...in light of the Shaq trade:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7772940/Will-rest-of-West-hop-on-the-trading-block?

I like Hill's take on trades Portland might need/want to make:

"...and even suggested young forward Travis Outlaw as part of the compensation package.

I don't think the Blazers are insane."

Bottom line:

"The only thing -- besides Oden -- Portland needs to reach elite status is experience."

Ahh... refreshing!  Like a nice fresca.

I only post this because I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=6941

I didn't get to tune in until midway through the second quarter, and I had to leave at the end of the 3rd quarter.  But, in the part of the game I saw, LMA seemed like a non-factor on the offensive end.

Here's the jist of the article:

The injury occurred at the end of the first quarter and he could not recall the specific player. Aldridge's right hand was visibly swollen but there is no word yet on a prognosis.

Synopsis of symbiosis:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=6931

Thesis:

At first glance it is easy to attribute the Boston Celtics success to offseason trades with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Seattle SuperSonics. However, it was the Celtics dealings with the Portland Trail Blazers more than a year-and-a-half ago that set the stage for both blockbuster moves and allowed the Trail Blazers to build the foundation for success. Boston and Portland may be more than 3,000 miles away from each other, but these teams are closer than it seems.

His mea culpa on Roy:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7675808

Key section:

I'm not seeking to please or displease any particular segment of NBA fans. All I can do is call 'em the way I see 'em.

As far as the Roy flop-flap is concerned, I can only repeat the mantra chanted at one time or other by players at every level from MJ to the no-game hackers who have next-after-next in the schoolyards.

My bad.

According to Chris Wallace (Grizzlies GM) in an article by Paul Forrester over at SI.com:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/paul_forrester/01/09/players.coaches/2.html

Steve Blake: "Energetic, heady and a consummate gym rat, he's made himself into a player," Wallace said of the Trail Blazers' starting point guard. While a national title at Maryland helped Blake get into the NBA, his work while in the league has made him a success, despite not being a first-round pick.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/chris_mannix/01/08/roy.blazers/index.html

Here's a nice nugget:

"Sensing a weakness in his pick-and-roll play, he spent the summer working with the SuperSonics' Luke Ridnour and Nick Collison in Seattle. Thanks to that work, Roy believes he is much more effective with the pull-up jump shot, while his assist total has increased from 4.0 to 5.6."

...through the lens of last nights matchup with Chicago:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7633536

"Roy is rarely spectacular, but he's the kind of guy who comes up with whatever's needed for a win -- from a big shot to a big rebound, from a crucial assist-pass to the recovery of a loose ball. In other words, he's a winner. Some day, he just might merit serious consideration as the league's MVP. That's how good he is."

From a bizarre, rambling blog over at hoopshype...

http://hoopshype.com/blogs/muoneke/index.php/2007/12/09/ime-the-great/

You'll have to scroll through umpteen paragraphs describing "servants" (I think he means "savants"), texas, training and Nigeria.  Fortunately, he put a header on the Ime story, which is near the bottom.  

Over and over, teams would draft a young guy out of high school and rave about his potential.  The GM, the coach, the owner, the assistant coach, the trainer, the ball boy, etc... would all rave about his upside - "in a few years."  

Fan nation would swell with hope with every scrap of news (He's stroking it in practice!).  Expectations would first be addressed as "he could eventually be as good..." and later slip to "he's going to be as good..." and finally, "he's as good as..." Every glimpse of play - mostly in the closing minutes of a 20-point blowout - we'd say, "see, it looks like he's really starting to get it!"

Now certain that he's just a few steps (maybe a little more playing time, what's with the coach?) from greatness, his sophomore year is a dashing disappointment.  Exposed to the unflattering glare of the full spotlight, overshadowed by all the shiny new rookies that fill the small niche in the heart of the fan, they realize that he DOESN'T get it.  Maybe he never will.  Maybe he's just a bust.

It's probably his attitude.  Maybe he just coasts because we liked him so much.  They probably aren't being strict enough.

The fact is: Martell is right on track.  As painful as it is to say, he's right on the track that John Nash and Steve Patterson thought he'd be on.  

It doesn't matter how you get from here to there.  Maybe it's a few years to adapt to being coached.  Maybe it's a few years to put on enough bulk to play in the post.  Maybe it's a few years to learn how to rotate on defense.  The bottom line is that it's a few years!  

Eveyone keys in on the conclusion that Martell wasn't very coachable before.  Jason Quick set him up for that with his summertime interviews and articles.  It seemed a bit harsh for a second year player out of high school.  It's one opinion, and certainly one part of the equation, but the reality might be more nuanced than that.  Maybe he wasn't that coachable because he didn't yet understand enough.  Sometimes, you have to learn a lot before you can appreciate how little you know.  Maybe Martell spent two years learning a lot - everything he was capable of.  Maybe he didn't need much coaching to accomplish that part of the learning curve.  Some people absorb a lot through observation.  Now that he has that out of the way, he's in a position to learn more, but he needs help, so he's sought out coaches to provide it.

This is only Martell's third year, and he's starting to contribute.  He's ahead of schedule!  Hooray!

Whitsitt traded away Jermaine O'Neal AFTER four years, and he was still a year away from being a consistent double/double guy.  More playing time might have moved that up one year, but probably not two.  Sure, conventional wisdow says that big guys are slower to develop, but still!

I love the fact that Martell is coming into his own.  I even more love the fact that we don't have to waste as much time developing high schoolers now.  I wish they'd make it a two year college requirement.  The delay in access to the tiny handful of prep to pro superstars (Kobe, LeBron, Kevin) would be more than made up by the overall increase in size and quality of the rank and file.  How much more excited would we be with Travis if this was the start of his third year in the league?

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7393552

Pretty Spurs-centric, but I actually think Charley gave the game a fair assessment, although I'm not so sure about this "3 of 10" nonsense about Portland's zone.  I need Tivo!

Money quote: "But it was Aldridge who exposed Duncan as a rather limited man-to-man defender. The second-year player went over and around Duncan, and the threat of his quick first-step also enabled Aldridge to repeatedly burn TD on step-back jumpers."

Glen Taylor, owner of the Timberwolves:

http://www.twincities.com/ci_7301055?nclick_check=1

http://www.twincities.com/ci_7308142?nclick_check=1

(there are two parts) from Henry's TrueHoop blog..

First off, it's clear that Taylor is an imbecile.  In fact, the interviewer is so confused by his semi-coherent answer to question #1 (he opens with "I've always been kind of loyal to pretty much everybody...") that he just says, "Can you clarify what you're talking about?"

It's like something out of "Best in Show" or "Spinal Tap"

The jist of it is this: There's probably no one out there better than McHale to run an organization.  Previous coaches all the way back to Flip were undermined because McHale was addressing the team on his own.  Trenton Hassell and Troy Hudson played because Garnett wanted them to, even though they wouldn't "cover for the other guys" out on the court.  Ricky Davis wouldn't "cover" for Hudson and Hasell because he was smart and knew that would keep them from screwing him over.  Garnett wouldn't do anything to Davis because he didn't want to babysit.  Casey should have been fired earlier, but Wittman didn't want the job.  Wittman didn't do any better, but he didn't get fired because they'd decided to trade Garnett.  Apparently the expectation for Wittman this year is to determine a rotation. Oh, and if guys aren't playing hard, the assistant coaches are supposed to tell them that they'll get pulled out of the game.

Whew!  I think it's safe to say that Minnesota is going to be rebuilding for a looooooooooonng time!

Oh yeah, my favorite quote (it's about McHale): "People like him. He's smart. He's witty, and all that type of stuff." -t

but I'm going to be bitterly disappointed if we don't make the playoffs THIS year.  I hope every one in the Blazers organization feels the same way.

Why?  Isn't that completely unrealistic?  After all, aren't we a young team?  Isn't our "best" player out all year with a bum knee?  Isn't this just another rebuilding year?

WHO CARES!

Competitors compete.  Winners have goals.  Personally, I think the watershed moment for this organization was during the closeout to last season, when Brandon Roy said he didn't care if winning screwed up the team's draft prospects. That's the attitude you want!  

It's a pretty long shot... Golden State or LA will have to slip.  But, here's an idea: why wait for them to slip if you can push?  Knock 'em over, knock their blocks off, sink their battleship, steal their lunch, dress them up in little costumes and steal their candy...

I've read a lot of comments that say "this year doesn't really matter" or "they'd never make it that far anyway" or "it's a multiyear process" or "next year, for sure"  Hogwash!

Making the playoffs is what this team needs more than anything.  It's one thing to play the same team four times in a year, but it's completely different to play them four times in a week.  It's completely different to run a play against someone that's seen it 35 times in the last few days.  It's completely different when EVERYONE on the court knows you prefer to drive left, you don't pass well on the dribble, that you always look down before shooting a jump shot off a screen.  That's how good players become great.  That's where you get the motivation to learn one extra move, and hide it until the game is on the line.  B-Roy, LMA, Jack, Martell, Outlaw... we want these guys to be champions, but they have to see this first.  It's the next level.

Go Blazers!  Tomorrow's the first step towards the playoffs!

-t

Harlan Schreiber over at www.hoopsanalyst.com has introduced the latest in his weird, division-by-division, retrospective, statistically-based rookie all-star team.  Huh?

Simply put, he looks at every rookie a team has drafted and puts together a "best" team (PG, SG, SF, PF & C) based on rookie year performance.  

He just covered the NW division:

http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/rooknwe.htm

The recap of Walter Berry's career ("Forgotten Rookie") is great.

-t

from one of the 'powerstat' guys:

http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/0607tra11.htm

It's probably the nicest thing anyone has said about JJ in a while.  I like the perspective it offers, although I think Harlan is missing P-town's need for veteran experience.

-t

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