Fitting how the Blazers open the season, on the road against the Los Angeles KobeBryants. The rivalry has been restored and what better time to renew the rivalry than opening night, in Hollywood. The Blazers will have 13 nationally televised games, including a Christmas Day showdown with the Mavericks in the Rose City, who we owned last season. I hope my tickets include that game, as they did last season. The twelve game pack, should be packed (no pun intended) with great games again this season. Should be fun to see a healthy Oden, a flashy Fernandez, an MVP named Roy, an LA that you don't hate; averaging double-doubles, Trout and his crazy hops, Marty bury triples, the '80-09 ROY player named Bayless, Joel punishing opponents in the paint, and Sergio and Blakie dishin' and swishin'. Who knows, maybe there will be enough left over burn for IkeDiogu, Money Man Raef, and the French kid, Nicolas Batum.
The time to make Rip City relevant again has come! To the playoffs and beyond!
Imagine the possibilities. Laker fans can focus on the end of the video. Last season's struggles and successes have built a playoff contender for the next season.
Role players, doing their thing. Steve Blake being the steady playmaker that he his, occassionally burying that necessary 3 ball. Channing Frye showing me that I was wrong for calling you "soft" last year. I'm sorry. What can I say about Ike Diogu?Raef LaFrentz proving to me that not all money is well spent. Good luck to James Jones and Jarrett Jack and of course McBob. Jack will be missed, especially by me. Voted by his teammates as the "Best Dressed, Best Friend" We'll miss you buddy!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU7u4YxKnTI& amp;feature=related
and hopefully Mac 10 will win Coach of the Year!
and of course we have the best owner (Mr. Allen) and GM (Kevin Pritchard) in the league
The Blazers got a stud point guard with superstar potential. This kid is crazy fast, has slick moves, can dish, can hit the 3, and jam. The Blazers got a steal and luckily didn't have to part with much to get him. He's going to be a great addition to an already potent lineup. Rudy, Oden, Bayless, Roy, and LA, the future looks pretty promising.
Rudy Fernandez is planning on playing for the Blazers next season. Check out this video on Youtube. Rudy looks like he's the Spanish Pistol Pete. I predict he will be in the running for Rookie of the Year, and 6th Man of the Year, next season. He should fit in well with the up and coming, exciting nucleus of Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, and Travis Outlaw. Everybody will get a chance to watch him play, when the Blazers make the playoffs. I suspect they'll have many televised games, since GO will finally be playing. I'm psyched for another season of Trail Blazer basketball, and Rudy making his debut. He dominated overseas, now to see what he can do against the best talent in the world. I expect him to have an Ichiro-esque impact in his first season in the league.
I get to see my first Blazer's game of the season, though it's preseason still, this next Wednesday. I'm pretty psyched to see Kevin Durant play for the Supes, but more excited to see my boys playing in the black and red. I expect to see a lot of minutes doled out to LaMarcus Aldridge, who's going to have a huge year, Taurean Green, who Coach McMillan absolutely loves as the back up point, and Martell Webster who has been lighting it up, from all over the floor. I don't see Brandon Roy getting many minutes due to his heel injury flaring up again. Even if he doesn't play, I have the reassurance of the ten game pack to cheer me up. I know I already did a post about the ten game pack, but all these games are gonna be sick! I get to see the Chauncy, Kobe, Dirk Diggler, Deron, DWade, Shaq, Durant twice, and Steve Nash live. It will be incredible. The only glaring drawback, which is totally out of my control: The Trail Blazers minus first overall pick GregOden.
Here's how I see the Blazers roster shaking out
Starting lineup:
PGSteve Blake (Coach McMillan has a real hard on for this guy and I'm not sure why. I think Jarrett Jack should be the starter. It's gonna be a real battle for back up minutes amongst Jack, Sergio Rodriguez, and former college star Taurean Green)
SG Brandon Roy (How do you follow up a solid season as Rookie of the Year? By having an equally good sophmore season. Fans around the league will take notice as Roy becomes one of the most clutch, late game performers in the NBA. He's the unquestioned leader and team captain of the Blazers. A potential all-star selection seems possible)
SF Martell Webster (It's time for this kid to show the world why he was taken 6th overall two years ago. He's been lighting it up in the preseason, and has shown the kind of confidence and maturity it takes to be a starter in the NBA. His solid play has overshadowed the play of Travis Outlaw, whom a lot of people believe will be the team's starting small forward, but I like the scoring mentality of Webster, in the starting lineup)
PF LaMarcus Aldridge (How great would the Bulls be if they had this guy? Experts the cover the NBA, expect what those of us Blazer fans have known forever: LA is going to blow up this year. He showed flashes of brilliance last season, even getting a few starts at center and power forward here and there. He played so well, in limited minutes, that he was named to the all-rookie first team. He can score from the inside, the outstide, block shots, and rebound with the best of them. I don't think he makes the all-star, but will be considered as an alternate if need be. Alridge and Roy will make this team dangerous.)
C Joel Pryzbilla (There's been speculation that Channing Frye will be the Blazers starting center, but he doesn't play with the kind of defensive toughness that Joel does, eventhough Joel is prone to foul a lot. I think the team would be better served playing Pryzbilla in the beginning of games, and in crunch time, to cut down on the fouls. Then Frye can step up with some scoring punch off the bench. Frye's game is a lot like that of Aldridge, except Aldridge plays better d. That being said, I see Pryzbilla being the man in the middle, in the Blazer's starting rotation.)
Bench:
PG Jarret Jack, Taurean Green, Sergio Rodriguez (It still anybody's guess how this point guard battle will shake out. I like all of these players, so it would be hard to leave any out. Jack could see some minutes at the 2, and McMillan is known to like playing two point guards at once, to go small. I haven't seen Green play yet, but by reputation I believe he will be a real spark plug, and possibly the team's point guard of the future. I like the fast paced entertaining style of Sergio, but he's more prone to turn over the ball more than the other point guards here. I'd say all three make the active roster, with Jack either starting at the point or backing up Brandon Roy. We still have a young point guard serving in the Finnish Army right now (Petteri Koepennen) to think about as a future point guard, but he will be playing overseas this season)
SG/SF James Jones, Jarrett Jack (James Jones could be the starting small forward, and had success while playing with Phoenix. It really depends how the battle between him, Webster, and Outlaw shakes out. Jones and Jack are two players I could see battling for back up minutes at the 2. McMillan has mentioned that Jones and Outlaw may see minutes at the 3, and even possibly the 4 this season. Rudy Fernandez, playing overseas, will make this thing really interesting next season.)
PF/C Channing Frye, Travis Outlaw, Josh McRoberts, Raef LaFrentz, Joel Freeland (Freeland may again play overseas, which would make this easier to decide who the best subs will be. Frye will most likely get the bulk of the minutes at center and power forward, leaving minimal time for Outlaw at the 4, so I see Outlaw spending more time as the back up 3. LaFrentz can hit jumpshots from all over the place, but offers little else, so I wouldn't keep him on the active roster. Josh McRoberts is supposed to be good and the Oregon media seems to like him, but I don't see much playing time for him, so maybe he's the 12th man on this team. Otherwise I expect he'll be in the D-League, perhaps being joined by whomever loses the battle at point guard.)
Out for the year?! The single worst news a Blazer fan like myself could possibly hear. I'm hopeful that Greg will come back and be better than ever next season. All year I'm going to be subjected to the "They should've taken Kevin Durant" talk or the "Sam Bowie" comparisons. All I can say is that those folks who think that are wrong. It will be easier for Durant to out perform the big man, because, obviously he's healthy and looking forward to being the main man in Seattle.
The Blazers will be just fine, and I'm still looking forward to the ten game package, in which I get to see Kobe, Shaq, D-Wade, Lebron, Chauncy, Dirk Diggler, Kevin Durant, and of course Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge.
Odenis out for a year, but not done forever. Of course, every columnist on Around theHorn is making the Bowie comparisons. Joel Pryzbilla and Channing Frye can fill in just fine, for now. I guess it will be a year before we get to see how great Greg Oden will actually be. Until that day, I can still watch how good Roy and Aldridge actually are.
My brother told me that we are going to buy a ten game special package for Blazer games this season. All ten games are going to be incredibly awesome, as they are all against teams that I really want to watch. I'll be able to see the develop of Greg Oden first hand, and see Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge take their games to the next level.
Here are the games that come with the 10 Game pack
Detroit (I get to see one of my favorite non-Blazers in person, point guard Chauncy Billups)
Orlando (Dwight Howard vs LaMarcus Aldridge will be sweet. Rashard Lewis in a Magicuniform, though I think he's highly overrated)
Miami (Shaq and DWade in the house! I really hope we beat them, cause Miami has had a terrible offseason. Maybe Penny Hardaway will still be playing at that point of the season.)
Seattle on X-Mas (I may not go to this game, as I'm usually in Seattle for Christmas, but going to this game might be the better option. Oden vs Durant take one!)
Utah (We suprisingly beat Utah twice last season, and I want to see Deron Williams aka the next Jason Kidd live, and Carlos Boozer.)
Cleveland (One word: Lebron. The one player I would most like to see in the NBA. I never got to see Jordan, so this might be the next best thing)
Chicago (I'm sure we'll get destroyed by the Bulls, but I still want to see Big Ben vs GregOden and Brandon Roy vs Ben Gordon.)
Phoenix (I picked the Suns to win it all last year, and they let me down. Now I want to see the Blazers beat them and Steve Nash.)
LA Kobe Bryants(I hate the Lakers with a passion, but I'm not going to lie, I want to see Kobe Bryant in person. I never saw Jordan play live, so Kobe will have to do. Plus we beat the Lakers plent of times last season.)
Dallas (My brother went to the same high school as Jason Terry, graduating a year before Terry and a year after Corey Dillion. He wants to see Terry, I want to see Dirk Diggler.)
I've had a lousy summer. I broke my leg playing indoor soccer, and haven't been able to be as active as I've wanted to, since I quit smoking three months ago. I got accepted to go to OSU, which is awesome and just got the news about the Blazer tickets. Things are looking up. Now if I could only get some trim.
Ichiro is this week's big winner. He wins the All-Star Game MVP trophy, turning in a fine performance going 3-3 with a 2 run inside the park home run. Later upon arrival in the Emerald City (Seattle) he is deservingly inked to a five year 90 million dollar deal that will probably keep him in Seattle for the rest of his career. As a Mariner fan, I think this is the best thing that could possibly happen to the Mariners this season other than making a possible post season trip. The Mariners had a series split with the Detroit Tigers, and JJ Putz got a little revenge on Tiger's skipper Jimmy Leyland by picking up two saves in the series and striking out the side in one. Justin Verlander proved that he was a chump with a bush league move, as he beaned Ichiro in the knee with a 96 mph fastball rather than face him. Oh well.
The other big winner is myself. I get to go to the opening two games of the Mariners series against the Baltimore Orioles. One of these games will feature Felix Hernandez making a start, who I'm really excited to see for the first time. I plan on bringing my little kids mitt (I have tiny hands) with the fake Ryne Sandberg autograph on the palm of it. Perhaps I can catch the first foul ball in my career, as I will be sitting in the second level on the third base line.
The big loser of the week, besides me in my fantasy football draft, is my Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers decided to sign veteran (I guess) point guard Steve Blake much to the dismay of apparently just me. I'm excited about next season with Brandon Roy and the expected heavy impact of twin towers Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge. What doesn't excite me is that I have to watch roughly the same rotation of point guards that I had to see a couple of years ago, and instead of Sebastian Telfair we have Sergio Rodriguez and Taurean Green. The team had a great draft, but the signing of Blake and the likely signing of Travis Outlaw have me crying in my beer. That being said, I still intend to go to a minimum of 3 games this next season.
I don't have anything to mention about the Seahawks this week, other than I really looking forward to the season and I still miss DJack. Congrats to Ichiro! He's the new Mr. Mariner. I shake my head in disgust, knowing that the Blazers have Steve Blake for 3 years.
I wrote a little more about this occassion, but this extremely crappy blog said there was techinical difficulties and then it was gone!
Dear Fox, this isn't the first time I've had trouble with your site. By the way, your fantasy baseball sucks big time too.
Anyway, Brandon Roy was almost the first unanimous Rookie of the Year selection since David Robinson ('89-90). One reporter, in Toronto, who covers the Raptors, used his first place vote on Andrea Bargnani. His email address is on the Oregonian's website, so I guess he'll be receiving many hate-filled emails from the Blazer faithful regarding his poor decision making.
Roy led all rookies in scoring, assts, and minutes played. Had four double-doubles, andled his team to 11 more wins than the previous season.
Barganin's Season AVG: 11.6 pts, 3.9 boards, 0.8 assts, at 25.1 minutes per game.
Roy's Season AVG: 16.8 pts, 4.4 boards, 4.0 assts, at 35.4 minutes per game.
Who was more important to his team's success?
Roy Wonder! Congratulations to Brandon! Blazer fans no longer have to hide their red, white, and black jerseys in shame.
I usually steer clear of making predictions regarding the NBA, because my team is in a re-building phase. The Blazers do look good though, especially Roy, Aldridge, and SergioRodriguez. I wish the Blazers would trade Darius Miles in the offseason to the Knicks for ajersey, and trade Zach Randolphto the Hawks for Joe Johnson, who could be plugged into the rotation as the starting SF. Probably won't happen on either account. Let's move on to the hardware, and post season predictions.
League MVP: Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks (This team would be absolutely clueless and scoreless without this guy leading the way.) Runner up: Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns. Laughable choice: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
Rookie of the Year: Brandon Roy, Portland Trail Blazers (No contest. I'm sure there are a handful of teams that regret passing on this guy) Runner up:Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors.
Most Improved Player: Deron Williams, Utah Jazz (This guy is way better a point than Chris Paul) Runner up: Al Jefferson, Boston Celtics & Kevin Martin, Sacramento Kings
Comeback Player: Zach Randolph, Portland Trail Blazers (Playing for the Blazers gets no respect these days. Averaging 20 and 10 doesn't automatically getting on the All-Star squad. It should) Runner up: Carlos Boozer, Utah Jazz
Coach of the Year: Jerry Sloan, Utah Jazz (It's about freakin' time this guy won the award) Runner up:Sam Mitchell, Toronto Raptors
Eastern Conference Finals: Detroit Pistons vs Chicago Bulls. Winner: Detroit Pistons (Pistons back court better than the Bulls back court in the clutch)
Western Conference Finals: San Antonio Spurs vs Phoenix Suns. Winner: Phoenix Suns (Amare Stoudemire is the missing link, to a championship caliber team)
The Blazers, without rookie Brandon Roy, beat the overrated Lakers. Things are looking a lot better than last season so far. Zach Randolph is playing like an MVP candidate, and will hopefully represent the team at the All Star game this year. Go Blazers!
The Blazers got Aldridge and Roy! I would have been happy with either one but both is unbelievable. The trade with Boston was a genius move by management. LaFrentz will contribute immediately. I was glad they parted ways with Telfair and Ratliff, and Patterson says that more trades are on the way. Hopefully they can trade Miles or Randolph along the way.
The only thing that bothered me about tonight's draft was Stephen A. Smith. I always thought he was a complete ####, but after he constantly bashed my team, now I really can't stand him. I hope ESPN fires him soon! Portland's only had two losing seasons in a row after years and years of making the playoffs, and he made them seem like a complete train wreck. Portland deserves some criticism for questionable moves by management and having players with character issues (Miles, Randolph), but the Knicks seem worse off to me.
Go Blazers! We have some good, promising pieces in place now.
PF is from the Northwest. I'm a huge fan of the Seahawks, Mariners, and Trail Blazers! If you don't root for your teams, even when they're losing or re-building, you are not a true fan.
Go Beavs! Back to Back NCAA Baseball Champions! Obama in '08!
