Ladies and Gentlemen, and low-lifes: The first Blazers draft rumor!

The first of what will be a steady diet of summer rumors in Rip City has Portland moving up to nab ... Stephen Curry? Huh?

Does it really make sense for Portland to divest some resources to get their hands on this guy? I like Curry, and I think he has more of a chance at NBA success than some, but I' m not sure I like the move considering the price of entering the late lottery. If Blazer fans scream at their televisions about how Steve Blake can't guard the bigger pointmen of the NBA I fear they could bring back tar and feathering for Curry.

Anyways, like nearly all rumors, this probably won't happen. But it does signal that summer is nearly upon us. You know, in case you don't trust calendars. Or the sun. I'll show myself out.

2007 Summer League: Portland vs. Seattle

Portland 84 Seattle 78
Box Score

I wasn't going to write anything tonight, I honestly believed I had gotten my fill of watching summer league. I love all things basketball, but there's only so much a man can take. Then after deciding to take a peek, I noticed Koponen was actually getting decent minutes in the first half. Even more, he was getting to run the point. I can't let Finland down, so on we go:

The Finnagler looked more comfortable than in any previous summer league game, maybe due to a combination of getting used to the atmosphere and actually getting to play his position. He sunk a couple jumpers and had numerous nice plays setting up teammates for easy buckets, which they often didn't convert. The play-by-play for the game shocked himself by exclaiming, "Koponen is seeing everything on the court." Good stuff.

After all the Sergio hating I've been engaging in (still plenty of room on the Trade Sergio Bandwagon, by the way), I should probably note that he ran the offense as well as he has all summer today, and really wasn't looking to score as much as usual. He had some of the usual defensive slips, but none of those disturbing lapses we've seen in previous games. The truth is that Seattle doesn't exactly have top-flight guards on this team, even by summer league standards. This probably had something to do with Sergio & Koponen's play tonight.

Joel Freeland is a man. This has been verified. On one baseline in-bounds play Mancinelli threw him a lob, which Freeland jammed through the hoop with two hands in traffic-and got the foul. He also canned a nice jumper from 18 feet, and even gave someone a version of Kevin McHale's slippery eel, which always gets big points with me. He continues to prove he can be as active as anyone down low.

Zendon Hamilton was again Portland's best offensive threat down-low. The man is playing to get back in the league and made a fine case that he should be. Also solid tonight was Chris Ellis.

Stefano Mancinelli showed flashes of those solid all-around skills, although he still would disappear for long stretches. He also had the assignment of guarding Kevin Durant all-night, so maybe we cut the guy some slack tonight.

Martell reminded us how beautiful his jumper is. Taurean Green didn't get many minutes (and had to play off the ball most of the time), probably so The Finnagler could get in some work at point.

Quick notes on Seattle:

Kevin Durant can play, but Jeff Green can play too- and he was the man tonight.

Robert Swift was rocking a very long, very red pony tail on the sideline. This is only excusable if you are as good as Bill Walton. Robert Swift, you have been warned.

Summer League: Blazers vs. Lakers 1

Notes from previous Portland Summer League games: here, here, and here.

We all know the quality of Summer League play can make things difficult to watch. We accept this, and enjoy it anyways to see glimpses of our unknowns, unprovens, and hopefuls. The basketball snob in me despises NBA Summer League, but the Blazer fan in me makes sure I don't miss a thing.

So tonight, we had Portland playing the L.A. Lakers. I have to say, the Lakers have the least sexy summer league lineup of any Blazer opponent. Their most anticipated rookie is Javaris Crittenton, lets leave it at that.

Of course I can't be too critical tonight, as Portland only dressed nine players, and none of them were LaMarcus Aldridge or Greg Oden. NBA.com didn't even bother blacking out this one. The good news is that means other guys would get some burn, which could be good.

PART 2 CLICK HERE

Summer League: Blazers vs. Lakers 2

To my surprise, NBA.com had the KXL guys doing commentary on the webcast. Of course the highlight of their coverage came during what the broadcast team must have thought was a commercial break after the first quarter, when the play-by-play guy (jokingly, I think) yelled "Turn down the commercials you asshole!" Awesome.

After the half KXL wasn't on the webcast anymore, I'm not sure if this was from technical difficulties or not, but still hilarious. Oh, and there was also some basketball played. Portland managed to lose this one 73 to 81, box score.

I was eager to see if Sergio Rodriguez could be the best pointguard on the floor tonight. To me, in Game 1 it was actually Taurean Green, and in game 2 it was Jose Juan Barea of the Mavs. Against Jordan Farmar and Crittenton, I thought Spanish Chocolate would finally assume the role. He decently ran the point much of the night, and was able to penetrate and use that creative play-making ability that gets us all giddy. Then you look up and realize Crittenton has 26 points. Farmar got 17 in only 13 minutes. Not all Sergio's fault, but its part of a weakness that becomes glaring when he logs major minutes. Sergio has scary defensive lapses.

PART 3 CLICK HERE

Summer League: Lakers vs. Portland 3

Something I hope everyone notices that happened as a result of Aldridge and Oden being out is this: the awfulness of Josh McRoberts has been greatly exaggerated. I can't figure out why so many Blazer fans have been sending so much hate to the second-round pick, especially with more disappointing players on the roster (see above paragraph). I feel an extended blog entry on this topic coming in the near future, but for now let's focus on this game. Remember, McRoberts is 6'10 and has skills. The game saw him catch the ball at the 3-point line, pump fake to get his man off-balance, cross-over dribble, and finish it up with a pull-up that snapped the nets. He had a couple of these plays where he got to string together his impressive skill-set, and also showed his passing ability. As a complementary player, which McRoberts will always be in the NBA, he looks to be solid. Ease up Rip City.

Martell looked at his best tonight, perhaps because he felt comfortable being the man on the reduced roster. As we've seen in the regular season, if you let Martell get comfy by giving him a few open jumpers, he'll be solid all night. He was in that comfort zone tonight, and showed flashes of impressive defense as well.

It won't show up in the box-score, but Freeland showed his scrappiness again tonight. He seemed a little off all night, but didn't let that reduce his surly play. Even when he's not playing well enough to entice us with highlights, I like what Freeland brings.

You can say the same for Taurean Green as well. Its always good to have tough, hardworking guys on your team. Taurean didn't blow-up by any means, but he runs the offense and makes his man work for everything he gets.

Koponen didn't put much in the box-score tonight either, but we got some good flashes. When he runs the point, he's fast with the ball. He pushes it up court and can make nice jumpers or one-handed passes. Unfortunately also saw him play off the ball much of the time. In this position he seems anxious, pacing back and forth and mostly just watching the play develop. Its tough to see him get a lot of play at point with Sergio and Green, but it would be fun to see what he could do with more minutes at his strongest position.

Mancinelli again gave us flashes of a solid all-around game, and you could tell Zendon Hamilton knows what to do as a veteran, providing Portland's only consistent low-post offensive threat. Sad to see Portland native Terrance Green leave the team due to a death in the family.

Portland vs. Dallas: Summer League Game 2 Notes

First off, let me be clear I had problems getting to watch the game at NBA.com again. No rant about Stern this time, but still annoying. Because of these and other computer issues, I didn't start watching until a few minutes left in the second. Here were my notes for the game that Dallas won 72 to 68 (box score here):

Dallas undrafted pointguard Jose Juan Barea doesn't get much press. Its really too bad, because he can play. He's small, but showed very good pointguard skills. He also did what smaller players are supposed to do on defense, getting in Sergio's space and drawing 3 offensive fouls. The offense never stagnated with him in, and he showed just about every desirable pointguard quality you can think of. He seems to get overlooked because of his small height, but I think someone will find a spot for him.

Sergio looked a lot better during this game than the last, although the defense today was no let up from the pestering he endured from Rondo in the first game. Along with Barrera in his face all night, Sergio also got ACC Defensive Player of the year Jamon Gordon. It was nice to see Sergio play efficiently.

LaMarcus was the best player on the court on both ends, again. You can go back and read my notes of the first game, because he put on a similarly excellent performance.

Oden looked much better, and only got 9 fouls this time! He again flashed his passing ability, and reinforced the fact that everything he gets close to the hoop will result in a dunk, a foul, or both. His post moves worked better and he was playing against Diop inside, although he got a couple shots swatted.

Freeland actually got to play a decent amount today, which was nice. What's impressed me is showing his ability to do the little things that might not show up in the box score. He set picks well and would tip rebounds to his guards if he couldn't grab them. For someone who supposedly picked up the game in highschool his feel looks very good.

The Finnagler Koponen also got to play. He had one nice off the ball steal but wasn't very noticeable besides that play. It should be noted though, that he played the off-guard while Sergio ran point, so was forced to play out of position.

The only Blazer who didn't play better than their first go round was probably Taurean Green, who I dubbed the best blazer guard of the first game. Mancinelli played less but got to show his all-around game. Webster looked more comfortable but again had a limited impact. Portland went to the high-low post offense more this time, with mixed results. With Aldridge and Oden, this will definitely be fun to watch when they work it out. Overall, the game was executed much better than the opener on both sides and easier to watch as a basketball fan. The young Blazers looked more comfortable and assured, and hopefully will continue to look better during the summer league.

What I'm looking for: Portland vs. Dallas Summer League

As I'm waiting around for Portland's second Summer League game (schedule), I thought I'd post a few things I'll be looking for based off some notes I made from the first game:

• Oden showed some nice passes to Aldridge, and some that resulted in turnovers. This stuck out to me because we haven't heard much about Oden's passing ability yet. A post that knows how to pass to the other post is a huge asset, and indicates that Oden has a great feel for the game. It also shows he may be more comfortable deferring to Aldridge (who's future nickname I hope can be "The Big Truth") in the post. Some would say this is good, and assume that Oden will take more of the offensive load as his game develops. I imagine some critics would say this shows his lack of that "dominant mentality" thing. We'll probably know more as the regular season unfolds, but for me its showing he understands how to play basketball.

• Koponen more minutes. The Finnish Finagler got less than 3 minutes of playing time the first go round, which was a little disappointing. As a side note, about 15% of visitors to this blog over the last seven days have been from Finland according to statcounter, which I take to mean there's a country that wants to see more. Don't let Finland down! Play The Finnagler! Or else face accusations of being Anti-Finnites.

• Taurean Green's play. It was just one summer league game, but Green was Portland's best guard that night. I know its against the collective thinking, but if he turns out to be better than Sergio what will Portland do? Will Taurean become the go to backup? A trade?

• I'm hoping to see more of Oden, Freeland, and McRoberts and less of Mancinelli. Terrance Green actually getting an opportunity wouldn't be bad to see either. Should be interesting. I'll be watching and hopefully have a post up soon after.

Oden's Debut: Portland Notes

I just finished watching Portland kick-off their summer league in Vegas against the Boston Celtics. Oden's debut will obviously command much of everyone's analysis, but there was quite a collection of young talent on both squads to be excited about.

(Because of blogger length limitations, I've broken my Portland and Boston notes up into two separate posts: Boston Notes are here. Also, read why David Stern wants you to hate him.)

The Celtics won 74-66 (boxscore). It wasn't as close at the final score, Boston was comfortably in control a majority of the time.

Notes from the game:

Oden: Lets just say he took full advantage of the generous foul system in place during Summer League. He collected 10 fouls in 20 minutes, and was far from dominating offensively in the post. He is pretty unselfish with the ball, he gave a few nice looks to Aldridge when they ran high-low. Even while struggling, it was hard to ignore his presence. He changes games just by being on the court. Him and Aldrige showed they will play well together on both ends, it will be great to watch this dynamic develop.

Taurean Green: Sergio is obviously going to get the minutes this summer as they try to raise his consistency, but Green was no doubt Portland's best guard tonight (not bad for a guy taken #52 in the draft). He plays hard and showed his toughness getting numerous steals and rebounds. Plus its always fun to watch players that are that fast. Just like the scouting report says though, the jumper is a little shaky.

Lamarcus Aldridge: He is the truth, and it was all on display tonight. With his array of jumpers, post moves, blocks, rebounds, and ability to run the floor, Aldridge is on another level than the summer-league competition. He won't have any problems shouldering the offensive load this season down low if Oden needs time to develop.

Sergio Rodriguez: The Blazers are playing him a lot in an attempt to raise is quality of play when logging big minutes. Rondo was on his hip all night, and although Sergio managed to shake free on several occasions his teammates were often ill-prepared to do anything with his passes. A little disappointing tonight.

Joel Freeland: Gets a bullet point just because I've been hyping him up so much lately. Sadly, we didn't see much of Freeland (the pattern continues), but he had one very nice play on defense where he blocked a Leon Powe dunk attempt. I yelled, "White Keon Claaaaaarke!"

Martell Webster: Don't let the stat line fool you, Martell was mostly a non-factor until the fourth quarter when the outcome had been determined. He managed to show his potential with his athleticism and beautiful shot, but still didn't really seem like he has put it all together. He had some success when Portland would run him off of screens for catch-and-shoots (as opposed to what we saw all last season-Martell standing in the corner), maybe they'll explore that route more in the future.

Stefano Mancinelli: Wow, anyone predict this guy to get so much burn? Despite almost 20 minutes of PT, Mancinelli didn't do much. I spent the whole game wondering why he was in instead of forwards like McRoberts (4:32) or Freeland (9:46).

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of "The Finnagler" Petteri Koponen or hometown guy Terrance Green. Terrance is in the impossible position of needing desperately to impress to get on with an NBA team, but not getting an opportunity to play. Hopefully that will change, but as a 4th pointguard on the roster, isn't likely.

Overall the game was typical Summer League in that the quality of play pretty much sucked. The tempo was disjointed and there was a whole lot of fouling going on. With all these talented young players it would have been great if the teams could have gotten out and ran more, but this happened rarely. It was still nice to see how players are developing, and let us all pray for the end of internet blackouts.

Oden's Debut: Boston Notes

I just finished watching Portland kick-off their summer league in Vegas against the Boston Celtics. Oden's debut will obviously command much of everyone's analysis, but there was quite a collection of young talent on both squads to be excited about.

(Because of blogger length limitations, I've broken my Portland and Boston notes up into two separate posts: Portland Notes are here. Also, read why David Stern wants you to hate him.)

The Celtics won 74-66 (boxscore). It wasn't as close at the final score, Boston was comfortably in control a majority of the time:

Notes from the game:

Former Celtic and color commentator for the game Mike Smith made multiple blatant defenses of Danny Ainge during the game. He loves him very much and thinks he's doing a great job as GM. They have some good talent, but a great job? This guy must want a job with the front office very badly.

Leon Powe absolutely took it to Oden, or whichever Blazer was guarding him. He goes hard and adjusts his game well to make up for his lack of height much of the time. The other times, he gets swatted.

Gerald Green was the best perimeter player for the C's tonight. The ups looked as good as ever, putting up some nice highlights.

Pruitt brought it, despite very limited burn (box score shows 1:27 and 7 points). His impressive burst of points had me hoping he would get more minutes, but they never came.

Brandon Wallace can jump. I don't know much about the guy, but he had a few very nice athletic plays that got oooh's.

Basically, all the young C's can play. Powe and Green were the only Celtics to show consistency, you always knew when they were in the game. Rondo, Allan Ray, and Big Baby had shining moments, but would also disappear for long stretches.

All in all Boston fans should be happy with this group of young guys. But seriously, don't get too attached, or Danny Ainge will trade them for (insert worst nightmare here).

David Stern wants you to hate him

I just got done watching Portland vs. Boston in the Las Vegas Summer League (analysis of Portland here, and Boston here). I barely caught the game, allow me to elaborate before my head explodes:

A rant directed towards Mr. David Stern, who may or may not have had anything to do with the obstacle I had to overcome to watch this game. Whatever, I won't let this stop me from blaming him: On the schedule right here, it reads:

"*All games can be watched online, CLICK HERE. "

Well, apparently that asterisk means something along the lines of:

"*Actually, we plan to blackout the games after getting your hopes up by hyping up how cool this will be. Because we hate you, NBA fan, and want to crush your soul."

What the hell? I tried to kill some time by watching China's national team play Memphis and I got the blackout error message. I live in Portland. Which, by the way, is pretty far from Memphis, China, and Las Vegas.I felt the rage building.

Portland vs. Boston tip time rolled around, and NBA.com didn't even bother to post a link that I could take to get to the blackout message. I was a few seconds away from punching myself in the face. Suddenly, a ray of sunshine beamed down and directed me to a lovely blog that shall remain nameless. A comment was posted on said lovely blog, detailing how to sidestep the blackout and enjoy the game. I love the internet. David Stern? Not so much. You sir, are cold as ice.

If they aren't going to show the games, then don't brag about how you are going to show all the games. Wow that sounds simple. If you want to charge, cool, let us know. If you don't want to show them, hey, I can live with that. But don't build it up like you're being so awesome to your fans, only to tear it away from us. Are you trying to piss of the people that, you know, support your existence? Thats so cold it doesn't even make sense. Thats Stern.

NBA Summer League Kickoff

Can you smell it in the air? Might wanna crack a window.

The NBA Summer League is starting today (schedule). The turnovers, the lack of organization, and the bricks, oh the bricks. This can make the action difficult to watch.

Even with this in mind, I still get excited. Maybe I'm a basketball masochist.

Or maybe its still fun to see how the draft picks look. Also, you can't be mad at the fringe-NBA Players giving it everything they've got in an attempt to beat the odds and secure a spot on a team's final roster. Plus I'm not that into baseball.

As a Portland fan, I've came up with a few things I hope to keep tabs on during my team's Vegas run:

• Oden: Everything Oden.

• Joel Freeland:How can you not be curious about the white Keon Clarke? Blazers drafted the mostly unknown young Englishman in 2006. He played ball in one of the top Euro-leagues last season (Spain's ACB League) and averaged 15 and 7 in 26 minutes per. Oh ya, and he's still new to the game.

• The Oden/Aldridge dynamic in the post (oh my god!)

• Spanish Chocolate

• Terrance Green. A recent addition to the roster. Terrance Green is a Portland product who played college ball at Nevada and then for The Guangdong Southern Tigers in China with Yi Jianliang. There's a big shortage in roster spots this year, but I'm really hoping he will have an opportunity to show himself enough to catch on with someone.

• Martell Webster. Does he get it yet?

• Josh McRoberts. His plummeting stock in the draft was a popular joke at the local sportsbar. I had a big hand in that, but I'm glad he dropped low enough for Portland to pick him up. He reportedly is best as a complimentary player (which is how he got famous in highschool-playing with Greg Oden), he always will be that in Portland.

• Petteri Koponen. The work-out wonder from Finland that we know so little about. He'll probably stay in Europe for a while, so this is a rare opportunity to get a good look. I want to nickname him "The Finnish Finagler," but Casey Holdahl of the Blazer's Blog told me its "The Finnisher." I'm not sure if he's badass enough for that nickname yet, but we'll see.

Blazers get to be on TV! GLORIOUS RELEVANCE!

Things went bad for a while for Blazer fans, then a crazy tsunami of puppydogs and baby smiles swept us up and we've been surfing ever since. What took until just now to hit me is, being that the Blazers matter now (I love lottery balls! I mean that in a totally Tom Selleck -hetero-platonic way, for the record), I'll get to see more of them than in a long time. I'm salivating over the release of the regular season schedule, whaddup national coverage! I'm the dumb guy in the back on the cell phone! I'm so FAMOUS right now!

Case in point, summer league! Even though I will undoubtedly become disgusted by the horrible quality of basketball and turn away in frustration, Portland has 3 Summer League games showing on NBA TV. This means I can see some Oden, Aldridge, Koponen (somebody please tell me if this guy has a nickname), Joel Freeland (a big priority of mine lately, he had me at "white Keon Clark"), and all those summer league guys I don't know and will likely never see again. I can root for Portland product Terrance Green to play well, get exposure, and catch on with an NBA team.

Just the latest example, being relevant is so much better than being a laughing stock. Seriously Seattle, it is, you should do something about that. HEY OH!

Remix: Don't sleep on Joel Freeland!

Is it a good idea to do back-to-back posts on Joel Freeland? Mr. Oddity Unknown? The Riddler? If you like having people read your blog, then probably not. Its a good day to be an amateur!

The day after I posted the little update on English Joel, I read some even more savory morsels on the Oregonlive Blazers Blog detailing observations from his recent practice with the summer league squad:

"Oh snap! Freeland comes baseline and finishes the serious dunk on three heads. Nice ups for a guy Freeland's size."

" I didn't get to see it myself, but some of the people who got to watch the practice in its entirety said that Joel Freeland was draining shots left and right. I'm a little hesitant to make a characterization of a player from only watching an hour of practice, but it seems to me that he's got the tools and the body to stay in the states this year to play. I think the NBA D-league might be where Freeland ends up this year. Listening to him talk about his situation at Gran Canaria, it sounds like he might be willing to take less money in order to get some playing time."

Wait, wait. Freeland wasn't getting time with his top flight ACB League team? So he was getting 15 and 7 per with little PT?

Damn you Joel Freeland information, why do you always come in mysterious sugar packet sized quantities? When will we get to see what a white version of Keon Clark really looks like?