Want to see who would go what direction with the team going forward. We don't have any control over it, but it is fun to talk about. I'll lay out a few options...

PG:

Option 1 – Trade: Rajon Rondo. Trade our 2 lottery picks to Boston in return for Rondo. Due to Rondo & Aldridge having bargains for contracts, we would be able to spend our money a lot more diligently than the big 3 of Miami.

Option 2 – Free Agency: Goran Dragic. My second favorite PG option. Use our considerable free cap space to sign him during the upcoming free agent period. His years spent be mentored by Steve Nash are now starting to really show on the court. Very cerebral player who deserves a chance to be a starting in the NBA. Looked downright dominant after Lowry went down & got starter minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0qMVYaMmBw

Option 3 – The Draft: The draft. Kendall Marshall & Scott Machado are the more true-PG prospects. Casper Ware from Long Beach State can fill it up, like an Aaron Brooks.

SG:

Option 1 – Trade: Andre Iguodala. Though he is listed at the 3 & he is more then capable of playing it, his size is ideal for the SG spot. All around player & excellent defender. Would likely require our lotto picks like Rondo. Though I would like to see the Blazers front office try a sign & trade of Batum to Philly.

Option 2 – Free Agency: Eric Gordon or OJ Mayo(ew). Same theory as Dragic, just spending the money on a different position. I would prefer Goran.

Option 3 – The Draft: The draft. Bradley Beal or Austin Rivers if you are looking for an on-ball guard. Rivers has scary potential.Terrence Ross or Jeremy Lamb if your looking for a guard who plays without the ball more often then not. Ross's style of play reminds me of Ray Allen. Lamb played with the ball more this season after UCONN lost Kemba Walker, he looked much more comfortable last season. In the 2nd round, Jared Cunningham has Tony Allen like defensive potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbkWyWTXhyU

Small Forward:

Option 1 – Trade: Danny Granger. Same theory applies as the other option 1’s.

Option 2 – Free Agency: Nicolas Batum. We will be able to add either Gordon or Dragic, in addition to Batum due to the Bird rights allowing us to go over-the-cap to resign him. Whether or not we should keep him & how much cash he is worth has been discussed thousands of times. Sign & trade a possibility.

Option 3 – The Draft: Terrence Jones has the ability to defend NBA 3’s at 6’9" 240lbs. He also is solid at the 4. I call him a mismatch rather than a tweener. While you didn’t see it much at Kentucky, in high school he displayed the ability to make plays for others & has legitimate court vision. Portland born, would be nice to see a hometown kid be a part of the rebuild. Has LaMar Odom/Josh Smith type of upside. There is also the more traditional route where you could take Harrison Barnes or Jeff Taylor who bring a lot of the same things that Batum does, including the same flaws of court vision & creating for others. Draymond Green brings an interesting skill set.

Power Forward:

Option 1 – Trade: Josh Smith. Can play the 3 more consistently now that he has thinned down. Tremendous defender, & a surprisingly good passer for his size. Entertaining as it gets when it comes to being a high flyer.

Option 2 – Free Agency: Ersan Ilyasova, Ryan Anderson & Michael Beasley are available in free agency. I would rather have Ilyasova because he is a much better defender than Anderson & brings a lot of the same on offense. B-Eazy would be interesting to say the least. If he is past his maturity issues he could be a steal.

Option 3 – The Draft: Jared Sullinger will likely be around if we end up keeping the Nets pick. He reminds me a lot of Kevin Love coming out of UCLA to be honest. Has the size to play some center next to Aldridge. Perry Jones has some scary upside but I don’t think we have the veteran presence & great coaching staff that will be needed to coax it out of him. John Henson reminded me of Bill Russell with his post presence on several occasisions, only problem is his slight frame. Kevin Jones in the 2nd round should make a solid pro.

Center:

Option 1 – Trade: Marcin Gortat. Suns might be willing to move him if we offer them draftpick(s?). At 28 if the Suns are going for the full rebuild & Nash is leaving, he may not fit into long term plans as well as young high potential players on rookie deals. Has an extremely cap friendly deal. Beyond him, there is Anderson Varejao who is a big risk. Samuel Dalembert is still a solid presence at the 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=all8nPOx3v4

Option 2 – Free Agency: No one wants to lose their center to free agency. It derailed the Magic once with Shaq & damn near happened again(still might in 2013) with Howard. Javale McGee, Chris Kaman, Spencer Hawes, are some of the better names. Young guys who still have potential like Omer Asik, Semih Erden & Robin Lopez are available too.

Option 3 – The Draft: Andre Drummond would be ideal if he dropped to the Nets pick. Brings the best long term chance of being a great team with the most upside in the draft. Meyers Leonard from Illinois finished the season very strong & looks to have a bright NBA future, could be had with our own pick likely at 11. Some steals in the 2nd round should be available in Kyle O’Quinn, Cameron Moore & Bernard James.

Thats not to mention coaching/medical/scouting staff, who the next GM will likely want to bring in his own group.

Continue reading this post »

RIP to Rodney, but thats not what this post is about. Aside from the banners in the Rose Garden rafters, I don't think we have not done enough for the guys that rose the only banner up that really matters- The 1977 Portland Trail Blazers.

I have to be honest. I am perplexed that the Blazers besides Maurice Lucas(RIP), the Blazers haven't done much to go out of their way to reach out to the men that brought us our only championship.Why haven't at least pursued Walton in an advisory/consultant role, much like how the Sixers just hired Julius Erving? The guy knows the true fundamentals of basketball as good as any player in the history of the sport. In large part due to John Wooden.I understand Walton was angry when he left Portland due to the mistreatment of him, but Paul Allen wasn't a part of that regime. Also, time heals all wounds.

We should be trying to reconnect to 77', beyond the jerseys hanging in the rafters. Starting at the top with Lionel Hollins as a head coach, he has done a damn good job in Memphis. Bob Gross would make a solid assistant based simply on his playing style. Dave Twardzik has general manager experience & is currently the assistant GM in Orlando. Though I don't condone the crap that the Magic have added since drafting Dwight, you can't blame assistants. If he'd be willing to stay in an assistant role he would be a solid addition with his amount of experience. Larry Steele runs a basketball camp in Vernonia, I'm sure he could add something. Johnny Davis is an assistant under Lionel Hollins in Mo-Town(Package deal?). Getting down the roster, apparently Lloyd Neal has worked for the IRS in Portland since 1985- perhaps as a consultant he can help our players not make any Wesley Snipes-like mistakes. Also, RIP Herb Gilliam as well.

Dr. Jack Ramsey. That's how I'm starting the final paragraph. God knows he deserves it. The 77' Blazers were notorious for being one of the best teams(the true meaning) of all time. While I know he is ancient & he couldn't come in for 82 games a season, I think he could help in an advisory role. Its not like he isn't working, he has done quite a bit of work with ESPN lately. You can see his style passed through to Lionel Hollins, Memphis's team defense is among the best in the NBA. I'm not saying that we go hire all these guys without doing the due diligence of interviews to find the best candidates for our team, but give them a chance. I believe some of them would relish a chance to get together to bring another championship back to the rose city.

Remember & Respect 77'

The TrailBlazers are riddled with problems, you know it, I know it & our grandparents have known it since 77'. There are only two players on the roster that President Larry Miller commited to calling franchise "building blocks", in LaMarcus Aldridge & Nicolas Batum. The big problem is neither of those two guys can get their own shot or create for others at a high level. Raymond Felton has been the scape goat, but rightfully. He has had the worst year of his career so far & came into the season overweight/unprepared. Jamal Crawford is who he is at this point, instant offense & not much else. Wesley Matthews has regressed after his first couple of seasons in the NBA & unfortunately he has also peaked. We can only hope his shooting percentages rebound in the second half of the season. In essence, the guard play has been horrendous. Gerald Wallace has been Jekyll & Hyde all year, looking like an All-Star at the Rose Garden, yet looks completely uninterested without the roar of the crowd on the road. Though we all have to admit, Marcus Camby & Kurt Thomas still do the awesome things that allowed them to craft two of the longest active careers in the NBA - Respect these years.

This team desperately lacks direction. There are other holes on the team, particularly at starting center- but thats a whole other thread entirely. Besides, this team has had issues with the center spot for years now- yet this may be the ugliest we have performed since the 05'-06' season. Why you say? I think the answer is obvious, it rests in the loss of two players.

Brandon Roy: One of the best isolation players I've ever witnessed, not because he was extremely athletic but because he was the most crafty player I have ever seen. Each move setting up the next & always in control. Great passer & rebounder for his position. Not to mention, he was as clutch as any player in the NBA before his knees gave way. An awful loss for this franchise, but for a while we had a vision that post-Roy may not be bad when this guy came along...

Andre Miller: A true point guard. The best lob passer in the NBA. Dominant against other guards in the post. He carried our team while Roy's knees eroded away. Whenever our offense began to get stagnant, Miller got the team a high percentage shot- the perfect point guard. We traded him away because he was too old & can't hit a 3pt shot to spread the floor... Well it turns out that the guy we traded for not only can't hit a 3, but came into this season as unprepared/overweight as any player so far post-lockout.

After losing both of these guys & seeing how this team is performing now, you can truly appreciate the talent of those players. This team has shown their true colors, its looked like a team without a leader. We need help, we need guidance on the court. That needs to change, we need a lead guard. Every team has one. For evidence of my argument look no further then Jeremy Lin from the New York Knicks, before he emerged they were struggling. No one seemed to be playing the roles they should be & were playing outside of their comfort zone, everyone seemed to have their own agenda. Since then he has taken control of the offense, the players are now being used to their strengths & the Knicks are thriving.

I am sick & tired of watching the every night struggles of the guard play, at times the entire team just looks horrendous.

How do we recover?

There are two ways of thinking going forward:

Proven Veteran:

Here lies the obvious rose colored glasses idea that we could land a proven productive veteran guard. The likes of Rajon Rondo, Andre Igoudala, Monta Ellis, Andre Miller & most recently to have interest from the Blazers, Steve Nash. A deal of this magnitude would likely require trading Batum, which may conflict the thinking of Blazers management. The odds of pulling a deal like this are slim-none, but not impossible. The idea of pairing Aldridge with another top tier player is enticing, after Roy's prime was ripped away right before LaMarcus hit his stride. Although we all have to agree losing Roy almost forced Aldridge to step up.

Prospect:

This I see as much more likely, because prospects are players who have promise but have yet to prove them selves consistently in the NBA. My thoughts are If we do indeed have to watch painful basketball, we should at least be able to see them as growing pains(Much like Elliot Williams now taking playing time from the other guards). Then we can have something to look forward to in the future, as opposed to another first round playoff exit or an average draft pick. I am proposing that before the upcoming trade deadline, we should acquire prospects who the Blazers are willing to give extended playing time to for the remainder of the season. Best case, we find a gem of a prospect who can be our lead guard going forward & make the playoffs. Worst case is we find out that the prospects don't have what it takes to be starters in the NBA & as a result, we land a better pick for the 2012 draft! Seems like a win-win long term for the franchise, in my opinion.

I will name a few prospects(as the proven veterans seem to be obvious), that could fit here in Portland. Be sure to vote on the poll as to which player you would prefer to be running the Portland Trail Blazers going forward.

Continue reading this post »

Haven't done one of these in awhile. here we go:

• PG: Raymond Felton(11.67PER on 33mpg)/Nolan Smith(2.6PER on 6.2mpg) - With how our season has played out, its hard not to be mad at Felton with his play this year. Considering the greatness witnessed under Brandon Roy leading the team... In addition to Andre Miller after he took the reigns & kept us competitive in a dark time. The sad part is Nate McMillan actually let loose, showed some flexibility & gave Felton the chance to play uptempo, we failed miserably. Its obvious we have key players who could thrive in that style of offense in Aldridge & Wallace. As for the reserve 1 spot, Nolan Smith has looked really uncomfortable in his rookie season & is now losing minutes to Elliot Williams.

via media.oregonlive.com

• SG: Wesley Matthews(13.7PER on 32.7mpg)/Jamal Crawford(16PER on 24mpg)/Elliot Williams(14.9PER on 5.5mpg) - We lost what was our franchise player in Brandon Roy. We have done as good as anyone could have recovering from something like that. Wesley Matthews is not fitting in as well with Felton like he was with Dre, but he still brings the same energy as always. The signing of Jamal Crawford brought some much needed ability for a guard to create his own shot, in addition to someone who we can rely on to get hot when we need points. Elliot Williams has looked absolutely dynamite in his very limited role this year, everyone would love to see him have a chance to prove himself.

via media.oregonlive.com

• SF: Gerald Wallace(15.9PER on 34.4mpg)/Nicolas Batum(17.36PER on 25mpg)/Luke Babbitt(5.67PER on 3.8mpg..) - Still one of the best SF duo's in the NBA. Though we see clearly now that playing them together is like a square peg in a round hole. Wallace is dominant at home, but I think we need a elite point guard to get him going full time & on the road. Batum looked like Reggie Miller against the Nuggets, a true NBA scoring option. Lets hope he continues to play that way. If not he is still upping his trade value. The SF spot is as confusing as any for us, just be happy we have an overflow of talent after years of Outlaw/Webster.

via media.oregonlive.com

• PF: LaMarcus Aldridge(24PER on 36mpg)/Craig "The Rhino" Smith(17PER on 12mpg) - Aldridge is doing his best to show us he is a true #1 option in the NBA, especially after losing two great lead guards in Roy, then Miller & now moving to Felton... A team without much practice, he is still dominant. The Rhino has become a fan favorite & a damn good scoring option off the bench against the right matchups.

via media.oregonlive.com

• C: Marcus Camby(14PER on 24mpg)/Kurt Thomas(11.7PER on 16.8mpg )- Marcus Camby is absolutely earning his dollars once again this year. The ageless one is joined by another NBA ancient, Kurt Thomas. These two have been the Blazers glue this year. When they are in need of a defensive stop, rebound & jump shot, these guys answer the call.

via columbian.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com

• Coach: Nate McMillan(Career totals 471 Wins - 439 Losses. 14 Wins - 20 Losses in the playoffs) - He has overcame more obstacles the past few years in terms of injury, then any other coach I can remember. He absolutely gets the most out of his talent. While his defense is risky & unsuccessful without the perfect personel, if Portland could land a center to defend the paint things would look a whole lot better. His willingness to change from an isolation offense(Roy era), to now allowing a first year point guard in Raymond Felton to play in a fast break uptempo offense has impressed me. As for assistants I think next season will be the time to replace Bickerstaff & Ociepka- If the Kings fire Keith Smart, I would love if he would replace Bob. Larry Greer & Buck Wiilams seem to have done a good job for what they were hired for.

via blog.oregonlive.com

Continue reading this post »

For the record, I strongly dislike the Pats, Tom Brady & that dirtbag Bill Belichek. However I do respect them, as does Chip Kelly. So, what can the Ducks learn from them? Its all about tight ends baby. Rob Gronkowski set the NFL record for touchdowns by a tight end in a single season with 17. Behind him on the depth chart sits Aaron Hernandez, who finished the season with 79 catches, for 910 yards with 7 touchdowns. Before this year, those type of numbers were unheard of for the tight end position.

A few years ago, almost all plays the Pats called were 4 & 5 wide receiver sets. With Randy Moss commanding constant double teams, and Wes Welker dominating the short passing game. Now it is focused on multiple Tight End sets, they adapted & overcame the loss of Moss. I think we can apply the same thinking to the Ducks offense.

The Boston TE Party

Continue reading this post »

The Lakers have pulled out of the Chris Paul trade talks. Lamar Odom has been dealt to the Mavericks for Dallas's 1st round pick in 2012(with the potential for a 2nd round pick as well). Pau Gasol isn't happy. Apparently the Lakers are trying to put their effort into Dwight Howard, but I would argue the Nets present a better offer. I've also heard talks the Bulls are getting into the race.

via img401.imageshack.us

via www.midwestsportsfans.com

Continue reading this post »

Poll Question: This entire offseason, in addition to the lockout. Do you think Paul Allen & the Blazers have known & planned for the abrupt Roy retirement? Or were the Blazers caught off guard & are now scrambling to figure out what move to make?

Continue reading this post »

Welcome. Since the lockout has now ended, this will now be a European & NCAA basketball discussion thread. After the jump is an in depth explanations of European basketball & the NCAA part is in progress. Schedules for each weeks best games & news for both will be provided weekly.

Continue reading this post »

With the NBA Season in serious jeopardy & the college SBNation blogs... Are far more focused on the football season(Go Ducks). So I decided to start a thread talking about college basketball this year, if it goes well I'll continue the posting. Perhaps a chance to allow Blazers Edge to have at least some actual Basketball-Talk(EuroLeague has helped) while the NBA Lockout continues. I'll mention a few games I think are worth watching, so you can avoid the others that can be as exciting as watching paint dry(looking at you, Butler). 

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Continue reading this post »