by kibaxx7 on Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:38 pm
PORTLAND // This Blazers team shows how fast you can get ugly. Even with a top twenty talent in LaMarcus Aldridge and a versatile wing in Nicolas Batum, things are looking dire in Rip City. Maybe the most important factor in shaping this season for Portland is how both of this players respond to loss after loss. The very good paid, promising couple have had relatively charmed careers, and clearly they have the talent on their bodies... but do they have what it takes to both lead and inspire a very young squad, despite, night after night, being pummeled? In such periods of instability like this, it's always hard to make accurate predictions; but if both of them, along with rookie Damian Lillard, sustain some kind of competitive fire in their souls, they ought to be able to do better than 25 wins.
But if you look at the bench, the guys sitting there have no depth whatsoever, and are so far below replacement level, that there’s virtually no chance of a season being anything better than awful. There’s a small glimpse of hope, though, with a new coach in Terry Stotts and a new system that could prove successful for young players. But everything would have to be absolutely perfect. Both Victor Claver and Joel Freeland will have to transition to the NBA with ease -- not likely -- and J.J. Hickson will need a Most Improved Player-worthy campaign for this team to even come close to winning more than 35 contests, a record that still would put them towards the bottom of the West.
Stotts will likely go with Hickson starting as an undersized center and rookie Lillard as the floor general. Shooting guard Wesley Matthews, whose durability and attitude is out of the question, is the fifth and last member of the starters. It will surely be a young, run-and-gun team that the fans will find appealing at the start, but it's not likely to be a strategy that gives the Blazers a postseason ticket. This is more or less a throwaway year for Portland, clearly in a rebuilding phase, one that will be more about GM Neil Olshey and new executive vice-president Thierry Tirieux's plans for the future. After an All-Star nod last year, Aldridge is primed for a big season, and Lillard is going to be fun as hell to watch, but outside of that things are not going to be pretty. If you’re looking for winning basketball, you will have to look elsewhere.
RECORD PREDICTION: 33-49
OPENING NIGHT ROSTER:
Last edited by
kibaxx7 on Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:16 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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