[HoopsWorld] The Blazers Report Oct 7, 2003
Welcome to the October 7, 2003 edition of The
Blazers Report. I was unfortunately away on
business yesterday and was unable to file the
report when I left on Thursday. Sorry for the
delay, I promise we will get back to a regular
schedule.
Well the Blazers opened camp with the veterans
arriving and the main issues are the Blazers
lineup, which we have gone into great depth but
in true Blazers Report fashion we will continue
along.
We will begin with my continuing rant about the
Blazers and their organizational issues with
minor lawlessness. I heard Steve Patterson on
the radio last week and continue to believe that
the Blazers organization just does not get the
point. Steve Patterson was saying how these issues
were extremely minor, which I absolutely agree.
His issue seemed to be passively stating that the
media is blowing these issues out of proportion,
which I agree. What he did not address and is the
point, at least for me, is that these players simply
cannot get cited or arrested. I cannot remember the
last time I was stopped by a police officer. I do
not see other teams constantly reporting minor traffic
issues. And the fact is that the other organizations
have not dug themselves a hole.
In my business I travel and interact with a lot of
various people and I constantly hear the “jailblazers”
comment when I tell them I am from Portland. And it’s
not even stret cred because it is traffic stops. It is
just embarrassing. These players and this organization
represent the city. They represent me. If I am being
judged based on the organization, and that is an extreme
overstatement, this team simply must walk a straight line.
The organization needs to be very clear that it cannot
afford a traffic citation. It cannot afford speeding,
it cannot afford running a red light and it definitely
cannot afford any actual fighting or technical fouls.
This organization must mend its ways and I heard nothing
in Patterson’s interview, nor have I heard from sources
inside the organization, that this issue is being felt
at the organizational level.
I will say that sources have told me that people in the
organization’s first impression of Patterson was that
of a rich kid who did not understand the regular everyday
worker. They had a similar impression of Nash when he
came in as general manager. However, this view has
changed due to their willingness to engage in discourse
and conversation about the team and a very strong work
ethic. Now maybe we can finally understand why a minor
traffic citation is a big deal to me, because I, a citizen
of Portland, do not want to be identified with the
jailblazers, unless it has serious stret cred.
Lineups
HOOPSWORLD.com
Oct 7, 2003, 20:45
By Jeff Robertson
First, I did notice in the great Oregonian Mo Cheeks
talking about how he would look at Derek Anderson playing
point guard and one of the main issues was that Derek
did not want to play the point but wanted to play the
shooting guard position. I received more than a few
e-mails telling me how wrong I was on this issue so once
again the Blazers Report wants to point out what it has
been saying all along: the Blazers would ideally like to
start DA at point guard, Bonzi at shooting guard, Rasheed
at small forward, Zach at power forward and Dale Davis at
the center position with Qyntel Woods now surpassing Ruben
on the depth chart and Damon Stoudamire and Jeff McInnis
as the next players off the bench.
The concern with this lineup is twofold: First, the issue
of DA at the point guard. The second is the difficulty
with Rasheed at the small forward position. Rasheed is a
player who excels with his back to the basket and long arms
making him almost unstoppable in the post. Of course Rasheed
has a tendency to leak out onto the perimeter which makes him
a nice small forward candidate, but as we have been saying,
Rasheed struggles with taking the ball at the basket and does
not shoot particularly well off the dribble, something which
is essential for a small forward. Rasheed’s weaknesses are
lessened with DA at the point guard because with Bonzi and
DA you have two players who can take the ball at the basket
and create serious mismatches leaving Rasheed often alone to
play his game and Coach Cheeks to design the offense around,
which is exciting. We will see during the preseason as Coach
Cheeks tries to make this lineup work.
The second lineup will involve the recently reinstated Damon
Stoudamire at the point guard. This lineup keeps Rasheed at
small forward, but now Damon is slashing to the basket without
another perimeter shooter unless Bonzi improves in this area
and him and Rasheed are playing a pick and roll game outside
of the basket and Zach posting up and DA off the bench. This
was an effective lineup in the playoffs, but may not be as
strong playing more physical teams.
The most likely starting lineup continues to be Damon, DA,
Bonzi, Rasheed and Dale Davis. This lineup keeps the veteran
players happy, brings Zach and Qyntel off the bench as a
young and energetic tandem, and is a lineup that has been
together now for 3 years. It does not take advantage of
Zach’s presence in the paint which is obviously the biggest
down issue.
At this point the ideas of Qyntel at point guard is a very
big experiment and Jeff McInnis has not done anything to
take away Damon as the starting point guard. I expect it
will be a who is more important in the starting lineup:
Zach or DA which will drive the decision. If it turns
out as Zach then the Blazers will decide between Damon
and DA for the point guard which may simply be DA’s
willingness to understand that Bonzi is the starting
shooting guard like it or not.
Blazers News and Notes
The Blazers are very impressed with Bonzi coming into camp.
He is walking the walk of a veteran leader and the Blazers
have high hopes that Bonzi takes that next step from wayward
youngster to all-star. He is in shape, playing lights out
and his attitude is on. I expect a huge season from Bonzi.
The Blazers have minimal interest in signing Deke Mutombo
to a contract. The team is content with Boumtje Boumtje
at the backup center and will not go up to the $3 million
that the Toronto Raptors may be willing to spend to acquire
Mutombo. The team does not think Boumtje can contribute
serious minutes, but they don’t want to sit him on the
bench for yet another year and carry 3 centers when Rasheed
may play certain minutes.
The Mutombo release effectively kills the Blazers acquiring
Kenyon Martin this season. The salaries to match with
Rasheed would be virtually impossible. There is also
nothing to continuing reports about the Blazers looking
to acquire Antonio Davis and Morris Peterson. The Blazers
will not be making moves that do not include Ruben Patterson
until sometime in December or January.
--
我實在搞不懂...
有人那麼白目還可以當版主...
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 210.68.32.101
BLAZERS 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
-30
59
16
30