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.