Wow... I guess we won't have to worry as much about the Warriors next year, but if Brand resigns with the Clippers than they could become a playoff threat. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3470016  

 I thought that both Davis and especially Brand were crazy not to stay with their current contracts, but I guess they both might end up getting more money.  

Go Blazers, Blazers Go, Go BLazers, Blazers Go.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I was listening to Game Night with Jason Smith last night on espn radio. He was discussing wich teams in the NBA were dead franchises. His criteria was:

~good free agents don't sign there

~they can't resign their own up and comers

~they can't be a championship caliber team for an extended period of time (3-4 years).

The western conference teams he considered dead were Seattle/OK city, Minnesota, Golden State, the Clippers, and the Blazers. He didn't elaborate on why each team was dead but he encouraged people to call in and ask if their team (regardless of sport) was dead or alive. The first caller was a guy from Portland saying he disagreed, mentioned we have some good players, and KP is great. Jason Smith answered saying we got lucky with Greg Oden and that once his contract is up he probably won't stay, and no one will sign with us if Greg isn't here.

Jason didn't mention Roy or LMA, but it made me think. Will Oden, Roy, and LMA stay when they become free agents? The Blazers will hopefully be a near elite team when that time comes and the players will relize that this is the place they have the best shot at winning.

Who of the big three is most likely to leave? Do you think all three will stay?

Knickfan's suffering is over! Isiah Thomas has been fired as coach by the Knicks!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3353483 

Isiah will still be with the team, just without an official title.

"I think Isiah remaining part of the franchise is good for the organization," Walsh said on a conference call with reporters. "I value Isiah's knowledge of the game and his opinions, so I will use him as a resource. Isiah will be reporting to me. There will be nobody reporting to Isiah."

. Who do you think the Knicks will hire? Will Larry Brown get another shot? Too bad we won't be able to pritch slap Isiah anymore, but I don't think the new president is that good either.

My favorite Isiah quote:        If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life. - Isiah Thomas
                                                                                              

 Sabonis4ever told me to make this a diary, so here it is. Just found this via Mavs Money Ball. It is Hardwood Paroxysm's blog awards. Blazersedge is nominated for a few, and there are others that you can write in for. I think this blog could bring in quite a few awards if you all vote. http://hardwoodparoxysm.blogspot.com/2008/04/nba-blogger-season-awards-2008.html
Ha! Their making fun of us on hardwoodparoxysm. Check the above link and read the update... This is the first time anything I've done has been linked to.

There has been a little bit of talk about LaMarcus being the Most Improved Player this year, and now the Blazers are pushing for the award. If he wins it, this will be the second time the Blazers have endorsed a player for an award and the player wins. Do you think things like this really affect voters?

LaMarcus


[editor's note, by scoop] NB: this diary was FUBAR until i added correct parameter quotes to the flash bits. That's precisely why we don't like to let users post fancy stuff. Please be more careful with your qutoes next time.

I just looked at the main page of ESPN and found this. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=Under23-Abbott

Zarron551 posted a diary the other day about who you would choose to build a team around. ESPN does the same thing, but they must be 23 or under. Our very own Greg Oden and Brandon Roy both appeared on some of the ballots. Check it out, some of the choices may surprise you.

This was a notice on my yahoo fantasy page this morning.
"The suspended game between Atlanta and Miami on December 19th will be completed on Saturday, March 8th. Play will resume with 51.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. In rotisserie and points leagues, stats earned during resumed play will appear in the Stat Corrections and be applied retroactively to rosters as they were set on December 19th. In head-to-head leagues, corrections are only applied to just-completed weeks and therefore stats earned during resumed play will not count for Week 8 matchups."

I find it funny that Shaq isn't on the team anymore, and he is the whole reason this is happening.

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/51160/20080228/clippers_waive_sam_cassell/

Cassel is probably going to the Celtics. Also, according to NBA.com, the Green, Von Wafer trade was good for Green. http://www.nba.com/rookies/rankings.html                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

With less than two hours to go, some deals may happen. Do you expect any trades? It looks like our good friend Bonzi might get traded: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3256599&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Bonus Poll:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

This is via truehoop and it gives huge props the the blazers. http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/2008/02/18/ranking-the-western-conference-elite-after-this-s eason-warriors-are-up-there/

I posted this in the game day thread, but I will put it here too.  http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3252746

And a interview with Roy before he got drafted.  http://sports.ign.com/articles/713/713595p1.html

After watching this years all-star weekend, I think we should award all-star status to Blazersedgers. I will post ten BE'ers with five to each team. My picks are based on a highly non-scientific formula based mostly on who stands out to me or who I look forward to reading. Without further delay, here are my 2008 Blazersedge all-stars.

The A-M squad coached by Dave.

Amlmart1: He is in his rookie year, but has already become one of my favorites to read.

Damir: We don't seem him too much outside of game threads, but he greatly contributes to the gameday thread comment's final tally.

Jorga: On a fan site, everyone is obviously a fan, but Jorga may be one of biggeset.

Jscot: I think you belong with the "big guns" that you speak of.
http://www.blazersedge.com/comments/2008/2/18/23153/9681/10#10

Mortimer: After games I look forward to read what Mortimer's thoughts were.

N-Z squad coached by Ben.

Tominhawaii: Tom's Blazer passion combined with his OT posts make him great.

SergioFTW: I bet Jarret Jack would like to have someone defend him like SergioFTW defends Sergio.

Rasta Bird: I don't think he needs an explanation.

Timbo

SupremePuntiff

Sorry to the last two, I don't have enough time to finish writing this.

Is yesterday's game day open thread, several people mentioned having a pool for where Tony Luftman went and when he will come back. I don't know about a pool, but here is a place to put down your ideas as to where he is and when he will come back (or if he won't).

I mentioned last night that he might have moved to Wisconsin because he was so cheesy. He could aslo be on a 24/7 stretching regimen (sp?) to help with his stiffness.

ESPN Radio currently has a poll up for the Dr. Jack Ramsay awards. Travis is in the running for two of them, and Nate is currently second in voting for best performance by a coach. Here is the link. Travis will have trouble with best breakthrough performance, but I think he could win Best performance by a supporting player.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=3346                            

Be sure you listen to Dave on 1080 the fan this morning at 10:25.

Register all pre, in, and post interview comments right here. Good luck Dave!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Who needs an ipod when you can have an iRoy. The Blazers, knowing that the coaches vote is the only way Roy gets into the All star game, have sent this out to all the western conference coaches. I want one.

story: http://www.katu.com/news/14022477.html

video: http://www.katu.com/news/14022477.html?video=YHI&t=a

Since today is the halfway point of the season, ESPN has some fun articles. In a poll, the Blazers are the leading vote getter for winning the NW division, and the round table experts all have high praise for the Blazers. Check it out.                                                                                                                                                                                                 Update [2008-1-22 18:21:13 by JTDuck22]: I don't think anyone else has posted this, but Dave and BE got mentioned in NBA.com's power rankings http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/

The Blazers Nuggets game is the top story on the NBA's website. http://www.nba.com/

Filler:

I had a dream the other night that I dont remeber anything about except that at the end I heard on the radio that the Blazer's were on a ! 19 ! game winning streak. Lets get one game closer tonight!                                                                                                                                                  

We knew this already, buy o-live has a short article on Vulcan Inc. shopping the naming rights for the Rose Garden.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/12/blazers_peddling_naming_rights.html

I was at the game tonight and even though we lost it was a good game. Everyone who played contributed in one way or another. Even Travis played some good defense in the first half.

Channing Fyre had a great game and I fully expect him to keep improving. The thing that killed us was our defensive rotation after three or four passes. The Nets made somewhere around 13 three's but we still left guys wide open.

 Roy had an awesome first quarter, but then we stopped giving him the ball. I know Roy likes to get his teamates involved, but when you are hot keep shooting.

At the end of the fourth, I was surprised that Nate did not go with the three guard lineup that  worked so well during our four game winning streak.  

Overall, it was a fun game but tough that we couldn't come out with the win.

Someone mentioned in last night's game thread that some Blazer Staff/ Players read the site. Could anyone tell me who and how you know?  

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ESPN The magazine has an annual Who's Next issue. This year Roy is a canidate for the cover story. Follow the link to vote for him.

http://www.espn.go.com/mag/index.html

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http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3091098

A seatle group offered to buy the soncis from Clay Bennet.

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