blazers need to man up.lma too soft.coach mac coach some d.brandon roy aka the chosen one has decreed.kp get it done.we need a banger with some toughness.oden fanboys i told you so hes not the second coming.

Maybe we should make him the GM.

Just to make more room for Sergio.

Oh Hurryup09, we’re on to you!

Should we be listening to someone like that?

M?

KP wouldn’t likely have realized you’re supposed to pay players, and everyone wouldn’t have gotten a paycheck, and everyone would leave the team and our reputation would have been ruined.

Mortimer

I think Oden is plenty tough; I’ve even seen glimpses of a mean streak in him. (E.g., when he dumped Ray Allen into the photographers at the Rose Garden and when he bulled thru His Highness LeBron.) Nothing soft about that guy at all.

No, I think that, considering their age, the Blazers have a reasonable number of no-backdown-type guys. They just don’t have enough players with the body-types needed to back up their attitudes. Besides the guys you mention, Blake, LMA, and Bayless are plenty tough. The team just needs a couple more beefy guys in the Maxiell/ Millsap mold to balance the line-up.

It’s not so much a matter of standing up to bullies. The Blazers have gotten past that hurdle now. But the team doesn’t have enough of the type of players that can be effective when opponents are allowed to push, shove, and grab them. That’s a very different type of game that what’s played during most of the regular season, and it calls for a different body type—as well as a feisty attitude.

As you suggest, the term means different things to different people. Importantly, KP referred to both “toughness” and “physicalness.” Unlike some, I don’t think the Blazers are a bunch of easily intimidated wimps. The ‘08-’09 team may have had some issues in that regard, but age and the addition of Greg Oden (joining Przy) have alleviated that to a large extent. If LMA weighed thirty more pounds, I think he’d be a bit of a bully, in fact. Same goes for Steve Blake. Those guys have the ’tude—just not the body to back it up.

So I don’t think the Blazers so much lack a tough ATTITUDE as simple physical mass. I’ll bet that if you added up the total weight of the Blazer roster, it would be lighter than the Celtics, Rockets, etc. There just aren’t enough big, strong, guys with massive lower bodies on the Blazers squad.

Players like Bass, Maxiell, and Big Baby are forces of nature; opponents fly off them like bowling pins. My thesis has been that you’ve gotta have at least a couple of those guys on your team if you want to thrive in the playoffs, and the Blazers have none. (I’m not counting Ike Diogu, as you must have game as well as a body.)

Does the physicality of those types of players serve to give bullies pause? Sure. But more importantly, it allows your team to execute on both offense & defense in the ultra-physical playoff environment.

“Letting them bake” maybe makes more sense with a young squad, where potential distractions to POSSIBLY get out of the first round might not be worth it.

We haven’t seen yet what KP would do when we are definitely one piece away from a contender.

Thank goodness he had me to show him the light.

Seriously, I consider KP to be the best GM in the league. In the big picture, it doesn’t matter much that the Blazers didn’t get past the first round this season. I do think that KP shouldn’t have needed a playoff series with the Rockets to recognize the team’s toughness deficit. But, importantly, “Maxsaps” aren’t that hard to acquire. In fact, most of the Maxsaps in the league were second round picks.

So I’m sure KP will address the team’s lack of beef soon—either thru the draft, a trade, free agency, or some combination. A bigger issue is the team’s starting point guard position. Top point guards ARE hard to find. But that’s a subject for another thread…

Oops…

I really don’t think Houston would give him up, even if I personally believe Darko is a good backup big man.

I’ll take Darko, the guy will rock our worlds.

Morty

He would have taken bullets as he ran towards his attacker, not away… Just saying.

He’s a Maxsap for sure (even if he’s not as thick as most).

One of my fondest playoff memories will be Mike Rice never failing to mention Landry’s injury.

“And here comes Carl Landry, who was having a great season before he was shot in the leg.”

“Welcome to Portland folks, the Blazers have some catching up to, after shot-in-the-leg victim Carl Landry went on a run.”

I s\wear my Tom Peterson alarm clock got changed to Mike Rice saying “Carl Landry got shot in the leg.”

Frye? OK. Trout? Kinda sorta (although I’d say he’s more skinny and uninterested in blocking out than truly soft). Maybe Sergio. Beyond that, no one really comes to mind for me. I think the team just needs to swap Frye & Trout (much as I love both guys) for a couple of strong, quick, talented, and most of all beefy forwards off the bench (preferably vets) to balance the roster. I’m talking guys with wide bodies—with lower body strength to burn. Then I think the team will be fine.

Remember: players tend to get stronger, tougher, and more savvy with maturity, and the Blazers still have the youngest playing rotation in the league.

As for KP’s ego and the enemies he’s made: he has an ego because he’s good, and he’s made enemies because, well, he’s good. That goes with the territory. Where I do agree with you is that many Blazer fans forget that KP is human. To suggest that he’s had a blind spot re/ the critical value of toughness & physicality shouldn’t be sacrilege.

Yeah, like the Cavs with Big Z, Sideshow Bob, and Joe Smith.

Or the Lakers with Bynum, Gasol, and Odom.

REAL hard hitting ballers.