Blazers Draft and the Impending Lockout

Last draft, Wa, Wa, Waaa (Picture from OregonLive.com)

Two topics I am not particularly excited about.  First the draft and its weakness coupled with a low draft pick means not much improvement here.  If KP was still here, I would be more excited about some crazy 5 team, 10 draft pick, 15 player trade possibility.  I miss that feeling of getting rid of the bad and bringing in the new era of BRoy, LMA and Oden.  I feel like we could use help at the center or point guard positions, and if this truly is a weak draft, take a gamble.  We have a solid rotation of SG/SF/PG in Matthews/Roy/Rudy/Batum/Wallace/Aldridge.  Leave those positions alone unless we are making a trade.

And the lockout is super depressing.  I expect the Blazers to win over 50% of their games and make the playoffs.  I don't see them as deep enough and strong enough to make a championship run right now, but I love watching them play while I scream at my TV.  The only positive I see is that Oden and Roy will get a little extra rest for whenever the next season starts.  I just hope its over as quickly as possible and we can start watching basketball in the fall.  I guess there's always hockey.

On the Brink of Elimination

 

(picture from Yahoo! Sports)

I was discussing the Atlanta Thrashers yesterday with a friend, and how they are likely to move to Winnepeg.  He is Canadian, and a fan of the Maple Leafs.  We go to talking about the Sharks, and he surprised me by saying he was cheering for them.  His team was out, he lives in San Jose, why not?

3 hours later the Sharks are down 3-1 in the seven game series, and I am worried.  They have only won 2 games in the last 8, and I'm worried.  My roommate is flying to Vancouver Tuesday to watch what could possibly be the last Sharks game this season.  But I'm going to think of it as the the first game in an amazing comeback on the way to the first San Jose Sharks Stanley Cup.

Quality time

I hate wasting time, but I am always doing it.  From reading stupid articles on the internet, watching hours of TV to sleeping in unnecessarily, I am not very efficient.  I try to get in groove where I get things done, but I just can't seem to stay, something always throws me out.  Sometimes I will budget every week for a couple of months and hit my savings goals.  Other times I workout 5 times a week and I start to notice a difference.  Eventually something comes up and I get out of my routine.

I am learning that no matter what I do, the one thing that I know is not a waste of time is when I can help or support someone else. This is especially true if it is an inconvenience to my schedule.  When I do that my life becomes interesting, the opposite of dull and monotonous. I have ideas on what I think is best for me and I work towards those goals.  Ultimately the most rewarding experiences are the ones that I could not have planned.

Two In a Row

The Blazers have the weapons to explode at any given time. Heck, Andre alone has scored 52 points against this team in one game. Roy just surged two games ago. Wallace was the unquestioned leader of the Bobcats before the trade, and we have seen that he can still do it in a Portland uniform. And don't forget Aldridge. He exploded the entire regular season.

Top that with not one but two defensive stoppers in Batum and Matthews, and the Blazers are out of excuses. Dirk is going to get his and JET is probably going to get his too. If we play some defense, and we get some performances out of Aldridge, Wallace, Miller and Roy we will move on. Let's see it.

Slide Into the Next Round

Weeeeeee!  (picture from Yahoo! sports)

The crappy part about my two favorite sports being basketball and hockey is that they both have the same off season.  The awesome part is that my two favorite teams are both in the playoffs right now.  And while Roy and the majority of the Blazers let me down last night, the Sharks moved on to the second round.

So three of their four victories came in overtime, and three of four were road victories.  Kind of a weird way to get it done, but on to the next one.  Everyone who is anyone that follows hockey knows that the Sharks always struggle in post season, no matter how good they are (knock on wood), but here's to them making it past the next round...and hopefully a couple more goals from the sliding captain.

How you like me now?

OOOOO ya! (picture from OregonLive.com)

I will admit it, I had given up on Roy.  Once an all-star with moves I tried to mimic in pick up games, he had become a bench contributor in my mind.  Not someone to be completely looked over, after all he still had his J and his $13M per year contract.  But give me Batum or give Rudy another chance off the bench first.  Lamarcus has the #1 slot covered.  Maybe Oden had hardened me, so much promise that faded with injury.  Don't hear me wrong, I never lost respect for the man who single-handedly slammed the door on the Jail Blazers.  I would take the Frail Blazers any day.

Then he almost cried after the second loss to Dallas.  C'mon man, accept who you are, you are still getting paid buckets-o-cash, maybe you'll get IT back next year, until then don't distract the team.

Then he scored 16 points in the next game.  There is that bench contributor I was talking about.  Keep it real BRoy, way to not cry.

THEN came Saturday April 23rd.  Down 23 points, an offense-less Blazer team was led by the Roy of old to victory.  Ummm, I... I did not see that coming, ummm sorry man, point taken.  In the picture above he seems to be saying "Oh really? You thought I was done?"  24 points in 24 minutes off the bench = NOT done. 

This season I have seen Aldridge take the whole team on his back and win games.  But this effort by Roy was more than putting the whole team's weight on his surgically repaired knees.  He gave them hope, hope in healing, hope in the potential next round, hope in the underdog, and hope in the comeback.  I mean even Rudy was playing defense for goodness sake, what other evidence do you need?

I don't know if Roy can keep this type of play up, but as long as he can provide that type of leadership, the Frail Blazers have a shot.