Is Jason Quick Talking About You?

It shows once again why it’s so amazing to have Roy on this team. That Nate found a good way to have the players deal with the loss, much better than just yelling at them like he probably would like to do with a few of them. And that Quick is truly a good beat writer for a reason.

And while I didn’t check out the comments on Oregonlive and elsewhere yet, the reaction here was pretty civil.

What about those of us have been worried about our close wins against bad teams and what it says about how they are playing and how a reaction to this game can be a reaction to the OBVIOUS things that this team lacks..

There is no reason to be stupid about trades or firings or whatever.. but to say this is one poor performance is ignoring the reality that the last two games were played poorly and the lack of competition we faced in those (and a couple of others this year) games. I dislike knee jerk trade reactions and knee jerk this is just one bad game reactions..

The Blazers need to improve.. they have shown improvements in getting wins on the road when they were not doing great but.. get this… winning is not everything.. how you play really does matter and eventually you are going to lose and lose bad playing like they are playing half of the time on the road

well, spectacularly underwhelming.

I couldn’t be more thrilled with the team, personally and for the record. No one ever said they were perfect, though. There IS going to be an odd man out when Martell returns, and Frye for a productive, stopgap point with experience (or transition defense, I’m looking at you Sergio) seems like a move I wouldn’t argue with. It certainly doesn’t HAVE to be done, though.

I wasn’t actually that displeased with last night; I think it was a smart focus that got out of hand, coupled with some pretty off shooting and (it must be said) a fairly heavy disadvantage in what both teams were able to get away with physically.

Going into the game, Roy and the Blazers were all about showing they weren’t intimidated, and at the time I thought that was smart—with the payoff being inside buckets and foulshots, and secondarily the open space to make the most of their strong ability on the three.

The first 10 minutes or so were just beautiful. They were standing up on the defensive end, and were getting easy buckets on offense. That Roy slam coming in from 3 point land was emblematic of the aggressiveness. And when Roy started trash talking and looking to punk Pierce with his game, I thought it might be the tipping point.

It turned out to be the peak. I think the Blazers got wrapped up in playing the head game, and stopped executing their offense. Then they got lazy getting back, and in a heartbeat they were playing an entirely different game, that their shots couldn’t rescue them from.

Great teams adjust, and certainly the free hand down low early wasn’t going to stay that way all game, but getting the Celtics to pack in was likely going to be crucial, because otherwise they would be too skillful at getting out on our long range guys. Before they had to pack in and respect, we got so hyped about taking it to them that we turned to one on one games. When that didn’t work, guys like LMA started backing up for their shots, not making them…and from there it was pretty much over, because now they were neither punishing from downtown OR getting those buckets inside.

What I saw on the court proved to me the Blazers have the tools and combination to compete—but they’re still too young to put the mental part together necessary to beat the elite teams who (frankly) will still get the calls of respect from the officials.

But what really happened here Friday didn’t speak to the Blazers’ lack of talent or poor coaching as much as it spotlighted their mental and physical immaturity.

J. Quick: please explain to me how being more physically mature (e.g. aged, old, spurs-esque, modern-shaq-like) would have helped this team win playing their third game in four days. In fact, please explain to me how any team can go into boston playing their third game in four days and hope to be able to compete effectively.

Other than that, he’s right that the knee-jerk pessimistic comments spawned by this loss were in fact painful to read.

(Uh, dude, we can’t. He works for the Oregonian.)

(Oh. Well, maybe we can just beat him up and steal his pencils.)

(Yeah, that might work.)

Because people dared critizise his lame Greg is a downer remark thus hurting his shot at a Noble Prize that he himself feels he so richly deserves.

Example 1 – A candidate gives an hour long speech where he highlights important issues and lays out an agenda. He also tosses in a few one liners for entertaining the passionate crowd that waited all day to see him. Media takes that one liner (usually out of context), plasters it all over the headlines in order to sell papers/ratings/advertising, and then all the people, the pundits, the spinmeisters, and the candidates, go back and forth about this stupid one liner – is this true? Is this character assassination? Is he mean-spirited? Is this indicative of how out of touch he is with the American people? etc. Then the pundits start complaining about how people don’t talk about “the real issues”. Lots of entertaining stories there (even though it has nothing to do with where the candidate’s head and heart are at 99.99% of the time), and hopefully lots of readers/viewers as well.

Example 2 – Media gives someone credibility (who doesn’t deserve it) because they raise “important questions”. Then the media runs a second story raising questions about their credibility. In the third act, the person is thoroughly debunked. There, you got at least three stories out of that one, and people are riveted, albeit in a train-wreck sort of way.

Example 3 – a few random, myopic fans on a blog vent their frustrations after a crushing loss. Most people are bummed out yet level headed, but a few people criticize specific plays or specific decisions, and an even tinier minority critique the very essence of said people (not that they made a bad decision, but they are truly stupid losers, who will never change). Media picks up on the extreme opinions and broadcasts them in the “mainstream media” as if those opinions represented the majority viewpoint. Now the issue changes - are those fans really that dumb and myopic? Do the players not have the right “mental makeup” to be champions? (which by the way, the media always says that they never do, and they are always right until the team does win the championship, in which case they finally “learned their lessons”). Bam! That’s at least two or three stories right there… who cares if they originated from the same people who insisted that we trade for Stephon Marbury? We got eyeballs, we got fans riled up, I got my story in way before deadline, and now I have a few extra hours to goof off in downtown Toronto. Life is good.

Well Jason Quick couldn’t possibly be talking about me! I mean I’ve only called for trading 1/4 of the roster and a suspension of McMillan.

This whole thing is nothing. Knee Jerk reactions happen with fans all the time. Just now with the internet and forums you can see them all the more easily. I think Jason just meant we should all remain calm, that all that really has happened is we lost a game to possibly the best team in the league. That’s what I’ll say in defense of Jason. The flip side is that Jason and Canzano make fertile ground for extreme reaction when they approach the game with all the hype they themselves attached. I mean who was running last years Boston Game articles? Who was calling this a measuring stick game? Who brought up last years supposed intimidation at the hands of Garnett? So big suprise that now a percentage of fans are overreacting.

Again Knee Jerk reactions are part of Fandom. I don’t sweat it either way. Had we won, we would of had fans chalking in their spots streetside for the inevitable championship parade. That would of been just as much out of balance. I think fans are often guilty of knee jerk reactions but that’s okay, they are fans. Sportswriters can also be guilty of knee jerk reactions though, they are only human. Jason is just defending the team he is charged with following, is he talking about you or I? You have to answer for yourself.

I was really hoping for a win, and we played great fro the first 18 mins. Not exactly sure what happened to the team after that, but they went ice cold. Not making a field goal for 9:58 will pretty much cost you the game against any opponent. 2nd and 3rd quarter points: 15 each. That pretty much sums it up.

One thing I had to note – did you guys hang in to see Bayless’s minutes at the end there? Dude was looking pretty solid! I know Sergio is already complaining about PT, but I think Bayless should get one game where he comes in off the bench instead of Serg…See what happens?

a problem with is; people (like Jason Quick, but not just him) condescending attitude telling us how we should think and the perception of that what they saw or have seen is better than anyone’s else.
    There are a lot of irrational ideas and knee jerk stuff, but that should belong to the individual to judge…not Jason Quick or anyone else for that matter….get off the high horse folks, it can buck you off just as easily as taking on the bronco…….especially if you don’t know how to ride….Or if you think you can ride better….
  I personally find that many in here have a better perception and grasp on the game than Quick has….So i could care less about his unwarranted assumptions and generalizations for the sake of shoving his perspective down our throats ….

Boy I’m glad I got that off my chest…feel a whole lot better….

Here is the fan perception equation:

Where the achivement of the team = x fan perception of the team’s optimal capabilities will be x + 1. This is true no matter what level of achievement you plug in for x, up to and including a championship. (We will always expect to win another.)

The obvious fallacy in the assumption is…what if the team is already achieving optimal or near-optimal performance? I pity the group of players and coaches who are actually pulling the most they can out of their performance or even over-achieving. They will founder on the rocks of the equation, as there is no “+1” to be added.

The Blazers are winning 65-70% of their games so far this year. I think it’s a fairly reasonable assumption that they’re maximizing their performance. It seems unlikely that this team will improve to an 80% win rate. Who does?

—Dave

1. They are very poor at defending the perimeter.

2. Take away their three point shooting and they are dead in the water. Roy is the only one of the guards (besides Bayless) who can really take it to the hoop for easy lay-ups.

I don’t really understand where Quick is coming from. I’ve heard him criticize the team plenty of times. Should we just wait until the playoffs before we start talking about Blake and Sergio being liabilities on defense? Having a poor perimeter defending point guard on a team that is already bad at defending the perimeter is going to be the kiss of death.

I think this has been a hot topic for the last three years. It didn’t just start last night.

Not enough points in the paint, even when Oden is in there.

Not enough perimeter defensive intensity. This is where the superiority of the Celtics was most obvious. I think the return of Marty will help a lot in this department.

but I still don’t really like anyone in the sports page over at the Oregonian.

Call it a knee-jerk reaction to pathetic, immature sportswriting at that rag over the last 13 years I’ve lived here.

I haven’t seen anyone calling Nate’s head in months.
Trade posts are usually about Travis, Sergio or Frye, who are not the centerpieces of our team.
From what I can gather the fans at the Rose garden are being great, as usual.
I think this is more about Quick and his ego.

Is that a new picture of Jason Quick? There is something aggresively overly friendly about it. Like he want’s to tell me about The Blazers AND sell me a life insurance policy.

I thought it was a good idea to keep the bench in because they got us back in the game. I like him leaving Oden in to foul out, Oden needs to know failure before he can succeed. The game was great, Boston was just better. I like how Aldridge nailed shots in Aldridge face and Roy was talking trash. This game had a lot of bright spots for Portland. Don’t know what people are so mad we lost. We weren’t expected to win. Get over it.

Well said – I wish we could get a little variety as well – It seems he has taken the place of Cazanno – who now has to back off the Blazers since they CTC for him. Just report and let the stories come to you – he is always pushing, pulling, and whining for a reaction – he is a good writer but I am tired of it.

I read this article in my hot tub this morning and thought to myself “The dude reads the Bedge”

I usually shine him on till he says some thing so soulfool I cant ignore it,he sucked me in again

Jason, I know the definition of a sports beat writer is rather vague these days, but I’d love if you’d go back to only breaking stories and reporting day to day factoids (like they did back in the bad old days).

Now I’m going to pour a glass of wine and draw myself a mineral enriched bath and pretend this all never happened.

BTW, does anyone have a proposed trade ready if Portland loses to Toronto tomorrow?

… in order to contend for a title. The question is when to make those changes… now, at the deadline this year or not until next year. That’s why KP makes the big bucks.

McMillan isn’t the right coach to lead this team to a Championship.

That doesn’t mean that he has a positive influence in many players right now while they are developing

1. Blazers are too soft.

2. Frye needs to be gone, softest of the soft and he plays out of position for a PF.

3. Need a backup PF that can bang in the paint.

4. Bayless is TOUGH. He needs to play.

5. This means Sergio needs to go.

6. Turn Sergio into a tough backup PF and make Frye go away somewhere anywhere.

They you go.

t

in the league. There is a reason why people said this team would take 2-3 years to seriously compete. The bandwagoners really come out when Portland makes a mistake.

He is no better then a random person from BE.

about the behind the scenes stuff. He just doesn’t have the common sense to know not to say things to piss players off. He is the one with knee jerk reactions not the fans. One night Roy is gold, other nights this team is hanging on a thread. Dude needs to chill. Mike Barrett is the best though. He is the most patient.

I’m ashamed that BEdgers are known for Trade Banter instead of the integrity they once upheld!

sometimes J Quick’s articles are a little too personal. I don’t always enjoy reading about the players’ weekend plans or what they had for dinner. It’s just a little more than the average person needs to know.

I noticed the picture at the top is called “small_quick_mug_medium.jpg”

That got me to thinking, you want to see my mug shot?

no

Others… yes.

There are aspects i’ve been underwhelmed with on the team. I thought Aldridge would take off more. The blazers hyped oden and raised my lowered expectations (they’re now back to where they were.

That said, the blazers are 7 games better than I thought and a few games more than I hoped.

We’ve won more clutch games than I’ve watched the blazers play in my life.

The team is getting it some nights and forgetting others but they improve every game in some way.

Nate has started from scratch and really created something cool.

Blazers lost to a team they were supposed to lose to. Nate can’t work miracles all the time. he’s milked this team like crazy and has made mistakes and learned himself.

I love this team.

I love the discussion about where the weak points and strengths are.

I hate the bashing, hate towards players, and fire nate or nate sucks slogans. Seriously… I don’t think any other coach could have brought the blazers to where they are today. Nate IS a good coach, widely respected, and the fact so many fans can’t see that (even if he does have his weak points), drives me crazy.

I’m not reading any of the other comments because I’ve decided negative fans are bad for my health. Irks me more than a bad defensive rotation. These are our blazers, and we should be behind them, not bashing their heads in with pitchforks of “you’re doing it wrong!!!”

Although it wasn’t terribly informative basketballwise, I like the insights to the lockeroom and what not. Who wouldn’t want to know what happens in the blazers lockeroom after being bullied by a superior team? I enjoy that insight and actually found it somewhat reassuring. Nate really knows how to read the situation. This team is overacheiving, a chair throwing, cut throat, scream-fest wasn’t in order. He knew that this team would take it upon themselves to figure out what went wrong(it was fairly obvious). Hopefully every player on this team is thinking about getting mentally tougher and the first step is Toronto on Sunday morning…

I read that too and assumed he was referencing BE. We are fans. This is what fans do. If Jason Quick wants to elevate his status because he writes about sports and he feels that makes him a ‘real’ journalist, then let him look down on us proletariat from his Ivory tower. His job is to write down what talented people do for a living.

can we call for Jason Quick’s resignation? I’ve never cared much for his writing.