BlazerCaravan

Don't forget: Tim Duncan won it in his second season.

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The kids are all right!

HispanicCausinPanic

Give these guys some time! This is crazy! We are SOOOOOOOOO young! Winning in the playoffs is a whole different thing. If Nash and his Suns are having trouble getting over the hump, well, you know the rest. Just enjoy the way we are playing now and how we are progressing. Please don't throw crazy-*** expectations on these guys!

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Mike Rice is an Ol' School Pimp!

Mike Barrett is one cool white-boy!

Wheelz is cooler then the other side of the pillow!

'Tone is the only ex-NBA player I can beat 1 on 1!

I took Rebecca Haarlow to prom!

hasoos

Next year? Why not this year? Why not right now! Every game is the championship!!!

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Hasoos

STOMP

It's not expectations so much as noting the possibility... and there probably is an outside chance of this happening. That 1977 championship Blazer team not only won in it their 1st year in the playoffs, but they were every bit as young as this team. The trend that I hold above all others is that talent rules, and next years PTB will be loaded.

Prior to the Oden injury, I recall mook, Talkhard, and myself predicting 50 wins as a real possibility (others may have too). Many posters said this was ridiculous and put out the same "Please don't throw crazy-*** expectations on these guys!" nonsense and predicted we'd be woefully disappointed and taking our disappointment out on the tender young souls playing in Red and Black. Now as then, I'd say I'm just speaking my mind on what I see as likely. Next year a healthy Blazer squad stands a good chance of going deep in the playoffs, in two years I think it's likely they'll be the favorite to win it all.

STOMP

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQprMCe20A&NR=1

mook

doah. I meant to say Larry Bird. or was it his third year?

anyway, I left off Tim Duncan winning it in his second year in the league, and also the Spurs winning it all with Tim Duncan after his rookie year.

oh, and let's not forget Tim Duncan.

2k

Sure they can win it all.
The rest of the West will be one year older. You add Fernandez and Oden to this chemistry and they have more talent than any team in the West. The Spurs would be tough unless Bowen and Duncan start to show their age.

hoojacks

If we make the playoffs THIS year and we take whoever we're playing in the first round to 7 games (or beat them ala GS vs Dal) and Oden comes in next year and lives up to expectations, then yes. I think we have an outside shot next year.

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TLo

If our big 3 are healthy there is no doubt in my mind that we will be a contender for the title.

NateBishop3

I'll never say never. The likelihood of them winning a championship this early is low, but you just can't predict things like this. Who would have thought Golden State would knock Dallas out of the playoffs last season? Sure, people thought it would be a good series, but the Warriors absolutely dominated the Mavs. I think if we do make the playoffs it will be a tough go for us, but I'm never going to count us out. Not this team. Not with Brandon Roy.

I think next season hinges on how Greg Oden recovers, who we pick up through free agency, and where we fall in the draft. If you add a healthy Greg Oden to this team it immediately makes us that much more dangerous. I'm still curious to see how well he'll play in the NBA. Will he be like Shaq and dominate in his first year? Or will he be like Jermaine O'Neal and have it take a few seasons before he gets it going? If Oden comes in and dominates then I think this team has a very good chance of making some noise next season.

Couple things I'd like to see work themselves out over the next year:

1. The point guard position - I'm tired of the three headed monster. I really like Steve Blake and Sergio. Blake is the rock solid point that never makes mistakes and can get you points when you need them. Sergio is the exciting spark plug off the bench, who instantly cranks up the offense. I really don't see any room for Jarrett Jack and I'd like the Blazers to finally move him.

2. The small forward position - do you start Outlaw? Webster played very well at the beginning of the year, but it would seem that he's falling back into his shooting slump and I don't see how Nate can keep him in the starting rotation when you have Outlaw and James Jones playing so well as of late. I wouldn't make a decision about this rotation now, I'd wait and see how these guys do over the course of the season, but at the moment I'm still not very impressed with Webster.

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ProZach

Duncan is one of, if not the, best PF's to ever play. He was All-NBA first team in both of his first two years, and finished 5th in MVP balloting as a rookie, 3rd his second year. Added to that, Duncan had good veterans like Avery Johnson, David Robinson, Sean Elliott, Mario Ellie, Steve Kerr (who'd been there and won), etc. Something tells me they didn't have an average age of 24-25.

Likewise, Magic had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (11th season), Jamaal Wilkes (6th season), Jim Chones (8th season), Spencer Haywood (11th season), Ron Boone (12th season). Again, I doubt they were the youngest team in franchise history, just guessing. To me it's a totally different situation.

That said, the analogy to the Portland team in 1977 isn't that bad, but like you said, it was their third year, not their first like it would be with Oden. I expect the playoffs next year and would be thrilled with advancing past the first round, but anything beyond that I think is a stretch. Then again, the possibility of us ever winning 8 in a row this year is a bit of stretch.

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uhh...

cpt.napalm

Dependnig on how the injury bug bites next year I think that it is an outside possibility. Most of the holes we have now have fixes coming, Oden, Rudy, experience. We should be a playoff team and depending on who stands in front of us we have a decent chance. Most of the Western conference teams are built on older veterans with diminishing returns on the court, and increasing time off for injury. Duncan, Nash, Kobe, Dirk, Tracy, Yao, AK, Okur, AI, etc.

Dan

Lets have a winning season first, and then let's make the playoffs before we talk about winning the title.

But you never know, and I'm surprised this wasn't brought up due to the eerie connection (Celtics getting screwed out of the pick both times), but Tim Duncan was on a championship team his 2nd year in the league.

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A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't

BengalDuck

With the additions of Fernandez, Oden, maybe Freeman and one of the other rookies drafted this year (Green?), along with whatever rookie we draft next year and the possibility of trading Lafrentz/Miles for cap purposes... is there a chance we'd be actually younger next year? (Do Oden, the Euro assets, and the 2nd round picks on I.R. or in the D-League count for the avg. age of the team?)

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