Quick does it again… how long will we get to selfishly keep Quick as our beat writer?! Enjoy it while it lasts!

Super Trout is a stud, and it seems that he is actually saying what is on his mind – and it is mostly positive! Every player with his athleticism/capabilities SHOULD want to dominate and have the confidence to feel they could win games as ‘the man’. It is Nate’s job to organize the players into a team mindset (which he excels at). But while every player in the game should have that confidence, not every player has the humility to recognize that when you start to think too much about where you are as a player, that you will start to get stuck on yourself. Trout’s acknowledgement of that should give everyone a big breath of fresh air. I am proud of T-Law as a Blazer, and wish him nothing but the best. He is going to continue to be a big part of this team, particularly if he continues to improve like he has every year!

He was talking trash with his buddies. I say some ludicrous stuff when I’m talking trash with my friends too.

That being said, his comments strike a bit of fear in Blazer fans, because for some people it confirms when many have suspected for a long time with Outlaw…that he’s a chucker….and proud of it. And truthfully, Outlaw is a chucker, but within the confines of his role on the 2nd unit it works. However, if Outlaw is not shooting well, he struggles on the offensive end because his passing skills are limited. I really can’t remember any plays last season where he set someone up for an easy basket.

Outlaw finally tasted success in the NBA last season and we all don’t want to see it go to his head. Hopefully, he stays humble and understands that his job is to provide whatever the TEAM needs to win…the same goes for everyone else on the team. If that’s chucking up 20 shots then fine. But if that means taking 6 or 7 shots grabbing 6 or 7 rebounds and playing solid defense, then that’s what we want to see him do. If he can’t handle that after all of the patience the Blazers have shown him, then trade him.

Not having spent much time in the south, this really gave me a feel for where Outlaw is coming from, both psychologically and geographically. Also, I like his candor.

I have no problem with him being honest about his desire for shots. A successful person should be greedy for the opportunity to exercise what they do well. Brandon has on severaral occaisons expressed his interest in seeing the offense run through him, which is appropriate since he is a great playmaker and leader. You know Oden will be greedy for lob dunks, rebounds and blocks. What Travis does well is score. He wants to have the opportunity to do what he does best. Hopefully, it will be here…maybe it will be elsewhere. He seems cool with that, and I think we all should be too.

When your primary skill is scoring and your team adds several new players who are scorers its only natural to speculate on how it will all turn out. We all have been. I like Travis better after reading this article.

Sigh. Right now the trickle of other Blazer news is too thin a reed to support the fans’ appetite, so this was manna from Heaven.

Trout has earned his place on this team and the public’s eye. While I don’t think the game he showed last season will be as well suited to the team next season, he will occupy the place he has earned until someone wrestles it from him or he is traded.

Settle down people. It’s a positive thing that Travis wants to have a major role on this team. I would expect every player to WANT that, and be working toward that. The problem is when players start expecting more than they’ve earned, or demanding more than the team can give them. There’s no reason to believe that will happen to Travis, and no reason to believe the ROY, LA, and Oden wouldn’t quash it if it did.

Mac knows how he is going to use Travis, and Travis knows it too. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that Mac seems to prefer to keep his players healthy by playing his starters around 30 minutes or even less, which we saw with Blake, Webster and Pryz last year. When Portland didn’t keep Jones, it became clear that they’d decided to give the time at SF solely to Travis and Webster. Travis may see a few less minutes this year, as in 26 to 22 or so, but he may still pick up some minutes at PF at times. Right now, we see Oden and Pryz taking the minutes at center, and Aldridge and Frye at PF. But, we may also see that Pryz’s lack of offense could, at times, cause Mac to shift Frye to center, and Outlaw to PF in some sets, just as Mac speculated a few days ago that he could see Roy moving to SF in some sets when Rudy is on the floor.

It’s still a fluid situation on the team. The more interchangeable the parts become, the more flexibility the coach has in exploiting the weaknesses of other teams.

As far as a couple of comments about KP’s decision to trade the 13 and Jack for Bayless – it was hardly a mugging. Those who harp on Bayless tend to ignore the fact that Rudy had more to do with trading Jack, than Bayless. Mac had decided that Blake and Roy performed better together in the starting unit than Roy and Jack. Jack, as a result, was playing the minutes as the third guard – but that forced him to be more of a combo guard at times, as Roy likes to deliver the ball in the 1/2 court, and Blake is primarily a PG. The Blazers already knew about Rudy, who is pimarily a shooting guard, and had to decide to bring him over or not. To do that, they had to give him playing time, and that time had to come from Jack, not from Blake or Roy. At that point, they had to decide whether or not Jack would be happy as a 4th guard with reduced playing time. Bayless can play his way into the NBA as the 4th guard for a while, and be satisfied doing that. Jack was not likely going to be happy as either a 4th guard or splitting his 26 minutes with Rudy. From where I sit, the trade worked well for the players as well as the Blazers. The Blazers cleared time for Rudy, Jack will get more minutes in Indiana than Portland, and Bayless is a better 4th guard for the Blazers who they can then take the time to develop. In the end, it wasn’t about Bayless – it was about Rudy. They had to have Jack’s 26 minutes.

TheBlazers either rolled the dice and brought Rudy over – or they didn’t. But they certainly weren’t going to persuade him to come over if he was going to have to compete for minutes as a backup with Jack – and only play 10 or 12 minutes as Sergio did last year. And you can bet Sergio’s situation was front and center in talks between the Blazers and Rudy – given the two players are friends.

So why don’t some of you wake up and look at reality. We moved Jack and replaced him with Rudy and Bayless, not just with Bayless. And the trigger was Rudy – not Bayless.