SB Nation User Blog: Magnum

Biggest Win of the Season?

Magnum — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:47:44 -0000

The Blazers showed some real grit and determination out on the court tonight. They didn't back down from the physical defending champs and won a close game without Brandon Roy. We started 3 rookies, played completely new lineups including what will (IMO) soon become a fan favorite: Oden and Przybilla at the same time.

The Houson win was spectacular. Beating teams like the Spurs, Hornets and Magic tell you that this team can hang with the elites, but a win like this is a playoff caliber win.

Dave has spoken about great teams shutting down our Plan A, well our plan A wasn't even in uniform tonight and we got the win. This will be a huge confidence booster. We already know Brandon Roy can take over in the 4th quarter and win games, but now everyone else on that team knows that they can win in different ways. Big props to everyone on that court tonight.

Sergio with some clutch freethrows, he went up to the line and sunk those like he's been hitting them for years.

Oden giving us back to back solid performances. And did anyone see him getting fired up out there? And laughing about the 6 men on the court call? I love seeing that emotion from him. This could be a turning point for him. Also, consider that just yesterday he rolled an ankle in practice and got x-rays. To go from maybe missing the game with yet another injury to putting up a solid stat line with GREAT effort is just amazing.

Outlaw had some really nice offensive boards. He wasn't just settling for his one dribble jumper. He attacted the rim. I can live with the occasional bad play if Travis plays with that kind of energy and if he attacks the rim like that.

Blake was dynamite on offense. He just wouldn't let us fall behind early in the game. Blake for 3!!!!!!

I know there's a lot more, but I think we all just need a place to talk about this great win.

Poll

Is this the biggest win of the season to date?

Daily Dime-Oden Returns to Action

Magnum — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:11:15 -0000

Daily Dime-Oden Returns to Action

"Oden looked better, physically, than he did a few weeks ago. I noticed that a few days ago in person, and I still feel that way after seeing him on television."

Check the bottom right of the page, number 9, for the rest.

Trail Blazers sign Webster to 4-year extension

Magnum — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:45:26 -0000

Trail Blazers sign Webster to 4-year extension

Breaking News! Stop the Presses!

Realignment of the Western Conference

Magnum — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:02:13 -0000

I found myself counting the seconds until the game tomorrow, so even though this isn't a big concern, it gave me something to do instead of stare at the clock. I hope this provides you a few minutes of distraction.

On the eve of the season I would like to point out a structural disadvantage of Portland basketball. It's basically the only thing we can complain about these days, so I thought I would do that before we starting winning. It doesn't seem like it would be that big of a deal to rearrange the divisions after the Sonics moved. So, I'd like to present 3 alternate division makeups. Please excuse my horrid "editing" of the pictures, I just wanted to include a visual aid to go along with the distance approximations I made. The distances listed are the mean of 1 way air travel between Portland, for example, and all of its division rivals.

Current:

Northwest Division:

Portland: 1128 miles

Minnesota: 892 miles

Denver: 628 miles

Utah: 700 miles

OKC: 907 miles

Div Average: 851 miles

Noteworthy: This division features the only 2 time zone difference (Pdx-Minn and Pdx-OKC) in the league.

Southwest Division:

Houston: 379 miles

San Antonio: 392 miles

New Orleans: 410 miles

Memphis: 500 miles

Dallas: 326 miles

Div. Average: 401 miles

Pacific Division:

L.A. L*kers: 267 miles

L.A. Clippers: 267 miles

Sacramento: 367 miles

Golden State: 354 miles

Phoenix: 500 miles

Div Average: 351 miles

Alternate 1:

Pacific Division:

Portland: 671 miles

L.A. L*kers: 387 miles

L.A. Clippers: 387 miles

Golden State: 328 miles

Sacramento: 326 miles

Div. average: 419 miles

Midwest Division:

Minnesota: 728 miles

Utah: 850 miles

Denver: 600 miles

OKC: 620 miles

Memphis: 800 miles

Div. Average: 719 miles

Southwest Division:

Phoenix: 1000 miles

San Antonio: 443 miles

Dallas: 438 miles

Houston: 508 miles

New Orleans: 625 miles

Div. Average: 602 miles

Alternate 2:

Northwest Division:

Portland: 660 miles

Golden State: 548 miles

Utah: 540 miles

Denver: 818 miles

Sacramento: 520 miles

Div. Average: 617 miles

Southwest Division:

L.A. L*kers: 730 miles

L.A. Clippers: 730 miles

Phoenix: 640 miles

San Antonio: 860 miles

Houston: 1061 miles

Div. Average: 804 miles

Midwest Division:

Dallas: 468 miles

OKC: 432 miles

Memphis: 487 miles

New Orleans: 594 miles

Minnesota: 817 miles

Div. Average: 560 miles

Alternate 3:

Pacific Division:

Portland: 671 miles

L.A. L*kers: 387 miles

L.A. Clippers: 387 miles

Golden State: 328 miles

Sacramento: 326 miles

Div. average: 419 miles

Midwest Division:

Phoenix: 911 miles

Denver: 530 miles

Utah: 670 miles

Minnesota: 860 miles

OKC: 750 miles

Div. Average: 744 miles

Southwest Division:

Houston: 379 miles

San Antonio: 392 miles

New Orleans: 410 miles

Memphis: 500 miles

Dallas: 326 miles

Div. Average: 401 miles

There are plenty of other things that should be considered other than just travel distance, like divison rivalries or division names that actually describe where its teams are located, but this post doesn't need to get any larger. Does Phoenix tend to get the short end of the stick? Is it even worth the trouble to rearrange the Western conference? Thoughts?

Poll

Which division arrangement do you prefer?

The current alignment

5 votes

The first alternate listed

81 votes

The second alternate listed

25 votes

The third alternate listed

37 votes

Other alignment

6 votes

No preference whatsoever

0 votes

You must have been really, really bored

3 votes

I like your mad MS paint skillz

16 votes

173 votes | Poll has closed

NBA Awards Watch

Magnum — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:02:39 -0000

NBA Awards Watch

Keeping tabs throughout the year on the MVP, Rookie of the Year, 6th man, Most Improved and Coach of the Year races.

Who's hot, who's not ... a preseason primer on the Trail Blazers

Magnum — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:03:37 -0000

Who's hot, who's not ... a preseason primer on the Trail Blazers

Quick's take on the preseason thus far. We know a lot of this already, but that's okay.

Trade Talk

Magnum — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:29:59 -0000

Trade Talk

The Portland Seven
Scroll to the bottom

John Hollinger chat from ESPN "(J in...

Magnum — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:24:46 -0000

John Hollinger chat from ESPN

"(J in Portland): blazers: over/under 50 wins?

John Hollinger: I say under, by quite a bit. Portland fans are stoked about this team's potential, and it's possible they achieve it this season ... but much more likely that this is an up-and-down type year that hints at what's to come.

Phil (PDX): Give us your prediction for top three pics for ROY this year... please.

John Hollinger: Three, and exactly three, players will be in the running -- Greg Oden, Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose. Everyone else can forget about it. Smart money is on Oden since he had a year to bulk up.

Brandon (Portland, Or): Sleeper Alert: Nicolas Batum is suprising the heck out of people in Portland with his play so far, especially after being terrible in summer league. Nate has even mentioned the possibility of him starting with Webster going down and Outlaw's effectivness with the second unit. Your thoughts on Batum and his potential? Looks like a potential future defensive stopper.

John Hollinger: This is the part where I remind people not to get all jacked up over a single preseason game. It's nice that he played well, but let's not start shoving aside rotation players just yet.

Lamar (FAROCKAWAY NY): besides the blazer name another lottery team thats gonna be alot better this year ?

John Hollinger: Minnesota might be a lot better, though they have a long way to go. If they can get into the teens in Defensive Efficiency they could be this year's Portland, because they're gonna score points. In the East, Charlotte and Indiana are my sleepers to take the last two playoff spots.

David (Portland): Your saying Rudy has no chance for ROY? Absolutly entertaining, and already knows the pro game.

John Hollinger: No chance. Won't play enough and won't play well enough when he does. He's gonna be fantastic, but don't get ahead of yourself on this one. In fact, as a calming exercise, go back and look at Manu's first-year stats.

Manu's first year stats:
02-03 SAS GP: 69 Started: 5 Min: 20.7
FG/Atts: 2.5-5.8 FG%: .438 3pts/Atts 0.7-2.1 3pt% .345 Fts/Atts 1.8-2.5 Ft% .737 Stls: 1.4 T/O: 1.4 Rebs: 2.4 Assists: 2.0 Pts: 7.6

Jake - Redondo Beach: John - how do you envision Rudy Fernandez fitting into Portland's rotation?

John Hollinger: I'll guess 15-20 minutes a night, toward the lower end at first and then increasing as the year goes on, subbing in for Roy and then periodically playing together with him in the backcourt when Roy moves to point, or at the 3 when Nate goes small.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=22977

OT: Fantasy Basketball League(s)

Magnum — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:52:58 -0000

I wasn't around these parts last year, but word is that some fantasy basketball leagues were put together. Well, the regular season approaches, so it seems like a good time to see how much interest there is this year. Outlaw is Rejector made a fanshot about this yesterday, but it doesn't seem to be garnering much attention. So, naturally, it needs to be made into a fanpost.

Kersey Lives has a Yahoo league with some open spots, this is the information included in the fanshot I already spoke of.

"47332

League name: BlazersRivals

Password: lasucks

We have some guys in there already from the CR league, but open to all Edgers."

I would like to create an ESPN league, because I'm selfish and that's what I'm accustomed to, but I want to see what kind of interest there is before I make a league. And I want to know what sort of league people would be interested in and if more than 10 teams is preferred, et cetera.

Update:

The league has been created. There are 8 spots left. E-mail me at the following address and I'll send you an invite.

xcrunningfool@hotmail.com

Updated: Five observations: Blazers sharing the ball and playing D

Magnum — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:23:05 -0000

Updated: Five observations: Blazers sharing the ball and playing D

Adande with another piece on the Blazers.