I've noticed a lot of people are saying 'no' to a trade before the deadline. Most people are saying the reason for their 'no' is because a trade would mess with the teams chemistry. My question is, how would a new player change the chemistry any more than injuries change the chemistry? When Oden missed time after opening night, the team was used to playing with joel, then Oden came back, and they had to get used to playing with him again. Then Roy went down and the team had to get used to playing more with Bayless. Then Roy returned and the team had to get used to playing with him again. Now Blake is down and the team has had to adjust to more of Sergio and Bayless. When Blake comes back and Martell comes back, the team will have to again, adjust and regain that chemistry. Now this is a lot of adjusting and rebuilding. And a lot of these guys (oden, sergio, bayless) are young inexperienced guys, which makes it even harder for the rest of the team to feel comfortable with them. Making a trade and getting used to playing with someone new wouldn't be that big of a deal.

The trade would definitely be for an experienced player, likely a veteran. Someone who could contribute towards securing a playoff spot. I don't think bringing in someone like this would throw off the chemistry any more than the numerous injuries have.
What do you think?

As this season approaches, us fans are expecting something great. We have no reason not to expect this, all the pieces seem to be falling into place. Oden is back and looking great, Blake is looking quicker and has done a lot over the summer, Channing is cut, Aldridge has bulked up, Roy will be ready in time, Rudy had a fantastic Olympics, Outlaw and Webster are expected to improve even more from last year, Bayless is coming off an MVP summer league, even Sergio is looking improved, we can expect a solid performance from Pryz and some of the other backups, and they are all good guys. Wait, what? They are all good guys!
They resemble a family, they help out in the community, they are real role models for kids, they LOVE Portland (Channing), they are humble, they put the team first, they are good family men, they are class act guys.
And we put so much emphasis and concern on how many games they will win this year, next year, and in three years. Now, there is nothing wrong with this, I do it all the time. But I started to ask myself, is winning games really what defines the success of this team? I guess by a worldly view, yes, it absolutely is. But I've got to say, the class that these guys have shown over the last few years is awesome. Say for some reason they don't have a great season (knock, knock, knock), that won't stop me at all from talking about what a truly great group of guys we have. When it comes right down to it, I would much rather have a team that works hard and are fantastic role models, than a team that wins a bunch of games, and is being seen in the strip clubs and bars and in the news for marijuana use, or dog fighting, or going to prison. I think we can all agree, that a quality group of guys is greater than a rotten group. Does winning games really even fall into the equation? If so, then we have a quality group that may end up winning a lot of games, but if not we still have a quality group of guys! We call this scenario, win-win.

OH MAN! I absolutely loved the physicality of the Hornets in their series against the Mavs, as well as their first game against the Spurs. Now, I didn't watch N.O. too often during the season, but, do they always play this physical?! They are basically man handling these teams! Their tempo and their aggressiveness is outstanding, and I cannot say enough about Chris Paul, Wow. I know the refs tend to let a little bit more go in the playoffs, so maybe this physical style wouldn't really be seen during the regular season, but man it is fun to watch and I hope Portland can be this physical next year!

Over the last four games that B. Roy has not played in, I haven't enjoyed watching the team as much. Now, please don't call me a fair weather fan, of course I still watch the games and root 'em on. I guess I just didn't quite realize or maybe just got used to the amount of excitement that Roy brings to the team. I know he is the best player on the team and an allstar for goodness sake, but I guess I really wasn't thinking about how great he really is. Now that he has missed a few games, I've REALLY noticed how amazing he is and the talent he brings to the team.

Has his absence opened anyone else's eyes a little wider than his amazing play has this season?

posted yet. This is just another reason I'm glad we got rid of Zack...How embarrassing...Did anybody see this game? I'm wondering how much Zack played in the second half. This kind of stuff makes me feel bad for the guys who work super hard in practice to make the starters better, then sit on the bench the whole game and watch Zack practice his "and1" move. Pathetic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lvYf08X6tc

So, Roy ended up playing more minutes in the all star game than we all expected. Is this a good thing, or a bad?

Roy definitely needed some rest, and didn't necessarily get it. Now, the all star game isn't as taxing as a regular season game, but I'm guessing an  entire weekend in New Orleans can be. Especially when he played in two games! This hurts a little, having our number one guy not get the rest everyone else did, when he probably needed it the most.

BUT!

What does the game he had...
MIN     FGM-A     3PM-A     FTM-A     OREB     REB     AST     STL     BLK     TO     PF     PTS
28       8-10        2-3         0-0         1            9         5          1          1        0       2    18
 ...do for his confidence? Or even the teams confidence? Now, I know Brandon's confidence wasn't exactly lacking, but could a performance like he had elevate it even higher? Is the team sitting at home watching the game and saying, "wow, I knew Brandon was good, but he's one of the best on the court right now."

What do you guys think this performance does for B-roy and the team? positives and negatives

Are we really banking on Oden being the answer for our rebounding struggles? What if he gets two fouls in the first two and a half minutes like Pryzbilla did tonight, then what? As soon as Pryzbilla went out tonight, Dallas got 3 or 4 offensive boards in a single possession, and Mike Rice says, "that's what's going to happen without Pryzbilla.
Are you serious??
Are we really counting on one player to do all of our rebounding? I hope not. Do any of our bigs besides joel have a passion for getting a board? I wish.

To start the second quarter we start Raef in hopes of hitting the boards a little better. Really? We need to do that? Now, nothing against Raef, I know he stays in shape and plays hard, but when will we be able to count on our main guys stepping up and really hitting the boards without joel?

When we do get rebounds without Pryz in the game, it seems like it's never a solid grab, it's always someone slapping it out to someone...man I'd like to see some good solid block outs on a consistent basis from LA, Frye and Outlaw. Maybe our guys just need to get stronger...what do you think?

The nuggets and rockets are in double OT right now, I'm predicting a very tired Denver team tomorrow night when they face Portland. Also Camby took a hard fall, he continued to play, but he hurt his back. The announcers were saying he is going to be really sore tomorrow, so will see if that affects his play.

4 mins left, will there be a 3rd overtime? hopefully.

So, right now I work at Cherry Wood Village, a retirement/assisted living facility next to Mall 205. One of the residents there is a retired doctor, Dr. Katsumi Jim Nakadate. He told me he used to be a a doctor for the Trailblazers. Now, most of the residents there have pretty sever dementia. Though this gentleman does not, I was pretty skeptical at first. Then I asked what he did for the team, and he said he and Dr. Bucky Shields, were the team doctors and whenever a player was hurt they would take them back into the locker room. I asked when this was and he said 1974-1976, and then he said "WE WERE CHAMPIONS!" I asked him if he remembers any of the players and he said no.

Is there a list anywhere of former blazer doctors?  I'm pretty sure I believe him, but you'd be amazed about what some of the residents make up. I'm only 21, but does anyone who was a blazer follower during the 70s recall ever hearing of one of those doctors?

If any of you lucky season ticket holders aren't going to be able to make it to the Feb. 24th game against Boston and would like to sell your tickets to me, that would be really awesome. I have a friend from school who is from Juno, Alaska and has never seen a professional sporting event of any kind. He's a big Celtics fan and I would really like to take him to a game. I would also like to sit somewhere other than the 300 level, so that is why I'm asking.  

Also, if there are any other games you might want to sell your tickets for, I'm always interested.

Thanks

I'm thinking about buying the cheap $440 season tickets. I would buy better seats if I could afford it, but I'm wondering what you guys think about the possibility of buying the cheap tickets and then moving down to better unoccupied seats sometime during the game. I've done it plenty of times at Portland Beavers games, but never at a Blazer game. Has anyone done this recently, bought cheap tickets and then moved down to better open seats? Was it easy? Did they check your ticket?

So today I was driving home after work and I was turning left off of N Vancouver Ave. onto N Weidler St. (just south of Emanuel Hospital for the portland  area folks) and I look up and see a huge billboard that has a picture of Oden and Durant and it says "Honk once for Oden, Honk twice for Durant" As I drove by I honked once and then listened out the window to see if anyone else honked by I didn't hear anything. So if anyone is driving that one you should swing by and give a honk or two. Has anyone else seen this billboard??

So since I'm home from school for spring break I went to the game last night. It was a fun game to watch and a good win for portland.

A few of the things I noticed:

In the first half Jack refused to shoot the ball. Now, I thought to myself, maybe he is just trying to fill his role of keeping portland in an offense and moving the ball, BUT, when Outlaw came in he forced up a shot the first 3 possessions down the court. Later in the game when Outlaw came in he did the same thing. The ball would be moving baseline to baseline then travis would pop up to the high-post get the ball and shoot it with a guy right in his face. I know travis has a high release but it just seemed like he was really forcing it. Now, I like travis better when he's slashing to the hoop or posting up in the low post. I don't know if Jack thinks he shouldn't be taking those shots or if Nate has advised against him taking the shots but it seems like he would be a better candidate to take the one step inside the three point line jumpers over outlaw

Another thing I noticed is that no blazer hits the offensive glass unless Aldridge is in the game. I could not figure this out. If Aldridge wasn't in the game, every blazer would fall back on D. If he was in the game he was fighting for the rebound and the other guys were there too.

It was also a lot of fun to hear the fans Boo arenas every time he touched the ball.

Lastly, Why didn't sergio's pass to Freddie for the alley-oop reverse two hand slam make sportcenter's top ten plays?!?!

Ok, Kobe is a darn good player, as much as we hate to admit it, it's true. However, after tonight's game and after thinking about his recent suspension, I've decided that Kobe is a dirty player. Why is it that because he is Kobe Bryant he can get away with that crap?! Now I can understand getting away with the "get fouled, dribble twice, take two more steps, go up and hit the shot"-continuation, because it's been that way with big names for ever and really for anyone lately in the NBA. But! I can not understand pulling jarret jack down with him to make it look like he was pushed, or pushing roy off of him to give himself room. That is not something that the officials should let slide for big name players. I wonder how many of the Lakers hate that Kobe bryant is on their team. I know I would. All the commentators talked about was how Kobe lost faith in his team and had to do it himself. If I played for them I would hate hearing stuff like that all the time.

And

I really hope Lamar Odem gets fined or suspended for walking into the blazers huddle during the time out. That is one of the most unsportsman-like things a player can do. The technical foul in my opinion was not enough. I have hated LA for a long time, and tonight's game definitely reassured me that I do still hate them.

I'm still pissed.

I go to school at BSU. The NBA D-league team called the Idaho Stampede plays in Boise. In case anyone doesn't know Luke Jackson was cut from cleavland because of a back injury and after two back surgerys he is trying to get back into the NBA and he's playing for the Idaho Stampede. So my buddy phil and I put on our Oregon Duck t-shirts and go to the game hoping to get an autograph or something. So luke jackson is warming up and we call out to him and point at our shirts. He sees us and gives a couple fist pumps for us. Then when they were doing player introductions all the players were throwing t-shirts to the crowd and Luke threw us a t-shirt.
We watched the game for a while and then got up to get some food. Some people came up to us and asked us if we were Oregon fans. We told them yes and they asked if we were there to support Luke. We again said yes and then they introduced themselves. It was Luke jackson's dad, mom, aunt and uncle. We talked to them for a little while and then sat down and watched the rest of the game. After the game was over we went down to the court to try and say hi to him or get an autograph or something. He had already gone into the locker room but he and the team were coming back out to sign autographs. My friend and I went down to the court and talked to his uncle and his mom for about 15 minutes while we waited for the autograph line to die down. Pretty soon Luke came over and asked if we caught the shirt he threw. He then apologized for playing bad, (he was missing a few shots) and we asked for some autographs. He signed our duck shirts and I told him that if he was ever bored or was looking for something to do in Boise that we would love to hang out with him. To my suprise Luke said, "alright, cool, let me write down my cell phone number for you" (this was right infront of his parents and everything) As he was writing his number down he said "yea guys, i'm usually free." We then said goodbye felt like the coolest guys in the world.

The stampede plays again tonight but my buddy and I can't go, so, I just sent him a text message telling him that me and my friend phil weren't going to be able to make it to the game but we wanted to wish him good luck and that would we would see him again when he gets back from the team's road trip. He replied to my text within 5 mins and said "thanks bro".

I don't even care if nobody else thinks this is cool. But Luke Jackson is definitely an awesome guy.

Hey, I'm just wondering what everyone thinks of Jack. I really like the guy and the way he plays, but last week I was home from school for the weekend and was able to watch a few blazer games. In the double OT win against memphis, I thought sergio played extremely well. They were talking about him being like steve nash and everything. I don't think he's anywhere near nash's level, yet. But to me, he looks like he could be as his game develops. I don't really know if he's got much of a shot or not, but the way he creates is really good to see. In the games I've been able to watch, which hasn't been many, Jack plays the starting pg position but it just seems like he brings the ball down, starts the offense and he's done. Sergio created the offense and was definitely more energetic. I dunno, I may be wrong, it's just what I've seen in a couple of the games.

Being home from school for the winter break I thought I would go to a Lake Oswego highschool basketball game and see Kevin Love play; the game was at Clackamas High School. Many of you may already know this but Chris Dudley helps coach Lake O.
Anyway, I was sitting in the bleachers watching the game when I noticed someone sitting two people away from me. It was Rick Adleman. Now kicking myself for being to nervous to say anything to him; I've been wondering why he was there. The reason for this post is just to find out if anyone knows why Adleman would have been there. I thought maybe he just still had a house in the area from his time with Portland or maybe he was doing some kind of scouting for the NBA.

Anyone have any idea?

Hey, has anybody ever gotten any good autographs at Blazer games? or from anywhere else?

I'm 20 yrs old right now and I used to collect basketball cards. When Portland drafted Jermaine I thought he was so cool and bought every b-ball card I could find of him. His rookie year I was at a game and he came walking out from the locker room and stopped and signed a rookie card I had. At this same game I also got an autograph from Dontonio Wingfield.

I also have a card autographed by Brian Grant that I got when he was signing at a card shop on McLaughlin by GI-Joes.

does anyone else have any good Blazer autograph stories?

Let's just say/dream that Portland has a winning season and makes the playoffs. I really think Zack would be a strong canidate for MVP. He has really impressed me this year with his getting to the line and free throw shooting. He's using his right hand a whole lot more and really finishing at the hoop. His play so far this year screams MVP. It's too bad it depends on the W-L record.