Trail Post - A Portland Trail Blazers Blog

Fire Nate.

Okay, I say that every season after the second loss due to questionable player management by Nate McMillan, and it’s mostly meant as a joke, but still: Fire Nate.

What changed from last year to this year with Nate? Sure, Batum’s out, but Webster’s a better player (I said it), and we lost Sergio Rodriguez for Andre Miller. For some reason, though, Nate has no clue who Andre Miller is. I can give him a clue, because I’ve said it quite a few times in this blog: he’s a rich man’s Sergio Rodriguez. That’s all you need to know Nate. Don’t play him like he’s not Sergio Rodriguez - he is. Would you ever put Sergio in with Steve Blake? No. Don’t do it with Andre. Remember last year when you would go to a lineup of Blake, Roy, Rudy, Travis, and LaMarcus, with either a bit of Greg and Joel sprinkled in? That worked! We won a lot of games with that group. The key behind what you did though, was not the variety of the lineups, but the consistency.

Anyway, a game happened last night and we got destroyed because Nate McMillan can’t do his job. That’s wrong, a few players contributed some crappiness to help Nate fulfill his destiny as Doc Rivers mk. II.

Andre Miller - He was crap. Don’t look at the 11 assists. Can you actually remember any of them? Off the top of my head, I can only count two. He got those assists because the guys were making jumpers, not because of a brilliant pass. He also had by far the worst +/- of the night, clocking in with an atrocious -13 (Steve Blake had a +2 so we can’t even blame the Blake/Miller lineup for this). Dude doesn’t fit. He needs to learn how to soon, or we’re going to see a lot more of what we got tonight. Andre Miller is not an answer to any question we want asked. (Here’s a question he is an answer to: “How do you turn a 54-win team into a 41-win team?”)

Joel Przybilla - Great job, Joel. You were good on defense, and you had a lot of hustle. Oh, you were held out of the game after playing only 19 minutes. Damn refs, they must have been all over…oh, you only had two fouls. Well, it’s good that Greg Oden was doing so well to keep you ou…oh, Oden only played 16 minutes due to foul trouble. So we had a center in for only 35 minutes last night, and we got outrebounded by ten. See, here’s the issue with Nate McMillan, and it’s been boiling during his entire tenure here: for all the reputation he has as a great defensive coach, he has absolutely no trust in his defense. Last season, we would consistently bring Travis Outlaw in for his offense to help us come back when it was his lack of defense that caused the deficit and made it worse. Well, now that Travis is reliable, Nate’s found a different way to do this - he pulls the goalie, he puts four guards in a lineup. When we fall behind Nate doesn’t understand that defense and rebounding can create offense, even though that was the reason for our lead in the first quarter. Oh well, Nate, do what you please, you’re the guy on the one year contract.

Everyone Else - Mediocre, by their standards. However, mediocre by their standards should be enough to win a game. LaMarcus and Brandon put up 20, Marty took over the game for a little while, and Travis got in the scoring action too with 19 points of his own. All good and normal Blazer things that usually contribute to a win. Except we lost.

So, final word, this team is good, but it needs a steady hand to lead it. Fire Nate, at least until he gets a little confidence in the team.

Welcome back after a weekend spent going 1 and 1 in two games we were supposed to win handily. Let’s get onto the Rockets.

The Rockets

Wow, we sucked. Nothing you can really say. Brandon Roy and LaMarcus played near flawless games and still couldn’t get us a win. Most of that is probably due to not one other player being able to make a shot. It was sad. Upside, that was probably our first legitimate offensive performance. Downside, that was without a doubt our worst defensive performance. Okay, I’ll level with you, I watched only a little under half of this game because the Ducks dismantling USC was much more pressing. So, uh, go Ducks.

The Thunder

Wow, the refs are rusty. That was a rough game to watch. Just constant fouling and no calls. Before the last second foul flurry from the Thunder in order to stop the clock, they were up on total free throws by nearly twenty. Any impartial observer could see that the Blazers missed out on at least 8 free throws over the course of the game. It was not good. Still, the Blazers won, and lets let individual players tell the story.

Travis Outlaw - Travis is still wrestling with his old self out there on the floor. Gone are most of the mistakes that had us groaning throughout his career, but he still lets his Dark Passenger emerge at inopportune moments, doing his shimmy and sidestep at the top of the key with 15 left on the shot clock and lapsing on defense. Don’t let this make you think I’m down on Travis, I’m not. He’s much improved, and for the first time in a while, I’m happy to see him in a game.

Martell Webster - Trail Post loves Martell. I blame Saturday night’s loss on the lack of Martell. Only 15 minutes for the greatest small forward of all time? What’s wrong, Nate? I exaggerate. Martell played big minutes Sunday and he was a big part in holding the anointed Scoring Leader of 2010 to 3/21 shooting. He also brought down the Chaos Dunk, this time on elbow-happy banger Etan Thomas. (Seriously, though, Etan Thomas may be one of the worst players to be against in the league. Any mediocre rebounder who swings elbows like that is trouble.)

Greg Oden - He beat Kevin Durant in the head to head again. In games where they’ve played each other, more often than not, Oden comes out better than Durant. Don’t know why it happens, but I’m happy it does. He played like Oden again, making a difference on both ends. Just cut down on the threes in the key.

Steve Blake - Welcome back. I don’t know what clicked, but I’m happy it did. We need some sort of production from our point guards to be a good team, and Steve played like last year’s version of him. Our offense doesn’t work when he can’t make his three pointer reliably.

Everyone Else - Meh. Just to be an a-hole, and because 82games.com hasn’t updated for the new season, I’m going to do the week in +/-, showing you how our guys are looking on the floor through week one.
Name: #’s: Overall: Avg
Martell +14 +9 -6 +12 = +29 7.25
Aldridge -7 -13 +8 +12 = 0 0
Oden +6 +6 -5 +9 = +16 4
Roy -1 +1 -1 +12 = +11 2.75
Blake +4 -5 +1 +13 = +13 3.25
Outlaw +15 +5 -2 +3 = +21 5.25
Miller +1 -1 -6 -8 = -14 -3.5
Rudy +9 -10 -3 -4 = -8 -2
Joel +4 -6 -6 -2= -10 -2.5
Howard -1 -2 = -3 -1.5

So, that’s ugly and I don’t feel like making it pretty, but I’ll run it down for you. Thus far, Martell and Travis have been by far our best players in terms of the incredibly flawed +/- stat. However, anyone who’s watched a game thus far this season, could probably assume that Martell would be up near the top. His energy and effort completely changes the complexion of games. Travis’ new commitment to defense and rebounding is obviously showing up in this. LA was plain bad to start the season, yet recovered nicely over the weekend. Oden has been the other consistently good player for the team, another fact that’s been obvious over the games. Roy has been middling at +1/-1 through the first three, which is probably a product of time played and the closeness of those games, though he picked up a big + with the rest of the starting unit last night. Blake has been good, but did almost all of his positive last night.

Now onto the bad. Except for Travis Outlaw, the bench has disappointed +/- wise. (I never thought I’d write those words.) Surprisingly, Rudy got his worst +/- in his best game, the Denver match. That could be due to his being in the whole time when we lost the lead in the fourth quarter. Joel has been pretty uniformly low, though his foul trouble (10.8 per 48) has been much more disturbing than any +/- amount. Andre Miller has been the weak link constantly, with his best performance being a +1 in the first game and never getting above that again so far this season. After a week, it looks like the most likely candidates for fan hatred and scapegoatdom this season are probably Rudy Fernandez and Andre Miller (congrats Trav!). And by that, I mean Andre Miller exclusively. He’s dealing with a perfect storm of not fitting in well, not communicating with the city well, and just not playing well. Fans are bound to hate him. Due to the small sample size we have, it’s wrong to jump to just about any conclusions, save that Martell Webster deserves much more time, and that it’s a blessing that Travis Outlaw has been so incredibly reliable after Batum’s injury.

Sorry, for the lack of recap, so I’ll just make it short and sweet.

We are not screwed. We played like crap. Carmelo played out of his mind. We only lost by 3 points. We’re not that bad and Denver is not that good. Let’s just leave it at that.

Nate McMillan has no idea what he’s doing. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It seems that he still doesn’t know what works and what doesn’t on this new roster. It’s amazing what a difference replacing Sergio with Andre is.

Martell Webster makes your dreams come true. He’s awesome.

Greg Oden is not a delicate flower. Yes, he pretty much blew the game last night, but no, he’s not going regress into some sort of depressed troll living under the Broadway Bridge (No matter how awesome it would be.).

Travis Outlaw, keep it up. Nate may not be playing you, but we have noticed your renewed commitment to defense, and absolutely love it.

Rudy, you seem sad without Sergio. Lo siento.

Finally, over at Blazers Edge, Ben asked the question what line up should finish a game, and my answer was WAFOR. In case you don’t know, that’s Webster, Aldridge, Fernandez, Oden, and Roy. It basically combines everything beautiful about Blazer basketball into one sweet package. Non-stop rebounding from Aldridge/Oden/Webster, non-stop movement from Webster/Fernandez, and good defense from Oden/Occasionally Webster. And Brandon Roy being godlike.

Sleep well Blazer fans, tomorrow is another game.

Read these! You will be the smartest fan in the world, not to mention there are some great storylines happening in the Southeast right now.

Atlanta Hawks: Peachtree Hoops    

Charlotte Bobcats: Rufus on Fire | QueenCityHoops

Miami Heat: Peninsula Is Mightier | SportsAgentBlog.com    

Orlando Magic: Third Quarter Collapse    

Washington Wizards: Bullets Forever | Hoops Addict | Truth About It

Bonus Links: See full schedule here | Also see SBNation preview storystream

You’ve probably heard about this already, but I’ll break it down really quickly. Tim Donaghy was an NBA ref. He got caught betting. He went to jail. He wrote a tell-all book. Deadspin covered the controversial parts of the book.

It connected to the Blazers. I’m guessing you already know how it’s connected to the Blazers without even clicking that link. Here’s the quote.

The 2002 series certainly wasn’t the first or last time Bavetta weighed in on an important game. He also worked Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Trail Blazers. The Lakers were down by 13 at the start of the fourth quarter when Bavetta went to work. The Lakers outscored Portland 31–13 in the fourth quarter and went on to win the game and the series. It certainly didn’t hurt the Lakers that they got to shoot 37 free throws compared to a paltry 16 for the Trail Blazers.

FFFFFFUUUUUUU. So, basically, everything us Blazer fans have been saying for nearly a decade is true. The refs kept us from a title in 2000 (at least a chance at it). It’s like a guy claiming he got abducted by aliens driving up to the White House in a flying saucer.

So, what does this revelation mean relative to Blazer fandom? Surprisingly little. Here’s the real question: what would you have preferred happen in 2000? The logical response is a title. There would be Rasheed Wallace statues dotting Pioneer Courthouse Square, and pot would be legalized in Portland just to keep Damon Stoudamire around. “Mighty Mouse” would be the name of his specific brand. That video I was talking about from last night? It would feature that team exclusively. We would be asking where the hell Clyde Drexler was. Arvydas Sabonis’ number would be retired right now.

What else could have happened? We could have won that game against the Lakers, and then unceremoniously lost to the Pacers. Then what would we be? Also-rans. Better put, nothing. We’d be the 76ers, the Knicks.

Still, we got the hand we got. We lost in spectacular fashion that has since revealed to be less than legit. There’s something about it though: it was a crystallizing moment for the younger generation of fans (of which I count myself a proud member). It was there where you either jumped the bandwagon and followed the Lakers for championship after championship, or you stayed home with the Blazers, basking in the failure, experiencing Saving Private Ryan-styled flashbacks of towels flying at Sabas’ face. That failure was more permanent, more significant than any title the Lakers ever won this last decade.

Look at the presence of Blazer fans on the internet today. This blog is a great example. When I started this just over a year ago, there were (that I knew of then) at least four different outlets for Blazer fans to get news. Now, I know of nearly a dozen, and even more impressive, each of them are worthwhile. No fanbase can touch the rabidness and online presence of Rip City. Now, the real question: do you think that exists without that loss in 2000? Are you reading this today without that loss? Are you pacing through not just the top tier blogs for commentary, but even going down into my little corner of the internet just to get a little bit more, a different perspective? I think not. You’re satisfied if we win that game and the title. Rabid fandom is defined not by winning, but losing, and losing in impressive fashion. Everyone has their version of the story of the 2000 WCF. It’s the Blazer fan’s version of the Kennedy Assassination. It unites us. Everyone knows where they were when it happened.

When seeing this news, let’s not look at it through the lens of where we were then; let’s look through the lens of today. What has that horrible event made us? Tortured, sure, but also strong. Blazer fans had the balls to stand up to team management and say “no more” when they didn’t feel the team represented them. They care about the team not only as a group of guys with black and red uniforms, but as family members. There’s not one person in the city who wouldn’t give pumpkin pie to Martell Webster. What happens if we won? There would be the parade, and there would be the great summer afterward. Then it would be gone. The Lakers are the champions next year, and we’re just another team. A wisp.

Brando’s “I coulda been a contender” speech from On the Waterfront comes to mind. A fight he was in was fixed, and he got reduced to working the docks. Terry Malloy’s pain and regret when saying the line draws you into his state of mind. It was his anguish that made this hit so hard, that he failed, and he didn’t even fail on his own terms, but he’s still going, still trying to do something. That’s where it became art.

That leaves us to look at the game. It gets called right, we win it, and we may win the championship. It’s wrong, and instead we get something to rally around, we fans have a badge of honor from the loss, we get art. You know what? Nine years on, I’ll take that second option every time.

Man, it’s nice to write something that isn’t a preview. To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the team, the Blazers had a new introduction video they showed to the fans (and thank God, because that “Welcome to the Jungle” thing was rote and cliched. At least the “Oh Fortuna” one had the unintentional comedy factor of Ike Diogu trying to look like Gerard Butler.) that celebrated the forty years of Blazer history. Or, it simply celebrated the 1977 team, the 1988-93 team, and the 2006-present team.

Issue #1: Where are the Jailblazers? Okay, I know lots of Portland fans have (misguided) opinions about them, but they’re as important a chapter in the history of the team as the Drexler team, if not more. How incredible was it that they were able to destroy the allegiance of a fan base even though they were the only show in town? According to the video, the only members of the turn of the century Western Conference Finals team were Arvydas Sabonis (one shot), Brian Grant (two shots), and Scottie Pippen (three shots). Sure the lack of Arvydas is appalling, but that’s something I feel daily. (I go to work, there’s not enough Arvydas there, I go see “This Is It,” why isn’t Arvydas a backup dancer?) Why gloss over this huge chapter in our history? I’m not asking for Darius Miles and Zach Randolph, but hometown hero Damon Stoudamire would be nice. Rasheed Wallace was our franchise player for well over half a decade, couldn’t we have had at least a glimpse of his white spot? I’m a bit proven wrong, though, because I remember seeing Isaiah Rider on the screen.

Issue #2: Ha ha Rick Adelman. There were quite a few shots during the video featuring Adelman as the Blazers early-90s coach. As soon as I saw them, my attention diverted to the now-bearded Rockets coach. His reaction? Nothing. Lifeless. Then again, what reaction should I expect? Should he go into the crowd and find Bill Schonely and weep in his lap, apologizing for leaving? Still, a smile would have been nice, maybe a nod or a wave to the fans. (Or signing a contract as the new head coach.)

Anyway, the game itself was a no doubter by the end of the second quarter. Blazers started slow, and the Rockets were kept afloat (as they were the whole game) by a steady stream of free throws (they outdrew the Blazers 29-22, but that margin was helped by a few intentional fouls to end the game). By the fourth quarter, the Rockets staged a comeback when both of our centers were out due to foul trouble. Joel picked up his fourth, fifth, and sixth almost instantly, while Greg Oden had five on the bench. (LaMarcus had five.) This led Nate to decide to match up with them by going super small, playing Andre Miller and Steve Blake at the same time. As bad as this sounds, it looked even worse. Needless to say, the Rockets came back hard, as Adelman internally giggled at how bad he was outcoaching Nate McMillan. Once it got to a six point game, Oden made his return, and safely put it out of reach almost instantaneously, blocking and rebounding everything in sight. Put it simply: Rick Adelman has Nate’s coaching number. Nate doesn’t get beaten badly by a lot of coaches, but Adelman knows how to do it.

Onto the players!

Travis Outlaw: Travis brought it last night. Through the middle of the third quarter, he was the definition of Good Travis. He was playing defense (!), jostling for rebounds (!), and just being generally pleasant to watch on the offensive end (!). He’s the reason we got that huge lead. His shots were falling. Still, things for him went south a bit toward the end of the game, as he trended back to Bad Trav habits such as failing to play defense and not working on offense. Overall, a great game for him, and definitely relieving to see in the wake of Batum’s injury (!) (That last one was unnecessary.).

Superstars: Brandon looked good last night but he missed a ton of shots. He made up for it by drawing at least three star calls to get to the free throw line. He’s getting his respect. He missed a layup terribly with an airball and he also got blocked because he telegraphed his switch to the left hand on a layup. LaMarcus was made a non-factor by the referees, as he stewed with foul trouble the whole game.

Martell Webster: Welcome back Marty. He is electric on the floor. On defense, he plays like Ruben Patterson minus the raping. Just constant hustle plays and momentum changers. On offense, jeez. He’s basically another Rudy out there. I was psyched before the game to see him and Rudy get some run at the same time with Andre Miller and I was not disappointed. They are scary together. Constant chaos and motion on offense.

Greg Oden: LET GREG TOUCH THE BALL. He goes for 12 rebounds and 5 blocked shots and he only gets to shoot three times? Oh right, he had seven turnovers. I was there, and I didn’t even notice it was happening. A few travels, a few 3s in the key, and boom. The turnovers are something we need to work on quite a bit.

Andre Miller: Great first game. He showed a bit of everything we expected. He made great passes (the best was through the outstretched arms of a defender to LaMarcus for an easy dunk) and missed some jumpers. Pretty much exactly what we expected. The good news is that I’ll only compare him to Sergio Rodriguez this whole season. He’s much better than Sergio could ever hope to be.

Joel Przybilla Murder Watch: Carl Landry just got on the list.

Rudygate: In the most ironic event of the night, Rudy got called for a clear path foul for going across Trevor Ariza’s arms while Ariza was on a fast break. This ended up as two points and the ball. Those of us with good memories remember when this went the other way. Rudy broke away and Ariza destroyed him with a flagrant foul. Rudy had a chance to run alongside him and basically do what Ariza did to him. He didn’t. Rudy is a classy dude.

It was a fun game to watch, and a fun one to be at. That swag bag was pretty rad too. I’ll be wearing that flashing Blazers pendant always.

Yo Tay, I’m really happy for you and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of ALL TIME. One of the best videos of all time.

For Brandon Roy, who still remains on the outside of the conversation with regards to being one of the most valuable players in the NBA. There are only a few players that can even compare to Roy in terms of value to their respective teams. There’s Kobe, there’s LeBron, there’s Dwight Howard, and there’s Chris Paul. Removal of one of these guys turns a great team into a 30-win team. I wish I could show up like Kanye did, and just interrupt media members who forget about Brandon. “Yo Kornheiser, etc.”

We’re keeping this one short and sweet, simply because you can look around in the last few blog posts to find your taste of ridiculous Brandon Roy hyperbole. Okay, one more for the road. Brandon Roy invented a time machine, and taught Annie Sullivan the sign language for “water,” which she later used as her breakthrough with Helen Keller. He miracle worked the Miracle Worker.

The season’s finally here, and I’ll see you at tonight’s game - I’ll be the one pouring out a $20 beer for Nico’s shoulder.

Read Trail Post’s complete 2009-2010 player preview series.

Read Rudy Fernandez’ preview

Read Jerryd Bayless’ preview

Read Nicolas Batum’s preview

Read Juwan Howard’s/Dante Cunningham’s preview

Read Travis Outlaw’s preview

Read Martell Webster’s preview

Read LaMarcus Aldridge’s preview

Read Andre Miller and Steve Blake’s preview

Read Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden’s preview.

Was Kanye the most overlooked? Yes sir. Now is Kanye the most overbooked, yes sir.

Joel can’t help it. After toiling in obscurity with the title “big white stiff” attached so firmly to his back for his first half-decade in the league, he’s found himself in a different position with the Blazers, especially over the last two years, and especially today. He’s the big sub. He’s one of the top rebounders in the NBA, as sound a screener as you’ll find, and a defensive stopper. Basically, he’s a starting center on half the teams in the NBA.

However, he is not a starting center with the Portland Trailblazers. He’s a brilliant second option, and he’ll far outclass anyone he faces with the second unit, leading to fun exchanges where he piles up ten rebounds in less than ten minutes due to facing whichever power forward masquerading as a center he’s against that night. This will lead to something else, too; Joel will be overrated this season. He will do what he did last year, and come off the bench and clean up Greg’s messes, and will, at least a few times, be called on to be the starter by fans and local media. If our centers were MTV fake reality shows, Joel would be the LC-centered The Hills, as he does the same thing every night, occasionally has a feud with some scrub, does work that some may call ugly, and builds up a sizable fan base.

A lot of pressure for one human being.

This brings us to The City, Greg Oden. Like The City, Greg Oden is younger and more culturally relevant, along with being a million times more watchable. His first full season in action was much like the MTV fake drama’s, where a lot of times, you had no idea what was happening, nor any clue of the logic behind people’s motivations. Why does Whitney’s best friend just spend the whole season sitting down on the couch in boy shorts? Why does Greg Oden foul point guards all the time? THEY JUST DO. The City’s second season has cut the fat of Whitney’s terrible boyfriend, Jay, along with abandoning said boy-shorts-wearing best friend, much like how Oden has dropped 15 pounds for this new season. Beyond that, the storyline of Olivia Palermo trying to sink Elle magazine through total incompetence in buying accessories for a photo shoot mirrors Oden’s upcoming season in that it is something special, a bold new direction that completely forsakes the last season, eventually overcoming what it was playing behind.

Oh yeah, I gotta address the Kanye quote. I think it’s pretty obvious. Read any other Blazer preview out there. (I’m sure you have.) Every time the modifier “if” is used, it is followed by “Greg Oden does well.” The Blazers play well “if Greg Oden does well.” The Blazers defense improves “if Greg Oden does well.” I’ll buy a chalupa “if Greg Oden does well.” We will have nationalized health care “if Greg Oden does well.” He’s the guy with all the pressure on his shoulders, as he’s the key to reaching the next level. It is a lot of pressure for one person.

Read the other previews:

Read Rudy Fernandez’ preview

Read Jerryd Bayless’ preview

Read Nicolas Batum’s preview

Read Juwan Howard’s/Dante Cunningham’s preview

Read Travis Outlaw’s preview

Read Martell Webster’s preview

Read LaMarcus Aldridge’s preview

Read Andre Miller and Steve Blake’s preview

Check out our loyal competition, along with some of the great previews from other Blazer websites out there.

Denver Nuggets  - Denver Stiffs | The Nugg Doctor

Minnesota Timberwolves - Canis Hoopus | Empty the Bench | TWolvesBlog

Oklahoma City Thunder - Blue Blitz | Daily Thunder

Portland Trail Blazers - Blazersedge | A Stern Warning | The Rip City Project | Blaze of Love | BustaBucket | Trail Post

Utah Jazz - SLC Dunk | True Blue Jazz

Bonus Links: See full schedule here | Also see SBNation preview storystream

My ambition got the best of me, so we’ll be ending the preview series with a few double previews. Anyway, on to the quotes.

Fuck this! It cost a million dollars. Pamela Anderson was in it, I was jumping across canyons and shit! If I don’t win, the awards show loses credibility.

Kanye spoke these words at the European Video Music Awards as the video for the Justice remix of Simian Mobile Disco’s “We Are Your Friends” took the prize over his Evel Knievel homage “Touch the Sky.” He went up on stage and interrupted the French favorites with this quote. Here’s what Kanye got right: he deserved the prize, and the show did lose credibility to give it to a boring video. Here’s what he didn’t understand: nobody cares about the award winners at the VMAs, and they care even less about the European VMAs. Would anyone ever preface an introduction to Kanye with “one-time European Video Music Award winner”?

Which brings us to Andre Miller and the point guard controversy. Here’s the point: it doesn’t matter. Miller is a hell of a player, the jumping across canyons and shit player, and honestly, if he doesn’t end up starting at some point, Nate McMillan does lose a little credibility. Still, as long as we win, I really couldn’t care less who is our starter at point guard. Miller seems like he’d be a better fit with some flyers off the bench like Rudy Fernandez and Martell Webster (or even Travis Outlaw), but once again, these matters aren’t that important. Miller has this image of some sort of brooder who leaves practice early to listen to Joy Division. He’s probably just a guy that likes to keep to himself, and has a good amount of self-awareness. He will get his minutes and by the middle of the season, he will thrive with those minutes. Just remember this refrain if you doubt Andre: he’s replacing Sergio Rodriguez.

If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don’t appreciate the moment until it’s passed.

Which brings us to Steve Blake. There aren’t many players in the NBA who follow this quote like Steve Blake. As long as he’s been with the Blazers, he’s been hounded by the local media (this humble outlet included) to lose his starting spot, and all he does is improve. When he arrived, he was barely a starter for a team that struggled to get 20 wins, and now he’s the solidified starter of a 50-plus win team. He went through challenges for his spot from Jarrett Jack, Sebastian Telfair, Sergio Rodriguez, Taurean Green, and Jerryd Bayless, and he emerged from them relatively unscathed. You can tell he appreciates every moment in the NBA and maintains a death grip to stay on in the league.

He’s valuable to this team because he’s probably among the most aware of what his limitations are, and what needed to be improved upon. His three point shooting, which he didn’t have coming into the league, that he’s developed over his career has made him nearly indispensable to the team, as there isn’t another player on the roster who plays point guard and can hit the three pointer with consistency. Last year, he not only hit at a good clip at 43%, he was a volume shooter, landing in the top 25 of total three pointers made. Until Bayless learns to do that (Andre Miller simply can’t), Blake’s going to get his time.

This year, he’ll have Jerryd Bayless and Andre Miller on him again, but I expect him to just do what he always does: play steady, hit open three pointers, and not give Nate McMillan a reason to take him out of the lineup. It does lead me to wonder, though: what would happen if he definitively received the starting nod? Would he get complacent and start eating Cheetos on the sideline, with big orange stains on the front of his jersey whenever he would check in? Make the announcement, Nate, let’s test it out.

Read the other previews:

Read Rudy Fernandez’ preview

Read Jerryd Bayless’ preview

Read Nicolas Batum’s preview

Read Juwan Howard’s/Dante Cunningham’s preview

Read Travis Outlaw’s preview

Read Martell Webster’s preview

Read LaMarcus Aldridge’s preview

Now I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger.

Sixty-five million over the next five seasons. Listen, I’m not saying he’s a gold digger. Okay, maybe a little bit, but he’s worth it. Right? Right? I’ve been on board with him signing for 90% of the max contract since the summer, but actually seeing the numbers in front of me, a guy who has yet to make an All-Star game (though according to him, he missed it by one person last year) getting that much money brings up nasty memories of Darius Miles and Theo Ratliff. Let’s just be thankful for Paul Allen’s Money.

So, LaMarcus himself? He’s going to be great this year, and he’s made serious strides in the past year. After relying on an albeit good fadeaway jumper every single possession for the first half of last season, he learned that he can pivot towards the basket and became the offensive beast down the stretch that we all knew and loved. He was the reason the Blazers were one of the most dominant teams in the NBA over the last two months. Like we’ve heard his whole career, he has the potential to be the best player on the team, it’s just a matter of will it happen.

Well, it’s not happening this season, but he’ll be an even more valuable contributor than he was the year before. As much as anyone, he’s been given a supreme vote of confidence. There’s less competition for his starting spot than there is for Brandon Roy’s, and he’s now one of the most expensive players in the NBA. He knows he needs to earn that money. And he will take responsibility for it.

Addendum: Travis Outlaw’s new quote won’t be “Let’s agree to disagree.” It will be stumbling through a bathroom, barfing a torrent of rose petals, then falling to the ground. When he looks over, he will see a bowie knife. He stands up, looks in the mirror, and proceeds to cut open his abdomen, as even more rose petals tumble out. He reaches in and pulls out a tiny rodent demon. He places said demon on the bathroom counter, and then pulls out a tiny demon-sized bowie knife from the handle of his bowie knife. He gives the knife to the demon, and then the demon commits seppuku.

Not really a quote, but if that’s what needs to be done for Travis to play defense and learn how not to step on the three-point line, I’m for it. Who has the mushrooms?

Read the other player previews!

Read Rudy Fernandez’ preview

Read Jerryd Bayless’ preview

Read Nicolas Batum’s preview

Read Juwan Howard’s/Dante Cunningham’s preview

Read Travis Outlaw’s preview

Read Martell Webster’s preview

The NBA: where 80 free throws in a game happens.

I remember when I first heard about the referee strike. I was at media day (horribly uninformed, so sue me) and I was asking Ben from Blazers Edge what he might ask about, and then he mentioned the ongoing referees strike. I said, “Really? It’s not like they can be any worse.” Ben told me otherwise, and goddamn, I am stupid. That level of officiating was atrocious. At the beginning of game, the crowd booed vigorously every bad call, but then, by the second half, we all just gave into it, like those parents on Maury who force their hellion kids to go to boot camp. “Just don’t kill anybody,” they say. When I got on NBA.com this morning and saw this article, I had never been so happy to see Steve Javie’s smirk. Godspeed Mr. Javie, Godspeed.

Still, to blame last night’s loss on the referees would be simply stupid. We lost because we were missing (deep breath) Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Fernandez, Nicolas Batum, and Andre Miller. That’s five of our top eight players. We were Sacramento Kings-bad last night. Steve Blake was just a mess, making bad decisions, dribbling off his feet. Travis Outlaw scored ten points, but his defense gave up much more than that. Joel Przybilla was good while he was in, but was quickly removed from the game due to some questionable calls. Brandon Roy put up 15 points on 5-9 shooting, which honestly, isn’t bad at all and exactly what you wanted to see from him at this stage of the preseason. He wasn’t forcing anything, but he wasn’t looking to take over the game. I can live with that.

On to the good. Martell Webster is great. It’s that simple. You look at his stat line tonight, it’s downright Troutesque (copyright). 3-11 for 7 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 fouls, 5 turnovers. That’s ugly. That was the only ugly element of his game last night though. He got 2 steals and 4 blocked shots. He was the energy that we wanted coming off the bench. He hyped up his teammates, never gave up on defense, and had the two most exciting plays of the game. One, he received an alley-oop from Ime, the other, he blocked a shot on defense, then came back and did a circus reverse lay-up that went in as he was fouled. He creates mayhem on the court that I love to see matched with Rudy Fernandez. It is just irresistible. He’s the most likely Blazer to recreate the Chaos Dunk that destroyed Neo New York in Charles Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden. Since I haven’t done a preview for a while, and I need to finish them all within the next week, consider this paragraph Martell Webster’s. Here’s your quote and your picture.

That that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger. Now I need you to hurry up now, ’cause I can’t wait much longer.

Logic: he was injured last year, yet he’s coming back this year as hungry as he’s ever been. He is putting his body line more than anyone on the team (save Rudy Fernandez, as mentioned above) and just shows hunger. He makes mistakes right now, but he’s going to be a big-minute rotation player by November.

Back to the recap: Jarron Collins was horribly overmatched as our first center off the bench due to the lack of Greg Oden, and it showed. Boozer and Millsap abused him. We had no answer for them. Juwan Howard did his best as well, but this game was not for him, although his stat line was somewhat impressive, considering (8 and 7).

Dante Cunningham, Ime Udoka, and Jerryd Bayless did most of their work during a fourth-quarter run that got the fans back into the game. After being down 25 points with nine minutes left, this team mixed a great full-court press with Jerryd’s ability to draw fouls and Cunningham’s easy outside stroke. Before we knew it, the Blazers were back in the game, with a ten point deficit with over three minutes to go. Of course, we fell apart a bit, but damn it was fun to watch. I don’t understand why the second unit doesn’t mix in more full-court presses just to throw the other team off balance. They know how to execute it well, and it just wreaks havoc on the opponent’s rhythm.

So, big story of the game: the injuries. Looks like Oden is fine from all the reports, and so is Aldridge. Haven’t heard anything yet about Andre, and Nicolas had a bad bruise. Rudy should be coming back soon. It was great to see the Blazers after five months, but hopefully, the next time I see them will include the guys who actually play in the games.

This year, due to some diligent work from Jeff from Celtics Blog, Trail Post is joining in with quite a few other blogs from around the internet to preview the NBA season. The links I’ve been posting are part of that, and this post is this Blazers blog contribution. If the preview isn’t enough, check out the seven other Blazer blogs out there, you’ll love ‘em.

1. What significant moves were made during the offseason?

The most significant moves of the offseason for this team were the ones that didn’t happen. GM Kevin Pritchard made a huge splash early with his dogged pursuit of Hedo Turkoglu after an incredible performance in a losing effort against the Lakers. We were prepared to offer every Portland firstborn for a three point specialist who 35% last year. Luckily, Hedo’s wife intervened and determined that Portland wasn’t multicultural enough for their needs, so they departed to the Great White North. Mrs. Turkoglu is the franchise MVP until Brandon Roy’s next buzzer-beater. After Hedo fell through, the next option was to simply mess with the Utah Jazz because, honestly, why not? We had the money, and Jerry Sloan is always so unpleasant. So, we made an offer to Paul Millsap with the knowledge that the Jazz would match it. That was a success in that we screwed over the Jazz, but unsuccessful in that it revealed Kevin Pritchard to be a bit of a backstabber (read: douche) to the NBA. After these two successful failures, we signed Andre Miller, who, according to the front office, was the guy we wanted all along. Whatever. Andre Miller upgrades our point guard situation, as, in essence, we switch out Sergio Rodriguez for him. That’s unreal. Right now the local media is trying to paint him as the bad guy of the team because he isn’t as polite as Brandon Roy (But who is, honestly? I can imagine him handing out puppies on Halloween.). Beyond the free agency misadventures, we signed Juwan Howard to be our sage old man in the locker room, and drafted Dante Cunningham and Jeff Pendergraph, who got injured early. We lost fan favorite Channing Frye to the Suns (thank goodness for him and for us), traded Sergio to the Kings, got rid of lizard enthusiast Michael Ruffin, and jettisoned online hero Shavlik Randolph.

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?

One word: depth. Our second unit, whatever it’s going to be, is better than quite a few starting lineups around the NBA. There’s Roy and Rudy Fernandez at the 2, Oden and Przybilla at the 5, and Blake and Miller at the 1 as the truly deep positions. Small forward with Nicolas Batum and Martell Webster and power forward with borderline all-star LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw aren’t anything to sneeze at either. The NBA season is long and it wears you down, but the Blazers are as well-equipped to deal with that as anybody in the league.

Honorable mention: The homecourt advantage at the Rose Garden

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

Youth and inexperience. This has been the main weakness for the last half of the decade (aside from that 20-win team, whose weakness was probably just sucking really, really bad), and it continues going forward. Our season depends on the development of guys like Aldridge and Greg Oden. Sure, Oden’s been tearing it up in the preseason, but we still have to see if he’ll do it when it counts. We just don’t know what we’re going to get. If Oden doesn’t play like we hope he can, we’ll be a continual good-but-not-great team, much like the Utah Jazz.

Honorable mention: Travis Outlaw’s continued playing time

4. What are the goals for this team?

The stated goal for the team (and we heard it about a hundred times at Media Day) is to win the division outright. I hate to say that this will be easy, but it seems like an easily accomplished goal. Simply weight the improvement made by the Nuggets to that made by the Blazers. They lost Dahntay Jones and Linas Kleiza and picked up Ty Lawson. We traded Sergio for Andre Miller. That is stratospheric. With added wisdom, maturity, and experience (not to mention the return of Martell Webster), we should improve on the last season’s mark for the fourth year running. My goal for this team is the Western Conference Finals. This is going to sound incredibly homerish, but I see 62-20 optimistically being the mark for this year’s Blazers. Brief defense: our schedule is light in back to backs with above .500 teams and according to most systems, our record last year was worse than our statistics would suggest. With a few good bounces and not giving up the highest free throw percentage in the NBA (one of the flukiest things I’ve ever seen) we should be able to hit that mark. The low end of the spectrum? Same as last year: 54 wins and the division crown.

5. What’s your favorite acronym?

A storyline that’s emerged from this preseason has been the fans and radio show hosts calling for the Blazers to start the RAMBO lineup, which is Roy, Aldridge, Miller, Batum, and Oden. I think the logic in this is that is simply the most awesome acronym of all time, and leads to images of the Blazers winning by finding creative ways to use a hunting knife and explosive arrows. (It also leads to piecing together other lineups in hopes of a silly acronym. There’s BATCH [Blake, Aldridge, Travis, Cunningham, Howard] and BITCH [sub in Ime for Aldridge], along with my favorites FARTS [Fernandez, Aldridge, Roy, Travis, Steve] and BOOBS [Bayless, Oden, Outlaw, Batum, Steve]. What about the MILFS [Miller, Ime, LaMarcus, Fernandez, Steve] lineup? Basically, this whole exercise is the blogging equivalent to giggling while turning a calculator upside down and trying to make swears.) Will RAMBO play well together? Probably not. Miller’s skillset is better fit for guys such as Martell Webster and Rudy Fernandez, who wear out their defenders running around screens. The only guy getting better with this lineup is Greg Oden, as Miller is the only Blazer who wants to get him the ball. My acronym of choice? Uh, RABBO (sub Blake for Miller). Like the acronym, Steve Blake isn’t catchy, but he fits in better with Roy’s drive-and-kick style with his impressive three-point shooting ability.

Let’s just get this season going already. Anyway, thanks for reading, and check out the other Blazer blogs today - you’ll love ‘em.

The blog previews continue, this time with the Central Division. Give it a look!

Chicago Bulls

BlogABull.com | Give Me The Rock

Cleveland Cavaliers

Fear The Sword | WaitingForNextYear | Cavalier Attitude

Detroit Pistons

Motown String Music  | Empty the Bench | Pistons Nation | Need4Sheed.com

Indiana Pacers

Indy Cornrows

Milwaukee Bucks

BrewHoop

Bonus Links:

See full schedule here | Also see SBNation Central Division Storystream

Let’s agree to disagree.

Very few players get defined by something that is entirely unconscious. I can only think of Michael Jordan’s tongue wag at the moment. Well, one Blazer is famous among the fans for his own unconsciousness. Of course, I speak of Travis Outlaw and his total unawareness of where his feet are in relation to the three point line. Here’s a fun drinking game, folks. Take a shot every time he steps on the line with a jumper. Don’t blame me when you go blind.

Okay, that’s rude. Travis is the strange character that stirs up intense feelings in all Blazer fans. It’s not that you can just like certain aspects of his play. You must LOVE him. Nor can you find certain things he does annoying. You must HATE him. Well, let’s make this season with Travis the one of the middle ground.

He won’t be playing as much with the return of Martell Webster, and when he will play this year, it will be behind LaMarcus Aldridge. This is great news. Simply put, last year, Travis Outlaw the small forward was one of the worst players in the NBA, statistically speaking. He killed the team often. When he swung to power forward, he not only plugged in fine for LaMarcus – he thrived. He dragged his defenders out to the arc (occasionally even stepping behind the line) and did a serviceable job on defense. Outlaw, if we’re lucky with injuries and Nate uses him sparingly, could be an effective weapon this year. If he plays a ton of minutes, we’re in trouble.

So, let’s just break down Travis. He has a hell of a personality. He’s funny, and generally pleasant to be near. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with his skill in basketball. If basketball was a contest of seeing who I’d want to go play laser tag with on my birthday, Travis would be a frontrunner. Too bad there are pesky points to deal with and games. It’s here where Travis occasionally falls short in majestic, explosive fashion. I don’t hate Trav, but I don’t want him on the floor (except as a power forward). I know there are some of us out there who consider him an ideal option for the team. I’ll just defer to Kanye in this matter: let’s agree to disagree.

Read Rudy Fernandez’ preview

Read Jerryd Bayless’ preview

Read Nicolas Batum’s preview

Read Juwan Howard’s preview