Fine, Fine, Fine. We get Webster back (hopefully) which can’t help but improve the depth and GO will improve, though how much is anybody’s guess. Other teams will be begging us to take high salaried players off their hands as they head to lottery-ville and the economic noose tightens. Patience is the key; KP must wait to find that perfect piece to add to our team, even if it means “disrupting” team chemistry a bit in January or February. I’m optimistic that LA and Denver will semi-selfdestruct and SA and us will compete for the conference title.

This has been a good series. Thanks Ben for your trip and access to Summer League and the networking you must be doing that will benefit us all in the coming years. For a basketball junkie it must be fun to see game after game, even though it lacks the team preparation and maturity of many veterans.

Just last week Macvan added another title to his resume – Univerisade gold medal.

I would love to see that kid in Blazer uniform. He would be perfect for that backup PF spot.

•Buchanan said Greg Oden has been working diligently this offseason and he raised expectations for next week’s USA minicamp a little bit when he said a “breakout performance” from GO at the camp could be on the horizon.

that got me really excited. i think we all have been waiting for a “holy crap, he has arrived” moment. im not saying that last season of his sucked, its just our expectations are so high that we want to see him succeed. even if it doesnt happen at this camp, it will happen soon enough. but i am truly waiting on interviews from other good young players and the senior team saying things like “wow, hes a beast” or “hes gona be a changed man this season.” i think that would put the collective blazer nation on pins and needles waiting for the new season to start.

and in a different realm…why are all u guys so anxious to use up all the cap space? it doesnt make sense to make a move just because the perception is u have to make that move. there are other avenues to acquire talent other than free agency. signing a player that isnt necessarily a good fit or isnt necessarily that good would hinder those other avenues. lets say the opportunity to get gerald wallace in the middle of the season comes up…would u really want david lee to be on the team rather than gerald wallace? or any other kind of player thats still available that doesnt really make sense? the reason i say gerald wallace is because of the history of trade rumors and the abundance of youthful talent the blazers would be able to offer in return. and yes, he would be a considerable upgrade over Trout, Batum, and Webster. while i love batum and websters potential, its time to turn potential into production. and its not like gerald wallaces contract is so bad either. all of this logic of not making a mistake by signing someone now doesnt have to apply to just gerald wallace, but other players that will possibly be made available throughout the season.

so my advice is YALL GOTS TO CHILL. 54 wins last year with minimal experience…its crazy. and that was with a basically unhealthy greg oden. allow them to grow a little bit and see what you can do DURING the season rather shoot for instant gratification. im sure with i hate to use this phrase but its just accurate “in this economy” good players like wallace will be made available because of the amount of struggling teams that are out there financially.

I cant wait to see oden play next year I read somthing about him working out with bayless this summer. I ’m hoping they will both have break out perfomances next year. Ive been looking at the numbers and oden didnt do that bad last year he kept getting in foul trouble early but he pulled down boards like a mad man compared to the minutes he played. if he could just learn to block shots high at the rim his foul problems would slow a bit. Stand tall in the post big man.

some numbers I found shaqs rookie season pulled down .35 boards per minute yao ming .28 d howard .30 brook lopez .26 bynums 2nd season .26 rookie .23 odens rookie .32

I could not find any one younger than greg that was any where near him in rebounds.

shaq had 4 personal fouls a game in his first year only slightly worse than greg at 3.9 although shaq played 81 games for 37 minutes and greg played 61 for 21 minutes. odens points per minute were .41 while shaqs was a gody .61 howards .36 bynums was .21 as a rookie and went up to .35 the next year

shaq and howard had no competition for there job there first year greg split time with joel so if you look at his season in his stat colum its not all that impresive but he played very good for a rookie if you think about it per minute.

kwami brown had only 1.8 personal fouls per game his first year 2 his second year.

shaq was the man though for 13 straight years he averaged 20 and 10ns he had 3.5 plocks per game in his rookie season

I could go on like this forever so ill stop