One of my personal favorites of the NBA off-season finally occured. The ‘(Insert Free Agent’s Name) agrees to deal…an hour goes by oh wait no he didn’t’ Thank you Chauncey Billups and Detroit, thank you very much. Chauncey resigning with Detroit has been and will remain a forgone conclusion for obvious reasons. The number of teams that can pay him are slim and none, so there goes the money. Why in this day and age leave the team that has gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals five consecutive years, it is an automatic downgrade. So there goes that intrigue.
Vegas Summer League is two days away, I know Coup is nearly ecstatic because it will give him something to talk about. I’ve always had mixed feelings about Summer League Hoops…maybe the Blazers constantly having a crappy team had something to do with it, but oh well. Summer league is a place for guys to make a statement, to prove to their respective teams that they can get the job done. I remember going to the Rocky Mountain Revue in 03 and the guy who was trying to make a statement for the Blazers was Qyntel Woods. And he did. Now look at him. I remember for Utah, Raul Lopez and Curtis Borchardt looked like the future. Now look at them. Darius Rice killed on the Blazers summer league team but we didn’t sign him. He’s in the D-League. Summer League is a great time to see rookies and be able to really evaluate them (or as I like to call it, officially fall out of love with them) and hope that maybe a straggler breaks out. But I mean if you aren’t one of the draft picks or a pre-existing player…good luck. Your job is going to be to try and somehow earn a job in the league while having to take a backseat to the current players. No. Fun.
For the Blazers this summer they get a good look at the future. They get to watch Oden and Aldridge play together as LaMarcus gets used to being one of the main men. I find this will be a big summer for Sergio Rodriguez and Martell Webster. This year should be a breeze for Martell if he uses his brain. He may have all of the skills and potential, but missing out on a year or two of college basketball means he is a step behind in his thinking of the game. Last year he struggled with shot selection and confidence. If he came in and missed his first couple shots he was pretty much done. And at the same time he took some bad shots. If he can put it together he immediately becomes a dangerous asset for this team. The one thing that worries me a little bit about the Blazers right now is our lack of a three man, point guard and a perimeter shooter.
(Sidenote…I wouldn’t be that mad if Darius Miles came back)
Webster is supposed to fill the shooter role but it remains to be seen. Sergio Rodriguez has just got to show that he is the man to run the team. I am not a big Jarrett Jack fan for one reason and one reason only; he can’t shoot to save his life. I saw one Blazer game in person this year and I remember I texted Coup and was like ‘Jack sucks’. He tried to defend him but I just don’t see it to be honest. He reminds me a lot of Jacque Vaughn…serviceable but you don’t really want him trying to do too much. Rodriguez has more flair for the game but is also very erratic. I think he is going to be the guy though. Who knows maybe this guy from Finland has some game. I’m just excited to see some damn basketball again.
- Apparently the Hawks have too many of the same people. I don’t think this is as big of a deal because half of them suck anyways.
- Boston getting Pruitt and Davis is going to pay dividends down the road. No link, I just wanted to say that again.
- I should write Mike Downey a letter and tell him nothing about Noah is pretty.
- This just in; Miami has to do something.
- Funniest part of the obligatory ‘Zach Randolph isn’t that bad of a person’ article, is when he says “I made mistakes when I was young”….Please Zach you were doing dumb stuff three months ago. So glad I don’t have to deal with that anymore.
- Toronto’s pick and roll is officially unstoppable.
- You know how what I said about players having something to prove in summer league. Marcus Banks is playing for the Suns summer league team.