ABM

Probably doesn't mean squat, but I would have figured we'd be at least a half dozen games better - considering Cheeks having a year under his belt, plus adding Sabas, McInnis, and Daniels, etc.

mook

Jeez, no kidding. On top of that, Zach Randolph has emerged as a legit NBA player, Pippen has played his best ball since Chicago, and we no longer "feature" Rick Brunson or Eric Barkley.

So why have we made no progress? My reasons:

1. The NBA is a tougher league this year.

Garnett, McGrady and Bryant are having phenominal seasons. Malone, Stockton, Vince Carter and Shaq haven't dropped off nearly enough to offset this surge in talent. Kidd, Dirk, AI, and Duncan are all as good as they were last year. Arenas, Amare, Yao and others are getting a lot better.

Good teams last year like the Kings, Mavs, Pistons and Spurs have kept most of their core intact to build even better teams, while only the Lakers and Nets have taken a noticeable dive in competitiveness. Hell, even Golden State isn't a gimme anymore. Not to mention our odd failures in Denver....

2. Wallace seems to be drifting away from the middle more than ever, and has put even less effort into rebounding. Although on any given night he can go for 28, he's overall failing as a consistent go-to guy.

3. Bonzi got his contract and has fallen off the planet. On top of his less intense defense, he's shooting a horrible 3 pt %.

4. With Stouds not playing, our outside shooting is even worse than last year. DA is a mediocre outside threat and not enough to make up for Bonzi's failings, as well as our trade of occasional threat Kerr.

Pip launches at 29%, DA at 35%, Bonzi at 29%, Patterson at 15%, and McInnis at an eye popping 4%. Yes, that's right, McInnis hits a three pointer 4 times out of every hundred.

It's frankly amazing how well we've done, considering how bad our perimeter shooting is.

jackiejackal

Wallace is still the "star"
Bonzi is considered the "second best player"
An aging point guard,now injured.
At best,you have players from other teams,that never were "stars"..never will be.

How could this possibly be different year after year??

But the main reason they have picked up zero this year,is that every other team,yes,every other team got better,and in alot of cases,a whole lot better.

Look at the Lakers,they are worse this year,but their"stars" are leaps and bounds over ours.

Until Portland gets stars,forgetaboutit.

Tracy would have been so devine here.

Vintage

Portland lacks a marquee player, like someone else mentioned. Sheed is a good player, but isn't that. Take a look at some of the top teams in the League. The Spurs go to Tim Duncan when they need help. The Lakers have Shaq and Kobe. The Blazers have Bonzi, a good 2nd option, and Sheed, who would thrive as a 2nd option, but is in my opinion, not a great 1st option. I watch him play and sometimes he just seems to coast through the game.

I just don't think Id want to be relying upon Rasheed in a game where everything is on the line. He has the talent, he just seems to be missing something......its hard to explain. MJ had it. Kobe has it. McGrady has it. Duncan has it. Rasheed doesn't.

But on a plus note, the Blazers have two gems on their bench in Qyntel Woods and Zach Randolph. Adding someone like Gary Payton would do wonders to this team. Payton is the perfect role model/leader the Blazers lack at the PG spot. Payton is getting up their in age, but the Blazers could really use a PG like him. He is the unselfish player that would sacrifice points for wins. The Blazers should really make a push for him in the offseason.

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w00t

Masbee

This post caught my curiosity, so I started perusing a couple of stat sites. To my surprise I could not really find anything important where the team make a significant improvement from last year. Overall the offense is about as productive as last season. As the Wanker says, this is amazing considering the 3 point shooting is so bad – having gone from 35.4% (15th) last season to 31.7% (25th) this.

We were all excited about the benching of Damon – and there is no question something needed to be done – but the team numbers do not validate the existence of dramatic improvement. Team turnovers have jumped – 13.62 (13th) to 14.57 (19th) – which you might expect, but team assists did not improve, which they were supposed to when Damon isn’t hogging the ball – 23.49 (6th last season) to 22.62 (8th this season).

Also noticeable is the rebounding differential number has dropped from 3.8 (3rd) to 1.9 (8th). Defensive FG % improved in rank, but not in fact, from 45.0% (9th) to 45.9% (4th). Steals are about the same. Blocks went from poor to virtually non-existent – 4.49 (22nd last season) to 3.87 (24th). This is all very disappointing as Mo Cheeks horrible offensive “system” and inability to draw clever plays in real time was supposed to be countered by a stifling defensive oriented style. “Get your offense from you defense”. The defense of the Blazers isn’t disastrous, but it is if you expect to generate much offense with it.

Scottie Pippen: We may feel that he is playing his best ball, but his Tendex scores are identical from last season. And since overall team defense has not improved, either Scottie is not playing any better on defense than last season, or Damon was a better defender than the whole world thinks, or Scottie’s improved play is covering for poor defense of other starters – (Bonzi anyone?)

Center: The current combo of Dale Davis and Arvydas Sabonis (13.6pts, 11.8reb combined) is not giving us more than we had last year from Dale Davis and Shawn Kemp (15.6pts, 12.6reb combined). Surprised? I am. Sabonis has had his good moments, but his minutes are doled out carefully, and he matches up poorly to some teams, thus limiting his ability to contribute. Dale has seen his minutes drop a bit, but his productivity has dropped more than the reduced minutes. This year he hasn’t been as consistent, seeming to disappear for entire games.

Rasheed: Not the Franchise Player the team has been hoping, praying he would become. Not that they expected him to when they traded for him. In fact, today they would do the trade 100 times over, and are thrilled Rasheed has accomplished what he has. It is not that Rasheed has disappointed, it is that Portland had and has no choice but to hope one of its existing players turned into the Franchise they have always needed since Clyde’s departure. Rasheed’s per48 Tendex has dropped slightly from 26.3 to 25.3 this season. But more disturbing is the continued drift to the perimeter, which makes opposing coaches gleeful with delight.

Derek: Has improved from (per48 Tendex 20.8 to 22.0)

Bonzi: Derek’s improvements have been offset – and then some by Bonzi’s slide (per48 Tendex 24.5 to 20.1). And we all can see that Bonzi’s defensive effort has usually been lacking.

Patterson: Seems the same as last season, but his minutes are slightly down and his stats even more so – from 11.2pts & 4.0reb to 8.5pts & 3.5reb.

This season, there is only one player on the deep bench – Q. Woods. The rest of the players have all seen periods of extensive playing time and periods of pine-riding. Sabonis, Patterson, Zach, Damon, McInnis, & Daniels. All are good players, but none are good enough to beat out the starters. So instead of the tight rotation last season – 7 players with big minutes and the remainder fighting over scraps – only the 5 starters get big minutes and 6 (SIX!!!) others get significant playing time.

Last year the bench was Anderson & Patterson big minutes, Kemp & Kerr fewer. This year’s bench is better, no question, but probably not as big a gap as was predicted at season’s beginning and many still presume. Patterson is less productive. McInnis has dissppointed. Only Zach has been exciting, but his 7 points in 16 minutes aren’t going to change the fortunes of the team. And he won’t get more minutes until he improves his defense. Based on the starters not producing more than last season, I guess that the slight improvement in productivity from the bench and the early season poise in winning more than their share of the close games explains why with so many stats looking down, the Blazers are one game up on last season.

jackiejackal

Z A C K !!!
I believe him to be good enough to become a genuine star.

He has a winning personality,great play around the basket,
fearless,hard working,a blossoming jump shot,not interested in just dunking..[anybody besides me getting abit sick of dunks]
but most importantly,HE IS IMPROVING..AND HE IS YOUNG !!!
Please ! Stop thinking Rasheed is going to improve !

Hello,Portland brass..

A young stud that we can build around ..

He is an exciting player !! and we like him !!! and he is pleasant !


Qyntel looks like he has some good hops and could be an exciting player.
I just haven't seen enough of him.

Bravo to coach for making Ruben a starter by the way..i love this guy.

Saxon_guy

I can't believe that we are only a game better this year! It feels like we are doing much better and should be a big part of the playoffs this year. Is it just me or does it feel like we have done very well this season?

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Steve "Snapper" Jones!
"Snapper is currently heard on the popular "Courtside . . . With Steve Jones" program 85 minutes prior to tipoff on the Blazers Satellite Radio Network; he also teams with radio analyst Mike Rice for the always entertaining "Courtside Monday Night" which airs throughout the year. When not behind a microphone or on an airplane, Jones can often be found working on his renowned tennis game."

Link

HOWIE

I guess that the question for Portland is...... How will they finish the season. Last year they limped into the playoffs. Can the put something together and go in winning this year?

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mook

Ain't that the truth. Right now last year was when everything was going to hell and you just knew we were in for it in the playoffs.

If they go and win 9 of the last 13 games (which I think is pretty easy to achieve) they are in good position to make it to the second round and put up a good fight.

Which, frankly, is all I think we can realistically hope for. At least it'll beat another first round exit to the Lakers.

HOWIE

So are we now tied with last years record with the loss to Utah tonight? The Blazers looked like a JV team tonight against the old guys!

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