Unless I'm confused about something.
Showing posts with label Channing Frye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Channing Frye. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Channing Frye is off to do better things in a worse city
Everything about Channing Frye is awesome except his fit with the Blazers on the court. In the second off-season move that everyone saw coming, it is being reported that the Blazers will not offer that contract extension to the man that hopes to spend his post-basketball life in Portland.
Frye can play, and will have options as an unrestricted free agent. We look forward to seeing him in a situation that is more agreeable to his skill set. Enjoy some of our favorite Channing Frye posts below. In observance of the sadness that is Frye's exit we are going to the Tin Shed this weekend and present this rad LARP video. Via con dios, amigo.
- The unfortunate writing on the wall.
- Can you spot the DeceptivelyQuick appearance on Frye's blog?
- It has not been verified that Channing Frye is not related to Nick Cannon.
Monday, December 29, 2008
More on Channing Frye
The Willamette Week (the same publication that won the prestigious imaginary DeceptivelyQuick best season preview award) has a feature out on Channing Frye. It is well worth your time, and is pretty much a better version of this lost post. Plus if your reading level is as low as mine you will learn exactly one new vocabulary word. Hooray for knowledge!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
On Channing Frye
Channing Frye loves the city of Portland, and the city loves him right back. Whats not to like? He blogs, he has a great sense of humor, and he can play basketball. For these reasons it is sad to think of a Blazer team without Frye. So far this season it has looked like the Blazers don't have much of a role available for Channing, and conversations that the team needs qualities he can't provide are becoming more frequent.
On the season Frye is currently averaging career lows in minutes, FG%, FT%, rebounds, and points. At a time when many say Portland could use a big inside-oriented power forward off the bench, Frye brings almost perfectly bizzaro skills. Don't take my word for it, check his shot selection- yes, that is a 17 next to the percentage of his shots taken from inside.
While he isn't getting much opportunity in Portland, the League is certainly aware that Frye can play. The Blazers could trade him, but they don't need to. They can choose not to extend him a qualifying offer after the season and he will be gone.
Also not exactly doing Channing-as-a-Blazer any favors is the impressive season 21 year old Portland draftee Joel Freeland is putting together over in Spain. Freeland's contract with his ACB club is up after this season, meaning he could be available should Portland want to bring him over next year.
Today on 1080 The Fan Frye answered questions on whether or not he would welcome a trade (full audio), and he didn't sound totally opposed to the idea of going to a new place if there was a larger role waiting for him.
It is unfortunate, but at this moment everyone seems to be seeing the writing on the wall. While he may remain with the Blazers past the trade deadline, it is unlikely that we will see the Buffet of Goodness wearing pinwheels next season. It would make sense from a basketball standpoint, but you have to be a little sad to see the only Blazer to ever appreciate KPW leave.
On the season Frye is currently averaging career lows in minutes, FG%, FT%, rebounds, and points. At a time when many say Portland could use a big inside-oriented power forward off the bench, Frye brings almost perfectly bizzaro skills. Don't take my word for it, check his shot selection- yes, that is a 17 next to the percentage of his shots taken from inside.
While he isn't getting much opportunity in Portland, the League is certainly aware that Frye can play. The Blazers could trade him, but they don't need to. They can choose not to extend him a qualifying offer after the season and he will be gone.
Also not exactly doing Channing-as-a-Blazer any favors is the impressive season 21 year old Portland draftee Joel Freeland is putting together over in Spain. Freeland's contract with his ACB club is up after this season, meaning he could be available should Portland want to bring him over next year.
Today on 1080 The Fan Frye answered questions on whether or not he would welcome a trade (full audio), and he didn't sound totally opposed to the idea of going to a new place if there was a larger role waiting for him.
It is unfortunate, but at this moment everyone seems to be seeing the writing on the wall. While he may remain with the Blazers past the trade deadline, it is unlikely that we will see the Buffet of Goodness wearing pinwheels next season. It would make sense from a basketball standpoint, but you have to be a little sad to see the only Blazer to ever appreciate KPW leave.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
DeceptivelyQuick: Obscure unnoticed sphere of influence expanding
I was a little late to catch this, but a little Jack Brown flavor has snuck into the blog of one Mr. Channing Frye and his efforts to document Portland's weirdness. The DeceptivelyQuick connection was omitted, understandable considering my deep connections to the Finnish Underground leave some weary. I am a fan of the Buffet of Goodness, the enthusiasm with which he embraced the team and the city is hard to resist. And the fact that he is Nick Cannon's older brother amuses me.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Trade Deadline Hysteria
Yeah, its that time when the rumor mill of NBA Trades heats up. With all the fine young winning talent on the Blazers, it shouldn't be a surprise to hear the team involved. For the second rumor in a row, Jarret Jack's name is coming up. Today, word comes in that Portland is engaging in supposedly serious talks with Dallas and New Jersey:
I'm not really sure what to think at this point. Just remind yourself that the Bob Whitsitt days are over, and Portland pulling the trigger on monster trades isn't as certain as it used to be. Thank God. Most rumors that come up this time of year are no more than that.
Theoretically, Devin Harris could address a major need of Portland. Young and experienced legit pointguard, good at defense, still improving. Definitely worth Frye and Jack, but Outlaw too? My knee-jerk inclination is to think yes. The trade also makes sense for Portland in that they are basically getting two much needed roster spots out of the deal, which will come in handy next season with the additions of Oden and Rudy Fernandez.
This is one sexy rumor.
Thanks to Brrrrrrrr! for the tipoff.
In the proposed trade, Dallas and Portland would send the Nets a package that includes the Mavs' Devean George and Jerry Stackhouse and Blazers forwards Travis Outlaw and Channing Frye and guard Jarrett Jack. Mavericks point guard Devin Harris would be sent to Portland. Along with Kidd, the Nets would send reserve forward Malik Allen and center Jamaal Magloire to Dallas.
I'm not really sure what to think at this point. Just remind yourself that the Bob Whitsitt days are over, and Portland pulling the trigger on monster trades isn't as certain as it used to be. Thank God. Most rumors that come up this time of year are no more than that.
Theoretically, Devin Harris could address a major need of Portland. Young and experienced legit pointguard, good at defense, still improving. Definitely worth Frye and Jack, but Outlaw too? My knee-jerk inclination is to think yes. The trade also makes sense for Portland in that they are basically getting two much needed roster spots out of the deal, which will come in handy next season with the additions of Oden and Rudy Fernandez.
This is one sexy rumor.
Thanks to Brrrrrrrr! for the tipoff.
Monday, December 31, 2007
The Consistent Stat
With growing interest in removing the soul quantifying basketball, the NBA has done some cool stuff like making plus/minus and "efficiency ratings" available. Pretty cool, but if you've ever had to take an intro stats class, you may have wondered why some basic and potentially insightful statistics are left out of boxscores. Among these, standard deviation sticks out as a good candidate to consider. If you need a refresher, this is a commonly used measure of the dispersion of data around the mean of that data. Or even easier, it tells you how much variation there is in the information you are looking at, a measure of consistency.
Seems useful, right? Would you rather have a player who averages 15 ppg that gives you exactly 15 points every night, or a player who averages 15 ppg but could give you anything between 0 and 30? Averages can miss how consistent a player is, and thats where standard deviation can help. It isn't perfect, but no stat really is.
You could run this on any stat, but I chose scoring since it enjoys such a glamorous life. I went through the game logs of Blazer rotation players and computed the standard deviation ("SD") of their scoring. I've also run a couple non-Blazer superstars for fun. I used the free web based software available here.
For interpretation purposes, I also put the ratio of points per game to SD. This was just to help compare players a little better, because ones with higher ppg are much more likely to have a higher SD due to their greater potential for scoring different point totals. For example, a player that scores 25 a night will have higher SD than a player that scores 6, just from working on a scale with more possibilities. The ratio between ppg and SD can be thought of as the variance relative to ppg.
I also included the median ppg of each player, which I also think is helpful. The median is the middle point if you lined up the player's points total from every game from lowest to highest. This makes it less influenced by outlier scores than averages. For example, a median higher than the average could show a player had a couple really low-scoring games.
Sorry for the long walk, who's the most consistent Blazer when it comes to scoring? Who's the least? I've arranged them in order from highest ppg ("Avg") to SD ratio to lowest:
Brandon Roy:
Avg: 19.23
Med: 21.5
SD: 7.08
Avg/SD: 2.72
LaMarcus Aldridge:
Avg: 17.48
Med: 18
SD: 7.23
Avg/SD: 2.42
Travis Outlaw:
Avg: 11.93
Med: 11.00
SD: 6.15
Avg/SD: 1.94
Martell Webster:
Avg: 11.00
Med: 11.00
SD: 6.23
Avg/SD: 1.77
Channing Frye:
Avg: 7.26
Med: 6
SD: 4.16
Avg/SD: 1.75
Jarrett Jack:
Avg: 9.87
Med: 9.00
SD: 5.95
Avg/SD: 1.66
James Jones:
Avg: 9.78
Med: 11
SD: 5.90
Avg/SD: 1.66
Steve Blake:
Avg: 7.47
Med: 6.50
SD: 4.83
Avg/SD: 1.55
Joel Pryzbilla:
Avg: 4.93
Med: 5.00
SD: 3.52
Avg/SD: 1.40
Sergio Rodriguez:
Avg: 2.86
Med: 2
SD: 2.75
Avg/SD: 1.04
To recap, the higher the Avg/SD ratio, the lower the SD relative to points per game. Higher ratios indicate more consistency.
Any surprises? The biggest might be Blake, but remember he's not really asked to do much scoring beyond what the defense gives him. That could mean a bevvy of open 3's or nothing, depending on the strategy the defense adopts, which in turn leads to lots of variance. Another note is that I rounded to two decimal places, and Jack is indeed a smidge ahead of Jones so gets the higher spot despite the equal rounded scores. These numbers include games completed through 12/31.
And here's some other guys, since I guess its sort of possible you aren't all only interested in only the Trailblazers. You can easily do this for whatever players you want on whatever stat is tracked, just fill out the spreadsheet that pops up on the link to the software used above and have at it. Data entry is where amazing happens.
Kobe Bryant:
Avg: 27.13
Med: 28
SD: 7.08
Avg/SD: 3.83
LeBron James:
Avg: 28.81
Med: 28
SD: 8.76
Avg/SD: 3.29
Yao Ming:
Avg: 21.5
Med: 22
SD: 6.63
Avg/SD: 3.24
Dwyane Wade:
Avg: 24.79
Med: 23.50
SD: 9.80
Avg/SD: 2.53
Seems useful, right? Would you rather have a player who averages 15 ppg that gives you exactly 15 points every night, or a player who averages 15 ppg but could give you anything between 0 and 30? Averages can miss how consistent a player is, and thats where standard deviation can help. It isn't perfect, but no stat really is.
You could run this on any stat, but I chose scoring since it enjoys such a glamorous life. I went through the game logs of Blazer rotation players and computed the standard deviation ("SD") of their scoring. I've also run a couple non-Blazer superstars for fun. I used the free web based software available here.
For interpretation purposes, I also put the ratio of points per game to SD. This was just to help compare players a little better, because ones with higher ppg are much more likely to have a higher SD due to their greater potential for scoring different point totals. For example, a player that scores 25 a night will have higher SD than a player that scores 6, just from working on a scale with more possibilities. The ratio between ppg and SD can be thought of as the variance relative to ppg.
I also included the median ppg of each player, which I also think is helpful. The median is the middle point if you lined up the player's points total from every game from lowest to highest. This makes it less influenced by outlier scores than averages. For example, a median higher than the average could show a player had a couple really low-scoring games.
Sorry for the long walk, who's the most consistent Blazer when it comes to scoring? Who's the least? I've arranged them in order from highest ppg ("Avg") to SD ratio to lowest:
Brandon Roy:
Avg: 19.23
Med: 21.5
SD: 7.08
Avg/SD: 2.72
LaMarcus Aldridge:
Avg: 17.48
Med: 18
SD: 7.23
Avg/SD: 2.42
Travis Outlaw:
Avg: 11.93
Med: 11.00
SD: 6.15
Avg/SD: 1.94
Martell Webster:
Avg: 11.00
Med: 11.00
SD: 6.23
Avg/SD: 1.77
Channing Frye:
Avg: 7.26
Med: 6
SD: 4.16
Avg/SD: 1.75
Jarrett Jack:
Avg: 9.87
Med: 9.00
SD: 5.95
Avg/SD: 1.66
James Jones:
Avg: 9.78
Med: 11
SD: 5.90
Avg/SD: 1.66
Steve Blake:
Avg: 7.47
Med: 6.50
SD: 4.83
Avg/SD: 1.55
Joel Pryzbilla:
Avg: 4.93
Med: 5.00
SD: 3.52
Avg/SD: 1.40
Sergio Rodriguez:
Avg: 2.86
Med: 2
SD: 2.75
Avg/SD: 1.04
To recap, the higher the Avg/SD ratio, the lower the SD relative to points per game. Higher ratios indicate more consistency.
Any surprises? The biggest might be Blake, but remember he's not really asked to do much scoring beyond what the defense gives him. That could mean a bevvy of open 3's or nothing, depending on the strategy the defense adopts, which in turn leads to lots of variance. Another note is that I rounded to two decimal places, and Jack is indeed a smidge ahead of Jones so gets the higher spot despite the equal rounded scores. These numbers include games completed through 12/31.
And here's some other guys, since I guess its sort of possible you aren't all only interested in only the Trailblazers. You can easily do this for whatever players you want on whatever stat is tracked, just fill out the spreadsheet that pops up on the link to the software used above and have at it. Data entry is where amazing happens.
Kobe Bryant:
Avg: 27.13
Med: 28
SD: 7.08
Avg/SD: 3.83
LeBron James:
Avg: 28.81
Med: 28
SD: 8.76
Avg/SD: 3.29
Yao Ming:
Avg: 21.5
Med: 22
SD: 6.63
Avg/SD: 3.24
Dwyane Wade:
Avg: 24.79
Med: 23.50
SD: 9.80
Avg/SD: 2.53
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Blazers vs Denver: Nick Cannon did this to you!
Blazers 116, Nuggets 105 (boxscore)
The seventh consecutive win was a mature and convincing one. Suddenly Portland is at .500 and continues to perform ahead of schedule. At this rate, the media will have to stop describing how other teams are losing to the Blazers and acknowledge that this team is straight-up beating people (Note: not tonight, ESPN is reporting "Blazers knock off Nuggets despite A.I.'s 38 points").
As has been true during this win streak, the Portland bench was an absolute force spearheaded by Outlaw (17 points, 5 rebs, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block) and James Jones (14 points, 7 rebs). If you want to see some eye-popping stats, check out James Jones by the way. I'm not sure how he keeps the ball from incinerating when he touches it.
Roy was his usual self. Despite taking a while to find his range (he started 2-10 from the field), Brandon finished his forty minutes of work with 26 points, 11 assists, and 6 rebs. When the Blazers start attracting national attention (I realize it will likely take Oden's return for this to happen), I will be excited for everyone to see how many ways this guy helps his team win. I can't say it enough, a very special player and a joy to watch.
LaMarcus sat out again tonight, but is scheduled to return next game. Starting in his place, Channing Frye took it upon himself to do his best LaMarcus impression by draining jumper after jumper from the perimeter. He had 14 points in the first 10 minutes of this game, and him stepping up helped the Blazers separate early. Frye ended up with 20 points (10-13 from the field) and 9 rebounds. It appears yet another Blazer has rounded into shape. Nate will have some interesting playing time decisions to make.
I can't talk about a Blazer win without praising that zone defense again. It wasn't featured as much tonight (Denver was pretty apt at lobbing oops over the top- Kenyon Martin threw three down on consecutive plays), but it you can tell the team believes in it and enjoys playing it. Mike Rice described it as "The Octopus Zone," which I enjoy and will use in all future references.
Oh, and as for the title of this entry...
The seventh consecutive win was a mature and convincing one. Suddenly Portland is at .500 and continues to perform ahead of schedule. At this rate, the media will have to stop describing how other teams are losing to the Blazers and acknowledge that this team is straight-up beating people (Note: not tonight, ESPN is reporting "Blazers knock off Nuggets despite A.I.'s 38 points").
As has been true during this win streak, the Portland bench was an absolute force spearheaded by Outlaw (17 points, 5 rebs, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block) and James Jones (14 points, 7 rebs). If you want to see some eye-popping stats, check out James Jones by the way. I'm not sure how he keeps the ball from incinerating when he touches it.
Roy was his usual self. Despite taking a while to find his range (he started 2-10 from the field), Brandon finished his forty minutes of work with 26 points, 11 assists, and 6 rebs. When the Blazers start attracting national attention (I realize it will likely take Oden's return for this to happen), I will be excited for everyone to see how many ways this guy helps his team win. I can't say it enough, a very special player and a joy to watch.
LaMarcus sat out again tonight, but is scheduled to return next game. Starting in his place, Channing Frye took it upon himself to do his best LaMarcus impression by draining jumper after jumper from the perimeter. He had 14 points in the first 10 minutes of this game, and him stepping up helped the Blazers separate early. Frye ended up with 20 points (10-13 from the field) and 9 rebounds. It appears yet another Blazer has rounded into shape. Nate will have some interesting playing time decisions to make.
I can't talk about a Blazer win without praising that zone defense again. It wasn't featured as much tonight (Denver was pretty apt at lobbing oops over the top- Kenyon Martin threw three down on consecutive plays), but it you can tell the team believes in it and enjoys playing it. Mike Rice described it as "The Octopus Zone," which I enjoy and will use in all future references.
Oh, and as for the title of this entry...
Monday, November 5, 2007
How to fix 0-3
Mike Barrett and Casey Holdhal both posted discussions on the Blazers 0-3 start. My take is similar to theirs, the Blazers just lost to three better teams. Still, that zero on the left can make for uneasiness. They should look into fixing that.
The most obvious and glaring Blazer weakness has been at pointguard, where we have yet to see a solid night from anyone. So what to do? Nates apparently going to start Blake and bring Jack off the bench. The non-PG related idea is starting Channing Frye instead of Pryzbilla. I would guess this one could be to prevent the lay-up fest that seems to occur when Aldridge and Pryzbilla are out of the game at the same time. But the Blake start, while not surprising, doesn't seem as easy to justify.
Play-by-Play Mike said Jack told Nate he doesn't mind coming off the bench, which gives us the option of cheering his selflessness and dedication to the team's success or suggesting he lacks the competitive edge needed to be the player we need. Take your pick.
I'm not convinced juggling a group of pointguards that individually have yet to produce consistently is the answer. Perhaps its all Nate can do at the moment. Or maybe its a chance to get noted "Nate Guy" Steve Blake into a larger role.
Jack's confidence has been known to bruise. He even has that worried look in his NBA Profile photo. This seems like an event that could do some damage. What if instead of benching the guy, Nate rallied around his third year pointguard? Let him know that he's a Nate Guy too, and that theres no sense in losing faith after a few bad games?
Don't get me wrong, Jack's play hasn't been up to standards in the very young season. But again, has Steve Blake been good enough to justify this? Can we expect a changed starting lineup with every three game losing streak? It all seems like a little much. This team is still a project, and more patience at this juncture would have a hard time hurting.
The most obvious and glaring Blazer weakness has been at pointguard, where we have yet to see a solid night from anyone. So what to do? Nates apparently going to start Blake and bring Jack off the bench. The non-PG related idea is starting Channing Frye instead of Pryzbilla. I would guess this one could be to prevent the lay-up fest that seems to occur when Aldridge and Pryzbilla are out of the game at the same time. But the Blake start, while not surprising, doesn't seem as easy to justify.
Play-by-Play Mike said Jack told Nate he doesn't mind coming off the bench, which gives us the option of cheering his selflessness and dedication to the team's success or suggesting he lacks the competitive edge needed to be the player we need. Take your pick.
I'm not convinced juggling a group of pointguards that individually have yet to produce consistently is the answer. Perhaps its all Nate can do at the moment. Or maybe its a chance to get noted "Nate Guy" Steve Blake into a larger role.
Jack's confidence has been known to bruise. He even has that worried look in his NBA Profile photo. This seems like an event that could do some damage. What if instead of benching the guy, Nate rallied around his third year pointguard? Let him know that he's a Nate Guy too, and that theres no sense in losing faith after a few bad games?
Don't get me wrong, Jack's play hasn't been up to standards in the very young season. But again, has Steve Blake been good enough to justify this? Can we expect a changed starting lineup with every three game losing streak? It all seems like a little much. This team is still a project, and more patience at this juncture would have a hard time hurting.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Blazers on Myspace. I know I'm a loser.
It was Blazers media day today, and everybody who is anybody was there. I was going to get a press-pass and get all sorts of scoops, but I had to shower and do some stuff.
So I decided to have my own media day. There will be no microphones or cliche questions/answers at this one. To get to really know a person, they have to open up. You have to see them stripped down to their most honest self-expression. Thats right, we're going to Myspace!
I guess its important to keep in mind anyone can pose as anyone on myspace. I mean, if I really wanted to I could create an account claiming the name "Raef LaFrentz," throw up some pics and a Kelly Clarkson song, and BOOM, I'm hooking up with "LaFans" until I get "LaClap."
Full disclosure, here's mine.
Lets assume that at least some of these are real, and we can learn all types of interesting personal trivia. For example, did you know Raef LaFrentz would like to meet "Bill Russel, Magic Johnson, Jesus, " This is just the beginning my friend.
I ran the entire roster through the name search (I added the draft picks who will remain stashed in Europe for a while). Then I took my shirt off, took pictures at extreme angles that hide my flaws, and got my social-network on.
If you don't see your favorite Blazer on the list, there could be a couple of explanations. They could actually NOT have a myspace, it is sort of possible. Or, and this was more frequent, they have a common name and I didn't feel like sifting through 9 million other Steve Blakes of Chris Elisseses (Ellisi?). I guess I could of tinkered with the zip code filter on my searches, but um, I didn't.
LaMarcus Aldridge
Title: "The Official LaMarcus Aldridge Myspace"
Song: Get 'Em by lil Wayne
Friends: 144
Last login: 10/2/07
By reading the quote, you might think his page is more corporate-marketing tool than actual myspace. You're wrong, you'll be assured of this by the Weezy track and high volume of basketball pictures stuffed into the columns.
Channing Frye
Title: "with any new job, you embrace it, accept it, and move on proudly"
Private Page
He looks to be a serial-myspacer, with a few older accounts. If you're curious, I linked to one he had when he played for the Knicks. The move to a new private page with a positive mantra serving as title (his old one is "Go Knicks!!!!!!")? I like it.
Taurean Green
Title: "gators back to back champs"
Song: Low by Flo Rida
Friends: 945
Last login: 9/27/2007
If you have read this blog, you know I love Taurean's game. He's also impressing the pants off of Nate McMillan, which I always imagine as being hard. His teammates are in his picture, but he didn't just make this to show them some love. You know he can score effectively on his own: "Ladies I'm lookin for i girl that will treat me the way that i will treat the and da way i treat them is good." Awwwwe ya.
Jarrett Jack
Title: "Jarrett Jack"
Last login: 4/28/07
Private Page
Break down the walls, Jarrett, let me love you!
Raef LaFrentz
Title: "Trail Blazers on their way up"
Song: Streamline by Newton
Friends: 295
Last login: 1/5/07
This is the one profile I absolutely insist you visit. Really its too funny to be real (Dane Cook and Bishop Don Magic Juan are top friends), and I can't do it justice.
Josh McRoberts
Title: "im a lucky guy."
Last login: 9/7/2007
Private Page
I admit, I wanted to see this one pretty bad. But not as bad as the next one.
Darius Miles
Title: "Dunkin' Darius"
Song: Where it started at by Hi-Tek
Friends: 3987
Last login: 5/24/2007
Whatever people think about D.Miles, they still think about him. When I talk Blazers to those that don't really follow the team, his name comes up often. Further evidence is the multiple fake myspace pages that are dedicated to him. I linked to the one that seemed to have the most effort put into it.
Greg Oden
Title: "The Ohio State"
Song: Get them hands hi by Ten Days Till
Friends: 368
Last login: 10/2/207
Ordinary enough. Stick to his blog.
Travis Outlaw
Technically has one, but its totally blank. No bad joke equating that with his court presence. Not from me.
Brent Petway
Title: "Holla at ya folk!"
Song: None.
Friends: 3
Last login: 7/8/2005
Brent is one of those guys we should all cheer to catch on somewhere and make the league this season, if only so he can be in the dunk contest. Air Georgia's not really into myspace, though.
Joel Pryzbilla
See Travis Outlaw above.
Sergio Rodriguez
This search yielded 1183 hits, so I let it go. I do write about Sergio often, so I hope to satisfy your needs. Did that sound weird?
Martell Webster
Title: "YA ITS ME MARTELL"
Song: KOBE by Kobe Bryant
Friends: 42
Last login: 8/20/2007
Its not Martell, but it is hilarious. If you didn't know, Martell has angered teammates with the love he gives Kobe, especially when its moments after Mamba has snatched yet another W away from Portland. Kobe's rap song is one of the greatest gifts ever given to us, but for some reason it doesn't get the attention it deserves. This page keeps that alive.
Joel Freeland
Title: ""
Song: none
Friends: 15
Last login: 10/2/2007
Joel is in a frustrating situation. The Blazers know he's good enough to play here. Joel knows he's good enough to play here. But he isn't playing here, instead there is another frustrating season with Gran Canaria ahead. They signed him after he got drafted, seemingly in hopes of securing a nice buy-out payday from Portland, and have played him little and worked to develop him even less.
Trying times. But going emo won't help anything, there are no emo-guys in the League. Thats why his picture selection worries me a little:
So I decided to have my own media day. There will be no microphones or cliche questions/answers at this one. To get to really know a person, they have to open up. You have to see them stripped down to their most honest self-expression. Thats right, we're going to Myspace!
I guess its important to keep in mind anyone can pose as anyone on myspace. I mean, if I really wanted to I could create an account claiming the name "Raef LaFrentz," throw up some pics and a Kelly Clarkson song, and BOOM, I'm hooking up with "LaFans" until I get "LaClap."
Full disclosure, here's mine.
Lets assume that at least some of these are real, and we can learn all types of interesting personal trivia. For example, did you know Raef LaFrentz would like to meet "Bill Russel, Magic Johnson, Jesus, " This is just the beginning my friend.
I ran the entire roster through the name search (I added the draft picks who will remain stashed in Europe for a while). Then I took my shirt off, took pictures at extreme angles that hide my flaws, and got my social-network on.
If you don't see your favorite Blazer on the list, there could be a couple of explanations. They could actually NOT have a myspace, it is sort of possible. Or, and this was more frequent, they have a common name and I didn't feel like sifting through 9 million other Steve Blakes of Chris Elisseses (Ellisi?). I guess I could of tinkered with the zip code filter on my searches, but um, I didn't.
LaMarcus Aldridge
Title: "The Official LaMarcus Aldridge Myspace"
Song: Get 'Em by lil Wayne
Friends: 144
Last login: 10/2/07
By reading the quote, you might think his page is more corporate-marketing tool than actual myspace. You're wrong, you'll be assured of this by the Weezy track and high volume of basketball pictures stuffed into the columns.
Channing Frye
Title: "with any new job, you embrace it, accept it, and move on proudly"
Private Page
He looks to be a serial-myspacer, with a few older accounts. If you're curious, I linked to one he had when he played for the Knicks. The move to a new private page with a positive mantra serving as title (his old one is "Go Knicks!!!!!!")? I like it.
Taurean Green
Title: "gators back to back champs"
Song: Low by Flo Rida
Friends: 945
Last login: 9/27/2007
If you have read this blog, you know I love Taurean's game. He's also impressing the pants off of Nate McMillan, which I always imagine as being hard. His teammates are in his picture, but he didn't just make this to show them some love. You know he can score effectively on his own: "Ladies I'm lookin for i girl that will treat me the way that i will treat the and da way i treat them is good." Awwwwe ya.
Jarrett Jack
Title: "Jarrett Jack"
Last login: 4/28/07
Private Page
Break down the walls, Jarrett, let me love you!
Raef LaFrentz
Title: "Trail Blazers on their way up"
Song: Streamline by Newton
Friends: 295
Last login: 1/5/07
This is the one profile I absolutely insist you visit. Really its too funny to be real (Dane Cook and Bishop Don Magic Juan are top friends), and I can't do it justice.
Josh McRoberts
Title: "im a lucky guy."
Last login: 9/7/2007
Private Page
I admit, I wanted to see this one pretty bad. But not as bad as the next one.
Darius Miles
Title: "Dunkin' Darius"
Song: Where it started at by Hi-Tek
Friends: 3987
Last login: 5/24/2007
Whatever people think about D.Miles, they still think about him. When I talk Blazers to those that don't really follow the team, his name comes up often. Further evidence is the multiple fake myspace pages that are dedicated to him. I linked to the one that seemed to have the most effort put into it.
Greg Oden
Title: "The Ohio State"
Song: Get them hands hi by Ten Days Till
Friends: 368
Last login: 10/2/207
Ordinary enough. Stick to his blog.
Travis Outlaw
Technically has one, but its totally blank. No bad joke equating that with his court presence. Not from me.
Brent Petway
Title: "Holla at ya folk!"
Song: None.
Friends: 3
Last login: 7/8/2005
Brent is one of those guys we should all cheer to catch on somewhere and make the league this season, if only so he can be in the dunk contest. Air Georgia's not really into myspace, though.
Joel Pryzbilla
See Travis Outlaw above.
Sergio Rodriguez
This search yielded 1183 hits, so I let it go. I do write about Sergio often, so I hope to satisfy your needs. Did that sound weird?
Martell Webster
Title: "YA ITS ME MARTELL"
Song: KOBE by Kobe Bryant
Friends: 42
Last login: 8/20/2007
Its not Martell, but it is hilarious. If you didn't know, Martell has angered teammates with the love he gives Kobe, especially when its moments after Mamba has snatched yet another W away from Portland. Kobe's rap song is one of the greatest gifts ever given to us, but for some reason it doesn't get the attention it deserves. This page keeps that alive.
Joel Freeland
Title: ""
Song: none
Friends: 15
Last login: 10/2/2007
Joel is in a frustrating situation. The Blazers know he's good enough to play here. Joel knows he's good enough to play here. But he isn't playing here, instead there is another frustrating season with Gran Canaria ahead. They signed him after he got drafted, seemingly in hopes of securing a nice buy-out payday from Portland, and have played him little and worked to develop him even less.
Trying times. But going emo won't help anything, there are no emo-guys in the League. Thats why his picture selection worries me a little:
Saturday, August 4, 2007
When Blazers Matter This Much, I explode
Back in early July I wrote about the warm fuzzy feelings I was getting from the Blazers return to relevance in the basketball world. I was eagerly awaiting the release of the schedule, because that is the barometer for how biggadeal the League thinks you can be.
As you know, it came out. And Portland is more biggadeal than even I dared to dream. I stole these dates from Yamhill County blogger product Casey Holdhal at the OLive Blazers Blog:
Oct. 30: Portland at San Antonio, 5 PM on TNT
Yeeeeees! The League really wants to manufacter a rivalry between Oden and an established post star, so we get the champs opening night. Even though LaMarcus is better than Oden right now, the fact that the NBA wants this to develop means we can count on big games in prime-time spots.
Once the schedule-makers get an idea in their head, it lasts no matter what (see Kobe vs Shaq "rivalry"), so this is very good that the Blazers are wedged in there.
Dec. 25: Portland vs Sonics on ESPN
Wow. It isn't the morning Christmas Day showcase on ABC, but getting a national game on Christmas is still impressive.
All in all, Portland is currently scheduled to be on 11 national broadcasts. God its been so long. Its going to be amazing to hear Chuck, Jet, Ernie and guest (hopefully not Reggie, cause he kinda sucks) dissect the Blazers. This is going to be good times, people.
As if all this attention wasn't enough, there's been more. When Roy was named to scrimmage with Team USA (although he ultimately backed out due to scheduling conflicts), I posted about literally exploding with pride at the possibility of someday seeing two Blazers (Oden has a Team USA future) on Team USA at once. I have been on a crazy dream that involves Roy, Oden, and LaMarcus all on that team. Fanciful you say? Indeed, sir. Cheerio!
The crazy thing is, I wasn't that crazy. In fact, maybe I wasn't crazy enough. Because the Behind the Beat Blazers Blog reported that LaMarcus has indeed been invited to join the scrimmage team. And Channing Frye. Not only that, Oden hasn't totally ruled out going to Team USA Training Camp, which is required to play in the upcoming Olympics.
Thats 4 Blazers that have the interest of the national team. Insane. Noway is this really happening. It will be great to see Blazers for Team USA, and lets try not to complain too much when we think our guys are getting too worn down and fatigued to bring it during the NBA Season. There was a time when we were totally irrelevant, so remember and enjoy.
All this validation is bananas, Portland couldn't get any valider at this point. All thats left to do is prove on the court that all of this is somewhat deserved.
Go Blazers! I'm going to go explode now.
As you know, it came out. And Portland is more biggadeal than even I dared to dream. I stole these dates from Yamhill County blogger product Casey Holdhal at the OLive Blazers Blog:
Oct. 30: Portland at San Antonio, 5 PM on TNT
Yeeeeees! The League really wants to manufacter a rivalry between Oden and an established post star, so we get the champs opening night. Even though LaMarcus is better than Oden right now, the fact that the NBA wants this to develop means we can count on big games in prime-time spots.
Once the schedule-makers get an idea in their head, it lasts no matter what (see Kobe vs Shaq "rivalry"), so this is very good that the Blazers are wedged in there.
Dec. 25: Portland vs Sonics on ESPN
Wow. It isn't the morning Christmas Day showcase on ABC, but getting a national game on Christmas is still impressive.
All in all, Portland is currently scheduled to be on 11 national broadcasts. God its been so long. Its going to be amazing to hear Chuck, Jet, Ernie and guest (hopefully not Reggie, cause he kinda sucks) dissect the Blazers. This is going to be good times, people.
As if all this attention wasn't enough, there's been more. When Roy was named to scrimmage with Team USA (although he ultimately backed out due to scheduling conflicts), I posted about literally exploding with pride at the possibility of someday seeing two Blazers (Oden has a Team USA future) on Team USA at once. I have been on a crazy dream that involves Roy, Oden, and LaMarcus all on that team. Fanciful you say? Indeed, sir. Cheerio!
The crazy thing is, I wasn't that crazy. In fact, maybe I wasn't crazy enough. Because the Behind the Beat Blazers Blog reported that LaMarcus has indeed been invited to join the scrimmage team. And Channing Frye. Not only that, Oden hasn't totally ruled out going to Team USA Training Camp, which is required to play in the upcoming Olympics.
Thats 4 Blazers that have the interest of the national team. Insane. Noway is this really happening. It will be great to see Blazers for Team USA, and lets try not to complain too much when we think our guys are getting too worn down and fatigued to bring it during the NBA Season. There was a time when we were totally irrelevant, so remember and enjoy.
All this validation is bananas, Portland couldn't get any valider at this point. All thats left to do is prove on the court that all of this is somewhat deserved.
Go Blazers! I'm going to go explode now.
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