My bad. All along, I was thinking in terms of a point guard being the answer to Portland’s problem of getting the ball more frequently into the low post. But as David Thorpe points out on True Hoop today, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way.

The side pick-and-roll is the most devastating play in basketball and Portland didn’t have a lot of success running it last season. Mostly, that was because nobody looked (or had the ability) to dish the ball to the guy rolling to the basket. Greg Oden got so tired of not seeing the ball on the pick-and-roll that his frustration was apparent. And face it, Joel Przybilla used to thrive on this play when Damon Stoudamire was still a Blazer. Damon used to tell me later what an underutilized offensive player Joel was in Portland once he left — Joel really was a pretty good finisher on this play. But he had nobody to run it with here the last few seasons — only Sergio Rodriguez was skilled at making the pass on the end of that play.

Hedo Turkoglu can run it, though, and run it just about as well as any big player in the league:

Thorpe says that if the Portland rumors are true, Nate McMillan should already be watching the Magic and planning to add a side pick-and-roll to the playbook with Turkoglu and Greg Oden.

“Dwight Howard was amazing at diving to the hoop on the play, running straight down the lane to make himself a threat to catch the ball at the hoop. Greg Oden will have to do that, and then if I were LaMarcus Aldridge, I’d spend the summer mastering the NBA 3, like Rashard Lewis — because when the small forward and the center are running this play , the help usually comes from the power forward who can be wide open in the corner.

But Thorpe sounds a warning, too, and it’s one that would concern me if Turkoglu becomes a Trail Blazer. The guy needs the ball, needs to be “engaged” to get the best out of him. I’m not sure how that works with all those touches Brandon Roy gets:

Thorpe cautions, however, that he does not believe Turkoglu would thrive in any system. “He’s a little bit like Lamar Odom. The game comes so easy to him, and he’s so talented, that sometimes he loses focus. Stan Van Gundy handled that really well. He was very smart. He ran a ton of side pick and rolls for Turkoglu, which forced him to lock in. People criticized Van Gundy for that, saying he should have gotten the ball to Dwight Howard more … but a lot of those side pick and rolls ended in dunks for Dwight Howard. If you just stuck him on a team as complimentary player, and expect him to hit some open shots, then I don’t think he would be nearly as productive. But when you keep Turkoglu engaged, he’s a very special small forward.

“Turkoglu may have been the third or fourth best player on the Magic this season. But he played better than that, because of how the team forced him to be playmaker, which is what he does best. Now, his sense of urgency still wavered some. But in the playoffs, his focus was just about always there, and that’s a huge part of the reason the Magic made it so far.”

I appreciate the knowledge. I’ve gone from being anti-Turkoglu to now being a little more accepting. But you must remember, a lot has to change for Portland to have success with “The Michael Jordan of Turkey.” Brandon Roy is not only going to have to give up the ball some, he’s going to probably have to expect to score fewer points. Not only will Turkoglu score, he’ll get Oden points, too. Aldridge must learn to hit that corner three-pointer. And the point guard must be a pretty good spot-up shooter, too.

It would make for a fascinating new approach.

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Tags: Brandon Roy, David Thorpe, Dwight Howard, Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, Hedo Turkoglu, LaMarcus Aldridge, Nate McMillan, True Hoop

When a noted personal coach and fitness expert who has experience with many NBA players speaks about a player, it’s a good idea to listen up. This isn’t going to be pleasant for Blazer fans to read, as Henry Abbott points out, but the most interesting part of this is that David Thorpe believes Oden needs to lose at least 50 pounds. I’ve heard others, too, speak about him carrying too much weight, which is kind of interesting.

He isn’t Kevin Duckworth. He doesn’t look THAT overweight. But perhaps he is — nobody outside of the Blazer family knows his real weight. Today, when meeting the media, Oden did make reference to “eating healthy.”

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Tags: David Thorpe, Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, Henry Abbott, Kevin Duckworth, Portland Trail Blazers, True Hoop