SB Nation User Blog: premthegrem

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.

Greg Oden- our future no stats allstar?

premthegrem — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:51:16 -0000

First, let me preface this post by stating that I am a member of the Greg Oden fanclub. I have an Oden 52 hat, wear it to games along with my Rudy Jersey, and ooh and ahh when Oden performs a vicious dunk. However, I will not be disappointed or offended if he fails to produce like Dwight Howard, and believe that there is a strong chance that he won't ever do so on the current incarnation of this team. I have two reasons for this: 1. our style of low post offense and 2. Greg's inherent unselfishness.

1: There seem to be 3 ways that our bigs get points in our half court sets, the pick and pop, the pick and roll, and isolation.

Pick and pop: Aldridge (and Outlaw if you want to call him a big) are the only guys capable of executing the pick and pop right now. Oden doesn't have a jumper and Przybilla has never had a jumper. Frankly, I would be stoked if Oden took one of those 18 footers from the top of the key when the bigs leave him open and drained it, but I'm fairly certain that Oden will never shoot the ball as well as Aldridge does. That creates a vicious cycle because since Oden can't shoot it, we won't run the pick and pop with him, and if we don't pick and pop with him, he won't ever learn to make the shot. But lets table this technique for now, as we don't really want Oden to become Memo Okur.

Pick and Roll: We have seen this executed beautifully before by our guards, and we have also seen it executed poorly. Even now Oden's length is enough for him to cover large distances quickly, which when combined with his massive size makes him a difficult cover for slow, large bigs or fast, small bigs. However we just don't execute this play that much, and I suspect that it has to do with the successful nature of the first technique and the next one:

Isolation: By now we've seen Yao's effectiveness when he's isolated in the low post, and really he is probably the best center besides Duncan (who's a tweener)
at playing isolation post offense. Aldridge is still developing his abilities, but he's got a few moves of his own such as the running hook, the fade away, the up and under, and so on. And really, he's the most effective big at playing isolation offense, and I am fairly certain that he is unequivocally the guy you would choose right now to play iso when compared to Greg. Here is the vicious cycle again: since Aldridge is better at the iso, we would prefer to throw it into him over Oden, which means Oden doesn't get a chance to improve his post moves (he'll just have to wait till summer).

Considering these things, I find it difficult to imagine that Oden would ever become the blazers featured low post scorer, especially if it came at the expense of LMA. That is not to say that Oden won't get touches, but there's only so many post entry passes that a team can do and still get the perimeter players their shots. So it will be interesting to see how that dynamic shakes out between these two.

So...my second point was about Oden's general unselfishness, but I've made this post too long already so I'm going to make this one short and sweet.

I have seen more games this year than any other year, and the one thing that intrigued me about Oden's off ball play was how he boxed out even at the expense of the actual rebound. While he is a phenomenal rebounder, I think he makes more of a concerted effort to box out as many guys as he can so that the wings can get at offensive and defensive boards, and he taps the ball out all the time when rebounding, leading to more of those offensive boards for the other players on the floor. LMA I think has been the biggest beneficiary of this as he gets more offensive boards as a result (I think Przybilla has the same effect as Oden in that sense). Is it possible then that Oden won't get 5-6 offensive boards a game (and therefore 5-6 putbacks), simply because the other players on the floor benefit from his box out and collect his boards?

On defense, I think he is being groomed to be the mobile big man as others have stated, essentially playing free safety in the post, altering shots and providing help defense, closing off lanes to the post. Right now he can't do it w/o getting fouls, but when he is fast enough to get in position, it will be interesting to see how much the defense might improve. With these thoughts in mind:the probable scarcity of touches on offense, his willingness to allow teammates to collect O boards and his potential ability to be a lock down help defender, I don't know if he will be able to collect the statistical numbers that reflect his true production on the court. But the fanboy inside me wearing that 52 hat certainly hopes so.

Oh by the way, sorry about the epic fail on keeping this post short.

Monday's Top 5

premthegrem — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:27:02 -0000

Monday's Top 5

Not everything went wrong this night. At least Greg's block-putback dunk sequence was the number one play.

Bracket eval after round 1

premthegrem — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:57:06 -0000

Well I thought I was doing extremely well in my brackets yesterday as I got 14/16 right, but my Midwest bracket has gone to the dogs. I picked 24 of the remaining 32 teams correctly, and even got a couple of upsets right. Things would have been even better if the right Vikings won!

My sweet 16 selections are already screwed up but at least none of my Final 4 selections got knocked out in the first round.

Final impressions: I feel even more secure about my selection of Louisville to win it all. I think they are now a lock for the elite 8 as Wake Forest is gone, and barring a huge upset they should cruise. Also considering how the Pac 10 kicked a$$ and took names, I feel pretty secure about Washington beating both Uconn AND Memphis (surprisingly enough) and getting into the final 4.

How do you guys feel about your brackets thus far? How many teams did you correctly select in the first round?

2010: Cavs caught between the figurative rock and hard place?

premthegrem — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:53:25 -0000

So fast forward 10 months. Either the Fkers or the Selltiks are defending chumps (yes, chumps). LeBron hasn't been signed. DWade hasn't been signed. All the FA superstars are getting ready for their last hurrahs with their current team because the trade deadline is fast approaching and every team with an unsigned franchise cornerstone is afraid of the upcoming hot potato game and looking to sell high, maybe get some expiring contracts or young talent and rebuild/reload with something in hand rather than go back into the dregs of the lottery. The Cavs are once again favorites to win a championship in the East and are so hungry that they can taste the ?gold? plating over the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Unfortunately, LeBron refused all contract offers because he wants to test the free agent market and see if the Knicks or the Greeks or (who knows) maybe even the Clippers will fulfill his billionaire dreams.

Worst case scenario: the Cavs let the trade deadline pass in a last ditch effort to win the championship, and don't get their ring. LeBron walks in the offseason, leaving Cleveland with Illgauskas' rotting corpse, a rudderless Mo Williams and 15 mil that go's straight into their owner's pocket after getting waved around aimlessly at the disinterested 2010 free agents. LeBron goes on to become the emperor of the NBA while Cleveland goes right back into the gutter, waiting for the next once in a generation player to come along.

Best Case scenario: The Cavs win, LeBron signs a contract right after kissing the O'Brien trophy and Clevelanders riot in the streets as they finally get that elusive championship AND they get LeBron back, saying he will be a Ohioan for life.

What does Danny Ferry do? Does he make a decisive move at the trade deadline, deciding to get what he can for LeBron and rebuild his franchise around whatever he gets and future lottery picks? Or does he wait and hope for best case scenario?