moving some lumber

ok, i know alot of you aren't going to like this, but i think it needs to be said. the blazers have to to something with the center position now. and the means appear to be available to move someone. even though i like joel and respect magloire, if i was gm, i would try to move both. here's why..

by himself, magloire might not fetch a ton of talent, but combined with any number of our guys, guys who i really like, but guys whose worth i can't really see increasing much from here on out.

guys like martell, dixon, outlaw. combine one of these guys with magloire and a 'future' first rounder, and you are an instant player in any three way deal around the league.

and something's up with joel. when he can't beat out magloire and a rookie for more pt... we may not know what it is, but this is not the same player of the last couple of years. IF we could move joel and/or magloire and end up with a young quality big and maybe a solid veteran at the 3, we would have all we need.

the way that i see it, the future core of this team is jack, roy, udoka, lamarcus, sergio, and zach randolph, depending on which side of that fence you stand on... (ship him)

(and who knows, maybe joel freeland, aka english breakfast, will be the fourth star from the already bounteous 06 draft in three years' time)

if we could translate any combination of webster, outlaw, dixon, magloire, przybilla, into a budding superstar, even without discussing a zach trade above and beyond that, why wouldn't you do it?

i just think we need to clear some deadwood, shape our ideal team for the future and get a lot more athletic and dynamic...

blazers ponder their next move..

ok, as the trade deadline approaches, i'm just curious to how everyone is feeling about where the blazers are at right now? do you think we should make a trade? should we move jamaal? should we move zach? someone else?

or do we wait until the summer, let jamaal's contract fade away and see if there are any upgrades available on the free agent market?

i can understand that people like where we are at, and justfiably so, but there seems to be an awful lot of high caliber talent available across the league at the moment. we are good and getting better, but that doesn't mean we are complete. so what do you think the blazers should do?

so, if i'm kevin pritchard, this is the way that i see things.. if the blazers can get someone that is productive for magloire (for instance, morris petersen) than we should, if not then we get cap flexibility for the future, seems like a win-win situation.

as far as zach, well i've stated my opinions clearly in my other posts, but i think the time is now to move him. if we could get someone like pau gasol for zach i'd pull the trigger on that baby in a heartbeat. i wouldn't move him to just move him, not by any stretch of the imagination, but what if you could combine zach and our first round pick for a superstar? you would have to consider it; the blazers just have alot of assets at the moment and one more important, young piece could ensure championships in years to come.

i read with interest on espn the juan dixon for fred jones rumour. that would work for me, i really like juany, but the hometown-vibe of a classy kid like fred jones would give us another, ime udoka-type uplifting of spirit. and he's athletic and a great defender, why not?

agent zero goes m.i.a.

first of all, let's get one thing straight: i really like gilbert arenas. guy is a stud, when he's on, he's as unstoppable as anyone in the league. and a second rounder to boot. love all that. even love the fact that he creates situations where he has a grudge to bear, reminiscent of mj, constantly stoking the competitive fire with fuel...

but man, when the time comes you gotta back it up.

agent zero declares that he is going to score fifty on the blazers the next time he sees them, even tells reporters to circle the date in their calendars. this is personal, nate mcmillan obviously had the pull with coach k. to leave gilbert off of team usa for the world championships. he's been dissed, his manhood has been challenged, nobody ever gives him enough credit, etc, etc, etc.

so, come february 11, he's going to rain down 50, minimum, on the blazers and, i assume, help his team to a comprehensive victory...

now, granted the wiz were without antawn jamison. (and etan thomas as well, after another boneheaded brawl with brendan haywood). however.. washington is one of the best teams in the east (for what it's worth), were playing at home, were trying to set a tone going into the all-star break and were playing a portland team that is an also ran in the west, quietly hoping for some oden/durant love and that relies heavily on three rookies and two sophs.

in other words, the wizards had to be thinking that this was going to be a certain victory... oh dear.

highlights of the night would include:

portland absolutely crushing the wizards from start to finish, with mediocre games from randolph and roy and big contributions from jack, aldridge and dixon. score 94-73.

arenas blames coach jordan's new emphasis upon defense as the main reason the wiz forgot how to score. jordan responds, 'that's stupid'.

agent zero, goes oh for eight from three point land, and finishes with exactly nine points; less than caron butler and deshawn stevenson and exactly the same as donell taylor (???) who played precisely six minutes. genius.

but this night was about portland coming of age. some of the comments after the game really demonstrated that the blazers are now fully nate mcmillan's team; tough, focussed, resilient and possessing a quiet, but steely determination. this was the best night of the season for the blazers, heck, the best night for years perhaps, and may change the way they look at themselves permanently. the gauntlet was thrown and they showed who the better team was and what they are capable of:

"Thats like a dude saying he's going to punch you in your face," said Jarrett Jack, who guarded Arenas for most of the game. (Responding to Arena's promise of 50 points)

"Other than the [20] turnovers, they (Blazers) probably executed the game plan better than we've seen them this season," McMillan said.

"You can't put your finger on it, Portland played good basketball, that's it. They played great basketball on both ends of the floor," Butler said.

"Frankly, we didn't have enough talent on the floor." (Eddie Jordan)

it will be interesting to see if this game galvanises the young blazers, as i think it might, and interesting as well, to see how this affects the confidence and performance of the wizard's secret weapon..

perhaps agent zero should lay low for awhile.

(quotes from the associated press)

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

trade zach

while the illuminati have been discussing trading zach randolph, we realised that we have not, as of yet, presented our case for the necessity of such a maneuver. forthwith:

zach's value will never be higher than it is now. whatever you think about randolph personally, he is surrounded by people that compromise him. he's a follower. he will almost certainly do something really stupid at some point. think bonzi wells. very similar personalities.

but more than that, he's not a nate guy, he's the last legacy of bob whitsitt and very literally the embodiment of all that was wrong previously. it is already obvious that brandon roy needs to be, and will be, the leader of this team.

trading zach gives you so many options: take on huge expiring contracts that put you in a position to play the free agent market this summer when they come off of the books. (rashard lewis) pick up a young athletic small forward, preferably a good defender that can hit the three (ariza, iguodala, deng) AND get an additional pick in the mythical draft class of 2007.

and just for gravy, we get to start playing lamarcus more at both the four and the five, keeping him on the floor as much as possible. lamarcus is the real deal, he and roy and jack need to learn to play together.

we just had our greatest draft ever, will we back that up by making the bold move necessary to cement the future?

talkin' trades: zach randolph

the basketball illuminati has decided that it would be beneficial for the masses to finally gain access to the information they have been craving, the questions that have been driving them. we will, therefore, and for your sole benefit, provide you with the latest musings from the ripcityone inner sanctum.

What the Blazers really need...

Dave - ..are more *complete* players. Roy is a complete player. Jack is a complete player. They're solid across the board, and they aren't defensive ciphers. Aldridge has the potential to be a complete big man.

Get Zach out of Portland. His trade value will never be higher. He sucks on defense and he'll always be a black hole on offense. Get him out, develop Aldridge.

They're stocked with tradable commodities from expiring contracts, young guys with "upside," and all the way down to a pretty decent first rounder again this summer. They aren't going to get Durant or Oden. Sure, it's something to dream about, but I have almost as good of a chance of making out with Beyonce. It's still going to be an attractive pick.

I'd love to see them trade for a solid three, and there's a lot of decent options to be had. Maybe they can sway Indian to trade Granger if they offer up a young guy in return along with the pick - maybe Webster. Indiana needs a 2 that can shoot, and they pinned themselves to Dunleavy's horrid contract. Dun Dun is no 2, he's a 3 (albeit a soft, underachieving one). Or better yet, how about Deng? He's been dangled. That would be hot, Deng is a complete player.

I don't want another baby, they should go out and get a slightly-seasoned 3 without glaring flaws.

jackson- i'm with you on that dave, zach is the past. you keep him and he will burn you. like the luol deng angle, i'm also wondering about vince carter and paul pierce. i know that fit in precisely with the long term plans, but brandon roy would make both of those guys so much better.

i still think if you can't fleece isiah thomas, you haven't done your due diligence yet. david lee, quentin, channing frye, another hustle guy in balkman; they've got parts we could use.

or i like the idea of getting dorell wright and udonis haslem (and some combination)from the heat, and i think they would pull the trigger on zach trying to repeat as champions.

and magloire HAS to be dealt; again a young wing would be good (hassan adams or antoine wright) or a shooter (mo pete).

something can and should be done with zach and jamal, let's see who has the nad to pull the trigger.

Dave - I don't think they can get that much for Magloire. Maybe if he had performed this year, but he's sucked. He's an expiring contract... they might just keep him. Clear the books, sign someone you can use later. Give Udoka a three year deal (not for that much). He's a great guy to have on the team. They can do that sort of stuff if they keep the cap space.

As for trading Zach.. hell yeah! I don't want Wright.. doubt we can get him anyway. I think they can do better for Zach. Deng is a possibility, go after that. Zach is a perfect fit in Chicago (scores a lot, doesn't need to defend with Ben Wa erasing all his mistakes...)

jackson- i'm with you on getting an athletic, aggressive small forward, the key to their future..

now i don't know what the trade particulars might be, but with three way trades, almost anything is possible.

how about al jefferson and a piece or two, say ryan gomes or delonte west? we've already fleeced danny once, let's go to the well again..

i like the idea of trevor ariza. how about ariza and darko, who they aren't going to be able to afford to resign at this point, for zach. howard and randolph might dominate together. arroyo might be interesting as well.

how about to seattle for rashard lewis and whatever? they're so inept they will probably lose him in the offseason anyway. matter of fact, rashard is EXACTLY what they need. hit the outside shot, crash the boards and run the floor. how can we make this happen?

i'll think of some more...

Dave - I don't want Al Jefferson and they won't get him anyway. He's just another Zach, and the contracts don't match at all. They'd have to take something else back, and I don't see the Celtics trading Pierce to Portland (they already tried that, and he blocked it).

Ariza is a nice player, that might work. His name is an anagram of my last name, which means he's intrisically money. Darko, on the other hand, would be a waste of time. I don't want his soft, lazy a$$ on the Blazers.

Rashard is going to want a crapload of money when the season is over. Even in his contract year, he's as brittle as ever. I don't know.. he is a good fit for the Blazers needs though...

I'd rather have Deng or Granger. Granger is probably untouchable, but if you start talking about the 2007 draft anybody will listen. Webster and the '07 pick would probably get Indiana to come to the table.

jackson - yeah, i think rashard would look good in the black and red. i wonder how his previous experience with nate would affect his desire to be here.

who else..

the kings could use a scoring big like martha needs her knickers. is geoff petrie that desperate? can you imagine zach and artest on the same team. somebody gets hurt. could the blazers somehow get kevin martin?

minnesota deserves zach for being so stupid, and could probably use him. but they have nothing to offer, (unless they got delusional and talked kg with blazers as part of a big package)

would atlanta give up marvin williams and/or joss childress? both fit what we're doing. and the hawks are dim.

i still like the working of a deal with the bulls. either we get a deng or nocioni and pieces, or they get involved in a menage e trois with the bulls/grizz and get some pau gasol or mike miller and alexander johnson/hakim warrick. all three teams could really help themselves.

man, there are loads of possibilities and it looks like lots of gm's want to get busy. with the multiple team option and expiring contracts, very little is impossible anymore. should be interesting..

Dave - I think the Blazers and Sonics might have talked a bit earlier this year when the Sonics were shopping Rashard to see if they could get anything good for him. I also think the Sonics determined pretty early that they were just going to suck again, and that tanking was a good idea... this is not a normal year at all. Everyone is looking at the 2007 draft like it's some sort of holy grail. Warranted? Maybe. I find it comical, though. Anyway, I digress. The Sonics suffered key injuries to stars (that also seems to be "in" this year..), and that did the dirty work for them. They ought to finish the year with a pretty good lottery pick (which of course they'll waste on a project big man)..

Rashard would cost a LOT of money. His prior relationship with Nate would increase the odds of him coming here, but do you really think Rashard wants to come to a rebuilding team? I think it would only happen if the Blazers overpaid. Bah. I'm not paying too much for a Rashard (but as Korwin knows, I'd totally buy him for cheap!). Rashard is not Joe Johnson, some freakin' iron man that will play 40+ minutes for 82 games (with a losing record) and stay healthy. I think they'd certainly be better, but I don't know if that's the route to a championship.

Kevin Martin is another shooting guard, Forrest. ;)

Marvin Williams is a very interesting idea that I had pondered too.. Unfortunately, I think he's still untouchable at this point. The Hawks still think Childress is a great asset that they can trade instead, so they'd have to wake up from that first. Again though, this is not a normal year. They'd certainly trade Marvin for a shot at Durant or Oden, but the Blazers know not to trade away a shot at Durant or Oden if that's coming down the pipe..

For the record: Durant!

I'm telling you, go slightly younger, a little more towards team play and defense - A Granger or a Deng. Then you're a contender in about 3-4 years when Aldridge is really kicking in. Not just decent, really good. In the meantime, steady improvement and fun stuff to watch since Roy is already there.

(Image: Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)

minnesota gets torched, nuggets continue to crumble

a look around the nba... feb 05 07

the phoenix suns continued their demolision of the nba with an impressive victory over the nuggets in denver. this despite losing steve nash to injury in the second half and carmelo anthony's first triple double. george karl said they looked like the same team with or without nash, with barbosa filling in ably. scary thought. i still believe that the nuggets will come together down the stretch to fight off minnesota, golden state and the clips, but right now they can't buy a break.

speaking of minnesota, the wolves get drubbed by houston and just look terrible since the firing of casey. this club has NO clue what is going on; but when you sacrifice your franchise's entire future on the hope of signing joe smith, you have obviously sold your soul to satan. so kevin mchale has that going for him, which is nice...

chicago and utah, two of the hardest nosed teams in the league, beat the crap out of each other for four quarters before the jazz made a couple of plays. yay. i know both of these teams are good and rugged and no one would want to see them in the playoffs, but i still find it hard to care about either club. boring...

stephen jackson was booed all night long and obviously loved being the anti-hero, dropping 36 points on the pacers. jackson and al harrington had strong games against their former club, as dunleavy and murphy struggled badly for the pacers. maybe they are really, really afraid of don nelson, but they both seem spooked.

stars of the day: amare stoudemire, andre iguodala, stephen jackson

melo gets all-star snub; wade, suns shine

a look around the nba... feb 01 07

phoenix manhandles the once invincible spurs, who would've always got up for this game in the past. amare shows duncan the kind of ferocity it's going to take to go through them and nash gets to take it fairly easy for the night. you've got to think it's either suns or mavs as nba champs at this point, with a tension packed game 7 somewhere along the line to decide it. halelujah, the nba has officially recovered from its post-jordan malaise...

dwyane wade wakes up in time from a nightmare game, to lay the wood on the spineless cavs. 24 points in the fourth quarter more than made up for the twelve turnovers he passed out like hors d’ oeuvres . and lebron was left watching the real star of the 03 class. again. shaq gets some productive burn, kapono keeps hitting shots, i can't believe this, but i think the heat are going to come out of the east again, otherwise known as the worst conference in history.

another thing, why does lebron have to play for the cavs? just saying the word 'cleveland' makes me feel a little sullied, a little tired, a bit dirty and completely resigned.... i would rather have seen him as a knick or laker, at least then he could have been the ultimate anti-hero. but now he's just stuck in the crimson and gold (more like diaper filler) in exile. and he took mj's number, which my brother ben rightfully acknowledges, is an indication that he isn't looking as high as he should. or in other words, he's got no cajones. but that's another article..

the big story today, however, is carmelo getting snubbed from the all-star team. how is this possible? the second best player from the 03 class, leading scorer in the nba and the usa basketball player of the year, can't get a sniff of the all-star game because of a sucker punch?? i'm usually a david stern sympathiser, but he's got this all wrong.

it's like the death penalty for murder (hear me out); the 15 game suspension was supposed to act as the ultimate deterrent to having players act violently in the future. the problem with this, of course, is that acts like these are acts of passion, non-premeditated, and are therefore not governed by reason. when stern ups the ante to 15 games for one punch, what happens when an honest to goodness melee happens? (and of course it will) a season will be lost due to two teams being torn apart by suspensions.

there's fighting in the nhl and the nfl. intense players are going to get into once in awhile, everyone who has ever played this sport knows this. they should just have a scale. leave the bench, a game. throw a punch or elbow, a game, land a punch, three games, multiple punchs, five to fifteen games, dependent. end of story. enter the crowd? that has to be strictly regulated; i'd give this a minimum twenty games and possibly a season suspension, dependent upon circumstances.

so in the end... carmelo misses out on the all-star game, he'll get over it. stern has needlessly escalated a war of his own making, (sounds familiar?), and it will come back to haunt him and the league.

oh, and i think melo will probably drop 50 on the blazers tonight, just to send a one fingered salute to the powers that be. bad time for portland to be heading to the mile high city.

(AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

blazers over nugs, the 3 best rooks, et al.

a look around the nba... jan 31 07

blazers 100 - 91 denver: blazers win another game that most people probably expected them to come up short in. one win short of last year's tally, learning how to win AND playing their rooks and sophs, that's good stuff. i told my friend cam years ago that i would rather have the young, up and coming nuggets of the time (who had no shot at the playoffs, but were eager, hungry and talented), rather than our early 2001-03 blazer squads (which were surly and selfish individual players, guys who weren't going to get any better and who embarrassed the community) well, we've sure got the promise of chemistry, longevity and possible championships with this group. r.i.p. bob whitsitt.

john hollinger of espn stated that portland has the three best rookies in the league, in roy, lamarcus and sergio. we've got one of the finest teaching coaches in the league, a roster full of genuinely good people trying to make something work. and the genius thing is we could have a really successful year in comparison to the expectations, and we could still land greg oden or kevin durant. (and after the 37 and 23 he dropped on tech last night, i'm not so sure i wouldn't go with durant, the blazer future would instantly include a championship).

another good game for zach, great contribution from aldridge and roy and jarrett hit a couple of big shots that might help his confidence. this team is right on track.

other thoughts -

golden state gets hammered by atlanta, after getting clubbed by cleveland, sans lebron. ouch. maybe stephen jackson really is bad juju...

orlando shines behind darko and carlos. what happened to dwight howard and jameer nelson of late??

toronto takes out gilbert and co, behind big games from bosh and calderon. the raps are improving.

kobe takes out his frustration on the poor c's. how doc river still has a job is a mystery, but at least the kids are getting to play. al, gomes and delonte looking better and better. telfair can't even crack that line-up? another new york pg gone awry...

sacramento outlasts minnesota. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

houston slaps the sonics around, despite huge games from ray allen and nick collison. when tracy is feeling like this, no one is safe.

detroit hammers the nets at the meadowlands. does anyone still really believe that jersey can contend in the east? no chance. webber actually seems to be making the pistons better. go figure.

utah and san antonio grapple to virtual standstill in salt lake. two teams i can't stand beating the crap out of each other, great.

i know it was only the knickerbockers, but it seems like the bobcats are learning how to play. nice to see.

and the mavs do what they do... nuff said.



(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

first post

so, i've been meaning to do this for awhile. some friends and family and i all hook up for some fantasy basketball and it has been obvious that some of us spend way, way, too much time checking stats, thinking of trades and just talking basketball. but it was also obvious that some of us had some really interesting things to say, often times much more insightful than the schlock you get on most channels and internet sites.

so i've decided to begin the proceedings and start writing a few thoughts down each day regarding the blazers and the nba. i don't care if you don't agree with me or the others who will read this blog and contribute to it, but have something interesting to say, there are plenty of other places for neandrethals to gather and grunt at one another menacingly. comprende?

ok, let's do this. if you like what you see, tell people and we'll see what we can create..