In the past, I've posted and commented many times on BE about the Blazers' lack of physical bigs. My Fan Posts had titles like "Where's the Beef?", as I bemoaned the Blazers' front office's penchant for acquiring one stringbean after another. Finally, this off-season, that imbalance was addressed--at least to an extent--by the team's acquisition of Craig Smith and Kurt Thomas. But increasingly I'm noticing a different imbalance on the Blazers' roster: a shortage of guys with any talent for PASSING THE BALL!

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Dave has predicted it, and we all know it's likely: the Blazers will inexplicably rebound from their pathetic effort last night in Denver to give the Heat all the can handle tonight at the Rose Garden. Our guys will go all out, scrapping like their lives depend on it--rooted on by the crowd and, yes, buoyed by a bit of home cooking by the officials. All will be forgiven and forgotten. We fans will be like Charlie Brown, once again believing that Lucy is going to let him kick that football.

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Draft after draft, the Trailblazers have failed to draft a great rebounder to come off the bench--a Paul Milsap-type.  Most recently, they passed on DeJuan Blair not once but three times and let Kenneth Faried slip away.  Sure, after the fiasco of the Houston Rockets playoff series--in which the stringbean Blazer forwards got manhandled by the Rocket wide-bodies--the Blazers drafted Jeff Pendegraph.  But there's a world of difference between a Blair or Faried and a Pendegraph.  The problem: the Blazers' talent evaluators DON'T REALIZE THIS!  Why is the question.

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1) We've heard that the genesis of the Blazers' "3-goggles" schtick was a running joke about Rudy Fernandez's poor eyesight.  2) One of the great disappointments of this Blazer season was Rudy's poor 3-point shooting.  Pardon me if this question has already been raised @ Blazer's Edge, but shouldn't we be connecting the dots here?  If Rudy's not already wearing contact lenses while playing, shouldn't he be?

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You've heard of the "Five Stages of Grief": denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance.  I submit that Brandon Roy, the Blazers' organization, and Blazer fans are in various stages of this process with regard to the condition of Brandon Roy's knees and the implications of their condition for the Portland Trailblazers going forward.

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I dubbed myself "hurryup'09" back in '08-'09, when the first opening of the Blazers' championship window appeared to be just a season away.  (Except for the rabid among us, who thought the window was already open.)  I'm now changing my BE handle to "bringback'09," because that was the time when there was so much hope in Portland.  Many of us were even allowing ourselves to fantasize about a Blazers' dynasty.  Remember?  (Cue the Beatle's classic, "Yesterday.")

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God, I hate this time of year.  I rely on the Blazers for my escapism (football, baseball, etc. don't cut it for me).  And this period between the NBA draft and the start of the preseason always seems absolutely interminable.

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I just heard John Hollinger, interviewed on the radio, stating that Chris Paul had the entire meniscus removed from his knee last season. Hollinger said that meant Paul's knee is more problematic than Brandon Roy's.  Gee, do ya think??

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God, this LeBron worship-fest is beyond annoying to me.  I clicked onto ESPN today and heard Chris Broussard quoting Mike D'Antoni as saying that, should the Knicks get LeBron and Carmelo, that he'd have LeBron play point guard, ala Steve Nash.  Broussard added his own commentary: "We all know that LeBron has the skills to do that."

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Ah, that headline got your attention, didn't it?  Everyone knows that Greg Oden is injury-prone.  Every basketball fan on the planet knows that!  Right here at Blazersedge there have been dozens of Fanposts discussing the reasons for GO's condition and possible cures.  That's not to mention the hundreds of Fanposts bemoaning GO's injury-proneness, his consequential status as a "bust" (this at the age of 21, I believe it is), the possibilities of unloading this sack of damaged goods for any scraps available, etc., etc.  It's rumored that GO's injury-proneness is even responsible for the demise of Kevin Pritchard, the man who drafted him.  But what exactly is the basis for the near-universal assumption that GO is injury-prone?

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...Then I realized what it was.

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That's right: Bill Simmons says the Thunder have no shot at winning a title this season. So why on earth would they risk the health of their still-frail franchise player in a series in which he's being manhandled by a beast like Ron Artest?  "Short-term thinking," declared Simmons in a scathing column.  "Only a dysfunctional franchise with a front office in disarray would sign off on something as foolish as this!"

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That is, a last-second, 1-point heartbreak loss. The home team that wins that game ALWAYS wins the following game on the road. That heartbreak road loss just takes all the stuffing out of the loser.

Conversely, the road team that gets blown out in Game 2, having assured the split with a Game 1 win, ALWAYS wins Game 3 back at home.

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During the offseason, I announced loudly and repeatedly that the Celtics had zero chance of even contending because their decrepit old geezer bodies were certain to break down.  Apparently, the basketball gods interpreted those pronouncements as an invitation to decimate the youngest playing rotation in the NBA--that of my beloved Portland Trailblazers.

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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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True, that was a bummer.  But in some ways a blowout loss is better than a one-point heartbreaker.  Realistically, the youngsters had to get initiated into playoff basketball, and now they have been.  Contrary to what the ESPN announcers were saying, tonight's result was not a shock.  Or at least it shouldn't have been.  "The physical, playoff-tested veteran team kicks the youngsters' butts in Game 1."  Nothing new about that story.   

And here's how the next chapter generally goes.  First, the national media all jump off the flavor-of-the-week team's bandwagon.  Even locally, many fans bail.  But the veteran team relaxes slightly in Game 2, feeling that now, having "taken home court advantage," they're in the drivers' seat.  Meanwhile, the youngsters regroup, their coach makes adjustments (e.g., shortening the rotation and fronting Yao), and the team comes out with a focused, determined effort in Game 2.  No more "deer in the headlights"; they probably win going away.  

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I've never written an anti-Nate fanpost, and I'm not about to start now.  McMillan is a very capable coach, and I figure there are reasons for most of the things he does.  But I do question one thing: what's the good of having two bonafide NBA centers, with 12 available fouls between them, if you're afraid of using those fouls?

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OK, last night's loss to the Mavs was a bummer.  It was pretty tough having to watch Terry's airplane celebration and whatever in the world that thing was that Dirk did with his shorts.  But think about it: when was the last time the Mavs were that excited to beat the Blazers?  You'd have to go back to the 'sheed/Sabonis heyday at least.

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Reasonable people can differ about whether GO has game, or whether he's injury-prone.  (For the record, my view is that he obviously has plenty of game, and that the sample size is still far too small to conclude he's injury-prone.)  But now I'm seeing a lot of posts and comments to the effect that GO lacks toughness or desire: that he's unwilling to "man up" and play thru an injury.  Sorry, but this is NOT something that a reasonable person would say. 

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Anyone else notice that tonight's Blazers' comeback took off when Roy hit Artest with an "inadvertent" elbow?  Anyone think that elbow was actually inadvertent?  Could that elbow turn out to be more valuable than tonight's loss was costly?

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Yes, that was a horrible road trip.  The guys should have gone 0-3.  There's something seriously wrong with the team at the moment--probably multiple things.  But if you'll recall, the Mighty Celtics recently went thru a stretch when they couldn't beat a YMCA team.

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