Mid-Season Impressions

I am amazed at the overall gritty performance and think a lot of the “chemesty” talk is just desperate journalists[pun intended] soap opera.

I’m overall fairly pleased with the grit and determination the team has shown in the face of injurious adversity. But at the same time, I’m a little miffed with the lack of steady progress from Lamarcus. He may have a few games of 22-13, 20-11, 18-14, and then turn around and have 8 points and 5 rebounds. He just seems to lack aggressiveness during key moments of a game. Also, and obviously I’m not the only one, I get a little perturbed at Nate for not letting off the reigns on Bayless. He is our best backcourt defender and has absolutely no fear. His shooting has gotten much better. Blake has regressed considerably (though I’d still like to keep him for his 3-point skills), and Miller probably won’t be here next year. We have to let B-Rex loose. Sure he has his deficiencies but he’s still very young.
On the plus side, I’m glad to see Martell finally starting to show a little bit of maturity in his game. Improved defense and rebounding, and still dangerous beyond the arc. Keep it up, Martell, and make Nic sweat for his starter minutes. Also, Pendy and Dante have played admirably in big-man minutes, as well as the old geezer Howard (whoda thunk!)
All in all, I’m happy. Could be better, could definitely be worse. And the Lakers STILL fear the Garden!

Wow, time flies when you’re wincing! Injuries will define this year, even if it’s because the team learned and grew from being so short handed.

The biggest surprise for me is the young guys. Not that they’re good, but how much I like them. Bayless, Cunningham, and especially Pendergraph have really impressed me in a year when I was absolutely sure I wouldn’t be falling for a new player! They’re all young and make mistakes but I think they all have something to offer this team in the future. I don’t know how Bayless will develop or what all Cunningham has in his bag but Pendergraph sure looks like a keeper. Sure we’d love an all star backing up LMA but I’ll settle for a tough rebounder who isn’t afraid of any player in the league.

My biggest frustration is how stale the playcalling has become. Roy still isn’t passing to the big on the pick and roll, the ball never goes to LMA with deep position… it just seems like ever other team, even the really bad ones, can run some plays that get the ball in deep or open up easy shots. Some nights I just can’t understand why the other team’s offense looks smooth and our plays only develop into difficult shots, is our playbook missing the “easy shots” chapter or is it lack of execution?

What do you think of the season so far?

I´m still trying to adjust my expectations. Only a bit worried about team chemestry at the start of the season. Now I´m happy they´re still in contention.

Impressions?

Injuries have brought lack of consistency, for the players and the team as a whole. They can win any game, they can lose any game. Watching games is stressful now ;)

Surprises?

I didn´t expect: all these injuries; Roy´s regression when they were integrating Oden in offense, and that´s something worrisome for the future; And I didn´t expect Blake´s regression either.

Nice surprises:

 “Howard and the rookies” rock ‘n’ roll.

Disappointments?

Injuries, Blake, Miller, LA, in that order. I had higher expectations for these three.

Are you satisfied with where we are?

Yes, always looking at the bright side of life.

  Not sure exactly where to begin on this one… For starters, most of Portland’s starters are not in uniform. After the playoff push last year and the aquizition of Andre Miller it seemed that the real crux of this season would be who would get minutes when there are 12+ legit players on the roster? Who would show great improvements from their off-season regimen? Who was going to step up and cement their legacy in the pantheon of Blazer greats?

  Rather than answers to these questions we got more befudled even before the opening game. Nic Batum is hurt?… ok, well Martell and Travis will step up. Travis is gone?, Rudy’s out? Oden did WHat? to his knee??!!!… etc, etc, etc…

  After the onslaught of bad news it has been overwhelming to watch the once “deepest squad in the NBA” run 8 healthy players onto the court and beat the likes of Phoenix, Miami, Dallas, San Antonio, Denver and the L*kers with what amounts to a few gauze pads and a snifter of super glue.

  The first quarter of the 2009-2010 season was devastating. The last month has reminded me why I’m a fan in the first place. Winning pretty with a roster full of all-stars will make your night, but watching this injury decimated group of men play as hard and with as much passion as they have makes my decade.

Miller was supposed to make the Blazers a running team and the only running he has done is to the media. He was supposed to get the bigs involved and they got injured so all I have to look forward to is the development of the young guys. Every time I see Miller on the court I am reminded that KP could have had Devin Harris, Kirk Hinrich, David Lee, and others for RLEC and he failed miserably.

With Rudy and Batum coming back, I’m afraid Nate is going to give all their minutes to his “main man” Miller. Every minute wasted on a 33 year old declining vet over the young guys is a disappointment to me. In three years, the Blazers are going to need Batum, Rudy, and Bayless to perform in high pressure situations, I’m afraid they won’t be able to develop with Miller taking all their minutes and the Blazers will never become an elite team, because Miller held them back.

To be honest I did not know much about the Blazers before Jeff was drafted. I only started to look into the team and roster after the draft. I was looking to see how I thlought JP might fit. Then came the injuries, JP and then the others.

The impression that I have of this team for the first half of the season is that even with the setbacks the team has been resilient. Yes some players may have regressed, but others seem to have made strides. Other than Roy, I don’t see that anyone is playing the role on this team they thought they would be playing.

While the injuries have been frustating, I think that they have allowed for the development of some of the younger players. I was not sure how much I would get to see JP play this year and have been pleased that he has been able to get on the floor. After playing 10 game so far I see he has some adjustments to make as he transitions into the league. I have also been impressed with the willingness some to embrace and to work with the rookies. I Know Howard was very important during JP’s rehab and has taken him in to mentor him. I don’t know as much about the team as most on the board, but I know having watched games for most of my 47 years that this team has done a better job handling adversity than most. Here’s to a good second half of the season and I look forward to becoming a more knowledgable albeit sleep deprived fan.

We have all been on record to say from time to time, we need a rotation that will develop young bench players as well as giving the veterans their minutes to win games. I think with all the injuries we know the value of our end of the bench players. Hopefully Nate has learned to trust and develop some of the bench that will be our future players.

For the year without looking at individual players, I am very impressed because we now know the importance of team play over individual experience and talent. At the same time I am somewhat depressed at not getting to see my favorite players momentarily. At +69 that is very depressing because time gets limited.

On the brighter side. we learned to play with what we have and quit crying about what we don’t have with the enjoyment of watching new players growing into my favorite players. (Dante, Pendy, JBay (?). and Andre.)

Once more I can say it is a great time to be a Blazer fan since this is the only time we really have.

hg

Impression so far: Heart, effort on defense, making the most from the cards you have been dealt, BRoy really is a great player, fans still love this team no matter what.
Surprises: Nate and the coaching staff’s ability to finally adjust, Bayless walking the talk,
rookies stepping up, JuMAN still having game, team resilliancy.
Disappointments: Obviously the injuries – especially not getting to see GO continue to develop, sticking with Blake when everybody knew Andre was a better option.
Hopes: Rotation allows max playing time for Rudy – while still getting JBay 18-20 mpg. Travis returns by March 7 (Denver) game & regains 4thQ form from 2 years ago, LA gets more aggressive inside, Nic and Martell become co-defensive players of the year. GO surprises and comes back for play-offs.

Early in the season guys had their positions locked up, they were believing the hype, they were standing around expecting to win games.

Now that some of the regulars got hurt, you finally see some hunger and passion from the younger guys. I’ve never minded losing games, but what galls me to no end is watching my team get outworked night after night. We see that less so now than early in the season.

LMA is by far the biggest disappointment. But when it comes right down to it, his lack of progression isn’t really a surprise. He is what he is.

To me, it’s just short of a miracle that we have the record we do considering the storm of injuries that slammed us.

Gotta give serious credit to Nate … and to those on the team still standing.

And I don’t know if I’ve ever been as proud as I am of a team. They could have given up 10k times by now and very few would have blamed them. Yet they didn’t and keep winning. Simply awesome.

Totally agree w/ the comments on LaMarcus. Why isn’t he more involved? He can shoot the turnaround anytime he wants (not that I want him relying on that), he can shoot the face up jumper, and he runs the court well. I get the feeling he only asserts himself when told during a timeout “Get involved! Post Up!”. Then we see the turnaround. I would like to see him demand the ball in the low post and CREATE CONTACT with STRONG MOVES.

Pendergraph is one of the hi-lites of the year in my book. You can see this kid understands his role on the team and it fits him nicely. I hope he keeps banging and rebounding, and over the next few seasons maybe we’ll even see him develop some 1 on 1 offense.

You continue spending as much time as possible with the gorgeous young lady and enjoy every minute of it. Who knows what tomorrow might bring. You could get run over by a bus or develop an incurable disease. By sticking with the relationship you might find you have the opportunity to get to Europe when you go visit her, having a vacation to remember the rest of your life. Since none of us can predict the future, why worry about what might happen? Instead concentrate on making the most of what is happening.

Besides, what’s the alternative? Dating the ugly chick in accounting that always puts out but requires you to drink until you are one beer away from passing out just to be able to look at her?

losses to good teams this year, and then when tip off happens I start wanting to see them win and am disappointed when they lose.

I think LMA is getting a bum rap from a lot of folks. He’s been injured, has had his role change at least three times this season, is playing out of position, and even when he leads all players in rebounds and shoots over 50% he’s derided as being soft and inefficient. It’s irrational.

I love Greg’s game, but truthfully I’ve adjusted my expectations to “whatever we get from him is gravy.” I hope in two years I’ll be able to adjust them upwards again, but I don’t think this team should predicate it’s chances of winning a championship on Greg Oden’s knees.

Seeing the rooks play and Bayless get some has increased my already high level of appreciation for what KP brings to the draft.

I hate trade posts. I know that trades will and should happen, but 99% of the post are fantasy league driven inanities and the remaining 1% won’t happen. I know that people will make them and some find them interesting, but to me, they read like a 12 year old’s christmas list.

1. We have a team full of high charactor professionals.
2. We have had a boatload of injuries.
3. Changes have been constant and major.
4. We are anticipating more positive changes this season.
5. The new players added to the team have, without a doubt, excelled overall.
6, The team has performed better than expected, all things being considered.
7, The coach has performed better than expected in these most difficult circumstances.
8. Greg Oden made major progress this season before his injury, and we are hopeful of a full recovery.
9. Jerryd Bayless has answered many of the doubters—and the future looks bright for him.
10. Brandon Roy is playing the best ball of his career right now despite nagging injuries.
11. Lamarcus Aldridge has willingly adjusted to several new roles despite both his ankles being hurt.
12. Juwan Howard has been a revelation and an inspiration for young and old alike.
13. We have a team that is clearly deeper than almost anyone thought.
14. We appear to be very well positioned (provided Greg and Joel have good recoveries), better than what we might have thought coming into the year, for next season and beyond.
15. There continue to be no off the court incidents of any kind.

And that’s good.

Is LMA by FAR (other than Greg Oden’s paper mache knees). The guy just isnt assertive / aggressive enough and hasnt progressed defensively, on the boards, or offensively at all.

Its one thing to say that he needs to be more involved. But when you only rely on 2-3 jump shot / turnaround post moves, players in the NBA can take you out of your game pretty easily.

Is he a good player? Absolutely.

Is he worth $65 Million? Not right now

Is he a championship PF? Probably not. But he is still young.

Some guys are getting quality PT right now and I think it’ll help us in the future.

I don’t buy your romantic analogies. This is not some fling we’re going to have to break up. This is a long term relationship going through some rough patches. Our girl’s laid up at the moment. She’s got to go on a trip. Maybe she’s doing a bid in the army. But she’ll be back soon. And when she gets back we’re going to build a house and start making baby rings.

by how many people immediately start in on individuals (which Dave is saving for next week) and utterly overlook what he discussed, the overall impression.

My first comment is actually a question triggered by Dave’s “Had the current roster been evident from the start of the year few would have predicted success for the Blazers.” What if the injuries happened in the pre-season and the first few games? Would the rest of the team have responded like they have? I can’t say exactly why, but my feeling is “no”. But when they happened, the way they happened affected the players in all the right ways. (which may not be giving enough credit to the character of the “remainders” – maybe they would have responded in exactly the same manner.) But I’m curious – and will never know. (I hope, I hope.)

During that amazing road trip I felt like we’d stepped back a couple of years when we were performing about expectations. Remember that 13 game win streak? Those games are my favorites – the games we are not expected to win. I love it when we’re considered an elite team, but I think I prefer being the underdog that continually surprises. (I know, I know – can’t stay an underdog that way. But it would be fun!)

I was at the Memphis & Cleveland games and disappointment washed over me, but lasted only a short time. I just remind myself that “considering the circumstances we did pretty well”. (And I can always remember the Laker game)

I’m disappointed that our progess has been sidelined for at least one season, I worry about integrating the injured players when they return, but most of all I am so proud of the team. I have some gripes, of course, but really, those are minor considering what they have accomplished. I’m happy for Dante and Jeff who would probably be in Boise had everyone stayed healthy – they truly experienced baptism under fire.

The season so far? Disappointment which was crushing at first, but then a rise that I still find amazing. A little bit of trepidation about the immediate future – and, of course, about next fall.

When Greg and Joel went down I was pretty much ready to write the season off. Then a few days later reality set in and we still had most of the season left. Before the big fall some of the issues that the team was having is getting the wings to step up and make their shots and defend better. I would say that they have done that well. Martell has found a nice rhythm, Blake coming off the bench looks like it is working well and he is playing more relaxed and making shots. Andre Miller Starting has the team playing with more focus and sets the pace for the game. Bayless is a serious threat now and has had some huge nights. LMA has been really consistent and is getting a good amount of boards every night. Brandon Roy has pretty much taken over and to me is having his best year. And the biggest surprise Juwan “the man” Howard contribution to this team has been awesome. Pendegraph has been holding down playing Joel’s enforcer role and really provided that spark and energy and desire that we need.

The team is showing that they don’t panic in the face of big injuries, and that is the first, very first sign of a championship team. They are responding GREAT to the adversity with huge win after huge win, and even when they lose they go down swinging and leave me with a ‘oh well, at least we played hard’ feeling which I always like. They beat the stuffing out of the L*kers and took the Cavs to the limit in consecutive games, which impressed the heck out of me too.

including the feelings behind it.

However, the mantra I keep telling myself is that one game doesn’t matter. In fact, this whole season is preseason for next year. I don’t think I could overstate that. We were NOT title contenders this year even if healthy. b

But there’s this sense – and if I’m the only one who has it, I’ll eat one of LeBron’s ugly orange shoes – that we’re looking at serious title contention in the years ahead. Like at most two or three years out, we’re going to be right there.

So ultimately, let’s just get all our bad injury karma out this season and get some guys (like Bayless) some run and force Nate to crack open his stubborn brain and try some different lineups.

This season is merely prep work for what’s to come. We’re working toward a goal that’s longer term than June, 2010. Just keep working on it. The guys just need to keep this in perspective and keep their heads up.

Now it’s of course a serious setback if we don’t get some more playoff experience this season, but I think we will make the fortunate 8.

In terms of individual players, I suppose some of these things have happened:

• Nate had high plans for using Batum alongside Roy to take pressure off him defensively, and those were crushed
• The plan for using Travis again as a sixth man to provide instant offense have flown out the window, potentially changing all kinds of plans the Blazers had with him – as well as his own for getting his next big contract.
• The team was very happy with the progress of Oden even risking that the game of Roy and LaMarcus suffered a bit, and then that was crushed with his injury.
• The idea that LaMarcus would play better with the security of a new deal instead of fighting for his big contract have not materialized. He is far away from his All-Star ambitions, on which I had banked a bit this year (Dallas). Z-Bo is demonstrating in Memphis how much that carrot of a new deal can motivate a player.
• After they had come to grips with the Oden situation and settled in a bit, next came the injury to Joel that really blew all plans over. Then it became sink or swim, and in that situation the team has stepped up surprisingly well, and the reigns have been loosened since no regular rotation was possible anymore.
• Miller has not worked out as well as hoped. There is/was disagreement about his use between the management and the coaching staff. I don’t think he was acquired purely for trade reasons to “just do something” with the cap space. If there was a plan in place, that plan would have gone in effect after December 15.
• There was also disagreement about the use of Bayless. He has surprised everyone by stepping up.
• The minutes “crunch” on the wing is still coming, only far later in the season than expected. Then the cards have to be put on the table, and plans to set the course for the future be made.

All in all, I would agree with Dave that this season feels very much week to week and game to game. It’s surprisingly entertaining after all the injury disappointments, knocking a few of the players I was most excited to see out for a long time.

So take this with a grain of salt…

1. Miller has lived up to my expectations… he’s doing what I hoped he would, shouting match and all. I didn’t expect Deron Williams in a boyscout uniform. I like the guy, I like his game. He’s worth the $$7 mill.
2. LA has not stepped up. He’s playing at last year’s level, no more.
3. The way they’ve been playing since the injuries is inspirational. But I don’t know if they can keep up the intensity needed to stay above .500 for much longer, without new blood or without all our guys, or even without a real center. We need to trade for a starting center, TODAY. Trade Steve, Travis, Draft picks, a rookie, and even Rudy to get us Chris Bosh or someone dominant in the paint. The other guys will adjust.
4. Greg was my favorite player to watch this season. I had just received a #52 jersey as a b-day present a few days before he went down. That said, I don’t let Greg enter the equation anymore. He’s gone, to me, for good. If he comes back and does well next year, then great. But I am not counting on it. I fear more injuries lay ahead for the kid.
5. (To echo Barkley) Without low-post scoring, we’ll never make it past the first or second round. If everything else goes as expected, I predict we’ll be ONE-and-DONE in the West this year, again.
6. DISCHARGE the SARGE… at some point in the near future. He’s peaked, for this team. He’s great at “rising with us” and training rookies, but not sure he’s championship caliber.
7. Bayless is rockin’ it! Marty is rockin it! Love Pendy, Dante, the Chosen Juwan, and look forward to seeing Patty Mills use his speed in real minutes. And of course, with Brandon on our team, “anything is possible!”

I love the heart, desire and deteremination this team has showed through the adversity associated with the injuries. Guys who we knew very little about and who would have played spot minutes at best have risen to the occasion and done more then I ever would have dreamed they could to keep us competitive and winning. That alone makes the season thus far a great story if nothing else.

Expectations were high coming into the season from both the fans and the team. Early in the season that seemed to cause discontent for both. Even though we were winning at a good clip… We weren’t winning good enough for alot of people. We applied so many unrealistic hopes to the team that we were destined to fail to live up to them.

The reality is that we were not going to win the Championship this year and were a long shot at best to reach the WCF even without the injuries. What I ask myself is,"will this experience give us a better shot next year, the same shot or set us back a year?’

I’m not sure I know the answer to that question but I do know that I very much enjoy watching these guys play and respect the effort they give and that I am proud to be a Blazer fan.

GO BLAZERS!!!

I just wanted to add to what’s been said, we should count ourselves lucky right now that he isn’t publicly voicing concerns about not getting touches in the offense (which is what I see as a major part of his underwhelming play this season). LaMarcus averaged over 15 shot attempts the last two years. He has taken over 15 only 5 times in Dec.-Jan., a period of time in which most of our main offensive guys are down and you’d think shots would be easier to come by.

On the season, he shoots 50%, averages 13 shots, and spends much of the game having to watch Andre, Martell, Blake, and Bayless hoist a combined average of 31 shots per game on 40% shooting.

Ankle injuries, one game samples, lack of effort/toughness aside, just look at how he’s being used in the offense for the season and credit him for not openly complaining about his role like some of his teammates did.

 at the very lest.To be where we are is a testament to this teams heart and character.I agree that LMA should be playing better.But he’s an after thought after three Quarters.We stop goin to him in the fourth because thet’s BRoy time.I think using him more in the fourth is essential to his development.You have to put people in a position to suced.I don’t know that JBay helps that either,he passes less than LMA.I don’t know how we are goind to make it without a big.It may be Haywood,if anybody.Or we turn into Houston.