Here's the news on ESPN.com

This should level the NW division's playing field for the next month.  Or they might just play better w/o Melo, your thoughts?  The Nuggets did concert more effort on the defensive end against the Blazers.  They also have a number of players that could pick up his #'s like JR, Billups, Nene, etc.

This could very well level the playing field for the NW division during January when each of the top 3 teams are dealing w/ their stars out due to injury.

I'm not going to lie...I lost sleep last night.  My heart rate never dropped to a resting rate.  Why?  Because Brandon Roy and the Blazers rocked my world with that AWESOME win.  It was as if the Blazers were dressed in a robe and slippers on Christmas morn watching me next to the Christmas tree w/ all of my presents and w/ tobacco pipe in mouth said, "(insert name here) Merry Christmas!"

So how many of you lost sleep?

Do you remember reading during the preseason about how LMA had worked on his dribble penetration (see the article from the Casey's Center Court Blog)?  I've watched the majority of games this season and I'm struggling to remember a single dribble penetration drive by LMA.  What happened? 

I don't think its due to a lack of opportunities.  He gets multiple touches in a game both on top of the key and from 15 feet away on clear outs which should give him ample room to work some cross-over magic.

I don't want to knock the guy as he's definately improved his consistency and his back-to-the-basket game.  But this is an element that I think could exponentially improve the Blazers as we are short on penetrators.

So what are your thoughts...what's going on w/ LMA?  Am I expecting too much out of him?

BTW - one random note about Lamarcus.  I saw him roll into the CHILI's in Lake Oswego (the one that just closed) in a sweet Mercedes.  I was eating lunch w/ my wife and my grandparents but the sighting of this Blazer icon got me distracted.  I was pointing out who it was to my family when my wife noticed that he was parked in the handicap spot.  He came into the restaurant, apparently to get the take out he had ordered as he returned to his car w/in a minute of leaving it.  Then he remained in the handicap parking spot for about 10mins more while chatting on his phone.  Yes, I'm a stalker for watching his every move...I think this could be a faint pulse that the Jail Blazers era isn't over.  Ok, I'm kidding about that, but I hope you liked the story.

What an exciting night!  We picked up the 4th best player in the draft (per KP's measuring) w/ the 13th pick and some collateral.  I think Bayless will be a great addition and will instantly be able to contribute.

But.....what about Rudy?  Bayless is pretty much a combo-guard who will be playing the point.  I thought that we were pushing to have Broy play the 1 and Rudy play the two.  The final contract hasn't been signed for him to play w/ the Blazers yet.  Will this be a set-back for Rudy who may see it as a log-jam in his position to be a starter?

Your thoughts?

I found this blog by Curt Schilling (amazing pitcher from the Boston Red Sox) who was sitting behind the L*kers bench during game two of the finals.  He observes some interesting conversations and behaviors of the L*ker players (particularly of K*be).

"From the first tip until about 4 minutes left in the game I saw and heard this guy bitch at his teammates. Every TO he came to the bench pissed, and a few of them he went to other guys and yelled about something they weren’t doing, or something they did wrong. No dialog about “hey let’s go, let’s get after it” or whatever. He spent the better part of 3.5 quarters pissed off and ranting at the non-execution or lack of, of his team. Then when they made what almost was a historic run in the 4th, during a TO, he got down on the floor and basically said ‘Let’s f’ing go, right now, right here” or something to that affect."

Here's the link  for your reading pleasure.

It's interesting to me to hear this since the consensus in the news is that this year is a new K*be.  A K*be that is a team player and is team first and has learned how to unabrasively deal w/ his team.  Isn't that the reason why he won the MVP this year?

I'm sorry, but I had to do it...after reading SpyderRyder's post about Rudy declaring to play for the Blazers soon (which I translated to say that he was going to anounce on June 4th) I decided to do a Google news search on Rudy to see if it had hit the press yet....and I came up w/ this article and nearly messed myself after reading the headline.  But after clicking on the link and reading the actual article, I quickly found out that this was a case of mistaken identity.

Apparently there is a famous Filipino Actor by the name of Rudy Fernandez who is suffering from periampullary cancer (cancer of the scrotum; ok that's a lie, I don't know what it is and I'm too lazy to google it.  And if I did google it, I might end up w/ another case of mistaken identity).  And even more intriguing is the fact that this Rudy Fernandez has a friend by the name of Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr who was providing the reporter with this update.

Moral of the story is our Rudy Fernandez is ok.  And if we are to learn anything its that our Rudy needs a friend who is referred to as Bong (Jr or Sr is acceptable).  Someone that can be his advocate when life's challenges bear down on him.  So who is willing to answer the call to be our Rudy's "Bong" (Jr or Sr)?

On another note: Any news on OUR Rudy anouncing that he's going to be a Blazer?