How good could the Blazers have been without their terrible luck....

[chambers]

I just can't believe how unlucky these guys have been.
They could've dominated the NBA for a reasonable period of time if things had turned out well for them injury wise.

Imagine the line up this year. The core 3 with Oden and Roy at their primes.

Oden
Aldridge
Roy
Wallace
Miller

I think they could've been a powerhouse for years.
Such a shame.

[Chris]

I really hate to call it luck.  They gambled on guys with well known injury histories, and lost.  

Just like it is tough to blame "luck" on the C's having injury concerns with Shaq and JO this year.  When you take big risks like that, you always have a greater chance of being burned.

[Donoghus]

How about a bizzaro world core of Rondo, Durant, and Aldridge?

[mgent]

Depends, would they still get Gerald Wallace?

The only reason they could have been that good is BECAUSE they picked up so many injury-prone players.  If they had spent the same money/draft picks on healthy guys they would have ended up with a much less talented roster (wouldn't matter if they were all dressed every night).

[PosImpos]

Yeah, you can never play "what if?" games, because of the way that the draft lottery and trades work.  If Brandon Roy didn't have injury issues, they never would have gotten Wes Matthews or Gerald Wallace, for example.  If Oden didn't have injury issues, they never would have picked up Camby.  If none of those things ever happened, Aldridge probably wouldn't have ever had to put the team on his shoulders and improve as much as he has.

The Blazers would be quite good if their core of Roy / Aldridge / Oden had worked out, but I'm not sure they would have been a "powerhouse."

[Fafnir]

Yeah, you can never play "what if?" games, because of the way that the draft lottery and trades work.  If Brandon Roy didn't have injury issues, they never would have gotten Wes Matthews or Gerald Wallace, for example.  If Oden didn't have injury issues, they never would have picked up Camby.  If none of those things ever happened, Aldridge probably wouldn't have ever had to put the team on his shoulders and improve as much as he has.

The Blazers would be quite good if their core of Roy / Aldridge / Oden had worked out, but I'm not sure they would have been a "powerhouse."

Brandon Roy was a better player than Aldridge is now when he was healthy, so they'd be better. How much better depends on Oden's progression more than Aldridge's, given that Oden was looking to be a true game changer when he was actually on the court I think they'd be contenders.

[Chris]

Yeah, you can never play "what if?" games, because of the way that the draft lottery and trades work.  If Brandon Roy didn't have injury issues, they never would have gotten Wes Matthews or Gerald Wallace, for example.  If Oden didn't have injury issues, they never would have picked up Camby.  If none of those things ever happened, Aldridge probably wouldn't have ever had to put the team on his shoulders and improve as much as he has.

The Blazers would be quite good if their core of Roy / Aldridge / Oden had worked out, but I'm not sure they would have been a "powerhouse."

Also, if Roy never had injury issues, they never would have gotten him where they did in the first place.  He was a top 3 pick if he didn't have major red flags due to his knees.

[PosImpos]

Yeah, you can never play "what if?" games, because of the way that the draft lottery and trades work.  If Brandon Roy didn't have injury issues, they never would have gotten Wes Matthews or Gerald Wallace, for example.  If Oden didn't have injury issues, they never would have picked up Camby.  If none of those things ever happened, Aldridge probably wouldn't have ever had to put the team on his shoulders and improve as much as he has.

The Blazers would be quite good if their core of Roy / Aldridge / Oden had worked out, but I'm not sure they would have been a "powerhouse."

Also, if Roy never had injury issues, they never would have gotten him where they did in the first place.  He was a top 3 pick if he didn't have major red flags due to his knees.

Solid point.

[Celticsfan336]

As a huge celtic fan i refuse to root for anyone in the east. but I am a fan of the blazers and the thunder in the west.

Roy has always been one of my favorite non celtics players since his rookie year, he is a truly gifted scorer and overall player.

I honestly think with a healthy roy, and aldridge playing as well as he does, and with miller who is a solid point and wallace (forget the talk about if they would of traded for him anyways) they could make a run.
I think they are still poised to take Dallas 7, or even beat them...but honestly you can only go as far as your best player takes you, and when your franchise player has no knees its tough to win and go deep.
Honestly, I hate to get ahead of my self but a 100% brandon roy wouldve made this team better than the lakers...

The line would be-
Miller
Roy
Wallace
Aldridge
Camby

With a very very solid bench with matthews and batum etc. They got 2 really long talented 4 and 5's, a solid pg better than fisher, and someone who can matcch kobe. And Wallace is tenacious on both sides of the ball.

Lets not even get me started on what oden could have done for this team, he could have been the best defesnive center of this era.

[soap07]

Pardon my ignorance here - can someone fill me in on Roy's pre NBA injury history? Or did his injuries start after he was drafted?

[guava_wrench]

Roy was questionable coming out of college. They had good luck with him, not bad. Good luck that he was able to perform so well for a few years.

[Fafnir]

Pardon my ignorance here - can someone fill me in on Roy's pre NBA injury history? Or did his injuries start after he was drafted?

His knees were so bad that apparently a solid chunk of NBA teams said they wouldn't touch him. Major red flags with both of them, much worse red flags than Oden apparently.

[samantha28]

As a huge celtic fan i refuse to root for anyone in the east. but I am a fan of the blazers and the thunder in the west.

Does anyone else do this? I like to root for a few other teams, and I tend to root for teams out West (Spurs, Grizzlies, Blazers), but I like the Hawks. I would of course not root for any team over the celtics, but I like cheering on a few other teams!

[GreenEnvy]

I think they would have been the favorites in the West (and maybe the entire NBA) if they have a healthy Roy and Oden. And if that was the case, I would have no choice but to hate them like the rest of the teams not named the Boston Celtics.

But they are the inspirational story thus far, and I'll be rooting for them as long as we don't meet them in the Finals. They give it their all and their fanbase is loyal despite being tried.

[Assassin70]

Pardon my ignorance here - can someone fill me in on Roy's pre NBA injury history? Or did his injuries start after he was drafted?

His knees were so bad that apparently a solid chunk of NBA teams said they wouldn't touch him. Major red flags with both of them, much worse red flags than Oden apparently.

So bad that there was a general draft consensus from most teams that year as a rule of thumb to draft Foye before Roy.