Blazers 97, Spurs 106: Observations

Positives:

LMA was a beast. Tim Duncan could not guard him one on one. I don't know if I've ever heard that said about Duncan, though it's true (like Charley Rosen pointed out in his recap) that Duncan is not quite as good as a straight up defender as he is coming from the weak side. LMA scored just about any way he wanted to (12-19 for 27 points): Lots of turnaround and midrange jumpers, a couple nice post moves going to the hoop, a couple dunks, and made his free throws. Even better, he only had one turnover, even after the Spurs started occasionally doubling him in the second half. He played well on defense, also. Both he and Joel were adequate guarding TD one-on-one (TD went 10-15 for 24).

Martell shot well. He made virtually every open jumper he had, whether a three-pointer or a midrange jumper off the dribble, and he made some of the contested ones also. He had a couple nice dives to the hoop in early offense situations also. What's even more encouraging for Martell's case to be a starter all year, is that he was adequate on defense. He nearly always had a hand in Finley's face for those unstoppable fadeaways, and closed out on three point shooters. He, along with many of the other wings, swarmed to the defensive board on occasion.

Joel had a nice game that I hope will become a typical line this season: 13 pts on 4-5 fgs and 5-6 fts. He played strong defense, got one block and pulled down 10 boards. But his offense was the most encouraging part tonight, and I think really validated the improvements he made in the offseason. Every time he received the ball near the basket he went up strong for either a dunk or a layup and got fouled three of those times. He made a nice 15-foot jumper as the shot clock expired. His free throw shooting stroke looks excellent; I would be surprised if he didn't shoot at least 70-75% from the line this season. He also got some minutes in the 4th quarter, which we didn't see hardly at all last season.

There wasn't a whole lot that was positive from the other players. Trout had a nice burst of offense in the first half and finished with 11 on 4-10 shooting. That kind of line will probably be common from him this season. He was the only person who was any kind of a scoring threat on the second unit during this game, except for Steve Blake, who had 9pts on 4-7 shooting along with 6 rebs and 4 asts. Blake played the whole fourth quarter. Sergio upped the tempo when he made a brief stint alongside Blake in the second quarter, but also made a bad turnover and generally overhandled the ball against an aggressively defending Darius Washington.

As a team, the Blazers shot well in all categories. I thought the rebounding was adequate because we swarmed the defensive boards as a team. There were at least three or four times that I noticed two Blazers going for the same rebound and a couple of them went out of bounds. That can be prevented easily by some communication. The halfcourt defense was better than I expected it to be. The first unit hustled and communicated, and against other teams might even be stingy for stretches. The second team...not so much. The bad stretch in the second quarter was more caused by turnovers, which is inexcusable with two point guards in the game at once. Nate had stretches when they played 2-3 zone, which appeared to confuse the Spurs at times, but still resulted in a lot of open outside shots. The Blazers also drew four charges tonight by my count, and were probably robbed of a couple more when the refs favored Duncan. The Blazers pushed the ball up the court at every opportunity and got some early offense for it, and even a few fast break points.

The Blazers fought in this one and didn't give up, but they were stymied over and over by the veteran Spurs. All in all, a very encouraging outing from an extremely young team. I'm convinced that if the Blazers play like this as a team night in and night out for 82, they'll have a solid season.

Concerns:

B-Roy was clearly bothered, but not by his heel (he said afterwards it didn't hurt at all). Two words: Bruce Bowen. The Spurs as a team also swarmed B-Roy whenever he drove to the hoop. He was 2-10 for five points with four turnovers and had his usual nice passes and rebounds. The interesting thing is, Bowen didn't shut Roy down, he just annoyed him enough to throw him off his game. B-Roy still got around Bowen whenever he wanted, but couldn't shake him, and seemed to not know what to do to score when he got in there. Hopefully, that is a combination of rust and the Spurs defense. Some things that Roy could do to help: Take the ball hard to the hoop and draw fouls; utilize floaters and other crafty shots in addition to his patented moves; get Nate to post him up.

Jarrett also had an off-game offensively and didn't do much else to distinguish himself from the other options to play the point, which is why Blake played the whole fourth quarter and Roy also handled the ball a lot. I still think that eventually, Jarrett will be more effective coming off the bench as a combo guard where he can focus on scoring more than traditional point guard duties. They need his scoring on the second unit, especially on nights like this. Frye and James Jones did basically nothing offensively in their limited stints. Frye has got to show he is a defensive rebounder and adequate defender if he is to get major minutes off the bench this season. Hopefully this was just an off game, and not a trend in that department. JJ2 did have a couple nice hustle plays, and probably will play more when he is back to game shape.

Martell is driving to the hoop more but he needs to take it strong, especially against a team with bigs like the Spurs. There were a couple times that he tried to adjust and make fancy layups off of drives, and that just won't work. Take it strong and draw fouls. LMA only had three rebounds. This doesn't disturb me very much, because he is a roamer on defense, and will probably average 8-9 rebounds for the season even with occasional outings like this one. But I'd like to see him develop more of a nose for the ball like he has on the offensive end.

As a team, 16 turnovers stung, especially because Parker and Co. are so efficient at scoring off them. There were a couple times when the Spurs sprung a full court press off of an inbounds pass and the Blazers turned the ball over twice. I have a feeling that JJ and B-Roy are going to be vulnerable to this all season, and I hope (with Blazer's Edge Dave) that Steve Blake will be worth his wait in gold this season for his ability to break the press. I'd like to see Nate develop a press break, probably something with LMA in the middle of the court, that makes teams pay for pressing the Blazers. The Blazers transition defense was also bad, allowing a bunch of easy layups and the like. I'd like to see them as a team be a little more hard nosed and make the other team take their fast break opportunities as free throws.

Other notes: Just one look at the minutes column on the box score makes it pretty obvious that McMillan is at least starting to settle on a rotation of regular players (7 players played 20 minutes or more, with three others at 10 minutes or less). Also, having watched the fourth quarters of both the Seattle preseason game and this one, McMillan seems to have shown the lineup (and the variations of that lineup) he's going to use most coming down the stretch: B-Roy, Martell, Trout, and LMA with either Blake or JJ (whichever is playing better that night or Nate feels is a better fit for the situation), and Joel subbing in for Martell for defensive purposes. Those same seven players, of course, constitute Nate's main players so far. It's interesting to note that all seven are returning players from last year or the year before. I think both JJ2 and Frye will get more time as the season progresses, as they get back to game shape (JJ2), get over jitters (Frye), get familiar with the system (both), and find their roles on this team (both). Even so, it seems unlikely at this point that they will crack that main seven-man rotation unless there is a dreaded injury. Sergio, who did get a few minutes in this game, appears to have retaken his role as the third point guard (maybe Nate said that about Taurean partially to challenge Sergio to step up?) and I think, will usually get a few minutes at least in the second quarter of games. Even so, Nate will probably keep him on the short leash, and sub Taurean in at different times during the season because McMillan seems focused on having that two point guard lineup with the second unit.

LMA, though he should not yet be considered quite the offensive player that Z-Bo was for the Blazers, is undoubtedly, all-around, a better player than Zach. On offense, his midrange shooting is comparable, but his stroke might be just a tad bit sweeter and his range expanding a little more than Zach's. He's not afraid of either posting up or taking the ball to the hoop. He draws fouls as well as Randolph, and shoots them at least as well. He's longer and more athletic, and can score how he wants to: If you crowd him he'll drive past you; if you give him room he'll shoot his soon-to-be patented half-turnaround jumper. He has a nice sweeping hook. He dunks emphatically whenever possible and can finish after contact. He's a great offensive rebounder. In all these areas, you might think the two of them are roughly equal. But then consider the other things: LMA is much better at passing out of the double team. He's unselfish, and on nights like this when B-Roy is struggling he might have to be encouraged to get over it and take over the game. He can be the focus of the offense, but he still scores if he's not. Everyone who has watched the Blazers for the last few years that Zach was a (albeit talented) black hole that kept the other young players like Aldridge from getting meaningful touches. Zach is a better defensive rebounder, but that's largely because Aldridge is much more active defensively, roaming to the weak side, showing on screen-rolls, getting out on shooters, running baseline in the 2-3 zone. After watching LMA against TD, it appears he's also developed enough strength to go along with his mobility to be, at this point, at least an adequate defender down low. He's a much better shot blocker, and has great anticipation. He's also much better at running the floor than Zach.

Blazer Recollections, Part 2

As I started to follow the team more, I realized they had some pieces in place. Jarrett Jack, a young, gritty point guard. Joel Przybilla, a capable defensive center. Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster, two promising young wing players who were yet to develop most of their potential. They traded Steve Blake because they needed help at the center position, but I held out hope that he might return a year later as a free agent.

It was a tough season. They had some wins over some quality teams, but a lot of losses, especially against Eastern Conference teams in the Rose Garden. They had some good road wins, which is always promising for the character of a young team. Zach Randolph was almost unstoppable on offense, and equally inept at passing out of the inevitable double teams. He occasionally put forth effort on defense, but the fact that the offense revolved around him meant that guys like Ime Udoka, a heady defensive specialist who emerged during training camp, and Jamaal Magloire got lots of burn while much of the young talent like Sergio, Webster, Outlaw, and Aldridge got inconsistent playing time and were unable to utilize their speed and athleticism in the open floor. Brandon Roy thrived after recovering from an early season heel injury that caused him to miss at least 20 games, slowly increasing his production and pulling away from the pack in the R.O.Y. race. Aldridge showed the most promise of the other youngsters, becoming a terror for stretches on the offensive glass and showing nice touch at 18-20 feet. Sergio and Martell were terribly inconsistent, especially on defensive and with outside shooting. Przybilla struggled through injuries, and didn't play consistently despite the fact he started most of the games. Raef Lafrentz, a veteran forward center acquired in the Telfair trade for the No. 7 pick used to trade for Roy, also battled injuries and got little playing time. Even Randolph missed 15 games, and when LaMarcus ably filled his spot and put up good numbers in his stead while the team went 7-8 sans Zach, it became obvious that the last true holdover of the Jail Blazers era would soon get a ticket out of town. Darius Miles, who once was considered one of the J.B.'s, missed the entire season after having microfracture surgery on his knee and so little was heard of him that some speculated that he might take medical retirement, while others surmised that that only way he would ever return from such a serious injury to play on a team with a different culture is if his attitude improved significantly.

Blazer Recollections, Part 1

I've been a Blazers fan for most of my life. I have vague recollection of the Clyde Drexler era, but having been born in '83, I was too young to remember how close they got in '90-'93. I became an avid fan when they acquired Kenny Anderson, Isiah Rider, and Rasheed Wallace in the summer of '96, and at the same time they finally got Arvydas Sabonis to come over to the league. I got to go to my first Blazers game in November of that year, when Sabonis hit a shot to help the Blazers beat the Kings 92-90 in overtime. I was really excited when Portland landed Damon Stoudamire in a trade right before the trading deadline later during that same season. I recollect the intense groans I had at Sean Elliott's Memorial Day Miracle in Game 2 of the '99 Conference Finals, then the following year when they had the infamous meltdown in the 4th quarter of Game 7 of the Conference Finals against the Lakers. Although I realized those Blazer teams were loaded in the frontcourt, I couldn't believe they traded away Jermaine O'Neal after giving him almost no playing time for four years.

When I went to southern California to go to college in the fall of 2001, I didn't follow the team as closely except when they happened to play against the Lakers or Clippers and the games were regionally televised. But I looked on, from a distance, as the Blazers accumulated players with off-court problems and questionable attitudes that, at times, made previous questionable Blazers that I was very familiar with like Rider, Wallace and Gary Trent look like goody-two-shoes. Qyntel Woods. Darius Miles. Sebastian Telfair. Zach Randolph. How do you root for guys like that? I didn't disown the only major professional sports team in my home state, but I actually hoped that they would lose a lot with the guys they had so the Blazer executives would realize that their plan was failing in more ways than one. There was no doubt that it was rebuilding time.

When I came back to Oregon after graduating in '06, I really didn't know much about the current Blazers. I had rarely seen them play, and when I had there weren't any players that I recognized except a couple that I had seen when they were in college. I was excited about the '06 draft, when the up-and-coming GM, Kevin Pritchard, pulled several brilliant trades in a row and managed to land one of my favorite college players from the year before, Brandon Roy, along with a promising big from Texas named LaMarcus Aldridge and a relatively unknown guard from Spain, Sergio Rodriguez.