Having watched these last few games, I has become apparent to me that we are really missing that X-Factor to push us to being a powerful and consistant team. I think we are close enough, with LA as the core of our team we just need to build around his game, and get players that fill in his weaknesses. My question is what is that X-Factor that we are missing? Do you think it is a young and energetic center who can control the boards, or a in control quick point guard who can really be the Blazer's floor general?

I would argue that they need both to even consider moving deep into the playoffs and really challenge the OKC's and Heat of the league. But if we are going to go out and try to move forth, who do you go after first? I would say find that point guard that can really set the tempo and get the team on the right track! I know it has been mentioned, but I think a Rondo would do wonders for the team. Or what about the idea of trying to orchestrate a move for Austin Rivers in the draft?

Hindsight is a funny thing. With the benefit of hindsight we can pinpoint with certainty the poor transactions and draft picks made by this organization. Hindsight tells us that Durant and Jordan were the right choices, that Chris Paul, Deron Williams, or even Andrew Bynum would have much better selections than Martell Webster. It tells us that the Eurostash experiment has been a flop. It tells us smaller things, like even though Camby/Przy/Oden looks great on paper, in reality it may result in Juwan Howard playing center.

Poll

Your life depends on a game of 2-on-2 against your doppelganger. Halfcourt, 2s and 3s to 21. You can choose Ray Felton or Jeremy Lin as your teammate, with your doppelganger getting the other. WHO YOU TAKIN??

• Felton
• Lin

  228 votes | Results

Continue reading this post »

I know its early to jump the shark on this version of the Portland Trail Blazers but it seems to me at this point the team is playing lackadaisical, they dont have that mind set that they need to win every game, maybe they do as this is an outside perspective but there have been instances this season of a lack of effort, a lack of wanting. Certain games and certain parts of games that desire to win does show through- playing the Thunder in OKC or beating the Lakers in the RG but outside of a few performances like these the team is playing like it doesn't want to be considered an upper echelon team. If thats the case, it bothers me that they are on the same course as the Blazer teams of the last few years- make the playoffs yay! and then get bounced in the first round and in the meantime we only play 8 guys on the roster close to 40 minutes and by the time the playoffs do come they are to gassed to do anything in them anyway. With a better crop of players available in this years draft, is it really worth it to make the playoffs as a lower seed and if the level of play and effort maintains get bounced and have another bad 1st round draft choice? I question the effort and the desire and if its not there, why put up with another charade of a playoff team. I will support the Blazers every single night and every game but something needs to change if the Blazers have any hope of getting out of the first round and at this point even to the playoffs. Whether thats a trade, before the deadline or during the draft to move up something needs to happen. The blame cant solely fall on the players or the coaches but I do think Coach Nate McMillan needs to start trusting his young guys. Sole blame for the lack of development of our younger players over the years falls on him. Effort and Desire falls on the players. How is Portland supposed to find its fabled PGOTF if our rookies and young guys are playing 4-5 minutes a night. You look at guys like Darren Collison, Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Jeremy Lin, Ty Lawson, etc. Guys like this are good and getting better with play time. With all this I once again say- as a team/organization where is the effort?

Portland will continue to be one and done if we even make the playoffs this year because of our poor PG play. I thought we would get the New York Felton but he has been horrible. Felton is only shooting 20% from 3 not to mention the turnovers. Toronto is shopping Calderon because of his salary of 10-11 million next year. Portland will have the cap space and he would fit perfect with our Blazers. He is a 40% shooters from 3's not to mention his assist to turnover ratio.How much longer will it take for management to see that we need an upgrade. It's killing me!

Our team played with NO fire in the first half at Houston. Sometimes in the first half it seemed that the Blazers literally were playing with 4 players. We were molasses and they were ms.butterworths today. LMA was not LMA. Camby was not Camby. Felton put in a Felton-like in his performance today. Matthews had an ok game on the offensive side but on D he got torched by Courtney Lee multiple times. GW was good, but he also got TORCHED by Budinger tonight. Crash and Batum both got schooled by the Zona sharpshooter. Batum had an ok game by my standards. His stats weren’t great but when he comes in the game you can just instantly see our defense improve. Besides not closing fast enough on Budinger, Batum played pretty good defensively. So our team defense? Calling our team defense, ahem, excuse me, WHERE THE &#@$ WAS OUR TEAM D TONIGHT??? Like, im talking about our help D. It seemed non-existent until a familiar storyline decides to pop up again, you know, the one where the Blazers wait until they closely resemble slugs, get blown out, and then decide to try and make the valiant comeback only to…..fall short. Yo, Jamal!!! Even though you got 21, Jamal, I am calling you out for your bad help and team defense in the first half. Again, I must first say that I hate Nate’s defensive switching schemes that create all sorts of mismatches for our defense to cope with. In that 2nd quarter there were probably 4 straight possessions of a Houston guard probing a mismatch against one of our bigs after the switch and Jamal never made an effort to head back to the guy heading to the basket. Jamal was talked to at halftime by Nate and in the 2nd half he was a different player on the defensive end and even got a nice blocked shot as a reward. I really hope these players/Nate really really start to get angry about these performances and fix these throwaway games we are starting to see on a regular basis. OKC GAME First off, I have to say that I INTENSELY hate you Scott Foster. Not only did he make the egregious horrible puke-in-your-mouth GOALTENDING call with 6 seconds left in a game and even after the game he would not acknowledge his error. Shucks if I ever am reincarnated as an NBA referee I know I would be bending over backwards apologizing for missing that call. At the bare minimum you should acknowledge that you are wrong when you are wrong. I know officiating professional sports, especially basketball, is a very challenging job but I really feel that NBA refs have it way to easy. The NBA has not made them accountable (excluding Donaghy) for missing calls or making mistakes. They hardly EVER get fired. Why does the NBA have the same refs that have been around for 10, 15, 20 years? Seeing Dick Bavetta huffing and puffing up the court a few years ago and Joe Crawford’s ancient decaying mass making that horrible call in the PHX serious. Hey NBA if your listening, a few thoughts. Keep tally of the most horrendous calls. If there are glaring descrepencies in the amount of errors per person then you figure out who is making the bad calls and not necessarily fire him but keep a little closer tab to him. OR if there is ref who consistently calls a way larger # of fouls in the 4th quarter that would be another very useful statistic to keep ahold of and measure. Accountability, accountability, and more accountability. HEY TRAILBLAZERS, THIS IS A PROFESSIONAL SPORT. BE PROFESSIONALS AND COME READY TO PLAY.

This is a bunch of crap what the hell is going on with the blazers, two losses in a row at home. I don't think its premature to be overly pessimistic at what we are seeing right now out of our blazers. What can be done, what is the problem, how can we fix this? these are the questions that me and many of you are thinking right now, the truth is the Blazers are playing like crap right now, and its not just one person who is the problem its everything, coaching and playing are suspect right now, if we want to be the team that we should be there needs to be some changes. I think that we need to make some trades at the deadline, I would be OK with trading away Raymond Felton and Gerald Wallace, it will be easy for me to let go of Ray but Gerald will be tough, he's a baller. you maybe add some cash or a trade exception maybe Armon and get a good quality PG that fits into our offense and another good young big man. I am not sure who that would be but the way our team is now it looks old and slow and sloppy, we need to get a little younger and more athletic to keep up with the other top teams in the league. You take a look at Indiana and Philadelphia and you see a great construction of young good talent with a few older wiley veterans in the mix, that what we need to do and until we do we will just be spinning our wheels like we have been for the last couple of years. there are plenty of teams out there that are looking for either cap space for next year or could actually use some veterans like wallace and felton. I just want consistency and dependability and this isnt it right now, some games I feel like Im going to have a heart attack because Im so pissed off and worked up over shotty play.

After watching more good players come to this team and under preform I am convinced that Nate needs to go... He was raving about a more "running" style this year and we continue to watch these guys walk around with NO ball movement and turning it over at a rate or 15 or so per game (ALWAYS seems like more). We get out worked, out hustled and poor shooing teams scorch the nets against us. I truly believe its the coaches fault. Nate needs to go... NOW! Thoughts?

Hey there my fellow Blazer's Edgers!

So True Hoop (via Henry Abbott and Royce Webb) have announced Hoop Idea - an engine for improving the NBA and the sport we all love. See the story here:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/36635/hoopidea-an-even-better-game

So they want you to e-mail

hoopidea@gmail.com or go to the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/yourNBAdestination

and tell them your ideas. Well I sent an e-mail, and I'm sure you can guess what it says:

1. Goaltending needs to be a reviewable call.

2. Scott Foster should never officiate a professional basketball game again. (Seriously, the guy has been implicated in the Donaghy gambling scandal, what the hell is he still doing with a job in this league?).

3. Half court refs shouldn't make calls they can't see. (I don't know how you enforce that, but I'm bitter so I put it anyway)

Yes, yes, I know, the Blazers had every chance to win this game before and after the Goaltending Call Heard 'Round the World, but the fact is, the game would have most likely ended then and there.

So I encourage everyone to write into this HoopIdea with similar points. This was some horseplop and the fact that nothing will be done about it is despicable!

Thanks for reading,

Alex

BEING A GOOD FAN 101
Rip City, as most of us would agree, has the league's best fans. The casual Blazers fan knows ball, talks ball, and knows when to cheer, boo, or recognize special efforts with a name chant. Of course we all know you can't apply generalizations to a fan base. But around here there has always been a special atmosphere created, and perpetuated, by the fans and the players and the relationship between them. But the fans are a naturally greedy mob and the players are humans straddled with unreal expectations. Some of those expectations are only perceived in the mind of the fan:

"I just saw Gerald Wallace! He is like a public servant! He must acknowledge my presence, take a picture with me, sign something, record my voicemail message, and call my Mom."
Yes players, these things pop up in our head in our excitement. This meeting already has unreal joy for one of us, and absurd tedium meeting strangers is in store for you. When you see Crash on the court, he is a player. Never forget when you see him around town, he's just a person. What might he be thinking?
"Awww man! Look at the way that kid's looking at me. I should have stayed home. Hes shaking, this is gonna be weird. I wonder what he wants. I just want to ___________."
Now as silly as this imaginary scenario seems, NOBODY can be perfect all the time for their fans. These guys are NOT public servants. But since the JailBlazers era ended, we have had a lot of truely good guys here. They often times hold charity events with meet and greets. They don't have to do these things. They want to do these things. I have had a few experiences that bothered me with other fans at these things, and I got to get this off of my chest. Lets rewind to a year ago, Patty Mills is raising money for the crisis in his homeland by holding one such meet and greet at the Clackamas Town Center. Two other Blazers mentioned that they might come out to support Patty's efforts. Of the two, only Marcus Camby had made it out. By the time I got far enough in line to make the required purchase for charity, Marcus Camby had been there for about half an hour. I was stoked to meet Marcus and have him sign a jersey for me. I had seen him training his personal shopper on what to get for him when he first got here. I walked by him and managed "Hey Marcus, we love having you here." He acknowledged me with a "thanks man", and I walked away realizing I had interrupted his day. So I felt like I earned my signed Camby jersey having been patient before. But in reality, had I? I am one of those fans that totally collects what he can, I love having that piece of something that connects me to a player I care for. I was literally at the register about to purchase my Mills and Camby jerseys (it was a sports store) and Marcus got up and said he had to leave. I asked the cashier to pull the jersey from my sale (sorry Marcus, I'm broke) and just appreciated meeting Patty, although I was admittedly disappointed.
The point is, we don't need to start bad mouthing players who aren't playing, because they are just people. "Oh my God, he's leaving! That's so disrespectful! He said he was going to be here!" The people behind me were pissed, and wanted to complain about it to anybody that would listen. Why? It wasn't Marcus' event. It wasn't officially advertised that he would be there. Also, I wondered if anyone else noticed that he had his young daughter with him, and that she had no one else watching her and was just sitting there as Marcus signed for fans. She was visibly bored and I think he stuck it out as long as he could, so I stowed my disappointment. The player was taking care of their family, almost like we do! Dude gave his own time (away from the rest of his family) to us expecting nothing back, and all he gets is bad mouthed when he leaves. That's not cool Portland.
I should have written this back then, but I didn't. This happened again the other day as the terrible human being know as Wesley Matthews did something to upset one guy. Wes was obviously proud of the coat drive events he has been doing with Fred Meyer's. He has been posting about it on twitter for a while now. Mixed in those twitter comments is a disgruntled (name withheld for the sake of the poor dude that lacked the foresight) fan's complaints about something I'm sure is silly.
Actual tweets:
@wessywes2 lost respect for you tonight @ Fred Meyer. Thought you were better than that.
@wessywes2 how about showing up late and not taking a picture with some kids who idolized you. All for 23k? Not to mention ur security...
Fellow fans, this is unacceptable behavior. Some people just want attention from someone famous so they attack them publicly. I think that's what happened here. But if a player is at a charity event don't criticize them so harshly. Wes didn't bring a gun, did he? Show up drunk or stoned? Wes did this to get coats to people who needed them! If you missed your shot at a signature or picture, as I did with Marcus - tough. Part of our Portland pride is being respectful and considerate, and now that we have good role model guys here we pick them apart anytime they do charities because they don't pay enough attention to us? Get over yourself!
In conclusion, fans need to be reminded of simple manners. The players know what your special autographed item means to you (although they also know some people just put it on Ebay), and I'm sure it is gratifying to meet a fan, so if we keep things in perspective it can be cool for the player and fan. If the player is able and willing to accommodate you, be respectful of their time! Thanks for letting me vent.

Just wondering, if we believe Ray Felton is not our PGOFT. Who might be available? Assuming the Celtics won't trade Rondo, just as we wouldn't want to trade Aldridge, who might realistically be "gettable"? The list of guys seems unimpressive to me: DJ Augustine, JJ Barea, Dragic, Dev Harris. Barea, like Crawford was a free agent and can't be traded until a specific date. Right now, there are 2 teams that definetly need a 2 guard. The Clips and TWolves. Might we get Ridnour or Eric Murdock for Wesley? (assuming filler for contract puposes). I would like to see Mathews moved, because of our bench Elliot is by far the most intriguing. Perhaps now that Rubio is really playing, Kahn might trade a point guard?? The Clips will probably sign JR Smith, but he is more of a spot player, either he is hot or he is killing you. Mathews for Murdock seems good value. Murdock isn't big enough to play with CP3. They could send salary filler, and we'll send euro rights to even it up. How about Monta Ellis at the point? Dynamic, but not sure he is a guy a team can win with. Seems like a gunner on a bad team type of player. Also, GS would overvalue. Nash?? Would do that, again with WM as the main piece, not Batum. Brandon Jennings? I haven't seen him enough, but seems like another volume shooter type. Thoughts???