Blazer Victories

have over 60, and and 70, and 80

I predict 45 wins. A little better than next year, but barely in the final playoff spot.

Many people are saying that it will take 50 wins to make the playoffs. I think the parity is too staunch to expect each of those teams to win 50. But to think that this year the Blazers will be in there is too much.

and snag the last playoff spot. Honestly the young team excuse has got to go soon. Yes I realize we ARE a young team and with 3-4 rookies suiting up to play this year we’ll still have lots of inexperience. That said, Roy said himself they’re ready to move on and step up. They want to win and they want to start doing it now. We’ve got talent, we’ve got a great team leader, and we have the drive to win. That combined with one of the best current management teams in pro sports and you’ve got to think they could accomplish it.

I don’t see how one could say its too much to expect them to win 50 this year, it was too much to expect them to win 30 last year without Oden. They ended the season .500 in an extremely tough Western Conference where no one thought they would get that close. We upset many tough teams last year, one of the few teams to beat the Jazz at home and kept our home streak going against the WC champs. I wouldn’t exactly be disappointed in our guys if they don’t make the playoffs this year, but I sure as heck wouldn’t put it passed ‘em to do it. Like Roy said, they aren’t a team of a future anymore they’re a team of the present.

I think I said 45 earlier this offseason, but with some of the player movement, I’m feeling more comfortable projecting us in the 47-48 range with the possibility of topping 50 if the new guys mesh quickly. I am currently projecting us as the 8th seed in the playoffs, but could imagine us anywhere from 5th through 9th.

‘til I find out whether they have to play 18 of their first 21 games on the road!

if we did have to play a bunch of road games to kick things off. that and i dont really think it will be 18 of 21, that info is sooo up for suspect, third hand and all, filtering through a couple of excitables. even if, the advantage other teams have with home court, ie. croud, refs and a home cooked meal, should be lessened by the advantage we will be bringing.

(i truly suffer a lacking of orginizational skillz)

Broy will be activating the phone tree soon, and we all know what that means, wives, girlfriends, and countries will lose their man a month+ earlier than contractually required again. they will all come runnin’ to the gym like batman to gothem. -havent seen it yet- and they they’ll arrive even earlier this year then last to serve our obsession.

last year, wasnt the same. expectations were for improvement, but nothing like it is now. even travis has been working out, trying to improve his ball handling skills. I saw him recently and sorry to say, he is not that much bigger. but ill be ok if he can dribble. look guys, hes actually trying. i just dont see BRoys bff getting away with slacking, as slacking is not cool. all reports as i understand them suggest that marty has allways worked in the off season, but hes been younf, suffered a bad attitude and come face to face with his own basketball mortality. being a highschool 6 has to give you a false sence of security and entitlement. i suspect the bad attitude was unhealthy ideal being torn down by reality. i think its safe to say that hes going to be fine now. he has been around long enough to see what success looks like and i think that hes working with a new motivation, could be wrong just a guess.

the whole team is trying harder i think. frys been adding a three to his game, lamonster apparently wants to earn that moniker, and has been pushing weight. joel isnt advertising anything different then he gave us last year. thats good. blakes an unknown to me at this point, but not expected to dropp off. even sergios been showing a little care and concern about his career. sometimes we have to loose something before we realise how important it is. -see darriouses new found effort- i just dont think this has been the standard nba off season for our blazers.

we’ve all been reading about brandon, and seen the picturs.

Now to the rookies, fearless has been dreaming of being an nba star his whole life, and the draft, his whole life. well hes hear, but some how i just dont think hes saticefied. he was disapointed(nice way to say it) with a few gms for his draft position, and has made it clear in no uncertian terms that they will pay. summer league saticefied alot of onlookers to this end, but the template that was the draft will slowly replace the play. most will just think, wow pretty good for 11, but thats it. few will say that guy was susposed to be 4 or 3. somehow i just dont think thats going to saticefy fearless very much.

then we have rudy, who as kp on record put it would have been a top 5 to 10 in THIS years draft. this guy has drive. period. raise you hand if you would take a bejdillian dollar paycut and play second fiddle to an emerging allstar, knowing full well that to succeed, you have to take minutes from one of the best there is, and earn them from a guy who killed your brother, just to prove your the best. i dont see any hands. ok.

then theres oden, im going to go a little in depth hear, since soo much hinges on him. this guys had a chance to watch the big boys play, and learn what he can and can not get away with. hes had a chance to watch the different refs and learn there foul calling tendicies. hes had coaches and markee players in his ear the hole time and ill bet it wasnt just knock-knock jokes he was hearing. he spent time with the team, went on the road with them, and seen the day to day, all the while attacking rehab like an allstar. the lifestyle wont be as much of a distraction, couse he wont have to learn both simoltainiusly. his surgery 15 years ago would not have happened and he still would have played 4 or 5 years with out majore dificulties. in the history of micro fracture, his was one of the least sevear, yet he still was given more then a consideral amount of recovery time, and has by all reports been held back, chomping at the bit. this guy will get ten just off of putbacks alone. THATS ONLY 5 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS AT THE BASKET, let alone when the offence actually has him in mind, and not including and-ones. the buffet sais that he is THE strongest player in the league right NOW. im sure that he wont be afraid to take advantage of that. this guy even has an 18 and 8 guy in lamonster right next to him, almost stealing pressure. if he can pass, he will not see too much in the line of double teams cause lma and roy will keep a defence honest. martell should be able to help a little couse open 3s piss coaches off. imagine this guy playing one on one with….well pick somebody. he also suffers a “fearless” work ethick(get it?). with that said, his transition will be smoother then most any other rookie, ever, even with the year off. remember, hes been diong the max of whats been aloud, not the minimum. i think that im in loooooove.

now, ALL these guys are going to be coming earlier then any team has ever come in before, all with the same mind set. and there doesnt seem to be a lot of division between the personalities. they are going to have a reiculous head start on the other teams. how many wins could we attribute to the extra time from last year? and now instead of kids coming in to get in shape, they allready will be. our guys are working. even now as i type, veges odds are that brandon is thinking about basketball, or dreaming about it. they will have plenty of time to mesh BEFORE the first wistle of the season.

anyone think sheed will be doing anything like that? right now there is probably a whole rosters worth of nba in various stipclubs around the country. and i wonder how much weight is on the collective pushers skizzies destined for the evidence locker. while the other guys are content to live it up, or live in playoff mediocrity. players traditionally just want to do just enough to get by. our entire “culture” is about winning, from roy to aldridge to oden to bayless. everyone has demonstrated this. KP is a G.

We had a hastily thrown together game plan, and over acheaving roster, and still went .500 in a retarded hard year, just on youth and try-hard. insert 3 top 10 draft picks with the right kind of work ethick and….

I think we would have a distinct advantage at anytime of the year at home. why waste our preseason work on a bunch of blow outs? I love the idea of taking our obvoius advantage that this teem will be building with the extra traing and puting that up against any other teams home advantage, before they know what hits them.

I think we win 49 at LEAST

my prediction ( a little hopefully at that) around 50 wins getting past the first round of the playoffs by the skin of our teeth =)

Oden and another year of experience should be good for another 10 wins, but I’m deducting a fews games because I can’t shake the feeling that the Blazers over-achieved a bit last year.

Interesting.

I went with an even 50 wins.

A guy I work with who knows alot about sports thinks that the PTB will end up at the #4 or #5 spot in the west. This is pretty ecouraging considering he is not a Blazer fan. Always nice to see what the unbiased say. By the way he usually predicts most sporting events pretty accurately.

So many people are thinking that since Oden isn’t going to be a 100% Brandon Roy and Aldridge won’t improve. I think the Blazers with out adding anyone improves by 5 wins. Brandon Roy and Aldridge alone should improve the team.