This is just about the angriest I've ever been at Canzano. His latest column is basically calling Brandon Roy a traitor for his private moment in the tunnel during the national anthem. This attitude is ridiculous, you would suppose that Canzano is the same kind of person that feels that you can't be spiritual unless you go to church, because it just doesn't "feel right" to do things your own way. If Brandon Roy says that he loves America, doesn't complain about America, why does Canzano make a point to go out of his way into shaming Brandon into participating in the national anthem?


This the kind of activist journalism that really bothers me. We have professional athletes that are misogynist, homophobic, and involved in all kinds of really detrimental activities... and Canzano goes after a trivial act that has no bearing on anyone else. I guess there isn't enough flag-waving going on in sports now.

Patriotism is not measured by how well you recite the Pledge of Allegiance, how teary-eyed you get when Whitney Houston sings the national anthem, or anything like that. What makes a patriot is something that cares about his country, does what he can to contribute positively, and fights injustice when he can. These other symbolic acts Canzano is confusing the United States being like some sort of team that we're all playing on. Being American does not require uniformity, in fact, American individualism is a blessing of our Constitutional society. Canzano should be embracing the ability of Roy and others to express their selves as they wish because we can do that in America, and the argument that "if all the other players went in the tunnel" is ridiculous, because they won't go into the tunnel. It is a strawman argument meant to create controversy where there isn't controversy.

Find a real issue to write about, and move on from your trivialities, Canzano.

 

*UPDATE*

Canzano previously wrote about Roy's actions during the anthem and had no problems with it. Hat tip to BEdger jrj.

 

 

There has been so much said about Pritchard and whether what he is doing is helping or hurting the team now as GM, that I've felt a need to throw out a little game theory to give some perspective regarding our current situation.

As a Political Science major in college, I studied how the Prisoner's Dilemma related to the ability and willingness of nations to work together or to work solely in their own interest at the expense of other nations.  Here is the classic Prisoner's Dilemma scenario:

Two people are arrested and placed into two separate cells. They are each encouraged to testify against the other. If each prisoner cooperates and chooses to not testify against each other they will each have a relatively short sentence. If one testifies and the other does not, then the testifier gets off with no prison time and the other gets the maximum sentence. If each testifies against each other then they each get a long prison term, but not the maximum.

In this scenario you have an incentive to cooperate because a short prison term is better than a maximum prison term, but you also have an incentive to testify against the other person because your prison term will either be shorter than the other person's or the other person already ratted you out and already proved they could not be trusted.

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The addition of Michael Ruffin means one thing for certain - the Blazers are not done.  There are several ways that this can go, but I have my doubts that Ruffin will ever even suit up as a Blazer.

Teams are trying to dump salary.  As a means of doing this, RLEC is a great chip but may not be enough.  The trade exception allows teams to throw in players that they're wanting to get rid of in addition to whichever player we may actually want.

With 15 players on the roster, I assume that the Blazers are looking at a situation of potentially dumping RLEC, Sergio and/or Travis in exchange for taking on a big contract in addition to $3 million of a less desireable player with a less desireable contract.  This move screams to me that whoever we're trying to deal with is likely desperate to save money.

I see this going down this way - Ruffin gets waived, we send out two players and receive back three (or 3 for 4?).  Otherwise, I'm lost and Pritchard and Penn have even confused me.  This opens up a world of possibilities.

Update:  Jason Quick agrees with me - "They have 365 days to use the exception, and you can bet in these cash-crunched times there will be teams willing to unload a $3 million player onto the Blazers."

I know that some of you will probably object to this on the grounds that it is too Phil Jacksonian, but hear me out anyway.

The largest problem I see in these games is that the team does not seem focused at the start of games, even often in the games that we win.  The feeling out process takes too long.

I think the team needs to seriously consider some sort of focusing-meditative practice before games start to visualize what they're trying to do out there.  You can tell that Nate repeatedly tells the team what they need to do, they work on it in practices, and then they don't execute it nearly as well as they do in practice.  To me, this is a problem of visualization.  The team as a whole, does not enter games with a vision in their mind of what they need to do to win.

I have noticed that in the first quarter particularly, despite moving at game speed that we often end up on the wrong end of broken plays and awkward rebounds.  That the Blazers just don't seem mentally in position to react to what is unfolding around them.  I think that the intensity level that Nate feels is lacking from the team is caused by a lack of focus before the game actually starts.

I would like the team to spend a few minutes before every game, closing their eyes, and visualizing running plays through the offense.  I'd like for them to visualize fighting through screens.  I'd like for them to visualize rotating at the first instant that they realize they need to move.

The mental fatigue aspect of the game, playing through 82 games night in and night out is toughest on the young teams.  What we've lost recently, and have been able to make up in our winning streak, is focus.

People can complain about individuals - like Oden picking up fouls, Brandon not being enough of a leader (come on... really?), Travis not getting out on 3-point shooters quickly enough, LaMarcus not rebounding enough on the defensive end, and Sergio making bad turnovers... but to me it just seems that overall the team doesn't have that razor's edge focus entering games.

Early in the season when we blasted the Bulls out of the water, you could see from the tip-off that we saw what we were going to do and followed that path.  I don't see that vision now, but after halftime I can tell that the team almost always has that vision they need that they should have had in the first quarter.  We almost always score more points in the second half than the other team - the only thing preventing us from doing it in the first half is focus.

SA at Denver Recap

Ginobili has a bruised hip, and coach Gregg Popovich said he decided to give Duncan and Parker the night off in Denver following the Spurs' overtime win at Golden State Monday night. Same with Finley.

The question I have is - did Popovich even want to win this game?  Clearly, this doesn't help the Blazers in the NW division.  Their next game is in 5 days against Boston - you'd think they could rest then.  The recap does say that the Spurs played well, though they basically trailed the entire game and never seemed in a position close to winning.  What gives?

Now to Blazer Nation -

What do you make of this move?  If you're a San Antonio fan, do you love it or hate it?  Can you foresee an instance of Nate McMillan ever doing something like this?  In the battle for the top in the West - or at the least positioning from 2-4 (if everything holds out roughly where we are now), don't you think that beating Denver would be really important?  Moreso, than say - pretty much every other team except for division rivals?  Do you think Parker and Duncan are showing more signs of wear and really need this rest?

As a Blazer fan, the move annoys me.  But from an objective perspective I am trying to make sense of this move, and judge it on its merits.  What do you all think?  We're good at over-analyzing things, right? What lessons can be learned from this game?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds

In the west, Hollinger's playoff odds strike me as very strange -

LA - 100.0%

Denver - 99.3%

New Orleans - 98.9%

Portland - 97.4%

Houston - 95.4%

San Antonio - 95.3%

Phoenix - 85.9%

Utah - 72.0%

Dallas - 51.9%

That's right - nine teams with over a fifty percent chance of making the playoffs.  I guess the West really is stacked?  I know there must be some mathematical explanation for this, but I still won't be able to buy it.   Anyway, the good news is that the Blazers are currently firmly in 4th place on this list - a very good sign.

Blazer fans, it is time for a little perspective.  We're in great shape considering that we have the 2nd most difficult strength of schedule in this league thus far.  Check out the overall winning percentage of teams played against for the top 10 teams, and the rest of the Western Conference teams in the playoff discussion:

1. Washington - 53.4%

2. Portland - 53.2%

3. Indiana - 53.0%

4. Chicago - 51.8%

5. Toronto - 51.4%

6. Sacramento - 51.3%

7. Charlotte - 51.2%

8. Phoenix - 51.0%

9. New Orleans - 50.9%

10. Denver - 50.9%

17. LAL - 49.7%

21. Utah - 48.9%

24. Houston - 48.7%

27. Dallas - 47.9%

30. San Antonio - 47.6%

Observations:

Comparing this with the playoff picture we have now, there's a few things we can assume unless the trends completely change:

1) New Orleans, Denver, and LA are likely going to finish near the top.

2) If Portland keeps focused and doesn't have a young team letdown, has the potential to soar into the top 4 or 5 in the West.

3) Predicting which of these 9 teams won't make the playoffs is difficult, but statistically it seems most likely to be either Dallas, Houston, or Utah.  Of these three teams, only Houston has played more away games than home games at 16 home and 23 away.

My prediction for the Western Playoff picture as of now is this:

1. LAL

2. New Orleans

3. Denver

4. San Antonio

5. Portland

6. Phoenix

7. Houston

8. Dallas

And Utah missed the playoffs.

Poll

How accurate do you think my playoff predictions are?

23%

Very accurate, I completely agree

11 votes

12%

Portland will finish higher, but the rest looks good

6 votes

31%

Portland will finish lower, but the rest looks good

15 votes

4%

Portland will finish higher, and I'm wrong about most of the rest of the picture

2 votes

19%

Portland will finish lower, and I'm wrong about most of the rest of the picture

9 votes

8%

Playoffs!? Playoffs?? You're talking about Playoffs? Playoffs???

4 votes

47 votes | Poll has closed

Other than Steve Blake with a +/- of only +2, Brandon Roy is the only Blazer with a positive +/- in the last game against Hornets at +5.  That means, in the 6 minutes of the game that Roy wasn't in, the Blazers were outscored by 10 points.  We need to do better than that; the bench needs to step up and, at the least, play some defense - try to at least stay even when Roy is out of the game.

http://stats.oregonlive.com/nba/boxscore.asp?gamecode=2008111403&home=3&vis=22

via farm4.static.flickr.com

So for all of the money Comcast is spending on ads like this and on television, riddle me this Blazer fans -

Is it more cost-effective for Comcast to exploit us using these advertisements, or for Comcast to just provide the channel at a reasonable cost to providers so we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place?

Sincerely,

Annoyed Locked-Out Fan

P.S. - This ad is on Oregonlive's Blazer page, which is really, really annoying to me.  It gives the impression that the Oregonian and the Blazers organization is completely on Comcast's side.

I was stuck at the dealership for many hours today waiting to get a new windshield.  After hours of mindlessly waiting for what seemed like forever, suddenly Rudy Fernandez burst through the door with his crew.  I waved at him as he came though and he seemed shocked to see some half-asleep dude waving at him.  I was shocked as well.

As I was leaving I saw him crawling into a brand new BMW X5 or something like it.  The whole thing was filmed by a crew of guys that looked Spanish and I assumed were friends with Rudy, if not just friendly.

When I left Rudy was right next to me in the parking lot and I was thinking, "I hope to God Rudy knows how to drive this thing."  I wasn't really worried, except for all of the distractions of the little film crew all over the parking lot.

So, welcome to America, Rudy - and enjoy your Beamer!

Send a message to the NBA world.  Tell them we want Bayless on the U.S. Select Squad: http://www.nba.com/summerleague2008/summer_league_selection_poll.html

Certainly from his play in the summer league, he has deserved it.  That kind of experience would be great in helping him develop against crafty guards and give him a glimpse of what guys on the top of their game are like.  And... he could spend some time getting to know LA.  So, don't wait, get to voting.

Here's something that I hope will help us Blazer fans visualize the new Blazers and what the possibilities are thus far.

Looking at what Pritchard has done with this draft puts us in an intriguing position with the number of players that we have.  Lets look at the current roster, according to the Blazers website -

LaMarcus Aldridge  F
Rudy Fernandez  G
Steve Francis  G
Channing Frye  F
Taurean Green G
Jarrett Jack  G  
Petteri Koponen G
Raef LaFrentz  F
Jamaal Magloire  C  
Josh McRoberts F  
Darius Miles  F-G  
Greg Oden C  
Travis Outlaw  F
Joel Przybilla  C  
Sergio Rodriguez  G  
Brandon Roy  G  
Luke Schenscher  C  
Ime Udoka  G-F  
Martell Webster  G-F

That's 19 players.  Don't forget Jumaine JAMES Jones, that's 20.

I'll assume that Schenscher, Magloire, and Francis aren't going to play for us.  Fernandez and Koponen will stay overseas for another year most likely.  That makes a roster of 15.  So, somehow, the math has all worked out here for next season.

I just wonder what is coming next in the world of trades.  There are a few issues left with this, such as the fate of Miles and how we'll dump Francis.  But looking at this roster and the balance we have, I can't feel too bad.

There is some flexibility in the positions our players can play, which is something that management has been talking about.

PG - Jack, Rodriguez, Green, Roy
SG - Roy, Webster, Udoka, Jack?
SF - Udoka, Webster, Outlaw, Jones
PF - Aldridge, Frye, McRoberts, LaFrentz, Outlaw
C - Oden, Przybilla, LaFrentz, Aldridge?

After the last trade becomes finalized, and we know what all Pritchard had up his sleave, then we can figure out just how good this draft was for us positionally.  Personally, I couldn't be happier, and seeing Zach go is exactly what I think this team needed to look to the future.  Its a good time to be a Blazer fan!

Ok, we'll give Houston a victory in the first Vegas Summer League game... but maybe they should get a handle on the fouling.  Steve Novak, who scored 22 of Houston's points, also racked up 8 personal fouls by the end of the game.  Talk about filling up the stat sheet.

It sounds like it was a rocky game for the Blazers, but there's a lot of hope for Roy, Webster, and Aldridge.  However, sadly, Outlaw sounds like a complete mess still shooting awkward shot after awkward shot ending with 4 of 13 shooting.

Let's hope a little more time will give a little more gel to the team and let's see if they can get a win or two from the summer league.