SB Nation User Blog: EngineerScotty

Brandon Roy Unhappy?

EngineerScotty — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:41:14 -0000

Dwight says that Ben says that Quick says that Brandon Roy... is unhappy.

Why?

Not sure. Whether Roy has said he's unhappy or not, or Quick is speculating such, I dunno. Quick made the comment on the radio, Ben tweeted about it (but hasn't posted here), and Dwight put the story up on his blog.

Possibilities:

* Brandon isn't really all that unhappy, and this is another "Iavaroni to become Blazers coach" story.

* Brandon doesn't like his dinners with Andre

* Brandon doesn't like the idea of being turned into Rip Hamilton.

* Brandon is upset about the team's slowish start

* Brandon is ticked with Nate.

* Brandon, now with his contract, has realized money doesn't buy happiness

* Brandon is upset that Congress hasn't passed a healthcare bill yet.

What's really true? Who knows.

Poll: How hot is Nate's seat?

EngineerScotty — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:33:11 -0000

The Blazers are 2-3, and lots of heat is falling on dear old Coach Nate--who has had his critics in town for years, but until recently hasn't provided them with any REAL ammunition. (Complaints about mishandling guys like Telfair or Sergio nonwithstanding--what have these guys done since leaving the Blazers, after all?) We've had at least one player (Miller) call McMillan out during the pre-season, albeit over a personal roster issue, and the team isn't meshing.

The justification Nate's defenders use--"this is a young team, he's teaching them the game"--is becoming less available, as the only rookies on the roster don't get any PT (2 of them being injured), and the team appears to now be well-scouted. 29 other coaches have the book on how to beat the Blazers, and the Blazers haven't yet adjusted.

So.... how hot is Nate's seat?

Poll

The Blazers are 2-3 and have looked baaad. How hot is Nate's seat right now?

Not Quite Open Thread, PDX vs Atlanta

EngineerScotty — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:27:21 -0000

Since the open thread ain't up yet... here is a Not Quite Open thread; a thread which is, while not officially open for business, more than happy to make a quick cup of coffee for loyal customers while the grease in the deep-fryer warms up. As always, no pictures, no cussin', etc.

Hopefuly Ben and Dave will get the real open thread up soon.

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and all that.

Dwight vs Ben, on televised preseason games

EngineerScotty — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:38:01 -0000

While not naming any names, this morning's Dwight Jaynes column takes to task certain elements of Blazer fandom who have been complaining about the preseason games not being on TV. Dwight goes into Yorkshireman mode (you all remember the Yorkshireman skit on Monty Python, where a bunch of old Yorkies try to do outdo each other with "in my day..." stories), reminiscing about the bad old days when there was nothing to watch but Yankees and Notre Dame on the boob tube, and you were lucky to get twenty Blazer games a year. Us kids, apparently, don't know how good we have it (although this kid remembers the days of Tommy Heinsohn covering the Celtics for CBS, and drooling over everything anyone in green ever did...)

Point taken. And of course, putting on a game costs MONEY--not only do you gotta pay the talent, but you gotta pay the TV production crew--a lot of folks for a slick production like a Blazer game. Even though Blazers preseason is more popular than the regular-season games in say, Atlanta, chances are that a televisied preseason game won't draw anybody but hardcore fans. That would be us, of course--but for the Blazers to make $$$ of the games, they need people to watch who AREN'T hardcore fans; and the casual fans ain't gonna waste their time with games that don't count.

Which brings me to my humble suggestions for the future. (Next preseason, perhaps--it may be too late to do this this year).

1) Put on a "low budget" production. No Mikes, no HD, no slick graphics or stats, just a camera or two pointed at the court.

Or...

2) Permit video streaming from the game. I'm sure it happens already, with people doing it from their cellphones, but provide the infracture (a higher-BW connection) and permit proper videocameras into the building, so we've got something better to look at then cell phone video. You won't make money, but you won't lose money.

#2 probably won't happen, even if the Blazers were game--I'm sure the NBA league office would put a stop to it. But it wouldn't hurt to try...

Poll

What do you think of no televised preseason games?

It ticks me off. I want practice televised in HD!

150 votes

It annoys me, but I can live with it. We still got Wheels on the radio.

120 votes

Who cares--it's preseason!

22 votes

What are you all whining about? I'm with Dwight--quit being so dang greedy. You all got it good, quit biting the hand.

19 votes

I hate television. True fans go to games, watching on TV is for suckers.

3 votes

314 votes | Poll has closed

Could Paul Allen be having financial problems? Plus, a guess as to what's up with the Brandon re-signing

EngineerScotty — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:52:30 -0000

Greetings from Anaheim!

Have taken the kiddos down to Disneyland--rest assured; we flew into John Wayne Airport and have spent the entire time in Orange County--we have not ventured near that wretched hive of scum and villany a half-hour north on I-5. But with all the strange news coming out of One Center Court, I'm wondering--could Paul Allen be having more serious money problems than generally known? The Vulcans are very secretive about Allen's wallet; but it is always ominious when you start to notice them.

Obviously, I hope not... and the fact that the Blazers are making offers to free agents is probably a good sign... but things are starting to sound like Tightwad Paul is making an appearance. (As opposed to Drunken Sailor Paul, who spent millions to buy draft picks). Last time we saw an appearance by Tightwad Paul, the team was already in the toilet; and Allen simply was acting like the Blazers were a headache he no longer wanted to deal with. Then something changed his mind--and in three years, things are looking good.

But this year, we've seen Tightwad Paul make a few appearances--despite the fact that the team is winning, we've got a franchise player, and the Rose Garden sells out every night.

Excessive huffiness concerning Darius Miles; to the extent that cheesed the entire league. We've always assumed it was about the cap space, but...
Not exploiting the RLEC. Official line is no decent deal was available--and not many trades occurred the trade deadline. But...
Recent comments from Tod Lieweke. (Given that the Rose Garden sells out every night, I'm curious what Lieweke thinks ought be done...)
The Brandon Roy business. Many assume a deal will be done, and the Blazers are just being thorough. But...
And even the pursuit of Hedo and Millsap. The following is tinfoil-hat territory; but what if the Blazers KNEW Hedo was going to Toronto, and let themselves be played to a) raise the price for the Raptors, and b) make it look like they were attempting to improve? Exiting tinfoil-hat territory, pretty much everyone expects the Jazz to match the Millsap offer sheet.

The followup to the "But..." questions above, is this:

But... what if it's really about the money?

It's long been assumed that Allen's finances are safe, that his hoard of cash is bigger and deeper than anyone else's. Several NBA owners, however, have been hit hard by the economic downturn--Robert $arver in Phoenix, for instance, who made (and has since lost) a fortune in real estate. Allen isn't in real estate; but there's nowhere you can put a gazillion dollars that hasn't been afffected by the downturn. The Blazers are a money-losing operation, even with the RG selling out; happiness in Blazerdom requires Paul to write checks to support the team. And what if that money is less freely flowing?

Regarding the Brandon Roy negotiatons. Everyone wonders what the big deal is--even if Brandon's deal is only four years, if he stays with Portland after that, he's gonna get paid well, right?

Maybe not. I think there's a reason that the Blazers might be fighting so hard about that last year, and it's not pretty.

Everyone expects a lockout when the current CBA expires, and everyone expects the league to use the downturn to try and put the screws to players. Existing contracts would survive (KG, for example, still has a prior-CBA contract which pays him more than he could earn under current rules, IIRC); but any subsequent contracts would be under the new CBA.

Without this consideration, a four-year deal would probably be more advantageous to Brandon; he could then enter UFA one year earlier--locking him up would be better for the Blazers.

Somewhat OT: Journal/Blogger Showdown--Canzano vs Bojack

EngineerScotty — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:12:26 -0000

It looks like a bit of a war o' words is brewing between two well-known and controversial icons in Portland journalistic/blogging circles--John Canzano of The Oregonian, who we all know (and perhaps some of us love), and Lewis and Clark law professor and well-known online commentator of the local political scene, Jack Bogdanski, or "bojack" as he is better known. Bojack last attracted attention of bedgers when during the playoffs, he called for Nate McMillan's head--that said, sports is not his forte. The subject of this little battle royale--Merritt Paulson, and the various proposals to move the Beavs out of PGE Park to make way for the MLS Timbers.

More after the Jump.

I trust that most BEdgers are familiar with John Canzano. For those of you not familiar with Bojack, he is a right-leaning blogger (more of the libertarian bent than the fundamentalist Christian variety), and a frequent critic of the City of Portland and its relationships with developers in such. In short--he's of the opinion that most public projects undertaken by the City and the Portland Development Commission are wastes of money, and frequently are rewards to certain favored developers for political patronage. He has little use for public funding of sports--including Paul Allen--and has had some pretty harsh words for Timbers/Beavers owner Merritt Paulsen, and the proposal on the table to relocate the Beavers to Lents Park or the MC or wherever, so PGE Park can be made into a full-time football/soccer stadium. He views the whole thing as a giant boondoggle, and essentially accuses Paulsen of shaking down the city and its taxpayers, aided and abetted by the City Council.

About a month ago, Bogdanski posted a screenshot of Merritt Paulson's Facebook "Friends" list, showing Portland mayor Sam Adams among his "friends" (a term which can mean anything on Facebook). The page in question is publicly accessible (or at least it was at the time), and Bojack has since blacked out the face of Paulson's daughter in his profile picture. Bogdanski didn't say anything in the posting other than "no surprise here"--but the implication seems clear: The whole deal is corrupt, Adams and Paulson are not dealing at arms length, etc. Yours truly noted in the comments that another "friend" of Paulson was--John Canzano.

Cue this morning's column in the Big O--one month after the fact--Canzano comes out swinging and rips Bojack a new one or two. Not by name, of course--Canzano gets paid for his words, so he's not gonna dignify a blogger like Bogdanski by actually mentioning his name in print, no sir--but anyone familiar with the situation knows exactly who he is talking about. Canzano protests that the Facebook posting was a gross invasion of privacy, and also refers to Bogdanski as a "bitter local blogger" for his practice of referring to Paulsen as "Little Lord Paulson". Apparently Pauslon has been accosted in restaurants by angry residents who think he's trying to screw the city over. And indeed, part of Bojack's schtick is riling up the Jim Goad demographic in town--lower-middle-class (and often politically conservative) Portlanders who want the city to focus on things like crime and schools and other basic civic necessities, and view the City's frequent focus on transit projects, urban renewal in trendy neighborhoods, and yes--investment in things like pro sports--as a fleecing by a cabal of yuppies and other wealthy elites, at their expense. In what looks like an obvious attempt to damp down those sentiments, Canzano played his familiar "just plain folks" card, describing the Paulson's is if they were a middle-class family, not folks with an eight-figure net wealth, headed by the son of the former treasury secretary.

Bojack, naturally, hit back today in his blog. Flaming Canzano for his style is kinda like shooting ducks in a barrel--OTOH, Bogdanski didn't really say anything he hasn't said before.

Ahh, fun times.

Poll

Who do you got in this little pillowfight?

Canzano

8 votes

Bojack

9 votes

Paulson

5 votes

A pox on all their houses

14 votes

Who cares? I don't care about MLS or AAA baseball, and I don't live in the City of Portland anyway.

13 votes

49 votes | Poll has closed

Tyrus Thomas available?

EngineerScotty — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:23:43 -0000

According to Alan Hahn of Newsday, the Bulls are shopping Tygger--and might offer him cheap to anyone willing to take Kirk Hinrich off their hands.

The rumor, as stated, seems to think that the Knicks have a shot at Thomas. But assuming he could get along with Nate and stay out of trouble--he'd be sweet on the Blazers bench. We haven't had a havoc-wreaking non-center since Ruben left--and I'm sure we could tolerate Captain Kirk's contract. (If the Knicks were to acquire Hinrich--I would be POd if I were Chris Duhon).

OTOH, I suspect this rumor is, like most rumors, silly.

Hat tip to the Blogfather.

Poll

Would you want Tyrus Thomas on the Blazers?

Yes! He's a game changing defender

33 votes

Maybe! He's on rookie scale still, so we could get rid of him if it doesn't work out.

111 votes

No. He's a Bad Character Dude, and Canzano would write lots (more) stories about sick children were TT to come to town.

43 votes

187 votes | Poll has closed

The Lesson of the GEICO Caveman

EngineerScotty — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:36:43 -0000

It's been a good week for the GEICO Caveman, known to some as Pau Gasol. (Bonus points: Can you tell them apart?)

Not only was he named to the 3rd-Team All NBA, put his 21 points and 18 boards, and total domination of Luis Scola in game 7, helped the Lakers finally put down the pesky Rockets. Gasol was also an All-Star this year.

Not bad for a guy who for many years, had the "potential" monkey on his back. His time in Memphis--where his Grizzlies got swept a couple of times in the playoffs, he missed a season after being injured in international competition, and his heart was routinely questioned after he signed a max deal in 2004 but failed to lead the Grizzlies to the promised land--is important to consider and understand.

Why?

Some of the criticisms against Gasol--a guy who is now an eight-year veteran of the league--are frequently leveled against OUR current power forward. Not tough enough. Doesn't play D. Second-rate player--good enough to be a starter but not a star. Disappears. Obviously, some of the complaints don't apply to LMA, as he hasn't (yet) signed a max deal--but some do.

Which is kinda funny when you consider that LaMarcus generally does very well head-to-head against el cavernícola.

So what is the difference between Gasol now--and Gasol a few years ago?

* Experience

* Better teammates.

LMA today has better teammates than Gasol ever enjoyed while on the Mississippi. But experience is the big separator between the two. Talent? I doubt it--I expect Aldridge to surpass Gasol in a couple years.

But it is important to draw lessons from the career of Pau Gasol--it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the Spaniard.

Basketball, after all, isn't something which is so easy that even a caveman can do it.

The True Trouble with Travis

EngineerScotty — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:36:02 -0000

Over on the main page, the subject of today's player review is a bit of a controversial fellow--one Travis Outlaw. The posting on the main page is full of discussion of basketball trivia--points, rebounds, PER, BBIQ, and for some, the only statistic that matters--#25. We won't talk about any of that boring stuff in the sidebar.

For you see, the reason that Travis isn't the complete player we all would love to see--Kevin Durant with the ball, Rodman on the blocks, Artest on D, and Chris Dudley off the court--doesn't have anything to do with statistics. Or those intangible intangibles, like heart, toughness, or chutzpah.

No, the True Trouble with Travis is--his nickname sucks.

Look at the Blazers LaMarcus is the L-Train (we won't print his other nickname)--a nickname that conveys power, strength, and speed--and evokes memories of one of the league's all-time greats, Artis Gilmore.

Joel is the Vanilla Gorilla. No, not this gorilla---

This one.

as Prz swats down enemy shots like King Kong swats down airplanes.

Nicolas Batum doesn't need a nicname; just say BA-TUUUUUUUM! and everyone in the room knows who you are talking about. But I still like Sir Nicolas, even though others think I've lost my head.

Brandon Roy is, of course, the Natural.

While suggesting transcendent greatness, which is the epitome of Roy, that nickname troubles me somewhat--ain't it a movie about a jock who died? If I were Bill Simmons, I'd interject with three paragraphs about bawling my head off while watching Brian's Song, but I'm not, so I won't. Needless to say, we don't want them to make a movie called Brandon's Song. Ever.

Steve Blake doesn't really have a nickname (besides silly racial taunts like "snowflake"), but he doesn't even look like a basketball player. He looks like he should be lead vocalist for an emo band, singing songs about how nobody respects him and he has to constantly prove himself to the world. But still--after Maryland won the NCAA title way back when, who would have predicted that Blake and not Juan Dixon would have been the guy who lasted the longest in the NBA?

Turning to the bench: Greg Oden's name IS a nickname. Oden is one vowel different from Odin, the Norse god of war. Also called Wotan, this almighty diety has a day of the week--Wednesday--named after him.

Channing Frye has an apt nickname--the Buffet of Goodness. A contradiction in terms--buffets usually have stale food that isn't the right temperature--it nonetheless captures the essence that is Channing Would-You-Like-Fryes-With-That.

Sergio and Rudy are jointly known by the nickname The Spanish Armada. Why they like this name, I'm not sure--we all know what happened to the real Armada:

I prefer the nickname "Spanish Inquisition" myself--a name nobody expects--but it isn't up to me.

Jerryd Bayless is, of course, Rex. Between the intense moods and the too-short-to-brush-my-own-teeth arms, has there ever been a more appropriate nickname bestowed upon a rookie?

Even the scrubs have cool nicknames. Raef LaFrentz, who didn't play a minute, was nonetheless known as the RLEC, or simply as The Contract.

In the business sense, kind of boring--but if you view the phrase "Expiring Contract" through a Sopranos lens, it takes on a whole new meaning.

Michael Ruffin is another guy who needs no nickname, though a certain bird which rhymes with his last name seems kind of appropriate.

And Shavlik Randolph evokes memories of Rocky, even the only thing the two of them have in common is being white guys from Philly who say stupid things. (And Rocky has an excuse; a Dook grad like Shavlik oughtta know better).

Even Nate has a cool nickname.

Somehow I can picture Nate getting into Channing's face, lecturing him on the subject of golf balls and garden hoses--but I digress.

But what about Travis? His nickname, of course, is Trout.

What sort of nickname is that? Trouts are inoffensive fish which are tasty when rolled in cornmeal and deep-fried.

I know Travis likes to fish and all, and its a cute little pun on his name--but come ON! If we're gonna name a guy after a fish, at least call him Barracuda or something like that.

You can eat a trout--but a barracuda will eat you, given the chance. See the difference? Plus with barracuda, the choice of theme song becomes obvious. Dunh-da-da Dunh-da-da Dunh-da-da Dunh-da-da Dunh! DUNH! DUNH! DUNH!

While the name "barracuda" is my humble suggestion, the choice is ultimately up to you, BEdgers. A new nickname is certain to raise Outlaw's PER by a few points, so it's time to get creative, people!

Kevin Pritchard is counting on you.

5/14: Please Junk this Flag Drawer

EngineerScotty — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:20:47 -0000

Last time I posted a JD, nobody bothered to write. Of course, it was spring break or thereabouts, but still... now its the off-season, and we don't have any basketball to discuss until November. Preseason--OK, September. Summer league? OK, OK... August. Free agency? July, I got you. The draft? The NBA Finals?

Damn. Writing about this sport is hard work. No wonder those lazy sportswriters prefer to cover the NFL draft over the NBA playoffs...

As a Suggested Topic for this JD, we can propose designs for a new semi-un-official Blazers Edge Flag, that bedgers can proudly fly from the roofs of their Subarus. Or we can just do the usual, and include as many witty pop-cultural references as possible--and still not have enough for a Bill Simmons column.

My wife is now demanding I go to bed--something about having to take the kids to school in the morning.

Poll

Does Blazers Edge need a semi-un-official flag?

Yes. A banner would demonstrate our esprit d corpse, or however you spell it.

19 votes

No. That's a stupid idea. If you design a flag I will burn it to ashes.

8 votes

Flag.

14 votes

Rec.

2 votes

Salute.

15 votes

58 votes | Poll has closed