Today's Poll -- Truisms

I really think that Travis is a great guy …not a dummy…but totally see the mistakes he makes as hurting the team more than the brilliance (at moments) helps. If I see him drive from an open jumper into a triple team fall away (and I will) …I think I will pull my hair out (and I am at an age where that isn’t advisable). He just doesn’t know how to make his (and by extension, the team’s ) life easier. And he really doesn’t get how to play the team game.

I had to vote this. I fell in love with the guy in 2004 and at the time never even dreamed he’d be a Blazer. Drafting him and seeing him dominate in the 2008 Olympics just made me happy as can be!

In reality, it’s probably the Outlaw one or the offense one. This year he has shown he can be a decent journeyman off the bench, but nothing more. Sad times.

My quick rundown.
-Oden is not a bust.
-Outlaw is having an underwhelming season. (Not quite bad.)
-Rudy is God!
-I’m surprised offense got zero votes. Our defense fails, but our offense wins games. Yes rebounding has improved, but isn’t offensive rebounding part of the offense?
-Nate makes some coaching errors, but not “all kinds” of them
-We don’t NEED to stand pat. We probably could, but we could also make a trade.

Isn’t RLEC useless unless they move the contract?

I chose that I disagree with all of them.

I considered the Travis one. The problem is that I don’t think he’s having a bad season, he’s actually pretty normal this year.

I’m a little frustrated at the extreme approach taken to the Nate one, since I don’t remember anyone (!) stating that Nate makes “all kinds of blunders”, except in parody posts. A more realistic “truism” about Nate’s deficiencies (he’s never shown signs of being a successful defensive coach, for example) would not have scored a 1. Nothing personal Dave.

Really, none of them are true.

and that’s the truth.

Too many missed FTs (Blake and Roy) cost at least 2 games (others games could be figured into this, raising the total).

Too much B. Roy isolation; other teams didn’t know what to do early on, now we aren’t sure either.

No consistent 3rd option. When Aldridge and Roy are off, it’s good ole JV vs. Varsity out there.

Too many turnovers on the offensive end b/c of boneheaded mistakes by our PGs. Yes, I’ll call out both Sergio and Bayless here – but Sergio sticks out, despite his last game where he looked good (hopefully he’ll repeat this performance at least once more this season).

Too many “hexagonal” shots from Travis Outlaw. Yes some go in, others don’t. His selection of spots on the floor is very poor and costs the team.

Poor offensive flow at times forces Nate to call timeout:
Too much hesitancy – “should I shoot or pass? Oh, we only have 3 seconds on the shot clock…”

Are you people sure you’re not angry with Bo Outlaw? Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding.

Blazers need to improve on defense. Offense we’re decent in (and I include offensive rebounding with that), but defense needs a world of work. The blazers games I’ve seen, we’ve not ONCE been able to get stops we need. Blazers need to learn how to get stops and how to do it ALL the time when it’s needed.

Trades: we don’t need to stand pat. If a good offer comes along, a little tweaking could be nice.

change “real” to “future” in number 3 (the PG comment) and I would have picked that

defense has to be a focus and is a key to future success.

rudy is god. how can you question god, man? what are you, a non-believer?

Sergio isn’t our real point guard. It’s either Bayless, Blake, or Roy, all of whom are on the bench or playing two guard right now.

I think a truism needed to be added here:

“The Blazers don’t commit enough technical/flagrant fouls”

They’re a fan favorite and can really rile up your team when it’s a grind out game.

Not too many rumors floating around. It seems that even if we wanted to trade there are not that many possibilities that makes sense for both the blazers and their (potential) trading partner…

So my guess is we will stand pat simply because it is not clear what we really need yet. A lot will depend on how Bayless turns out and how strong Webster comes back…

but I don’t really agree with the “stand pat” one, but since I’m kind of on the fence on that one, I figured it was OK to check the “disagree with all” choice. – Elgin

because I am an idiot and voted for Oden is a bust. Of course, I don’t believe that at all and what I meant to vote for was Dave’s rating on it, not that Oden is actually a bust.

I just get so sick and tired of people hating on Greg for no reason. And I do for the same reason that all of you guys do too but mostly because it is JUST NOT HELPFUL. People’s patience is seemingly nonexistent. I stand by that Greg will be at least 20, 10, and 2.5 for his career. Let’s just give it a little time.

I’m out of town and up in Tacoma till sunday working!! Had to Gamecast the Cleveland and was thinking the Washington game was tonight!

Have to work early tmrw, gonna be a boring night.. tonight!!!

stat geek’s midseason update

it shows that our offense is working well and our defense is what is lagging behind. it’s the increased offensive proficiency that has lead to to the better record, because it certainly isn’t the defense. get that defensive rating up, and then we’re really gonna be a contender.