A great article about Greg Oden (with some sweet video included).
One of the two trades the Blazers are rumored to have in the works.
The other one.
And now, a sweet 25th birthday tribute to Brandon Roy. (via OregonLive)
Showing posts with label Brandon Roy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brandon Roy. Show all posts
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I love July, but sure miss the NBA
These are getting me through a July with no NBA.
A great article about Greg Oden (with some sweet video included).
One of the two trades the Blazers are rumored to have in the works.
The other one.
And now, a sweet 25th birthday tribute to Brandon Roy. (via OregonLive)
A great article about Greg Oden (with some sweet video included).
One of the two trades the Blazers are rumored to have in the works.
The other one.
And now, a sweet 25th birthday tribute to Brandon Roy. (via OregonLive)
Friday, July 03, 2009
The best course of action
Okay, now we can really get to it. If we were willing to overpay for Turkoglu, why not do this instead: overpay for Artest and steal him away from the Lakers. We'd accomplish three things at once.
What we should really do is look to Houston. As Dave said on Blazer's Edge early this morning:
Portland sends out four good players; four players that I really like. Jerryd Bayless, Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, and Joel Przybilla. Przy and Trout go to Houston to help fill some empty spots there. But that's not enough for Houston to do it unless we help them dump T-Mac for something now. So we bring in a team that will love T-Mac's expiring deal if it can get rid of one of it's albatrosses. So McGrady goes to the Hornets, along with Martell Webster and Jerryd Bayless. The Hornets, in order to do this, have to give up the prize of the whole trade. Chris Paul comes to Portland, but they get to shed Peja Stojakavic and Morris Peterson, sending both of them to Houston. Both of those guys could potentially help with the offense of the Rockets and play shooting guard or small forward, which would help a team that just lost all three of their 2/3 type players from the year before.
In this deal New Orleans would immediately get four million in cap relief, most likely keeping them out of the luxury tax. They would get even more relief at the end of the season when McGrady's contract expires. Also, they get two young guys to build with. I know that I value Webster more highly than others, so I won't say much about him. But I think that Bayless is going to be pretty amazing, and I think a lot of other people would agree with me. Houston gets some offense to replace the loss of Artest and McGrady (who was already lost anyway), and now doesn't have the old version of Ariza to go with the new version they just signed. They also get a very good NBA center (and one that I really don't want to trade) in Joel Przybilla. He'd be the perfect back up to Yao, but for the time being he'd be a decent starter alongside Scola. I know they might not like this deal very much for the contracts they get, so we might have to add a piece to make it happen. This would be my initial offer. If the Rockets instead insisted on a guy that seems more like what they'd want in James Posey, that would work. He again fits more of the Battier/Ariza role than Morris Peterson, who on his best days is closer to a poor man's version of McGrady. Also, if either team insisted on Rudy Fernandez to make this deal go through, the Blazers could add him. That would be one more guy I really don't want to give up, but for these two guys – who I believe would put us in championship contention immediately – it would be worth it. The Blazers would then need to sign someone like Antonio McDyess or Chris Anderson at the mid-level exception to back up Oden. Actually, Anderson would fit well with Portland then, since he is similar to Przybilla but not quite as productive.
Here's how the rosters would most likely look for the three teams if they did this deal:
Houston
New Orleans
Portland
So there it is, that's the panic move that needs to happen as soon as the new salary cap is announced on July 8, since Hedo didn't pan out. I'm calling dynasty (and tons of luxury tax) in the very near future.
To see all the possible deals that work, click the corresponding link:
Without Rudy:
Posey to Houston
MoPete to Houston
With Rudy to New Orleans:
Posey to Houston
MoPete to Houston
With Rudy to Houston:
Posey to Houston
MoPete to Houston
- Get a player who is older than we want and a problem for our offense, at too high a price.
- Get a player who could help out on defense.
- Screw the Lakers.
What we should really do is look to Houston. As Dave said on Blazer's Edge early this morning:
1. Yao Ming is out indefinitely. Tracy McGrady is eternally questionable and maybe on his way out of town. That's a ton of scoring power out the window...the two main pillars of the franchise entering the year. Battier is an amazing complementary player, perfect alongside those guys. If they're gone Houston needs more firepower. All of a sudden Battier looks like a nice piece who doesn't fit anymore, kind of like your beautiful sandcastle after the tide has come in. It's under that flood somewhere but you're not getting much use out of it anymore.So here's what we do: we get both our guys, right now. Three team deal that uses our cap spaces, solves the problem that Houston will have with lack of offense and no back up (or starter, perhaps) at center, and helps another team save money in the long run.
2. Just today, as reported below, Ron Artest committed to the L*kers while Trevor Ariza reportedly agreed to join the Rockets. On the surface this appears to make Battier more valuable to Houston, as the guy he formed a battery with is gone. But Ariza is, in many ways, a younger, cheaper Battier. They could use a contrast there.
Portland sends out four good players; four players that I really like. Jerryd Bayless, Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, and Joel Przybilla. Przy and Trout go to Houston to help fill some empty spots there. But that's not enough for Houston to do it unless we help them dump T-Mac for something now. So we bring in a team that will love T-Mac's expiring deal if it can get rid of one of it's albatrosses. So McGrady goes to the Hornets, along with Martell Webster and Jerryd Bayless. The Hornets, in order to do this, have to give up the prize of the whole trade. Chris Paul comes to Portland, but they get to shed Peja Stojakavic and Morris Peterson, sending both of them to Houston. Both of those guys could potentially help with the offense of the Rockets and play shooting guard or small forward, which would help a team that just lost all three of their 2/3 type players from the year before.
In this deal New Orleans would immediately get four million in cap relief, most likely keeping them out of the luxury tax. They would get even more relief at the end of the season when McGrady's contract expires. Also, they get two young guys to build with. I know that I value Webster more highly than others, so I won't say much about him. But I think that Bayless is going to be pretty amazing, and I think a lot of other people would agree with me. Houston gets some offense to replace the loss of Artest and McGrady (who was already lost anyway), and now doesn't have the old version of Ariza to go with the new version they just signed. They also get a very good NBA center (and one that I really don't want to trade) in Joel Przybilla. He'd be the perfect back up to Yao, but for the time being he'd be a decent starter alongside Scola. I know they might not like this deal very much for the contracts they get, so we might have to add a piece to make it happen. This would be my initial offer. If the Rockets instead insisted on a guy that seems more like what they'd want in James Posey, that would work. He again fits more of the Battier/Ariza role than Morris Peterson, who on his best days is closer to a poor man's version of McGrady. Also, if either team insisted on Rudy Fernandez to make this deal go through, the Blazers could add him. That would be one more guy I really don't want to give up, but for these two guys – who I believe would put us in championship contention immediately – it would be worth it. The Blazers would then need to sign someone like Antonio McDyess or Chris Anderson at the mid-level exception to back up Oden. Actually, Anderson would fit well with Portland then, since he is similar to Przybilla but not quite as productive.
Here's how the rosters would most likely look for the three teams if they did this deal:
Houston
- PG Aaron Brooks/Kyle Lowry
- SG (Rudy Fernandez)/Morris Peterson or James Posey/Brent Barry
- SF Trevor Ariza/Travis Outlaw/Peja Stojakovic/James White/Chase Budinger
- PF Luis Scola/Chuck Hayes/Carl Landry
- C You Ming/Joel Przybilla/Joey Dorsey/Brian Cook
New Orleans
- PG Jerryd Bayless/Darren Collison/Antonio Daniels
- SG (Rudy Fernandez)/Rasual Butler/Morris Peterson (if not traded)/Devin Brown/Marcus Thornton
- SF Martell Webster/James Posey (if not traded)/Tracy McGrady (injured)
- PF David West/Julian Wright (probably also playing some SF)
- C Tyson Chandler/Hilton Armstrong
Portland
- PG Chris Paul/Steve Blake/Patty Mills
- SG Brandon Roy/Rudy Fernandez (if not traded)
- SF Shane Battier/Nicolas Batum/Victor Claver
- PF LaMarcus Aldridge/Jeff Pendergraph/Dante Cunningham/Joel Freeland
- C Greg Oden/Chris Anderson
So there it is, that's the panic move that needs to happen as soon as the new salary cap is announced on July 8, since Hedo didn't pan out. I'm calling dynasty (and tons of luxury tax) in the very near future.
To see all the possible deals that work, click the corresponding link:
Without Rudy:
Posey to Houston
MoPete to Houston
With Rudy to New Orleans:
Posey to Houston
MoPete to Houston
With Rudy to Houston:
Posey to Houston
MoPete to Houston
Friday, October 31, 2008
Blazers/Spurs (fourth quarter)
The Blazers start this quarter with 78 points, which is a pretty good total considering they've played three periods against the vaunted Spurs defense.
I don't really like the look of Batum's three point jumper, but I love that he doesn't hesitate to shoot it when he's open. It also doesn't hurt that we have good offensive rebounders who create second chance points. If only we could improve at the same thing on the defensive end.
Free throws had better not plague this team this year.
Something that won't plague this team – even though it did against the Lakers on opening day – is open jump shots. Channing Frye just hit another one. When Oden comes back healthy and opposing teams have to focus even more defensive energy on our interior, we should start raining in mid-range and long-range jumpers all over the place.
By extending Martell Webster today, the Blazers ensured that they won't have to deal with the cap-hold they would have had going into free agency next year. By signing Webster to that deal, they might have a) locked up a good young player for a decent price b) signed a guy to a reasonable deal that will make him more attractive as part of a trade c) simply made sure that the cap hold wouldn't affect them next year.
Channing Frye just went past Duncan and dunked it. He also seemed to giggle a little bit as he slid around Duncan, as if he knew that he got away with something.
I hate seeing Sergio get frustrated. A frustrated Sergio is an ineffective Sergio.
That pass by Tony Parker was really nice. I think the Blazers are going to get some starters back in the game now.
I thought that was decent defense by Przybilla on Duncan, but that call will always go Duncan's way.
Brandon Roy just got to the rim on Duncan. He has to hit his free throws, but I love that he can drive against anyone. And he nails the first. I love Brandon Roy. Both.
It looked like Duncan was complaining about the foul they just called against Przybilla. That's hilarious.
Brandon Roy just took Outlaw aside to do some coaching on the floor. What a great player and leader.
Again Roy takes the lane.
I like that Aldridge is willing to take the three pointer and can hit it, but I don't think he should take it when he has someone near him like that.
Brandon Roy does not play like a third year player, helping Przybilla tie up Duncan to force that jump ball.
A great point being made right now is that all of San Antonio's three pointers in the fourth quarter have come on kick outs from dribble penetration. Portland needs to make sure they learn to do that better.
Did I mention that LaMarcus Aldridge is the guy I consider the top scorer for this season.
This is a big defensive possession for Portland.
I love that McMillan is trusting Batum to be in at the end of this game.
We need a good play here.
Good defense to end the night for Portland. That was a lot of fun.
Best sign of the night:
Everybody's
Scared of
Portland
Now
I don't really like the look of Batum's three point jumper, but I love that he doesn't hesitate to shoot it when he's open. It also doesn't hurt that we have good offensive rebounders who create second chance points. If only we could improve at the same thing on the defensive end.
Free throws had better not plague this team this year.
Something that won't plague this team – even though it did against the Lakers on opening day – is open jump shots. Channing Frye just hit another one. When Oden comes back healthy and opposing teams have to focus even more defensive energy on our interior, we should start raining in mid-range and long-range jumpers all over the place.
By extending Martell Webster today, the Blazers ensured that they won't have to deal with the cap-hold they would have had going into free agency next year. By signing Webster to that deal, they might have a) locked up a good young player for a decent price b) signed a guy to a reasonable deal that will make him more attractive as part of a trade c) simply made sure that the cap hold wouldn't affect them next year.
Channing Frye just went past Duncan and dunked it. He also seemed to giggle a little bit as he slid around Duncan, as if he knew that he got away with something.
I hate seeing Sergio get frustrated. A frustrated Sergio is an ineffective Sergio.
That pass by Tony Parker was really nice. I think the Blazers are going to get some starters back in the game now.
I thought that was decent defense by Przybilla on Duncan, but that call will always go Duncan's way.
Brandon Roy just got to the rim on Duncan. He has to hit his free throws, but I love that he can drive against anyone. And he nails the first. I love Brandon Roy. Both.
It looked like Duncan was complaining about the foul they just called against Przybilla. That's hilarious.
Brandon Roy just took Outlaw aside to do some coaching on the floor. What a great player and leader.
Again Roy takes the lane.
I like that Aldridge is willing to take the three pointer and can hit it, but I don't think he should take it when he has someone near him like that.
Brandon Roy does not play like a third year player, helping Przybilla tie up Duncan to force that jump ball.
A great point being made right now is that all of San Antonio's three pointers in the fourth quarter have come on kick outs from dribble penetration. Portland needs to make sure they learn to do that better.
Did I mention that LaMarcus Aldridge is the guy I consider the top scorer for this season.
This is a big defensive possession for Portland.
I love that McMillan is trusting Batum to be in at the end of this game.
We need a good play here.
Good defense to end the night for Portland. That was a lot of fun.
Best sign of the night:
Everybody's
Scared of
Portland
Now
Blazers/Spurs (third quarter)
Portland is still the second youngest team in the NBA this season. Crazy.
I've been telling people that Aldridge would eat the league up this year. It looks like he's working his way toward that.
Tim Duncan is a great basketball player.
The announcers are claiming that Kurt Thomas flopped on that last foul call against Aldridge, but I didn't complain about it.
Pretty ball movement from Roy and Aldridge to get Outlaw a nice corner three.
Well done by Lincoln on that commercial. I just don't think you can go wrong with a tasteful David Bowie cover.
Joel Przybilla making his money underneath on that one.
Pretty play by Aldridge and Oulaw that resulted in Duncan fouling Outlaw on his way up for a dunk. I think he looks much better in this game than he did on Tuesday, which is making it harder for me to stick to my position that he should be one of the ones to go if anyone must leave.
Jon Barry just claimed that Roy was doing "what he does best – puts the ball in the basket." I don't know if I agree with that statement. Roy does way too many things well to claim that scoring is the thing he does best.
Holy crap Nicolas Batum is a great basketball player.
Brandon Roy will take whatever he's given. And the Spurs are giving him a lot right now.
Fast break points. We love those. Nicolas Batum. We love him. Too bad I haven't been blogging, because I was talking about him like this even before I got to see him play.
I've been telling people that Aldridge would eat the league up this year. It looks like he's working his way toward that.
Tim Duncan is a great basketball player.
The announcers are claiming that Kurt Thomas flopped on that last foul call against Aldridge, but I didn't complain about it.
Pretty ball movement from Roy and Aldridge to get Outlaw a nice corner three.
Well done by Lincoln on that commercial. I just don't think you can go wrong with a tasteful David Bowie cover.
Joel Przybilla making his money underneath on that one.
Pretty play by Aldridge and Oulaw that resulted in Duncan fouling Outlaw on his way up for a dunk. I think he looks much better in this game than he did on Tuesday, which is making it harder for me to stick to my position that he should be one of the ones to go if anyone must leave.
Jon Barry just claimed that Roy was doing "what he does best – puts the ball in the basket." I don't know if I agree with that statement. Roy does way too many things well to claim that scoring is the thing he does best.
Holy crap Nicolas Batum is a great basketball player.
Brandon Roy will take whatever he's given. And the Spurs are giving him a lot right now.
Fast break points. We love those. Nicolas Batum. We love him. Too bad I haven't been blogging, because I was talking about him like this even before I got to see him play.
Blazers/Spurs (second quarter)
I love Pop. That interview with him was classic.
This second unit is so much fun to watch on the offensive end. Rudy and Sergio are great together.
They just showed a replay of Batum's block of Duncan. This kid is brilliant.
BATUM IS UNREAL!!
Batum just got compared to Tayshaun Prince by Jon Barry. I've been saying it since the beginning of training camp.
Przybilla just got some love from the announcers, which is nice. He deserves it.
A miss by Batum, but it was a good jumper in the flow of the offense. Now that I'm actually getting to see him I like him as much as I thought I would.
Przybilla just earned a foul with good position, so I won't complain any more about what seems like one sided officiating.
Sergio just missed a three, but Rudy corralled the long offensive board. Sadly, LaMarcus missed another mid-range jumper. It'll come, but he's been missing a lot of them again tonight.
BATUM!!! (He picked up a loose ball, beat two Spur defenders, and then made the and-1 as he got fouled on the lay-in. Then he hit the free throw. Ridiculous.)
"This Batum guy is impressive." --a text I just received from J-Lew. I agree Lew, I agree completely.
It's good to see Aldridge getting to the line and hitting.
The only thing the announcers failed to mention when talking about why Travis Outlaw has improved so much statistically is that he's the Gatling gun. 1000 shots per minute.
Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge are so great.
A funny disparity between the Blazers tonight and the Blazers on Tuesday is how young we looked in LA and how mature we look tonight. This is the way we need to look if we're going to have a successful year.
If we keep playing zone, we need to make sure we don't get beaten when they swing the ball around. We just got beaten again by a wide open three point shooter for San Antonio.
Brandon Roy is my favorite Blazer ever.
(Okay, Sabonis is still number one. But that shot, the composure, the defense he displayed earlier...all those things are the reasons he is ahead of Clyde and Rasheed on the all-time list.)
This second unit is so much fun to watch on the offensive end. Rudy and Sergio are great together.
They just showed a replay of Batum's block of Duncan. This kid is brilliant.
BATUM IS UNREAL!!
Batum just got compared to Tayshaun Prince by Jon Barry. I've been saying it since the beginning of training camp.
Przybilla just got some love from the announcers, which is nice. He deserves it.
A miss by Batum, but it was a good jumper in the flow of the offense. Now that I'm actually getting to see him I like him as much as I thought I would.
Przybilla just earned a foul with good position, so I won't complain any more about what seems like one sided officiating.
Sergio just missed a three, but Rudy corralled the long offensive board. Sadly, LaMarcus missed another mid-range jumper. It'll come, but he's been missing a lot of them again tonight.
BATUM!!! (He picked up a loose ball, beat two Spur defenders, and then made the and-1 as he got fouled on the lay-in. Then he hit the free throw. Ridiculous.)
"This Batum guy is impressive." --a text I just received from J-Lew. I agree Lew, I agree completely.
It's good to see Aldridge getting to the line and hitting.
The only thing the announcers failed to mention when talking about why Travis Outlaw has improved so much statistically is that he's the Gatling gun. 1000 shots per minute.
Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge are so great.
A funny disparity between the Blazers tonight and the Blazers on Tuesday is how young we looked in LA and how mature we look tonight. This is the way we need to look if we're going to have a successful year.
If we keep playing zone, we need to make sure we don't get beaten when they swing the ball around. We just got beaten again by a wide open three point shooter for San Antonio.
Brandon Roy is my favorite Blazer ever.
(Okay, Sabonis is still number one. But that shot, the composure, the defense he displayed earlier...all those things are the reasons he is ahead of Clyde and Rasheed on the all-time list.)
Blazers/Spurs (first quarter)
I broke into some friends' house to watch the Blazers game tonight. Here are some thoughts while getting to see the game.
It looks like we decided to force the ball inside to Aldridge, something we should have done better in Los Angeles Tuesday night.
We look a lot more settled in this game than we did on opening night. Hopefully it was just the nerves. I wondered if it might have had to do with Oden and the pressure that comes with the hype, but I think it's more likely that the team is just more calm at home after working the kinks out in that big-time opener.
Speaking of being more comfortable, it looks like Frye is hitting his shot again.
Brandon Roy is so good.
They have been calling all sorts of off-ball fouls on Portland. Boo.
I LOVE Nicolas Batum. He just had a sweet offensive rebound and then got an assist on an Aldridge dunk.
RUDY! RUDY! RUDY! RUDY!
Sergio just drilled a three pointer. Beautiful.
Nearly the whole second unit is in, with Aldridge being the only starter still in the game.
The refs called another terrible foul against Portland. Boo.
Never mind. After watching it again, I have no idea if it was a good call or not. I won't whine just because it's against my team.
Rudy missed an open three to end the corner off several nice passes to swing the ball around really quickly.
Down 22-21 at the end of the first, but I really like what I saw.
It looks like we decided to force the ball inside to Aldridge, something we should have done better in Los Angeles Tuesday night.
We look a lot more settled in this game than we did on opening night. Hopefully it was just the nerves. I wondered if it might have had to do with Oden and the pressure that comes with the hype, but I think it's more likely that the team is just more calm at home after working the kinks out in that big-time opener.
Speaking of being more comfortable, it looks like Frye is hitting his shot again.
Brandon Roy is so good.
They have been calling all sorts of off-ball fouls on Portland. Boo.
I LOVE Nicolas Batum. He just had a sweet offensive rebound and then got an assist on an Aldridge dunk.
RUDY! RUDY! RUDY! RUDY!
Sergio just drilled a three pointer. Beautiful.
Nearly the whole second unit is in, with Aldridge being the only starter still in the game.
The refs called another terrible foul against Portland. Boo.
Never mind. After watching it again, I have no idea if it was a good call or not. I won't whine just because it's against my team.
Rudy missed an open three to end the corner off several nice passes to swing the ball around really quickly.
Down 22-21 at the end of the first, but I really like what I saw.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Coming back soon
Double entendré? Yes please!
Sadly, my soccer team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention – unless it turns out that another league team did something illegal earlier in the year to disqualify themselves – which means that our season will be over after our game next Tuesday. I would love to make the playoffs, but I'm also excited to have a little more time to prepare for school and make sure that I'm taking care of all the school things that I've been letting slide a little bit. In addition, I'll be able to start posting more again, which is exciting. In fact one of the reason's it is exciting is that...
The NBA season is soooooo close now. Some more things that are coming back soon... ...Channing Frye at full strength
...Steve Blake at full strength
...Blazermania in absolutely full force
...Brandon Roy's habit of making other players (and executives) in this league look foolish
...Kevin Pritchard's habit of making everyone believe in his superiority as a GM to anyone else in pro sports
...the Larry O'Brien trophy to Portland (as I said back on November 2, 2008).
Sadly, my soccer team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention – unless it turns out that another league team did something illegal earlier in the year to disqualify themselves – which means that our season will be over after our game next Tuesday. I would love to make the playoffs, but I'm also excited to have a little more time to prepare for school and make sure that I'm taking care of all the school things that I've been letting slide a little bit. In addition, I'll be able to start posting more again, which is exciting. In fact one of the reason's it is exciting is that...
The NBA season is soooooo close now. Some more things that are coming back soon... ...Channing Frye at full strength
...Steve Blake at full strength
...Blazermania in absolutely full force
...Brandon Roy's habit of making other players (and executives) in this league look foolish
...Kevin Pritchard's habit of making everyone believe in his superiority as a GM to anyone else in pro sports
...the Larry O'Brien trophy to Portland (as I said back on November 2, 2008).
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I'm glad it went well
I can't wait to see this smiling face back on the floor, and hearing that the recovery should take 4-6 weeks was welcome news a few minutes ago when I read it.I still want next summer to go by with no knee surgeries. That'd be great.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Brandon Roy video
This video is from The Oregonian. That link goes to the blog that includes the video and 10 blog posts, with audio, about Brandon Roy. It's fantastic. As I said a while ago, Roy has made his way to number two on my list of favorite all-time Blazers. Depending on how this season goes he might take the top spot soon. Poor Sabas.
Friday, May 16, 2008
He just keeps pushing himself up the list
1.(1) Arvydas Sabonis
2.(2) David Robinson
2.(2) Tim Duncan (tie)
4.(5) Brandon Roy
5.(4) Clyde Drexler
6.(7) Bill Walton (He'd be higher if I had actually ever gotten to watch him, but the sentimentality puts him up this high. He also moved in front of number seven because we're in the playoffs, and that makes me pine for the glory days of the Blazers.)
7.(6) Rasheed Wallace (Seriously, I love this guy.)
8.(8) Terry Porter
9.(10) Steve Nash
10.(9) Video game Derek Anderson (He was just too good.)
And here's just one more reason that Roy has overtaken Drexler. (Oh yeah, and this is my first ever all-time favorites list, but I had to guess on what the previous rankings were.)
2.(2) David Robinson
2.(2) Tim Duncan (tie)
4.(5) Brandon Roy
5.(4) Clyde Drexler
6.(7) Bill Walton (He'd be higher if I had actually ever gotten to watch him, but the sentimentality puts him up this high. He also moved in front of number seven because we're in the playoffs, and that makes me pine for the glory days of the Blazers.)
7.(6) Rasheed Wallace (Seriously, I love this guy.)
8.(8) Terry Porter
9.(10) Steve Nash
10.(9) Video game Derek Anderson (He was just too good.)
And here's just one more reason that Roy has overtaken Drexler. (Oh yeah, and this is my first ever all-time favorites list, but I had to guess on what the previous rankings were.)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The last day of the season? Wow.
Umm, there is no good way for me to set up this clip. Crazy good.
Accreditation stuff ended today. We did well, I think. I did really well, impressing the people that observed my class. They reported stuff to the math coach, who came and asked me for any of my notes for geometry since I won't be around next year. That conversation deteriorated when she asked if I had notes, and I had to tell her that most of my stuff either came from my head, the book, or from the best math teacher I've ever met. Anyway, I feel quite relieved, because just having those people around increased my stress level. I will now proceed to rival Tim Thomas in my level of mailing-it-in.
Hopefully that's not really true. Actually, I know it's not really true. But I can't see myself making sure that I do all of the paperwork stuff. Student stuff? Yes.
I posted this on Blazer's Edge today, but that I'd double up and put it here too.
The Sports Guy included this tidbit in his column today on the NBA MVP.
It's a great column, though, and even though I still believe Paul is the MVP, he makes a great case for KG.
By the way, I really like the way that SB Nation has revamped their set-up. Very good stuff.
One last thing from the internet, and another thing that I put on Blazer's Edge. In his Games to pay attention to post on Ball Don't Lie, Kelly Dwyer said this today:
Accreditation stuff ended today. We did well, I think. I did really well, impressing the people that observed my class. They reported stuff to the math coach, who came and asked me for any of my notes for geometry since I won't be around next year. That conversation deteriorated when she asked if I had notes, and I had to tell her that most of my stuff either came from my head, the book, or from the best math teacher I've ever met. Anyway, I feel quite relieved, because just having those people around increased my stress level. I will now proceed to rival Tim Thomas in my level of mailing-it-in.
Hopefully that's not really true. Actually, I know it's not really true. But I can't see myself making sure that I do all of the paperwork stuff. Student stuff? Yes.
I posted this on Blazer's Edge today, but that I'd double up and put it here too.
The Sports Guy included this tidbit in his column today on the NBA MVP.
- 39. LaMarcus Aldridge
Note to Portland fans: You were right, I was wrong. He's a keeper. Even if he reminds me so much of Charles Smith that I wouldn't be surprised if they lost a key playoff game some day because LeBron blocked his layup three straight times at the buzzer.
It's a great column, though, and even though I still believe Paul is the MVP, he makes a great case for KG.
By the way, I really like the way that SB Nation has revamped their set-up. Very good stuff.
One last thing from the internet, and another thing that I put on Blazer's Edge. In his Games to pay attention to post on Ball Don't Lie, Kelly Dwyer said this today:
Portland at PhoenixI love reading this. Love it. So true.
One last chance to call Portland a "lottery team" before they win 11 championships in 13 years.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tale of the tape: Roy vs. Bryant (it's all about the defense)
Yesterday as I was sitting at It's a Grind with my brother, both of us reading our daily dose of NBA news and blogs, I started talking to him about a specific element of the Blazers win over the Lakers on Tuesday night. Specifically, I was working out an idea that came to me concerning the Roy-Bryant match up. In his Late Wednesday Mini-Bullets, Henry over at TrueHoop quoted Michael Jordan from an article Jack McCallum wrote about him in 1989. Have I mentioned that I love the new SI Vault? The gist of the quote from Jordan was that the best way to defend him was to make him play defense against a guard who had a physical offensive game. This tired him out and kept him from being as physical against them on the other end. When I read the quote it reminded me that Jordan was an exceptional defender who focused on that even more than scoring.
What does that have to do with Kobe? I was shocked as I watched the KCAL 9 broadcast here in LA that Roy could play as well offensively as he did against Bryant. Several times Roy broke Bryant down on the edge, beat another guy, and made an easy layup. Bryant didn't do that to Roy nearly as badly on the other end. By my count, four of Roy's eight field goals were layups.
One of his field goals was a three, one was a wide open 22-footer, one was an eight-foot jump shot early, and the other was a nine-foot runner in the fourth. Of his seven missed shots, five were jumpers from outside the key, including two three point misses. On the other hand, Kobe made 11 of 26 from the field. Twelve of his fifteen misses were jump shots from outside the key, including five failed three point attempts. Of the ones that he made, one was a dunk, two were layups, two were three-pointers, two were four foot running j's, one was an eight-footer, one was a 21-foot jumper, and two of his shots don't have a distance on the ESPN play-by-play. If you aren't already bored by reading what shots were taken, you might be wondering why it matters. I mean, Bryant scored 34 and Roy only had 23 – Kobe was 10-13 from the stripe while Roy was 6-8, showing a good effort by each of them getting inside.
As I thought about the ways Roy scored on Bryant compared with the ways Bryant scored on Roy – and, in fairness, Outlaw – I realized that Kobe was working a lot harder for his shots than Brandon was. Roy was taking the lane when it was given, shooting open jumpers when they presented themselves, and directing the flow of the offense. But Kobe was often taking the time to force his way into the lane, or else use some combination of moves to set up his beautiful turn-around jumper. This is where the difference between Bryant and Jordan (as evidenced in the aforementioned quote) really stuck out to me: Bryant could have shut Roy down. He's that good of a defender. But instead, he spent more energy on making sure he got his points. And yes, he scored more than Roy. But I looked at the assists for each and what those assists led to, and it tells the tale that Roy actually contributed to more offensive production than Bryant did.
Bryant had five assists. Three of them were to Lamar Odom for layups (two) or dunks (one). The other two assists were from hitting Radmanovic outside for the three. That means Bryant scored 34 and was directly responsible for getting his teammates the ball for 12 more. In total, I'll say that Kobe created 46 of the Lakers' 103 points. Roy had a career-high tying 12 assists. Four of those set up three-point field goals, and the other eight went to guys making mid-range jumpers or layups. So Roy scored 23 of his own points, and was directly responsible for getting his teammates the ball for 28 more. In total, I'll say that Brandon created 51 of the Blazers' 112 points. Of course this doesn't take into account the fact that the Blazers might have given up points to the Lakers because of the way they defended Bryant, plays on which he got no statistical credit. I wouldn't suggest that those sorts of plays would be even with the same type for Roy on the Lakers' side, but I don't think they would be too far off, either, and since they are immeasurable I really can't speak to them.
Being the type of defender that Kobe Bryant is, I believe he had the ability not only to stop Roy from scoring 23, but from directly creating as much as he did for teammates. Certainly some of the blame must go to other LA defenders, but when you're as talented and highly regarded as Kobe is, you need to shut down the opposition. If Kobe had decided to make Roy work harder for his offense, he might have scored a few less points. But I really think that the reduction in Roy's contribution would have been far more significant. Yeah, there were many other factors in the game, but for the Lakers to win in the playoffs it's Kobe's defense that needs to be at its best, not his offense. His offense will take care of itself.
One last note: I realize that the Lakers were without any real low-post presence on defense, which also contributed to Roy's ability to drive. But the Blazers have been without their chosen low-post presence – Oden – all season, and were without their next best option – Joel Przybilla, thanks to a broken hand – in this one. That left the über-tough Channing Frye as the center. I love me some Channing, but he is not my first (or second or third or fourth) choice for a tough inside presence on defense.
What does that have to do with Kobe? I was shocked as I watched the KCAL 9 broadcast here in LA that Roy could play as well offensively as he did against Bryant. Several times Roy broke Bryant down on the edge, beat another guy, and made an easy layup. Bryant didn't do that to Roy nearly as badly on the other end. By my count, four of Roy's eight field goals were layups.
One of his field goals was a three, one was a wide open 22-footer, one was an eight-foot jump shot early, and the other was a nine-foot runner in the fourth. Of his seven missed shots, five were jumpers from outside the key, including two three point misses. On the other hand, Kobe made 11 of 26 from the field. Twelve of his fifteen misses were jump shots from outside the key, including five failed three point attempts. Of the ones that he made, one was a dunk, two were layups, two were three-pointers, two were four foot running j's, one was an eight-footer, one was a 21-foot jumper, and two of his shots don't have a distance on the ESPN play-by-play. If you aren't already bored by reading what shots were taken, you might be wondering why it matters. I mean, Bryant scored 34 and Roy only had 23 – Kobe was 10-13 from the stripe while Roy was 6-8, showing a good effort by each of them getting inside.
As I thought about the ways Roy scored on Bryant compared with the ways Bryant scored on Roy – and, in fairness, Outlaw – I realized that Kobe was working a lot harder for his shots than Brandon was. Roy was taking the lane when it was given, shooting open jumpers when they presented themselves, and directing the flow of the offense. But Kobe was often taking the time to force his way into the lane, or else use some combination of moves to set up his beautiful turn-around jumper. This is where the difference between Bryant and Jordan (as evidenced in the aforementioned quote) really stuck out to me: Bryant could have shut Roy down. He's that good of a defender. But instead, he spent more energy on making sure he got his points. And yes, he scored more than Roy. But I looked at the assists for each and what those assists led to, and it tells the tale that Roy actually contributed to more offensive production than Bryant did.
Bryant had five assists. Three of them were to Lamar Odom for layups (two) or dunks (one). The other two assists were from hitting Radmanovic outside for the three. That means Bryant scored 34 and was directly responsible for getting his teammates the ball for 12 more. In total, I'll say that Kobe created 46 of the Lakers' 103 points. Roy had a career-high tying 12 assists. Four of those set up three-point field goals, and the other eight went to guys making mid-range jumpers or layups. So Roy scored 23 of his own points, and was directly responsible for getting his teammates the ball for 28 more. In total, I'll say that Brandon created 51 of the Blazers' 112 points. Of course this doesn't take into account the fact that the Blazers might have given up points to the Lakers because of the way they defended Bryant, plays on which he got no statistical credit. I wouldn't suggest that those sorts of plays would be even with the same type for Roy on the Lakers' side, but I don't think they would be too far off, either, and since they are immeasurable I really can't speak to them.
Being the type of defender that Kobe Bryant is, I believe he had the ability not only to stop Roy from scoring 23, but from directly creating as much as he did for teammates. Certainly some of the blame must go to other LA defenders, but when you're as talented and highly regarded as Kobe is, you need to shut down the opposition. If Kobe had decided to make Roy work harder for his offense, he might have scored a few less points. But I really think that the reduction in Roy's contribution would have been far more significant. Yeah, there were many other factors in the game, but for the Lakers to win in the playoffs it's Kobe's defense that needs to be at its best, not his offense. His offense will take care of itself.
One last note: I realize that the Lakers were without any real low-post presence on defense, which also contributed to Roy's ability to drive. But the Blazers have been without their chosen low-post presence – Oden – all season, and were without their next best option – Joel Przybilla, thanks to a broken hand – in this one. That left the über-tough Channing Frye as the center. I love me some Channing, but he is not my first (or second or third or fourth) choice for a tough inside presence on defense.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
A Clipper sweep
The last two nights set a record for me this season: most back-to-back Blazer games watched this season. I nearly went to the game last night at the Staples Center, but decided that I didn't want to deal with downtown and the blue line that late the night before finally flying to Chicago.
I wish I would have been there, if only to see Joel Przybilla completely destroy the Clippers on the boards. Przybilla was fantastic, and he brought some offense too. It really did look like a preview of what Oden could do next year. Interested in seeing how he's doing? This article will lead you through it. Great stuff from Jason Quick, as always.
LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy were once again great in the same game. It was Aldridge's ninth straight game over 20 points. That's another great sign for next season. If he can play like this consistently next year, and Roy stays the steady presence he has been all year, this team will be so good. Add Oden and Rudy Fernandez (who, according to Pritchard, is coming over next year) to this team and it's even more exciting than I would have thought.
Another great sign from these two games – the last three, actually – is the point guard play of Steve Blake. His defense has been a little shaky, and his shooting has actually been a little down. But the way he led the offense and his assist to turnover ratio has been really great. He has had 23 assists and one turnover in the last three games. If he can keep doing that next year, and Sergio Rodriguez can make a leap this summer, I don't think we need a new point guard. I know, that's risky to say, but I think it might be true.
Alright, I'm going to get back to reading The Breaks of the Game while I wait for my flight to leave. Stupid snow in Chicago. Stupid.
I wish I would have been there, if only to see Joel Przybilla completely destroy the Clippers on the boards. Przybilla was fantastic, and he brought some offense too. It really did look like a preview of what Oden could do next year. Interested in seeing how he's doing? This article will lead you through it. Great stuff from Jason Quick, as always.
LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy were once again great in the same game. It was Aldridge's ninth straight game over 20 points. That's another great sign for next season. If he can play like this consistently next year, and Roy stays the steady presence he has been all year, this team will be so good. Add Oden and Rudy Fernandez (who, according to Pritchard, is coming over next year) to this team and it's even more exciting than I would have thought.
Another great sign from these two games – the last three, actually – is the point guard play of Steve Blake. His defense has been a little shaky, and his shooting has actually been a little down. But the way he led the offense and his assist to turnover ratio has been really great. He has had 23 assists and one turnover in the last three games. If he can keep doing that next year, and Sergio Rodriguez can make a leap this summer, I don't think we need a new point guard. I know, that's risky to say, but I think it might be true.
Alright, I'm going to get back to reading The Breaks of the Game while I wait for my flight to leave. Stupid snow in Chicago. Stupid.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Not a tumblr
I drove back from Phoenix today. It was a decent trip, especially because part of it included a phone conversation with my friend Luke and another part had a phone conversation with my brother. It's always good to talk to either of them. The weekend as a whole was great, mainly consisting of me playing Rock Band with various people. Saturday I played the game with a bunch of great kids that go to SCA. It was fun to be around high school students who like me and are clear about thanking me for the effect I've had on them. Last week was pretty much the opposite of that at school, so it was nice to get that affirmation in Phoenix. Sunday I played the game at Adam's house with a bunch of Adam and Phil's friends who were over for a birthday party. That was nice, too: hanging out with adults that are around my age.
I didn't get anything done for school over the weekend, but I've already gotten some of it done since getting back, and that's good. Sadly, I'm more excited about the end of the school year than I am about anything except maybe Chicago with Luke over spring break. I'm nearly positive that I'll take off after this year. That makes me sad but is also a little relieving.
The other thing I did in Phoenix was watch the NBA All-Star game with other NBA fans. That was fun, especially because of how well Brandon Roy played. I loved seeing him fill up the stat line and help the West come back at the end. My group of Suns-fans/friends had fun with me and how connected I was to Roy's performance. Really, I had no personal investment in it, but I certainly felt and acted as though I did. In addition to watching the game, I got to talk to them about the trades that have been flying around. Seriously, I applaud the Hawks for making the move to get Bibby. I hope that works out for them. And as a Blazer fan I'm glad that the Dallas deal finally looks like it is actually going through. I'm happy to have the window of another Western conference team closing soon, and Kidd closes the window sooner than Harris would have.
Oh, and Kinsey, one of the students from SCA, insisted over the weekend that I should join the ranks of those with a tumblr (her, Luke, and a few other people I like), but I refused and continue to refuse. Hooray for blogger.
I didn't get anything done for school over the weekend, but I've already gotten some of it done since getting back, and that's good. Sadly, I'm more excited about the end of the school year than I am about anything except maybe Chicago with Luke over spring break. I'm nearly positive that I'll take off after this year. That makes me sad but is also a little relieving.
The other thing I did in Phoenix was watch the NBA All-Star game with other NBA fans. That was fun, especially because of how well Brandon Roy played. I loved seeing him fill up the stat line and help the West come back at the end. My group of Suns-fans/friends had fun with me and how connected I was to Roy's performance. Really, I had no personal investment in it, but I certainly felt and acted as though I did. In addition to watching the game, I got to talk to them about the trades that have been flying around. Seriously, I applaud the Hawks for making the move to get Bibby. I hope that works out for them. And as a Blazer fan I'm glad that the Dallas deal finally looks like it is actually going through. I'm happy to have the window of another Western conference team closing soon, and Kidd closes the window sooner than Harris would have.
Oh, and Kinsey, one of the students from SCA, insisted over the weekend that I should join the ranks of those with a tumblr (her, Luke, and a few other people I like), but I refused and continue to refuse. Hooray for blogger.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Happy New Year
I'm listening to the game in Utah right now. The Blazers are going for 14 straight. Today has been a mess of a day, with me trying to figure out what's wrong with my car. There is something messed up with the transmission, which I thought was just the fluid, then thought it wasn't, but now I think it might be again. Then there's the debacle with my tire. The way the Ducks destroyed USF today was pretty good for getting my mind of the other stuff, but not completely. But if Portland can pull out this fourteenth win, well, the car worries will fade at least for a little while.
My brother Stephen and I showed up at the Rose Quarter box office around 4:00 on Friday to pick up the tickets for the game. While we were there I asked about tickets to the Sunday game with Philly. The woman at the window told me that the three levels of tickets we would have been willing to buy were all sold out already. This was on Friday afternoon. That was disappointing and also pretty cool.
We stayed around so we could get into the arena early and explore a little bit. Even though I had been to games in the Rose Garden, this was the first time I really walked around much. There were a few cool exhibits, particularly some stuff celebrating the championship team from 1977 and the finals teams from the early 1990s. Once we got to our seats we realized that dad was stuck next to a particular type of fan. This was a 30 or 40 something year old man, pudgy, with a beard. He was talking during the game to the players and coaches. Yes, talking. And he was saying some amazing stuff. "Nate, get them to play 'D.'" Stuff like that. At halftime dad moved over and sat on the other side of Stephen.
I was hoping that the rest of the crowd would be crazy, but I was kind of surprised that it was a little subdued. Well, it was subdued until the latter part of the third quarter. When the team really turned it on the crowd got rowdier, and that was a lot of fun. I enjoyed being part of the "M-V-P" chant during Brandon Roy's free throws. Most of the time that chant started in one of the other cheap sections. But there was one time that the chant was nearly automatic throughout the crowd, and it was pretty exciting. It was that sort of thing that happened often at the end of the game, and it was great to experience.
Two notes about the game:
My brother Stephen and I showed up at the Rose Quarter box office around 4:00 on Friday to pick up the tickets for the game. While we were there I asked about tickets to the Sunday game with Philly. The woman at the window told me that the three levels of tickets we would have been willing to buy were all sold out already. This was on Friday afternoon. That was disappointing and also pretty cool.
We stayed around so we could get into the arena early and explore a little bit. Even though I had been to games in the Rose Garden, this was the first time I really walked around much. There were a few cool exhibits, particularly some stuff celebrating the championship team from 1977 and the finals teams from the early 1990s. Once we got to our seats we realized that dad was stuck next to a particular type of fan. This was a 30 or 40 something year old man, pudgy, with a beard. He was talking during the game to the players and coaches. Yes, talking. And he was saying some amazing stuff. "Nate, get them to play 'D.'" Stuff like that. At halftime dad moved over and sat on the other side of Stephen.
I was hoping that the rest of the crowd would be crazy, but I was kind of surprised that it was a little subdued. Well, it was subdued until the latter part of the third quarter. When the team really turned it on the crowd got rowdier, and that was a lot of fun. I enjoyed being part of the "M-V-P" chant during Brandon Roy's free throws. Most of the time that chant started in one of the other cheap sections. But there was one time that the chant was nearly automatic throughout the crowd, and it was pretty exciting. It was that sort of thing that happened often at the end of the game, and it was great to experience.
Two notes about the game:
- Martell Webster's game didn't look very good on offense or with his stats, but I loved watching him play. He was hustling, he was working hard on both sides of the court, he was rebounding, and I just loved it. Outlaw and Jones are great too, and they really do give us a pretty formidable trio of small forwards. But I love Webster.
- Brandon Roy had another ridiculous layup in this game. I don't know if the highlight is floating around anywhere, so I'll just describe it. He got the ball at the top of the key, saw an opening, and took of for the hoop. As he took off, one of the Timberwolves stepped into the lane. I think it was Al Jefferson. Roy would have been called for a charge had he continued going up that way. So he didn't. He changed the axis of his body. Imagine a clock, with the ball as the center. His body rotated from six o'clock to around 7:30. He continued gliding through the air, and finished the layup softly with his right hand. It was beautiful. We all went nuts.
- Alright, I know I said two, but since I'm actually putting this up long after the streak ended tonight, I'm including this part. LaMarcus Aldridge decided to show up on offense tonight. For real. He had a career high. And even though we lost, it was good to see the kid put the ball in the hoop a lot. I think that will continue this season some, but I am fairly certain he'll be doing this sort of thing consistently in the next few years.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Day running diary
5:05 pm Here I am, sitting in the house I helped my parents build, on Christmas day, getting ready to watch the first Blazer game of this win streak. I just said “this” win streak, because I believe that the streak will continue tonight.
5:08 pm I love the stat they just showed. Portland is the best team on Christmas day all-time, and Seattle is the worst on Christmas all-time. While I was typing that the Blazers got three offensive rebounds and finally put their first points up.
5:10 pm Beautiful steal by Martell. It’s good to see him working hard like that. Now he needs to get both of these free throws. Nope, one-of-two. We need to start pushing it inside and stop relying on our poor jump shooting.
5:12 pm Just after I said that, Roy hit Przybilla for a nice dunk. It’s good to see the vanilla thrilla throwing it down like that.
5:15 pm Steve Blake is getting a lot of open looks and needs to start hitting those shots. And now the Blazers have given up the lead. They need to calm down a little bit.
5:16 pm Boom. Webster drills a three pointer off a kick out from Roy.
5:19 pm I just checked the Blazer station, but for some reason the picture n my parents’ new TV is way better on ESPN, so I’ll continue listening to these announcers instead of the Blazers guys.
5:21 pm Great pass by Channing Frye, good finish by Roy, but he can’t get the and-one. Fortunately the Sonics are terrible at rebounding and throw it out of bounds.
5:23 pm Jarrett Jack doing what he does well, driving to the hoop. And wow, Wally Szczerbiak just hit another three pointer. Thankfully Frye made a jumper. Other than the opening jitters, this has been better game than the Miami-Cleveland game this morning. That game was terrible. I expected that it would be, but still. Eww. The Lakers and Suns, on the other hand, played great basketball. That was fun to watch.
5:27 pm Did you see Roy juke Durant out of his shorts a few minutes ago? That was great. And then Brandn just rose up and put it through.
5:28 pm Sergio Rodriguez is looking good in his quick stint for Roy right now. El Mago making magic happen.
5:30 pm That first quarter wasn’t great, but 24 points for each team isn’t bad when we started so poorly.
5:32 pm Apparently there’s a new American Pie movie, and guess what: there are girls in it, and it’s about sex. Man, that sounds hilarious.
5:34 pm Jack just made another great drive. He is really good at that. And Travis Outlaw is great at shooting over anyone. He just elevated to drain that jumper.
5:36 pm WOW. Beautiful pass inside from Rodriguez to James Jones, and Jones THREW that down. As the announcers just noted, the second unit for this Portland team has been playing so well and they’re doing it again today.
5:38 pm That was a terrible call. They just called Jeff Green for the charge, but Channing Frye pushed him. Boo. Oh well, I’ll take it.
5:44 pm Jack has eight now, which is great, but Szczerbiak just hit another three.
5:45 pm Collison just completed the three point play to tie the game back up. This really does look like better basketball than the first game today.
5:48 pm Apparently Greg Oden had some sort of surgery on his knee before the season started. I also just found out that he’s supposed to be good. Man, just imagine what this team could be like with him back. (Oh, and Przybilla just made both free throws. He’s improved that aspect of his game so much.)
5:50 pm That was a terrible foul call. Przybilla played great defense on that, but they called him. Lame. The ball never lies, then Przybilla gets the rebound and gets fouled. That worked out.
5:53 pm Blake just missed another open jumper. Blech. Roy then comes back with a good drive-and-dish to Przybilla, but he was on the baseline. And now another terrible foul call when it should have been a travel.
5:57 pm Durant just made his first really pretty shot. That was nice. Of course, on his next play he traveled.
5:58 pm Blake finally hit a jumper. This one was behind the arc, where he has been shooting better than everywhere else on the floor.
6:00 pm Jarrett Jack is filling in nicely for Roy, who is in the locker room after getting hit with a Chris Wilcox elbow. We need to come out really strong in the second half.
6:02 pm At halftime we’re ahead by two, after having a pretty poor first half, so that’s not too bad.
6:06 pm Scott Van Pelt is a genius. “The Boston Three Party.” I love it. Although seeing Garnett, Pierce, and Allen do the Three Amigos salute was the best part of that commercial.
6:18 pm Red Bull is shameless. Geez. “Start with practice and work our way back to theory.” I’m sure that’s how my friend J-Lew studied biology in college.
6:21 pm Wow, Jon Barry just made two great jokes.
6:24 pm Ugh. This is a rough shooting game. R-O-U-G-H.
6:25 pm Jon Barry just made a joke about streaking and Will Ferrell in the movie Old School. This guy is culturally relevant.
6:26 pm Roy is starting to hit now. And there is LaMarcus Aldridge. Pretty basketball right there with that turnaround by LA.
6:30 pm There was a beautiful play by Roy and Przybilla, once again highlighting the progression of the big man’s offensive game this season.
6:31 pm FAST BREAK POINTS!! Portland has so much trouble getting those, it’s good whenever we can find some.
6:34 pm ESPN just showed a great stat: Portland didn’t have any field goals in the last five minutes, even though they just went up by ten. I think they had the wrong team there. Oh, and Roy is playing really well right now.
6:36 pm Brandon Roy. Brandon Roy. Brandon Roy. Brandon Roy. (I think he must have just heard that he didn’t win his third consecutive western conference player of the week. He has 11 points in the quarter.)
6:41 pm The Sonics just made their first field goal in 12 attempts. Portland has been playing pretty good defense. And there Channing Frye knocks down another jumper.
6:43 pm Kevin Durant, everybody! He just tripped over the ball and himself. No ceiling, right Bill Simmons?
6:44 pm Durant just absolutely swatted a runner by Jack. I change the tone of my last comment: now it’s slightly less smarmy.
6:47 pm Sloppy play right there by Jack on defense.
6:48 pm Shades of old Travis Outlaw on his last ill-advised jumper and poor defense/foul on a Jeff green lay-up.
6:50 pm The second unit didn’t look as good at the end of that quarter, but they’re still up by eight. Brandon Roy was so good during the third quarter, and that was great to see.
6:54 pm Nice steal by El Mago to start the fourth quarter.
6:57 pm The Sonics are shooting well again, which is tough for us.
6:58 pm I’m really excited to see Roy come in and take over the fourth quarter, but it’s also nice to see Channing continue to make those mid-range jumpers.
7:04 pm Channing Frye just nailed another jumper. That is soooo good to see.
7:08 pm Jarrett Jack just took us shopping. It was fine until one of the announcers said that Jack is a “single male addicted to retail.” Yikes.
7:12 pm The Blazers are taking far too long with the ball, and waiting until the end of the shot clock. It’s making for some pretty ugly basketball right now.
7:16 pm I really don’t like this “wired” thing the NBA is doing now. It doesn’t really seem to add any insight, and it’s mainly just annoying.
7:18 pm It’s nice to see Jack having another good game. The same for Przybilla. He has 16 rebounds. Once again the team is getting it done by having various people step up well.
7:21 pm Well, we didn’t play that well again today. It is exciting that we keep winning when we’re not playing that well.
7:23 pm Neil Everett just said that the Blazers may never lose again. I’ll end this on that note...(merry Christmas)
5:08 pm I love the stat they just showed. Portland is the best team on Christmas day all-time, and Seattle is the worst on Christmas all-time. While I was typing that the Blazers got three offensive rebounds and finally put their first points up.
5:10 pm Beautiful steal by Martell. It’s good to see him working hard like that. Now he needs to get both of these free throws. Nope, one-of-two. We need to start pushing it inside and stop relying on our poor jump shooting.
5:12 pm Just after I said that, Roy hit Przybilla for a nice dunk. It’s good to see the vanilla thrilla throwing it down like that.
5:15 pm Steve Blake is getting a lot of open looks and needs to start hitting those shots. And now the Blazers have given up the lead. They need to calm down a little bit.
5:16 pm Boom. Webster drills a three pointer off a kick out from Roy.
5:19 pm I just checked the Blazer station, but for some reason the picture n my parents’ new TV is way better on ESPN, so I’ll continue listening to these announcers instead of the Blazers guys.
5:21 pm Great pass by Channing Frye, good finish by Roy, but he can’t get the and-one. Fortunately the Sonics are terrible at rebounding and throw it out of bounds.
5:23 pm Jarrett Jack doing what he does well, driving to the hoop. And wow, Wally Szczerbiak just hit another three pointer. Thankfully Frye made a jumper. Other than the opening jitters, this has been better game than the Miami-Cleveland game this morning. That game was terrible. I expected that it would be, but still. Eww. The Lakers and Suns, on the other hand, played great basketball. That was fun to watch.
5:27 pm Did you see Roy juke Durant out of his shorts a few minutes ago? That was great. And then Brandn just rose up and put it through.
5:28 pm Sergio Rodriguez is looking good in his quick stint for Roy right now. El Mago making magic happen.
5:30 pm That first quarter wasn’t great, but 24 points for each team isn’t bad when we started so poorly.
5:32 pm Apparently there’s a new American Pie movie, and guess what: there are girls in it, and it’s about sex. Man, that sounds hilarious.
5:34 pm Jack just made another great drive. He is really good at that. And Travis Outlaw is great at shooting over anyone. He just elevated to drain that jumper.
5:36 pm WOW. Beautiful pass inside from Rodriguez to James Jones, and Jones THREW that down. As the announcers just noted, the second unit for this Portland team has been playing so well and they’re doing it again today.
5:38 pm That was a terrible call. They just called Jeff Green for the charge, but Channing Frye pushed him. Boo. Oh well, I’ll take it.
5:44 pm Jack has eight now, which is great, but Szczerbiak just hit another three.
5:45 pm Collison just completed the three point play to tie the game back up. This really does look like better basketball than the first game today.
5:48 pm Apparently Greg Oden had some sort of surgery on his knee before the season started. I also just found out that he’s supposed to be good. Man, just imagine what this team could be like with him back. (Oh, and Przybilla just made both free throws. He’s improved that aspect of his game so much.)
5:50 pm That was a terrible foul call. Przybilla played great defense on that, but they called him. Lame. The ball never lies, then Przybilla gets the rebound and gets fouled. That worked out.
5:53 pm Blake just missed another open jumper. Blech. Roy then comes back with a good drive-and-dish to Przybilla, but he was on the baseline. And now another terrible foul call when it should have been a travel.
5:57 pm Durant just made his first really pretty shot. That was nice. Of course, on his next play he traveled.
5:58 pm Blake finally hit a jumper. This one was behind the arc, where he has been shooting better than everywhere else on the floor.
6:00 pm Jarrett Jack is filling in nicely for Roy, who is in the locker room after getting hit with a Chris Wilcox elbow. We need to come out really strong in the second half.
6:02 pm At halftime we’re ahead by two, after having a pretty poor first half, so that’s not too bad.
6:06 pm Scott Van Pelt is a genius. “The Boston Three Party.” I love it. Although seeing Garnett, Pierce, and Allen do the Three Amigos salute was the best part of that commercial.
6:18 pm Red Bull is shameless. Geez. “Start with practice and work our way back to theory.” I’m sure that’s how my friend J-Lew studied biology in college.
6:21 pm Wow, Jon Barry just made two great jokes.
6:24 pm Ugh. This is a rough shooting game. R-O-U-G-H.
6:25 pm Jon Barry just made a joke about streaking and Will Ferrell in the movie Old School. This guy is culturally relevant.
6:26 pm Roy is starting to hit now. And there is LaMarcus Aldridge. Pretty basketball right there with that turnaround by LA.
6:30 pm There was a beautiful play by Roy and Przybilla, once again highlighting the progression of the big man’s offensive game this season.
6:31 pm FAST BREAK POINTS!! Portland has so much trouble getting those, it’s good whenever we can find some.
6:34 pm ESPN just showed a great stat: Portland didn’t have any field goals in the last five minutes, even though they just went up by ten. I think they had the wrong team there. Oh, and Roy is playing really well right now.
6:36 pm Brandon Roy. Brandon Roy. Brandon Roy. Brandon Roy. (I think he must have just heard that he didn’t win his third consecutive western conference player of the week. He has 11 points in the quarter.)
6:41 pm The Sonics just made their first field goal in 12 attempts. Portland has been playing pretty good defense. And there Channing Frye knocks down another jumper.
6:43 pm Kevin Durant, everybody! He just tripped over the ball and himself. No ceiling, right Bill Simmons?
6:44 pm Durant just absolutely swatted a runner by Jack. I change the tone of my last comment: now it’s slightly less smarmy.
6:47 pm Sloppy play right there by Jack on defense.
6:48 pm Shades of old Travis Outlaw on his last ill-advised jumper and poor defense/foul on a Jeff green lay-up.
6:50 pm The second unit didn’t look as good at the end of that quarter, but they’re still up by eight. Brandon Roy was so good during the third quarter, and that was great to see.
6:54 pm Nice steal by El Mago to start the fourth quarter.
6:57 pm The Sonics are shooting well again, which is tough for us.
6:58 pm I’m really excited to see Roy come in and take over the fourth quarter, but it’s also nice to see Channing continue to make those mid-range jumpers.
7:04 pm Channing Frye just nailed another jumper. That is soooo good to see.
7:08 pm Jarrett Jack just took us shopping. It was fine until one of the announcers said that Jack is a “single male addicted to retail.” Yikes.
7:12 pm The Blazers are taking far too long with the ball, and waiting until the end of the shot clock. It’s making for some pretty ugly basketball right now.
7:16 pm I really don’t like this “wired” thing the NBA is doing now. It doesn’t really seem to add any insight, and it’s mainly just annoying.
7:18 pm It’s nice to see Jack having another good game. The same for Przybilla. He has 16 rebounds. Once again the team is getting it done by having various people step up well.
7:21 pm Well, we didn’t play that well again today. It is exciting that we keep winning when we’re not playing that well.
7:23 pm Neil Everett just said that the Blazers may never lose again. I’ll end this on that note...(merry Christmas)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
A birthday blog (a day late)
Stephen and I are driving right now. We left Roseburg this morning a little after 6:00 and have been driving since then. When I say that Stephen and I are driving, I mean that I drove for a while and now he is. I’m not trying to write this post while holding the wheel.
We just finished the last episode of The Basketball Jones podcast for 2007. Again, to the few people who read this, if you haven’t yet subscribed to that podcast on iTunes, you should. They are fantastic.
Yesterday it took me an hour and a half to get caught up on all the online coverage of the Blazers after their win streak reached 10 Friday night at home against the Nuggets. They now have the longest win streak of anyone in the NBA this season, and once again they had to come back from being down by seven at the beginning of the fourth quarter. On top of that, the game was decided in the end by a Brandon Roy block of a Carmelo Anthony jump hook and a Travis Outlaw swat of a Linas Kleiza desperation three. It’s good to see guys stepping up in the fourth quarter, and those two have been doing it consistently throughout this winning streak.
All the coverage and the win really were the best things about my birthday. Not that I didn’t enjoy yesterday, but just that I am so excited about how this team is doing. Stephen and I were talking about it in the car, and it doesn’t make sense that everyone is as surprised as they are. Surprised? Yes. But this surprised? I don’t think we should be. Yeah, we traded away our leading scorer and rebounder. Yes, we have the third youngest team in the history of the association. Sure, we’re without the number one overall pick from last year’s draft and the guy many envisioned as the savior of the franchise. But the hallmark of this team is their chemistry and how much fun they’re having together, with everyone contributing. We couldn’t have expected that when the team started playing together five weeks before training camp? Shouldn’t we have foreseen this type of beyond-their-years-maturity from a bunch of guys who chose to get together, without pay, more than a month before they had to? I think so. And yes, that still makes this really surprising, but not completely surprising.
My battery is about to run out, so I’m shutting the computer down for the rest of the trip. But I wanted to share a little post-birthday thanks to the team for making it a great one, and a little Christmas cheer to anyone who makes sure I have a few readers.
We just finished the last episode of The Basketball Jones podcast for 2007. Again, to the few people who read this, if you haven’t yet subscribed to that podcast on iTunes, you should. They are fantastic.
Yesterday it took me an hour and a half to get caught up on all the online coverage of the Blazers after their win streak reached 10 Friday night at home against the Nuggets. They now have the longest win streak of anyone in the NBA this season, and once again they had to come back from being down by seven at the beginning of the fourth quarter. On top of that, the game was decided in the end by a Brandon Roy block of a Carmelo Anthony jump hook and a Travis Outlaw swat of a Linas Kleiza desperation three. It’s good to see guys stepping up in the fourth quarter, and those two have been doing it consistently throughout this winning streak.
All the coverage and the win really were the best things about my birthday. Not that I didn’t enjoy yesterday, but just that I am so excited about how this team is doing. Stephen and I were talking about it in the car, and it doesn’t make sense that everyone is as surprised as they are. Surprised? Yes. But this surprised? I don’t think we should be. Yeah, we traded away our leading scorer and rebounder. Yes, we have the third youngest team in the history of the association. Sure, we’re without the number one overall pick from last year’s draft and the guy many envisioned as the savior of the franchise. But the hallmark of this team is their chemistry and how much fun they’re having together, with everyone contributing. We couldn’t have expected that when the team started playing together five weeks before training camp? Shouldn’t we have foreseen this type of beyond-their-years-maturity from a bunch of guys who chose to get together, without pay, more than a month before they had to? I think so. And yes, that still makes this really surprising, but not completely surprising.
My battery is about to run out, so I’m shutting the computer down for the rest of the trip. But I wanted to share a little post-birthday thanks to the team for making it a great one, and a little Christmas cheer to anyone who makes sure I have a few readers.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
I forgot to mention
When I did that quick update on Roy I forgot one important note: he missed practice yesterday with the flue, and said that he was playing tonight at around 70%. That certainly isn't the same sickness MJ played through in The Flue Game, but to do what Roy did while being a little under the weather is pretty good. Especially for a second year player. Oh, and that second year player really is making a very strong case to be Western Conference Player of the week for a third straight, and then conference player of the month. If he keeps this up, he'll be battling with Aldridge and Outlaw for most improved for sure. Here's the box score for your perusal.
(Trying to settle nerves and calm expectations...)
I love listening to these games online, but I really need to get league pass when I come back after Christmas so I can watch them.
(Trying to settle nerves and calm expectations...)
I love listening to these games online, but I really need to get league pass when I come back after Christmas so I can watch them.
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