SB Nation User Blog: krollb

Player introductions from Game 2! Check out related photos from Game 2 and the Blazers on my site.

krollb — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:55:34 -0000

Player introductions from Game 2! Check out related photos from Game 2 and the Blazers on my site.

Images from Section 305 Game 2: The Wife's turn with Her Camera! The Blazers get a hard fought win...

krollb — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:54:48 -0000

Images from Section 305 Game 2: The Wife's turn with Her Camera! The Blazers get a hard fought win lead by Brandon and LaMarcus and head to Houston tied 1-1. My lovely wife was with me tonight and took over photographer duties for Game 2! The evening was not all good news however as we saw Dikembe Mutombo sufer what is very likely a career ending injury.

Game 2 Image Gallery

Images from Section 305: Game 1

krollb — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:29:01 -0000

Images from Section 305: Game 1

Rough night in Rip City last night. The energy leading into the game was unreal. The RG was louder than ever before the lineups were even announced! Yao & Brooks had huge nights, the officiating was questionable early, Brandon & Greg were the only Blazers that showed up. Our Blazers looked like a young and intimidated team last night, but that won't happen again on Tuesday! Blazers win games 2 & 3, then series in 7!

Image Gallery
Video

Reflections from Section 305

krollb — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:08:02 -0000

Rip City, Where Coach Nate Bear Hugs Happen!

It has been an incredible season here in Rip City! I've been privileged to witness most of it among a great group of fans in Section 305 Row B. As the regular season came to a close last night I was honored to share it with my beautiful Wife, our great new friends Josh and Sarah, and an old friend Steve who we don’t see often enough. As the evening came to an end I grabbed my wife's camera (since I can't take my SLR into the Garden) and tried to capture a few images.

First the bench mopped up a game that they were largely responsible for winning. Then the team celebrated amongst themselves and gave high fives to Brandon Jr. Then each member of the team met a lucky fan at half court to give them a goody bag.

The whole thing really got me thinking about how special this team, this night, and this season has been.

We saw one of the youngest teams in the history of the NBA grow from a team that looked shell shocked in the season opener against the purple and gold on ESPN grow into a very dangerous playoff team that has been dismantling opponents one after another. The last victim was a Nuggets team that couldn't match the fire and intensity of our young Blazers as they were crushed in the season finale. Fittingly the game that closed the season and shed light on the second season was also televised by ESPN.

We saw a young star that had achieved fame in his Pacific Northwest home burst onto the national scene to become a legitimate superstar! From the game winning heroics vs. Houston, to the the 52 points vs. Phoenix, to the 10 steals vs. Washington the legend seemed to grow from game to game and month to month. Capping the season with a Player of the Week award that was very appropriately given not for individual statistics, but to acknowledge the leader of a team that has burst onto the NBA landscape, was the icing on the cake.

We saw young LaMarcus Aldridge grow into a dominating force at both ends of the floor. We saw Steve Blake have a career season and become the player whose presence this team misses more than any other when it is absent. We saw Joel Przybilla dominate the paint on the defensive end and lead the team in retiring the "soft" tag. We saw Nicolas Batum grow from a lost teenager in summer league into the legitimate starting small forward on a playoff team. We saw Greg Oden learn that when he takes a step back, smiles, and enjoys the game he can be a major force in the NBA. We saw Rudy Fernandez dazzle us with jaw dropping passes, high-flying dunks, and the NBA Rookie record for 3's. We saw Travis Outlaw take his game to another level while continuing to be one of the keys to the best locker room in the NBA. We saw Sergio Rodriguez bring a remodeled jump shot back from Spain and re-awaken late in the season as a first rate change of pace backup Point Guard. We saw Channing Frye bounce back from injury to become the glue that holds one of the league’s best benches together. We saw Jerryd Bayless show signs of what he can be in the future while proving to be the hardest working player we’ve ever seen. We saw the guys deep on the bench stay ready for their opportunities and be positive contributors to the new Blazers culture.

There will never be another season like this one. This is the only time we will be able to break the longest lottery streak in the league and burst onto the playoff scene with a vengeance. This will be the only time that this group full of promise become a team of men on a mission to prove they belong among the NBA's elite. This will be the only time that the team's goal of 15=16 is shattered with weeks left in the season and replaced by a quiet confidence that there is no ceiling of where they can go. This will be the only time that four rookies play 50 games on a team that wins 54 games and a division title. This will be the only time that the team once and for all sheds the dark days of the early part of the decade and bursts into the light that could shine brighter than it ever has before in Rip City!

Take a moment and breathe it all in. This is a very special time. We have our beloved Trail Blazers back, and they are going to do things we can only dream about it the days, weeks, and years to come. The door to experiences like this can only open for the first time once, and this team has not just cracked it open; it has broken it off of it's hinges!

This is the best time to be in Rip City!

~Brian

Gallery of Images from the Season Finale

Gallery of Images from the Season Ticket Holder Party

Shocking Greg Oden News

krollb — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:11:41 -0000

Shocking Greg Oden News

The truth has been revealed!

Blazer's Season Ticket Holder Night 2 Gallery http://gallery.krollimages.com/blazerssth09

krollb — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:10:50 -0000

Blazer's Season Ticket Holder Night 2 Gallery

http://gallery.krollimages.com/blazerssth09

League blocked Blazers’ bid to claim Miles

krollb — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:57:43 -0000

League blocked Blazers’ bid to claim Miles

I wondered if this might not be the case...

No Slowing Down B-Roy Elias Sports Bureau Brandon Roy scored 52 points on Thursday, giving him 182...

krollb — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:37:00 -0000

No Slowing Down B-Roy
Elias Sports Bureau

Brandon Roy scored 52 points on Thursday, giving him 182 over his last five games. That's the most points over any five-game span by any player in Trail Blazers history. The previous record was 175, by Geoff Petrie in February 1971, Portland's first NBA season.

Petrie had two 50-point games for Portland in the 1972-73 season, but in the 36 seasons since then only two other Trail Blazers players have scored 50 or more points: Clyde Drexler in 1989 and Damon Stoudamire in 2005. Of the 17 teams that have been in the NBA since 1973-74, only two others have had as few as three 50-point games by a player: the Kings (one) and Pistons (three).

Early Season Rotation & Minute Distribution

krollb — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:24:13 -0000

I've been a longtime lurker, but this is my first post to BlazersEdge.

I've been giving a lot of thought to the roster and distribution of minutes for the upcoming season. We have a wealth of young talent that need minutes to develop, but the time to win is also upon us. I'm not sure that these goals are mutually exclusive, but they certainly present challenges to one another.

In thinking about the roster I started to play with what my ideal distribution of minutes would be if I were coaching the team. It quickly became apparent that the rotation needs to be no more than 10 deep, even if our roster goes deeper. It also became clear that you would need to look at the season in pieces, I would hope that some of the younger players will play well enough to demand more minutes as the season moves on.

Here is a look at what I came up with (see larger version here):

As you can see I've taken a look at both total player minutes in a typical 48 minute game, and how I would distribute the minutes by position. At each position the first player listed would be my starter (blue on the charts), with the reserves listed below.

At small forward I would give Outlaw more minutes than Webster, and my thinking at the moment would be to start him as well. I think you could make a strong argument for starting Webster but keeping Outlaw's minutes the same, I would reserve judgment until I could see which mixes better with Rudy in the second unit. The common opinion I hear among Blazer fans is that Outlaw should start, but I could see Webster getting an awful lot of good open looks on the starting unit. If he would be more aggressive in getting to the hole and locking down on the defensive end every time down the floor he could easily gain more minutes. Travis is our x-factor, and if he is working as hard this summer as the propaganda suggests he could be in for another big step forward this season. I'd like to see him be more consistent in his spot up J, and see the floor a bit better.

The power forward position is much clearer and leaves little room for debate. Clearly you want LA on the floor as much as possible, while taking care not to wear him out too early in the season. Frye is an excellent backup, but the simple reality is that he is not going to take minutes from Aldridge. His best bet for more minutes is probably to play well enough to steal a few from Joel at the 5.

In the middle the only real question is how well G.O. can stay out of foul trouble. I expect that to be the primary limiting factor to his minutes, especially early in the season. I took a look at other 5's and dominate 4's that were taken with early lottery picks and found that most average around 35-37 minutes in their rookie season. Based on that I put Oden at 32 for the early part the season with the hope that will improve as the season moves along. Joel figures to be one of (if not the) best backup centers in the league. If the guy ever grew a pair of hands he could be a monster!

The shooting guard position gets interesting. If our young Spaniard comes even close to living up to the hype you have to find him minutes. That, of course, means he and Roy will have to play together. I would be very tempted to try Brandon in a point forward type of role at the 3 if Rudy demands more than 24 minutes a game. For now I'm going forward with the assumption that 24 minutes is reasonable for Rudy, which means Brandon would be playing about 11 minutes a game at the point. I have notched Roy's minutes back just a bit in the interest of preserving him for a very long season.

At the point I would clearly start Blake on opening night. He is very steady, and people forget that he is also a very efficient spot up shooter from downtown (only Webster made more 3's last season). That said, I do see his minutes being reduced by about 7 per game early in the season and probably even more as it goes on. As I've already stated I see 11 minutes a game for Brandon at the 1, which leaves 14 for the rookie. My hope would be that Bayless will command more minutes as the season progresses.

That leaves some interesting names out of the regular rotation. As much as I appreciate what he did for us this past season, it is clear there are just no minutes for Mr. Jones on this roster. It also very clearly shows that if he had remained JJack would have been at best the 10th man, perhaps even the 11th behind Sergio (in place of Bayless in that scenario). Yet another indication of how good a deal the draft day maneuver to obtain Bayless was, getting an excellent prospect without giving up a rotation player. Sergio would be best served by a full season in Idaho if he stays here in my opinion. Put him down there and lets see what he can do with a full season leading a team. (Thanks to jonestr for pointing out in the comments that this is not possible since he cannot be assigned to the DLeague as a third year player.) His confidence level and attitude pretty much guarantee he will not have a place in the Portland rotation next season. (I'm extremely disappointed at his decision to skip Vegas this summer after being dropped form the Spanish Olympic team.) I would also argue the same for the other two young players that are likely to make the 15 man roster; Koponen and Batum. Let them get minutes in the D-League and be ready for the call up in case of injury. That would leave Diogu and the Expiring Contract as the 11th and 12th men on the traveling squad, and Freeland on the outside looking in again.

This has been a very interesting exercise for me. One thing it shows me is there is still some room for some KP tinkering to this roster. Barring unforeseen opportunity (if there is such a thing as something unforeseen by KP) I would tend to vote for letting things be going into the season. I feel that we have a couple of great locker room guys with experience (Blake and Mr. Contract) and some young veterans who are clearly leaders already. If things are going very well and we look like a threat to win a playoff series or two then we pull the trigger on Raef and bring in a big veteran piece at or near the trade deadline. If things are just progressing at a more pedestrian pace or we get bit by the injury bug you give KP a great deal of flexibility to use that cap space to it's best advantage, whether that be at the deadline or in the free agent market next summer. That also gives you a chance to look one last time at the three contracts that need to be dealt with before they come back to haunt us (Webster, Frye, and Diogu) and see how they progress and fit in with Oden, Rudy, and the rest of the new pieces that are in place.

No matter what, I know that I am really looking forward to watching this team along it's journey for the next decade and more. This will be our first season as full season ticket holders (we were on a half season plan), and I can hardly wait to watch games with a playoff atmosphere again in Portland! -Brian

Greg at the Rally in Pioneer Courthouse Square last summer. Check out my flickr set for more.

krollb — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:53:38 -0000

Greg at the Rally in Pioneer Courthouse Square last summer. Check out my flickr set for more.