Presenting the best thing in the Universe: The Yamhill Highflyers

Wow. I mean, really. The burst of euphoria running through my body is really going to be difficult to convey here. This is not related to the NBA. Or Finland-things. Try to follow.

My appreciation of the IBL has been well established. I mean, I literally saw God at an IBL game. No. I saw God in an IBL game. (Good handle, shaky jumper.) The fact that this cost $5 and was in a high school gym only made it better.

Then I started hearing that the IBL was putting a new team close to my home town in rural Oregon. I was excited. When you grow up in an area without a lot of these types of things you get impressed pretty easily. The prospect of catching a delightfully novel IBL game added a new layer of cool to all my future return trips home.

Then I discovered the name of the team. I may have crapped my pants. Consider me an instant fan. There are no guarantees that this will not be incorporated into the DeceptivelyQuick JPEG Banner of Honor.

Weakened Pondering: Stop the Rocket hating madness edition

I'm a person that is surprised quite a lot. (For example, did you know that they're making a new Predator movie?) Accordingly, I was taken off-guard by the degree of Rockets hatred that Portland fans gained from the Blazers first round loss. Sour grapes are to be expected, but this was something else. I heard multiple people saying that they hope the Lakers dominate the Rockets. The Lakers. Local sports radio (ugh) came to the conclusion that there are no Western Conference teams worth rooting for anymore. 

Why hate the Rockets? Because your team didn't get regular-season calls during the playoffs? Please. Perhaps those on the Blazers' roster weren't the only ones showing a little post-season naivete.

A general rule of sports is to find some consolation when the team that beat you goes on to more success. It would say a lot about how good Portland is if the Rockets went on to win the title. Plus they are playing the Lakers, a team that so many of you claim is Portland's main rival. (Stay hilariously delusional, Rip City.) Your long-term hatred of the Lakers, if as actual as you claim, should easily outweigh your bitterness over losing to Houston.

I'm not sure how a fan of the game of basketball could not like the Rockets. They are a collection of uncommon talents and shortcomings that play beautiful team basketball. Yao Ming has always been easy to root for with his humble determination and never-before-seen package of size and skill. Ron Artest is one of the most entertaining players in basketball. On the court his defense is easy to appreciate and his bull-in-a-china-shop-shooting-loose-cannons offensive style has always kept my interest. Plus, tell me you didn't smile at least a little when he called Brandon Roy the best NBA player that he has ever had to guard. Aaron Brooks, he who played for the University of Oregon, is microscopic in stature and uses his blazing quickness and confidence to make an impact. Don't get me started on Von Wafer. Read this article and find a way to not like Shane Battier. Scola gets under your skin, but he is a classic get under your skin love to hate kind of role player. He even looks weird! Plus how can you not enjoy watching Houston's under-heighted (not undersized!) front-line stifle their taller opponents? What is the matter with you?

If none of the above has convinced you, I think you need a visit to Dr. Bob Newhart.

Some NBA Coach really respects Przybilla

Old news by now, but whatever: the NBA All-Defense team has been announced. Most interesting from a Rip City view is that chronically underappreciated Blazer Joel Przybilla actually nabbed a few votes. One voter gave the Nilla Gorilla a spot on his first team ballot. Before you think Nate, know that the coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. Nice to see the guy finally getting a little respect outside of Portland. Sad that it is coming just before he is likely to return to a limited role as the franchise attempts make Oden a legitimate franchise player.

Team USA is coming for our Blazers

I think we can all agree it would be very cool to see a Blazer out there representing Team USA Basketball in the Olympics someday. But what about three Blazers in the same Olympics? Either I am being an overly paranoid fan or there is nothing terrifying about the pillars of your (allegedly injury prone) team playing a ton of extra competitive basketball.

This is where I mention that Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden have all been invited to train with Team USA this summer and compete for roster spots on the national team.

LaMarcus and Oden have both reciprocated interest and one would think Roy would relish the opportunity as well. The idea of three players from the same NBA team sounds a little far-fetched at first. I mean, does Colangelo love America or just really hate Portland? It seems like someone from the Blazers would want to step in and stop such a possibility from occurring. (Or would they? Would the resulting raised profile of the Blazers be worth the risk?) 

The potential incentive for Team USA would be having three players that already know how to play with each other. After all, getting unfamiliar players to operate as a cohesive unit is one of the biggest obstacles of the USA system. OK, this idea does make some sense. Now I really am terrified.

Rasheed Wallace to retire?

Are back-to-back Jailblazer posts acceptable? Anyways, a guy who knows a guy who knows Rasheed Wallace says that the four time All-Star is planning on walking away from the League unless a team gives him $8 million for next season. (If true, that means he is leaving.)

Wallace hasn't played for Portland since 2003 but still manages to trigger strong feelings within Rip City. His most productive years were here, and he delivered his share of W's to the franchise. If things had been even a little more stable we may be talking about Rasheed as one of the greatest to ever play for Portland. Instead we remember him as the player that responded to being the focal point of a team by tearing it all down. The man who finally got his on-court act together, relatively speaking, to help deliver a title to a different team. But hey, he was the best player of the JailBlazer era by a mile. I'm going to go break something.

Get your Zach Randolph Blazers jersey today!

Is it acceptable to wear a Z-Bo jersey ironically? I suppose that it could be difficult to explain such motivations to a mob of Blazer fans raining down on you with fists and lugies. But just in case you want to try it out, Zach Randolph's Blazer jersey is still for sale at the NBA.com store. At a recession friendly price!

 

The Off-season is on! More Koponen. More Freeland.

With that pesky dream season finally out of the way we can focus on what really excites us: Players the Blazers have rights to that may or may not join the team at some point. Yes!

Petteri Koponen has been an obvious favorite around here. H.T. has has kept us well informed on his development in Italy. The most notable achievement of Koponen's season has been the role he has created for himself as a willing and able perimeter defender. He has not gotten much time at his natural point-guard position, but his defensive prowess has at least kept him on the court. While his opportunities for development have not been optimal his growing rep for bringing the D is notable when you consider what the scouts from DraftExpress observed last summer:

He knows how to control tempo relatively well for a young guard and possesses above average court vision. The young guard's ability to run the point at his size and age is pretty impressive, but his defense still has a ways to go.

All indications are that Koponen is working hard on improving his game, managing to make noticeable strides despite inconsistent minutes and limited run at the point. Please please please let this guy come to Vegas.

A Blazers' draftee we haven't heard much from in a while is power forward Joel Freeland. As you likely know, Joel impressed a lot of people this season with Gran Canaria. DraftExpress has him ranked seventh on their NBA Rights Held list. The Blazers are sounding like they think he will be able to join the summer team in Vegas, but I'm holding off for more news before getting too excited. Last summer Gran Canaria decided not to let him come over for the rat-ball romp in the desert, and I don't want my heart broken again. In any event Freeland seems to be quite a bit closer to joining the Trailblazers than Koponen.

It is worth reminding that the Blazers have a spectacular FOUR second-round picks in this year's NBA Draft. Will we see Kevin Pritchard use some of these on some more potential-types from abroad? You never know with KP, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him try and use some his team's assets to stock up on picks for the sexier looking 2010 Draft.