How good are the Portland Trail Blazers?

12-2 is still pretty good, they've beat the teams they are supposed to beat and have been tough against the 50/50 matchups

 

and then CP3 too. lol we're not going to get these players

 

They would be scary with Asik.

 

Lillard, Batum, and Aldridge is a super big 3 and as good as any big 3 outside of miami. The Mo williams,Cj Mccollum, Wes Matthews perimeter scoring is going to be big, they're going to be a problem in the playoffs.

I still think Houston or Golden State is winning the west but portland could easily knock out okc bc batum matches up well with durant

 

Their bench scored only 18 of their 113 points against GS. They will falter just like last year but have a chance at the playoffs.

 

Golden State is like the seattle seahawks, insane at home, if they get home court throughout, it could be over.

 

They are good again since Jailblazers

 

The second best 'super big 3' behind Miami led their team straight to the lottery last year.

LOL agreed!

I posted already that Blazers will be off to a hot start. They had the weakest bench in the league last year. The only different between last year and this year is Lopez. He is a huge addition to their team. Good chance that Lillard, Aldridge, Lopez, and Batum will be gassed or riddled with injuries by the end of this season.

 

Should be interesting to see how CJ Mccollum looks when he gets back. If he can be a useful scorer, the Blazers ceiling will be higher.

 

They've had a very easy schedule. Chicago game they were getting blown out until Rose got injured

 

Peaking at the wrong time like the Texans last year

 

Trial Blazers? Is that an alternate version of Jail Blazers that I was previously unaware of?

 

Rose got injured AFTER POR took the lead. And they won in GS on the second night of a back to back in their fifth game in seven nights.

Man, people here talkin out their ass

 

Minutes distribution:

POR:

Aldridge: 37
Lillard: 37
Batum: 36
Matthews: 35
Lopez: 30


HOU:

Harden: 39
Parsons: 38
Howard: 35
Lin: 32
Beverly: 30

Really not that much different.

And fwiw, Lopez > Asik.

 

yeah, they might just be a fluke like that hornets team a couple of years ago when they started off 10-0, then quickly regressed and ended up with the 7th seed.

 

The larger point may be how hard their starters have to work during their minutes. If their bench is constantly giving up leads, then the starters have to work extra hard to pull out wins.

In general, I agree with the majority of posts here. Portland appears to be overachieving for now and will fall out of the top 6 in the west eventually.

Looking at all the injuries so early in the season though, the teams that make it the farthest may very well be those with the fewest injuries. The top 6-7 teams in the west are pretty close. And health alone may play a deciding factor in the end.

 

good enough that they might no longer trade us Lamarcus for Asik straight up!
=/

 

they're able to pull out those really close wins over and over. wonder if they can keep it up because close losses kept them out of the playoffs in the 2nd half of last season.

 

I said it last yr.....Portland has one of the best starting 5s in the NBA. Their problem was no bench and center. Now they have both

 

Wonder if they would have more losses if the Nets actually had Lopez or the Warriors had Curry or the Bulls had Rose. All the other teams they've beaten have been bad outside of the Spurs.