Archive for the 'General Blazers' Category

03
Jan

So Now It’s Joel’s Fault?

By John 0 Comments
Categories: General Blazers

I was at the game on January 2nd against the Hornets. I saw Tyson Chandler take a cheap shot on Joel’s injured wrist, then Joel push Chandler off, followed by Chandler throwing his elbow at Joel (essentially throwing a punch, but with his elbow). I thought the officials did a great job, took their time and watched the replay. In the end, I felt the right call was made, Joel deserved a technical, but Chandler deserved a flagrant two and an ejection.

Then, I read this on ESPN (from the AP):

Przybilla shoved Chandler with a forearm in the abdomen, which caused Chandler to lunge forward and smack Przybilla with a harder, more blatant forearm. Officials Sean Corbin and Gary Zielinski, working as a two-man crew with Jack Nies missing the game due to injury, watched the replay screen before deciding to eject Chandler for a flagrant-2 foul. It was the third time that seven-year veteran has been ejected in Portland.

So, “Przybilla shoved Chandler?” That’s how this started? I’m pretty sure that Chandler took a complete cheap shot on Joel’s injured wrist/hand. This makes me fully believe that the author of the ariticle that ESPN is using (from the AP), didn’t likely watch the game. I don’t deny that Joel did shove Chandler, but get it right, that’s not what started this little tussle.

This was the turning point in the game, and of course, not in a good way for the Blazers. Also, New Orleans plays Denver next, so Chandler getting a suspension would almost be worse for the Blazers… What a crazy world we live.

26
Dec

We Need A 2nd Option

By John 0 Comments
Categories: General Blazers

Coming into the season, LaMarcus was supposed to emerge as the second scoring option after Roy. Well, LaMarcus has played well, but he is in no way a solid second option in crunch time. He is often established down low early, and will get a nice mess of points in the first half, but all to often, he is lost in the second half. Maybe it’s because the ball is in Roy’s hands, maybe that’s the plan but he is not a real viable option. That leaves us with two other real scoring options: Blake and Outlaw. In essence, Blake is a shooter (a damn good one) and Outlaw is… Outlaw. I have no beef with Blake and I think he has been the most impressive Blazer this season (tied with Joel). I count Outlaw as a starter, because he plays the minutes of a starter and he plays in the minutes of a stater (i.e. late in the fourth). If Roy is off, like against Dallas, the ball often goes to Outlaw. He is great at driving and getting to the rim, but he hardly does, because all to often he pulls up or takes a dribble fade away. Two terrible plays. Okay, not terrible, but if you have seen him move with the ball, you can see his complete lack of fundamental skills.

Outlaw is an important part of the team, but also (along with Frye), he is seen as the most tradable player. He averages just over 10 points, could start on most lottery bound NBA teams and still has quite a bit of upside. While Outlaw might get points, I would argue that he is not a good scoring option. See the difference between scoring and getting points, because that is key.

If I look at what players are out there for the getting, it’s basically Gerald Wallace for me. Trade Outlaw, Frye and LaFrentz for Gerald Wallace, Sean May and Nazr Mohammed. ESPN says the trade will work, but would Charlotte agree? They would be getting a starter in Outlaw to replace Wallace, along with about $14mil in expiring contracts, with the LaFrentz contract being paid primarily by insurance. Quality for quality, Charlotte would not do this deal, but if they want to clear up cap room, which they just might, the deal could happen.

Would Portland really do this deal? Probably not. I think the idea is wait for Webster and see if he can really provide the scoring. I doubt he can. Webster is a shooter, not a scorer. If you look around, only one player for the Blazers can really create their own shot, and that is Roy. Maybe Sergio can too, but he is not on the level of play to be in late in the game. The other player would be Bayless, but at this point, it’s not worth going there.

Gerald Wallace could provide consistent scoring for Portland. He wouldn’t take any shots from Roy or Aldridge, just form Outlaw and maybe Blake/Webster, but I can live with Wallace getting those shots. He is a player who is still yet to peak and has decent upside but still being a sure bet. I know, this is my rant, but I think Wallace is almost the perfect fit for this club. You’d dish Outlaw and Frye in the deal, but that just opens up the minutes for Wallace and you still have Diogu as a backup PF/C.

Will it happen, no, but if any deal were to happen, Wallace would likely be a top candidate. I get the feeling that no deal will happen this year, but play like this Dallas game was so frustrating and proved to me even more how we need a true second scorer (who can get their own shot).

25
Dec

vote for rudy

By Willie 0 Comments
Categories: General Blazers

Quick timeout from gift-giving and hot chocolate-sipping to let you know that our very own Rudy Fernandez has a chance to compete in the dunk contest come February. Dwight Howard, the reigning champ, Rudy Gay and Nate Robinson are already in. The final competitor will be determined by a fan vote. The Spanish rookie is up against fellow first-years Joe Alexander of the Bucks and Russell Westbrook from Seattle Oklahoma City. Make your voice heard.

 

Vote here for Rudy.

21
Dec

Do it till you’re satisfied

By Willie 0 Comments
Categories: Funny Stuff and General Blazers

 

 

Does everything until satisfied.

Does everything until satisfied.

Maybe you’re snowed in (again) this afternoon and can’t find anything on the tube, the internets are slow and a snowball fight has lost its luster. Love him or hate him, John Canzano has compiled Brian Wheeler’s calls for all 52 of Roy’s points against Phoenix. If you don’t get the the title, just listen. Wheels is hilarious.

Listen here: http://955thegame.com/Portals/0/BFT12-19-08Hr3.mp3

Also, about half-way through The Natural himself comes on to talk about the game.

19
Dec

52.

By Willie 0 Comments
Categories: General Blazers

Brandon Roy, shooting here over Matt Barnes, scored a career-high 52 points Thursday night. The Blazers won 124-119.

 

Two nights after the Blazers retired the jersey of team legend Terry Porter, the newest legend in Rip City lore torched the coach’s new team and led Portland to its signature win of this young season.

By now, you’ve heard. You’ve heard of Brandon Roy’s 52 points. The way he continued to battle even though the Suns had just hit yet another three. The way he torched every Phoenix defender on his way to 21 free throw attempts (he made 19). And the way he did it at an efficient rate without ostracizing any of his teammates.

Of course, there were other heroes on this night: Steve Blake scored a season-high 22, not to mention some redeeming last-minute free throws. Travis Outlaw elevated above everyone to hit some clutch jumpers. LaMarcus Aldridge, thank goodness the bank was open on that last shot he hit, played well.

But the story of the night is the one that we will remember for decades. The number itself is intimidating, 52; but the way he got them is what will really stick with fans. The Blazers needed all of them: they needed his drives, crossovers, pull-up jump shots and timely trey bombs.

This wasn’t like a couple of seasons ago when Zach Randolph broke the 40-point plateau by hosting up a variety of offense-clogging shots. This was fluid. This was Brandon Roy. All 14 of his field goals and all those accompanying free throws were timely, necessary buckets.

It didn’t matter who the Suns threw at him. With the longer Matt Barnes on him, Roy simply drove around for a layup. With the quicker Jason Richardson on him, Roy relied on a perimeter game that has excelled in his third NBA season.

He was unstoppable and that led to the Blazers breaking free from the Suns, snapping an 11-game losing streak. This was the win the team has been looking for. Sure, wins against the Spurs, Rockets, Hornets, Magic and Pistons have been nice. But tonight was different. The Rose Garden was rocking like a playoff game. On several occasions the crowd was hushed by a Phoenix three, then you could hear 20, 650 collectively gasp as Roy started his drive, then the subsequent roar as the official signaled for an and one. It was awesome. We’re all going to come out from this with more than just the one victory that will show up in the standings. We’re going to remember, for a long time, Roy’s night.

On the same evening where the organization put Bobby Gross into the rafters, Roy delivered a performance that makes us think of a future where a red banner with a white number “7” will wave gallantly high above the court.

 

17
Dec

Random Thoughts

By Jeff 1 Comment
Categories: General Blazers

So it has been awhile since I’ve written anything for PTB and while I doubt anyone has noticed, I do apologize. To make up for my lack of presence these past few weeks, please humor me by reading my quickly and poorly written post which probably contains stories and ideas that have probably already been written about by far better writers. Enjoy.

Need for a Solid Road Win
I’ve been saying this for awhile but just haven’t managed it to put it to paper. If the Blazers want to be considered one of the elite teams (which they were for about a week) they need to put together a solid road win. You’ll say “But Jeff, they beat Detroit, Orlando and Toronto on the road!” That’s fine and dandy, but those 3 teams are not among the elite in the league. Detroit still has a chance to be if they can get their act together (that AI experiment is not working… at all.) Despite Orlando’s record, I’ll take Detroit, Boston and Cleveland over them any day.

Anyways, I’m not talking about the “good” teams in the league. We can beat the good teams away because we ourselves are a “good” team. I’m talking about a win in a city where it’ll really prove that Portland really has something here. I’m talking about a win Salt Lake City, LA, San Antonio, Phoenix, New Orleans, Cleveland, Boston and maybe even Denver. We already lost in Boston and LA once, twice in Phoenix, twice in Salt Lake and once in New Orleans. That’s not a very good start. However, we still have a chance to maybe steal one away in Denver next week and maybe even San Antonio later on. But I’ll tell you right now that we can already chalk up losses when we go to LA again and when we go to Cleveland for the first and last time. That pretty much leaves us Denver and New Orleans to get what I’m calling a “quality” road win. Not a lot of chances left there.

#4 in the Power Rankings? REALLY?
I don’t mean to sound like a hater, but we were ranked 4th in the entire NBA by ESPN for two weeks in a row  in weeks 5 and 6. REALLY? We were the FOURTH best team in the league for two weeks in a row. We were better than Dallas, Phoenix, Utah, New Orleans, Denver, and San Antonio? REALLY?  I suppose if you consider the Power Rankings to only really be a weekly indicator of which teams are hot and which teams are not for that week (which they’re not) sure, Blazers can be fourth in the league. But at no point in time were we ever the 4th best team in the league. Never. Not once. Not ever. Despite our #4 ranking, all those teams I listed above were and are still better than us.  We should have never been mentioned among the likes of the Lakers, Celtics or Cavs. Even being mentioned in the top 5 in the Power Rankings means you are among the elite in the league, and we are just not that. I’m sorry we’re not. You can argue and argue that we’re an elite team, but come talk to me when we barely make (or barely miss) the playoffs. We can talk about how elite the Blazers are in the 8th or 9th spot in the West.

Fair Weather Fans
Of course with the recent 0-3 skid the Blazers suffered through this past week, its no wonder that every single Blazer site is blowing up with impatient, close and narrow-minded comments from fans demanding the firing of Nate McMillan and the trading of every single Blazer sans Brandon Roy. Listen guys. Teams go on skids. Maybe if you’re among the elite in the league (and we’re not) you don’t go on skids, but we do. This has just been a rough patch. We’ll get over it. The dismantling of the Kings tonight was a good way to calm the fans down a bit, but it still amazes me at how quick public opinion can change. Just 2 weeks ago, when we were somehow 4th in the ESPN Power Rankings, every Blazer fan was tooting their horn and simply amazed by how good our young team had been playing. Fast forward 2 weeks, add in a few tablespoons of reality and suddenly the city is erupting. Brimstone and hellfire. People. Please calm down. The Blazers will get back on their feet. We don’t need to fire Nate and we don’t need to trade everyone away…which brings me to my next point:

Trades
A trade is inevitable. It just is. KP may have said that trades are not on his mind right now, but remember that this is the mean who made “Pritch-slapped” a common verb around the league due to his wheelings-and-dealings. There’s going to be a trade whether KP says there will be or not. To me, there’s really one position the Blazers have to tend to, and that’s the very overcrowded 3 spot. You can’t trade Martell because well, he just signed a 5-year $25 million extension and at that price, he’s an absolute steal starting or coming off the bench. Then you have Nicolas Batum who currently starts over Travis Outlaw as a rookie and whom everyone in Portland has fallen in love with. I think the Blazers like his energy and potential too much to trade him away. That leaves Travis Outlaw the odd man out.

If you’ve read any of my articles about Travis Outlaw, they’re basically about me hating him and wanting him out of Portland and what you’re about to read is no different. Look, Travis is capable of doing really great things for us on the court. He’ll drain the open 3, make that ridiculously difficult jumpshot he seems to love and jam it home for the easy dunk. The thing is, he has no fundamentals. He looks like a puppy still trying to figure out how to use his body correctly. The kid can’t dribble but still tries to create his own shot (which he can’t…and that little two-dribble jumpshot he does DOES NOT COUNT) and just plain looks awkward while on the court. I’m saying trade him while his stock is high. He will only get marginally better than he is now at this point in his career. Call me crazy or call me an idiot but the Travis Outlaw we have here at age 24 is going to be the same Travis Outlaw at ages 25, 26, 27 and 28.

I don’t know who or what to trade for. I just feel that he needs to go. I marginally like him when he does something well but I absolutely loathe him when he does something poorly…which in my eyes is a lot of the time.

13
Dec

Miles is About to Land

By John 2 Comments
Categories: General Blazers and General NBA

Here it is, the news that you didn’t want to hear following a three game losing streak. Darius Miles is about to sign with the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s apparently all but done says Yahoo! Sports:

 

In a move that could damage the salary-cap flexibility of the Portland Trail Blazers, Darius Miles is close to signing a minimum-salary contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, two NBA sources said Friday.

Miles recently worked out for the Los Angeles Clippers, who drafted him third overall in 2000, but team officials said they would prefer to wait until January to decide whether to sign him. The Grizzlies had room for another player after trading guard Javaris Crittenton to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday and appear to have settled on Miles after looking at D-League options. One source said only a last-minute veto by Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley could keep the team from signing Miles.

13
Dec

Trouble in Paradise

By John 0 Comments
Categories: General Blazers

A three game skid. Bad. Losing to the Clippers. Bad. Losing Outlaw to injury. Indifferent. Roy emerging as the only scoring option. Terrible. Oden going 14 and 12. Good. 

 

I am in awe. Things were going so well, then, this happens. A loss to Utah is fine. A loss to Orlando, especially at the last minute, no problem. But losing to the Clippers at home is terrible. I won’t blame the game on Blake, but he did choke. Roy is on the boarder between forcing his own shot and realizing he is the only option, Im not sure which is currently true. I’m not going to go into a ton of detail, just to say things are bad right now. What I do think is that it will turn around. Oden is doing better (not great or even good, but better), Aldridge is playing poor but Roy is doing great.

 

I think more then ever, fans will be calling for trades, which might be the best move, but remember, we have Bayless sitting on the edge of the bench, which might be the biggest acquisition of all, that is, if he can acquire some minutes.

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