Please go vote for the Blazers/OKC game on nba.com/fannight
We are 3rd right now behind the Laker Game and the Bulls game. Lets help out those who don't have comcast watch at least a few more games this year!

The link is a Hollinger story about the Grizz, but on the side bar, he picks out some of the playoffs top defenders, and gives Rudy some praise,

"Rudy Fernandez, Portland: Yes, Rudy Fernandez. J.J. Barea was one of Dallas' best offensive players in the regular season but hasn't done squat in this series, and Fernandez has been guarding him almost the entire time. Fernandez has picked up Barea deep in the backcourt and defended him closely on the dribble; while it seems on paper like this might be a disastrous plan, it's proven quite effective in preventing the speedy Barea from gaining a head of steam."

I guess Nate isn't the only one seeing good defense out of Rudy.

John Hollinger answered this question in his chat today:

Do you think that Portland will do something come the trade deadline? If so what scenarios are there.

John Hollinger (2:26 PM)

I do expect the Blazers to make a move, with the expiring contracts of Andre Miller and Joel Przybilla the most likely to move. Rudy Fernandez is another one who could have a new home soon. I'd still be shocked if they dealt Batum, however, -- they aren't very deep at the 3 and they historically have been very reluctant to deal the kids. Also, I hear they're getting a lot of interference from the "Vulcans" there, so that's going to gum up the deal-making process.

Here is just a taste,

"Playing with Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, and under the strict, discipline-seeking boot of Nate McMillan, Batum has never been able to reach full bloom. (He's been good in Portland, but far more subdued.) But without Parker, France needs the full Batum -- his vicious rim-work, his gutsy big-shot responsibility, his gravitas. Parker, of course, is more than a scorer, though. He's also one of the best point guards in the world. Batum has shown he can handle (eight turnovers in 87 minutes in his first competitive experience as a lead ball-handler), but France is rife with finishers who need to be set up."

According to John Hollinger's twitter,

"johnhollinger Congrats to Columbian's Blazers writer Brian Smith, heading to SL Trib to fill the large shoes of the departed Ross Siler."

This is really a lost for the local media, Brian hasn't been here long, but he has been awsome, much better than Quick in my view.

So Howard won again, I'm cool with that. But as Hollinger has pointed out before, what is with some of these players getting votes?

David Lee? Really?

These are voted on by sportswriters, I am assuming that no one from Portland is a voter, because Batum didn't even get a 3rd place vote, which apparently is the place writers use to vote for, "their guy".

Shane (Portland)

Please tell me that clown Kevin Pritchard will be gone. What has he actually done since he was promoted? Blew the #1, failed to capitalize on RLEC, made a mess of Roy's contract talks, and now Rudy will be gone. I would much rather have Trader Bob or Warkentien.

Chad Ford (1:28 PM)

This has to be someone from Paul Allen's Vulcan group. No one who knows anything about basketball would say this. If you don't like Pritchard, fine. But he's been one of the best performing GMs in the business the past few years.

Ben (portland)

John, if the Lakers are not willing to offer Bynum, would a Blazer offer of LaMarcus/Rudy+expiring's be the 2nd best deal available to the Ratpors for Bosh?

John Hollinger (12:47 PM)

I don't think Toronto would be as jazzed about that one since L.A. has a lot of the same weaknesses as Bargnani (softness, etc.) -- the lure of Bynum is that he's exactly what they lack at the moment. But you're right that Portland can throw a lot more sweeteners into the deal with its young guys and expiring contracts.

Other Blazers info in the chat:
Greetings from Portland everyone, where I saw the Blazers roll past Milwaukee last night and am looking forward to seeing them face the Magic tomorrow. Trade rumors galore out there as well as anything else you want to discuss... let's get to it.

Rastamonsta (Portland, OR)

Being that your in Portland, can you comment on any moves the Blazers should make? What about Outlaw and Blake being moved for another big man to help this years run to the playoffs?

John Hollinger (12:24 PM)

The Blazers are looking hard at bigs but it's a tough proposition -- ideally they want a guy with an ending contract since Przybilla and Oden will be back next year, and they don't want to give up much in the way of future assets to get such a player. The other question is whether the Blazers are looking at getting an impact player (i.e. Brendan Haywood) or just a stopgap (i.e. Rasho Nesterovic or Kwame Brown).

Dave (Corvallis, OR)

Favorite thing to do in in Portland (other than go to Blazer games)?

John Hollinger (12:26 PM)

Walk. Best walking city in the country, with the possible exception of Beantown

Keith (pdx)

is now the time to move rudy fernandez, can he really live long term in PDX with b roy in front of him, could'nt he start on quite a few NBA teams

John Hollinger (12:31 PM)

Blazers historically have been very reluctant to deal their young guys -- did it once and got burned (J. O'Neal) and while that wasn't Pritchard, it was the same owner and other management folks. So I'd say it's unlikely for at least another year or two. By the way, Fernandez returned to action last night. While he looked horribly out of sync, the Blazers finally starting to get healthy.

This is from a Celtic's blog, it is a great break down of a couple of offensive plays the C's run. I thought it was pretty interesting and others would like to see it, I got the link from Truehoop. Somehow when I watch the Blazers I don't see this same movement, I do see what Paul P. was doing in the second clip alot, (ie. standing at the 3 point line with his hands on his hips), but not the off the ball movement.

This was on truehoop this morning, about CP3 and the Hornets dealing with him coming back from his injury. As I was reading this I couldn't help but since that they could easly replace Pual's name with Roy's, and the Hornets team with the Blazers.

"Niall Doherty of Hornets247 has been watching the Hornets, and Paul, closely:

In five games since returning from injury, he's averaging 15.8 points, 14 assists, 4.8 boards and 3.4 steals.

Having noted all of that, this next sentence might seem a little misplaced: Chris Paul is part of the problem.

I say that because I don't see him buying into what Jeff Bower and Tim Floyd are trying to do with the offense. We saw some nice progress made towards more ball movement and less pounding when Paul was out injured, and I assumed that would continue when CP came back. Unfortunately though, I'm seeing the offense regress into Paul dribbling most of the shot clock away before launching a contested jumper while his teammates stand and watch.

Of course, there's no denying Paul's brilliance, and with the way he's been shooting this season those contested jumpers aren't necessarily bad shots. The problem is that the Hornets can only go so far with Chris Paul dominating the basketball. For the Hornets to be a real threat offensively, they need everybody involved, multiple passes on each trip down the floor, not just one guy prodding the defense for 15-20 seconds. That requires too much of Paul and too little of everyone else, including the guys playing defense.

Chris has been responding to the team's poor performance by playing hard, playing hurt, and getting on his teammates even more so than usual. I'm thinking what would serve him and the team better is to realize that his Herculean efforts aren't adding up to more W's. A smarter approach is needed."

Once again we have failed the Blazers in All-Star voting. Roy is behind Aaron Brooks, amoung others in the voting.

I can not understand some people, and by some people I mean people like Charley Rosen. Can he really believe the crap he is putting on paper? I expect it from other fans, the "I told you so" comments, the "he is another sam bowie" comments. But to say Greg is done as a player and the Blazers shouldn't even resign him after his rookie deal is done? Really?

Did he write this piece about Andrew Bynum last year when he hurt his knee cap and had to sit out the second half of the season for the 2nd straight year? Did he howl at the moon when the Laker's resigned him?

What is really sad is that Rosen is not the only guy out there saying this, Sherman Alexie said on truehoop that Oden is, "likely done as an everyday player for good". Have these guys not seen Bynum playing today? How about big Z in Cleveland setting the franchise record for games played? Have they forgotten that he couldn't stay on the court for his first couple of seasons?

I guess what makes me so upset at Charley Rosen is that what he rights has the power to influence the masses. Eventhough I know he must have been brain dead when he wrote that, a casual fan does not. They just see a story on Fox about how Greg is done. And maybe it is because so many of my friends are just casual fans, because I have already had to help bring some friends back from the edge.

Yahoo sports makes a typo...
Incase that change it...

"The Pacers were just completely impotent in that second half, and though the team is perhaps allowed some room to swoon due its sound start (winning five of eight games before this loss), the whole exercise feels unseemly.

Ford can be a terrible, terrible point guard. For long stretches. He's been in the league since 2003 and he still makes decisions that would get a high schooler benched, and Indiana has little or no recourse if Earl Watson(notes) (who missed all seven of his shot attempts) is playing like Earl Watson usually plays at all points leading up to earlier this month.

Ford missed four of five shots, he had seven rebounds, five assists, and five turnovers. He's averaging 6.5 points, 4.5 assists, 3.5 turnovers in 32.5 minutes per game over his last two contests, on 20 percent shooting.

Brandon Roy(notes) has hit fewer than a third of his shots this year, and he's missed 16 of 19 attempts over his last two games against defensive stalwarts from New Jersey and New York. Good god.

Eddy Curry's(notes) return (10 points, four rebounds, four fouls, three turnovers in just under 12 minutes) was pleasant, if predictable. "

Barkley's Mouth thinks so.

I love these lists, even if they are just opinion pieces. Still this one barely relates to the blazers in one way. Over the summer we have argued back and forth about trading for Kirk Hinrich, may argued that he was an upgrade defensively, others didn't think so. Well for those on the "upgrade" side, here is some more ammo for ya.