This is going to be brief, but I wasn’t surprised to see that the team with the worst record in the NBA didn’t win the lottery. However, despite the Nets not winning it, I think they’ll still be alright. It just means that between Wall and Turner, they pick whoever the Wizards don’t pick.

Wait… What about the Sixers? Don’t they decide the fate of the Nets’ pick since they’re second and all? It means draft the second best player, which would likely be whoever the Wizards don’t pick between John Wall and Evan Turner, right? Well, the problem is that they have Jrue Holiday and Andre Igoudala already. The only thing that I could see is Turner gets picked by the Sixers, but Igoudala playing as a SF? It doesn’t seem right. It would be a scary backcourt though. Their need seems to be at finding a dominant big man anyway, as Dalembert and Speights don’t exactly seem all too scary. I could see the Sixers trading down if they don’t feel they need either Wall or Turner.

Assuming this is true and Sixers don’t pick either, that means the Nets aren’t in too bad of a situation. Drafting one of them third overall means that they get Wall or Turner at a discount, which to be honest, is pretty good. Nothing else in the lottery seems to be much of a surprise there. Everyone else was in order for the most part, minus the Sixers/Nets/Wizards mix-up.

Portland is 22nd, one after the OKC Thunder. But what are the Blazers’ needs? Big man seems bad with Camby and Oden available at the start of next season, but could think about long-term since Camby won’t be with Portland for more than a season. Someone to back-up LaMarcus wouldn’t be bad. Portland’s problem is that they’d be drafting someone that would likely be a bench player, which seems mighty expensive. Miller, Roy, Batum, LA, Camby (or Oden eventually), is a pretty solid starting line-up. Miller would eventually be replaced by Bayless. The first round pick would likely be a project or a long-term investment. I don’t think it’s worth it. SG perhaps given Roy’s injury battles as of late?

What do you think?

The 2008-2009 season is slowly starting to near with each minute. And there’s that sense of enjoyment and excitement that comes with it, especially with this season. Why? It’s simple. Rip City is back in Portland, but more importantly, it’s throughout the northwest now. As sad as it may be that Seattle no longer has a team to call its own, they have a team in which they can root for that is on the up and coming that’s just down south on I-5.

There’s a lot of reasons to be excited for this young team though. I was reading an article written by a local blog that covers Blazers news called Blazer’s Edge about reasons to root for the Blazers, so I felt I would list my own reasons for why people should at least keep an eye on these guys.

1. Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, and Lamarcus Aldridge are the next Big Three. It’s obviously not the same kind of big three that Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and KG bring, but they bring a lot of energy and athleticism to the court. It will be great to finally see them on the court together. Oden will be doing monster dunks, Aldridge will be shooting from the perimeter and providing a defensive rebounding presense to complement Oden, and Roy will help run the offense and give everyone on the team opportunities to get on the scoreboard.

2. The rookies join the set. When I saw Bayless online during the summer league, I was mighty impressed with him. He had this composure and fearlessness that is hard to find in rookies. To attack the basket and shoot effortlessly was a sight to see. It felt as if the organization had the steal of the 2008 draft in Bayless. While he will likely make the transition to point guard, that ferocity and aggressiveness on the offensive side of the ball will definitely provide a big boost to the team.

Rudy Fernandez joining the Blazers is going to be exciting as well. For those that didn’t get the opportunity to see him play in the Gold Medal game in the Beijing Olympics, you missed out. I think the play that made him big was the dunk that he did on Dwight Howard. He provides a lot of energy to the court and will be another offensive threat on the court. Great jumpshot, winning attitude from his days in Spain, and great game overall.

3. Team-first attitude but with energy. I think this is probably one of the bigger reasons to follow the team. It’s hard to find a team that does this these days. The only team I can really think of off the top of my head is the Detroit Pistons. These guys are focused on success. They’re not greedy for the most part and they work well together. And they stand up for each other as well. Prime example of this is the last Lakers/Blazers game last season.

4. No attitudes or egos to worry about. The NBA is a lot about big names and big egos that run around the court. But it’s hard to really find one on this team. They may get attention, but not for the wrong reasons. They let their game do the talking, rather than their mouths.

5. They’re going to be a fun team to watch. I don’t think you can say that they aren’t. With the addition of Bayless and Rudy to go with all the other fearless players on this team, like Roy, Oden, and Outlaw, you’re going to see a lot of dunks and blocks this season. Last season alone provided so many games that resulted players from the team being on the highlight reel. This season won’t be a letdown, especially with Oden and his monster dunks and blocks.

But just think about it. Is there anything you can really say badly about this team? They’re a young team, and yes, with inexperience, but that’s fine. It’s what happens when the team consists of such young stars. Mistakes will happen. But they’re growing up together throughout this process and it will be great to see them mature together as a team and really learn what it takes to finally succeed and become a force in the NBA. And with a coach like Nate McMillian to keep them down to earth, they will have the elements that will help them contend for a title in the years to come.

I had been looking forward to Monday night for the past few weeks. I had found out that my roommate managed to get four tickets to the Blazers/Sonics game. But this was a bit more special than most other tickets. A lot of it had to do with the fact that this could be the last game in Seattle between the two teams (which I will get into more in a moment). Part of it is the fact that my favorite team is in Seattle.

But mainly… It was the fact that it was free. And in the eighth row. Center court. The thought of being in your rival team’s arena that close and personal cheering on your hometown team…

After getting some dinner at Dick’s, we walked over to KeyArena. We discussed the overall look and feel of it. It looked pretty good. The facilities themselves aren’t too shabby, which made us wonder why on Earth it is in need of a renovation. We started working our way towards the seats and we were pretty amazed. It was probably one of the best seats in the house. I was pretty excited. Seeing Brandon, LaMarcus, and the rest of the Blazers warming up, taking shots, goofing off, and so forth. It didn’t take long to start getting into the game.

The game started out pretty well. Both teams were trading buckets early on. However, it was Martell Webster that was starting to light up the scoreboard, knocking down three pointers, giving the Blazers a pretty early lead. From the looks of how things were going, it was going to be an easy victory for the Blazers. LaMarcus was causing a lot of problems for the Sonics with his size and ability to distribute the ball. They couldn’t find anyone to match up to him and his abilities. I recall one moment where he was in the paint and Pryzbilla was calling for the ball since he was wide open and LA was being double-teamed. He found Joel and Joel finished it up with a powerful dunk. It was good to see LaMarcus being part of the future front-court for the Blazers.

Sonics weren’t going to give up though. They started making their own shots and had some pretty impressive plays. Durant got a few “dunks” in there. Damien Wilkins was making shots as well, including the buzzer beater at the end of the first quarter. Although, while they were making shots from outside, they had problems from the foul line. Collision had a few issues trying to score from there and even Ridnour missed one. But Blazers were willing to take whatever gifts were given to them, whether it be turnovers or missed free throws.

As the third quarter came around, things started falling apart. I noticed that LaMarcus was nowhere to be seen. Brandon was still off on his shooting game in the second half. No one was getting down low to pick up the offensive boards. Shots weren’t going down. It didn’t help either that the Sonics were making shots regardless of how much pressure was on them. They were just hitting it from everywhere. Green from beyond the arc… Petro with a baby hook… Ridnour with a midranged shot… Durant from long-range. It was pretty much unbelievable. It makes you wonder how they were on an eleven game losing streak with this kind of shooting.

In any case, Sonics built up their lead quickly and just left the Blazers in a huge hole. Given how their shooting woes continued in the fourth quarter, there was little chance of a comeback. Jarrett Jack’s four-point play gave me a bit of hope of a comeback, but trading baskets with an eight point deficit wasn’t going to do it. No urgency to win boards on the offensive end did not help the cause.

In the end, the scoreboard said it all… Blazers 84, Sonics 97.

Things that I would say that worked out for the Blazers… LaMarcus was definitely key in this game. His presence was really needed in there. When he left the game, the Blazers started to collapse a bit, since the physical game down low wasn’t around. They could have used his hands to get rebounds and shoot in the low block too. Pryzbilla had some great defensive stops, especially the one where he stuffed Jeff Green’s block. Martell in the first quarter was quite amazing still…

Things that could have been worked on… The tenacity on the offensive boards dropped a lot in the second half. Maybe it was Aldridge gone. Maybe it was fatigue, but it didn’t seem to be there. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. Too many turnovers that game kept the Sonics in the game in the first half. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so close had they held onto the ball better. Shots going in the second half would have been nice, but you can’t always expect to make every shot.

It was a fun game though. It left me with a sad feeling knowing that this could have been the last Portland/Seattle game ever. The KeyArena facilities seemed to be perfectly fine. It just left me questioning why they wouldn’t bother renewing the contract. Is it the issues with maintenance and upkeep costs for the arena? Or is it just the fact that Bennett wants a team in Oklahoma City more than anything else? I don’t know. But I do know is that KeyArena seemed to be perfectly fine. It seemed like a great place for fans to enjoy a game and watch their Sonics play. Just no one is willing to show the money and buy it from the greedy one named Clay Bennett. Granted that I am a Blazers fan, I think that it’s important to show support against the move to Oklahoma. I saw a huge crowd of fans standing and chanting “Save our Sonics!” throughout the game. They got everyone into the spirit of desiring to keep them in town by chanting along with them.

This game was the 192nd game between the two cities. Let’s just hope there is another 192 more after this season.

I took more pictures than just the scoreboard. I’ll upload them onto Flickr sometime soon.

It was about the turn of the century when things started going wrong for the Blazers. They didn’t win a NBA championship, despite getting into the Western Conference finals again. They were falling apart at the seams in terms of team chemistry. The front office was antsy and wanted to see results. Things weren’t going as planned. So changes were made in coaching and player personnel. Eventually, it reached a point where if someone in the basketball world was in trouble with the law for fights in bars or drugs, you would assume it was someone from the Blazers team, hence the name “Portland Jail Blazers”. For a Blazers fan, it was frustrating.

However, things began to change. It started with changes in the front office. Steve Patterson was no longer there and was replaced by Kevin Pritchard. The focus became mainly one theme: A strong team with strong character and a desire to strengthen the community. The Blazers eventually got the rights to the second and sixth picks in the draft, LaMarcus Aldridge of the University of Texas and Brandon Roy from the University of Washington, both players with a lot of potential and upswing and high character. The 2006-2007 season wore on with little success, but knowing that there were two young guys that were great players but also two that returned back to the community really started to vanquish the Jail Blazers image.

2007 came with huge dividends. They won the 2007 NBA lottery and thus the rights to the number one overall pick of the draft, picking up Greg Oden from Ohio State. He was young, mature, polite, and fit perfectly with the image of what the front office wanted. They also got rid of the remaining members of the Jail Blazers squad, starting with a fresh new roster with high hopes and big goals.

… And it paid off immensely.

What came out of it was a thirteen game winning streak for the team, the longest of the current 2007-2008 season and potential chance of making it into the playoffs with a youthful, inexperienced team. All of this in a matter of a couple years by now general manager Kevin Pritchard. The Blazers story has become a great feel-good story for the NBA, not only because they are doing so well despite the lack of experience and youthfulness of the squad, but also because of character, chemistry, and unity among the players on the team. It isn’t a team of high egos and all with personal agendas. It’s about a group of young men that are seeking the same goal and working together to achieve that goal. Granted, it will take some time to get there, but they realize that and are always willing to learn and improve their game to the next level.

It’s this transition that the team and organization has made that should give other teams that haven’t been doing so well a lot of hope. What’s encouraging to know is that there are a lot of other players in the college arena that have a lot of great potential and character that can really contribute to the teams that they join. It’s a matter of taking the time to scout and researching these players to find them.

Sometimes, it’s just better to be the good guy than it is to be the cool one.