Schroeder: The Latest on the Search for the 17th Man

I was already starting to make noise at this time last year, because I didn’t think that Portland had enough toughness at the PF position for the 2009 post season. Frye and Outlaw backing up LMA…well, they got “exposed” in the 4th quarter of game 4 when Houston rallied from a double-digit deficit to win by 1. Scola, Landry and (especially) Hayes scrapped their way to an 11-2 rebounding advantage in those pivotal 12 minutes—the Blazers just couldn’t get a “stop” (with possession) when they needed it—and after that game was lost the series was virtually over…as long as Yao remained healthy, anyway.

KP, Nate and Roy all talked about improving the team’s toughness and physicality during the offseason, and now we’re starting to see some of that promise from Pendergraph and Cunningham (I still would’ve preferred DeJuan Blair…) The decision to target Hedo as the #1 FA option was curious, because Turk is definitely not a banger. Millsap made more sense, but he was restricted. All summer I was advocating an Outlaw deal for a banger PF/C who had playoff experience (Foster, KThomas, Collison, etc) but…what wasn’t done wasn’t done.

Now my new target is Turiaf, because I think he could be “had” (KP might have to overpay a little, but it shouldn’t have to cost him any young players who are part of Portland’s “future”) Brandon spoke well of Ronny last June, and Turiaf would add toughness and experience, with the threat of shot blocking.