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

[Chris]

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.

Yup, and Danny was one of them.  I am pretty sure he went on the record after the draft (but well before Roy's knees started giving way, so it wasn't an "I told you so" thing) saying that he was scared off by Roy's knees, and that was a big reason he traded the pick.

[aporel#18]

Blazers bad luck dates, at least, from the Bill Walton "career-ending" injuries. After that, Sam Bowie. Then, they built a great team but weak inside. They drafted Petrovic and they sent him away to New Jersey. They drafted Sabonis but only could get him to play when he was playing on one leg. After that, they digged their own grave by signing Carlesimo... there was bad management, they throwed away the advantage of having Paul Allen and his big pockets, then the Jail Blazers... things seemed to work out better with Kevin Pritchard, they've drafted very well, but like mgent says, they gambled hard on injury prone players... and bad luck made the rest.

I think only the Clippers have a "bad luck" history in the same neighbourhood, but they have the worst owner in the league, so you can't compare both teams.

I've always liked the Blazers since they played against the Pistons, and was rooting for them when they faced MJ and Da Bulls. Adelman was a frustrating coach back then, but after those years he's made great great things.

And about rooting for other teams, I root for every team playing the Lakers, and back in the days, Da Bulls and the Bad Boys. In the 1988 and 1989 finals I wanted both teams to loose, but I hate the Lakers a lot more... Right now, I only root for the Celtics, although I like the OKC Zombies and the Mavs, and every team that makes the Fakers miserable.

[GreenEnvy]

Blazers bad luck dates, at least, from the Bill Walton "career-ending" injuries. After that, Sam Bowie. Then, they built a great team but weak inside. They drafted Petrovic and they sent him away to New Jersey. They drafted Sabonis but only could get him to play when he was playing on one leg. After that, they digged their own grave by signing Carlesimo... there was bad management, they throwed away the advantage of having Paul Allen and his big pockets, then the Jail Blazers... things seemed to work out better with Kevin Pritchard, they've drafted very well, but like mgent says, they gambled hard on injury prone players... and bad luck made the rest.

I think only the Clippers have a "bad luck" history in the same neighbourhood, but they have the worst owner in the league, so you can't compare both teams.

I've always liked the Blazers since they played against the Pistons, and was rooting for them when they faced MJ and Da Bulls. Adelman was a frustrating coach back then, but after those years he's made great great things.

And about rooting for other teams, I root for every team playing the Lakers, and back in the days, Da Bulls and the Bad Boys. In the 1988 and 1989 finals I wanted both teams to loose, but I hate the Lakers a lot more... Right now, I only root for the Celtics, although I like the OKC Zombies and the Mavs, and every team that makes the Fakers miserable.

Truly terrible. The Celtics LOST not one but two players (which is obviously as bad as it gets), but have had so much success around that period. It seems like since Walton, they haven't had anything but heartbreak.

[aporel#18]

Blazers bad luck dates, at least, from the Bill Walton "career-ending" injuries. After that, Sam Bowie. Then, they built a great team but weak inside. They drafted Petrovic and they sent him away to New Jersey. They drafted Sabonis but only could get him to play when he was playing on one leg. After that, they digged their own grave by signing Carlesimo... there was bad management, they throwed away the advantage of having Paul Allen and his big pockets, then the Jail Blazers... things seemed to work out better with Kevin Pritchard, they've drafted very well, but like mgent says, they gambled hard on injury prone players... and bad luck made the rest.

I think only the Clippers have a "bad luck" history in the same neighbourhood, but they have the worst owner in the league, so you can't compare both teams.

I've always liked the Blazers since they played against the Pistons, and was rooting for them when they faced MJ and Da Bulls. Adelman was a frustrating coach back then, but after those years he's made great great things.

And about rooting for other teams, I root for every team playing the Lakers, and back in the days, Da Bulls and the Bad Boys. In the 1988 and 1989 finals I wanted both teams to loose, but I hate the Lakers a lot more... Right now, I only root for the Celtics, although I like the OKC Zombies and the Mavs, and every team that makes the Fakers miserable.

Truly terrible. The Celtics LOST not one but two players (which is obviously as bad as it gets), but have had so much success around that period. It seems like since Walton, they haven't had anything but heartbreak.

Well, Lenny and Reggie passing away is tragedy, not just bad luck. And while those combined with awful career-ending injuries to Bird and McHale were the worst streak of bad news, Portland's bad luck has extended for more than 30 years. Only the Clippers can compare with them.

Said that, I don't think I've seen something like what the Celtics had to overcome. 95% teams of the NBA would have sent the franchise to another city. And it still stings, after 18 years. Sad.

[Eja117]

Every time someone mentions terrible NBA luck I think of being shocked to hear the Celts would get the 3rd pick in the NBA draft and not get Duncan or even Keith Van Horn

[chambers]

the luck/speculation thing we can argue about and what it's worth in the NBA.
All I am saying is that if this poor city had things go their way with Oden and Roy- even for 2-3 years playing time together before one of them went down with the knee issues, they would've been a contender in the most serious form- probably beaten the Lakers to get to the finals a few times too.

[Moranis]

I still think Oden has a shot at coming back and playing well for awhile for them.  Ilgauskas played every game his rookie year and then barely played a full season combined over the next 3 before finally getting healthy.  I know Oden has more injury issues then Big Z, but sometimes the big guys just take awhile to fully get right and come back fine.  Don't get me wrong Oden isn't going to be an 82 game player for 10 years, but I think he could still reasonably be a guy playing Shaq type games (65-75 games) for 8-10 years, which can still be a very solid career.