My trip to the Garden aka "Joel's not as good as Oden"

Had a great time except for the fact that the fucking Blazers lost. It was tough. I got free courtside seats but the catch was that I could not wear Blazers attire or cheer for the Blazers. I also was allowed into the private celebrity room. I was supposed to be there at 6pm but I kept missing exits on my way back from visiting my brother and his family in Maryland that I didn't get there until 7:30pm. I ran up to the room to get my ticket. There was Chris Rock going on about how Iverson would've averaged 6 more points a game if the refs were calling fouls against him. He actually talks like his standup. In my limited time with him, he was exactly like he is onstage. We were taken down to our seats. He sat next to Celine Deon, a couple seats down from Spike Lee and I was taken to my seat, three seats over rom Rhianna. I was right there to the left of the basket that the Blazers shot at in the first half. It was soooo hard not to talk to them and cheer them on. I was there with a friend (diehard Blazers fan) and when LaMarcus Aldridge dunked, he turned to me, smiled, and quietly said "booo." Cracked me up. It was backwards land for us. But that's the price for free tickets.

It was crazy to look at our bench at the top of the game and see only Bayless, Cunningham, Howard, and Miller in uniform. Was cool to see Pendergraph there too though, if in a suit. Is he gonna play on this trip? He looks like a guy we could seriously use right now.

Without Outlaw, Nicolas, Oden, and Rudy, we are an absolute mess. Though Roy didn't get going til late, we did get 27 from him and 19/13 from LMA and we still lost to the Knicks. Miller, unfortunately, didn't help his trade value tonight. Ugh. Bayless was amazing. 14 points in 17 minutes? I was pissed that he was taken out as I see a lot of other people were on this board. I was also pissed that Howard was taken out. I believe the run started when Howard went into the game. I knew, though, that we'd never pull out the victory. I leaned over to my friend when the 4th quarter started and said "We'll cut it to 10 and then they'll hit a three and break our back." I was so close! We cut it to 9! So depressing. With all of our injuries, Roy simply HAS to get it going before the 4th quarter. What sucked, though, was all the charging calls. Miller and Roy were aggressive to the basket but the Knicks stepped in and took charges all night. Killed us. They also hit threes like crazy but that was on our defense. We made them very comfortable out there. They were WIDE open. Right in front of me.

We would've won the game with Oden. It was painfully obvious. Joel couldn't finish around the rim. He was the anti-Oden. 40% shooting and 0 blocks. Fuck. Damn, LMA played 45 minutes tonight. He is going to have to do that for the rest of the season unless we make a trade or Pendergraph is worthy of playing time. Either that or we have to trust Howard more. Fuck, fuck, fuck. We are thin right now.

The 4th quarter run was fun still. Bayless is a stud and I think he has been a stud since Day 1. We just haven't given him enough time on the floor. It is so fucking clear to me that we MUST trade Miller. I'd be for trading Blake at this point but Roy likes him so fine, keep him, trade Miller. We absolutely need a scoring forward. SF or PF. Hopefully a player who can play both. All of you who clamored for an RLEC trade for Gerald Wallace were right. We could really use him. Anyway, if we trade Miller, it finally opens up regular minutes for Bayless. We must lose Miller soon. Fucking guy was useless tonight when we really needed him. Webster is useless too. Nice guy but we fucking need him to contribute more than 1-6 shooting. Seriously.

After the game, we out for drinks with Joel David Moore and his wife. He's in NYC doing press for Avatar. He's about to become a huge star. We know each other from "Bones" and he played on my NBAE team two seasons ago. He is a HUGE Blazers fan. Never misses a game. Told me he spent THREE years working on "Avatar." Crazy. I'm looking forward to it now.

Said hi to Mike & Mike afterwards. Waved at Bill Bayno. Now I'm hoping to go to the game in Cleveland. It just depends on whether or not I can get free tickets. We'll see.

Go Blazers

P.S. I was supposed to meet Mixum but he never called me.

 

Right now, our five best-performing (i.e., best PER) players available are:

Bayless (16.2)
Miller (15.6)
Roy (19.2)
Cunningham (15.5)
Aldridge (16.5)

This lineup could work as a Nellie ball group that gets after balls and runs for broke at every play. While this lineup would get abused in a slow game, it could bust some heads in the open court. It also has decent spreadability: Bayless, Roy, and LMA are all realistic threats from 20 feet out, allowing Miller to drive and dish in a pick-and-roll game with Cunningham as a floater to support Miller and hit the offensive boards.

It would never happen, of course, but I like the idea of this lineup as a "fuck it, let's just see what happens" approach to the remainder of the season.

 

Why can't you cheer for them?

 

Eric, I said "book it" that this is a 35 win team a few days ago (assuming no trades), do you believe me now?

 

Why couldn't you cheer for them? and I thought you lived in L.A.?

 

Because the Knicks gave me the tickets for free and I was told not to. They don't want to give free tickets to a people who will root for the other team.

 

I moved back to NYC three months ago.

 

For anyone interested...the Bayless-led comeback portion of the game is on Con-cast at the moment

 

Cool. I'll come visit you, since I probably don't live that far away from you.

 

I think we can toss that comeback aside. It was garbage time and the Knicks lost their focus. It was window dressing on an ass kicking. You can see this team is beaten before tipoff.

This team simply has to stop feeling sorry for itself.

 

Why trade Miller? We haven't really gotten too see everything he can offer, if anything trade Blake and Webster maybe even Rudy but at all costs keep Bayless and keep Miller atleast until the end of the season.

 

You really think that's it? It looks to me like they've lost their "swagger". And for weeks it's looked like we miss Outlaw's scoring punch. Now that Oden is out, and with no Rudy tonight they just look anemic. That's 32 PPG (from 2008 stats) out of your line-up - that's huge.

 

Look at Houston. THAT's a team with character. These players are all in the NBA, they all can play. It's time someone stepped up. Of course we've lost our swagger. We're no longer going to win on talent; we have to win on grit. So get working. Instead, they're pretty comfortable with packing it in.

 

I see guys trying to step up, but just not successfully. Martell came out tonight and tried to get to the basket a few times early and he was blocked and missed some shots around the rim - one of which started an easy fast break bucket for the Knicks. Roy and Alridge were off early (started out 4-18) and got frustrated. Lamarcus missed a few layups and fell down on an embarrassing t/o when Harrington pulled the chair on him. Then Miller came in and was turning the ball over and looking awful. They turned to Bayless, and he gave them a little lift but that was it.

I don't know if any of these guys CAN step up. After Roy & Aldridge, where do we get points? Webster? That would be nice. Miller? It's going to get pretty ugly.

 

Where did Houston get points from without McGrady? Without Yao? They don't mope; they outwork you. My point is the remaining nine players all made the NBA. They can all play. As Harry Glickman said, "when one player goes down, a star is born." I see Bayless stepping up. I see Cunningham playing with smarts and within his role. Other than that, I don't see much else.

 

Miller's best will be bedhind him in a couple years. Blake, Webster, and Rudy are all still relatively young. Trade the old guy.

 

Houston is currently deeper than our current team. They have a lot of talent in Battier, Ariza, Scola, Landry, & Brooks.

 

I guess if Oden hurt the team more than he helped it, then Joel must really be bad.

Go Blazers

 

That is so funny you say that. On opening night, I would have said they are one of the least talented teams in the league with Brooks being the lone playmaker. Ariza, Scola, Laundry, & Battier are all role players who do what they do really well. Nobody on that team will ever make an All Star Team. But that seems to be a blessing for them - no inflated egos & everybody plays within the system. It's hard not to be impressed by what they have done this season. And it's not just with great defense either, Adelman has those guys scoring 101 PPG. Think about that. Offensively (skill wise): Brooks > Blake. But Roy > Ariza, Aldridge > Laundry, Oden > Hayes, Martell > Battier. And Rudy & Miller > Buddinger & Lowry off the bench. And yet they have been scoring more points than us all season - and their offense seems more cohesive. I wonder what Nate would say about that. We have more playmakers, but less productivity. Sounds like coaching to me.

 

Maybe you don't realize how trades actually work?
Most desirable commodity: Cheap, young, lots of upside or already a great player
Least desirable commodity: Expensive, Old, not very good.

With those criteria in mind let's rate the guys you mentioned.

Martell: Young (++), less than MLE contract, but kind of long (neutral), inconsistent first 4 years, but might be more productive given a different role or circumstance (neutral to negative): Overall? a so-so trade asset

Rudy: Youngish (+), super cheap rookie scale contract (++), has shown flashes that he might be a real nice player and is already a pretty good deep threat (+). Overall: a great trade asset

Blake: past his prime (-), pretty cheap contract, but even more important he's a 4 million dollar expiring contract (++), not very good, but probably also miscast as a starter (neutral). Overall: a decent trade asset.

Miller: old and past his prime (-) making more than the MLE for at least one more year (- this year, a + next year when he's expiring), hasn't been a great fit here, probably needs to start to be effective, and would require a lot of adjustment from an acquiring team to integrate him (-). Overall: a pretty bad trade asset.

So after looking at that, why would people want Miller, and what could you possibly get for him right now that will be better than the production he can probably give you in the near term?