Canzano: Blazers on fast track to lost summer

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/or...sf/2010/07/canzano_blazers_on_fast_track.html

 

So tell me again what Cleveland's backup plan was? Sending out a scathing letter in comic sans?

Anyway, I'll give John credit, he knows where to stick the knife and twist with this fan base; I'm sure he'll get lots of page hits and lots of riled up people calling into his afternoon drive show to argue with him and for him.

 

Clownzano at his finest.

 

Those lines absolutely bust me up. Does anybody else see the irony here? I think "vision" is exactly what it takes to nab (without giving up any assets in return) a starting shooting guard for a second round playoff team who is entering only his second season. Especially if that shooting guard fills in several holes on your current team (perimeter defense, three point shooting).

The Blazers don't lack "a plan." The plan is simple: Get guys healthy. Add a little perimeter defense and perimeter shooting. See how it all fits.

Canzano conflates a lack of movement with a lack of a plan. That conflation demonstrates a true lack of vision.

 

There is a difference between planning and hoping.

Every team in the lotto hoped they would get John Wall. Several teams hoped they would land LeBron in free agency. If their actual plans for the future were contingent on those hopes coming true - they were idiots.

As long as the Blazers' "plan" is to hope Oden gets healthy and becomes a superstar, then Canzano is not wrong. (lord, it scalds me to say that!)

 

I wish we had an opinion writer who had more interesting opinions this summer. The Cleveland Plain Dealer's sports opinion writer has it. So does the Denver Post's, the New Orleans Times Picayune and the L.A. Times'. It seems our sports opinion writer is afraid to cover new ground. It seems Canzano is on the fast track to a lost summer.

 

Word.

 

And he's the first guy to kiss ass when we go on a winstreak!

 

Article definitely has some merit.

 

There's a difference between hoping Oden gets better and not being able to plan around such a huge question mark without data. I see this situation clearly in the latter camp. The "Oden Problem" has a solution that involves not resigning him and letting him go, or resigning him and keeping him. But the big question mark is how he performs this year. It's a variable without a value right now, and you can't solve this equation without a value in place.

Sure, you can make up a value now ("he'll never be great" or "I'm sure he'll be great") but you sure as hell better be right if you do, because if you're wrong, the team is fucked for the next five years.

it's much easier to wait and see one more year. If he busts himself up again, cut bait and start Camby. You now know that your system needs to be guard/wing oriented, without a strong center. That's not horrible; SA won without a true center. So did the Lakers more recently. Same with Boston. None of these teams have had dominant centers (strong PF's, though). So you tune your team appropriately.

If Oden plays great next year, you sign the man, roll the dice, and adjust the team to accommodate a strong center with an injury bug. You keep experienced backups like Camby in your arsenal. You make sure your starting PF can play some center. And you start a more post-oriented offense.

The problem isn't that we don't have a plan; the problem is we have a plan, and are waiting on one last variable to show its value. And this will take *all season* to do. People who are impatient for a Plan to emerge have to realize that we can't move intelligently without data.

Oden will deliver data next season, one way or another.

 

Dude. I'm telling you Al Harrington was their missing piece, if you can't see that then you need to learn the game, then post.

 

Al Jefferson was not in the plan! Sloan is gonna rip his ass when he doesn't see him hustling out there.

 

Bring back Penn.

Bring back Pritchard.



Steinbrenner did this with Billy Martin.


Bring 'em back Paul!

 

I don't know why I read the Canzano piece. Every time I read one of his articles, I am reminded he's an idiot. Must...Stop...Reading...Canzano.

Well, this is my obligatory JC is an idiot post. His arguments have no merit. He's obviously just stirring the pot.

 

So, acording to Canzano, making a play for Chris Paul (and as odds would predict failing on the grand slam try) is adrift with no plan?

Matthews would have been part of "THE PLAN", ie, get Chris Paul, and give up Batum in order to make the deal. If the team got extremely lucky and was able to pull off a Paul deal, they HAD TO have another worthwhile wing. Posey (if he came to the Blazers) was not going to get it done.

Matthews also would have fit seemlessly into the try to make disgruntled players (ie Martell & Rudy) happy off-season plan by moving them and replacing them with a deluxe "role" player type, who doesn't need plays and shots to make an impact.

The Can Man can is just stirring up shit.

If Babe Ruth strikes out at the plate would you say, "that guy had no plan"? Or, would you say he planned to hit a home run, but when you take big swings you are more likely to strike out?