Confessions of a Sergio Addict

by Phizbin on Jul 18, 2008 10:49 AM PDT

Let me confess on the outset: I was a confirmed Surge Man-Crush guy at the beginning of the season. I was thrilled every time Nate put him in, cringed every time he made a turnover, and (amazingly enough) optimistic when he hoisted his "arcing" jump shot.

Then, as we famously know, things fell apart. He clearly was not the PG we thought he was in '06-'07. Still not sure what happened to the guy.

The reason I wanted to post was this. There were Surge Skeptics and JJ Defenders all through the season: notably Dave of BE. They were mostly correct in their assessment. Now, as I read the subtext from Dave and Quick and Freeman and others about Pteri, I see--as a great steaming, smelly, turd in the pristine white linoleum floor--another controversey brewing with Finnish.

Is it the case that all Surge loverse will simply move their affection over to Finnish?

And why would they want to do that? I offer the following four reasons in reverse order of plausibility.

Race thing. Look, I know it's out there whether it's subconsciously or consciously. I suppose many could plausibly argue that our largely white fanbase is predisposed to like a white PG. Look, I don't give much credence to its merit but I also know I'm manifestly unqualified to comment on it. So I just want to stipulate it and move on to items that I think are more interesting. I do note, for the record, that there aren't a lot of Steve Blake man-crushes going on, though lots of respect. I personally think there are much different dynamics going on.
The Flashy Pass. I think advanced basketball statistics is beginning to corroborate fans' intuition: the aggressive and risky pass--in the aggregate--is more valuable than the risk of the turnover. And, even better, it's exciting!! We see it in Surge just like we saw it in Jason Williams, all the Streetballers on ESPN2, and--we Finnish lovers hope--Finnish himself. We have dreams of a sleeker version of Magic Johnson dishing out the dimes with Stocktonesque reliability.
The Pritchard Investment. Just like we want to get in on the ground floor of investment opportunities, we want to see one of KP's late-round guesses turn out to be a dot-com style success. If Finnish or Surge really did become the "most awesomest" PG ever, wouldn't that be the greatest Pritch-slap of all time? And what a great return for us! We hope for Finnish and Surge for the same reasons we hope for our 401(k)s and lottery tickets.
Euro-Love. It's sort of cool--if we can't have a hometown boy like Brandon Roy--to have someone from an exotic location. It is cool to have a couple of Spaniards on the team. It would be cool to have a Fin on the team. I think one of the great things about our country is--for the most part--we embrace the notion of immigration (anti-globalization advocates, border police and other populists, please step aside with your political yammering for the moment). We liked having a Russian and a Korean on the time. We are wildly in love with the notion of the Portland Trailblazers becoming an international obsession in foreign lands. It helps us connect with them. I think I want these guys to succeed moreso than a Jarrett Jack or a Jerryd Blayless is simply because I like to think of meeting fellow Blazer fans on the Riviera someday (or, more likely, Las Vegas). This is really kind of a cool concept.

When we get down to it, who we decide to cheer for in a sports team has a lot to do with where we grew up. Just like your religion, you're trained to adore a certain team. But the way in which you adore that team says a lot. For Surge- and Finnish-Man-Crushers, I think one of the main reasons we cheer for these players' success has some to do with basketball but a great lot to do with a dinstinctly American kind of spirit. That we can take these guys from other places and--given a strong work ethic--they can succeed in ways impossible in other parts of the world. That's really a cool thing.

So, as I see journalists approach the season with trepidation of revisiting the old PG controverseys that will now swirl around Finnish, Surge, Blayless, and Blake, I'm going to unabashely cheer for my Euros. I want them to do well. And I'm not going to be ashamed to cheer for Euros who want to come here and play for an American team that represents my home town. Their success will mean more to me, for that reason, than the success of otherwise identical players.

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Two reasons I like the Finn

1. I see flashes of brilliance in his play. I’m hoping he can translate this to the NBA.
2. My mom’s maiden name is Miettunen (a good Finnish Sami name) – ‘nuff said

If Sergio can’t make it with the Blazers, I hope he finds his love of the game and his jump shot and makes it with another team.

by DonkeyShins on Jul 18, 2008 11:00 AM PDT 0 recs

Sergio the Surge

I’m of thee Sergio IS a good player with potential and not the bust most of you Bedgers are now saying he is. This will be the year we know and the team knows what he’s going to do with his talents. If Sergio put forth the work to do those things he needs to do (defense, shoot, cut turnovers) without losing his aggressive play, then he has real potential but if he slacked and smoked euro straits, than the time is nigh to send him back home. Well after a season of translating that is.

I think he’s going to surprise and be a real spark/asset off the bench.

by Blazersaurus on Jul 18, 2008 11:28 AM PDT 0 recs

when is he going to play?

He’s going to be the 5th guard on the depth chart. That’s almost T. Green territory.

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Jul 18, 2008 12:02 PM PDT up 0 recs

He is gonna earn it in training camp IMO

or he could lose it there too..

That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes. - Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35-95AD) Roman Rhetorician, Critic

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 18, 2008 12:28 PM PDT up 0 recs

yodel-eh-hee-hoo

Every team, every year seems to have that guy at the end of the bench who is a cult hero. It’s a strange phenomenon. Whether it’s a local guy, the Euro guy, the dark-horse guy, it doesn’t matter… he’s beloved.

I suppose there are many reasons why… as die hards, we run out of things to say about the rest of the team and create hype, excitement and “controversy” amongst the non-core guys… as fans, we hope that the relative unknown will burst onto the scene and be the ace up our sleeve… as bleeding hearts, we root for the underdog to overcome all odds (think Rudy… the movie, not the Spaniard) and achieve dreams… as non-professional semi-athletes, we push for the guy who’s not built as others in the league to be successful.

Sure if fun, no matter the reason.

I hope they all do well, too. I remember Khryapa and Monei and the “buzz” they garnered and hoping that at least Khryapa could translate to a bonafide player. Isn’t he back in Russia now?

Sergio better step it up this year.

Just BEdge it.

by you'vegottomakeyourfreethrows on Jul 18, 2008 11:46 AM PDT 0 recs

Monia

was supposed to be the better of those 2 guys, which did not materialize stateside.

Khyrapa is back in Russia and he was tearing it up during the euro championships. I was really pumped to see that.

Life is exhausting when you are this stupid.

by jonestr on Jul 18, 2008 5:41 PM PDT up 0 recs

Nice, well-reasoned post

(Yours, that is!)

I, too, have been hopeful that Sergio might turn things around, get his game together and get more PT. In fact, I haven’t given up on the guy, but now I’m really thinking that it might be for the best if he’s traded to a team where he’ll be able to develop.

Nobody here is going to fess up to being a racist. Me neither. But, who knows? Mortimer always seems to bring up that possibility, but I think you’re on to something with the flash and Pritch angles. Personally, I’ve always been a big fan of great passing. I’d rather watch an exciting passing team lose than an efficient plodding team win. For some people it’s all about the wins. For me it’s the entertainment.

Petteri doesn’t seem all that flashy to me. He DOES seem to be generally competent, with both room to grow and the need to do so. It seems to me he will be a good NBA player.

Here, in no particular order, are the traits I want to see (and DO see) embodied in the Blazer team:

talent
good character
hard work, high energy
style

Bonus points for:

youth
home-grown Blazer

Winning is important, but it is more or less expected with all of the above. I am VERY happy with this club, and whereas I think that ethnic and racial diversity makes the team still more charming, I don’t really think about it much.

Go Blazers!

"Shoot, I don't even have anything to put in my own sig"

These are the modest words of pualo, posted on June 20, 2008.
Yes, pualo, an extraordinarily discerning BEdger with a knack for subtle expression.

by CatMan2 on Jul 18, 2008 11:55 AM PDT 0 recs

Unless we drastically change styles to speed up our pace...

we might end up as an efficient plodding team.

At least through last year it was shaping up that way… good defence, efficient, low scoring… that was our game.

Just BEdge it.

by you'vegottomakeyourfreethrows on Jul 18, 2008 2:15 PM PDT up 0 recs

I didn't say this very well

To me, the Blazers were an exciting team last year. Maybe they didn’t have a lot of fast-break opportunities, but they did some great things out on the court. Brandon and Travis, especially.

When I envision a dull, plodding team, it looks like the Jazz with Mark Eaton. Or the Blazers with … what was that guy’s name … Rudolph?

"Shoot, I don't even have anything to put in my own sig"

These are the modest words of pualo, posted on June 20, 2008.
Yes, pualo, an extraordinarily discerning BEdger with a knack for subtle expression.

by CatMan2 on Jul 18, 2008 2:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

Ha! That's funny.

I’m sure he showed up more than once with a red nose from extracurricular activities… maybe red eyes and red cheeks, too.

Just BEdge it.

by you'vegottomakeyourfreethrows on Jul 18, 2008 8:48 PM PDT up 0 recs

I guess it's less outright racism...

...and more just being blinded by the exoticness of a Euro like Sergio. Being white doesn’t hurt, but it’s not like everyone loved Dan Dickau cause he was white.

I stand by my belief that if we had a black player from America who had the exact same flair as Sergio and the lack of fundamentals just like Sergio does, except he was named Jameer Washington from Syracuse, he wouldn’t get the same amount of support or the benefit of the doubt Sergio gets. He likely wouldn’t even be in the NBA.

It definitely isn’t as clear cut as ‘Sergio fans are racist’, but I think his race and nationality definitely plays a part in it. With a small percentage of fans, being a Euro is a negative (they’re soft, so many busts, etc) but with the majority of fans the mystery and exoticness of a Euro boosts his worth and value when a comparitive American (black) player wouldn’t get the same support without actually showing they are good.

I’ve often used Telfair as an example. Most fans couldn’t wait for him to be traded. Telfair isn’t a great player at all, but he is perhaps 4.31879-times as good as Sergio and had a similar flair with his passes and showed a nice court vision his rookie year. He also wasn’t a good shooter (better than Sergio though, both in mechanics and results), bad defender, bad fundamentals. He never got the support Sergio got, even though he is a much better prospect with what they had done during their time in Portland.

I mean, if Sergio averaged 12 and 6 over the last 20+ games of a season like Telfair did his rookie year, there would be rioting online for Nate to play/start him over Jack and Blake.

Of course, there are many more factors that come into play that do not involve race or exoticness—Telfair was a late lottery pick (so he better be good dammit), Sergio a late 1st rounder (so if he’s good yay, if not oh well), the teams were in different places when each were on the team (Telfair was a HS-to-pros player not ready for the challenge and being shoehorned into a starting role while the Blazers were at their nadir of fan support, Sergio gets to come off the bench and have no expectations while the players ahead of him shoulder the burden of winning).

I’m not saying we should have kept Telfair or anything stupid like that, I’m just pointing out the different levels of support from fans for players of similar talent level (though in my opinion Telfair is a lot better NBA player). Maybe it’s just the expectation levels of each entering the NBA, but I think the exotic factor plays a larger role.

Sergio is a great passer, but most everything else he does is much less than the average NCAA no-name American PG.

Obviously, I sound extremely negative about Sergio, but I do have hope he’ll be good. When he’s got it going, he’s got it going.

I just wanted to make clear I do not think it is completely about race.

Mortimer

by Mortimer on Jul 21, 2008 4:12 PM PDT up 0 recs

I suppose the right question

is what would it be like if Sergio were from Spain but with black skin.

I doubt things would have been much different.

The fact is, fans always get enthusiastic about scrubs who come in and, instead of just filling in, do some really exciting things. Sergio’s game has flair, and people always like scrubs with flair, whether it is passing, dunking, hitting a string of 3s, or whatever. You get excited about the potential of them doing it all the time if they could only get the PT.

Other people don't have as much practice at being wrong as I do -- HT, timbo

by jscot on Jul 22, 2008 1:14 AM PDT up 0 recs

This Sergio lover isnt turning Finnish...

I love Sergio because I think he has court vision that simply cant be taught. His feel for how to move the ball is remarkable for a 20 year old kid. The problem is, he has many weak points in his game that don’t necessarily make up for his passing. I still believe Sergio can fix some of those things and become a pretty good point guard.

If the Kop makes the team, and sergio doesn’t get traded, there will be a 3rd string pg war that makes the jack/sergio debate look like a friendly picnic at the park. I am still a Sergio believer and I think he has more pg skills than Petteri does, at least from what I have seen in his 3 summer league games. Petko does not have an nba caliber handle yet, and I am not even sure he is that close. He has some bad habits in that respect. If you want to be a 6’5” pg, he better know how to dribble when a 5’11” nuisance is in his chest poking at that ball. Sergio knows how to do this, and has proven so, that alone puts him above Petteri in my mind. At least you can count on Sergio to handle pressure and get the ball to a Rudy/Frye/Outlaw.

Also, Sergio is pretty dang good in the pick and roll. Petteri has shown that he likes to come off the pick and pull up for the shot, rather than create for his big or a shooter. That could be due to the crappiness of his team, but I think that excuse only goes so far. Remember how good Sergio made Magloirable look in his rookie year? When they ran the pick and roll together, all Jamaal had to do was stumble towards the hoop and the ball would end up in his lap for a dunk or layup. I honestly believe the only reason Jamaal found a job last year was because Sergio helped him get bunnies on a reasonably consistent basis. And wouldn’t you know it, but Magloire didn’t get squat for minutes in NJ and especially Dallas, and is likely done in the nba. I want to see some Oden/Sergio pick and rolls, something tells me there would be a lot of dunks for Oden. Remember Odens best summer league dunk? Sergio set it up beautifully off of the pick and roll.

Dang, look what I did without even realizing it. Suggesting there would a 3rd string pg war, and then I done went ahead and started it. Pick a side people! Sergio or Kop and we shall fight to the death!!!! Actually, lets not do that, some friendly debate should suffice, if the Kop makes the roster that is…..

RUDY > MJ

by myemic23 on Jul 18, 2008 12:14 PM PDT 0 recs

I was about to post a long response

but then saw that you covered almost everything I was going to cover. The vision, the handle, the ability to run the pick and roll and deliver to the bigs in good position to score. His ability to make guys like Magloire and Fred Jones look like they belong in the NBA. None of these things are true of Petteri.

Look, something seriously wrong happened to SR’s game last season. He went from being a good but not lights out shooter to an incredibly poor shooter. Even his free throws dipped from 81% to 66%. He used to have a fine shooting form with normal amounts of arc, not the line drives we saw last year. and he used to be not bad finishing at the rim, and he became instead a cover your eyes terrible finisher. These things don’t just happen, something caused this. No idea what, but I don’t think the player we saw last season is the player he is.

I like the fact that he’s working on his shooting form this summer-I definitely prefer he focus on that instead of the mushy working on everything plan he talked about before he left portland- but at this point I don’t really expect to see him flourishing here. I believe (on the basis of no evidence except substitution patterns) that Roy has made it known that he doesn’t like being on the court with Sergio, and there’s no future on this team for someone who doesn’t play well with Roy. I’d like to see the blazers showcase him as the second guard off the bench for the first half of the season then cut him loose to a team that’ll play him.

by howlingfantods on Jul 18, 2008 2:49 PM PDT up 0 recs

Oh and to clarify

that doesn’t mean I don’t like Petteri. I think I was actually the first one two years ago to say the name “Petteri Koponen” as a KP- type intriguing late first/early second round gamble around these parts, so I’ve been following his exploits with a lot of interest. I don’t think he’s ready yet though, and his strengths are definitely not the same strengths that appeal to me about Sergio’s game.

by howlingfantods on Jul 18, 2008 2:53 PM PDT up 0 recs

The Broy thing never occured to me

But your right. If you kant get along with Roy, pack cause you dont belong. Whats funny in addition, is I would say that almost all of prizzies points came off surgios love. jack would pass to the nees and the anouncers would discrase themselves hatin joals handles, yet surge could somehow make him look servicable. I just hope that surgio gets burn with rudy, to reignight.

I love that you brot up the shooting discrepency. we forgive the entire bulls roster for there fall from grace but surgio goes straight to fan jail, does not pass go, and does not collect 200 dollars. I ve been wanting to reserch to see if there has ever been as steep of a drop off, how common it is, and just what happens on the back half. I think that could be a good read. If someone wants to do this, I would be eternillay greatfull.

"As long as Yao is in the league, Greg Oden will probably never start in an all-star game, because he doesn’t have 1 Billion people voting for him."
silkybrown

"Just so we're totally clear(, y)ou’re saying you want me to kill Yao, right?"
nightbluefruit

by ptwnblzr on Jul 19, 2008 11:26 PM PDT up 0 recs

encouraging news

“Trail Blazers shooting coach John Townsend has been working with point guard Sergio Rodriguez for the past week. Towsend reports that Rodriguez is improving steadily with his outside shot, which included a session Thursday during which Rodriguez hit 10 straight three-pointers from the right corner.The developments come as welcomed news to the Blazers, who wondered aloud how Rodriguez would respond this summer after being left off Spain’s Olympic team.”-ESPN

If somebody hits you with an object you should beat the hell out of them.-Charles Barkley

by Winchester on Jul 18, 2008 12:26 PM PDT 0 recs

I think

that when surgio is on the floor with his homy his game will elivate.

"As long as Yao is in the league, Greg Oden will probably never start in an all-star game, because he doesn’t have 1 Billion people voting for him."
silkybrown

"Just so we're totally clear(, y)ou’re saying you want me to kill Yao, right?"
nightbluefruit

by ptwnblzr on Jul 18, 2008 1:12 PM PDT 0 recs

I never loved Sergio,

but I do like Pete. Why? Our offense depends on our players taking and thier open shots. Maybe Sergio will quit passing up layups and open midrange jumpers this year. If he just does that he could be a great asset.

They consider themselves forward thinking in Portland from what friends tell me. Apparently they have this global warming issue handled. They’ve found ways to end your life as a profit making venture. And they’re hip to counter culture icons.

by NBA Observer on Jun 27, 2008

by Kampeska on Jul 18, 2008 2:53 PM PDT 0 recs

I liked this post

as I disagreed with every simile and analogy you used. Not to say you are wrong, but we definitely have different points of view.

Life is exhausting when you are this stupid.

by jonestr on Jul 18, 2008 5:43 PM PDT 0 recs

I like Koponen

and was never sure about Sergio.

I could still see Sergio coming into training camp and seizing the backup position at PG. He has talent, and Oden’s presence might cover a lot of his weaknesses. But when they got Bayless, I think it sealed Sergio’s fate, because I think Bayless will be ahead of him on the depth chart.

It’s really Sergio, Blake, and Koponen battling for the backup PG position, long term. And I think Sergio is too far behind Blake in the things that matter out of a backup PG. But we’ll see. It should be an interesting training camp, even if Koponen isn’t there.

Other people don't have as much practice at being wrong as I do -- HT, timbo

by jscot on Jul 19, 2008 4:48 AM PDT 0 recs

Sergio's rookie year

I went to 4 games and watched many more on the tube his rookie year and it was obvious that he was the best Blazer that year in terms of court vision and getting the ball to players where they could score. There is no room for debate about that. Of course other areas of his game were lacking but in court vision and setting up guys for scores, he was by far the best Blazer that year.

By the end of that year though, teams figured out how to defend him because his shot was not consistent. He still has not developed a consistent enough shot to force teams to play out on him and open up the floor for him. It really is that simple.

Defense is a bit of an issue as well but I would guarantee you that if he can become a consistent threat from 18ft back to the 3pt line (42% and 35% even), he will get back on the floor and regain what made him look so good as a rookie. If he doesn’t get his shot going, teams will keep sagging into the middle and clog his passing lanes. When he had the ball last year, there wasn’t anyone within 10 feet of him.

Let’s hope his work with the shooting coach pays off because he really has special gifts that we could use.

PTB Liberation Day - 2/10/04

by tssbro on Jul 19, 2008 11:31 AM PDT 0 recs