year/2012/jj-hickson

Fuck Mags you can be obdurate sometimes

http://www.82games.com/1213/12POR15.HTM

 

[magnifier661]

I have waited my whole lifetime to see the Blazers win a championship. Im realizing more and more that when some teams win its just the perfect storm and that it is always going to very difficult as a small market team. Yes I want to win a championship, but right now I would be ECSTATIC with the 2nd round to start

I don't know man. SAS is a pretty small market team and are only trumped by the Lakers for most titles in 2000 on.

 

[magnifier661]

Fuck Mags you can be obdurate sometimes

http://www.82games.com/1213/12POR15.HTM

That's 2012-13. Try again.

 

[PDXKass]

Having a power-forward like Aldridge limits Robinson's court time, thus hindering his development in season.

i agree with that. my hope is that Robinson gets a consistent 10-12 minutes (more if they're on the court together) which could help in his development. i don't think his minutes were consistent with either the Kings or Rockets last season.

 

[Nikolokolus]

That's 2012-13. Try again.

Please think for a second about what you just typed.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Actually I'd say the analysis completely accounts for those factors. Maybe Robinson or McCollum makes an impact, but it's hardly anything people should count on.

Hmm, let's re-read it.

Changes: The Blazers were threatening for a playoff spot last year, but fell apart down the stretch because they lacked depth, with arguably the worst bench in the league. That has changed with the addition of Dorrell Wright and Earl Watson, and bringing in Robin Lopez to start at center will boost the team’s defense.

Their analysis of the improvement of our bench only mentions Wright and Watson (replacing Pavlovic and Price). However the bench also improved by replacing Nolan Smith with CJ McCollum and by Robinson pushing Freeland farther down the depth chart.

Your statement of, "Maybe Robinson or McCollum makes an impact, but it's hardly anything people should count on." is the very definition of what I called "a very conservative projection"--ignoring what could very well be significant additions, and basing a prediction on the assumption that they provide little contribution.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Hmm, let's re-read it.



Their analysis of the improvement of our bench only mentions Wright and Watson (replacing Pavlovic and Price). However the bench also improved by replacing Nolan Smith with CJ McCollum and by Robinson pushing Freeland farther down the depth chart.

Your statement of, "Maybe Robinson or McCollum makes an impact, but it's hardly anything people should count on." is the very definition of what I called "a very conservative projection"--ignoring what could very well be significant additions, and basing a prediction on the assumption that they provide little contribution.

You should never count on rookies to be major contributors (Lillard is the exception, not the rule) and Robinson hasn't shown enough in his first year that people should expect anything.

 

[magnifier661]

Please think for a second about what you just typed.

No I absolutely agree Hickson played center for most the 2012-13 season. I commented that Hickson still worked well in 2011-12, being a back up to Aldridge.

 

[PDXKass]

You guys do realize this is the nba, right? It's not like we have any chance of winning a championship anyway, may as well enjoy wins and making the playoffs.

still holding out hope that once Stern is gone, Silver might actually allow a smaller market team to win it.

 

[PDXKass]

"Honest sportsmanship?" What the fuck is that? This is professional sports.

exactly. "professional" sports -- where players don't get paid millions of dollars to intentionally lose. guess you walked right into that one.

 

[magnifier661]

You should never count on rookies to be major contributors (Lillard is the exception, not the rule) and Robinson hasn't shown enough in his first year that people should expect anything.

Any production is better than last season though. Our bench was atrocious. Even if these rooks only give us a total of 8 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block; it's much better than Freeland and Price.

 

[tlongII]

still holding out hope that once Stern is gone, Silver might actually allow a smaller market team to win it.

The Spurs were less than 30 seconds away from winning it this year so I think the small market conspiracy theory has run its course.

 

[tlongII]

You should never count on rookies to be major contributors (Lillard is the exception, not the rule) and Robinson hasn't shown enough in his first year that people should expect anything.

McCollum should be good and I'm counting on it.

 

[magnifier661]

The Spurs were less than 30 seconds away from winning it this year so I think the small market conspiracy theory has run its course.

I agree. It is obvious that big name markets tend to have a much easier time grabbing star talent, but it doesn't mean the small market team can't win titles.

 

[Boise Blazer]

I don't know man. SAS is a pretty small market team and are only trumped by the Lakers for most titles in 2000 on.

Im not saying it cant happen or that I dont want it to happen Im just saying that Im ok with taking steps to get there and hope that perfect storm I mentioned happens in the meantime. No matter how good your team is there is more luck and timing and match-ups than anything.

 

[Nikolokolus]

No I absolutely agree Hickson played center for most the 2012-13 season. I commented that Hickson still worked well in 2011-12, being a back up to Aldridge.

Fair enough, but he played next to Aldridge a decent amount during that partial season, after we picked him up on waivers. And after all of the arguing, Robinson never established any kind of game or role in his first year and still needs court time to figure out what kind of player he's going to be in the NBA, something that Hickson had already done in Cleveland before going to Sacramento and then bouncing to us.

 

[Nikolokolus]

exactly. "professional" sports -- where players don't get paid millions of dollars to intentionally lose. guess you walked right into that one.

GMs (who run these professional franchises) manipulate their rosters all the time to jockey for better draft position ... tanking in other words. The players don't necessarily get to set the strategic plan.

 

[magnifier661]

Fair enough, but he played next to Aldridge a decent amount during that partial season, after we picked him up on waivers. And after all of the arguing, Robinson never established any kind of game or role in his first year and still needs court time to figure out what kind of player he's going to be in the NBA, something that Hickson had already done in Cleveland before going to Sacramento and then bouncing to us.

Okay that's fine, I understand your point. But since he won't have the pressure of living up to his pick status for now; he won't have the pressure to produce at the level many want him to be. Sometimes that's enough to help your game along.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

You should never count on rookies to be major contributors (Lillard is the exception, not the rule) and Robinson hasn't shown enough in his first year that people should expect anything.

In the past 14 seasons (since 99-00), there have been 130 guards who played at least 15 mpg over at least 50 games in their rookie seasons. By any reasonable standard, that's a contributor to a reserve corps. I would say that it would be unreasonable NOT to expect McCollum to contribute to at least that degree this season.

 

[magnifier661]

Im not saying it cant happen or that I dont want it to happen Im just saying that Im ok with taking steps to get there and hope that perfect storm I mentioned happens in the meantime. No matter how good your team is there is more luck and timing and match-ups than anything.

Okay I do agree with that. Spurs got really lucky when Robinson and Elliot went down.

 

[PDXKass]

The Spurs were less than 30 seconds away from winning it this year so I think the small market conspiracy theory has run its course.

the population of San Antonio within the city, according to the 2010 census, was over 1.3 million people which ranked the city seventh in the U.S. at the time. i wouldn't call them a small market.

 

[PDXKass]

GMs (who run these professional franchises) manipulate their rosters all the time to jockey for better draft position ... tanking in other words. The players don't necessarily get to set the strategic plan.

why would a gm tank to keep their pick in a weak draft rather than strive to lose the pick this year, thus keeping their pick next year in what promised to be one of the best drafts in recent memory? that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

[magnifier661]

the population of San Antonio within the city, according to the 2010 census, was over 1.3 million people which ranked the city seventh in the U.S. at the time. i wouldn't call them a small market.

It's smaller than Portland's metropolitan area actually. San Antonio is a large, spread out city. Portland's market reaches throughout most the entire state, since they only have 1 team.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

the population of San Antonio within the city, according to the 2010 census, was over 1.3 million people which ranked the city seventh in the U.S. at the time. i wouldn't call them a small market.

When they talk about market-size, they mean media market rankings, such as the Arbitron Radio Rankings. San Antonio is 28th, 5 spots below Portland.

Yes, they qualify as a "small market".

 

[tlongII]

the population of San Antonio within the city, according to the 2010 census, was over 1.3 million people which ranked the city seventh in the U.S. at the time. i wouldn't call them a small market.

Portland is #24 at 1,905,700
San Antonio is #30 at 1,496,600

http://www.radio-media.com/markets/main.html

 

[Nikolokolus]

In the past 14 seasons (since 99-00), there have been 130 guards who played at least 15 mpg over at least 50 games in their rookie seasons. By any reasonable standard, that's a contributor to a reserve corps. I would say that it would be unreasonable NOT to expect McCollum to contribute to at least that degree this season.

My only point was that McCollum or Robinson shouldn't factors in an analysis about this team making the leap from fringe playoff team to top 4 or 5 in the conference. I'm certain that they will play and could even be decent, but their addition to the roster won't significantly propel them beyond that 8th seed.

 

[Nikolokolus]

why would a gm tank to keep their pick in a weak draft rather than strive to lose the pick this year, thus keeping their pick next year in what promised to be one of the best drafts in recent memory? that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Because Paul Allen is an idiot?

EDIT: It also seems you are talking just about the Blazers particular situation with its owed pick to Charlotte. That situation cannot be extrapolated to every other team in the league (and a helluva lot of teams do "tank" for draft position every year).

 

[e_blazer]

the population of San Antonio within the city, according to the 2010 census, was over 1.3 million people which ranked the city seventh in the U.S. at the time. i wouldn't call them a small market.

Nielsen lists San Antonio as the 36th largest market in the country with 881,050 TV homes.

Portland ranks 22nd with 1,182,180 TV homes.

The top 10 markets are:

1 New York 7,384,340
2 Los Angeles 5,613,460
3 Chicago 3,484,800
4 Philadelphia 2,949,310
5 Dallas-Ft. Worth 2,588,020
6 San Francisco-Oak-San Jose 2,502,030
7 Boston (Manchester) 2,366,690
8 Washington, DC (Hagrstwn) 2,359,160
9 Atlanta 2,326,840
10 Houston 2,215,650

You'll probably notice that the majority of NBA titles have been won by teams in one of those top-10 markets.

http://www.tvb.org/media/file/TVB_Market_Profiles_Nielsen_Household_DMA_Ranks2.pdf