Brandon Posted First, Now Here's My First Post.

noreply@blogger.com (DanHarbison) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:41:00 -0700

Ok. I'm posting for the first time, so I hope you like it. Brandon and I are sharing this blog, so I guess it's my turn. A couple people asked me about how I did when we played against Denver the other night. I feel great about it, I wish we could have got the win, but Coach had talked to me about being more active, being on the boards and don't settle for being stopped. So I think in that game I just went out and tried to be more active and it ended up working out for me.

I feel like lately I have been gaining more confidence, getting more comfortable. I feel like Coach has been trying to get me more opportunities to score, I feel like he is trusting me more and I feel like my teammates are getting more comfortable with what I can do and are putting me in great positions to score. Playing center is great, I'm a basketball player. If you want me to play point guard I'll play point guard or whatever, I just want to be on the floor, I just want to play. So, playing the center spot, I'm cool with it, I'm just going to keep trying to get better. I think, as I get stronger I'll be able to play this position better.

In that game, I don't know exactly how I got hit but I think it was NeNe, he was going for a ball, I think he reached back to grab it and I was already diving for it and he popped me right in the nose. I came out, like three plays later and it was bleeding and I have a crack on the left side of my nose. They said I should wear a mask, but I don't want to because it's a really drastic change from being able to see from side to side and seeing the outer rim and things like that. I brought it to practice, but I didn't wear it ‘cause we didn't do five on five today. I don't even think I'm going to try wearing it, I'm just going to try my luck and hopefully I don't get hit again too bad. If I do, I'll break the mask out.

Brandon started to talking about NCAA hoops, so I guess I should since it's going on right now and my Texas team has a good seed. I feel like they could do well this year. I feel like if Kevin Durant, DJ Augustine and AJ Abrams, if those three guys play well and if Damion James rebounds well, I think they have a chance to go far. The only thing about that is, to get to get out of their bracket into the Final Four they have to beat Carolina, so that's going to be kinda tough. If I was still there, all I would do is just pass the ball to Kevin and I would just rebound, he's a great player.

I was actually his host when he first came down to visit Texas. It was fun. He came in and I was his host, so we went to dinner and we went out and I showed him a good time. I didn't really know then, that he was going to be that good so I kinda took him to a dull spot , ‘cause I didn't know he was going to be that good. Now they're saying, he's like the number one or two prospect in the country! I didn't think he was going to be that amazing and then he came in and I was like “man, he's amazing!” Anyway, that was fun though, just having time and talking to him, he was picking my brain and I was trying to tell him things that I know about Texas that would help him get better. It looks like it worked out for him.

Finally to finish my first post, I wanted to let you know, who I talk to when I come home. Recently, I got an English bulldog, 18 weeks, she's a puppy. So now, I'm trying to take care of my dog and it's actually a pretty tough job. Her name is Jada, and I can't even think of having two, it's almost too much with one right now. You have to get up in the middle of the night and take her out and it's hard. I've always wanted a bulldog, you don't see a lot of them everywhere. I had to go find one through a breeder. I saw this show called “Big and Rob” and his bulldog skateboards, so one day, I'll teach Jada to board. I forgot my pics with Jamie Foxx, so I'll talk about that next time.

L.A.

My First Post: What I did the last couple of days

noreply@blogger.com (DanHarbison) — Fri, 9 Mar 2007 17:11:00 -0800

Ok, so this is my first blog. I'm just gonna let you know what I've been up to the last couple of days? Cool? After the San Antonio game, Coach gave me a couple days off, so I got to go up to Seattle and see my girlfriend, who's pregnant. I actually got to go to a doctor's appointment with her, I got to hear his heartbeat, so that was really exciting. I also got a chance to spend a time with family, I got to see my grandmother and we looked through old photo albums, stuff like that, it was fun. And, today, I came back to practice, just trying to get back to work, trying to get back on a winning track. We dropped one, our last game, to San Antonio. So today, we just came in and got a lot of work in, but you can definitely see improvement in our team. It's the last month, but guys are still just trying, improving and wanting to get better, so that is a positive sign.

The excitement of having a newborn is pretty great. At first, I did a good job of keeping it in the back of my mind because it was so far away. Now, she is past her 35 week mark, so he could be born any day now. Now I'm on pins and needles, I'm so excited. I just can't wait until he gets here and I get to be a dad and start a new chapter in my life. My girlfriend is actually up in Seattle, we don't have any family around here and I wanted her to be around family in case the baby was born and I was out of town or something. I just want her to be comfortable and she has a good support group there, I just try and go and visit her as much as possible. I talked to Coach, about being there when he is born, and he said just let him know, they will make sure and get me out of here. We are still trying to improve this team, so right now, I am just trying to balance the two out, but I think Coach know that when I'm out on the court I'm all business and when I get a chance to go back home, then I try and do that. Right now, Coach is saying, being there for the birth of your first child is important and when it come that time, just let him know. And the organization has just been really positive and they're behind me, so I'm just excited about everything right now.

The last couple of days I've been watching some NCAA basketball. I've been watching my Huskies. They lost a tough one last night in the Pac-10 tourney. They have a good young team, four freshman, three sophomores, and they've had some growing pains this year. I told them just to remember all the losses they took this year and take it out on somebody next year. They're excited, they are going to do they're best at NIT and just prepare for next season.

I also watched Oregon a little bit...I watched Cal and UCLA a little bit. We lost in the first round last year of the Pac-10 tourney, like UCLA did. I think they are playing for that national championship. I'm not saying they lost on purpose, they gave a great effort and I just don't think they mind that much that they are done. Coach is going to give them a couple days off and they are going to get ready to make their push. It was surprising, but at the same time, I think it's good for the conference, maybe you can get seven teams in. that would be really amazing.

I think the Ducks are one of the scariest teams in the tournament. They remind me so much of my Washington teams, we put a lot of guards out on the floor. Aaron Brooks is playing great basketball and they have other guys around like Bryce Taylor and they are just playing good basketball. I think Oregon could be one of the big surprises of the NCAA tournament and I think USC is another team that can go in there and be scary. I think the Pac-10 is doing a great job this year, the Washington Huskies are 7th place in the conference, so I think that says a lot about the conference. They're a deep conference, so I hope they can go into this tournament and really make some noise.

We're getting ready to take on Golden State on Sunday. Then we go on the road for the Nuggets and have the Pistons the next night at home. It's going to be a busy week. LaMarcus and I are sharing this blog, so next post will be from him. Maybe he'll let you in on when he met Jamie Foxx. I saw some pics. Looked cool. Talk you guys later!

- Brandon

Official Trail Blazers Rookie Blog

Brandon Posted First, Now Here's My First Post.

My First Post: What I did the last couple of days