I wrote this up last night and forgot to post it. I am looking around the forum and I wonder, why all the Miller hate? And yes, of course Outlaw is the odd man out!!! He has not changed at all. Howard is the man that we needed and Miller is fine. Stop worrying about Miller! Go to a game if you doubt!!!! Here are my thoughts. ============ Just got back from the Denver game. Here is what I thought. PG First of all. Anyone who is worrying about Miller and Blake getting along, needs to relax. They are figuring each other out and they play very well together. Blake has stepped his game up from last year and he is a very good player. He is aggressive on offense, has good ball control and plays smart. He is playing a lot better on the defensive end as well. He and Andre are great on the floor together. Miller is slowely becoming a Blazer as well. You can really tell that he is a floor general, he gets the team together for direction and communicates very well. You can tell it rubs off on the younger guys as well. It is nice having a guy like him on the court. Bayless is getting there. He is making less mistakes and doing more for the team to help us win. You are not so worried anymore when he is on the floor. It looks like he was given the green light to do his thing because he drove a lot during the game and drew a lot of fouls. We need to keep this kid. SG Roy was basically a non factor in the game due to TERRIBLE calls against him. Two of the fouls just had the crowd going ape mess. Just unreal calls. Billups literally ran into Roys back when Brandon was not even looking, fell over and he got a blocking foul called on him. How do you get a blocking foul when your back is turned to them and you have the ball? Anyhow... Roy came together in the 4th when we needed him, but something is wrong and he is not himself. Webster played a little 2 last night. He is trying hard and that is good enough for me right now. He took a good shot hard in the eye last night. He is playing tough and that is what we need from him. Rex also played a little 2 and he was great there. SF Batum Kaboom!!!!!!!! He is good guys. No worries at SF when he is in the game. He seems to have developed a little attitude\arrogance and he is playing a lot harder too. But, he is fouling a lot more. I am not sure what it is, we will see if he can control it during the season. But I am pleased with his new chip on the shoulder. He also did very well guarding Carmello and playing all around D. He is as fast as Ty Lawson too. He caught up to him for a block that was play of the night. Tell played a little 3 as well. Same thing. Nothing fantastic but he is trying hard and I appreciate that. Outlaw was a complete disaster. Still just an idiot when he gets the ball. He still has no freaking idea what to do. It's like when he touches the ball, everything he was taught goes out the window, he hesitates, anyone coach who watches tape should tell their defenders to go for a steal the second Outlaw gets a pass, and you will probably get it. Outlaw is a mess. A really bad mess. Easily the worst player of the black and white teams. PF Juwan Howard FOR SURE still has some gas left in the tank. His veteran leadership is something you do not see in a box score. He is the absolute perfect veteran that we needed on this team. He is another floor general. He is getting players hyped up. He was going crazy just like all the fans, for just a pre-season game!!! I think he was feeling it. He and Greg really, really play well off each other and I can tell that Greg really looks up to him. Juwan Howard is a steal of a signing. Pure class and still a great player. I think he could start for us the entire season if anything ever happened to LMA. Outlaw was horrible at PF. He couldn't guard K-Marts old ass and don't even think about imaging what happened when he got switched with centers. C HE IS HERE EVERYONE!!!!! If you had the PLEASURE of going to this game last night, you saw the best G.O. you had ever seen! College or Pro. He absolutely took over the 4th quarter, until he got called his 6th foul for an almost as bad of call as the Billups\Roy. Greg was in the post, literally lifted his arms, touched Kenyon Martins head a tiny, tiny bit with his elbow and boom. 6th foul. The Garden went APE!!! Anyhow... Greg had this dunk during our comeback that wow, let me tell you, tore the RooF off the building!!! It was so fun to see! Everyone in our section just jumped for joy and cheered at the top of our lungs! You look around the Garden and everyone else is following suit. I look forward to seeing a lot more dunks like that live! Greg was also very, very vocal on the court, taking after Howard. Greg really made the whole crowd smile tonight. Last night he almost, well pretty much did, take over for Roy as the teams MVP. I could see in the near future Greg being the #1 player on the team. Not Brandon. No offense to Brandon. I am now a firm believer in Greg Oden and if he can stay on the court for 35 minutes a game... we will win rings. Greg needs 35 MPG. I hope Joel stays but we do not need him anymore. Package Joel and Outlaw for an expiring and a draft pick from a bad team. Be like the Patriots. Trade your old vets to bad teams for good draft picks.
I don't know this could be possible as this review definitely does not agree with what I saw in the box score.
I am starting to think he is a steal as well. All we need from our back-up PF, is someone that still has a few post possessions, and can play a good low post defense. Also, I love his veteran savvy too. Sometimes you just don't see that on the floor. Hell he is an asset in the practice facility as well. Having a "howard" explain to our bigs, tricks of the trade is Golden.
I don't agree at the SF battle. It is more likea battle of who will stink it up less. Sure they play defense. But they also pass up good shots for bad ones or a pass that should not be made, and Martell seems to have the prettiest jumper that never goes in when you need it to. Nice arc. Clank.
For sure! I will post something like this after every game I go to this year. I am going to try and catch at least 15 games this year. It is SO fun going to games. And you can get tickets for cheap.
I'm not as worried with the "SF" as much as the other positions, since I believe the 4th quarter line-up won't even have Webster or Batum on it. For during the first 3 quarters, I think they need to be good defenders first and ability to run the break 2nd, then hitting the open J 3rd, then Slashing baseline for the jam 4th.
Good point. I think a good 4th quarter lineup would be... Miller Rudy Roy LMA Oden Miller is SO good at drawing fouls. Almost every shot attempt he puts his hands up with the ball first and makes the defender jump almost every time. He leans, gets a foul all the time. It is sweet! Rudy to spread the floor and pass. Roy for Roy. You know the rest.
That's what I suspect. If we won't be seeing this line-up in the 4th, than someone is seriously struggling this season.
I am a fellow Bills fan. Don't do that! I was going to make a MIXUM poster... but you don't even live here lol And come on man. You are not even going to give me the pleasure of reading you rip up my review?
I love the faith the fans are putting into Greg. Fickle or not. Troll or no troll. I think we all want him to succeed and want him tomove forward in his overall game. It's almost as if our will and our faith is making a difference with him and his game. It's just cool to see.
It is really cool to see man!!!! It is nice to see that our draft pick is finally coming around! Greg can feel it too. I think he knows we support him now and he is enjoying himself out there.
Yeah good stuff man. It's almost like every game, he's building even more confidence. I truly believe he needs to come in and have about 10-12 solid games in a row and we will have nothing to fear. He and his team mates gotta believe.
When you were describing that situation in the fourth, I couldn't help but think that every fan in that arena was thinking internally, come on Greg, Come on Greg, we believe in you, make it happen big man, make it happen. And as if he felt what you were all thinking, he erupts for a big fourth quarter. I'm just happy for him. And I'm happy if not proud of blazer fans for continuing to believe in him. Keep it up. Keep the faith. Keep up the hard work Greg.
I have worn a Greg Oden jersey to every Blazers game I've attended since opening night 2007 (I believe that's now up to 40 games). I have both red and black Oden jerseys. I bought the black jersey the day the Blazers announced Greg was going to need microfracture surgery. It was my way of supporting Oden and reinforcing my unwavering belief that the team made the right choice in selecting him 1st in the 2007 draft. I look forward to adding a Western Conference All-Star jersey to that collection. I'm certainly seeing more Oden jerseys in the stands these days. Keep giving the big guy your love and support. It can only help him continue to thrive. BNM
