Monday, January 19, 2009

Big D-Bag & Bucks Preview


Crappy Article

This is absolutely the most asinine article I have ever read. Yahoo Sports Adrian "D-Bag" Wojnarowski wrote this article regarding Darius Miles and the Blazers.


I could make a post solely about this article and disputing it. However, I am going to attempt to keep it short so I still write a decent game preview for tonight.


After reading this article, I get the feeling that Adrian doesn’t truly follow the Blazers and more specifically, Kevin Pritchard. Can anyone of you name a time where KP “He wanted to be the star in the good times in Portland, wanted all the bouquets and bows for his work on the job.”? As most of you know, I have a man crush on Pritchard and have heard pretty much every word he has recorded in interviews and articles, and I have never once gotten the impression that he has fallen in love with his own legend. He is constantly deferring praise to the rest of his team, almost to the point where sometimes it seems like the guy doesn’t know how to take a compliment. As I see it, Pritchard is the Brandon Roy of the non-basketball side of the Blazers. He is the leader, and creates a team environment built for success.


If you look around at any good leader, you will see a bit of arrogance. But that’s what makes them good leaders! How are you supposed to make people believe in your plan if you yourself are not sold on it? So for Wojnarowski to point this out as a bad trait, it exposes him as a nerd, who has never truly commanded the respect of a group of people. Granted that was harsh, and I don’t really even know Wojnarowski except for what I have read about/by him. But that is exactly what he is doing to KP.


Lastly, Wojnarowski says “Their threatening email had been a desperate final act of a franchise awash in arrogance.” As a fan, I see it as our management team is showing the fight and willingness to do anything to better this franchise. It can be compared to scrappiness on the basketball court. Sometimes, when things aren’t going your way you have to scrap for a win, and that’s exactly what our front office tried to do. I would SOOO much rather have an executive team soil our franchises name a little because they were trying too hard to improve our franchise then one who is happy to just stand pat without a plan at all (LA Clippers anyone?). We made a last ditch effort to win this game, but we lost (for now), and it didn’t work out. But like the legendary Wayne Gretzky said “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”


Told you I could write a whole post on this article. I tried to contain myself, but I could not.


In some GOOD Blazer news Rudy Fernandez has been chosen to be the 4th contestant in this years dunk contest! Congratuations to Rudy and I hope he does something awesome. I think he will bring something out of his bag of Spanish tricks because like Buhler said Rudy is a “creative cat.” Good work voting him in guys!


Game Preview


The Milwaukee Bucks (20-23) are currently sitting in 8th place in the east. They have a new, defensive minded coach this year in Scott Skiles, and have enjoyed some mild success. They are 9-16 on the road and are 18th in the NBA in offensive efficiency. But don’t let their record fool you, they have already defeated the Spurs twice this year and the Jazz once. So they have the potential to come into Portland and steal a win. Let’s hope not.


The Blazers will once again be without Steve Blake, who is now been ruled out 2-4 weeks. Let’s hope it is on the shorter end of that. Good news is, we will get an extended look at Bayless who has really stepped up in Blake’s absence. Sergio however is making the Blazers decision of who to keep and who to trade a whole lot easier. Granted he is not playing horribly, but he is not taking advantage of the situation like he should be either. What this does mean though is no move involving Sergio will likely happen until we get Blake back or are acquiring another point in the trade. But here are my keys to the game”


  1. Limit Our Turnovers
    1. This is especially important tonight, as Milwaukee forces and average 16 turnovers a game. If we can take care of the rock tonight, I think it will give us a huge edge.
  2. Make Our Free Throws
    1. This is an exclamation point after Saturday’s game, and I am sure many of the Blazers have a little more energy and have their legs underneath them for tonight’s game. This should help in our % from the charity stripe.
  3. Outrebound Them
    1. Milwaukee hits the boards hard and are 7th the league in rebounding. If the Blazers block out and limit their 2nd chance opportunities I think we will walk away with a win tonight.

Gamblers Corner


Portland -6

Over/Under 198


I am looking forward to the Blazers bouncing back tonight and having a “statement game.” Look for good D and solid free throw shooting on offense. That’s why I am going with the Blazers and the under. I think we will hold Milwaukee offensively and blow them out offensively.


Goose is taking…

6 comments:

  1. Blazers and the over! I saw the Wojnarowski piece. Poor attempt to be edgy and critical of an organization who was come so far since the Jail Blazer era. It sucks that we have to pay D-Miles, but I'm sure KP has all sorts of contingency plans or something tricky up his sleeve.

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  2. Canzano has a good response to the Woj piece:

    http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2009/01/i_dont_think_kp_deserved_this.html

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  3. Matt, I saw that Canzano article, and that was the first article that I can remember reading from him in which I didn't want to punch him the face afterwords. Even the local cynic had to stand up for Pritchard after that article...

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  4. This was one of the comments to Canzano's question to the fans as to whether or not the Woj piece was justified...kinda funny

    "You're the last person who should question another columnist for being unjustly out of line."

    Overall though, I think the piece was garbage, however it did not completely surprise me after the email went out. I mean, really, we had to expect people ragging on the Blazers, and who better to rag on in this situation than Pritch? People outside of the NW dont think Paul Allen has anything to do with the Blazers...but he definitely does, especially when it comes to money. Like it was said in some of the articles, I bet a lot of that email stemmed from PA, and maybe not as much from KP as people think. Nerds want to protect their money, and dont like being in the spotlight, so sending an email and making it look like it came from your President and GM is a pretty nerdy move...

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  5. Thanks for a "nerdy" perspective to the table Fox!

    But seriously, I understand parts of the article, and like you said we had to expect some backlash after the email, but I am just not sure how he can justify attacking Pritchard when he hasn't done his research. But I have to acknowledge he did stir up controversy and got me to read his article...

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