April 12, 2013; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) dribbles the ball in on Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka (9) during the first quarter of the game at the Rose Garden. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

We’ve reached the last entry in the Blazer Report Cards series! We gave Nicolas Batum a B and Victor Claver a C- in the last post, and to close things out, we’ll hand grades to big men LaMarcus Aldridge and Joel Freeland.

LaMarcus Aldridge | #12 | Forward

For the second consecutive season, LaMarcus Aldridge was his team’s only All-Star. LMA was a workhorse for the Trail Blazers, and was a consistent source of points and rebounds every night. Part of his load was shifted on to the young stud Damian Lillard’s shoulders, but Aldridge was still the unquestioned leader of this team.

Aldridge’s scoring wasn’t as flashy as Lillard’s outbursts from the perimeter, but the big man was a model of reliability for Portland. His 21.1 points per game led the Blazers and put him at 9th in the NBA. Getting that type of scoring production from your power forward (at almost 50%, too) is a boon for Portland when they have the perimeter weapons that they do. Aldridge proved to be reliable from practically anywhere within the three-point line: midrange, low-post, under the hoop, at the free throw line. Aldridge’s proficiency in the midrange also melded well with fellow big man J.J. Hickson, as it allowed Hickson to camp under the rim and score the type of easy buckets he wouldn’t be able to get without Aldridge at his side.

While Hickson’s presence gave the Blazers a rebounding force, it didn’t subtract from Aldridge’s aggressiveness on the boards. He upped his own effort, setting a career high in rebounds per game. Aldridge isn’t an elite rebounder by any means, but with Hickson shown the door, an uptick in his rebounding production will prove to be very helpful for the Blazers.

The main knock on Aldridge, as always, was his defense. Aldridge has always been an average interior defender at best. He’s typically been paired with sturdy interior defenders, such as Greg Oden and Marcus Camby, but with Hickson even more of a defensive liability than Aldridge, Aldridge’s middling defensive play was even more of a problem for Portland. 1.2 blocks and decent lateral quickness simply didn’t cut it for the Blazers last season.

Defense or not, Aldridge has once again made his statement as one of the league’s best power forwards and most consistent players. He might not distinguish himself much from some of the other stars in the NBA, but with Lillard in the fold and more changes coming, Aldridge will be getting the help he needs to be able to take this team get back into the playoffs.

Grade: A

Dec 5, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Portland Trail Blazers power forward Joel Freeland (19) shoots over Indiana Pacers small forward Gerald Green (25) during the second quarter at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports

Joel Freeland | #19 | Forward

After Portland drafted him with the last pick in the first round all the way back in 2006, Freeland spent six seasons maturing overseas before finally making his NBA debut this season. 9.4 minutes over 51 games doesn’t scream impact, and really, Freeland was just a big man brought in to play minutes where necessary.

Offensively, Freeland was a trainwreck. His 40.8% would be dreadful even for a shooting guard, so as a big man, it’s not pleasing at all. His touch in and around the rim was okay at best, and his midrange jumper was much, much worse. Defensively, Freeland wasn’t much better–still far from average. He fouled often and didn’t contest shots in the paint well.

Perhaps the only thing that Freeland did reasonably well was rebound. By most advanced metrics, Freeland was close to Aldridge’s production as a rebounder, which is a rate acceptable from a player playing less than ten minutes a game. However, beyond rebounding, the Blazers really only found value in his 6’10″, 250 lbs frame.

As a 26-year old that will turn 27 shortly after the season kicks off, Freeland’s future with Portland is murky. He’s earning $3 million in guaranteed money for the next two years, but Portland would be ill-advised to play him in even the small role he played this season. Unless Freeland can make some major improvements in his game, he may be a fringe-level NBA player at best.

Grade: F

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Terry Stotts has had some ups and downs in his first 41 games as Portland’s head coach. Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

Monday night’s heartbreaking 98-95 loss to the Washington Wizards, the worst team in the NBA record-wise, marked the exact mid-way point in the 2012-13 season. Forty-one games down, 41 to go. What better way to celebrate making it halfway to the end than to take a deeper look at what we’ve already seen?

In this first of a two-part mid-season review, I will be breaking down every member of Portland’s roster (active and inactive), giving each Blazer a grade. Each capsule will include a few important stats to help gauge level of play, a paragraph or two of my personal feelings about each player and his performance, and a letter grade.

I’ll list each player in reverse order based on minutes played, meaning I’ll start with the guys that barely play and finish with the guys who play all the time.

Grading is standard school-style, and breaks down as follows:

A: Excelling Above Average

B: Above Average

C: Average

D: Below Average

F: Failure

I: Incomplete

Quick note, I wanted to ask some of the principals about how they felt the first half of the season went so I could include their opinions along with my own. Just so you know, answering kind of frivolous questions is not something pro basketball players want to do after losing for the sixth straight time and then being forced to talk about it for TV cameras and reporters. Which is to say, I spared myself the indignity, and didn’t ask.

Here goes:

Elliot Williams

Stats: Inactive

Elliot Williams is the forgotten man of this season. Williams, drafted 22nd overall by the Blazers in the 2010 NBA Draft, has played a total of 24 games over the course of three seasons. Elliot missed his first year with a knee injury, most of last season with a shoulder injury, and all of 2012-13 with an injury to his Achilles tendon. I’m big on Elliot’s game, what of it we’ve seen, and his athleticism and scoring attitude could have been huge for Portland this season considering the total lack of scoring punch off the bench. If you think too, that since the Blazers’ bench is basically non-existent, how a healthy Elliot might be playing around 15 to 20 minutes a night, developing into a very talented basketball player right before our eyes, you’ll probably agree that Elliot Williams has gotten a pretty raw deal.

The one real positive take away about Elliot Williams in 2012-13 is despite the injury and the non pick-up of his contract extension, Williams has seemed to stay engaged. He’s around the team, both at home and on the road, something an injured Greg Oden hardly ever did, and he’s in the locker room talking it up with his teammates seemingly every night. I still believe Elliot has potential to break through in the NBA. He needs time, though, to make up for all the minutes he hasn’t played. The good news is that not picking up Elliot’s existing extension, the Blazers might be able to retain Williams for cheaper than he is currently signed for. I’ll be surprised if that happens, but there’s always a chance.

Grade: I (Incomplete could be the title of the Elliot Williams Story if it were published today)

Nolan Smith

Stats: 8.2 minutes per game, 2.4 points per game, 1.1 assists per game, 20 games played, 4.4 turnovers per 36 minutes

We know the story on Nolan Smith, we’ve known it for awhile. Nolan’s a great kid, he’s got a great story, the best coach in the world has his back, he’ll certainly have a long and fruitful career. Unfortunately, that long and fruitful career won’t be with the Blazers and probably shouldn’t be in professional basketball. It’s hard to watch Nolan this season and not wonder what the Blazers were thinking by selecting him, while also wondering what Nolan himself must be thinking watching a kid from Weber State fill the role of point guard of the future that he was selected to maybe try to fill.

Smith fell out of the rotation early in the season, after recovering from a concussion in Summer League, but was given a second chance to prove himself in January. That second change got away from him early in Portland’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. As I said at the time, it’s hard to stick a whole loss on a guy who played less than three minutes in the actual game in question, but Nolan’s +/- for that game speaks for itself. Before you call me a Nolan hater, let me say that I watched him in Summer League too, before the concussion of course, and though that maybe he had turned a corner. If Nolan could prove he’s an NBA player, I would gladly keep him around.

Regardless, we’ll always have December 10th of last year. That night in Portland Nolan scored 11 points (a season high), helping his team knock off the Toronto Raptors.

Grade: F

Nolan Smith struggled in the first half of 2012-13. Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Victor Claver

Stats: 12.2 minutes per game, 32% shooting from the field, 2.4 points per game, 6 starts, 5.6 rebounds per 36 minutes, 38% True Shooting Percentage

Portland’s Spanish rookie swingman is the first of the Blazers’ new acquisitions that we as fans should take our time deciding about. Victor Claver has been decent at best, but the question shouldn’t be has he been good this season, it should be can he be good ever. And if you think he can be good, then the follow-up question is how long should it take for him to get good. I personally think Vic has a ton of potential. He seems to be a heady basketball player, he shows some sings of being an intuitive defender, his shot needs work but isn’t that far away from being serviceable.

What worries me some about Claver is his tendency to miss open shots (especially at the rim), and the fact that he has yet to score more than eight points in a game. To be effective, Claver has to figure out what he does best, and do that every time he’s out on the court. If that’s passing, that’s OK. If that’s rebounding, I want to see him relentlessly attack the boards ever night. Right now, I feel like Victor is trying to do everything all at once, and because of that he’s struggled to be effective.

The good news is that Victor is probably very aware that he needs to improve, so it’s unlikely that we’ll spend much of the off-season listening to trade demands from his agent.

Grade: C- (his potential and effort allow him to pass, but just barely)

Joel Freeland

Stats: 9.4 minutes per game, 2.3 points per game, 2.2 rebounds per game, 1 start, 8.3 total rebounds per 36 minutes, 41% True Shooting Percentage

Joel Freeland is Portland’s other new foreign player who might deserve a little time before we as fans decide his fate. Coming into the season, I felt like Freeland could be the surprise member of this roster. Joel is older than Victor Claver, a little better established, and basically the face of his country’s basketball program (apart from NBA players Loul Deng and Ben Gordon who count as British for the purpose of the Olympics only). Freeland hasn’t quite lived up to my hype. He’s shown potential here and there, but he did go seven straight games to start the season without making a field goal.

Maybe the pace of the game is too fast for him, maybe he’s letting frustration from not being the principal offensive weapon get in the way of him playing effective minutes. Whatever the case may be, Joel Freeland is not where I thought he might be in regards to being an actual NBA contributor. I do think Joel will get there though. He’s shown range on his jump shot, he can battle under the hoop, and I can bet he’s determined as hell to make it work in the U.S. I still think Freeland might benefit from getting in a scrap or too, he always strikes me as that kind of guy. That being said, if one guy on this roster is going to be upset with how his first 41 games have gone, it’s probably going to be Joel Freeland.

Grade: D (as a motivational tool)

Jared Jeffries

Stats: 9.1 minutes per game, 29% field goal percentage, 1.1 points per game, 6 total rebounds per 36 minutes, 6.3 fouls per 36 minutes

Double J, as I choose to call him, is the definition of a tough call. To the naked eye, Jared Jeffries basically doesn’t do anything. He has two games where he’s scored four points (his season-high), has two five-rebound games, and arguably his best night came in a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, meaning he rarely is the difference between winning and losing a game. But, as we know, basketball at the NBA level is about more than just what can be seen. Jared Jeffries is the only actual veteran on the team, he’s a locker room guy, and his defensive presence is a good counter-point to the scatterbrained J.J. Hickson. Do those things make him valuable? That’s what’s hard to say.

I appreciate Jeffries, and what he brings, I just cringe when he goes to the line in a close game, or hoists up an uncontested 15-footer. Jared has taken the unique, back-seat leadership role, and he’s filled the space vacated by Juwan Howard for a few seasons ago. He’s not the biggest surprise of the first half of the season, but I would say that what Portland has gotten from Jeffries is pretty much gravy. If he can add some consistent offense in the second half of the season, who could possible make himself an impact player.

Grade: C+ (passing due to effort, not above average because stats and actual play have to account for something)

Will Barton

Stats: 10.3 minutes per game, 34 appearances, 36% shooting from the field, 2.8 points per game, 9.7 points per 36 minutes, 4.7 total rebounds per 36 minutes

In my note in the opening of this piece, I mentioned that I decided not to ask anybody about their feelings about the first half of 2012-13. Monday night just wasn’t the time. This is not a happy team right now. However, since getting halfway through a season is more monumental for rookies, I did feel like I wasn’t in the wrong asking Will Barton how he felt his first 41 games went. To paraphrase, he is confident, he wants to continue to help his team win, and he has lofty goals for himself. Those are all good things.

Right now, there is no player on Portland’s roster more raw than Will Barton. There is also no other rookie (aside from Damian Lillard of course but he doesn’t really count as a rookie the way Barton does) on the Blazers’ roster with a higher ceiling than Will. He has three double-digit scoring nights to his name. He’s showed great skill at getting to the hoop. And he is totally unfazed by the NBA game. To fulfill his potential as a rookie, Barton has to find a way to stay on the court. Much like Claver, it will behoove Barton in the second 41 games to figure out what he’s best at, and just do that while he’s in the game.

My suggestion is figure out how to settle down a bit and get to the rim without getting called for charging. Will’s a dynamic finisher. If he starts attacking the rim more often, he’ll get more buckets, and he’ll also start getting to the line. Barton is currently shooting less than one free throw a night (1.7 per 36 minutes). That number needs to go up.

Grade: B- (A little high, I know, but I see a lot of good things in the future from Will, and I’m giving him the grade I hope he earns in the second half of the season, a classic grading technique)

Sasha Pavlovic

Stats: 12.8 minutes per game, 2.2 points per game, 1 start, 43% Effective Field Goal Percentage, 4 total rebounds per 36 minutes, 29% shooting from three

Oh Sasha Pavlovic, what are you doing on this team, and why are you sometimes the most important player on Portland’s bench? This one is basically un-explainable. Sasha Pavlovic’s upside doesn’t exist. He seems to kill every Blazer run whenever he’s in a game. He always turns it over at the worst times. He’s stealing minutes from young Blazers who need the time to improve.

But there he is, hitting a big three when nobody else can score. And there he is again making a big defensive stop or a big rebound right when Portland needs a defensive stop or a big rebound. From what I’ve learned about Terry Stotts in the short time he’s been the Blazers’ head coach, he hands out praise honestly. By that token, there seems to be absolutely no reason that Pavlovic should be name-checked over and over in post game pressers by Portland’s head coach unless he deserves some level of credit.

Sasha has been in and out of the rotation all season. Hopefully as 2012-13 rolls along and the Playoffs become further and further away and development becomes more and more important, Pavlovic will fall out of the rotation completely. That way we won’t have to try and explain why he actually isn’t good and shouldn’t be on the court at all ever. And don’t worry, Portland’s not paying him this season, so you can bet they won’t be paying him next season.

Grade: D (I’d fail him, but I don’t want to be accused of making my grade decisions with a total disregard to some actual physical evidence)

Upcoming (hopefully before game 42 and all of this is irrelevant)

Player Grades (The Rotation)

Best and Worst Games, Biggest Surprises and Disappointments

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

Sasha Pavlovic has not provided much for the Blazers in 2012-13. Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

January 2, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) runs into Toronto Raptors forward-guard Alan Anderson (6) during the second half at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto defeated Portland 102-79. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Blazer Twitter bros and gals are very likely familiar with the localized meme #bazers. I’m not totally sure the origin (I feel like it might harken back to a misspelled license plate owned by a superfan who may also be a poor proofreader, but to be sure you’d have to ask Sean Highkin or Seth Johnston the kings of the Blazer Twitter-sphere) but I do know what it means. It’s used to highlight and draw attention to the Blazers when they are performances are not up to snuff. It’s also used when somebody, usually a local scribe or television personality, drops a bit of Blazer related trivia that is meant to pump up the morale of the fan base but in fact illustrates how fruitless Portland’s professional basketball team can at times be.

Here is an example:

62 pts going into the 4th. It’s okay, I have vodka and enchiladas. #Bazers

— Sareena(@SareenaN) January 3, 2013

When the Blazers follow up an inspiring victory against the New York Knicks with an equally uninspiring loss the the Toronto Raptors, #bazers  is bound to make its presence known a time or two.

But seriously, raise your hand if you saw this one coming. Be honest. So only the most hardcore (read delusional) fans who believe that a very good victory turned this Blazer team into a legit competitor over night should not have their hands raised.

Portland lost to the Raptors on Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night when they beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. A good team doesn’t let a big win get them all pie-eyed a forgetful about the next game. The Blazers have played well through 31 games in 2012-13, they’re is a ton of potential in this roster and in what this roster can become, but right now, they are the kind of young team who will take a close win in basketball’s most storied arena every time if it means getting blown out the next night.

Sure I would have preferred a close loss to the Knicks and a win against the Raptors, but that’s not what these Blazers gave us. We deal with it, and we move on.

But give Toronto a ton of credit here. DeMar DeRozan played like a guy who understands the need to earn the money he’s given. Ed Davis played like LaMarcus Aldridge. Terrance Ross played like he’d saved up every good game he’d ever had just so he could have the night of his life against the team he watched while starring for North Portland’s Jefferson high School. Amir Johnson played like he might make chucking your mouth guard at a referee a trend for players who want to greatly improve their game (he also played like a guy who, as a professional, has absolutely no idea what the rules of the game of basketball are).

On the Portland side, there were plenty of horrible numbers in the box score. Let’s start with 18 turnovers. The Blazers coughed up the ball so many times in the first quarter, leading to so many uncontested Toronto lay-ups, that Portland was in a 10-point hole before they even got on the board. Getting down by 10 on the road against a hot team isn’t ever a good idea. Add to it that the Blazers’ motivation was at all time lows considering the circumstances, and despite a couple runs to close the gap in the first and second quarters, this thing was over within the space of two and a half to three minutes.

Another bad stat for the visitors: 4-of-22 shooting from distance. Go back and look at Tuesday’s box score. At MSG, the Blazers shot 11-of-33 from deep. Keep going back. Last Saturday against the 76ers: 8-of-23 on threes. Boxing Day against the Kings: 6-0f-21. The numbers from distance against the Kings weren’t fantastic (29%), but they were still better than Wednesday’s (18%). The Blazers don’t need to shoot the lights out on threes to win games, but when they shoot poorly and don’t make many triples, they simply do not win.

One more bad number, if you can stand it: 41-of-77 shooting from the field by the Raptors. The Blazers’ defensive intensity meter was at about zero all night. Blame in on tired legs, blame it on a hot Toronto team that was committed to moving the ball (34 assists on 41 made baskets) and not turning it over (11 total turnovers), blame it on whatever you like. Portland didn’t play a lick of defense. and because of that, they got pasted.

The real question following Tuesday night’s mini-debacle is this: is one win more valuable than another? On the one hand, the answer is no. Every win has the same value as any other win. Same goes for any loss. On the other hand, though, beating the Knicks in their house where they’ve been basically unbeatable is far better for morale than beating the lowly Toronto Raptors.

Here’s a third option, though. Beating up on the Blazers for blowing a winnable game in Toronto makes about as much sense as heaping mountains of praise on Portland for toughing out a good win in Manhattan. If you hold to the theory that wins and losses are about the least important thing in 2013-12, which I do when it’s convenient, than this third answer to my question is the one to go with.

Let’s enjoy the win on New Year’s Day and bemoan the loss on the least celebrated day of the year, The Day We All Have To Go Back To Work Without Another Three Day Weekend Until Easter, and then hurry up and forget about them both. Sure some will say that even with losses to Memphis and Minnesota this road trip has already been an emotional success, but I’m not one of those people.  Yes the Bazers have to Baze, that’s why Twitter was invented, but not every night of the week.

Portland has Thursday off before they travel to The Bluff City (yeah I didn’t know that was a nickname for Memphis until just now either) to face the 20-9 Grizzlies on Friday.

Just a couple of quick things:

• Damian Lillard was awarded the Western Conference Rookie of the Month award for December, making it a clean sweep for the Blazer rookie point guard thus far. Dame is the second Blazer to win Rookie of the Month more than once. Brandon Roy was the other, taking the honors in January, February, and March of his first season. Since the NBA began handing out this award in 1981, only seven players have run the table from November to April (or in Ralph Sampson’s case from November to March). Those players are: the aforementioned Ralph Sampson 83-84, David Robinson 89-90, Tim Duncan 97-98, LeBron James 03-04, Carmelo Anthony 03-04, Chris Paul 05-06, and Blake Griffin 10-11. Of that crop, only Carmelo was not awarded the rookie of the year, and that’s because of LeBron (the NBA didn’t start awarding Rookie of the Month by conference until the 2001-02 season). Notable former Rookies of the Year who did not sweep the award from start to finish: Shaquille O’Neal (Alonzo Mourning won in March and April of 1993), Kevin Durant (Luis Scola won in February of 2008), Kyrie Irving (Ivan Johnson in April of last season), and Michael Jordan (MJ and Hakeem Olajuwon traded months in the 1984-85 season).
• Joel Freeland played on Wednesday. He finished with 11 points in 21 minutes. Count me as among the people who are firmly in the Freeland camp. One of the biggest downsides of how well things have been going for Portland is that guys like Freeland aren’t getting an extended look. They’re being expected to contribute or not play. I know that’s the trouble of being on a middling team with aspirations of staying relevant during a protracted rebuild. Hopefully Joel knows it too. His time will come, hopefully he’ll stay checked in so that when it does come he’ll be ready for it. I expect that he will. Coming to the NBA is a big step for foreign players, especially one who is arguably at the top of the European food chain. He doesn’t want to leave without proving he belongs.
• The Raptors had a very interesting box score. Only two of their starters scored, and they got a combined 22 assists from Jose Calderon and Kyle Lowry without either point guard accounting for a single made field goal.
• Portland managed to hit a couple three pointers on Wednesday, but if you’re keeping track at home, they are now 4-of-42 against Toronto from downtown on the season. An astounding 9.5%.
• Damian Lillard finished Wednesday with 18 points (shooting 6-of-13 from the field and 1-of-5 from three), seven assists, and five turnovers. He’s going to have a triple double this season, the question is will he have it before or after the All-Star Break. Dame also had seven turnovers. He was partially responsible for the loose passing that got Portland in trouble in the first quarter. To the Raptors’ credit, though, they were getting in all the passing lanes.

Box Score

Standings

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

January 2, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) goes up for a shot as Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) and forward Joel Freeland (19) defend during the first half at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports