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GLB of the game Victoria Justice
Moderators: Moonbeam, DeBlazerRiddem, The Sebastian Express
monopoman wrote:Blazers inching towards that bottom 3 record in the West.
I took a look at the numbers if any franchise is worthy of a tank year it's this one, the Blazers have only missed the playoffs 15 times in their entire history. Blazers may not be great at winning championships, but they have to be one of the most consistent teams to see in the playoffs in the entire NBA.
Crap if you take out the first 6 seasons where this team missed the playoffs every year then since their championship season they have only missed the playoffs 9 times.
Wizenheimer wrote:monopoman wrote:Blazers inching towards that bottom 3 record in the West.
I took a look at the numbers if any franchise is worthy of a tank year it's this one, the Blazers have only missed the playoffs 15 times in their entire history. Blazers may not be great at winning championships, but they have to be one of the most consistent teams to see in the playoffs in the entire NBA.
Crap if you take out the first 6 seasons where this team missed the playoffs every year then since their championship season they have only missed the playoffs 9 times.
that's not much of an accomplishment. For the last 15 years or so, 16 of 30 teams made the playoffs. In 1983-84 there were 23 teams and 16 made the playoffs; that's 70% of the teams into the playoffs
last time I checked, in the Stolshey era, the Blazers averaged less than 46 wins (adjusted for covid seasons) and a 6th seed. Blazers have made the playoffs 37 times and have lost in the 1st round 25 of those times
this is a definition of mediocrity. Yeah, it's a little fancier than average mediocrity, but it's still lipstick on a pig. Worse, is that in the Stolshey era, the Blazers just settled. They stopped trying to build a contender. The standard wasn't a championship, it just became making the playoffs. In the last 21 years, the Blazers have won a grand total of 6 games past the first round, and 4 of those wins came in a single series. They haven't won a conference finals game since Pippen was a Blazer. In that 21 year span, the Blazers made the playoffs 14 times and their record was 31-62. That winning percentage would translate to 27 wins in a regular season
but here's the thing about all that: since Portland, in the last 21 years have 14 playoff appearances in 21 seasons, in their first 30 years, they finished in the playoffs 23 times. Take out the first 6 seasons when they didn't appear, and Portland was 23 of 24 for making the playoffs. As I said, in the last 21 years Portland has won 6 games past the 1st round. In those earlier 24 seasons, Portland won 61 games past the first round. 61 wins in 24 seasons vs 6 wins in 21 seasons.
The Blazers are locked in purgatory. Making the playoffs but getting consistently bounced in the first round is the worst type of purgatory for a small market. And right now, I'm half-convinced the Blazers will find a way to rinse/repeat this failure by somehow making the play-in and losing their draft pick this season after getting swept in the 1st round. Another year of fence-straddling on the treadmill in purgatory...it's the Blazer way!
monopoman wrote:Wizenheimer wrote:Spoiler:
Most of the professional sports put 60-70% of the teams in the playoffs, so that isn't saying much.
Wizenheimer wrote:The Blazers are locked in purgatory. Making the playoffs but getting consistently bounced in the first round is the worst type of purgatory for a small market. And right now, I'm half-convinced the Blazers will find a way to rinse/repeat this failure by somehow making the play-in and losing their draft pick this season after getting swept in the 1st round. Another year of fence-straddling on the treadmill in purgatory...it's the Blazer way!
DeBlazerRiddem wrote:Wizenheimer wrote:The Blazers are locked in purgatory. Making the playoffs but getting consistently bounced in the first round is the worst type of purgatory for a small market. And right now, I'm half-convinced the Blazers will find a way to rinse/repeat this failure by somehow making the play-in and losing their draft pick this season after getting swept in the 1st round. Another year of fence-straddling on the treadmill in purgatory...it's the Blazer way!
While I often disagree with him, the cynic in me might argue that, with the disadvantages of a small market, that consistently making the playoffs is itself a realistic metric of success for a small market team. I would rather be the Jazz or the Grizzlies than the Timberwolves or Kings for example.
Not saying we cant or we shouldn't hold ourselves to a higher standard, but in reality we may have to lower our expectations compared to some of the larger markets.
DeBlazerRiddem wrote:While I often disagree with him, the cynic in me might argue that, with the disadvantages of a small market, that consistently making the playoffs is itself a realistic metric of success for a small market team. I would rather be the Jazz or the Grizzlies than the Timberwolves or Kings for example.
Not saying we cant or we shouldn't hold ourselves to a higher standard, but in reality we may have to lower our expectations compared to some of the larger markets.
Wizenheimer wrote:DeBlazerRiddem wrote:While I often disagree with him, the cynic in me might argue that, with the disadvantages of a small market, that consistently making the playoffs is itself a realistic metric of success for a small market team. I would rather be the Jazz or the Grizzlies than the Timberwolves or Kings for example.
Not saying we cant or we shouldn't hold ourselves to a higher standard, but in reality we may have to lower our expectations compared to some of the larger markets.
c'mon...that's a false choice. The Kings and Wolves are perhaps the two worst run franchises in the modern NBA. There's nothing saying the Blazers will be that bad if they simply try to get off the treadmill they are trudging on
in fact, the steady manner in which the level of participation in this forum has declined shows that consistently making the playoffs as an obvious pretender, then consistently failing, doesn't generate much enthusiasm. It's a poor template of "success"
monopoman wrote:I think there was more excitement when Dame was younger, hoping that this team would make a swing for fences move like the Raptors did. Unfortunately this team never did that, either ownership or Olshey were unwilling to move CJ and other pieces like him to get a Kawhi level player.
monopoman wrote:The odds of Dame ever winning a championship as a Blazer is quickly closing and may already be closed, thus the lack of enthusiasm. ****, I was in the Moda Center in game 5 when Dame hit that buzzer beating shot to win the series against OKC, the fanbase was electric and the entire arena was going crazy. So it wasn't like this fervor as a Blazer fan has been gone for 10 years.
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