More evidence that Nicolas Batum is the best

I've mentioned before that my brother and I disagree as to who has more value, Batum or Fernandez. We haven't talked about it much this season, so maybe Stephen is starting to figure out that it is clearly Batum. If not, he might feel that way after watching this video. One of the things I like best about this is that in almost every block he's either tapping it out front to a teammate or smacking it off the backboard so that a teammate can grab the rebound and turn around with the ball. I think on one of them the other team gets the offensive board and makes a put back. But his teammates already know that if they take off with him they can get the ball back, and the players that don't know yet are certainly learning quickly. I love it.

Thanks to Casey Holdahl for putting this up.

This made me sad

Sonicsgate Trailer from sonicsgate on Vimeo. via TrueHoop

Awesome

Get excited

Rudy Fernandez

Greg Oden sings

This is a video of Greg Oden singing. I thought he sang alright at the ESPYs, so I think this might just be his goofiness coming out. I love that guy.

Pick and Roll? Yes, please.

This whole thing is okay, but the part that I posted it for starts around the 48 second mark. Greg Oden and Steve Blake do a pick and roll there that is beautiful. I laughed out loud with glee the first three times I watched it. In a row. There are several more videos where this came from at Casey's Center Court blog.

This is even cooler

This is a link to an even sweeter version of that 4x100 freestyle. I love watching this race.

More video of Greg Oden

The Oregonian does great stuff. Really great stuff, actually, about the Blazers. Here is the latest video installment on Greg Oden's rehab. (My favorite Blazer, Channing Frye, is also in this video. I love that guy.)

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.

Greg! Greg! Greg!

Did I mention that this guy is coming back next year too?

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

I was having a conversation at lunch today with my friend Mariano and mentioned how great the Lakers could be next year when they add Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum.

Then I realized that the Blazers will be adding guys who will probably be better than those two. Need proof? Watch.

I still love Rasheed

Say what you want about Rasheed Wallace and people saying things about the referees – I usually respect people who don't complain about them – but I appreciate what 'Sheed had to say after the game last night. This is from Need4Sheed via Ball Don't Lie.

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.)

Clyde Drexler was awesome

This video comes via Sean over at the Oregonlive Blazers blog.

The last day of the season? Wow.

Umm, there is no good way for me to set up this clip. Crazy good.

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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.

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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.

I thought that was appropriate, especially after he said that we should have tried to trade him at the deadline. But I was a little surprised and disappointed that Roy wasn't in his top 25. Maybe it's the Blazers colored glasses, but isn't Roy one of the 25 most valuable players in the league?

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.

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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 Phoenix

One last chance to call Portland a "lottery team" before they win 11 championships in 13 years.

I love reading this. Love it. So true.

No April Fool

Last night I finished watching Black Magic, the ESPN show about many of the Black players who helped integrate basketball in this country. It was a great show, and today I bought the soundtrack on iTunes because that was such a great part of the show. Actually, I bought the show on iTunes as well. So Apple made some money off of that show, at least from me. I'm thinking about using the show in class, if I can get a projector, as a reward at the end some days. It would be somewhat relevant because it's about history and oppression and making change. It's also just good, and I've reached the point where it seems that I'm mailing it in a little bit.

Speaking of that, my grades for third quarter are due next Monday, and I am not excited about making sure I've represented the progress of each of my students. Ugh. I hate grades. Also, the accreditation committee is visiting beginning next Sunday, and I'm not really excited about that either. Then again, as my roommate Eric said, if the accreditation of the school comes down to how good I'm doing, then the school really is in bad shape and probably doesn't deserve to keep its accreditation. Not that I think the school will lose accreditation, and not that I'm planning on a poor showing by myself, but it was a nice thing to keep me from feeling too much pressure.

I think I might head to a bar or someplace that I could watch the two college games soon, although I could watch fuzzy versions of the game at home. That's a decision to make, although I should make it soon, since the first game will probably start before I finish this post.

Just a little Blazer news: Martell Webster is having some heart issues, which is scary. Jack Brown at Deceptively Quick had a good little post about it, especially the YouTube video he embedded that shows Martell torching the Jazz. Go there to watch the video, if not to read his take.

Rudy is "90% sure" he's coming next year. I think we knew that, but it's still good for him to say it. I found that here (of course that's a link to OregonLive – those guys are great).

Alright, I don't think I have anything else to say. Look at the top of the page for something new I added to the blog. It's great. Oh, and the title of this post had nothing to do with the post except that it's my first entry of April.

A disgusting habit

I thought of this a while back, but my current circumstance reminded me. I'm considering a smoking habit. To say it better: I'm thinking about developing a smoking habit. I don't mean one of those three-packs-a-day addictions, but something more along the lines of once a month or so. And I'd rotate. This month I'd sit down some evening with a nice cigar and burn away the stress that's been building. Then, in a month, I'd have a couple nice cigarettes. The month after that I would stuff one month's worth of worries in my pipe and smoke it – along with some fine tobacco. No one in my family liked this idea very much when I told them.

My present circumstance made me remember this because I'm sitting outside It's a Grind, reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and partaking first-hand in my current vice – coffee – and second hand in this proposed new vice – tobacco. I'm enjoying the combination immensely.

I put this video up instead of a picture of It's a Grind. The 33 second mark is the part that has to do with the post, but sometimes I feel like I'm part of the whole thing, just from being in California.

Oh, and if there are people who read this because they want to read about sports, which had been my main topic for a long time: my apologies. Maybe I'll write about the Jim Zorn departure from Seattle soon, or spring training for the Braves, but since the Blazers have been down it's hard for me to write about them, and they're my favorite sports subject.

Dumping it all on you

I should really be grading quizzes right now, but I have too much to blog about.

Firstly, I have a lot of links to put up. Some aren't as new, and I forget where all of these were found, but it's just a ton of Blazers stuff.

Seriously, here we go:

This is a surprisingly good take on the team so far, something that surprised me even more because of where I found it. Yeah, that's some bias creeping in, which is too bad. This is really just one of the articles I've read that has the best perspective.

This is from the Toronto Star, and is only in a sidebar:

A scout said last week something along the lines of "in two or three years, no one's going to want to play Portland." Well, no one wants to play them now, either. The Blazers rattled off their seventh win in a row Sunday and the Raptors get them tomorrow night.

I don't think I agree with much in this article by Lang Whitaker over at Slam, but I'm happy to have people around the country arguing about Portland at all.

I really enjoyed his article about the winning streak. It's from a blog put out by the Washington Post, with this post being written by Michael Lee. I enjoy the stories that come out of DC, partly because they're good, but also because they write about the Blazers thanks to the Steve Blake connection. Because of that, they have a good focus on the role players for the Blazers, and that's been the main reason for the streak (other than Roy and McMillan, of course).

This is just another one talking about how good the Blazers have been during the streak. And this one is sort of similar, from Hoopsworld. Oh yeah, this one is from RealGM, and talks about how Portland has won all these games, too.

This might be my favorite article link of the day, because it provides a ton of insight into how the Blazers have done this, focusing on the development of Travis Outlaw (with a little Martell Webster thrown in).

Now for a few a/v links.

I called in to The Basketball Jones last night on my way to pick up my roommate Eric from the airport, and today I made the podcast. You should listen to the whole thing, but if you just want to hear what I have to say, go to the 15:45 mark. Oh, and you should just subscribe to their podcast on iTunes. It's great.

My second a/v link is to an interview Brandon Roy did with Jim Rome. I hate Rome, but there's a point in the podcast that is amazing (oh yeah, it will open up in iTunes, sorry about that): Roy mentions that Pritchard asked him what he would think of them signing Steve Blake before they did it. He also asked who they should draft, but that seems like less of a big deal to me. Roy was asked before they made a move for a free agent (a move that has looked pretty good so far this year, despite what many said about it).

And the last link I'll put here, even though I'm embedding the video. Kelly Dwyer is doing awesome things on Yahoo! Sports. So visit his blog.



There you have it. Now I'm going to listen to the Blazers' attempt at number nine. Down by two, 6-4, as of this second.

Brandon Roy is good at basketball

Understatement? Yes. I was trying to embed the highlights from NBA.com, but had no luck. Instead you'll just have to click this link or the title of the post to see Roy look the way Wade is supposed to.

A few videos by way of other blogs

This is crazy.


I guess Bargnani is really good. Watch this pass a few times. He's really good. It looks like he might have a little Sabonis to him.

USA basketball is good again, but once they made everyone feel really terrible. Especially a certain Michael Jordan. That guy could play.