I know Billups is doing his little baby fit right now, probably trying to get teams not to bid on him so he has complete control of his situation as a UFA. But my question is can the Blazers make an offer at all on Billups? My understanding is probably not because only teams with Cap Space can do that, but I haven't heard the definitive rules on that yet. If so, maybe Portland is a desirable option for him? Would we need to for sure Amnesty Roy and not explore Medical Retirement options? Can we contact the player first to see if he thinks it would work or not? What does this do to either our MLE or mini-MLE?

Personally I love Billups on our team, with Feton playing 1 and a little bit of 2 back up time, giving him almost starter minutes. This lets us ease Nolan and Elliot into the line ups, so that we aren't so dependent on them right out of the gates. Not to mention Billups is still one of the best PGs in the league and can teach our young guard rotation a lot. Did him and Marcus play at all at the same time in Denver?

I have a lot of questions.....

I have been kind of throwing this wish of mine around to some of my friends and now I am going to attempt to formulate this notion into a logical, persuasive essay.

My central thesis is I believe Nate McMillian should embrace this team's ability to field many unique and often unorthodox line-ups as a competitive advantage.

Looking at this team I see a ton of flexibility in the personnel. Camby and LaMarcus are both players that can easily slide between the 4 and 5 positions and have during their careers. Wallace and Nicolas both can play minutes at the 4 as well as the 3. Wesley and Brandon are able to defend and play defended by 3's as well as 2s. Brandon can also offensively play at the 1 and Matthews can defend 1's as good as most PGs. Raymond can play with the ball or play off of the ball effectively. Elliot Williams and Nolan Smith are both currently unknowns but if only one of them can find early success next season, they could be an effective combo guard. We obviously will sign a big this off season, this can be a priority to pick up another 4-5 shifter.

Now how I see this team flexibility is for many weird and unpredictable line-ups that can:

1.) utilize match-up mismatches

2.) create unique plays that can be simple reads but organically go into many directions or options (think spread/option offenses from College football) and

3.) develop a system that will be very difficult and downright annoying to scout or make a game plan for.

The team can field many different lines ups and playing style against one team and completely 180 that style for a team with a different make-up, or even in the middle of a game. It can even become a head game for Nate as his unpredictable moves and plays can Mind [screw] the opposing coaching staffs and coaches and staffs trying to play the team in the future.

For this to be a successful strategy there will need to be a change in philosophy of practice. Practices will need to be intense. None of these line ups can just be thrown out there, they must be practiced, analyzed and revised by the staff and players. The type of organic offense I think of would need to be hammered into the players muscle memories so it's all about the read and knowing what to do based off those reads. The individual opposing teams will have to be studied and broken down with this new mentality in mind so the advantage can truly be utilized and not exposed or become a hindrance. Wrinkles can be added based on a  certain situation or a certain opponent. Nate will need to step out of his confort zone and get a little radical. That can't be half-assed. If you are going to embrace this, do it all the way, ball to the wall with no looking back.

To help further explain I will go over a few lines ups and how they could be utilized:

Continue reading this post »

The conversation about the Pac-12 Scheduling on the main page has me noticing the two main types of Pac fans.

One type of fan is the fans that strive for the best football to be played on the Left Coast. I was strongly footed in this category. We play every team in the conference, that makes it harder. We don't play just pansy's in Non-Conference games. Yes we have some, but who doesn't? But we also have Boise St, Wisconsin, Nebraska, TCU, Notre Dame (cough), Nevada, Tennessee (cough, cough, cough). We pride ourselves on the challenges we present ourselves. Then playing the conference schedule is like an All-You-Ca-Eat Challenge being played by Cannibals, where each other is the food. Anybody can go down any week to anybody. It shows how damn good the USC teams of the past or Oregon and Stanford team this season were by going undefeated or with just one loss through the conference. The media may say it's USC and everyone else, they may say SEC is the best conference and Pac-10 3rd or 4th, they may say a 2 loss Big Ten team is better then a 2 loss Pac-10 team, but we say SCREW THE MEDIA and their biases and their lack of acknowledgment on what we do to ourselves every schedule. We know we have the toughest road to travel and we LOVE IT!

The second type are the fans who strive to be on a level playing field as the rest of the conferences. I am starting to shift to this side. We have seen our teams get shafted too many times over the years. We weren't surprised UCLA beat Tennessee or Texas (Ok maybe a little with Texas), but boy was the media! We have seen our schools being belittled and talked down to all over the TV and radio. We constantly prove them wrong, but this is still not enough. In the end this is all talk until bowl season, and that's where we have seen our teams get screwed time and time again. We see too many of our good teams end with 5 loss seasons and get crappy bowls. This season OSU, ASU and UCLA were good enough to be Bowl teams, but weren't bowl eligable and instead we only had 4 Bowl teams (5 with USC) instead of 8(7). It has hurt us most on the biggest stages. In 2000 Washington was probably the best team in the nation, They were the only team to beat Miami, the number two team in the nation, and Oregon State the number 5 team in the nation. But were passed up by the team they beat, Miami, for the NC. in 2001 the Oregon Ducks were looking like one of the top two teams in the Nation, but got jumped by a Nebraska team that didn't even make it to their conference Championship and instead crushed Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl. 2004, The one loss Cal team's only regular season loss to the eventual National Champions USC but was completely shut out of the BCS bowls. In 2005 The Oregon Duck's only regular season loss was to undefeated and defending National Champs USC who made it to the NC again, but Oregon was shut out of the BCS bowls completely as well. We almost saw 1 loss Stanford fall into the same demise, but luckily they made it to #4 ranking and were given the chance to murder VT in the Orange Bowl. We have seen the national disrespect for the conference hurt and hinder us for too long! We need to do something to right it and if it is finding ways to pad wins on our team's schedules then so be it.

I am in the middle, I still love our passion and challenges we face but am tired of seeing us screwed over and over again. I think we should find compromises within our scheduling to boost our team's more in the eyes of the media and boost our computer rankings, but still never lose that strive for taking on challenges. The more teams we have playing and winning bowls, the more respect we will receive. Finding ways to raise the number of teams is one of the most important things our conference should do.

So what category do you Fall in?

So with the CP3 speculation dying down (but not dead yet). It is time for two more names who have almost worn out their welcome on Blazers Edge to officially litter our screens.

So who do you want Devin Harris, or Tony Parker. Or is it one of the other PG's spoken about on here by fellow Bedgers (Mo Williams, Jose Calderon, Darron Collison, Mike Conley, ect.)? Or do we stick with Andre and JayBay?

If it is a trade then what type of trade would it take? What about the questions of long term commitments (Parker's an unrestricted FA next season, Harris in two years)?

If it's who we got, then convince us trade people how we are better off right now, and what do we then do with Rudy?

Let the over speculation begin!

It had no details about the amount of the offer or if Tubby is considering or not, they then talked quickly about how it was reported we were going to offer to Izzo. However, I can't find any articles saying we offered the job to Tubby. Has anybody else heard of this? And has anyone found any articles on it?

Personally I was wanting someone a little younger, but I guess the big name could help us in recruiting and we could maybe try and find a diamond in the rough, like with Kelly, as his predecessor.

With possibly Nelson out for the season, the Boys at PTI were speculating whether the Magic will try and keep its great season and potential possibility at reaching the conference finals (maybe even NBA Finals if they could knock off Celtics or Cavs) alive by possibly trading Nelson for a PG who can keep them afloat. They mentioned Sergio and the Blazers. I am curious on everyone's thoughts on possibly trading for Nelson for next season? Nelson would then be comming off surgery which is a big concern, but he has been named an all-star this season and is a good passer who can create his own shot, Lewis and Howard have been successful with Nelson, think if Oden, LMA and Roy could experience the same success...... I'm a little on the fense about this, but it is something to think about for sure

I was reading this draft stock article in ESPN where is has Ricky Rubio in the "bad" (or stock dropping) section mainly because of his lack of contribution in his league right now (mostly due to an injury). Could Rubio become possibly available for Pritchard to aquier in a trade or directly with a pick in the 20's (highly unlikely still)? What are everyone's thoughts on Rubio and his NBA prospects? What about him possibly being on our team and finishing out the spanish trio (unless we may have to give away Sergio to get him)?

So Stephon Marbury publicy lashes out at his coaches and teammates today.

"When things got bad and then worse, guys like Quentin Richardson say, 'I don't consider him a teammate. He let his teammates out to dry.' He didn't care I was his teammate when I was banished. They left me out for dead. It's like we're in a foxhole and I'm facing the other way. If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole. And they didn't even give me an honorable death."

Granted Marbury is on the wrong side of a bad situation so you can't blame him for being mad, however, I don't like him, his skill set and his ego on our team. I feel he could have been way more professional then this. When Marbury was an ellite PG in the league he thrived on controlling the game, he would definitely butt heads with Roy over this. Also I don't feel he can play like he once was able to; he seems to have lost a step. I feel, if it's a veterain PG we go for, we have much better options in Kidd and Bibby.

PLAY-ER MOVE-MENT!!! Our offense looks so stagnant, no cutting, no slashing, no rotating, no picks, that's not the way to generate open shots consistently! It looked like we were just playing hot patato on the perimater which led to not much at all, especially at times we NEEDED to score (TP got bailed out with that foul call)

Just try a Pick and Roll play....... there you go, now times that by 100. It's simple, but it works, I think we have a great team make-up for a pick and roll dominated offense, spread the floor bring one of our bigs out for pick, should work AT LEAST 80% of the time for an open shot (Running actual plays PERIOD would be a helpful start)

Longmire should become our Brandon Roy! He is our best finisher, we need him to not be timid in the final minutes. He needs to take control of the offense and be ready to shoot the big shot or make the big pass. Once Dunigan gains more confidence and his offense becomes less uncooked meat we can differ to him in the middle more and take some pressure off Longmire (all though we still should use him alot right now too)

Zone Defense, we get killed on individual matchups, especially who Porter is guarding. Porter tries to get alot of fouls called, which has worked for him in the past, but with no help, when it's not working for him his player usually ends up with open shots while Porter argues on the floor for a foul. Our defense needs to be more of a cohesive whole to be affective

Better Clock Management, Earnie Kent called a few timeouts I HATED. One was with two minutes left in regulation leaving us with only one left, we sure could have used that in the final minute. He again called another one when we scored and they had no time outs left, which allowed them to set up (It almost worked as their shot looked good), His end of the game plays did not work at all as they either took too much time to set up or were broken up immidiatly leaving us running around like chickens with our heads cut off. It seems he had no plan B's which you need up to Plan D's at least on a game ending play.

And does anyone know why Vooged isn't playing? I thought he was eligable this year to play, and when watching him shoot around before the game at at half time his shot money!

I am curious now what the ducks will where for civil war. Is this the jersey they will wear for their remaining game and bowl game? I am wondering how the jersey will look in white, the one thing that kinda concerns me is the lack of other colors in the design. It worked for the black out but would it work for white? It probably would and for green to, but I would be more concerned about an all yellow one with almost no green highlights, that could look horendous, what are everyones thoughts? Anybody with an inside scoop on where the team appearal goes from here?

Now bare with me, there have been a few posts about this topic, but I want to put a twist on this for our conversation. Now this is the position I would like to see stepped up whether its by our guys or bringing in someone. We already know the young studs in Paul, William, Stuckey, Rando, Harris, Calderon and Rose are pretty much untouchable on their respected teams. There's been a lot of players who are available thrown around as possibilities in Hinrich, Conley, Felton, Nelson, Ellis, ect, who all have a few things here and there that throw someone off (Hinrich having the most well rounded game of this group). This post is asking about those dark horse Point Guard candidates hiding. Is there someone we should divert our attention to and snag up while we can? A few possibilities by me:

Ramon Sessions - he's been doing good with Red out in the last few games and his stuck behind Ridnour possibily ripe for the picking (I promise I will never use that line again)

Beno Udrih - In the absense of Kevin Martin this kid has stepped up, scoring 30 his last game while adding 7 assists, he has shown he can dish it well while also getting his own shot

Chris Duhon - With Nate Robinson killing it (the biggest challenger so far for Rudy for 6th man of the year) Duhon may become a target for teams as he is amoung the league leaders in assists

Ronnie Price -  Has played well in Daron Williams absence, now that Williams is back will there be enough minutes?

So go ahead talk about your dark hourse's, or player mentioned above if you like or sticking with our guys and hope J Bay can help us hold up a championship trophy in the future!

So Jason Quick just wrote this lovely piece about Oden looking very good in practice today. While reading it I was thinking to myself that this is one of the most positive things I have read about Greg in the past couple months. Nate is thinking of having Oden comming off the bench for, it sounds like, an extended pierod of time, which I don't think is a bad thing. Pryzbilla has earned his spot in the line up and Oden should to. Also as Nate said "I also think that allows LaMarcus (Aldridge) and Brandon to be LaMarcus and Brandon" Which I think is a very accurate statement.

Om Rudy's player page on ESPN they are reporting the official Trail Blazer sight has quoted Nate has said he is thinking of inserting Rudy in the starting line up in the near future. However when I was on the site I could not find this. Has anybody seen this comment from Nate?

I personally am torn between Batum and Rudy (Rudy's talent and fire power in our starting line up vs Batums defense and Roy playing in his natural position), Then there's Rudy playing PG, but I need to see him play it more in game to say if that will work or not

So I don't know if everyone has seen the  "Blackout Autzen at homecoming" group on facebook, but I was wondering if it is true. In the group they said it is because we are unveiling an all black uniform which i think could and should happen this season (and this would be a good game to do it). I just haven't seen anything but this facebook group saying it is happening this game for sure and calling for a black out this game. Does anybody have a link verifying this at all? I personally love the idea of all balck jerseys! (I just hope it would work better for us then Georgia's black out)

UPDATE: So in the time i posted this and watched forgetting sarah marshall the event changed to a "YELL-O-Out" . My understanding is there still is supposed to be new uniforms, but hearing them possibly being one pieces scares me....... alot! Maybe the black out was changed because of georgia or maybe just becauseits hard to set up.

So I was bored and played around on guess what? Trade Machine YAY!

Here are some simple trades that can be souped up to make it more appealing to teams:

Trade 1:

Now I know this one has been covered already when the rockets signed Artest but I still wouldn't mind to see it possibly go down and I am curious about your thoughts. It's simply:

Blazers get: Shane Battier

Rockets get: Channing Frye & Martell Webster (a draft pick or two or cash can be thrown in to sweeten the deal if needed)

I feel rockets get a great hi post back up PF in Frye and a very talented back up to Artest in Webster. Both provide a very potent scoring punch off the bench that would make them a VERY deep and scarey team. What are all of your thoughts on this?

Trade 2:

Now this one was just me being down right greedy! I don't know if the other two teams would do this at all just because it is WAY too good of a deal for the Blazers, but I think you could make an argument it is good for all teams Detroit being the hardest though, Pritchard would have to use some of his voodoo magic or jedi mind tricks on this one possibly):

Blazers get: Tayshaun  Prince & Devin Harris

Nets get: Richard Hamilton, Steve Blake & Reaf LaFrentz (Possibly some cash or unsigned draft picks and probably a 1st round draft pick)

Pistons get: Martell Webster, Vince Carter & Trenton Hassell (A whole butt load of draft picks from us and new jersey)

I don't think I need to go over why Blazers would do this..........yes all are nodding in agreement. Nets get three contracts expiring contracts, LaFrentz this off season and Hamilton and Blake next offseason, while unloading the Carter contract just in time for the best player on the planet to be a unrestricted free agent. The big thing is Harris, he would be such a great guard along side James I don't know if New Jersey would let him go, especially to a team as stacked at the Blazers! Thats why hopefully they would have some intrest in any of our unsigned pick (give them whoever they want! and probably a 1st round pick at leats if not some 2nds and of course cash from Allen wouldn't hurt. Now with detroit I have heard rumors they possibly were thinkin of breaking up the team and going in new direction with Stockley as possibly someone to build around, but I dont know if they are ready for that yet. And if they are they probably would want to deal Sheed and Billups before Hamilton and Prince but my brain hurts too much to bring in another team and I know us and Nets wouldn't want either of them for finacial reasons. However maybe this could give them more of a push in that direction as they get a great player in Webster and an ok hustel man in Hassell and a very marketable player in Carter, who with the foursome they have not had. I feel the only way this would go down is if they we and possibly New Jersey unload some draft picks on them for thier use in dealing unwanted players or for rebuilding. Again I don't know if they are at this point yet. So what are your thoughts?

UPDATE:

Here is a Trade 2 Update

I added Nicolas Batum to the trade (I originally thought adding another player would mess up the numbers) from a suggestion from GreatOden'sRaven and it works! Also there is a trade exception Detroit can use from their Nazr Mohammad trade to get Sergio Rodriguez which makes getting two young players with good potential a much better outcome for Detroit! This is a still a pretty out unlikely trade, but this gives it a slight pushmore in reality.

I was bored surfing the internet and ended up on Rudy's Wikipedia Page. On this, under his picture they have "nicknames" which include "Smooth Criminal," "Rudy Airlines" and "Rudy took his gun." (WTF?!) I don't know how or when he was given these nicknames. I'm curious what are everyone's thoughts on these nicknames and can we think of better ones? My creative juices aren't at their full capacity as I can't think of one, but I would like to see us get Calderon or Rubio possibly to make the "Three Amigos" on our team with Rudy, Rodriguez and Calderon/Rubio (RR would keep the alliteration in the group). One because I find it a little funny and also because Calderon and Rubio are good! (man I think Ricky is going to be special!)

So now UCLA's Ben Olson continues the string of Pac-10 team's QBs getting injured before a game has even started. This injury sounds the worst yet as Olson will be out 8 weeks and there is a chance of surgery. UCLA can not catch a break! Patrick Cowan (the QB that replaced Olson when he got injured last season) was set to be their number 1 QB going into the season, but will now miss the whole season after having surgery from hurting his knee in spring practice

Here's The Link to the ESPN article:

Link

While watching Spain play Greece I was thinking, Spain's jersey's are kinda cool and I wouldn't mind possibly checking out getting a Rudy Spain jersey. So I looked around online and cannot find Spanish Olympic jerseys on sale anywhere! I even went on their suppliers, Li-Ning's website and found out they don't even have an online store. So I was wondering if anybody else was interested in this like me and if anyone has any insight on this?

Does anyone know whats going on with the new ticket distribution?

What I was told was you will need to create some account on GoDucks.com first, then there will be the same amount of tickets for each class status and depending on your status you have a certain time to log onto GoDucks and verify you want your ticket (either on credits like when you register for classes or just freshmen, sophmore, junior, senior times, and at the minute each class can log on, its a clusterf--k, free for all). Then you don't get a physical ticket it is put onto your ID card and scanned at the gate.

Does anyone else know any details about this new method, This way that I was told could be totally wrong but that is what i was told. I looked around on GoDucks and the internet for something but couldn't find anything, I'm sure they will send out an email, but I wanna get my ticket for the Fusky game when they come out so I wanna see if anyone else knows whats up!