“Durant/Aldridge/Roy/Fernandez/Zach Randolph is a lineup that would give LA trouble!”

Sorry, but the Blazers already “give you trouble.” Portland smacked LA with their worst shellacing all season last year in Portland — let alone splitting the season series with theLakers. With that statement alone you have proven yourself to be a fool, but lets move on . . .

“I always thought Patrick Ewing was overrated. How come his Knicks could never get past the Jordan Bulls”

More stupidity. Once Jordan got Scottie Pippin and was in his prime — NO ONE GOT PAST HIM. Not even your beloved Lakers. One man does not make a team. I guess other overrated players include Steve Nash, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller and Dirk Nowitski are/were overrated. You embody so many things that make it easy to hate Laker fans that I’m getting utterly pissed off the more I read your ignorant rantings.

The guy is barely old enough to buy a beer, played one season, is currently in the best shape or his life, is completely healthy for the first time in about 3 years, has been primarily a defensive player (which is a tougher skill to learn than offense), and is 7 feet tall (height is the one think you cannot learn).

His upside after 1 year is off the charts, idiots. If you actually think he’s a bust, you’re dumber than a post — a definite moron — the kind of person who needs to have outlet covers in your house because otherwise you’ll electrocute yourself when you try to taste “Electric Juice.”

The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me . . .

Remember how long it took a young man named Jermaine ONeal to develop into an NBA caliber center? Patience is required for young men growing into their full strength. Unfortunately, Oden’s rookie contract will probably expire before the Blazers know whether or not he is worth keeping. The Lakers have gambled that Bynum was worth keeping, giving him 4 years and $58 million, but he hasn’t proven that he deserves that kind of money.

As a Laker fan, I hope that both Bynum and Oden turn out to be quality centers. I would love to see the next four or five years feature epic battles between the two franchises, similar to the entertaining Kings vs Lakers battles at the start of this decade. Kobe vs Roy! Bynum vs Oden! Gasol vs Aldridge! Ariza vs Fernandez – oops, Trevor is gone – Artest vs Fernandez!

As a Laker fan, I was relieved when the Blazers drafted Oden instead of Durant. Oden may be good, but I bought the Bill Simmons argument that Durant is on track to super-stardom. When I imagine a Blazers lineup of Durant/Aldridge/Roy/Fernandez/Zach Randolph – whew! -that would really have given the Lakers trouble.

I am excited to see that Blazers offered Andre Miller that big contract – that means they won’t be trying to steal away Lamar Odom, so now he will HAVE to re-sign with the Lakers. I like Andre Miller a lot, but I like Lamar Odom as a Laker even more.

Why didn’t the Blazers go after Trevor Ariza when Turkolu turned them down? Ariza would have been an ideal fit – young, athletic, defensive minded, and all around good guy.

I always thought Patrick Ewing was overrated. How come his Knicks could never get past the Jordan Bulls, when the Bulls were suiting up stiffs like Longley, Bill Wennington, Uve Blab, Will Perdue or the 100 year old Bill Cartwright? Shouldn’t Ewing have dominated those guys? I thought it was hilarious that the pundits criticized Dwight Howard during this year’s Finals for his lack of post moves – hmm, who is tutoring Mr Howard? Why, it is none other than Patrick Ewing!

Andrew Bynum has learned some excellent footwork from Kareem, he really looked good in the month of January before his latest injury. Hopefully Bynum returns to that form in the upcoming season. I wonder who is tutoring Greg Oden on post play – who are the great former Blazer centers? – Duckworth is dead. Bill Walton has such a bad back he can’t get out of bed. Is Sabonis available to coach Greg Oden?

I thought the contract offer to Paul Millsap was a brilliant move by the Blazers management. The Jazz (a division opponent) HAD to match, and now they are so far over the luxury cap that they will have to trade away Boozer, which will weaken them significantly. Millsap is an energetic guy, but effort and will power only carry you so far – why else did Jerry Sloan start Boozer instead of Millsap as soon as Boozer was healthy? In a conference that features Duncan, Gasol, Stoudemire, Al Jefferson, Aldridge, Nowitski, David West and now Blake Griffin, the Jazz will be starting 6′7″ Paul Millsap and 6′11″ Okur, neither of whom can block a shot.

Lastly, I am puzzled why Paul Allen insists that the Blazers should break even. He is one of the richest men in the world, why should he care if the Blazers lost $20 million a year? Even if the Blazers incurred losses at that incredible rate, it would take 50 years to burn away one billion dollars, and Paul Allen has billions to spare. Paul Allen has a yacht with helicopters and submarines – nothing wrong with that, why should he spend his money on whatever he wants? But Paul Allen doesn’t expect his yacht to break even financially, he keeps it for fun. I would think owning a championship winning Blazers team would be even more fun than a mega-boat, but I’m not a billionaire, so what do I know?

the author’s article? dull and labored platitudes.the author is not a narcissist (perhaps he should look it up before he uses the term). his parents probably did not take him seriously. of course he will deny that. but now he’s been told. like nash, he can believe it or not.

All were touted but didn’t have the two way skills….. or desire.

The only reason I compared Oden to Ewing was because of the group of great centers I was given, Ewing was the worst of the lot and I just wanted to compare where their numbers were after their respective rookie seasons.

I think PER is a good measure of how efficient players are. I’m not sold on it saying that this guy is good or not good. But I think you can measure if a guy has stats help the team more than someone like an Antoine Walker.

And if I had gone through what you have gone through as a fan and had to talk myself into Eddy Curry, I’d be disgruntled too.

and remember he still doesn’t know how to play ball yet. I mean he was obviously bigger than everyone in high school and played bout half a season in college on a team that was loaded.

in the league he’s played a lil over half a season but he was relearning to trust a knee, a lot heavier than he’s used to being and was playing uneven minutes.

So let’s say he gets about 30 mins this year(which I think he needs). I’d figure averages of about 13 and 9 and 2 blocks. Pretty good, and this will be his first year really learning the game and having two legs he can trust.

I may be the only one but I think Durant is overrated. He’ll be a superstar but I don’t see him as a singular franchise player like a kobe or bron or wade. He’s a scorer, not a rebounder, not a passer. Not that he can’t do those things I’m saying that to be a closer he’d have to do those well. I don’t think Durant is on Paul Pierce’s level even. But he’ll score no doubt. He’ll score a lot and that will cloud people’s judgement for a couple years. They’ll say oh Durant averaged 28 this year and Oden wasn’t close to 20. Well I see Oden topping out at about 18ppg. His impact will be much more though.