Dec 3, 2013
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Alright so the Indiana Pacers were 16-1 going into last night. They walked out of Portland with 16-2 record after a hard fought game to Trailblazers. The Pacers have pretty much been the best team in the NBA so far this season, so this is kind of a big deal. Oh yeah and the Blazers are near the top of their conference with a 15-3 record.
Where did this come from? The Blazers weren’t supposed to be a contender, they were supposed to be a lower seed playoff team. Well at least in the eyes of some. I won’t say that I saw all this success from Portland coming but I can definitely see how its happened.
Last season the Portland Trailblazers had one of the top starting fives in the leauge. Damian Lilliard, Wes Matthews, Nicholas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge & JJ Hickson was the starting five for Portland last year. Their bench was pure garbage, with Luke Babbit as the 6th man and he’s not on any NBA team right now. The Blazers bench was the lowest scoring 2nd unit in the league and it showed. Whenever those scrubs got in the game, whatever the starters did became irrelevant. Then their was a problem at the center position, JJ Hickson was productive but he’s a power forward straight up. So the Blazers didn’t do very well.
Fast forward to this off season. The Blazers somehow got into the Sacramento Kings-New Orleans Pelicans trade and picked a real center in Robin Lopez. They drafted CJ McCollum to bring scoring off the bench, traded for 2012 NBA draft number 5 pick Thomas Robinson. Then they signed Dorrell Wright and Earl Watson. Then the Blazers made what I thought was the most important move they made, they picked up Mo Williams for the low! Then you add in leftovers from last seasons bench (Joel Freeland, Myers Leonard) and now the Blazers have themselves a good bench. Oh yeah and now they have a center as well.
The reason why the Blazers have been so nice this year is because they addressed all of their needs this off season. They needed a bench, so they got a bench, they needed a center, so they got a center. This was one of the simplest approaches to building a contender, other teams should take notes. Expect the Blazers to do damage this year, this team is legit.
Everick Davis Jr.
Was good though, it's me Everick Davis Jr. Born and raised in Portsmouth Virginia, I'm currently a senior at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I watch every sport (not so much golf) but I am huge on the NBA. My favorite players right now are J.R. Smith, Russell Westbrook & Nick Young. Drinking beer and watching sports is my favorite past time and I do it year round! I used to play basketball on the regular until everyone else kept growing and I still stood at 5'6. So that's when I channeled my efforts into becoming the next Stephen A Smith or anything close to that. I currently write for "The Carolinian" newspaper in Greensboro, NC and intern for http://theurbantwist.com/ Random Fact about me, I love anime, my favorite one is One Piece! Second random fact, I got beatz! check me out http://www.reverbnation.com/ielabs
