SB Nation User Blog: usmcr3049

McMillan said the key to having success on the road comes down to one thing: winning.

usmcr3049 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:05:07 -0000

McMillan said the key to having success on the road comes down to one thing: winning.

JA Adande: "The BLazers are self-mutilating."

usmcr3049 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:51:59 -0000

From today's Daily Dime on ESPN:

The Blazers are self-mutilating. Dropping a home game to Anthony's Nuggets by missing two free throws at the end. Letting the Atlanta Hawks outrebound them 46-36. The Hawks are supposed to be younger and more energetic than most teams ... but not the Blazers.

Their No. 1 overall pick from the 2007 draft has 19 personal fouls and 16 field goal attempts. Their offseason free-agent acquisition is shooting 34 percent. They are 2-3, with two home losses.

There are plenty of other teams with losing records. Most of them were supposed to be that way. Utah and New Orleans might be surprises, but most Conventional Wisdom watches had down arrows next to those teams and an up arrow by Portland. The other teams with optimistic outlooks are at least at .500 now, unless you want to include the Clippers. And the Portland Trail Blazers didn't assemble this roster to be compared with the Clippers. That's the neighborhood they've stumbled into. That's the reason for fear.

The Blazers are not looking good right now, and like Dave said in the pregame report, something is going to happen soon, either good or bad, there is a storm approaching.

Everytime sum1 ask me who i play for and i say Oklahoma city they say "if u work hard, maybe u will...

usmcr3049 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:33:53 -0000

Everytime sum1 ask me who i play for and i say Oklahoma city they say "if u work hard, maybe u will be a pro" Nobody knows about us yet..YET - Kevin Durant.

http://twitter.com/KevinDurant35/status/3725511194

Webster is Back

usmcr3049 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:59:31 -0000

According to the columbian, Martell Webster has been cleared for 5 on 5 drills!

However, now that Webster has been cleared for full action this season, he is expected to challenge Travis Outlaw and Nicolas Batum for the Blazers' starting small forward position during the team's upcoming training camp, which begins Sept. 29.  
Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard and team president Larry Miller recently compared the successful return of a healthy Webster to acquiring an offseason free agent at no cost.  
"He's been a starter. He's young. He's athletic," Pritchard said. "We're going to need his shooting ability. And if he comes back and he shoots the ball well and can maintain his health, he'll make us better just by that."  
Webster said he is more concerned this season with being a finisher rather than a starter. He stated that watching from the bench as Outlaw closed out games last season from the small forward position opened his eyes to a new goal: Becoming a dependable go-to player when the game is on the line.  

While I know this seems like it has been coming for awhile, it is great news to me to hear that Webster has finally cleared the last hurdle to his recovery. Hopefully he can bring it like he was in training camp last year, as I was sure he was on the verge of becoming a consistant NBA player.

LMA Best PF under 25?

usmcr3049 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:00:47 -0000

LMA Best PF under 25?

Barkley's Mouth thinks so.

Decade's TOP 10 Defenders

usmcr3049 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:05:26 -0000

Decade's TOP 10 Defenders

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.

Confessions of an NBA Scorekeeper

usmcr3049 — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:07:39 -0000

I found this story from the Blogfather, and found it really interesting. This guy's story was just an internet legend to me before reading this story, as there was no way I was going to trust a random post on a random message board claiming to be a former scorekeeper for the Grizzlies. But this story proves to me that it is true, and it is mind blowing.

"That was my first exposure to the subjectivity of NBA statistics," he says. "I had come from the ivory tower where everything was straightforward. ... In Detroit, they'd show us a little video clip, and we'd enter it on our computer. That's a basket, no assist or whatever. Everyone around me would be giving assists. I was like, 'Really?' The dude passed it to a guy on the wing, who did a headfake, took two dribbles and made a jumper. And that's an assist?"

Alex quickly found that a scorekeeper is given broad discretion over two categories: assists and blocks (steals and rebounds are also open to some interpretation, though not a lot). "In the NBA, an assist is a pass leading directly to a basket," he says. "That's inherently subjective. What does that really mean in practice? The definition is massively variable according to who you talk to. The Jazz guys were pretty open about their liberalities. ... John Stockton averaged 10 assists. Is that legit? It's legit because they entered it. If he's another guy, would he get 10? Probably not."

Last year I remember watching a youtube video about CP3, and how he gets more assists at home than on the road, but this story makes it a league wide problem, not just the Hornets. Home and road splits shown in this story prove this happens alot all around the league. If CP3 didn't avg over 10 assist per game, would he still be an MVP canidate? What if he only gets about 8 per game? That is still really good, but is it MVP good? I have to wonder if any player who makes their living on steals, assists, rebounds, or blocks is really as good as they seem.

How this relates to the Blazers, both Joel and Greg were top rebounders last season, but were they really? And with this year being a big year for Greg, if he "breaks out" by avg 15/13/3, will it be because the Portland stat keeper helped him out with 1 or 2 extra rebounds per game, and 1 extra block per game? If that is the case, is it a bad thing? If everyone else is doing it, should the Blazers? Are the Blazers?

Nugget/Blazer Rivalry?

usmcr3049 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:34:22 -0000

Nugget/Blazer Rivalry?

According to this writer, this is the newest NBA rivalry. I can agree with most of his toughts, except for the end of course. While I can see these teams ending up seperated by 1 win, I don't agree with his reasoning of "chemistry". Apparently he believes that the Nuggets will have better chemsitry than the Blazers this year because the Blazers are adding a new starting PG.

While Miller is not guarenteed a starting spot, adding him might change the chemistry a bit in PDX, however he has never been seen as a disruptive type, and last season PDX had tremendous chemistry amoung the team. So I don't see this as an issue.

OT: Professional Sports Star's and the Legal system

usmcr3049 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:29:34 -0000

OT: Professional Sports Star's and the Legal system

The link is to the story about Burress agreeing to take a deal on his case for unlawful possesion of a firearm, and unlawful discarge of a firearm. According to the story, the NY District Attorny wouldn't accept any deal that gave Burress less than 2 years in prison.
Maybe it is because I don't see a problem with guns, where many others do, but this seems way out of line for what he did. No one would argue that what he did was wrong, but in a time where you can take a loaded assualt rifle to a Presidental Speach protest in Arizona, it seems a little harsh.
It use to be that Athlete's would get off more than the normal person, because of their fame, and ability to pay for a good lawyer. But now it seems that might have turned, everyone can remember what happened to Vick, while what he did was horrible, what the system did to him was just as bad. (What he did, when he did it, was not a federal crime, it was handled by the states, but when the news broke, it was quickly made into a federal case and he was railroaded into jail).
I have no real hard feelings for these guys, after all it appears you can still get off if you can pay the family off like Stallworth did, (he is serving 30 days for killing someone with his car, yet Vick and Burress get 2 years each for killing dogs or shooting themselves, don't really seem right does it).

/rant

Do the Blazers have the largest Coaching staff in the league? There are what, 11 or 12 "coaches" in...

usmcr3049 — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:30:20 -0000

Do the Blazers have the largest Coaching staff in the league? There are what, 11 or 12 "coaches" in last years team photo!