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You forget they were missing Martell Webster which is thier 3rd option and great 3 point shooter. Plus is Paul Allen that guy will spend what it takes to win. I don't think the luxury tax scares him.
a team with two good players, one of them possibly top 10 but not more, and a bunch of average players. And now that their lottery pick run is over, this is the team they will have for the next 5-8 years unless they make some great trade. I don't see the championship potential here at all. Either they get a really good PG, Rudy turns out to be a borderline All-Star, or they will be just like the Portland teams of the past, good but not good enough.
You forget they were missing Martell Webster which is thier 3rd option and great 3 point shooter. Plus is Paul Allen that guy will spend what it takes to win. I don't think the luxury tax scares him.
I and SEVERAL Laker fans here have never bought into the Blazer hype.
If Martell Webster is your 3rd best player, you won't be winning anything anytime soon.
Have you even seen him play? That guy is like JR Smith with better shot selection.
Oden has to be at least half of what his hype was. I think he is the reason they aren't as good as people thought they would be.
True, Allen will pay. But some of those guys will leave, they are young and want playing time. Webster, Outlaw, Batum, one has to go if not more.
To me they have glarin holes at PG and at center. Oden is nothing and seems like he will be nothing.
Sorry but at best they get to the level of the 1990 or 2000 team, with a lot of good players, but not enough great ones.
I know the conventional wisdom is take the big man but I wonder if they should have taken Durant.
I give you that they need an upgrade over Blake.
With Durant, the Blazers would be absolutely unstoppable. They made a blunder that will haunt them forever.
Don't forget the Darius Miles blunder which will screw their salary cap for years to come.
As much as people give tlong for his over-the-top homerism, the Blazers still do have a very bright future. This was their first time in the playoffs and they made it a pretty good series. They obviously don't have enough experience. But, their core group of players are all young and NBA players can improve. They need to upgrade their point guard position and maybe get another veteran or two, and they can still be a contender in the upcoming years. They might not win a championship with this group, but I wouldn't rule it out either.
Their biggest hurdle over the next few years is being able to keep all of their young talent. With an owner like Paul Allen, it might not be that much of an issue, but still, it will take some careful and prudent management and negotiation on Pritchard's part.
This one's better..lol
The appeal of taking Durant would NOT be to pair him up with Roy. That wouldn't work the way you think it would, think Kobe + Caron Butler. There wouldn't be enough shots to go around between the two of them.
Instead you keep Durant for a year or two and TRADE him for a quality C when the opportunity presents itself. A smart forward thinking franchise would have done this, which POR is clearly not.
Well Roy can be a combo card and initiate the offense. With Durant on the team, I think he would have accepted that most of the time he was going to be option b, kind of like what Ray is right now with Pierce.
JamStone, true NBA players do improve. However at times fans get crazy with the idea of a "young" team, instead of trying to evaluate how good that team really is. In order to win a championship you need at least one player to be truly elite, top 5, maybe top 3, in the league. Only the Pistons of 04 have done it differently, and IMO they are still an outlier in all of this.
As good as Roy is, he probably will never reach that level. And it's not like the others have that muhc of a potential. Aldrige is what he is, kind of like Bosh, this is the player he will always be. Good shot, not enough of a banger inside, not enough moves to completely take over a game offensively. Oden seems like a complete bust to me, but I might be wrong. The wild card is Rudy. He has a lot of skills, but for some reason decided to develop a reputation as a 3pt shooter when he can be much, much more than that. If he develops into the all around player I think he can, than the Blazer are truly dangerous.
If not they will be a really good team for the next 10 years, have a run like the Mavs maybe had during this decade, over 50 wins for 10 seasons, but ultimately fail to win it all.
Perennial 1st-2nd round exit team.
My 2 cents:
- Blazers are gonna be SCARY good in 2 years
- they lack experience, that's all.
- the only guy wiith 15 years of professional experience in the roster is Greg Oden.
Nothing new to Trail Blazers management.
See: 1984 NBA Draft.
may be the unluckiest franchise in the draft history
Portland did the same thing in 2007 that they did in 1984: They drafted according to their needs. In 1984 they had a potential top tier shooting guard in Clyde Drexler. What they needed was a big man. They missed out on Hakeem Olajuwon because Houston had the #1 pick (which they arguably tanked the 83-84 season to get). So they drafted Sam Bowie. Unfortunately Bowie was an injury prone piece of and Jordan became the greatest player ever to set foot on the NBA hardwood.
In 2007 they had Brandon Roy coming off a Rookie Of The Year season. What they needed was a big man. So they drafted Greg Oden. Unfortunately, Greg Oden ed up his knee and missed his 1st season. Now he's behind the learning curve and doesn't look like he'll be more than maybe a 10 and 6 guy while Kevin Durant has clearly become the better draft choice.
Right or wrong, the Trail Blazers drafted according to their needs.
^And you never never never do that in the draft. You always take the best possible player. You adress your positional needs through free agency or trade. But when you have a chance to get a potential franchise player, you don't just leave him because you already have someone similiar to him.
blazers are just a middle of the road team. i compare them to the run and gun suns. they will have regular season success, but wont win a ring. not with the lakers, houston, denver, and hornets in the same conference for the next 4-5 years
Honestly, you can't blame Portland. I'd say 90% of the GM's would have taken Oden at the time. I certainly would have.
That's the problem right there, you draft the best player available not for need.
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