that Houston wouldn’t be that bad, and while it turns that that the Rockets beat the Blazers, I think he was right. The Blazers, (eventhough we all had dreams) were not going to go deep in the playoffs, so a good hard series against a team like Houston exposed alot of flaws the Blazers need to address. Houston showed that the Blazers do run too many iso’s, for Roy, Outlaw, LMA, etc… even though they were very successful with that type of offense in the season, in the playoffs it was exposed a little bit. I think Nate needs to add some more offensive sets, and not just some ball screens for Roy to get him free. But some true movement on offense that creates easy shots.

Nate also needs to address the defense, the Blazers play ok defense, but they need create more turnovers, and play tighter team defense. Some of that will come with these players playing together for a few more years, but new scheme’s need to be added to the defensive end to make this team more consistant during the season, and more of a threat during the playoffs.

I also agree with Jaynes about Greg, he is THE important issue this offseason, more so than upgrading the PG or SF spots, Greg needs to get at least 2 bankable post moves besides the dunk for next season. If this team can get 15ppg from Greg it will become a title contender.

My perfect line up for next year is:
Captain Kirk
Roy
Batum
LMA
Oden

This gives the Blazers all the scoring and defense they can need on the starting unit, it also gives them a playoff unit that can force other teams to adjust to them, unlike this year where the Blazers were constantly trying to adjust to their opponent. Not sure what it would take to get Kirk from the Bulls, if we don’t have enough or they continue to ask for too much, A. Miller is a UFA from Philly who could fill the same role, (he is just older, so Kirk should be the first option).

For the bench I see:
Rudy – main scorer
Bayless – Secondary scorer
Joel – Defensive backbone
Webster – 3 point specialist

A new back up 4 will also be needed as Frye will move on this year, but those are the main players. If Bayless can improve enough to run the offense while being a slasher/scorer he will make Sergio expendable.

While I love the playoffs, I know this team wasn’t going to do much accept maybe win a series and hopefull give a scare to the Lakers, now the real fun starts for me, and for KP. The offseason is here my friends, let the speculation begin!

BUT I do agree that the Portland style of play needs to be looked at just a bit. However, part of me thinks that playing the way that would be most effective for this team, might just not have been possible with so many rookies on the squad. All of these things that hurt Portland during the playoffs are fixable. This offseason will be possibly the biggest test of Nate, KP and the entire Blazers front office.

which is not an uncommon approach in the business. I will give him credit that he put out a disclaimer as not seeing himself as a fan page writer and thus dispensed of the “it was a great ride” format.

Whether or not he is hypocritical I won’t judge but I don’t like his approach most of the time. As far as what he says I think there are some basic truths in there and others have said them before.

Yes, GO had a very up and down season and will need to become better if he is to help the team get better and be a featured player (and yes he could probably use a big man mentor). I think he did show flashes of how he could be a very good center even in this series.

Yes, BRoy is a great offensive player but he and the team need to develop a more team oriented approach to offense in order to be a better team. Of course all good teams need to have a player or two as the featured threat for some plays but it can’t be all the plays.

That’s all I think he said, I think he is right but he comes off as being the authority on what is wrong with the team and that this should be the sole focus right now and I think that approach lame. Jayne’s just takes the easy way of blasting the team after the fact and wants us to believe that he is just following his instincts as an ex newspaper guy.

I appreciate Dave’s approach which is to say we had a good year, let’s appreciate it and let’s analyze it more in depth soon. He said before the series that it would be tough and that some of our short comings were bound to be amplified in the series… I look forward to hear his take on where do we go from here.

is worshiped by the MSP crew.

BOOM! There goes his credibility!

after the season this team gave us, anyway with the long road ahead looking quite bright I think for now I will just slow down and enjoy the season that was. And really we should have a great summer waiting to see what KP does next.
Thanks guys great year! Go Blazers!

After the melt down against Houston, I’m surprised so many people think
he nuts. Portland needs to make major personal moves, and make significant changes in the style of play, otherwise we are just going to be a good team, that gets crushed in the playoffs.