FanShot

Caraeff: Everything Will Be Fine, Blazers Will Win 57 Games

50

Good buddy Ezra Ace Caraeff of the Portland Mercury has written an upbeat Portland Trail Blazers season preview, complete with a gorgeous must-see graphic of four Blazers fighting a shark done by Ryan Berkley. Caraeff says it's not time to panic in Portland: the Blazers are still very good despite the injuries and he optimistically predicts 57 wins on the season... ------------------------------- While Portland was licking its wounds, the Oklahoma City Thunder usurped the Blazers as the youthful up-and-coming darlings of the NBA; couple this with the fact that Portland's longtime foils the Lakers somehow won another championship and found a way to get even better in the offseason. That sound you hear? It's Blazers followers everywhere shuffling towards the nearest ledge. But don't take that final step, Blazer fans. This team is quite good. In fact, as their dilapidated shape redirects the spotlight away from the expectations of championship rings—let Oklahoma City carry around that "future of the NBA" albatross—it leaves this Blazers team to do what it does best: take teams by surprise and win games they shouldn't. Last year the Blazers opened the season with Steve Blake and Martell Webster in their starting lineup and with Travis Outlaw as their leading scorer, and the team still won. When compared to the current Blazers roster, none of the aforementioned players could find their way to the court with a map, compass, and Sherpa guide—proof that this team has learned to adapt and evolve along the way, getting better when they should have been getting worse. ------------------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter