OK, OK I came on here tonight to write up a snarky post about how annoying it is that we chant Chalupa Chalupa Chalupa with more zeal and gusto than we have ever cheered for Aldridge. I mean just think about it, Nic Batum puts together two great games in a row, his name rains down from the rafters, GW refuses to sign an extension, from all reports a pretty solid offer, and his name rains down from the rafters. It is not that I do not think the others deserve the recognition, but Aldridge just NEVER has gotten that kind of love from Blazer fans.

So with that in mind I log on here to find AN ENTIRE POST ABOUT TRADING LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE. Really?

Aldridge:

• IS the highest scoring Power Forward on a team with a winning record and 2nd highest amongst all Power Forwards.
• IS one of only two players averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds or higher.
• Has a PER of 24.05 matching Roy's high for a season.
• IS the only Blazer that seems to show up on the road for the Blazers.
• Has carried this team as Roy's career came to a disastrous end last season.
• Always performed consistently either as second fiddle to Roy or as the leader of the team.
• Has answered his critics about his lack of interior toughness.
• Has one awesome game after another.
• Is not injury prone.
• Is getting better even yet.
• Is going to be an All-Star this season and for many to come.
• Should have been an All-Star last season.
• Is great fun to watch play.
• Is a potent inside and outside threat.
• Is one of the most graceful bigs in the modern game.

And yet we can not show him any real love in the arena AND all we want to do is talk about trading him? Are you kidding me?

I know LaMarcus Aldridridge is a name that is just too hard to chant. Nevermind the fact that it really is not that hard to chant, but, there is a perfect simple alternative none-the-less..

We do that Chalupa chant with much gusto. How about we just change it from Chalupa to La Marc Us and leave it at that.

So I propose that instead of hating on the guy by trying to figure out how to get rid of him why don't we figure out how to show this GREAT player some love. A good LA MARC US chant is long over due.

Let me be up front here, I have long feared how Roy-Centric this team was. It was great when we were rebuilding the franchise. He earned that huge contract. But the ultimate danger has come to fruition. We now have a Roy that will not be anywhere near 100% night in night out.

Other teams have made such arrangements work with players as talented as Roy, but those teams were often dominated with veterans that had developed their own identity as players. That has never happened with key members of the roster of the Blazers. Most of the key people on offense came up in a system of Roy dominated ball. It does not mean that they are not talented in and of themselves, they are, it just means they defer to him when he is on the floor. That is a big big problem if Roy is not near 100% most nights.

Aldridge becomes a pick and pop outlet guy (this even happened last season when Roy returned to an unsettling extent given Aldridge's overall performance last season) and Batum floats to a corner hoping for a pass. They are basically programmed to defer to Roy when he is on the court, heck McMillan brought them all up as professional ball players with that very mindset.

Personally, I always felt this approach left way to much of the other players talents to waste away, but Roy was good enough to make up for a lot of that wasted talent on most nights. Now, with Roy either needing to play limited minutes or missing lots of games due to tweaks and so forth, I am just not certain how the team can grow in this situation.

I know Roy does have a reputation for adapting to his injuries, but this team does not have a history of changing its behavior when Roy is on the floor. They have proven capable without him, but totally dependent on him when he is on the floor, even if he is only going at only 70 or 80%. Now a 70 or 80% Roy is better than a vast majority of the league, he would be an asset to many a team, but not as a player that everyone else simply defers to on the court.

Unfortunately, that is what happens on this team. Could that change? Possibly, but nothing I have seen gives me a reasonable hope of that.

There are of course practical reasons from a business perspective as well. If Roy ends up only being able to play 50 games a season or less then we are paying a guy $17 million a year, basically an un-tradable contract, it will be a weight around this teams shoulders for the next 4 seasons, the team will not be able to grow or develop with a part-time Roy.

I also happen to believe that amnestying Roy is the best thing FOR Roy. Given his salary here the team might be tempted to push him too much and burn him up by the end of this season or possibly the next and Roy will be forced to retire by injury. The more likely scenario, knowing Roy's character, is that he will feel he has to push himself that much more while he is here and end up with the same result. If he is playing for another team at a more reasonable contract that will reflect his physical ability to be on the court he does not face that particular risk. He will be able to play with greater longevity while still getting the money he is due for what he has done for the Blazers.

I appreciate everything Roy has done for this franchise. I really do, I just don't think keeping him on makes much sense for the Blazers or for him.

Well, with a little time separating us from the season I thought I would take a little time to recount some of my favorite moments from the season, you know the ones that really stuck with me as a relatively new soccer fan. These are sequenced in order of my preference, and are subject to my personal memory at the time. Looking back, wathing tons of video, I would sequence them differently if i were picking best plays (nagbe's goal would top it off for certain, some of Perkins Goal work would outclass the Gleeson save), that is not what this is though!

10. I don't have video of it, and it is not a good memory, but one I will not forget anytime soon. Jeff Larentowicz taunting the Timbers Army after their goal to secure their victory at Jeld-Wen. That bum with the ball up his shirt, I am not readily going to forget that moment and I certainly hope the Army has something special in store for him on his next visit to Portland for sure.

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I had the good fortune to take the trip to Seattle yesterday. Man, what a blast. I recommend that you join the Timbers Army and go on these road trips. We killed the keg by the rest stop in Centralia on the Lompoc Brewery bus. Thanks for the Kick Axe Lompoc guys!

From Flounder pinnate, to singing "We Are Timbers Army" as we entered Qwest Field to watching dissappointed and angry Seattle fans walk off with a draw on their home field, it was all great fun. Look for TA members that were on the Lompoc bus in an upcoming adidas ad as there was a director there shooting ofr the commercial set. It is a new light bright blue shoe.

I must say the rain probably quieted us down a little bit, but not much.

Here is some video from the tunnel entering Qwest Field, this will pump any Timbers Fan UP!!!:

Continue reading this post »

Quick disclaimer, please make sure to read all the way to the bottom of this post if you are looking for some interesting data, I open with some general opinion I have about our series with the Mavs, but make sure to check the numbers out, they are fascinating and, well, some are a bit surprising.

One thing has dominated the talk here on Mavs Money Ball and here on Blazer's Edge on 3 games out of 5 in this series. We were piqued in game one by the 19 - 2 free throw discrepancy in the 4th quarter. Mavs fans were apoplectic when we got 23 attempts to their 10 in game 4. And now game 5 we bemoan the huge imbalance in the first half and then we got muscled in the second half, even though we gained ground in calls at that point, going from 1 attempt in the first half to 19 for the game.

I do believe that officiating influences the outcomes of games. I do agree that officiating in the NBA is inconsistent at best and downright bad/unfair at times. That said, I do believe how teams respond to those issues reveal how they are likely to fair deep into the playoffs (or if they are destined for an early exit).

The Trailblazers do not respond well to bad calls in general. In tonight's game for example, after Roy was shoved to the ground Nate drew a technical, but that was the wrong move, Dallas smelled our annoyance and simply got more physical. Nate drawing a technical in the first might have helped sway te officials approach to the game with half time to cool down, but really that guy got pissed and gave us no calls even as Dallas got rougher with us.

What would likely have been more effective would have been a good hard foul on Dirk, one that put him on the ground possibly. Not necessarily anything flagrant, but a good dose of body to go along with a hard swipe across the arms as he went up for a shot. Instead we just got more and more tentative with him. Remember what happened to Blake after Andre torpedoed him, next play he dribbled the ball out of bounds and the rest of the game he was far less effective than he was. I am not saying do what Andre did, but, at the same time really go after their star player, get in their heads.

OK, OK on to the numbers I promised. I calculated the total points scored, total free throws attempted and the total made across all series and fond some interesting things. First I will post the by series numbers (organized by fewest free throw attempts per game) followed with a general summation of all the series to combined. Afterward I wll make some observations.

Foul Data by Series

Dallas 3 - Portland 2 (surprise surprise there have been fewer foul shots per game (41.4) than any other series)

Dallas Numbers

• 457 Points Scored 
• 103 Free Throws Made
• 111 Free Throws Attempted
• 92.8% Free Throw Percentage
• 22.5% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

Portland Numbers

• 433 Points Scored 
• 84 Free Throws Made
• 96 Free Throws Attempted
• 87.5% Free Throw Percentage
• 19.4% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

Comparisons

7.6 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a 7.8 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made.

 

Boston 4 - New York 0 (These guys averaged 43.5 attempts per game)

Boston Numbers

• 397 Points Scored 
• 57 Free Throws Made
• 75 Free Throws Attempted
• 76.0% Free Throw Percentage
• 14.4% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

New York Numbers

• 363 Points Scored 
• 74 Free Throws Made
• 99 Free Throws Attempted
• 74.7% Free Throw Percentage
• 20.4% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made 

Comparisons

8.5 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a -4.25 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can not be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made.

Miami 3 - Philadelphia 1 (47.25 attempts per game)

Miami Numbers

• 373 Points Scored 
• 95 Free Throws Made
• 119 Free Throws Attempted
• 79.8% Free Throw Percentage
• 25.5% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

Philadelphia Numbers

• 342 Points Scored 
• 52 Free Throws Made
• 70 Free Throws Attempted
• 74.3% Free Throw Percentage
• 15.2% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made 

Comparisons

 

9.75 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a 9.25 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made.

Orlando 1 - Atlanta 3 (50.25 Free throws per game)

Orlando Numbers

• 350 Points Scored 
• 83 Free Throws Made
• 116 Free Throws Attempted
• 71.6% Free Throw Percentage
• 23.7% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

Atlanta Numbers

• 361 Points Scored 
• 58 Free Throws Made
• 85 Free Throws Attempted
• 68.2% Free Throw Percentage
• 16.1% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made 

Comparisons

 

5.75 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a 2.75 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can not be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made. The Numbers are skewed quite a bit since in Orlando's win the had 18 more free throw makes than did Atlanta while the remainder of the games were between -2 and 4 for the winner.

Chicago 3 - Indiana 1 (53.25 free throws per game)

Chicago Numbers

• 372 Points Scored 
• 95 Free Throws Made
• 117 Free Throws Attempted
• 81.2% Free Throw Percentage
• 25.5% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

Indiana Numbers

• 362 Points Scored 
• 70 Free Throws Made
• 96 Free Throws Attempted
• 72.9% Free Throw Percentage
• 19.3% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made 

Comparisons

5 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a 7.75 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made. One huge caveat here, Indiana could well be ahead in this series if they hit there free throws at a similar percentage as the Bulls have ( at the least tied instead of down 1-3).

Los Angeles 2 - New Orleans 2

Los Angeles Numbers

• 375 Points Scored 
• 82 Free Throws Made
• 109 Free Throws Attempted
• 75.2% Free Throw Percentage
• 21.9% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

New Orleans Numbers

• 366 Points Scored 
• 84 Free Throws Made
• 116 Free Throws Attempted
• 70.9% Free Throw Percentage
• 23.0% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made 

Comparisons

 

9.25 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a -1.5 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can not be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made.

San Antonio 1 - Memphis 3

San Antonio Numbers

• 365 Points Scored 
• 93 Free Throws Made
• 125 Free Throws Attempted
• 74.4% Free Throw Percentage
• 25.5% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

 

Memphis Numbers

• 383 Points Scored 
• 73 Free Throws Made
• 103 Free Throws Attempted
• 70.9% Free Throw Percentage
• 19.1% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made 

Comparisons

 

7.5 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a -1 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can not be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made.

Oklahoma City 3 - Denver 1 (check this out 75.25 free throw makes per game between these two teams)

Oklahoma City Numbers

• 411 Points Scored 
• 103 Free Throws Made
• 130 Free Throws Attempted
• 79.2% Free Throw Percentage
• 25.1% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

Denver Numbers

• 390 Points Scored 
• 110 Free Throws Made
• 159 Free Throws Attempted
• 69.2% Free Throw Percentage
• 28.2% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made 

Comparisons

 

6.75 Points per Game has been the average margin of victory with a 1.75 point Free Throw Advantage favoring the winner of each game on average. So it can not be argued in this series that the average margin of victory has been supplied in the difference in free throws made. Wow, if Denver would hit its free throws this series would be flipped on its head for sure.

Some Overall Data

Overall Playoff Numbers

• 6100 Points Scored 
• 1316 Free Throws Made
• 1726 Free Throws Attempted
• 76.2% Free Throw Percentage
• 21.6% of Points Scored were Free Throws Made

Some Other Interesting Numbers for all 33 playoff games to date

• Winning teams enjoy a +2.97 Free Throw Makes Per Game
• Winning Teams also enjoy +2.97 Free Throw Attempts per Game
• The Higher Seed has an advantage of +3.21 Free Throws Made
• The Higher Seed is only averaging +2.36 more Attempts per game
• The Home Court team has an advantage of +3.21 Free Throws Made as well
• The Home Court Team however averages +3.45 attempts per game.

To Sum It All Up

While I tend to agree officiating does affect the outcomes of games, however, in general it does not have the power we attribute to it. The number one thing that jumps out at me is the following fact: 

The ONLY team to advance to the 2nd round so far is the team that lost the free throw battle in 3 of their 4 victories. That team is Boston. They do not let foul discrepancies stand in their way, and in fact this fact will definitely make me reconsider their prospects for making the Finals this year.

The other thing that jumps out at me is that in two cases it is clear that if the team trailing in the series just shot a better percentage they would be either tied or winning their series. The biggest surprises for me was that 5 series did not really support the idea that foul attempts in a game made the difference. In fact the team with fewer attempts are ahead in 3 series.

The data does show definite influence of the free throw line, unfortunately our series being one of them where it is a big factor.

And while the higher seed enjoys an advantage it is negligible in th grand scheme of things. Of course the home court team has an advantage as well. Nothing surprising in either event. My actual problem with both of these facts is it is my guess that the league looks at these aggregate numbers and says "I don't have any idea what the fans are whining about, these advantages are negligible". While everything seems to average out, that does not mean that there is not a problem with NBA officiating.

Alright, what an amazing victory yesterday. The emotional swing from tied up in knots anger by the end of the 3rd to pure to sheer joy by the closing buzzer. I was brimming with energy even after the Timbers gave up 2 goals in about the first 30 seconds of their match against the Galaxy.

I am still overjoyed at what I witnessed at the Rose Garden yesterday. Roy was his phenomenal old self. Other guys stepped up their defense (I still think Rudy deserves more credit than Dave is giving him, he was pressuring the guards so well in the back court Dallas was sending two guys into the back court to screen him off). Matthews forcing Kidd's turnover, an exhausted Aldridge taking on Chandler and Nowitski. It was a fantastic finish. Wow.

Now that I have slept on it my amazement and joy still abound, however, my mind is turning towards tomorrow night. I think we have this series in our sights. Dallas' history means that this is going to get into their heads no doubt. Read the end of their game day thread over at Mavs money Ball, that is their assessment too.

 My guess is they are going to come out extremely extremely physical tomorrow night. What do we do?

It seems to me that we are facing a quandary here. We have largely left Roy ISO ball well behind us, the team's offense has not run that way for the better part of 5 or 6 months now, until the 4th quarter yesterday that is.

Do we revert back to Roy ball? Enticing, but we have seen how it can be difficult for us in the last two playoff series.

Do we continue to do what we have been doing? It did not appear to work at all for the first 3 quarters yesterday.

Do we try to strike a balance? I imagine this is the best course, but what does that mean?

What lineups?

What happens when they actually double Roy in game 5?

Will anybody else be able to step up (aside from Aldridge getting his 18) getting that pass late in the clock time and again?

I don't know the answers here, what do you all think?

This may well be the first controversy facing the Timbers as an MLS side.

As pointed out in the broadcast yesterday it's not the hugest of problems to face Spencer as a first time coach of a first year squad, but a decision will need to be made as Troy Perkins comes back from injury.

I know it's early and the easy thing to do is to give the starting role back to the veteran player. But, Jake Gleeson has shown some real skill in the goal keepers box. The first goal scored on him last week was near unstoppable, a picture prefect strike by Toronto, not much any keeper could have done with that ball. The following week, his first start, the only goal comes off of a failed clearance of a fixed set. If your defenders do not clear the ball after two attempts off a fixtures chances are your goalie is going to be left exposed.

On the flip side, Gleeson made the MLS save of the week in his first outing and likely has a contender for the same honor this week. That is no small accomplishment, particularly for such a young keeper.

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I have gotta say we are likely some of the luckiest fans in the NBA in terms of how the product is produced for our viewing benefit on the TV machine. I know over the last week or two there has been a lot of debate on the Mike & Mike Duo in terms of the on air talent (I fall firmly into the love them camp, as somebody put it, Mike Rice will say just about anything and Mike Barret is able to keep him from getting fired by reeling him in quickly and subtly). But they are not the only thing that matters in a good high quality broadcast.

I had the opportunity/misfortune to watch the original broadcast of the Spurs-Blazers game from last Friday from the Spurs feed as I was back in Ohio hoing to a doctors appointment with my mother. My brother has NBA TV and he taped the wrong feed. I watched the game with my nephews and they got bored out of their mind (I did too a bit) and one of them is an NBA fan for sure. The announcers were dry, the camera work and set ups bad, the sound was sketchy (low crowd noise, high volume on music and sound system background. And, while I was pumped by the phenomenal finish of that game, the comeback, the turnovers by the Spurs, the steals by the Blazers, the amazing last second shot just everything that happened in the last minute, you barely got a sense of the drama unfolding from there announcers.

I am not saying these guys should have been overjoyed by what was happening, their team just went through an uncharcteristic collapse to close that game out, but there was no sense of drama from the turnovers and little more than an impressed acknowledgement of the final play and crowd noise. We all saw the Mike and Mike feed and that was amazing coverage (except for the do you believe in miracles line from Rice, but that was almost endearing Rice anyway)That is a comparison of the announcers by and large. What about the other things.

First off our camera crews rock, they get out on the court and follow a key player around moving the huddle, you know capture some flavor of the game at these moments. The most I noticed from the spurs guys was shots of the cheerleaders, but nothing interesting there. I mean those shots on court of the post game celebration really added something to the enjoyment of the close of that game.

Then the game action cameras seem to be a little closer to the audience for the Blazers, gives you almost a sense of being there. They must set them lower than other brodcast teams or something. The Spurs feed looked almost sanitized in comparison, I think it is higher up.

Finally, our truck team is awesome. They queue up replays faster than their competition by far. They have more angles available more quickly than you can believe when watching another outfit at work. Their stuff is national broadcast quality for sure. I suppose that is the main difference between the Blazers and their direct other team counterparts, Blazer Broadcasting is set up to compete with the national crews at ESPN or TNT, the other team productions just do not stand up to the production level at all.

We as Blazer fans are lucky to have such a strong broadcast team top to bottom.

I just finished watching the Concafa Champions League match between the Crew and Real Salt Lake and noticed what I think the number one problem will be for an American audience. Believe it or not it is not 0-0 games. It will be the clock rules.

The match was an entertaining one by and large, particularly the first half when the Crew got some nice opportunities that they just missed converting. The second half was not as well executed but featured 3 red cards, so there was plenty of intensity.

So what was the problem for an American audience?

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For real!

The Blazers are the hottest team in the NBA at a 6 game winning streak.

LaMonster Allstaridge has come to the fore in a way that even his most ardent supporters would not have envisioned at the beginning of the season.

The team went from 9th to 5th in 2 weeks time.

Camby will be coming back from injury soon shoring up the one glaring problem area this team has had on this run in February.

They are playing a winning AND entertaining brand of ball.

We are coming off one of the most enjoyable game atmospheres of a night in the Rose Garden probably since the Lakers game two seasons ago.

I come on to BlazersEdge to soak in some Blazer Joy to be greeted by 5 fanposts about trading all the people putting on one heck of a show for us, a front page story on how the GM wants to blow this thing up and build a roster like they have done in OKC, a team that has not won anything.

We are working on or 130th straight sellout or something.

The players we have in the rotation all seem to be good guys, producing winning basketball to boot.

All of this great stuff and all anybody is interested in talking about is how we can get rid of these guys? For what? Nothing we do this season is going to change our prospects of winning a title.

I just don't get it. What the heck do you people want!!!

A Title? Well that would be great, sure, but Titles are rare rare commodities. What is it 7 teams have won it in the last 20 years or so right (i am pulling this out of my butt, it likely is not the precise number). As I noted before there is nothing we are likely to get in Trade that will give us a better chance this season, at least int erms of the key rotation, heavy minute guys.

Are there some moves that might be sensible, I am not opposed to making a move to shore up our back-up center position, althoguh Joel did display some more of his old moves on the defensive end last night.

Fundamentally, this trade deadline has Blazer fans focused on business when we are in the middle of an amazing run of great basketball chock full of amazing performances. Instead of enjoying the moment this dang trade deadline has us all wrapped up in a world where everything is unsatisfactory, nobody is good enough, no one is safe.

To heck with that, let us enjoy the moment people! We have a great team here, that works hard and wins games for us. Lets step back and actually appreciate what we have instead of pining away at things that are unobtainable. Besides, if the front office blows this thing up I can tell you they will blow up my season ticket renewal along with it.

See, that thought sucks, even I am getting distracted from enjoying the moment.

Now how about LaMonsters dunk to open the 2nd half last night? Or Miller's fake time out lay up, or that beautiful teardrop put in by Patty, or Rudy saving that ball in the last minute to sew up the victory, or would someone tell me how Chris Paul did not get ejected from that game?

How about the Lakers game next week? Is LaMonster gonna be able to beast Gasol and Bynum? Dnever? How long will the win streak last? Anyone willing to lay odds on what it will take to catch OKC and get that 4 seed?

It is heartening to see a post about strategizing to get LaMarcus Aldridge some All-Star votes as well as management working the coaches to get him into the All-Star game. Frankly, he has been a beast this season. While I love the idea of Aldridge getting that All-Star recognition, it is just a bit of a stretch this season for reasons discussed in the other two threads on the topic.

What this post is about is how do we in the Rose Garden better show our appreciation for the work put in by Aldridge. I have long maintained Blazer fans tend to undervalue his production. Being called soft in a roy dominated offense where the pick and pop was the best use Roy could routinely find for Aldridge. His critics always hounded on him despite the fact that he was limited by the presence of Roy, and was told repeatedly that this was Roy's team and on and on and on.

Now LaMarcus has silenced his critics on this front, he has transformed his game into a dominating post presence in ways that are just plain fun to watch. He has been playing great this season (aside from some early shooting woes as a result of totalling changing his style of play, but even then he was playing hard).

Don't get me wrong on my next point, because I love these guys, but it sort of bothers me a bit that the Rose Garden has not shown him the love like they have some other players. I have had season tickets for the last two seasons, and have witnessed many players receive lots of love from the in arena crowd.

Just thinking about that Marcus Camby chant still sends chills down my spine. There was a Wesley Matthews chant a few games back, Rudy's name is chanted often. Sean marks got massively appreciateive roars for his work even. I have never heard LaMarcus recieve that honor from a Rose Garden crowd. I sort of feel for Aldridge here. He produces far more consistently than these others and he has had home games that far outshine any of the games (a 36 and 12 night a few weeks back for example) these others have turned in when their chants get going.

I did hear a few folks chanting MVP when he was at the foul line in the last home game around section 314, but other than that not much else.

There have been a lot more signs showing up and that is good, but these guys don't really get a chance to read them much.

I got to wondering why no LaMarcus chant has ever arisen in the Rose Garden. Do we take him for granted? Or is it something else?

I have a theory.
His name just is not that chantable. The three syllable first name just creates problems for mass chanting. Also he is known by so many different monikers. The L-Train, LMA, LA, LaMarcus Aldridge amongst a few others. maybe people have a hard time settling on what to even begin chanting. I

I know many of us Bedgers are season ticket holders so I thought I would post this here and get ideas from all of you on how we can really show LaMarcus the love his play has been earing out there on the court.

A few Ideas.

• The last couple of games, after every time he makes a big play and they run that L-Train sound I have been gooing "Woo - Woooo" like a train whistle. It is actually kind of fun. It would be awesome if we could get the entire crowd to join in.
• LaMarc-us Al-dridge - just like the Marcus Camby chant, just sort of slam the Lamarc together.
• We love LA - but the beat LA chant is so much fun.
• Sort of a spin off from idea number 1 - The crowd chant L-Train - Woo-Woo (like a train whistle).
• A variant on the above - All Aboard - Woo Woo
• The crowd chant Chug a Chug a Choo Choo bang bang Choo-Choo.
• Everybody say "I think I can, I think i can" repeatedly.
• I am riding to the rim on the L-A -Train (set to Crazy Train).

Those are just a few of the things I have come up with off the top of my head.

All I know is LaMarcus deserves some crowd love in a big way this season, All-Star or not, laMarcus has been a beast out there for us!

First off, great game LMA. I hope to see more of that.

There were many commendable things about tonights performance given where the Blazers have been so far this season. There is a reason we lost this game

The first half of this game had the feeling of a little more than half the games so far this season with one important difference. The Blazers were missing easy shots all the time (as usual), the difference, they were being aggressive none the less. Typically when they start missing like they were tonight they have been real passive and tentative. That did not happen tonight, and while their struggles continued none the less and despite going into halftime they came out with a better mindset to finish strong in the second half.

The beginning of the second half Portland still had not put anything together really. Kidd hit a 3 pointer at the 7:39 mark closing a 12 - 7 run opening the first 4:21 of the 2nd half. Things were not looking good.

Then the switch flipped.

Let's look at some play by play

First Matthews drives the rack for a nice high layup off the glass at about 7:25. (15 point game)

Then Miller drives the lane and dishes a pass to Aldridge under the hoop who draws the hard foul at the 7:00 mark and makes 1 of 2. (14 point game)

Miller the grabs a defensive board on the other end after a Dallas miss and pushes the ball down the floor and hits a trailing Matthews for an assist on an open 3 at the 6:37 mark. (11 point game)

Camby grabs the rebound on the other end after Matthews pressures the Dallas 3 point shooter into a miss. Camby gets the ball to Miller who pushes it up court quickly. Miller passes out to Matthews who passes back to Miller. Miller pitches it into Aldridge and Aldridge draws the foul on Nowitski and makes 1 of 2 at the 6:01 mark. (10 point game)

Nowitski misses a 3 Aldridge gets the board passes to Roy who delivers the ball to a fast breaking Matthews for an easy layup at the 5:39 mark. (8 point game)

Terry misses a 3 pointer rebounded by Aldridge. They get the ball to Miller who then drives the ball wide to the baseline, hits Roy in the lane who in turn makes a fantastic touch pass to Aldridge for a slam dunk cutting from the opposite side at the 5:05 mark. (6 point game)

Caron Butler makes a nice cut to the hoop for a 2 point basket. (8 point lead)

Aldridge and Nowitski trade misses. Roy rebounds and passes out to Miller who drives in and then fades for an 11 foot jumper at the 4:00 mark. (6 point lead)

Butler answers with a driving layup on the other end.

3:23 left in the 3rd Miller goes to the bench, game over. from the 7:25 mark to the 3:23 mark we outscored Dallas 13 to 4.

Some analysis

In the prior 4:00 minutes of the Blazers converted on 6 of 7 possessions. 5 of the six makes were keyed by Miller in one fashion or another (everybody else was playing well together as well). Why bench the guy? Why?

In that 4:00 minute stretch we outscored Dallas 13 - 4. Miller was keying the offense during that stretch. Not only did he go to the bench, but he sat there for 9:10 seconds. We were scoring on Dallas 3 points for every 1 they scored over that stretch and then for the next 9 minutes we traded baskets with them (we did score 1 more point than they did over that 9:10 stretch, but 3 to 1 is better than 1 to 1 scoring by far).

To make matters worse the next guy to the bench (aside from Camby whose impact was negligible tonight, particularly during this stretch) was Matthews who had scored more than 1/3rd of Portland's 29 points in the 3rd period (Matthews had 11 in the 3rd).

To put this another way, during that 4:00 minute stretch keyed by Miller's play we scored 3.25 points per minute. The next 9 minutes we scored 2.22 points per minute. Dallas did not get better from the floor during that subsequent 9 minute stretch, we got worse with Andre on the bench. (we scored 20 points to their 19 over that 9 minute stretch). The first 4 minutes after Dre's return to the game we averaged 3 points per minute as well).

I am sorry but that is horrible coaching. i do not have any idea what game Nate was watching, but when you are outscoring your opponent 3 to 1 why bench the guy keying that offense? Why? And then to leave him there for 9 freaking minutes? It is just insane. Once Miller re-entered the game we tied it up within the next 4 minutes (12 -5 run) with Miller getting 2 points and 3 assists over that stretch.

Miller did have those two costly turnovers with just over a minute to play, but there is no doubt in my mind benching Miller for 9 minutes in the second half was a horrible horrible move.

That is where we lost this game.

Some Additional analysis.

It took the Blazers 16 minutes and 40 seconds of game time to go from 17 down to a tie game. Miller was on the floor for only 7 minutes and 30 seconds of that stretch. While Miller was on the floor the Blazers outscored Dallas 25 to 9. While he was on the bench we went 20 to 19.

The 7 minutes 30 seconds while Andre was running the offense during that comeback we averaged 3.33 points per minute, while he was out we scored 2.18 points per minute.

You know what, we spend a lot of time raking this team over the coals, dissecting every little utterance, shrug of the shoulders, missed shot and so on. We pour over their stats, share anecdotes, rail against poor performance and praise the tiniest detail constantly.

I thought it would be fun to turn the microscope on us. Give a chance for Blazersedgers to take that look in the mirror. How do we do that you ask? Let me tell you how:

• I have collected data on all of the Fan Posts that have been made since opening day this season.
• I have tracked the topics of all posts broken down into categories.

• Analysis
  Coverage Commentary
  Fan Experience
  Game Commentary
  General Questions
  Injury Related (Training Medical Staff or Injury woes in general)
  Linked Story
  Officiating
  Player Commentary
  Team Commentary
  The Game (NBA General Commentary)
  Trade Related

• I am not counting Junk Drawer's
• Total counts on comments per topic
• I have rated team and player commentaries as neutral, negative or positive in nature
• Number of recs per post type
  

With that, let's take a look at ourselves in the mirror Bedgers

Overall Fan Post Stats

There have been 72 Fan Posts made in the first 11 days (before raptor Tipoff).

There have been 2276 comments made on all Fan Posts with a total of 291 recs.

By Fan Post Types

• Analysis - 2 Posts - 33 Comments - 23 recs - 16.5 average comments per post - 11.5 average recs per post
• Coverage Commentary - 4 posts - 108 comments - 10 recs - 27 average comments per post - 2.5 average recs per post
• Fan Experience - 2 posts - 47 comments - 17 recs - 23.5 average comments per post - 8.5 recs per post
• Game Commentary - 10 posts - 228 comments - 107 recs - 22.8 average comments per post - 10.7 average recs per post.
• General Questions - 7 posts - 126 comments - 0 recs - 18 average comments per post - 0 average recs per post
• Injury Related - 2 posts - 52 comments - 1 rec - 26 average comments per post - .5 average recs per post
• Linked Stories - 2 posts - 42 comments - 0 recs - 26 comments per post - 0 recs per post
• Officiating - 2 posts - 67 comments - 6 recs - 33.5 comments per post - 3 recs per post
• Player Commentary - 20 posts - 984 comments - 114 recs - 49.2 comments per post - 5.7 recs per post - 10 positive - 8 Negative - 2 Neutral
• Team Commentary - 9 Posts - 194 comments - 7 recs - 21.6 comments per post - .8 recs per post - 5 Positive - 3 neutral - 0 negative
• The Game - 3 posts - 48 comments - 2 recs - 16 comments per post - .7 per post
• Trade Related - 9 posts - 347 comments - 4 recs - 38.6 comments per post - .4 recs per post

So what do have

Judging by the stats Bedgers clearly prefer talking about the players more than anything else at 49.2 comments per post. That is closely followed by trade related talk (a lot of folks believing the grass is greener on the other side of the fence I suppose) and then, of all things, officiating (granted, there are fewer of those posts but still).

Analysis is very well respected on Bedge leading the charge with 11.5 recs per post. Timbo's View Posts make Game Commentary the second most respected post type at 10.5 recs and Fan Experience posts come in 3rd (although a small sample size PDXBuckeye's excellent writing and insightful commentary really pulled through in this category, he truly is an amazing man, well you know the rest...).

The Positive and Negative

There are some surprising stats here. Everyone seems fairly happy with the team with no negative posts on that front, and while most of the Player Commentary posts were positive there were many many negative posts. More negative posts than games played in fact.

Oden actually lead the way in positive posts with 3 (I think we are all trying to conjure up the power of positive thinking here) followed by Mathews and Fernandez with 2 positive mentions. Aldridge, Camby, Johnson and Oberto registered the other positive commentaries (if you are keeping track, Matthews and Johnson shared props in one post). The two Neutral posts (straight commentary, no opinion) were registered about Roy and Camby.

Now onto the negative posts. I started doing this whole project because I thought people were really bashing Aldridge pretty hard. That may be the case in the content of the comments but the 2 negative Aldridge posts do not lead the way in the most bashed player category. Brandon Roy earns the honors of most bashed player per fan post, and it isn't even close. 4 Roy bashing posts (against 6 games played) doubles up Aldridge and no one else registered more than one negative post. The others receiving negative posts were Fernandez, Camby (surprisingly) and, also surprisingly, Marks (not even here a day and he was getting bagged on, we are a surly bunch really).

To Wrap Up

I don't know if anyone will find this post interesting or not but hey, there you go. The things I found most telling include:

1. People like critiquing the players more than the team.
2. Roy love might be at an all time low at the moment, the question is has he bottomed out or does he have further to fall yet.
3. Fernandez gets more love than bashing, will that hold out if he misses a few more games?
4. People really enjoy Timbo's posts.

What are your thoughts?

But that just means it is half full as well. I like a vast majority of Blazer fans are super amped for the return of the regular season. I am bursting at the seams with excitement to be honest. Opening night at the R ose Garden bothered me a little though.

The atmosphere was tense most of the night, until we broke it open to end the game. The anxiety was palpable, thus the crowd noise was sort of flat most of the game.  It was sort of an anxious pessimism. I ask myself why?

Opening night should be a celebration of the return of our team to our playing floor. Sure, the games outcome was an unknown until late in the game and that contributed to a certain level of anxiety, but it was just weird.

3 seasons ago the place rocked every night, there was nothing but joy in the house.

Last season there was a major shift, a lot of anxiety, a lot of nerves, the season didn't start that way, but it certainly ended that way. Watching players go down to injury night after night had its effect on that dynamic I am sure. I could not even watch a game at home without feeling that anxiety. I mean, I was back in Ohio watching a Cavs game with my nephew over the holidays when Ilgauskas fell to the floor and I said, "oh man, that doesn't look good". My nephew was like "relax Uncle Donny, we aren't watching a Blazers game." Sure enough Z popped right back up and continued to play...

So yeah, it was a rough ride last season, it is understandable that fans were on edge a lot during home games last year.

But why has that carried over to this season?

Here are my thoughts:

Last Year's Injury Riddled Season Has Had An Effect

The injury ride we took last year has had a carry over effect. Much like Greg needs to learn to trust his knee again in order to hit playing speed we need to "get over it" and go to the game with joy in our hearts. Leave that nugget of dread in the back of or mind behind. Live in the moment at these games, stop dreading what could happen, but focus on what IS happening. 2-0 baby!

Attachment Leads To Misery

Attachment leads to misery. Like most in Western cultures we tend to laugh off this part of Buddhist philosophy, but really it is true. There are a lot of us fretting about the Bayless trade, as if this is a clear indication we are treading a path to darkness as a result. Blake is a Laker, Marty is a Timberwolf and Outlaw is a Net.

All of those moves do suck on a certain level. We all know how likable a team we have, but really, this is nothing but providing these guys opportunities that just were not available to them on our roster anyway. It is good for them individually, it does not mean it is bad for our team or that somehow the decision makers are evil in this case. It is our attachment that leads to this bleak outlook for some.

I miss Marty's frenetic up and down play, I miss Blakes drop dead three, I miss Outlaw's off kilter off balance no no no YES! shots, and I miss B-Rex's strut after a drive make. All of these things are sad in a way, but that is behind us, do not let the attachment to them make you miserable, let that attachment to them make you root for their future endeavors. Live in the moment.

This Guy Or That Guy Is/Isn't...

Continue reading this post »

I am knocking on wood as I type this, but, assuming Greg returns to the starting lineup sometime in December and our injury situation this season is more run of the mill for an NBA team, I was wondering who everybody thinks will be 6th man of the year.

I am going to limit this to guys that I happen to think will see court time this season.

Here are the choices:

Marcus Camby - The former Defensive player of the year, the man who inspired the Mar-cus Cam-by chant, the venerable vet.

Dante Cunningham - The inferno, instant energy, intensity unleashed.

Rudy Fernandez - The man with flair, 3-point marksman, mr. fancy pass.

Armon Johnson - The dark horse rookie.

Wesley Matthews - The new guy, focused competitor, better than expected offense from a reported defensive specialist.

Joel Przybilla - Mr. attitude, grind it out, duke it out, lunch bucket dude.

Just typing in those names is enough to get me super psyched for the season. This is our bench people! Lord we are going to be good.

Make your vote and post why you picked them in the comments!

GO BLAZERS BEAT THEM ALL!!!!

OK, I know, I am viewed as a huge detractor for Jerryd Bayless on this site. It was never that I thought JBay was a bad player. I just do not think he is or ever will be a point guard.

That said, he was just another lovable kind of guy. Gritty, determined, hardworking,  fun and fast. He will do well alongside a guy like Paul that is for sure. He will finally get a truly great opportunity prove himself by playing to his strengths rather than trying to develop his weaknesses.

I will miss the strut, the scream, the face. I will even miss the headlong barreling down the court from time to time, even though he did not keep his head up to see his wide open team mates.

Much like our last 3 players traded, Marty, Steve and Trout, your trade was the prudent move, not a problem of chemistry or effort, but one of need or fit.

Good luck Bayless, I really think this will be a much better opportunity for you.

Thank you JBay!

Actually sat in my season seats tonight, it was great to see the old crew still in my area! Looking forward to the season. If only we could play Golden State 82 times, I mean who needs a center.

What can I say about the game in general. The Blazers looked g ood, real good tonight. Of course it IS preseason and it WAS against the Warriors so I am taking all of it with a grain of salt. Before I get down to a few player observations there were some things I really enjoyed about tonight's game.

1. Roy lead a fast break and it wasn't one of those where all 5 warrior players were on the baseline, there were plenty of defenders back.

2. Help from the weak side on defense was consistent and mostly effective.

3. The crowd is ready for the regular season to start. I am pumped I know that, aren't you?

Now onto some player observations.

LaMarcus Aldridge - I usually would start these things with our allstar Brandon Roy, even when there is not much to say, but LaMarcus did some things tonight that are, well, the things his detractors say he needs to do to get better. He did them with varying degrees of success, but the outcome was nothing but positive almost every time.

1. Dribble drive. He is faster than most 4s his size. I, like many others, have long held if Aldridge would drive the hoop more he would begin to make that move to all star status. Lord knows he has the athleticism. Well he did it on 3 ocassions that I recall and he had another brilliant cut to the hoop without the ball. Two resulted in dunks and the other two hard fouls that he converted into 4 points. This is something we were lucky to see him attempt 4 times over 4 games in the past. This is a good sign. Beyond the dribble drive, he also made stronger post moves than usual, this was met with varying results, but he is clearly working on it, and in the past he usually talked about doing it, but we rarely saw much evidence of it. I would say nearly all of his 25 points came within the lane tonight.
2. Help Defense. With Dante Cunningham as our starting center Golden State clearly made a point of driving the lane. Aldridge on several occasions came from the weak side on help defense to change shots. Two of them were awesome blocks. If Aldridge keeps doing that there is no reason he can't average two blocks a game. Again we were playing Golden State, but we have a tradition of being slow on help defense from the weak side, this is a positive sign we are at least working on it.
3. Running the floor. I have long maintained that there is nothing prettier in the NBA than LaMarcus Aldridge running the floor on the break and getting the ball for a dunk. We saw that on full display tonight. It truly is a beautiful thing. He and Rudy seem to have a connection developing in that situation right now too. Rudy, despite the media storm, is proving his worth right now.

Brandon Roy - It is preseason, Brandon knows it. He spent most of the evening finding ways to get others involved. Not much ISO, not much calling for the ball. He did lead the team in assists and as I noted above, he even lead the way pushing the ball up the court. I like that Brandon a lot and he looked comfortable doing it despite his well known taste for slowing down the ball.

Rudy Fernandez - Since he has been the hot topic of the summer I put my observations ahead of Batum. Rudy may not want to stay in the NBA for personal reasons, but he is showing a high degree of professionalism that is commendable. The more exciting thing is that he is playing with the flair we became accustomed to his rookie year. He has active hands on defense again, his passing is crisp and inventive and fun to watch and his 3 ball is mostly hitting only the bottom of the net as it goes through. No matter what happens he has shown he belongs on the floor while he is here.

Nicolas Batum - This man is awesome. Nothing else to say to characterize his performance. Steel eyed defense, deadly three ball, more moves from the wing and the beneficiary Roy's largesse on the assist tote board. He also had a couple of nice assists to players cutting to the hoop tonight, probably my favorite part of the night overall. While Aldridge is a sight to behold on the break, Batum is silky smooth gliding to the rim from the wing.

Andre Miller - While Roy was focused on getting others involved and doing their thing, Miller broke down the defense and made same nice assists as well. There was one play he posted up Monta Ellis and drew a double team and he pitched it out to Roy for an uncontested 18 footer. This is how they can play together. There were several plays of the game that I will post for a vote in the poll below, but his bounce pass in to a driving Dante Cunningham for a strong guarded dunk was fantastic and puts on display his full value to this team.

Dante Cunningham - Kid works hard, good instincts. Love him. He is not a center. I was most impressed with his off ball movement. That dunk from the Miller assist was awesome. As our starting Center he did carry on part of the tradition well, he picked up 5 fouls. He did not get injured though, so that's good.

Armon Johnson - This will probably stir up a little controversy here on Bedge but he is the point guard f the future in my opinion. He seems to be a natural leader, he defends well above average for a rookie at his position and he is developing a shot (he even even drained a confident looking 3, something he is not supposed to be able to do with confidence). He is also aggressive with the ball when need be. Reports are that his work ethic is strong and watching him on the bench it is not surprising. He is the most attentive pro player I may have ever seen while sitting on that sideline. It looked to me that Bayless is feeling Johnson breathing down his neck as a result.

Jerryd Bayless - He looks like a man who is pressing a little because he has competition breathing down his neck. He is getting it from all sides to. Fernandez's performances, Matthews intensity and defense and Johnson's raw skillset are all chipping away at his playing time and it looks as if he knows it. The problem is when Bayless presses he reverts back to the things that Nate is not looking for from his back up PG on this team. Barreling into the lane, dribbling around forever and not passing the ball. It was one game in the preseason I know, but I think the pressure coming at him from all sides is getting to him this camp. He is no longer playing to get playing time, he is trying to keep it and it is affecting his game, at least judging by tonight's performance.

It is not that he was bad, he was reasonably effective, but those fighting for his PT had better performances overall and particularly when you consider these players are needing to fill rolls, what Bayless did well tonight is done better by others (even if they don't have the same skill set he does, they are playing to rolls better). He really needs to address two of his bad habits. 1. he needs to keep his head up when he has the ball and 2. he needs to stop driving the ball with no exit strategy. That would help him in this fight for playing time from the bench.

Luke Babbitt - While I think Armon is the most NBA ready of or draft picks this year, Babbit is growing by leaps and bounds every time I see him. He is obviously working mostly on his defense and it shows. He is doing better staying between his guy and the basket. He is not doing anything fancy on D and they are not asking him to front anyone or anything, but he did well given our lack of center on the court. Aldridge, as noted above, did a good job covering for him when he did lose position periodically. Unlike his opening preseason game peformance he seems far less nervous which is great. He hit a nice 3 ball and he is a good dribble drive pull back jumper, one that found the center of the hoop rather than going 3 feet beyond the far side of the rim like the Clippers game a few weeks ago.

Wesley Matthews - Concern for his sore achilles.

Conclusions - As noted, it is just a Preseason Game and one against Golden State at that so it does little to prove anything out on what will happen on October 26th and thereafter. That being said, it is fairly obvious that they are working on many things many of us here on this site have said they must to move to the next level.

• Despite the concern and fury over Roy's comments earlier in the week it is pretty clear the emphasis in the preseason is figuring out how to get everyone involved. This is a good thing.
• Aldridge is working on his post presence. This is a good thing.
• Miller and Roy are demonstrating the types of things they can do well on the court together. This is a good thing.
• Despite the external controversy Rudy is playing hard and looks to have his old flair and swagger back. This is a good thing.
• It is clear there is some real competition for court time. This is a good thing.
• Batum is showing more versatility on offense. This is a good thing.

All in all, tonight was a good night. Even if they lost, the things they were obviously working on tonight would provide any Blazer fan with some encouragement as the season approaches. This is a good thing.

Well that was fun last night. Scored seats in section 113 row C last night so I got a different view from my section 315 row L seats. I gotta say for watching the game and watching the team, the plays and so forth I sort of prefer the 315 seats. The 113 seats are fantastic for the spectacle of it all and seeing individual performance, but it is tougher to sort what is really going on in terms of offensive sets and so forth.

I tell you the one thing I got a feel for better down low is how the players actually interact together. My impressions were largely positive from the game last night. Here is a list of the things I took note of last night:

The Team - These guys look a heck of a lot more together than they did last pre-season. That is a good sign. The defensive effort was markedly stronger as well. Roy's comment about a new emphasis on defending the ball really rings true to me as the principle difference. One of the things I bemoaned on several occasions last season was the fact we seemed to ignore the passing lanes on defense. Not last night, there was rarely an easy pass for the Clips. They certainly weren't perfect last night, but they were all at least on the same chapter rather than everybody on a different one or reading an entirely different book like it seemed they were last preseason. These guys are going to be scary good when they get on the same page.

Now onto some player observations (either individually or combos):

Roy - Roy is the same awesome and unflappable Roy. No points in the first half? Meh, I will just wrack up 10 points in the first 5 minutes of qtr 3. This guy can sure play the game. He looks more relaxed than he did at any point last season. Very encouraging.

Aldridge - Dude is actually working on  scoring down low. He has an intensity he has yet to display in any early going situation before. I think he might finally have that fire in the belly to make a push for serious All-Star consideration. The one thing he could work on a little is masking where he wants to go with the ball when he is looking to pass in. Sitting up close it is real obvious where he wants to go with the ball hence he is not able to do so. More dribble drive might help him there as well.

Miller - He was probably the most fun to watch up close. That dude runs the offense, he chatters, he yells when he is bumped, he just puts on a good show and does well while doing it. It was a pleasure to see him operate.

Matthews - This guy looks like he could develop into the steal of the decade. The biggest thing I took note of is that guy is intense. He fought over every screen, every screen. This is huge for us. When Matthews was not on the floor Aldridge constantly ended up matched up with Foye, Aldridge does better than most 6"11" dudes on those guards on the perimeter but that is hardly ideal. I do not remember that happening at all with Matthews on the floor. The other thing I took note of (beyond the obvious scoring ability) is he runs the floor at every opportunity. Miller and Matthews will run some ally oop action on a regular basis methinks. I think in general the coaching staff changes have sharpened our defensive effort, but I think Matthews example and attitude on defense will shape a more intense mindset for a lot of the se guys.

Batum - Nico probably had the defensive play of the game when a Clip player was driving hard to the rack fully expecting Nico to foul him. Batum just glided in front of him close enough to keep him barreling in while being able to side step away so abruptly the guy just fell flat on his face and the ball dribbled out of bounds. Nic never touched the guy, but like a bullfighter, he baited his prey into a vulnerable position. On the other end, is there anyone else as smooth flying in from the wing to dunk the ball? Nic also made a hard foul on a guy driving on a break. Roy was set up beautifuly to take a charge. We were up 25, in pre-season, with a guy running full speed down the court, we do not need Roy taking that shot, good job stepping in front and taking that foul Nic (Roy was not particularly happy about it, but it was the right thing to do).

Rudy - He seemed to have some of his old verve back last night. Hopefully this will help him feel more comfortable this season because the dude can flat out shoot the rock. He was also very active on defense. He had a few gems last night, drilling that bullet pass off Jordan's head was fantastic. Draining that 3 with time running out in the 3rd brought back flashbacks of 2 seasons ago. I only remember that happening once last season.

Johnson - This kid looks pro ready to me. I think, based on observation of his attitude, his body and his energy he may have been the best addition we made through the draft this season. He obviously does not have the speed of the NBA down yet on the offensive end, but he works hard on defense, communicates well on the court and is just flat out fun to watch. I am stoked at this kids potential.

Bayless - I was encouraged by Bayless' obvious effort to run the team more last night. I hope he can keep this up. He still ended up in the air with the ball and no where to go (Nate yanked him right after that). He also missed Matthews on what would have been a nasty dunk if Bayless had kept his head up while driving down the court, but overall he is obviously working much harder on his point guard skills, i am encouraged. Bayless and Matthews did seem to have good rhythm together, Bayless was not just making that up.

Babbit and Williams - Nervous. Babbit has good handle and a nice side step, but boy was he nervous. Williams was practically a basket case, but you can certainly see what he can bring with some experience.

Dante and Pendy - Dante is awesome. Pendy is intense. Nothing has changed.

The point guard for the white team at halftime - There was a youth halftime scrimmage of 10 -12 year olds last night. The white team's point guard weighed no more than 50 pounds soaking wet, he was the smallest guy on the floor. He was AWESOME. He hit shots from everywhere, he racked up assists, he inbounded the ball well, he kept his head up better than Bayless on every break opportunity. He smoothly drained an NBA 3 pointer, I have to sort of hoist a shot up from that range myself, that kid just drained it effortlessly, nothing but net. The whole group of Blazer fans around me were oooiing and aaawwwwing the whole time, that kid has some skills.

I emailed Quick pointing out people are frustrated and posting late is adding to the aggravation. I also pointed out that teasing a dramatic story that wasn't all that dramatic could hurt readership over the long run. Here was his response:

I never said it was a dramatic story - I said drama was headed the Blazers way ... the story is about to be posted, but has been toned down because of late developments ... Rudy (no surprise) has demanded to be traded, and Cho has stepped up and is on the brink of executing a trade (probably to Boston), but Chicago and New York are in the picture. ..

But it looks like a deal is going to go down soon, so Rudy's camp didn't in their words "go for the juggular" ... sorry about the delay, dealing with a lot of sensitive sources

Here is the link to Quick's story:

Trail Blazers looking for a fast trade involving Rudy Fernandez

Here is how the story opens:

At the urging of Rudy Fernandez and his agent, the TrailBlazers have engaged in accelerated trade discussions to deal the disgruntled, oncepopular shooting guard to one of three Eastern Conference teams.

Boston, Chicagoand New Yorkare all in the running to land the 6-foot-6 Spaniard, who set an NBA rookierecord two seasons ago by making 156 three pointers.

BlazersEdge/Portland Oregon:  Greg Oden held a press conference in Pioneer Courthouse Square this afternoon blasting the Blazer organization and coaching staff. Oden stated, “I just do not undertand how they are trying to use me, playing me under the hoop like that. I mean the guys around me from the other team approach my size, but come on they need to exploit my size advantage on the perimeter man!”

He continues, “It just makes sense, could you imagine Jason Kidd trying to defend me at the point? That short, bald old man? HA!!!”

Oden expressed these concerns in front of a crowd of about 15,000 people who were at the square for another round of free ice cream this summer, supplied by the fine kids from the Yamhill Ben & Jerry's Store, a Self Enhancement Inc project.

Joe Manfredjenjenson, a fan of the team since the Drexler years pointed out, between licks of his Peanut Butter Cookie ice cream cone, “Oden has a real point there, I mean come on, who needs Chris Paul, there is not a Guard in the league that could defend Oden.”

When it was pointed out most coaches would probably still not put a point guard on Oden for defense but rather their center or PF, Joe replied, “yeah, but it will probably take them at least a season to figure that out. Let's just surprise them this season and go for the ring.”

Oden wrapped it all up by saying, “If Portland can't give me a serious look at some time at PG this season, I want out and out now!”

A perplexed Nate McMillan was overheard saying, “I did not know Greg was serious about that, he mentioned it coming out of surgery last winter, but I just thought it was the anasthesia talking.”

It is tough to tell what move the Blazers will make now, currently they have provided no official comment.