撇开煽动性的标题不谈，我要提出一个简单的问题。戴夫的夏日忧郁是没有根据的吗?我们都记得今年夏天关于奥尔西在自由球员市场上缺乏改变游戏规则的策略的争论。一些人认为他迈出了坚实的一步，而另一些人则认为没有大的影响——而这个阵营认为，没有大的影响，显著的改善将是微乎其微的。我自己也被打动了。首先，我并没有真正想到我们有能力做一个超级性感的动作。其次，我对我们挑选的每个球员了解得越多，我就越兴奋。一个买彩票选到的斗牛队球员?我在。洛佩斯，一个刚结束职业生涯最好赛季的身体中锋? Sounds like improvement, albeit not the second coming Bill Russell, but hmmmmm, pretty cool. Dorell Wright? I had to check up on that one. OK, a sharp shooting defensive minded SF. Nice. I like. Mo Williams? What!? As a back up? Yes please. All in all it seemed that Olshey was prudent and sharp and reasoned and opportunistic any place he could be. Well played. Although it's my first post I have been an avid BE reader since Jscott was predicting 63 wins. I think Dave is a tremendous writer and a great basketball mind far more sophisticated than mine. It is only with a sense of good nature that I poke fun at his eyorish demeanor over the summer. Certainly I would have never guessed a 10-2 start and a dawning optimism that we may have a pretty serious squad. But I did think that Mr. Olshey had obviously done, if not an extraordinary job, definitely a solid one. One thing I think is worth noting is that the Blazers themselves really did (and proclaimed it from the start) think they could be very competitive this year. Perhaps missing from the analysis was the upward trajectory of the starters and the quality of leadership. Guys like Matthews and Nick and LA want to win now. And believed they could. I think that the improvement of the bench has had a profound effect on the starters in ways that can't be translated through stats. So Dave are you willing to admit you kinda went a little Sylvia Plath on us this summer big guy? All comments and suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.