I've been seeing a lot of hate around BE for the Thunder. Granted, a lot of it is understandable. There's always going to be animosity between division teams. The Blazers and the Sonics were a classic rivalry, and OKC is just Seattle 2.0. I understand that. What I don't understand is how I'm encountering Blazers fans that legitimately hate the Thunder. I don't really get the Laker comparisons that are starting to be dished out.

First off, I understand that they have Kevin Durant and we have Greg Oden. I know that the majority of us fans wish that we had Durant, but we have to understand that it wasn't Presti that made the pick. We didn't hate Chicago because they ended up with Jordan. We hated Jordan because he constantly rubbed it in our faces. I haven't seen any evidence of Kevin Durant Portland-bashing. Which brings me to my next point: all of their players (Save Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to an extent) are fairly likable guys. I have a really hard time finding fault in the personalities of a Durant or a James Harden. Remember, we're not dealing with Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest here. Or even Amar'e Stoudemire and Jason Richardson.

It's easy to hate the Oklahoma City fans because of their low Basketball IQ. It's easy to hate them because they are being heralded as the "loudest fans in the NBA" even though several cities still claim to hold that title, including us. On the contrary, I actually appreciate the OKC fanbase. Not many teams can relocate to a new city and pick up a following as dedicated as the one they have inherited, and I'm glad that fans are coming out to support a small market team. It's good for other small markets who hope to have an NBA franchise some day. On the BBIQ question, yes, they get testy with calls they don't understand fairly often, but you have to understand that many of these people have never attended a professional basketball game before 2009. Many of them are still getting used to the differences between a blocking foul and a charge. You can't expect them to be the most knowledgeable fans in the league after two seasons.

So what if they are "what we were supposed to be"? They just got luckier with injuries and draft picks panning out better. They lucked out. I can't hate a team for being luckier than us. They're not a brash bunch of bullies like the Denver teams of recent years. They're not a ton of whiny, self-entitled jerks (ahem Miami). Why waste my energy hating a team that is clearly not hateable? As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy to have a great intra-divisional rivalry brewing, and I look forward to seeing both our teams progress over the next few years. And if they end up winning a championship before us, kudos to them. At least it wasn't LA, Boston, or Miami.

-sk

edit: on the issue of the relocation, YES I hate Howard Schultz and YES I hate the new ownership group for Oklahoma City. For more on that watch Sonicsgate. It's worth your time. But it doesn't make me hate the team itself.

For those of you who don't know me, I've been following this blog for about a year and a half now, and I'm a rabid blazer fan.

However, I live on the opposite end of the country, which makes watching most games a pain, settling for awful online streams, waiting for games to come on espn, etc.

This is why I love the playoffs... none of that crap.

I've offered myself a few promises in regards to the playoffs this year, partly to show my dedication for the team... and honestly partly because i just feel like it.

PROMISES TO BE KEPT

If the Blazers win the series with Phoenix and advance to the second round, I will: GET A CREW CUT.

This is big for me. I've had long hair most of my life, but i cut it down to a shorter length (Probably considered about medium-short) while I was on vacation a few years ago (In Portland. Surprise, surprise.) I've never had a crew cut in my entire life. I would shave my head, but I have all sorts of scars on there. Let's not go there.

If the Blazers advance to the Western Conference Finals, I will: BUY A NEW JERSEY

Keep in mind, I'm in school and currently unemployed. I don't know where I'll come up with 70something dollars, but hell, I will.

If the Blazers advance to the NBA Finals, I will: FLY DIRECTLY TO PORTLAND AND WATCH EVERY GAME FROM THE ROSE GARDEN.

Once again, big for me. I've never been to the Rose Garden before. I frequent Madison Square Garden in New York out of convenience, but I've never really had the opportunity to go somewhere else. It would be nice... especially if my team was in the finals.

If the Blazers win the NBA Championship, I will: Tattoo the alternate logo on my arm, along with the numbers 1977 and 2010

I currently have zero tattoos. Give me a few months to move my scrawny arms to a decent size before I get this done.

So come on... shake things up a little. I'm bored over here. GO BLAZERS.

p.s. photos will be provided at every stage.

As it's become painfully clear, the Portland Trail Blazers have undergone some injury issues this year. Some blame it on past moves, claiming we would be better off if we had picked Durant over Oden in the 2007 NBA Draft.

However, ladies and gentlemen, this cannot possibly be the case.

Let's look at it mathematically.

This season, we have had 2 (Two) season ending injuries, in the following players.

• Greg Oden
• Joel Przybilla

This means that we have lost two centers to season ending injuries. Two centers on our roster... minus two centers... is zero centers. We have zero centers.

What if I told you we drafted Durant instead of Oden?

Considering there would be no other changes to the roster, we would only have one center, Joel Przybilla, on the team.

One Center... Minus two centers... is... NEGATIVE ONE CENTER.

Never before in the history of the NBA has a team fielded negative one center, but if it weren't for the Greg Oden pick, that nightmare could have been a reality. Surely, with this pick, we dodged a bullet that would've destroyed our team's very core.

Thank God For KP.

Hello, BE. I've been a long time reader, recent member, and now this is my first time posting. This is in response to the recent post about Pryzbilla's role on the team. It also talked a little about acquiring Millsap and everything, so I'll cover that a little too.

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