Portland Blazers Blog Posts

Breaking down the BlazersPart Five

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:35:08 EDT

The center position is one of the strongest spots on the Blazers roster. And if you combine last seasons stats for Joel Pryzbilla and Greg Oden the numbers look pretty good. 13.4 pts, 15.7 rbs, 2.3 bks. What team wouldn't be happy with that?

Last season began with the Trailblazers annointing Greg as their starter at the 5 spot. It was and up and down year for the youngster from Ohio State. He started 39 games for Portland, had a career-high 24 points and 15 rebounds in a win against the Milwaukee Bucks on January 19. If he'd been able to average 36 minutes per game his PER would have been 14.8 pts, 11.6 rbs, and 1.9 bks. The season also had its low points for Oden. Not only did he have trouble staying in games due to foul trouble, ( his PER for fouls if he'd averaged 36 min was 6.5) he had physical problems as well and suffered an injury to his foot during his first game against the Lakers, and fractured his kneecap in February during a collision with Corey Magette and missed three weeks.

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Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:33:01 EDT

If you think about the power forward spot on the Blazers there is only one name that really comes to mind. LaMarcus Aldridge. LA. L-Train. After three seasons with Portland Aldridge has proven to be one of the best, if not the best young power forwards in the league. And sometime within the next month or so he will likely be rewarded for his play with a near maximum contract.

The draft day move that brought the former Texas Longhorn to Portland has paid off. LaMarcus has been a good fit here in not only on the floor, but in the locker room and in the community. Touted by many as a future all-star, he has the starting 4 spot on the Portland roster locked up.

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Breaking down the BlazersPart Three

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:31:46 EDT

Depending on how you look at it there are as many questions about the three position on the Blazer roster as there are at any other position. And that of course is one reason the Blazers made a run at signing Hedo Turkoglu.

Coach McMillian said last season that a starter would not lose his spot in the starting lineup due to injury. He said that after Martell broke his foot the first time. By the end of the season he was saying that young Nic Batum would be the starter this year. Then, as we all know as soon as they had the chance the team did everything it could to sign free agent small forward Hedu Turkoglu.

Heading into training camp I see no clear cut choice for a starter at small forward, despite what the coach may say. The top two players at this postion will battle it out for the starting spot.

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Breaking down the BlazersPart Two

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:26:54 EDT

Breaking down the Blazers by position....Part Two

Who is our point guard? And who do we want to be our point guard? These are two questions that have often been asked about our Portland Trailblazers over the last couple of seasons. We've had a number of players look to claim that spot over the years, Steve Blake, Sergio Rodriguez, Jerryd Bayless, Petteri Kopponen, to name a few. And we had another hopeful in Summer League camp in Patty Mills until he went down with an unfortunate foot injury.

Our point guards going into the 2009-10 season.
Andre Miller, starter
Steve Blake, backup
Brandon Roy, may pick up a few minutes here and there at the point
Bayless, not likely to see much time at this position unless there is an injury to Blake or Miller.

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Blazers add Andre Miller Need to do more to contend in West

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:28:59 EDT

The Portland Trailblazers added free agent point guard Andre Miller to their roster this week, which undoubtedly makes them a better team. They now have Andre Miller and Steve Blake as their primary point guard as opposed to last season when they had Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez. The Blazers will definitely benefit from Miller's vocality and leadership both on and off the court and Greg Oden will appreciate his lob passes he loves to throw to his streaking posts.
This deal makes Brandon Roy happy, which is the number one goal in the Rose City. With that said this deal does not make much sense. Yes, the addition of Andre Miller makes Portland better, but it does not make them better than the Lakers, Spurs, or even the Nuggets. So it appears that Portland really isn't better in the standings. Houston will fall of next year and Portland will likely still be the four seed out west.

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Blazers McMillan to meet with Orlandos All star Turkoglu

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:02:52 EDT

Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan is flying to Orlando to have a Wednesday night dinner with the Blazers' top free-agent target, Hedo Turkoglu.

Turkoglu's agent, Lon Babby, said Wednesday that Turkoglu will then travel to Oregon for a Thursday tour of the Blazers' facilities and meetings with Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard and assistant GM Tom Penn.

With the Blazers projected to have $8 million to $9 million in salary-cap space this summer -- with firm figures not known until the league announces next season's salary cap on July 8 -- and the Orlando Magic lacking the financial flexibility to re-sign Turkoglu after trading for Vince Carter last week, Turkoglu is widely expected to land with the Blazers as the first marquee free-agent signing of Pritchard's reign.

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Portland working on Turkoglu

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:56:02 EDT

Portland coach Nate McMillen is flying to Orlando today to meet with free agent Hedo Turkoglu. Then tomorrow, Turkoglu is flying to Oregen to tour the Trailblazers facilities. Portland is definately a team that has changed it's direction the last few years. The team figures to have 8 to 9 million under the cap to offer Hedo. The starting lineup of Steve Blake, Brandon Roy, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Joel Pryzbilla wasn't bad during the playoffs. Batum would start the game on the other team's best player and then not play much after that. Now, Turkoglu will start at small forward. That leaves Batum, Channing Frye, and Gerg Oden as pretty good backups. The next step will be to find better backups for starters Blake and Roy.

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Portland sends 3 to Mavs to move up--bad move

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:13:49 EDT

Portland traded their 24th and 56th picks this year and their lowest pick next year to the Mavs to move up two spots at 22. Usually picks in the 50s don't amount to much and trading two of them to move up in the draft is a safe bet. But, the Blazers only moved up two spots late in the first round. And, historically, 22 is a bad spot. In the past 14 years, the 22nd pick has produced only 2 starters while the 24th has produced 3 and the 56th 2. That's right, the 56th pick has generated just as many starters as the 22nd pick. Also, if you look at bench players, 4 have come from the 22nd spot while 7 have come from the 24th. So, trading down doesn't figure to be a good thing, it has given teams better players. Historically, it's not a good move.&

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2010 Finals

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:52:38 EDT

Here's my 2010 Finals prediction: Cavs vs Blazers.

Here's why: Obviously, LeBron can carry almost any 4 other people on the planet to the Finals with him (seriously, look at that 2007 Finals roster after LBJ, it's atrocious) but the Cavs are going to have a lot of cap room this summer, with Wally's bloated contract coming off the books, and Ben Wallace's money maybe coming off too. So, they're probably going to get LeBron a little more help. Factor in LBJ's improvement as a player (scary) and a couple free agents added, they should be able to get back to the Finals. Now, Portland is absolutely loaded with young talent. Who doesn't like this team? Roy is one of 15 best players in the world, and super clutch. LaMarcus Aldridge is only getting better, and he can definitely be the 2nd best player on a championship team. Point Guard play is going to be huge, and if they can get anything at all out of Oden, they're going to be challenging LA. Travis Outlaw should be starting. This past season, they were a little young, but they could win 60 games this season and contend.

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Shaq in Red and Black

Mon, 11 May 2009 18:14:12 EDT

Between now and Halloween every team will have traded for Shaquille O'Neal. That's the way the web works. The game of basketball is nowhere near as important as the delicious trade rumors that litter the net. Basketball is a granola bar, but the water-cooler rumblings and guy talk, that's the bucket of triple fudge brownie ice cream that everyone thinks about while they're nibbling the dependable, flavorless bar of grains and health. At some point between the draft and the start of the preseason, Shaq will have been traded for Elton Brand, then maybe Corey Maggette and Andris Biedrins, then one morning after a slow news day the Knicks will swoop in and get "The Big Whatever His New Nickname is Today" for Chris Duhon, a second-rounder and Spike Lee's '88 Jordans with the ketchup stain on the tongue. And, we'll all eat it up. Then we'll ask for seconds. Tis the nature of the off-season. And I love it.

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