SB Nation User Blog: CMCWizard

Why the Blazers will be ok

CMCWizard — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:00:40 -0000

There has been a lot of discussion as to what needs to change following the tough loss to Denver last night. A lot of fans have been pointing fingers as to what Nate has or hasn't done right in the first two games. I think a lot of that criticism is justified, if not downright correct; however I think that a lot of fans are forgetting a very important point concerning this years version of the team.

There are going to be growing pains with this team. Period.

The Blazers have two new major rotation players and an emerging center. That's 1/3 of your rotation players, not to mention the loss of Batum doesn't help this transition as I think it's obvious that Trout isn't the answer at the 3 and is better suited for the 4. Regardless the playing rotation is still in a lot of flux. Foul problems for our big men in the first two games combined with the plethora of injuries in the preseason have made it difficult for Nate. Could he do better? Probably. Though he sees practice every day and has a much larger data set to make decisions from than ANY fan or media member does. Thus, I think we, as fans, need to have a little faith for the first 1/4 to 1/2 of the season.

People can point at the negatives of the Denver game: poor free-throw shooting in crunchtime, inability to defend Melo (though the dude couldn't miss down the stretch, jumpers no less), etc. Being at the game last night I noticed some very encouraging things.

1 - Improvement on turnovers from 26 against Houston to 7 against Denver. That's a huge deal in a close game. We didn't force many turnovers (8), but this indicates that this team is really going to improve throughout the season.

2 - This game featured a team that is basically the same team from last year. A few changes in role players, but their starters are basically the same. I expect Denver to get out of the gates quickly this year, whereas I expect the exact opposite from the Blasers. Play this game in December or January and we blow out Denver at home.

3 - Rebound dominance. I was watching the center matchup on the boards throughout the game. Nene was held without a rebound, offensive or defensive, until the end of the second quarter. This was after Greg picked up his 3rd foul. Greg was up 7 - 0 on the boards and our centers had 12 boards to Denver's 15 or so rebounds as a team. This kept us in the game despite shooting in the low 30% range for the half (and the game for that matter).

4 - Improving defense. The second half defense was porous, but we help Denver to 40% from the field for the first half. With the exception of Melo, who was playing and flopping like mad, we held their team in check. The team just needs to play hard-nosed D for a full 48 min and we're going to win a lot of games, even if we have a shooting night like we did last night. This coupled with our rebounding will make it exceedingly difficult to beat this team. They aren't there yet, but the team is already better defensively than last year in my estimation.

5 - Brandon is the equalizer. He didn't get much help tonight offensively, and we still nearly won the game against a top 4 western conference team. That isn't going to happen for most teams.

The growing pains that we are seeing will subside as this team feels each other out. Cleveland is the perfect example of another team that is going through this too. They made significant offseason moves and they are 0-2 to start. San Antonio is 1-1. Do you think those teams need wholesale changes? I don't. Just because the Blasers are 1-1 now leaves me no reason to think that this team isn't going to play at an elite level, particularly after the all-star break.

Besides...don't we want our team peaking come playoff time? I sure do.

KP2 on PTB-Rockets game last night

CMCWizard — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:25:13 -0000

KP2 on PTB-Rockets game last night

Good analysis. He brings up a great point about Andre Miller, he was the catalyst to our big run.

KP2 Analyses Aldridge deal

CMCWizard — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:52:10 -0000

KP2 Analyses Aldridge deal

Kudos to KP2, great read and I think accurate.

DIME: BRoy #7 go-to guy

CMCWizard — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:11:50 -0000

DIME: BRoy #7 go-to guy

BRoy at #7 seems about right...for now. I bet he'll be higher on hte list by year's end

Nate earns an "A" grade from columnist

CMCWizard — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:16:29 -0000

Nate earns an "A" grade from columnist

I'd agree with the assessments for the most part. Does Nate deserve his grade?

OSU Business school event w/ Larry Miller

CMCWizard — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:55:01 -0000

OSU Business school event w/ Larry Miller

Anyone at Oregon State want to hear a free talk with Larry Miller tonight? It's at LaSalle Center from 7 - 8:30 tonight!

Why the NBA traveling rule is a joke. Courtesy of the Blogfather.

CMCWizard — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:10:44 -0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN_ljDfevB0

Why the NBA traveling rule is a joke. Courtesy of the Blogfather.

Why All-Star voting needs to change

CMCWizard — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:53:13 -0000

Broyposse posted earlier this week encouraging everyone to support our Blazers in all-star voting. I in no way want to take away from Broyposse's (or other fans like him) support of our players, as it's the only way a starter is determined. This needs to change. I'm sorry fans, but all-star game starters should not be decided by you. China should not tell me Yi Jianlian deserves more all-star votes than Chris Bosh who's bea tearing it up this season.

As a thought experiment, here's a look at who would be playing in the all-star game this year if fans voted in the whole team (the fan's dream right!?!):

Eastern Conference Starters:

Guards - Dwyane Wade (623,311), Allen Iverson (492, 093)

Forwards - LeBron James (643,786), Kevin Garnett (495,514)

Center: Dwight Howard (775,933)

Eastern conference Reserves (going purely based on votes):

Yi Jianlian (356,556), Chris Bosh (274,195), Vince Carter (236,634), Ray Allen (174,155), Paul Pierce (153,512), Shawn Marion (144,066), Jose Calderon (124,705)

Western Conference Starters:

Guards - Kobe Bryant (719,252), Chris Paul (406,220)

Forwards - Tim Duncan (442,203), Amare Stoudemire (370,470)

Center - Yao Ming (529,290)

Western Conference Reserves (once again based pure upon highest vote total):

Tracy McGrady (332,222), Carmelo Anthony (327,233), Dirk Nowitzki (261,952), Pau Gasol (260,374), Shaquille O'Neal (227,273), Ron Artest (214,063), Mehmet Okur (162,139)

Notable snubs (for reference):

Brandon Roy (78,071), Al Jefferson (46,242), Derek Rose (102,263), Joe Johnson (94,847), Josh Smith (59,574), many others

Looking at this list, I suspect that David Stern and Co. would argue that the players who are playing the best are the most popular, and thus are selected as starters. I'm sorry, but the Allen Iverson lifetime achievement award is not the all-star game. Detroit has been terrible since he arrived and he in no way deserves to be a starter. Looking at the rest of the starters, they should be an all-star, whether as a reserve or as a starter (most should be starting if the game were played at this point in the season).

Where the fans would really fall short is the reserves, and with a long time left to go until voting closes it is more than possible to see the likes of Yi Jianlian in the starting lineup over KG for example even though he has to make up a lot of ground. Yi may be improving but 11.2 PPG and 6.2 RPG an all-star does not make. As for the western conference, TMac, Shaq, and RonRon have not been playing even close to at an all-star level. And seriously, what's up with Rondo getting no love in the east along with Derek Rose garnering more votes that BRoy!?!

Personally, I want to see the 12 most deserving guys make the team every year. There are always going to be snubs, but let that lie on the coaches and players. Last year for instance, both AI and Melo were voted in as starters, but thier Defensive Player of the Year center (yes I'm talking about Marcus Camby) was snubbed mainly because an 8 seed does not deserve 3 players on the all-star team, end of story. The popularity contest NEEDS to stop.

If the NBA is hellbent on letting fans decide things for the all-star game, let them vote for the starting 5, but AFTER the 12 man roster is set (As I said in the comments yesterday). Get the 12 best players from each conference to the game, then the week or two leading up to the game the fans get to decide who they want to start. Hell I'd be fine losing the position requirements for that. Seeing a 4 guard starting line-up would be fine by me.

If nothing is done I fear that using the number of all-star appearances as a barometer for sustained excellence is diminished, greatly. Sure most of the roster will work out fine, but it still bothers me that what market the players play in influences wether or not they get to start or even play in the game. Canzano has a great point with his column here. I have to say I agree.

David Stern, you blew the referee betteing scandal, you failed with the OKC Thunder situation, and you are failing with the all-star game. I'm sick of dealing with your blundering failures over the past few year, Mr. Stern, so fix one while you can.

I'd love to hear, based on this list, who are the biggest snubs from the all star team were it based purely on voting. Please leave a Western Conference player and an Eastern Conference player. And for the sake of discussion, BRoy just got a million votes and is voted in as a starter because Stern fears a revolution if this isn't fixed.

Poll

What should the NBA do about fan voting for the all-star games?

Keep it as is. Who cares if China votes in a bench warmer in 2020!

13 votes

Let the coaches and players choose who goes. Fans can pick the starters from there.

26 votes

Fan voting is dumber than auctioning off a senate seat even though you know your phone is tapped.

14 votes

I have a better idea of how to include the fans (please include idea in comments).

0 votes

53 votes | Poll has closed

RIP Pete Newell

CMCWizard — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:29:24 -0000

Many of you may know who Pete Newell. He was a great teacher of the game of basketball. Sadly Mr. Newell passed away Monday. I wanted to honor his memory by sharing a childhood memory of my own involving Pete. I encourage anyone else to share their memories as well.

Many of you may be aware that Pete ran a basketball camp in Portland every year back in the 90's. The camp was always well run and had a wide range of ages and skill levels participating. I went to the basketball camp when I was nine years old and had never played basketball with a men's regulation sized ball. At the time I didn't have the strength to make a shot on a 10 foot hoop with the large ball. I had massive range, pretty impressive I know. But the coaches at the camp always kept me involved in games and taught me some fundamentals, which was the staple of Pete's camp.

Halfway through the camp I was scoreless and as a result of my lack of scoring the coaches, led by Pete, offered to buy my entire team ice cream if I ever scored in an actual game. An amazing offer for a bunch of nine and ten year olds. I still remember vividly scoring a basket, my only two points of the camp, on a fast break and the whole team giddy with excitement. That afternoon Pete and company took the team out and got us all ice cream, which will be a memory that I cherish forever for the big heart that Pete showed me.

Donaghy Scandal talk: A fresh perspective

CMCWizard — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:10:57 -0000

I was procrastinating from my finals studying today when I came across a very informative piece at True Hoop. Check out the piece here. It's a bit lengthy, but I found it to be one of the best reads that I have seen in a while. Very insightful and informative. I just hope for the sake of the NBA that the bulk of the "fixing" of games isn't true. But I digress...

Dave has brought up the subject for discussion and has been a very interesting read. I wanted to take a slightly different perspective on the topic. The gambler featured in this piece made it clear that he would be very interested in an NBA job. A poster, TheVolv, made an interesting point in that a man with the vast amount of NBA knowledge would be a great asset for an NBA front office. I was also unaware that our own Blazers currently employed a notable ex-gambler for similar statistical analysis. To this I posit the question: Would the Blazers benefit from the analysis of this gentleman?

My initial reaction is this would be a great acquisition. He's knowledgeable and very successful in what he does. Would this fit with our current culture? Would this be taking badly by the media and the fans here in Portland? I'd like to see where the community stands on this idea. Should PA look into hiring this guy to improve our front office even more? One big strike against him is that he did profit from our Western Conference Finals meltdown in 2000, though isn't enough not to look into this prospect in my opinion.

Poll

Should the Blazer front office look to hire Haralabos Voulgaris to improve our statistical analysis of players and teams?

Yes

9 votes

No

9 votes

18 votes | Poll has closed