SB Nation User Blog: premthegrem

Over the Rockies: Foul Trouble, and other tidbits

premthegrem — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:46:03 -0000

First of all, Delta Airlines is amazing. I'm currently flying over the Rockies on my way to Phoenix to celebrate Thanksgiving, and found out that my airplane is WIFI equipped, and feel compelled to pen some thoughts about this season while high in the sky.

After the jump, the major issue I want to address is the controversy surrounding McMillan's handling of Oden's minutes to avoid foul trouble, and then touch on Dante Cunningham vs Travis Outlaw, and maybe some other minor issues if I can think of any.

The obvious complaint with Nate regarding his "Tresselball" handling of Oden (thank you Ben) is that Oden is probably the most efficient offensive option for this team, and not playing him significantly handicaps the rest of the offense. He commands attention in the paint, which gives the guards more space to work with when initiating offense, and he also reduces the burden LMA must carry on offense, allowing LMA to stretch defenses with the pick and pop (which I think is a colossal waste of his talent but that is another issue entirely). And Oden's tremendous skills at defense and rebounding go without saying. Therefore, the complaint is valid that Oden must be given more slack, in the first half especially.

There is a more subtle concern that I have with McMillan's management regarding this issue. When Oden enters the fourth quarter with 3 fouls, officials are more prone to giving him a quick two fouls, putting him at five (which has happened in several games). They are not as quick to give him the sixth unless he commits a blatant foul (usually). In this case Nate appears to have made the correct move with his first half management, as then Oden would end the game with foul trouble but not actually fouling out. The problem is that when Oden picks up two fouls early in the quarter, the blazers are prone to getting into team foul trouble early in that quarter, which gives opponents an easy out to get points at the ft line. The same problem affects Jerryd Bayless, who is prone to getting whistled early and often, but because he plays so few minutes it doesn't hurt his ability to produce, only hampers the team foul total. Nate needs to play Oden more in the first quarter, so that Oden will gain more experience with avoiding those quick touch fouls. His current management of minutes is a double whammy; for Oden because he isn't playing enough, and for the team because he gets the team into the penalty quickly in the most critical quarter (fourth) when he has less fouls going into the fourth. Solution? Play him more, please!

As for the emergence of Inferno, I have to say I love what I've seen so far from him. As many people have already commented on the differing skill sets between Outlaw and DC, I will avoid being overly redundant, and only note that Outlaw produces despite being a focal point of defensive game planning, while DC isn't quite on their radar yet, so it may be premature to promote DC at the expense of Outlaw. As far as his offense goes, I love that DC has a nice set jumper already, and I hope he continues to take that shot from the elbow/foul line, as he is pretty much money. But he doesn't have Outlaw/LMA range yet out to 21/22 ft, so I hope he doesn't stray from that elbow area.

Anyway, just wanted to get a few thoughts out about Oden vs DC, so to avoid being extra wordy I will wrap this up. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday 11/10 block of the night

premthegrem — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:49:07 -0000

Tuesday 11/10 block of the night

not actually a block.

Note: To access the video click the top plays link, then click the link to block of the night. First video.

Bucks to decline Alexander’s rookie option

premthegrem — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:43:26 -0000

Bucks to decline Alexander’s rookie option

Junk Drawer 9/13: Balls of Steel Edition

premthegrem — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:12:32 -0000

Oregon won on a nailbiter. Cal terminated its opponent with extreme prejudice (again). UCLA beat Tennessee (excellent win for the Pac 10), Washington ended its losing streak to Idaho. And other crud happened as well, but the game ball for this week's pac 10 football goes to the 19 year old with balls of steel, Matt Barkley from USC who snatched victory from the still beating hearts of 100000+ die hard Buckeye fans who sat stunned in amazement after he led the Trojans on an almost miraculous 90 yard drive to pay dirt. Looks like the reign of terror isn't quite over for the Trojans, if today is anything to go by. I can't wait to see the fireworks in Eugene and Berkeley in a few weeks. Pac 10 should at least be interesting this season, as Cal looks as strong as it has ever been.

Update (1:46):

To make this fair to all pac ten teams, I will put up final scores for every game involving those schools-

Wake Forest 24 - Stanford 17

Washington 42 - Idaho 23

California 59 - Eastern Wash 7

Hawaii 38 - Wash. St. 20

UCLA 19 - Tennessee 15

Oregon State 23 - UNLV 21

Arizona 34 - Northern Ariz. 17

Oregon 38 - Purdue 36

USC 18 - Ohio St. 15

Tribute to randomness:

Why do rhinos have horns?

Is it even possible to trade Rudy?

premthegrem — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:13:02 -0000

Is it even possible to trade Rudy?

Although nobody wants to trade him, his name has been dropped in rumors all over the place. If one of these trades actually happened and Rudy was traded, would he have any leverage in those discussions? If we traded him to one of the less attractive small market teams and he was unhappy, could he just leave the NBA and sign with a european team?

Don't look now, but the team that shall not be named is improving quietly

premthegrem — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:55:52 -0000

OKC adds James Harden and BJ Mullens, which rounds out a starting five that would feature Westbrook at the 1, Harden at 2, Durant and Green at 3/4 and prolly Mullens at 5. If nothing else, that is a team that can win some games. They are probably not at a contending level yet, but if Harden develops into a quasi B-Roy type of guy as he has been projected to become, it would be interesting to see whether he and durant will coexist. Don't know if Mullens sticks, so that will be interesting to see as well.

Don't know if OKC has now improved its roster enough to challenge for the 9th spot in the WC, let alone a playoff seed, but the NW division almost certainly got tougher today.

Draft order intrigue

premthegrem — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:50:32 -0000

Draft order intrigue

Interesting thought: This year's draft order will be very similar to last year's near our pick. Last year Houston picked, then SA, then us (via NO). This year, Houston goes first, followed by us, followed by SA. I hope the same thing doesn't happen that happened last year, except in reverse.

Extinction files: the dynamic duo

premthegrem — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:58:29 -0000

Since the San Antonio Spurs made the phrase "Big 3" part of the NBA lexicon, front office philosophy has seemed to overtly shift towards constructing NBA teams centered around 3 all-star level players and surrounding them with role players. We saw this occur most recently with Boston and it's "Big 3", now even our own Portland Trail Blazers have started marketing its own Big 3. I realize that there have already been a number of columns and articles devoted to this shift in philosophy over the past 2-3 years, and that is not the focus of this post. Rather, I would like to take a look back at examples of the old guard, the dynamic duo which has gone the way of the dodo as far as the NBA is concerned. After the jump is a list of the most prolific duos to play in the NBA. A caveat, my list of duos is set within the context of the last 20 years. I realize that there were amazing duos in the 70's and 80's, but those decades were before my time.

1. Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen: Scottie was actually what made me think about this issue, when I recalled how blazer fans were so excited when we acquired him in that blockbuster trade that sent like 6 blazers to get him. But really, 6 championships and a lasting legacy is no small feat, and although MJ gets the lion's share of the credit for the Bulls sucess (deservedly so), Pippen has become so ingrained in even the average NBA fan's subconsciousness that his name has become synonymous with the concept of the ultimate complementary star.d Jordan/Pippen was a prolific duo, and in my opinion it was the greatest pairing in NBA history, which is why it is at the top of this list.

2. Kobe/Shaq: Ehh. Not much to say here. As a blazer fan they earn my eternal hate for drumming us out of the playoffs, so that puts them up on this list. Not to mention Shaq was the most dominant center in his era and Kobe was, (and still is) a prolific scorer, and they won 3 championships together. If their relationship hadn't fallen apart, they might have won enough additional championships to supplant Jordan/Pippen as the greatest duo in NBA history. Wow that makes me feel nauseous.

3. Stockton/Malone: These two turned the pick and roll into an art form, and Stockton is currently the 2nd best point guard of all time. Even as a division rival, they earned my rooting allegiance when playing the bulls, if only because they had so much heart. Unfortunately they fell short and neither player got the championship ring they deserved, but they are still 3rd in my list. I still remember the taunt "Mailman doesn't deliver on Sundays!"

4. Drexler/Olajuwon: Even though they only played one season together in the NBA, they did win an NBA championship. Also furthering their cause is the fact that they were college teammates at University of Houston. Drexler/Olajuwon was amazing. Drexler/Olajuwon also hurts, as any blazer fan can attest to.

5. GP/Kemp: (yes this one's for you, AK). The Glove was one of the best defensive pg's of all time, and even though his face scares the crap out of people, the dude was a baller. And Shawn Kemp? Well he was just an athletic phenomenon. The sonics were somewhat overshadowed by the Jazz in the West, and in their only finals appearance in the 90's this dynamic duo was defeated by who else but Jordan/Pippen. However, they put up a fight till the bitter end, and ended up putting a scare into the Bulls when they managed to force game 6, but the Bulls ended up being too good in the end. The Glove eventually got his ring as a benchwarming scrub with Wade and Shaq's Heat, and the Blazers got the 'spoiled' leftovers of this duo: fat Shawn Kemp.

Well that is my top five dynamic duo's in the past 20 years. With that said, who's in your favorite five?

Poll

Most prolific duo of all time?

Jordan/Pippen

92 votes

Kobe/Shaq

8 votes

Stockton/Malone

12 votes

Drexler/Olajuwon

8 votes

Glove/Kemp

6 votes

Other (please specify below)

7 votes

133 votes | Poll has closed

Question about Blazer game replays

premthegrem — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:53:07 -0000

Question about Blazer game replays

Anybody know the link to the site that streams replays of games in 08-09? I know it was posted a long time ago but I can't find that fanpost which linked the site.

Too much one-on-one

premthegrem — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:10:48 -0000

Too much one-on-one

DISCLAIMER #1: The title of the article is "Too much one-on-one", but it is actually complimentary in a way: it talks about the effectiveness of isolation plays by various elite guards in the NBA.

DISCLAIMER #2: I poached this article from blogabull, so it is highly bulls centric.