1. We desperately need some kind of jolt to get everyone interested in this team again. At least it'll give us something to talk about.

2. Paul Allen has the money to make it happen. More importantly Jackson needs a different challenge, instead of taking a team already pretty good to the next level he can completely build a team from near scratch. Remember Jackson has never coached a championship team where his team didn't already have arguably the league's best player (Kobe, Shaq, Jordan). Even though he has more rings he will never be considered Red Auerbach's equal unless he talkes a bad team and takes it to the promised land.

3. We hate him. He probably thinks we're beneath him. So what? It's almost too audacious not to try! This is the guy who smokes peyote or and talks in zen and Buddhism and all that. In other words the guy is unconventional. What's more unconventional than going to a (to the national media) a city you dissed?

TV Tropes even has a perfect description of this.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EnemyMine

This would be a epic plot twist of Shakespearean proportions and I think that would fit Jackson's sensibility.

4. We may not be the biggest city or fan base but I have no doubt that a NBA championship would mean more to the the Blazers and the fans than any other franchise. I definitely think that's a worthwhile challenge. Win with Lebron, celebrate in Miami so what? You're forgotten in five years. As much as Boston crows about what a great sports town they are they've had like a zillion teams win titles there.

With Portland it would be earth shattering, like aliens invading earth. There would be no equivalent. There can be no greater challenge than that.

5. Despite Paul's negative experience with giving Holmgren too much power as GM/coach I'm sure he'd be willing to give Jackson a blank check and carte blanche power to do whatever he wants. As highly respected as Holmgren is Jackson makes him look like Mike Tice, the coach with the most NBA championships in history. Even the Vulcans would back off when dealing with a authority like Jackson.

6. Blazers need some swagger. Of course it could very well end up like Larry Brown with the Knicks, but this franchise desperately needs someone as arrogant like Jackson. There's such a dark cloud and sadness with what happened with Oden and Roy and the season. We need this guy to start giving fans confidence, taking shot at our rivals, giving us an identity different from "oh those poor Blazers" and so on.

7. Revenge. All else fails at least we'll get some poetic justice on Phil Jackson. If he's a complete flop at least he'll have been forced to spend time in the city and the weather he so infamously insulted. Hey I like rain buddy. I like the Beavers too.

8. Disrespect. All the NBA teams have shown tepid interest despite the fact that the coach who has won the most NBA titles is a free agent. If Portland shows strong interest why not? Knick make MIKE WOODSON as their coach rather than court Jackson, wouldn't he be ticked off? Why not go to Portland and work his zen magic here and show the rest of the NBA how foolish they were not to hire him? I mean if Belichick quit the Patriots and then wanted to come back 4 years later how many NFL teams do you think would fire their existing HC outright to hire Belichick?

As a Asian-American fan it'd mean so so so much to me if the Blazers signed Jeremy Lin.

Obviously he's a restricted FA so he couldn't sign here even if he wanted to without the Knicks consent. But who knows maybe if he made his preference clear then there could be a sign and trade worked out, or maybe the Knicks will be dumb enough to just let him go (they are the Knicks after all).

Now obviously there will be some doubts, maybe he's just a one season wonder or he's not a good fit or he's not worth the money. All legit worries. But I think considering the state this team is in, this dark cloud hanging over the franchise that signing Jeremy Lin would just be the kind of shot in the arm to get fans excited again.

I'd just like to see this team be in the news for something positive again.

Even at worst case scenario, that he becomes a total bust. I mean we've signed worst people to worst contracts, I doubt signing Lin for the full MLE is going to do permanent damage. And the rewards far outway the risks.

Again back to the race thing, it's never bothered me watching a game where every player was black and white and nobody who looked like me with the occassional exceptions (Ha Seung Jin!!!) but when I saw Jeremy Lin lighting it out there, hitting game winning 3's, dunking. It filled me with so much pride. And so much more special was the fact he wasn't from China, or whereever. He was born and raised in America he just happens to have Taiwanese heritage. The fact that he can speak perfect english when he's interviewed.... I guess you'd have to asian to truely understand why this is a big deal.

Anyway, yeah please Blazers pursue Jeremy Lin. Let me dare to dream.

PS: One thing I forgot to add. I'm Korean and the Blazers drafting Ha Seung Jin was such a big big moment for me. Unfortunatley he didn't work out but man that was incredible seeing my team the Blazers draft the first korean player ever.

Almost football season, anyone interested in a Blazersedge Fantasy Football? 

I'm thinking on ESPN.com , around 10 team, more if there's interest. 

Let me know if you're interested, draft time/date suggestions/ league format you want/ etc

All I ask is that

1. You show up to the draft and make the picks (no auto) 

2. You keep participating to the end of the season no matter what. No quitters!

Let's go Blazers!

They lost 4-2, while winning the first game. Meanwhile the Spurs are down 0-3. Dammit too bad we have that idiot Nate instead of Popovich.

No seriously though, coaching is overrated. Did Popovich just become dumb all of a sudden? Or is Duncan,Parker, Ginobili getting old, no Bowen and Jefferson was a horrible addition.

But the bigger thing to take away from this is this; Suns are a team of destiny, I believe they will make the Finals if not outright win a championship. Last year the Rockets were on a mission, they didn't advance beyond the first round but they were on a mission to get out of the first round.

So from that angle the Blazers didn't fare that badly considering the situation with Roy.

So I here Orlando is getting the NBA all-star game in 2012. Sucks that Portland will never get it, I don't really blame them (business decision) although the whole big market/little market thing is so freaking irritating. And don't get my started on Las Vegas, a team that doesn't even a have a #@$^ing team getting it.

So here would be my compromise: have the NBA draft in a diff NBA city every year. I hate how all we hear is idiot Knick fans booing everybody in every single draft. Move it around. Honestly it's not going to kill them not to have the draft in NY, people will still cover the damn thing.

So finally one day we will see the draft in Portland and it will be BLAZERS FANS booing everyone else's pick.

I wasn't happy that he played well against the Blazers but I was definitley happy for him to be finally playing pain free.

I remember when I was a neophyte NBA fan just getting use to names like Shaq or Duncan and a superstar named Grant Hill. He was playing in that series against the Heat and I vividly remember him trying to play with a broken ankle.

So he tried to play then had offseason surgery to fix it then there was that incredible FA year and Orlando seemingly won the jackpot not only landing Grant Hill (who was regarded as a Kobe-level star at the time) but rising talent Tracy McGrady as well. So the Magic were the hottest team then, curiosity abundant about how the new look team would play.

Unfortunatley there was still something wrong with Grant Hill's ankle and after some games he decided to shut it down and have surgery. Tracy McGrady flourished but Magic fans were left wondering "what if." So then came the next season and it still wasn't fixed and I believe he had to have another surgery and it really never got better and after a certain point the Magic fans tuned out, a little "fool me once, fool me twice".

Grant Hill finally was able to play but by that time T-Mac was gone and Hill wasn't the superstar the Magic originally signed. So he went to Phoenix and nobody expected him to do much. Perhaps last 50 games before getting hurt again.

But thanks to Hill's perseverence (and the Phoenix trainers) he thrived. I think that is a very inspirational story.

I read that after the Amare trade goes through that Phoenix will likely waive Ilgauskas. So after that Ilgauskas becomes a FA. I think he would be a perfect fit for this team!!! Maybe Sabonis could even put in a good word for us!! It's the perfect place for a guy like Ilgauskas, low key, Portland loves lithuanian centers, unlike the Cleveland LeBron's no pressure.

I know it was the right move basketball wise but poor Ilgauskas to be dumped unceremoniously by the Cavs like that.

Also poor Steve Nash. Poor stupid Steve Nash, he knew Sarver was cheap who would likely trade Amare for nothing but he chose to re-sign with the Suns.

Continue reading this post »

Take a look at #9, I couldn't agree more.

Never quite understood, from the moment this saga started in April, how a 27-year-old's knee troubles could be deemed career-ending if the player wants to keep trying to make an NBA comeback and if there are teams prepared to give him multiple last chances.

Not even a league-appointed doctor who has also been sanctioned by the NBA Players Association can predict the future. Especially with a player who's reasonably young by NBA standards.

At least that's how we see it at Stein Line HQ. There is zero doubt here that Portland's ability to pay off the remaining $18 million on Darius Miles' contract without those dollars appearing its payroll -- granted by the league's medical ruling in April that Miles' right knee is shot -- is a salary-cap benefit that the Blazers never should have been entitled to.

We instinctively take our team's side which is understandable but I can't side with the Blazers on this one. Miles hasn't done anything wrong, you can think his comeback attempt is pathetic but you can't blame him for it. It's obvious his knee problems weren't career ending, and he wasn't a typical medical retirement case.

While I can't blame them for trying the whole trying to hide Miles under a rock, watching and sweating to see if a team would sign him and hoping he'd fail/injure himself/get cut it didn't smell right. It's not something I'm proud of as a Blazer fan. I'd rather we just accept that John Nash stupidly gave a dumb contract to Miles and just wait until it expired. We shouldn't have snuck around, had this drama and then threatened the rest of the league.

In short this isn't the Blazers getting screwed, David Stern didn't conspire to punish us, Memphis isn't out to get us, Miles isn't evil-incarnate, we tried to take advantage of an injury to get a bad contract wiped out which any other NBA team would've done and it didn't work.

http://www.dwightjaynes.com/im-curious-to-hear-your-opinion-on-this

What a jerk, trashing Oden because what? He doesn't want to talk to him, to crack jokes? What, you want Oden to do a standup routine for you? And the bozo on the radio calling him a spoiled brat?

It's actually hilarious Quick has the audacity to call someone out for being humorless and joyless because that's what his recaps are like. Seriously I think Quick is a good writer but he'd be better off writing about politics or crime. Sports is suppose to be fun and Quick is no fun.

I mean just check out the articles on the Detroit Free Press, the sports writers there at least have a sense of humor on the Lions.

I hope one of these days Quick runs into Oden and Pippen in a dark alley.