1) Questionable. No one player dominates the current system the way Roy was able to dominate under the McMillan system. 2) Doubt it and don't care. Team success > individual accolades. 3) Top 5. Ask again after the play-offs! 4) Houston, GSW, and Suns are all bad match-ups. There are no "easy" match-ups in the West. 5) They are a better team than they have shown so far, but they will not equal last season. The West is too loaded.
1. No, Roy was simply because everything went thorough him. He also seemed to have more of a killer instinct and was able to impose his will in so many ways. 2.While team success is great the experience players get from playing team USA basketball is invaluable. We've so many players mature and really become great through the olympics. If we can get LMA and Dame both in there I would be thrilled. I think LMA makes it for sure but Lillard will depend on other players participation. I think he has a better chance of making the 2016 games 3. I think a healthy heat team has a better starting 5 than the Blazers simply due to LeBron. 2nd best after the Heat though. Top 5 would go 1. Heat 2. Blazers 3. Thunder 4. Spurs 5. Clippers 4. Dallas would be the best matchup while the Thunder would be the toughest, assuming Westbrook is healthy. 5. I think Phoenix falls out and Memphis sneaks in. If they do I want no part of the grizzlies.
1. It's close, but until Aldridge sustains this production/dominance for more than a couple months, I'd have to go with Roy. I find it interesting that Aldridge has always been a slow starter over the course of his career. This year when he started off averaging 22.1 PPG and 9.6 RPG (both better than his career best season averages) through the end of November most here thought that it wasn't his traditional slow start - that he was healthy and rested and performing at his peak level from opening night. Well, after bumping those averages up to 25.0 PPG/12.2 RPG in December and 26.1 PPG/12.9 RPG in January it looks like Aldridge is following his typical pattern of getting better as the season progresses. February - April are usually when he plays his best basketball of the season. It will be interesting to see if that pattern holds true this year. If it does, and he maintains, or exceeds his Dec/Jan averages, I reserve the right to change my answer. 2. I'm not sure I really care. I suppose it would be a nice honor for both guys to represent their country and some good PR for the organization, but TeamUSA has kind of become increasingly less relevant since the original Dream Team. Often times, the best players turn down the invitation, and there are many more great international players playing in the NBA now. Back in 1992, other than Hakeem, the best players in the world were all US citizens. That original Dream Team really was unique. So, the whole TeamUSA thing seems rather diluted now. The current 12 best Americans willing to make the commitment to play pale in comparison to that original Dream Team. So, if they make it great. If not, no big deal. 3. Top 5. I suppose it depends on how you define best starting 5. Do you go by the weakest link? If so, I'd take GSW over OKC, for example. All 5 GSW starters are VERY solid, but OKC's starting 5 is dragged WAY down by the rotting corpse of Kendrick Perkins. Or, do you somehow average the starting 5. If you do, guys like Durant and LeBron significantly raise the averages for their teams, in spite of having one, or more, below average starter. To me, who has the best finishing 5 is much more interesting. I actually like OKC's current finishing 5 better without Westbrook. Of course, Perkins with his 6.5 PER and .558 FT% will never be on the floor with the game on the line. And, without Westbrook freezing him out and trying to play the hero, Durant is playing the best ball of his career. The guy is just flat out dominating. He isn't just averaging 38.5 PPG over the last 11 games, OKC is winning and he's hit multiple game winners. Back when Westbrook was healthy, OKC was losing close games and struggling to score in the 4th quarter. Not any more. After Durant scored 41 and hit another game winner last night, the guys on NBA Game Night commented how there isn't anyone on the planet right now that can prevent Kevin Durant from scoring in the 4th quarter, and my thought was, "yeah, as long as Russell Westbrook is injured Durant is unstoppable". 4. This one is tough. We've beaten OKC 2 out of 3 and we're 2-0 against SAS, but those are both play-off tested teams. As long as Westbrook doesn't freeze out Durant in the 4th quarter, he will be scary good in the playoffs this year. When Nate was coaching the team, I wanted no part of the Spurs. Pop would kill Nate in a 7-game (make that 4-game) series. It would be a blood bath. Stotts is infinitely better at making in-game adjustments, and I assume mid-series adjustments than Nate ever was. And, while I still think Pop is the best active coach in the NBA, I don't think we'd get totally out coached in a 7-game series against the Spurs. People have been writing them off for years as too old, and maybe this is FINALLY the year age catches up with them (although you'd never know it based on their current record). But, we seem to match up well with them. So, I'd rather face the Spurs in the 1st round than the Rockets - who we don't match-up well against. Howard kills us and Harden would likely set a record for FT attempts in a series if we play them. We haven't fared well against Phoenix in the regular season, but I have confidence Stotts could make the necessary adjustments over a 7-game series and our superior talent would get us past them. Of course, my preferred match-up, if they could ever manage to get above .500 and actually make the playoffs would be MIN. 5. MEM is playing great right now with Gasol back, but I think without Tony Allen, they are still a notch below last year. I also think Prince has lost about 6 steps. He's nowhere near the player he was in his prime, and has even dropped off considerably from last year. Courtney Lee was a GREAT pickup for them and is playing REALLY well. It's only been 9 games (7-2 record), but if he keeps up anything like his current production (20.2 PER, .680 TS%) he'll be in the running for MIP. If both Gasol and Allen are healthy, they have a great combination of interior and perimeter defense. Allen is the type of big, physical defender that could take Lillard out of the game. Gasol is still great in the middle, but I fear him less now that we have Lopez. It would be a tough series, but I think it would go 7 games and we would have HCA. I don't want to face them, but I don't fear them. BNM
So, Portland's top 7 crack sports reporters barely have 5 questions to rub between them. Not surprised.
Best part of that article (surprised Blazer Fanatic hasn't commented on this): no Ben Golliver. Evidently, his colleagues do not consider him one of the top 7 local reporters. Oh well, maybe this latest snub will motivate Golliver to step up his game over the second half of the season. BNM
I'm surprised he's not mining this forum for content to fill his blog. Better go back and copyright my post above. BNM
or is it because Blazersedge sent Dave instead? Ben is a national writer that contributes to Blazersedge, not a local Portland writer.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. He's still local, his stuff just gets published on a wider basis now. BNM
And I know I just gave him shit, and Blazer Fanatic LOVES to give him shit, but congrats to the guy for turning his passion into a successful career. BNM
you must not be familiar with his work for Sports Illustrated. here you go, all from the last few days and all original work. http://nba.si.com/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/28/all-star-game-nike-sneakers-2014-lebron-james-kobe-bryant-kevin-durant/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/28/most-improved-player-paul-george-kevin-durant/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/28/mark-tatum-nba-deputy-commissioner-adam-silver-david-stern/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/27/kevin-durant-game-winner-thunder-hawks/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/27/patrick-patterson-game-winner-raptors-nets-jason-kidd/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/27/shelvin-mack-flop-warning-hawks-bucks/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/27/kevin-martin-flop-warning-video-timberwolves-blazers/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/26/boston-celtics-tribute-paul-pierce-kevin-garnett-brooklyn-nets/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/24/carmelo-anthony-62-points-knicks-bobcats-madison-square-garden/ http://nba.si.com/2014/01/24/nba-midseason-grades-heat-pacers-blazers-knicks-lakers/
I've never seen him plagiarize another persons work. He always cites the author in the headline of the article as well as linking to the original article.
not to mention the original work he does for Blazersedge as well http://www.blazersedge.com/2014/1/29/5356038/media-row-report-grizzlies-98-blazers-81
First off, thank you for linking to Running The Break! Secondly, I put together these questions every Thursday and Friday to send out to the reporters, so if you have guys have questions for next week's please leave them here. It's hard coming up with five different Blazers/NBA questions each and every week.
After reading BNM's responses, I think it would be great to add one person to Running The Break from RipCityTwo each week in addition to the seven local writers. If you're interested, please let me know. My e-mail is dustin.hawes@trailblazers.com!
