Portland Trailblazers Get No Respect

I've always hated the "No Respect" cliche. It's overused, and rarely accurate. Respect is usually a matter of perspective. You don't "get" respect, you have to earn it. I also try not to be too much of a homer. I am Portland born and raised, and an ardent Blazer fan, but I have a fairly digital mind, and I try to base my observations on fact. Even then, I really feel that the Trailblazers are not getting the respect that they deserve. Here are my thoughts.

1. The Numbers Don't Lie

It's easy to rattle off the Big Four in the NBA right now. Los Angeles, Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando are the big contenders this year. So who is number five? Most sports analysts will throw San Antonio into this mix, along with the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, and New Orleans. The Blazers are usually an afterthought.

Take a look:

Marc Stein Power Rankings: #9

NBA.Com Power Rankings: #10

Fox Sports: #9

USA Today: #8

CBS: #7

Now, I don't know what goes on behind the scenes on Hollingers automated rakings. It may turn out that he is a very good man, and just a very bad wizard. But his is the only numbers based ranking system on the web. And it has the Blazers at #5, with only a two point rating margin to the top 4.

2. Big Wins

Portland gave the LA Lakers their worst defeat of the year.

Portland gave San Antonio their second worst loss and have beat them 2/3 so far.

Portland beat the Celtics without their All-Star guard Brandon Roy.

Portland beat Orlando in Orlando, and lost by only one in Portland.

Portland was a Brandon Roy fade away from giving Cleveland their second home loss, and the only team to take Cleveland into overtime at home.

Thats a pretty good resume against the top four.

3. Youth

Portland is the second youngest team in the NBA, and has the youngest starting lineup. Yet, they are succesful against veteran teams. Thats an amazing thing.

4. Opposing Announcers

I live in New York City right now, so I watch the Blazers on League Pass. For road games, I get the opposing teams announcers. They do not even bother to review the stat sheets and scouting reports prior to the game. These are just some of the things that I have observed:

- Against Atlanta, the announcers were calling the Blazer bench players by position, because they had trouble remembering the names.

- Again against Atlanta, after watching LMA, the called him the best power foward that "they had never heard of."

- Last night, against the Thunder, the announcers claimed the officiating has a "serious impact" on the game. In a 35 point blowout! The only thing that the officials did wrong was not calling the fight before the Thunder were knocked senseless.

5. The Blazers are not a "promising young team."

The Blazers were a promising young team last year and the year before. This year they are a take no prisoners, knock down, tough playoff contender. They get treated like that young kid at the basketball court who is trying his best, but just not ready to play with the big kids. The others cheer him on and think its adorable that he might become a baller some day. The Blazers are ballers today - they are not "promising."

I really think that the Blazers can make a strong playoff run, and it might suprise some folks. Who knows, if they go far enough, we might even be treated to some highlights on ESPN. Wouldn't that be nice?