Hope vs. Expectations

(photo from Oregonlive.com)

I'm getting excited about the blazers losing...wait, what?

The point of this post is that I am torn between high expectations and hope for the future.  When I had expectations of the Roy/Aldridge/Oden trio, I stressed whenever they did not live up to the humungous potential I had built for them in my head.  But now, having a base core of good (not great) players, I am hopeful that we will be able to do something good with what will likely be 2 low draft picks.  That is way less stressful, it's actually exciting.  I want to get back to the high expectations point in my relationship with the Blazers again, but for now I'm going to enjoy the Hope this draft brings.

Feeling Out the Competition

3 hilarious pictures from the Blazers 3/22/12 game against the Memphis Grizzlies.  I got these from the oregonlive.com Blazers photos.

1st off, Crawford does a cup-check on Gasol.  I'm going to guess he is not wearing a cup.

(photo from oregonlive.com)

2nd, Batum is jealous of all the PDA and gets in on the action.

(photo from oregonlive.com)

HILARIOUS.

Lastly, Felton was so tired from all the funny business, he decided to take a nap on the bench.

(photo from oregonlive.com)

Building a Team

(picture from Yahoo! sports)

Holy moly mother of guacamole, this has been a weird season for the Blazers.  2 of the three pillars are still out in Oden and Roy.  Now Roy is retiring!  Now Oden needs 2 knees surgeries!  Now there is only 1, LA.

So our supposedly "soft" LA became an all star.  He deserved it last year and definitely earned it this year.  He is an amazing player, I wouldn't trade him for basically anyone in the league.  But it seems kinda weird having him as the team leader, right?  I mean he was backseat to Roy for so long.  Either way, he started the season charging the Blazers to a 7-2 record, so I was happy.  From that point on the team stagnated.  A large enough sample size developed with Felton to realize he was a downgrade to Andre Miller.  Wallace and Crawford were completely inconsistent.  Batum didn't have enough playing time to develop into that player that we all believe and want him to be.

The Blazers were crashing out of the playoff picture.  Leading up to the trade deadline there were numerous reports of locker room mutiny against Nate McMillan.  There were some significant losses against all sorts of teams ranging from the lowly Wizards (the Wizards!?!?!?!) to the likely playoff bound Celtics and Knicks.  It was easy to point fingers at the new guys, Felton and Crawford.   The Blazers front office got into action and traded away 2 starters for draft picks and cap space.  I will miss Camby and Wallace, but they were there to help our foundation, and with our foundation broken they became dispensable.

I loved these moves.  The Blazers did this when they last gave their fans hope at the end of the Jail Blazer era.  They picked up 2 amazing stars in Roy and Aldridge as well as got lucky with Oden as the first pick the next year.  I was so excited, we were the talk of the NBA, the Blazers were the up and coming title contenders for years to come.  We added veteran studs to the roster like the defensive master Camby and the king of hustle Gerald Wallace.  Once our stars were healthy we would take on anyone, anywhere.  Injuries stripped us of that dream, and instead of rebuilding by putting up new spackle on a mostly rotten foundation, we tore down and will put up a new, stronger base.

I would much rather suffer a little now and end up like the teams that build well through the draft (Thunder) or through cap space and trades (Celtics), or the draft and trades (Clippers).  The Thunder, Celtics, and Clippers are all teams who were patiently awful for awhile, and are now very successful.  We could have stuck with Lamarcus as our core and not given him enough to ever build a championship with (see the Suns and Steve Nash), but we have higher aspirations.

I am excited to see what our draft picks will become, hopefully they both land in the top 10 (very likely according to this article).  We can trade for quality veterans around Lamarcus' age, or develop through the draft.  Either way I'm excited.

Goodbye Brandon Roy

(photo from yahoo!)

I didn't follow any professional sports until around 2007, and that wasn't a coincidence.  This was right when Roy began his rookie of the year campaign.  This was the first good news I had heard about the Blazers since Drexler led the Blazers to the finals.  To be clear, I didn't even know that happened until the last couple of years.  My point is that Brandon Roy was the reason I started following, and am now completely obsessed with the Portland Trail Blazers.  

Watching Roy's injuries the past 2 years has been hard.  But the Blazers had Lamarcus to pick up the slack as well as the never ending hope for Greg Oden.  I always thought that Roy was so good that despite any injury he would be able to fill some sort of role for the Blazers.  I was ecstatic watching Roy dominate the Mavs in game 4.  But watching him struggle through the remaining games was heart breaking.

When sports writers everywhere suggested that the Blazers use the amnesty clause on Brandon, I was hardly surprised.  I hoped Portland would give him another chance and let him fill whatever role he can for this team.  Everybody in Portland loves him despite his injury woes.  My mom barely knows what basketball is and even she loves him!

Then came the news the Blazers wouldn't cut him using the amnesty clause, yay!

Then Brandon announced his retirement, wait?  What!?!?

I wanted to be more sad than I felt when I found out he was retiring, but I couldn't.  Watching Roy, he is a warrior.  Seeing him struggle through these injuries was difficult.  I know that his retirement has to do with his family.  Who wouldn't want to run around with their kids.  For the exact same reason that Portland fell in love with Brandon Roy, is the exact same reason he is retiring.  He is a great guy.  He dragged us out of the Jailblazer era, and now he will be MORE of a family man.  I wish him nothing but the best. Thank you for entertaining fans for 5 years.  Good luck with whatever you choose to pursue in the future, I know you will continue to be an all star.

Letter to the NBA About the Lockout

 

(Picture from Yahoo! Sports)

I love the NBA, I read 2-3 blogs everyday about the NBA and my team the Trail Blazers.  I live in San Jose California and I am from Portland, so the team the last couple of years has been a huge point of pride for me.  I have been able to joke around with my local friends about the Warriors, even if every Blazers-Warriors game I have gone to at Oracle the Blazers have lost.

My point is this, my best friend doesn't like professional basketball.  His reasoning is "they are all overpaid and don't play hard until the playoffs."  I don't think that's true, and if it was I wouldn't care.  I love/hate Kobe, I love/hate Lebron, Lamarcus was my hero last year, I have dreams of LA, Oden, Roy and Batum leading the Blazers to a championship.  When this season rolls around I can distract myself with the NFL and the NHL, but it won't be the same.  I am not emotionally attached to the Seahawks or the Sharks.
But as time wears on, I will eventually accept the invite to watch the Sharks game instead of staying home to watch a league pass Blazers game due to the lockout.

I'm not delusional, I don't think one email will have an impact on a business as large as the NBA.  This is more to vent...please figure out a way to end this lockout.

Sincerely,
Nick

Blazers Draft and the Impending Lockout

Last draft, Wa, Wa, Waaa (Picture from OregonLive.com)

Two topics I am not particularly excited about.  First the draft and its weakness coupled with a low draft pick means not much improvement here.  If KP was still here, I would be more excited about some crazy 5 team, 10 draft pick, 15 player trade possibility.  I miss that feeling of getting rid of the bad and bringing in the new era of BRoy, LMA and Oden.  I feel like we could use help at the center or point guard positions, and if this truly is a weak draft, take a gamble.  We have a solid rotation of SG/SF/PG in Matthews/Roy/Rudy/Batum/Wallace/Aldridge.  Leave those positions alone unless we are making a trade.

And the lockout is super depressing.  I expect the Blazers to win over 50% of their games and make the playoffs.  I don't see them as deep enough and strong enough to make a championship run right now, but I love watching them play while I scream at my TV.  The only positive I see is that Oden and Roy will get a little extra rest for whenever the next season starts.  I just hope its over as quickly as possible and we can start watching basketball in the fall.  I guess there's always hockey.

On the Brink of Elimination

 

(picture from Yahoo! Sports)

I was discussing the Atlanta Thrashers yesterday with a friend, and how they are likely to move to Winnepeg.  He is Canadian, and a fan of the Maple Leafs.  We go to talking about the Sharks, and he surprised me by saying he was cheering for them.  His team was out, he lives in San Jose, why not?

3 hours later the Sharks are down 3-1 in the seven game series, and I am worried.  They have only won 2 games in the last 8, and I'm worried.  My roommate is flying to Vancouver Tuesday to watch what could possibly be the last Sharks game this season.  But I'm going to think of it as the the first game in an amazing comeback on the way to the first San Jose Sharks Stanley Cup.