Blazer update #3

Rudy Fernandez
I’ll make this short. Rudy surpasses all my expectations this year. I thought that he would be a solid #2 off the bench, able to make a fantastic play here and there and heck even win a game by himself. What I did not expect was the rate of three pointers he would make. Setting an NBA Rookie record for made threes, purely great, especially for a player who is not a smooth shooter like Ray Allen.

Nicolas Batum
Obviously the biggest surprise of the year, did anyone see him in the summer league? If you didn’t let’s just say his shot would always end up with the sound of “clank.” He looked dreadful, but there he was a few games into the season as a starter? Why? Sure the injury to Webster but he also complimented the other starters too well, not to play him, and for an 19 year old rookie for overseas he played beyond his years. And don’t forget the dunks on Pau.

Jerryd Bayless
Talk about a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, and I mean that in a good way. This is one of the few players in the league that can explode to and even through the hoop. He busted onto the scene in during the summer league and left all of Portland drooling. But the summer league competition is a far cry from the NBA and Bayless never seemed to find consistency or playing time.

Nate McMillan
How do we judge a coach? Overall I’d say buy wins. During his tenure he has gone from, 32 wins, 41 wins, to 54 wins. Looking at those numbers you’d have to say he has done a terrific job. Of course some of that has to do with the new players that have been brought in and the growth of those players. Then again is it not’s the coach’s job to develop those players? Lets say he has one big player to develop and this team will be competing for championships.

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Blazers in review part 2

Travis Outlaw
By far the most polarizing player on the blazers roster. Most people either love him on this team or hate him. I fall somewhere in the middle, occasionally thinking to myself this guy has to be on our team he has won some many games for us, and then quickly changing my mind and thinking this guy jacks up too many bad shots.

Whatever you think of him you have to say he has progressed every year. That is except for this year. His number remained about the same as last year. Which leads me to the conclusion that this might be it for Travis. The Blazers brass and fans alike have said year after year that this next season will be the year we get to see what Travis can do, but once a six year veteran has similar years are you not at that point? I now firmly believe that Outlaw will always be best suited as a 6th man, who scores roughly 13 pints a game, gets a few boards and hardly passes the ball, a great scorer off the bench but not a third option on a championship team.

Joel Przybilla
First off I want everybody to know I spelled his last name correct first try. Joel from all accounts had a great year, not only did he play in all 82 games for the first time in his career, but he played every game as if he was the starter. Coming into the year he was primed to be the best back up center in the game. But the true professional that he is prepared himself to be a factor anytime he was on the court. He had increases in almost every category you could as for but the most telling in this case was his plus-minus, which went up 4.92. Not only that he became the Blazers back up leader, and was the only full time hard nosed defender on the team.

Steve Blake
Blake must have been listening to everyone this past summer. We said we needed a PG who could hit the open three, Blake increased 3-point % this year by 2.1% coming in at 42.7% which ranked 13th in the league and attempting one more three per game this year. We said we needed a PG who could score bit more to take the pressure off of Roy, Blake increased his scoring by 2.5 points per game for a total of 11ppg. We said we needed a PG who could defend, well ok he's not perfect.

Blake improved greatly from last year to this year. Really solidifying himself as the Blazers #3 leader, behind Roy and Przybilla. That being said is he the PG who will lead us to a championship? I'm not sure many people say you have to have a great PG to win, I'm not sure about that either, who was the last great PG to win a championship? Look at the last 5.

2008 Rajon Rondo
2007 Tony Parker
2006 Jason Williams
2005 Tony Parker
2004 Chauncey Billups

Obviously Rondo is not there yet as a great PG, he may be one day but it's too early to tell now. Parker is borderline great, Jason Williams we can just throw off this list, and Billups has proved he belongs. So what can we take away from this? Do you need a top tier PG? Not necessarily, but having a great PG does not guarantee a trophy.

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Blazers in review part 1

Now that the season has been over for a couple weeks (drag) I’ll start putting up some player reviews. Not everyone mind you but those players who had an impact on the team for the good and the bad, first up the big three.

Brandon Roy

What’s to say really? After all this man did for the team last year could we say that he was still the most improved player on the team? For the most part he stayed healthy missing only four games this year, some of which were due to a death in the family, his scoring went up 3.5 points per game, FG% was up 2.6%, and still carried 5 boards and 5 assists, all while playing half a min less per game (thank you Rudy).

Brandon Roy went from fringe All Star player this year to the 7^th best player in the NBA. The man is a leader of one of the most promising teams in the league. Stay in school kids.

LaMarcus Aldridge

The Blazers second gun, I won’t even call him Robin to Roy’s Batman, how about a young Batman to Roy’s Prime Batman? Aldridge just needs to learn a few things. Before the season, the knock on LA (besides his nickname) was that he was too soft and didn’t take the ball inside. This year he came out and proved that he could play anywhere from the rim to 18 feet. He went inside, he went outside, he popped of the pick and roll, and for a softy he got 7.5 rebounds a game, not bad for a guy who competed with Joel and GO for boards. Do people realize he averaged just 1 point less this year than Brandon did last year? One year younger too. Hmm me thinks he is going to be on a nice incline next year.

Greg Oden

Disappointment was the word that fallowed Oden around this year. I’m not sure if I’d got that far. Looking at his base stats you see 8 points and 7 boards in 21 mins of play. Now some people are looking at that and saying, hey if you give him 36 mins he averages 14 and 12. While that sounds nice, it’s not like the coaching staff was holding him back, they can’t play a player who is in constant foul trouble. The biggest thing Greg can do this off season is work on keeping his hands up and moving his feet. I am going to throw some stats around just to show you how he can play. Let’s look at January, he was back from the ankle injury and played some of his best ball, these are the kind or numbers I expect from him next year.

Games 10

Mins 33.1

Points 14.4

Rebounds 9.5

Double Doubles 4

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Blazer Game Blog – Game 5

Hey, the only game they’ve won this series is the one I blogged. It’s obvious what I need to do to help the team…make random remarks about nothing in particular and pretend like I know something about basketball.

Just a little change of format to mention first; times posted correspond to game clock in the quarter. Onward!

Q1

11:02 Nice aggressive move from Steve Blake. He misses a shot but follows and gets the board. He surveys the options and chooses to take it right into Brooks drawing the foul. This will help the cause a lot tonight.

8:09 Inconsistencies showing already on defense. I’m still amazed that our defenders can’t stay home. We’re not necessarily getting screened, we’re just getting lost. Over-committing on help D without keeping an eye open for movement in your zone might have something to do with it. Frustrating!

5:27 Dear LaMarcus, please please pretty please get a goddamned hand in Scola’s face. Because playing 6 feet off him isn’t working very well. Mmmmkay, thaaaaanks.

4:09 Blazers are finally starting to play the game instead of the calls. Good things happen when you just bear down and play your style of ball, zebras be damned.

1:29 Blazers forgot to crash the boards again. This has been a 2+ minute stretch where there isn’t a white shirt to see in the paint after the shot goes up. If we’ve learned only one thing from this series we need to get on the offensive boards.

Q2

11:08 Wow, it's Outlaw sparking the action on the boards. Do you think someone has a “listen fucker” talk with him?

9:58 Blazers are finally making the Rockets take some poor shots. Result? Three straight Rocket’s possessions ending scoreless. And as we might have expected, Outlaw’s zeal on the boards seems to have sparked his shooting touch.

6:43 Rockets run fueled by…guess…that’s right, fouls! We have two guys over 7 feet tall. Put your arms up and keep them up. That’s all you need to do! Good news is that Outlaw may force Mike Rice to shave his head (assuming the bet is still on). The man looks like he’s been rebounding with authority for years, instead of deciding that tonight would be a good time to pick up the art.

4:07 GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH! Aldridge, take it inside. Fuck already. Seriously.

3:45 Is Yao some evil villainous mastermind? The only explanation I can muster for not picking up a clear foul during that one-on-one against Outlaw is that he kidnapped the families of the refs and threatened to kill them if they blew a whistle against him. I know, it’s farfetched. He probably just told the refs that he did this.

1:38 As it’s been mentioned before, Scola is a greasy-headed, cross-eyed, douchebag of epic proportions. Believe that.

0.12.2 Roy makes a really smart move to cut off Brooks. Recognizing that Brooks has his head down, Roy slides over to take the charge. Blazers have a chance to add to a 5 point lead before half. Travis has been hot….

0.0.7 But instead our All-Star finds a path to the basket as so often has. Good performance overall by the Blazers, but we’ve have got to keep the intensity up. To keep the Rockets from celebrating on our floor, Q3 can’t have its usual slow start.

Q3

9:12 Roy isn’t making shots. Time to get the rest of the team involved, especially considering you’re getting decent shooting nights from Aldridge, Outlaw and Blake.

8:38 On cue, monster drive from Aldridge for a thunderous two-handed dunk. It’s obvious how much this affects Houston’s D because on the next possession 3 Rockets try to cut off Aldridge as he drives to the basket. An incredible pass to Pryz ends with another dunk. This is what we’ve waited the entire series for! Timeout Rockets…

6:53 Just noticed that we haven’t heard a peep from Artest all night. Dude faded quicker than William Hung. Oh, yes, I just went there.

4:54 Rockets are ratcheting up the defensive pressure since the Blazers took the double digit lead. We’re taking poor shots and not getting to the rim…and here comes Roy with a driving layup to break a scoring slump.

3:31 Can we please set a screen with a little body behind it? What the hell is up with these namby pamby screens? Knock someone down!

2:28 Pryz is doing a nice job fronting Yao. It helps when he’s gassed and the Rockets can’t afford to take him out. Will this be the difference down the stretch?

0:1:5 A three from Aldridge? With Outlaw, Rudy, and Roy on the floor, there is no reason this should be our final shot. I’m actually a little speechless about the epic failure there. Plus the fact that we had our usual slow Q3 start shooting only 33% and allowing Houston to shave the lead from 7 to 2.

Q4

9:45 The Blazers have to keep going inside. The game might as well be called if we resort to 17 foot jumpers.

7:25 Someway, somehow, the Rockets have fouled enough to put us in the penalty for the rest of the game. Mind boggling.
6:33 Von Wafer manages to get stuffed by the backboard. The bottom of the backboard. Fail.

4:50 Never underestimate the rally factor of seeing an opponent getting stuffed by the blackboard. Blazers on a big run to go up by 11. And now it's Oden fronting Yao, playing good defense, getting blocks and boards...it's a beautiful thing.

1:25 I’m impressed with the poise the Blazers have played with. They’ve been tight in this series as fourth quarter winds down but they are really getting after it now. A Joel block seals the deal with about 55 seconds left. It looks like the jitters might finally have worked themselves out. The big question, obviously, is can we translate this to the road? Right now, though, just savor a solid win by your team, Portland.

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Blogging the Blazers - Game 2

I was actually at Game 1, but the less said about that the better.

So tonight while I'm watching the game and recovering from a cold, we're going to give this game blogging a shot. Here we go...

7:11 Tip off – Batum makes a great defensive play on Artest. Nice block to get us going followed by an easy open jumper for Roy. Good start. Unfortunately, Artest hits a shot with Batum right in his face.

7:12 Blake looks aggressive and is being physical with Brooks. Nice drive peeling Brooks off and getting an easy lay up.

7:14 Blake sags off Brooks and get caught playing catch up. He’s got to stay in front of Brooks tonight to be effective.

7:15 Double team catches Artest off guard resulting in shot clock violation. Nice awareness from LA and he follows up with a sweet move on the offensive end. He’s so long he should be able to get a jump hook off over anyone.

7:16 Chill out Portland fans. Roy tried to take the charge but was inside the circle, Battier screened him legally and it was a good call.

7:20 Now you can get pissed. Blake and Brooks get tangled and Brooks was as much to blame but the call goes against the Blazers. Blake immediately hits a 3 to prove a point. He’s going to have to shoulder more of the burden to get us going.

7:22 YAO MISSED. OMFG YAO MISSED!

7:23 Out of bounds off Portland? You’re telling me that between the 6’8” Batum and the 7’6” Yao, the rebound get tipped out by Batum? Egregious.

7:28 What does Roy have to do to get a call? Just curious. It would be nice if David Stern would just write him a cordial letter explaining why full body contact from the defense isn’t a foul when he drives.

7:30 Holy crap, I just figured it out. Aaron Brooks looks like a cross between Chris Rock and the Joker. You could probably throw in a little Reese Witherspoon. Creepy.

7:34 Am I more surprised by the fact that Mutombo went down or that he lasted this long? Poor guy. I can’t explain it, but I like Mutombo. I’m not sure it’s even possible to dislike him. The Blazers are going to have to fight the “Win One for the Gipper” syndrome. Yikes.

7:40 Greg calmly hits two free throws after the wait. Smooth. And followed by a spectacular steal and dunk from Rudy. Woo!

7:44 Dagger from Roy! Everyone knows he’s going to drive inside as the clock winds down on the first quarter. Nice change of pace. Hitting the shot helps.

7:46 Yes! Both Oden and Joel in the game. Let’s knock some teeth out. Good drive by Travis results in easy jumper over Yao.

7:51. Yo Von. You know what happens when you go 1 on 3? You get your fro-hawk packed. Word.

7:59 Rudy and La work so well together, I’d like to see them on the floor together more often. Lineup right now is Blake, Fernandez, Roy, LA, and Oden. Scratch that, cheap foul on Oden brings Travis in.

8:07 Rocket have taken the lead off of good physical play and slow defensive rotations by the Blazers. We’re not finding the open men, we’re not pursuing, and our help D sucks.

8:08 Aldridge is keeping us in the game right now. Dude is on fire. This type of play is why he could be a superstar. Plus, he looks pissed. LA never looks anything. Still, Yao is sitting while the Rockets inch ahead. I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

8:14 What a sweet mini-run by the Blazers. That’s the passion, the fire, the uprise! Good defensive stretch to pair with that run and gun.

8:16 Statement time. 12.2 left and we’re coming out of a timeout. We must execute…eesh. Well, we got the drive, but Roy misses a difficult layup. At least the Rockets didn’t get a last shot as we head to the half.

8:34 What a way to start the half with Roy tricking Yao into taking a silly foul. But you’ve gotta hit the foul shot. Gotta.

8:36 If you have three players in the paint boxing out, and none of them go after the rebound, then what have you accomplished? A layup for Scola.

8:38 Why the hell do we start first and second quarters so cold? I swear it takes the team 6+ minutes to get rolling. That won’t cut it in the playoffs. You spot the other team a quarter’s worth of lackadaisical play and you will lose, period.

8:42 Scola is a greasy-haired douchebag. I just had to get that out.

8:43 Joel flops and buys a 4th foul on Yao. I don’t like it, but I’ll take it. Meanwhile, Roy blows down the lane for an easy layup. Gold.

8:45 Blake turns a bunch of grab-assery into a layup because he was, you know, paying attention. Amazing things happen when you pay attention.

8:52 It’s becoming more apparent that Brooks completely carried his Oregon team. He’s good. NBA good.

9:00 You know that quick 7 point lead? Gone. You know that momentum? Gone. It’s a one quarter game. Thankfully, it’s a one quarter game in which Yao and Scola have 4 fouls. So we’ve got that going for us.

9:04 That was a man dunk from LA. You could see extra mustard on that one. He still looks pissed.

9:05 You know that quick 5 point lead? Gone…

9:07 Flubbed oop on the offensive end and a foul on the defensive side. Pull it together Blazers. You’ve got this game if you don’t get tight.

9:12 What we need right now is effective passing and ball movement. Maybe it’s just me but that doesn’t scream Joel and Greg together.

9:14 We’re going to have to score close to 100 to win this game. There’s 7 minutes to go and we’ve got 81. It’s going to be close.

9:21 Good news, we’re hanging in there. Bad news, 5:30 to go and we’re in the penalty.

9:23 Good news, Roy is hitting shots and free throws. Bad news, Aldridge has 5 fouls.

9:24 That was the single most athletic thing I’ve ever seen Oden do. Literally leaps around Yao, grabs Roy’s miss out of the corner of the rim and backboard, and jams it home. Gorgeous.

9:27 I usually wouldn’t comment on a commercial, but they’re showing the players on the bus ride to the rally at Pioneer Square. What a scene. I don’t care if I have to lie, cheat, and steal, I’m there next year.

9:29 Greg fouls out. Joel has 5 fouls. Aldridge has 5. We better play solid D now while we can.

9:30 Blazers playing with real intensity now. Blake boxes out Scola. Roy hits a prayer three. Brooks gets forced into a turnover. Hammer that last nail in, baby!

9:32 Roy out jumps Yao for a rebound. That’s what your all-star does. Enjoy it, Portland. This one is special.

9:34 An Outlaw steal/dunk seals the game. I’m not necessarily the biggest Outlaw fan, but he always seems to make the big fourth quarter play. Awesome.

9:41 How does this sound? Aldridge - 26 pts, 12 boards. Roy – 39 pts, 7 boards.

9:43 Is Brooks for real? These threes are ridiculous! Every single one of them is shredding net. The game is still in hand, but I’m not as confident as I was at 9:34.

9:46 Rudy's free throws to ice it…YES! Portland is alive and kicking in the post-season. Rip City!

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New Logo

You can check out out new animated logo below.

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And your new Portland Trailblazer is Michael Ruffin?

I’m sure this I not what most Blazer fans expected or even wanted. While the Diogu for Ruffin trade looks minor, it does provide the Blazers with a $3 million trade exception. This can be used to take back other teams players or draft picks without sending anything back. The last time Portland had a trade exception they received James Jones and a draft pick from Phoenix. The pick resulted in Rudy Fernandez, so yes these can be very useful. Yesterday on 1080 the Fan, Kevin Prichard was asked if he was going to get a first round pick with the exception, he laughed and then said, and I’m paraphrasing here, if there is a pick we want we will get it. The only reason this deal was done was for the exception Ruffin won’t play this year, if anything he will be waived. This also lowers the Blazers payroll by about 2 million which would save a dollar for dollar penalty in luxury tax. It also helps them out this summer, because Ike is a restricted free agent and the Blazers would have a hold placed on their cap until they signed him or released the option, which would have dug into their free agent money.

Now on to the bigger news of the trade deadline, this was the lack of a significant trade by the Blazers. I feel that the team had a real opportunity to become much better for now and in the future. I think they could have made a move that would cement them in the top 4 of the West and give them a hell of a shot at winning their division. Now would they have had to give up some young players, most likely yes. But here is the problem with young talent, you don’t know for sure what you have. We could have traded possibility for actuality.

Now yes they do get ride of Raef’s contract this summer and that should give them about $6 million to play with including Ike’s money. Now since they are below the cap they can trade for a player that would put them over by that much. So you could get a $10 million player by trading a $4 million player. KP’s thoughts on this basically boil down to the economy. He believes that most teams this summer will not be able to sign/afford players as they have in the past, so the Blazers can get players for cheaper than normal. This is all well and good but in that case you are limited to the free agents out there.

So in short I’m disappointed that the Blazers did not add a big time scorer, this team needs one more. However I still think KP will get something good down the road, but I’m not convinced it will be better than what we could have had.

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Super Bowl Picks

Well it all comes down to this game. Loren is one up on me so basically I have to pick against him to tie for the playoffs.

Derek

Arizona vs Pittsburgh
Arizona. Well first I have to pick against Loren. Can the Cards win? Sure the underdog in the Super Bowl pulls off upsets all the time. Giants vs Pats, Pats vs Rams, uhh well I'm sure I'm forgetting someone else. Throw it to Fitzgerald and let him do what he does.

Loren

Arizona vs Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh. Let me start by saying that no one will be as happy as me if Arizona ends up winning this game. The Cardinals are fun, they have an exciting offense, it's impossible to root against Kurt Warner unless you also like to torture little puppies, and they're the underdogs. Usually this means I would be all of them. However, the Steeler's D is just too much and their offense has been moving the ball consistently. This looks to be a long day for the Cards Offense and they will need multiple big plays and a near perfect game as far as turnovers. That's just too much to ask of them.

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NFL Picks

Here we are, tied going into the Conference Championship weekend. As usual, we are tied due to an extraordinarily high rate of suck at picking the winners.

Onward to fail:

Derek

Philadelphia @ Arizona
Philadelphia. For weeks I've been saying that the Cards are the worst team in the playoffs. So far I've been proven wrong. But in this case I'll take a team whose D can play with the Cards O. I'll say Westbrook breaks two big plays and McNabb has one. This will be enough to get past the Cards. 27-24

Baltimre @ Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh. For me this was one tough pick. I've liked the Ravens for awhile (yes I picked them to lose, but it was to my Dolphins team) and their D has played beyond great. That being said the Steelers D is no slouch and will hold the Ravens running game to less than 50 yards and passing less than 200. I don't think the Ravens will be able to score more than 10 points on O, I think their D will set up a score but... 24-13.

Loren

Philly @ Arizona
'Zona. I'm taking the home team because, in part, they seem to blessed. Somebody is looking out for this team. Getting Boldin back isn't going to hurt, either. And if were to bet on who would be consistently decent over the course of the playoffs, I'd have to lay money on Warner over McNabb.

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
Steelers. The Ravens have not yet been tested by a D as dominating and fast as the Steelers, except perhaps their own in practice. Wait, am I talking myself out of this pick? Nah, with the defenses being equal, I'll stick with the big play ability of Washington and Ward over anything the Ravens have on offense.

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Run Rickey Run

Today Rickey Henderson did one of the toughest things to do in the Majors. He was voted in to the Hall of Fame. I’ve long said that getting into MLB’s Hall of Fame was the most difficult thing in sports to do. Sure I’m not correct in that, but seriously just look at some of the names who have not got in there.

Rickey Henderson holds many a record from steals (50% more than second place) to leadoff homeruns. But the one record I think that elevates him above others is runs. He has scored more runs than anyone else in baseball history with 2295. And as we all know you have to score to win games and winning games is what its all about.

Congrats to Jim Rice as well. This was his last year of eligibility and he finally made the cut.

On another note Mark McGwire received 10 fewer votes than he did last year. Don’t do drugs kids.

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Playoff picks round 2

So first round of playoffs are over and Loren is up 2 to 1. I encourage everyone to check out our next show running from 1.16 and 1.30, you’ll get to see Loren sporting a fine Marino jersey. Anyway on to the picks.

Derek

Baltimore @ Tennessee
Baltimore. Sure, sure I’m taking the underdog with a rookie QB that is playing an away game. However I’ve seen the Ravens last few games and I’m not sure anyone can score more than 10 points on this team I also think the Ravens D will either score or set up an easy score. Plus Ed Reed. 17-10

Arizona @ Carolina
Carolina. Out of the eight teams left Arizona is the one that does not fit. This should be the easiest pick of the week. Carolina will hold the Cards D to a reasonable sum with the help of their running game. 21-17

Charges @ Steelers
Steelers. Pretty much the same thing as Loren says below. 26-13

Philadelphia @ New York Giants
Giants. Can Philly beat the Giants in NY two times in a month. I say no. Theses teams know each other better than most. I’ll take the defending champion, home team, better team. 24-14

Loren

Baltimore @ Tennessee
Tennessee. They've been getting it done all year, and there's no reason to think they'll stop now. I give all the credit in the world to the Raven's D and Joe Flacco for playing at an incredibly high level, but the bubble will burst at some point, and it's likely to be a team that can control the clock, limit mistakes, and run the ball (even against that stellar defense).

Arizona @ Carolina
Carolina. Both teams can score, but only one has a real shot at playing defense. I love the resurgent Kurt Warner story line, but the Panthers are good. Really good. I expect a monster day from Delhomee, and when the defense drops back to cover the pass, Carolina will carve them up with DeAngelo Williams.

Chargers @ Steelers
Steelers. Home crowd, vicious D, well coached, experience. I guess the only thing left to say is that Norv Turner is "leading" the other team.

Eagles @ Giants
Giants. Philly will come up short like it usually does, only this time they won't necessarily beat themselves. They won't have to because NY is good enough to take what Philly can throw at them and punch back harder. The Giants have had a nice rest and I expect them to punish the Eagles with a steady dose of Jacobs, and just when they're out of breath, here come Ward or Bradshaw to slice through the line. I don't think it will even be close.

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Blazers front office makes mistake

In an email I’m sure you’ve read or read about the Portland Trail Blazers have issued a warning to the other 29 NBA teams. Letting them know that if they sign Darius Miles with the purpose of affecting the Blazer salary cap and tax situation then they will contemplate legal action. Below is a copy of the email from Team President Larry Miller.

'Team Presidents and General Managers,

'The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions. Such conduct from a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers' contract rights and perspective economic opportunities.

'Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation.'

And to follow up on that here is a short summary of the situation.

The Blazer released Miles after he was declared unable to perform because of a medical injury. Once this happened the Blazers still have to pay Miles but the remaining $18 million ($9 million for this season and another $9 million for next) does not count against the cap, unless Miles plays 10 games in either this season or next. So far Miles has played in 6 preseason games with Boston and 2 regular season games with Memphis, who recently waived him.

For me this all boils down too the Blazers over reacting. If the Blazers felt that teams are thinking of signing Miles just to put his contract back on their books they should talk to the league about this and not threaten the other teams. This is a league were you have to work with other teams in order to get better. In addition David Stern is not a guy you want to piss off. I think this should have been brought to his attention first and handled from a league stand point.
It feels almost like a bullying statement. It makes me feel like the old regime is back and trying to lay down the law.

And I’m sure that Darius Miles “People” will have issue with this. Obviously it would be easy to argue that the Blazers are trying to hinder Miles career.

Look Portland signed him to this contract. When it became more than clear they did not want to have Darius on the team they had a few choices, cut him, trade him, or try to get him to retire. They decided that his knee was bad enough that an independent doctor might rule that he was unable to play on the knee anymore and could file for a medical retirement. They knew the risks when they decided to go down this road. It was the best choice they had and they went with it. Good for them. But now is not the time to whine about it. The Blazers have made many strides over the past few years. Let’s not revert back, hey you win some and you lose some and the Blazers front office has had quite a winning streak as of late. Perhaps it was time for a loss.

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NFL Playoffs round one

Well the Regular season is over, Loren and I talked about extending the pick competition into the playoffs until we did some math. I’m up by 12 picks and there are only 11 playoff games. So Loren will be donning the Dan Marino Jersey on our next episode. That being said we thought we would pick the playoff games too for fun you know.

Derek

Atlanta @ Arizona
Atlanta. This should be the easiest pick of the first round games. The only problem here is that Atlanta has a rookie QB and is 4-4 on the road, while Arizona is 6-2 at home with a very experience QB. That being said I think that Atlanta will be able to run the ball enough to keep the Cards offense off the field. 24-20

Indianapolis @ San Diego
Indianapolis. I think I’ll take a team that has won 9 in a row and the MVP versus a team that has won 4 in a row and has a hurt LDT. I Think the AFC will come down to Pitt and Indy, so I have to take Indy here. Turner will go down and then Cower will have some tough choices. 31-17

Baltimore @ Miami
Miami. Sure Baltimore’s last playoff win was 20-3 at Miami, sure Baltimore beat Miami 27-13 this season in Miami sure Baltimore’s Offensive coordinator was Miami’s head coach last year and has a huge grudge since being fired after one year (dude you only won a game). That being said I’m a Dolphin fan so I’m taking them in every game I can. Hey they are playing a rookie QB. 24-10

Philadelphia @ Minnesota
Philadelphia. Two of the better running backs face off in this one, so I’ll call that a wash. Philly has a better QB and better D while Minny has the home field. I think Tavaris Jackson will not be able to control the game the way the Vikings need and will end up costing them the game on a Philly defensive TD. 24-20

Loren

Atlanta at Arizona
Atlanta. This one looks so obvious on the surface that you just can't believe it could be that simple. The Falcons have a good defense, a big time RB, and a legitimate (though rookie) QB. The Cards have an inconsistent defense, no running attack to speak of, and a legitimate QB. Hmmm....I'm not saying that Warner and their passing attack can't beat the Falcons. I'm saying that Warner and their passing attack won't beat them.

Indy at San Diego.
Indy. Eesh, no confidence in this pick at all. Choose a Sunday (or Saturday in this case) and the Chargers could beat the Steelers, and could just as easily lose to the Raiders. Indy has a habit of letting teams stay in games and, of course, San Diego likes to turn it on in the fourth quarter. All of this makes me really uneasy, but I can't make myself pick against Manning right now.

Baltimore at Miami
Baltimore. Here's another one that's tough to call. Anyone else get the feeling that Sparano has been saving something really wacky for the playoffs, or that given the circumstances he might send the punting team out on first down and run an option with the backup QB? Unfortunately for them, I don't think any amount of trickery will succeed against the Ravens' D. So here I am again, picking the team with the Rookie QB. Someone stop me, please.

Philly @ Minny
Philly. I can't believe I'm doing this. One of my cardinals rules is that you never, under any circumstances, pick the Eagles in the playoffs. However, if you set up an equation that has Philly's D, McNabb, and Westbrook on one side and has Minny's D, Tarvaris Jackson, and Peterson on the other...which side comes out better. Well, since Jackson actually drags his side of the equation down, I'm going with Philly. You should too, so that I don't feel bad about myself when Minny runs 'em into the ground.

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NFL Picks - Week 17

Another fairly horrible week by both of us, with Derek managing three correct and I only get two. My picks have a habit of blowing games late. At least that's what I tell myself to make it all right...

Make sure you check out Derek's pick for Miami/NYJ. I think he's channeling the ghost of Bill Swersky's Super Fans.

Derek

New York Giants at Minnesota
New York Giants. Minnesota is playing for a playoffs spot NY has already clinched the NFC’s #1. So you would think the Minni would man up and get the job done but I have a feeling the Giants learned from last year momentum counts big time in the playoffs. 24-13

Tennessee at Indianapolis
Indianapolis. No I’ll take the opposite approach from the NY/Minni game. Indianapolis is the home team but both teams have clinched and can’t do anything about their playoff position win or lose. I think Indy needs to win this to put the AFC on notice come playoff time. 31-24

Miami at New York Jets
Miami. Are you kidding me how would I not take the Dolphins here? Sure they are playing in a cold weather game against a team they have lost 5 straight too. But that does not matter this team went 1-15 last year and is a win away from a division championship and the hosting a playoff game. Plus they could ruin the NY Bretts season and knock Pats out of the playoffs. 112-3

Carolina at New Orleans
Carolina. The Saints are just to up and down for me, some people say they will throw the ball just to get Brees the record, but he needs 402 yards, that’s tough to do when the defense knows what you are trying to do. Plus the Panthers can and will run the ball keeping the Saints O off the field. Oh yeah the Panthers are playing for momentum too. 28-17

Denver at San Diego
San Diego. The first reason I’ll take the Chargers is to give Loren a chance here to pick up a game on me. The other reason I’ll take them is they are the home team and have been playing better than the inconstant Broncos. 21-13

Bonus game (too many good games this week)
Dallas at Philadelphia
Philadelphia. Really tough game. I think the Eagles D is good enough to slow down the Cowboys O. Plus the friendly fans of Philly will be out in full force. 17-14


Loren

Giants @ Minny
Giants. New York should be able to limit Peterson, control the ball, and force turnovers. That sounds like a recipe for a win.

Titans @ Indy
Titans. This is a strange game to try to predict. Both teams will likely rest their starters for much of the game so we're basically picking on depth. I happen to think that the Titans are deeper than the Colts.

Miami @ Jets
Jets. Again, I'm picking here more because I need to make up ground and not because I actually think the Jets can, you know, win. But, hey, it could happen...

Carolina @ New Orleans
Carolina. See Derek's post above. Ditto.

Denver @ San Diego
Denver. Gotta be the homer here and go with the hometown team, even though I have no idea how they will pull this out. The only hope I have is that San Diego will realize the name of their city is German for whale's vagina and refuse to take the field due to embarrassment.

Dallas @ Philly
Dallas. Interesting pick here. I do think Philly has more momentum than Dallas (duh). But Dallas has a better ability to make up for mistakes. Besides, Philly used up all their karma with a World Series win, it's time to get back to reality.

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More NFL Picks - It's Almost Like it Matters!

Okay, so now I'm down by 7 or so. The saying is true, you can't dig your way out of a hole. So this week I shall rise above, and climb out of this pit so that I'm in a slighly less deep hole next week.

Here's the picks:

Derek

Pittsburgh at Tennessee
Pittsburgh. Normally I take the home team or the team with the better record but I'll take the team here that seems to be pulling games out the butts. The Steelers D can stop the Titans running game and force Collins to win it. That's good enough for me. 17-14

Atlanta at Minnesota
Atlanta. Why stop picking them now. Not much of a home field advantage since both teams are dome teams. I'll pick the young QB versus the crappy QB. 24-14

Carolina at New York Giants.New York. Wow really tough game to pick. I'll take the Giants D at home. That's my deciding factor. I think they can stop the Williams/Stewart combo. 21-13

Arizona at New England
New England. Slim pickens this week for games. I'll go with the consistant team who is blowing folks out lately at home. Do you realize that if New York and Miami win this week that means the Patriots will be out of the playoffs even though they could finish 11-5. And I for one say YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! 35-28.

Philidelphia at Washington
Philidelphia. Once again I'll take the team that is winning games of late. McNabb seems to be back in gear and the D should be able to hold a one deminsional team to minimal points. 24-10

Loren

Pitt @ Tennessee
Tennesse. I've got to pick against Derek whenever there is even a small chance of victory, so I'll take the home team even though they are missing a key defensive stopper in Haynesworth.

Atlanta @ Minnesota
Minnesota. I used Derek's logic last week and it bit me in the butt. Yes, I realize I'm picking Tavaris Jackson's team based on his performance from last week. God help me. The best part of this game, though, is two guys reaching for the rushing title. Watching these elite runners, assuming you can actually see the game, should be fantastic.

Carolina @ Giants
Carolina. Why not? They're on a hot streak, they have more weapons than the Giants, and they're not afraid of anyone. Do I think they'll win? No. Do I think they have a chance? Yes.

Arizona @ New England
Pats. This is actually an interesting matchup seeing as the Pats secondary is slow of foot. However, that hasn't stopped them from playing well as a unit so far. The bottom line is that the Cards just don't have the defensive talent to hang in there against upper eschelon teams. They just have to be thankful they play in the atrocious NFC West.

Philly at Washington
Philly. I could take Washington here and feel good about it, because it's about time for the Eagles to bone a game they should win. But the Redskins haven't played up to their potential so far this year, why would they start now? Oh, yeah, because I'm picking against them.

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NFL Picks - Week Whatever

Okay, so not only can I not pick games correctly, I can't read Derek's posts and apply simple logic to them.

The end result here is that I'm still 5 down. As long as I'm down, I get to see Derek's picks first, but he gets to choose the games. Elway, I'm sorry, but it looks like I'll be donning the Marino jersey soon.

Here's the picks:

Derek

Tampa Bay @ Atlanta.
Atlanta. Dang these guys. I pick against them all year saying they have to proove it, but then when I finally pick them they stink it up. I'll stick with them since they should be able to run on Tampa like Carolina did. Plus it's a home game. 24-14

Green Bay @ Jacksonville
Jacksonville. Two disappointing teams. I'll go with Jacksonville because they are the home team. I think they will be able to run and control the ball enough to squick out the win. 14-13

Minnesota @ Arizona
Arizona. Minni is playing for their playoff lives. Arizona is already in. I'll again take the home team and the soon to be three time MVP Kurt Warner. I can't believe it. 31-20

Pittsburgh @ Baltimore.
Pittsburgh. Both teams are playing well right now. Both teams have a great D. I'll take the team that won't turnover the ball as much and knows who their RB will be. 13-10

New York Giants @ Dallas
Giants. The boys are doing nothing right, right now. The G-men will take this one easily. 24-14


Loren

Tampa Bay @ Atlanta
Tampa: If I have to start picking against Derek, it might as well be against an inconsistent team like Atlanta, playing a veteran defense like Tampa.

Green Bay @ Jacksonville
Green Bay: Derek's right, these teams are disappointing. I happen to think that Green Bay has more talent over all, but it's a risk picking them on the road. I'll go with Green Bay in a very competitive game.

Minnesota @ Arizona
Arizona: I fully expect Peterson to have a huge game (I need Peterson to have a huge game to give me a shot at $100) but Arizona should find the end zone more often than Minny.

Pitt @ Baltimore
Pitt: This is a dangerous game for the Steelers. They are still working Parker back in, they're coming off two big game wins, so they may be emotionally flat. Baltimore is a team you can't sleep on, so Pitt has to find some fire. I think they will, and it will likely come from their defense as it usually does.

Giants @ Dallas
Giants. I don't think this will be that easy of a game. But I agree that NY should get the victory. Dallas is very talented, but they are internally divisive and cancerous. In other words, they are a team finding ways to beat themselves.

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Thats some mighty fine defense

Check out the video below. It's from our show recorded on 12.5.08.

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How about some more NFL Picks?

Contrary to Derek's assertion last week, I did pick up a game last week. I correctly called Pittsburgh over the Pats, so that leaves the deficit for me at 4. Derek's note. Poor Loren must be confused the comments I made on the week 13 picks obviously refer to week 12 when he went O for 5 and I went 1 for 5, giving me a 5 pick lead. Last week we both went 2 for 5. So I still have a 5 pick lead. Yippie!

On to this week's picks.

Derek

Atlanta @ New Orleans
Atlanta. Ok for a few weeks now I have been picking against the Falcons until they proved to me they could keep it up. Well I think they have done it. Both of these teams are dome teams so expect a high scoring game. 38-31

Miami @ Buffalo
Miami. Buffalo has faltered down the stretch. Miami has played winning football but not great. This game is inside in Toronto, so the Bills home field advantage is out the door. Low scoring game, but the Fins D will stop Lynch. 21-13

Dallas @ Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh. I’m on the Dallas bandwagon but playing in Steal town is a tough task. Pitts D is good enough to hold Big D to a minimal amount of points. 24-14

Tampa Bay @ Carolina
Carolina. The Panthers are one of the few teams I think can run on Tampa Bay. And I don’t think the Bucs O can score versus the Panthers D. 17-6

Washington @ Baltimore
Baltimore. Baltimore is really turning it around right now at the perfect time. They can actually pass the ball for the first time since…ok well this might be the first time. 24-13


Loren

Atlanta @ N.O.
Saints. Since I need to pick up a couple games, this seems like a good opportunity. I'm still not sold completely on Atlanta, and I think the Saints will play with a chip on their shoulder after the loss to Tampa. 35-31

Miami @ Buffalo
Miami. I hate the fact that this is in Toronto, and the Dolphins historically play poorly in cold conditions. However, the Bills are fading and the Dolphins are still playing with confidence. 27-10
Dallas @ Pitt
Steelers. Derek is right, playing in Pittsburgh is tough. The Steelers D has been playing lights out, and the offense is gelling too. This is a dangerous game, though, because Dallas has all the right pieces on offense playing the right way. 31-27

Tampa @ Carolina
Carolina. Tampa is for real, but the Carolina offense is multi-dimensional. They will be able to throw so many looks at the Bucs that they get some open space. Tampa's cover 2 D isn't designed to stop the run, and their front line should get moved around just enough to let Carolina run. 24-12

Washington @ Baltimore
Washington. The Redskins are hit and miss, and it's about time for them to hit. The Ravens are due to get a rookie game from Flacco, and that usually spells a win for the other team. 21-10

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NFL Picks - Week 13

It’s becoming more and more obvious that Loren and I have no idea what we are doing. Loren put up another “0”fer this past week, while I was able to get 1 right. However that puts me up 5. I’ll go get my Marino Jersey ready.

Derek

Carolina @ Green Bay
Carolina. I think Green Bay is sliding down the charts. I think teams have figured out what they do. Carolina on the other hand will be getting a bad taste out of their mouth. They have the game to play in cold weather. RUN RUN RUN. 24-13

New Orleans @ Tampa Bay
New Orleans. I like the way New Orleans is playing that and they get back Reggie “I catch more than a wide receiver” Bush. 38-14

Atlanta @ San Diego
San Diego. I just can’t trust the Falcons, prove it first. San Diego has been there before and I’ll go with them. 21-17

Pittsburgh @ New England
New England. Mark my words New England will win the rest of their games this season. The O is clicking and will roll people from here on out. 38-20

Chicago @ Minnesota
Minnesota. AP will run over the Bears D. QB’s are a blight on this game. 17-13

Loren

Carolina @ Green Bay Carolina. The Saints exposed a weakness in the Packer's D, and while the Panthers don't have the same passing attack, they can go vertical and have a better ground game to complement it. 34-27

New Orleans @ Tampa Bay New Orleans. Brees is a legitimate MVP and has a chance to break the all time single season passing record. Tampa's D is better than Green Bay's, but the Saints should still be able to get up the field. 35-17

Atlanta @ San Diego San Diego. It's at home, and the Chargers can smell the Bronco's blood in the water. Despite Atlanta thumping Carolina last week, I still think they're too inconsistent to pull off a big road win against a physical team. But they're not far off...27-16

Pittsburgh @ New England Pitt. Like the rest of the country, I'm curious to see if Cassel can handle a team that punches you in the mouth as often as the Steelers. Pittsburgh can also score in a myriad of ways, but if they get in a shootout with New England they're in trouble. 27-21

Chicago @ Minnesota Chicago. Another tossup game. I can't find a reason to pick one team over another other than possibly the QB situation in Minny. They don't have the ability to efficiently execute an offensive scheme on a regular basis. 31-19

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NFL Picks - Week 12

Last week's results first. Derek went into the week with a 3 game lead, the largest lead of the season so far.

Well it got bigger thanks to Washington's amazing ability to beat themselves at every opportunity. Derek called Dallas over Washington and Tampa over Minnesota, while I picked Denver over Atlanta.

The net result is a +4 for Derek over the season. Plenty of games left, no desperation yet. Everything is fine. No reason to panic...


Derek

New York at Tennessee
Tennessee. Besides home field advantage, I just dont believe the Jets are that good of team. Their wins are not that impressive and I'm not a Farve fan. So I'll go out on a limb and stick with the undefeated team. 24-18

New England at Miami
Miami. A rematch of the first glimps of the wildcat formation. I don't think this will turn out ot be blow out like that game but I think the Dolphins will have a good chance at home. 24-20

Minnesota at Jacksonville.
Jacksonville. Power running versus power defense. Each way really. I guess I'll go with the home team. Loser is out of the playoff race all together. 17-10

Carolina at Atlanta
Carolina. The Falcons have been a big surprise this season. But I'll go with a proven team. They'll run it down the Falcons throat. 24-14

Green Bay at New Orleans
New Orleans. Packers just are not as good as they started out. New Orleans has too many weapons and will be able to move up and down the turf. 31-13


Loren

Jets @ Titans
Titans. They have a strong defense and a reliable running game, the two most important factors for long term success. The Jets counter with a very solid defense and Brett Favre. Guess which one has been providing the winning margin... 34-16

Pats @ Dolphins
Dolphins. As you'll hear in our upcoming show, I think the offensive sets used by Miami are perfect against the Pats defense. It forces them, slowed by age and injury already, to adjust before attacking. It's perfectly crafted to get Miami's players into space before the D can close on them. I agree with Derek, it will probably be closer. 26-17

Vikings @ Jags
Jags. I can't take Minnesota against any legitimate defense; there are simply too few options outside of Peterson. The Jags haven't exactly been lighting it up, either, but they're also home team. 20-14

Packers @ Saints
Packers. What's up with all these 5-5 teams. To make the matter more confusing, they all seem to have lost to each other. It makes it a little hard to prognosticate. However, I believe that the Packers can play better while the Saints are too porous on D to win consistently. Plus Bush may not play and even if he does, he won't be 100%. 35-24

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