The way I see it, our starters are Felton, Matthews, Batum, Aldridge, and Camby.

From there you can go instant-small by sliding Wallace in for Camby and playing Aldridge at the 5; or go big by subbing Wallace in for Felton and having Matthews as your PG; Batum or Williams at SG (Batum can't actually handle, so Williams at 6-5 with a serviceable handle might actually work better than to put it all on Wes), and Wallace at the 3.

As far as rotations go:

Nolan Smith is the first guard off the bench at either PG/SG (our backup guards are Smith, Elliot Williams, and Armon Johnson). Armon and Nolan split backup PG duties; Williams gets the lions share of backup SG duties. Obviously the backup guard situation is DIRE, and the next F.A. signing ought to be a veteran guard [Billups, if he wants to come to PDX and play limited minutes for the minimum would be ideal, or even Steve Blake]

Gerald Wallace is the first forward off the bench at either position, but if you pencil in LMA and Batum for 70 minutes a night, there's only 26 left over for Wallace; which isn't really enough. Babbitt (and E. Williams at the 3) are basically squeezed out entirely.

The PF/C rotation has Kurt Thomas at the 4 when Aldridge plays the 5; allowing Wallace to play more as SF than PF. Chris Johnson and Aldridge play about 15 minutes between them at the center spot; with Camby only penciled in for 24 minutes; the rest of the center minutes are played sparingly by Earl Barron and Thomas.

Remaining questions:

We need a free agent PG. I'll assume Billups won't sign here; Steve Blake is under contract and the only way to get him would be offer the Lakers some frontcourt "depth"/salary fodder in Babbitt, Barron, or C. Johnson. Baron Davis will be out there for the minimum if he clears Amnesty waivers. Who else?

Sorry if this isn't quite the place for it, but whatever. With all this talk of teams jumping from conference to conference, I wonder why the D-1 teams don't look at this from a top-down perspective and try to organize something a little more sensible. That's what I've done below.

There are 66 "power" conference teams currently (12 each in the Pac-12, Big-10, SEC, and ACC); 10 in the Big-12; and 8 in the Big East.

There are another 53 teams in the "mid-major" or whatever conferences (C-USA, Independents, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and the WAC).

I propose eight conferences of 11 teams apiece. This largely leaves the power conferences in place (to balance the conferences, Colorado would return to the Big-12; Penn State, Boston College, and Kentucky would move to the Big East. Let's pretend the conference names are just that and forget that nobody would ever want to leave the Big-10).

The other two conferences would be an amalgam of the mid-major conferences. Many would be forced to reform as FCS schools, but since this is a BCS thing, they'd just have to take what they're given. Perhaps a promotion/relegation system could be in place for 2/4 spots a year in those two conferences.

Teams would play a yearly round-robin schedule of 10 games; conference championship games would be eliminated and instead you'd have rotating "BCS Play-In" games against  the winner of another conference - the conference would be predetermined and rotate each year; although perhaps traditional bowl matchups (Big-10 vs. Pac-12) could be skipped. The winner of each game would go directly in to the BCS - see below

Those 4 teams would make for a sensible, and natural playoff system - a schedule of 2 out-of-conference games; 9 conference games; 1 intraconference playoff game; and 1 or 2 playoff games isn't too many games [some teams already play 14-game seasons].

If you don't want a playoff, you can use the BCS formula to add 2 or 4 other teams to the mix and presto, you've got a 13 game schedule; an ultra-exciting intra-conf. playoff game; and no real need for teams to jump around from conference to conference. It also establishes a bright-line mark for who can and cannot play for the championship.

Anyhow, either way, I hope some group decides to take control of college football and offer a coherent plan rather than the bottom-up method of conferences. Ultimately I think there will either be reform of the type that I describe, or the Pac-12/SEC may break out of the NCAA altogether and run their own football and forgo the nonmembers in their entirety.

Lot's of dudes didn't get draft that hoped they would - seniors and early entrants. Which of those guys would you like to see competing for a spot at [theoretical] camp this fall?

Here's my short list:

Scotty Hopson (TENN): Mostly because I think his retro high-top fade brings along certain intangibles. His offensive game is mostly at the rim and has a serviceable outside game; defensively he has the right size/speed/length combination to guard the mega-tweeners of the Shawn Marion variety. Basically I think of him as Dante Cunningham, but substitute rebounding and some defense for some ballhandling and offensive game.

Justin Holiday (UW): Lot's of leadership, good perimeter defense and versatile offensive player. Can shoot decently from 3pt and very solid from midrange, can run the break and defend bigger players. Nic Batum-lite, except he's less likely to fade in-and-out on the offensive side of thins.

Greedy Peterson: A better name than Bismack Bayombo by far.

Hello all, non-Lakers fan here. I'm wondering what the consensus among fans is about the Bynum/Berea flagrant foul in game 4, and what type of penalty should result.

My take is that the play was "dirty":

Was it related to the game of basketball? No, Bynum made no attempt to make a (legal) basketball play

Was it reckless? Yes, Bynum know that the chance of injury was extremely high

Was it related to the larger series/season? No - the game and the season were effectively over. This wasn't a "message" foul ala a 'brushback' pitch in baseball, designed to change how the game tactically. It was just a hit.

Is this a pattern of behavior? Yes, Bynum made the same play against Gerald Wallace in 2009 and Michael Beasley earlier this season. He was not suspended for the Wallace foul (in which he suffered a collapsed lung and missed 20 days) and was suspended for 2 games in the Beasley incident (Beasley was not injured).

My guess is that he'll get 10 to 15 games. I'd like hear the arguments for less, or more, or if you think that's right on.

Over the past few games:

Marcus Camby is shooting less than 40%

Dante Cunningham is shooting 24%

Armon Johnson is shooting 22%

Rudy Fernandez is shooting 32%

Nic Batum is shooting 35%

If you want to wonder why we're struggling and Roy and Aldridge can't carry the team... well - time to look at the supporting cast a little bit. These guys HAVE to start hitting shots at a reasonable rate. If you don't need to worry about Dante hitting the 12 foot elbow jumper, you can double-team with impunity; if Nic Batum isn't punishing overplays and beating the rotation, you can run whatever crazy defense you want. The team is one-dimensional because it's the role players not providing the other dimensions, the floor-spacing, that will make this team starting playing the way we expect them.

I think many of us have heard Charlie Villanueva's tweets about the trash talk between himself and Kevin Garnett; and not the only one to note the timing of this incident to Maurice Lucas' passing. Because i've virtually always hated Garnett, my first thoughts were "How are we going to get him back?"

The first answer, obviously, if for a player to simply sacrifice a few game checks and stand up for both the Portland organization and, well, the rest of the NBA, with a few well placed fists, preferably of the incredibly cheap variety, such as when about to go up for the jump ball or a shove right into the stanchion on a fast break. Unfortunately Pendergraph, Oden, and Przybilla are out for a while longer; and I don't think Camby has been with the team long enough to earn the honor of standard bearer, and besides, starting a fight really isn't the classiest way to preserve Luke's legacy (or maybe it is. I wouldn't mind seeing Aldridge just square off with him and have the other players form a circle)

So, beyond physical violence, what's the best we [fans] can do? You could declare Garnett not fit to step on to the Rose Garden floor, but how to enforce that one without some shady lawmaking and police activity? So I've got what I think is "the most" that the reasonable yet vindictive fan can do: Organized Disrespect. It begins with Garnett's name never being mentioned in the Rose Garden. No announcement when he's part of the starting lineup or check in, no imagines of him on the FSN broadcast, even just listing 4 players on the jumbotron box score when he's on the court. You could even not record his buckets on the public scoreboard and let them keep track on the sidelines.

From the fans side, if you can refrain from throwing things, I prefer the Icy Stare of Silence, whereby instead of booing, every remains as silent as possible. It really puts the spotlight on Garnett and forces him to think about what he's doing. Thinking is the enemy of athletic performance, and any attempt to enrage or intimidate Garnett will only be matched on his end.

It will requires many of us writing letters to FSN, "The Mikes", The Rose Garden staff, etc, but I'm down.

Who's cosigning?

Hey, i'm just putting it out there. Like a few folks here, I live in NYC and love the Blazers. I'm going to buy the NBA league pass, but I also want to be able to hitemup at a bar from time-to-time too. Who's got the low-down on best (if any) Blazer bar in NYC, or baring that, best place to turn into a Blazer bar?

Extra points for bars in Brooklyn.

And, while we're at it, perhaps we should create a 'list' of best places to watch a Blazer game, by city. When on the road, why should one be forced to watch Rip City on a small 4th TV in a local sportsbar, volume on mute, well everyone else is transfixed by some meaningless NCAA "Championship Subdivision" matchup?

Word em up!

So, Dwight Howard again won the Defensive Player of the Year award. I haven't really seen him play so I can't really evaluate the choice and don't have any other player to support, but I do notice an overwhelming tendancy for big men to win this award based on gawdy block totals.

I first decided blocks were a misleading stat back in the mid-90's when Gary Payton was the best defensive ballplayer alive, averaging like 18 bajillion steals per minute, while Mutumbo was stealing his DPOY trophy and what should have been a Sonics championship in 1994. I realized blocks were lame and steals were cool because:

* Steals guaranteed possession. 1 steal = 1 turnover. I don't know what percentage of blocks are recovered by the defensive team, but I'd wager it's no greater than 60% of the time. You can definitely argue that a block at the rim is more valuable than a steal, because a block at the rim is stopping a high percentage shot whereas a steal is stopping only a standard-percentage shot, but I'd like to see someone smarter than I do that analysis. Anyhow, in terms of value, a steal is worth "1 point" against a team that scores 100 points per 100 possessions; whereas a block is worth (let's say that team converts 60% of layups), for that shot, 1.2 points. however, if we say the offense recovers 40% of the time, and their offensive rating low in the shot clock is now 85.0 instead of 100.0, the defensive team still 'gives back' .85 * .4 = .34 points, meaning a block is now worth 0.86 points. I'd be very surprised if the numbers worked out to make blocks on even footing with steals in terms of value. I suppose you may need to factor in a 'gamble rate' whereby by attempting to go for the steal, you improve the other teams chance of scoring, but you'd also then have to factor in the foul rate for block attempts. I call it a wash.

* Steals were more likely (especially from the guard position) to lead to fast breaks and easy buckets. I wont even pretend to get into the numbers here, because I'm not smart enough. If anyone has anything to add to this, let it be known.

* Lastly, I've never felt that being big is a skill like quickness and agility. Basically, all big guys get blocks - but not all little guys rack up steals. It's harder to replace steals in a defense than blocks. Call this 'replacement level' theory. Also completely debatable.

Anyhow, i'd like to hear from the BEdger's what components should go into a 'best defensive player' designation.

In my time as a reader of Blazer's Edge (the past 3 years, I think), I've noticed a few trends that come up: Blazers should start playing [random foreign/white player]; Travis Outlaw has low Basketball IQ; and Fire Nate McMillan. The last one I've always found to be the most grating because it was difficult to assail. The team was improving but it was difficult to ascribe to Nate's influence.

But this season, with the state of the team, McMillan's really shining. His players are executing the offensive and defensive sets while playing wildly out of position. Our bench gunners, Bayless and Miller, are not shooting the team into oblivion. The team plays under control and exhibits tremendous amounts of confidence and trust in their teammates (and given the way November went, when no one could shoot, that's even more of a statement).

Part of the credit goes to Pritchard, who's putting people on the team who want to be those types of players. But more is due to McMillan - he's taken potential malcontents like Miller and Bayless and found ways to fit their skills into the team concept. He's given Cunningham and now Pendergraph just the right amount of rope to contribute to an NBA team well before anyone thought they would be ready. He taught Brandon Roy that 'The Secret' wasn't sacrificing his shots so that teammates could take them, but it was sacrificing himself for the greater team good (which can mean going for 25 night-after-night-after-night). He made sure that a guy brought in to wave the towel from the bench was mentally prepared to unpack his game from the suitcase.

Not only that, but the team as a unit exhibits extremely high levels of mental toughness. In the context of the season and in each individual game, the team has never quit, never folded, or backed down. They were down 14 in the first quarter, and rather than trying to shoot their way back into the game, they just plugged away on offense and committed to better defense and lo-and-behold, a 10+ point victory going away.

If Nate isn't on the All-Star bench, and isn't discussed on the national level as a leading coach-of-the-year candidate, I really won't know what to say.

We're 7-3, and could have won any of the three games we lost, so that's very, very good. It's probably the record most of us expected out of the first ten games. It's a pace for 57 wins. I think it's safe to say that Bill Simmons prediction of regression will not come true - the team will be as good or better than last year. The excellent posts last spring detailing how teams perform by age showed that we were basically off the charts good for a young team, and that the squad would get better simply by aging in place.

Continue reading this post »

Hey folks,

I know this is a family site, but I need some help. I am trying to purchase a jersey for my girlfriend to wear in situations such as, going to games, going to the bar, weddings, meeting my friends, etc. Anyhow, she is very curvy, of the 36-26-36 variety. Anyhow, i've seen many, many girls looking dead-sexy in jerseys, and I want to know which size will look the best [on my girlfriend]. If you're one of those girls [ed note: send a picture!] or your girlfriend is one of those girls, or your friend/associate/frienemy is one, let me know what size jersey you think fits best. I also want something that will compliment my Red Swingman #7 jersey, so a color/player combo suggest would be cool.

Thanks!

One of my favorite Seahawks from the past few years has been 3rd/4th receiver D.J. Hackett. If you don't remember him, he was kind of a poor-man's Terrell Owens, in that he was tall and could jump, and seemed to have a knack for big catches. Then he sprained his ankle and basically never played again for the Hawks - he signed with Carolina for 2 years $3.5 mil (which seems like a deal compared to say, Nate Burleson), but it seemed like the Seahawks had decided to move on and wouldn't sign him at any price. He got hurt again with Carolina, who simply waived him, and now's he's signed with Washington.

Does anyone with more info know what the story was with his original injury? A ankle sprain - even a bad one - doesn't seem that serious that two teams would pass.

One of my greatest laments about basketball these days (and all sports in general) is that guys no longer have really good, colorful nicknames. When Mark "The Bird" Fidrych died, it only highlighted this fact.

Face it, NBA nicknames suck right now - Dwayne Wade aka D-Wade; LeBron James aka LBJ; Jason Kidd aka J-Kidd, Kevin "KD" Durant and Greg "GO" Oden, even Brandon Roy as B-Roy. they all suck. They're formulaic, marketing-driven... they're not based on the players personalities or idiosyncracies.

Anyhow, I think we've found a new nickname for Brandon Roy: The Closer.

Everyone is saying it. Bill Simmons, Hollinger, Hubie Brooks, everyone. It speaks to his game, his attitude, everything.

Just for fun, i'll throw in a poll:

First off, let me state that, if the Blazers wanted to avoid these tiebreaker scenarios, perhaps they should have won just one more game over the course of the season. I'll also make the assumption that all divisions are roughly equal and that wins are the true measure of what team is best over the regular season.

But...

Why is "divison winner" the first tiebreaker for playoff seeding? San Antonio is the #3 and Portland is the #4 because San Antonio won their division, and therefore get a tiebreaker. Except that, the only reason that San Antonio wins the division is because their divisonal rival, the Rockets, are one game worse than our divisional rival, the Nuggets. That is, San Antonio is winning the tiebreaker because they have a worse team in their division than does Portland.

Think about this - it makes no sense. Portland hade a theoretically tougher schedule - playing additional games against Denver rather than Houston, still manages to post an equal record, and gets penalized by the rules.

A more sensical process would be, say, record against ther 3rd division in the conference, head-to-head, etc. But divison winner is so dependant on strength of divison that it's really unfair to use as the first tiebreaker.

I was goofing around today and came up with this:

Division A: "Mountain League"

Portland
Sacramento
Golden State
Utah
Denver

Division B: "Sun League"

LA Lakers
LA Clippers
Phoenix Suns
San Antonio Spurs
That Other Team

Division C: "Gulf League"

Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
New Orleans Hornets
Orlando Magic
Miami Heat

Division D: "Mason-Dixon League"

Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Bobcats
Washington Wizards

Division E: "Great Lakes League"

Minnesota Timberwolves
Milwaukee Bucks
Chicago Bulls
Detroit Pistons
Cleveland Cavaliers

Division F: "Northeast League"
Toronto Raptors
New Jersey Nets
Philadelphia 76ers
New York Knicks
Boston Celtics

If you had to break this up into East and West conferences, ABC would be west and DEF would be east; you could do North/South (AEF/BCD), or even revolving conferences each year.

You could also do THREE conferences of two divisions each. I imagine the top two teams from each divison would advance to groups of 4 teams and have a "group phase" playoff where each team in a pool plays each other twice; the winners of the group and one wild-card team advance to a 4-team playoff bracket or whatever.

Anyyyyywhoo. Just thought I would share that.

Let's imagine for the moment that Darius Miles plays one minute (or less) tonight and one minute on Friday before being cut. Let's also imagine that Miles's role is literally non-existant - he stands (or lies down) on the court while the rest of the team plays 4-on-5.

Issue #1: This would be a clear attempt to sign and play Miles only for the purposes of harming Portland's Cap/Tax situation. Given the response to Miller's Missive (As It Should Now Forever Be Known), does the NBA do anything about this situation? Do they simply waive Miles' tax/cap status in relationship to Portland? Do they punish Memphis? Do they do nothing and say 'tough cookies' to PDX? Do they defer the amount until Darius shows his comeback is real or not? Does Portland follow through and sue? (note, Stern did not say they would not support a lawsuit, just as Portland did not say that teams could not sign Miles)

Issue #2: Let's say I'm Hamad Haddadi, who has played 6 minutes all season (or, God forbid, Darko). Does my agent file a new grievance on my behalf, reasoning that the team would rather 'waste' minutes on Miles in order to outmaneouvre another franchise rather than play their own 'legitimate' player(s)? What do scrubeenies around the league think about this?

I'm in Seattle for the holidays... anyone have a recommend on a good bar in Seattle to watch Blazers game (note: Fox Sports Grill gets an automatic unrec)? I'm looking for something (in order of preference) in the U-District, Cap Hill, Downtown, or Uptown. Or possible Wallingford/Fremont. My criteria are a more or less laid-back/dive-bar type atmosphere, with inexpensive beers. I love hipster-spotting (no place beats the Goodfoot...) so a place with just enough hipsters to make it non-obnoxious is cool too.

Thanks.

There is a team that plays nominally in the Northwest Division that is looking to unload the following players, in exchange for a draft pick and/or an expiring contract.

Portland has 1 first round-pick and 4 (count 'em) 4 second round picks, along with LaFrentz's expiring contract.

Joe Smith: At this point in his career, a highly experienced version of Channing Frye. I'd consider him a rent-a-player/coach; he is due $4.5 this season and then expires. I've always liked Joe Smith, I think he is a good guy to have around the club. He won't demand alot of touches, he won't blow assignments on D, and he should be able to teach Aldridge and Outlaw a thing or two. Additionally, he'd provide the "veteran influence" that the media wants.

Chris Wilcox: A "true" power forward. He's due $6.75 for the rest of this season and then expires. His defense isn't great, but he is an athletic shot-blocker and effective interior scorer. He can rebound, in my opinion better than his numbers indicate. I would like him because he's a marked improvement over Diogu, and unlike LaFrentz, he can actually suit up.

Earl Watson: We don't need him, he can't help us, and he is horrible. Issue Closed.

Question: Is Joe Smith worth acquiring? We could technically do a LaFrentz for Wilcox + Smith deal; I don't know why the other team would want to do this... they would save about a mil in salary prorated over this season (so, about 1/2 a mil) for the pleasure of getting rid of two guys that they can non-tender the summer anyhow. We'd need to include probably a 1 and a 2 pick. Also, we'd have to waive Randolph or Diago to make this happen, because we couldn't put them in the deal.

The alternative is to do nothing, let LaFrentz, Diago, Randolph, and Frye(?) walk away and take 5 selections in the draft. Personally, I'd try to move into the lottery and then leverage that pick for a guy we really, really want (like Rodney Stuckey). I think it's time to renounce (or not renounce, who cares?) all our current overseas holdings except Kopponen, but honestly I don't ever see him contributing.

There are all of our offensive possession, from the 4:00 mark onward in the 4th quarter against Orlando (time left on shot-clock in parans)

3:51 Roy makes 22ft shot (6 seconds left)
2:58 Roy makes 18ft shot (1 second left)
3:34 Roy 2-2 FT's (16 seconds left)
2:20 Aldridge makes 19-foot jumper (4 seconds left)
1:40 Outlaw misses 3-pt shot (7 seconds left)
1:15 Blake misses 3-pt shot (8 seconds left)
0:41 Blake turnover (5 seconds left)
0:05 Roy misses 3-pt shot
---

I didn't see the play which Roy got his free throws on, i'll just assume for argument it was a layup/close-in shot. What I do see is last years maddening tendancy: to abandon all offensive execution and jack up three pointer after three pointer. This time it happened at the end of the game.

8 possessions; 7 attempts; 8 pts. From 2-minutes on, 1 turnover, and 3 missed 3pters. Any one point would have pulled this game from the fire.

I'm calling it now:

Portland will go 5-0 on this road trip. A professional victory over New York. Blowing the doors off of DC. A coming-out party against Boston. A high-scoring, 14 point win in Toronto.

This road trip will be like Sherman's March to the Sea - destroying everything along the way. Detroit now sees that they need Billups and don't have a real shot at LeBron anyhow. New York will descend into inner turmoil and realize they are not much better off than they were last year and turn their clock forward two summers. Celtics fans will wonder what the hell happened, create a conspiracy theory, and attempt to discredit the game when they lookc at the box score and see KG and PP combine for 19 points while Ray Allen goes 7-20 from the floor and attempts just 2 free throws. Toronto will lay down in defeat 5 minutes into the game.

When they look back on this season, this road trip will be remembered as a turning point of the year, in fact, the turning point of this generation's NBA. Just like Bird-Magic remade the NBA in the 80's or Jordan re-molding it in the 90s. For all the effort and time wasted looking for the "Next Jordan", it'll turn out to be a team - the Brandon Roy Blazers - that will be the defining frame in which the league will be viewed in the oncoming era. If the 2000's were an era of false idols (remember when Vince Carter was "NEXT"?), the 2010's will be a Rip City Era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX_CefCC8aE&feature=related

You'll have to watch near the end for the apropros joke. It is oddly prescient, and despite being 10 years old, still pretty current. I can't be the only person who misses this show, even if most of y'all are portland people.

If anyone has a link to Keister's "Not in our house" monologue (or the mix-a-lot version of the song), please follow-up with a link!

BEdgers2 [3082]: streak out to a 2-0 record with two solid victories. PG Tony Nutanyeba should change his name to Tony Nutenonya. Leads the team with 18/4.5/4.5.

BlazersEdgers [3030]: 1-1. Lost to a solid Vatos team.

Just Blaze [2699]: 2-0, but haven't played a real squad yet. Forward James Dean has put up 31pts and 27 rebs in two games.

Bedgers [3204]: The original team has yet to play a real game, although they are at 2-0. There are only 2 real players on the three teams they will play to start the season. Doesn't tell us anything about them. It's like the real Blazers playing against the Lincoln HS team. The girls team.

Red Unit [2661]: 0-2. Lost to a team with 8 players and significantly fewer points.

Any more???

The season for Red Unit and Just Blaze was over before it began, as they couldn't train up quite enough going into the season. Maybe next year.

Guards:

Jared Bayless
Steve Blake
Rudy Fernandez
Sergio Rodriguez
Brandon Roy
Von Wafer??

Forwards:

LaMarcus Aldridge
Nicolas Batum??
Ike Diagu
Channing Frye
Travis Outlaw
Martell Webster

Centers:

Raef LaFrentz
Greg Oden
Joel Przybilla

I guess I don't think of Von Wafer as being part of next years 'Blazers. I also can't imagine Batum being served by being the 12th man this year rather than playing back in Europe.

From what we've been discussing, it seems like Wafer goes, Koponen stays. But who is taking Batum's spot? A summer league player? A FA? Do we end up 'eating' Wafer?

I'm a direcTV subscriber (not for long). Suddenly, Portland summer league games [in Las Vegas] are blacked out.

1 - What the F?

2 - Will DirecTV people be able to watch the Blazers this year? What's the status on that? [And no, I don't mean over the internet].

A - I'm moving to New Jersey for the entire of the next regular season. What are my options for watching games? What about the radio? Anything for free?

Thanks!

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can assist me in collecting Pitch F/X data. I'm familiar with the ability to "download" some data via http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/, but I want to do something a little crazier, such as "all pitches, 2007 and 2008" that are stored and then dump them into an SQL database.

1 - has anyone already done such a thing?

2 - If not, what would be the simplest way to go about things?

Thanks!

I have to admit it.

I hope Oden is only "pretty good".

It's not because I dislike Oden (very likeable!) or don't want the team to win (Four in a Row!)...

It's because Brandon Roy is far and away my favorite player. I haven't felt as strongly about a player since I was 8 years old and watching Ken Griffey Jr. step to the plate against Dave Stewart, then rushing to the nearest shop to by enough Donruss cards that I could proudly display his rookie card at school the next day. I love Brandon Roy.

For me, Brandon Roy is to basketball what Wyld Stallyns are to music. I don't think I can accept anything that might change the glorious, harmonius future that Brandon Roy will bring us. I can talk about him in hyperbole that would make Bill Walton roll over in his grave. I can express my deep, completely non-homoerotic love for him by writing his initials on my Trapper-Keeper. I would kiss his poster every night, if only I didn't put the poster so high on the wall. I recently broke up with a girl, not because she didn't like Brandon Roy, but I know that with him in my life, I could never really commit to her. Such is life as a BR fan (we call ourselves "BRO's")