Tidbits and tadbits

So the Blazers are as cold as ice, not exactly how we wanted to end the season, but who knows what will happen, I mean what with our play as of late and Houston losing Yao Ming I think they will slip out of playoff contention and don't believe we even have a remote shot anymore. Needless to say, thems the breaks and it is what it is, but with that said here are some tits and tats in the media surrounding the Blazers:

• Brandon Roy out for a couple of games. (I know, I'm totally breaking the story on that one!)

• Jason Quick's recap of last night's game here.

• One more thing, maybe you have or haven't heard about Greg Oden's phone call from presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Well if you haven't I linked to his blog and check out this piece from John Canzano in today's Oregonian. And then an amusing little follow up on his blog here. I like the point Canzano is making here though, because I mean, let's face it, this isn't exactly 'newsworthy' material, but Canzano opinionates that it is rare to see an athlete speak so freely of political or social views, more often than nought, someone wants to shut them up so that they can make more money from some company, and maybe hammer out an endorsement deal from another. Even Oden's managing company said they weren't thrilled with Greg commenting on the presidential race at all, but I would much rather he share those opinions. Especially living in the city of Portland, where the sharing of opinions runs rampant when discussing politics or social issues, I mean OPB didn't start the listener driven show 'Think Out Loud' for no reason. So I applaud Oden as well for making his voice be heard, I mean I have outspokenly supported Obama too for quite some time, but I'm not a multi-millionaire famous athlete, so the only people that listen to me are my girlfriend and my friends, and of course my parents and poor grandmother who have had to listen to me rant and rave about how horrible Hillary Clinton is. But also folks take special note of the Ira Newble/Cleveland Cavaliers portion of that story, I think it is sad, but also reflective of who really runs this country, when two basketball players won't sign a petition against China and the Darfur situation because of endorsement deals, or potential endorsement deals, so kudos Greg Oden, kudos.
  

Hit the Links

Channing Frye has a blog, here it is.

Here is the article on Roy's injury. Don't see any updates yet.

That's all for today folks, not much out on the grapevine!

State of the Union

That game yesterday was horrible, not because Brandon Roy hurt his sore ankle more, not because we lost, not because we couldn't play offense in the second half, but rather because of the deferential treatment the fucking NBA ref's give to 'star teams' or 'star players'. So many times I saw dirty play, fouls, full on shoves against the Blazers and nothing was done about it. How about when Eddie House shoved Martell Webster onto the floor and out of bounds when a rebound was coming down, then running down the floor, being wide open and hitting a three while you could see Martell just running back down the floor. Or when Paul Pierce jumped on top of LaMarcus Aldridge trying to get a rebound, pulling himself and LA down to the floor and then the ref's calling a double foul, what????

I mean that was just bad, and the ref's in the NBA suck. It's one thing to make a bad call here or there, or to miss something, but seriously for an entire half being deferential to one team, then making calls for the other team once in awhile to try to make it look balanced?? Give me a break. I was so fed up with Garnett talking shit and mauling people then bitching at the refs to the point he should have had at LEAST one tech, and four or five fouls by the third quarter, and then at the end of the game bitching once again to the refs when a player tapped his forearm and he didn't have a foul called. Just ridiculous. Yeah the Blazers aren't playing that well as a team, yes Boston couldn't miss yesterday, but they were getting some bullshit ass foul calls and that only resulted in Blazer fans having a foul taste in their mouths afterwards.

On a side note, I liked it when LA got feisty, thats how he needs to play all of the time, check out the quote in this article here. He says he made a bad shot and that he needed to play team ball, but sometimes I want him to go at guys, take over a game for a stretch, and not with jump shots, I want to see more hard dunks, solid post moves, I mean this kid has the skills, so USE them please.

Needless to say the Blazers are reeling but I'm okay with that, take the bumps, take the knocks, learn from them and get better, it's called playing in the NBA, and what doesn't kill them, will only make them stronger.

It's not rain in Seattle......

It's tears. Hey I'm not about to claim that I am a fan of Seattle or their teams, but this whole Clay Bennett mess in Seattle is just sad. I mean some freakin' cowboy from Oklahoma City wants to buy the Sonics and move them, it's pathetic, you should never, EVER move a franchise especially one so grounded in their city, FORTY ONE years, 41, that is a long time, and then have some asshole buy up your team and move it to OKC or Las Vegas is just pathetic, sad, underhanded, and downright cruel. The thing that gets me is that David Stern is buddies with the guy, well you know what Stern, fuck you for not intervening, anyways I came across this piece and thought I would share, because I honestly and earnestly feel bad about their situation, I would miss a key rival for my Blazers, the constant battle for I-5 supremacy, the whole thing sucks, and something needs to be done to keep that team in that city:

What if Clayton Bennett came to Seattle, purchased the Space Needle and decided to move it to Oklahoma City? Would anyone care? When was the last time you visited the Space Needle anyway? You wouldn’t even miss it would you? Besides, have you noticed how much it costs for what essentially turns out to be an elevator ride? And you have to park and deal with crowds not to mention the prices that they charge for a Coke. “Who cares, let him take it”, right?

Whether it is the Space Needle, the Saint Louis Arch, the Liberty Bell (it would look nice on my mantel) or the Golden Gate Bridge (ferries could be fun); landmarks and history are important to the fabric of a community, otherwise… you’re Phoenix. When someone from out of town comes in and tries to steal your women, you better put up a fight or it will be a cold and lonely winter. The aforementioned Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and the Pioneer Square Streetcar are all Seattle Historical Landmarks. They define us and provide a history of the community, the people and our culture. These are places where we gather and where we bring our guests from out of town because we are proud of what they represent. They make us feel special and unique. I roll my eyes every time I see those guys throwing the fish down at the market on TV. But not too deep down, I love it. That’s ours. Also ours, eye roll or not, is our teams. The M’s, the Hawks, the Dawgs and the Soops. You don’t have to go to the games or even watch them on TV. You don’t have to follow the results in the paper or get text message updates on your cell phone for these teams to be yours. It’s like buying the knives and getting the cheese grater free. For all I know, you’re lactose intolerant. But having them here is another thread in the fabric and when you pull one out, the whole sweater unravels. This is why the daily barrage of Clayton Bennett sh** sandwiches has me all tied up and searching for answers.

No one, other than David Stern maybe, would argue that the NBA is a complete mess. If held under a microscope, there’s not a lot of “Fantastic” left in today’s NBA. Whether it be a free-for-all weekend of decadence witnessed at last year’s All-Star Game in Vegas, illegal gambling of NBA referee Tim Donaghey, Isaiah Thomas’ disgraceful testimony in the New York Knicks sexual harassment trial, Jerry Buss’ DUI, Kobe Bryant’s trade demands, spoiled millionaire teenagers or contemptible poverty pleading owners; life in the NBA is as unidentifiable to Joe Everyday as cauliflower is to Lavell Crawford.

And btw, what has happened to David Stern? He has gone from King Midas to Larry King. He is nothing more than a punch line. The NBA’s new slogan is “Where fill-in-the-blank Happens” . And Stern says in a recent interview that it’s “Where Tim Donaghey Happens”??? Really David? Every time he opens his mouth he sounds like he is one step closer to Nurse Ratchet handing out a fistful of Paxil and sending him off to cavort with RP, Martini and Chief. He is so single-mindedly concerned about spreading his seed across the world that he has neglected his family at home (please no Shawn Kemp jokes). He claims that the one thing holding China back from NBA level basketball is their cruddy arenas. Is anyone one else completely worn out of hearing this same drum beat over and over and over and over and over? “We need a new building”, “our building needs renovation”, “we can’t make it work without a state-of-the-art arena”… WHY?!?

What is wrong with all these buildings? Now the Spurs need $200 million in arena renovations to stay competitive? They seem to be doing okay to me. The Key Arena is just over a decade old. Not a century, not a millennia… a decade. Ten years. It’s a nice building. It has over 17,000 seats, nice suites, used to have “club seats” and there isn’t a bad seat in the house. It is a difficult place for visiting teams to play when it is packed out and rocking like it was against the Jazz in the ’96 Western Conference Finals. But apparently, the Sonics can’t make money there. I wonder if it has anything to do with the historically bad teams that have been put on the floor in the past 5-6 years? Or that the NBA business model is as broke as a John Johnson jumper.

Idiot owners continue to raise salaries, cutting off their noses to spite their face and then ask us to pick up the pieces. Is there a player in the country that wouldn’t play basketball for a living at (pinky on lip) one million dollars a year? What about $500,000? What about $100,000? I happen to think that NBA owners should make money. The more the better. But giving Rashard Lewis nearly twenty million dollars a year (that’s 20 with 6 zeros after it or… $20,000,000) is absolute lunacy. We’re talking about ONE time all-star Rashard Lewis. I don’t begrudge Rashard, not at all, but how long before Rich DeVos will threaten the people of Orlando if he doesn’t get a new arena because he is “losing” money? I don’t get it. When does it stop? Maybe it doesn’t. Remember when Magic Johnson signed a 25-year, $25 million dollar contract? What a bargain! Why is it that NBA owner’s, price us middle incomers out from their product and then blame us when they are losing money? I can take my daughter to Disneyland (including flight) for the price of going to the Sonics game after tickets, food, parking and a souvenir. At least until Mickey Mouse shows up with corn rows and tattoos from the tips of his ears to his big yellow shoes.

Bennett says that Seattle doesn’t care or doesn’t want to make it work for him. I guess it would be a better sell if you could spell out precisely why the Key Arena or a renovated Key Arena won’t work. It is not our fault that you are paying Wally Szczerbiak, yes Wally Szczerbiak, $12,000,000 per year. Last year, Mike Wilks was paid $998,967 to play 6 minutes per game or in terms that all of us can understand that’s $1910 per minute or $114,604 an hour. Not bad wages for the 15^th guy on your team. And now every team can carry 15 players. Why? Only 8 or 9 even play. And each team has a small army of coaches. What is so tough about coaching basketball that you need 7 guys to handle a team of 15 players? It’s ludicrous. These guys play basketball. They aren’t working on peace in the Middle East. It’s just basketball. Quit taking yourselves so seriously.

We do know that the Sonics have a terrible lease with the city. This, more than anything, restricts their ability to make money. So let’s re-do the lease? The people that we voted into city government should understand that Seattle with the Sonics is better than Seattle without. In the same way that the city is better with the Space Needle than without. It has become part of who we are. If they don’t understand that, then we’ll find others that do. But the fact remains, the lease between the city and the team must be renegotiated in a way that helps the Sonics survive in a difficult economic climate.

We are a provincial breed up here in the Great Northwest. We like our own and don’t like outsiders, at least initially. I’m not sure why it is, but it is. Ask anyone that has been transplanted here in Seattle and their story will be one of initial cold shoulders, doubt and trepidation, at least until they assimilate themselves here for a time. We are fiercely loyal and defend our home like no others. Just ask a Seattleite if it rains a lot here and they’ll tell you that it’s not really as bad as people think or that per inch, Seattle gets less rain fall than New York and Chicago each year. But Clay Bennett crossed us. Just like Californian Ken Bering and East Coaster Jeff Smulyan. His betrayal will never be forgiven here. The marriage with Bennett and Seattle has irreconcilable differences and is irreparable. His dim-witted partner Aubrey McClendon assured that when he told an Oklahoma newspaper that, from the jump, their group never intended to keep the team in Seattle. Clay looked us in the eye and said that he wasn’t having an affair and we reluctantly believed him. Only to later find someone else’s bra in his glovebox. If David Stern’s “miracle” happened and a new arena magically appeared on the corner of 5^th and Mercer, the ability of Bennett to regain the cities’ trust is non-existent. Bennett is a pariah in a town that neither wants him nor needs him and everything he touches is left with a big scarlet A.

I have lived here for 40 years. I was born the year after the Sonics opened shop in 1966. I am a first generation fan. I don’t particularly like the league or what the NBA game has deteriorated in to but I love the Sonics. I love the idea of the Sonics. My daughter’s not that interested in watching basketball yet but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what it means for another dad to take his kids out for a night at “The Key”. I have no juice in the community and can barely rub two nickels together but I know that there are people out there that do and can. I know that they will step in and defeat this Oklahoma charlatan and his band of thieves before our skyline is dramatically altered forever. He will have no choice but to sell this team and what ever deal he cuts with the league in doing so, will be of no consequence to us.

Yes, the NBA and its players, coaches and owners are out of touch with their own constituents. And yes, as a fan, it can be frustrating to the point of indifference. But losing the Sonics is not about David Stern, Clay F-ing Bennett or Robert Swift. It’s not about Wally Walker, Jim McIlvaine or Shawn Kemp. It’s not about Barry Ackerley, Bob Whitsett or George Karl and it’s not about Zollie Volchok, Spencer Haywood or Gus Williams. Its about all of them… and Fred Brown and Tab Skinner and John Brisker and Marvin Webster and Lenny Wilkens and Steve Scheffler and Eddie Johnson (both of them) and Nate McMillan and Dennis Awtry and Maurice Lucas and Frank Brickowski and Gary Payton and Ricky Pierce and Frank Oleynik. It’s about growing up knowing that you’ll never be Dennis Johnson but being Bob Blackburn might be pretty cool. Its about sneaking in to the visitor’s locker room when you’re 13 years old to ask Bill Laimbeer for his autograph and having him tell you to “go BLEEP yourself kid”. It’s about staying up late to watch Brent Musberger and Mindy Rudolph do the tape delayed broadcasts of NBA playoff games. It’s playing basketball with your buddy as he pretends to be Slick Watts and Bob Blackburn while you pretend to be Archie Clark and George Tolls. It’s about downtown parades and pay-per-view parties. It’s about Xavier McDaniels and Wayne Cody providing “Steve” with the necessary distraction. And it’s about “getting on a magic carpet ride” or “up for the down stroke”.

The Celtics have their “Big 3” with Garnett, Pierce and Allen, but I’ll take our big three of Chambers, McDaniels and Ellis any day. Thanks to Eric Snow, I can still go to any sports bar and yell “Su-per…” and at least a handful of people will yell back, “…So-nics”. It’s the only place in town where I can sit a few rows behind Eddie Vedder, an aisle away from Bill Gates and a couple seats away from Ichiro and not feel out of place. I can high five a stranger or hug an usher because we are all sharing something that doesn’t happen at the SAM or Benaroya Hall. The players change. They come and go. Some good, some not. Some we love, others we hate. # 43, # 1, # 19, # 32, #10 or #24, it doesn’t really matter. It isn’t the name that’s on the back of the jersey but the one that’s in front that counts.

This team is ours. Yes, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Schultz and Mr. Ackerley and Mr. Schulman did the heavy lifting but at the end of the day they are just stewards of a public trust that begins and ends with each of us… and is handed down to our kids as our parents did for us and as they will do for their own. This team is ours and you can’t have it.

To steal Shawn Kemp’s line… It’s the Sonics baby, yeah…yeah.

Trade Deadline

Thursday the 21st is the NBA trade deadline (12 PM PST) and a lot of names are being bandied about such as Portland's own Jarrett Jack. With all of the trade activity over the past month, I think there could be a couple more big money makers moving over the next couple of days. The Nets are going to try hard to get rid of Vince "Half-Man Half-Amazin'" Carter, the Pacers would like to dump J. O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley (good luck, his contract sucks, bad, real bad, one of the worst out there), Udonis Haslem, basically anyone on Miami not named Wade or Marion, and countless others are waiting to get the call.

Should Portland be part of the trades? Pritchard isn't going to do anything to jeapordize the young talent development on the team, but we also currently have four point guards (and a half if you count Roy) and have Rudy Fernandez and another first round pick potentially coming in next year, not to mention 3 or four second round picks (you have to think that they will either trade those or just pick big potential foreign players and stash them). Really there are too many eggs in the basket, so here is a list of potential trade options for the Blazers, either at the trade deadline, or before the draft.

1. Jarrett Jack

Jack is a big point guard that other teams covet. He can certainly pass the ball, and score in bunches, but the Blazers still haven't really figured out how he fits in with the team as he is not a natural PG and is kind of a tweener. Another interesting argument I have heard is that he is one of the last of the John Nash picks on the team (so is Martell Webster, but I think the entire team likes this guy and why wouldn't you, I think he is blossoming into a very complete player, plus I think he was Nate's pick), and Pritchard obviously did not like the way Nash picked players. So we could definitely see Jarrett moved by tomorrow, or soon. I think he is the point guard they do not want to keep, we know they like Blake for his high level of mistake free basketball and the fact that he is a true PG, Pritchard loves Rodriguez as much as Nate gets frustrated with him, I think they see him developing into a good if not great PG (and he is only 20 and will likely play with fellow Spainiard Fernandez next season). And I still think Taurean Green will develop into a solid PG as well. So Jack, as much as I like ya, you are the odd man out.

2. Channing Frye

Hey Frye has his pluses, but he is a SF trapped in a PF's body. He just does not really fit, this team does not need another soft PF (yes LA12 this is a dig at you!) they need a banger, someone with post moves, someone who can get rebounds, score in the post, and just muck it up. Think about it next year when Oden is our starting center, he will complement LA's soft game well, and we could just use a banger to side with Joel who can score, then you could put Outlaw at the 3, but I don't know if Nate likes him there, which leads us to.........

3. Travis Outlaw

He has a heap of potential, can be a great scorer, is a good team guy, has a very reasonable contract. I'm kind of on again off again about trading Trout. I really like the guy, thinks he is a great bench guy and could really be an awesome sixth man in this league, but I just don't know how he fits, another tweener, they have tried playing him at the 2, 3, and 4 spot, and Nate sees him as a four, but is he? I don't think he is rugged enough, I mean his body type is more of a T-Mac, Rashard Lewis, Tayshaun Prince, and none of them play PF. I could see that with a small ball lineup, but not with Joel in the middle. I would be okay with trading him if we got the right player, but only if it is in a deal that makes sense for us.

4. Darius Miles

We don't want him and we don't need him. Then again, I don't think anyone else does either, the only reason he is on this list is because we just really want to get out from under his contract. Maybe we could entice the Knicks to trade us Malik Rose and Mardy Collins for Miles and his potential. Rose's contract is up after next season (as opposed to the season after for Miles), and really he could be a solid big body backup at PF. Collins is just thrown into to make the dollars work, and we could just buy him out since we don't have the roster space for him, or trade him for a 2nd round pick in like 2010 or something. But if we trade Miles it will be something similar to that deal, because he just isn't worth much at this point.

Really I don't see any other player that we should trade at this point. I like the makeup of the team and think they will only get better.

As we are seeing right now, this team is hitting a wall, with many players playing in more games and getting more minutes (like this here) than ever before. But think about our lineup, not only is Roy playing more than he ever has, Aldridge is getting way more minutes than he ever has (he didn't exactly play a full season as a starter last year), Webster is playing a lot more, Outlaw is playing a lot more, these guys are just learning what it is like to play an 82 game season with significant minutes. Sure the All Star weekend gave some of them a break, but not much of one, not enough to totally recover. I feel this explains LaMarcus' slump (so ease off him Nat!) and the lack of fire and energy this team has right now. So patience is what we need to have with this team and these guys, whatever their record gets to be this season, all of these players will reap the benefits, trust me, this season will pay off big further on down the line......

All about Roy?

One of the highlights of the All Star game, is that the one guy who looked like the most unlikely to actually be on the court with the other players was our very own, Brandon Roy. The thing is it's not like I don't think he should be an All Star because he definitely has the talent to be on the same court as the other players, but you can just tell he is of a different breed than most of the others. Unassuming, humble, quiet, reserved, and a team player. And in doing all of this he also commands a certain amount of respect different than most of the other All Star caliber players. That and he played the most minutes on the West squad, and had the best all around game of his team, here is an article that suggests he was the Most Productive Player on either team. More on the humble, quiet, and respectful player Roy has become from the Sunday Oregonian right here (great article gives some insight into Roy as a youth). Then the Oregonian article from today on the All Star game for Roy here.

But I think all of the attention on Roy ever since he became a Blazer deserves some dissecting. In the two seasons previous to Roy's arrival, the Blazers were still known with the prefix 'Jail' and still had selfish, ball-hog type players who genuinely believed that there is an 'I' in team. Telfair, Miles, Randolph these players all talked as though they cared about wins and losses and playing as a team, but they never really showed it. The organization had been attempting to woo fans back to the arena with the 25-point pledge, pinning up the faces of the new young players who were supposedly good kids. Well guess what they weren't, and the front office was still being run by some fairly shady personnel who really weren't doing their due diligence concerning putting a competitive, character driven team together, but they got us the pieces. Then came the draft of '06, we essentially traded Viktor Khryapa for LaMarcus Aldridge, and then take Raef LaFrentz' contract off Bostons hands in order to get Roy. And this move was a stroke of genius, we got a 4 year college kid who was just a good guy, naturally humble, and a natural leader, yet with the drive and passion to win just like all the great basketball players have. Roy wasn't happy losing, and he also wasn't happy with ego-centric players. He quietly usurped the role of leader of this team, and in my mind, single handedly changed the culture surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers. He reminds me of Tim Duncan, not in his game of course, but in his demeanor. Obviously he has a bit more flair than TD, but not much, he quietly goes about his business and plays his game. He knows his strengths and uses them to his advantage, and most of all he puts his team above or at least on the same level as himself. He is clearly the best player on this Portland team and is definitely the star, the one player who truly makes the team 'go', but he doesn't take credit for that. He never has and even after all of his personal success since joining the Blazers, I doubt he ever will. Look at the article from todays paper, and notice the last quote he has in it:

"But I'll go back and tell my teammates about this whole weekend and the experience," Roy said. "I'll tell them this wouldn't have been possible without them."

Do you think Kobe Bryant would ever say that, LeBron James, Amare Stoudamire, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, 'Melo? I highly doubt it. We have a very rare player on our hands, one I could see taking less money just to give his organization and team the best opportunity to win. One who I hope never leaves our fair city, one I don't see leaving our fair city, one whose number should be hanging in the rafters of the Rose Garden some day. And like Duncan, he rubs this unselfish attitude onto his entire team, he embraces his team and does his best to put them on his shoulders, to make them feel as important and as responsible for his own personal accolades. He has quietly, humbly become the heart and soul of this team. We are fortunate to have him, and I am fairly certain he feels the same way about the city of Portland and it's fans.

All Star

So this is what I have gathered from reading about All Star weekend, a lot of attention, and rightly so, focusing on the NBA and the help they have generated in the community of New Orleans. It's interesting, I read an ESPN magazine story about the NBA and how it is viewed by the public. Most people think the game is filled with thugs and self-centered, drug smoking hoodlums. And I wouldn't argue that there are those kinds of players out there, but seriously, this league does more community service work than any other major professional sports league, yet this gets constantly shoved aside by the general public. It is time the league received its due.

Other All Star hubbub, whether or not LeBron James should have been MVP, most people think it should have been Ray Allen. I think it is stupid to let the fans decide in the first place, it is not a popularity contest, so don't make it one......and I will get two new vending machines for center hall.

Then of course is the dunk contest, which Dwight Howard won (see all of his dunks here), due mainly to the fervor surrounding his non-dunk Superman dunk, but I was quite impressed, but it was a year too late for him to win, as I think this dunk should have garnered more attention than it initially received.

A mess of things....

What a mess this Kidd to Dallas thing has become, it's just kind of stupid if you ask me, first of all with Devean George being such a whiny little bitch, I mean come on dude, you aren't that good, just shut up and agree to the trade, and then Stackhouse, keep your effin mouth shut dude! If you want this deal to go through then just shut up about returning to Dallas already, sheesh!

Interesting editorial by Canzano here, I mean if Darius Miles could come back and be productive for this team and act like a veteran I would be all for it, but something that is the most glaring for me in this article is the strip club scene. I mean remember when this guy got married? He stated that he had settled down and didn't go out much. What does his wife think about all of this? I mean talk about a slap in the face to her. But if Miles really can't do anything, I tend to agree with Canzano this time. Hang em up dude, especially since he still gets his money, he can always try a comeback when he wants to, and most of all he can still live his NBA lifestyle, he could just join the posse of one of his buddies. Yeah, time to move on.

UPDATE: A little added piece about the Miles column.

And a little piece about James Jones here from Joe Freeman. Jones is a key part of this team, and I think will be one of the most key components to this team in the future, he is the 'veteran' of the squad, and I know he isn't that old, but to the Blazers he is, and he has been there with other teams, Indiana he learned from the great Reggie Miller, and then in Phoenix playing with Nash. In the piece by Freeman, he mentions everything me and my buddies have talked about before with Jones, he is such a smart player, he makes a lot of great little plays, how many times have we all seen him make a weakside block on a shot, come up with a much needed rebound, along with hitting a clutch 3 pointer from the corner. The guy just plays smart, not an overpowering defender but a sneaky good one, he is almost like the teams coach on the court. Which is why this mystery knee injury is so scary, not only for him, but for us as well, we don't need any more bad knees here in Portland, and I hope it is not something that will require major surgery. As such, as much of a detriment it would be for this squad, I almost think they should shut him down for this season and just let him heal all the way. Because, let's be honest, I really don't think the Blazers will make the playoffs this year, and the only reason I would want them to would be for experience anyways. And if Jones is shut down, it is highly likely he will pick up his player option for next year, if not I feel like he will stay around here and I think we definitely want him here, he is the consumate role player. But I want him healthy next year, when this young Blazers team really has a chance to make some serious noise in the league. Time will tell but I think shutting Jones down for the year, especially if the Blazers seriously slip after the All Star break, is the wise thing to do, but only time will tell.....

Missing the boat.....

Wow I have been slacking of late, maybe it's because I've been playing my college basketball video game so much Lindsay is about ready to kill me from playing so much. But here are my thoughts on basketball lately, the Blazers more specifically.

They are drained, extremely drained, physically and emotionally, they just look beat. They have also lost their confidence level, you see them hesitating on shots, then just taking worse ones, they aren't passing as much, and most of all they have lost their confidence. Which is not all that surprising for a young team, this is the most involved Webster, Aldridge, Roy, and Outlaw have been for a team, and you can just tell they are tired. End of story, the All Star break is going to be necessary for these guys, they deserve it and they need it.

But it is looking more and more like they will not make the playoffs, and if they get in the lottery and trade a draft pick, they have to get a good PG, I like Blake and I like Jack, and I like Serge, but come on, this team needs a good distributor, and I like Webster at the 3 spot, and yes I like LaMarcus at the four. The one thing this team needs most is a rugged backup PF, Brandon Bass would have been perfect, and they could play them and LaMarcus together, I'm sorry, I think Frye is a good guy and all, but he is just way too soft, we need rebounding, bad. Maybe we could get like a Craig Smith type guy, hell I'd even take Reggie Evans just for the rebounding he would provide (and the fact that the best year of his career was under Nate).

As for the Kidd trade, well, lets see if it happens. Apparently Devean George (yes, THAT Devean George) has blocked the trade. Using a little known clause as a player who is in a one year contract and the team that signed him has early Bird rights for that player, as such, if involved in a trade, said player waives his Bird rights, thereby making it harder for him to get more money on his next deal, and also taking away more money if involved in a sign and trade:

• This is the lesser form of the Larry Bird Exception. Free agents who qualify for this exception are called "early qualifying veteran free agents," and qualify after playing two seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. Using this exception, a team can re-sign its own free agent for either 175% of his salary the previous season, or the NBA's average salary, whichever is greater. Early Bird contracts must be for at least two seasons, but can last no longer than five seasons.

Basically I look at it like this, George sucks, he and his agent probably don't think that he will get signed next year unless he has his Bird rights, and they are just grubbing for money. As a player I can understand, it's business, but now the two teams need to figure something out as an alternative, they could include Eddie Jones and Juwan Howard (but man that would suck SOO bad for Eddie Jones, poor guy just cannot get a championship within his grasp, I tell ya, the one year the Heat won, he was in Memphis, and I think he signed with Miami before the Lakers won, I kinda feel sorry for the guy), so they may work around it, but seriously what a bitch move by George.

If the trade does go down, I would agree, the west is certainly shaping up Spurs, Suns, Mavericks, and Lakers (ugh, that makes me sick to include them), but look to New Orleans to mix things up and make it interesting. As for Jimmy's comment about the team with the easiest path making it, I'm just curious what path that would be? I mean right now, NO is the first seed, then its the Suns, Dallas, Utah, LA, San Antonio, Golden State, and Houston, with Denver and Portland hanging back. I don't think the Blazers will make it, but Denver has a great shot, I mean there is NO easy road in the Western Conference, and honestly I think it is a free for all, I think any of those nine teams could make it to the finals, easy.

And with the trades occurring I mean it isn't like the balance of power has shifted any for any of the top teams. Except maybe the Spurs, who are just looking too old right now. I think Kidd will make Dallas a lot better, and I think Pau AND Bynum together will make the Lakers much tougher, and yes I think Shaq will fit in wonderfully for the Suns (who better to start a fast break, I mean we are looking at Showtime Lakers basketball from these guys with Shaq at center, it will be like having Kareem start the break, and Magic getting the ball to the player in the best position, trust me this is going to be one nasty combo folks!). I could care less about the East, where even Miami and New York still have a shot at getting into the playoffs. But how the West is won will be some of the best basketball anyone has seen in recent history.

And to think......

I used to like Rasheed Wallace, what a turd. All I have to say is that the Blazers are in contention for a playoff spot in the west, in the east, even with their current record, they would be in fourth place, probably better since they would have an easier schedule. C'mon Sheed, you guys are second in the east, which is like saying you would probably be eighth in the west. What an ass.

Weighing in

The Shaq trade. Like I said this is such a small story compared to when he was traded a few years ago. My oh my how things have changed. The bottom line for this deal though is that Miami gets some cap flexibility because I really doubt the Matrix will sign there in the offseason, and I'm not even sure Miami really wants him to.

For Phoenix, the trade makes sense, they got rid of the horrible Marcus Banks contract, and he never really fit in with their team, and they also got rid of a huge dissenter in the locker room. Marion wasn't happy there, he and Amare didn't get along, either on the court or off of it, and it was just a huge clash of ego. Although I think Amare's head is about as large as an NBA arena anyways, and that isn't due to his brain, which is, like cats, probably the size of a pea. I mean talk about a dumb kid, he didn't come out after high school solely for his basketball skills, colleges were probably going to have a hard time figuring out how he was going to get a good grade in anything.

As far as Shaq not fitting in there, I dunno, the trade does make sense. One reason Phoenix traded for Kurt Thomas is that they wanted interior defense, and Amare definitely wasn't giving them that. I mean he will kill at PF I'm fairly sure, and Shaq gives them the big body in the middle they have been craving. So to me the trade does make sense for them. Also Shaq is at the point of his career where his ego has been deflated, and he knows he isn't the player he used to be and is able to defer to others. I think it will be good for him.

And really Phoenix can use a lot more Boris Diaw now, who is almost always a triple-double threat. He is versatile, a great passer, a decent scorer, and a good rebounder. He isn't as athletic as Marion, but I feel the points and rebounds Marion provided will be split between Diaw and Shaq. Not to mention Grant Hill coming off the bench, I think this trade suits Phoenix a lot better than people think. There was talk of a Marion for Kirilenko trade, but that is like swapping two very similar players, and Phoenix is on the hook with Diaw for awhile, so they might as well give him some playing time and get the big man they covet. Overall, a decent trade for both teams. Now if only Miami would shut down Wade for the season and let him heal....

Trade Machine

All right all there is a new and improved, revamped, easier to use ESPN Trade Machine, and this thing is addictive, seriously play with it for a bit, it's like NBA 2k8, except you can't override a trade. Good times!

Good little article by Jason Quick in the Oregonian here. My thoughts, as it is about finishing, is that in a year or two a lot of these games that the Blazers are in control of in the fourth will start becoming blowouts more often than nought. I mean of course teams can always come back, and usually do, unless the game is way too out of hand, but with the experience of these close games, both the wins and the losses, there is a huge learning curve with how to execute late in a game to ensure victory. And really does anyone think we would be this much better late in games than the last couple of years if this team hadn't suffered all of the close defeats and last minute heartbreaks over the last couple of years. Jack, Outlaw, Webster, Przybilla, as well as Roy and Aldridge to some extent, had to suffer a LOT of late game bungles over the past two previous seasons. Our team might be young, but they have already had a LOT of mistakes to learn from, always a good thing, as tough as it was to watch as a fan. Like Nate said in the article, it just goes to show the kind of growth and improvement these players have had to endure. Anyways I say watch all of this to change over the course of the next few years.


I guess this could bring up bad memories for some Blazers fans, but a funny side note about the Jermaine O'Neal trade on TrueHoop today.

Mike Barrett gives us an update on Roy on his blog. He also talks about the Indiana game on Saturday and talks about how many back to back games we have had against teams who have had a night off. Interesting stuff, apparently the last team we played who was coming off a back-to-back was Chicago on January 3rd, and the next time it happens for us will be on February 29th, thanks schedule gurus of the NBA, thanks a lot!

Great, great, great, great, great, great, great video here, candid interview of Brandon Roy by ESPN's LZ Granderson, once again it just goes to show you who we have with this guy, even if he wasn't our best player he would be our cornerstone.

I am a slacker.....

Once again I have been slacking on my blog, for some reason I just haven't gotten to it, hell I haven't even watched a game since parts of the NY game. In my absence my friends Nat and Jimmy have been emailing me quite a bit of thoughts and articles they read and what have you. Lemme put it this way, Nat hates LaMarcus more and more, but before we touch on this, how about some links.

• Here is Joe Freeman's blog post about the Chicago game.

• And John Canzano's column about the team right here.

• Jason Quick's write up for the paper.

• Mike Barret writes about it in his blog here.

• Here is some post-game audio from Nate, as well as some quotes from coaches and players here, I think Nat will read LA's quote, and then he will laugh and throw up at the same time, but that is just a guess!

• Brian Hendrickson of the Columbian weighs in.

And last but not least Nat sent me his thought's, now this is in the tradition of I hate LA and he includes some of Quick's latest blog along with his own feelings:

"There's actually some great LaMarcus-hating content in Quick's blog! First Abbott, now Portland's "finest" - people are starting to take note of how much LaMarcus sucks! (I noticed that last night he scored 10 of his 18 in the 1st quarter. And he didn't do anything - not score, rebound, or block - in the 4th quarter. And he only got 6 rebounds in 35 minutes - I think Martell got 5 in 20 minutes. Beating the Bulls by 3 points without Hinrich, Deng, or Gordon is hardly a win to be proud of.) Nice to see Jack put the pressure on the defense and get to the line for 7 of 8 shooting! Anyway, here's part of Quick's blog post:

The starting lineup isn't the only thing being looked at right now. McMillan said he has spent the past several days analyzing his fourth-quarter rotations, and has reached a point where he is leaning toward playing center Joel Przybilla more if LaMarcus Aldridge continues his struggles.

"The thing is, we gotta get some production there,'' McMillan said of the center position in the fourth quarter. "It will be a read on my part, but we have to look at that, no question. ''There has been so much clamoring about Przybilla's lack of play in the fourth quarters this season, but what people don't understand is that if Przybilla plays, then either Aldridge or Travis Outlaw has to sit.

And if one thing has become certain in McMillan's mind, it's that Outlaw is no longer a small forward - he is strictly a power forward."That's where he gives us an advantage,'' McMillan said.That brings us back to Aldridge, who I think has been very sporadic and at times a liability for this team, particularly down the stretch of games. His jumper has been decidedly off, and his defense has been less than inspiring.

Earlier this year in a double-overtime loss in Toronto, Przybilla did not play in the fourth or in either overtime, even though Aldridge was struggling through a 5-for-17 shooting day and getting killed by Chris Bosh on defense. After the game, McMillan said he stuck with Aldridge because he is one of the franchise's foundations, and he is going to have to learn to play through those types of games. However, those types of games for Aldrdige have become increasingly more common. He enters tonight with a season-low 16.9 scoring average which comes on the heels of some unsightly shooting nights (2-for-9 vs. Denver, 5-for-14 vs. Houston, 3-for-12 at Atlanta, 6-for-21 at Orlando, 5-for-17 at Toronto and 6-for-17 at Chicago).

What is making it worse is that Aldridge has been out of position (LeBron James' game-winning drive) or merely shoved out of the way on defense too many times lately - and at times when the game is on the line.Doesn't there come a time when the coach has to say foundation or not, part of your learning experience will be being benched if poor play persists?"I would have to agree,'' McMillan in respondng to that notion. "And we will have to look at that. It's not out of the question.''"

He has been pestering me to write an anti-LaMarcus post for a few days now, but you know what, the dude is young, could he stand to be tougher, yes, could he stand to be a better defender, of course, does that mean that I hate him, NO! But Quick ends his article just saying he is expecting more from LaMarcus, and I agree, we should be seeing more from him, I think he needs to muck it up, get on people on defense, get a freaking post game. On the other hand, it is his second year in the league and I don't think anyone expected him to be doing what he is even doing NOW before he had been in the league for a few years. So really I don't begrudge him, he is still learning and I think he is in a mental slump as well, so come on lets go easy on the guy!

Anyways I want to write more so I will get to that later, discussing the Shaq trade (does anyone else feel like this is almost no news? I mean I wasn't that shocked/surprised/or cared about this trade in any aspect. Well, more on that later. Also I am going to do a story on what it is really like in the Trail Blazers home office, I will compare my own experiences, and try to contact some folks to get some current insider info. More on that later.

Ahhhh Classic Z-Bo!

So Zach Randolph returned to the Rose Garden, and in a hail of boos from the crowd, puts together one of his better performances of the season. But seriously, did anyone think he wouldn't? But unfortunately for Zach, it is the same scenario he has had his entire career, sure he had a great game, but who won? It was the stellar second half performance from Brandon Roy that woke up the Trail Blazers and led them on a mission in the second half to win this game. How often last year would we put the ball in Zach's hands and give him the shot at this, to let him lead our team. Well, I hate to say it as a former Zach supporter, but the guy is not a leader, he is selfish, and while he may say things about wishing it had been a victory for his team, does he really? I don't think so, I think he is selfish and just wants stats for himself. He was on a mission last night as well, a mission to have a great game, he wanted to come back and say, "Fuck you for trading me." Well I don't think one Blazer fan missed him at all last night, and in the shining performance of our resident All Star and the TEAM we pulled out another gritty, gutsy, come from behind win.

I am not going to link to the Oregonians article, it says basically what I just have. But I do want to share Martell Webster's quote from last night:

"This is something amazing, something special," Martell Webster said. "It is history in the making, a sign of a new era. A team that has totally changed, that has gone 180 (degrees) from where it used to be. Everything is looking up now, the future is bright. We have two great players on our team who are representing us in All-Star weekend, and that is something the fans have been wanting. Something positive, something to go home and talk to their friends about. That's what we want to bring, and that's what we have been doing."

I think that is one of the most profound and clearest ways to describe this franchise I have ever read. Martell summed up everything surrounding Portland this basketball season. Ladies and gentlemen I feel he has finally 'gotten' it. We can talk about the play of Roy, we can talk about the late game heroics of Outlaw, we can talk about Aldridge, Blake, James Jones, Joel Przybilla, and they are all very key pieces in all of this and worthy of praise (or boos depending on who you talk to..... Nat!). But I think one of the most underrated players on this team and in the league is Webster. He doesn't necessarily have flashy stats, he is not always an offensive juggernaut, but as I discussed in my earlier piece about Roy, Martell brings a lot of intangibles to this team. He is a solid rebounder, great shooter, mucks up the passing lanes, plays good team D, but most of all I have seen so much growth in his defense over the past couple of months.

I am becoming more and more impressed with this kid, and think he will blossom into a wonderful all around player. He is kind of looking to me like Udoka did last season, with one major difference, Martell has all the tools to become an absolute stud in this league, and it looks like maybe the biggest question mark about him is finally coming out, his mind.

And last but not least, congrats to Roy for his first NBA triple double, mark my words, it will not be his last.

Big trade

Hours after Henry Abbott wrote about it as a good trade, it happened. The Lakers are trading the expiring contract known as Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, the rights to Aaron McKie (it will be a sign and trade to make money work), and the rights of Marc Gasol, Pau's brother (weird, wonder if brothers have ever been traded for one another?) and a couple of draft picks to the Grizzlies for Kung Pau Gasol. Wow. When the Lakers get Bynum back, that team will be scary.

Getting his due

I think my friend Jimmy said it best in an email to me and Nat, "that's right-- respect for roy". Brandon Roy made it to the All Star team at an insanely crowded position in the Western Conference. I mean the starters are Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson, then of course CP3 with the season he's having, and Steve Nash, arguably the best true PG in the league are going to get in. After that however, you have Baron Davis, who is having a stellar year, Tony Parker, Deron Williams, Manu "Skunk-Stripe-Balding-Pattern" Ginobli, and a slew of other forwards and centers as depicted here. Which I mention the other positions, because for the reserves, coaches pick 2 guards, 2 forwards, one center, and 2 wild cards. Roy was a wild card along with New Orleans PF David West. So of all the deserving players in the NBA's Western Conference, why Roy?

If you look at Roy's year, the story cannot be told by stats alone, he is averaging 19.3 points per game, 5.6 assists per game, and 4.5 rebounds per game, good numbers sure, but not the greatest. And that is one reason I think this story is so important. Roy didn't get in based on his numbers alone, John Canzano wrote about intagibles in a column I linked to below, and he was right. Roy is the leader of the Blazers, in the locker room and on the court. He plays the game with such respect, that any time he receives any honor, he deflects credit to things like his coach, his teammates, or his desire to give his team a chance to win. Truly unselfish you can just tell he doesn't care about stats, he cares about making his team better. And he does make his team better but not for the obvious reasons, not only will he take a game over when he has to, but he can also recognize when someone else on the team has the hot hand and lets them do it instead.

Early in games, you might see him hit a couple of shots, but then he starts to defer to his teammates, I think this is because he wants to know who is going to help him on any given night, he wants to see which teammates are on and which ones are off. He also does it because he wants his team to win just as that, a team. Now Blazer fans have seen Roy take games over when it mattered most (see the Atlanta victory last week), but I think almost as important is that we have seen Roy pass to teammates that were 'on' in clutch moments many times as well. He is clutch in every sense of the word, he has an uncanny ability to find the open man, and the silent confidence to trust him as well. This is a rare quality, and one that I think has propelled him to new heights in the NBA.

Yet the most endearing quality of Brandon Roy is something we do not see very often in the NBA. He is humble. He is also becoming a superstar. And these are two qualities rarely, if ever, seen in professional sports. He never seems to put himself above anybody, coach, player, anybody. He accepts blame, takes responsibility for his actions, good or bad, and always has praise for his coaches and teammates. He doesn't seem to have an ego, just seems like a very down to earth guy, and one who respects, the NBA, the game of basketball, his coaches, his teammates, his town, and his fans, these are who Brandon always gives credit to. Because of this I will tell Brandon, it is time for you to get the credit you deserve Brandon, you have earned this All Star berth, not just by how well you play basketball, but also by the kind of person, player, and teammate you are, soak it up and enjoy it, because you are our superstar, because of your play, but more so because of your person. As long as you hold this town up, we will hold you up. Finally a class act in sports, and of all places, he landed in Portland, the one city that needed him the most.

Trade Winds

So once again it's not like I am breaking this story. But rumors are swirling about a 3 team trade, Portland, Dallas, and New Jersey:

Dallas would get Jason Kidd, perennial All Star, triple double machine, great playmaking point guard, wife beater, so all around good guy. Not to mention he is mentally tough something Dallas has lacked in recent years (Dirk), instantly puts them into serious contender status for the championship. I mean the problem with Dallas, is that JET (Jason Terry) has really lost a step over the past year, I don't know if this is due to his religious fervor, his new contract or what, but he just isn't playing at a level one would expect of him. Dirk is good but not a leader, and he needs someone to set him up for shots, insert J-Kidd. So with Kidd, Dirk and Josh Howard, this Mavericks team would be formidable.

New Jersey would get, Travis Outlaw, Channing Frye, Jarrett Jack, Jerry Stackhouse, and some 1st round draft picks. Alright, the 1st rounders are gonna suck, I mean, just read the paragraph above, because those pick sure as hell aren't coming from Portland. Jersey will most likely buy out Stackhouse, but I don't really get this from their standpoint, they have Richard Jefferson, why get Outlaw? Jack will be good for them, but not great, and Frye well, he's alright. I just don't think they are getting very much in return for Kidd.

Portland would get, Devin Harris and Brandon Bass. Now I like this from the Blazers standpoint, for a couple of reasons, Harris is good, not great, but he is the same age as Roy, he is a good person of character, and I think he would thrive on this team, he could definitely be the point guard of the future for us, and I see him being an upgrade over all of our point guards, and he's young and not exceedingly expensive. Also, Brandon Bass would become the perfect backup PF for us, you know like late in the game when Nate won't play Joel anymore and prefers to have LaMarcus at center and Outlaw at PF, well, lemme tell you, if he had Bass in there, we would have a lot better defense, a good offensive post player, and most importantly someone who wouldn't have their head so far up their ass that they wouldn't be able to rebound, this kid could be really good, and I think is the perfect complementary player that this Portland squad needs. Really I would like it if the Blazers didn't make this trade but somehow pried away Bass from Dallas, one scenario I used on the ESPN Trade Machine was to trade Channing Frye to Dallas, Dallas would then send Maurice Ager and the Juwan Howard to Charlotte, and Dallas would give us Brandon Bass, it doesn't make sense, but damn, I really would like us to get our hands on Bass.

So after a lot of deliberation, the only team this trade does NOT make sense for is NJ. They just aren't getting very good assets in return. I know there is some cap relief for them, and a couple of decent prospects, but it just doesn't seem like they are getting much in return. The draft picks are crappy, they get three young players, but who knows how long it will take Outlaw to relearn their offense, Frye is soft, and Jack is decent, but I only see him as a backup in this league. As far as from the Blazers standpoint, sure it seems like they are giving up a lot, but they really aren't, they get a great young point guard, and a rugged and rebounding backup PF, something that they really need. Basically looking at this team, I know LaMarcus is playing very soft right now, and has started to receive some criticism for this, but he still has time to develop, and he will. So because of that this team needs a player like Brandon Bass, not only for his toughness, but also because, like Outlaw, he can put up some points, in a different fashion for sure, but it works and it is what the Blazers need.

Here is another trade suggested, and this would be fucking horrible for the Blazers, okay so we dump D-Miles salary for what? To have fucking Jamaal Tinsley on our books until 2010-11? How does this make sense for the Blazers? Not to mention his problems with guns in the past, this article mentions a couple of times he was involved with gun related incidents. Yeah I bet the Blazers make that trade.

Snippets

Alright, I have been kind of dormant these last couple of days, and for that, I apologize. So I am just going to spit out a bunch of links to the various going ons concerning the Blazers the past few days.

• This could be of interest to Blazer fans.

• For those of you who didn't know, Roy supposedly hurt his fingers during Wednesday nights loss, apparently though he is okay and will play. I guess the All-Star nod he received helps to alleviate the pain.

• What's that you say? All-Star nod? Yes as you all must know by now Brandon Roy was selected by the coaches for his first trip to the All Star game in just his second year in the league. More on this later....

• Nice backhanded compliment column about former Blazer Zach Randolph. Speaking of Z-Bo, the Oregonian had a quote from him in the paper today regarding his return to Portland since the trade and how Zach felt the crowd would respond, "I don't know....... a standing ovation?" Probably not Zach, now I know people liked Randolph, hell, I did, it's easy to get seduced by his talents (scoring and rebounding), but as the column suggests there are a lot of intangibles he does not bring to the table, and now that he is gone I finally get it. The man is clueless, which is obvious from his quote, Zach played well for us, but the fans did not really like him that much, never bought into his style, which is why he is gone. And I say good riddance.

• Couple of signings this week, former Blazer Damon "Mighty Mouse" Stoudamire will join the Spurs, and in news of another dimunitive guard, Earl Boykins will sign with Charlotte (apparently he would really like to win a championship).

• Update: Apparently Donyell Marshall is a little rusty, he hasn't played since November and last night against the Sonics, when he took off his warmups, he also took his jersey off, nice Donyell, nice.
  

More updates later

Since I have been slacking I promise some monster updates, especially with the Devin Harris rumors, as well as links and much more, sorry again, just been busy but I will work on it tonight!!

Alright I've been slacking!!

So I will admit it, I did NOT watch the game between Portland and Cleveland, I know, I know, I am a bad fan I guess, but it just didn't fit into my schedule. So anyways I won't be griping about what the Blazers did or did not do in the game, I really have no idea, in fact I haven't done much today at all, including reading the paper or any articles on the Blazers. However, don't fret, Nat sent me a fairly lengthy email about LaMarcus Aldridge, and so I am just going to put that up for you all instead, for Nat it might be good to reread his words, but for others enjoy, good work Nat!

"How bad is LaMarcus? His numbers look like he had a pretty good game last night, but I would beg to differ. Other than his two and-1s in the 1st quarter he was pathetic. And even those seemed pretty lucky – the first one should have been smothered by big Z as it was shot at the level of his armpits! I can see that from a PG, but a goddamn 7 footer!?! As Big Red would say, “Throw it down, big man! One time!” I had to laugh on that fast break where LaMarcus passed off to Webster – he knew that he wouldn’t be able to finish because he’s so soft…at least he had the presence of mind to find Martell to throw it down!

The problem with Lamarcus’ offense is that it’s benign. It never comes at a point in the game where it could change momentum, or put the nail in the coffin. He’s never made a clutch basket. He might get some points – but it’s only when he’s purposely left open by defenders leaving him to focus on Roy. He hardly ever scores when he’s defended – it’s open jumpers or the rare cut to the hoop for an uncontested dunk. (And did you know that Joel outscored LaMarcus in the 4th quarter? Where’s this offense that Nate keeps using as an excuse for playing him?)

But last night the biggest problem was his defense. Was he at home on the couch watching LeBron lay the ball in with .3 seconds on the clock? That’s what it looked like. For some reason Nate put him in (rather than Joel!) to defend the rim. And what’s he do? He steps aside and lets LeBron – a fairly poor free-throw shooter – get all the way to the rim untouched. Was he afraid that LeBron would make a faster-than-light pass to Gooden who would be able to touch-shoot the ball through the hoop before time expired? What a moron! And prior to that when LeBron was drilling 3s where was LaMarcus? He should have been jumping the screens like our opponents have been doing to Roy, but instead he was sagging back giving LeBron 5+ feet to get his shot off. Wasn’t our defense supposed to improve when we traded Zach?

Watching LaMarcus play basketball is like watching a neutered dog lick his missing balls. I think it’s about time someone buys LaMarcus a pair of prosthetic testes to implant in his empty sack.

Anyway - I think our chances of making the playoffs are slim and hinge on other teams diving rather than us doing well. Unless a major injury happens to Houston, Golden State, Denver or Utah - actually two of those four have to sustain a major injury - there's no way we make the cut. Shouldn't be disappointed I guess - we're better than anyone would have thought. We just played better than we're capable of playing during the month of December. Right now I think we're playing at our true level."

I particularly like the part of the neutered dog licking his missing balls....

This has nothing to do with basketball.....

But this shit is hilarious!!! Hahahahaha!

Hold the phone!

I am just sick and tired of this team not getting credit, John "Mr. Stat" Hollinger wrote this piece about 'under the radar' players, I mean I know that with the win streak and the fact that the Blazers are playing well and finally getting some national attention but they don't have any players 'under the radar'??? I mean he had David West and Devin Harris on there, what you couldn't slap Charles...er....Bo....er......I mean Travis Outlaw on this list??? You have that damned Josh Childress, but not Martell Webster or James Jones??? I mean come on dude! I've never really been a fan of his stuff, even when I can read it, I just think the guy is way too into his numbers. I mean it's a good thing ESPN has Henry Abbott around to pump up Blazer fans, well, I like Mark Stein as well, he has been noticing the Blazers fairly well. But I mean practically the entire Blazer roster is underrated 'sleepers'!

A lot of stuff to get to......

Sorry all, busy morning, and wasn't really home yesterday to blog about the game last night. But a few different articles to check out, I already pointed you towards the Jason Quick blog about chemistry, but here is the article that was in the Sunday paper about chemistry, it is going to be a five part series I guess, but I also saw that parts 1 and 2 were already printed, on the same day, weird. Anyways also click the polling item at the top of that article to see the Blazers list their best friends on the team, good stuff, what caught my eye is that LA and Serge are best buds, 0nce again, weird, but cool.

Also Henry Abbott of TrueHoop apparently catches some flak for writing about the Blazers, but I like how he defends himself as being a fan as well as a sportswriter and being honest about it. And honestly, he hasn't had too many great stories to write about concerning the Blazers the last few years, so I say more power to him. Along that same line of thought, I mean if you go to any blog, most bloggers show who they are fans of and often do team-centric blogs, I mean look at me! So I don't begrudge him for doing it, and it is one of the main reasons I started reading TrueHoop religiously in the first place, I was excited that he was a Blazer fan. I would say it is easier to find Blazer fans now, but not when he started.

One word: Amazing.


I will say this, I was watching that game (in HD, sweeeet) and the entire thing was miserable until about four or five minutes left. I mean we kept scoring in the second half but so did they, and then once again with a fever, Brandon Roy just took OVER that game. I mean I watched some highlights reels here and they don't even show the drive he had where he dribbled in the lane, took the ball up right and then brought it back to the left and layed it in WHILE Al Horford was holding onto his left arm, I mean this kid is insane! That was one of the best game changing performances I have ever seen and just tells me that Roy is indeed one these great superstars who not only will their teams to victory but play them there as well. He played some of the best perimeter defense I have ever seen on Joe Johnson at the end of that game (see 'Amazing' above), blocked a shot by elite shot blocker Josh Smith, and just literally didn't want to lose. The way he slowly starts to drive and then just bursts past defenders once he reaches the key is uncanny. The kid is amazing! Yes, I'm gushing, and yes, it's alright that I do.

One other thing of note late in the game, LaMarcus Aldridge had some HUGE rebounds, kept us in it, and I was glad to see it.

Here are this weeks Power Rankings from Mark Stein.

And from NBA.com.

Finishing up with a little housecleaning, I realize my readers are few (thanks Nat and Jimmy and any other faithfuls lurking), but I noticed that my links don't show up with the text they are in, I don't quite know what to do about this yet, but obviously whenever I am writing and say something is 'here' you should find the correct link. Anyways thanks again, and I will get better at this as time goes on.

Articles of the day

Great article about chemistry from Jason Quick here. Apparently he is doing a larger article in the paper tomorrow, if so I will post that later.

Also a neat column here by John Canzano. Really the most striking thing to me is that Oden's agents caught this, I am assuming they mean Mike Conley Sr. needless to say stand up move for Greg to learn that it really wasn't a great idea, hell, if the kid was an ego maniacal basketball player a-la Z-Bo, he woulda just said "fuck you" and gone anyways. Stand up move Greg, stand up move.

Boy was I wrong!

Clang! This was the sound on the Trail Blazers side of the court in the second half, even though both teams played exceedingly sloppy the Blazers just could not buy a shot. The game started off well, except for the amount of foul calls, and both teams and coaches were bitching at the ref's the entire game, but Roy was hitting his shots, Channing Frye was playing pretty well off the bench, I thought things would be okay.

But then the second half came and the Blazers just fell apart, one thing of note that I thought of was right before tipoff (which they didn't even show the actual tipoff, huh?) was a piece with Blazers assistant coach Monty Williams in which he said that they had told the Blazers to run as much as they could. Well in the second half they did that but it was so sloppy, so many times Houston would turn it over, the Blazers would run and then.... (hold your breath) turn it over.

That to me was the deciding factor of this game, horrible transition offense in the second half, and they were rushing shots, making poor shot selections, just not playing typical Blazer basketball. Now we will see how they respond to this on Sunday, game at 3:00 PM against Atlanta, I will try to get a preview up later today or early tomorrow.

Great Article

J.A. Adande of ESPN has been showing some love to the Blazers of late. This is a great article. And this one too.

Beatin' the Path

Nothing we didn't know here and the NBA released their All Star game starters last night with the final tally, a couple of things I noticed here, I mean besides the major Trail Blazer snub of Brandon Roy not even showing up on the vote, (Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse got more votes, WHAAAA???) is the fact that maybe Yao Ming is a passing fad now, I mean he only got 1.7 million votes this year, and he's actually been healthy and playing.... maybe its because he didn't play for the Chinese National Team this summer or something....

Another thing that kind of irks me about the Western starters is that Denver has two of the five starters, and really the person they should have starting, Marcus Camby, was third overall for the center position, now I know this is all fan based balloting, and I voted when I could, but still no one from New Orleans, Portland, or Phoenix is starting in this game. So without further adieu, I will now give my choices for All Star starters.

Western Conference: G's Chris Paul and Brandon Roy I am sorry but these two have been SO important for the success of their teams, I have to reward them, am I biased with Roy, yes, do I care, no! As for CP3 I mean the guy is playing great and I have to reward him, sure Nash averages a couple more assists per game, but I have to look past that, and Paul is simply playing better right now, end of story.

F's Al Jefferson and Carmelo Anthony, look I hate Melo as much as the next guy, but he is having a good year and his rebounding is way up from where it was, and I know Al plays on a bad team, but he has been playing extremely good ball, I know it is controversial but I have to reward the guy!

C Tyson Chandler, I know it should probably be Camby, but Chandler has been tearing it up this season, not the greatest scorer, but a MAJOR threat on the boards and in the key with blocks, he is the perfect complement to CP3, and you know John Paxson cries himself to sleep over trading him to sign Ben Wallace.

Eastern Conference: G's Chauncy Billups and Ray Allen, look Jason Kidd isn't even trying anymore so why reward him? And Dwayne Wade is injured, playing well, but I'd rather reward Allen here, playing good TEAM ball and I think that is important.

F's Lebron James and Caron Butler, Lebron is easy, he wills his team to win and he probably has the worst supporting cast in the league, it's like they were picked up from the Island of Misfit Toys or something, so the fact that they even WIN games is all due to Lebron, as for Caron Butler, that guy is playing out of his mind 21.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 4.3 APG, 2.3 SPG, I mean I'm so sorry KG, but this guy is playing better right now, and I have to reward the Bulle... er Wizards.

C Dwight Howard, easiest pick of either conference, there is no doubt he is the best center in the league, this man-child is an absolute monster/beast, whatever, he is dominating and will for the next ten years, however I did read this about him today and found it pretty amusing considering he wants to put a cross in the background of the NBA logo and touts himself as a very hardcore Christian.... well whatever floats his boat.

And yeah I know, I don't have anyone from Phoenix in my starters either, well, tough, play better.

Quick Link

Thanks Jimmy, for reminding me that one, this is a blog, two, this should include more than my own work, and three, I read this article earlier and didn't even think about linking to it.... so as for David Thorpe's review of the sophomore class, look at two of the top three, hmmm.....

And considering I just did the preview on Houston at Portland, I think it might be time to mention why the hell the Rockets didn't just keep Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift, then they would have been able to at least TRY to move T-Mac, and have a frontling of Yao at center, Swift at the 4, and Gay at the 3, and if you keep T-Mac, he would be at the 2?? Tell me they wouldn't be contenders!!!!

Preview: Rockets at Blazers

Tracy McGrady, we certainly all have fond memories of him.... being injured. Well Tracy brings his hobbled knees and spasming back to the Rose Garden on Friday. Needless to say this could be a tough game for the Blazers, especially if the Rockets decide to play up to their potential for once. This was a team many predicted would be best in the west and to be our representative in the NBA finals. They finally got a decent coach (after getting rid of one) and made all the right moves in the offseason (supposedly), except of course get a point guard and turn T-Mac into a cyborg so that he could stay healthy. But Houston can still be a dangerous team at times, Portland needs to watch out for Rafer Alston on the perimeter (dude likes to shoot), and of course Yao Ming in the middle.

They are 8-2 in their last ten games, but of course, when one takes a closer look, it can be noticed that that included wins over the Knicks on two separate occasions, as well as Seattle (which, on an eleven game losing streak, Houston struggled to beat them the first game, and had to have the bionic T-Mac save them in the second game, and oh, did i mention that they played them one game after the other??? Wouldn't you think Houston could have figured out Seattle by the second game?) and then another win against those feisty T-Wolves. I know they had some decent wins as well in that stretch, San Antonio, Washington, and Orlando, but Orlando has not been playing their best ball as of late, and San Antonio has been looking somewhat crappy on the road (they played in Houston). So the Rockets have either been hot or the other teams cold, needless to say it will interesting to see how the Blazers will respond to being back in the familiar Portland air.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Portland

G Steve Blake 7.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 4.7 APG
G Brandon Roy 19.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 5.7 APG
C Joel Przybilla 5.0 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.17 BPG
F Martell Webster 10.7 PPG, 4 RPG, 1.5 APG
F LaMarcus Aldridge 17.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.2 BPG

Houston

G Rafer Alston 11.7 PPG, 5.3 APG, 1.3 SPG
G Tracy McGrady 22.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.1 APG
C Yao Ming 22.4 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 2.3 BPG
F Shane Battier 8.3 PPG, 5 RPG, 1.8 APG
F Chuck Hayes 3.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 0.6 APG

I think this will be a favorable matchup for the Blazers, typically the Rockets bench contributes, but I don't think they will contribute more than the Blazers "White Unit". However, for Portlanders this will mean the return of one of our favorite sons, Bonzi 'I-Blackout-On-The-Court' Wells, so you fans in the first few rows, be sure to bring your raincoats and plastic covers, because he will spit on you! The Blazers need to make sure that they are firing on all cylinders, Aldridge, should be able to have a good game due to the size difference between him and Hayes, but if they put Yao on him, Joel could get some easy dunks. T-Mac isn't totally healthy and might not even start this game, but we cannot overlook him as Seattle seemed to do. Trout has had a hot hand on this road trip so look to him for scoring off the bench, and I think the most interesting matchup will be Brandon Roy versus Battier, because you know they will stick Shane on Roy, but the slower Battier should fall prey to Roy's butter smooth game. All in all it should be a good matchup, but I think the Blazers will overpower Houston in this game, and should see a fairly easy victory. GO BLAZERS!!!

Let's get on some real hatin'!!!!

So far I have two fans of my blog, but hey you know what that is fine by me, we all have to start somewhere! Anyways last nights game was less than inspired for the Blazers, but I will defend them in that it was the last game of a seven-game East Coast road trip and they were T-I-R-E-D. They beat the teams that they should have, and played good close ballgames against the Celtics, Toronto, and Orlando, losing by no more than ten ,(and that coming against the team with the best record in the league) and then they just ran out of juice last night. Not to mention with the win New Orleans has the second best record in the league.... so all in all I would say it was a pretty good trip for the Blazers, and now I think we are all looking forward to this six game homestand.

I really think that this road trip says a lot about this young Blazers team, we are still in the thick of the division title race, are holding our own in a tough and even Western Conference, and to top it all off LaMarcus Aldridge had a solid game last night! But really this team has battled through this road trip and in games like the Atlanta one, you could just see how tired they were, they have been playing back-to-backs, they have played some good teams, and they just wanted to get to their home court where they are 17-3. It must be Blaze the Trail Cat........

I hate L.A.

So a little bit about this blog, this will be mainly about basketball especially the Portland Trail Blazers. Over the past few games I have watched a great deal of them with my friend Nat, and he hates LaMarcus Aldridge, hence the name I Hate L.A. (and even though it is about Aldridge, it kind of has a double meaning referring to the LA Lakers, because, well, as a Blazers fan, I also hate them). Anyways a little about my friend, he and I have been talking about, watching, and following the Blazers for about 15 years or more, we both grew up in Portland and have been friends since about the 4th grade.

We have stood by this team through thick and thin, suffered with them at their lowest lows and toughest losses, gotten psyched about them before each season, even buying into the hype about many of the players who have gone through our fair city.

And my friend Nat has always had one Blazer each season who he has hated on, I think it all really started with Derek Anderson, that guy was supposed to be some sort of 3-point specialist and a great 2 guard, well guess what, by the time we got him, he stunk. He would always woo you with his once-in-a-blue-moon stellar play and you would think, hey he's finally put it together, well after 3 or 4 seasons of this it just got old. During training camp they would always have articles about how he was ready to step up and be the leader and really make a contribution, well it never happened. Instead during his final season in Portland he kept sitting out with 'injuries' that he had conjured up, one of the greatest being his 'tooth ache' injury, in which during a Portland game in San Antonio, he was seen at a Portland area McDonald's drive through, must have been some tooth ache that all he needed to cure it was a quarter pounder with cheese and a McFlurry. Anyways, he was done in this town, and any game Nat and I would watch, Nat would boo and hiss D.A. He would call him nasty names, boo any time he got the ball, get pissed off anytime he would shoot, and on the rare times that he made it he still would hate on him. He just couldn't stand the guy, and well, frankly, neither could I.

Well that offseason, the Allan Houston rule came into effect, where teams were allowed a one time option to clear one contract off of their salary caps, effectively buying them out, for the Blazers it was Derek Anderson. End of the D.A. story right? Wrong, to further piss us off, D.A. wound up with Miami at the end of the season and won a ring as a bench cheerleader for the Heat that year, ultimately pissing me and Nat off, well that and the fact that D-Wade would get a foul call for himself if someone on Dallas farted in his general direction. (In fact for a time I went around after that finals, and if I did something to annoy someone or people, I'd just say, 'Wasn't my fault, I'm Dwayne Wade.)

Well, besides hating on Miami that season on the playoffs, Nat had to pick a new 'least' favorite Trail Blazer, enter Travis Outlaw. Outlaw is a leaper who at that time had tons of potential, but almost no brains, he had a beautiful looking running jump shot, but he ruined it by taking it at the worst time possible, and when McMillan came in as the new coach Trout was having a lot of trouble learning the new system. So basically natural raw talent with a horrible basketball IQ. However, Trout, (I love that nickname for him, especially since he loves fishing) was still extremely young, with that natural skill set, had come right out of high school and was dreadfully skinny when he first came in the league, because of this I still had high hopes for him. Nat did not, every time Outlaw would get the ball Nat would boo and hiss, yell at him to pass, get pissed at him when he took one of his famously horrible shots, and not be swayed at all when one would happen to fall, he got me to notice lots of little things, like Trout didn't play defense, didn't rebound particularly well, never passed and always shot the ball. Two, three defenders surrounding him, he didn't care he never passed, unless he was inbounding the ball. Nat hated Trout so much that this past summer, as a restricted free agent, Nat did not want the team to sign him, well they did Travis signed a 3 year, 12 million dollar contract, which in NBA standards was fairly modest. Well Nat was pissed, until the season started, Trout has been clutch in the fourth quarter, makes a lot better shot selection, passes more, blocks shots, gets rebounds, has completely changed as a player, enough so that Nat is happy with Trout now and sees him as a great bench players for the Blazers down the road. Finally, I thought, Nat's chilled out a bit on the Negative Nancy routine.

That is until I started to notice the early grumblings towards LaMarcus Aldridge, #12, sophomore year for the highly touted power forward, the player that led the Blazers to believe it was finally time to get rid of the much maligned Zach Randolph. It all started about his rebounding, Nat kept saying Aldridge wasn't a very good rebounder, well this developed to his jump shot, especially around the baseline, where Nat has pointed out that he has done particularly poorly, and the fact that LA has no post game, he is soft, he doesn't play good defense, and most of all he couldn't stand the smug smile he has seen on LA's face when he was playing poorly, completely convinced that LA is developing an enormous ego about himself. At first, I just kept saying, 'Chill out Nat, he's young.' And Nat is right about a lot of things regarding LA but he is in his second season, first as a starter, defenses key up on him more than they used to, less open looks, better defense on him in the post, so there is a lot of potential there. And while Nat realizes that in a couple of years LA will more than likely be a great complement on this Blazer team, he has chosen to hate on him. At first I was like alright whatever, but over the past few games, his hatred has reached such a crescendo that I told Nat I was going to start a blog called I Hate L.A. and that I was going to tell his story, we were kind of joking, but I was also kind of serious about it, so this is the start to I Hate L.A. So for every boo, hiss, and negative comment about LaMarcus Aldridge, just know that I am not a stat cruncher (although my friend's resounding crescendo has reached its zenith over LaMarcus' worst stretch of the season shooting wise) but if anyone would like to add comments regarding stats I would welcome them and anyone who is a Trail Blazers fan, please feel free to come and browse and see what I have cooking up here!