{"id":1727,"date":"2007-10-28T17:37:01","date_gmt":"2007-10-28T22:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/portland-trailblazers\/"},"modified":"2007-10-28T17:37:01","modified_gmt":"2007-10-28T22:37:01","slug":"portland-trailblazers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/portland-trailblazers","title":{"rendered":"Portland Trailblazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Predicted Record<\/strong>
\n42-40 (Tom), 30-52 (Gil)<\/p>\n

Last Year’s Record<\/strong>
\n32-50<\/p>\n

Tom’s Commentary<\/strong>
\nI like predicting sports outcomes on the basis of how I envision future storylines rather than, well, logic, and I see two major storylines looming for this Portland squad: 1) the team banding together in the face of an inexplicable loss (Greg Oden’s injury), and 2) everyone questioning whether an injured player should come back when everything is already working well without him (Oden again).<\/p>\n

This beats the crap out of last year’s potential storylines, which were 1) Zack Randolph was stabbed at Indiana nightclub and 2) Zack Randolph stabs at Indiana nightclub. So watch this team. Also, Coach Nate McMillan’s system is better suited to give a less talented team a few extra wins than it is pushing a talented team to 60 wins. Really, watch this one. On the other hand, the team could go 4-78. The locals won’t care, because they live in Portland, and no one else will care, because no one outside of Portland ever pays attention to Portland.<\/p>\n

Rejoinder From Gil<\/strong>
\nGotta feel bad for a team that actually tries to do the right thing — build around quality draft picks, jettison its bad-seeds — and manages to get the #1 draft pick, but still ends up getting the finger. The only way they could get more cursed is if Darius Miles returns from injury and puts up decent numbers, blocking the development of, um, anybody else. I hope Tom’s right, and that LaMaRcUs Aldridge takes a big step up helps keep this team afloat, but I think Brandon Roy’s gonna have to go from ROY to MVP to get this team to .500.<\/p>\n

Gratuitous Comics Connection<\/strong>
\nPortland has more cartoonists per square mile than any American city west of the Mississippi.<\/p>\n

Gratuitous Pharma Connection<\/strong>
\nAVI Biopharma’s HQ is in Portland. They’re using antisense technology to develop drugs. I don’t know what that means. Some of their research includes work on Ebola, anthrax, and avian flu, so it sounds serious.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/strong>
\nHaving Paul Allen for an owner means that you get a really neat team website. My favorite part is the roster segment, where you get video of players talking. All of which is to say, “Raef La Frentz is still on this team?” Go listen to him talk about how excited he is about this season. (Bonus: Joel Pryzbilla’s player section includes video of his cameo in The Nutcracker. I can’t make this up.) –GR<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Predicted Record 42-40 (Tom), 30-52 (Gil) Last Year’s Record 32-50 Tom’s Commentary I like predicting sports outcomes on the basis of how I envision future storylines rather than, well, logic, and I see two major storylines looming for this Portland squad: 1) the team banding together in the face of an inexplicable loss (Greg Oden’s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Portland Trailblazers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1713,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"nba0708index.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1727","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4C7K-rR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1717,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/ny-knicks","url_meta":{"origin":1727,"position":0},"title":"NY Knicks","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 43-39 (Harrison), 30-52 (Tom), 37-45 (Gil) Last Year's Record 33-49 Harrison Turkheimer's Commentary After signing DePaul's Wilson Chandler, it seems as if the Knicks may start to have the pieces to the puzzle that Isiah wants. The Knicks also are taking a gamble on Syracuse's Demetris Nichols [Harrison\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1718,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/philadelphia-76ers","url_meta":{"origin":1727,"position":1},"title":"Philadelphia 76ers","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 28-54 (Tom), 24-58 (GR) Last Year's Record 35-47 Morris Levin's Commentary There must be a way to write about these 2007-2008 76ers without mentioning Allen Iverson. After all, it has been more than 10 months since the team traded him to Denver and fans stopped coming to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1737,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/phoenix-suns","url_meta":{"origin":1727,"position":2},"title":"Phoenix Suns","author":"Gil","date":"October 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 58-24 (Tom), 62-20 (Gil) Last Year's Record 61-21 Tom's Commentary Steve Nash's ascendancy to NBA royalty has been such a great victory over the odds that the Fates were stunned into letting actor-a-like Jackie Earle Haley receive an Oscar nomination in the midst of a hugely surprising major\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1743,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/indiana-pacers","url_meta":{"origin":1727,"position":3},"title":"Indiana Pacers","author":"Gil","date":"October 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 40-42 (Tom), 38-44 (Gil) Last Year's Record 35-47 Gil's Commentary Holy crap, is this team in trouble. Any squad that bases its chances for success in Mike Dunleavy, Jr., is doomed. Ask Golden State. The Pacers have deep, deep problems, and I used to chalk it up to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1181,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-preview-2006-2007","url_meta":{"origin":1727,"position":4},"title":"NBA Preview 2006-2007","author":"Gil","date":"November 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm the Juggernaut, bitch! ATLANTIC Boston Celtics by Tom Spurgeon New Jersey Nets by Gil Roth New York Knicks by Gil Roth Philadelphia 76ers by Adam Taxin Toronto Raptors by Sam Richezza CENTRAL Chicago Bulls by Tom Spurgeon Cleveland Cavaliers by Tom Spurgeon Detroit Pistons by Tom Spurgeon Indiana Pacers\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-preview-2006-2007#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1713,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview","url_meta":{"origin":1727,"position":5},"title":"NBA 2007-08 Preview","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for the race (well, marathon) to see who will keep the Spurs from repeating THIS time! Which is to say, \"The new NBA season is upon us!\" Sure, the league's been pummeled lately, what with the referee-gambling scandal, the Knicks' ugly sexual harassment suit, and the uncompetitive finals.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1727\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}