Today's Poll

Expected? First or second round playoff exit.

I think we can go deep in the playoffs and still Rubio ala Pritchard’s wizardry.

Poof!

If he is healthy all year, then the Blazers will battle the L*kers in the WCF’s, and win baby!

We are this good and haven’t worked our kinks out yet. I was there during the preseason game when Webster was flying around like something from outer space, how much will he add when he returns? Greg has yet to relearn and reveal all his devastating skills. We have no idea how good we are.

it’s alway’s possible for a stranger to come in and steal the entire cake……

RINGS!!!!

it’s possible.

But reality tells me WCsemis.

This team is great, but once you get to the big stage things change a bit, not to mention it is 82 games into the season, and we are only 18…
Season Fatigue catches up a bit. But to counter act that our team should be performing better as a cohesive unit, chemistry will be flying, Greg will continue to get better along with the other rooks.
If we have any trades, that will set us back a bit too. I just think this team is too young for a great showing in the playoffs, most of our players haven’t seen an NBA Playoff game yet. that is saying a lot.
I hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and assume somewhere in between, like the WCSemifinals.

GO BLAZERS!

Is the WCF Semis. I think it is more likely that we’ll get into the first round, and lose. I think the league will calm itself back down, and those teams that should be better than us will be better than us in the long run. 18 games is too small of a sample size. I’ll say how I think we will do in the playoffs if we make the playoffs.

However, my expectations (predictions) were higher than alot of Blazer fans.

I predicted 53 wins, a 4 or 5 seed, and making it into the second round of the playoffs.

As I’ve said in other posts, the key word for this team is: IMPROVEMENT

That is more obvious now than ever. They are obviously better now than they were 10 games ago, and they will be better in 10 more games than they are now. My predictions seemed a bit lofty a few weeks ago, but they are not playing at the same level they were then. I’m beginning to feel that if my predictions need to be changed, they may eventually need to go up, not down. It’s still too soon to say that though.

But a good friend of mine who was immersed in the 1977 championship made a good point to me yesterday. He said the 1977 team started off the year young and promising, but just kept improving as the season progressed. By the time the playoffs came, they were not at all the same team which started the year, and thus the now famous playoff run. His point was, the Blazer’s win total at the end of this year may not be the best indicator of how they will perform in the playoffs. If they keep a “one game at a time” attitude, anything could happen. I know that sounds cliche, but you can’t underestimate the value of constant improvement over the long season.

Rings. They could do it. – Elgin.

Ceiliing is rings, especially with Raef trade for a veteran as a probability. After all, how much experience did ’76-77 team have, especially playoff?

I did, however, vote 1st and out still as most likely—the playoffs are a different animal, where depth is not such a virtue.

that you have to ask these questions:

—If we had played against Phoenix every game this season what would our record have been?

—If we had played against the L*kers every game this season what would our record have been?

—The Rockets?

—The Spurs?

—The Hornets?

That’s exactly what the playoffs is…playing those teams up to seven times in a row, when they are extremely motivated and have time to prepare for you as well.

And then if you win that series you have to turn around and do it again against another team like that.

And then if you win that series you have to turn around and do it again against another team like that.

And then if you win that series you have to turn around and do it again against another team like that.

At best the Blazers are a coin flip in any of these series. Against the L*kers and Suns so far they’ve been worse than that. That’s a lot of coin flips (and worse) to bank on.

—Dave

Don’t forget last year’s 13 game win streak,
followed by a mere .500 season.

There are still three quarters of the season to go,
and lots can happen.

In a league where match ups matter (ask Dallas) if we got favorable match ups and a round or two with home court advantage we could certainly make it to the WCF. Stranger things have happened in the world of sports. Is it likely? No. Remember ,Utah made it to the WCF with a young team by facing Houston and the GS in the first two rounds. Dallas drew the Joker by playing a team that happened to have their number.

My stinking Magic Eight Ball first says “Reply hazy, try again” and then follows with “Better not tell you now.”

You’d have to say that a competitive, playoff bound team has a chance at rings. After all, any team that makes the playoffs is mathematically in it. I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell this group any different. But…….

Jury is out for me.

My bad for mis-reading the poll; I thought it was expectation not ceiling. I’d say it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Blazers get a ring this year…I HIGHLY doubt it happens, but that’s where I’d put the “ceiling” for this year.

As far as my expectations, I’m still predicting a 1st round exit – mostly because of a lack of playoff experience not talent.

Playoffs are a different animal – facing the same team multiple times a week is rough and requires skilled coaching adjustments and the players have to be consistent and keep their heads in the game.

Look at what happened when we faced the Kings (a team with a MUCH lower ceiling) twice in one week. Round 1: we smoked ‘em by 21. Round 2 (in the Rose Garden, no less): we win a 1 point squeaker. That’s not a good sign.

Plus, banking on the Blazers doing well in the playoffs would be bucking conventional wisdom with regards to bench play and the 8- vs 10- (or 11-) man rotations. In recent years the teams that seem to do the best are those with the tighter, more consistent rotations. If you rely on 8 guys for the bulk of your production you’re on the right track. My feeling is that in the playoffs each series has it’s own rhythm and players need consistent minutes to get into a groove.

The Blazers seem to be going with a 10-man rotation, and who knows if it even grows to 11 once Martell suits up again. Which of those guys gets benched? Webster? Outlaw? Frye? Batum? My guess is Sergio would be odd man out, but even that would still leave you trying to give enough minutes to 10 guys. That’s tough.

And don’t forget, all of this could change if any of the Blazers (especially Roy) gets an injury. Plus, no one need remind us that there are still trade rumors out there, and that could go well (like Billups to the Nuggs) or not so good (like Iverson to the Pistons).

So, still too early to make a SOLID prediction, but as for “ceilings” the sky’s the limit for this team!

but a ceiling is a ceiling for a reason. With the talent on this squad divided the way it is, with the extra chips we could possibly use (RLEC, Young Talents, Future Draft Picks) this team can beat any team on any night, and that is the baseline that we are achieving right now. 6 months in which to learn and grow as a team, plus those potential extra parts, RINGS is the answer. This team and its home court advantage could be a potential Championship team. Hollinger has us at 11% to win the title now, I wouldn’t go so far as to say thats right, but 4 or 5%… sure. Championship is the ceiling, coming from an unbiased, non-homeristic pessimist. KP is magic…

-We’re one of the best teams in the league.

-There are three tiers: teams who will probably win the championship (Boston and LA), teams who might win the championship (top 8 in each conference) and teams who won’t win the championship (everybody else).

-We’re in the second tier.
-Therefore we might win the championship.
-Therefore that is our ceiling.

Logic!

And I won’t be truly disappointed with a first round exit. But the way this team is growing, I wouldn’t rule out an ahead-of-schedule championship this season. The Lakers, Celtics, and Cavs are VERY good. But it’s too soon for me to say for certain that this Blazers team won’t be at that level by season’s end.

And that’s what counts: peaking at the right time. Sometimes things change overnight in the NBA. Back in ’77, another young, inexperienced Blazer team shocked the world…

who Portland draws for opponents.

… I’m going to assume the people who chose “lottery” as the Blazers max ceiling are trolls, or people who misread the question as “expectations” instead of ceiling. I’d understand why someone would still expect lottery. But no way is lottery this team’s ceiling.

When we blew out chicago I attributed that to them as much as to us. Now that we beat the hornets and Dtroit I would lean more to the us factor in our recent blow outs.

In our last games we have succesfully held down Allen Iverson, DWade, DROse, Cpaul, and last but not least Mikki Moore. All players who dominate, you can say they had an off night but when these type of players all have off nights against one team theres a chance in may have to do with that team.

I think our continued success has to do with gregzilla holdin it down on D and LMA continuing to play like the Power Forward we know he can be. If Lamarcus continues to drink g2 like he has been doin look out David West.

Anyways I think this roadtrip will be very important in showing if we are to be considered upper eschelon or if we should just have our sight set on first round and continue to improve.

Yes, the young, just-now-coming-together Blazers have the potential to win a title, though I don’t expect it. Why?

Pro-us: The Blazers are just now evolving into one of those pencil-in-a-loss teams everybody else will hate to play. There are only two teams in that category now, but we’re knocking at the door. As I wrote earlier this year, opponents are going to start looking at our frontcourt, backcourt and bench and say, “We just don’t have an answer for this team.”

Anti-us: This is the NBA, after all, where just-didn’t-have-the-playoff-intensity happens. Newly rising teams usually run into the L*kers or Spurs or Jason Kidd in the playoffs and just get outgritted. Like, they know about the playoffs in their heads but they don’t really have it in their gut until they’ve been steamrolled by another team that’s just a little bit tougher in the clutch.

Logically, this is the year where the Blazers make a little noise in the playoffs and then get schooled in playoff intensity by one of the veteran teams. And then come back in 2009-2010 ready to do it to somebody else.

We look good. I’m happy. Still early though, but 12-6 isn’t sucky. First year fandom is so far, so good. GO BLAZERS! Brandon for MVP.

In that year, we stormed out of the gates, unbeaten for a while, then nearly set the record for most wins without a second loss. The rest of the season was more balanced, but still a triumph, leaving us with the best record in the league. We battled into the WCF, crushing teams at home for the most part, until the Lakers (who had had a good year, but were several games in our rear view mirror as the conference #2) stole one on our court. We never recovered, lost the series in six, and the Lakers went on to meet the rise of Jordan.

I think this year the roles are reversed. Jordan’s Bulls are replaced by Lebron’s Cavaliers.

Of course, on the flipside if the bizarro world continues, that means we’ll eventually threepeat as champions, but it won’t be with this team. As a consolation prize, we’ll get to sweep the Lakers in the first round for most of a decade. :)

Ceiling = Champions

I normally would lower expectations, and immediate possibilities, for young teams but this isn’t a typical young team. The power Portland has in the paint will allow them to compete and beat up most tough veteran physical squads. The Blazers are an excellent halfcourt team that take good shots, make good decisions and take care of the ball. They have a huge amount of individual talent and depth. The team is ready to contend this season.

I think this team has an incredibly high ceiling. If they don’t achieve it I’ll be disappointed but also know they have 7-10 years of these shots ahead of them and the best is yet to come.