The Young Blazers

After losing Greg Oden, their 1st pick of last years draft, for the season with a knee injury, many people thought that Portland will be back to the lottery again. After a slow start of 5-12, Portland have won 13 straight games through December, making the Blazers the hottest team in the west. The Portland Trail Blazers are (23-14) and 18-2 since December.

Brandon Roy (PPG 19, APG 5.7) and LaMarcus Aldridge (17.9, RPG 7.5, BPG 1.2) proved to be NBA ready. Przybilla (PPG 5, RPG 7.2, BPG 1.2) who went to fill Oden at center does the hustle and rebound well. I think getting a defensive-minded center who is an above average rebounder and can block shots is essential in building a team. Defensive stops translates to fast breaks or at least turnovers (see Mutombo in the Knicks – even in his advanced age – helped them to a 39 wins in 2003-4 season, vs. Curry with his slow feet on defense and 4+ Turnovers on offense, clogging the offense with his dribble attempts). Add Travis Outlaw’s instant scoring (PPG 12.1, RPG 5.1) and Martell Webster (11.1 PPG, RPG 4.1, 38% 3pt), their best outside shooter. Steve Blake runs the offense without trying to interfere.

When Oden gets back this team can be one of the best in the league and compete with the Spurs, Dallas, Phoenix and Detroit for a title for the next decade. Portland fans are probably very pleased with their team’s success, who would have thought this could be so soon?

Kidd to Lakers?

THE Lakers are angling to shoplift Jason Kidd, a Western hearing aide claims, for a couple draft picks, Kwame Brown’s expiring contract ($9M), Jordan Farmar ($1M) and Vladimir Radmanovic ($5.6M with an additional $19.2M over the next three seasons). Not unexpectedly, the Nets aren’t interested in assuming Radmanovic’s long-term guarantee. There’s nothing not to love about Farmar, yet New Jersey already has a promising, young caretaker in Marcus Williams.

NY Post

Miami trying to make a deal for Miller, Swift

Desperate to give Dwyane Wade a long-distance shooter on the perimeter, where Miami misses Jason Kapono and James Posey, the Heat is looking at making a deal for Memphis’ Mike Miller. With Alonzo Mourning suffering what figures to be a career-ending knee injury, the Heat might also try to expand the deal to include Stromile Swift

Daily News

Isiah: I like where we’re headed

Nowhere!

“I like the direction we’re headed,” Thomas said Friday, before his team lost to the Bobcats. “I’ve said this before: our future is definitely much brighter than it was when I got here four years ago. Cost-wise we’re down. Talent-wise we’re up. We did a good job of putting people in the seats. I think we’re pretty close this year to getting back on track again.”

Daily News full article

Close to get back on track. How far away was the train that it took 4 years?

Lee, Crawford lead Knicks in win over Cavs

New York Knicks 108 Cleveland Cavaliers 90

That was the first big win for the Knicks this season. David Lee had 22 (17 in the first half) and 11 rebounds and Crawford had 21 and 6 assists. I think Lee is  the barometer of this team as far as team play, fast break and effort goes. Whenever Lee is good the Knicks are winning, passing more and give more effort defensively. That probably has to do with him not needing the ball offensively or creating his own shot.

Crawford is good in 1/3 of the games – basically the team’s record 8-17 – when he’s on fire he puts 30 and 40 pts.  nights but when he has bad shooting night he  is completely off and finish with 2-20.  Richardson had 16 and 7 boards Randolph finished with  17 and 6 for the Knicks.

For the Cavs, Lebron had a great game with 32, 8 rebs, 6 asts and 6 steals, but Hughes and Pavlovic had only 15 pts together on 6-20.

McGrady hurt in Houston loss to Orlando 97-92

Yahoo.com

Orlando’s star of the past got hurt and the Magic’s star of the present carried them to a victory.

Dwight Howard had 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks and the Magic took advantage of former Orlando star Tracy McGrady’s absence in the second half to beat the Houston Rockets 97-92 on Wednesday night.

Yao Ming scored 19 on 7-for-18 shooting and had 17 rebounds in the first faceoff of the season between two of the game’s best centers.

“It was a good matchup,” Howard said. “I thought I did a better job of not letting him get to the middle, making him shoot fadeaways, instead of letting him get into a good rhythm.”

Full article

KNICKS FANS GIVE ISIAH A ‘PINK SLIP’ AT GARDEN

December 19, 2007 — Knicks fans irate over the team’s lousy play under coach Isiah Thomas have a message for Madison Square Garden management: You can toss us from our seats but you can’t shut us up!

Nearly 50 die-hard Knicks fans — carrying a giant 8-foot-tall pink slip for Thomas — gathered this morning and said they won’t let up until Garden bosses stop tossing critical fans from games and instead put the miserable team’s coach out in the cold.

The Knicks are 7-17 this year and 40-66 since Isiah took over as coach. I think Dolan won’t fire him this season not because they are best buddies, he won’t because it will stir the focus of the media to Dolan’s incompetence managing this franchise.

I think Thomas and Dolan are both the reason why these Knicks team are so bad. Trying to find the quick fix through bad trades and giving up picks in the process, instead of rebuilding gradually, like any other team in this league are aiming for. What’s sad is Knicks fans (yeah me too) don’t know when they will be relevant again. Well, at least we have the young guns (Lee, Collins, Balkman, Nate) to keep us staying positive.

NY Post article

Celtics. How far can they go?

The Celtics are now 20-2 and are on pace with the ‘72 Lakers (69 wins) and the ‘96 Bulls (72). Is it possible for them to match these great records? Highly unlikely.

First, they are not as deep as these teams. After the big three, Rondo (9 points and 5 assists) and Perkins (7 and 4.9 rebounds) round up the starters. The bench is to thin Posey, Tony Allen and Pollard can provide some scoring and hustle, when one of the big three has an off night but is it enough?

Secondly, age – the three are over 30, they are not as young as the 96 bulls were, and as the season progress, fatigue will be an issue. When that moment comes who will cover for them? or worse, what if one of them is injured?

So the 2007-08 Celtics will end up to be a great team, maybe a 55-60 win season is a more sensible target. Are the Garnett-lead triplet will win a ring? It’s possible, the trip to the finals in the east is easier. The three must be healthy and few of the reserves has to step up big time for them to win it all. Still, I put the Spurs, Dallas and Phoenix ahead.