FanPost

Are We Really Such a Deep Team?

Watching the playoffs has been a revelation for me, especially in terms of watching the role players on the remaining teams rise to the occasion (at least on occasion) and help push their teams to another level. Again and again I've watched players who I didn't think much of come in and play out of their minds, making things that much easier on the stars. It's been a lot of fun, even without our Blazers still in the mix.

And that brings me to my question: are we really as deep as we tend to tell ourselves? We may have a lot of athleticism and talent, both on the bench and in the starting five, but it seems to me we're missing the kind of supercharged impact from our players not named Aldridge in the playoffs (with the exception of one game by Roy and another by GW). The surviving teams seem to have 2-3 stars on the floor, and then another 1-2 unexpected producers in each game. (I suppose that's what we were hoping for from Rudy once upon a time.)

I guess what I'm really noticing is offensive firepower off the bench. Sad to say, I just feel like these remaining teams are playing at a different level than the Blazers, and I think this goes beyond our injuries. We just don't seem to have multiple offensive threats. I'm sure some will blame that on Nate's playcalling, but what I'm seeing on the remaining teams is a range of players who can create offense, even when the plays break down. Where can we get some players like that?