Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Season in the Rearview

Dear Rip City Report loyalists, I apologize for the long hiatus from the blog, but believe it or not, I actually have a life outside of the Blazers (albeit not much of one). I have a lot of things I want to cover, but will not in this post. But that is a good thing now that our season has concluded. Instead of doing game previews and recaps, I can float more of my REALLY great thoughts and ideas about the Blazers out there. Today though, I thought I would put some closure on the season and reflect on the season as whole. As always please feel free to comment, regardless if you think I am a genius, or an idiot, all opinions are welcome (unless you talk crap about Przy, then you get a lifetime ban).

A few friends and I (shoutout to Mikey, Goose, and Fox) came up with our pre-season predictions on how many games we thought the Blazers were going to win, and what seed they would be in the playoffs. If I remember correctly, Mikey was the most optimistic going with 50 wins and 6th seed. I was a little more conservative and went with 46 wins and a 7th seed. Fox and Goose landed somewhere in between. So to look back on a team that absolutely SHATTERED those expectations is a pretty amazing thing. If you would have told me back in October that the Blazers would have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, I would have called you a homer, and unrealistic. But turns out you were a genius and should be working as a scout for some NBA team.

We also saw Brandon Roy move into the next tier of NBA stars. He has been mentioned on multiple occasions in the same breath as Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade in the way he can close a game. That is extremely elite company, and is a credit to Roy and his drive to continually get better.

We saw the young Blazers get a crash course on what its like in the playoffs from the ultra physical, ultra veteran Rockets. Hopefully they all store that in the minds and bring it to some poor team in game 1 in the same fashion the Rockets did to us this year.

We saw LaMarcus Aldridge have arguably the most productive and dominant stretch of his career after the all-star break. He showed us that one day soon, he could be a player that can throw a team on his back and take over a game (if he hasn’t already).

We saw that Vanilla Gorilla play in all 82 regular season games, and 6 playoff games, a goal of his. Could you ask for a better role player then Przy? Did you hear a peep, when an extremely raw Oden supplanted him in the starting lineup? Did you hear anything when they came crawling back and asked him to step up and guard the best big men in the league without getting into foul trouble? He exemplifies the word team, and is a valuable member of this organization.

But mostly we saw a young team defy expectations and come together in the process. While there will undoubtedly be some tinkering with the roster, the Blazers have a solid core to build on. Can they live up the hype next year? Well, they did it this year, and them some, right?

Let me know what you guys think, I'm going to go sulk now because I dont get to watch another Blazer game for 6 months....

3 comments:

  1. Awesome post..... I agree that the blazers had an amazing year and it made it a very exciting year. As most of the others, i think that if we had not been matched up against a super physical Rockets, we would have been still playing and trying to make a decent run.

    But I think for us (Blazers) to win a championship we need Oden to develop into a smart player like Yao or Dwight.... As much as LA is a great player he can only do so much, and in most cases Championship teams are full of amazing players.

    That is if we keep our current team.....

    Awesome season and cant wait to hear kyle step into his role of proposing trades, deals and gossip!

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  2. Good post buddy! I think we definitely surpassed expectations this year. It was a bad draw pulling Houston in the first round. I think for the Blazers, they are the worst match up in the west. I would rather face LA (I know you disagree with me Kyle, but House agrees, so I'm saying it) in the first round, just due to match ups. Houston is obviously a very good team - refer to last nights scoreboard - and has a decent shot at taking out LA in the 2nd round. So, while its frustrating that we loss, I am happy that we got a taste of the playoffs, and not to mention 2 playoff wins! Question: Who do you see as the 2 most likely players on our team to be moved this off-season? And these have to be players who actually play, not Raef or Ruffin.

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  3. JT, you better believe I am going to bring the rumors, trades, and draft ideas all off-season. I already have a few percolating!

    Fox, I will concede that yes, the Rockets were probably the worst draw for us BESIDES the l*kers. But I mean I don't know if you could get any better 1st round playoff experience then the Blazers got this year. Check the next post for my response to your question.

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