Pistons Recap

Phew, we needed that one. It was hard fought, scrappy, and ugly as Goose's jumper. But a win’s a win, especially over a Detroit team that had won their last 7 games and 10 of 12. I am definitely satisfied with going .500 against the likes of: Boston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Detroit.

The key to our win was defense. In the first half we were getting absolutely shredded by the Pistons, as we played some sort of soft, slow moving zone. Everyone was late rotating, and that combined with Detroit’s stellar jumpshooting put us in a hole early. But second half was a different story, we switched to a trapping man to man, and began our comeback. Bayless’ energy was key in the comeback along with key jumpers from Blake and Rudy, combined with Aldridge’s easy fast break dunks. All and all everyone contributed to help us come back and secure a win, much like the way we played against Boston.

I have a lot to say about each guy, so on to the individual performances.

LaMarcus Aldridge: LA carried us again tonight on some great shooting (11-21) from the field to total 26 points. He did a great job of getting easy fast break buckets in the 2nd half, and kept the defense honest by knocking down his jumper along with a few moves inside as well. A good game from LA.

Jerryd Bayless: This was Jerryd’s coming out party (sorry Mike, not like that). He played aggressive, but not too tight. You could almost see the weight being lifted off his shoulders as he made a few plays in a row and helped spark a Blazers run. What I really like about Bayless is his ability to get to the foul line, which besides Roy and occasionally Oden, we are missing. Bayless only played 17 minutes but shot more free throws (and made) then Outlaw, Batum, Oden, Rudy, and Blake combined. That is pretty staggering, but when you are primary a jumpshooter that’s what happens. I hope that Roy’s return doesn’t dry up Jerryd’s minutes, because he brings things to the table that we are definitely missing, such as getting to the free throw line, a quick and strong perimeter defender, and intensity that is unmatched by any other Blazer.

Steve Blake: Blake played a solid game and tried to at least somewhat take over Roy’s “creator” role. Blake had 10 points and 10 assists. You could tell his main focus was getting everyone else involved on offense rather then himself. He did a commendable job. His D however is a different story. Blake got burned all night, by the quicker and stronger backcourt of Detroit. To Blake’s credit though, not many people can hang with Stuckey and A.I. anyways.

Greg Oden: Greg was in foul trouble early and often as he struggled with the rotations in the zone. Usually Greg’s best games are ones where he stays out of early foul trouble and is able to get into a flow early in the game. Tonight was not one of those nights as he ended with 4 points and only 1 rebound in 13 mins.

Rudy Fernandez: Rudy hasn’t seized the starting 2 guard opportunity like I thought he would, but he does continue to contribute none the less. Rudy had a key rebound at the end of the game for us, which if we do not get, chances are we do not win that game. Also Rudy had multiple steals/blocks that started fastbreaks and helped us get some easy baskets. As he continues to try to find out how he can score on a regular basis in the NBA, it is good to see him contribute in other areas.

Joel Pryzbilla: Joel stepped up again tonight, with Oden in foul trouble and played a solid defensive game. Joel continues to be one of the most underrated players on our team, as he regularly steps in for the foul plagued Oden to help us secure wins. Keep up the good work Pryz, I appreciate you.

Travis Outlaw: The game winner. Outlaw definitely stepped up his game tonight and did a great job of hitting shots when we needed him to. However I am beginning to wonder if he will ever perform consistently. Usually as a player matures and spends more time in the league he becomes more consistent. This is Outlaw’s 5th year in the league, and he still cannot find that consistency. So I pose this question to you, can the Blazers win a championship relying on Travis Outlaw as their 6th or 7th man? Where other teams have the likes of James Posey, Lamar Odom, and Paul Milsaup?

Game Summary In One Sentence: Ugly early, gritty late, earned us a much needed win at home.

Pistons Preview

UP-UPDATE: It looks like Sheed and Rip are actually a no go for tonight's game. Anything helps.

UPDATE: Nate will not change the starting lineup for tonight's game against the Pistons. Rudy will start just as he has the last 3 games.

Tonight’s game vs the Pistons, looks to be a difficult one. The Pistons are on a 7 game win streak, and are definitely not the same team we saw a couple months ago when we pulled out a win at Detroit. Rodney Stuckey has began to emerge a real player, and him and Iverson are playing very well together in the backcourt right now. It also sounds like Detroit will get Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace back from injury tonight. So the Blazers will definitely have their hands full.

With Brandon Roy still out McMillen has toyed with the idea of starting Bayless at the 2. With the second unit struggling without Rudy, Nate says he might opt to start Bayless and hopefully bolster our second group. Another rotation idea that Nate has toyed with is moving Outlaw back to the 4. This would effectively all but end the playing time for Frye and Diogu, but Batum would likely see an increase in minutes, and after the way he played vs the Lakers on Sunday, I say he deserves it. It will be interesting to see what Nate goes with.

Keys to the Game

1. Keep Their Guards Out of the Paint.
1. Neither Stuckey or A.I. are considered great shooters, so most of their points and assists are generated off dribble penetration. Stuckey will be a tough matchup for Blake, but we need to really step up tonight. Bayless should have a great matchup with the undersized Iverson at the 2. I am interested to see how Bayless responds.
2. Score Consistently
1. Hopefully moving Rudy back to the 2^nd team will bring us some more offense. We will lose this game if we have another drought like we did against New Orleans and L.A.
3. Blake Must Hit His Open Shots
1. With Roy out, if Blake doesn’t hit his open shots, then you can pretty much seal the deal.

Gambler’s Corner

The spread for tonight’s game is Blazers by 3.5 with an O/U of 177. I think the Blazers will bounce back after a loss to L.A. with an inspired effort after 2 days off, so I will take them and over. Although Detroit plays at the 5th slowest pace in the NBA, I think the Blazers (especially Outlaw) will find their stroke tonight to get us up over the top.

Goose is also taking the Blazers and the Over.

The winner of last games (Hornets) score prediction was Hendrix! We now have 3 contestants on the board. We will announce the winner at the end of the month after the Blazers vs. the Jazz on the 31st.

Darius Miles Update Part 2

Darius Miles has officially been waived by the Memphis Grizzles. However, Darius did play 7 minutes in the first half of Memphis game last night, so that brings the number down to 8.

I would like to clarify a statement I made in the previous Darius update, previously I stated that any player can only be signed to (2) 10-day contracts before it is required to guarantee that players contract. That is false. A team is only required to sign a player to guaranteed contract for the remainder of the year only if THAT PARTICULAR team has signed a player to (2) 10-day contracts. So in theory, every team in the NBA could sign Darius to (2) 10-day contracts and he could never have a guaranteed contract. This is slightly less appealing then the scenario I previously posted, but I think it is still a long shot.

But to be honest what are we worrying about? Even if Darius goes back on our books, we will still be ok. If you add together the contracts that the Blazers are obligated to pay next season, and we assume the salary cap stays the same (usually goes up every year, but because of the recession it is expected to stay or maybe even lower a little), the Blazers will still be $25 mil under the salary cap.

There are (4) players that the Blazers must make a decision on for next season. They are:

Steve Blake ($4.0 mil)

Travis Outlaw ($3.6 mil)

Channing Frye ($12.9 mil Hold on cap space until we renounce rights to him or he signs with someone else)

Ike Diogu ($12.0 mil Hold on cap space until we renounce rights to him or he signs with someone else)

So as one can logically assume we will keep Blake and Outlaw, bringing our available free agent cash down to 17.40 mil. This is enough to sign a superstar caliber player, but to be honest, there aren’t any out there to be had this offseason. For a good breakdown of the summer 2009 free agents, check out this article by ESPN’s Chad Ford. Tell me there is one guy in there you would want to pay 17.40 mil to next year? I don’t see it.

So let’s assume Miles does come back on our books, that leaves us with 8.40 mil. That is still plenty of money to sign a quality role player. As you will notice with NBA salaries solid, veteran role players are usually in the $5-$10 mil range. So if we wanted to go that route we could.

Another scenario, is the Blazers could broker a trade for a “superstar”. With our combination of young, cheap talent, and $8.40 mil of wiggle room under the cap, pretty much any player in the NBA could fit onto our roster (financially). Granted this is a little more difficult then just signing a free agent out right, but none the less an option to consider.

Last point I would like to make is, when my man crush Pritchard took over and began making these moves, he had a plan. And that plan originally included having Darius on our books this summer. Any of you that have listened and read as much about what Pritchard says, knows that he has been circling this summer on his calendar for years. So there is no way that he is not going to have a plan for every single scenario, not to mention the time in between the end of the season (when he will know about Darius being on our books or not) and the beginning of free agency (early July).

Bottom line is I have complete faith in our management to make the best move possible with the information available. A move that in KP’s words “doesn’t sacrifice that long term for the short term”. I’ll drink to that.

-Kyle