SB Nation User Blog: ssa400

KP Interview on NBA.com

ssa400 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:31:01 -0000

KP Interview on NBA.com

just a nice KP interview, good stuff.

Blazers sign Livingston?

ssa400 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:36:21 -0000

Apparently the blazers have signed livingston. I like the move. It's a no risk signing, although odds are he will never be back to his pre injury form, he's still a unique talent. I was listening to the quick chat yesterday, and quick said that if the blazers do sign livingston, it'd be for the future, that if he does indeed get healthy in 3 years, then we can bolser our pg depth in the future. He doesn't expect him to play this year. Although, if he can run, I don't see why he shouldn't get sergio's minutes. I really like him as a 3rd string pg, and if he can actal,ly play in the futre, then it's a great move. Otherwise, he's just a 15th man, no biggie.

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Courtesy of 95.5 The Game, Kevin Pritchard has announced Shavlik Randolph has been signed to a non-guaranteed contract and that Livingston will not be signed.

Oregonlive has also confirmed Livingston will not be signed: http://blog.oregonlive.com/blazers/2008/09/blazers_will_not_sign_shaun_li.html

I have edited this post and title to reflect new information Thanks to the original poster for linking the report above. -- Ben

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Przybilla

ssa400 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:50:33 -0000

I love how after the last couple close losses we had, there were outcries over Joel's lack of playing time at the end of close games. Yet todya, he only played 14 mins, and I'm not so sure we could have won had he played much in the 2nd half. Making that comeback would have been difficulut had we been playing 4 on 5 on offense.

So, did Nate still make a mistake not playing Przy? He would have helped us sooooo much (sarcasm).

Quick on Przy

ssa400 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:01:06 -0000

I haven't seen this posted yet, and since the topic was discussed at length right after the toronto game, i figured i'd post the link.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/01/pondering_przybilla_leads_to_b.html

It's a discussion with Nate about why przy didn't play at the end of the toronto game. It's really interesting.

Main points: (according to Nate)

-Joel wasn't stopping Bosh anyways
-We needed offense
-LaMarcus needed to learn how to contribute other ways when his offense is off
-When Brandon wasn't playing well, was Nate supposed to sit him? Nope, and LMA gets the same treatment. He is a cornerstone of the franchise, and he needs to play in those types of situations.

In all reality Przy isn't taht key to future of this team after this year, Nate's reasoning made spot on sense to me.

Trout's TOs

ssa400 — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:53:39 -0000

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3726/gamelog;_ylt=AstYUxRIeNWygyEFj5oTD5ukvLYF

I was just looking at his game log. Does he actually have ZERO turnovers in the last 5 games? That is simply insane. His value as a volume bench scorer and an uber athlete is useful enough as it is, but he's learned how to take care of the ball now too?

Jameer Nelson

ssa400 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:42:55 -0000

I know he didn't play particularly well yesterday, but he is a solid PG. I remember when the Blazers were debating between Nelson and Telfair. If we had gone with Nelson, our PG problem may have been at least partially solved. Instead we're still stuck with no PG.

A lot of people (including me) bring up the Williams/Paul draft and are disappointed by Martell for not producing (finally changing this year!). Whereas if we simply didn't have Telfair, we would have most likely gone with Paul.

Telfair essentially cost us 3 PGs. 2 superstars and 1 solid young PG.

I just don't feel like this team will get anywhere until we have a competent PG at the helm. Jack has showed his value as a scoring combo guard off the bench, so he's no longer a viable PG candidate. Sergio simply isn't that good. Blake's not a great PG either. Once Oden comes back, maybe we can get away with an average PG, but until then we really have no hope.

BS Report

ssa400 — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:03:00 -0000

I was listening to the BS Report, Bill Simmons' podcast, and he was talking with Marc Stein. Simmons asked Stein for some the early surprises this season.

Stein's first surprise was the Blazers. He essentially said that he didn't think the Blazers were going to be able to do anything this year. And it wasn't only because of not having Oden, but that we were just too young and not enough productive pieces just yet. Simmons agreed, and said he thought the Blazers were a 20 win team, but they both agreed we're far better than either of them gave us credit for.

My favorite part of the discussion was when Stein brought up Aldridge. He said when he saw him in the first summer league, he hated him, Simmons agreed. Simmons thought he would be a bust, and that they both thought the Thomas/Aldridge deal was a slam dunk for the Bulls. Now, both agree, that Aldridge looks like a younger, non-crazy Wallace. It was just so refreshing to hear some love for the Blazers.

I don't have the link to the podcast, but find it and give it a listen. Great hoops talk on the most recent BS report.

Fantasy Projections by ESPN

ssa400 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:15:29 -0000

ESPN put up it's draft kit. One really eye opening projection is what they predict brandon roy will average. 9th ranked SG 20.2 ppg, 1.5 stl, 4.8 ast, 5.3 reb. That is such a beautiful potential stat line. Outlaw's projections: 12.1 ppg, 4.5 boards Lamarcus: 15 ppg, 8.5 boards Channing: 12 ppg, 6.7 boards http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/basketball/fba/story?id=3057208 Sorry this diary isn't formatting the right way for some reason.

Absolutely ridiculous statistical exercise

ssa400 — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:07:17 -0000

I was just thinking what kind of numbers the major pieces are going to be putting up next year. Here's my guesses, I'd like to see what other people think.

Jack: 13 pts / 5 assists / 3 rebs (if he starts)

Roy: 17 / 5 assists / 5 rebounds

Aldridge: 15 / 2 assist / 8 rebounds / 2 blocks

Outlaw: 12 / 1 assist / 6 rebounds / 1.2 blocks

Oden: 12 / 2 assists / 10 rebounds / 2 blocks

Frye: 10 / 2 assists / 5 rebounds / 1 block

Blake: 6 / 4 assists / 2 rebounds

Webster: 7 / 1 assist / 3 rebounds

I don't think anyone else will have any real significant impact on our season. Maybe Pryzbilla, but i don't see what kind of role he has on a team that's got such a talented young front court. I really think alot of our success hinges on Webster. Obviously, that's exaggeration, but if Webster can prove to be just a consistent spot up 3 pt shooter, life becomes so much easier for the rest of the team. Unfortunately the chances of that happening seem to be slim at best.

What kind of numbers do you guys expect each player to put up? I realize this is complete conjecture, but it'd be nice to come back later and see who made good guesses.

Blazer Highlights

ssa400 — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 21:04:21 -0000

I was just watching some blazer highlights on www.blazersclips.com , and am now just absolutely giddy about next year. The guy on the site has a bunch of clips, one of the more impressive ones is a collection of all of Brandon Roy's clutch plays. We all knew he was clutch, but my god, watching all the plays back to back is an experience.

I've always been a Zach supporter. But now that I looked back at all those highlights, I am unbelievably excited about not having Randolph and Magloire, and even having Pryzbilla play a minimal role. Almost all the "prettier" plays came out of ball movement, and with the addition of Oden, it seems like it'll only get better.

One other thing I noticed was the Outlaw highlights and game footage. The guy's only 22 and can obviously play the 3. He's got a jumper, can drive to the basket and draw fouls, is long, and is easily one of the more exciting finishers in the league. If you're going to keep either Outlaw or Udoka (i can't imagine keeping both), Outlaw seems to be the no-brainer. If we can convince him to keep driving to the basket and not just settle for the J and he'll get better at D, he'll be a solid solid SF. In the mean time Oden and Aldridge will easily makeup for his defensive mistakes. One potential problem is with the trio we have, the game is going to be all about fluid execution, and we can't have Outlaw (if he's going to play big minutes) get lost, hopefully he won't.

After watching the gave footage, a lineup of Jack, Roy, Outlaw, LMA and Oden could be just enough. I don't know how much is too much for Outlaw though. I would guess the MLE is the limit. He would be in the draft this year if he had gone to college and played 4 years, and we do need at least one uber athletic finisher on the team.....

My vote is for Outlaw, any thoughts?