Saturday, October 23, 2010

BLAZERS TRADE

ESPN reporting, Jerryd Bayless traded to the New Orleans Hornets, for a future first round draft pick.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Blazers

That's what happens when a C.D. player decides it wants to skip. I recently wrote an article for
The Daily Astorian and it was basically the same that should have been aired. Since there is no time to air the report, this HOPEFULLY will do.


The Blazers' soap opera enters a new season


By DAVE NELSON
For The Daily Astorian

The regular season is about to start in the NBA, which means the end of the offseason. It has been an offseason filled with drama for the Portland Trail Blazers, almost soap opera like - "The Days of Our Blazers."

"The Days of Our Blazers" made its debut the night of the NBA draft, when it was announced that General Manager Kevin Pritchard would be fired following the event.

Blazers Assistant General Manager Tom Penn was relieved of his job last season and there was speculation Pritchard would be next.

During the draft, rumors were swirling that Pritchard was going to make a trade that could have possibly saved his job. Instead he traded forward Martell Webster to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the rights to the 16th pick, who turned out to be University of Reno-Nevada Forward Luke Babbitt.

Later in the draft, University of Memphis guard Elliot Williams was selected at 22nd and Armon Johnson a guard from Nevada at 34th. Pritchard was replaced with Oklahoma City Thunder executive Rich Cho.

The drama doesn't end with Pritchard's firing.

Guard Rudy Fernandez, via his agent, made a public demand to be traded, announcing that Fernandez was prepared to sit out the final two years of his contract. Later, Fernandez, again via his agent, said, "I don't want a trade; I prefer to go home with my family and play in Europe." The Blazers announced they would not grant Fernandez's request. Rudy would be fined a total of $75,000 by the NBA in a two-month time span.

There are questions about the center position. Last season, both Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla missed most of the season with knee injuries, setting up a need to trade for a center.

That player was Marcus Camby from the Clippers. Oden and Przybilla have yet to return from their injuries, and left the team with Camby and Jeff Pendergraph.

Not so fast! In only the second preseason game, Pendergraph was lost for the season because of a right knee injury.

What now? Who would play center with Camby?

A few days after Pendergraph went down, center Steven Hill would be signed.

With all the injuries to Portland's centers, is Hill worried he could be the next center injured? "No! No! Not at all, you never have that attitude! You hope for the best for all the injured guys, but I definitely want to seize my opportunity," Hill said.

What about playing the whole season, is he just a temporary player? "It is kind of touch and go as far as I know," Hill said. "I just signed a nonguaranteed contract and will just be here as long as they want me to be."

Portland's only offseason acquisition could be a prize catch, the signing of Utah Jazz shooting guard Wesley Matthews. Matthews went undrafted in the 2009 Draft and averaged 9.4 points and 2.3 rebounds while starting 48 times and is averaging 15.5 points and 3.30 rebounds coming off Portland's bench.

What can fans expect from Matthews? "I just go out there and work and play, lay it all out on the line for my teammates, try to come up with as many wins as possible," he said.

And what style of basketball does Matthews play? He said, "Winning! I really can't put a name or a stamp on it. Just go out there and win."

The coach

What kind of mentality does coach Nate McMillan think the Blazers have going into the 2010-11 season?

McMillan said, "We are in training camp right now, we are still working, we have a lot to work on, to get ready for the (season) opener, but the guys are working hard."

Who is McMillan most impressed with so far? "All of our young guys have worked hard," he said. "Wesley has a pretty good training camp. Johnson, Babbitt, all of those young guys have had a really good training camp. The team in general is working on, but there is still a lot of work to do."

If Fernandez, McMillan said, "Rudy is doing fine, he playing well and he is coming out every night and competing."

Of Oden and Przybilla, the coach said, "Both are working hard. Joel did practice a little Sunday. Greg is improving every day, we are hopeful these guys are back soon."

What can fans expect from Brandon Roy? What does he have in his bag of tricks this year? Roy said, "Pretty much what they see from me every season. I try to go out there and compete at a high level, do my best to help lead this team, just really what they have been seeing, even better a little more mature, a little more understanding of the game ... I didn't plan on anything going into the previous seasons, so this year I'm going to go out there and try and play at a high level. I always try and have a goal to help this team win, and usually some cool things come with it. That is going to be a goal this year."

My forecast: It is looking rather cloudy for the Blazers right now. Portland needed another star player to go with Brandon Roy and failed to acquire this player, whoever he may be. There is a good chance this player could be acquired as we get closer to the February trade deadline. The biggest question is can the team stay healthy? Will they have enough centers to get through the season? They need this star player to help them get to the next level. They need Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla and Marcus Camby to stay healthy. If this were to take place, sunnier skies could be ahead.

Does Jazz coach Jerry Sloan fear the Blazers? "You don't fear them," he laughed. "If you fear them, you're going to be afraid to compete against them, they are really talented. They are as talented as anybody in basketball."

A Warrenton connection

One other quick note involving the Blazers. Former Warrenton resident and KGW TV sports anchor Adam Bjaranson will be leaving the station to take a job with the Blazers. "I'm going to be joining the Trail Blazers family, which is going to be great. I will be the pre- and postgame host on Comcast Sportsnet for all the games. Now you will be able to see it on KGW and TNT, we will do the pre- and postgames. Plus, they are starting an interactive website called trailblazers.tv, which is great, a website everyday where people can go to. It is going to be an excellent venture they have started and I'm just proud to be a part of it, it will be a good time!"

Dave Nelson is sports director at KMUN Radio in Astoria.