First 24 Games in the Books... How did you do with your prediction?

by Visionary1 on Dec 11, 2008 11:12 PM PST

OK, well, despite having attended the last home game (great game except for the last second), and being bummed about the no-show in Utah tonight, I am somewhat consoled by the fact that the Blazer's late fade brings the Blazers to 15-9, which is what I wildly optimistically predicted in Dave's "beginning of the year Prediction Post..."

(I don't know how to do those link things.. that'd be a good post., BTW.. basic stuff like how to do that for us infrequent posters) but anyway, I said:

"I see two possibilities: Post 1: 2008-2009 Oden is as big a difference maker, immediately, as Shaq was. The team jells much faster than anybody expects, and we go through the first tough 24 games at a surprising 15-9 clip,

OK, so Oden isn't Shaq (I still have to add: yet), but not bad, eh? Do I win a BEdge T-shirt?

OK, so go search that post and see how you did...

(and. OK, the rest of my prediction is still wildly opimistic, but I bet you're much more likely now to agree with the next part of my prediction now then you were at the start of the season:

"... and finish with a 54 win season, good enough for fourth in the West. "

Whether or not we can go on to win it all, of course, is still a few breaks away.. But.. can a brother get a rec here? :-)

Maybe now I deserve to continue to sign on as the...

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What was your 2nd possibility?

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Dec 11, 2008 11:36 PM PST reply actions

ok, since you asked....

Possibility 2: 2009-2010 (Is when they win their first title)
Young Blazers suffer enormous growing pains going 9-15 over the first tough 24 games. They have a tremendous rally to squeak into the playoffs as the #8 seed. Unfortunately, that means an early exit.

by Visionary1 on Dec 12, 2008 12:10 AM PST up reply actions

Thread he is talking about

It was the one where Dave asked us to predict when we get our championship.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2008/9/5/608603/call-your-shot#8552547

His “Possibility 2” doesn’t look quite so impressive….

Dave’s thread where he predicted the number of wins and playoff results:

http://www.blazersedge.com/2008/10/23/641771/blazersedge-season-preview

Ben’s thread with poll on regular season wins

http://www.blazersedge.com/2008/10/24/645554/today-s-poll-season-win-pr

At this point, I’m still pretty happy with the prediction I made, though some of my specific predictions look pretty stupid at this point. But we’re still on pace to surpass the 55 wins I predicted.

Do you like asparagus?

by jscot on Dec 12, 2008 12:08 AM PST reply actions

I think I had us for about 46 wins...

…and I’m happy to say I now feel this team can win ~52. It starts with a bounce back win over the Clips tomorrow.

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Dec 12, 2008 12:30 AM PST reply actions

I find solace in the fact that

your 15-9 prediction was based on Oden being an immediate difference maker ala Shaq.

Sure, Greg has helped in some games, but he was gone for 6 games (7 really) and wasn’t like Shaq out of the gate.

If and when he finds his groove (hopefully this season, like March), this team could really get rolling. Same goes for when Rudy becomes more consistent, if Martell ever gets healthy (as KP said today on that podcast, Martell was the guy he predicted to have a break out season), and if everyone else stays healthy. Watch out NBA!

by Bust a Bucket on Dec 12, 2008 2:55 AM PST reply actions

I did horrible in my prediction!

First off, I predicted 51 wins.

But, I thought we’d get that after starting off this tough stretch being around or even under .500… and then we make up for lost time at home and on the scrubs of the West.

So obviously, I’m pretty danged happy we did so extremely well during this awful stretch of constant road games, and I feel very confident we can win 50+. Anything can still happen of course, but we’ve set ourselves up to handle the bumps in the road every team finds during the season.

Now we just gotta do what we’ve been doing at home, and we can start prepping for the playoffs.

I just didn’t think we’d be able to gel quick enough to win this many games this early. And really, aside from a few blowouts, I still think we’re just scraping the surface of what this team can do. We’ve had a lot of wins where I KNOW we can play even better… and we’ll get there.

This team is different in every way from other young teams, and different from the other playoff teams. It makes us very popular with non-Blazer fans, and hard to predict as well. There ain’t a lot of precedent for a team this stocked with GOOD young talent who also have good attitudes, and a #1 pick who hasn’t even begun to unleash his full potential.

Basically, if I was told we’d be 15 and 9, I woulda’ assumed Oden was a beast. He’s had beastly moments, but he’s far from what he’ll become. And that’s the scary thing for the rest of the league… Oden WILL become Oden, and our team is already good before that happens. He’ll make us completely dominant.

Mortimer

by Mortimer on Dec 12, 2008 6:23 AM PST reply actions