Game Preview of Portland at Utah 11/5

On the road vs the Utah Jazz. A hard nosed veteran team that won 54 games last season and a division title. The Jazz beat us twice in preseason. But in both games a number of our frontline players sat the game out. The second time we did this there were rumors that Nate didn't want to show Jerry Sloan his full bag of tricks. We'll see. Everyone should be available for this game against the Jazz.

Speaking of Jerry. He is a throwback. A hard-nosed ex-player coach. A former Chicago Bull from the Van-Arsdale twins era of NBA basketball. He is a tough old bugger and perhaps the NBAs leading proponent of good old fashioned pick and roll, pick and pop basketball. He doesn't do anything fancy. Just the same old stuff over and over and over again. He is a master at getting his team to execute these simple plays to perfection. And he is also a master in the art of game adjustments. Before we hired Nate I really wanted our team to go after Jerry Sloan. He may be the best coach in the league. Sorry Phil, you had MJ and Pippen, and Kobe and Shaq. Yes, Jerry did have Malone and Stockton, but not much else. And I question whether their careers would have been the same if they had played for a different coach. Jerry Sloan has done more with less than any coach in this league.

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Really now, I think we all know who should be the Starting Five. Portland loves Brandon Roy since his breakout rookie season, but now Portland is also in love with this Rudy character. The other three spots should be filled by crazy players who don't give a sh*t about the money but rather just the exposure: Batum, Frye and Pryzbilla. But let's see how long it's going to take the Blazers to finally figure it out... umm, hopefully not 5 seasons like it did back in Pippen's time when the coaches were scared of Rasheed to not start that crackhead.

But really, Rasheed was a great entertainer. Nonetheless, he's Blazer past. The future lies witihin a starting 5 that would produce decent scores thus earning their starting position. Has starting the game really gone to be a public record? Where starting the game is more important than actually producing decent scores? Many players in the league who start the game, have been proven to produce a victory. Coaches who take chances on their players, usually come out with the victories. 

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