Magnum

I really like their new logo. It's far, far, better than the bland awfulness of the Thunder.

The article is an insider piece, but it's mostly about the Houston-OKC trade and its impacts on their win totals. A table at the bottom lists all the predicted W-L records. What do you think about a bottom 5 finish? Are the increased odds of landing the #1 draft pick worth the price? Bottom 5 Bobcats: 16 wins Magic: 17 wins Suns: 24 wins Blazers: 27 wins Pistons: 27 wins Next 4: Hornets: 30 wins Kings: 31 wins Raptors: 33 wins Cavs: 34 wins

I consider Nate's distance 3rd place finish to be a slap in the face instead of a compliment. I know we tend to criticize Nate a lot here at Blazers' Edge, but to get our MASH unit to 50 wins is more impressive then riding the rise of a young, talented team. And it makes you wonder why Nate didn't win last year.

"The Memphis Grizzlies already have stated they have no intention of re-signing the 27-year-old, who had to serve a 10-game drug suspension before being allowed to play last season, and it already was clear Memphis' main motive in signing him was to affect the Blazers' cap flexibility -- in part to keep them from being the type of under-the-cap trade facilitator the Grizzlies and Clippers were last season."

"team doctor Tom Clanton examined Yao's foot in Houston on Wednesday and said the injury has not responded to the treatment program." This is not encouraging news for the Rockets.

"So how do you beat them? For all the matchup problems they create, you can't make them pay on the other end UNLESS you have a center to handle Howard and a big forward who can torch Lewis on one end and defend him on the other. " This is from Bill Simmons' latest mailbag and it strikes me that the Blazers have exactly what a team needs to take down the Magic. I think the results of the season series support that claim. We have Aldridge who is good enough on offense to torch Lewis and big/quick enough on defense to bother him. Then we have the double headed monster at center to throw at Howard, plus 6 more fouls brought to you by Channing Frye. If only we had made the finals.....

Hollinger uses his playoff odds formula to determine the most likely matchups in the East and West playoff races. Who are the Blazers most likely to draw in the first round? The Hornets.

As the title suggests, there is a TON of Blazer related goodness in today's chat with John Hollinger.

"An interesting note courtesy of the Blazers' PR ace Jim Taylor: The last time a team came back from 18 or more down to win back-to-back games was Feb. 25, 2006, when the Mavs pulled it off. The fact that Portland did it on the road makes it even more impressive, and it's why the Blazers suddenly find themselves in position to snag a top-three seed and avoid the Lakers' side of the playoff bracket. The Blazers certainly are peaking at the right time. Their 105.3 Power Ranking is now comfortably in fifth, and they're even showing a pulse on the road now. With a win in their season finale against the hapless Clips they'll be at a respectable 20-21 for the season. Combine that with the fact they're likely to hold home-court advantage in the first round (Wednesday night's win was enormous in that respect, since it handed the Spurs a loss and won them the tiebreaker), and their prospects suddenly look much better for a lengthy playoff run." "Another reason to like the Blazers: It sure seems like Greg Oden is getting comfortable with his role coming off the bench. On Wednesday night he had 8 points and 10 boards on 4-of-5 shooting, though his one miss was an embarrassing one (he failed to get the ball over the rim on a dunk attempt). Oden's season PER is now 18.03, which is pretty darn good for a rookie that everyone's falling all over themselves to call a disappointment. He's averaging 16.2 points and 12.9 boards per 40 minutes, shooting 56.3 percent from the floor, and leads the NBA in Offensive Rebound Rate. The jury's still out as to whether he'll be a franchise center, or if he'll prove to be a better player than Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, but for a rookie coming off microfracture surgery you could do a lot worse than this." Edit: Another gem from today's post: "I'm very interested in seeing Friday night's Lakers-Blazers game, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it has obvious seeding implications for the Western Conference playoffs -- Portland will have a great shot at the No. 3 seed in the West if it can beat L.A. tonight. Second, it's the first time these teams have played since Trevor Ariza took out Rudy Fernandez, so it should make for a heated environment inside the Rose Garden tonight. But most of all, I want to see this matchup because I'm increasingly thinking that the Blazers are the one team who can make L.A. sweat in the postseason. Denver hasn't matched up with the Lakers well the past two seasons, and some of the other teams we expected to contend haven't quite lived up to expectations. But the Blazers have played reasonably well against the Lakers in recent matchups, are healthy entering the postseason, and have the strongest Power Ranking of any Western Conference foe. We may be getting a preview of the conference finals tonight, and if not, we're getting a look at what could be a very competitive and testy second-round fight." http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiemInsider-090410

via Truehoop

A collection of links of Rudy put together in honor of his Slam Dunk contest appearance. Bonus: Not just basketball highlights