So I was thinking, the team seemed to be lacking scoring options in the playoffs, especially with Roy out a couple games.  Think about the times that Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw provided a spark off the bench.  I know they both could take frustrating shots but there were also times that they both bailed us out.  I think Blake is great as a bench player just not a starter.

I know we wouldnt have Camby if it wasnt for trading them, but how would you feel about adding either one back onto the team?

I think Blake likes Portland, I know he is back in town working out hard, and he and Brandon play well together.  Thoughts?

I wonder if the blazers would try and package some assets to get Rudy Gay?  I think the potential problem is that he wants to be paid similar to Lamarcus and I don't see that happening, especially with Oden wanting a new deal soon.

I think he would be a great fit though.

I saw where someone mentioned maybe we could do a package to also get Conley but again I think the costs of some of these players would be more than we would want to incur. 

What are your thoughts?  

Interested in talking about the Blazer's first game? This is the place for you.  I anticipate a lot of participation on the game-day threads and figured we need a place to start chatting.

What are your predictions for the game?

Who will be leading scorer?

Who will be leading rebounder?

Will Greg Oden get a double double?

How will Martell Webster look?

How will Andre Miller perform?

What cars will Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge show up in now that they have their contracts signed?

I know everyone likes to get all worked up about the officiating.

I am with you I yell at the tv a lot but in the end I almost never think officiating can cost us a game (sans the Rudy foul at Golden State)

With that being said here are the officials for tonight...

Tony Brothers. Dick Bavetta. Jason Phillips.

How do you guys feel about these officials?  Good? Bad? Indifferent?  Have we had any past with these officials?

Go Blazers! 

*EDIT* To make this easier let's break it up into different posts.

First will be Rookie of the year.

I thought it would be fun to see what our submission to the NBA would look like as a collective group here at BlazersEdge.

In the comments below please put your selections.

Let's try and not turn this into a Blazer love fest (i.e. Brandon should not get any 1st Place MVP votes, and Lamarcus is not all NBA, Oden is not Rookie of the year).

Please do not list your ballot in a reply to any other comments.  After we get a good number of votes I will tally up the totals for each.

If you need help check out ESPN.com's votes

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=AllPicks-0809

Here is the Ballot.

Rookie of the Year

1.

2.

3.

Please submit your ballot by copying and pasting.  Put any reasoning below your ballot (not inline with the persons names)

Thanks!

So they announced the Western Conference player of the week.  Somehow they overlooked Lamarcus for Jason Kidd.  If you are confused I am with you. But look at Kidd's amazing stats for that week!

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/04/06/players.of.the.week/

Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks

March 31 @ Minnesota: Collected eight points and 13 assists in a 108-88 win over the Timberwolves. 

April 1 vs. Miami: Tallied 11 assists, three points and four rebounds in a 98-96 win over the Heat. 

April 3 @ Memphis: Scored nine points and added 10 assists and five rebounds in a 107-102 loss to the Grizzlies. 

April 5 vs. Phoenix: Netted 19 points to go along with a season-high 20 assists, and added four rebounds in a 140-116 win over the Suns.

Compare that to LMA

March 31st Vs Utah 26 points 5 Rebounds

April 3rd @ OKC 35 points 18 Rebounds

April 5th @ HOU 22 points 9 Rebounds

The other players nominated were Cleveland's LeBron James, Denver's J.R. Smith, Indiana's Danny Granger, Memphis' Mike Conley and Rudy Gay, Miami's Dwyane Wade, Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge and Toronto's Chris Bosh.

So really he was competing with J.R. Smith, Mike Conley and Rudy Gay.

So who should have been Western Confrerence Player of the week?

Here are the top 15 PER players sorted by Salary / PER (Out of the top 50 PER)

And here are the top 100 PER players ordered by Salary / EWA

(Looking at the bottom rank of this list you can see the players who are being paid the most for Wins added, most of them are either vets or defensive minded players, but some bad contracts show up)

Sorry, I didn't see that this was posted as a fanshot already.  Please comment in the fanshot.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/4/3/821236/ric-bucher-thinks-okc-has-a

But mine does have a poll, haha.

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So Ric Bucher in his infinite wisdom now thinks the "Thunder" have a brighter future than out Portland Trailblazers.  He also says we don't have a superstar player.

"Ric Bucher left town convinced the Thunder has a bright future after spending a few days in Oklahoma City for an upcoming story in ESPN the Magazine. So bright, Bucher said the Thunder could be a more formidable playoff threat than Portland a few seasons from now. 'There are key components to building a championship team,' Bucher said. 'You have to have a superstar who dominates his position. And you have to have a point guard.' Bucher was referring to Kevin Durant, the reigning Rookie of the Year who is fourth in the league in scoring. The point guard is rookie Russell Westbrook, one of a handful of players close to averaging 15 points, five assists and five rebounds. 'Kevin can dominate his position to command a double team to try and stop him,' Bucher said. 'As good as Brandon Roy is, there are certain matchups you don't have to double him hard. The Thunder isn't at the same place right now. But their flexibility, their room to grow, is better. And they already have some key parts you have to have. Portland doesn't have that point guard, yet. And in my mind they don't have that superstar player.'"

This was in today's roundup on TrueHoop.  So somehow a team that has won 21 games has a brighter future than a team that has won 48, while being younger....

I have come up with another task for the blazersedge army.

There is a website called Digg.com that is all about user submitted stories.  They get "Dugg" by users and stories make it to the front page.  It usually is full of stories about Obama, Apple, Legalizing Weed, Funny Pictures and why Bush was an awful president.

I think it would be great to find a good BlazersEdge Story, submit it to digg and get everyone to "digg" it so it makes it on the front page.

So lets think of a good story to Digg and one of us can submit it and get it to the front page....

Ok digg this.....

http://digg.com/basketball/BlazersEdge_The_Portland_Trailblazers_fansite

Big game tonight. Lets start getting pumped for it in here! 

Some big questions;

Which Blazer team will show up (the 20 point win team or the win by the other team missing a last second shot team)?

Will Greg Oden continue to progress?

Will we get any good shots of shoes tonight?

Will Da_Real_Canzano and the Real Canzano end up fighting in a UFC match in PDX?

Anyways come here to talk about the game and start getting pumped.

Also what is the best beer to drink while watching blazers?

Couple of games tonight that have western conf. play off teams

NO at NY (Hornets lost yay!!)

Denver @ Mavs. (Denver won boooo!!)

Lets talk about the games here!

More games tonight. 

Denver playing,

we are playing

Rockets are playing

Suns and The Jazz are playing.

So we want Denver, Memphis, Rockets and Jazz to all lose. I dont see it happening but who knows, maybe we can get a couple!

I really wish this didnt have to be 75 words because i have to just fill up the end with nonsense. 

Some of you might have caught this on TrueHoop, it is about Allonzo Trier a premier basketball player, who is in SIXTH grade.  Well he is being flown all over the country for AAU tournaments and getting tons of free gear and even his own clothing line.

Brandon Roy comes into play because he is getting free tuition at a private school thanks to the Brandon Roy foundation.  Roy created the foundation to help young atheletes who have learning disabilities (like Roy and his Brother).

Here is the link to the story.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-349/Allonzo-Trier-is-in-the-Game--and-So-is-Brandon-Roy-s-Foundation.html?post=true

Do you guys think this is ok? Or should they crack down on AAU teams and their sponsoring young players?