Inspiring Story

Read this story:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122906302371923700

Not a Blazer article, but a good one! He gives credit where credit is due.

My December Blazer game predictions:

Dec. 2 @ Knicks – I thought we’d win; we won 104-97
Dec. 5 @ Wahington - win
Dec. 5 @ Boston – loss
Dec. 7 @ Toronto – loss
Dec. 9 vs. Orlando – win
Dec. 11 @ Utah – loss
Dec. 12 vs. Clippers – win
Dec. 16 vs. Sacramento – win
Dec. 18 vs. Phoenix – loss
Dec. 22 @ Denver – loss
Dec. 23 vs. Denver – win
Dec. 25 vs. Dallas – win
Dec. 27 vs. Toronto – win
Dec. 30 vs. Boston – loss

So, if my predictions are correct we will go 8-6 in December and end the month with a 20-12 record.

I was wrong...

I was wrong about Nicolas Batum. I thought he would be shipped overseas to develop for a couple years and then fester on the end of the Blazer bench if he ever made it back. Now he’s starting, playing tough D, and raining in steady 3s.

I was wrong about Sergio Rodriguez. I thought he was trade-bait. I thought he was never going to get better. He is showing me up so far this year (and I am glad about that).

I was wrong about the Clippers being a play-off team. I thought Jason Williams would be a great back-up for Baron Davis, but then White Chocolate retired just to prove me wrong. They are off to a terrible start. (However, they still have time to turn it around though after the Zach Randolph trade… so maybe I won’t be wrong in the end).

I was wrong about the Chargers. I picked them to win the Super Bowl. They are 4-8 and won’t even make the play-offs. That’s what I get for listening to the hype.

All-Star Voting

I love the NBA and always enjoy watching the All-Star game, and I also like the rookie/sophomore game and the dunk contest they have during All-Star Weekend. In my opinion, the NBA has the most watch-able, fan friendly all-star event of the big 3 sports. However…

I just finished poking holes in about 30 more All-Star ballots and I feel the need to comment on a major flaw in the voting process. There, listed on the ballot was Stephon Marbury. The same Stephon Marbury who has not played a single minute this year. I know the NBA lets fans pretty much choose the All-Star game starters like a popularity contest, but shouldn’t the players fans can choose from be ones who’ve actually played? C’mon!

Also, there is only room for one write-in vote per conference, so I couldn’t write in both Joel Przyabilla and Steve Blake, even they both are putting up pretty elite numbers this year. The only 3 Blazers available are Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, and LaMarcus Aldridge (needless to say I voted for them each time).

The saving grace to the NBA All-Star selection process is that once the starters are chosen by the fans, coaches get to vote in the remainder of the players. That helps get the players who deserve it into the game. That’s how Brandon Roy got in last year and probably how he’ll get in this year too.

So, just FYI, here are my picks:

West
C – Greg Oden (I know he hasn’t earned it but since Joel wasn’t on the ballot…)
F – LaMarcus Aldridge
F – Tim Duncan / Amare Stoudemire (I split my other forward votes between them)
G – Brandon Roy
G – Chris Paul

East
C – Dwight Howard
F – LeBron James
F – Kevin Garnet / Chris Bosh (I split my other forward votes between them)
G – Dwayne Wade
G – Devin Harris / Mo Williams / Joe Johnson / Ray Allen (Lots of choices and none very clear cut except for Dwayne, so I pretty much chose a few of my favorites.

Thunder!!

OK, I’ve been meaning to comment on this for a while because it really irks me…

Firstly, know that I am a big fan of logos and color schemes. Team image is one of the many influences that impacts the fan experience and I am a very visual-minded person. The larger piece of team image, of course, is personnel, because no matter how cool you look, if your team is full of losers then the experience will be forgettable. But say you’ve done your job with that… teams are known visually by their logo and color schemes. It gives them their unique look.

The Sonics had the chance, when they moved to Oklahoma City, to change their look. They chose the name Thunder, and I am OK with that. The logo they chose is pretty weak though, in my opinion. But where I have a problem is-- when they went to choose a color scheme they went with light blue. I say again… light blue. Light blue and orange just doesn’t convey Thunder to me. When I think thunder, I conjure up images of dark and ominous clouds, maybe some steaks of lightning or some hail… the sky reverberating with loud crashes that shake the bowels of men. NOT light blue.

But this is not the only reason why light blue is a terrible color choice. How many teams already have blue in their color scheme? Let’s count them, shall we?!

1. Utah Jazz
2. Denver Nuggets
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. New Orleans Hornets
5. Orlando Magic
6. Dallas Mavericks
7. Minnesota Timberwolves
8. Detroit Pistons
9. Washington Wizards
10. New Jersey Nets
11. LA Clippers
12. Golden State Warriors
13. Charlotte Bobcats
14. Atlanta Hawks
15. New York Knicks

Exactly one half of the teams in the NBA… already. And 8 or 9 of those are not just blue, but light blue. So the creative geniuses in Oklahoma City chose what color? Did they poll a group of sixth graders for input? I can picture the owner’s wife saying, “Gee, most teams already have light blue… light blue must be the latest shade in Basketball… so let’s go with… light blue!” Way to be original.

Next chance they get (read All-Star break) they should change it to black and purple, with white lightning bolts for trim… something like that. Something thunder-ish. Just not light blue!!! The whole idea makes me long for Sonic green and yellow.

Blazer Update 11-24-08

The Blazers are sitting at 8-6. Very nice. They are off to a much better start than most predicted, including myself. The best news… they are giving it their all and it translates: fun to watch!

A few things to note about the team so far:

Point Guard Play
Blake and Rodriguez are running the point extremely efficiently – The Blazers are one of the best teams so far in the Assist to Turnover ratio. Blake is 10th in the league for players with more than 200 minutes. Also, for players who’ve played more than 200 minutes this year, Sergio’s assist rate (per minute played) is 2nd in the league – Chris Paul is 1st. That’s pretty lofty status. I was pretty quick to dismiss Sergio when he said he wanted to be traded, but I see now that he is good for us. Steve Blake has scored more than 20 points in the last 2 games… he’s on a roll. One of the coolest pictures I’ve ever seen was in the Oregonian the other day – Steve Blake leaning over with blood literally pouring off of his scalp after a collision with a camera. It proved that he is a modern-day warrior.

3 Point Shooting
We are also off to a great start from outside. Even though we lost James Jones and Martell is hurt, we are tops in the league at shooting 3s. Here are some stats (3s per game/ percentage):

Travis Outlaw: 3 @ 51%
Rudy Fernandez: 6 @ 42%
Steve Blake: 5 @ 45%
Nicolas Batum: 2 @ 41%
Brandon Roy: 3 @ 37%
Sergio Rodriguez: 3 @35%

Anything better than 35% is = to shooting 2s at 50%. So we are doing great so far!

Center
Joel Pryzabilla and Greg Oden are tearing it up in the middle. Greg is way up there in blocks per minute… tied with Andrew Bynum and Brian Skinner for 4th in the League (only Ronny Turiaf, Dwight Howard, and Marcus Camby are better). Joel is shooting three 2-pointers per game @ 83%... the best in the league for players over 200 minutes (the next best is Nene with 65%). Seeing how we dominate the middle makes it easier to understand why we are able to be so open for 3-pointers.

Españoles Asombrosos
Otherwise known as Amazing Spaniards. Rudy is flat out fun to watch. Even if he is missing his 3s like he did Saturday against the Suns, he still is like watching a lightning bolt zip around the court. He and Sergio connect on some sweet alley-oops that make your eyes pop out. I knew they kept Sergio around to help Rudy in his transition to the NBA, and the connection they hoped for is realized. They each steal the ball very well, tying for the lead on the Blazers in Steals per minute. Rudy has a real knack for playing the game and is much better defensively than expected.

Defense
While we are doing great as far as blocking shots, rebounding, and stealing, we are letting way too many opposing players get easy baskets. Way too many lay-ins and fast-break points allowed so far. If we can shore up our transition defense and stay with our man we’d be a better defensive team. One problem with being an unselfish team like we are is that sometimes we are too eager to help out and, in doing so, leave an opponent wide open. There are certain players, like Mike Miller of the Timberwolves, who you NEVER want to leave. The minute you do you can count it as three points against you. Travis Outlaw is a bit suspect in this area, he is getting better at stealing and rebounding but still looks a half-step too slow in getting back to his man. Sergio does the same thing sometimes. He’ll go for the steal and leave his man open for the three. Granted, he gets a lot of steals that way but still… part of it is knowing who you should gamble against. NOT Steve Nash.

I have a lot more to talk about since this is the first chance I’ve had to post in a while, but I am out of time for now. Go Blazers!

PS. Get to go to 2 games this week! Tonight with Grady and Austin (vs. Kings) and Wednesday night with Brad (vs. the Heat). Should be fun!!!

Blazer Scrimmage

My Nephew Austin and Blazer Buddy Brad went with me to the Blazer scrimmage yesterday. It was the first chance to see Greg Oden at the Rose Garden and the first chance to see Rudy Fernandez play in Portland. On the way in we got to shake hands with Travis Outlaw and assistant coach Monty Williams. Brad met Ike Diogu and Coach McMillan. Austin got a Greg Oden bobble-head doll. The Blazer media took some pictures of Austin and I, so look for us on a billboard on your street soon!

Getting up close and personal with the giants is something to behold, but the real excitement came during the scrimmage. Oden looked good, he's so huge compared to everyone else on the court. He is still not quite in NBA shape but had a few moments where you could tell he is going to be a great player, probably sooner rather than later. I give him until 2010 until he's an All-Star.

The real eye-opener for me was Rudy Fernandez. He zipped some amazing passes to several players, one was a complete wrap-around the back pass to that made everyone do a double take... was it real??? Oh yes! It was REAL! He also has a great-looking 3 point shot that has a cool looking back spin on it and seems to be going 100MPH. But it doesn't just look good, it's also very accurate. If Manual Ginobli doesn't return from his injury to his old form, my bet is for Rudy Fernandez to make 6th man of the year. He is smart on the court, deceptively quick, isn't afraid to take it to the hoop, shoots well from deep, doesn't seem to be a terrible defender, and passes waaaay better than I expected.

Of the 4 players vying for the last roster spot - Steven Hill, Luke Jackson, Tatum, and Shavlik Randolph - Luke Jackson showed he could play last night. He had a couple great moves to the basket, got teammates involved, rebounded, and defended surprisingly well. Tatum was quick and hit a nice 3-pointer. Hill and Randolph were OK but didn't stand out. Too bad we're so deep at the 3 or I'd say we should keep Luke Jackson. He should definitely be on somebodies team this.

LaMarcus Aldridge absolutely went off last night. He scored 25 and made it look easy. His 12-15 foot jumper is automatic. Like Austin pointed out, he shoots it Rasheed Wallace-ish, letting it go at the apex of his reach. He also looked good down low, something I think will become a common theme this year, as he benefits from other teams trying to stop Oden from getting too deep on the block and forgetting about Aldridge.

Brandon Roy was back in form and had one really great circus shot where he flipped toward the basket after he was fouled and somehow it made it in... he seems to get at least one of those per game.

Outlaw had a few good shots and looked active around the basket. Przyabilla was his usual self, scrapping for position and rebounds and even dunking one off a pick and roll.

Martell started out slow but then got in the swing of things in the 2nd half. He had a great follow-up dunk and hit a couple nice outside shots. Brad thinks he is the odd man out and will be gone before next year. I think he's a solid player and I like him, he got much better at rebounding last year and I think he'd be fine coming off the bench to back up Outlaw. His ability play the 2-guard gives him more value too.

Brad also thinks Jerryd Bayless is another Jarret Jack; a cocky point guard who has a shooting guard mentality. I agree with Brad on those points but I think he's much better in a few different aspects: his speed is much better, he is more decisive, and he is less prone to make the same kind of bumbling mistakes Jack made famous. How many times did Jack step on the out-of-bounds line? How many times did he lose control of the ball mid-move because he couldn't decide if he should pass, shoot, or drive? I think Jerryd will make plenty of mistakes and certainly needs to involve his teammates more often, but I think he has the capacity and determination to improve and become a solid NBA point guard one day. Maybe backing up Blake for a year will teach him to think pass first.

Ike Diogu was unimpressive until late in the game when he had a nice rebound and put-back. I was hoping to see more rebounding out of him, but now I just want Channing Frye to hurry back from his injury.

Overall, I left with mucho energy and excitement for this season - we're going to be good AND fun to watch!

Aaron's NFL Post-Season predictions

NFC Wild Card:
NY Giants over Phil
Seattle over Carolina

NFC Division Playoffs:
New Orleans over NYG
Seattle over Minnesota

NFC Championship:
New Orleans over Seattle

AFC Wildcard:
Indianapolis over Jacksonville
Buffalo over Pittsburgh

AFC Division Playoffs:
New England over Indianapolis
S.D. over Buffalo

AFC Championship:
San Diego over N.E.

Super Bowl:
San Diego over New Orleans

Brad's NFL Post-Season Predictions

NFC Wild Card:
Giants over Vikings
Panthers over Eagles

NFC Division Playoffs:
Panthers over Seahawks
Cowboys over Giants

NFC Conference Finals:
Cowboys over Panthers

AFC Wild Card:
Colts over Steelers
Patriots over Jets

AFC Division Playoffs:
Jaguars over Patriots
Colts over Chargers

AFC Conference final:
Jaguars over Colts

Super Bowl:
Jaguars over Cowboys

WaxFL

Hey - I set up a new website just for the Waxenfelter Football League. I'm hoping the title to this blog-entry takes you there. If not, go to http://waxfl.blogspot.com/. It'll be a site where I can post scores and charts (and hopefully get some good comments on some of the games). Enjoy!!

Blazers - Hill or Jackson?

The season is inching closer every day. Decision making time draws near. We have 2 players scrimmaging with the team who have a very good chance of making the final roster. The question is; Who should we keep - Luke Jackson or Steven Hill?

Pros/cons for Luke Jackson:
Luke is a great outside threat. We don't have anyone on our team that can match his consistency from deep. His back injuries haven't allowed him to show off his shot in the NBA yet but he is healthier than ever and ready to prove himself. We could really a guy to replace James Jones as in the way he opened up the middle by drawing players deeper out on the perimeter. Luke could do that for us. He is Oregon-raised and it'd be great to have an Oregon Duck on the team. But Luke is not that great on defense and who knows when his back will flare up again?

Pros/cons for Steven Hill:
Steven is a blue-collar Center from Arkansas (and grew up in Branson, Missouri, about 1/2 hour from where my parents live). He was a nice surprise during the summer league and proved he can block shots with vigor and rebound well too. He isn't afraid to grind and muscle his way to get position against his opponent. Word is that he's been blocking Greg Oden's shots during recent practices. I see him as Joel Przybilla Jr. I like that because Joel is one of my favorite players due to his work ethic and toughness. But, much like Joel, Steven is limited on offense. He'll be able to get a few put-back rebounds but that's about it.

If we choose Luke we'll be able to get some instant offense off the bench, open the floor for the big men to do their work, and further infuse the Oregon fan base with Blazer-mania.

If we choose Steven we'll be adding a 7-footer who can stop opponents on the block and make lane drivers nervous. The fans that appreciate the hustle of Jerome Kersey will love Steven Hill.

They're both young players with great potential. What this really boils down to is roster need. As recent as last week I was leaning toward Luke, but with the up-coming shoulder surgery of Raef LaFrentz (not to mention Channing Frye's ankle surgery), I think we should keep Steven Hill. He'll give us a third big man behind Oden & Przybilla which will be handy when they both get in foul trouble. We have plenty scorers on this team - I think we'll be able to get offense without Luke. If we don't sign him then Nick Batum will get the scrub time at Small Forward and allow him to develop faster (although I still think it was a mistake to sign him... Luke Jackson would be so much better!!). We will need the size and fouls of Steven Hill more.

My vote: Steven Hill.

The Waxenfelter League

Each year for the past few years my 2 brothers, my nephew Austin, and I pick 8 teams each near the beginning of the NFL season. We use the following rules to score throughout the year:

Win = 10 Points
Shutout = 5 Points
Score 30+ = 3 Points
Score 40+ = 4 Points
Wild Card Win = 20 Points
Quarter Finals Win = 40 Points
Conference Finals Win = 60 Points
Super Bowl Win = 80 Points

Our first round is auto-selected with our favorite team and the loser from the previous year gets to start the picks in the 2nd round. This simple fantasy set-up makes for a fun NFL season and since we don't have prizes for the winner we don't get overly down if our teams lose.

Last night we got together for some unique Estacada cowboy food (have you ever tried beer- battered fried avocado?) and made our picks for the 2008 season. Here they are:

Grady:
Seahawks
Packers
Rams
Patriots
Jets
Bengals
Chiefs
Redskins

Royce:
Vikings
Chargers
Eagles
Cowboys
Browns
Titans
Falcons
Lions

Aaron:
Bills
Steelers
Saints
Panthers
Bears
Texans
Buccaneers
Dolphins

Austin:
Colts
Giants
Jaguars
Broncos
Cardinals
Raiders
Ravens
49ers

Since we missed the 1st week we'll start the scoring in the 2nd week. I'll be posting the scores on this website.

updated NFL Playoff Predictions

After seeing some games yesterday, I can see my initial predictions were off in several areas. The Seahawks can't run very well and have a beat up receiver crew. The Bills D-Line is WAY better than I thought it was. The Rams were very disapointing. And since the Vikings QB is out for a bit they may not be as good as I had hoped. With Tom Brady possibly out for the year the Patriots aren't going to be as good. I think the Giants will probably go 10-6 and still not make it into the playoffs.

Here are my revised predictions:

AFC Wild Card Round:
Bills over Patriots
Steelers over Colts

NFC Wild Card Round:
Saints over Seahawks
Cowboys over Vikings

AFC Divisional Playoffs:
Chargers over Steelers
Bills over Jaguars

NFC Divisional Playoffs:
Panthers over Cowboys
Eagles over Saints

Conference Championships:
Eagles over Panthers
Chargers over Bills

Super Bowl:
Chargers over Eagles

By the way, I some people (who will remain nameless) are thinking that the Jets are going to make the playoffs this year with Favre at the helm. I should remind them that they beat the Dolphins yesterday... The Dolphins. Don't get me wrong here. I like Brett just as much as the average American, but the Jets are still the Jets. They play in the same division as the Patriots and the Bills. They can get another win against the Dolphins and get lucky a couple more times, but in the end the Jets will win 4 more games this season, leaving bandwagon fans everywhere looking for another hero to root for.

2008 NFL Playoff Predictions

Since the first NFL starts tomorrow I wanted to post my playoff predictions for this year:

AFC Wild Card Round:
Colts over Browns
Patriots over Steelers

NFC Wild Card Round:
Eagles over Rams
Cowboys over Panthers

AFC Divisional Playoffs:
Chargers over Colts
Patriots over Jaguars

NFC Divisional Playoffs:
Vikings over Cowboys
Seahawks over Eagles

Conference Championships:
Seahawks over Vikings
Chargers over Patriots

Super Bowl:
Chargers over Seahawks

Nicknames #1 - Football Players and Various Coaches

When I recently posted my favorite football players blog, I noticed several of them had a nickname that they are known by, just as if it’s part of their name. I wondered if that is as common recently as it was during the last part of last century. And then I thought… Chad Johnson is officially Chad Ocho Cinco… that’s now his legal name. Wow. But still, I don’t think nicknames are as prevalent now, or at least as good. Either way, just for fun I wanted to list some players and their nicknames. I’ll need to split it up into two posts: 1 with football players and various coaches and another with basketball players.

My two favorite nicknames are Cornbread and Pork Chop. Food nicknames appeal to me for some reason!

Feel free to comment on this blog if you have anyone to add and I will revise the list to include them.

Football Players:
‘Mean’ Joe Green – Steelers
Dwight ‘Mad Dog’ White – Steelers
Thomas ‘Hollywood’ Henderson – Cowboys
Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones - Cowboys
Billy ‘White Shoes’ Johnson – Oilers
Jevon ‘The Freak’ Kearse – Eagles/Titans
Dick ‘Night Train’ Lane - Lions
Cornelius ‘Biscuit’ Bennett - Bills
Lionel ‘Little Train’ James - Chargers
O.J. ‘Juice’ Simpson - Bills
Chad ‘Ocho Cinco’ Ocho Cinco - Bengals
Walter ‘Sweetness’ Payton – Bears
William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry – Bears… AKA ‘The Fridge’
Jim ‘Wrong Way’ Marshall – Vikings
Gene ‘Big Daddy’ Lipscomb – Rams/Colts/Steelers
Gary ’Big Hands’ Johnson – Chargers
Al ’Bubba’ Baker – Lions/Cardinals/Browns/Vikings
Clyde ’Bulldog’ Turner – Bears
George ’Butch’ Byrd – Bills
Ottis ‘OJ’ Anderson – Cardinals/Giants
Joe ’The Jet’ Perry – 49ers
Ken ‘The Snake’ Stabler – Raiders
Jake ‘The Snake’ Plummer – Broncos
Harold ‘Red’ Grange – Bears/Giants… AKA ‘Galloping Ghost’
Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch – Rams
Edgerin ‘Edge’ James – Colts/Cardinals
Jack ‘Hacksaw’ Reynolds - Rams
‘Broadway’ Joe Namath – Jets
Lawrence ‘LT’ Taylor – Giants
LaDanian ‘LT’ Tomlinson - Chargers
Deion ‘Prime Time’ Sanders – Falcons/49ers… AKA ‘Neon Deion’
John ‘Riggo’ Riggins – Redskins
Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones – Titans/Cowboys
Roland ‘Champ’ Bailey – Broncos
Terrell ‘T.O.’ Owens – 49ers/Eagles/Cowboys
Randy ‘Superfreak’ Moss – Vikings/Raiders/Patriots
Darren ‘Run DMC’ McFadden – Raiders
Ben ‘Big Ben’ Roethlisberger – Steelers
Shawn ‘Lights Out’ Merriman – Chargers
Gilbert ‘Gravedigger’ Brown – Packers
Terrell ‘TD’ Davis – Broncos
Floyd ‘Pork Chop’ Womack – Seahawks
Steven ‘Action’ Jackson – Rams
Kordell ‘Slash’ Stewart – Steelers
Tory ‘Big Game’ Holt – Rams
Rod ‘He Hate Me’ Smart – Panthers
Carnell ‘Cadillac’ Williams – Buccaneers
Joseph ‘Live or Let’ Addai – Colts
Jerome ‘The Bus’ Bettis – Steelers
Dave ‘The Ghost’ Casper – Raiders
Carlton ‘Cookie’ Gilchrist – Bills/Broncos
Andre ‘Bad Moon’ Rison – Falcons
Byron ‘Bam’ Morris – Steelers/Chiefs
Charles ‘Boobie’ Clark – Bengals
Daryl ‘Moose’ Johnston – Cowboys
Christain ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Okoye – Chiefs
Elbert ‘Ickey’ Woods – Bengals
Craig ‘Ironhead’ Heyward – Saints
Reggie ‘The Minister of Defense’ White – Showboats/Eagles/Packers
David ‘Deacon’ Jones – Rams
Anthony ‘Booger’ McFarland – Buccaneers

Also, here are few coaches who are known for their nickname:
George ‘Papa Bear’ Halas – Bears… AKA ‘Mr. Everything’
Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant – Alabama
Joe ‘Pa’ Paterno – Penn State
John ‘The Wizard of Westwood’ Wooden – UCLA
Bobby ‘The General’ Knight – Indiana & Texas Tech
Arnold ‘Red’ Auerbach – Celtics
O.A. ‘Bum’ Phillips – Oilers/Saints

Nicknames #2 - Basketball Players

Clyde ‘The Glide’ Drexler – Blazers
Robert ‘Chief’ Parish – Celtics/Hornets
Glenn ‘Big Dog’ Robinson – Bucks
Corliss ‘Big Nasty’ Williamson – Kings
Antoine ‘Employee #8’ Walker – Celtics
David ‘The Admiral’ Robinson – Spurs
Tracy ‘T-Mac’ McGrady – Rockets
Jamal ‘Monster Mash’ Mashburn – Mavericks
Daron ‘Mookie’ Blaylock – Hawks
Chris ‘C-Web’ Webber – Kings/Warriors/Bullets
Daniel ‘Boobie’ Gibson – Cavs
Wilt 'The Stilt' Chamerblin - Warriors/Lakers
Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald – Celtics
Antione ‘Big Dog’ Carr – Spurs, etc.
Derrick ‘DC’ Coleman – Nets
Tom ‘Googs’ Gugliotta – Bullets
Manu ‘Obi-Wan’ Ginobili – Spurs
Michael “Kandi Man’ Olowonkandi – Clippers
Rafer ‘Skip To My Lou’ Alston – Rockets
Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe – Bullets/Knicks
Anthony ‘Mace’ Mason – Knicks
Stacy ‘Plastic Man’ Augmon – Hawks/Blazers
Sam ‘Big Smooth’ Perkins – Sonics/Lakers
Olden ‘O.P.’ Polynice – Sonics, etc.
Scottie ‘Pip’ Pippen – Bulls/Blazers/Rockets
Xavier ‘X-Man’ McDaniel – Celtics/Sonics
Craig ‘Speedy’ Claxton – various
Tyrone ‘Mugsy’ Bogues – Hornets
Robert ‘Pac Man’ Pack – Nuggets/Blazers
Sergio ‘Spanish Chocolate’ Rodriguez – Blazers
Jason ‘White Chocolate’ Williams – Kings
Chris ‘CP3’ Paul – Hornets
Leonard ‘Truck’ Robinson – Bullets/Jazz, etc.
Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier – Knicks
LeBron ‘LBJ’ James – Cavs… AKA ‘King James’
David ‘Skywalker’ Thompson – Nuggets
Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton – Pistons
Kobe ‘Black Mamba’ Bryant - Lakers
Allen ‘The Answer’ Iverson – 76ers/Nuggets… AKA ‘AI’
‘Sir’ Charles Barkley – 76ers/Suns… AKA ‘The Round Mound of Rebound’
Hakeem ‘The Dream’ Olajuwon – Rockets
Michael ‘Air’ Jordan – Bulls… AKA ‘MJ’
Chuck ‘The Rifleman’ Person – Pacers
Cedric ‘Cronbread’ Maxwell – Celtics
Carmelo ‘Melo’ Anthony – Nuggets
Chris ‘Birdman’ Anderson – Hornets/Nuggets
Kenyon ‘K-Mart’ Martin – Nets/Nuggets
Gilbert ‘Agent Zero’ Arenas – Wizards… AKA ‘Wizard of Odd’ and ‘Captain Quick’
Andrei ‘AK-47’ Kirilenko – Jazz
Jamal ‘Big Cat’ Magloire – Hornets/Blazers
Stephon ‘Starbury’ Marbury – T’Wolves/Suns/Knicks
Paul ‘The Truth’ Pierce – Celtics
Tim ‘Big Fundamental’ Duncan – Spurs
Caron ‘Tuff Juice’ Butler – Wizards
Kevin ‘Duck’ Duckworth – Blazers
Chris ‘Caveman’ Kaman – Clippers
Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving – Nets/76ers
Steve ‘Franchise’ Francis – Rockets
Darnell ‘Dr. Dunk’ Hillman – Pacers
Theo ‘The Rattler’ Ratliffe – Pistons/76ers/Blazers
Cutino ‘Cat’ Mobley – Rockets/Clippers
‘Down Town’ Freddie Brown – Sonics
Connie ‘Hawk’ Hawkins – Suns
Wayne ‘Tree’ Rollins – Hawks/Magic
Dennis ‘DJ’ Johnson – Sonics/Celtics
Vince ‘Vinsanity’ Carter – Raptors/Nets… AKA ‘Half Man, Half Amazing’, and ‘Air Canada’
Kevin ‘KG’ Garnett – T’Wolves/Celtics…AKA ‘The Kid’, ‘The Big Ticket’
Bryant ‘Big Country’ Reeves – Grizzlies
Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson – Lakers
George ‘Iceman’ Gervin – Spurs
Brent ‘Bones’ Barry – Sonics/Spurs
Robert ‘Big Shot Bob’ Horry – Lakers/Spurs
Marcus ‘Cambyman’ Camby – Knicks/Nuggets
Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis – Celtics
Dennis ‘Worm’ Rodman – Pistons/Bulls/Spurs
Glen ‘Doc’ Rivers – Hawks
Charles ‘Oak Tree’ Oakley – Knicks
Anthony ‘Spud’ Webb – Hawks
Karl ‘The Mailman’ Malone – Jazz
Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson – Suns
‘Thunder’ Dan Majerle – Suns
Vernon ‘Mad Max’ Maxwell - Rockets
Leandro ‘The Brazilian Bomber’ Barbosa – Suns
Shawn ‘Rainman’ Kemp – Sonics
Anfernee ‘Penny’ Hardaway – Magic
‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich – Jazz
Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith – Rockets
Gary ‘The Glove’ Payton – Sonics/Heat
Jerome ‘Junk Yard Dog’ Williams – Pistons
Rick ‘The Dunkin’ Dutchman’ Smits – Pacers
Darrell ‘Dr. Dunkenstein’ Griffith – Jazz
Alonzo ‘Zo’ Mourning – Hornets/Nets/Heat
Larry ‘Grandmama’ Johnson – Hornets/Knicks
Martyn ‘Moochie’ Norris – Rockets
Vernell ‘Bimbo’ Coles – Heat
Clarence ‘Spoon’ Weatherspoon – 76ers
Marvin ‘The Human Eraser’ Webster – Knicks…AKA ‘Marvin the Magnificent’
Ronald ‘Flip’ Murray – Sonics
Rumeal ‘Meal Time’ Robinson – Nets/Blazers
‘Dollar’ Bill Bradley – Knicks
Darryl ‘Chocolate Thunder’ Dawkins – 76ers
Vinnie ‘The Microwave’ Johnson – Pistons
Morris ‘Mo-Pete’ Peterson – Raptors/Hornets
Jerry ‘Mr. Clutch’ West – Lakers
Bill Ray ‘The Manilla Gorilla’ Bates - Blazers
Joel ‘The Thrilla’ Przybilla – Bucks/Blazers… AKA ‘Vanilla Gorilla’
Zach ‘Z-Bo’ Randolph – Blazers/Knicks
Walt ‘Wizard’ Williams – Kings/Blazers/Mavericks, etc.
Otis ‘O.T.’ Thorpe – Rockets/Blazers
Bill ‘The Owl Without a Vowel’ Mlkvy – Warriors
Sebastian ‘Sea Bass’ Telfair – Blazers/T’Wolves
Brandon ‘B-Roy’ Roy – Blazers
Nick ‘The Quick’ Van Exel – Sonics/Lakers/Blazers
John ‘Hot Rod’ Williams – Cavs/Suns
Dwayne ‘Flash’ Wade – Heat… AKA ‘D-Wade’
Isaish ‘J.R.’ Rider – T’Wolves/Blazers…. AKA ’Pop Can’
Johnny ‘Red’ Kerr – Nationals
Jerry ‘Stack’ Stackhouse – 76ers/Mavericks
Ben ‘Big Ben’ Wallace – Pistons/Bulls…AKA ‘The Beast’
Rasheed ‘Sheed’ Wallace – Blazers/Pistons
Dikembe ‘Mt. Mutombo’ Mutombo – Nuggets/76ers/Rockets
Othella ‘Big Fella’ Harrington – Knicks, etc.
Adolph ‘Dolph’ Scahyes – Nationals/76ers
Sam ‘Sam I Am’ Cassell – Rockets/Bucks/Clippers/Celtics
Damon ‘Mighty Mouse’ Stoudamire – Blazers/Grizzlies/Spurs
Latrell ‘Spree’ Sprewell – Warriors/T’Wolves
Arvydas ‘Sabas’ Sabonis – Blazers
Robert ‘Tractor’ Traylor – Bucks/Hornets
Al 'Big Al’ Harrington – Pacers/Warriors
Fred 'The Mayor’ Hoiberg – Bulls/T’Wolves
Shawn ‘The Matrix’ Marion– Suns
Tony 'The Croation Sensation' Kukoc - Bulls/Bucks
Oliver ‘Big O’ Miller – Suns
Oscar ‘Big O’ Robinson – Royals/Bucks
Dominique ‘Human Highlight Reel’ Wilkins – Hawks
Isaiah ‘Zeke’ Thomas – Pistons

And then there’s Shaquille O’Neal…. most of his nicknames are self-proclaimed:

Shaq
Diesel
The Big Aristotle
Shaq Fu
Big Daddy
Superman
Kazaam
Hobo Master
Officer Shaq
Real Deal
The Big Agave
The Big Cactus
The Big Shaqtus
The Big Galactus
The Big Baryshnikov
Wilt Chamberneezy
Dr. Shaq

Bills Fan Aaron's Favorite Football Players

This is my brother Aaron's favorite football player line-up entry - I've bolded the guys I like enough to add to my honorable mention list - check out my list for updates. The players on Aaron's list higlighted in blue are on both of our 'favorites' list. Aaron didn't give his starters, he gave his 53 man roster... a full team of his favorites and then added honorable mention players too! As you can tell, Aaron knows football much better than I do.

C- Dwight Stephenson, Jim Otto
G- John Hannah, Larry Little, Gene Upshaw
T-Anthony Munoz, Art Shell, Jackie Slater, Roosevelt Brown
TE - Kellen Winslow I, Ozzie Newsome
WR- Steve Largent, Charlie Joiner, James Lofton, Don Hutson, Jerry Rice
QB- Dan Fouts, Jim Kelly, Warren Moon
FB - Jim Brown, Bronko Nagurski, Marion Motley
RB- Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, Herschel Walker
P-Sammy Baugh
DT- Alan Page, Mean Joe Greene, Bob Lilly
DE- Bruce Smith, Deacon Jones, Reggie White, Carl Eller
ILB/MLB - Mike Singletary, Chuck Bednarik,Dick Butkus, Ray Nitschke
OLB - Lawrence Taylor, Jack Ham, Bobby Bell, Derrick Thomas
S- Ronnie Lott, Emlen Tunnell, Ken Houston, Rod Woodson
CB - Dick "Night Train" Lane, Darrell Green, Mel Blount, Lem Barney
K - Morten Andersen
KR/PR - Brian Mitchell
Sp. Teams- Steve Tasker
Head Coach - Marv Levy

Now here are some of my honorable mentions. A few of these names may not be recognizable because they played before we were aware in the mid '70s. Many are hall of famers from the 30's through 60's that you might be scratching your head about.

C- Jim Ringo, Mike Webster, Mick Tinglehoff, Jeff Van Note

G- Randall McDaniel, Billy Shaw, Joe DeLamielleure, Bruce Matthews, Tom Mack, Reggie McKenzie

T- Ron Mix, Chris Hinton, Forrest Gregg, Gary Zimmerman, Mike McCormack, Ron Yary, Rayfield Wright

TE - John Mackey, Charlie Sanders, Steve Jordan, Mike Ditka, Russ Francis, Ron Kramer, Jackie Smith, Dave Casper

WR - Andre Reed, Tim Brown, Art Monk, Lance Alworth, Anthony Carter, Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, Irving Fryar, Don Maynard, Raymond Berry, Charley Taylor, Paul Warfield, Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, Bobby Mitchell, Harold Jackson, Fred Biletnikoff, Harold Carmichael, John Stallworth, Art Powell, Lionel Taylor, Otis Taylor, Tom Fears, Pete Pihos, Dante Lavelli, Charley Hennigan, Cliff Branch, Henry Ellard, Isaac Bruce, Stanley Morgan, Tommy McDonald, Torry Holt

QB - Randall Cunningham, Johnny Unitas, Otto Graham, Joe Montana, Sammy Baugh, Fran Tarkenton, Dan Marino, Sonny Jurgenson, YA Tittle, Brett Favre, Steve Young, Terry Bradshaw, Len Dawson, Bobby Layne, Sid Luckman, Drew Bledsoe, George Blanda, Bart Starr, Flutie

FB- Jim Taylor, Joe "the Jet" Perry, John Henry Johnson, Larry Csonka, Clarke Hinkle, Ernie Nevers, Larry Centers, Chuck Muncie, Cookie Gilchrist, Jim Nance, Paul Younger, Bill Brown (Vikings), Billy Cannon, Mike Alstott, Dan Towler, Christian Okoye, Sam Cunningham, Lorenzo Neal

RB- Earl Campbell, Marcus Allen, Eric Dickerson, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, Thurman Thomas, Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk, Franco Harris, Ollie Matson, Steve Van Buren, Hugh McElhenny (Vikings 2 yrs), Curtis Martin, Ottis Anderson, Lenny Moore, Ladainian Tomlinson, Bo Jackson, Jerome Bettis, Roger Craig (vikes), Shaun Alexander, Leroy Kelly, John Riggins, Terrell Davis, Robert Smith (vikes), James Brooks, Eddie George, Mercury Morris, Rickey Watters, Gerald Riggs, Floyd Little, Chuck Foreman, William Andrews, Earnest Byner, Freeman McNeil, Joe Cribbs, Priest Holmes

P- Reggie Roby, Ray Guy, Yale Lary, Sean Landeta, Tommy Davis, Paul Maguire, Jerrel Wilson.

Here is the defense and special teams honorable mention team:

DT - Buck Buchanan, Merlin Olsen, Leo Nomellini, Curley Culp, Art Donovan, Rosey Grier, John Randle (Vikings), Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, Houston Antwine, Jerome Brown, Alex Karras, Randy White, Fred Smerlas, Ted Washington, Cortez Kennedy, Henry Thomas (Vikings), Wally Chambers, Gary "Big Hands" Johnson, Keith Millard (Vikings), Pat Williams (Bills and Vikings), Kevin Williams (Vikings), Sam Adams, Tom Sestak, Jim Duniway, Marcus Stroud

DE - Jim Marshall (Vikings), Bubba Smith, Jack Youngblood, Andy Robustelli, Coy Bacon, Michael Strahan, Al "Bubba" Baker, Howie Long, Willie Davis, Doug Atkins, Chris Doleman (Vikings), Lee Roy Selmon, Fred Dean, Elvin Bethea, Ed "too tall" Jones, Len Ford, Sean Jones, Greg Townsend, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, Harvey Martin, Jason Taylor, Claude Humphrey, Otis Sistrunk, Cedric Hardman

MLB/ILB - Sam Mills, Tommy Nobis (Falcons), Jack Lambert, Willie Lanier, Sam Huff, Harry Carson, Joe Schmidt, Bill George, Chris Spielman, Randy Gradishar, Mike Curtis, Jessie Tuggle, Jeff Siemon (Vikings), Vaughan Johnson, Nick Buonticonti, Hardy Nickerson, Shane Conlan, Lee Roy Jordan, Bill Bergey, Levon Kirkland, Scott Studwell, Pepper Johnson, Harry Jacobs, London Fletcher

OLB - Junior Seau, Clyde "Bulldog" Turner, Rickey Jackson, Derrick Brooks, Dave Wilcox, Dave Robinson, Tom Jackson, Matt Blair, Andre Tippett, Ted Hendricks, George Connor, Reggie Williams, Chris Hanburger, Clay Matthews, Darryl Talley, Chuck Howley, Mike Stratton, E.J. Holub, Seth Joyner, Chad Brown, Kevin Greene, Tim Harris, Bryce Paup, Pat Swilling, Charles Haley, Cornelius Bennett, Isiah Robertson, Robert Brazile, Andy Russell, George Webster, Donnie Edwards, Greg Lloyd, Jason Gildon, Phil Villapiano, Simon Fletcher, Willie McGinest, Mike Merriweather (Vikings), Ken Harvey, Jesse Armstead, Jerry Robinson, Joey Porter, Jim Youngblood, Michael Cofer, Lavar Arrington, Carl Banks, Mike Croel, Chip Banks, Wilber Marshall, John Mobley, Otis Wilson, Hugh Green, E.J. Junior, Jamir Miller, Wally Hilgenberg (vikings), Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, Peter Boulware, Rod Martin, Takeo Spikes, Robin Cole, Jesse Armstead

S - Larry Wilson, Paul Krause (Vikings), Yale Lary, Jack Christiansen, Donnie Shell, Willie Wood, Jack Tatum, Joey Browner (Vikings), Johnny Robinson, Cliff Harris, Jake Scott, Dick Anderson, Bill Bradley, George Saimes, Eugene Robinson, Deron Cherry, Kenny Easley, Bill Thompson, Rodney Harrison, Mark Kelso, Tony Greene, Brian Dawkins, Henry Jones

CB - Mel Renfro, Willie Brown, Herb Adderley, Aeneas Williams, Dick LeBeau, Mike Haynes, Jimmy Johnson, Ken Riley, Everson Walls, Dave Brown, Emmitt Thomas, Dave Grayson, George "Butch" Byrd, Bob Boyd, Lester Hayes, Lemar Parrish, Deion Sanders, Pat Fischer, Kermit Alexander, Troy Vincent, Ty Law, Eric Allen, Champ Bailey, Carl Lee (Vikings), Robert James

K - Gary Anderson (Vikes), Jan Stenerud (Vikes), George Blanda, Lou Groza, Nick Lowery, Norm Johnson, Steve Christie, Eddie Murray, Jason Hanson, Jim Turner, Jim Bakken, Gino Cappelletti, Fred Cox (Vikes), John Carney, Chris Bahr, Matt Bahr, Matt Stover, Pat Leahy, Adam Vinatieri, Mark Moseley, Tom Dempsey, Jason Elam, John Kasay, Al Del Greco, Ryan Longwell (Vikings), Garo Yepremian, Scott Norwood, Rian Lindell, Jim Breech, Efren Herrera, Don Cocroft

KR/PR - Gale Sayers, Mel Gray, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, Abe Woodson, Rick Upchurch, Jack Christiansen, Emlen Tunnell, Speedy Duncan, Travis Williams, Ron Smith, Lyn Chadnois, Deion Sanders, Jermaine Lewis, Claude "Buddy" Young, Terry Metcalf, Eric Metcalf, Desmond Howard, Lionel "Little Train" James, Dante Hall, Terrence McGee, Devin Hester

Special Teams - Elbert Shelley, Michael Bates, Reyna Thompson, Fredd Yound, Rufus Porter, Bill Bates, Mark Pike, Fred McAfee

Head Coach - Bud Grant (Vikings), George Halas, Vince Lombardi, Joe Gibbs, Paul Brown, Hank Stram, Tom Landry, Chuck Knox, Tony Dungy, Jim Mora, Weeb Ewbanks, Don Coryell, Chuck Knoll, Bum Phillips

NBA Coaches - Who I'd Hire, Who I'd Fire

1st tier – The 10 coaches I’d hire, in order, if I were a GM.
1. Rick Adleman – HOU – His teams always play at a high level. He’s liked by players and great with creative ball movement (probably the best offensive minded coach) and pretty solid defensively. He can make guys like Bonzi Wells and Ron Artest successful in his system… not an easy task!
2. Doc Rivers – BOS – Exceptional motivator who knows the game and is defensive oriented. Positive influence. Point Guard mentality works to keep the ball moving to the hot hand.
3. Gregg Popovich – SA – Perhaps the most consistent coach when it comes to fundamentals – keeps his players motivated but not overly emotional
4. Jerry Sloan – UTA – Very much like Popovich (or is Popovich like him?) His teams always over-achieve.
5. Nate McMillan – POR – Similar to Doc Rivers but doesn’t have the same amount of play-off experience as a coach (yet). Not quite as good of a motivator as Doc is but is getting better at letting players realize and play to their strengths.
6. Avery Johnson – N/A – The Mavericks made a mistake to let him go. He’s similar to Doc on the motivational level but not as good with managing minutes. A very solid character guy.
7. Phil Jackson – LAL – I don’t like his smarmy attitude but his coaching career is unarguable.
8. Jeff Van Gundy – ORL – He’s one of the best coaches at getting players to play above expectations.
9. Flip Saunders – N/A – Another coach who should be in the league. He is a great offensive coach who lets his players play to their strengths and manages egos well.
10. Sam Mitchell – TOR – The most underrated coach out there. He managed to get a team with a majority of foreign players to the play-offs – can you imagine trying to teach when there are 6 or 7 different languages being spoken? As a player he was a solid, team-oriented guy who used his basketball knowledge to make those around him better. I see him doing the same thing as a coach. His upside is huge.

2nd tier – These are coaches I like but who have not been consistent in getting their teams deep into the play-offs, yet they are at least in the play-offs consistently.
George Karl – DEN
Mike D'Antoni – NY
Eddie Jordan – WAS
Byron Scott – NO

3rd tier – These are coaches I like who have not proven they are consistent yet; may need some help with X’s, O’s, and clock management.
Maurice Cheeks – PHI
Scott Skiles – MIL
Mike Dunleavy – LAC
Reggie Theus – SAC
Lawrence Frank – NJ

4th tier – This tier is coaches I don’t like but who usually do well in spite of my opinion.
Don Nelson – GS
Rick Carlisle – DAL
Larry Brown – CHA

5th tier – This tier is for the coaches I have no opinion of, either because they are new or because it’s hard for me to gauge if it’s them or the players who make the team better.
Michael Curry – DET
Vinnie Del Negro – CHI
Mike Brown – CLE
Jim O’Brien – IND
Erik Spoelstra – MIA
Mike Woodson – ATL

6th tier – These coaches are immediately replaceable in my book. I'd say adios if I were the GM.
Randy Wittman – MIN
Marc Iavaroni – MEM
PJ Carlisemo – OKC

Football Favorites

This is my personal all-time football team by position. As you can see, I am a Minnesota Vikings fan and a fan of players who spent time in the USFL. (Players added later than the original post are highlited in blue).

C – Dwight Stephenson
G – Randall McDaniel
G – Gary Zimmerman
T – Art Shell
T – Luis Sharpe
TE – Ozzie Newsome
WR – Cris Carter
WR – Anthony Carter
QB – Fran Tarkenton
RB – Walter Payton
P – Reggie Roby

DT – Alan Page
DT – Otis Sistrunk
DE – Reggie White
DE – Bruce Smith
LB – Sam Mills
LB – Matt Blair
CB – Mel Blount
CB – Ronnie Lott
S – Deion Sanders
S – Joey Browner
K – Morten Andersen

Coach – Bud Grant

There were a few very close calls so I need to mention some of my bench…
QB – Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, Brett Favre, Dan Fouts, Doug Williams, Randall Cunningham, Norm Van Brocklin, Johnny Unitas, Steve Young, Peyton Manning
RB – Herschel Walker, Thurman Thomas, Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Bo Jackson, Gerald Riggs, Joe Cribbs, Earl Campbell, Gayle Sayers, Mack Strong, Tony Dorsett, Eric Dickerson, Roger Craig, Robert Smith, William Andrews, Shaun Alexander, Chuck Foreman
WR – Cliff Branch, Steve Largent, Isaac Bruce, Marvin Harrison, Art Monk, Andre Reed, Torry Holt, Charlie Joiner, James Lofton, Fred Biletnikoff, Tim Brown, Ricky Sanders, Irving Fryar, Ahmad Rashad
TE – Kellen Winslow (I), Antonio Gates, Jackie Smith, Dave Casper, Steve Jordan
O-Line – Larry Little, Gene Upshaw, Walter Jones, Joe DeLamielleure, Reggie McKenzie, Rayfield Wright
P – Ray Guy, Sean Landeta
K – Gary Anderson, Tom Dempsey, George Blanda
DT/NT – Pat Williams, William Perry, ‘Mean’ Joe Green, Bob Lilly, Curley Culp, John Randle, ed Washington, Cortez Kennedy, Wally Chambers, Kevin Williams, Sam Adams
DE – Jevon Kearse, Carl Eller, Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones, Jim Marshall, Deacon Jones, Dwight 'Mad Dog' White, Bubba Smith, Coy Bacon, Michael Strahan, Lee Roy Selmon, Elvin Bethea, Richard Dent, Sean Jones, Cedric Hardman, Harvey Martin
LB – Harry Carson, Cornelius Bennett, Mike Singletary, Lawrence Taylor, Derrick Thomas, Willie Lanier, Vaughan Johnson, Rickey Jackson, London Fletcher, Tom Jackson, Andre Tippett, Mike Merriweather, Wilber Marshall, E.J. Junior
DB – Darrell Green, Fred Smoot, Kenny Easley, Ken Houston, Champ Bailey, Mike Haynes, Ken Riley, Everson Walls, Emmitt Thomas, Lester Hayes, Donnie Shell, Eugene Robinson
KR/PR - Billy 'White Shoes' Johnson, Rick Upchurch, Mel Gray, Terry Metcalf, Dante Hall

I’m sure there are many people who are “better” than these guys but since this is my favorites list I assure you it is accurate. Of course this is pretty much off the top of my head so I may be forgetting a few of my favorites. If I remember, I’ll repost.

Missed Gold Medal

I missed the gold medal game – USA vs. Spain – so I didn’t get to see what was apparently one of the best games to watch of our lifetime from what I’ve heard. I'm glad the USA won but also glad Rudy Fernandez had a great game. I guess he carried his team on his back for much of the time, ensuring they kept pressure on the defense at all times. I did get to watch the game right before that which brought USA to the gold medal match-up. We played Argentina and the one thing I came away with was how amazing Luis Scola was for Argentina. He was in on every single play… at least it felt that way. If he wasn’t rebounding on one end he was scoring on the other. If he plays that way for the Rockets this year he’ll take David West’s place on the All-Star team. The Rockets are going to so good this year. But then again, Yao Ming and Scola both put in a lot of minutes during the Olympics. Hopefully they aren’t too worn out at the end of the year. I think the Lakers might have the same danger with Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant who each have played practically year round when you include the NBA play-offs and Olympics. Has there ever been a time where members from the NBA championship squared off against each other a few months later in the World Championship? Pretty cool to think about, but it may hurt the Lakers next year. I can hope, can’t I???

What I really missed when I missed the gold medal game was watching Rudy Fernandez. I tried to look up video on-line but there wasn’t much at all out there that showed him. But I did read up on it quite a bit and it sounds like he is going to be better than I expected. Apparently, he is fearless and has a very wide variety of offensive moves and can knock down 3’s regularly. His defense is suspect so I hope he listens and learns from Coach McMillan this year and improves in that area.

I think he has the ability to be the top sixth man in the league this year, unless we keep Travis Outlaw on the second team, then Travis may steal it from him. What a combo to have coming of the bench though!!

And what a bench we have! If we start Martell at Small Forward and Blake at Point Guard then we could have this team coming in off the bench:

PG – Jerryd Bayless
SG – Rudy Fernandez
SF – Travis Outlaw
PF – Channing Frye
C – Joel Przybilla

I’d take that line-up against the Knicks, Bobcats, and Grizzlies starters! Add Ike Diogu and Raef LaFrentz to round out our 12 for some serious size mis-matches and man!... we’re gonna be fun to watch!!!

Last year I predicted 39 wins for the Blazers. They ended up with 41. This year I am going with 47. Let’s hope they end up with 49!

The Lost Art of the Hook

Yesterday, with all the news of Kevin Duckworth’s passing, I got to thinking about what made Duckworth so good on the court. For me, it wasn’t just his size and ability to clog the middle on defense and use his body to clear room on offense; it was his beautiful baby hook shot. He had a quick yet feathery touch and could use that shot to score against any Center… even the greats like Ewing, Olajuwon, and David Robinson. Other Blazer Centers like Bill Walton and Arvydas Sabonis were good with the baby hook too, but Walton’s shot was clunky compared to Duckworth. Sabonis, the closest thing I’ve seen to Goliath, powered it in with force… a very strange thing for a shot like that… maybe his hugeness just made every shot seem like it went down with force. Kevin Duckworth shot it with finesse, which you don’t always think of when you think of 300 pounders.

Once in a while, LaMarcus hits the baby hook. I think he could get really good at it if he tried. He’s got a smooth touch and flow to his game that would be fitting for the baby hook. I’d love to see Greg Oden perfect it but I’m not sure how good his touch is. With his size and dunk-ability he’ll get to the basket often enough against smaller guys, but this would be a great shot for him to learn to use against the big shot blocking opponents like Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler , and Marcus Camby.

Lew Alcindor, AKA Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, made the sky hook famous. The sky hook had more of an arch than the baby hook and was usually shot from farther out. The arch made it almost impossible to block. The baby hook is easier to master and more accurate for most players because it is closer to the basket and has less margin for error in flight. All hook shots, for me, are cool to watch. The sky hook is a shot you can see forming; it uses almost exaggerated movements before the shot is in the air. The baby hook on the other hand, isn’t as predictable - an unexpected quick flick of the wrist, usually catching the opponent off-guard because the shooter is heading away from the basket. Today, you don’t see many who have perfected the hook shot. I think too many big men take the easy way out by counting on the dunk or the rebound put-back. I think the game would be more fun to watch if Centers added hook shots to their repertoire.

Duckworth & Old Blazers / New Blazers contrast

Kevin Duckworth. 00. The big man in the middle during the Blazers championship runs in the late 80’s and early 90’s is gone. It is eerily fitting that I wore all black today, and extremely rare wardrobe choice for me. Sometimes true fans are connected deeper than they will ever know.

When I was a Realtor I toured Kevin Duckworth’s house out near Canby... it was very nice but not too gaudy or lavish. Just a classy big place on some acreage surrounded by Christmas tree farms. Since I lived, at the time, on a place surrounded by Christmas tree farms I felt like I could relate to him... he seemed to be very different from the average famous athlete. He and Jerome Kersey both stayed in the Portland area after they retired and I like that about them. Both got involved in helping the community and I like that about them too. I saw double zero at a Blazer game last year and he was a massive man. From what I understand, his heart was just as big. It’s a sad day in Blazerland today.

The sadness got me reminiscing back to those fun years when Duck, Jerome, Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler, and Buck Williams dominated. And it hit me as I was sending a note to my friend Brad… this is the same way I feel about this year’s team… there is a certain closeness and fondness and hopefulness. I think it’s because this team puts in the same effort on and off the court like that team did. That, and the fact that they are real. Relatable. Professional, not aloof. Down to Earth… regular guys with extraordinary talent. Guys who work hard and treat people right. Lunch pail guys. Effort, humbleness, professionalism, and community connection are what I must truly long for in pro teams.

Like Duckworth, I Hope Greg Oden will become one in a long line of great Blazer Centers... Bill Walton, Michael Thompson, Kevin Duckworth, Arvydas Sabonis, and Greg Oden... that's a better big man legacy than most teams can claim.

I think the biggest difference between the Drexler era and the current era is experience. Buck was a very solid veteran when the Blazers got him. He was a guy that Ike Diougu and Channing Frye should aspire to be – solid rebounder, great footwork on defense, good passer for a big guy. Buck and Maurice Lucas are my favorite Blazer Power Forwards of all-time. We also had Danny Ainge coming off the bench and he was a great 3-point shooter who was crafty at drawing the foul. Mark Bryant was also an imposing enforcer off the bench. Cliff Robinson could play Small Forward, Power Forward and Center, which was rare at the time. Danny Young and Drazen Petrovich were good gap fillers, though I think Drazen was a bit over rated. He was energetic; the Sergio Rodriguez of his time with better 3-point accuracy. They used a different back-up center each year for a while. Wayne Cooper, Bill Cartwright, Alaa Abdelnaby, James Edwards, etc. Though their bench may not be as deep as the current team, they were more experienced and had more leadership ability.

The depth of the current Blazers is the exceptional difference between the two eras. Joel Przyabilla is so much better than Alaa Abdelnaby. I hope they keep him around for a while so we don’t have to do what the old Blazers did with a new Center each year. I think Rudy Fernandez will be a better all-around player than Ainge in the end. A lot of it will depend on how Oden and Bayless turn out, but if they gel with the team then we are one of the deepest in the league by far. And even though we lack veterans we have a few players, like Brandon Roy and Steve Blake, who play and lead like veterans. Bench guys like Channing Frye, Przybilla, Ike Diogu, Bayless, Travis Outlaw, and even LaFrentz. When we need to we can be versatile and match up to any team regardless of if they go big or small.

Last year we didn’t match up well against teams that had a Yao Ming or Dwight Howard. With Oden in the mix, we should be able to. Przybilla is probably the best Center coming off the bench in the league. Not for his scoring of course but he is a great rebounder and decent shot blocker. Our depth should allow our starters to rest enough during the season to get us some wins late in the year and maybe even one or two in the play-offs. In a couple years, when these guys become veterans, we can be one of the elite teams in the NBA.

NBA West predictions & reasons

Earlier, I predicted that the Blazers will be one of the 8 teams from the West to make the play-offs. I think they will be #8.

#1 Hornets
#2 Rockets
#3 Spurs
#4 Suns
#5 Jazz
#6 Lakers
#7 Clippers
#8 Blazers

Here’s my pre pre-season rundown of why I went with these predictions:

The Clippers just added another good piece today, effectively replacing a disappointing Shaun Livingston with Jason Williams. Jason will make a great back-up to Baron Davis because he will keep the Clips at a high level of play when Baron’s back goes out every now and then. They also added Steve Novak from the Rockets. Not a huge find but another solid rebounder to give them even more depth up front. They’ll end up with a better record than the Blazers because they have some really solid veterans and enough depth to ride out injuries.

The Lakers lost Ronny Turiaf but that’s not a big enough loss to drop them out of the play-offs. They are well-coached too so they might even make it through the first round against a tougher opponent.

The Jazz are well-coached too and their young guys are getting better. As always, they are boring but strong and will push the 1st round to 7 games before they are finished.

The Suns are too talented to lose more than 25 games (barring injury to Amare Stoudemire). Amare is going to be MVP in the West (while he’ll beat out Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul, Dwight Howard will be the overall NBA MVP). Steve Nash, Shaq, and Grant Hill are getting older but are savvy enough to make a huge difference when they’re on the floor. Stoudemire, Barbosa, Diaw, Barnes, & Strawberry make up a great young, talented core to build on for the future. I think Terry Porter is in for a long and illustrious career in Phoenix.

The Spurs are still very formidable and will not be rattled during the regular season. They are well-coached too so play-off wins won’t be easy against them.

The Rockets are going to have a stellar year. They’ll be getting Yao Ming back healthy and T-Mac will again quietly out-score and out-rebound every Guard he comes up against. He makes it look so effortless… almost like he’s falling asleep while dropping 6 3’s, grabbing 5 boards, and getting 7 Assists. The addition of Ron Artest will stop any opponent’s Small Forward. Luis Scola is an improving blue-collar Power Forward who will have an even better year with Yao at his side. Their role players like Luther Head and Carl Landry will keep them in the game while their starters rest, meaning they can last deeper into the play-offs. Aaron Brooks will challenge Rafer Alston for the starting Point Guard position. I think coach Adelman is one of the few who can keep Artest under control and keep such a deep crew happy with playing time.

The Hornets were great last year and the addition of James Posey will push them to the Western Division Finals. I don’t think they are coached as well as the Spurs, Jazz, Lakers, or Rockets so if they hit any of those teams in the play-offs they may be in for trouble. Chris Paul is amazing though, he’ll dominate all other Point Guards this year. CP3, Tyson Chandler, and David West are a solid core to make everyone else around them much better. With great role players like Posey, Mo Peterson, and Peja Stojakovic they will net 60+ wins this year. They still lack complete depth though, especially at the Shooting Guard spot, so they may not get to the Championship this year.

Overall, the Blazers will have a tough time against all these teams this year. Look out next year though, once they have some experience under their belt they’ll start making some headway. Summer 2011 will be the time we can celebrate our first NBA Championship in more than 30 years.

Blazers - rough start will shake confidence (of fairweather fans)

The Blazers will begin the season with the highest level of difficulty of during their first 5 games. They have the toughest schedule in the league during that time based on opponent winning percentage from last year. So how will that affect them? Will they be up for the challenge?

I think they will start out 1-4, but I think that’s OK. It’ll get everyone to calm down a bit and be more realistic. People who are putting the Blazers in the Championship this year are premature. The West is far too deep right now, and the Blazers are not as experienced as they’ll need to be to go deep into the play-offs.

Think about it. Greg Oden has played 1 season in college. A college season is about 30 games. He was partially injured for much of that season so no one has seen him play to full potential since high school. We’ve all placed a lot of hope on someone who has proven nothing at all. He was a good college player, even at sub-par health. He has yet to play a single game against another NBA team during the regular season. How can we gauge the future without that knowledge?

Don’t get me wrong. I love Greg Oden and know he’ll be a perennial All-Star throughout the course of his career, but I think it will take him at least 2 years before he is that good. From what little we know, we can assume he’ll be a dominating force inside just on shear size and brawn. He will block shots and dunk a lot. But I am guessing he will get worked over by big men with solid footwork. He’ll foul out quick against veterans. He’ll turn it over a lot when he gets double and tripled teamed early on. What we really need to see is his learning curve. How quick will he learn to pass out of a double team? How quick will he learn to rely on teammates and not leave his man to try to block shots? How long will it take him to develop a triple motion move to the basket like Tim Duncan has, losing his opponent in the process? How long will it take him to be a leader? Once we know those things, we’ll know a lot more about the future of the Blazers.

There’s also the unknown timeline of the development of Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless. I’ll save that discussion for a later date.

Great potential but nothing rock solid to go off of. Apart from those unknowns though, I think our known commodities are good enough to get us to the play-offs. Aldridge will be even better, Roy will become a great team leader, Joel Przyabilla will play almost as many minutes as he did last year since Oden will be in foul trouble much of the time. Outlaw might be the 6th man of the year. Webster ended last year rebounding the ball very well for a Small Forward; if he can get in the zone and hit the 3-ball as consistently as James Jones did for us, then we might get 47 or 48 wins this year. Diogu’s rebounding will help too. Lots to look forward to for sure. Along with Houston, Phoenix, and surprisingly enough the LA Clippers, I think Portland has of the deepest teams in the league. That will garner a better record than the Warriors, Mavericks, and Nuggets and set us up against either the Hornets or the Rockets in the first round of the play-offs. Either team we play will take us in 5 games.

More Off-Season Analysis

I’ll start this blog with my early predictions for the Eastern Conference NBA playoffs. I think it’ll be the Celtics, 76ers, Pistons, Magic, Wizards, Pacers, Bucks, and Cavaliers. I think it’ll come down to the Celtics and Magic. The Cavs and Wizards will round out the top 4. Dwight Howard is going to have an off-the-charts type of year. Overall, the East was tough to predict. In the West it was hard to exclude some teams from the playoff predictions but in the East it’s hard to include some. It could easily be the Hawks instead of the Pacers, or the Nets instead of the Bucks. Some of the teams have changed so much that it’ll be tough to gauge the progress or lack thereof until they have 20 games under their belt. I’ll probably have updated predictions at the beginning of the season and then around at Christmas break. There are still trades and free agent signings that will make some difference.

A couple other off-season moves to note:

The Nets lost Richard Jefferson and DeSagana Diop but added Yi Jianlain, Bobby Simmons, Keyon Dooling, Jarvis Hayes, and Eduardo Najera. I actually think the talent level slightly decreased but they have such a young group that they could easily be a much improved team by the end of the year. If Sean Williams gets some solid footwork added to his crazy athleticism, Yi gets better on D, and Devin Harris becomes a stronger leader then we’ll start seeing a lot of the Nets in future post-seasons.

The Timberwolves made a great draft day trade that will really help them long term. They got rid of Antoine Walker (employee #8) and his massive salary, along with Marco Jaric and Greg Buckner. Not a big drop even if they got nothing in return. But they got Mike Miller, Kevin Love, Jason Collins, and Brian Cardinal. They also added Calvin Booth and Rodney Carney. Booth, Cardinal, and Collins are all just big bodies who aren’t good scorers but can deliver 6 fouls each off the bench and help bruise some smaller opponents (AKA Denver). Mike Miller gives them a consistent outside threat they haven’t had in a while. Love looked good in the summer league and will help Al Jefferson rise to near All-Star status. They are still lacking a good Point Guard though – I’m not sure why they re-signed Telfair, he’s a perennial sub 40% shooter with lousy team focus. The T’Wolves definitely improved but are still a couple years away from the play-offs.

The Bucks are interesting. They added Richard Jefferson – rivaling Elton Brand, Marcus Camby, and Baron Davis as the best off-season acquisition. They also added Tyronn Lue and Malik Allen from the Mavericks. They lost Yi & Simmons to the Nets and Ivey to the 76ers. Overall I think that helps them because Jefferson is a huge step up and Yi doesn’t fit in with new coach Scott Skiles’ style of play anyway. I think he give some additional toughness to Adrew Bogut and help them defensively. Michael Redd had a sub-par year last year but I think he’ll make a bit of a comeback this year. I’ve always liked Desmond Mason and think he’ll be key off the bench for Skiles. I also like Charlie Bell and Mo Williams. They are both going to improve with some good X’s and O’s coaching. The Bucks are going to be 7th or 8th in the East.

Speaking of coaching changes, it’ll be really interesting to see if Terry Porter can incorporate Shaq’s strengths into the Suns offense. Losing Brain Skinner will hurt but Matt Barnes will be a nice addition for them. I really Steve Kerr and Terry Porter integrity-wise and hope they have success in their current GM and coach roles with the Suns (except for when they play the Blazers).

The Raptors are another team who is vastly different this year. They are losing Garbajosa and Delfino to Moscow and they lost TJ Ford, Maceo Baston, and Rasho Nesterovic to the Pacers in trade for Jermaine O’Neal. They are not as deep as last year for sure so it will all depend on what kind of year Jermaine has. Will he mesh well with Bosh? Will he be injured for most of the year again? If he has a solid year they could contend for the 8th play-off spot.

The Pacers lost Jermaine O’Neal and Ike Diogu so the rebounds will be harder to come by. They did get quite a bit back in return though… Jarrett Jack, as unpredictable as he was for the Blazers will push Marquis Daniels at the Shooting Guard position and provide Point Guard insurance to TJ Ford and Jamaal Tinsley. Rasho Nesterovic will need to play a large role for them since they lost both O’Neal and Diogu. Nesterovic is underrated and will be the key piece to get them the couple extra wins they’ll need to make the play-offs. They also got Maceo Baston who is getting better each year. They are young and talented and will be a perennial play-off presence in the East for years to come.

One team that will likely have some more changes before the season starts is the Pistons. So far they lost Jarvis Hayes and picked up Kwame Brown. They are a little bigger but less reliable. The trades they make will determine their play-off seed and how far they go into the play-offs.

To me, the other unknown in the East is the Bulls. They lost Chris Duhon and JamesOn Curry but haven’t gained anyone in return. They do have the Derrick Rose coming in at the Point though so he better be all he’s cracked up to be. I think they’ll try to move Kirk Hinrich to give Rose more PT. If they do then they’ll be taking one step back now in order to take two steps forward in the future. Hinrich would be a great addition to a team like the Bobcats who need a solid skilled Point to show DJ Augustine the ropes. By the way, the Bobcats were VERY smart to re-sign Okafor. They will be lucky to reach 30 wins with him, without him they’d be looking at 20 max.

I’ll swing my focus back to the Blazers in my next entry.

Cathing Up On NBA Player Movement

OK, so I am a slacker. I haven’t posted lately. I was hoping to hear more about Jerryd Bayless’ play in the Olympic team scrimmages but I couldn’t find any news at all about it. So we may have to wait for training camp to get more information about the way he interacts on the court with established NBA players.

I do want to touch on some NBA player movement that has happened this summer. Several teams have completely altered their roster, some for better, some for worse. The Clippers are the most drastic; they lost Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Brevin Knight, and waived Dan Dickau. They got Baron Davis, Marcus Camby, Ricky Davis, Steve Novak, Brian Skinner, and Jason Hart. With their changes, I think they’ll be a better team (Although I dislike Ricky Davis and think he could be toxic to team chemistry). Brian Skinner is underrated in my book and Marcus Camby is on of the best defensive Centers in the league. When you add those 2 to Chris Kaman’s huge rebounding ability you can see that they will probably dominate the boards against everyone they play (with the possible exception of the Rockets). With Baron Davis running the show I think they will make the playoffs this year.

This is a good time for a playoff prediction tangent! My early prediction for the 8 teams from the West are: Jazz, Rockets, Hornets, Spurs, Suns, Blazers, Clippers, and Lakers. Look for a Rockets vs. Hornets match-up to decide the West. I’ll save the East predictions for another blog.

Besides the Clippers, other teams who received a summer facelift are the Bucks, Nets, Pacers, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Raptors, 76ers, Warriors, Nuggets, and Hawks. I think the 76ers have made the biggest improvement, while the Nuggets and Hawks have taken the biggest fall. The addition of Elton Brand, Royal Ivey, & Kareem Rush while only losing Calvin Booth & Rodney Carney means the 76ers will challenge the big guns in the East. They're biggest hurdle will be the loose coaching style of Maurice Cheeks. He's a bit shaky when it gets beyond the 1st round of the play-offs.

The Nuggets loss of Marcus Camby & Eduardo Najera means one of the worst defensive teams in the league last year lost their two best enforcers. I am not a huge Najera fan but he at least took the charge and gave a hard foul when called upon. Camby is the loss that will keep them out of the playoffs. They still have Iverson, Carmelo, & K-Mart and an improving JR Smith & Linas Kleiza but without anyone who plays D they are only going to beat the scrub teams by outscoring them. Defensive teams like the Jazz, Hornets, and Spurs will crush them like the Lakers did in the first round last season.

The Hawks losing Josh Childress to Greece will hurt them pretty bad. They made it way deeper than anyone expected last year but Childress shot an average of 8 times a game at 57% last year. They are going to struggle to make up for that, especially when they are not going to be sneaking up on anyone this year. They won’t be playing this coming May.

The Warriors are another team that’ll miss the post season. Just when it seemed like they were ready to take the next step forward they lost one of the best Point Guards in the NBA (as far as leadership ability). Moving Monta Ellis to the Point and adding a scorer like Maggette will not make up the difference. They did add Ronny Turiaf but lost Matt Barnes to the Suns, so that is pretty much a wash. They also lost Mickael Pietrus to the Magic so they aren’t as deep as they were last year. They may get 40 wins but that won’t cut it in the West.

Stay tuned next time for more predictions and analysis of off-season moves.

I think we zigged when we should’ve zagged...

Yes, this heading would’ve been better had we been in the running to sign Ronny Turiaf and then signed someone else instead because, you know, Turiaf is from Gonzaga and… OK, my puns can be a stretch at times, I admit it. Forget the whole Gonzaga attempt and focus with me on what happened with the Blazers…

I heard this morning that the Blazers did the opposite of what I posted in this blog yesterday. They signed the wrong guy – Batum instead of Koponen; hence the heading. The heading by the way, is a saying my grandpa, affectionately known as Gramps, used to say. Another one of his quotes that I’ll never forget is one he probably said a dozen times when we visited him during spring break in Orlando in 1984 and we went to see the Dodgers vs. the Reds in spring training at a park in Kissimmee… he said, “It’s pronounced Kis-simm-ee in the morning and Kiss-im-mee at night.” (Hmm… maybe that’s where the humorous genes come from. And I’m not talking about acid washed either! HA HA!)

Oh my! My side is aching. I better get back to the Blazers before I kill my blog ratings (21 hits so far – most of them me). So Batum instead of Koponen. I don’t get it. We have 2 solid guys at the small forward position. We also have Roy and Fernandez who could easily play there in a 3-guard line-up. Like Blake, Bayless, and Roy along with LaMarcus and Oden… not a bad line-up. I admit we would have a serious log-jam at the point if we kept Koponen, but we aren’t as deep in talent at the point. I like Sergio but know that he is a very poor defender and sketchy shooter. At the least he’s inconsistent. Why are we going to lose a guy with the skills and promise of Koponen to keep a guy who’s much smaller and inconsistent? Koponen is 6’5” and plays solid D. That’s not an easy thing to find at the point. I know he needs some more development but I’d much rather be giving the scrub time to him than Sergio. I think they must be trying to keep Sergio as a comfort piece for Rudy Fernandez, just to help him get acclimated to the game and help communicate some of the nuances. Beyond that, I don’t get this move at all.

Batum is a replica of hundreds of other guys out there with potential. He has a long wingspan, true… but woopidee doo! If he isn’t driven internally to do anything with that wingspan then he’ll be just another Darius Miles as far as athletic potential. Potential is an intangible that is dependant on the individual mental make-up of the player. I’m sure Batum’s moral compass isn’t as pathetically lame as Darius’ but I still think it’s going to take him too long to get self-motivated to the point where he is productive enough to see the court during an actual game. Is he the next Tayshaun Prince? Or the next Jamaal Wilkes? Or the next Scottie Pippen? I’ve heard all three comparisons. I think he’s the next Ha Seung-Jin.

Potential is wasteful if it doesn’t come to fruition. We are willing to sink time and money into an unknown rather than on a known commodity. Every once in while that risk can pay off. Look at Ardydas Sabonis and hopefully Rudy Fernandez. But then remember Ha Seung Jin. Which path will Batum follow? The Blazers are willing to risk that unknown on something they see, and I apparently missed that something during the summer league. Batum had maybe 4 or 5 plays in 4 games were good. He played a ton of minutes this summer. It certainly didn’t seem like his productivity or teamwork merited a contract. Did he make those around him better? Did he elevate his game and shine above the other prospects? Did he motivate the team with his leadership ability? No, no, and no.

I think Koponen showed all three of those things at times and that’s why I think we zigged when we should’ve zagged.

What's Next?

The next big decision the Blazers need to make is: what do we do with Nicolas Batum and Petteri Koponen?

In my strong opinion, I think it would be a complete waste of a roster spot to add Nicolas Batum this year because he would never get off the bench. He doesn’t appear to be nearly as self-driven or motivated as an NBA has to be. Without that quality, he will flounder on the bench and be an ineffective piece for us.

As for Petteri Koponen, while he didn’t have a strong finish (or is it Finnish?) at the summer league, he proved he can play with the big boys. He can direct a team and is a solid passer. I think he’s slightly better than Sergio Rodriguez and we should keep him for that reason alone. Any upgrade, no matter how slight, is still an upgrade. If we keep him then we’ll have no worries about throwing in Sergio along with LaFrentz in a mid-season trade if we need to.

The other big question that we need to address may come to light during the Olympic scrimmages. Jerryd Bayless will be part of the scrimmage team and I’m hoping they try him out at the Point Guard position. I am not sure if he had a fair chance to be graded on his passing ability because:

A: He was pushing himself to be the MVP of the Summer League, which means lots of scoring or no votes.
B. He was told by the coaching staff to shoot at will – at least during the first few games.
C. The ability of those around him was not as effective as an NBA or Olympic scrimmage team is. In other words, he didn’t trust that his teammates could score so he didn’t pass it to them.

Therein lies what I feel could be a huge issue down the road. At what point will he trust his teammates and quit being a ball-hog. If he doesn’t pass much during the Olympic scrimmages it will tell me a lot about his game. If he doesn’t, then why did we get him? The Blazers are at their best when they are humble and share the responsibility as a team (also true in business and society) - we don’t need ANY selfish players screwing it up. Jerryd…. I’ll be watching… you better pass the rock!

Last Post of the Summer League

No Bayless in today's game against the Hornets. I guess his hand had a boo boo of the short term type - bruised or something like that. It allowed J. R. Pinnock time to show what he can do and he took full advantage. He has the ability to be a solid back-up 2 guard in the league because he has a pretty pure shot from deep.

The other Blazer Summer League player who impressed me today was Steven Hill - again. He contests ever shot at the rim and it felt like he blocked 10 and altered 20 more. He should be a hockey goalie. However, I don't think he'll make the Blazers because we waste the roster spot on a position we are solid at.

We have 2 spots available for people without contracts and I think we should give 1 to Petteri Koponen and keep the other one open - the open spot will let us take a look and see who gets cut after training camp - if there's anyone we feel we can't pass up then we could sign them then. If there's not then we have extra flexibility in our roster that could allow us to make a one-for-two trade. That may be needed come trade deadline time because our main trade bait, Raef LaFrentz, makes way more than he should and we would have to get similar salary back in trade... most likely two players would be needed to make up that big salary. I think Raef's big contract is up at the end of the year so teams will be looking to get him because that will free up a lot of salary room at the end of the year. Of course we could keep him until the end of the year and use that salary room for ourselves... and that's probably what we'll do. There are a couple good players we could use it for but the two I like best are Andre Miller and Carlos Boozer. Depending who well Greg Odom's knee holds up, Boozer might not be needed. But Andre Miller, on the other hand, is one of the most underrated point guards in the league over the past 4 years. Point guard is (and still will be) our weakest position and to add a guy like Andre Miller would easily elevate us to top 4 in the west status (along with the Hornets, Spurs, and Rockets - that's my west prediction for 2009-2010 season).

Back to summer... Batum looked OK on a few plays but still doesn't have the NBA ready game we need. Koponen also had a few good plays but didn't match the level of play he showed in the 1st two games. He's still good enough to keep though - sign him up!

On a personal note, it is my 39th birthday today and my wife invited a bunch of friends and family over for a BBQ. Man am I blessed to have such neat relationships in my life. Knowing that I'll be spending eternity with every single one of them is an unspoken joy that I wish everyone in the world could experience. God is underrated!

I Stand Corrected - Bayless is Gonna Be OK

OK. I admit it. I was wrong about Jerryd Bayless needing to improve his outside shot. I just finished watching the Blazers take on the Suns in their fourth summer league game. Once Bayless quit trying to drive it to the hoop on nearly every single play, he really got hot from the outside. Petteri Koponon wasn't nearly as good this game and Nicolas Batum his best game so far. Steve Hill, the bearded Center from Arkansas had a plethora of blocked shots and is looking more like he could make the roster of a lower-tiered team like the Bobcats or Bucks.

But the story of the night was Bayless. His first half was forgettable but he owned the 2nd half. He may end up being one of those rare players that can take a game on his shoulders and carry a team to a win. I still think we are talking a couple years down the road though. This is summer league after all! But he shows flashes of brilliance. Still don't see him as a point guard yet though. A scorer, yes. A passer?? Not so much.

As for the Suns, they had a few players to note: Alando Tucker, DJ Strawberry, and Robin Lopez. They are the 3 off the Suns summer team who will make the league and Lopez will be a solid center long term. He's in need of some polish but that will come easier for him than most since he has the luxury of backing up Shaq and Amare Stoudemire... what a group to learn from!! As Napoleon Dynamite would say... Lucky.

That's it for now. Blazers vs. the Hornets tomorrow.

Comments on Blazer’s 2008 summer league play so far:

I'll start with my thoughts on our top draft pick this year. Prior to the third game (against the T-Wolves), I don't think Jerryd Bayless hit anything from more than 10 feet.... up to that point it was all drive and draw the foul - not terrible since some of the best scorers historically are the ones who get to the line seemingly every trip down the court (Mailman, Iverson, Bird, etc.) but they could also finish and make it a 3 point play. He made a few against the T-Wolves and can shoot from his off-hand better than most. Still, he definitely needs to improve his shooting touch. I think his mid-range shot is OK but not as good as Petteri Koponen's. I think Bayless could've used a couple more years in college to refine his point guard skills. If he would've stayed and worked on that he could've been the top 4 pick he thinks he should've been. I don't think the Blazers "stole" him at 11. He can jump and get to the line and he does have very high potential but for now I say let him learn how to play point during practice and sit on the bench during games - put him in only if our offense gets stagnant. At this point I don't see him playing as a true point guard but I do think he can help us, perhaps in a 3 Guard situation with him, Roy, and Fernandez... that might be a good way to make use of his foul drawing prowess. Especially late game if we're behind by 5 - 10 points, he can help us make up some ground by getting the other team in foul trouble and getting us to the line for some free pointage.

I am honestly more impressed with the Petteri's ability than I am Jerryd's. He's a more well rounded player and is good under pressure. He can hit the 3, pass in tight lanes, make the high teardrop floater, get a few more steals, and seems more in control. I know I've only seen him in 3 games but from what I've seen we need to sign him up and let him back up Blake at the point.

I don't see anything special in Nicolas Batum. I don't think we should keep him this year. A couple more years in Europe would do him some good. In fact, I don't think anyone besides Bayless and Koponen on the summer team is NBA material except for maybe Brandon Robinson, Josh Davis, or Chris Ellis in a 10-day contract situation. Maric had a few good plays but is too slow. Hill from Arkansas looks like a solid shot blocker but is bound to be a perennial D-Leaguer.

Players on other teams that have impressed me so far:

The Wizards Andray Blotche is their best summer league player. He is a big body in the middle who gets in good position to rebound nearly every play. I think he’ll have a great year as back-up for Haywood at the Center or Jamison at the Power Forward this year.

The Kings' Quincy Douby was much better than expected, he has a nose for the basket like Jerryd but seems to finish more shots. He'll be great energy off the bench for them.

The Timberwolves have a few good players in the summer league but Kevin Love pretty much dominated us. He’ll be a solid 5 to 10 point, 5 – 10 rebound a night player in the regular season but may burn out mid-season after playing against NBA quality big guys. Chris Richards is a bruiser who will hurt other teams with his size. Not too impressed with Corey Brewer – he’s quick but out of control.

Disclaimer: When I say us or we in my blogs about the Blazers, I am referring to the Blazers organization. They are my home-town team and I consider them, as a fan, MY team. That said, I am not an unrealistic homer like many of the Blazer bandwagon jumpers around town. I am and always will be hopefully optimistic with a huge shot of reality mixed in.