MVN - Most Valuable Network

Roy’s Knee - It Could Have Been Worse

Quick update here - the short story is, for once, the outcome of a surgery on a key Blazer wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Things are looking up - Roy’s injury was minor, the surgery a success, and the recovery timeframe is 4-8 weeks. Thanks to Sean Meagher of the BlazerBlog at OregonLive for the video.

Kevin Pritchard on Brandon Roy’s knee surgery

Roy Up Next Under The Knife

Jesus, this fanbase hasn’t been tortured quite enough yet, I guess.  I’m cruising around on the web tonight, and run smack dab into this.  Jason Quick of the Oregonian drops the bomb and, as Dave of Blazer’s Edge said, I’m getting tired of this late summer knee surgery crap.

If you’ve read this site over the past year, you’ve seen reactions on each end of the spectrum when stuff goes bad. I try to hold off on reactions, don’t let emotions take over, wait for data to become available, and then focus on what the likely outcomes are.

According to Quick’s piece, this seems not to be overly serious. This seems not to threaten Roy’s 3rd season. But until Kevin Pritchard and some doctor stand up and talk about how this all went, and what the expected recovery is, I’m going to be barely keeping it together. Because the last time this happened, “exploratory” surgery on Greg Oden’s knee turned into, depending on your point of view, either a minor setback in the big picture of Oden’s career or the 21st Century recurrence of the curse of Sam Bowie.

Everybody’s talking about Oden, but make no mistake about it - Roy is the straw that stirs the drink. If Roy is out for any considerable amount of time, this team is going to struggle mightily.

Will the Blazers have another year of progress put on hold with another injury to a key player? Will be able to laugh about this in a couple weeks? We’ll know soon, but one thing I’m sure of right now is that all the newly-minted Blazer haters are going to be loving it.

Anyway - more to come post surgery. Normal breathing will resume as soon as more info is available.

UPDATE: Mercifully, Quick offers this update.

Blazers Odds & Ends

Couple quick things today…

Please, leave Nate McMillan alone. If you didn’t see it at the end of Jason Quick’s story today over at OregonLive.com, Mac-10 astonishingly turned down a chance to talk about an extension of his contract today. Gavin Dawson was all over this on the radio. Dave at Blazer’s Edge nailed it, as usual, today.

Its easy to want to play amateur psychologist when news likes this comes out and we all have to worry that everything isn’t perfect at One Center Court, but we should all relax. There isn’t an agent in the land that would have allowed his client to sell low like Nate would have by signing an extension with two years left on his deal, and the team about to take a big step forward. If the next year goes like we all assume it will (Blazers make playoffs, become heralded AND successful young team, etc.), Nate will be in line for better extension than he would have gotten this summer. And if he waits until the following summer? Assuming again that the Blazers have seen two years of solid improvement (maybe a deep playoff run in the ‘09-’10 season), Nate would be able to command maybe the largest contract for any coach in the league.

And if Nate walks? Well, I’m pretty sure KP could find a coach who could make a winner out of this group. I like Nate. I think he’s a great fit for this city and for these players, but this next season is a big test for him too, just as it is for many players on the roster. If Nate wants to earn his big extension (yes, I think its a smoke-screen comment), then I’m happy to let him do so.

Good to hear Bayless, Diogu, and Batum are in the house. Not just those guys, but Webster and Frye were working out at the facility Monday as well. Read that OregonLive story, its music to my ears. I really think Bayless can be the point guard-like guard the Blazers need to fit next to Brandon Roy, and to read an article like this cools my nerves (Nate is thinking along these lines too). I’m looking forward to seeing Bayless and Petteri Koponen play in summer league too - Koponen was off the ball last summer next to Sergio Rodriguez, and hopefully this will be a good start for Bayless as he develops his PG ability.

Another quick note on Bayless - I went and saw the documentary “Gunnin for that #1 Spot” last week. If you have a chance to check it out, by all means do. Really interesting to get a look at the Oregon boys (Love and Singler), cool to learn more about Beasley, and a chance to meet our newest rookie Jerryd. I think this kid is going to fit in GREAT in Portland. Like so many of our other players, he’s a gym rat. His game looked a little robotic in the context of Rucker Park, but its clear his skills have been honed through hard work, repetition, and fundamentals.

I just hope he makes the most of his opportunity with the Blazers, develops his game, and accepts his role with the Blazers. This dude has been the best player on his teams for a long, long time. Its not going to be like that here, but he could become an integral piece of the puzzle.

Good luck getting another job Darius. Seriously, if you can stick it to the Blazers by signing with another team and playing 10 games, you’ll have earned that contract more than you ever earned a dime from the Blazers.

I tried never to blame Darius for how things turned out for him in Portland - I don’t think he loved basketball. I don’t think he cared about being a part of a winner in Portland, and I’m sure it was tough being the last hold-over from the teams where the inmates ran the asylum. But smoking pot during his recovery and failing enough tests to earn a 10 game suspension probably wasn’t the best statement to the other 29 GMs about his commitment to the game, so here’s hoping Darius took care of his money, finds something to do with himself, and doesn’t go on some smear campaign against the Blazers.

Non-Blazer alert - Brand going to Sixers? Whoa, this would be a serious stomach punch to the Clippers organization. If Brand leaves for the Sixers offer, does this make him a worse traitor than Carlos Boozer? The Clippers went and signed the very guy he asked them to get in Baron Davis, and then he stiffs them? On 2nd thought - forget about it, I’m glad Brand is leaving them at the alter and helping keep the Clippers down. Kaman can’t guard Oden and Aldridge by himself…

Sayonara, Sonics. I haven’t really talked about this much, but to put it bluntly, I have always hated the Seattle SuperSonics. With a passion. They’ve obviously been our #1 rivals since I was a kid. Aside from their cool old-school uniforms, they were the perfect villains for our Blazers and really easy to root against.

Then, I went to college. In Tacoma, WA. In the belly of the beast, I was surrounded by Sonics fans. Unsurprisingly, I found that they felt pretty much the same about the Blazers as I felt about the Sonics. I was in Tacoma from mid-’92 through mid-’96, a good run for the Sonics and an OK one for the Blazers. I was there for Kemp, Payton, Mac-10, Detlef, Sleepy (Stoned) Sam, the Hawk - and I disliked them all. I was in Seattle the day the Nuggets knocked off the #1 Sonics - and out of personal safety refrained from laughing in the faces of every depressed Soncis fan I saw that day (it was quite a day). But I always heard it from my buddies, and it was definitely an ear when the Sonics were better than the Blazers.

And now, 12 years after coming back home to Portland, I can say I’ll miss the Sonics now that they’re gone. Its not because I’ve come to like them - Nate McMillan as Blazer coach hasn’t turned that around.

I’ll miss the Sonics because, as I look ahead to the 10+ year run the Blazers are about to begin, they won’t be around to bear the brunt of our excellence. The Blazers are entering an era that will be judged by how many titles they are able to win. But for fans like me, part of the fun of this era was going to be sticking it to teams like the Sonics, Lakers, Suns, etc - old rivals who have given us our share of heartbreak.

Clay Bennett stole the Sonics from Seattle, but believe me - I feel robbed in all of this too. Whipping the OKC Whatevers just won’t provide the same thrill as killing the Sonics.

More Good News for the Blazers

We knew it was coming, but say it with me… Rudy is a Blazer.

At 23 and with seven years of pro-league experience under his belt, I don’t expect Rudy to have quite the same learning curve as many rookies coming into the league. That said, 82 games will be more than double the league games Rudy played this year (30, so it will be interesting to see how his stamina holds up.

As we’ve heard before, KP considers the Spanish league to be the top level of competition outside the NBA. Again, it will be interesting to see how Rudy’s high-flying game translates to the NBA. He moves great without the ball, which should make him and immediate scoring threat off the bench (sounds like a certain guard we just drafted out of Arizona…). His defense has never been lauded, but hopefully that doesn’t earn him a spot in Nate’s dog-house…

I think we’re going to see good things out of Rudy this year, but he’s not going to be Ginobilli out of the gate. My hope is that Nate finds 18-20 minutes a night for him off the bench, backing up Roy and playing in a three-guard lineup, and that he gels well with Bayless such that they can provide the bench scoring punch we missed at times last year. You never sub all 5 bench players for all 5 starters, so I think the 2-man depth at each spot can be a bit overrated (inevitably, there are starters and benchers on the floor together), but if Rudy, Outlaw and Bayless can be the core of our 2nd unit and take some of the scoring pressure off Roy and Aldridge, then I’d call that big progress.

Its easy to be excited right now. I can’t wait for October to get here and to start getting a look at this team. If Oden is as healthy as the reports indicate, and Rudy and Bayless can contribute soon, this team will be greatly improved even with the loss of James Jones.

Speaking of Jones, I hadn’t mentioned this here yet but was asked about it in the comments to another post. Jones was a huge find last year, much like Ime Udoka was the year before. But the rumor is Jones has an offer of $25M for 5 years - if that’s true, then I’ll wish him good luck. And I’ll hope his agent isn’t bluffing like Udoka’s was. Both players were great to have around and a positive influence on our youngsters, but both limited the minutes we had for Webster and Outlaw, and at this point I think the Blazers need to learn more about these two players. Do we have our long term SF on the roster, or does the search need to continue there? Leaving that spot open for Webster (4th year) and Outlaw (6th) to sink or swim with will inform that decision, and its not going to cost the Blazers a title shot (the window isn’t open yet).

The roster for next year continues to come together. All we’re waiting on now is the official, official announcement of the Bayless deal, and a decision on whether Batum comes now or waits another year or two. C’mon October, hurry up!