So, how's everything going?

Our previous Court Rivals thread dropped off the main page, so I figured it was about time to create another one. As always, here is the link to the spreadsheet.

Last night in Blazer's Edge Court Rivals action, we had six games (including two games between BE teams).

In non-BE-conference games, BlazersEdgers lost to Sharks BC-B Team, 108-120. Scotty McDunk was the leading scorer for the 'Edgers with 21, while Monty Everest lived up to his name with 4 blocks and 7 rebounds in the losing effort.

Just Blaze dominated Rockets last night, 128-59. Unfortunately, Rockets was playing with seven filler players. Just Blaze had eight players in double-digits, led by Roy Bot with 21.

The Edge lost to boboteam, 90-113. This was truly a one-on-one matchup, as each team only has one player. In this case, boboteam's nay bob outdueled The Edge's Pat Dowdy, who was an abysmal 0-6 from the field.

Finally, BEdgers beat Okayplayer Haters by a score of 140-112. The Edgers had seven players in double-digit scoring territory. Walton Sabodenworth had 16 rebounds to pace The Edgers, while Vanilla Gorilla had 10.

We also had two inter-BE games last night!

B-Edge Odenizers beat Red Unit 105-91. Basajuan Ferran was a defensive force for the Red Unit, collecting three steals and three blocks. However, the team's offense was stifled as Red Unit was held to only 12 points in the second quarter. Sugar Britches and dee veediay each had double-doubles for the Odenizers: 14 points and 10 rebounds for Britches, alongside 10 and 14 for veediay,

Finally, vERYkERRPLEX defeated Bedgers2 by a score of 96-90. kERRPLEX was down by 10 entering the half, but played stifling defense to allow only 12 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth. Jerryd Oden had 22 rebounds for Bedgers2, and Point Guard had 5 assists and 4 steals in the losing effort.

Tonight, there is one inter-BE game: you can look forward to BEdgers (6-2) vs. Just Blaze (3-5)! Keep it right here on Blazer's Edge, for all your Blazer's Edge Court Rivals needs!

The "Where for art thou, Rudy" FanPost got my Shakespearean muscle a-pumpin'. So for today's Junk Drawer, I decided to start off by quoting The Bard's Sonnet 130:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go:
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

 

Hey, its 1:00 AM and I'm waiting for my Court Rivals player (Pubert Jones) to train. That must mean it's time for the next edition of the Junk Drawer extravaganza! As usual, this is the place to post all of your fun stuff, Blazer-related or not, that doesn't really deserve its own fanpost. Cool!

So, tomorrow is the last day of my first summer term in grad school. I'm in a Master in Teaching program up here, and it's pretty okay! I decided to make my OT poll about teachers because hey, that's what I'm into at this point.

Okay!

Poll

The best teacher I ever had was one of my...

13%

Early elementary teachers (K-3)

14 votes

11%

Upper elementary teachers (4-6)

12 votes

9%

Junior high teachers (7-8)

10 votes

34%

High school teachers (9-12)

36 votes

23%

College professors

24 votes

7%

Grad school professors

8 votes

104 votes | Poll has closed

After hearing that Carmelo Anthony was the SF version of Z-Bo, I got to thinking. Amongst the other positions, who are the most Z-Bo-esque? We're looking strictly at me-first, offense-only, possibly-overpaid, can't-win players here. Bonus points if their team seems better off without them.

 

PG: Gilbert Arenas, Washington

SG: Michael Redd, Milwaukee

SF: Carmelo Anthony, Denver

PF: Zach Randolph, NYK

C: Eddy Curry, NYK

 

So, in conclusion: Good luck, D'Antoni!

Okay, not really. Bill Simmons' newest column is part one of his MVP column, and Z-Bo comes in as the second-least valuable player in the league.

Here's the money quote:

Any time the same player is widely credited for one team's resurgence (simply because he left), another team's ongoing demise (simply because he showed up) and the firing of a third team's GM (Milwaukee's Larry Harris, who made the fatal mistake of trying to convince his owner that the Bucks should trade for him), that should have been enough for him to cruise to the LVP Award. Zach, I'm sorry. I don't know what else you could have done short of stabbing Nate Robinson during a timeout.

No Blazers yet, but I expect to see Brandon and hopefully LMA in the next set (coming tomorrow). Although he did leave a lot of space between most of the players, so it's possible that we'll see no Blazer mentions at all.

TRADE MACHINE time, that is! (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/trademachine)

Yes, the Blazers have lost a few games recently. And although the trade deadline has passed, that doesn't mean we can't FREAK OUT about the recent losses and try to get rid of everyone not named LMA, Roy or Oden!

I'll post a couple to get us started:

Here's a fun one with Chicago:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=2768~2795~3028~3032&teams=4~4~22~22&am p;te=&cash

A one-for-one swap with Seattle:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=3209~2795&teams=22~25&te=&cash

A trade that would say yes, Miami is finally ready to admit to a rebuilding effort:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=3196~2184~580~1987~454~550~3004&teams= 22~22~22~22~14~14~14&te=&cash

And finally, what's a Trade Machine thread without a four-team blockbuster?
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1719~498~1723~3239~2986~1718~2772~1017~277 9~813~901~2768~550&teams=22~18~18~18~22~17~22~3~22~18~18~3~17&te&cash=

This last one's my favorite. The Blazers get Chris Paul, David Lee, Renaldo Balkman and Nenad Krstic, and give up nothing but DWB Jarrett Jack and Darius Miles! Best of all, it rescues our good friend Freddy Jones from NYC. This is the kind of Pritch-slap the league has been waiting for since... well, since the draft, I guess.

What about you? What crazy Trade Machine goodness can you come up with to improve our poor, poor Blazers?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3184246

"Former NBA star Isaiah Rider was in custody Sunday on outstanding arrest warrants after Berkeley police responded to a report of a disturbance between a taxi driver and a passenger."

Just another sad story in a long line for Rider. I thought things had been relatively quiet for him because there weren't any new stories developing... looks like that wasn't the case.

You've met Charles Outlaw...

You've met Tracy Outlaw...

You've been reintroduced to Bo Outlaw...

But I'll bet you didn't expect this colossus to join the Portland Trail Blazers.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/photos?photoId=1768004&gameId=280102016

Read the caption to that photo, and then you'll see just how bright our future is. In fact, I think we've somehow freed up a roster spot with this new acquisition!

Hey, tomorrow is Halloween! In honor of our first game (in which we stood up quite admirably to the VERY SCARY San Antonio Spurs), I think it would be a good idea to list some ideas for Blazer-themed Halloween costumes for those of us that still need ideas for how to dress up this year. Here are the top 5 scariest Blazer-themed costumes I could come up with:

5. Sam Bowie's Knee: Wrap yourself in athletic tape with a huge bulge in the middle. Spend the night talking ONLY about Michael Jordan.
4. Rasheed Wallace: With a headband and Sharpie tattoos, this is one of the easiest costumes to pull off. Make sure to carry a towel around in case someone dressed as #3 shows up.
3. Arvydas Sabonis in his prime: Also known as 'The Ghost of What Could Have Been.' Wear stilts, tiny basketball shorts, a mullet wig and a sweet mustache. Speak no English, but school everyone in one-on-one with your silky-smooth moves.
2. The East Coast Bias: A costume for the tall and skinny among us. Slip on an outfit shaped like the states from Maine to Florida, and then talk exclusively about how the Celtics are going to win the title.

And the number one Portland TrailBlazer-related Halloween costume is...

1. A GOOF! Toss on your Greg Oden jersey and facepaint yourself some tears. Then go ringing on doors of some REAL Blazer fans - AAAAH!

Okay, so it's almost time for another game. Phew! It's odd having so many days off in a row. Or, maybe it just seems like a longer-than-usual period because I've been busy...

ANYWAY- I just wanted to bring up one thing that hadn't been said yet about the Clippers game. I went to the game (sorry folks, I'm a death knell for home teams), and our point guards were in trouble. Jack looked like he didn't want to be there, and Sergio wasn't much better (sorry RCG). Dickau was giving an effort, but even then, he looked a little lost. He at least looked like he was TRYING, though.

But then, something funny happened. Nate said, "Alright, none of you guys came to play. We're trying something different." He put Freddy Jones in there alongside B-Roy in the backcourt.

And you know what happened? We started coming back! Freddy and Roy looked awesome out there together. I know we discussed this 'Roy at the point' thing to death earlier in the season, but in this game, it was BY FAR the best option. Especially with Freddy making contributions (especially on defense). When Nate put another point guard in after that episode, I kept saying to myself, "What is he doing? Get Roy (or Freddy; I forget which one came out) back out there!"

Point being: I like all three of our point guards, but they just didn't have it. However, when Roy and Freddy were out there, they played really, really well together. I thought their play was the highlight of the night. I wouldn't worry too much about depth at PG; if we trade away one without getting one back (like the Jack throw-in to a Zach trade that everyone seems to be discussing), Roy can pick up the slack when we need a third PG.

Neel points out that for 29 teams in the NBA, there will be nothing but 'moral victories.' Then he says that the PPCs have much to gain. He gives a little rundown for each team, and has a lot of nice things to say about the TrailBlazers, which is pretty cool!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/070302&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos2

You should probably go check it out!

So, I've been hearing a lot of people throw around the phrase, 'smart basketball' these days. "We've gotta play smart basketball." "You can't win games unless you play smart basketball." I think of 'smart basketball' as giving controlled effort, making smart passes, getting into position for rebounds, shot selection, not making turnovers, etc. It's a combination of 'little things', the things that could be coached, sure, but they seem to be more of a part of who a player is.

I watched the Philly and Boston games, and the Blazers just looked downright dumb out there. Of course, it's a young team I believe that many of the youngsters will improve in this department... but it's clear that some of the guys have a handle while others are far, far away. Here's my opinion on the roster, based on what I've seen so far. Keep in mind that this isn't what I think of their personal IQ, but rather who they are when they're on the basketball court.

LMA: I think he's got what it takes to be a smart player, but it's going to take some more minutes and especially confidence for him to get anywhere. He can block shots and pull down boards, but his positioning leaves something to be desired at this point.
Dickau: Incomplete.
Dixon: It's hard for me to give him much credit because he's so lousy on defense, but one thing that I kind of like about Juan is that he has absolutely no conscience on offense. He will shoot the ball WHENEVER HE WANTS, and everyone knows it. I can't tell if it's because he's smart and is thinking, "If I don't put it up, nobody will. If I can get into a groove, it'll spark the team" or if he's dumb and he's thinking "Ball. Ball. Ball. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot."
Jack: One of the reasons I hate all of this this Jack trade talk is that I think Jarrett is one of the smartest players we have. He doesn't commit turnovers, and he seems to be better at finding the right pass than pretty much anyone else on the team. I think he's already proven that he'll have a career in this league for years to come.
LaFrentz: Poor Raef has the smarts, but his talent just isn't there anymore. Seems like a nice guy, though.
Mags: J-Mags is a black hole on offense, which is never good, but he is one of our few rebounding specialists right now and he does seem to get himself into position once in a while. I don't think he's Einstein, but I think he's smarter than many give him credit for.
Miles: Let's just hope he never suits up for the Blazers again and be done with it.
Outlaw: As lost as he is most of the time, Travis does have flashes of brilliance. He'll come up with blocks and other 'hustle' plays that I didn't previously think were physically possible. This is a huge step up from when he was constantly lost, with seemingly no hope for development.
Przyilla: I love watching Joel when he's in synch, but something is off this year. He looked like one of the smarter guys on the team last year, but I don't know what's going on with him this time around. He gets an 'incomplete' as well, because I believe he's better than he's been showing us recently.
Z-Bo: I'm sorry, but as much as we call Zach our MVP, I think that he's one of the dumbest players this side of Reuben Patterson. He's always confused on defense, he doesn't pass out of double (or triple) teams, you know he's going up as soon as he touches the ball, he doesn't run the court... Ugh. His talent is so vast, I just wish his head was even close.
Sergio: Spanish Chocolate seems to be pretty half and half (espresso pun unintended). He's so much fun to watch because he tries. He seems to really care, and he's busting his butt out there. However, I think can let his enthusiasm get ahead of himself sometimes.
Brandon: It's so frustrating that his return fouled everything up, because Brandon has simply GOT IT. Every time I watch him play, I can't believe he's a rookie. I understand the PG talk; point guards seem to traditionally be the smartest guys on the team. I just think that him and Jack need to become a dynamic duo. If any young backcourt duo can do it, I think they can.
Ime: Maybe the smartest player on the team? He's not as talented as some of the other guys, but Ime knows how to play defense and hustle, which goes a long way. Also, I don't remember where, but I remember reading that he watched a bunch of film and said, "gee, a lot of guys make that wide-open shot from the corner. If I learn to make that shot, I'll help the team out." In the games I've watched this year, he's hit that shot every time someone (usually Jack) gets him the ball.
Martell: Martell looks great in garbage time, but it seems like he has one thought before that: "Catch and shoot."

I know that everyone's been jumping on this 'WHATS WRONG WITH THE BLAZERS THESE DAYS, OKAY' bandwagon, but I figured I'd throw my two cents in :)

Oh, and hey! Vote in this poll, alright?

Poll

Who is Portland's "smartest" player?

5%

Sergio Rodriguez

1 votes

20%

Jarrett Jack

4 votes

35%

Brandon Roy

7 votes

0%

Jamaal Magloire

0 votes

40%

Ime Udoka

8 votes

0%

Travis Outlaw

0 votes

0%

Martell Webster

0 votes

0%

LaMarcus Aldridge

0 votes

0%

Zach Randolph

0 votes

0%

Juan Dixon

0 votes

20 votes | Poll has closed

Chris Sheridan over at ESPN.com posted his annual 'Where are they now?' article, and he had a little comment about Sergei Monia in there!

Sheridan writes: "Sergei Monia: After one NBA season split between the Trail Blazers and Kings, he's back in Russia with Dynamo Moscow, playing alongside Americans Travis Hansen and Eddie Gill. Shot a combined 1-for-10 in his first five Euroleague games."

Ouch. Things are not going well for our old buddy Sergei. Hopefully he's enjoying his time back in Russia!