Twas the night before the draft

Ah! it is upon us! on more day and the draft day is here, the trades from the last blogs have been completed and even more have been reported. Jamal Crawford sound like he;s headed to the hawks, and a few more trades have been mentioned. Without a doubt tho. the big deal thus far is Shaq headed to Cleveland. all we're waiting for now is for the owners to finalize the deal, and for Shaq to pick out another ridiculous nickname. The Cavs got Shaq while giving up only Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovich. im curoius to see if this works out for the Cavs or if it backfires, the good thing is that they didnt give up much. So as you can see there are already trades being made and it looks like its gonna be a big day for trades tomorrow. The Blazers made a trade today as well, nothing big but they traded the 24th pick, the 56th pick and the worst pick of next years draft to the Mavs for the 22nd pick. Why would they do that? just two spots? well I feel this is gonna be a piece in a bigger puzzle, i would be surprised if the Blazers picked at 22, i think if they do they'll be picking for another team. Possibly Chicago? theres a lot of talk about Kirk Hinrich coming to Portland, and this rumor has been circulating for the last couple years tho. However, it does seem to have some extra push as of late, captain Kirk has actually been telling friends that he believes he'll be in Portland next year. is this the best way to go? I have to say, if you dont have to give up a terrible amount of talent for him, I like it. Especially if Steve Blake stays. I think Hinrich is a little more talented and athletic version of Steve Blake. to have Blake and Hinrich as 1a and 1b, i would be very pleased with that. So i will keep this updated on that for sure. so many possibilities and I can hardly wait! Keep your eyes peeled because you never know whats gonna happen when KP is pulling the trigger. Go Blazers!

Doc

Two days to go and all ready the fun begins

There are two days left until the NBA draft and i can hardly stand it. I love this time of year, especially lately as KP never seems to let down, he always seems to have some sort of draft day fun up his sleeve. This year Will be exceptionally interesting because its so wide open. The Clippers will select Blake Griffin first overall but after that, its open for debate. The Blazers hold the 24 pick but i would have a hard time believing that they stay there and make a pick. I think they'll either move up or move out of the draft entirely. I'm in favor of moving out of the draft unless a few things happen; of the Blazers can get up high enough in the lottery without sacrificing much, i would be intrigued by Ricky Rubio, he's a big point gaurd from Spain and he's said to have great court vision. i also would be interested to see if the Blazers took stephen Curry, the 6'3'' gaurd from Davidson with a lights out shot. the only problem with that is I think Bayless would go, its either one or the other i think. i wouldnt mind seeing the Blazers keep the 24th pick if a couple players slid down that far. i'd be happy with Tyler Hansbrough, the 6'8'' forward from North Carolina, he would play behind Aldridge and I like the toughness he brings, and the energy, he seems to just keep going, theres a reason they call him psycho T. and the other player if he fell that far that i would like is Hansbroughs teamate, Ty Lawson. Lawson is a pure point, he can attack the rim and his shot has improved. He 's got good court vision and he knows how to win. the only thing that bugs me about him is his size, he's 6'1'' and thats probably being generous. He'll have a hard time defending bigger guard in the NBA but im intrigued and i have a good feeling about Lawson, look for him to surprise people how well he plays in the league. What i want the Blazers to do however is use some of their Young pieces and cap room to gain a small forward or a backup power forward. I've heard a lot this off season on how teams that have monetary flexibility (i.e. the Blazers) can afford to take on some of the star players salaries that other teams are trying to shed. Pretty much meaning that we may be able to pull of the equivalent of the pau Gasol trade ( ya know, where the Lakers gave the Griz shit and got an all star in return). However, i hadnt heard anything like that going down yet, until today that is. The Spurs traded the expiring contract of Frabricio Oberto, Bruce Bowen, and Kurt thomas to the bucks for star small forward Richard Jefferson. This is what i want the Blazers to do, trade some pieces they dont need to acquire a bigger pice to the puzzle, and seeing that its true, that some teams are going to be willing to give u star players for nothing more than salary cap space. makes me excited to think what the Blazers could do. Another trade also went down, the Wizards have traded Pechorov, Etan Thomas, songaila and the 5th pick to the timberwolves for Randy Foye and mike miller. i like what Minnesota did here, they already ahve the 6th pick and now have the 5th as well. this opens a lot of doors for them as they can now get high quality rookies, a big and a small perhaps to help Al Jefferson as they rebuild in Minnesota. this could also be good news for the Blazers if they feel theres a player they want and the 5th or 6th pick will be enough to attain them. with Minnesota having consecutive picks that high they may trade them to the Blazers or another willing team and get some young proven talent as well as a high lottery pick. there are so many things the Blazers could do, I believe that they're going to try to move up and if they cant for a reasonable Price they'll try to move out of the draft and trade for a veteran (which i like hearing and Im sure Nate McMillan does too!). Well in two days we'll see how it all goes down, make sure to check it out, its on ESPN at 4, and 95.5 the game will be covering the draft all day, and they usually break draft day news about the Blazers before ESPN does anyways. So sit back and enjoy this unpredictable ride, it could be an epic day in the lives of Blazers fans! Go Blazers!

Doc

Ah, Time Heals All Wounds

So its been quite a long while since my last post. after the Blazers lost game one, they went into the next game and won but then couldn't get a victory in Houston and came back to the RG down 3 games to 1. the Blazers manned up and took care of home court, beating the Rockets by double digits and sending the series back to Houston. that however, was all it took. I said all along that this was a horrible match up for the Blazers and it was, Houston dominated and went on to win the series 4 to 2. while its sad to watch the Blazers lose, lets look at this the right way, its a step in the right direction, they made the playoffs and they competed and competed well. the things that are on the way with this team are simply amazing. another bad piece of news, the L*kers ended up winning the finals, yuck, that's pretty gross to type. However, the season is over, and this is one of my favorite time of the off season; the lead up to the draft! the draft is happening on Thursday the 25th, the Blazers hold the number 24 pick and 3 second rounders. The reason i like this time of year is the rumors! there fun to think about and speculate on! and because the Blazers are always so active, their names always come up in a ton of rumors! already so far ive heard that we're trying to land Ramon Sessions, Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Trevor Ariza, Ive heard were trying to trade up in the draft to land Stephen curry or Psycho T (tyler hansborough). Ive even heard were essentially giving away Sergio to the Knicks ( I'm actually in favor of this lol.) But my point is, its fun to speculate what KP and crew will do and to hear all the rumors, and the rumors will only increase as we get closer to Thursday. Soon ill write up a blog with all the rumors i have heard and list a few of the impressive draft workouts that the Blazers have had. I'll also try to get up a blog detailing what i think the Blazers should do, and what i think they will do, and what i wish the Blazers could do lol. So rejoice Blazers fans, last season, while the ending was sour, was a great ride and a fun memory as we move forward into the early stages of a new season and another promising season! Riiiiip Ciiiity baby!

Doc