I watch the game with my eyes. I watch him score a ton of points. I watch him hit the game winner against Detroit. I didn't see it on the boxscore. I saw it on my TV. Why do you close your eyes when he plays well? You don't have to look at a boxscore to see him play well. JUst open your eyes. You completely close your eyes when he plays well and then open them when he plays badly. And it has NOTHING to do with the fucking BOX SCORE. It's the game. The actual game. I may study boxscores of the other teams around the league but I WATCH ALL OF our games.
Travis talks really fast in a really thick accent which I think some people unfortunately (and probably stereotypical to southern people) think means he is stupid off the court. I don't think Travis is stupid off the court - seems shy, very humble, very quiet when talking to the media. I just happen to think his basketball IQ does not justify him to be playing 30 minutes plus a game unless he is having a really good shooting night.
and it's tired to hear it again and again and again especially in a blowout over a rival. I saw several good plays by Travis on both ends of the court tonight that didn't involve him shooting the ball yet in a 20 point blowout where he's got 7 points on 6 shots we get... people love to hate is my best guess. Sports fans are aloud to indulge in this usually socially inappropriate behavior and it seems to have gone to another level the last decade or so at least here in Portland. Here's guessing we'll never have a team where someone isn't the designated punching bag for those fans. STOMP
And when you sit in his living room playing PS2 with him, you'll realize that I'm not just stereotyping him.
I agree. I don't think Travis is stupid, just not deep in basketball knowledge. Some of the stupidest people had great basketball IQ, and vice verse. It takes nothing away from whether or not I like or dislike him as a person. I don't think he fits on the team very well.
Outlaw is closing out a game yet again. I SEE THIS WITH MY EYES. Against the Clippers, I WAS THERE and he took over in the 4th. And tonight, he's starting to do the same. In the game where we beat Phoenix and Roy scored 52, SOMEONE had to take the pressure off Roy, and TRAVIS OUTLAW did it, hitting some big shots when Roy really needed help. THIS DOESNT SHOW UP IN THE BOXSCORE. The BOXSCORE doesn't say WHEN the baskets were scored. You have to WATCH THE GAME.
I don't. But look at your statement - "I watch him score a ton of points." That's all you care about it seems like. Oh look flashy points from Travis - who cares that he is giving up even more to the other team because he isn't doing basic things like boxing out, keeping his head up, sticking to his man who is a 40% three point shooter and is instead doubling a seldom used post player who has no post moves. Travis is sometimes good at one thing - shooting the ball well and scoring points. When he does that good for him he should stay in the game, but a lot of the times he isn't scoring so well and he's not changing the game in any positive fashion. Just the negative ones I mentioned in a previous post. When I say watch the boxscore this is what I mean. You watch the actual game - but all you take from it is the numbers in the boxscore. The points (and you often ignore shooting percentage) and sometimes the rebounds. You don't notice that sometimes people don't get rebounds because they realize that some players don't box out so they keep two guys on the one guy boxing out and a third guy on the opponents team gets the rebound while some of our guys stand there flat-footed. Stop making points equal the end all be all. Watch the rest of the game, watch defensive assignments, watch what happens when people are boxing out. There is more to basketball than offensive scoring.
I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to take personal shots at Travis. What I AM saying is that it's not going to change. He isn't going to get better mentally. This is what Travis is. This is as good as it gets for him. He can continue to get better athletically but he will always make mistakes that will drive us nuts.
I wasn't trying to imply that you were stereotyping him - that was more of a comment directed at the guys on 1080 The Fan who had Travis on the phone after he was drafted by us and openly made fun of him and his accent. My apologies.
I'm fairly certain Travis, Ruben, indeed anyone who's ever reached the NBA level, has a much, much higher basketball IQ than anyone posting here. Nobody gets there on talent alone.
