Who to blame for the poor start

They’re shooting terribly.

It’s a perfect storm of many different small problems. Unfortunately it’s beginning to snowball.

steve blake?

then its the fault of the coach. When the players don’t know what to do when the play breaks down then its the fault of the coach. When a team can’t find any chemistry then its the fault of the coach. When said coach tells the fans and the media that the goal for the Preseason is to focus in the team’s defense and the team still sucks at it then its the fault of the coach.
Roy has been a diva and I don’t like it one bit. He talks about a lack of effort from the team but I don’t see him playing standout defense or even average defense. Shame on you B!
And Pritchard, way to go man you sure found us the perfect PG didn’t you? NOT! How about using Raef’s contract to get us a PG that Can play with this team.
Those 3 are the team’s leader and they need to act like it!

is who I would blame. Honestly they are all playing like dogs, on both ends. And Nate’s been outcoached by Adelman and Karl both. No slouches, but still…

   Maybe we shouldn’t be so suprised with our sluggish start. What did we do this summer? Our two main stars, were distracted with contract negotiations. When you are waiting to “see the money”, the last thing you want to do is injure yourself. I think both Brandon and Aldridge did less prep for this season than in the past.

   What bothers me the most about this latest loss (to the hawks at home) is the post game interviews with Aldridge and Brandon seem to indicate some disconnect or confusion as to why we are losing. It’s bad to lose, but worse to lose and not really know why it’s happening.

   You can point to specifics. Defense, effort as a team as a whole. You can also evaluate individuals and individual performance. Of course, the coach is always an easy target. Poor coaches in the N.B.A., they get little credit when the team wins, and most of the blame if the team loses. You can look at all this, and ask who is to blame, but I feel the answer is it’s still too early to blame anyone. BECAUSE…

   I really think the “Blame” is this. This team’s psyche changed with our entry into the playoffs last season. This summer we were no longer the young team trying to prove itself. I think, players and fans, and maybe even coaches bought into the press clippings. Most pre-season pundits and evaluators had The Blazers as improved, as having arrived. It was generally accepted that The Blazers would be a divisional challenger if not champion. No longer were we the team trying to arrive, in most evaluations we were the team that had arrived.

  Did the players buy into this? Did we not show up early this summer? Did we not bond as a team with the goal and adversity of being a young team with something to prove as the galvanizing factor? Brandon said post game, he thought that “we” thought we would just take off from where we left off and The Blazers are discovering they have to work again, that other teams have improved.

   We should of known this all along. I think what we are discovering as fans, as blazer players, as the local media and as a team in the N.B.A. is that it’s not enough to “make the playoffs”, have some talent and then expect it to be automatic. The best teams only make it look automatic, but it really never is. The L*kers, The Celtics, they have to work at it, they do work at it. They’ve got so much talent, they are so good at it that they make it look easy but it’s never easy.

   I’m feeling maybe that’s what is mostly to blame, on everyone, Players, Team, and Fans. Maybe we thought this was going to be easy? Maybe we thought we were already an upper echelon team? Maybe we thought signing players to superstar contracts made them superstars?

  Our reaction as fans now seems to support this. The season has barely started and we are taking this sluggish start way too hard. We are reacting as a fan base like a great start was guaranteed or deserved or a given. It never was.

  Despite our struggling, and we are struggling on many fronts, I’ve seen nothing to suggest that many of our pre-season goals and hopes for this team aren’t possible. 5 games in, is way too early to call for the dismissal of coaches, or start being upset because you bought season tickets and have seen more losses than wins. I believe this team needs to work. I think individuals need to step up. That includes coaching. But I still believe. I still believe that at the end of this season we can be one of the top teams in the N.B.A. . I still believe that we can be division champions or fighting tooth and nail to be division champions. I still believe Brandon is an All-Star and that Aldridge can make a move to become an All-Star. I believe Oden has improved and I think he can and will continue to improve.

   The fault is within ourselves if we thought these goals were going to be easy. Who do I blame? Ourselves. Players that maybe weren’t as focused on having something to prove and maybe believed prematurely that The Blazers and the team had arrived.

  Yes, we broke back into the playoffs last season. Yes, I believe we have improved since last season. BUT we still need to work. Truth is, we have no history as a team save for a good season last year, and a 1st round exit in the playoffs. I think fans wanted instant “fun” instant wins, and to be placed in the upper echelon of the N.B.A. automatically. Unfortunately what this early season is teaching everyone is that nothing is automatic, nothing is a given. Every team in the N.B.A. wants to beat you, and most think they can. There’s a homogenized level of talent in the N.B.A., every team is pretty good on any given night. If you aren’t ready, or don’t play for 48 minutes? You can lose to anyone, anywhere, even your homecourt. If The Blazers knew this once, it seems they have forgotten it.

   We’re losing with a whimper. We’ re losing with confused looks on our faces. We’re rolling out the Blame Game awfully early. I don’t think this team ails from anything that hard work wouldn’t fix. The balance of talent might not be perfect, the future might hold tweaks in line-up and roster, but there is no reason this team shouldn’t win a whole lot more games than it loses. If it’s losing? Look no farther than itself.

FIRE GOD!!