A.J. wrote:they are one of the most surprising teams in the nba this season
it really shouldnt be much of a surprise though. Just because they have been in the gutter for years doesnt mean they were not working to improve when they were in that gutter.
This team has been quietly building through the draft and allowing to let those young players develop for quite sometime now. Some people think dynasty's are born overnight but thats usually not if not ever the case. A solid two players draft a year ago, a solid coach signing and solid management moves over the past several years while they had poor records is what has them now seeing greener pastures ahead.
Most NBA fans do not understand the development part of this game and teams as a whole, they want to look at players stats and say well he sucks but do not take into account a players age and the progression he is making year by year. Then when they see that same player three years later filling up the stat sheet and the team he is on winning they say wow how surprising, I wonder what happened? What happened was the team he was on had patience with certain players because they knew they had all the ability in the world to get the job done, they just needed to develop and gain the experience neccessary for it all to come out.
Portlands success is natural progression through many solid moves that alot of people questioned early on because they were'nt winning.