Portland Trail Blazers

In the NBA these days, it seems like there is a stat for everything. We’ve got PER, offensive efficiency ratings, defensive efficiency rating, and so on and so on.

It seems like every team in the league now employs their own stat guru. And while I’m not one to question the use of all these new statistics to evaluate NBA players (I actually kinda like them), I’m old school. 

Continue reading "Fun With Box Scores"

Happy New Year!

With the new NBA season set to tip off with four games tonight, here are some of the things I’ll be watching for in tonight’s action.

Boston @ Cleveland, 7:30pm

I can’t wait to see LeBron again this season. Last year, coming off the Olympics, you could see that his focus was on improving defensively. Now, without a summer in the spotlight, I’m curious to see if he’s made any improvements to his already unreal game. Is this the year we finally see LeBron use his Karl Malone-like body to beast on people inside?

Continue reading "NBA Opening Night Quick Thoughts"

Congratulations Portland Trail Blazers on a great season. You overachieved, brought the city to hysteria not seen since the early 90s and created a solid foundation on which to work on. Now get over it.

Continue reading "Congrats Blazers...Now Get Over It"

It's been almost two years since the mayhem of the 2007 Draft, when the question on everyone in Rip City was Oden? or Durant? As everyone knows and really, everyone expected, the Blazers chose Greg Oden, the towering behemoth center out of Ohio St. NBA history has always taught us that a dominant big man is the ultimate blue print to an NBA Championship.

Continue reading "If Only We Got the Second Pick"

First, check out this, it's super hilarious and well written.  Now, on to the good stuff... 

We're less than four hours away from the Blazers and Celtics tipping off in Boston (catch it on ESPN if you don't want to listen to Mike Rice gush over Channing Frye and you love Van Gundy/Jackson as much as I do), so I figured I'd provide a few nuggets of wisdom about what might be the keys to the game for both sides.  Now before you all collectively groan in disgust, let me reassure you that what follows may actually prove insightful, unlike most other "key to tonight's match-up" pieces that simply say score, defend and rebound better than your opponent.  There are a few things that I'm looking for as indicators of successful play by both sides which go much deeper than the usual mundane crap, so bear with me.

Continue reading "Celtics v. Blazers Preview Extravaganza"

(cue the Biggie...)  I'm going out of town for the long holiday weekend, so all of you out there (if there are any of you) are going to have to survive for a few days without my wonderful and insightful analysis about all things basketball for a few days.  (I'll pause for a moment to let you scream in anguish and control your sobbing...)  But fear not, I will be back with even more opinions and prognostications about the realm of professional sports on Tuesday, and by then I should have plenty to write about.

Continue reading "Thanksgiving Send Off Spectacular"

Is it just me or is Joel Przybilla one of the most underrated players in the NBA?
 
When most fans around the league think of Przybilla, they think a good rebounding, offensively challenged backup center.  But what many people don't realize is that Przybilla is shooting 83% from the field.  Last time I checked, that's not too bad.  Sure he isn't popping 15-foot jumpers, but he knows his role, and if he outside of five feet, he isn't looking for his shot.  Przybilla is great at setting picks and looking for the offensive boards.  He is averaging over 16 rebounds per 48 minutes.  I will take that kind of production from my center any day.

Continue reading "Przybilla's The Thrilla? More like ..."

Ok, well the Blazers are 1-2 on this young season and look like a team trying to find their identity.  To be fair, they have run into three teams most likely to make the playoffs this season.  The schedule doesn't get any easier as they face the Jazz in Utah on Wednesday and come home to host the Rockets on Thursday.

Continue reading "Time for more PT for rookies"

The Portland Trail Blazers finally kicked off their 2008-2009 NBA season on Tuesday.  I, along with most of the rest of the city, have been waiting for this moment all summer long.  And the Blazers proceeded to go out and lay an egg in the first half and lose by 20 to the reigning Western Conference champs.  After the game, Nate McMillan might have told his team to completely forget about what just happened.

Continue reading "Finally- we get to see Oden...for 13 minutes."

The Portland Trail Blazers start the season on October 28th, against Kobe, and the Western Conference champions Los Angeles Lakers.  The home opener is on Halloween night against the might

Continue reading "NBA Schedule Released!!"

The Blazers signed assistant coach Joe Prunty today, presumably to replace Bill Bayno, who took the head coaching job at Loyola Marymount University after last season. With Prunty comes experience, intelligence and three championship rings (from his tenure in San Antonio). He coached for Dallas last season and was one of Avery Johnson's first acquisitions as head coach of the Mavs. Here is a link to Prunty's bio.

Continue reading "Blazers Aquisition & Update"

Darius Miles, who the Blazers cut some three months ago, worked out for the Celtics last week. Reports claim the workout was "impressive", whatever that means. If he even plays ten games in the NBA in the next two seasons, his salary will go back on the books for Portland and the Blazers' Summer of 09' free agency plan will be in peril.

Continue reading "Will Miles Make a Comeback?"

Well, well, the day is finally here.  Tonight, I (along with many other rabid basketball fans) will have my eyes and ears glued to my TV set to find out who will go number 1 overall what crazy-ass (Benny, you were an English major, do I need to hyphenate "crazy-ass"?) deal Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard will swing during this year's NBA Draft.

Continue reading "First Draft"

feeling more energetic today and I've been trying to come up with a way for my other home team, the Portland Trail Blazers, to improve through some trades and in the draft.  I'm not going totally Simmons here, but I do have some thoughts about a few moves that the Blazers could make to improve themselves at the point and at small forward this summer ( I've already written about this some, but now that the draft order is cemented, it's worth revisiting).

Continue reading "Bonus post: NBA Draft Musings"

on with it?  Right, here we go.

Last night, the Lakers gave up 112 points to the Portland Trail Blazers on 41-81 shooting from the field and 10-22 from the land of plenty (behind the three-point line).  You could chalk it up to hot shooting from Portland, but when you consider that the Lakers had only four steals and two blocks, you start to get the feeling that the Lakers aren't exactly committed to the defensive end of the floor. 

Continue reading "There's No 'D' in Los Angeles"

No NBA yesterday, instead I had to settle for March Madness, boo hoo.  It was a great game, and despite the loss I still think that Derrick Rose is the best player in college right now and should be the no. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft.  He's incredibly athletic, has a great sense of the game, a high basketball IQ and most importantly is, by all accounts, an excellent leader and teammate.  Michael "Beastly" is incredible as well, I just think Rose's ability to make his teammates better and his upside are tremendous.  Also, Chris Douglas Roberts and Mario Chalmers were amazing, to put it mildly.

Continue reading "A Pu-Pu Platter of Coming Attractions"