They still like Jarrett Jack in Indy

Remember the days of Jarrett Jack? Towards the end of his Blazer run it was a little sad to see fans turn on him like they did. He did contribute in important ways (he was the only player who consistently drove to the hoop that wasn't named Roy last season, that was big), but he was never going to become the player the fans so desperately wanted him to be. And those jaw dropping turnovers created by his indecisiveness made scapegoating Jack all too easy. It surprised no one when he was traded.

But things are getting better for Jack. Just look how happy he looks. In Indy he is coming off the bench and not being depended upon as heavily to perform point guard duties. Much of the time he actually plays alongside the Indy point guards. Best of all, the fans seem to like him:

Jarrett Jack has played a huge role off the bench for the Pacers to start the season. While he doesn't start, he often finishes games and does it with excess effort and intensity.

[CUT]

I love Jack and the role he is playing for the Pacers. The key with Jack is to not dwell on what he isn't. He doesn't have the all-around point guard game, like T.J. Ford. If he did at his size, he'd be a perennial All-Star, making max money and certainly not coming off the Pacers' bench.

[CUT]

Nope, Jack is simply a player filling a need off the bench much like Marquis Daniels. A utility player willing to defend anyone on the court or make a play on offense. It may not be the prettiest basketball play you'll ever see but it will be done at full speed and more times than not, will bring you out of your seat applauding the effort.

That strikes me as an excellent interpretation of Jack. We could have used some of that perspective.

More draft-related fun activities to waste time with

If the 2008 NBA Draft confirmed anything to me, it would be that the whole thing would be a lot more boring for everybody if Kevin Pritchard wasn't involved. Here is my 3rd grade reading level obligatory recap:

Players the Blazers ended up with: Jarryd Bayless, Ike Diogu, and Nicolas Batum.

I have been in like with all these players. Don't sleep on Diogu, he is a good banger style scorer in the post. The fact that he's undersized won't be that big of a deal considering Portland has enough trees to protect the rim. Batum will be stashed in Europe for a while.

There is a lot to love about Bayless at the point. Local media seem to be knocking him a little, but I haven't heard or read any legitimate claims to back up the criticisms. Basically, the argument seems to be that he is not a sure thing star that we know will definitely fit in. Duh. Being contrarian is fine, do what you gotta do to pay the bills, but I would appreciate it if you were not so lazy about it. Please, come with a more solid case. Need I remind you there are, conservatively some would say, three legitimate stars already on this roster? Bayless need not be Derrick Rose my friends.

Blazers sent off: Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts were sent off to Indiana. Both can be good NBA Players, I would hardly be surprised to see them both have reasonably long careers. Both could also probably use the fresh start. Best of luck.

I would give a rundown of all Blazers transactions and who they actually you know, drafted, but there is no point. KP traded every player the team drafted, so I'll save us both a few seconds and skip all that.

Also, I know everyone is linking to this, but I could get my sports bloggers license revoked if I didn't post this years' entry from the Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen. It did make me like Kevin Love a little more. Sort of somber this year, but still well worth watching:

Mike Barrett's Finnish Crush: Petteri Koponen

We know Petteri Koponen has been in Tualatin working out with Blazers staff in preparation for summer league. Mike Barrett has been watching salivating. From his blog:

The first thing I noticed is that he has grown, or at least I thought so. Koponen wasn't sure, but it appeared to most of us watching, that he's at least 6-5 now, and has put on some muscle.
Koponen worked out Tuesday with Steve Blake, who wanted to get in a workout. Both players looked very sharp, and Koponen was impressive. He's very quick, is a great ball handler, and was sticking his outside shot from just about everywhere. This is just my opinion, but as the Blazers search for help at the point-guard spot continues, this guy could be the answer.

And from another entry of Finnagler love:

There has been talk that, depending on what happens in the next few weeks, he could be signed and claim a roster spot.

Remember Mike Barrett works for the Blazers. The organization would not let him put crazy talk up on his blog. That gives the possible roster spot speculation even more gravity. It is the first such bold endorsement of The Finnagler that I've heard from a Blazers employee.

Still, all of this is contingent on the spot actually existing. I will go out on a limb and say Pritchard is likely trying to work Jarrett Jack into some deals. It could also mean the Blazers failing to acquire any number of targeted pointguards in the league. In any case, Koponen seems to be increasing his chances of wearing a Blazers uniform next season.

(Thanks to H.T. for the heads up)

Steve Blake gets no respect

Thats a headline I never thought I'd write. But in a season where Jack has disappointed with his inconsistent ability to run the team and Sergio hasn't been able to convince Nate to lend him decent minutes, Blake's competence at pointguard has kept this team watchable.

No, he is not the dream starting pointguard fans have been pining for. He's undersized and probably better suited as a quality back-up, but it is scary to think of what this season would have been like if the Blazers didn't sign him last summer. I was lukewarm on the deal at the time, to say he won me over is a bit of an understatement. I abandoned all logic and just started referring to the guy as The Port of Miami. Stick with me. The 305 roots, the bald head & beard, and you know, every day he's hustlin'. Just another day in the life. With his steady play and the stagnation of Jack, I was a little surprised when I noticed this shirt at a local store:





No, it wasn't on clearance. Yes, it likely will be this summer.

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:

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.

About This Business of Sending Jack Off (HaHa!)

There has been a little stir lately since Mr. Windhorst wrote that "different league sources" have indicated Cleveland might be interested in Jarrett Jack. Not too long ago Henry Abbott listed teams that, according to his different league sources, were most likely to make a deal before the deadline. Portland was included. Kevin Pritchard keeps giving us the "we like our guys, we're still evaluating our guys, did I mention we like our guys?" line. Meanwhile, mathematics say that Portland will simply have to free up some roster spots either before the deadline or come summer time.

Mr. Abbott (aka H.Abb the AbBot, HoodyHoo!) makes the point that the trade value of many Blazers could be peaking with all this winning going on. Sounds reasonable. If Pritchard and his crafty crew can get a deal they're convinced is better than anything that will come along this summer, they'll surely take it.

It is no secret that a lot of Blazer fans are frustrated with Jack. Not only is he inconsistent and not a pointguard, he takes minutes from fan uber-favorite Sergio Rodriguez. People don't like that. I'll concede that Jack is not a crucial piece for the future of this franchise, but he is still valuable. First of all, his teammates love him. Secondly, he is the only player not named RoyBot that consistently takes the ball to the hoop. These are two very important things.

Those turnovers and bad decisions we see are strong evidence that this guy is no pointguard. Let's call him a "pure combo guard," his incompetence in this role remains exaggerated. A team like Cleveland is hurting for a good pointguard, and I would think they would know that Jack isn't going to help that.

True, he's sorta young and inexpensive. That said, KP might only want to do midseason meddling if it presents an opportunity to offload a burden. Think LaFrentz or even Miles (come on Isiah!). Remember, the organization loves all the guys who get minutes. They don't want to trade any of them, but at some point will probably have to. LaMiles is the only overpaid entity they really want to get rid of. Finding a boat big enough to ship them and their contracts out of town is probably high on the list.

Also consider that Portland is doing very well with a group of young players that are still developing, so why not see how the rest of the season develops before making any deals. Eh?

We all know its hard to be a content fan, but why not take this opportunity to attempt it?









Just kidding! That would be lame! Go Crazy!

Portland vs Chicago: winning and growing

Portland 115, Chicago 109, 2OT (boxscore)

Very tough, exhausting, double-overtime veteranish win. Outlaw was clutch, so I'm going to remind you about this. James Jones was his usual invaluable self. Aldridge did his thing, using Ben Wallace's dogmatic defense of the paint as an opportunity to go automatic with the perimeter jumper. Brandon Roy was, again, Everything. There will be lots of good analyses for this game out there, so I'll sum up by simply writing what was looping through my head during the last five minutes of the fourth and through both overtimes:

"Why is Jack running the offense so much? Why is Jack running the offense so much? Give it to Roy. Give it to Roy! Gaaaaaaa! Nice play, Jack..."

I've been a Jarrett Jack apologist for a long time, and was happy to see him out there making plays. But Brandon Roy is on this team, why go anywhere else down the stretch of a tight game?

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

Blazers vs Warriors: still hot

Blazers 105 Warriors 95 (boxscore)

Another game against a favored opponent, another victory. Now is a good time to point out that Portland is the second hottest team in the league, only Boston has a longer streak going. DeceptivelyQuick was well in attendance for the latest improbable sans-LaMarcus victory. Because I'm lazy, I'll just throw my thoughts into bullets:

• No coincidence all this winning has coincided with James Jones finding his groove. He continues to shoot at a ridiculous clip, and that threat has allowed other guys (most notably Brandon Roy) to operate much more effectively. Veteran savvy, deep stroke, better than you think defense, James Jones is absolutely huge for this team. By the way, in an oddly recent pop-culture reference, the Rose Garden people play a sample from rapper Mike Jones "Mr. Jones" whenever James scores. I was pleased indeed.
• Outlaw continued his amazing play off the bench. I'm not sure I know a single basketball person that approves of all those awkward fadeaway jumpers he takes, but when they fall you just shut-up and cheer. Any team that has a guy scoring 19 a game off the bench (Outlaw has averaged about this over the winning streak) is trouble.
• I love when Pryzbilla gets his minutes, and he got 30 tonight. In a throw-back to the Damon Stoudamire days, the Blazers actually used him on offense. Joel's no Tim Duncan with the ball, but he has proven many times that he is a capable finisher around the hoop, especially coming off a pick n roll. I hope this will be a continued option, and not something happening only because LaMarcus is out. Love that they play Thriller whenever Joel scores, by the way.
• Roy. Roy. Roy.
• I've been as big a Jarrett Jack supporter as there is out there, so when his shortcomings became painfully obvious, well, that sucked for me. I was relieved to see him eventually find a role. That role is not pointguard. For stretches of this game, Jack ran the point. During these stretches, the arena would hold its collective breath and grit its teeth hoping for the best.
• I've noted the most important void left by Z-Bo's departure. In other chalupa-related news, when the team gets close to 100 the mascot is on the jumbotron starting a chalupa chant (seriously). I can't support this. Not only did it confuse the Japanese people sitting by me, its like talking about a no-hitter while its in progress. Yet another reason Blaze the Trailcat sucks, he/she/it is conducting himself/herself/itself in a manner that is conducive to chalupa-jinxing. We can't have that dammit. Stop this at once.

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.

Mike Barrett: Referee conspiracy whistle blower

I am a supporter of the Blazers All-Mike TV broadcasting team. They're funny, and they do a pretty good job of describing the action.

That said, as I'm sitting here watching the Blazers get blown out by the Hornets in the second game of the season, Mike Barrett's repeated "Refs hate the Blazers" act is already old. Seriously, I'm not sure I can handle another season of this. Its beginning to overshadow the many things the guy does right.

That said, here's some quick notes on the game:

• Chris Paul had 19 points and 6 assists in less than 26 minutes. He's a great, but Jack and Blake's inability to even stay in the frame with him had me thinking of Taurean Green all night. For the record, "Nate-guy" Green has played less than three minutes this season.
• This was the first time LaMarcus saw an NBA team that had a focus on stopping him in the game plan. He struggled and looked frustrated much of the night. After blowing over and around Duncan and the Spurs in the first game, facing Tyson Chandler may have been a little shocking.

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:

Deceptively Quick's Blazers starters

A big feature in the Oregonian is detailing how nearly every position on the Blazers is up for grabs. Basically, we know Roy and Aldridge will start and thats about it. Although this topic has been beaten to death by other Blazer sites already, I am a hack, so I offer my starting five:

• PG: Jarret Jack. Sure, bringing in Steve Blake may have freaked out both Jack and myself. And while Sergio has apparently slipped out of the rotation (good for Jack), Taurean Green is stepping up in a big way (bad for Jack), and Nate loves tough pointguards like Green. We already know Blake is a Nate-guy. I still like Jack to earn the spot in training camp, simply because he's the most talented of the four, and won't give up his spot as incumbent starter so easily. Thats right, Jarret Jack.
• SG: Brandon Roy. I wish those of you who didn't watch much Blazers last year could truly understand how good Roy is. He really is the total package. I don't curse a whole lot on here but, (cover your ears!) I fucking love when Roy runs the point (my bad, should have said cover the eyes). That said, at least for this year, he'll probably start at the two, but will play point often during the game. Enjoy it.
• SF: James Jones. The competition for this spot is tight, with Outlaw, Webster, and rumors of a Miles comeback (in Decemberish, ugh). Outlaw's late season explosion while many opponents were simply playing out the schedule didn't impress me, it actually cost me the fantasy league title, so I hated it. Both he and Webster still have to get it together between the ears before they can start. I like what Jones could bring to this spot as a veteran with a shooting touch.
• PF: LaMarcus Aldridge. I can't wait to see LaMarcus this season. In case you didn't know, this guy will be an All-Star at some point in the next few years.
• C: Joel Pryzbilla. Don't think this is because I think he's better than Channing Frye, I think Frye will actually play more minutes and be the one to finish games. But Joel is another Nate-guy, and his defense and the fact that he won't take a lot of shots helps him fit in with the starting unit.

While I'm on it, here's a couple other actions I'm currently supporting:

• Trade Sergio Rodriguez. Ok, the Blazers like all four pointguards and want to keep them all for now, which I understand. Nate has said Sergio is currently out of the rotation. Next year, Portland has to bring over guard Rudy Fernandez. Supposedly, other teams are interested in Sergio. Portland needs to open up a spot in the backcourt. Will Sergio's trade value increase or decrease with him riding the bench all season? That's my case.
• Bring over Joel Freeland. You haven't forgotten about him, have you? Don't, because he's an animal. Oden is out for the season, so another big wouldn't hurt. Joel's current club, Gran Canaria, has a bizarre pattern of neither playing Joel nor helping him improve his skills in workouts. He's aching to get with the team and prove himself. I think Paul Allen can write a check and get him away from that last season with Gran Canaria. Why aren't we talking about this?

Jack scheduled to start?

Found in Cleveland’s News-Herald today by Hoopshype:

“Jarrett Jack is scheduled to be the Trail Blazer’s starter”

Coupled with earlier reports of KP saying the roster is set, this is good news. That crazy insecure part of me that has been terrified of losing Jack for almost 5 months has been calmed a bit. I can see Jack starting, with Blake getting as many/more minutes as Jack while coming off the bench. Jack proved he can be a competent two-guard for stretches last season (particularly late in close games). I imagine he’ll get a lot of burn in the same fashion this season. As a long-time supporter of playing multiple pointguards simultaneously, I’m happy.

Side thought: Would the Blazers have signed Blake if Sergio hadn’t had a crappy summer-league? Looks like they learned Sergio likely isn’t yet ready to handle the responsibility of being a primary back-up, and Portland needed someone who could.

More on Steve Blake

It happened, and now the team with too many players added one more to the mix. Steve Blake is a Blazer after signing a 3 year deal worth $12 million with Portland. I think we all see the writing on the wall with this one, that Jarrett Jack is probably being shopped right now.

I guess at that price, Blake isn't a bad signing. There were rumors he was looking for the mid-level exception and up, which had me worried last night.

The Blazers know their personnel better than I, but I've never understood why they've seemed so eager to rid themselves of Jack. 12 points and 5 rebounds a night is very good for a second year pointguard new to the starting role. I know he was inconsistent, but I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt since he was going through some difficult times off-the court last season.

Blake by the way, is going into his 5th season, and his best stats were from the last half of the season with Denver after being traded, 8 and 6. My question is why give on Jack who is younger and, statistically at the least, better? Afraid you won't be able to re-sign?

They will tell you that Steve Blake gives the Blazers much needed 3-point shooting, but don't buy that. He shot .279 the first half of last year with Milwaukie, and .343 on a Denver team where he got a lot of open looks due to the attention commanded by Iverson and Carmelo. "Inconsistent" Jack shot .350 from 3.

Was it for defense? Jack hasn't yet shown to play the type of defense Portland has hoping for, and Steve Blake has a reputation for "working hard" on defense. Blake will work hard all night, but won't lock anyone down. Jack is still improving in all areas, and who knows?

After this we plunge into the ever sexy and mysterious "intangibles" argument, where Blake allegedly excels. I'm not sure losing Jack is worth gaining a player who's attributes make him sound like the Trent Dilfer of the NBA. I know, Trent won a ring, and Blake did in college. Still, I'm not sure you give up Jack for somebody who is basically good enough to "not mess it up."

There's the playing style argument, because Jack isn't the type of run-and-gun point that is flourishing in the league right now. Show me evidence that Blake is.

Its hard for me to buy that Blake is significantly better than Jack is right now, and Jack is still improving while Blake is the best player he ever will be. This doesn't sit well with me.

Of course, I don't know what Pritchard & Crew have in store. Maybe they can put together something tremendous with Jack. Maybe they'll blow us all away and trade Sergio instead, its not as crazy as it sounds. Especially after you watch him get outplayed by multiple players that haven't even played in the League yet (Portland notes from Summer League: game 1, Notes from game 2, Game 3). Seriously.

Pritchard has been on a wave of support and good fortune, and deservedly so. He is a smart guy who surrounds himself with other smart guys and they work together to make great decisions. This one I'm uneasy about. Whatever else is in the works has to be pretty exceptional for this deal to make sense.

Of course I could be getting irrational, and I'm aware that trading Sergio is steeply against the collective thinking right now. Looking back, I've been fearing losing Jack for a long time: here and way back in March here. Kevin Pritchard knows better than to tread softly and has the political support to be bold. I just hope he's still made of magic.

Please God No

Just heard, Steve Blake is supposedly going to sign with Portland. If true, we got ourselves too many pointguards which probably means Jack is on the move (although I wouldn't count out Sergio being shopped). I have never totally understood why so many love Blake, when I ask I hear an argument similar to how they used to describe Trent Dilfer. Is someone who's main attribute seems to be that they "won't mess things up" and is "good enough" what we need? Maybe. At a price reportedly above the mid-level exception? I don't know. I certainly think Jack can be better than Blake if he isn't already, but the peronnel staff knows more than me. I'm not passing up a date consisting of pizza and Soprano's dvds with the girl tonight, so expect a good old fashioned ranting post tomorrow.

I'm starting to fear the magic man

Blazer fans have been going crazy with trade speculation. And why not? It's fun to sit around and conjure up fantasy scenarios that include trading Z-Bo and D. Miles for the #2 Pick, Ray Allen, and an iPhone (Oh wait, Paul Allen would never let us have an iPhone). I've certainly slipped into this dreamland as a fun way to pass the time. Plus we have Kevin Pritchard, the magic man league bamboozling super GM who will probably not just deliver our outlandish fantasies, but surpass them.

It's fun to be a Blazer fan right now.

Then I came across a couple articles that sobered my mind like an Oregon Burrito from Muchas Gracias at 3 AM. Reality just isn't as fun.

First off, The Oregonian is reporting that Pritchard isn't getting as much interest in Z-Bo as we would like to believe. In all this excitement we were forgetting the very real possibility that Zach will be once again doing his thing in Portland next season. Ouch.

Secondly,DraftExpress is making reasonable speculation that Portland is shopping Jarrett Jack for a draft pick. Apparently Portland is inviting pointguards to private workouts. Jack is a good guy, and a good player. I see him as a potential Upper-Middle-Class Man's Chauncey Billups, to be honest. It isn't a reach to say that Jack in his third season will run the team better than any rookie pointguard in the draft. Do we really want to go younger at this position? At this time?

Losing Jack would mean losing someone we know is a character guy that the fans seem to demand these days. It would also mean losing a competant young pointguard thats still improving. Lets not forget we'd probably taking a step back in that position (at least in the immediate future).

I really like Jack. I've been paranoid about him getting moved all season. I first blogged my fear back on 3-16-07.If there was a negative to the electricity and excitement produced by Sergio Rodriguez, its that it seemed to push Jack off the stage a little.

If KP pulls the trigger on this, his 110% approval rating probably won't go away, but it will get a critical look from more than a few. Of course if it all works out, and Portland becomes better off, great.

I say "In Kevin Pritchard We Trust," but I'm no longer yelling it. I wonder if magic is enough.

3/16/07 - Watching Blazers vs. Lakers

Oh my god, somebody ISN'T watching the NCAA Tournament??? I switched over because I got frustrated when Villanova lost to Kentucky. I'm not really sure why.

The first thing I wish people would notice more is how the Lakers are experimenting with dimming the lights in the crowd during some of their games...

......Zach Randolph just dunked! The planets are aligning my friend.


...but I digress, I think that it is pretty cool (the lights thing, Z-BO dunking is not exactly poetry in motion). It makes it seem to be more like a stage. I wish the Blazers would try this so I could experience how it effects the experience of actually being there. I wonder, does it make the crowd more quiet? Like they're at the movies or something? Does that in turn weaken the homecourt advantage? The NBA should do some decibel testing, its hard to tell.

....Jack had a nice assist a few minutes ago, followed by a nice 3, and is playing good D. While I'm on it, anyone else noticing how Jack is unjustly becoming an afterthought since Sergio's emergence? When I hear talk of the Blazer's "great young nucleus," Jack's name seems to be getting mentioned less and less. I know Sergio is very good and very fun to watch, but let's keep in mind that Jack is currently finishing up just his SECOND year in the league. He runs the team well, and is pretty tough, he's veteranish already. He's like a lower-middle class man's Chauncey Billups, with Upper-middle class man's Chauncey Billups potential.


If your gonna throw anybody's name out of the "future" conversation, make it Zach's. I know he puts up the best numbers and all that right now, but aren't we talking future? He's the one who I have to watch stall the offense possession after possession (he likes to "size up" the defense, which involves holding the ball for 3-5 seconds and looking around before deciding what to do). And he's the last remaining guy who holds the very likely odds of continuing the "Jailblazer" stuff. He's having a GREAT season, numbers and leadership wise. Sounds like a great time to get something that will fit better with the big picture. I do love his favorite thing to mention whenever he gets in trouble, you know what I'm talking about. The whole "Portland is just a really small town with nothing going on so they pay a lot of attention to us cause they got nothing else to pay attention to" thing. Oh my bad Zach, you're right, it is OUR FAULT. I'm pretty sure in ANY NBA city, when the teams best player punches a teammate in the face, street races downtown, or is somehow implicated in a sex-scandal, its news. A lot of us really care about this team, forgive us for noticing when you continually decide to mess it up.

......Outlaw, back-to-back great dunks, followed by a silky baseline J. The enigma continues.

Another thing about the Lakers, I'm never going to get over Phil sitting on his throne. I mean "his throne" literally. Seriously, that chair he sits in on the sidelines is HUGE and nobody outside of the Blazers announcers and myself seems to talk about it enough. His shoulders are above his assistant's heads. Do you really buy the idea that he needs this for medical reasons? They should be poking fun of this on Sportscenter.

..........Udoka from the corner. How can you not love Udoka? I really hope he gets a good multi-year contract at the end of the year. And I hope Dan Dickau leaves. I also seem to be the only non-Dickau fan, at the last game I went to everytime he got the ball everyone around me was screaming "Shoot it Dan!!!!!" To be fair, they later redeemed themselves by a great discussion on how much Jamaal Magloire sucks ("As long as he doesn't get the ball, he's cool." So true, so true).


.........Zach is doing his mid 90's throwback iso-hold the ball for 15 seconds thing. Brick. It hurts more because he's on my fantasy team.

One last Lakers thing. Kobe may hate White guys. Mike Miller was the first to feel this. Ginobili. Jaric. If I were up against the Lakers in the playoffs, I would take any White guy on the roster and stick him on Kobe. Then of course, Kobe hits him in the face. He's suspended the rest of the game, given his history maybe a couple games of the series. Well, to get the League to give Mamba a multi-game suspension would be hard. It would have to be REALLY bad. You would have to get a REALLY White guy. Now I know why the Blazers signed Luke Schenscher.

....Things are getting chippy! Roy just hit a clutch lay-up and Odom went jawing at the Blazers bench, then Kobe and Jack were in a man-off stare. I love it, the Blazers don't lay down these days. Pride. I also love the Blazers announcers, "Thats the rookie of the year LA Lakers, and don't you forget it!" They hate the Lakers as much as I do. I hear a lot of people complain about announcers, but the Mikes bring it. They're way homer, which is actually more amusing than annoying to me. They were still complaining about a non-call against Roy at a game 2 weeks later. They're funny and passionate, it works. Keep it up fellas.

.....Mamba the 3 to tie. Zach misses a J badly on the attempt to break the tie. On to OT. Kobe has 56.

.....Aldridge a beautiful turnaround jumper from the baseline. Wow. I remember a guy from NBA.com saying the Blazers have the 3 best rookies in the league. Maybe, but I would say they have 3 of the top 5. We gotta keep Millsap and Bargnani in there somewhere.

.....Play by play Mike notes how Blazers vs. Lakers games are always close, and that this is a great rivalry. I wish I had friends who liked the Lakers so I could verify that they view this as a rivalry. Actually I don't. But honestly, this could be one of those "rivalries." You know, where only one side views it as a rivalry. I remember when it was no doubt a rivalry (notice, no quotes!), I'm not sure it still is.

......Color commentator Mike giving a speech about how he doesn't throw the label "Warrior" often, but Ime Udoka is definitely a Warrior. Awesome. Webster just hit a clutch 3. Team Mike is still complaining about the refs. I love this. I'm explaining to my girlfriend that my blog is an attempt to save her from this stream of consciousness I have to voice about basketball. She's not interested. Blazers lose.