Patting myself on the back again

Remember when I said the Blazers would be NBA champions in 2009? Well, it looks like someone agrees that they'll be pretty good by then. He may not say "NBA champs," but I still like showing that others think this team will be good in the not-too-distant future.

16. Portland (12)

The good news: the Trailblazers are on the right track. You won't see many arguments to the contrary these days.

The bad news: they're making very slow progress.

The last couple years in Portland were essentially toilet flush years. In other words, they got rid of a lot of waste that they didn't need, but did they really improve themselves in terms of being able to field a winning team? I would argue not. They simply made the moves that were necessary to begin improving. This year we'll start the see some improvement for the first time, but that doesn't mean we'll see over 30 wins.

Now, finally, a young core is in place. Brandon Roy looks capable of being a leader and an All Star sooner rather than later. He and Carmelo Anthony will be the best players in the division in 2009. Despite a gimpy start, LaMarcus Aldridge will be an excellent pro. Jarrett Jack is showing great things as the starting point guard, and Zach Randolph is playing to prove that he belongs on the new and improving Blazers. There are a lot of positives in Portland, but patience will be key. My rankings have them contending for a division title in the weak Northwest in 2009, which would represent enormous progress. So why have they moved down four spots? Because the five teams that passed Portland in these rankings from a year ago are on a faster track for success. It's going to take awhile in Portland.

So says Archer Berryman, Lead Editor for Basketball News Services, at Hoopsworld. I was going to come up with some more of my own thoughts today, but I need to get to school. My weekend basically starts tonight, which is good because I have a lot of paperwork and homework to get done for my program. But, I'm hoping I can also watch a game this weekend while I'm at the coast and finally write my own impressions from the Blazers team this year. Also, there may be a Seahawks post coming down the pike soon. Keep watching, since this site is worth watching now that I'm writing about sports consistently. As is my new trend, I'll include one picture for this post. Here's a picture of the best tight end in college footbal, Joe Newton. He started over me when he was a sophomore and I was a senior in high school. Great guy, great tight end.