SB Nation User Blog: Titlein2011

I say trade LA, Travis, RLEC, and pics for Bosh so long as he will sign an extension.

Titlein2011 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:50:24 -0000

I say trade LA, Travis, RLEC, and pics for Bosh so long as he will sign an extension.

This is the best plausible Blazer trade in my eyes. In no way do I have any dissatisfaction with either player, just a matter of getting a phenom who is young with what we have, and becoming better through a trade while not creating a deficiency. I also feel this trade is realistic in regards to what we give and what we recieve. Without going to trade machine we may need to throw in some Toronto garbage, but whatever. Toronto should be willing to do this trade with the thought that odds are in strong favor that Bosh will sign somewhere else. Toronto can stay young while not dropping in level of play. Considering the risk of losing Bosh for nothing; I think this option could be very appealing. I think a trade like this will not go down until the trade dead line. Hopefully the log jam at SF will not create an issue prior to that time.

Is Roy accepting Rudy's role on the team?

Titlein2011 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:13:31 -0000

I'm going to be sacreligious here and say that Roy needs to accept Rudy and take advantage of what he brings to the team. In the same way Roy can be averse at times to fast break ball, he seems to be asserting his control with Rudy on the court by somewhat excluding him.

Who has been getting the loudest cheers at the Rose Garden..... Rudy. Roy is a great guy, but everbody has an ego and no one is perfect. Rudy in a small way is a threat to Roys complete control of the team. Not that Rudy will take over, not at all, but Rudy takes a little bit of the control of the team away from Roy and he doesn't like it, who would. I think it's subtle, but it's there. Roy's never had an issue with Blake and there is a reason, Blake isn't that good; so unless we are going to play out the rest of our days with a great backup pg we need to either make a trade for one or move Rudy to the point.

Roy was happy with Bayless why because he looks to score and not to control the play of the game through the pg position. He's mentioned that a star pg may not be best for the team, because they may not be willing to let Roy control play come the 4th quarter. But that is why Rudy is so great he can play the point for the first 3 quarters and then hand off the reigns to Roy come the 4th, and it would be seemless because of the player Rudy is. Nate in the near future may need to step in with Roy to discuss adopting this style of play and how it can benefit Roy not take away from what he does. If he's completely against it than Roy should play Point and Rudy can play sg. Obviously more playing time together very well is all that is needed, but hopefully it comes sooner rather than later.

I realize this could have been part of a previous post, but I am really curious to what other Bedgers think on this specific topic. Some of you may want to stone me from this post, hopefully I can't be somehow excluded from the site.

Rudy & Batum need to start.

Titlein2011 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:33:34 -0000

Let me preface this with the understanding that both players need to prove themselves for the month of November, but after that let them loose. There is a reason Nate makes a rookie or a shift in a starting position player truly earn the spot; you can't give a player a position and then yank it later. It creates uncertainty in that player and the team in their role and rotations. This is exactly why Nicolas did not start against LA, if Nicolas played poorly and he had to yank him a few games in it could really set him back. Where as if Nicolas earns that spot and moves Travis back, the damage with Travis will be minimal since he has already established a style of play and role on the team.

Rudy is phenomenal he is a glue guy a true team player, every one around him is better with him on the floor. He plays adequate to good defense, he is better than Blake right now. Rudy can drive the lane and draw fouls or stretch the defense with the 3 ball. Fernandez also has great vision, and an amazing veteran sense of when to slow play, speed it up, take advantage of a mismatch, and he doesn't care about his stats. What I'm saying is put him at point, because right now I'm sorry Steve is not playing to well, and it's only 3 games but if this continues through the month the switch needs to take place. Then come the 4th quarter Rudy and Roy can switch roles seemlessly.

On a tangent Nate needs to forget how Sergio played last year and give the guy some rope. Bayless should not see the floor unless it is in mop up minutes, or towards the end of the season when he's gotten his sea legs. I understand he got sympathy minutes in Phoenix because that is where he is from and all his family was there, but he needs to stay benchward bound. Oh and if a 3rd forward needs to be played forget Diogu play Shavlik.

Nicolas has to be the surprise of the draft if he continues to play anywhere close to the last 2 games. It blows my mind how genius KP is, here we all thought Bayless was the steal when it was really Batum. Remember when the Blazers went to go talk to Rudy prior to the draft and also to take a look at a few other players. How much do you want to bet that Batum was the focus of thier trip detour. How often do we see a GM fall in love with a guy and pick him way to high not because he doesn't play out to the potential he had percieved, but because he wasn't on any one else's radar. KP picked Batum 1 pick before the Spurs who had their eyes set on him, and not a pick earlier. He knew how the picks would go in regards to getting Bayless (excluding curveball GM Jordan) and he knew how it would go all the way leading to Batum. That's enough to make every NBA GM to get their war room de bugged. I got a man crush I just have to be honest. The guy even after the terrible summer league outing of Batum, stuck with him and took up a roster spot, and sent Kopponen back accross the pond. You have to have juevos and a supreme confidence in your scouting ability. I will admit that Batum's agent did lay down the ultimatum to marry me now or lose me forever, so a small thank you to Nicolas's agent too!

Batum appears to be an advanced Tayshaun Prince from about 4-5 years ago. I give Batum a slight edge in confidence and offensive ability with a shooting range that is yet tbd. Of course this does not mean he is Tayshaun or will be, but the prognosis is good that we will have something comparable or a Tayshaun lite within a few years. I'll have to get over the arrogance of the French accent, but I love his game. He has above average court vision, phenomenal reach, quickness, he's eye level with the rim when he dunks, and a serviceable jump shot. Defensively he appears to be that future stopper we have always wanted. He creates steals, blocks, rebounds, moves without the ball, and is every where with his high energy.

So where does this leave us for our rotation and roster. I'm totally jumping the gun, but I say trade a combination of Blake, Bayless, and either Channing or Outlaw together with picks and Rlec for a Devin Harris or Michael Connely. I understand the package doesn't make much sense for Memphis, but it could for Jersey, could always go the 3 way trade route. I'll leave that for the espn trade machine bedgers. Channing or Outlaw can play the back up 4 with Martell covering the 3, Pryz backing up GO, and a 3 guard rotation of whoever we pick up plus Roy and Rudy. Sergio would see day light on occasion, but he would mainly be kept behind the glass that would be broken in case of pg emergency.

Mid Preseason Reflections

Titlein2011 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:05:31 -0000

To start I'll say that preseasons of all sports can be highly overvalued come time for the regular season to start, but with my boundless Blazer enthusiasm, I need to blow off some steam.

Diogu will most likely play the season out with the Blazers, but that is it. The guy is serviceable, but he's a liability defensively, he's ok with his help d, but he puts pressure on the center to cover his defensive miscues. More than once I have seen Pryz posterized covering for Ike, and I think if he was KP, he would have cut him on the spot with the look I saw Pryz give him. Offensively he plays a little like ZBo the black hole. I like his aggresiveness to the hoop and his soft hands. But the tell to me was his decision to pass on playing summer league ball because of his perception that it was unneccesary considering his time in the league. What Blazer on this current roster would have said no, none of them considering the short actual playing time history of Ike. Ike is a NBA player, but any more to take up a roster spot on this team you have to be solid or improving and I don't believe he is either.

Tatum is going to be nice on a NBDL team, no disrespect to him it's just where his talent level is currently at.

Steven of Nazareth hasn't had much of an opportunity to show what he can do during preseason. You wonder if the Blazers are hiding him from the rest of the league. If I had to pick a position to fill our 15th roster spot it would be center, considering our current roster depth at all positions. But I have to say without having seen much of HIll in preseason; I really like Randolph for that last spot. Based off of preseason I would cut Diogu and keep Randolph it the team is dead set on HIll. Randolph is a solid rebounder, defender, and he has a nice shot; he has the height for possible backup center and definite power forward minutes he's a little slight of frame for Center minutes but he can make up for that with his hustle.

Luke Jackson is 15th man material he gives great energy, but our 15th man is like another teams 10th. I'm sure he will make the end of some teams roster, it just won't be the Blazers.

Bayless, will be a player, he's just not going to be pushing for as many minutes as one would have thought from watching Summer League, and with minutes being one of our top issues on this team that may not be the worst thing to happen. What makes me fearful is how Jarred responds to that lack of playing time when he does get PT. I worry that when he does play he will force things trying to prove to much too fast, and get him self in a pretty good midseason funk (I.E. Sergio 2007). This guy is ridiculously determined and is a phenomenal player; hopefully he will see that at some point during the season when any of our guards get hurt he will get serious blow and not just 2007 Sergio minutes.

Sergio is coming along nicely, and I would be fearful of Sergio falling into the traps of last years play, but I think he has matured and he has a friend around who will keep him straight. He seems to be feeling out that line of forcing fast play and letting it come organically. For Sergio to play with GO, he needs to really work on getting him the ball consistently and more importantly getting him the ball in spots where he can be effective. I think Rudy will be huge for Sergio this year; on numerous occasions I have seen Rudy tell Sergio to slow down or to take the shot instead of passing. Rudy can critique Sergio and it doesn't hurt his confidence because he knows Rudy believes in him.

OK I can't wait any more I have to talk about Rudy, I expected so much from this guy and I have to say he is everything I hoped he would be. Not since Clyde the Glide have Blazers had their very own highlight reel of a player, it's about time! Rudy is learning the nba game and pushing things to see what works and what doesn't. I love his skill, humble confidence, creativity, and bbiq. He is like Roy in so many ways, I am wondering how well the 2 of them will mesh, and how Nate fits them on the floor at the same time. I don't care if Rudy doesn't start, but when it matters (4th quarter) they will always be on the floor together. I know a lot of people are saying why do you take an all star 2 guard and move him out of position; I'll tell you why, Rudy is that good! 1 of the them will have to play out of their natural position. Rudy fits better at the 1 while Roy fits better at the 3 in regards to defense.

We all know the story of Coach Knight calling up Jack Ramsey and telling him he had to draft this kid Jordan playing for the Olympic team he was coaching. Jack replied they already had an up and coming SG named Drexler and that they needed a center; Knight said well play him at center then I don't care he's that good. Now I'm not completely wasted on the Blazer sauce to say that he is Jordan, but what I am saying is, Rudy's that good. Rudy needs to get close to 30 minutes a game, so Nate is going to have to figure out how to make it work. Sorry Marty, Travis, & Blake collectively the PT is going to suffer, for the sake of playing Rudy. The clincher for me on how well Rudy is playing, was the point when Rudy went down holding his ankle, first thing I noticed was Nate running out on the floor like a worried dad. (Side note KP immediately went back into the locker room to wait for Rudy to be brought back.) I've seen him react that way one other time, and that was when Roy went down grabbing his knee, Roy ended up being fine and so will Rudy, in my eyes that was a poker tell as to how good Nate thinks Rudy is/will be.

Gregory Oden is a mamoth, he will dominate the league next year, but through this year he will bide through some rookie roller coasters. I have to keep reminding myself this guy has not played ball for an entire year along with the fact this is his first year. GO has endless upside, first thing first he still needs to really grasp his size and how to effectively use it to get into position to recieve the ball, and where to be on defense so that he may enforce his will not only with blocking shots but also rebounding. I think with increased playing time around Blake and Roy we will see they will help immensely in getting him the ball often and where he can be most effective. Just with increased Cardio endurance we will see huge diviends in the way GO plays, but he will still have a lot of peaks and valleys his rookie year especially on back to back games. I'm excited to see his level of play come March!

Batum, wow I expected nothing, and I'm blown away by how much he is showing us progessively every game. (Another reason why Summer league play isn't everything.) Incredible length and timing, is the first thing that comes to mind. He just gets to balls that others can't. If he can shoot the way he did against Utah we are set. Hello Bruce Bowen/Tayshaun Prince Jr. I'm going to take a wild stab right now and say that our five players on the court come the 4th quarter in next years playoffs will be Roy, Rudy, Batum, LA, & GO. If we can have a solid defender who doesn't have to get his shot on offense, but at the same time keeps the opposing defense honest, watch out! To what we have seen so far, Batum appears he could be that man.

KP oh KP let me count the ways... seriously I could go on forever about this guy, but lets just stick with 1 aquisition and how it came about. The guy went scarface on his old boss and stole Batum right from under the Spurs. We all thought the huge bamboozle of the draft was Bayless, what if it was actually the guy he swiped down in the 20's. That would be 2 years in a row! The thing is I think KP knew that when he made the pick. This guy had the draft down before it happened he knew what team wanted who and what picks they were going to try to get them at. Good thing we won't be in the lottery for a long time because I think some GM's are going to be pretty tight lipped around him for a while. You could just go on and on about the guy. He's the Bobby Fisher of NBA GM's, it's hard to comprehend everything he has done in such a short time frame. The ZBO trade and the other moves it allowed to happen should put him in GM lore. I am extremely curious to see who KP will go after with his Raef chip; I'm guessing like every move he has made besides drafting GO it will be something none of us had seen coming. I'm going with trading for T Prince come Feb.

Nate is a great coach and more flexible in his game plan than we all know or give him credit for. This year will set the tone for the dynasty to come. He will be establishing who will play key roles for the team, and who is expendable. My only concern with Nate is how he takes the pressure and second guessing that will come from Blazer nation. The pressure will be bad this year, but it will get exponentially higher in the years to come. Here's hoping it's water off a ducks back.

For those of you who actually endured my lengthy Blazer gushing thank you for the patronage.

Dumped for the hotter Blonde!

Titlein2011 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:09:58 -0000

Does any one else out there feel like Rudy just got completely dumped for the hotter blonde once Bayless went demolition man and put up his numbers in Summer League. I agree that Bayless makes a great match with Roy through the first 3 quarters, but not in the 4th. Maybe with time that will change with Bayless, but I completely believe that Rudy is who you will see in the 4th he can be the man or the facilitator, and has no fear to hit the game winner from any distance.

I just feel like this is lost on some fans, or a little forgotten. I'm sure we just differ on opinions of how his game from the Italian league will translate to the NBA. To me Summer League stats should have the much greater question mark ala the Italian dude from Golden State (Binelli is how I like to Butcher it) from last year, or our very own preVick dog lover Qyntel Woods who tore it up in Summer league. Don't get me wrong I think there are some great points as to why JLess will translate over if nothing more to me than his obvious determination. But to me Rudy is Royesque and in most cases that wouldn't work, but with a selfless style of play I think they could make a perfect Boyz II Men harmony with KP Bivens producing the track. I just totally dated myself.

One question yet to be answered is how does there defense combined hold up in the 4th. I would think sufficient, but that I think will be one of the many questions we will have answered by the trade deadline.

And for the readers who just wanted another Harlow commentary, wah, wah, wahhh!

Bill Ingram of Hoopsworld writes that JLess will be ROY

Titlein2011 — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:11:14 -0000

It's pretty amazing how quickly we have gone from being the brunt of most NBA jokes to the team recieving continual praise. In 3 years KP has become thought of as the top GM in the game nationally, which is extremely impressive but mind boggling considering the time frame he has done it in. KP is what Billy Beane would be if his owner was Paul Allen. If I run into you KP drinks are on me. Stay humble, hungry, and with a little patience all our Blazer dreams will come true! But for right now I'm enjoying the journey!

The following was written by Bill Ingram of www.hoopsworld.com .

Leaving Las Vegas

HOOPSWORLD's coverage of the Las Vegas Summer League will continue through its conclusion on Sunday, with Eric Pincus from LA coming to share his insight on what's going on at UNLV. This writer, however, is headed back to Dallas to sleep for a few days after logging six or seven games a day for eight days straight. Before I take off (literally), here are a couple of observations.

Jerryd Bayless is going to be Rookie of the Year.

Maybe that's an overstatement, as Bayless will have a ton of talent around him and someone like Beasley will put up better numbers on a team that's not as good. In fact, Greg Oden may give Bayless a run for his money right there in the same lineup. That said, Bayless has been hands-down the best floor leader of summer league. Execs and coaches agree that Pritchard really got a steal, as Bayless has averaged 27.7 points per game while shooting 45% and getting to the line 18 times per contest. He's not much of a distance shooter, but this kid can get into the lane and he doesn't shy away from contact. He also does a great job of finishing after being brutalized by sloppy seven-footers.

The best part? After getting iced up, taped, and bandaged he takes the time to come out and sign autographs for the hordes of kids who are looking for any attention they can get from a name player.

He should fit right in with the new breed of classy Blazers.