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Brandon Roy In “Despicable Me”

August 19, 2010 in by Zach Harper with 9 Comments

Once upon a time, music videos were things people actually looked forward to. For those of you under the age of 25, this probably sounds like a “When I was your age, movies were only a nickel and they put music on compact discs that you’d play in your Walkman. They held no more than 18 songs!” kind of talk. But there was seriously a time in which MTV, VH1 and BET were showing music videos that people wanted to see.

They enjoyed the music and the spectacle of how it was being presented. Directors of music videos were almost as well-known as the artists themselves and you could often find a certain level of cinematic flair in each one. Now, we’re relegated to the latest subtle masquerade of our own Josie and the Pussycats moment as we get bombarded with questionable music, celebrity cameos to distract us from the questionable music and a lot of good looking people to make us think this wasn’t a complete waste of three minutes. Everything has moved to VH1 and MTV showing crappy reality show after crappy reality show and whatever the hell BET does (when Bruce Bruce stopped appearing on BET, I hit the eject button).

In today’s world of music videos, celebrity cameos might be the most interesting part of the whole extravaganza. Primarily in the Hip Hop community, we often see professional athletes filling these appearances. Sometimes, it’s as simple as the bewilderment of seeing Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. getting ready to race luxury vehicles in the middle of a Jay-Z video. Other times, we get to see DeJuan Blair auto-tuning his way through a tribute to a friend of his that has passed away like the following video (H/T – Project Spurs):

I think we can all agree that these cameos are nothing negative in any way.

But when Brandon Roy ends up in a music video made by old friends of his and that music video is seemingly promoting the non-medicinal usage of marijuana, that seems like something that would probably raise some eyebrows. Check out the video first and foremost:

What’s weird about this is you literally see Brandon Roy for no more than 10-12 seconds in the video and that’s if you count all of the times in which he’s barely viewable in the background. I noticed Jamal Crawford in this video a lot more than I did Roy. I couldn’t even tell you what the lyrics said in the video because when I watched it, I was trying to find where Brandon Roy was so prominently involved and I kept thinking either Cali or Cavalli (I don’t know which one is which, although I’m sure there is a bitchin’ MySpace page that could sort it out for me) was actually O.J. Mayo. I didn’t even notice there was weed in the video because I kept wondering if Mike Conley was going to stroll on into the shot.

Nevertheless, Brandon felt the need to get out ahead of the story – or at worst, take a leisurely jog with it side-by-side – to make sure he stayed with his history of being a stand-up type of role model for his fans and kids everywhere. Brandon admits that he didn’t go about this experience the proper way and does so without making excuses. He takes full responsibility for not finding out what he was becoming a part of during this process of helping out some old friends. And even though it seems completely unnecessary for him to do so because he’s not really ALL THAT big in the video, he still made sure to disassociate himself from the video.

Isn’t this why we love guys like Brandon Roy? He’s just a good guy. He screwed up (sort-of but not really) in getting involved with this video and instead of doing the typical pro athlete thing of making excuses and trying to save face, he came out on his own to make sure he owned up to what he did and explain why it was wrong. This is what we want from the stars of the NBA. In a time in which the headliners are out just trying to make headlines no matter what it does to their image (Let’s face it, LeBron — you’ve basically become the Paris Hilton of the NBA), seeing a guy act in this respect because it’s just the right thing to do is pretty damn refreshing.

Personally, when I watched the video for the first time I didn’t think much of it. I definitely didn’t think Roy was committing career suicide or letting down the fans of the Blazers. I was more concerned with trying to figure what this guy was all about:

However, it’s good to know we can trust Brandon Roy to be a positive influence despite extremely minor hiccups here and there.

Don’t beat yourself up about this, Brandon.

Still Standing. Still Here.

February 8, 2010 in by Zach Harper with 4 Comments

Redemption. Determination. Validation.

These are things we all seek.

We seek them in all different aspects of our lives. We seek them in all different avenues of our lives. Most recently, Iâ€™ve noticed this search in one of the most cherished activities that I participate in â€“ coaching JV basketball. I know Iâ€™ve written about this here before and Iâ€™m sorry if itâ€™s getting bothersome but itâ€™s such an invested part of my life (with the final week starting today) and I feel like it helps me make sense of the NBA events that go on.

With our basketball team, you can preach and pretend you know the way to hoops success all you want but if you donâ€™t get the kids to produce tangible results on the court that they can see, itâ€™s hard to prove that all of the work, drilling and practice is actually worth anything. When our team is down, they seem to be REALLY down. Every time weâ€™ve lost a game during our season, weâ€™ve followed it with a second straight loss. We canâ€™t explain why, either. Often itâ€™s a simple issue such as free throw shooting or playing help line defense. But there has been something that holds us from being able to bounce back right away from a loss.

This past week, our team had a chance to wrap up a JV league title with two wins away from our home gym. The two games were against teams we had already beaten at home. In fact, weâ€™d beaten everybody in league up until this point in our campaign. We were 6-0 in league and had designs of going a perfect 10-0 in league. It was something that seemed inconceivable at the beginning of the season but was becoming and more real possibility with every bounce of the ball.

In our first away game of this past week, we were playing a team that nearly came back against us by hitting a ton of improbable three-pointers in the second half. We knew going into their gym, we were likely to suffer a similar barrage of long-range luck because they couldnâ€™t handle us athletically and would be willing to jack up threes in order to upset us. Â And thatâ€™s exactly what they did â€“ they hit three-pointers in this rematch.

In the final minute of the game, we found ourselves with the ball and down two. Our freshman guard took the ball strongly to the hoop, got fouled and made the basket. He sank the free throw for a three-point play and put us up one with just under a minute left. After some questionable officiating that belabored both sides, the opposing coach received a technical foul, which helped us retain possession of the ball and have a chance to push the lead to three. Instead, we missed both free throws and followed those misses up with two more misses by another player. We were given a chance to ice the game and improve our record to 7-0. Instead, we missed our 13^th, 14^th, 15^th and 16^th free throws of the game.

The opposing team went down the court and made a three to go up two. We came back down, put the ball in the hands of our freshman once again and he scored on an aggressive baseline drive to the basket to tie the game. What happened next can only be described as a swift kick to the groin that took away our ability to breathe.

With just four seconds left, they advanced the ball to half court, inbounded the ball to their best shooter, and he drove up the left side of the court. With one of our guys draped all over him defensively, he motored to the left corner of the court. He jumped off one foot (the wrong foot), contorted his body side ways from the deep corner and threw up a running, one-handed floater, Jeff Malone style. Despite the fact that he shot it from the left corner while falling out of bounds, someone how it banked off the backboard and fell through the hoop as time expired.

At that point, there was nothing that could be done. We were beaten. Our perfect league season was murdered. Our chance to clinch sole possession of a league title that week was toast. A desperate team with nothing to lose beat us. We didnâ€™t play with any desperation and it ended up hurting us. We were beaten by a H-O-R-S-E shot.

So what does any of this have to do with the NBA?

Everyone is trying to figure out the bottom half of the Western Conference playoffs. Everybody (including those who donâ€™t have Patella Cake on the line) expect the Thunder to get in despite the fact that they have to prove they can beat Western Conference teams that arenâ€™t the Warriors the rest of the season. Memphis is another feel good story that objective fans seem to be rooting for because their run this season has been so improbable. You also have a starless Houston team scrapping everything together and a Hornets team that will vault to the top of the feel good stories once Chris Paul comes back from his knee surgery.

So where does that leave the Portland Trail Blazers? During the first month of the season, it seemed like theyâ€™d be gunning for their own perfect league record. Obviously, they werenâ€™t going 82-0 or challenging the â€™96 Bulls for the all-time record but what they were doing was coming together nicely. Their early set backs were significant but nothing that could be considered crippling to the overall success of this season.

Nicolas Batum wasnâ€™t able to start the season with the team because of shoulder surgery. No problem. Rudy Fernandez needed to miss six weeks because of a procedure to alleviate nerve pressure in his back? Thatâ€™s not an issue. Kevin Pritchard had built this team into a deep roster of â€œMost Likely Toâ€™sâ€ and justified fan favorites. It didnâ€™t matter that Travis Outlaw was going to miss three to five months with foot surgery because they have positional putty to fill these holes. Martell Webster was there to reemerge as the small forward of the future.

But then Greg Oden went down by breaking his kneecap (which was foreseen by everybody but me). At the time, Greg Oden had been a defensive stalwart in the lane. Was he still in dumb foul trouble? Yes. Was he still a step too slow at times? Yes. But his rebounding rate and the amount of block shots he was accumulating in foul trouble-ridden minutes was astonishing. Hell heâ€™s still in Top 50 for blocked shots this season and he hasnâ€™t played in nine weeks. Were 11 points and 8.5 rebounds setting the world on fire like I predicted? No but it was better production than most centers in the NBA were giving their respective teams.

After he broke his kneecap, Joel Pryzbilla decided to join the party too. He ruptured a patella tendon and was also lost for the season. This left Brandon Roy, Martell Webster, LaMarcus Aldridge and the Dre/Blake/Bayless triumvirate to fend for themselves with Jeff Pendergraph, Juwan Howard and Dante Cunningham as the interior presence. Even their coach is injured!

And yet much like Antwone Fisher, theyâ€™re still standing. Theyâ€™re still here. Brandon Roy isnâ€™t coming back until after the All-Star break? No big deal. Andre Miller just scored 52 against one of the eight best teams in the league and I wouldnâ€™t be shocked if Jerryd Bayless had a 40-point explosion chambered for the next opponent.

Their ideal season has been taken away from them with blow after excruciating blow. Itâ€™s a sudden, random act of heartbreak that keeps finding new ways to infect the team. And yet they still hold a good record at home and are seven games over .500 right now. They keep getting handed these impossible H-O-R-S-E shots to beat and continue to bounce back.

After my JV team lost that game, we still had a chance to lock up at worst a share of the league title with our next game.

Based on our history of this season, we were slated to lose that game. We were going into a hostile, uncomfortable environment and they played an unconventional, hectic style that was feast or famine. Throughout most of the first half, it was nothing but famine for them. But in the third quarter, their hectic style started to break our kids a bit and you could feel the game about to unravel. Our freshman guard banged heads with a player on a loose ball and ended up splitting open the area between his eyelid and eyebrow so badly that I could see the shape of his eye through his wound. We were turning the ball over and not getting quality possessions.

But then something clicked. All of a sudden, the game started to slow down for our kids and even though we were being pestered, it seemed like we were a step ahead of everybody on the court. We broke the pressure, scored the ball and rebounded their misses. The offense ran properly. The defensive help was always there. The rebounding (led by one of our kids that outworked everybody on his way to 21 rebounds in a 32-minute game) belonged to us. We finished the game on a tear and ended up winning by over 20 in a game that we started to lose control of.

Our kids were doing everything we asked them to do. Free throws were buried. Help defense was a support system the team could rely on. We werenâ€™t taking bad shots. Everything we had been working towards for the previous three months was coming to fruition. We were validating our own claims and stakes on the season at hand. We were redeeming the confidence in ourselves that a BS falling out of bounds, one-handed, running, banked-in three-pointer tried to take away. We were determined to finish our goals from the beginning of the season even if they werenâ€™t exactly what we had envisioned.

The Portland Trail Blazers are getting this same opportunity. Itâ€™s easy to look away from them like a broken toy and pretend we donâ€™t care if they make the playoffs this year. We can look to other upstarts like the Thunder, Grizzlies and new-look Rockets as our picks to round out the playoff landscape.

However, ignoring this Blazers team because they seem too injured is a mistake. Theyâ€™ll be there in the post-season because of three things that injuries have tried but failed to take from them.

Redemption. Determination. Validation.

No One Knows What It’s Like

December 22, 2009 in by Rob Mahoney with 1 Comment

It’s too obvious to say that building a team is more difficult than it looks. But it should also be obvious that building a team is less difficult than a few owners/GMs/coaches/a certain GM-Coach whose name rhymes with ‘Fun-schmeevy’ have made it look. There are certain guiding principles, bits of prevailing logic perhaps, that have guided lesser franchises through harder times by way of savvy management. Things as basic as avoiding draft land mines (or at least avoiding stepping in the same ones repeatedly), refusing to buckle in trade negotiations when in possession of real value, and knowing when to buy and when to sell. These general concepts (among many, many others) are the foundation of reasonable team management, but here’s the bizarre thing: even when armed with a detailed understanding of the league, an appreciation of the general tenets of successfully running a team, and a comprehensive history of the NBA crammed into your skull, there are no guarantees of success. Proper management will get you so far, but the harsh reality is that proper team-building takes so much more.

The Portland Trailblazers are an interesting case study on multiple levels, but particularly because their fortunes have been all over the place. Brandon Roy is clearly the star of the show, and rightfully so. He’s an incredibly talented offensive player who can produce without stymieing the greater team-wide vision. In fact, with a player of Roy’s particular talents and tendencies, you could go as far as to say that he excels within a team framework. There are certain NBA players who were born to win one-on-one tournaments. And for what it’s worth, Roy probably wouldn’t do too badly. That said, the true beauty of his game comes in how he controls the flow of the offense and manages space. He works the pick-and-roll beautifully, he draws extra defenders and finds the open man, and above all, Roy isn’t just capable of making the pass, but completely willing to. He’s humble. He’s a consummate professional. He’s hungry. And despite everything that has gone right for the Blazers in amassing their stable of young talent, it’s possible that they still haven’t figured out what kind of players are best-suited to flank Roy (and LaMarcus Aldridge, and whoever else is deemed part of the core).

It’s not as simple as taking a franchise model and plugging in Roy. His style is very much his own, and despite the temptation to assume that he would work the same in any number of systems with a precedent of talented shooting guards, that’s not the way it works. Just because the Bulls of the 90s, the Lakers of the early 2000s, and the current incarnation all run some version of the triangle offense, the personnel put their mark on the system. In those cases, you can hold the coach and the system constant, but that doesn’t make Luc Longley and Shaquille O’Neal one in the same. Players will always shape a system to make it unique, and great players typically have a more profound influence than is easily recognizable. As much as Roy is to be part of McMillan’s system, the system and the rotation must adjust to the specificities of Roy’s game. Hence, we now have quite the ongoing quandary in regard to Steve Blake, Andre Miller, and Jerryd Bayless’ spots in the rotation. If you rank the players in terms of their sheer basketball value, you may end up with a different result than if you ranked them according to their value to this team. It’s a hell of a situation to be in for a team that supposedly had it made, and it’s only the most obvious of the Blazers’ troubles this season.

You can write your rules, follow the guidelines, and flesh out the system and the game plan all you’d like, but things in the NBA don’t go according to plan. Long-term success hinges on a coach and a front office’s ability to learn and adjust, and though the Blazers are far from any kind of critical point, their current troubles have only furthered their position as a team of interest. NBA rotations don’t just fall into place, regardless of the talent on the roster, and though some acquisitions may seem random in nature, those that work out seamlessly are often those that are carefully weighed in the context of not only the system, but the specific roles and capabilities of the players within that system. It’s all a very delicate balancing act. After all, if Steve Blake doesn’t take a step back this season? Or if the Blazers inked Paul Millsap or Hedo Turkoglu rather than Andre Miller in the off-season, would we even be discussing which type of player operates best alongside Roy? The situation is always fluid and always unique. Although it’s nice to rise each morning and go to sleep each night with a mission statement and a roster full of talent under your pillow, finding success as a team is rarely about such glittering generalities. The Blazers may be better off than the league’s have-nots, but Kevin Pritchard, Nate McMillan, and the Blazer brain trust still have plenty to figure out.

Live With Who People Are

December 14, 2009 in by Matt Moore with 1 Comment

The point is, Jerryd’s main competition for minutes is not Steve Blake, it’s Roy and Miller. He has to catch up to one of them in order to increase his playing time significantly. In doing so he also has to overcome that star or veteran gap in the minds of the coaches. It’s not impossible, I guess, but you can see why the going is slow, especially since Bayless trails both handily in nearly every category listed.

In fact I will go out on a limb at this point in saying the chances of Roy, Miller, and Bayless existing long-term on the same team are small. Steve Blake’s presence in the equation changes it not a whit. You could cut Steve tomorrow and you’d still have the same issue. Eventually one of these guys has to be let go.

Does this mean Jerryd’s situation is hopeless until that happens? I’d say no, for a couple reasons.

First, I think it’s obvious that Jerryd was unsuccessfully typecast as a point guard during his early tenure. This is something we called from the beginning. You have to let players play to their strengths if you’re going to play them. You can teach them beyond those natural strengths, of course, but you can’t suppress the strengths in doing so and find success. Judging by the way Jerryd is playing and the time, position, and role he’s finding himself playing in, it seems the coaching staff is learning or has learned this about him. When he does play he’s driving, scoring, and providing a credible offensive threat. The removal of the burden of setting up plays has freed him. He looks more fluid, confident, and ironically is more in tune with what’s going on out on the floor than he used to be. They may trade him in favor of a pure point guard if that’s what they think they need but they won’t be putting him back in that box. That means his play should remain strong and has a chance to get stronger.

via The BaylessÂ Quandary – Blazersedge.

Hey, look, the exact same stuff we’ve been saying for a year and a half. Neat.

This, in a nutshell, is what the Blazers did. They saw the best talent available was a young, devastatingly quick guard with a mean streak like no other. They recognized their ability to horde tremendous talent and cover for injury or a pick or two not working out (unless it was Greg Oden, of course), and selected him to fill their need at pure point, fully aware that he wasn’t a pure point. Not only that, but becoming a pure point ran contrary to everything that defined the young guard. Most teams draft a player and try and put him in the best position to succeed. The Blazers have never done that with Jerryd Bayless. Should they look at what’s best for the team first? Absolutely. But not if you’re banking on a scenario which you knew to be unlikely in the beginning.

They drafted Bayless and said at Summer League “We have a small guard, his name is Brandon Roy and he’s the future of this team. Jerryd will learn to play point or he won’t play at all. ” And when Bayless failed to make that transition, which isn’t something you learn, it’s something you are, or rather, it’s something you’re not in a lot of ways, they punished him. The Blazers punished Jerryd Bayless for being who he is.

When it became obvious that Jerryd wasn’t going to suddenly burst out of the telephone booth as Chris Paul, did they trade him, after letting him boost his stock? Did they work him into a second lineup as the instant offense that could provide the starting line a break? Did they do anything that would be not only in the best interest of the player but of the team? No, they stuffed him down and then brought in Andre Miller.

At least now they’re letting him raise his value. Because he has no future on this team. None. And if you want to blame Bayless for being too selfish to shift, that’s fine, but to do so is to undermine his considerable ability. There are very few cases where I can say that someone would be better off in Golden State. But Jerryd Bayless would be better off in Golden State.

File>New>New File>New File Name: The LaMarcus Aldridge Exodus- Prologue

November 30, 2009 in by Matt Moore with 0 Comments

2. Greg Oden needs to assume LaMarcus’ traditional role as the guy who gets established offensively early in games and quarters.

Oden is a bona fide low post presence who can pass. He gives us a different wrinkle than anybody else on the team. With his physical presence and his high shooting percentage he potentially creates the inside-out game that is the key to success in the halfcourt. LaMarcus, for all his skill, does not change the game that way, nor does he create the same kind of mismatches, nor the same kind of space on the floor for his teammates. We’ve softened the blow by giving LaMarcus alternate scoring opportunities that his fellow stars won’t have. But Greg needs to be the initial offensive option in the game. Make or miss, he’s going to create better opportunities for others.

via Figuring ItÂ Out – Blazersedge.

HUGE, GIGANTIC, GINORMOUS PREFACE: In article quoted above, nowhere does Dave suggest what I’m suggesting, and in fact, he heartily supports LAldridge and his “special gifts.” So just so no one thinks I’m misinterpreting what he’s saying, I get totally what he’s selling. I’m just taking it a step further.

Dave from BlazersEdge covers the ins and outs of what plan should be taken by the Blazers during this challenging time. There’s no need to panic, no need to readjust the roster, no massive overhaul that needs to take place. This is the “Let’s get back to the root of our business” memo. Or, alternatively, the “Come to Moses” talk. Lots of interesting stuff in there, but number two immediately stuck out to me.

When Greg Oden was drafted, it was assumed that he would be the savior. The amazing inside counterpart to Brandon Roy. When LaMarcus Aldridge was drafted, and for the first few years in the league, he was largely considered an afterthought. But he just kept improving. And improving. And becoming a bigger and bigger part of the offense. 17 and 7 with a block. When Oden struggled last year in his “first” year in the league, Aldridge carried them. And still, there was always the same refrain from the Blazer faithful. “Just wait till we get Oden!”

The problem is, and this has been evident for quite some time, that there may not room for both of them. The immediate impact of Oden’s ascension this season has been mild. Aldridge’s rebound numbers are actually up, while his points and PER have dropped. Last year was optimum, where he was playing his most efficient ball, while having a lower usage than in the previous year. Now his usage is at the lowest its been since 07, but he’s not shooting as well.

You’d assume part of this would be Oden pushing Aldridge out, moving him further towards the perimeter. But he’s attempting fewer 16-23 foot, 11-15 foot, and three point jumpers than he has since ’07. He’s just also shooting fewer shots over all. His attempts are up at less than ten feet, but his percentages are down at the rim and between 11 and 15 feet. He’s adapting, focusing on using the distraction of Oden to set up his long-range jumper (in tune with what we’ve seen from power forwards), and attacking at the rim.

So why is his production down? Because Oden is a high-usage player. He needs the ball. Dave’s exactly right that Oden needs to be activated early, involved. It not only gets his blood warmed up, but forces the defense to adjust to that for the remainder of the game. It’s vital that he take up his fair share of possessions. But the thing is, Portland, for all its attempts at running and gunning, is still last in the league in PACE, with 90.2 possessions per 48 minutes. Every possession is precious, and there’s not that many to go around.

Now, from a basketball standpoint, maybe this will all be fine. There are comparisons about Aldridge being likened to Rashard Lewis or Rasheed Wallace. But perhaps a better comparison is Lamar Odom, with a reverse hype trajectory. Odom manages a moderate level of usage, plugs in above average but not stellar PER, makes the most of his opportunities, and uses his versatility, while flowing around the dominant abilities of his All-World small guard and dominant big man Gasol.Â So by the same model, couldn’t Aldridge fit that model? The answer: definitely. The second question is if he wants to.

Aldridge is notoriously sensitive. I won’t recite the Brandon Roy dinner story because you’ve all likely heard about it and if not, go do some googling, it’s not hard to find in ESPN THE MAGAZINE. He was just given this massive contract extension by the Blazers which you would think would make him grateful and committed, but so often it just means to the players “Hey, I’m the one you paid. Let me do my job.”

You could see this becoming an issue as Oden develops and needs more and more touches, while Roy keeps ascending and Rudy becomes the clutch shooter and the rest of the roster fills out. Where does LaMarcus fit in? Is he really going to go from floor leader and second top weapon to role player third fiddle, especially given his weak passing skills? I’m sure Aldridge is committed to Portland at this point of time and can’t imagine going anywhere else. But given how the franchise has hyped Oden every second from the second he was drafted while treating Aldridge as a “nice suprise,” you have to wonder if eventually that’s going to get old. After all, you put the cart before the horse and the horse starts to wonder what it is that you’re doing.

A Moment Of Reflection With Brandon Roy

November 25, 2009 in by Matt Moore with 0 Comments

It is not a political statement. It is not a protest. He said it is not intended as a slap on patriotism, or the ongoing war but Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy has long been absent from the Rose Garden Arena floor during the national anthem.For two seasons now, Roy leaves the court before “The Star Spangled Banner” is performed. He waits out of sight, in the arena tunnel, and has a quiet moment of prayer while his teammates stand and honor America together.Something about that feels troubling.

via Canzano: The moment when Blazers leader Brandon Roy is absent | John Canzano – â€“ OregonLive.com.

I never served in the military, though I am the son of United States Navy sailor. My father-in-law is a former marine, my brother-in-law is currently flying large airplanes over Germany and hopefully smuggling back Rieslings for me. So I can’t vouch for what it means to them to have people stand at attention. I have a pretty good idea, but I can’t say for sure.

This isn’t to say I have an issue with Brandon Roy. He’s not lazy, he’s reflecting in something personal. I always think about if it gets annoying for the players, standing every other day for the National Anthem. You can focus on the sacrifices made in this country’s honor probably most of the time, but isn’t your mind going to slip to what you need at the grocery store, or paying that bill, or you know, how the hell you’re going to guard Kobe Bryant?

Roy isn’t blanking, he’s taking a personal moment to reflect, integrating that into his schedule at an appropriate time. To do that night in and night out when it would be easier to stand on the floor and daze out as I’m sure some players are would be easier than what he does. So I’m not upset with Brandon Roy. I admire him.

And frankly, it’s none of our damn business.

There’s A Red And Black Storm On The Horizon

November 24, 2009 in by Matt Moore with 0 Comments

His confidence soaring, Oden returned to the locker room after the game — and an NBATV interview — to joke on camera that his Ohio State Buckeyes would “smash” either the Beavers or the Ducks in the Rose Bowl. He laughed and smiled as he said, “Sorry, but it’s true.” What’s this? Giggles talking smack? Love it.

While the hot discussion topic might still be whether Steve Blake or Andre Miller should start at point guard, tonight we finally saw real evidence that Miller running the second unit is good for all parties. Make no mistake, Miller had a much better game than Blake tonight. But ask yourself this: Does Miller score the same 16 points if he plays all his minutes alongside Brandon Roy? Probably not. Does Brandon Roy score 18 points if he plays all of his minutes alongside Andre Miller? Do these two players, the team’s two best play-makers, combine for 12 assists if their minutes overlapped more? Are both Aldridge and Oden able to get going if Roy and Miller are both in the game simultaneously, if Blake isn’t there to keep the defense a little bit more honest? Does the team’s dominant second quarter take place if Blake is running the show rather than Miller?

via Media Row Report: Blazers 122 BullsÂ 98 – Blazersedge.

I’m having to walk a fine line with the Blazers this season. On the one hand, I see Oden finally coming into form. His defense is just monstrous right now, and last night he actually had post moves-post moves!- working. That’s unstoppable.Â It’s the same thing with Howard. When Dwight actually has his drop step hook going, like in Game 7 of the Boston series last year? Nothing you can do. Same with Oden. They were passing, they were working, they were moving as a team and not just “Brandon Roy And His Band Of Misfit Toys!.” This team really is on the verge of absolutely detonating a crater into the Western Conference. And Nate McMillan must get some of the credit for that.

On the other hand, I still feel like he’s responsible for their occasional lapses in focus, for mismanaging the backcourt, and for generally not being awesome. But Ben makes a good point that Miller’s actually too good for the first unit. And with results like last night, even against an offensively neutered Bulls team that really just wants to go home from this horrific road trip, he’s got them playing at an amazingly high level.

Also, I say Jerryd Bayless play last night and my heart soared.

/swoon

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