Kevin Pritchard on Wheels at Work

KP spent about 15 minutes with Brian Wheeler and the gang on 95.5 the Game about noon today. Here is an enhanced podcast of the segment for iTunes or your iPod. He touches on Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andre Miller, Martell Webster, Greg Oden, and life as a GM. File is 7.5MB and about 15 minutes long...

over 2 years ago krollb 4 comments 2 recs |

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thanks!

Blazers Edge.com

by Ben Golliver on Aug 10, 2009 2:05 PM PDT reply actions

KP re: Webster's rehab

KV: How close to 100% will Webster be when you open camp?

KP:

I think he’ll be very close…he’s progressing nicely…there was a time during the year last year where that it was a slow growth, like it wasn’t filling in like it needed to…but here in the last 3-4 months it’s really filled in nicely and we feel like he’ll be really close to 100% starting in September…we’ll “tier” him up slowly because it’s more important for him to be ready in late October versus September but he’s out there running, he’s shooting we expect him to make aa big contribution this year, he kind of like out free agent signing because he missed all of last year, so we’re gonna really welcome him back and hopefully he can help us.

Good news….but…SF logjam. Minutes crunch. If everyone stays healthy, I don’t see how Nate can keep his wing players (Rudy, Martell, Batum and Outlaw) all happy with their PT

When reached 39 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Aug 10, 2009 6:40 PM PDT reply actions

KP on the growth of Batum, Rudy, Greg and Jerryd

Nicolas is playing phenomenal overseas right now, I’ve gotten 3 calls in the last week saying … this kid is a different player, he’s playing with even more confidence, and he’s a 20 year-old kid. So you’re talking about Rudy 23, Nicolas 20, Greg 21, if those guys just have some growth along with Jerryd and what he can bring … if those guys can have some growth along with the rest of the team … the one thing I’ve always said about our team is, everybody still has room for improvement … Blake and Joel are our “elders” along with Andre but we feel like they all can improve. So, can we be better? Yes. Will it be fun to watch the identity of this team shape and form? Absolutely. That’s probably what I enjoy the most. There’s always unique dynamics and it’s going to be fun to watch.

When reached 39 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Aug 10, 2009 6:52 PM PDT up reply actions

More on Bayless, and how Andre can help Jerryd

The one thing we’ve always said with Jerryd is … don’t come in and act like you’re the 3rd PG, come and compete and we know Jerryd will. Is he disappointed? Yeah, you betcha. He wants to play, he’s a competitive kid. That’s also why we really like him and you guys know at that position (knock on wood we hope that there’s no injuries) but if you do have injuries you know you’ve gotta have that 3rd PG (and I don’t mean 3rd in a “bad way” with Jerryd right now, I’m just saying) that if there’s something that were to happen I feel very good that he could be a good backup and maybe move into a starting position. Nate has done an amazing job of always coming into camp and saying “I have no idea who’s gonna play, I have no idea who’s gonna start and I have no idea who’s gonna finish” and I think that’s a great way to look at itand that’s what we try to tell Jerryd.

What is really interesting and probably what “tipped the edge” with Andre was … Andre kept talking about our team and how he has (in the past) helped younger players. He talked about Louis Wiliiams and how he helped him become a better player with the Sixers. He talked about Thaddeus Young. He talked about Kleiza when he was in Denver. He sounded like a coach which was amazing because it was like “I helped those guys I talked to them on the court” … Andre is very quiet off the court. Everybody knows that . He sort of keeps to himself andhe has a quiet demeanor which is good with our team because we don’t need boisterous, over-the-top guys, that’s not what we are about. But on the court if you ever watch Andre and you’re a basketball purist, you’ll see he is an amazing general out there, and that he helps guys all the time. And Brandon said it, in his press conference that every time he spun Andre was there. So he had studied the game enough to know that when Brandon spins you’ve gotta be there and try to get the ball out of his hands.

So I think Andre can really help Jerryd is the point. I think that he wants to take on that role with Jerryd because Jerryd has some physical tools that will help us down the road.

When reached 39 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Aug 10, 2009 7:16 PM PDT up reply actions