OK, the great 3-guard controversy is behind us.  The guys are playing pretty well, considering Batum and Outlaw are out.  Martell finally relaxed and found his game--at least for the moment.  So before the next wave of negativity hits Blazersedge, how about taking a moment to celebrate GREG FREAKING ODEN!!!

Remember?  The guy they named the "Greg Oden Draft" after?  The guy who the Blazers won the right to draft with a miraculous bounce of the ping pong balls?  The guy who was expected to make the paint a fearsome place for Blazers opponents to tread for the next decade or more?  News flash: in case you haven't been paying attention, that guy is HERE!

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I'm hearing a lot of pros & cons about the great 3-guard experiment offensively, but the near-universal sentiment--both in the media and here at BE--is that Miller, Blake, & Roy will get killed at the defensive end as soon as the team encounters an opponent with a big, talented shooting guard and/or small forward.

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OK, like most Blazer fans, I'm starting to be concerned.  I understand that the Blazers' offense is a work in progress, what with a new point guard and a returningwing being introduced (Miller & Martell, respectively), along with a major new weapon (Greg Oden's improved low-post game).  But the defensive futility in Houston really threw me.  Could it be that Nic Batum--who models his game after Scotty Pippen's--was important to this team's success last season in a similar manner to Pippen in Chicago?

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I thought I'd heard on Courtside that at least one preseason game is to be televised.  But I just spent 20+ minutes trying to verify that on-line (@ Blazers, Comcast, & CSN sites) and on the phone with Comcast folks.

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According to Ben, today KP confessed to him that while there's an NBA adage that "you can never have too many big men," as a former point guard he believes that "you can never have too many point guards."  Does this ring a bell with anyone?  I've repeatedly suggested at this site that KP's tendency to pack the Blazers' roster with point guards (as many as five at one point) at the expense of bangers might reflect the bias of a former point guard.  Yet virtually no one around here thought I might be on to something.  Our genius GM has a blind spot?  RIDICULOUS!!  [For reference, check out my 11-18-07 post, "Where's the Beef," and my 5-20-09 reprise, "Kevin Pritchard Declares that Hurryup '09 Was Right!"] 

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My favorite Andre Miller answer to the barrage of questions he's received from the Portland media came during Monday's Courtside.  Pardon the paraphrasing, but the exchange went something like the following.  Mike Rice: "So, Andre, are you in shape yet?"  Miller: "I ain't gonna lie to you.  Summertime is for resting up, letting your injuries heal, etc.  I'm not doing a thing until it's nearly time for training camp.  Then I'll work my way into shape and be ready to go on opening day." 

Already, the guy is providing that badly-needed "veteran leadership!"

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The way that KP and the other NBA GM's repeatedly passed on DeJuan Blair in the late first and early second round of Thursday's draft reminded me of the feeding habits of certain species of trout.  Under some circumstances, these trout will feed on anything edible that floats by.  But at other times, they have absolute tunnel vision, zeroing in on a particular bug that's currently hatching--e.g. mayflies--to the exclusion of all other food.

When that happens, a fisherman lacking a mayfly imitation in his tackle box--of the exact matching size & color that the trout are looking for--might as well pack up and head home.  He will NOT, under any circumstances, even get a trout to look at anything he drifts past him.  The offering could be the trout equivalent of a steak dinner.  No matter--if that trout is zeroed in on the trout equivalent of a hot dog with relish & yellow mustard, that's all he'll feed on.

That's what I think NBA GM's--including KP, our fearless leader--are sometimes like.  Once they've zeroed in on a Pendegraph, you could offer them the next Michael Jordan and they'd pass.

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Tonight, even after Howard missed two free throws with about 11 seconds remaining, the Magic still were up by three and had the upper hand.  As long as they didn't allow a three-pointer, they'd be even in the series and the pressure would shift to the Lakers.  But on the ensuing play, Jameer Nelson unaccountably played back on Derek Fisher, allowing him to drain a wide-open three-pointer, leading to an overtime victory for the Lakers.  With that one boneheaded play, Nelson effectively ended his team's promising championship run.  And with that play, Nelson reminded me of why I hope the Blazers trade Trout.

In fairness, Trout isn't the only Blazer player who makes lots of dumb plays.  But the others are newbies, whereas Trout is now a six-year veteran.  It's simply unrealistic to think his ability to think the game of basketball (see, I didn't mention "basketball IQ") will improve going forward.

Returning to Nelson's disastrous brain fart: this was exactly the type of boneheaded play at a critical time in a playoff series that I've long believed Trout will someday make.  I've watched the NBA for a very long time now, and I've noted that the difference between champions and also-rans is hair-thin.  We're seeing that once again in this playoff run by the Lakers.  They aren't significantly more talented than their opponents.  They just make fewer dumb plays at critical moments.

Believe it or not, I love Travis Outlaw.  True, I've complained about his lack of toughness & physicality.  But I love his sweet, laid back personality, his magic jumpshot, and his ability to leap out of the gym.  I realize that he's a glue guy in terms of team chemistry, and that he's won regular season games for the Blazers--quite a few of them in fact.  But in the playoffs, every flaw in your team becomes magnified, and championship teams simply don't have players who consistently make dumb plays.

After Nelson's gaffe, Jeff Van Gundy was beside himself.  He said the lack of basketball IQ on the part of some NBA players never ceases to amaze him.  He asked how you can not be aware of the time & score?  He said, "I'd like to know what was going through Nelson's mind on that play."

Please, KP, don't let us hear those words someday about a Blazer player at the critical juncture of a Finals appearance.  Let it be the OTHER team that makes the boneheaded plays.  Don't give Trout away.  But if you can get real value for him, pull the trigger.  (And if Trout proves me wrong someday and wins a championship with someone else, I'll take the blame.  Because we all know that you base your decisions on BE fanposts.)

Postscript: I didn't expect a lot of agreement on this Fanpost, and I didn't receive it.  But now, should my premonition come true someday, I'll have the faint pleasure of writing an "I told you so" Fanpost.  Kinda like the Fanpost I wrote after the young Blazers proved to lack the necessary toughness & physicality to pass their first playoff test.

OK, that's not exactly what KP said (on The Fan Tuesday afternoon).  What he said was that the one thing he took from the Blazers-Rockets playoff series was, "Let's get some toughness and some physicalness in here...We may need to go out into free agency and look at something like that."

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In today's Oregonian, John Canzano wrote an obnoxious column aimed at the Rockets, entitled "Look Out Houston: Now It's Your Problem."  Basically, Canzano called the Rockets a bunch of chokers and stated that if they should lose Game 6 in Houston on Thursday, the series is as good as over.

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