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Monday, December 8, 2008, 6-8pm PST
Hosts: Jay Allen & Michael Holton
Summary
- Nate McMillan – he is having Greg focus on defense first and worry about offense later.
- Brian Wheeler – since Brandon Roy has been a Blazer they are 25 wins, 9 losses in games decided by 3pts or less
- Terry Porter – he had his H.S. jersey, college jersey and now the pinnacle of his playing career the retirement of his pro jersey.
- Bill Schonley:
- Without Bobby Gross (similar to Rudy) there would not be any championship.
- Terry Porter the third most popular blazer only behind Bill Walton and Clyde Drexler in his opinion.
- The current Blazers remind him of the great championship team of the 70’s and the finals teams of the 90’s.
- Michael Holton
- The great Coach John Wooden once said that it’s amazing what a team can accomplish when no one is concerned on who gets the credit.
- The Blazers have good team quickness in getting out of area rebounds, making plays down the stretch and having key defensive stops.
- Roy, Fernandez, Aldridge, Blake and Outlaw are goto shooters. Most teams only have one or two, but the Blazers have at least 4 to 5 key players to take the shot.
Nate McMillan - interview
- 5 game road trip
- The players did a great job, they played hard and well. That first game gave us confidence and is what set the tone for the rest of the games. You are able to go up against Detroit that had experienced championship guys who have won titles on their home court.
- We are still a very young team, but they are doing a great job of taking care of the ball.
- Three of our keys for every game are taking care of the ball, win the rebounding and make plays down the stretch to win games.
- (use of timeouts) Everything is so hectic during the last minutes of a game. Steve Blake made a decision to take a shot instead of a timeout. I don’t know if we could of gotten a better shot even if we called for a timeout. Steve made a big shot for us.
- (guys willing to step up) We work on it everyday. Brandon is our goto guy and now Brandon is starting to draw the double teams and we have to adjust with passing to other guys like Rudy, LaMarcus and Blake to make their shot.
- Greg is slowly progressing. Defensively Greg has been doing good. He has been putting up doubles doubles. We have asked him to focus on his defense and not worry about the offense. He has done a good job and is progressing nicely.
- We can’t assume playing at home more in the month of December we can relax. We need to make it happen with winning our home games. We can’t relax and expect to win.
- (other teams defending like Boston and Toronto) The type of defense that Boston played on the Blazers is a style you usually see in the 4th quarter not the whole game.
- The type of basketball with physical play and a lot of touching is something the Blazers will need to get used to as they will see more aggressive defense as they get further into the season.
Brian Wheeler - interview
- Brian predicted 3-2, Rice predicted 2-3, so they were all surprised how well the Blazers have played.
- The Blazers are two games away from having a nice home game run of 8 of 9 and 10 of 12 will be home games.
How good is this team - ((MH) - how experienced is this team) Since Brandon Roy came to Portland the Blazers are 25 wins, 9 losses in games decided by 3 pts or less. Traditionally, they aren’t supposed to be winning these kind of games without going through more seasons then what the Blazers have expected.
- 2008 – Blazers 6 wins 0 loses with games 5pts or less and are 4 wins 0 losses with games decided 4pts or less.
- ((MH) – Nate said last year this team needs to come together late in the game and make plays. What Michael is seeing is this team this year is not only making plays late in the 4th, but the biggest improvement is the defensive schemes they have been able to do in the 4th that have lead to teams not being able to score against the Blazers.)
- Looking back last year at the 13 game win streak there were signs in the stats, but still made you wonder how they won. Now when you look at the numbers you are encouraged in what you see and can clearly see how they are winning the games and how they have progressed. They are a much better rebounding team with Greg. Having two good centers in Joel and Greg have helped a lot. #1 in league in opponent rebound. Last year the Blazers were last or near the bottom in free throw attempts (i.e. getting to the basket and drawing the foul). Now this year they are moving up and in the top 2/3rds. They are taking care of the ball better in turnovers. This has been very encouraging since they are doing most of this on the road. You have to be very encourage that with this next month or two of more home games they should be able to improve on all those areas even more with wins.
Small Forward’s playing time - ((JA) with Martell coming back what will happen with playing time) Batum is struggling a little bit offensively, scoring only 3 pts. In the last 4 games. He still plays defense really well, steps into the passing lanes and passes the ball well. The defense Batum put on Bargnani, really help shut him down as he never really could get into a rhythm. Batum still swings the ball around. We saw Channing Frye not get any playing time against Toronto and he sees Batum’s minutes decreased. Before Martell got hurt, he clearly earned the starting position and he is sure when he is ready, expect to see Martell be part of the starting team.
Lap band surgery - The husband and wife that did the lap band surgery on Muhammed Ali’s daughter and was very successful in her losing her weight.
- He has lost about 35-40 lbs. and hit a plateau, but the experts say he is doing fine and will eventually start losing more weight after his adjustment in his lap band.
Terry Porter - interview
- Blazers co-retiring his #30, along with Bobby Gross on 12/16.
- Head coach of the Phoenix Suns
- He has the box score of ’89-’90 of the Phoenix game in the Western Conference finals in a box and showed it to the some of the old players that are still with the Phoenix organization.
Retire his jersey - He is honored by the Blazers to recognize his 10 years of service with the Blazers. He wants to thank Stu Inman and Bucky Buckwater for the opportunity.
- He is very excited about his number being retired. It was a while that he heard from the Blazer organization and wasn’t sure when the initial call came in about retiring his jersey number.
- He has had his high school jersey, college jersey and now his NBA jersey retired and is proud that he could get all three jersey to be retired for his effort on the court.
Coaching - Difference between coaching at Milwaukee and Phoenix is that the Bucks wanting to get to the playoffs vs. Suns wanting to win a championship.
- He hasn’t told his players he will be gone for one practice next week, but plan on telling them early next week. Right now he wants them to say focused on playing wel and getting into a rhythm.
- ((JA) how are the Sun players adjusted to his coaching) It is always an adjustment for teams to get used to how they should play, get a good balance, their roles and getting into a rhythm.
- It helps to have one of the best PGs in Steve Nash to control the offense. We don’t go inside by design with Shaq that often at the beginning. Shaq does the clogging into the middle and when he is on the court he causes match-up problems for other teams and sometimes will pound the ball inside to reward him for his effort.
Blazers - He has seen the Blazers with and without Oden and the Blazers have a wealth of talent, a lot of young kids, Nate got them playing hard.
- If they keep playing hard they have an opportunity to do something special that hasn’t been seen in a while.
- It makes it difficult in scouting the Blazers because they are so talented it makes it hard to determine who gets the ball. We know that Brandon will get the ball in the 4th, but for the rest of the game it is spread out.
- Brandon is a rare talent. He is way too mature for someone his age. Usually it is reserved for someone who has been in the NBA for a long time.
Michael Holton & Terry Porter as teammates - Michael remembers when him and Terry scored 43 pts. against Golden State. Nevermind that Terry scored all 43 pt., it was still him and Terry scoring all those points.
Bill Schonley - interview
- The fight of 76ers vs. Blazers during the championship. A lot of punches were thrown and words were exchanged, but the important thing was it woke up the Blazers to win the series and championship.
- ((MH) Maurice wasn’t afraid to fight anybody) When Maurice was ready to fight Darryl Dawkins. Dawkins mother and sister came out to stop the fight.
Bobby Gross - Gross never got the accolades that the other players like Walton and Lucas got.
- Bobby was key in the Blazers winning many of the games with his hustle and into the playoffs.
- Bobby never stopped, he was always moving on the court, passing, rebounding, making the key pass, step into the passing lane, it was all about helping the team win.
- When he was at the peak of his career he was one of the good guys and Maurice & Walton will tell you there would be no championship with Bobby Gross.
Terry Porter - Terry was a charismatic, outstanding and had all the great attributes of an individual.
- He had to earn his game the hard way. Hard work under the guidance of Rick Adeleman and John Wetzel. He just went to the top and guided that team.
- Other then Bill Walton and Terry Porter, he was one of the most popular and well liked Blazers during his time. He was one of the Blazers many wondered why he didn’t have his jersey retired.
- The 1976-78 and late 80’s and early 90’s is very similar to what the current Blazers are doing right now. Schon just loves what is going on with the current team.
Team - comments
- Toronto game
- (MH) – Big time win, he remembers what Nate has been saying since last year about winning close games is all about making plays, getting key stops, maintain your poise, get that experience and you can’t but see the Blazers put it all together in that game.
Team & Record - (MH) – Don’t know if you can call this a young team anymore as they have developed a lot experience in a short season so far.
- (JA) – 4 wins 1 loss – for the last five game road trip – first time in 6 years they had a 4-1 road trip. The one game they lost against Boston, is something you can live with as the Blazers were playing against last year’s champs on their home court.
- (MH) – What impressed Michael the most is the bounced back from the Boston game. There was so much build up to the Boston game and how the players were public on their feelings of wanting to do well against Boston. Losing the way they did deflated them and you could easily see a 3-4 game losing streak coming next before they could shake off the hangover from such high expectations. Seeing them come out sluggish against a more aggressive Toronto team, took a punch early as they were down one point 16 pts and you thought here comes the slide. It was the resiliency, poise and experience that took over to win that game.
- (MH) – The great Coach John Wooden once said that it’s amazing what a team can accomplish when no one is concerned on who gets the credit.
- (MH) – This team has how many shot makers late in the game? Roy, Fernandez, Aldridge, Blake and Outlaw, most teams only have one or two guys, the Blazers have at least 4-5 players that can make big shots late into the 4th quarter.
- (JA) – They get along and like each other really well and are jelling quite well.
- (MH) The Blazers have good team quickness where they are get a lot of out of area rebounds where the ball bounces outside of the paint that leads to quick rebounds.
Playing time - (MH) Martell is another quality player and will eventually start. Unfortunately, looks like Channing Frye will not play.
- (MH) Bayless against Boston. What Bayless did was make the most of his opportunity playing in Boston.
Orlando game - (JA) The Blazers have been making progress in rebounding.
- (MH) It will take Martell 2-3 games to get used to the NBA games.
Jerryd Bayless - (MH) - Barring a trade, Jerryd will be sitting and watching as more experienced PGs are ahead of him.
Rudy Fernandez - (MH) (email – Rudy hitting the rookie wall) he will be able to shake it off by mid season. You are already seeing Rudy making some adjustments to his game as he gets used to the grind of the NBA.
NBA Traveling Schedule - (MH) Some teams have a breakfast and move the tables and have a walk through with water glasses.
- (JA) some teams practice at Nike or at the Blazer facility.
Steve Blake - comments
- (JA) – Steve Blake is one of the unsung heroes of this team. He doesn’t care about the headlines or accolades that other players like Roy, Greg and LaMarcus get which they deserve. To Jay, Steve doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He is definitely one of the main backbones of this team.
- (MH) – He definitely one of the main ingredients and part of the fabric that makes this team have the potential to do something real special.
- (MH) – it speaks volumes of who Blake is when he hit the winning shot and he said I love playing with these guys.
- (MH) – Blake reminds Holton of a lot like Maurice Cheeks in his willingness to pass first before shooting, team player and all around good guy.
Greg Oden - comments
- (email on players slapping the ball away) (MH) It’s an adjustment in the NBA. In H.S. and college his opponents would get out of the way. In the NBA you have players that will stay down low or go to the hole to steal the ball.
- (MH) he needs to not put the ball down by his legs where the shorter players can poke at the ball. He needs to keep the ball close to his chest and take people with him as he goes up and either draws the foul or put the ball in the hole.
- (email asking for a Joel and Greg backcourt) (MH) He can’t see Nate making that a regular rotation because he thinks it would be too confusing and clog up the middle too much.
- (email asking if Greg will ever become an enforcer, ala Shaq) (MH) Greg is becoming an enforcer by blocking shots and controlling the middle. Certainly having Joel as a backup helps too.
Misc - comments
- (MH) – he isn’t surprised by how many coaches are being fired as much as he is surprised by how many bad teams are out there.
- (JA) – McHale resigned from the front office and takes over the coaching duties. So it maybe the owner putting his feet to the fire to coach the team he created or else.
Mike Kahn – FoxSports,com, NBCSports.com, Sonics writer - He is battling through some health problems and had surgery and is expecting to be back by early next year.
Maurice Lucas - He is winning the battle against this virus.
- He is hoping to make some part-time come back by early January.
Michael Holton - Michael wears glasses because of all the lighting and cameras in the studio
- Michael takes Pilates that helps with his spine. His wife got him doing it.
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