Portland!!!

[Jonesy]

The Trail Blazers having been playing some great ball and currently sit in 4th place in the West (and overall). They really seem to be coming together as a unit under coach Cheeks and are only 3 games behind Sactown for the Pacific Division lead. Many people thought that the team would struggle for wins due to bad chemistry and lack of teamwork despite their quality "on-paper" roster. I was wondering what reason you knowledgeable people thought was the main reason for the Blazers success.

Let me know if i should add any more poll options.

[Andrew]

Call it a cop out, but I have to say all of the above, as I believe it's a combination of all those things. Although they remain deep - some might say too deep, that they have too many quality players and too few minutes for everyone to be happy and productive - they've addressed some of their problems by moving Bonzi Wells to SF, Pippen to PG and starting Derek Anderson.

Despite a couple of incidents, Sheed is a little more well-behaved this year. Zach Randolph has played well when given the opportunity. With the team winning, there is less reason for the bench to complain about minutes. Damon Stoudamire hasn't really played up to standard since he was traded to Portland back in 1998, so benching him for veteran Scottie Pippen was a good move. It might hurt his trade value a little, but if he can learn to accept a more limited role, he could still be a valuable, if somewhat expensive backup.

Cheeks has done well this year, not being afraid to try new lineups and keep his players in line. The real test will come in the playoffs, where the Blazers will try to shake the label of the team guaranteed to implode.

[mp3]

Damon Stoudamire should be starting in the nba, sure he has his off court troubles but who doesn't, chris webber was a mess when he went to sac-town now he's m.v.p material. a change of scenery is needed.
scott layden if you are reading this......
you will make a lot of knicks fans happy