The stats of our last four years---

The blazers starting out 12-6 have proven themselves a major competitor in the playoffs and future champions. At the rate the team has improved I wouldn't be surprised if next season we got to the finals. We have improved in almost all fields from the 05-06 season. The changes have been dramatic to go three years and go from the bottom to the top.

The biggest change that is a combination of the improvements our team has had is points per game: 

The stats of the last three years:

The reason for our one less shot per game is mainly because we are putting away games and do not need to take shots near the end of games.

As you can see the team has improved in many fields. As a team the Blazers have improved 11.1% from the 05'-06' season with all of these stats averaged. 

And yes I say next year for the championship (I am an optimist) 

First things first there will be no trades until maybe after the all-star break. I cannot believe what I have been hearing from some of our fans about guys like Travis or Sergio. They may not be perfect, but I am pretty sure B-Roy is not 100% from the field (though it does seem like now every one of his shots goes down). Nate has created a great chemistry right now with this young team, and he as well as Prichard know that a change could knock the Blazers off balance. So lets slow down on all of the trade propositions and focus on the present team not the future team. If we are always looking to the future we cant enjoy the success we are having now. 

With that out of the way I think that this team has hit a sweet spot. After the win today, the team can finally relax and get some of the pressure off of their shoulders. They will still be working hard and showing up everyday but we don't play as well when we have a lot of pressure to win on the road after a loss. Our style and passion for playing will get us wins on the road. Especially with Martell coming back soon, Batum and Travis will be fighting for playing time and this gives motivation on the road. The team does have one of the biggest weaknesses ever and that is the ability for opponents to come back. You all probably remember this from last year and it has happened a few times this year like the first Suns game. Todays game was another example after leading by 13 close to the end of the first, we dropped our guard and let the Pistons to take momentum. This weakness will show itself near the end of the season when every game is fought for every point by every team. Luckily we have had 3 games experience of large victories. At the beginning of the season I thought just about every game would end up like the Rockets game where it is tied with 13 seconds left. Luckily the Blazers have proved me wrong.

The Major advantage we have is our youth. This may seem bad at a first glance, but once the season is 60 games old the youth of our team will shine bright. Many teams like the Suns with Nash and Shaq will be burnt out, but the Blazers will play every game with the intensity of a playoff game. We will make some rookie mistakes some of the time, but that is why B-Roy is in the game, to get the team to focus and not make stupid mistakes. Rudy also provides the veteran knowledge when he helps Sergio during the game slow down and prevent a turnover. I see him all of the time telling Sergio to slow down and then Sergio would make a great pass and find the open man.   

The last advantage we have that many teams don't is chemistry. Our team is young enough that the players don't care about personal gain like taking any shot they can, but they move the ball so that the man who can hit the shot gets the ball. I see this a lot in Steve. He may get a pass at the 3 point line with a little room on the defender, but he will push it to either Travis or Rudy over taking the shot, but if no one is open he has the confidence to make it. Our guys make the pass because they believe in each other. Other teams like Denver rarely give up the ball if they are slightly open.

In the end the Blazers have many advantages over many teams, now Nate's objective is to keep the team together. Once all of the players are united we will be very difficult to stop. 

Lets go out and vote for our all-stars. Starting two days ago the polls have opened for the all-star roster. If this community can all vote one time each day we may be able to get Roy in there, I doubt Aldridge and Oden but hey try. Its at this web address: 

http://www.nba.com/allstar2009/asb/eng/landing.jsp?cid=127

You can vote once a day and everyone needs to vote so rec this so everyone can read it. 

Thanks,

Mike

To start off I am officially erasing the L*kers game from my memory. That game was too emotional with starting the year on ESPN against the best team in the League, but I digress. The other 7 games show a positive sign. Throughout the season the blazers have found different ways to win games. One of the most important is shot volume. Before this year the blazers averaged shooting less shots than their opponents. Things have changed this year with the following stats you can see that this could be a promising year when we start to get hot:

Attempted shots in a game:   

                   Portland                      Opponent    

SA-                 82                                68

Suns-             81                                69  (Loss but still ability we lost because of                                                                                     rebounds)

Jazz-              73                                74 

Rockets-        89                                78

Timb.-            73                                 84 (One of the few that we did not compete                                                                                   because we didn't need to, to win)

Orlando-        80                                 71

Miami-           78                                  72

With this look it seems that we are competing hard. We do well when it comes to scrapping because our young guys have the drive to win for the team. The other look at our energy on the court is seen in the rebounds we have a game:

                             Portland                         Opponents

SA-                          37                                        31

Suns-                      28                                        36 (Don't expect much with Shaq and                                                                                             Amar'e in the paint)

Jazz-                      35                                         38 (We did lose that one)

Rockets-                48                                         36

Timb.-                     45                                         38

Orlando-                34                                         44 (You know Dwight killed in that game)

Miami-                    40                                         35

For one last look at how we can scrap, check the stats for steals:

                     Portland                 Opponent 

 SA-                11                                  1 (Thats right 11 to 1)

Suns-              7                                    7 (Nice against a veteran team like the Suns)

Jazz-               8                                    7

Rockets-         2                                    6 

Timb.-              4                                    4

Orlando-         9                                    3 

Miami-            8                                     7

The talent of our young team has shown to be a force against other teams. We can show up night in and night out with consistency. Heres another stat that is interesting that could be seen as positive or negative. 

         Portland has given up an average of 54.5 percent on their first three games (excluding the l*ker game), the next four games that we won the opponent averaged 45 percent. Slowly the Blazers are getting on defense and getting to the boards, especially with Batum starting (Nice choice NATE!). 

I see great opportunity with playoffs capable. 

Hey everybody, I am working on booking the new sports bar, The Agency, for an away game. The Agency is located right next to PGE Park so it is easily accessed by the MAX. The night will most likely be November 30, the game at Detroit, but I am open for any other dates. I contacted Ben about the event, and hopefully he can be there. If you want to reserve a spot just comment and I will mark you down.

Thanks, 

Mike

I know a lot of people that are buying tickets left and right, and I want to see what the turnout will be from long term fans at Blazers edge. I myself can only go to five, but in those five I am going to the opener, the Celtics game, Golden State, Utah Jazz, and the Laker game in March. I cant wait for the Celtics game because I got 100 level tickets.  

- Mike C. 

I feel that this preseason has been quite successful. The experimentation by Nate has shown that the team is stronger than I even thought. 

Tonight the Blazers broke out with a huge depth chart. With Bayless able to play at the intensity he did in the Summer league and Joel slamming the boards as he did last year, the Blazers have a cushion for Sergio or Greg. The game brought out the intensity that Joel still has even though he is now in the second unit. 

The earlier games mostly show the same message, the Blazers are streaky. I have not seen the constancy that I can see with veteran teams like the Lakers. None the less the blazers play better than they play worse. The first loss against GS did not reflect a true loss because Roy did not play, and all prospects did play. They shot 37% so the Blazers where not doing well at that time, but they did have 22 assists and 50 rebounds. This shows that the fundamental game was solid, they just need the veterans to help pick them up.

The Jazz game was a legitimate loss because they gave it all they had. The problem was the Blazers did not play with confidence. Their shots were no different than Utah's at 46% but they got hammer at Rebounds and FREE THROWS. I talked about this in my last post and I have to bring it up again. The Blazers had 63% in that game, even though that is not horrible, compared to Utah's 92 percent it looks quite bad. The other problem they had was their fundamentals. The Blazers had 28 rebounds and 19 assists. Utah had 47 rebounds and 27 assists. This cannot happen if they want to beat strong teams like Utah. Greg has to become more comfortable with muscling guys like Boozer. The Blazers must show confidence if they want to get to the post season. 

To give you some perspective on the necessity of what Greg needs to do, here are the stats of the games the Blazers won:

Kings Opener-  Portland had 47 Reb. 

Hawks- Portland had 42 Reb. 

Kings- Portland had 41 Reb. 

Clippers- Portland had 42 Reb. 

The Loss (that counted):

Utah- Portland had 27 Reb. 

This season will prove to be one of the most exciting for the Portland Blazers. With a new dominant inside game, they will be able to control the boards. Hopefully with a focus on free throws the Blazers will be over 70 percent at all times. Tonight they were a measly 46% from the Free throw line. The Blazers do have an advantage to just about any other team in the NBA because all of our players can be as good as anyone. Depth will be a key issue this year because the team is so young, and hopefully the Blazers will come out on top and prepare for a post season.

There is a lot of talk about how the Blazers will be in the playoffs. I am a huge fan and think this way myself, and what I am seeing is pointing to that direction. Last year I can say that our biggest problem was scoring inside the paint and getting rebounds. We now have Greg Oden, but the misconception that some have is that he is sort of a second year. Sure he has seen the NBA for a year, but I could watch the NBA all my life and I would still suck at basketball. He is a brute and will be one of the best centers in the league, but this will not come overnight. I may be wrong because so far in the preseason, I have not seen him match up with a powerhouse center like Dwight or KG. 

The second best addition is Rudy. He is a phenomena because he has a lot of experience without being in the NBA. I see a possible rookie of the year in the making. The thing that Rudy brings to the table is excitement. Have you ever been to a blazer game and not held your breath when James Jones shoots a three, or when Travis goes 1 on 1 for the end of the game bucket? Rudy will take on this position with his own threes and flashy lobs to a high flying Sergio or Travis. Last year if you remember, Travis and Brandon brought fire to the team, but now that Brandon and Travis have so many expectations, Brandon being an all star, the fans expect the best. The dynamic duo will be Sergio and Rudy this year. Whenever anyone has an off day they will bring that intensity.

In the end we cant win them all, and one problem I see are free throws. Last year we got rid of our best free throw shooters on the team, the 2 JJ's. At 86 and 87 percent the next best is Lamarcus at 76 percent. Hopefully over the summer Nate focused more on free throws, but it is still a big weakness. 

I hope to see you guys (ladies too) at the games and see our blazers, the youngest team in the NBA if you are counting players who get minutes (Raef boosts us to a tenth of a year off of GS), can get to the post-season. 

-Mike C.