Knicks to sign Roger Mason for one-year, $1.4 million contract. Knicks refused to give up future No. 1 pick to land Rudy Fernandez

This is relevant to Blazer fans in a couple of ways. First off, this looks to officially knock the Knicks off the list of possible destinations for Mr. Fernandez. With the addition of Mason, the Knicks have more than enough perimeter talent to compete. As we’ve come to find out the Blazers seem to be adamant about recieving a first round draft pick in return for Rudy Fernandez. The Knicks would have been unable to offer Portland a first-rounder until 2014 at the earliest. Now the news drops that they refused to even think about giving up a future first rounder, and after not having a first round pick for AGES can you blame them? Combine this with Von Wafer’s signing in Boston and the market for Fernandez is shrinking.

• Los Angeles: Sasha Vujacic

Come on now this is just too easy. The hair. The uber girl hair net. The nickname. The fact that everytime there is a call he complains. Every. Single. Time. His reaction when he makes a shot or when he misses a shot. The fact that he looks exactly like Rafael Nadal minus any sort of coolness to him. Even Adam Morrison wanted to fight him and Adam Morrison is nearly in ‘Boy I sure am glad I’m still in the NBA’ mode. Sasha just bothers me with all of his unnecessary dramatic tendencies. Lamar Odom is close behind because…well…he’s Lamar Odom and if you don’t know why I would find Odom annoying…YouTube ‘lamar odom blazers’ and then get back at me. Not to mention his jumping for joy during Kobe’s black-and-white commerical. Drives me up the wall everytime.

• Houston: Von Wafer

This was a tough one seeing as how the Rockets just bounced Portland from the playoffs. They definitely aren’t my favorite team right now. It was really hard not to go with Luis Scola here, but I respect his game. Von Wafer on the other hand….no, no, no. You might ask yourself…Von Wafer? What’s so annoying about that guy? What annoys me about Von Wafer is his swag. He carries himself like he’s not Von f’n Wafer. Seriously, it’s like he wakes up in the morning and doesn’t remember that he’s Von f’n Wafer. Apparently he avoids mirrors which would remind him that he’s Von Wafer. He has no conscious on the court and I guess I should applaud it but sheesh louise I can’t. It was like Ryan Hollins trying to get the ‘pump-fake, get the defender to jump in the air, jump into him’ foul and the referees nearly openly laughing at him. Von Wafer should not have swag. No, no, no. Yet I’m sure if I brought in someone who had never seen basketball and showed them how Von Wafer carried himself they would think he was the best player on the Rockets. He absolutely bothers me in every single way.

• Denver: Chris Andersen

I actually respect the Birdman. Today watching the Nuggets/Mavericks game, I could see why Denver fans love him. He plays hard, leaves it all on the floor and swats nearly everything that comes his way. But, the careening and posing after every block is a bit much. The hair, the headband and the tattoos. Annoying. I still remember when he blocked Rudy in Denver this year and ran his hand through his hair….yikes. Definitely an easy target not to like. JR Smith’s swag can get up there and Kenyon Martin’s existence, but other than that the Nuggets aren’t too bad in the annoying department.

• Dallas: Jason Terry

He makes this list only because of how talented he is. What I’ve learned about the Jet is that he is going to go off on you at some point. Generally in the 4th quarter. Seriously, he’s annoying because of the fact that in the 4th quarter you know he is making big shots. Seriously. You know the type of guy that when you watch the ball get rotated to him you just start shaking your head…and he hasn’t even put the shot up yet. That’s Jason Terry. Maybe I’m saying this because he enjoys torturing the Blazers but when he gets going I just want to scream. I’m cool with Dirk as long as he stays away from the Hasslehoff love. Ditto with Jason Kidd, although I’m a bit worried because we haven’t seen his son (or that moustache) for years.

• Boston: Big Baby Davis

There is no need for words. 

• Orlando: Stan Van Gundy

Hands down it’s SVG. I know he’s not a player, but man his antics drive me up the wall. He bites his nails on the sideline during a game?!?! He looks like he’s having a panic attack all the time. Watch a Magic/Celtics game and tell me SVG doesn’t bug you. I defy you to tell me that. Come on now.

• Atlanta: Zaza Pachulia

I wanted to put in Josh Smith for his horrendous body language, but you can’t ignore Zaza. Ever since he decided to go mano y mano with KG last year I’ve just shaken my head when I see him. How can you not be irked by Zaza Pachulia? Seriously.

• Cleveland: Joe Smith

I will admit that this Cavs team is pretty likeable. Varejao is too easy of a target in this kind of list, and to be honest he doesn’t really bother me besides the flopping. Big Z has that weird Andre the Giant-type likeability about him. Delonte West is just flat out entertaining, even if at times he looks like a meth addict with herpes. So I’m going with Joe Smith, simply based on the fact he raps and his rap name is Joe Beast. Joe Smith, the most disappointing #1 pick that everyone forgets about calls himself Joe Beast. Un. Real.

And that’s my list. Thoughts? Any others I missed?

We at the RCP try to Classier than Freddie Blassie so….I want to congratulate the Rockets for their win. There was a reason why no one wanted the Blazers to see the Rockets in the playoffs. And we learned it over the past few days. They earned it by playing great team basketball for 6 games. Their defense deserves all the credit in the world. They executed and did the little things to win in the playoffs. Also….Luis Scola for stepping up in a huge way and making the Blazers pay for taking Yao away. Say what you want to say but the Rockets took care of business.

(Also, allowing your mind to wander to ‘What if?’ Finley’s three had not have counted (like it shouldn’t have) or what if New Orleans doesn’t choke in San Antonio or what if Houston doesn’t choke in Dallas to finish the regular season…people that’s like torture. I refuse to play that jazz flute. It’s just torturing yourself for no good reason. Too many playoff wounds on this guy to go there.)

Even though this was a tough matchup, this Blazer team was right there in nearly every game. Except for the beginning and the end, in kind of one of those fitting type endings that some Film major would point out to me. Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge took major steps up the Superstar ladder. Everyone else got major playoff experience and more importantly, motivation for this to never happen again.

Also, I want to say that it has been a hell of a season. Nobody should lose sight of that, this may not have been the ending that any of us wanted but that doesn’t mean it was a bad season. Yeah it’s a bad taste and it might sting for a while but eventually it will leave. I’ll speak for myself here but as rough as dealing with being eliminated from the playoffs is, I would much rather have this feeling than have been talking about the draft for 2 weeks. Portland is back to playing meaningful basketball and that’s something none of us should take for granted. I wasn’t sure it would ever happen again to be honest with you.

(I just wonder how the first-timers are taking it? Do they feel about Von Wafer, Ron Artest and Luis Scola the way I used to feel about Sean Elliott? Just thinking out loud here.)

The actual game? In my pre-thoughts, I stated that it couldn’t be the Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge show if the Blazers wanted to win. I stated that the Blazers needed someone else to step up. Well, Rudy, Blake and Outlaw combined to shoot 4-for-20 on the night. In the playoffs you have to have a measure of balance offensively. It can’t just be one or two guys. Ask LeBron the past few years, ask D-Wade this year, ask Kobe about a few years. It has to be a team effort and Portland never really got it. The inability to score really hurt Portland this series. And the more you think about it, realize that Portland rarely got anything easy. Houston’s transition D was insane. Houston’s help D was insane. As great as Portland had been all season they could just never get their footing offensively in this series. Portland forced more turnovers than they ever have but couldn’t take advantage of them because Houston was already back. And over the course of 48 minutes when you aren’t getting anything easy, you’re going to have lulls and droughts, uch as the one Portland had in the second quarter that they never recovered from.

Blaming Nate for putting Rudy in the starting lineup? Cop. Out. Now if you want to criticize the move with valid points, be my guest. I scratched my head since Batum has started in 76 of the 79 games he’s played, and has been the starter since November 1st. I personnally knew Rudy would get the lion’s share of the minutes after Game 5 but I assumed Batum would get 3-4 minutes to see if he could contribute anything. Bless Batum’s heart but he simply was not a threat offensively in this series. And if you were able to see the second quarter you can now see why Nate would want as many offensive threats on the court at the same time. If Rudy had come out like gangbusters or the Blazers had won, he would have been a genius. Hindsight is always 20/20.

I don’t really know what else to say to be honest. We at the RCP aren’t done, so stay tuned. Thanks to all the readers who have come through here this season, we appreciate it. Shout out to all the other Blazer blogs.