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Trail Blazers Courtside
Tuesday, 11/25/08
Hosts: Brian Wheeler, Mike Rice, Mike Barrett
Summary
- Dwight Jaynes – Nate said Oden on schedule with his defense and ahead of schedule with his offense
- Nate McMillan – LaMarcus needs to relax, stop thinking, worrying about things, just react more, let the game come to him.
- Martell Webster – He has changed, he is more about helping them win whether that is starting or coming off the bench.
- Ian Thomsen – Doesn’t think the Blazers are targeting a free agent but a star player with a contract that a team doesn’t want.
- Confucius – Western playoffs teams - LA Lakers, Houston, New Orleans, Utah, San Antonio, Denver, Portland & Dallas
- Nicolas Batum plays a lot like Bruce Bowen, but is a better shooter. Blazers very high on Batum and still looking to play him.
- Greg Oden is not having any fun because of all the pressure on him
- Too much expectations by fans, people forget last year the Blazers were 5-10 compared to 9-6 now.
- Rotation – Martell will backup Batum, Outlaw will slide over to backup PF and Frye will probably be the odd man out.
- Trade – Pritchard getting a lot of calls for Raef’s contract, but Pritchard looking to make sure that star player is a good fit.
Dwight Jaynes on 95.5FM on 11/26
- Jones soda is the new official soda for the Blazers.
Blazers team
- Exceeded expectations from everybody in the media on their win-loss record so far.
- This upcoming road trip will be brutal and if they can come out 2-3 or 3-2 the second half of the season is very favorable for the Blazers.
- He feels the Blazers will do well after the road trip and will make the playoffs.
Greg Oden
- He was surprised when talking with Nate, that Nate feels Greg is on schedule with his defense, but is ahead of schedule of getting down the offense.
- Nate said that Greg may have just as big of impact on the Blazers offense as he has on the defense this year which is ahead of schedule.
Ducks vs. Beavers
- He picks the Ducks because of the extra week Ducks have to prep and injuries to OSU Quizz Rodgers.
Nate McMillan – interview
- (MB) (Brandon Roy summed it up best by saying we don’t want to say we aren’t happy with the win, but we aren’t happy with how we played.) Nate says well we aren’t giving it back.
- We know we got to play better. It took us four quarters to get it done, but we got the win.
Greg Oden
- It’s still a process with Greg. This will be a process for Greg throughout the year with him. With his second time starting and it was a strange match-up for Greg against the Kings. Both Miller and Hawes are perimeter centers that can shoot from the outside. Greg is used to centers posting up and banging inside. The Kings did a good job of spreading the floor and forcing Greg to come out more than he is normally used too.
- Nate tells Greg the more time he spends out on the court the more he will get better.
- (MR)(Rice thinks the Kings was one of the worst teams for Greg as the Kings run that Princeton offense where they have the center out on the perimeter either out to the corners or at the top of high post, which made it hard for Greg to defend against Miller and Hawes. Greg will probably do better against other teams that have more conventional centers where they post-up). Nate said the Kings allow their centers to shoot the three pointers and Miller and Hawes were doing well on the outside and they gave the Blazers some trouble with the last game in Sacramento.
- Joel did a better job on the pick and roll offense and decided to go with Joel late in the 4th.
LaMarcus Aldridge
- (BW)(Brian thought the game in Sacramento in the second half where LaMarcus went 6 for 6 would be an end to LaMarcus shooting slump, but that is not the case. What do you say to LaMarcus?)
- Nate took both Greg and LaMarcus into the film room and showed what they are doing and not doing well in their shooting and handling the double teams.
- He told LaMarcus to relax, stop thinking so much, allow the game to come to him. He needs to stop thinking so much about all the different schemes that teams will be doing to him. He just needs to react.
- LaMarcus needs to calm down, take a deep breath, get into the gym, shoot and get into a rhythm. He needs to relax, get excited about playing in the game and establish a rhythm with his shooting.
Joel Przybilla
- Joel had a great ball game against the Kings. His play spoke for how he felt. Joel didn’t take it as a demotion.
- Joel knew he needed to continue to play well off the bench and set an example for Greg.
- Joel didn’t pout and something he talked about in the locker room with the players on Tuesday. He goes from starting and playing well and making a sacrifice. We made the switch because we wanted to get the unit together now. Without Brandon and Greg working together, we could be sitting here after the Kings game talking about a loss.
Martell Webster
- We talked about Martell going on the trip.
- Martell did some running on the three man weave and ran through some dummy offense. (for those who haven’t seen dummy offense, they have real dummy foam pad players with arms stretched out high on defense, probably about 8 ft. high, that the coaches can push around and play defense on the offense).
- To see him running out there without any problems was good.
- We will see how it goes, we haven’t picked any game yet when he will play.
- Once we get on this road trip and have him play in practice. We want him to be on the road and establish that closeness with the team.
- It will depend on well we are playing. If we are playing well and the rotation is pretty good, we can buy him some time in getting in shape more on the practice floor. If not and we see an opportunity to slip him in there we will.
Miami Heat
- Dwayne Wade, he is going to be playing with the basketball a lot Wed night. Our defense will have to keep him outside of the paint.
- Beasley can flat out play
- They are a small team but are scrappers. They are one of the leaders in steals.
- We need to take care of the ball. We were able to stay in the game when we were in Miami, but the minute we started to turn the ball over is when they were able to come back.
- We need to take advantage of our size and take care of the ball.
Nate’s son – he got to see him play on Arizona on Sunday
- He told his son to pick it up and needs to scrap too.
- Nate said he doesn’t know, if he could of stayed Sunday night he would have been watching game film with his son
Martell Webster – interview
Injury
- He is definitely happy to be going on the road with the team and it’s been a long time coming.
- With the team playing so well, there is no rush for him to come back so soon and it’s still up in the air if he will get to play on the road.
- (MR) (Rice saw him still shooting so well). When he was injured he reverted back to what made him a better shooter and that is chair shooting. It has really built up his upper body and he is going to keep that into his routine with shooting from the chair.
Nicolas Batum
- (MR) (Rice asked him if he can do that with his chair defense) Martell laughs and says that comes from the heart. Believe it or not he has been watching Nicolas and Batum is a wonderful defender. Martell wishes he had that speed and long arms that Nicolas has and has taken pointers from him playing and that kid (i.e. Batum) can play.
Greg Oden
- (MR) (Can you give any advice to Greg, he seems down in the dump) Martell said we support Greg all the time. The thing to remember, this is the NBA, this is life, you are not perfect in anything. You will go through some slumps. Most important thing is how you show your colors through adversity. If he continues to do the things he does when playing good that will help him get out on the upper hand. He can’t get down on a missed shot, he needs to worry about the next shot.
Outside shooting
- (BW) (When he comes back he will make the Blazers even stronger on the outside shooting) The important thing is how do we get our go to players easy points. If you have deadly shooters in the corners and out in the wings the defenders will have to stay close. It will open up the lanes for Brandon to slash and dish. If you have players collapsing on Brandon, well that is stupid if you have a deadly shooter on the outside. It’s a numbers game, Brandon makes the game look easy, but what he does is hard.
Team
- (MR) (Rice said as long as the team is winning you guys can stay happy) Exactly, he told the media on Tuesday, it’s not coming back and being in the starting lineup. It doesn’t matter, all he wants to do is help contribute to the team the best way he can. Whether that is coming in after 10 minutes of the game or whatever. He just wants to help the team win and if they are winning that is the ultimate satisfaction.
- (MB) (How has he kept himself positive during this injury?) Martell came to realize it you got to realize he got to make sacrifices. There is no “I” in team. I’m sure you have heard that millions of times. It’s a team process, you win together you lose together. I have an injury, it’s a minor setback and he has really enjoyed watching his teammates play and cheering them on is great. He feels like he isn’t injured and is part of this team. He is talking to players and he feels like an assistant coach, because that is what is great is that they all listen to what he has to say. You have Brandon, LaMarcus, Travis, Nicolas, all of them listen. That makes him feel better with contributing, because he tends to be vocal during games.
Rookie has his seat on the plane
- (MB) (commented that he saw someone has his regular seat on the plane) I heard that Jerry Bayless has his seat. (the phone transmission started to break up so couldn’t hear what he was going to do – I’m sure Martell will get his seat back)
Ian Thomsen – SI NBA Writer - Interview
- (BW) – (some people say the NBA season doesn’t get started until coaches are fired and we now have two coaches) – There is so much parity in the league right now. There is really only a few bad teams. Where they either fired their coach or traded players.
- You can tell the players weren’t listening to P.J. on the Oklahoma Thunder and management had to make a decision.
- The Wizards are hoping they can hang onto when Gilbert Arenas returns.
- In N.Y. Eddy Curry needed to lose weight and play so he can increase his trade value.
- N.Y. ultimate goal is to do what Orlando did in 2000, by signing two stars in Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady and looked like a great plan until Hill and McGrady got injured.
Blazer trades
- He thinks the Blazers are being very aggressive now to try to make use of their space.
- Summer of 2010 will be very competitive with teams with a lot of cap space.
- He doesn’t think the Blazers will be pursuing a free agent as much as they will be looking to take on a star players contract that isn’t wanted anymore by the other team. They will try to do a Kevin Garnett type deal.
- The problem is that it is still too early and almost all the teams with an exception to a few teams think they can make the playoffs.
- When we get into January or early February and teams realizing they aren’t going to make the playoffs. They will decide to cash out and realize they aren’t going anywhere with this guy. If a team has expensive players they aren’t going anywhere with them they will decide to unload.
- Vince Carter is one guy that will be available (both Rice and Barrett don’t think the Blazers will be interested) but he doesn’t think Portland is interested.
East vs. West in depth
- West is better at the top of the conference, but top to bottom, the East is better.
- Blazers are deep, but no expects them to win a championship this year.
Blazers
- The whole franchise is 2-3 years away from contending for a championship.
- Kevin Pritchard has done a great job, but even he has some things to learn in the NB and some experience.
- Kevin is probably in the running for GM of the year, but even he has to learn and go through some playoff experience.
- Even Nate has to go through some playoff experience.
- Brandon Roy, even though he plays like an old veteran player, he needs to go through some playoff experience.
- LaMarcus or Rudy or any guy that matters on the team all need playoff experience.
- He just can’t imagine why everybody is expecting so much from Greg right now.
Confucius (i.e. Mike Rice) predictions - Interview
- Playoffs – LA Lakers, Houston, New Orleans, Utah, San Antonio, Denver, Portland & Dallas. He picks Phoenix will be out of the playoffs.
- Nash will wear down as they are playing him more than 40 MPG and Dallas and Portland will pass Phoenix for the 8th playoff spot.
- Coaches fired – Maurice Cheeks, Philadelphia; Sam Mitchell, Toronto and Marc Ivaroni, Memphis (Grizzlies will wait until after the all-star break)
- Surprise team – Sacramento with Kevin Martin coming back.
- Civil War – Confucius is for the Beavers, but with expectations, pressure and no Quizz on the Beavers will lead to a Duck victory.
- H.S. Playoffs – Confucius not as good with football as he is with basketball, but he see Jesuit beating Lake Oswego in the semi-final and go onto beating Beaverton for the state championship.
Greg Oden – comments
- (MR) – He would like to hear from the fans on what they think will get Greg Oden going. What will inspire him to get a little more fire? What is preventing him from blocking players like Beno Udrich, Kings, shots when he is laying them up?
- (MB) – He thinks we are back to the impatient people having with expectations. Greg has only been on the court for two weeks of his pro career. He was heralded in H.S. and college. Sat out a year because of injury.
- (MR) – He didn’t say he wants 20 PPG or 10 RPG. He wants to see that fire in Greg, he wants to see that tiger in Greg.
- (BW) – Brian thinks they saw some of that fire in Greg on the road, but with him starting against Sacramento it made him nervous again.
- (MR) – Mike agreed that maybe it was starting again and lets see how well he does in these upcoming games at home and can light the fire.
- (MR) – Greg struggled against the Kings, because he is used to guarding perimeter centers. Joel has the experience and Joel would get out there on the perimeter, but also get back inside quickly. Greg doesn’t have that experience yet.
- (BW) – Greg played in the pre-season games against the Kings, but Brad Miller wasn’t around so he wasn’t ready to defend on the perimeter.
Martell Webster - comments
- (MB) – Still targeting Dec. 5th for him to return playing in games.
- (MR) – He talked to Martell and said he definitely will play on the upcoming 5 game road trip.
Nicolas Batum - comments
- (MB) (email on wanting to know how Batum could progress so well from a bad summer league to starting) - (MR) Some people look better playing against NBA competition. Summer league was for the guards with them shooting all the time. Take Bayless for instance he could perform his strong points, getting to the rim, handling the ball, shooting, using his strengths. While Nicolas couldn’t do what he does best, check people, rebound, getting into the passing lanes.
- (MR) He didn’t want to ask Nate what he is going to do with Nicolas. Rice asked about Martell and like a good politician he danced around it. Rice would hate to see Batum not play and loose his minutes.
- (MR) Batum is the real deal and is a smart basketball player and can do a lot of things on the court to help the Blazers win.
- (MR) There is a guy in San Antonio named Bruce Bowen that does a lot of similar things that you don’t see in the stats but helps his team win.
- (MR) Nicolas is a like a Bruce Bowen but can shoot the ball better than Bowen. Nicolas has a better offensive game than Bowen.
- (BW) Politically it would be much easier for the Blazers to take minutes away from Batum when Martell comes back. Yet, Batum has done nothing to deserve having his minutes taken away.
- (MR) Nicolas has also done nothing that he doesn’t deserve playing in the 4th quarter.
Team - comments
- (BW) – Trivial question – How many teams have more wins then the Blazers, not ties, but wins? Five – Boston (13-2), Cleveland (10-3), Orlando (10-4), Houston (10-5) and LA Lakers (11-1)
Miami game
- (MB) – Shawn Marion not expected to play due to a death with one of his relatives
Trades
- (MB) (caller – asking about summer of 2010 and getting a Dwayne Wade or one of the top free agents) Barrett said he couldn’t imagine what kinds of problems that will cause with playing time as they have a major problem with getting players minutes now.
- (MR) It’s great to have a master plan, but if Bosh or LeBron will sign with their teams. He sees Bosh leaving Toronto with all this turmoil with the coaches. LeBron is all about winning championships. They are talking about you can make more money in New York, but it’s not about money. With his Nike deal he is making $90M. He has always been an Akron, Cleveland guy. He thinks it really distracts from a team on what you are trying to do now then worry about the what ifs.
- (MR) In New York’s case they got rid of some bad guys they couldn’t win anyway. They have a master plan and in their scenario it is good. You don’t want to see a team do that.
- (MR) Mike doesn’t want the Blazers to earmark one guy or another guy and distract the team in what they are building now.
- (MR) He thinks it is perfect what the Blazers are doing with having salary cap room available so they can make a deal possible, but he doesn’t want the Blazers to earmark a player and hope it happens like the Knicks are doing.
- (MR) He thinks the Blazers are doing a perfect job of building a team.
- (BW) He is finding more and more teams are looking to make deals with expiring contracts and not waiting for summer free agency where you have a lot more of competition for free agents. Teams are looking to trade for those players now knowing they can pay more for them against other teams.
- (BW) Brian is hearing Kevin is getting a lot of phone calls about Raef’s expiring contract and he is confident that Pritchard will be able to move Raef’s contract. Obliviously they are looking for a very special player in return.
Big Man coach
- (BW) (caller – inquired about getting a big man coach to coach the centers and PFs) He knows when Maurice is healthy he plans on doing some things with the big guys.
- (MR) Coaching big guys is probably one of the most difficult aspects of coaching as there is. It’s all footwork and drop step. Rice would go to camps and talk to coaches and found it was really hard to find coaches willing to work with centers. Pete Newell’s camp is still the best in teaching big men footwork, catching the ball and drop steps.
- (MB) It will be great to have Maurice back so he can mentor Greg.
Expectations
- (MB) – When you talk to Ric Bucher, EPSN and Ian Thomsen, SI.com, you get a whole new perspective. If we had said at the beginning of the season the team would be 9-6 now through this tough schedule, everybody would have been doing cartwheels. Now you have people who aren’t happy with Greg Oden’s play and also LaMarcus Aldridge. People are also on Travis Outlaw and he gets emails from fans who say Nate doesn’t know what he is doing. Is it just the expectation the fans have.
- (MR) – Expectations can put all kinds of pressure on the coach, players, announcers and fans. We had predicted the team wouldn’t even win 6 games by now. This is a much better team then they were last year.
- (BW) – People forget the Blazers were 5-10 at this time last ’07-’08 season.
- (MR) – He likes what Ian Thomsen said what is all the pressure. This guy needs to go back having fun, like back in July when he was beating up everybody. We got to get away from following Greg around and worried about if he bends over to pick up a drink and someone runs over to say they will get his drink for him. Greg is not having any fun at all. This team needs to get back to having fun again.
- (MB) – He was talking with Ric Bucher and Ric was saying it is easy to like the Blazers and they are starting to build a fan base around the world. It is not only because they have such likeable guys, it is because they are fun to watch.
- (MR) – It’s fun to be in the Rose Garden. Those fans are great. We go around to a lot of arenas and we have to take our headphones off to see if there is anybody breathing. The fans are great in the Rose Garden the team is fun to watch. It’s all about setting expectations too high.
Rotation
- (MR) – There is no doubt about it. Channing Frye will have his minutes cut, Travis will see about half his minutes at the backup PF while Martell comes off the bench at the start of his comeback.
Mike Conley
- (MR) – He will not be a blazer.
Next 5 game road trip
- Both Mike Barrett and Brian Wheeler predict they should win 3 games.
- Mike Rice will get two wins.
Shaving Mike Rice head
- Rice still agrees to get a flo-hawk (i.e. inverted Mohawk) if the Blazers make the playoffs.
Civil War – Ducks vs. Beavers
- Mike Barrett worked for the Ducks for 8 years, but is an OSU alum and rooting for the Beavers
- Brian Wheeler is neutral as he is a USC fan.
- Two sets of Beaver fans tail gating in front of 95.5FM station (i.e. home of the duck telecasts). They are cooking duck sausage and duck burgers for anybody at 95.5 station.
- Mike Rice thinks for the first time the pressure will be on the Beavers to make the Rose Bowl and with the extra week he thinks the Ducks will win.
- Mike Rice is rooting for the Beavers to win, because they get to go to the Rose Bowl.
- Brian Wheeler is rooting for the Beavers to win, because that helps USC BCS ranking the more the Beavers win.
Mike Barrett – comments
- John Curry, Blazer camera man just retired after 32 years in the Navy as an active and reserve Navy.
- We joke about that, but in the player area on the plane, everybody has their own place. There are no bad seats. There are couch spots on the plane. Joel likes to sit in the far back and kind of looks like a throne so he can look over everybody. (Rice laughs and say can you imagine first Bayless isn’t playing and now loses his seat.) Barrett is sure that Martell will get his seat back and Jerryd won’t have a problem with it.
