Spread The Minutes Around

Martell Webster will be back before too long, and with him returns a number of questions. But one trumps the rest:
Who gets the minutes at small forward?
I got into this a little bit today at HOOPSWORLD touching on the changes Portland will go through once Martell is ready to play – which doesn’t seem too [...]

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Best From The Bench?

Brandon Roy doesn’t have many off nights, but on Wednesday night against the Miami Heat there was no need for him to be on. The bench put the game on their broad shoulders.
Roy went 2 for 11 and finished with 8 points as the Blazers won easily. Yet when Portland’s second unit – aptly dubbed [...]

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Breathe In, Breathe Out

Nate McMillan is having a hard time breathing these days.
Nate’s caught that nasty winter bug that’s been going around (I can relate) and was popping throat lozenges like a madman before the game. I’m not sure if he’s breathing any easier after watching the Sacramento Kings – the injury riddled and five-whole-wins Sacramento Kings – [...]

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King For One More Day?

I highly doubt Reggie Theus is on Facebook. But if he were, it’s likely his status update would read: Reggie Theus is feeling the pressure….
As the Sacramento Kings prepare to take on Portland Monday night at the Rose Garden, it’s hard not to think about Theus being on the hot seat. In only his second season [...]

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Zach Randolph Coming Out West

That didn’t take long. Late word out of New York has Zach Randolph on the move once again.
Multiple sources have confirmed and are reporting a three-way trade between the Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Randolph would head to the Clippers and Jamal Crawford to the Warriors, with the Knicks receiving Al [...]

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Scouting The Kings

Sam Amick has covered the Sacramento Kings for the past four seasons (and some change), so who better to help scout the Kings than the beat writer from the Sacramento Bee.
In what has become a sporadic game day tradition, various beat writers, bloggers, online journalist and columnists will join me throughout the season in bringing [...]

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Centers Of Attention

This probably isn’t going to be the most popular opinion in Rip City right now, but Joel Przybilla should continue to be Portland’s man in the middle.
It goes beyond what he was able to do against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night when he with finished 14 points and 9 rebounds. Instead, it’s about continuing to [...]

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Road Warriors?

As the final seconds ticket off the clock between Portland and Golden State on Tuesday night, Brandon Roy’s words rang true: “We have to figure out how to play on the road without all that pressure.”
It was a couple days before the Blazers embarked on their now complete five game road trip – a trip that saw [...]

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Grading Rudy Fernandez

Rudy Fernandez had to play defense the minute he got off the plane in Portland this past summer. That’s what happens when you have a couple hundred people waiting to go one-one-one with you.
Let’s see what Rudy can do in a zone.
It’s tough to really gauge how good Fernandez can be this season with the Blazers at [...]

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Roy and Paul: What Could Have Been

Shoulda-coulda-woulda.
Anytime the Portland Trail Blazers face the New Orleans Hornets, it’s hard not to think about Chris Paul partnering in the same backcourt as Brandon Roy. No need to close your eyes to imagine that dream team. Just look back to the 2005 NBA Draft for a swig of reality juice and what could have [...]

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