X Factor

Well, so much for the Gatorade X Factor being Martell Webster. Way to sack up there Marty, 13 minutes, 0 for 4 from the floor (0 for 3 from downtown), 0 points, 2 boards, 0 assists, and 2 turnovers. Solid F- performance by the Blazers bench last night led by Martell's suckfest, they only scored 12 points total.

On the bright side, LaMarcus Aldridge, yikes. He's becoming dominant late in the season, 24 points, 17 boards, 4 blocked shots. The thing I like the most about LaMarcus is his efficiency (shocker), he scored his 24 points on 17 shots, compare that to Zach who scored his 26 points on 27 shots. This is not going to be a bang on Zach post, but LaMarcus is quickly becoming a superior player in all aspects of the game. I have images of David Stern flipping over the card at the Lottery with the Blazers in the #2 spot and some team falling all over themselves for Kevin Durant with the top pick.

Let's get this out of the way now, I think the Blazers should draft Greg Oden if the opportunity presented itself. It's hard to go wrong with a starting 5 of Jack, Roy, Durant, Z-bo, and Aldridge. That would be amazing, but the fact of the matter is if you've got a dominant center like Oden you're guaranteed to be a contender every year, if you've got a dominant wing player you aren't (see Garnett, Kevin). Drafting Oden would put the Blazers in a tremendous position of power this summer. They'd have a massive chip to play, they could trade Zach for Luol Deng in Chicago in a sign and trade, or for Rashard Lewis in a sign and trade, both Chicago and Seattle are dying for a low post scorer. The Blazers would go into next year with a starting 5 of Jack, Roy, Deng/Lewis, Aldridge, and Oden. Aldridge and Oden together would be an interior force that the league hasn't seen since The Admiral retired. Bottom line, Oden makes the Blazers a title contender for the next 10 years. Durant probably does too, but that's the key, he "probably" does, you know Oden does.

Housekeeping note, this will be the last post until Monday. I'm off to Bandon Dunes for the weekend for some golf, watching hoops, and a whole lot of liquor. I may have to be checked into rehab with Brittany and her bald head when I get back. She'll be yammering on about god knows what while I'm rocking back and forth in the corner muttering something about Ernie Kent.