Casterrific
by Dave on Feb 5, 2009 1:26 PM PST
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PrintThis week's edition of the Blazers.com podcast starring Gavin Dawson of 95.5 The Game, Casey Holdahl of the Center Court Blog and me, Dave from Blazersedge is up for your listening pleasure.
This time we get into the schedule, Nate's thought on pick and roll defense (and the size of our guards), the outlook as the trading deadline approaches, Travis Outlaw, Jerryd Bayless, Sergio's future, Martell's return, and the usual combination of praising Ben and then giving him a hard time so his head doesn't swell to mammoth proportions.
You can download the podcast here or click on Casey's link above to stream it.
Happy listening!
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
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Nothing
Just existing mostly, and being a darn good writer. If I don’t give you a hard time on-air I’d get all mushy and that wouldn’t be good for our tough-guy image here at the site.
—Dave
You two are kind of like Aragorn and Legolas
Is anyone else seeing that?
It's not offensive until someone reads it.
That was pretty blunt, but certainly caught my attention.
It is not that Sergio is bad, it’s just that you can’t put him in front of Blake, and now JBay is adding such a valuable alternative, Sergio is comming in third. And, that is probably not going to satisfy Sergio. Actually, being on the same team as Rudy could even make it harder for Sergio to take a secondary (or tertiary) role, as his amigo is so solidly established (i.e. more minutes for Rudy as Sergio watches on the bench could be more painful that bench time on another team.) Plus, perhaps another team has more minutes for Sergio. I suspect that a significant factor in Sergio’s future on the Blazers could be his contentment (or, more likely, lack thereof) with the role the team has available for him. I sure don’t see Blake (who has been a solid starter, not to mention walked from Denver to play here) or Bayless, who is showing too much promise, with his strong inside game and inspirational intensity, going anywhere. The PGs we might let those guys go for probably aren’t going to be available.
by Berkeley on Feb 5, 2009 2:36 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
+1
Good analysis, completely agree with you on Sergio’s future role. Rec’d
Jerryd Bayless = Marlo Stanfield
- Early stage Marlo at this point, but Bayless is the emotionless killer new to the game. He will take over, and there will be casualties – it’s just a matter of time.
Minnesota needs Sergio
We need their first-round pick. – Elgin
Since when do we need to ponder to froth? - jscot
Hint: You should check out how Leo Laporte does commercials for the same client "Citrix/Go to meeting", only much more integrated into the content
He talks about how he actually uses the products/offerings of his clients and how great they are. And for some you really believe him. I suppose people are more inclined to follow that lead than the shorter but much more blunt stereotypical (very deep voice) “BUY OUR PRODUCT. GO THERE NOW!”
http://www.twit.tv/twit But it’s also in other shows. Just checked, and it’s e.g. in the latest episode “Babby”, the ad begins ca. at the 26:35 mark. It is individual every time, depending on the mood and the participants. But maybe they also pay him more since the show and the ads are longer :)
best part of the day
blazer podcast time.
Rip City Baby...People have no idea what is coming.
Follow my twitter www.twitter.com/PDXBlazersFTW, @PDXBlazersFTW. Lots of random Blazer Posts from links I find around the blogosphere.
i cant listen :(
i have to wait untill im not working, or rather, not at work PRETENDING to work.
Anyway, my dislexia made me read the title as “castrate” which is weird and kind of disturbing.
Sophia
Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. - William Shakespeare
Roses are red
violets in bloom
Sophia’s in love
with Nicholas Batum
-Bow4Meow
Yup BF1 called it. I saw this thread and a mix between castrate and terrific is what I saw too
Those words don’t go together in my book.
Did Dave do it on purpose to try to further emasculate poor Casey?
".. is gumby an alien?"
What was it that Joe said
about who the east team was that Jason had mentioned as a possible trade partner? They are a team that was looking to implode/reload/eat a toad? Didn’t quite get that…
OT:
What happened to Jammin’ 95.5? Not that I was ever a fan. I haven’t really lived in Portland for 4+ years now, so I’m clueless.
Technically
too "big-city" for Eugene or Corvallis. But you’re right…I should put more out-of-context controversy in my titles.
—Dave
Dave, Dave ...
Even though I can righteously claim my Duck fandom as both an alum and a current staffer at UO, it doesn’t upset me too much when people dis the teams. However, I think attacks on Eugene itself are uncalled for. I tell friends and family from out of town that Eugene is like a stereotypical anti-NYC — a great place to live, but not all that great to visit.
Numero dos. This Sergio situation really bothers me. I love an exciting passing game, and I’ve been hopeful that Sergio would get enough consistent quality minutes to bring his entire game up to where I think it could be eventually. Unfortunately, the timing seems weigh against him. I’d rather seem him get the playing time on another team than languish on the Blazer bench. One thing I will say about the last game: it seemed to me that quite often, when he had the ball and was looking for somebody to pass to who might do something useful, the other players were just kind of standing around. Nobody seemed to want to get open except for Rudy. So, if you’re a pass-first PG, what can you do?
I've never been more disappointed in the intelligenece of the people that create this podcast
Gavin is a total moron. Sergio, out of the NBA? Puhhleeasse!
Sergio has done everything at least as well as he had done before Blake got injured. But now his value has gone down? What a bunch of idiots. He was a perfect fit on our 2nd unit before the Blake injury, and he’s a perfect fit on our 2nd unit when Blake returns.
Dave, I expected MUCH better from you. He has done nothing over the last 2 weeks except put up better numbers than he did the rest of the year. And now he’s going down the drain?
The problem with Sergio’s performance as a starter… is that it has looked like he’s just a steady and fairly unimpressive PG. Sure most of that isn’t on Sergio but rather on our style of play… but he’s looked like Blake without a good 3pt shot. How much trade value would Blake have without a good 3pt shot? Shoot, how much trade value does Blake have with his 3pt shot?
There are still a couple of up-tempo teams that probably think he could be something in their system… but the number of interested trade destinations has probably shrunk and those that are interested have more leverage.
by danielfarrell on Feb 5, 2009 6:40 PM PST up reply actions
The thing I don't understand about the trading
is that Bayless eventuality on this team is the starting PG position. Which would make Blake the guy on the outside. He doesn’t fit as well with our 2nd unit as Sergio does. He also is 6 years older, and during our window (2-4 years), Sergio will flat be a better overall player (specifically on our 2nd unit w/ Rudy). If there is a plan to get a starting PG that is not on our team, that’s a statement on Bayless’ future. But if you don’t see an outsider at PG for this team, you have to assume our long term plans are to have J-Bay starting eventually in an ideal world. Again, Blake is the one not on this team eventually. Unless we get a nice return on Sergio, having him as our 2nd unit PG really does work.
I mostly agree with you, but I don’t think that is Nate’s plan. See my comment below about plans for players. It just seems to me that Sergio isn’t in Nate’s long term plans. Maybe he knows that Sergio won’t be okay being a career backup, who knows. And Blake is still plenty young to be a good backup PG during our championship window.
by danielfarrell on Feb 5, 2009 6:55 PM PST up reply actions
As Casey said, Blake is in our future at least mid-term as a starter
Bayless is not ready to run most of the point guard minutes on this team for a season and the playoffs, neither is Sergio. Blake has one more year on his contract after this season at 4 million. If no upgrade for the starting point guard position comes along in a deal (and the only one available I see is Hinrich, as much as you don’t like his contract), Blake will be with Portland at least until the next deadline. Potentially they might even extend him still as a starter or at least a backup after 2010.
Agreed
You can’t say no to Blake for 4 million next year. That, if nothing else, is a major asset. I see no reason for him in 2010-2011. 31 year old point guards in Blake’s mold don’t do damage in the playoffs. At most Blake is our point guard through next year. Doesn’t that make him among assets that you either get something for now, or nothing at all? I’d argue that for him more so than RLEC.
He's actually shot from downtown somewhat passably this season.
except for January. Obviously not well enough to merit starting on playoff team, or possibly even getting minutes on a playoff team, but he still has a stellar assist per minute ratio and is relatively young. While he’s obviously not going to go anywhere and start, it’s hard to believe that not a single team would sign him to a cheap contract. Look at some of the guys playing PG in the NBA on bad teams and tell me he couldn’t play over a Chris Quinn or Fred Jones (sorry, Freddie, you’re just not a point).
You just don't expect a total rip fest to come from people you respect...
I’m quite disappointed, and I feel that they certainly didn’t do enough to justify the sudden change in opinion on Sergio.
What interests me is Nate's training
This was hit on some in the podcast… about Nate not aiming to win it all this year and wanting to teach Oden “the right way” for an agile big man to defend the P&R even if it costs us some games. Oden isn’t agile enough yet… but he’s slowing getting better.
It seems to me that Nate has specific programs for specific players that he sees in the team’s long term future. He’s working on a program for Oden to make him a better player long term. He also seems to me to have a program for Bayless where he trains him on defense and playmaking to earn minutes(although injuries have forced his hand a bit). He’s been working a program for BRoy and LMA for 3 years now to get them where they are. I’ve seen some of his program for Martell too with the emphasis on defense. That stuff fascinates me.
On the flip side, who are the players who don’t seem to be on programs? It would seem to me that if Nate didn’t have you on a program you aren’t in his long term plans. So, who fits there? Obviously Sergio as Nate just has him do the Blake(be steady and spot up) or Bayless(fight through screens and other stuff he’s not strong enough for) stuff and it doesn’t work. Maybe Batum as he’s just tried to put him in the Martell shaped hole in our rotation although his Batum plan may have just been messed up by Martell’s injury.
What about the rest of the team? Does there seem to be a Rudy plan? Anyone else jump out at you?
For Rudy there is at least a strength and conditioning plan that Born talked about to make him sustain the rigors of the NBA. Probably more to improve his mid-range and driving. For Martell, the injury likely has destroyed any development plans they had with him and I wouldn’t be surprised if he just plays backup minutes this season before starting another off-season program to get ready. He got his extension in the fall at an attractive price (they secured his services at least at fair value), but that doesn’t necessarily mean he is in the long-term plans. For Channing there was a development plan to finally move him from center to power forward only, which they did but without much improvement if at all.
My main indication that Nate wants Martell as his SF is how the offense is setup. The SF role in our offense fits Martell perfectly… and then there was the plan to also turn him into a defensive stopper. Throw in Nate’s love affair with muscular players and the extension… and it looks to me like if Martell comes back healthy the SF spot is still his to lose.
by danielfarrell on Feb 5, 2009 7:25 PM PST up reply actions
I'm actually pretty content with our long term prospects at SF
with Batum and Webster. I think they’re both really nice players that their roles nicely. Even more than PG, I think the biggest weakness comes when Aldridge hits the bench. We need an adequate replacement there. Its a tough spot, because with Joel, you obviously have to have an offensive game, otherwise you have two inept inside players which just won’t be enough to do the job long term. Also, you have to be able to get yourself some boards and be a hustle guy. While Joel is a great rebounder and interior defender, he’s not the most mobile guy, and he struggles to make hustle plays. There aren’t a whole lot of scrappy hustle players with legitimate interior skills, so that might be are hardest fit in the long term. I’m much more worried about this spot than backup PG, as I feel we have a now that fills that role just fine.
Join in
on the DaJuan Blair/Patrick Patterson countdown party I’ve got going (pretty please let one of them be there when we draft…)
Jerryd Bayless = Marlo Stanfield
- Early stage Marlo at this point, but Bayless is the emotionless killer new to the game. He will take over, and there will be casualties – it’s just a matter of time.
Blair is strong for sure… his height will hurt him in the NBA. We also have Freeland as a potential backup PF next year… and he’s got good length.
by danielfarrell on Feb 5, 2009 8:03 PM PST up reply actions
I really like Freeland too...
He’s a different type of customer than Blair though. Eventually Przybilla will be gone, and Freeland will be the backup C for 10-15 minutes per game. Blair is the PF. Also, although he is just 6’7" in height, his wingspan is 7’3". There is a reason he averages one rebound for every two minutes he plays in the toughest conference in America (540 minutes, 266 rebounds, PER: 41.4).
It wouldn't really matter the technical definition...
Blair and Freeland would make a mighty fine 2nd unit tandem in the frontcourt.
eh
neither of those guys can play center. We need someone with beef on the second unit… Joel will still be good for a long while. It’s not like he’ll lose his athleticism. He bases his game off smarts and size.
My only worry
when it comes to keeping Joel is that there’s such a dearth of capable centers in the NBA, even Joel at 32 is probably going to command a nice contract. It will be interesting to see how the Blazers handle that, because there are 3 obvious (Roy, LMA, Oden) and 3 likely (Rudy, Nic, Bayless) candidates on the roster for big money at that time, with Joel being a few years older than all of them. Of course, Paul Allen will spend money if the team needs it, so that worry may be moot (from a luxury tax rather than cap room viewpoint)
Jerryd Bayless = Marlo Stanfield
- Early stage Marlo at this point, but Bayless is the emotionless killer new to the game. He will take over, and there will be casualties – it’s just a matter of time.
The Center obsession in this league is coming to an end
I know, I know… Oden. Just hear me out. There is a difference between having a super-elite talent like Howard or Oden that have some offensive skill while still being dominant defensively and on the glass. After those 3-5 players, it just makes more sense to put in your best players, whether they be a prototype 7 footer or not. For example, lets look at some of the tweeners (PF/C). Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Jefferson, Rasheed Wallace, Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett. All of these players have higher /- numbers per 48 at the center position than they do at the power forward position. Meaning, its okay and maybe even preferable to play a slightly undersized player at the 5, than to play a slightly less talented player that is a true 5 there. We’re not really getting a fair comparison this year, with our best backup (Przybilla), and our worst backups (Frye/Ike) playing those two spots. Just look at how good we are when Aldridge is our 5 (18.5/48). In this new NBA it isn’t essential that you have a true center. KP talked a lot about this earlier in his career. You get the best players regardless of position.
Przybilla's offensive rating this year is 131.
That’s absolutely ridiculous. Rebounding and defense are just as important as offense.
Having a true backup center is a huge bonus.
Sure, if you have a stiff at center, you play the more talented power forward. But if you have a goalie type center, like Przy, you play him. The picks, rebounding, and such are extremely valuable.
This is not an argument against Przy. He's obviously our backup center.
But you don’t have to have a “true” center. A 7 footer with a prototypical body etc. If you have a sufficient amount of rebounding and interior defense no matter your height and weight, you’re good. Freeland may not be a perfect “center”, but he’s excellent on the boards, and can hit shots. He’s among the very best young bigs in Europe right now. Blair is also an elite level rebounder, and can defend big tough strong guys in the post.
I don't know
I agree with your reasoning/conclusion, and maybe the NBA as a whole is coming around to the fact that you don’ t need a 7’+ guy in the middle to win games, but in a league where guys like, Petro, O’Bryant, Swift are top 10 picks based on having height, a vertical over 20’ and not much else, I think Pryz is going to get paid (health permitting) when he hits the open market.
Jerryd Bayless = Marlo Stanfield
- Early stage Marlo at this point, but Bayless is the emotionless killer new to the game. He will take over, and there will be casualties – it’s just a matter of time.
in 2011 when he's 32?
Doubt it. With Przybilla, it just proves my point about best player. He’s a better player, so you play him. Its nice to have, but unless you have a legit center, there is no need to just have someone on your roster that’s 7 feet. If you can’t play you can’t play, no matter your height. Blair is 6’7" and I’d put money on him being a better rebounder in this league than 3/4 of the guys in this league that are 7 foot.
Speaking of PFs masquerading as centers
don’t forget that vertically challenged set of back up bigs on the defending champs, and that the other finalist last year didn’t use anyone in the playoffs who you’d classify as a classic center.
I love the podcast
Gavin is that guy who overreacts to everything, Casey gives an insightful company-line response, and Dave wraps it up somewhere in the middle. I hate most of Gavin’s comments, but I know they are what some fans are thinking and they’re normally the most vocal fans and attention grabbing issues. Dave and Casey balance out Gavin’s extremism and the dynamic works.
It's not offensive until someone reads it.
We all just shoot it like we see it
The thing I genuinely love about it is that it’s easy to talk to these guys. Basically you’re hearing what you’d hear if the three of us were sitting around over beers talking about this stuff. Yeah, I think Casey is careful here and there but if you know where to find it there’s an amazingly funny, dry undertone to many of the things he says that speaks volumes…more than stuff I say straight out sometimes.
—Dave
Yup
I don’t hate Gavin, or anything like that. He just throws out all the knee-jerk fan over-reactions and you guys talk him down. If I didn’t know he had a radio show, I’d think he got all his topics from the titles of the fanposts here. You and Casey seem to take into account the long term goals of the team and Gavin is reacting to the past few games. Like I said, it’s a great dynamic and Gavin is doing really well at managing the flow of the podcasts.
It's not offensive until someone reads it.
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