# Is it time to talk about a new direction for this team?



## SodaPopinski (Aug 10, 2004)

I don't know. Maybe I'm looking at you, McMillan. Maybe I'm looking at you, Patterson.

This team is so ****ing incompetent at nearly every facet of the game, it's not even funny.

Rebounding
Perimeter defense
Interior defense
Passing
Scoring
Field goal percentage
Free throw percentage
Field goal attempts
Steals
Blocked shots

WE'RE ****ING HORRIBLE AT EVERY ONE OF THOSE CATEGORIES, and I left a few out just to be kind.

I'm so god damned red-faced pissed right now it's not even funny. Somebody has taken the team I love and ****ing flushed it down the toilet and given me this god-awful piece of elephant crap to look at. I used to think we were decent at out-scrapping teams, but even a pathetic Boston team made us look silly in that department. You're telling me a bunch of candy-asses like Delonte West and Gerald Green are going to out-scrap us? Have some pride, for crying out loud.

I realize we don't have the horses right now (which is a whole other issue - WTF is going on with Joel?), but we're back to losing every game by double-digits.

Just ****ing pathetic. Everyone from the top down should be ashamed of themselves for giving us this product to look at.

To anyone from the organization who is reading this, **** YOU. Take your "be patient" and shove it up your ***. I'm tired of watching MY TRAIL BLAZERS (not yours) lose by 30 every night.

****

-Pop


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

SodaPopinski said:


> I don't know. Maybe I'm looking at you, McMillan. Maybe I'm looking at you, Patterson.
> 
> This team is so ****ing incompetent at nearly every facet of the game, it's not even funny.
> 
> ...


dude, settle down. seriously.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

Youngest team in the NBA.

Missing Brandon Roy, Joel Przybilla and Raef LaFrentz -- at least two of which figured to be key contributors this year.

That about sums it up.


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## SodaPopinski (Aug 10, 2004)

Hap said:


> dude, settle down. seriously.


No.

This is unacceptable.

-Pop


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## Yega1979 (Mar 22, 2003)

They won some heroic games being short handed...but dude, Udoka, Graham and Dixon should not be starting for any NBA team.

Right now, we're relying on Zach and a bunch of backup quality players.

But with Zach and Roy, it's a different story, it gives us two very good players, and when Joel comes back, he and LaMarcus will be a very good pair.

Jack is a wash at PG, and the only weak position right now is SF. Do you play Outlaw or Martell, both who can score in flashes, but have many holes in their game, or Udoka an over-achieving CBA quality player?

Just wait, when Roy and Joel return we will at least play 500 ball the rest of the year.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

SodaPopinski said:


> No.
> 
> This is unacceptable.
> 
> -Pop


it would be unacceptable if we had a fully healthy lineup, and had more vets. But missing Roy, and Joel hurts us more than we realize.


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## SodaPopinski (Aug 10, 2004)

wastro said:


> Youngest team in the NBA.
> 
> Missing Brandon Roy, Joel Przybilla and Raef LaFrentz -- at least two of which figured to be key contributors this year.
> 
> That about sums it up.


If you think that explains playing with no heart and losing by 30 to a two-win Boston team, well, then, I wish I had your blind optimism.

I see big problems with this team - a lot bigger than not having three players.

-Pop


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## MAS RipCity (Feb 22, 2003)

Im dissapointed as well. I know we lsot a key piece in Roy, but that doesn't give us the right away to get blown out every night on the road. I know we're young, but they are still NBA calibur players and its not like Minny or Boston are anythign special. The yare pretty much like us, 1 man teams. Just because we dont have hte home fans shouldn't mean we play like crap. Lose...okey, but keep it close...a blowout every now and then is inevitable, but 3 straight? Have some pride guys.


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## SodaPopinski (Aug 10, 2004)

Hap said:


> it would be unacceptable if we had a fully healthy lineup, and had more vets. But missing Roy, and Joel hurts us more than we realize.


Yeah, well, Roy and Joel won't be back for a LONG time (a month if we're lucky?). So if you're OK with losing by 30 every night until they come back, then I wish I had your level of apathy about the results.

-Pop


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

SodaPopinski said:


> If you think that explains playing with no heart and losing by 30 to a two-win Boston team, well, then, I wish I had your blind optimism.


it's not about blind optimism, it's about facing the fact that the team is missing the only SG on the team who's any good, and the only C on the team thats good defensively. 



> I see big problems with this team - a lot bigger than not having three players.
> 
> -Pop


*deleted* this doesn't surprise me.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

SodaPopinski said:


> Yeah, well, Roy and Joel won't be back for a LONG time (a month if we're lucky?). So if you're OK with losing by 30 every night until they come back, then I wish I had your level of apathy about the results.
> 
> -Pop


joel is said to be back praciting next week. let's not over-react (your strong suit), ok?

do not confuse apathy, with facing facts.


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## SodaPopinski (Aug 10, 2004)

Hap said:


> joel is said to be back praciting next week. let's not over-react (your strong suit), ok?
> 
> do not confuse apathy, with facing facts.


Where did you hear that about Joel? Someone in the game thread said he was going to having surgery and would be out at least another 2-3 weeks. And with his propensity for taking FOREVER to recover from injury (remember last year), I'd be surprised if he's practicing next week.

-Pop


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## ProZach (Oct 13, 2005)

SodaPopinski said:


> If you think that explains playing with no heart and losing by 30 to a two-win Boston team, well, then, I wish I had your blind optimism.
> 
> I see big problems with this team - a lot bigger than not having three players.
> 
> -Pop



The world is ending! *deleted* At the start of the year I would have taken a 4-6 start any day of the week, especially with all the injuries we've had. 

We're short-handed.

We're in the middle of an eastern road-trip.

This is the first game that we haven't at least fought back. Hell, the very fact we haven't given up in games has been one of the best qualities of this team. Remember the 27 point come back?

The starting line-up has been changing every game due to injuries, youth, and all the new players. Aldridge didn't even play in the exhibition.

What exactly where your expectation coming into this year? Everyone with common sense knew their would be games like this this year. 

And lastly, $#!& happens. How did the world champions do tonight against New York? In fact what's Miami's record? Or Detroit? Or Phoenix? The season is long, and the process of rebuilding a lottery team takes even longer.


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## Talkhard (May 13, 2003)

ProZach said:


> The world is ending! *deleted* At the start of the year I would have taken a 4-6 start any day of the week, especially with all the injuries we've had.
> 
> We're short-handed.
> 
> ...


Excellent post. We've all got to take a deep breath and put this loss in perspective. Thanks for helping us do that.


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

It's time to take a chill pill. That's what it's time for.


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## Fork (Jan 2, 2003)

Somebody call the whaaaaaambulance.


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## BlayZa (Dec 31, 2002)

great, so we gotta look forward to 5-10 of these threads every time we lose now?


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## Entity (Feb 21, 2005)

We're ten games into the season without three starters (if you count Miles), and the Blazers finally give up one blow out. I haven't counted up every game last year that the Blazers lost by 15+ points, but I don't really need to do that to know Portland's on pace to significantly undercut that number, and they're playing much better and more consistantly than they were. I hope the other 5000 fans that aren't at the Rose Garden aren't nearly as impatient, or this starry eyed roster isn't going to have very good morale.


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## Todd (Oct 8, 2003)

I think it's funny how people are banking on Joel to make a difference..................

The guy will be back for 2 weeks and probably get a hang nail.


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## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

SodaPopinski said:


> I don't know. Maybe I'm looking at you, McMillan. Maybe I'm looking at you, Patterson.
> 
> This team is so ****ing incompetent at nearly every facet of the game, it's not even funny.
> 
> ...


*deleted*


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## Oil Can (May 25, 2006)

Easy fellas. It takes time to build up from nothing. The starting blocks are in place, now expect some hard knocks along the way, but I think I see some good days down the line.


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## deanwoof (Mar 10, 2003)

are you serious? :laugh: 

portland right now has zach randolph and role players. 
boston has paul pierce and very good role players. 

calm down dude. 
cant we be happy that Sonic Drive Thru opened up in Portland (hillsboro)??!!


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

MAS RipCity said:


> Im dissapointed as well. I know we lsot a key piece in Roy, but that doesn't give us the right away to get blown out every night on the road. I know we're young, but they are still NBA calibur players and its not like Minny or Boston are anythign special. The yare pretty much like us, 1 man teams. Just because we dont have hte home fans shouldn't mean we play like crap. Lose...okey, but keep it close...*a blowout every now and then is inevitable, but 3 straight?* Have some pride guys.


Before tonite we've lost by 12 and 13 points, you call those blow outs?


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## barfo (Jan 2, 2003)

Down is a direction.

barfo


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## BuckW4GM (Nov 2, 2005)

ProZach said:


> At the start of the year I would have taken a 4-6 start any day of the week, especially with all the injuries we've had.


yep. even if we had a full and healthy lineup, a 4-6 record would be a good record for this team. maybe i set the bar too low for this team, but if we don't end up with a top 5 worst record i would say we overachieved. let's face it, we have a bad team, but one with lots of potential to be much much better. Zach is the only dependable scorer on our team. Roy is good, but he's still a rookie and i don't know if we can depend on him to carry the scoring load every game for this team to even have a chance to win.

it sucks to get blown out, but it happens. even good teams get blown out sometimes. our key guys are young and inexperiened, and we are missing key players. what do you expect? all i want to see is roy, aldridge, webster, sergio, jack, and travis get more experience and improve their games. and i think we are seeing that. 

even if we lose a bunch of games this year, i see this team as having a very bright future. honestly, i couldn't say the same last year.


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## Samuel (Jan 1, 2003)

Zach Randolph - 26 & 12 against triple teams. Pretty good.
Travis Outlaw - Another solid night from a role player. 10 and 5 with 2 blocks on 4-9 shooting in 20 minutes.
Juan Dixon - 11 points on 5-9 shooting in 31 minutes. Hey, at least he shot over 50%
Jamaal Magloire - Okay, this guy is questionable. Only played 10 minutes tonight, though.

Steven Graham - Basically a Rookie
Ime Udoka - Basically a Rookie 
Jarrett Jack - Basically a Rookie 
Sergio Rodriguez - Rookie
Martell Webster - Basically a Rookie
LaMarcus Aldridge - Rookie

Darius Miles - Doesn't play
Brandon Roy - Doesn't play
Joel Przybilla - Doesn't play
Dan Dickau - Doesn't play
Raef LaFrentz - Doesn't play

*We're pretty much trotting out a lineup of rookies on a nightly basis. Getting killed is to be expected. Stay the course and hope for consistency.*


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## BuckW4GM (Nov 2, 2005)

Samuel said:


> Stay the course


stay the course. i like that as our slogan.


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## OntheRocks (Jun 15, 2005)

umm. 

*BURP*


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## ThatBlazerGuy (May 1, 2003)

I am always dissapointed when the Blazers loose, but let look at the facts. The average age of a Blazer is 24.7 years old. The only player on our team over 30 is Raef LaFrentz. The only players over 26 are Pryz, Mags, Udoka, Dixon and Juan. Now, these players are important to our team, but are in no means our foundation. Look at the road the Bulls took. They basically went through what we are now dealing with, but took far longer to show any signs of improvement. Now look at them. They are a young, improving and hard working team with a betting chance at making it to the Eastern Conference finals. We need time. Roy(22yo) and LA(21yo) have shown signs of greatness. Zach(25yo) is playing as well as ever, and showing he has the skills to be a top 5 PF. Jack(23) is getting 12 and 6 as a 1st season starter. Outlaw(22yo) is finally showing that he can be a great, unique and athletic spark off the bench. Sergio(20yo) is playing like we all thought Sebastion would back when he was a rookie. Webster(19yo) has dissapointed me, but he has injury problems and still hasnt lost the shot that could one day make him an all star, if he learns the other aspects of the game. You simply cant teach a shot as smooth as he naturally has. These are our foundation, and I doubt anyone can name me 5 teams in the league with a younger, brighter and more talented future. This season may be rough at times, but the bright spots will outshine the down times.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

Seriously, this fan base is so fickle its disgusting. After every loss are we going to have a huge conniption fit on the board and say the sky is falling?...Its going to be a long, long, pain-staking season if thats the case.


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## Yega1979 (Mar 22, 2003)

Todd said:


> I think it's funny how people are banking on Joel to make a difference..................
> 
> The guy will be back for 2 weeks and probably get a hang nail.


Suddently aquiring interior defense will make a big difference. I'd say he'll take away at least 10 more points from the other team.


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## bintim70 (Dec 31, 2002)

Looks like some people fell off the bandwagon.......................We are missing players, the young guys are developing, they are doing better than anticipated, so................BASH everyone!

I"m ok now, the meds are kicking in. :banana:


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## bintim70 (Dec 31, 2002)

SodaPopinski said:


> I realize we don't have the horses right now (which is a whole other issue - WTF is going on with Joel?), but we're back to losing every game by double-digits.
> 
> 
> Joel had surgery to remove the hematoma............cut him some slack.


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## TheBlueDoggy (Oct 5, 2004)

Clearly, half the people posting on these forums could outplay anyone on the Blazers roster. I mean, hell, I'm willing to bet our fat asses could get on up from our computers any time, form a 5 man/woman team, and go school those wussies! Injuries? HA I say. I broke my neck last week, already healed and dunking on 8 foot giants at the local Y.

Some people are so clueless. Or maybe it's A.D.D., and they just don't think these things through before saying them. Oh God I'd love to see some of these band wagoners be tossed into a front office position, or maybe made a player for a week. Bet they all scream for forgiveness after the first practice when their bodies start falling apart, or from the pressure of dealing with multi million dollar stakes.


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## Masbee (Dec 31, 2002)

To each his own I guess.

I look at it this way:

Even decent teams find it VERY difficult to win the 2nd game of a back-to-back on the road. Go to a betting site and check it out.

Thus, to base a negative opinion (rant on the state of the franchise) on the results of one of those games is probably not a smart idea.


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## BBert (Dec 30, 2004)

Time for a new direction? I kind of like the direction the team is going. That direction is "up." If you would prefer we get rid of the few good players we have and start going the other direction (it would be a very short trip), I'm confused. :biggrin: 

I'll say this though. You've ellicited some very good responses to your question. Bravo! :clap:


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

Samuel said:


> Zach Randolph - 26 & 12 against triple teams. Pretty good.
> Travis Outlaw - Another solid night from a role player. 10 and 5 with 2 blocks on 4-9 shooting in 20 minutes.
> Juan Dixon - 11 points on 5-9 shooting in 31 minutes. Hey, at least he shot over 50%
> Jamaal Magloire - Okay, this guy is questionable. Only played 10 minutes tonight, though.
> ...



well said Sam. does it suck that thats what we're left with? Sure. But it sucks that I'm near-sighted. I deal with it, and go on.


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## yakbladder (Sep 13, 2003)

Soda is just venting...in two days he'll be fine. Or worse. :biggrin:

But dude...how many times must I explain this. Joel took a gigantic load of muscle to the gnards at high velocity. Based upon early reports, it involved tweaking of the boys in ways that my CAD program cannot accurately represent. I mean, geez, people want to hack on Joel for being Mr. Wussie Boy - I'll give $20 to everyone who wants to stand in line while we have Kevin Duckworth run into your groin but only if you agree to play full-contact basketball at Joel's level within 1 week.


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## yuyuza1 (May 24, 2006)

I recall how last year we lost three consecutive games by 30+ .


> 47 2006-02-08 POR @IND L 69-101 17-30 Lost 2
> 48 2006-02-10 POR @BOS L 83-115 17-31 Lost 3
> 49 2006-02-12 POR @TOR L 81-114 17-32 Lost 4


http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2006_games.html

This year is much better, and should be much better. Although I feel the same way as Soda sometimes, I realize that we are missing some key players who are also relatively young. I want to see the Blazers win every game they play, but I just don't see that happening with these conditions and circumstances. 

I don't think that we should supposedly search for a new direction, but this point is coming close. If they suck this badly after all the injuries are overcome, then we need to. Time will tell.

Oh. and losing by 12 and 13 points, can hardly be considered a blowout, given last year's game results.


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

BuckW4GM said:


> yep. even if we had a full and healthy lineup, a 4-6 record would be a good record for this team. maybe i set the bar too low for this team, but if we don't end up with a top 5 worst record i would say we overachieved. let's face it, we have a bad team, but one with lots of potential to be much much better. Zach is the only dependable scorer on our team. *Roy is good, but he's still a rookie and i don't know if we can depend on him to carry the scoring load every game for this team to even have a chance to win.*
> it sucks to get blown out, but it happens. even good teams get blown out sometimes. our key guys are young and inexperiened, and we are missing key players. what do you expect? all i want to see is roy, aldridge, webster, sergio, jack, and travis get more experience and improve their games. and i think we are seeing that.
> 
> even if we lose a bunch of games this year, i see this team as having a very bright future. honestly, i couldn't say the same last year.


I agree with what you are saying, but Roy does so much more than just score. He makes the rest of the team better which is why it hurts when he's not on the floor.


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## Todd (Oct 8, 2003)

zagsfan20 said:


> *Deleted.*


Maybe you should stop attacking posters that have a different view of the world. I've only said Dickau and Mags suck, and I think that's a pretty fair assumption. Joel has been hurt alot since he's been on this team, and I belive that's a fact also. Just because I poke fun at a guy for being injury prone, doesn't mean I think he sucks. I really hop the guy can come back and give us the help we need, I hate the losses just as much as everyone else.

I've lived in Portland for 35 years now, and I think I've been a fan a little longer then you. I remeber asking my drill Sergeant in 1991 if we could watch the playoffs, this was in basic training. I took a lot of flack for asking, but it turns out he was a fan also :cheers:


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## GOD (Jun 22, 2003)

bintim70 said:


> Joel had surgery to remove the hematoma............cut him some sack.


AHHHHHH :laugh: :rotf:


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## bintim70 (Dec 31, 2002)

Nate McVillain said:


> AHHHHHH :laugh: :rotf:



Now that is funny, but I checked and i did type s l a c k. :angel:


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

SodaPopinski said:


> I don't know. Maybe I'm looking at you, McMillan. Maybe I'm looking at you, Patterson.
> 
> This team is so ****ing incompetent at nearly every facet of the game, it's not even funny.
> 
> ...



feel a little silly now?

because if you don't feel a little silly, realize you looked a little silly.


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## ProZach (Oct 13, 2005)

Hap said:


> feel a little silly now?
> 
> because if you don't feel a little silly, realize you looked a little silly.


In his defense, I think we've all been there from time to time. I know I have. It's the curse of the true fanatic.


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## GOD (Jun 22, 2003)

bintim70 said:


> Now that is funny, but I checked and i did type s l a c k. :angel:


I know you did, I just couldn't help myself :biggrin:


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Hap said:


> feel a little silly now?
> 
> because if you don't feel a little silly, realize you looked a little silly.


What do you mean? He said he wanted a new direction for the team, winning by a blow out instead of losing by one is a new direction!


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## Webster's Dictionary (Feb 26, 2004)

You know, I don't know why Patterson doesn't have Garnett and Lebron on this team yet. And since he doesn't, why hasn't Nate made Travis and Martell into better players than those two yet?

Oh, wait, that's right. We REBUILT our team. And, get this, it takes TIME to take a YOUNG team and make them really really GOOD. And we are on pace to do better than last year. I think we're playing better at the beginning of this year than at the beginning of last year, we have more players with more promising potential than we did last year, we have players playing better than they did last year (Zach), we have more potential sitting on the sidelines due to injury, than last year (Roy, Pryz, and yes, Darius).

I mean it may not be as fast as you'd like, but I don't see how our direction is not up. But if you want to change direction, I suppose we could start going back down though if you'd prefer.

And if you say we are headed down because of a short skid, oh God please save us from these threads the rest of the season. :gopray:


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