“Doctors have told me that I should be 100 percent by the time it’s all healed. I can’t predict the future, but I know I’m preparing myself right now to be an [NBA] all-star.”

I’ve been a big Oden apoligist since he came into the league. There is no question he has the physical talent to dominate on the glass and at the defensive end. And I’d rather see him with confidence then without, but can we maybe set the goal for the year at actually playing a full season? Hell I bet the Blazers would take 60 games as long as he’s ready come playoff time. From all accounts he’s a nice humble guy.  Best of luck Greg, I hope you prove me right and the naysayers wrong.

Says Haarlow, “It was a difficult decision to leave the Portland Trail Blazers organization because it’s family.  While I will always be grateful to the Blazers for the opportunity they gave me, I am very excited to take this new step in my career with FS West.”  In addition to Haarlow’s coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers, she has also re-joined Fox Sports Network in its national coverage of Pac-10 Football and Basketball, as well as assorted other programming.

Link

Meh, no biggie.

After all there has be like like thousands of good looking chicks that know nothing about basketball and want to get jack-hammered by LaMarcus Aldridge. Though, this may cause some chemistry issues in the Bryant household. Vanessa better be on her toes because Rebecca is right in Kobe’s wheelhouse (allegedly).

Yup, it’s come up–yet again. There were rumblings about it last off-season, and even more leading up to late months draft. Just finish the job already, this is turning into an ‘Annette Hargrove‘ situation.

This time though it is obvious that Paul wants out of the big easy more than ever, and there are actually some names from the Blazers roster being floated out there.

Initially some of the reports were saying Batum and Aldridge for CP3, and I would pull that deal in a second. Batum looks like a potential big time talent and defensive force, but LA is dead weight and never going to shake off the tag of being soft up in PDX.

Now the ‘hottest’ rumor is CP3 and Okafor for Batum, Oden, Rudy, Miller, the rights to Joel Freeland, and a 2012 first round pick. That deal seems a tad heavy to me, especially when Okafor is carrying around a huge contract.

The popular theory is that new Hornets coach and ex-Blazers assistant, Monty Williams, absolutely covets Batum and still sees Oden as having a good career in the league, making those two the centerpieces of any potential deal with Portland.

The Blazers (or anyone else) aren’t going to “Gasol” the Hornets and pull off a one-sided deal, you gotta give up talent to get talent. I’m comfortable giving up just about anyone on the Blazers roster, as they clearly won’t be winning shit with the group they have now, so why just tread water?

This deal apparently almost happened earlier this month, and I’m guessing something similar would still be an option.

A starting lineup with CP3, B-Roy, LA, Camby/Okafor would look mighty nice. Sure, they would have to fill in the 3, but that would vault them into being the favorites in the NW division and possibly in play for the #2 spot in the playoffs.

Hey new Blazers GM who’s name I cannot remember: Give me Paul, or give me death!

I’m still up in the air on how I feel about this move by the Blazers. On one hand I love Matthews as a player and I think he can really help the Blazers, but then I see 5 years and $34 million for a backup and I start thinking could that money not have been better spent for the future when we could potentially land a big point guard. I think any way you look at it you can find strong reasons for both sides, but now that it’s official I’m looking forward to seeing this kid play.

I’m still a little curious how they will use Matthews. Are they going to bring him in for Roy or do you just switch him in and out with Batum so you have at least one lock down defender in at any time. Whatever way Nate chooses to use him he will hustle his ass off and leave everything on the court. Now all that needs to be done is to get rid of Nate and the Blazers are set.

Get use to seeing this when we play the Lakers.

I also don’t think there is any chance that Wade and Lebron end up on the same team. If you pay attention to this site than you already know why. I do think that some of those guys that are a little further on down that list could be teamed with a guy like Wade or James and make a very dangerous combo. Those guys need players that are pure shooters. Guys like Mike Miller, Matt Barnes, JJ Redick, and Ray Allen are all free agents themselves and would be nasty if they end up with some of the big dogs.

 I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Lakers make a somewhat big move. They really need a PG but that’s the one position where there isn’t much talent to pick from. With their lineup, they can really afford to have a PG who is really SG (Fisher). The Blazers are currently tryingto hire a GM and once they do you can bet they will be making some changes. The one position they need to fill is a shooter for sure, now that one of the best shooters in the game is gone (Webster: worst draft pick ever). Whatever ends up happeningit should be a really fun couple of days/weeks and it could end up changing the NBA for the next decade. Lets hope the Blazers are still relevant when this is all over with.

The one guy I think is extremely underrated is David Lee. He is consistent and he owns the boards. He’s one of those guys I’d love to have on my team. As a Blazer fan I can only dream of getting rid of Aldridge for Lee. Don’t see Aldridge going anywhere unfortunately but I will be paying close attention to see where Lee ends up.

Like a lot of people in March, I was hopeful for a Seattle surge to the postseason in 2010, but nope, the sticks are not living up to their part of the bargain this spring/summer.  So Mr. Lee will be changing uniforms again. Sad, I was hoping to watch some Mariners games this season, since they are the local team in these parts.

Maybe Ruben Amaro Jr will be giving a call to Jack Zduriencik this afternoon to see if a switchback is possible.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Really??  Another no-hitter??  So that’s 3 2 perfect games and 2 no-hitters all before July??  WTF?!?!  I guess everyone is off the juice, right??  Especially the Rays, gee, no-hit twice … ouch.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Hey Matt Barkley, how do you feel about being the stud QB for the Trojans for the next 2 non-bowl playing seasons?!?

I’m sure he’s kinda cool with it, only because he’s the SoCal version of Tim Tebow.  You know, he’s the kinda guy that will find a way to put a positive spin on the situation … like “this will be a great test of character” … or … “at least now I’ll have more time for studies” … or … “playing Oregon is now our bowl game!”.

Ain’t no doubt to me that Mr. Barkley will play his full 4 years at USC so he can get the championship in his senior season … or maybe he’s simply looking forward to playing Colorado and Utah in 2012.  PAC-12!!

Speaking of Timmy Tebow … have you seen the BroncoGator?  Genius.  Too bad the dude is getting the full-wedgie treatment from apparent copyright infringement.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Hey Trail Blazers fans, I feel for ya.  KP got the shaft.

Pritchard was not perfect, but he brought in quality players (on & off, the court) to rep the city of Portland.  He did it his way and took no prisoners.  The Blazers are a fun bunch of guys to watch, trust me, I’m a Sixers guy and I’d get caught up in watching these Rip City fellas hoop it up.

Think for a second what kinda season the Blazers would have had if Hedo did not skip off to Toronto (like a cheesedick ***)??  Miller was a solid pickup for Portland, but Hedo was a perfect Robin to Roy’s Batman.  And if only G.O. could have stayed healthy.

Here’s something funny from Larry Miller … “For us going forward, we really need someone with experience in executing trades or signing free agents” … hmmmmm … yeah, you dumb asses had that guy in KP!

[ *** JB, I had to borrow your word, it was appropriate there]

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It figures!  Just when I actually could name over half the starters for the USA World Cup squad, they get ousted by Ghana.  WTF?!  Damn those ridiculous-first-15-minute-of-the-game-screw-up-goals! 

I will tip my cap to those USA guys.  There were no dull moments [bbryan shaking his head] in USA games this World Cup.

And 2 more wins and Landon Donovan would have reached super hero status (meaning, he just needed to get USA to the final four).  The game against Algeria was classic, but the more exciting game was against Slovenia.  Two goals down, USA battles back to tie the Slovs.  And then a 3rd game-winning goal was disallowed, blasphemy!

So what to do now?  Can’t really cheer for another country, can I?  I can cheer against other countries, but there are no North Koreans, no French, no Russians, there’s no fun!  I guess I could pull for England, got some blood from that island.  Those Japs are a scrappy bunch, maybe I’ll get behind them fish-eaters.

Oh well, I’ll tune in to watch the WC’s version of the final four and championship.  Until then, maybe I’ll pop in some LOR or practice my rainbow kick.

Did you and your cronies really fire Pritchard because you didn’t like him? What the fuck, are you twelve or something? Pritchard was the guy who saved you from your previously awful decision making, that ultimately ruined 21 straight playoff years.

Now, I’m not saying the Blazers were a title contender as of Thursday morning, but as of Thursday night not only are they definitely not title contenders, but they are much closer to the disaster they were from 03-07.

You wanna bang on Prith, fine, he’s made some poor decisions. Namely his arrogance in trying to block any team from signing Darius Miles. But, the real person that should be taking some heat is Allen himself. There is just always ‘something’ going on with him, management, coaches or the players. Even in good times, the Blazers are a dysfunctional mess that wins in spite of it’s self. It’s moves like this that cement the fact the Portland will never win a title with Allen running the show. Oh they’ve been close, losing in the NBA Finals in 90 and 92. Winning 63 games in 91, only to gag in the Western Conference Finals. The Memorial Day Miracle, and do I really need to mention the 15 point lead in 2000 that went up in smoke?

Add in their draft history (passing on Jordan, Dr J and Durant) and it’s become abundantly clear that the franchise will always find the banana peel. It stinks, but it’s the truth, and Paul Allen running the show like Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada is exactly why.

Notice that in Allen’s one paragraph statement in regards to this situation, he makes no mention of what the reason was behind Pritchard being fired, only that he had been. That’s because there is none.

Luke Babbitt, 6’9″ SG/SF was one of the top talents in the 2010 NBA Draft. Known for his smooth and accurate lefty stroke with NBA 3 point range and a solid mid-range game, he shot 41% from downtown while averaging 21.9 PPG. All three rookies the Trail Blazers acquired on draft night are left-handed.

Ryan Gomes, 6’7″ F, averaged 11.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG for his career. He unlike Aldridge, is a physical PF that can bang down low. Gomes spent the past three seasons in Minnesota after coming over from Boston in the Kevin Garnett trade.

Martell Webster, 6’8″ SG/SF was selected 6th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft. He had career averages of 8.5 PPG and 3.1 RPG. On January 23, 2010 he scored a career-high 28 points in a win against the Detroit Pistons, also tying a career-high six three-pointers.

Also, the Blazers selected Memphis swingman Elliot Williams with the 22nd pick. Williams averaged 17.9 points, four rebounds and 3.8 assists with the Tigers last season as a sophomore after transferring from Duke.

This is just the beginning of hopefully more solid moves that the Blazers will make this off-season, Rudy might be the next go. Portland is in position to make sure a move, because it holds a mid-level exception worth about $6 million, and the expiring contracts of guard Andre Miller and Joel Przybilla, which total about $14 million.

A big with length, that has tremendous upside and a high basketball IQ. It wouldn’t hurt if he was a ‘character guy’ that could go vertical and is great in space. He’s gotta either be the best player left on the board, based on a need, or a great value pick.

Either that, or some Euro that will never be heard from again.

Ever since Tom Penn was fired there has been rampant speculation that KP would go at the end of the year.  Now it seems like a done deal.  While I do think Pritchard gets too much credit and has made his fair share of mistakes (and I don’t consider the Oden pick one of them), he has been a key component to the Blazers revival.  Whatever the reasons are for his dismissal I have a hard time believing this is for the benefit of the team.  Seems more like a personal move than a business one.