The Blazers Blog Glossary of Terms, it's been a long time in the making, mostly due to general laziness, but here it is. The list will continue to expand at all times, hopefully The Other Guy (more on this in a minute) will figure out a way to link to it over on the right hand side. Some of these are ours, some are from elsewhere just to clear things up. Starting with some of the more relevant and current terms:
The All Star: Jamaal Magloire, when he was acquired by the Blazers every newspaper report, press conference, and still most of the time it seems as if the Blazers broadcast team is being strictly told to refer to him as "All Star Center Jamaal Magloire".
The Marcus: LaMarcus Aldridge, just translating his name to make things easier on everyone.
Johnny Dixon: See LaMarcus Aldridge.
Subterfuge Stevie: Steve Patterson, Blazer GM, President, Emperor, whatever he's calling himself, might as well name himself the King of Scotland while he's at it. Anyway, not our favorite guy and the only one to be on this list twice, he likes to bully people and whenever a story broke that was not positive in nature he liked to say that the story was "filled with subterfuge and innuendo." Then of course within the next couple days it comes out that the story was true and it's just Stevie that's a liar and a jerk.
Pulling a PatterNash: The systematic destruction of a franchise. Patterson and Nash took over the franchise, proceeded to end the 22 straight playoff years, and took them to the worst record in the league in just 3 years, fairly impressive really. Some in Boston might call this "Pulling an Ainge" at this point.
Martell Person: Basically just Martell Webster but since he plays exactly like Wes Person, only younger, he's been called this from time to time.
The Other Guy: The nameless Moderator of this board, and no he's not me.
The Savior: Brandon Roy, looks to be the one to lead us out of the dark times, our first truly elite perimeter player since Drexler.
Spanish Chocolate, Spanish Fly, Spanish Magician: Sergio Rodriguez, basically pick a nickname that starts with "Spanish" and you've got him. I almost think we should call him the Spanish Deon Sanders or the Spanish Apollo Creed because of this development, could happen.
Flo Hartenstein Status: When a player is a token starter, although he only plays the first 6 minutes of the game. Also has duel meaning, can refer to when a player plays 20+ minutes while collecting 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, and 0 turnovers. Basically out for an evening jog.
Mo Mo The Clown: Former coach of the Blazers, Mo Cheeks, who was without a doubt the worst basketball coach I've ever seen. No plays on offense, no adjustments on defense, botched 2 for 1's, no time outs ever at the end of the games, just dreadful in every way. However, he was a great guy, famously saved that little girl when she was choking the Anthem, which got him another two years on his contract. I wish I made that up.
Kevin Shrute Pritchard: During the corporate restructuring that somehow ended up with Subterfuge Stevie naming himself GM, he elevated Pritchard to Assistant to the General Manager, or like Dwight K. Shrute, Assistant to the Regional Manager. Can also be listed as "Kevin Pritchard, ARM"
I'll Sue: Refers to whoever got punked in a fight, goes back to when Ha got hit by one of our random Euro's a few years back, yelled "I'll Sue, I'll Sue" at him, and then proceeded to go get a stick and chase him around with it.
PER: Player Efficiency Rating, stat created by John Hollinger, now over at ESPN.com, judging every player against everyone else at his position individually on their overall efficiency.
Vulcan: Not our term, just seems like a good time to point out that the owner of the team and multi-billionaire, Paul Allen, named the company that handles his finances after the planet that Spock is from.
Agent Zero: Gilbert Arenas, complete raving lunatic, one of our favorite players in the league.
NOOCH: The New Orleans Oklahoma City Hornets
The Black Mamba: Kobe, everyone should know this.
Bullets: The one true name of the Washington franchise, they are not referred to as anything other than the Washington Bullets on this site.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Sub Zero
Nice payback there Gilbert. Agent Zero went a sizzling 3 for 15 from the floor, 0 for 8 from downtown, and scored only 9 points as his Bullets took a pretty solid ass kicking at the hands of our boys this morning out in DC. The Blazers win puts them 2-0 on this roadie leading up to the all star break, and also gives them 22 wins on the season, 1 better than last year with 30 games to play.
The Marcus had 18 and 10, Jarrett Jack and Ime Udoka hassled Arenas all day, or so it sounds like. I should apologize to Blazer management (first time for everything I guess), it was ABC's broadcasting rights for the NBA that prohibited the game from being on today.
This week should be entertaining, the long awaited Blazers Blog Glossary of Terms will be rolled out, as will a look at the impending trade deadline and what the Blazers could/should do.
The Marcus had 18 and 10, Jarrett Jack and Ime Udoka hassled Arenas all day, or so it sounds like. I should apologize to Blazer management (first time for everything I guess), it was ABC's broadcasting rights for the NBA that prohibited the game from being on today.
This week should be entertaining, the long awaited Blazers Blog Glossary of Terms will be rolled out, as will a look at the impending trade deadline and what the Blazers could/should do.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Digging Deeper: Blazer Lineup Statistics
Thanks to the good people over at 82games.com, we can look at a variety of non-traditional NBA statistics. Today, we’ll focus on Portland’s most effective 5-man lineups; who’s played the most, who’s been most effective, etc.
Portland has four sets of five-man lineups that have played more than any others. They are as follows:
1. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Pryziblla. (304 total minutes have been played with this lineup)
2. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Pryzbilla. (138 minutes)
3. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Aldridge. (83 minutes)
4. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Aldridge. (77 minutes)
Following those four, you then have 9 more lineups that have played between 42-49 minutes. Before we dive too deep, let’s ask a question: has the number of lineups that Porltand has used been abnormally large? Let’s use 40 minutes as a cutoff point. Portland has used 13 total lineups that total 40 minutes or more together. How does that compare to other Western Conference teams?
Let’s look at the top four teams in the West:
Dallas: 8 lineups
Phoenix: 13 lineups
San Antonio: 12 lineups
Lakers: 10 lineups
(average = 10.75)
And now, the bottom four teams (excluding Portland):
Memphis: 10 lineups
Seattle: 11 lineups
Sacramento: 10 lineups
New Orleans: 12 lineups
(average = 10.75)
What does that mean? Absolultey nothing. Which was the point. Good teams don't necessarily play a fewer amount of lineups together, despite what many hack sportswriters would like you to think. So, while Portland may be a touch on the high side, they certainly aren’t grossly so. And considering that they’ve suffered more injuries than most teams to-date this season, that’s to be expected.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, and we know Portland’s top-5 most played lineups, which are the most effective? For one thing, let’s define “effective”. We can look at the top-5 lineups by total overall +/-, but that’s partially a counting stat in that two equally effective lineups will have different overall +/- depending on total time played. Hence, I propose we measure effectiveness by “win%”. Meaning, how frequently did that lineup outscore their opponent during the segments they were on the floor?
Here are Portland’s top 5-man lineups, their W-L and %, followed by total minutes played and rank. We’re only considering lineups that have played a total of 40 minutes or more together, so the rank is out of 13. (Bear in mind that Portland is playing at a .400 winning % as a team right now, so that’s the mid-point.)
1. Rodriguez-Dixon-Webster-LaFrentz-Magloire, 5-2, 71%, 42 minutes, #13
2. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Pryzbilla, 7-3, 70%, 138 min, #2
3. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Magloire, 4-2, 67%, 49 min, #6
4. (tie) Jack-Dixon-Udoka-Randolph-Magloire, 6-6, 45 min, #10
Jack-Dixon-Webster-Outlaw-Magloire, 6-6, 50%, 43 min, #11
5. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Aldridge, 5-7, 42%, 83 min, #3
6. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Pryzbilla, 8-12, 40%, 304 min, #1
I extended it out to #6 so you could see where the top lineup ranked.
Interesting. We should keep in mind one key thing: the starters, or #’s 2, 5 and 6 in the above rankings, always play against the other team’s best players, so they’re starting out at an immediate handicap. With that in mind, several items jump out:
-the lineup that Nate has used is playing right on par with the team’s win%. Not that that should be a shock to anyone, but worth noting: as those guys go, so goes the team.
-the small sample size of the top-rated lineup must be taken into consideration. No doubt they’d regress back a bit with more playing time. That lineup has played fewer than 3% of the season’s minutes.
-I’m shocked to see Martell Webster both a part of two of the top 4 lineups played and a part of 3 4 of the top 5 most effective lineups.
-LaMarcus Aldridge is not a part of a single lineup that has a 50% or better win%. Surprising.
-Nate’s getting pretty close with his second-most-used lineup also being the second-most-effective.
-Brandon Roy is nowhere to be seen; not in a single +50 lineup. One might argue “but he plays with the starters, and hence plays against the starters.” Then how do you explain Zach Randolp and Ime Udoka’s success?
In case you’re wondering, here is the rank of the individual players for how frequently the team has “won” its segments of the floor when that player plays. What follows is the rank, player name, % of minutes played, and Win%. We’re only going to pay attention to players who have participated in 15% or more of the team’s minutes.
1. Rodriguez, 19%, .500
2. Webster, 43%, .490
3. Pryzbilla, 25%, .429
4. Randolph, 71%, .408
5. Dixon, 47%, .404
6. Aldridge, 31%, .395
7. Outlaw, 34%, ..382
8. Udoka, 59%, .341
9. Magloire, 37%, .340
10. Jack, 67%, .333
11. Roy, 41%, .310
Wow. More interesting items. If you were to look strictly at these numbers, with no other factors considered, you’d come to the conclusion that Udoka, Jack, and Roy play far too much, and that Rodriguez, Webster, Pryzbilla, Dixon and Aldridge should be playing much more. I’m not saying this is right, I’m just saying that’s what these particular numbers are indicating.
I’ll take it one step further, and say if you were to look at these +/- numbers, then your starting lineup should be: Rodriguez, Dixon, Webster, Randlph, Pryzbilla, with your first guys off the benc as Aldridge, Outlaw and Udoka.
Fascinating stuff. Again, we aren’t saying this is right, but chew on this for a couple of days – I’ll be back next week with some further analysis.
Enjoy for now.
Portland has four sets of five-man lineups that have played more than any others. They are as follows:
1. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Pryziblla. (304 total minutes have been played with this lineup)
2. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Pryzbilla. (138 minutes)
3. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Aldridge. (83 minutes)
4. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Aldridge. (77 minutes)
Following those four, you then have 9 more lineups that have played between 42-49 minutes. Before we dive too deep, let’s ask a question: has the number of lineups that Porltand has used been abnormally large? Let’s use 40 minutes as a cutoff point. Portland has used 13 total lineups that total 40 minutes or more together. How does that compare to other Western Conference teams?
Let’s look at the top four teams in the West:
Dallas: 8 lineups
Phoenix: 13 lineups
San Antonio: 12 lineups
Lakers: 10 lineups
(average = 10.75)
And now, the bottom four teams (excluding Portland):
Memphis: 10 lineups
Seattle: 11 lineups
Sacramento: 10 lineups
New Orleans: 12 lineups
(average = 10.75)
What does that mean? Absolultey nothing. Which was the point. Good teams don't necessarily play a fewer amount of lineups together, despite what many hack sportswriters would like you to think. So, while Portland may be a touch on the high side, they certainly aren’t grossly so. And considering that they’ve suffered more injuries than most teams to-date this season, that’s to be expected.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, and we know Portland’s top-5 most played lineups, which are the most effective? For one thing, let’s define “effective”. We can look at the top-5 lineups by total overall +/-, but that’s partially a counting stat in that two equally effective lineups will have different overall +/- depending on total time played. Hence, I propose we measure effectiveness by “win%”. Meaning, how frequently did that lineup outscore their opponent during the segments they were on the floor?
Here are Portland’s top 5-man lineups, their W-L and %, followed by total minutes played and rank. We’re only considering lineups that have played a total of 40 minutes or more together, so the rank is out of 13. (Bear in mind that Portland is playing at a .400 winning % as a team right now, so that’s the mid-point.)
1. Rodriguez-Dixon-Webster-LaFrentz-Magloire, 5-2, 71%, 42 minutes, #13
2. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Pryzbilla, 7-3, 70%, 138 min, #2
3. Jack-Udoka-Webster-Randolph-Magloire, 4-2, 67%, 49 min, #6
4. (tie) Jack-Dixon-Udoka-Randolph-Magloire, 6-6, 45 min, #10
Jack-Dixon-Webster-Outlaw-Magloire, 6-6, 50%, 43 min, #11
5. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Aldridge, 5-7, 42%, 83 min, #3
6. Jack-Roy-Udoka-Randolph-Pryzbilla, 8-12, 40%, 304 min, #1
I extended it out to #6 so you could see where the top lineup ranked.
Interesting. We should keep in mind one key thing: the starters, or #’s 2, 5 and 6 in the above rankings, always play against the other team’s best players, so they’re starting out at an immediate handicap. With that in mind, several items jump out:
-the lineup that Nate has used is playing right on par with the team’s win%. Not that that should be a shock to anyone, but worth noting: as those guys go, so goes the team.
-the small sample size of the top-rated lineup must be taken into consideration. No doubt they’d regress back a bit with more playing time. That lineup has played fewer than 3% of the season’s minutes.
-I’m shocked to see Martell Webster both a part of two of the top 4 lineups played and a part of 3 4 of the top 5 most effective lineups.
-LaMarcus Aldridge is not a part of a single lineup that has a 50% or better win%. Surprising.
-Nate’s getting pretty close with his second-most-used lineup also being the second-most-effective.
-Brandon Roy is nowhere to be seen; not in a single +50 lineup. One might argue “but he plays with the starters, and hence plays against the starters.” Then how do you explain Zach Randolp and Ime Udoka’s success?
In case you’re wondering, here is the rank of the individual players for how frequently the team has “won” its segments of the floor when that player plays. What follows is the rank, player name, % of minutes played, and Win%. We’re only going to pay attention to players who have participated in 15% or more of the team’s minutes.
1. Rodriguez, 19%, .500
2. Webster, 43%, .490
3. Pryzbilla, 25%, .429
4. Randolph, 71%, .408
5. Dixon, 47%, .404
6. Aldridge, 31%, .395
7. Outlaw, 34%, ..382
8. Udoka, 59%, .341
9. Magloire, 37%, .340
10. Jack, 67%, .333
11. Roy, 41%, .310
Wow. More interesting items. If you were to look strictly at these numbers, with no other factors considered, you’d come to the conclusion that Udoka, Jack, and Roy play far too much, and that Rodriguez, Webster, Pryzbilla, Dixon and Aldridge should be playing much more. I’m not saying this is right, I’m just saying that’s what these particular numbers are indicating.
I’ll take it one step further, and say if you were to look at these +/- numbers, then your starting lineup should be: Rodriguez, Dixon, Webster, Randlph, Pryzbilla, with your first guys off the benc as Aldridge, Outlaw and Udoka.
Fascinating stuff. Again, we aren’t saying this is right, but chew on this for a couple of days – I’ll be back next week with some further analysis.
Enjoy for now.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
At Center, #12...LaMarcussssss Aldridge
A few little noteworthy items as the Blazers set sail on a 4 game roadie that includes the much anticipated stop in DC against Agent Zero and his 2006/07 Vengeance Tour, Nate is next in his sights.
According to Jason Quick, the time has apparently come for The Marcus to start. Amazing that it took Nate 50 games to start his best center, and of course a bit shocking that Joel has started 37 of the 50 games while being a total disaster for roughly 37 of the 37. I like Joel but he's going to have to play better, this isn't being too hard on him.
Canzano does like to stir up trouble doesn't he? This one is high comedy on many levels. If you haven't seen his story in the Oregonian yet, and yes I know I'm awake and coherent before most sane people, he's got a big story today on Portland Mayor Tom Potter taking an illegal gift of front row tickets. I'm not sure what the best part of that whole story is, but let's break it down in bullet format again:
According to Jason Quick, the time has apparently come for The Marcus to start. Amazing that it took Nate 50 games to start his best center, and of course a bit shocking that Joel has started 37 of the 50 games while being a total disaster for roughly 37 of the 37. I like Joel but he's going to have to play better, this isn't being too hard on him.
Canzano does like to stir up trouble doesn't he? This one is high comedy on many levels. If you haven't seen his story in the Oregonian yet, and yes I know I'm awake and coherent before most sane people, he's got a big story today on Portland Mayor Tom Potter taking an illegal gift of front row tickets. I'm not sure what the best part of that whole story is, but let's break it down in bullet format again:
- Potter is not allowed to take any entertainment gifts that value over $100. Yeah, sure.
- Potter was given two $34, 300 level seats and that's what he claimed on his report, apparently figuring that when he got to sit in the first row court side it was roughly the same price. That's some quality logic right there.
- The Blazers saying the tickets were "worthless". Well yeah, to them they were, to Global Spectrum they certainly weren't. The pissing contest continues.
- I guess I can't ever be mayor of Portland, I've accepted free tickets many times. Of course we never would have had a ski lift in downtown that cost $60 million if I were mayor either. I would have built a much more economical gondola or a high speed quad.
Oh well, kind of a slow news day when we're talking about stuff so trivial. The Blazers get a big piece of Adam Morrison and his Bobcats tomorrow night before the big showdown with Arenas on Sunday morning. In typical Blazer fashion, the game I'm looking most forward to on the trip will not be on TV. It's at 10AM Sunday morning, no NFL, and against one of the best teams in the East on the road. I guess it makes perfect sense that it wouldn't be on, or not. Looks like I'll have to resort to Wheels and his "Boom Shakalaka" crazyness.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Chalupa!
The Blazers lost last night to the Suns 109-102 in overtime, a terrific game in which the Blazers fought back time and time again and even had a chance to win it at the end of regulation. We were on the other end of the floor but it sure looked like Travis could have just dunked it and won the game instead of going for a lay up. The thing with the Suns is you always feel like you're down 6-10 points. You claw and scratch your way back, and then all of a sudden they hit a 3, get a long rebound and a lay up, and it's back up again. Still, a spirited effort, I was with clients so not exactly in note taking mode. This is just off memory in bullet format:
- Barbosa is just nails. He's almost unguardable he's so fast, but he knows exactly when to fake drive and knock down that jumper off the space created. He finished with 25 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds and it looked even better than that.
- Amare isn't the freak of nature he used to be, but he's a much better basketball player now. His wide array of baby hooks, jumpers, tip ins, and filling the lane on the break was a joy to watch, 36 points in all, and he was dominant from the beginning.
- Brandon Roy is going to be a Superstar and own this city. I know this is talked about a lot around here, but wait until he decides to take games over from the beginning. Right now he's a bit too concerned with getting everyone else involved, but when it really gets down to it in the 3rd and 4th quarters it's the Brandon Roy Show. He had 27 last night and most of them came after halftime. I love the way he goes to the basket.
- Zach was his usual Zach self, 33 points and 10 boards but this was the Zach I'd love to have around for a long time. He only took 15 shots and scored 33 points.
- Solid, solid F- performance by the Blazer Dancers. I guess part of the budget cuts from buying back the arena means no more slutty outfits for the Blazers Dancers, they were in jeans and flannels all night. It's like it was Pearl Jam Appreciation Night or something.
- Yes, I have a Jamaal Magloire Bobblehead, which provided a ton of entertainment before the game. He has a ball like he's shooting a hook shot or grabbing a rebound, unfortunately there's no sideline for him to drop it out of bounds for a turnover.
- They had one of my least favorite halftime acts, although it improved as time went on. They had Spinning Bunch of Basketballs guy, only apparently the AAA version since he dropped them about 10 times and they went spilling all over the court, so that was fun. Things picked up at the end when he brought out a cheerleader, who he proceeded to tie up with a various array of contraptions, one of the guys in our box announced "I guess the family portion of the halftime show just ended." Good times. The camera angles on the jumbotron while she was all tied up with balls spinning around her were...interesting. Pretty sure that's not what she signed up for.
- I didn't think that Travis was going to be playing this much, but he played 29 minutes and looked really solid again for the most part. Then he missed the wide open lay up with 1 second left in regulation that would have won it. Again, not to harp on him but Travis, send that bad boy in with some authority.
- The Marcus might be hitting the Rookie Wall. Not playing with quite the same vigor.
- Joel has reached Flo Hartenstein Status as a "starter" where he plays the first 6 minutes and then gets to work on an ass groove in one of the chairs on the bench. I think he should have his name on one like a movie director.
- Looking at the box score this morning, Mr Bobblehead only played 12 minutes? Felt like 30.
Overall, an enjoyable night in the luxury suite. Free drinks, free food, and a wildly entertaining game. It obviously would have been a bit better if Nash and Sergio were going at it. Phoenix would be just another good team, 50 wins max, without Nash, but with him they're headed for an epic showdown with Dallas, although you never want to mess with the Parker/Manu/Duncan trio in the playoffs if you don't have to. That's the hidden fight for the #1 seed, not home court, but the right to avoid the Spurs in Round 2.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Pirates!!!
You would think I'd be furious with the fact that Steve Nash hurt himself last night and will probably miss the game I've been looking forward to attending for weeks. While it certainly caused a bit of harsh language, immediately I noticed the silver lining. This means that the starting point guard tonight for the Suns will be another Lochi favorite, noted Pirate of the Caribbean, Barbosa. Sure he might be a little prone to mutiny, but he's a hell of a basketball player and a joy to watch. He might be the fastest player in the NBA and I love the way he attacks relentlessly. In the 33 minutes he played last night against the McNuggets he poured in 20 points, 5 boards, 4 assists to only one turnover. Needless to say, I'm still giddy even though Nash will likely be out.
The other silver lining is obviously this gives the Blazers a glimmer of hope. They've played surprisingly well against the better teams in the league this year, especially at home, and even gave the mighty Suns a bit of a scare on the road a few weeks ago. A full review will follow, probably tomorrow, in the meantime I believe The Other Guy has something exciting planned for later today as well.
The other silver lining is obviously this gives the Blazers a glimmer of hope. They've played surprisingly well against the better teams in the league this year, especially at home, and even gave the mighty Suns a bit of a scare on the road a few weeks ago. A full review will follow, probably tomorrow, in the meantime I believe The Other Guy has something exciting planned for later today as well.
Monday, February 05, 2007
A Meeting With The Bob's
Time for our monthly Efficiency report, as judged by the PER for everyone (more or less) on the Blazers roster. It's actually a few games past time to check on it but what can I say, I didn't get to it at the end of last week. Paul Allen did buy back the arena, technically he "signed a letter of intent" which I think means he plans to play college football for the Global Spectrum or something. Anyway, I'm not all that concerned about it, that's for Canzano to rant and rave about. The player efficiency of the Blazers through February 5th, remember 15 is the league average for their position, and we go in alphabetical order:
The Marcus Aldridge: 14.19. He's slipped a bit in the last month due to some rather horrid shooting nights, but still is holding up well in his first season in the NBA. The best center on the team.
Dan Dickau: 8.33. The worst part about the Sergio injury is it means more Dan Dickau. Yikes.
Juan Dixon: 11.44. I hate Johnny Dixon, he sucks, apparently Nate doesn't know this, let's move on.
Jarrett Jack: 14.81. Solid as ever. One half of the Point Guard Conundrum facing the franchise, still think he's the most likely to be traded in a "Go For It" move this off season.
Raef LaFrentz: 5.52. The only thing more ridiculous than there being a Jamaal Magloire Bobblehead Night (more on this in a minute) is the fact that there's a Raef LaFrentz Bobblehead Night on March 14th against the Pistons.
Jamaal Magloire: 10.45. Everyone knows how I feel about Magloire, but there is some sweet irony in the fact that I've got the corporate box with clients tomorrow night against the Suns and it happens to be Jamaal Magloire Bobblehead Night. I've got a pretty decent arm but I don't think I could actually hit him with the doll from the luxury box. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, maybe light it on fire as a sacrifice to the gods, maybe use it as my token throwing devise when the team stinks it up on tv, needless to say I'm giddy about the whole thing.
Joel Przybilla: 7.70. Good lord. The last 3 years for Joel are 15.58, 15.32, and now 7.70. I haven't seen tanking like this after getting a contract since Adrian Beltre signed with the Mariners.
Z-bo: 23.27. Still just outstanding, had a 42 pointer, mixed in a 26 & 17 game, we've covered his All Star situation, just simply bad luck more than anything else. Great year by Zach, can't say enough about it.
Sergio Rodriguez: 17.19. I need to start doing these in dyslexic order because the bottom guys in the alphabet are far more fun to talk about. Sergio, despite his injury, has been nothing short of spectacular. I'm more than a little upset about the timing of the injury, was really looking forward to a Sergio v Nash spectacular tomorrow night. Oh well, in case you missed it, Nate expects him back right after the All Star Break, February 20th against the Jazz.
Brandon Roy: 18.49. The Savior. Second highest PER on the team and getting better. He's making the transformation into superstar before our eyes. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves but in more traditional stats Brandon is averaging 15.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. In his rookie year, Dwayne Wade averaged 16.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game.
Ime Udoka: 11.84. I know, I know, how can I hate Johnny Dixon at 11.44 and love Ime Udoka at 11.84. Well...um...11.84 is more than 11.44. Yeah, I got nothing. Sorry.
Martell Person, sorry Webster: 10.81. I don't want to say that he's reaching bust status, but he's reaching bust status. He has flashes of being decent, even has a game here or there where he actually looks pretty good. Most of the time he just generally sucks.
Note: I skipped Outlaw because he's been hurt and hasn't changed at all since the last one. Obviously this team's future lies with Sergio, Roy, Z-bo, and Aldridge, so not much has changed but it has been a surprisingly enjoyable ride so far this year, even at 20-29.
The Marcus Aldridge: 14.19. He's slipped a bit in the last month due to some rather horrid shooting nights, but still is holding up well in his first season in the NBA. The best center on the team.
Dan Dickau: 8.33. The worst part about the Sergio injury is it means more Dan Dickau. Yikes.
Juan Dixon: 11.44. I hate Johnny Dixon, he sucks, apparently Nate doesn't know this, let's move on.
Jarrett Jack: 14.81. Solid as ever. One half of the Point Guard Conundrum facing the franchise, still think he's the most likely to be traded in a "Go For It" move this off season.
Raef LaFrentz: 5.52. The only thing more ridiculous than there being a Jamaal Magloire Bobblehead Night (more on this in a minute) is the fact that there's a Raef LaFrentz Bobblehead Night on March 14th against the Pistons.
Jamaal Magloire: 10.45. Everyone knows how I feel about Magloire, but there is some sweet irony in the fact that I've got the corporate box with clients tomorrow night against the Suns and it happens to be Jamaal Magloire Bobblehead Night. I've got a pretty decent arm but I don't think I could actually hit him with the doll from the luxury box. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, maybe light it on fire as a sacrifice to the gods, maybe use it as my token throwing devise when the team stinks it up on tv, needless to say I'm giddy about the whole thing.
Joel Przybilla: 7.70. Good lord. The last 3 years for Joel are 15.58, 15.32, and now 7.70. I haven't seen tanking like this after getting a contract since Adrian Beltre signed with the Mariners.
Z-bo: 23.27. Still just outstanding, had a 42 pointer, mixed in a 26 & 17 game, we've covered his All Star situation, just simply bad luck more than anything else. Great year by Zach, can't say enough about it.
Sergio Rodriguez: 17.19. I need to start doing these in dyslexic order because the bottom guys in the alphabet are far more fun to talk about. Sergio, despite his injury, has been nothing short of spectacular. I'm more than a little upset about the timing of the injury, was really looking forward to a Sergio v Nash spectacular tomorrow night. Oh well, in case you missed it, Nate expects him back right after the All Star Break, February 20th against the Jazz.
Brandon Roy: 18.49. The Savior. Second highest PER on the team and getting better. He's making the transformation into superstar before our eyes. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves but in more traditional stats Brandon is averaging 15.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. In his rookie year, Dwayne Wade averaged 16.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game.
Ime Udoka: 11.84. I know, I know, how can I hate Johnny Dixon at 11.44 and love Ime Udoka at 11.84. Well...um...11.84 is more than 11.44. Yeah, I got nothing. Sorry.
Martell Person, sorry Webster: 10.81. I don't want to say that he's reaching bust status, but he's reaching bust status. He has flashes of being decent, even has a game here or there where he actually looks pretty good. Most of the time he just generally sucks.
Note: I skipped Outlaw because he's been hurt and hasn't changed at all since the last one. Obviously this team's future lies with Sergio, Roy, Z-bo, and Aldridge, so not much has changed but it has been a surprisingly enjoyable ride so far this year, even at 20-29.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Pronk
Z-bo is officially the Travis Hafner of the NBA. An elite player who, simply by being in the wrong place, wrong league, at the wrong time, is not on the All Star team. Travis Hafner, who goes by the nickname Pronk due to his striking likeness to a character from "Shrek", has been one of the best hitters in the American League the last 3 years. He's had an OPS (on base + slugging percentage) of 993, 1.003, and 1.098 the last three years but has never made an All Star Team due to the presence of more high profile DH's in the league, Big Papi, Jim Thome, Frank Thomas, etc.
Z-bo on the other hand is the only player in the league averaging over 23 points & 10 rebounds a game, and ranks 11th in the entire NBA in PER at 23.66. The problem is that out of 10 players ranked ahead of Zach, 5 of them are power forwards in the Western Conference, Dirk, KG, Duncan (although it could be argued that he's a center), Boozer, and Brand.
So, while it seems ridiculous that Zach isn't an All Star, there is precedent here. Bad timing. The greater injustice would be The Marcus not making the rookie game. I can't explain how Jorge Garbajosa is on the team and Aldridge is not, unless Bargnani had it written into his contract as the #1 overall player that says he gets to bring his Euro buddy with him wherever he goes. I would have made a stink about Sergio as well, but since he's hurt we'll leave that alone.
There have been some cries for Jarrett Jack to be on the Soph team, but let's be honest, Jack's a solid player but he's not going to be selected at the point ahead of Chris Paul or Deron Williams.
The Ducks...um...nothing to see here, move along.
Z-bo on the other hand is the only player in the league averaging over 23 points & 10 rebounds a game, and ranks 11th in the entire NBA in PER at 23.66. The problem is that out of 10 players ranked ahead of Zach, 5 of them are power forwards in the Western Conference, Dirk, KG, Duncan (although it could be argued that he's a center), Boozer, and Brand.
So, while it seems ridiculous that Zach isn't an All Star, there is precedent here. Bad timing. The greater injustice would be The Marcus not making the rookie game. I can't explain how Jorge Garbajosa is on the team and Aldridge is not, unless Bargnani had it written into his contract as the #1 overall player that says he gets to bring his Euro buddy with him wherever he goes. I would have made a stink about Sergio as well, but since he's hurt we'll leave that alone.
There have been some cries for Jarrett Jack to be on the Soph team, but let's be honest, Jack's a solid player but he's not going to be selected at the point ahead of Chris Paul or Deron Williams.
The Ducks...um...nothing to see here, move along.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Durant vs Oden: Who Goes #1?
With the NBA and NCAA seasons chugging along just past their midpoints - too far from the Playoffs or Tourney and too removed from the start of the season – many are focusing on the thrilling race for the #1 pick in the NBA Draft, which is becoming clearer by the day that it’ll be one of two players; Kevin Durant or Greg Oden.
Both look like superstars-in-waiting; but whom will be selected first? The dominant center that immediately gives any team a huge step towards contention, or the do-it-all wing player with a seemingly unending list of skills?
It probably comes down to personnel; what does the team in question need more? As I see it now, there are roughly eight teams who have a realistic chance of snagging the #1 pick. They are as follows:
1. Memphis
The Grizz. An awful team built around a star power forward who may or may not get dealt this season. The Grizz could really go in either direction; they don’t currently have a center or a small forward of the future on their roster. They’d probably go for Oden, simply under the guise of “dominant centers are harder to find than dominant wings”.
The call: Oden
2. Boston
Bizarre team. Built around Paul Pierce and have Gerald Green waiting in the wings, but seem to think very highly of Kendrick Perkins, their young center, and Al Jefferson, their young PF. This is just a guess, but I think they’d go Durant if given the choice. Jefferson is looking like a better bet than Green at this point.
The call: Durant
3. Philly
Easy call. Between the existence of Andre Igoudala and Rodney Carney at SF, and their apparent desire to get out of Samuel Dalembert’s contract in the middle, they’d go for the big man.
The call: Oden
4. Seattle
Weird situation. They have their apparent center of the future in Robert Smith; plus their underrated SF Rashard Lewis has an opt-out in his deal. If they re-sign him long term, they probably go Oden. But that’s a big “if”.
The call: Durant
5. Charlotte
This is an abominable team, and I think they’ve taken a step backwards in the last 12 months. With Adam Morrison around and no clear center-of-the-future, they probably need Oden more than any team on this list.
The call: Oden
6. Sacramento
It’s only a matter of time until Artest and Bibby are both dealt, and they’re starting all over in “the city that’s on the way from San Francisco to Tahoe”, as best known in the Bay Area. Between Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia, they appear to have a few good wing prospects, so the thinking here is that they’d go big.
The call: Oden
7. Atlanta
Another team with a glut of wing players (Johnson, Smith, Childress, Marv Williams) and no real center to speak of. Their current depth chart at the 5 reads: Zaza Pachulia, Lorenzen Wright, Solomen Jones. Another easy one.
The call: Oden
8. Milwaukee
Milwaukee’s starting front court for the next five years: Andrew Bogut, and Charlie Villanueva. Another clear answer.
The call: Durant
The final tally? 5-3, Oden. And that’s probably about right. Big men are generally a more coveted asset. I’ve got pretty high hopes for both these players and whichever teams end up with them will be happy in the end.
Both look like superstars-in-waiting; but whom will be selected first? The dominant center that immediately gives any team a huge step towards contention, or the do-it-all wing player with a seemingly unending list of skills?
It probably comes down to personnel; what does the team in question need more? As I see it now, there are roughly eight teams who have a realistic chance of snagging the #1 pick. They are as follows:
1. Memphis
The Grizz. An awful team built around a star power forward who may or may not get dealt this season. The Grizz could really go in either direction; they don’t currently have a center or a small forward of the future on their roster. They’d probably go for Oden, simply under the guise of “dominant centers are harder to find than dominant wings”.
The call: Oden
2. Boston
Bizarre team. Built around Paul Pierce and have Gerald Green waiting in the wings, but seem to think very highly of Kendrick Perkins, their young center, and Al Jefferson, their young PF. This is just a guess, but I think they’d go Durant if given the choice. Jefferson is looking like a better bet than Green at this point.
The call: Durant
3. Philly
Easy call. Between the existence of Andre Igoudala and Rodney Carney at SF, and their apparent desire to get out of Samuel Dalembert’s contract in the middle, they’d go for the big man.
The call: Oden
4. Seattle
Weird situation. They have their apparent center of the future in Robert Smith; plus their underrated SF Rashard Lewis has an opt-out in his deal. If they re-sign him long term, they probably go Oden. But that’s a big “if”.
The call: Durant
5. Charlotte
This is an abominable team, and I think they’ve taken a step backwards in the last 12 months. With Adam Morrison around and no clear center-of-the-future, they probably need Oden more than any team on this list.
The call: Oden
6. Sacramento
It’s only a matter of time until Artest and Bibby are both dealt, and they’re starting all over in “the city that’s on the way from San Francisco to Tahoe”, as best known in the Bay Area. Between Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia, they appear to have a few good wing prospects, so the thinking here is that they’d go big.
The call: Oden
7. Atlanta
Another team with a glut of wing players (Johnson, Smith, Childress, Marv Williams) and no real center to speak of. Their current depth chart at the 5 reads: Zaza Pachulia, Lorenzen Wright, Solomen Jones. Another easy one.
The call: Oden
8. Milwaukee
Milwaukee’s starting front court for the next five years: Andrew Bogut, and Charlie Villanueva. Another clear answer.
The call: Durant
The final tally? 5-3, Oden. And that’s probably about right. Big men are generally a more coveted asset. I’ve got pretty high hopes for both these players and whichever teams end up with them will be happy in the end.
Ouch!
I think this goes into the category of two steps forward and one step back. The Blazers got a huge win last night over their nemesis, the Denver Nuggets. It's their 4th win in a row at home and 6th of 9 overall, bringing their record up to 20-27. To put that into perspective, they went 21-61 last season, so unless they are planning on going 1-34 to close out the year, it's certainly been a year of progress for the first time in a while. However, as it seems to be the norm with this team, there's always a down side, Sergio Rodriguez badly sprained an ankle last night, leaving the building on crutches and telling teammates that "it's bad", presumably through an interpreter.
The game was highlighted by Brandon Roy doing his Brandon Roy thing, 25 points, 8 assists, 6 boards, and further cementing his status as the clear rookie of the year and savior. Zach had a monster, even by his standards, 26 points, 17 boards. Jack was his usual solid self as well and even hit the dagger 3 pointer off an assist by Roy that iced the game. I still think Sergio is the future of the point guard spot in Portland, but this just shows the value they could get in trade for Jarrett Jack.
Sergio will probably miss quite a while, those ankle sprains can be fairly nasty, for lack of a better phrase, this bums me out. I'm going to the game against the Suns on Tuesday and was all kinds of excited to see Sergio and Nash run up and down the floor with each other. There won't be any pre-game Blazer Blog beer sessions this time however, this is a corporate box outing with clients, I'm not sure exactly who this money goes to in the arena power struggle but I'm sure Canzano can write a column about how much it sucks for someone.
One last non-Blazer related note, #9 Ducks...#5 Bruins...Pauley Pavilion...I'm already in the fetal position.
The game was highlighted by Brandon Roy doing his Brandon Roy thing, 25 points, 8 assists, 6 boards, and further cementing his status as the clear rookie of the year and savior. Zach had a monster, even by his standards, 26 points, 17 boards. Jack was his usual solid self as well and even hit the dagger 3 pointer off an assist by Roy that iced the game. I still think Sergio is the future of the point guard spot in Portland, but this just shows the value they could get in trade for Jarrett Jack.
Sergio will probably miss quite a while, those ankle sprains can be fairly nasty, for lack of a better phrase, this bums me out. I'm going to the game against the Suns on Tuesday and was all kinds of excited to see Sergio and Nash run up and down the floor with each other. There won't be any pre-game Blazer Blog beer sessions this time however, this is a corporate box outing with clients, I'm not sure exactly who this money goes to in the arena power struggle but I'm sure Canzano can write a column about how much it sucks for someone.
One last non-Blazer related note, #9 Ducks...#5 Bruins...Pauley Pavilion...I'm already in the fetal position.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The Point Guard Conundrum
Who's the point guard of the future? Seems like a simple enough question, and I had planned to give a full breakdown of the two obvious candidates, looking at their strengths and weaknesses. What I found was rather astonishing to me, it's really not that close. The problem now is going to be where do they go from here?
The perceptions of the two are that Jarrett Jack is a very solid player, steady, good defender, doesn't make a lot of mistakes, etc. Sergio is the flashy, fan friendly, whiz kid from Spain with more nicknames than Apollo Creed at this point. Here's how they stack up across the board this season:
Definitions: Assist ratio is the percentage of possessions that result in an assist, turnover ratio is the same only with turnovers. True shooting percentage is all shots including free throws, everything else should be self explanatory.
Jack: 45.3% shooting, 29.7% from 3 point range, True shooting percentage 56%, Assist ratio 29%, Turnover ratio 12%, Assists per 40 minutes 6.2. Real numbers he's averaged 5.4 assists to 2.3 turnovers, and 12 points a game. Total PER: 14.78
Sergio: 45.5% shooting, 31.3% from 3 point range, True shooting percentage 53%, Assist ratio 43%, turnover ratio 12%, assist per 40 minutes 11. Real numbers he's averaged 3.4 assists to 0.95 turnovers, and 4 points a game. Total PER: 17.54
Now for the biggest factor, Sergio is 20 years old, Jack is 23. The perception is that Jack is the steadier player and that Sergio can be a bit wild, that seems to be lying eyes more than anything. Their turnover ratios are the same, but Sergio is by far the better distributor of the ball, including a rather mind boggling 43% assist ratio. To put that into perspective, Steve Nash this year is at 39%. The second surprising point when looking at the numbers is the perception is Sergio can't shoot, well, he's already at least as good as Jack.
It's not really close, Sergio is the future of this franchise at the point guard position. He's 3 years younger, a better passer, just as good a shooter, and clearly makes all of his teammates better when he's running the show. The Other Guy on this blog has been saying this to me for months, I've finally opened my eyes.
Now we come to the Conundrum, where do they go from here. Subterfuge Stevie, Pritchard, and even The Other Guy have suggested that Jarrett Jack may become a very valuable trade asset. Jack's still a good young point guard, many teams could use him. Nate's opinion is that Brandon Roy might be best suited to play point, obviously this isn't a full time option but you could definitely trade Jack for something very valuable and have Roy take the backup point guard minutes. I'd still like to keep a guy like Dickau around for some injury protection and some garbage time minutes, but this makes the coming off season very interesting. Suddenly a package of Jack, Outlaw, and a pick looks like a monster trade package that can bring in an impact player or a way to move up to the Kevin Durant territory if a GM would be dumb enough to pass on him.
The important thing to note here is this looks like the hanging curve ball that could put this franchise back into contender status. Add an impact player to this team over the summer, preferably at the small forward position, and you've suddenly got a starting 5 in 07/08 of Sergio, Roy, Player X, Z-bo, and Aldridge. You'd have a sniper off the bench in Martell, a versatile lineup that can run the floor with anyone with two dynamic guards, two low post scoring options, and two defensive stoppers off the bench in Udoka and Joel. I've been saying they needed to get lucky in the draft to become a contender again, they got lucky, like Powerball lucky, with Sergio Rodriguez. Aldridge and Roy were known commodities, then they hit the jackpot. This summer is the time to cash in and go for it.
The perceptions of the two are that Jarrett Jack is a very solid player, steady, good defender, doesn't make a lot of mistakes, etc. Sergio is the flashy, fan friendly, whiz kid from Spain with more nicknames than Apollo Creed at this point. Here's how they stack up across the board this season:
Definitions: Assist ratio is the percentage of possessions that result in an assist, turnover ratio is the same only with turnovers. True shooting percentage is all shots including free throws, everything else should be self explanatory.
Jack: 45.3% shooting, 29.7% from 3 point range, True shooting percentage 56%, Assist ratio 29%, Turnover ratio 12%, Assists per 40 minutes 6.2. Real numbers he's averaged 5.4 assists to 2.3 turnovers, and 12 points a game. Total PER: 14.78
Sergio: 45.5% shooting, 31.3% from 3 point range, True shooting percentage 53%, Assist ratio 43%, turnover ratio 12%, assist per 40 minutes 11. Real numbers he's averaged 3.4 assists to 0.95 turnovers, and 4 points a game. Total PER: 17.54
Now for the biggest factor, Sergio is 20 years old, Jack is 23. The perception is that Jack is the steadier player and that Sergio can be a bit wild, that seems to be lying eyes more than anything. Their turnover ratios are the same, but Sergio is by far the better distributor of the ball, including a rather mind boggling 43% assist ratio. To put that into perspective, Steve Nash this year is at 39%. The second surprising point when looking at the numbers is the perception is Sergio can't shoot, well, he's already at least as good as Jack.
It's not really close, Sergio is the future of this franchise at the point guard position. He's 3 years younger, a better passer, just as good a shooter, and clearly makes all of his teammates better when he's running the show. The Other Guy on this blog has been saying this to me for months, I've finally opened my eyes.
Now we come to the Conundrum, where do they go from here. Subterfuge Stevie, Pritchard, and even The Other Guy have suggested that Jarrett Jack may become a very valuable trade asset. Jack's still a good young point guard, many teams could use him. Nate's opinion is that Brandon Roy might be best suited to play point, obviously this isn't a full time option but you could definitely trade Jack for something very valuable and have Roy take the backup point guard minutes. I'd still like to keep a guy like Dickau around for some injury protection and some garbage time minutes, but this makes the coming off season very interesting. Suddenly a package of Jack, Outlaw, and a pick looks like a monster trade package that can bring in an impact player or a way to move up to the Kevin Durant territory if a GM would be dumb enough to pass on him.
The important thing to note here is this looks like the hanging curve ball that could put this franchise back into contender status. Add an impact player to this team over the summer, preferably at the small forward position, and you've suddenly got a starting 5 in 07/08 of Sergio, Roy, Player X, Z-bo, and Aldridge. You'd have a sniper off the bench in Martell, a versatile lineup that can run the floor with anyone with two dynamic guards, two low post scoring options, and two defensive stoppers off the bench in Udoka and Joel. I've been saying they needed to get lucky in the draft to become a contender again, they got lucky, like Powerball lucky, with Sergio Rodriguez. Aldridge and Roy were known commodities, then they hit the jackpot. This summer is the time to cash in and go for it.
Monday, January 29, 2007
A Quick Look At Portland’s Season
19-26, .422, 11th place, 3.5 games out of a playoff spot (admittedly closer than I thought they'd be). It’s not often you look at a team in 11th place in its conference and say that they are exceeding expectations, but I really think this team has done better than most expect.
What about the second half of the season? Making the playoffs is not a reasonable goal for this team; there are 8 awfully tough teams holding down those playoff spots right now and that doesn't even include Golden State whom I believe will make a nice little run in this second half. (In fact, the Golden State / LA Clippers battle for the 8th spot will be one of the season’s best remaining regular season stories). I do think, however, that playing .450 ball for the rest of the season is a solid goal to have; considering they’ve played .422 ball to this point, have played a slightly tougher-than-average schedule to this point, and are improving. 17-20 over these last 37 games would be a .459 winning percentage, and would leave the team with 36 wins on the season, also known as about about 10 more than anyone expected. Incredibly, the Blazers are doing better against the Western Conference (12-14) than they are against the East (7-12)
Can the club get 17 more wins this year? Let’s take a look. The following are what I see as “winnable” games remaining on the schedule.
@ NO
@ CHA
vs UTA
vs MEM
@ SEA
vs CHA
vs SAC
vs SEA
@ NY
@ ATL
@ MIN
vs MEM
vs UTA
vs SEA
Say Portland goes 9-5 in those 14 games and wins 5 other games that we don’t expect them to. There’s 14 wins. So while 17 may be tough, it’s not unrealistic to expect them to get close to that. We’ll keep an eye on this as the season goes on.
What about the second half of the season? Making the playoffs is not a reasonable goal for this team; there are 8 awfully tough teams holding down those playoff spots right now and that doesn't even include Golden State whom I believe will make a nice little run in this second half. (In fact, the Golden State / LA Clippers battle for the 8th spot will be one of the season’s best remaining regular season stories). I do think, however, that playing .450 ball for the rest of the season is a solid goal to have; considering they’ve played .422 ball to this point, have played a slightly tougher-than-average schedule to this point, and are improving. 17-20 over these last 37 games would be a .459 winning percentage, and would leave the team with 36 wins on the season, also known as about about 10 more than anyone expected. Incredibly, the Blazers are doing better against the Western Conference (12-14) than they are against the East (7-12)
Can the club get 17 more wins this year? Let’s take a look. The following are what I see as “winnable” games remaining on the schedule.
@ NO
@ CHA
vs UTA
vs MEM
@ SEA
vs CHA
vs SAC
vs SEA
@ NY
@ ATL
@ MIN
vs MEM
vs UTA
vs SEA
Say Portland goes 9-5 in those 14 games and wins 5 other games that we don’t expect them to. There’s 14 wins. So while 17 may be tough, it’s not unrealistic to expect them to get close to that. We’ll keep an eye on this as the season goes on.
Friday, January 26, 2007
That's R. O. Y.
ESPN had their panel of experts run through their mid-season report today and when it came to the Rookie of the Year vote it was a runaway love fest for our savior, Brandon Roy. The lone black eye would be Marc Stein who seems to think Foye is the leader in the clubhouse right now. Clearly, Mr. Stein needs to be tied to a chair with a lamp cord and given the bag treatment by Jack Bauer just to, you know, get his attention.
Hollinger was especially glowing about our baby Blazers, stating that we have the league's three best rookies in Roy, The Marcus, and Sergio. It's becoming difficult not to agree, thanks for noticing Johnny.
Hollinger was especially glowing about our baby Blazers, stating that we have the league's three best rookies in Roy, The Marcus, and Sergio. It's becoming difficult not to agree, thanks for noticing Johnny.
Hibachi!!!
Agent Zero is coming for the Blazers. As most of you know, we here at the Blazers Blog think Gilbert Arenas is fantastic for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is he's completely insane. Thankfully, his insanity leads to some hilarious moments like screaming "hibachi!" at the Suns as he was lighting them up for 54 last month. We won't discuss the whipping the Suns put on him and his Bullets earlier this week for payback. Anyway, all this has come about due to Agent Zero being cut from Team USA last summer, vowing to take it out on D'Antoni, Nate, and he's still working on how to get a piece of Coach K.
This from SI.com:
Arenas has promised this season to take out his frustrations about the national team on Krzyzewski's Team USA assistants, Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni and Portland coach Nate McMillan.
Arenas scored 54 points against the Suns last month and has said his next 50-point game will come against the Trail Blazers on Feb. 11, prompting D'Antoni to say: "I can't wait to see what he does against Duke. He's gonna kill Duke."
"He'd like to see what I'm going to do against Duke," Arenas wrote in a posting this week on his nba.com blog. "I thought it was funny because if I have the chance to go back to college, I'll give up one NBA season to play against Duke.
"One college game that's five fouls, right? ... 40-minute game at Duke, they got soft rims I'd probably score 84 or 85. I wouldn't pass the ball. I wouldn't even think about passing it. It would be like a NBA Live or an NBA 2K7 game, you just shoot with one person."
And you wonder why we love Agent Zero.
This from SI.com:
Arenas has promised this season to take out his frustrations about the national team on Krzyzewski's Team USA assistants, Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni and Portland coach Nate McMillan.
Arenas scored 54 points against the Suns last month and has said his next 50-point game will come against the Trail Blazers on Feb. 11, prompting D'Antoni to say: "I can't wait to see what he does against Duke. He's gonna kill Duke."
"He'd like to see what I'm going to do against Duke," Arenas wrote in a posting this week on his nba.com blog. "I thought it was funny because if I have the chance to go back to college, I'll give up one NBA season to play against Duke.
"One college game that's five fouls, right? ... 40-minute game at Duke, they got soft rims I'd probably score 84 or 85. I wouldn't pass the ball. I wouldn't even think about passing it. It would be like a NBA Live or an NBA 2K7 game, you just shoot with one person."
And you wonder why we love Agent Zero.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Live Blogging, Blazers v Wolves
Welcome to a new feature on the Blazers Blog, live blogging of a game. What follows is a beer induced haze throughout a Blazers game and we'll see where it takes us, hopefully a win.
Pregame:
Let's just say there were four pints of Terminator and a Communication Breakdown burger involved. The wife is out of town, beer and burgers ingested, I'm enjoying my state of gluttony, let's move on. I'm now parked in front of the tv with a 6 pack of PBR pounders. I said this was going to be interesting, I shutter to read my fourth quarter comments tomorrow morning. I'll be back after the first quarter.
1st Quarter:
Sometimes I wonder if Brandon Roy is just a rookie and looks this good then how good can he be. I have no idea but holy crap, he's starting to seriously dominate already and he's played about 25 games. He's started hitting those deep jumpers to augment his driving game, I was joking earlier this year when I called him The Savior, he just may be. 10 points, a couple dimes, boards, and a steal already. Apparently giving the big F-U to Foye in the ROY debate.
As for the rest of the 1st in Larry King style, quality air ball from Joel wide open at the free throw line...Mark Blount steals Joel's UIC Moment (unintentional comedy) by going nothing but glass on a free throw line jumper, always better than a straight air ball, but then following it up with a hook shot air ball on the next possession, good times...How come every time I watch Ricky Davis he's fucking awesome, like totally unstoppable, if he just played in games I watched he'd be an All NBA player...Someone tell Aldridge he doesn't need to foul Mark Madsen...Blazers up 1 after 1, I'll be back at halftime...
2nd Quarter
As usual, nobody cools off a hot player quite like Nate. It's like he always cherished that role as a player and he decided to roll it over into his coaching, Roy didn't re-enter the game until about 3 minutes left. Awesome. The Larry King "..." style second quarter notes:
Martell Webster is doing his Bryce Taylor impression. A bench sniper that realized that if you attack the basket it opens things up. Martell looked better in that quarter than he's looked in the first year and a half. No idea how that happened, but I like it...Dixon still sucks, immediately entered the game and launched a 2 from one foot inside the line and clanked it, followed by numerous dribbles into double teams and bad shots. I hate John Dixon...Sergio, seriously, what's not to like. That tear drop he hit a couple of times was great, his court vision was great, his tempo control was great, he may reach man-crush status in the next few months...Marco Jaric looks like he's been drinking beers with me for the last 3 hours, I think he's drunk, Jaric is officially my favorite T-wolf, besides KG's goatee, which might need its own jersey number...we'll see you again after the third quarter.
3rd Quarter:
Well that sucked. They're down 2 headed to the 4th but they started the quarter with a nice 7-0 run capped by a patented Udoka 3 from the corner, but proceeded to give it all back plus 2.
Udoka looks like a vital piece of a playoff team going forward, the guy that plays good D and hits those dagger 3's in the corner...Kevin Garnett can still dominate anyone in the world when he feels like it, awesome quarter for him...Z-bo tried to keep up with The Big Ticket and didn't do too bad a job of it, he's just not as visually impressive as KG...Joel is starting to have a distinct Flo Hartenstein-ness about him, every game is starting to be in the realm of 15 minutes, 2 points, 1 board, 0 assist, 5 fouls...and finally, I hope Nate is happy, he put the shackles on Brandon Roy, 11 points in the first quarter, zero since. Let's hope Brandon can shake his best defender in the 4th (Nate) and lead us to a victory...
4th Qtr:
We'll keep this short because it's heading to OT...Aldridge, balls of steel...The All Star can promptly go fuck himself, he's crushing my will to live and so is Nate for playing him in big spots. According to Rice it was "interesting" to have him in the game in that spot, I would call it "moronic" but that's just me. Now, we head to OT, let's get a W boys...
OT:
Blazers win!!! Hmm, how do I treat this? Do I address the fact that Nate has proven himself to be either a complete idiot or a mad genius by making it as tough as possible on his young team? It has to be one of the two when discussing the whole "Magloire defensive switch" situation for the whole 4th quarter and OT. Every time they had a clock stoppage and brought him in for Aldridge, KG went right to the basket and scored, whenever they couldn't stop the clock Aldridge kept KG in front of him and the Wolves had no option beyond a Ricky Davis 20 footer. I like how Mike Rice kept going with "this is an interesting switch, bringing in Magloire who Garnett has scored on every time down the floor." Yeah, again I go back to my 4th quarter comment where "interesting" should be substituted for "moronic". Still, the Blazers won, thanks to herculean efforts by Brandon Roy, Jarrett Jack, Z-bo, and most surprising, token Lochi whipping boy, Martell Webster. I loved the way he played tonight. Great job Martell.
Thus ends the Live Blog for tonight, coming soon to the Blazers Blog, a look at the potential Point Guard Conundrum, stay tuned...
Pregame:
Let's just say there were four pints of Terminator and a Communication Breakdown burger involved. The wife is out of town, beer and burgers ingested, I'm enjoying my state of gluttony, let's move on. I'm now parked in front of the tv with a 6 pack of PBR pounders. I said this was going to be interesting, I shutter to read my fourth quarter comments tomorrow morning. I'll be back after the first quarter.
1st Quarter:
Sometimes I wonder if Brandon Roy is just a rookie and looks this good then how good can he be. I have no idea but holy crap, he's starting to seriously dominate already and he's played about 25 games. He's started hitting those deep jumpers to augment his driving game, I was joking earlier this year when I called him The Savior, he just may be. 10 points, a couple dimes, boards, and a steal already. Apparently giving the big F-U to Foye in the ROY debate.
As for the rest of the 1st in Larry King style, quality air ball from Joel wide open at the free throw line...Mark Blount steals Joel's UIC Moment (unintentional comedy) by going nothing but glass on a free throw line jumper, always better than a straight air ball, but then following it up with a hook shot air ball on the next possession, good times...How come every time I watch Ricky Davis he's fucking awesome, like totally unstoppable, if he just played in games I watched he'd be an All NBA player...Someone tell Aldridge he doesn't need to foul Mark Madsen...Blazers up 1 after 1, I'll be back at halftime...
2nd Quarter
As usual, nobody cools off a hot player quite like Nate. It's like he always cherished that role as a player and he decided to roll it over into his coaching, Roy didn't re-enter the game until about 3 minutes left. Awesome. The Larry King "..." style second quarter notes:
Martell Webster is doing his Bryce Taylor impression. A bench sniper that realized that if you attack the basket it opens things up. Martell looked better in that quarter than he's looked in the first year and a half. No idea how that happened, but I like it...Dixon still sucks, immediately entered the game and launched a 2 from one foot inside the line and clanked it, followed by numerous dribbles into double teams and bad shots. I hate John Dixon...Sergio, seriously, what's not to like. That tear drop he hit a couple of times was great, his court vision was great, his tempo control was great, he may reach man-crush status in the next few months...Marco Jaric looks like he's been drinking beers with me for the last 3 hours, I think he's drunk, Jaric is officially my favorite T-wolf, besides KG's goatee, which might need its own jersey number...we'll see you again after the third quarter.
3rd Quarter:
Well that sucked. They're down 2 headed to the 4th but they started the quarter with a nice 7-0 run capped by a patented Udoka 3 from the corner, but proceeded to give it all back plus 2.
Udoka looks like a vital piece of a playoff team going forward, the guy that plays good D and hits those dagger 3's in the corner...Kevin Garnett can still dominate anyone in the world when he feels like it, awesome quarter for him...Z-bo tried to keep up with The Big Ticket and didn't do too bad a job of it, he's just not as visually impressive as KG...Joel is starting to have a distinct Flo Hartenstein-ness about him, every game is starting to be in the realm of 15 minutes, 2 points, 1 board, 0 assist, 5 fouls...and finally, I hope Nate is happy, he put the shackles on Brandon Roy, 11 points in the first quarter, zero since. Let's hope Brandon can shake his best defender in the 4th (Nate) and lead us to a victory...
4th Qtr:
We'll keep this short because it's heading to OT...Aldridge, balls of steel...The All Star can promptly go fuck himself, he's crushing my will to live and so is Nate for playing him in big spots. According to Rice it was "interesting" to have him in the game in that spot, I would call it "moronic" but that's just me. Now, we head to OT, let's get a W boys...
OT:
Blazers win!!! Hmm, how do I treat this? Do I address the fact that Nate has proven himself to be either a complete idiot or a mad genius by making it as tough as possible on his young team? It has to be one of the two when discussing the whole "Magloire defensive switch" situation for the whole 4th quarter and OT. Every time they had a clock stoppage and brought him in for Aldridge, KG went right to the basket and scored, whenever they couldn't stop the clock Aldridge kept KG in front of him and the Wolves had no option beyond a Ricky Davis 20 footer. I like how Mike Rice kept going with "this is an interesting switch, bringing in Magloire who Garnett has scored on every time down the floor." Yeah, again I go back to my 4th quarter comment where "interesting" should be substituted for "moronic". Still, the Blazers won, thanks to herculean efforts by Brandon Roy, Jarrett Jack, Z-bo, and most surprising, token Lochi whipping boy, Martell Webster. I loved the way he played tonight. Great job Martell.
Thus ends the Live Blog for tonight, coming soon to the Blazers Blog, a look at the potential Point Guard Conundrum, stay tuned...
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Just Thought I'd Pass Along This Little Nugget-
| Telfair Mad At Himself For Demotion |
| 22nd January, 2007 - 10:29 am |
| Boston Herald - Sebastian Telfair lost his starting job to Delonte West, and Rajon Rondo is eating into the remaining minutes. “Oh, I’m overly pissed,” Telfair said. “I’m pissed at myself,” he said. “I can’t be pissed at nobody else. Me being on the bench now, I can’t possibly see it having to do with anybody besides myself.” |
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tier Trauma Volume 4: Time to Own Up
There are some things I'm willing to admit (Minnesota and New York aren't THAT bad), and some things I'm not willing to admit (Utah as a contender). In the meantime, we are roughly halfway through the NBA season, and what have we learned so far?
A lot of things. Phoenix and Dallas appear headed towards another postseason “let’s pull them out and compare” collision … the East is terrible … and most importantly, Portland is better than we thought.
We’ve also learned that it’s time for another Tier Trauma. A refresher on the rankings:
Without further ado…
TIER TRAUMA VOLUME 4
Note: a “+” in front of a team notes that they have been promoted a tier, “-“ signifies a demotion.
Tier 1 - Heavyweights
Suns
Mavericks
Spurs
Nuggets
No change here to the teams, just the order. The Suns (who are 27-2 in their last 29 games, as William Simmons so eloquently pointed out earlier this week) keep the top spot, while the Mavs have replaced San Antonio as #2. I know what you’re all thinking regarding the Nuggets … but I still think they’ve got enough talent to be a “sleeper” and am curious to see what AI and ‘Melo can do together. (Melo comes back on Saturday, for anyone who’s interested.) Utah has not been a part of this Tier all season long, something I take pride in, and that’s starting to look like a smart move on my part.
Tier 2 - Cruiserweights
Bulls
Rockets
Cavs
Pistons
Lakers
Jazz
Magic
+Warriors
+Bullets
Clippers
Pacers
The Bulls and Rockets are teetering on the edge of contention. I still say that Chicago’s occasionally-suspect offense and Tracy McGrady’s creaky back are keeping both from being legitimate “I’m scared of them winning the title” threats. The Pistons may have gotten a little worse by adding Chris Webber (unless that allows them to deal Antonio McDyess for a contributing piece), and we have two new additions to this group: the Warriors and Bullets. You all know that I love the trade Golden State made on Wednesday, and Washington (and please for all of you emailing me, YES I know they changed their name to the Wizards; I simply refuse to acknowledge it) has arguably the best offensive player in the league right now in Gilbert Arenas. I don’t like their chances in the playoffs, but let’s not ignore the fact that they’ve got big wins over Dallas, Denver, Miami, LA Lakers, Phoenix, Orlando, LA Clippers, Chicago, and Utah – just in the last 5 weeks.
Tier 3 - Middleweights
Heat
+Timberwolves
+Raptors
Nets
+Knicks
Blazers
Bucks
I’m not going to lie to you – it hurts me to give the Knicks this promotion. But the fact is, they’re playing moderately-passable basketball. The fact that they’ve had a few injuries and a few suspensions has actually been good for them, as it’s forced Isaiah to shorten his rotation and give more PT to some of New York’s role players. Nate Robinson and Steve Francis’ absences, two more shoot-first guards on a team that already had a few, has been addition by subtraction for this team. And I suppose I should acknowledge that Minnesota has also been playing some very good hoops as of late. As of press-time, they hold the #7 spot in the playoffs – and though they’ve been doing it primarily against the weaker teams, they are playing well and you can’t argue with results. One last note: last time we did a Tier Trauma, Portland was ½ game out of the playoffs. Now they’re 4.5 games out, and doing the jekyl-and-hyde thing (lost to Boston and New York one week, blow out Cleveland the next) that we have all been expecting from this young team.
(PS - I still say that Timberwolves logo is the dumbest of the three major sports.)
Tier 4 - Lightweights
Celtics
-Kings
-Hornets
Hawks
Sonics
Bobcats
Grizzlies
76ers
A gigantic bag of crap is what we have here. You can smell this filth all the way from Canada. Every team on this list really, really sucks and has no reason to believe it’s going to get better any time soon.
A lot of things. Phoenix and Dallas appear headed towards another postseason “let’s pull them out and compare” collision … the East is terrible … and most importantly, Portland is better than we thought.
We’ve also learned that it’s time for another Tier Trauma. A refresher on the rankings:
Tier 1: Heavyweights. Teams who have a legitimate shot at winning the whole shebang.
Tier 2: Cruiserweights. Not quite ready to be considered in the league's upper echelon, but close and very talented.
Tier 3: Middleweights. Teams are a few steps away from contention, but have enough to challenge for a playoff spot.
Tier 4: Lightweights. Bad teams who don't have a chance.*
*when we say "don't have a chance", that refers to the championship, not the playoffs. The reason for this caveat is that because the Eastern Conference is so weak, there will inevitably be a lightweight team or two who challenges for a playoff spot.
Without further ado…
TIER TRAUMA VOLUME 4
Note: a “+” in front of a team notes that they have been promoted a tier, “-“ signifies a demotion.
Tier 1 - Heavyweights
Suns
Mavericks
Spurs
Nuggets
No change here to the teams, just the order. The Suns (who are 27-2 in their last 29 games, as William Simmons so eloquently pointed out earlier this week) keep the top spot, while the Mavs have replaced San Antonio as #2. I know what you’re all thinking regarding the Nuggets … but I still think they’ve got enough talent to be a “sleeper” and am curious to see what AI and ‘Melo can do together. (Melo comes back on Saturday, for anyone who’s interested.) Utah has not been a part of this Tier all season long, something I take pride in, and that’s starting to look like a smart move on my part.
Tier 2 - Cruiserweights
Bulls
Rockets
Cavs
Pistons
Lakers
Jazz
Magic
+Warriors
+Bullets
Clippers
Pacers
The Bulls and Rockets are teetering on the edge of contention. I still say that Chicago’s occasionally-suspect offense and Tracy McGrady’s creaky back are keeping both from being legitimate “I’m scared of them winning the title” threats. The Pistons may have gotten a little worse by adding Chris Webber (unless that allows them to deal Antonio McDyess for a contributing piece), and we have two new additions to this group: the Warriors and Bullets. You all know that I love the trade Golden State made on Wednesday, and Washington (and please for all of you emailing me, YES I know they changed their name to the Wizards; I simply refuse to acknowledge it) has arguably the best offensive player in the league right now in Gilbert Arenas. I don’t like their chances in the playoffs, but let’s not ignore the fact that they’ve got big wins over Dallas, Denver, Miami, LA Lakers, Phoenix, Orlando, LA Clippers, Chicago, and Utah – just in the last 5 weeks.
Tier 3 - Middleweights
Heat
+Timberwolves
+Raptors
Nets
+Knicks
Blazers
Bucks
I’m not going to lie to you – it hurts me to give the Knicks this promotion. But the fact is, they’re playing moderately-passable basketball. The fact that they’ve had a few injuries and a few suspensions has actually been good for them, as it’s forced Isaiah to shorten his rotation and give more PT to some of New York’s role players. Nate Robinson and Steve Francis’ absences, two more shoot-first guards on a team that already had a few, has been addition by subtraction for this team. And I suppose I should acknowledge that Minnesota has also been playing some very good hoops as of late. As of press-time, they hold the #7 spot in the playoffs – and though they’ve been doing it primarily against the weaker teams, they are playing well and you can’t argue with results. One last note: last time we did a Tier Trauma, Portland was ½ game out of the playoffs. Now they’re 4.5 games out, and doing the jekyl-and-hyde thing (lost to Boston and New York one week, blow out Cleveland the next) that we have all been expecting from this young team.
(PS - I still say that Timberwolves logo is the dumbest of the three major sports.)
Tier 4 - Lightweights
Celtics
-Kings
-Hornets
Hawks
Sonics
Bobcats
Grizzlies
76ers
A gigantic bag of crap is what we have here. You can smell this filth all the way from Canada. Every team on this list really, really sucks and has no reason to believe it’s going to get better any time soon.
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently the #1 seed in the East, not overly surprising, it's a horrible conference and they're an OK team with an elite superstar. They also got the living piss kicked out of them last night in the Rose Garden by the now 16-24 Blazers. I've been accused at times of being too negative, whether it's my ranting against Nate's crazy playing time decisions, The All Star's general suckage, Subterfuge Stevie's everything, etc. So, I've decided to be positive today, on the heels of a shocking destruction of the Cavs, I give you the things I like about this team and the hope for the future:
Brandon Roy. Yes, I know this is like saying pizza is good. The best part about Brandon is that he appears to still be figuring things out on the floor, deciding when to go to the basket or take jumpers or feed teammates. He's clearly learning the game at this level on the fly, and if you're just learning and you're able to drop 19 points, 10 boards, 6 steals, and 4 assists against LeBron and Co., well you're obviously a pretty special player.
The Marcus Aldridge. After my crusade to get him playing time, Nate has graciously granted him time and he's done nothing but prove it made no sense at all to pile up DNP's for a month. He's fantastic. That high pick and roll with Sergio (more on him in a minute) is borderline unstoppable. He hits that jumper with ease, and I love the little Dream Shake he throws at people on the low block before hitting the turnaround. Even more impressive than his offensive game is his ability to guard the rim. A few of those blocks last night were out of this world, particularly the one in the 4th quarter when Drew Gooden was trying a wide array of pivots and fakes, then he tried to go up and got it deposited in the 3rd row.
Sergio. Look, he can't shoot, he's not even a streaky shooter, he's just a bad shooter. And no I don't want to hear about the 23 point game the other night, he simply isn't going to light up the scoreboard with points for himself. But...my God what a passer. He's lightning quick off the dribble, sees the floor amazingly well, puts the passes on the money all the time, and when you get the ball from Sergio the odds are you're going to be open or right next to the basket for a lay up. He's basically the point guard I thought we were getting with Telfair, who turned out to not have much court vision and just wanted to get to the basket himself. The more you watch Sergio run the half court sets, the more you start envisioning him as the point guard of the future and not the steady Jarrett Jack. You know who else was 19 years old and an all world passer that couldn't really shoot? Jason Kidd.
Kevin Durant...oh, sorry, I must have dozed off there for a minute.
Clearly, there is a future here and a foundation in place. Those 3 guys might be the 3 that lead them back to glory. I like Jack, I like Z-bo, but it's hard not to watch Roy, Aldridge, and Sergio and not think that we're onto something really special. And now, I return you to your regularly scheduled bitterness from me after they lose their next game.
I'd also like to point out that the spell checker didn't catch the Y in "happyness" in the title, the Fresh Prince would be very unhappy about this.
Brandon Roy. Yes, I know this is like saying pizza is good. The best part about Brandon is that he appears to still be figuring things out on the floor, deciding when to go to the basket or take jumpers or feed teammates. He's clearly learning the game at this level on the fly, and if you're just learning and you're able to drop 19 points, 10 boards, 6 steals, and 4 assists against LeBron and Co., well you're obviously a pretty special player.
The Marcus Aldridge. After my crusade to get him playing time, Nate has graciously granted him time and he's done nothing but prove it made no sense at all to pile up DNP's for a month. He's fantastic. That high pick and roll with Sergio (more on him in a minute) is borderline unstoppable. He hits that jumper with ease, and I love the little Dream Shake he throws at people on the low block before hitting the turnaround. Even more impressive than his offensive game is his ability to guard the rim. A few of those blocks last night were out of this world, particularly the one in the 4th quarter when Drew Gooden was trying a wide array of pivots and fakes, then he tried to go up and got it deposited in the 3rd row.
Sergio. Look, he can't shoot, he's not even a streaky shooter, he's just a bad shooter. And no I don't want to hear about the 23 point game the other night, he simply isn't going to light up the scoreboard with points for himself. But...my God what a passer. He's lightning quick off the dribble, sees the floor amazingly well, puts the passes on the money all the time, and when you get the ball from Sergio the odds are you're going to be open or right next to the basket for a lay up. He's basically the point guard I thought we were getting with Telfair, who turned out to not have much court vision and just wanted to get to the basket himself. The more you watch Sergio run the half court sets, the more you start envisioning him as the point guard of the future and not the steady Jarrett Jack. You know who else was 19 years old and an all world passer that couldn't really shoot? Jason Kidd.
Kevin Durant...oh, sorry, I must have dozed off there for a minute.
Clearly, there is a future here and a foundation in place. Those 3 guys might be the 3 that lead them back to glory. I like Jack, I like Z-bo, but it's hard not to watch Roy, Aldridge, and Sergio and not think that we're onto something really special. And now, I return you to your regularly scheduled bitterness from me after they lose their next game.
I'd also like to point out that the spell checker didn't catch the Y in "happyness" in the title, the Fresh Prince would be very unhappy about this.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Warrior-Pacers Trade
Many of you who read this site regularly know that I have a small, inexplicable affinity for both the Warriors and the Pacers. Well as luck may have it, those two teams struck a blockbuster deal today, swapping eight players. Here's the goods, followed by a brief analysis.
I like this trade from the Warriors' perspective. Even if you ignore the fact that they saved a HUGE amount of money (about $80 million over the life of all of these deals), Golden State gets rid of an underachieving player whom the fans had begun to detest (Dunleavy was getting booed at home on a regular basis), upgrade their athleticism at the four, and adds a backup shooting guard. Their starting lineup has gotten more athletic, with Harrington replacing Murphy as the team's starting power forward, and Stephen Jackson replacing Pietrus, who moves to the bench. This is a bettr fit for the style of basketball that Don Nelson likes to play. As for the bench, Pietrus goes from an average starter to an above-average 7th man, and Jasekivicious upgrades the backup 2. Add those two guys to Monta Ellis (currently breaking out this season despite nobody outside the bay area noticing) and Adonal Foyle, and you've got yourself some very good depth.
Another benefit of this deal, and what may turn out to be the biggest for Golden State, is that Harrington can also play the center much more effectively than Murphy could. So when Don Nelson wants to go small, he can bench Andres Biedrins, move Harrington to the 5, move Pietrus to the 4, and slot in Jackson to the starting small forward spot. Keep an eye on 82 games.com's lineup rankings, as this could turn out to be the Warriors' most effective lineup.
As for the Pacers, the benefits aren't quite as clear. On top of taking on a huge amount of salary, they've downgraded in talent from Harrington to Murphy, downgraded in heart and defense in Jackson to Dunleavy, but also gotten rid of another tie to the Detroit brawl (Jackson) and added a very nice young piece (Diogu) for the future. Add Diogu and Dunleavy to Tinsley, Danny Granger, and Marquis Daniels, and they've got four interesting pieces moving forward. A big part of this trade, and possibly the end result of how it's judged, will be how much more production Rick Carlisle can get out of Dunleavy's versatility. Indiana has taken on two contracts that many thought would be tough to move.
To Golden State: Al Harrington, Crazy Stephen Jackson, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Josh PowellWhat a bizarre, bizarre trade. Here is how each team has changed.
To Indiana: Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Ike Diogu, Keith McCloud
I like this trade from the Warriors' perspective. Even if you ignore the fact that they saved a HUGE amount of money (about $80 million over the life of all of these deals), Golden State gets rid of an underachieving player whom the fans had begun to detest (Dunleavy was getting booed at home on a regular basis), upgrade their athleticism at the four, and adds a backup shooting guard. Their starting lineup has gotten more athletic, with Harrington replacing Murphy as the team's starting power forward, and Stephen Jackson replacing Pietrus, who moves to the bench. This is a bettr fit for the style of basketball that Don Nelson likes to play. As for the bench, Pietrus goes from an average starter to an above-average 7th man, and Jasekivicious upgrades the backup 2. Add those two guys to Monta Ellis (currently breaking out this season despite nobody outside the bay area noticing) and Adonal Foyle, and you've got yourself some very good depth.
Another benefit of this deal, and what may turn out to be the biggest for Golden State, is that Harrington can also play the center much more effectively than Murphy could. So when Don Nelson wants to go small, he can bench Andres Biedrins, move Harrington to the 5, move Pietrus to the 4, and slot in Jackson to the starting small forward spot. Keep an eye on 82 games.com's lineup rankings, as this could turn out to be the Warriors' most effective lineup.
As for the Pacers, the benefits aren't quite as clear. On top of taking on a huge amount of salary, they've downgraded in talent from Harrington to Murphy, downgraded in heart and defense in Jackson to Dunleavy, but also gotten rid of another tie to the Detroit brawl (Jackson) and added a very nice young piece (Diogu) for the future. Add Diogu and Dunleavy to Tinsley, Danny Granger, and Marquis Daniels, and they've got four interesting pieces moving forward. A big part of this trade, and possibly the end result of how it's judged, will be how much more production Rick Carlisle can get out of Dunleavy's versatility. Indiana has taken on two contracts that many thought would be tough to move.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Agent Zero
Gilbert Arenas is just sick. That is all.
Rumor has it that The Other Guy has a very long diatribe planned for this week, potentially a two parter. We'll see, and I'll hold off on my crazy rants about Aldridge, The All Star, Dixon, etc. in the meantime. Some other random news and notes for a snowy Tuesday:
Sergio with 23 and 10? Why did he have to do that on the first night of the "24" premier?
Dixon did play fantastic over the weekend in a win over the Kings, I'm a fair guy, he played great, doesn't mean he's a great player.
The Ducks...we're still not going to talk about it that much...trying not to jinx it...like not talking to your pitcher in the middle of a no hitter...nothing to see here...move along...
Rumor has it that The Other Guy has a very long diatribe planned for this week, potentially a two parter. We'll see, and I'll hold off on my crazy rants about Aldridge, The All Star, Dixon, etc. in the meantime. Some other random news and notes for a snowy Tuesday:
Sergio with 23 and 10? Why did he have to do that on the first night of the "24" premier?
Dixon did play fantastic over the weekend in a win over the Kings, I'm a fair guy, he played great, doesn't mean he's a great player.
The Ducks...we're still not going to talk about it that much...trying not to jinx it...like not talking to your pitcher in the middle of a no hitter...nothing to see here...move along...
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Brain Fart
Nate has officially lost his mind. A great little transcript of Jason Quick asking him a whole host of questions regarding Aldridge, The All Star, Juan Dixon, and Subterfuge Stevie possibly telling him who he has to play:
http://behindblazersbeat.blogs.oregonlive.com/
This is the type of vague response that kills me, the whole "I'm the coach and I make the decisions, and I guess I'll leave it at that." Clearly that's a problem then, because if you're the coach and you are playing who you think are the best players, then playing The All Star and Dixon the minutes you are means you're a freaking moron.
Now, I like Nate, but I'm starting to become concerned about his coaching, I'd be lying if I said otherwise. I don't think he plays his best players, I don't think he has much of a substitution pattern at all, never adjusts during games, and so on. The biggest problem is that he just completely implodes in general logic situations. A perfect example would be his new three guard rotation of Jack, Roy, and Dixon. I'm all for more Brandon Roy, all Roy all the time, that's great. Benching Sergio because he doesn't play very good defense and playing Dixon more is just ridiculous though. Dixon is awful on defense, Quick, to his credit, addresses this in his report. Dixon is also a mad gunner who thinks he gets bonus points for degree of difficulty on his shots. At least Sergio makes the team better on offense, Dixon makes it worse on BOTH ends of the floor. Nate's brain farts in logic are what are starting to give me doubts about his ability to lead this team into the future.
http://behindblazersbeat.blogs.oregonlive.com/
This is the type of vague response that kills me, the whole "I'm the coach and I make the decisions, and I guess I'll leave it at that." Clearly that's a problem then, because if you're the coach and you are playing who you think are the best players, then playing The All Star and Dixon the minutes you are means you're a freaking moron.
Now, I like Nate, but I'm starting to become concerned about his coaching, I'd be lying if I said otherwise. I don't think he plays his best players, I don't think he has much of a substitution pattern at all, never adjusts during games, and so on. The biggest problem is that he just completely implodes in general logic situations. A perfect example would be his new three guard rotation of Jack, Roy, and Dixon. I'm all for more Brandon Roy, all Roy all the time, that's great. Benching Sergio because he doesn't play very good defense and playing Dixon more is just ridiculous though. Dixon is awful on defense, Quick, to his credit, addresses this in his report. Dixon is also a mad gunner who thinks he gets bonus points for degree of difficulty on his shots. At least Sergio makes the team better on offense, Dixon makes it worse on BOTH ends of the floor. Nate's brain farts in logic are what are starting to give me doubts about his ability to lead this team into the future.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Brandon, Meet Bruce
It's all part of the learning process, our savior got his first real look at a world class defensive force last night and it didn't go so well for Brandon, 3 of 12 from the floor, 10 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and 2 turnovers. Brandon appears to be very bright and has a great understanding of the game, this will only make him better.
The Marcus Aldridge, 17 points (6 of 8 from the floor) and 6 boards in just 24 minutes. Hey Nate, why exactly was he on the bench for a month? I forget. Joel and The All Star combined for 32 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds. It's not easy to bench an emerging star center in the NBA, but Nate did. Part of me doesn't even want them to get Greg Oden because Nate will bench him for all of December next year after he had something like a 19 point, 15 rebound, 8 blocked shot performance.
The Spurs are just way better than Portland, wins and losses really aren't terribly relevant and I certainly don't expect the Blazers to beat the Spurs on the road. The two most important things about last night were Brandon learning from playing against someone like Bowen and Nate learning that his best center should be playing basketball and not sitting on his ass.
The Marcus Aldridge, 17 points (6 of 8 from the floor) and 6 boards in just 24 minutes. Hey Nate, why exactly was he on the bench for a month? I forget. Joel and The All Star combined for 32 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds. It's not easy to bench an emerging star center in the NBA, but Nate did. Part of me doesn't even want them to get Greg Oden because Nate will bench him for all of December next year after he had something like a 19 point, 15 rebound, 8 blocked shot performance.
The Spurs are just way better than Portland, wins and losses really aren't terribly relevant and I certainly don't expect the Blazers to beat the Spurs on the road. The two most important things about last night were Brandon learning from playing against someone like Bowen and Nate learning that his best center should be playing basketball and not sitting on his ass.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Around The League
It’s been awhile since we cast our Lord-Of-The-Rings-like gigantic eye around the landscape that is the NBA. Time to get caught up on some non-Blazer stuff.
Rumored Three-Way Involving Portland
… and it has nothing to do with Zach Randolph and a stripper! Thank you, thank you, be here all week. Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting that the Hawks, Wizards and Blazers are in the midst of a three-way deal. What it boils down to for Portland is that they’d give away Jamaal Magloire, and receive Lorenzen Wright (a really crappy backup center), Salim Stoudemire (don’t we already have him, he’s named “Juan Dixon”?), and Esteban Batista (I have no idea who this player is and after looking him up still don’t know much).
As you can probably already tell, I’m not a huge fan of this trade. Yes, Jamaal Magloire sucks, but I think we can do better than Salim Stoudemire for him. Of course, the fact that it’s already been leaked to the media means that it’s not going to happen, so we’re probably wasting our time talking about it anyway. Besides, as Casey over at Oregonlive points out, Portland would have to cut someone from its roster were this trade to go down, and that doesn’t make any sense.
Vince Carter: On the Trade Block?
The Nets are terrible this year. They’re five games under .500 in a horrid conference; they’ve lost their center for the season, and they’ve got three near-max contracts on their roster – one of which can’t stay healthy, one of which’s knees are so creaky you can hear them from the Brooklyn bridge and is accusing his wife of mistreating his children, and the other one is incredibly talented but has no heart. Ouch. Of the three, the most moveable is easily Vince Carter’s. Not only is he an immensely talented player – even if he does have a gigantic, sloppy pulsing labia and uses tampons every day – he has an opt-out clause in his contract after this season which most expect him to exercise, allowing him to both sign with a club he’d like to play for and get a longer-term deal. Let’s take a look at a quote from Nets GM Rod Thorn (the currently leader for “best porn name in the NBA”):
Corey Maggette: On the Trade Block
Note that I didn’t include a question mark after this one. There’s no doubt that the Clippers are trying to deal the immensely talented young wing player, and let me add that if San Antonio gets him for 75 cents on the dollar, I’m going to kill someone. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy for some reason doesn’t like Maggette’s skills and can’t fine enough playing time or shots for him. Given that the Clippers have struggled following their hot start, why won’t Dunleavy experiment with starting Maggette? He’s a good defender, good rebounder, and his point-per-shot is #1 on the team, and PER #2 on the team (behind only Elton Brand).
And of course, since this is after all Blazersblog, and since Portland needs a young small forward, here are two trades that work under the salary cap between LA and Portland which would bring in Maggette:
Theo Ratliff: Done For the Year
(Just had to include this note for comedic purposes. If “Telfair and Ratliff for Roy and LaFrentz” isn’t the greatest Blazer trade of the last six years, I don’t know what is.)
Other quick hits:
-Luke Ridnour has been the second-best player on a crappy team this year. His reward? Getting sent to the bench in a “lineup overhaul”. I didn’t know that removing playing time from your best players was a good way to help an ailing team.
-Speaking of the Sonics, they currently stand 1.5 games behind Portland in the “race for last place” in the northwest division. If Bob Hill remains their coach, I don’t expect that to change
– But I will say this: With Ridnour, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Chris Wilcox in the starting lineup, and quality backups like Earl Watson and Nick Collison coming off the bench, that team should have a much better record.
-Charlie Villanueva is likely going to have shoulder surgery and will be done for the season. Maybe Bryan Colangelo knew what he was doing after all when he sent collison to the Bucks for TJ Ford?
-I'm late on this, but if you haven’t seen Gil Arena’s 40-foot game-winner where he turns around before the shot goes in, it’s incredible. Look up "Arenas game winner" on YouTube and it'll be the first link.
We'll be back this week with another game preview, an interview with a surprise guest, and other rantings and ravings. Have a good week everyone.
Rumored Three-Way Involving Portland
… and it has nothing to do with Zach Randolph and a stripper! Thank you, thank you, be here all week. Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting that the Hawks, Wizards and Blazers are in the midst of a three-way deal. What it boils down to for Portland is that they’d give away Jamaal Magloire, and receive Lorenzen Wright (a really crappy backup center), Salim Stoudemire (don’t we already have him, he’s named “Juan Dixon”?), and Esteban Batista (I have no idea who this player is and after looking him up still don’t know much).
As you can probably already tell, I’m not a huge fan of this trade. Yes, Jamaal Magloire sucks, but I think we can do better than Salim Stoudemire for him. Of course, the fact that it’s already been leaked to the media means that it’s not going to happen, so we’re probably wasting our time talking about it anyway. Besides, as Casey over at Oregonlive points out, Portland would have to cut someone from its roster were this trade to go down, and that doesn’t make any sense.
Vince Carter: On the Trade Block?
The Nets are terrible this year. They’re five games under .500 in a horrid conference; they’ve lost their center for the season, and they’ve got three near-max contracts on their roster – one of which can’t stay healthy, one of which’s knees are so creaky you can hear them from the Brooklyn bridge and is accusing his wife of mistreating his children, and the other one is incredibly talented but has no heart. Ouch. Of the three, the most moveable is easily Vince Carter’s. Not only is he an immensely talented player – even if he does have a gigantic, sloppy pulsing labia and uses tampons every day – he has an opt-out clause in his contract after this season which most expect him to exercise, allowing him to both sign with a club he’d like to play for and get a longer-term deal. Let’s take a look at a quote from Nets GM Rod Thorn (the currently leader for “best porn name in the NBA”):
"What normally transpires between Jan. 15 and the trading deadline is that a lot of teams figure out, 'We're not what we thought we were, but this year, it's taken teams longer because everybody in the Eastern Conference - and I'm even including Philadelphia - has a chance, particularly in our division."Nice of him to include Philly in that discussion, eh? I would “strongly disagree" with that, by the way, but that’s another story for another paragraph. In this quote, he’s sort of giving himself a way out without actually owning up to the fact that the Nets need to do a minor rebuild. And what I'm getting to in all of this is that I would not be surprised to see Vinsanity moved prior the trading deadline.
Corey Maggette: On the Trade Block
Note that I didn’t include a question mark after this one. There’s no doubt that the Clippers are trying to deal the immensely talented young wing player, and let me add that if San Antonio gets him for 75 cents on the dollar, I’m going to kill someone. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy for some reason doesn’t like Maggette’s skills and can’t fine enough playing time or shots for him. Given that the Clippers have struggled following their hot start, why won’t Dunleavy experiment with starting Maggette? He’s a good defender, good rebounder, and his point-per-shot is #1 on the team, and PER #2 on the team (behind only Elton Brand).
And of course, since this is after all Blazersblog, and since Portland needs a young small forward, here are two trades that work under the salary cap between LA and Portland which would bring in Maggette:
- Maggette for Jamaal Magloire and a first-round pick. The Clips get an expiring deal, a backup big man for this season, and a first round pick.
- Maggette and Zeljko Rebraca (a crappy backup center) for Juan Dixon, Jamaal Magloire, and Travis Outlaw. The Clippers get an expiring deal, upgrade their backup center, and a young cheap small forward with crazy physical skills. Portland gets an expiring deal (Rebraca) along with a potential SF of the future, and doesn’t lose any draft picks.
Theo Ratliff: Done For the Year
(Just had to include this note for comedic purposes. If “Telfair and Ratliff for Roy and LaFrentz” isn’t the greatest Blazer trade of the last six years, I don’t know what is.)
Other quick hits:
-Luke Ridnour has been the second-best player on a crappy team this year. His reward? Getting sent to the bench in a “lineup overhaul”. I didn’t know that removing playing time from your best players was a good way to help an ailing team.
-Speaking of the Sonics, they currently stand 1.5 games behind Portland in the “race for last place” in the northwest division. If Bob Hill remains their coach, I don’t expect that to change
– But I will say this: With Ridnour, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Chris Wilcox in the starting lineup, and quality backups like Earl Watson and Nick Collison coming off the bench, that team should have a much better record.
-Charlie Villanueva is likely going to have shoulder surgery and will be done for the season. Maybe Bryan Colangelo knew what he was doing after all when he sent collison to the Bucks for TJ Ford?
-I'm late on this, but if you haven’t seen Gil Arena’s 40-foot game-winner where he turns around before the shot goes in, it’s incredible. Look up "Arenas game winner" on YouTube and it'll be the first link.
We'll be back this week with another game preview, an interview with a surprise guest, and other rantings and ravings. Have a good week everyone.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Firm Grasp of the Obvious
Ordinarily this is where you'd hear me complain about another loss, but I feel a great sense of relief this morning. Nate finally decided "hey, maybe I should play our best center more than 28 minutes in 6 games". The Marcus saw his most action of the season last night and responded with 14 points, 6 boards, and 2 blocks in 32 minutes of action. He hit that mid range jumper, he altered shots on the interior even when he didn't get credited with a block, and he just generally looked like the guy we thought we were drafting. I still for the life of me can't explain the infatuation with The All Star, he's still terrible, another 24 mostly sucky minutes last night. All he can do is rebound, which wouldn't be bad if he knew that instead of trying a wide array of sky hooks that carom off the rim with extreme force.
The Marcus also got into the act in their win on Saturday in Sacramento, logging 22 minutes but not filling up the stat sheet like last night. It's no real surprise to anyone who's seen him play that the best the team has looked in weeks has been in the two games he's played the most. Brandon Roy also appears to be finding his groove again. I'm optimistic going forward if they'd just stick to playing the guys that are the long term plan at least 20 a night. On a side note, Martell has looked a bit better of late, I think it helps him to be on the floor with Jack, Roy, Aldridge, and Z-bo. He gets left alone a lot more and as much as I bag on him, he can knock down an open jumper.
In other basketball news, of course everyone knows that my beloved Ducks took down the #1 team in the country over the weekend. I was very proud of the way they played, even if they tried to blow it late in the game with some horrible clock management and even worse shot selection. Overall I thought they were terrific. I'm a bit surprised they attacked off the dribble instead of just launching away from the outside and hoping they got hot, but it was a welcome sight. I also can't say enough about Maarty, how that guy can be the only rebounder on the floor with 4 guards and only interior defender of any kind, and still manage to be as good as he is, well, he's making The Leap this year, that's all I can say. The Pac 10 is so freaking loaded that it will be hard for them to win more than 10 or 11 conference games, but that should get them in the Big Dance, especially with a rather large trophy on the wall now.
The Marcus also got into the act in their win on Saturday in Sacramento, logging 22 minutes but not filling up the stat sheet like last night. It's no real surprise to anyone who's seen him play that the best the team has looked in weeks has been in the two games he's played the most. Brandon Roy also appears to be finding his groove again. I'm optimistic going forward if they'd just stick to playing the guys that are the long term plan at least 20 a night. On a side note, Martell has looked a bit better of late, I think it helps him to be on the floor with Jack, Roy, Aldridge, and Z-bo. He gets left alone a lot more and as much as I bag on him, he can knock down an open jumper.
In other basketball news, of course everyone knows that my beloved Ducks took down the #1 team in the country over the weekend. I was very proud of the way they played, even if they tried to blow it late in the game with some horrible clock management and even worse shot selection. Overall I thought they were terrific. I'm a bit surprised they attacked off the dribble instead of just launching away from the outside and hoping they got hot, but it was a welcome sight. I also can't say enough about Maarty, how that guy can be the only rebounder on the floor with 4 guards and only interior defender of any kind, and still manage to be as good as he is, well, he's making The Leap this year, that's all I can say. The Pac 10 is so freaking loaded that it will be hard for them to win more than 10 or 11 conference games, but that should get them in the Big Dance, especially with a rather large trophy on the wall now.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The Aldridge Situation
The Blazers did something that I'm pretty sure no other team in the NBA will do this year. They completed The Grand Slam, losing at home to the Raptors, 76ers, Celtics, and Knicks in the span of two weeks. I'm not completely ready to call for a vote of no confidence in Nate, but when you've been thoroughly outcoached twice in one week by Doc and Zeke, well, you're starting to look more and more like Mo Mo The Clown with each passing game. Botched 2 for 1's at the end of quarters, horrific substitution patterns, failure to either adjust to what the other team is doing or making them adjust to your personnel, and the crime of all crimes so far this year, The Aldridge Situation.
The Blazers have lost 6 out of their last 7 to the worst teams in the league and their best center has played a grand total of 28 minutes in those 7 games, 18 of those minutes coming in two blow out losses. Last night he actually got in for 9 minutes in the fourth quarter and quickly put up a 3 for 5 night, 6 points and a blocked shot. On the road trip that I had thought turned the season around, he played 15-20 minutes in every game, notched his first double double in a win at the Pistons, and just generally looked like the stud they thought they were drafting. Then, regrettably, Joel got healthy and Aldridge was sent to the pine and the center position was left to Joel and The All Star.
Aldridge is very good young center, he looks a lot like Sheed actually with that high release on the jumper that doesn't even draw iron as it goes through. He also has a great turnaround post shot, passes well from the high post, and is already just as good a help defender as Joel is, much better than The All Star. Aldridge is also the future of the team in the post, and of course he's getting no experience watching the Blazers fumble around and screw up another game down low.
The problem lies in the acquisition of The All Star in the first place. It's like Subterfuge Stevie is sitting up on his Ivory Tower and forcing Nate to play his All Star Center that he acquired in the off season. There is a theory that he's being "showcased" for a trade, but if it were me I'd bury him on the end of the bench and not let anyone see him play and realize that he's dogshit. In those same 6 losses in 7 games to the arm pit of the league, he's played 147 minutes (21 a game). He's one of the key reasons they stink right now. Unlike Aldridge he does nothing for you on the offensive end of the floor, isn't the greatest help defender, and the only thing he does reasonably well is rebound, something this team doesn't have a problem with in the first place.
If I told you there were two players, one a rookie that was the second overall pick in the draft and the other a washed up backup big man making 8 mil a year, and they were both averaging 6 points, 5 boards, and a block per game, which one would you play more? Nate would play the old shitty guy. Thanks for that.
This isn't all that different in the grand scheme of things for me, I've been watching a number of my teams do stupid things like this. I'm used to rooting for injuries, so the next time there's a scramble on the floor and Joel or The All Star go diving after it, if you find yourself secretly hoping someone comes barreling into an ankle or a knee and you feel like a bad person, don't sweat it. In the end, you just want what's best for your team. If the coach won't play the best center on the team because he's got two crappier guys he likes, something desperate has to happen. Maybe Ron Artest will freak out and put The All Star in a Figure 4 Leg Lock or something on Saturday night and all will be right again.
The Blazers have lost 6 out of their last 7 to the worst teams in the league and their best center has played a grand total of 28 minutes in those 7 games, 18 of those minutes coming in two blow out losses. Last night he actually got in for 9 minutes in the fourth quarter and quickly put up a 3 for 5 night, 6 points and a blocked shot. On the road trip that I had thought turned the season around, he played 15-20 minutes in every game, notched his first double double in a win at the Pistons, and just generally looked like the stud they thought they were drafting. Then, regrettably, Joel got healthy and Aldridge was sent to the pine and the center position was left to Joel and The All Star.
Aldridge is very good young center, he looks a lot like Sheed actually with that high release on the jumper that doesn't even draw iron as it goes through. He also has a great turnaround post shot, passes well from the high post, and is already just as good a help defender as Joel is, much better than The All Star. Aldridge is also the future of the team in the post, and of course he's getting no experience watching the Blazers fumble around and screw up another game down low.
The problem lies in the acquisition of The All Star in the first place. It's like Subterfuge Stevie is sitting up on his Ivory Tower and forcing Nate to play his All Star Center that he acquired in the off season. There is a theory that he's being "showcased" for a trade, but if it were me I'd bury him on the end of the bench and not let anyone see him play and realize that he's dogshit. In those same 6 losses in 7 games to the arm pit of the league, he's played 147 minutes (21 a game). He's one of the key reasons they stink right now. Unlike Aldridge he does nothing for you on the offensive end of the floor, isn't the greatest help defender, and the only thing he does reasonably well is rebound, something this team doesn't have a problem with in the first place.
If I told you there were two players, one a rookie that was the second overall pick in the draft and the other a washed up backup big man making 8 mil a year, and they were both averaging 6 points, 5 boards, and a block per game, which one would you play more? Nate would play the old shitty guy. Thanks for that.
This isn't all that different in the grand scheme of things for me, I've been watching a number of my teams do stupid things like this. I'm used to rooting for injuries, so the next time there's a scramble on the floor and Joel or The All Star go diving after it, if you find yourself secretly hoping someone comes barreling into an ankle or a knee and you feel like a bad person, don't sweat it. In the end, you just want what's best for your team. If the coach won't play the best center on the team because he's got two crappier guys he likes, something desperate has to happen. Maybe Ron Artest will freak out and put The All Star in a Figure 4 Leg Lock or something on Saturday night and all will be right again.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Nate Debacle
I keep telling myself he has a plan, and that he knows what he's doing with this young team, but I'm growing a bit weary. That was a complete debacle last night in every way a coach can possibly screw up a game. Nobody can cool off a hot player quite like Nate and he was at his absolute apex of sitting hot players last night. Observe...
Joel Przybilla finally has started playing like the guy we've seen the last two years. In the first 6 minutes of the game he had 6 points, 3 boards, and a block. He then sat for basically the remainder of the first half even though he wasn't in foul trouble. 16 total minutes for the game, while The All Star played 28. Yes, I know The All Star played decently last night. Playing Joel for 16 minutes when he's playing well is inexcusable.
Brandon Roy was dynamite in the 3rd quarter. He was the entire team on offense in one of Zach's rare off nights. Roy was hitting jumpers, finger rolls, breaking down the D and causing double and triple teams on the outside and then dishing for lay ups. He even hit his temperature check shot, a fading 20 footer with 2 guys on him at the end of the 3rd. What does that get him? The bench of course for the first 7.5 minutes of the 4th quarter. I'm sure he was well rested and ready when they were down 81-72 with 4.5 to play and he was put back in.
Speaking of that horrific 4th quarter, 70-67 to start the quarter, Martell hits a 3 to tie it a few seconds in, and then they proceed to get blown out the next 7 minutes, why, because they had a lineup of Jack (playing poorly all night), Webster (sucks), Dixon (has he ever passed?), Outlaw (struggling with his shot), and The All Star (3rd best center on the team). That lineup was complete crap in the second quarter, has been crap for weeks as the Blazers implode in every second quarter with that bunch on the floor, and now they're playing the majority of fourth quarters too? I seriously think Nate is tanking games.
13-19 and in the last two weeks they've lost to Philly, Toronto, and Boston at home. I didn't see the Philly or Toronto games, but the Boston game last night was just brutal coaching. Oh, and one last thing about Nate, LaMarcus Aldridge - DNP Coach's Decision. Thanks, thanks a lot.
Joel Przybilla finally has started playing like the guy we've seen the last two years. In the first 6 minutes of the game he had 6 points, 3 boards, and a block. He then sat for basically the remainder of the first half even though he wasn't in foul trouble. 16 total minutes for the game, while The All Star played 28. Yes, I know The All Star played decently last night. Playing Joel for 16 minutes when he's playing well is inexcusable.
Brandon Roy was dynamite in the 3rd quarter. He was the entire team on offense in one of Zach's rare off nights. Roy was hitting jumpers, finger rolls, breaking down the D and causing double and triple teams on the outside and then dishing for lay ups. He even hit his temperature check shot, a fading 20 footer with 2 guys on him at the end of the 3rd. What does that get him? The bench of course for the first 7.5 minutes of the 4th quarter. I'm sure he was well rested and ready when they were down 81-72 with 4.5 to play and he was put back in.
Speaking of that horrific 4th quarter, 70-67 to start the quarter, Martell hits a 3 to tie it a few seconds in, and then they proceed to get blown out the next 7 minutes, why, because they had a lineup of Jack (playing poorly all night), Webster (sucks), Dixon (has he ever passed?), Outlaw (struggling with his shot), and The All Star (3rd best center on the team). That lineup was complete crap in the second quarter, has been crap for weeks as the Blazers implode in every second quarter with that bunch on the floor, and now they're playing the majority of fourth quarters too? I seriously think Nate is tanking games.
13-19 and in the last two weeks they've lost to Philly, Toronto, and Boston at home. I didn't see the Philly or Toronto games, but the Boston game last night was just brutal coaching. Oh, and one last thing about Nate, LaMarcus Aldridge - DNP Coach's Decision. Thanks, thanks a lot.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Back In The Saddle
I'm finally back from my holiday travel so prepare for an epic run of posting through the end of the season. Feel free to skip down to the Season Status/PER check if you want to read Blazers stuff, but I need to have one of my freak outs here for a minute, totally unbasketball related. Alaska Airlines, which I typically love, had a solid F- performance in my travels this week. There was a 5 hour delay on my flight while 4 other flights had no problem making the perilous journey from Oakland to Portland. Ordinarily this type of thing doesn't bother me a whole lot, but Oakland International Airport is a disaster on every level imaginable. That has to be the worst airport on the planet (and yes I know the whole "what do you expect, it's Oakland?" thing applies). There's like 8 gates total, 1 bar with roughly 6 tables and a tiny tv over the bar, and 50,000 people trying to get in there. Bad times, bad times all around. I don't think people appreciate PDX enough, fantastic airport compared to others around the country.
Well, now I feel better. The Blazers sit 13-18, 4th in their division and ahead of only the Hornets, Sonics, and Griz in the West, that Philly loss at home stings. Still, it's hard to call the first two months anything but a success overall. The PER check, and remember 15 is the league average:
The Marcus: 15.37. Somehow he's on Nate's shit list and there doesn't appear to be any reason for it other than some vague comments from time to time. He's the team's best center and he's racking up one DNP-Coach's Decision after another. This vexes me, I'm terribly vexed.
Dan Dickau: 8.75. He's still on the team? I need some verification.
Johnny Dixon: 10.88. I am not a Dixon fan. He shoots too much, misses way too much, is a dreadful passer and defender and he's one of Nate's favorite guys. This upsets me but not as much as the Aldridge Situation (this needs a full post and will get one shortly).
Jarrett Jack: 16.23. I think it's safe for you jersey wearers out there to buy a Jack #1, he's going to be around for a long time. Just a rock solid NBA point guard, looks like a young Chauncey Billups to me.
Raef LaFrentz: Incomplete. We'll see how he progresses, he hasn't played enough to generate a reliable PER. I think he's useful off the bench.
The All Star: 10.38. He's freaking garbage. His last 3 years have been 12.91, 11.16, and now he's at 10.38 and logging heavy minutes off the bench over Aldridge and he's not even close to being as good as Aldridge is right now. Again, there's a long, insult laced tirade coming on this in a day or two, trust me.
Travis Outlaw: 15.39. Far better than I expected, and anyone who said they expected this type of performance is lying through their teeth. Finally starting to show off some of that potential he was drafted with.
Joel Przybilla: 8.75. Everyone loves The Captain, and he's played better lately, but I can't give him a free pass, he's been shitty. Any team actually playing to win or building for the future would have him coming off the bench and starting...forget it.
Z-bo: 26.36. Just an animal this year. He's a no doubt all star this year and if it was based purely off merit he'd be the starting power forward. He's been nothing less than the best power forward in the NBA this year. He obliterated a very good defensive Utah front line last night for 34 and 13 and it didn't even surprise me. He may actually be worth that max contract.
Sergio Rodriguez: 15.28. Can't shoot at all, but a terrific looking passer and ball handler. I don't think we're going to be needing any point guards in the draft or in free agency for a long time. We've got two very good ones, and that's not even counting the next guy on the list...
Brandon Roy: 15.53. The Savior is back in the lineup, but not quite as amazing as he started off the year. That foot/heel/ankle injury is going to bother him all year, but I like the way they've gone about it. Get him in there for an average of about 25-30 minutes a night, don't abuse him, but let him get this first season out of the way, then clean up whatever is going on in there. He's the leader of this franchise already, and with this year of experience under his belt, he should be a force next year, I see a possible playoff team next year with Jack, Roy, Z-bo, and Aldridge leading the way (please, if there's a God, let Durant be the final name in that starting 5).
Ime Udoka: 12.01. It's very hard not to like Udoka, he's basically Ruben Patterson without all the bullshit. He doesn't think he's a star, only shoots when he's open or has an open lane, dives for balls on the floor, plays good defense, etc. I think he might be a Blazer and a fan favorite for the next three to five years. However, he needs to be an energy guy off the bench, the team still lacks a quality small forward.
Martell Webster: 11.38. I'm done with Martell. I've tried to be patient, but this guy just isn't a building block for the future of this franchise, no matter what Subterfuge Stevie says. He sucks. He might be a nice bench sniper at some point in his career but he needs to be traded along with The All Star or Miles' contract before everyone else realizes that he's pretty much useless.
One final note, Ducks 13-0, will probably be 14-0 and facing the #1 UCLA Bruins in The Pit on Saturday. I will be in the fetal position all day. The Pac 10 is a monster this year, I'm not going overboard with the Ducks right now, I think they finish 10-8 in conference, 22-8 overall, and grab a 6 seed in the Big Dance.
Happy New Year everybody, Go Blazers and Go Ducks.
Well, now I feel better. The Blazers sit 13-18, 4th in their division and ahead of only the Hornets, Sonics, and Griz in the West, that Philly loss at home stings. Still, it's hard to call the first two months anything but a success overall. The PER check, and remember 15 is the league average:
The Marcus: 15.37. Somehow he's on Nate's shit list and there doesn't appear to be any reason for it other than some vague comments from time to time. He's the team's best center and he's racking up one DNP-Coach's Decision after another. This vexes me, I'm terribly vexed.
Dan Dickau: 8.75. He's still on the team? I need some verification.
Johnny Dixon: 10.88. I am not a Dixon fan. He shoots too much, misses way too much, is a dreadful passer and defender and he's one of Nate's favorite guys. This upsets me but not as much as the Aldridge Situation (this needs a full post and will get one shortly).
Jarrett Jack: 16.23. I think it's safe for you jersey wearers out there to buy a Jack #1, he's going to be around for a long time. Just a rock solid NBA point guard, looks like a young Chauncey Billups to me.
Raef LaFrentz: Incomplete. We'll see how he progresses, he hasn't played enough to generate a reliable PER. I think he's useful off the bench.
The All Star: 10.38. He's freaking garbage. His last 3 years have been 12.91, 11.16, and now he's at 10.38 and logging heavy minutes off the bench over Aldridge and he's not even close to being as good as Aldridge is right now. Again, there's a long, insult laced tirade coming on this in a day or two, trust me.
Travis Outlaw: 15.39. Far better than I expected, and anyone who said they expected this type of performance is lying through their teeth. Finally starting to show off some of that potential he was drafted with.
Joel Przybilla: 8.75. Everyone loves The Captain, and he's played better lately, but I can't give him a free pass, he's been shitty. Any team actually playing to win or building for the future would have him coming off the bench and starting...forget it.
Z-bo: 26.36. Just an animal this year. He's a no doubt all star this year and if it was based purely off merit he'd be the starting power forward. He's been nothing less than the best power forward in the NBA this year. He obliterated a very good defensive Utah front line last night for 34 and 13 and it didn't even surprise me. He may actually be worth that max contract.
Sergio Rodriguez: 15.28. Can't shoot at all, but a terrific looking passer and ball handler. I don't think we're going to be needing any point guards in the draft or in free agency for a long time. We've got two very good ones, and that's not even counting the next guy on the list...
Brandon Roy: 15.53. The Savior is back in the lineup, but not quite as amazing as he started off the year. That foot/heel/ankle injury is going to bother him all year, but I like the way they've gone about it. Get him in there for an average of about 25-30 minutes a night, don't abuse him, but let him get this first season out of the way, then clean up whatever is going on in there. He's the leader of this franchise already, and with this year of experience under his belt, he should be a force next year, I see a possible playoff team next year with Jack, Roy, Z-bo, and Aldridge leading the way (please, if there's a God, let Durant be the final name in that starting 5).
Ime Udoka: 12.01. It's very hard not to like Udoka, he's basically Ruben Patterson without all the bullshit. He doesn't think he's a star, only shoots when he's open or has an open lane, dives for balls on the floor, plays good defense, etc. I think he might be a Blazer and a fan favorite for the next three to five years. However, he needs to be an energy guy off the bench, the team still lacks a quality small forward.
Martell Webster: 11.38. I'm done with Martell. I've tried to be patient, but this guy just isn't a building block for the future of this franchise, no matter what Subterfuge Stevie says. He sucks. He might be a nice bench sniper at some point in his career but he needs to be traded along with The All Star or Miles' contract before everyone else realizes that he's pretty much useless.
One final note, Ducks 13-0, will probably be 14-0 and facing the #1 UCLA Bruins in The Pit on Saturday. I will be in the fetal position all day. The Pac 10 is a monster this year, I'm not going overboard with the Ducks right now, I think they finish 10-8 in conference, 22-8 overall, and grab a 6 seed in the Big Dance.
Happy New Year everybody, Go Blazers and Go Ducks.
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