I never thought Sergio would play this well this soon. He’s really impressed me this year. Seems to make things happen out there. I’d almost say I’d prefer him starting, but Nate knows what’s up.

The question is, are the Blazers showcasing Sergio or giving him a legitimate chance at being the future PG of this team? Or are they preparing him for his future roll at backup PG (assuming we trade for a future starter)?

for me has been Sergio’s shooting. His shot looks much less flat. It’s funny, when I look at the box score, it doesn’t look he’s been shooting particularly well, but when I think back to the games, all I can remember is a couple of nice runners/layups, and some well-timed 3s. In the past, all I could see was his poor shots, regardless of what his numbers looked like.

His vision is incredible, he just needs some confidence to get into a rhythm (and be stuck with when he makes a mistake), the difference is that when he has a bad stretch and his ass/turnover rate isn’t the highest in the NBA you guys will all turn back on him.

Case in point: I don’t think Outlaw fits our direction with his style a ton “long-term” but right now everyone is in love with him.

and while I wouldn’t consider myself a critic of Sergio, I’m definitely one of the people here that gave the Spaniards some fits. We’re still probably weeks if not months of solid Sergioness away from knowing what’s going on here.

Sergio’s doing what he need to do in the first place. He’s taking minutes with his play. The drama seems to have sparked the recognition that he can get minutes. Maybe he thought it was hopeless and didn’t try as hard before. Who knows?

Still, though, Sergio’s not yet played to the point we should be talking about him starting. Yes, the last few games he’s played very well.

Here’s what he’s done better lately:

1) He’s shot effectively inside: He used to penetrate get to the rim and dish. ALWAYS. He’s shown he can make layups, tear drops and even a fade away once in a while. It’s a sign of agression he lacked before. This makes defenses make a decision and makes his penetration effective. When always dished the D could simply watch and counter it. His ability to make those shots inside make the offense MUCH more effective.

2) He’s hit the outside shot: If he’s got a player posting up, or if he’s without the ball, defenses have to pay attention to him. When he was just clanking shots, they could move over and double the guy with the ball with no sever consequence. In the past few games Sergio made them pay. That makes the other players more effective than they used to be. It’s not that his scoring is making the difference, but that opposing defenses have to make decisions about him.

3) He’s played passing lanes, and tried on D. Maybe he always tried on D, but lately he’s been effective in intercepting passes and making offenses slow up on the break or in setting up their offense. That’s new. This allows his teammates to carry less a burden on D, and grabs us an extra chance or two on offense.

Those three things were the primary faults in Sergio’s game, and maybe they still are. If he continues to address these issues, he’ll be more effective than Blake. He’s got the potential to be fantastic. Even though I’ve argued with the Spaniards about Sergio not deserving playing time, I’ve always thought he could become Nashesque. The potential is there. He’s still got a long way to go, but he’s getting there.

The key is his aggression and shooting. If he keeps this up, he’s the PG of the future.

He’s not better than Blake at setting up the offense. They play on two different teams. Blake’s job is fundamentally different than Sergio’s and allows for much less creativity. The team Blake plays on is also better. Sergio, to this point, can’t do the things (mostly just reliably hit the three) that Blake does. Sergio could add an element to that team, though, if he can continue to shoot well.

The statement about the 10 pt runs is just off. Blake’s hit a few back to back threes thus far. He’s sparked quite a few runs.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what Sergio could become, but he hasn’t become it yet. Or, at least, I can’t believe it yet. He’s so fun to watch and has such a great personality and attitude that he could easily become one of the funnest players in the NBA.

and has been effective even when not this season, so it’s clearly not just that he’s “hitting his shots”, I think it’s 40% mentality, 50% opportunity (from Nate) and 10% improved shot.

I’ve definitely been a Sergio critic, for all the previously hashed out reasons, but I’m finding myself not complaining about the things I complained about in the past, for a couple of different reasons. The first is that he’s not making some of the mistakes he’s made before (clothesline jumper/illadvised shots).

But more surprisingly, a couple of the things that used to bug me aren’t bugging me as much anymore, most notably the incessent pounding of the ball. I noticed late in the Bulls game he was still dribbling all over creation on a couple of possessions, which used to make me tear my hear out. But with his high assist/minute numbers and easy looks the recepients of some of his passes are getting (dunks, alleyoops, WIDE open jumpers), I’m starting to see that pound for pound, a Sergio dime often results in an easier shot than a pass from anyone else on our team on average. It can really put defenses on edge with his movement while handling the ball combined with the uncertainty of where the hell the balls going to end up once he zips it somewhere.

Now we’re still seeing some ill-advised passes from him, but scales seem to be starting to tilt more towards fist pumps on the result of his passes, as opposed to fist pounds on the coffee table.

Still more to be seen here, but I’m surprising myself with the newfound Sergio hope (I was even counseling my buddy, who is more of a Sergio critic, to “embrace” the Serg, “give yourself unto” the Serg, toward the end of the Bulls game, but heck…everything was fun at the end of the Bulls game…except Bayless getting swatted on his Dunk attempt, I guess.

it’s a long season. we’ll see.

makes me want to clarify that I still believe Steve Blake is a solid player in this league. Its really about how surprised I am that Sergio has come so far in my eyes in so few games. Right now people are voting for Sergio at a 2-1 clip, and that was unthinkable a very short time ago. Perhaps we (myself definitely included) are more fickle than we might imagine, but the fact remains Sergio is looking hungrier right now and I think its great. Perhaps it will inspire Blake in the way Oden seems to have inspired Joel.

What do you say for this!!

entertainment value alone i want to see El Once. we need an ambassador to allyoops and dunks. im sure the dunkometer goes way up with the general on the court.

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I agree that Sergio has definitely upped his game. I was one who also somewhat wrote him down after last year. Not entirely out, but down. It was as if he had shown some of the physical skills, but the mental part had not matured with his physical skills.

I would also point out that Sergio was already getting more time before the meeting, so that I don’t think either Mac of KP made any change in how they’ve been handling Sergio. The bottom line is that Mac is an equal opportunity employer. If you perform, you play. Squawking about it doesn’t get the time – playing well does. And you certainly don’t want the other players on the team to think that the Coach will reward squawkers – as opposed to players. Or the chickens will all begin to cackle -particularly on a team like the Blazers where the talent is deep and other players also want more time.

Of course, the gorilla in the room that no one is factoring in is Bayless. There’s only so much improvement one can expect out of practice time. We reached hard for him in the draft by flipping Jack and the #13, which makes him more than some permanent fixture on the third team. Eventually, just as we’ve done with throwing Oden and Fernandez into the fire, we’re going to have to find him playing time.

The Blake/Rodriguez situation will have to sort itself out. Rodriguez has made it clear that he wants to play, and that implies that he is not going to split his minutes with Bayless just to enable Bayless to develop, which means that Blake will have to be willing – over time, to play less so Bayless can play more.

This, in combination with the Fernandez/Webster/Outlaw/Batum/Frye jam up at forward will evolve into the trades we make in the future.

We need a starting PG, a solid back-up, and a third team insurance guy. Mac and KP will have to decide if they want – in the future – to pay Blake to first split time with Bayless, and then, if Bayless develops, become that insurance guy – given his salary.

Like one was a defensive stopper, but yes I agree Sergio seems to be getting his grove, and looks to leverage Oden more then Blake.

It will be interesting to see how Portland starts to play the fast break with Oden becoming human rebound vacume. That might play into Sergio’s open style.