I am not a Clipper fan but I am a basketball fan. I am actually one of the hated Blazer fans. Hearing Blake Griifin is out for the season is a blow to all basketball fans. I would say I can't imagine your disappointment but the truth is I have of course lived through it.. Blake Griffin was the most no brainer 1st pick since, dare I say it, Greg Oden. Oden instantly started drawing comparisons to the ghosts of big men past, Bowie and Walton. The Clips now have to live through articles like yahoos "Cursed Luck". It sucks. The truth is it is all a bunch of crap.

The media jumps all over the slightest drop of blood. They start a story and then all of the other media outlets report that so and so is reporting until it has its own life. The truth is that Walton and Bowie had nowhere near the medical treatment that players get today. I think Walton would have had a career medical wise, more like Big Z of the Cavs. Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla, and Blake Griffin all have patella problems. They take a while to heal but they heal. Kenyon Martin broke his fraking femur and had to micro-fracture surgeries and truly looks as if it never happened.

Blake Griffin will be back and I truly believe that he will be as good as you are all hoping. I also believe that yur team is really headed in the right direction. Kaman has become dominant. Gordon is very solid. Camby is a rebounding and defensive monster and there are other nice pieces as well. Play-offs will be coming soon and often and maybe even deep runs.

I will say truthfully and as inoffensively as I can, that I would not stick with Baron. He is a talented guy but 2 of him is not 1 of Billups. I say this hating the Nuggets, division rival and all. I am a big believer that the best player on your team needs to be a true leader and team guy. Rasheed Wallace as the best player on our Blazer team was awful but as one of the guys on Detroit or Boston he is great. Baron IMO engages in a lot of mano y mano stuff and loses sight of team goals quite frequently throughout his career.

I am really impressed at how well Kaman has progressed his game. I really can't stress that enough.

Good luck Clip fans. We will be engaging in meaningful battles soon.

A few weeks back I noticed a post on here saying things were not so rosie in Portland. That post was posted too soon. Believe me when I say that we are very happy getting Miller instead of Hinrich. I put Hinrich a notch below Miller but more importantly, we got Miller for a good contract and gave up no one. I didn't really understand the animosity towards Portland and I still don't The only thing I can think of is there are some Bulls fans who are still upset that we got L-Train for Kryhapa and Thomas. You should probably direct your anger towards your GM not us.

Truth be told the Blazers have helped out the Bulls this off-season. I have no doubts that Boozer will become a Bull and the Bulls will be the winners in a lopsided trade due to our move on Milsap.I never really was high on Milsap and am glad that things worked out the way they did because I love the Miller acquisition.

I thoroughly enjoyed the series between the Bulls and the Celtics and hope that you guys beat them down this year as I think the worst thing to happen was to back up the big mouths of Pierce and Garnett by the validation of rings.

      I will always remember April 15th, 2001 when class met crass. The Blazers were playing their arch enemies the Los Angeles L*kers  when Arvydas Sabonis accidently brought his hand down on Rasheed Wallace’s face. It was obviously an accident but that did nothing to soothe Rasheeds anger. During the next timeout  Mike Dunleavy was trying to go over plays with his team when Rasheed Wallace threw a towel straight into Sabonis’ face. Sabonis reacted only by altering his expression to one of disappointment and dismay but even that was barely perceptible. Later during the game Sabonis was whistled for a flagrant foul on Kobe Bryant, a memory that I am sure would bring a little smile to us Blazer fans and showed us the always calm giant had a little fire in him.

    Looking back that was an opportunity to have steered the ship on the right course instead of the waters that harbored the infamous Jailblazers.  At that point I would have traded Rasheed for a pack of gum.  Truthfully, I would have been happy to have paid someone to take him. A perfect testimonial to the fairness of life was that Rasheed was later traded to the Hawks and then Pistons where he went on to win a championship and was seen as the final piece to the puzzle.  Sabonis however, had to deal with the erosion of his giant frame and that of the talent level around him until he eventually retired.

     I truly believe that Arvydas was the most underrated and misused center in the history of the NBA.  While Shaq usually won the battles between the two it was our ability to single cover Shaq that made us the only team in the west able to contend with the powerhouse L*kers and were it not for some horrible calls in the fourth quarter of game 7 against the L*kers in the 2000 conference finals, Blazer fans would have been celebrating our second championship in the franchise’s history.  The battles with Shaq were again a case of class meets crass.  Shaq as he always has done was never satisfied with just outplaying his man but always delighted in taking jabs at his adversary in the form of elbows ,shoulders and taunts.

     Arvydas’ basketball IQ was so high that only names like Bird, Magic and Walton belong in the same conversation.  I personally thought the Blazers coaching staff made a mistake by not running the offense through Sabonis at the high post.  Sabonis’ passing skills would catch defenders completely unaware resulting in the ever valuable “easy baskets”.  It wasn’t just fancy underhanded bounce passes either. Sabonis was able to rotate the ball instantly without thought due to his court vision.

     Sabonis also possessed an array of offensive moves. He could hit the three point shot and any  set shot inside of that from anywhere on the floor. He also had very solid post moves and could shoot with either hand at an extremely efficient rate.

     A passing, outside shooting center from across the pond might lead some people to believe that he was a finesse player or soft. The only thing soft about the man was his shooting touch. Shaq might have been able to gloat because they went on and won rings, but I know that he knows that no center ever banged one on one against him like the Lithuanian leviathan. His sheer size made him a solid post defender and his huge paws would gobble up rebounds as soon as the ball came off the rim and in one motion, would get the outlet pass to a guard and the team would be in quick transition.

     By the time Sabonis came to the Portland Trailblazers, he had already played a fourteen year pro career. He had taken gold away from the Americans in the 1988 summer Olympics and had won three Soviet league titles, two Spanish league titles, and one Euroleague title.  Once with the Blazers,  Sabonis was named to the all rookie team and was runner up for rookie of the year to eventual teammate Damon Stoudamire and runner up for sixth man of the year as well. Arvydas Sabonis was thirty-one when he joined our Blazers. Still, even though he had suffered through numerous injuries and had been playing at a high level of basketball since he was fifteen, Sabonis was a top ten center in the league and to those with more appreciation for the subtleties of the game,  would have him ranked much higher.

     The Trailblazers didn’t get Sabonis until he was in the twilight of his career and even then he was a special player. Blazer fans could only wonder what things would have been like had he gotten the opportunity to play with  Clyde, Terry, Jerome, Buck and the rest of that crew. My guess is we would have taken some of those rings Michael won and everyone would know what only a few of us do. Arvydas Sabonis was one of the greatest basketball players to ever step foot on any basketball court. Perhaps Michael with fewer rings would not be known as the greatest player ever. Perhaps there never would have been a Jailblazers.

     It’s not only that Sabonis was one of the most underappreciated Blazers ever, but was one of the most underappreciated players in the history of basketball period.   I won’t say that he was completely unheralded but certainly not heralded enough.

     Arvydas Sabonis averaged 12.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists for his career, spanning seven seasons all with the Portland Trailblazers. In his rookie year , Sabonis averaged 23.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in the playoffs. His best season was the 1997-98 season when he averaged 16.0 point,. 10.0 rebounds and handed out 3.0 assists from the center position while shooting a robust 49% from the field.

     After retiring from the NBA,  Arvydas went back to the team he started his pro career with, Zalgiris.  He went on to win the 2004 Euroleague MVP and the Top 16 MVP. A true legend of the game,  an honorable man returned home and finished his career as honorably as he had started it back in 1981, twenty-four years earlier.

Wow that hurt! I hope the Blazers can recover. I felt like kicking a hole through my tv screen the entire game.

We all went into this game knowing that the Rockets were a match-up nightmare for us and it certainly played out that way. I think I have a solution to the match-up problems though. I doubt Sarge will do this because it seems a little extreme but as they say the play-offs are all about making adjustments.

I would bench Joel. I love the Thrilla as much as any Blazer fan this side of my wife but Joel is exactly the kind of center that Yao feels comfortable playing against. I would move Catfish into the starting lineup and go small with L-Train playing center. I know L-Train is not going to be able to guard Yao but neither would Yao be able to guard him and we have to make Yao work on defense also. Besides how could we be less effective against him than last night.  I think the key to guarding Yao as it is with Dirk is ball denial because they have such a high release on their shot that you can do nothing about it. So I would expect a lot of fronting from L-Train.

Doing this also would mean that Scola who does a great job on L-Train would have to guard Catfish instead where I believe he would be less effective. The team would be quicker getting up and down the floor and hopefully tire Yao out a bit.

I think this would even our matchup with them a bit as right now they have the advantage at C PF PG and SF. This should even us at C favor us at PF and SG still favoring them at SF and PG. A wash. We then could bring Gregzilla of the bench and run twin towers on them. This would present absolute nightmare match-ups for the Rockets and we ought to be able to pound the glass. Also Sergio is almost exclusively a pick and roll PG and that works well with Gregzilla setting picks.

This is not a panic move. We were effective last game of the season vs the Rockets with L-Train fronting Yao. I think the starting lineup we have is our best line-up  but the idea that it would be the best lineup for all the other 29 teams in the league seems almost impossible and this is a case in point.

Joels strengths are length and strength. He simply is overmatched in both of those areas. I can't imagine how devastated his Red Ass must be.

Obviously the first adjustment that needs to be made is mental. I am not going to name names as I love these guys but there were a few Blazers who looked like sissys last night. I think that will correct itself to a certain extent but we still have to neutralize their strengths and optimize ours.

I really believe a lineup change would help and I am curious what others think so please weigh in if you have an opinion.

I sure hope that was rock bottom.

Rip City!

The Jazz get ready to roll into town for a game against our young Blazers and for first time this season both teams will be essentially healthy. This makes for a very interesting game because these two teams look to me to be the next powerhouses in the western conference as Tim Duncan and the Spurs age as will Pau Gasol an Kobe Bryant.

I think the Trailblazers are the most talented team in the league, but still learning how to harness all that talent. The Jazz on the other hand while not quite as talented, have their talents harnessed more efficiently.

The matchups on these two teams are very interesting as well. At point guard you have Steve "Cool Hand" Blake vs Deron Williams. You obviously have to give the edge to Williams here but it could be closer than it might appear if Cool Hand Blake gets it going from long range which provides spacing and a nice target to pass to out of the post or in a drive and dish situation.

At shooting guard we have Brandon "The Sandman" Roy vs Ronnie Brewer. Again we have an obvious winner. If your name is not Raja Bell, Shane Battier, or Ron Artest the Sandman will put you to sleep and drive on by. Still, Ronnie Brewer is a tough defender averaging 1.7 steals a game. On offense he is not a floor spacer but he takes it to the hole very strong and is 9th in the league with 112 dunks and gets 4.4 FT attempts per game.

At small forward you have two players that are very similiar in style of play in Nicholas "Batman" Batum vs Andrei Kirelinko. Both long armed defensive minded players who routinely swat awy fast  break attempts. While I believe in the long run Batman will be the better player right now you have to give the edge to Kirilenko, who has a little more offensive game and much more experience.

At power forward we have LaMarcus "L-train" Aldridge vs Carlos "The Bruiser" Boozer. At the beginning of the season I would have given the edge to Boozer but L-Train has clicked it into another gear. No longer is he a talented finesse player but a guy who plays hard nosed on both ends, rebounds, and is a talented offensive player. Boozer looked absolutely dominant last year but the injury bug has set him back and that as much as any reason is why the Jazz are not in first place in the division. L-train gets the edge here narrowly.

The center position is very intriguing. Joel "The Thrilla" Przybilla vs Turkish player Mehmet Okur. The Thrilla is more of a traditional center who makes his living stting the best screens in the NBA, blocking dunk attempts and controlling the defensive boards. Okur on the other hand is a typical euro player in that he plays the game like a 6' 10" guard. Kind of a poor mans Nowitzki. He, like Joel is a good rebounder but no where near the defensive player. Still because of his outside shooting he will nullify some of Joels effectiveness by bringin him out of the paint so I have to give the edge to Okur.

On the bench the Blazers have Travis "Mississippi Burning" Outlaw, The Spanish Armada Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez, Greg "The Allfather" Oden, Fye, Bayless, and newly acquired Michael Ruffin vs Paul Milsap, C.J. Miles, Matt Harpring, Kyle Korver, Brevin Knight, Jarron Collins, and Kyrylo Fesenko. This is where we really outclass them and the edge obviously goes to the Blazers.

This should be an exciting game. While it is not for the division lead it might as well be because the loser will have themselves in a real hole to dig out of with this little time left in the season. Jazz are on a back to back, and are mediocre on the road. Blazers are rested and very good at home.

Blazers win big and take a step towards the division title. Final score 106-96.

Rip City!