It wasn't very long ago that the Portland Trailblazers were labeled the sleeping giant of the Western Conference. One of the deepest and most dynamic teams in the league in spite of yet another draft bust in the imposing, yet injury riddled form of Greg Oden, lead by the formidable duo of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge with role players aplenty, including the up-and-coming Nicolas Batum, swingmen Gerald Wallace and Wes Matthews, the fiery yet vexed Rudy Fernandez, apt if underwhelming Steve Blake and the wise vet Andre Miller there to oversee the operation.
Oh, how the almost mighty have fallen. In a stroke of fate that could only happen to Portland, Brandon Roy's knees crumbled beneath him, causing him to hang up his high tops all too soon only to shine them up again to essentially be fitted for a new Wolves jersey and matching knee brace. A Felton/Miller trade flopped, Blake was traded to Los Angeles and technically hasn't left since, Rudy got his wish and is now out of not only Portland, but the NBA entirely, and Wallace now crashes in Brooklyn. A Rose Garden once in full bloom faced dark times. As expected, some weeding took place.
Once prominent head coach, Nate McMillan, was deposed midway through the 2011-12 season and for a while Blazers rode a General Manager carousel, having three in two seasons. At last that carousel appears to have come to a halt as the Blazers appear to be settling into a new era of basketball with a very unlikely, and very small, cast of characters.
The Blazers gambled on unproven (while successful as an assistant in Dallas) head coach Terry Stotts and an equally uncelebrated point guard out of the largely unknown by D-1 standards, Weber State. As of this writing, these gambles appear to be paying dividends. The Blazers have to be cautiously optimistic that they've finally gotten the draft monkey off their back (bear in mind they technically drafted not Aldridge, but Tyrus Thomas) with Lillard's production, and while this will likely do little to ease the pain of knowing both the names of Jordan and Durant will never loom in the rafters of the Rose Garden, the Blazers seem to have laid the groundwork for raising a banner of their own.
Logging career highs in minutes certainly helps, but the Blazer starting five are flourishing with Matthews and Batum reaching their potential and Hickson showing why, at one time, he was expected to be the eventual right-hand man to LeBron in Cleveland. This team of five has, in recent weeks, picked up nice wins against the Knicks, Grizz, and Heat, with narrow loses to the Spurs, Thunder, Warriors, and Nuggets in overtime. They've had a few bad loses thrown in there, too, but given that their roster 6-10 looks more like a D-league squad, I think it's safe to call those losses "encouraging". You know, what they used to call Laker games.
They don't give Coach of the Year honors to those at the helm of teams one game out of the playoffs. Nor should they, but the fact that Terry Stotts has what is, for all intents and purposes the thinnest team in the league competing on a nightly basis with some of the deepest and best teams in the league is, at the very least, respectable and arguably awe-inspiring. Now, in all likelihood, the wheels will indeed fall off this team and their lack of legs will outweigh their abundance of heart as Dallas and Houston continue to figure themselves out and Minnesota gets healthy, but as we approach the All-Star Break, we're past the point of attributing records to short-term chemistry issues and strength of schedule. The Portland Trailblazers are a team that appears to have put their demons behind them and our truly ready to build around Lillard, Hickson, Aldridge, Matthews, Batum... and a future draft pick to be named later.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Lying in 'Wade'
At the risk of stating what you already know, LeBron James has won a championship. Seemingly overnight, he has wrapped his third MVP season up with a bow and exercised most all of his "clutch gene" demons and gone from sports culture pariah to grounded family man who still has enough of a hairline to make going to the barbershop more than a social formality, at least according to Samsung commercials. Unfortunately, the Heat's title run has done little to improve their public image as the most easily disliked team in the league and with the championship-sized monkey off of LeBron's back and jokes about Chris Bosh's appearance only stretching so for nowadays, popular opinion has set it's sights on 2006 Finals MVP, Dwayne Wade, implying that at last, "Flash" has lost a step. However, further investigation shows that maybe such claims are just kind of a low blow.
Shockingly, banging the drum at the head of this movement, is Wade's former T-Mobile spokespartner, the recently slimmed down mound of rebound, Charles Barkley, who insists that Wade must cultivate a post game a la Kobe Bryant in order age gracefully in the NBA. While it may be true that Wade no longer has the raw athleticism and explosion to dominate games as he one did, it's hard to determine how much of that can be attributed to his still ailing left knee and the wear and tear of the NBA grind and how much is the result of his secession of the Miami to Heat to LeBron. Last season, Wade made it clear that he was officially the Robin to LeBron's Batman and as a result, the notion that the big three of South Beach were competing for control of the franchise disappeared and Wade, in his reduced role, raised the Larry O'Brien trophy for the second time in his storied career.
Alas, likely the only unselfish occurrence in Miami all of last season, (except the Marlins handing over their whole squad to Toronto, but that's neither here nor there) which earned Wade such laud and respect has been the very same mindset that has called his skills into question this season. The Heat look more mortal than they have since their initial fumbles when Wade, Bosh, and James first aligned, with an inexplicable loss to the lowly Wizards (then without Nene) and perhaps the more telling and recent loss to the Rose-less Bulls. With all of that said, by the numbers, Wade is shooting a career best 51 percent from the field in just over 33 minutes per game. In addition, Wade is shooting a career best 32 percent from three. The most telling number of all, however, is one. The Heat are first in the East as we near the halfway point of the season.
Despite their expected lofty position at the top of the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat definitely have issues to address before repeating as champs, not the least of which being improved and hungry teams in New York, Atlanta, Memphis, LA (Clippers), and familiar foes in OKC. The league has appeared to again place value in bruising a versatile front lines, an area where the Heat are incredibly deficient. Their own versatility of placing LeBron in the post in the half court and pushing the ball through teams otherwise seems more negated than ever as other, equally athletic teams threaten to get over the hump. Without production from the 4 and 5, or at the very least the ability to stop other teams' 4s and 5s. The Heat's chances to repeat are very much in doubt.
As for Wade, he'll likely ride his newly regimented minutes like the passenger seat of the Batmobile with LeBron at the wheel and assuming his health holds up, will have plenty of pop come April and, perhaps, June. If the Heat are ill fit to take on an NBA that's improved around them, odds are it won't be Wade's fault. Until that time, Dwayne Wade will be waiting in shadows waiting for his number to be called. I'm no Heat fan by any stretch, but I'd hate to be the guy to bet against him.
Shockingly, banging the drum at the head of this movement, is Wade's former T-Mobile spokespartner, the recently slimmed down mound of rebound, Charles Barkley, who insists that Wade must cultivate a post game a la Kobe Bryant in order age gracefully in the NBA. While it may be true that Wade no longer has the raw athleticism and explosion to dominate games as he one did, it's hard to determine how much of that can be attributed to his still ailing left knee and the wear and tear of the NBA grind and how much is the result of his secession of the Miami to Heat to LeBron. Last season, Wade made it clear that he was officially the Robin to LeBron's Batman and as a result, the notion that the big three of South Beach were competing for control of the franchise disappeared and Wade, in his reduced role, raised the Larry O'Brien trophy for the second time in his storied career.
Alas, likely the only unselfish occurrence in Miami all of last season, (except the Marlins handing over their whole squad to Toronto, but that's neither here nor there) which earned Wade such laud and respect has been the very same mindset that has called his skills into question this season. The Heat look more mortal than they have since their initial fumbles when Wade, Bosh, and James first aligned, with an inexplicable loss to the lowly Wizards (then without Nene) and perhaps the more telling and recent loss to the Rose-less Bulls. With all of that said, by the numbers, Wade is shooting a career best 51 percent from the field in just over 33 minutes per game. In addition, Wade is shooting a career best 32 percent from three. The most telling number of all, however, is one. The Heat are first in the East as we near the halfway point of the season.
Despite their expected lofty position at the top of the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat definitely have issues to address before repeating as champs, not the least of which being improved and hungry teams in New York, Atlanta, Memphis, LA (Clippers), and familiar foes in OKC. The league has appeared to again place value in bruising a versatile front lines, an area where the Heat are incredibly deficient. Their own versatility of placing LeBron in the post in the half court and pushing the ball through teams otherwise seems more negated than ever as other, equally athletic teams threaten to get over the hump. Without production from the 4 and 5, or at the very least the ability to stop other teams' 4s and 5s. The Heat's chances to repeat are very much in doubt.
As for Wade, he'll likely ride his newly regimented minutes like the passenger seat of the Batmobile with LeBron at the wheel and assuming his health holds up, will have plenty of pop come April and, perhaps, June. If the Heat are ill fit to take on an NBA that's improved around them, odds are it won't be Wade's fault. Until that time, Dwayne Wade will be waiting in shadows waiting for his number to be called. I'm no Heat fan by any stretch, but I'd hate to be the guy to bet against him.
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