Championship games, looking head for the Blazers, and missing podcasts.

Well your 2007-08 NBA Champions are the Boston Celtics. Boy one year ago that line would have been a laugher. First let’s get down to my prediction. I had Lakers in six. Well at least I got the number of games right. This series was completely dominated by the Celtics. Looking back the C’s could have won this thing in four, but they had one game where Paul Pierce played terrible and another where they could not overcome a slow start. Then again the way things turned out you could say the Boston lost two in LA on purpose so they could win on their home court, watching last nights game, it makes you wonder.

This was one of the series that for me personally I really did not want either team to win. Obviously I’m not a Laker fan and can’t out right rout for them to win. Then there is Boston who in my opinion got very lucky in a number of things. Landing Kevin Garnett because of a buddy buddy deal between Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale. Over coming an inept coach over the course of the season. And somehow squeezing out a series win over Cleveland. But hey luck is part of the game, and the Blazers got lucky in the draft last year so the heck with it. Go luck!

Speaking of the Blazers I was listening to 95.5 The Game and they posed an interesting question this morning. “How soon will it take the Blazers to get to the level of the Lakers?” First off I love how the question is asked. It already presupposes that the Blazers will get to their level, and by level we have to assume that means a Championship caliber team. I’m going to say two years.

Here’s my take. Next year will be all about introducing Oden to how the NBA is played. Especially fouls, this is going to be the big guys main problem area. He’s a smart, quick, athletic player and will adjust within that first year, plus he has the bonus that most rookies don’t have when they first start in the league, he’s already a known commodity to the refs. Just like Shaq was when he first came in the league, he will actually get some calls. Now couple this with the core of last years team, add a year of experience, plus let’s throw in a player who has won everything there is to win in the world of basketball that does not say NBA on it, and you have the makings of a strong young team. We also have to factor in that LA will get a bit older, Derek Fisher will be retiring in the next 2 years or so, and nobody has any idea of Bynum’s return will be good or bad.

On the Podcast front we were unable to get one recorded last week despite our best efforts. The machine did not corporate and did not record our podcast. We had a good one too, I swear. We talked about the NBA referee non-scandal, Ken Griffey JR., the US Open, and the French Open. No worries though. We will post some of our thoughts on those topics shortly.