BlazerMania

Yesterday in my attempted blog entry before midterms intervened I said the following:

-Blazers pre-season debut…since when do I get excited for that? I’m pumped about our future and that we are finally changing things up and going with a faster pace. My biggest problem with the Blazers the last couple years is we had no identity and no offense. We weren’t a defensive team so there went that excuse. We ran every now and then but not really. Mainly we just threw the ball to Zach and watched. I’m very interested to see how this works out. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited for a lottery team in my life. The link earlier in this paragraph says our starting lineup for tonight will be Jack, Blake, Outlaw, LaMarcus and Joel. We really need a shooter to spread the floor though. Where is Wesley Person?

Sure enough the day after we win (insignificant) but we played high tempo and scored over a 100 points. Plus, us Blazer fans have articles like this from Canzano to read about. I mean, the past couple years it was rough being a Blazer fan. Local media was beating the team up and we were losing. I guess even though we’re going back to the lottery and could win 30 some-odd games..I’m at peace. This must be what having a team you can be proud of is like. I’ve always liked the Blazers and my favorites were Rasheed Wallace and Bonzi Wells. But the years of having to justify why I liked them to people kind of wore me down ya know? It’s good to have a team that everyone genuinally likes, it makes the losing easier to swallow. Plus this year will give invaluable experience to our young guys, give us a year to get the tempo going and see exactly what we need to do to make it to the next level. I’m happy and I’ll stay happy all 82 games. Unless B-Roy or LaMarcus gets hurt.

I don’t like reading too much into preseason games but it’s definitely encouraging to drop 100 and shoot 43 percent from behind the arc. This Blazer team really needs someone to step up as a legitimate perimeter threat to spread the court. That would make B-Roy’s life a lot easier. Teams are going to sag in and let Travis Outlaw shoot. But if James Jones and Martell (he looked good man can’t even lie) can consistently stick that three…I’m a little giddy at the thoughts. By the way, on a random note did anyone remind Simmons that KD has…NO-D. Haha get it? I thought it was clever. But seriously…Kevin Martin drops 18 in the first half and you have four fouls. And he doesn’t really have a veteran to cover for him…Wally’s not covering anyone.

Now lets take a look at news Around The L:

By the way I wish there was another option besides bullets. I don’t like infringing on TrueHoop ya know? I just consider it a tribute, a sample, Kanye West does it all the time!
Good news for Sacramento fans: Spencer Hawes just had a meniscus tear. That’s pretty much the sprained ankle of ligament tears. Is it just me or am I glad that Spencer broke the microfracture streak that we had going for a second.
Bad news for Miami fans: Pat Riley is saying Antoine Walker is fat and out of shape. Kind of. The worse player in the league out of shape? Sheesh.
At least Carlos Delfino is honest. This is pretty much his last shot to make some noise in the L. Him and Vujacic definitely cashed in during the Euro Craze. They bring the Europeans down though as I don’t think I’ve seen either of them ever make a jumpshot. In life.
George Karl is putting his foot down and being less patient with JR Smith. That approach would work if you had some depth there George. You kind of need the guy to stand there and shoot threes ya know.
By the way…you remember how I was harping on LaDanian Tomlinson’s antics in Madden 08. Rashard Lewis in NBA 2K8…the guy is simply amazing. It’s disgusting.
This year’s Monta Ellis for Golden State….Kelenna Azubuike.

Thursday is upon us so look for football talk to dominate the blog again. I am shocked my partner-in-crime hasn’t said a word about the ‘Duel in Dallas’. Leave it to ESPN to give a big game a lame nickname like that. I do like the fact that T.O. left a note for reporters. Classy.