This morning I strolled over to Hoopsworld and saw that Bill Ingram was holding a chat session. I asked him the famous "Who should we target?" question. Keep in mind this guy has a hard time shedding his Texas roots in his journalism (admittedly a Rockets fan, and pictured wearing a Mavs shirt and hat). Also keep in mind during one question's response he lists the eight Western Conference playoff teams and we don't make the cut. He also chose the Timberwolves as the Darkhorse outside of those eight teams. He also specified that Bynum would have a much better night than Oden. If this chat still holds any weight with you, here is the question and response:

 

Noah in Portland Or:
Who should the Blazers target with all them dollars next year? Who is the available missing piece? Bill Ingram:
Alright - last question everyone. Gotta run. Missing piece in Portland . . .umm . . .they're missing a piece??? Well, OK, they need to solidify the three. How about SHAWN MARION????? Wow . . .think about THAT for a minute. Thanks for stopping by everyone - have a great week and enjoy opening night! ____________________________________________________________ Initial reaction? Blehk. After some thought, I realized he has always been a strong defender, we could offer him a nice deal, and he would be in the playoffs with a great team. The questions would be, would he be a cancer? Could he accept being option number four in the offense? What do you think? Please be more creative than "He's immature and a locker room cancer." Because we all know that, and I actually think Roy has a strong enough personality and the rest of the team has bought in. After a few weeks of one tumor being in our locker room, the rest of the guys would make him feel stupid and I think he would have an attitude adjustment. So?

A light-hearted off-season time waster for ya...here is a look at anagrams (in bold) for the names of some relevant Blazers. Enjoy!

Darius Miles -    Slum Dairies (They put Stone Cold stores in bad neighborhoods now?)
        Misused Liar ('Nuff said)
        I Muss' Derail your franchise.
        I Slurs to the Media.
        Rum Is what I drink with the Ladies
        We bought his Ruse, Slim chance he Aids us.

Greg Oden-    Engorged (anything near the rim will be)
        Green God (nothing to tie this too, but it's funny)
        Need Grog (grog = strong alcoholic drink)


LaMarcus Aldridge-    A Dullards Grimace (and they will every time he puts up 40)
            A Mild mannered Rascal named Avery Johnson Urged Coach McMillian to stop playing LaMarcus against his team.
           

Brandon Roy-        Born On A Dry day (In Washington, are you sure?)
            Kobe Bryant will stop Roy in his tracks...Or Roy will go right On By him. Darn!

Jerryd Bayless-        He has set up Labs full of scientists that keep his Jersey(s) Dry.
           
Travis Outlaw-        Travis has a Ritual in which he Vows to someday embarrass Pau Gasol at the Western Conference Finals.
            Swat Out Rival(s)
            Two air vaults back to back from Sergio!

Rudy Fernandez-    Run in a Frenzy until you are Dead.
           
Martell Webster-          Never test a Brawler's Mettle.
                  The Jazz fans are about to Rebel! Martell is torching them here in the third quarter, he literally is going to Melt the Warts off of Kirilenko's face!

Channing Frye-        Oden became a Chef learning from Channing's Granny In her kitchen.

Nicolas Batum-        Sophia would love to drink until she is Lit and comb her hair in Batum's Sauna.

Joel Pryzbilla-        If he's ever not a Blazer, I'm going to have to take a Joy Pill to overcome my grief.

Ike Diogu-                     Impossible. But I bet Garnett would try anyways.

Sergio Rodriguez-    Sergio likes to Ride animals at the local Zoos, and also sometimes gets the Urge to ask Donaghy if he can Rig him some playing time.

Raef LaFrentz-          The most expensive Fez wearing Rental from a Far place, Raef LaFrentz.

Ok everyone, we have established through a few recent posts that a lot of new blood is coming in and though we never cry out bandwagon unless you are from LA, this along with our recent (last 3 drafts) good fortune has made some of the aura around our fan-hood pickle (have fun with that one guys). I think we all need to be evened out a little bit, for the sake of karma. If we keep up the trash talking about other GM's and even our own incredible draft picks, we are bound to return to our old ways. So without further wait, the twelve biggest blunders and/or oversights in Portland's draft history.

The first two would be much higher on the list if we didn't end up with a great player one way or another:

#12: Portland Drafts Ronnie Lester #10, passes on Kiki Vandeweghe and Mike Woodson, 1980

Ronnie went straight to Chicago (I honestly don't know what we got out of it, this is only about draft choices) and faded into mediocrity. Woodson went for 14 ppg for his 10 year career playing with a few teams in that time. The man called Kiki came to us four years later as one of the all-time Blazers greats, an extremely prolific scorer. If it wasn't for him joining us later, this pick would look much worse, but we all know it's better to draft a star than to trade for or sign one.

#11: Portland drafts Mychal Thompson #1, passes on Larry Bird, Reggie Theus, 1977

First of all Mychal Thompson was a flat-out stud for us. I'm not sure if Reggie would've been better for us, the only reason this is here is because you don't pass on Larry Legend. If we didn't make a good pick inspite of this, the year 1977 would be hated by us as much as...well, you know.

This next group features some great talent that a lot of teams passed on (not just us), paired with some picks that make you go "Who's that guy?"

#10: Portland selects James Robinson #21, passes on Sam Cassell and Nick the Quick (when he actually was), 1993

James was a mediocre guard that hung around with a bunch of different teams but didn't accomplish a lot. The other two could be considered tier two or three stars in their prime (hence the position on this list).

#9: Portland select Sebastian Telfair #13, passes on Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, Kevin Martin, 2004

I don't remember anyone liking this pick. That said, every GM ended up feeling stupid for letting Kevin Martin slip that far. Besides, the guy who was supposed to save our franchise actually did, just not the way he wanted to.

#8: Portland selects Shawn Respert #8, passes on Michael Finley, 1995

Again, every GM feels stupid about not drafting Finley. We shipped Respert to the Bucks where he dwelled in mediocrity. This one stings a bit thinking what could have been in 2000 if we had Finley with that group. Would we have more titles than we do now? Hang on, we aren't halfway through yet.

#7: Portland selects Erick Barkley #28, passes on Michael Redd, 2000

Well Redd is another guy who slipped much farther than he should have. Although he fits right into the Melo/Z-Bo mold, at the very least he would have been excellent trade bait.

#6: Portland selects Jeff Lamp, passes on Larry Nance, 1981

Lamp stunk. Nance? Not so much...

#5 Portland selects Wally Walker #5, passes on Robert Parish, Adrian Dantley, and Alex English, 1976

Wally was not impressive. But hey, we can pass on a dominant center who earned the nickname "The Chief", and a couple prolific scorers, right?

Next up, welcome to the "Doh!" moments.

#4 Portland trades down for Martell Webster, passes on Chris Paul, Deron Williams, 2005

Well you all knew it was going to be on the list somewhere. If Webster didn't have the ability to explode at any moment, this might rank even higher with me. This is truly an ouch moment in Blazers history.

#3 Portland selects Qyntel Woods #21, passes on Tayshaun Prince and Carlos Boozer

Well this guy (although he was the nicest guy around when I met him, probably because he was buying a blunt wrap from me) was and is truly a waste of space. A disgusting individual if ever there was one. And we passed up the player all the trade board guys are wetting themselves over scheming about. Hassenfeffer!

#2: Portland selects Sam Bowie #2, passes on Michael Jordan, John Stockton, and Charles Barkley, 1984

Nobody needs to cover this anymore. I'm sure people are surprised I didn't rank this number one...

#1: Portland selects LaRue Martin #1, passes on Julius Erving, Paul Westphal, and Bob McAdoo, 1972

The reason why this is number one, our team would be almost as significant with Dr. J as our legend as it would Air Jordan (although we would be a dynasty), and LaRue is widely considered to be the biggest bust of all time. What a waste of a number one.

In conclusion, with the evolution of scouting and the amount of work that now goes in, teams all around the league have greatly improved chances of not making a horrible, horrible mistake. Just as important as that late 70's early 80's improvement in scouting is the evolution we are exclusively leading right now with quality of GM and owner.  Hard work and open doors have brought us back from the depths of despair, so let's not laugh at Indiana, Denver, or Dallas as they prepare to fall off the edge of the basketball world. Let's all bask in how cool it is to be on the forefront of the future...Welcome band-wagoners,  welcome. And may the good karma keep coming.

Spoil And Shame!

         If you've ever been so unfortunate as to get stuck reading one of my posts, you know I have a tendency to read other sites (the Bedge is #1, we all know it) and then complain about them here. I especially pick on some of the goofy goobers at RealGM. Here it is and I hope any of you that read over there agree: Shut up, you are making us look bad! You mock other teams poor trade ideas and then go try to sell Webster and filler for Kobe (although we don't cross over into Lakers blasphemy, we do this a bit here too). You then talk mad smack to all the other franchises' fans who are unfortunate enough to have a GM that got duped. Don't point out the obvious to people who love their teams as much as we do. Soon KP won't even be able to make a trade because of this talk. And lastly, the reason for this post: Blazer fans have become so spoiled that some of us have the stones to nitpick about receiving a steal of a guard in Bayless? He was supposed to go 4!!! He is the second best guard in the draft! He shows the fiery attitude we swore we missed if Jack left and people are talking smack about it? Go live on the Knicks board, because that's where that kind of attitude belongs-we don't want that here in Portland. We are a team back from the brink, renewed beyond all others in vigor and destiny and you are going to complain about the latest miracle we pulled off because you think he's smug?

For my fellow #25er's

I am too uneducated to link or post pics, and we should support the local media anyways. Go to O-Live and you will see four guys are at the practice facility already working out. Diogu (knee must not be too tweaked), Bayless, Batum, and Outlaw. He said he wanted to be an all-star. Even if he never is, he is going to come back in shape (the main complaint against him has been off-season work, correct?). Look at him watching Batum's high release thinking "that's what my game tape looks like...". It is awesome to see him here already. Looks a tad bulkier too. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to see Trout out there with the rooks. And check out the hair-it reminds me a bit of The Glide. Travis is not going anywhere, anytime soon. I will pull a fatty if he does.

I am aware of the fact that this topic has been discussed a bit before, but I think I have enough new subject matter to warrant a Fanpost, and apologize if I am mistaken and this has been gone over. So we all know Darius supposedly impressed in Boston. Well, Reports have it that Phoenix has also inquired about him. This is according to Hoopsworld, who did not specify as to whether or not Miles worked out. I may be mistaken, but I'm under the impression Darius served a five game suspension while he was sitting out injured last year. Do you remember hearing about him being suspended five games? No. Exactly. Maybe they didn't want the bad press and couldn't dump him yet, maybe he wasn't doing pot. Do you think he impressed Boston with how high he could get (couldn't help it) smoking, or do you think he is trying to recover from this thing by doing some sort of steroids. A lot of baseball players do it, but I don't know how effective it would be for a knee injury since microfractures are induced to grow new cartilage. Then again I'm not a doctor. Same old Darius? If they had one more bad seed left who made the same mistake he always makes, why not say so and publicly penalize him, at least give him an imaginary suspension publicly? Next time he is tested it's gonna be 15 games. Then 20. Soon we won't need to worry whether or not he is gonna play in ten games. My opinion? Not surprised if it was both, but I honestly think he is trying to get back in by doping. If he ends up being a champion on the Boston Celtics next year, take solace in the fact that might be the first player in the NBA with breasts...as in girl breasts.

Poll

What do you think the drug Darius was caught with was?

56%

More weed for Cold Stone Stunner, D-Miles

32 votes

24%

Steroids for speedy recovery, ala every baseball player ever

14 votes

19%

Pot and roids

11 votes

57 votes | Poll has closed

First of all, I am yet again taking out my aggression here that has come from another website. This is because I refuse to pay for my e-mail service when I can get it free just to speak my mind, Real GM. I apologize if this topic has been covered in my absence, these kind of topics will keep coming up all summer long, especially right before the draft. I want to get really specific here: Who is this mysterious stranger of a point guard you are all talking about? And where is he coming from?

 

The Draft: Any time this comes up, people are saying: "No, KP says we need experience, all the guards are projected to be gone at 13, and only one of them is a good candidate to run the team the way we need, and he happens to be going first."

 

Another Team: Any time this comes up (see: anything about Billups), people are saying: "No way, that guy is definitely an upgrade, but he is like ten years older than our core, and therefor does not meet our championship window requirements."

I got news for ya. Last year we had the third youngest team in NBA HISTORY. That means if we get a true veteran, they will be like ten years older than our core. I am personally in the camp of trading the pick, or if we have to keep it draft Joe Alexander and then consolidate for our point guard. But where is he? Do we as fans really have so little faith that we don't think the staff we have now can pull something off in four years to replace a retiring point guard?

Disclaimer: Please don't take this post to seriously. It is meant to be a mere distraction to those in a state of off-season boredom like myself. I apologize if anyone from the organization finds my scrutiny (intended to be humorous) offensive. At least I'm directing traffic your way. If you intend to read this post, it is best viewed in tandem with another window open. Point the second window's browser to the official website of the Portland Trailblazers. No, I don't know how to post a link, so we are taking a field trip. Pay attention to the ad.

Ok, I'm one of those guys that really despises the generation X propaganda that you find so readily on you tube that attack whatever political leader we have at the time and tying them to the Illuminati and UFOs and Bigfoot's hairy buttcrack. That said, I do pay attention to the subtleties of advertising (for those that don't know how that all tied together, the Illuminati supposedly rules the world through various corporations whose symbols and rituals can be seen in their logos and advertising). I just thought it was a bit funny that the Blazer's newest "Imagine Oden next year" season ticket ad on the official website displays five Blazers. There is, of course,  Oden in the middle, where a center would symbolically be.  To either side of him are Aldridge and Roy, comprising our big three.  To the sides of Roy and Aldridge you have Outlaw and Webster, who are both wing players (well, kind of). Notice anything missing? Hmmm.....no point guards. There are a few conclusions that can be drawn from this if you really want to scrutinize it:

Roy is going to handle the ball, no matter who we bring in. I like the ball in Roy's hands. I want a pure point on this team, but if we have to wait a year or two to get one, I don't mind this. If this scenario holds true (funny this ad began the day after we find out Calderon is going to stay in Toronto), it would lend more credence to the drafting of yet another young point guard (ugh!). Also of note is that in Tom's recent fanshot, Brandon said he wanted to work on stretching his game out and focus on shooting so that he doesn't take such a huge toll on his body.

The theoretical starting five are Roy, Oden, Aldridge, Outlaw, and Webster. There are more questions here than there are about the previous theory. Can Outlaw learn how to be effective as a Small Forward? Are there enough touches to spread out between these guys as a unit? If you think about it, aside from Oden's injury this lineup is more likely next year than it was this year. You barely ever even hear the name Rudy Fernandez without hearing the name Manu Ginobili. If he is going to be an explosive sixth man, and be his most effective, Trout doesn't fit as well on the second unit. This would make the second unit (an exciting one if you ask me) Big Vanilla, Frye,  Fernandez, Blake, and  James Jones. This gives us a good place for James Jones to play and hopefully this makes him want to stick around. This makes the most sense to me, and although he is one of my favorites, I honestly think the future of this team's roster hinges on Travis' ability to play the 3.

If they trade one of these guys, it would be...Well no surprise here. Good buddies like Brandon and Travis should be featured side by side in a good ad. But who's that kinda dangling off to the side over there? Where you going Marty? Are you looking for a house on the other side of the river there? Or are you getting ready to move somewhere farther away? Heck, look at LaMarcus' face: he looks surprised that Martell is still there behind him, doesn't he? Meanwhile Brandon and Travis look the other way and Greg just kinda stands there all oblivious like.

If all of the above is just a case of looking too deep into everything out of off-season boredom, or even if it is a case of ad-art imitating life, there are some conclusions that are undeniable:

All of our current Point Guards were not good enough for the ad. Spanish Chocolate, Blake, and J-Jack are not here. This is because they don't have the fanbase support. Advertising concepts are simple: maximize the products positives, minimize the products negatives (see all the ads for allergy medicine where the quiet, pleasant voice tells you that you may have abnormal bleeding out of all your holes until you die). Maybe this is a case of hiding an embarrassing negative. Maybe this is a way to say that none of them are starters. Either way, if I'm one of the above listed guys, I'm wondering about my future.

I love Channing Frye, with his sense of humor surpassed only by Oden and a buffet of goodness skill set. Philly needs a power forward badly! According to the rumors I have read there is interest primarily in the big name free agents, but all the power forwards came off big injuries this year and only 5 players on their roster do not have contract issues coming this summer, including Igoudala. The other options listed in the rumor were Seattle's Wilcox and one Channing Frye. The rumor supposes that they trade a player and their lotto pick (#7 by standings) for him. Let's not talk about Andre Miller's 9 million + over the next 2 years which would destroy our lofty free agent ambitions. Would you be willing to let Frye leave for the lotto pick with a Thaddeus Young and filler?  Is there anyone else on the roster that looks interesting?

First of all, it's been a long time, forgive me if I am not at the proper word count! In fact the last time I posted was in the middle of September (ahh...the pleasures of being salaried. Now that I have a torn ACL and get to sit back for a bit I can post again). You regulars probably think I just became a fan when I heard we got Oden. But actually, I scared my kids jumping off the couch and screaming in disbelief when they announced the Sonics had pick #2. I've been a fan since about '88-'89. I've never swayed and never will. I suffered painfully through the pre-KP-rebuiliding era. I only made it to a few games this year. I've never been in anything but the upper bowl. I'm the guy that had the broken Troulaw bobblehead but didn't seend it in to break the Bowie curse because I'm always broke. Hopefully all that background was enough to not irritate Dave.

Anyways,

               Why do you all want to give Oden a nickname? As I recently posted on his Yardbarker page, this is like nicknaming a guy whose last name is Dudemeister! Why? Oden is actually a more correct spelling of the Norse God's name. Just as English changed a lot from old style to modern, it was Wodinaz, then Woden, then Oden, and more recently Odin. His name is derived from a Norse word that means fury and mind. He is the God of war, wisdom, death, and most importantly to Blazers fans, is also the God of VICTORY!!!

How rare is it that you get a draft pick that is a lock as a starter (especially in ths city)? I'm not sure why people keep talking about signing a center. The only piece we had last year that we don't have now is Z-bo, and we have Channing now. Oden is still on the roster anyhow, so we CAN'T sign a big. Is the vanilla gorilla still too weak to start? Maybe. Even off the bench he will take his share of minutes and be a big help defensively. Don't completely write off Lafrentz either, he will come in and stretch it out more than last year I bet. Channing Frye, in my opinion, should lock down the power forward spot. He is too finesse and has no meanstreak for a center spot. People on other boards (remember the infamous "hold on to your shorts" thread?) have been saying LaMarcus and Channing are too similiar to coexist just like Curry and Randolph. Wrong. Watch in amazement this year as LaMarcus shows you he really is a beast with a finesse game too. LaMarcus is now going to lead the team in rebounds, probably in blocks, dunks, and other feats of beastly nastiness also. He did get bigger. He does have a chip on his shoulder. Just watch. Now the other key here is a bit of a question mark. My favorite pre-Roy player that is still a Blazer, Travis Outlaw, is going to have a huge year by my estimation. Not only do I think he will have a breakout year, I think he will challenge for the M.I.P. award. I think he is your starting Small Forward and gets moved over to the four when Martell or James Jones comes in. Don't despair people, we got the bigs to hold it down.

C-Aldridge, Pryzbilla, Frye, Lafrentz
PF- Frye, Outlaw, Aldridge

You can easily spread that out well. Watch as Aldridge, Roy, and Outlaw make everyone forget that they can't refund their season tickets. No I don't think we are going to make the playoffs, but I do think this season will be a lot of fun...