Subscribe Feed (RSS)One thing hit me the other day: I don’t know when I’ve EVER seen a team coming off 54 wins, one expected to contend for a division championship and also a spot in at least the second round of the playoffs go into training camp with not one, not two but THREE starting jobs up for grabs.
That’s pretty amazing. And I’d also say that it’s contributed in a myriad of ways to the problems with the team’s play so far. It’s just leading to a lot of players not knowing their role, not getting accustomed to playing with a particular combination very long and not getting enough time on the court to get comfortable.
At the same time, I wouldn’t discount one other theory:
I’m not sure if all these guys reported to training camp ready to play. Perhaps there was a little too much satisfaction with last season, along with a lot of concern about contract negotiations. Some of these guys are still young enough to think you can just flip a switch when the season starts.
I’m not saying I haven’t seen some teams good enough to do that. I’m just not sure this one is.
Tags: Dwight Jaynes, exhibition season, Portland Trail Blazers
There is NO life on other planets. There is NO life on Mars, there is NO life in any other galaxy. We are the ONLY planet in the galaxy with walking talking life. If you go closer to the sun, it’s too hot to live. If you go farther away from the sun, it’s too cold. Maybe microscopic amoeba protist life lives on Mars, but a walking talking seeing being does NOT exist on Mars.
you have a comma splice
How dare you say I don’t exist!!!
oh, and you do have a comma splice.
One time on TNT, Sam Cassell was on a highlight, and Charles Barkley said, “Sam, phone home!! He sure ain’t no GQ type!”
I think Nate must have sensed your second point about this group, hence the (sort of phony) “3 jobs up for grabs!” gimmick.
Then again, it does seem as though there has been some genuine shuffling-of-feet in regard to the lineups.
All I can say is, we should have a second guard (w/ Roy) who’s a great spot-up shooter, comfy off the ball, scrappy defender of quicker guards, and a team-leader/chemistry guy. That could VERY closely describe Rudy or Blake either one (or ever better, Kirk Hinrich), but literally is the opposite of Andre Miller.
If he’s healthy, and that’s a real if, do you believe that Martell Webster can fill that spot-up good-shooting backup 2/3? People seem very hopeful, or down on him. I’m pretty tied: he’s still young, and had a season of 10 ppg, but he’s been a little injury prone.
Well actually the coach has already said publicly he knows who his starters are. So it doesn’t really seem that 3 of the positions would then be ‘up for grabs’ as it were. And they’ve had one truly bad game since he made that announcement…so it’s not like the sky is exactly falling yet.
I’m wagering that regardless of how much the fanbase and press overanalyzes everything this preseason, they are on course for learning to play well together.
I think the problem here is Nate putting out the ‘illusion’ that there are starting spots up for grabs when in fact Nate knew who would start all along. Nate is not being honest with himself and thus not honest with the players.
All this has done has created confusion and an apathetic approach in games
What the hell happened to to the young and hungry Blazers that I love?
I hate to say it cause I genuinly like Nate but it starts with the coach. Get it together Nate. come correct and start leading this team or get out of the way
I agree with what you are saying about the phony “illusion” that the spots are open.
On a side note about Nate (and KP, sorta): Get over Travis Outlaw. Why does this guy continue to get a 5th and 6th chance? He has literally looked sub-professional yet again this preseason. We have graduated from a team that’s looking for a spark from “somewhere… anywhere” like we were when Travis first emerged.
I’m so disappointed in these guys for keeping him around and keeping him on the floor.
I was AT the Denver game, and we looked HORRIBLE. I’m serious- it was bad. Yes, the whistles didn’t help- but the fact is that we played rat ball the whole time. With Miller hoisting shots that were the definition of ill-advised.
Nate says he wants to use 10 players. Well, it’s about time he settles on a rotation and sticks with it for awhile. Are there going to be unhappy campers? Oh, ya. But the sooner, the better.
My guess, and I’m sure that I’ll forget somebody: Starters will be Roy, Oden, Miller, Aldridge and Batum? Key bench players will be Blake, Fernandez, Purzy (as I like to call him), Webster and Outlaw? Pardon my language, but it sounds like, heaven forbid any injuries (keep our fingers crossed), these guys mayo be SOL: Bayliss, Howard and Udoka.
I want to take back my “SOL” reference. Someone like Howard, Udoka, and Bayliss are paid very well, and any of us would be more than ecstatic to sit as the 14th or 15th man on a bench, practice hard, and be a good teammate for that money. Maybe, “left out in the cold” is a better way to put it. Howard and Udoka seem like emergency, but I actually feel worst for Bayliss: he’s still young and can prove himself in this league. Could very well be that Bayliss is in the roation, and Martell gets left out in the cold.
This team was not that good last year. 54 regular season wins could not hide its weakness in the playoffs, and this year’s success will hinge on whether or not anyone on this roster steps up and learns to gut it out over the long haul. Poor defense- a lack of commitment to defense- indicates a lack of individual will, and no one on this Blazer team has consistently shown the will to put his ego aside in favor of the team’s success. Now, with an abundance of players who have been told they’re talented since they were in high school, the ego problem will only make things harder. I see a sub-50 win season ahead, with discontent and blame spoiling the Blazers’ chances.
I need to amend what I said. Joel, Blake, and Batum put aside their egos last year on a consistent basis and played some tough defense while being branded as “journeymen.” I did not see that consistency of effort in LaMarcus, Brandon, Travis, or Rudy, although Rudy seemed to be in high gear most of the time.
Brandon, while he is definitely extremely talented and ambitious, needs to learn to recognize the times when the ball has to leave his hands for someone in a better position to score or make a play.
I was at the game last night and it reminded me of the Telfair and Ha Seung Jin days. Bad basketball start to finish.
I know it’s pre-season and doesn’t count but the prices in and around the Rose Garden are noticeably up. Everything is more expensive by 10-15% so it seems. 2 Beers is $17.
The least the Blazers could do is give an effort. But I did appreciate the Jazz vets and their efforts (Boozer, Williams, AK).
I think our guys are getting too friendly with Nate & are not afraid of the doghouse.
Thank you Jerry Sloan!
When the Blazers get close to a championship, by that point wouldn’t Boozer and AK look great in a Blazers uniform? They seem fine now, but they’ve both had rough patches with the Jazz (off-court) in the past two or three years. I’m no Jazz fan in any way, but that Korilenki, Boozer, and Marmot Okur front line is a killer one, much like Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams and Kevin Duckworth were in 1989-91. If LA can continue to develop (get tougher as a rebounder), Oden can really develop, then somehow adding a prime-time 3 could make the Blazers downright scary. PU!
i think this team will contend in the west. that being said i do have to say that this group in the preseason looks more unorganized, and uncomfortable than any other team i can remember seeing. they had better get it together and find a way to play with each other or its gonna be a long season!
I like your optimism and I’m tempted to join in with the idea that it could start to work later on… but the truth is that Miller’s not going to magically grow a 3-pointer or an attitude that doesn’t mind hanging around on the weak side while Roy and Aldridge dominate the ball.
Blake, and even to some extent Rudy, totally relish that role… especially for a winning team. Andre said- twice- that if he knew he wasn’t starting he wouldn’t have come to this (winning) team. He obviously doesn’t care about winning, since he’s never been on a decent team in his 10 years as “leader”.
I know hindsight is 20/20, and I probably wouldn’t have stood pat like I’m acting I would now. For me, Hinrich was the guy. Just an awesome, awesome fit. Scrappy defensive guy who can stay with quick ones, spot-up shooter, leadership guy who’s won on different levels. That’s Hinrich. Also, it describes Rudy almost perfectly.
My prediction is that we get off to a very rough start- something like 9 and 10- with Oden looking awesome and Miller having misleading stat totals.
But Roy and Aldridge will be under-acheiving, because they will be standing on the weakside, hoping for the ball, thinking to themselves “when did this Miller guy come in and steal the team from us?”
Nate has never been able to say “no way” to certain players. Outlaw comes to mind. I think that Miller will be one of those guys, and he’ll find himself on the floor, appearing to be doing well, while the team looks like it did back when it was the Zach show.
Zero-Defense, Never-won-anywhere “stars” are all the same. They always somehow trick one team after another to pick them up, then they quickly guide said team into mediocrity.
One thing people forget because of all the personnel changes: You could keep the exact same roster as last year, and that same chemistry would never happen again. Last year was special in the history of the NBA for a fun group of hungry young players with nobody really complaining about anything. And the reaction by the fans was great too.
Last year was incredible. Here was a professional team with a sort of innocence
to them that professional sports eventually destroys.
So, yes, there’s some chemistry problems but they were going to happen no matter what. Last year was unusual.
I really enjoyed it because I knew: Good things like that rarely happen and never last.
Well Said Bill.
I’ve posted on the forumn that I think this team is look backward way to much rather then forward. Its about getting better, not about last years success. I think Nates been sending the wrong message to the team.
Mr. Jaynes:
Please bring some sanity to the Aldridge negotiations. I feel he was way overpaid, and yes, I blame the insane Bargnani contract for inflating the Aldridge and Roy contracts – that is, raising the bar on Draft 2006 salaries beyond what the Trailblazers were comfortable with until they finally caved.
Thanks as always for your even-handed analysis.