beav

Quote: Your problem is that you have one of the few 20/10 players in the league who plays the same position and has a big contract that will be difficult to move. Plus Aldridge's game doesn't complement Odens game offensively. Zach has range on his shot and would be able to give Oden more space to work in the post. Shaq, Wilt and Kareem were all traded so there is no such thing as an untouchable player. Zach has just come off of his career year, and he is highly likely to be moved this offseason. The most likely destinations are NJ, CHI or WASH. Portland's number one priority is to get decent value for randolph and move him this offseason. They do not want Randolph playing with these young players. Aldridge is not untouchable, but I am telling you he is not going to be traded to the Hawks for the number 3 pick. He will not be moved this year and he will never play for the atlanta hawks.

Quote: According to a Yahoo sports reporter who has been in Orlando at the camp. Word is that BK thinks Aldridge has more upside than any player in the draft available to the Hawks. The Hawks are asking for Alrdidge and Jack for 3. The Blazers won't do that but if we sweeten the deal with a Shelden or Chill they may consider. Who knows? There was more talk in Orlando yesterday about Conley and Oden playing together. They both all say if it doesn't happen then fine. But, they continue to talk about it and I think all parties will make a big run at this before its all over. Its clear they want to stay together and the marketing of these two young friends to the PTL community is huge. If BK is high on Aldridge how high do you think that the team that traded up for him, drafted him and coached him all last year is? Aldridge is not being traded. You guys can still run through all of the permutations, computations whatever, but he will not be a Hawk.

Actually Magloire is an unrestricted FA, the blazers have no interest in resigning him (for obvious reasons).

Quote: According to the Oregonian, this is the new rumor. It may have teeth... Jack or Law, JJ, Marvin, Shelden, Aldridge?? Actually according to the oregonian the columnist (john canzano) is basically saying that the rumor is silly. "Rumors, agents and THE Ohio State University Posted by jcanzano May 30, 2007 08:19AM You have to ask yourself why the latest trade rumor floating around --- Portland gives up LaMarcus Aldridge, Jarrett Jack and its 2008 first-round pick for Atlanta's Josh Smith and the No. 3 pick in 2007 --- is picking up so much momentum. It's certainly not being bantered about by the Trail Blazers, who would be nuts to consider giving up Aldridge. I have confirmation that there was a single discussion, one innocent phone call, between the two teams on the subject." PTL is talking to virtually every team in the league and if...and it is a huge if... there involves a trade with ATL it will be down the road and will not involve aldridge. Josh smith or otherwise. Also read the 3rd to last paragraph in this article from today. Teams want to talk, and Pritchard is listening Posted by Jason Quick May 30, 2007 19:36PM It was interesting to watch Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard on Wednesday at the NBA's pre-draft camp in Orlando. To say Pritchard has become a popular man with his general manager peers would be an understatement. In the morning session, Pritchard left his scouting seat in the sideline bleachers with Seattle assistant general manager Rich Cho, and the two went to a corner of the gym to hold a private, five-minute conversation. Pritchard was animated during the conversation, using his right index finger to count down his left fingers. Later, in the evening session, Pritchard did little if any scouting, instead sitting high up in the bleachers to talk with members of the Dallas Mavericks front office. After the session, while I was interviewing Pritchard, Chicago general manager John Paxson came up and grabbed Pritchard's arm, telling him he wanted to talk to Pritchard before he left. As I continued my interview, with Paxson waiting a few feet away, I asked Pritchard what the nature was of his earlier talks with Seattle and Dallas. "I can't comment on that, you know that,'' Pritchard said with a smile. After more questions, Paxson again approached and said he would catch Pritchard later. I told them I was done, and the two walked to the balcony of the arena and had a discussion. I didn't stay to see how long they talked, but it lasted at least several minutes. The point, of course, is that a lot of teams want to talk to Portland, and Pritchard is listening. "We are going to prepare like we have done in the past, like we are going to get multiple picks,'' Pritchard said. "Then we are going to try and stimulate some interest with our four second round picks. We can do a lot of things with them, there are a lot of options.'' Did I just feel trade winds blowing? Pritchard said the team will begin its workouts with prospects starting June 8 in Portland. He said they will continue to have workouts nearly every day until right before the draft. I asked him if any of those workouts include lottery-projected players like Florida's Corey Brewer or Ohio State's Mike Conley, Jr. "Can't get 'em,'' Pritchard said. " Well, actually I shouldn't say that. I would say that is not in our plan right now. It's difficult to get those guys because with the first pick we have the opportunity to get one of the top two guys, so with such a narrow window of time it's difficult to get those guys. If we had the sixth pick we would have a lot more guys in.'' So I asked again: No plans for workouts of lottery-level players. "As of right now, no,'' Pritchard said. "But we are talking to people.'' And yes, people, I will try to secure a list of which players, and when, the Blazers will workout, so you can stop emailing me about that. --Quick

Here's a list of who is here at the Orlando pre-draft camp this week. The camp starts today with some drills at 6 p.m.Scrimmages start Wednesday. 2007 Pre-Draft Camp Participant List *Camp Players Abukar, Mohamed Boggan, Mario Bradshaw, Craig Brooks, Aaron Brown, Bobby Carter, Russell Collins, Coleman Cook, Daequan Covile, Ryvon Davidson, Jermareo Doellman, Justin Dowdell, Zabian Dudley, Jared Freeman, Rashaun Gray, Aaron Green, Caleb Green, Taurean Heath, Brandon Hill, Herbert Hosley, Quinton Hughes, James Hunt, Jeremy Ibekwe, Ekene James, Dominic Johnson, Trey Jones, Joseph Jones-Jennings, Rashad Jordan, Jared Karl, Coby Kavaliauskas, Antanas Kemp, Marcelus Landry, Carl Lasme, Stephane Lekic, Marko Lewis, Ron Martin, Cartier Mays, James McGuire, Dominic Mejia, Sammy Newley, Brad Nichols, Demetris Radenovic, Ivan Reynolds, JR Richard, Chris Salisbery, Dustin Schilb, Blake Seibutis, Renaldas Sessions, Ramon Shakur, Mustafa Singletary, Sean Strawberry, DJ Sumpter, Curtis Sun Yue Tatum, Jamaal Terry, Reyshawn Tolliver, Anthony Traore, Ali Visser, Kyle Watkins, Darryl Wingate, Major Wood, DaShaun Wyatt, Avis *Physical Only Players Brewer, Corey Conley, Jr. Michael Crittenton, Javaris Durant, Kevin Green, Jeff Hawes, Spencer Horford, Al Law, Acie McRoberts, Josh Noah, Joakim Oden, Greg Smith, Jason Stuckey, Rodney Thornton, Al Wright, Brandan Wright, Julian Yi Jianlian Young, Nick Young, Thaddeus *Subject to change

Quote: Quote: He'd start for at least half of the teams in the league He would? On what teams would 11/5 and a -4 +/- represent a starting-caliber guard? He's definitely improving, but he's a backup guard on most teams. Well it was over 12 pts per game, and he is a considerably larger stronger and better defender than most PGs in the league. But just for you let me give you a sampler. So here is a list where I would see him starting: LA Lakers--smush parker LA Clippers (hey livingston and cassell cannot stay healthy at all, and cassell is pushing 40) MINN---goes without saying DEN (blake started a lot of games for them last year and he would start over blake) SEA Ridnour is a bad defender and jacks numbers were as good as his last year anyway..earl watson played better but is much smaller and cannot guard bigger PGs. Memphis--goes without saying ATL---goes without saying ORL---he backslid last year and had one more point per game and one less assist. Again Jack is bigger and stronger and a better defender WASH--blazers already shipped antonio daniels out and jack would start with arenas MIA---hey even with his assists wade plays SG and jack is a hell of a lot healthier and a hell of a lot better defender and shooter than williams Knicks---well marbury is essentially a SG and close to done so he wouuld start over nate robinson at 5-10. HOU--Rafer alston is a terrible shooter and jack again is better defender. Boston---Delonte West(the only guy as good of a defender), close but jack is a better distributor, healthier and a better shooter Cleveland--daniel gibson/eric snow...gibson is a nice young player, but no. PTL

Quote: I was just noticing where the PTL braintrust saying that they are not interested in MCJ. In the Dieselputer, the information comes out that saying that PTL wanted MCJ was a ploy by MCS to make his son's value raise higher. MCJ was valued at 8 a few weeks ago. Ummmm.. maybe the dieselputer just remembers what I posted this morning? LOL! Oden-Conley not a package Wednesday, May 30, 2007 O K. Greg Oden is the man. Ohio State teammate and friend Michael Conley Jr. is the man beside the man. And rookie sports agent and over-involved father Michael Conley Sr. is the man behind the man beside the man. Got all that? Great. Clip out that first paragraph and keep it for reference for the next month because you're going to need to remember those three things whenever you hear a rumbling or rumor involving the Trail Blazers, Oden and either of the Conleys. Depending on whom you believe, the Trail Blazers are either obsessed, or mildly interested, in acquiring a second NBA draft lottery pick they allegedly plan to use to acquire Conley Jr., who has played alongside Oden since junior high. The Blazers suspect most of the misinformation flying around about their phantom pursuit of Conley Jr. is coming from Camp Conley, which is run by Conley Sr. There is no pursuit, the Blazers said. They like Conley Jr., but they like their young nucleus even more. While it's true, a team source said, that the Blazers had a conversation with the Atlanta Hawks about their No. 3 pick, it was a single conversation that went nowhere fast. The Hawks apparently wanted two young Blazers (LaMarcus Aldridge and Jarrett Jack) along with Portland's first pick in 2008 as part of the trade. And I'm thinking the Blazers nodded and moved on because a source close to that phone call said, "I'm sure Greg Oden will become good friends with Brandon Roy." I have never met Conley Sr. But I've heard he's an intelligent, caring, pleasant man. I know he ran track at Arkansas and that he was the Olympic gold medalist in 1992 in the triple jump. And that he spent the last seven years working with USA Track and Field. Then, he recently decided to head into the sports agent business with Oden as his prized client. He started a management group (MAC Management Group) and recently partnered with an established agency (BDA Sports Management). I suspect Conley Sr. cares immensely for his son, and for Oden. He coached them both since they were in the sixth grade. And he's repeatedly said that he believes he's doing what is best for them. But what Conley Sr. is missing is what's best for the Blazers. I suspect it does not include his son. Especially not if the Blazers are asked to give up players like Roy and Aldridge, who no sane general manager would trade straight-up for Conley Jr. The Ohio State guard hasn't proven he can consistently shoot or win without Oden on the low block. The Blazers have games to win next season, and championships to chase beyond that. And they have a roster to manage today. And they're going to do what's best for the organization, even with Camp Conley spreading hype, trying to fuel trade talks and interest. That's what sports agents do, sometimes mucking up the whole process. Ruben Patterson's agent and Darius Miles' agent attempted to engineer trades for their clients, off and on during the last three years, and each time, they've been told to return to the Blazers with a trade that makes sense. Patterson didn't leave until the Nuggets came calling. Miles is still in red and black. So I suppose agents try, but ultimately are aware that they're not the integral players unless they're holding the leverage. Conley Sr. has leverage in Oden. He knows it. The Blazers know it. Maybe that explains their lone phone call, and mild public interest. Maybe they're the ones putting on the show, if only so they can tell Oden they tried. Anyone who has spent any time around Oden knows he loves Conley Jr. like a brother. And that he trusts Conley Sr. enough to sign with him over the more established and experienced agencies who could broker better sneaker deals. But right about now, I'm wishing Camp Conley could get a little visit from Bob Sugar, one of the sports-agent characters from the movie "Jerry Maguire," who would explain to the Conleys that this draft stuff is "show business, not show friends." You sort of hope this doesn't devolve to the point where Conley Jr. is threatening to sit out, or not report, if the Hawks pick him. And that Oden doesn't threaten to do the same to Portland should they pass on his friend. And that Conley Sr. realizes that the greatest gift he could give his son is the confidence that he'll know he can succeed with or without Oden. John Canzano: 503-294-5065; JohnCanzano@aol.com To read his blog, go to http://blog.oregonlive.com/ johncanzano; Catch him on the radio on "The Bald-Faced Truth,"

Quote: Well.. Jack really isn't all that great... He'd start for at least half of the teams in the league and he is improving. He plays great defense, can score and after being at 75% roughly his entire rookie year he came on and had an excellent sophomore season. He is not neccesarily the best distributor but showed improvement in that area as well.

Quote: Bucks are not trading the 6th pick for Jack and 2nd rounders. They will Aldridge as well. They have no need for Zach. All talks of the Blazers wanting back into the top-10 will start with and end with Aldridge. If that is indeed the case (and I'm assuming this is an opinion?) it will indeed not happen.

Oden-Conley not a package Wednesday, May 30, 2007 O K. Greg Oden is the man. Ohio State teammate and friend Michael Conley Jr. is the man beside the man. And rookie sports agent and over-involved father Michael Conley Sr. is the man behind the man beside the man. Got all that? Great. Clip out that first paragraph and keep it for reference for the next month because you're going to need to remember those three things whenever you hear a rumbling or rumor involving the Trail Blazers, Oden and either of the Conleys. Depending on whom you believe, the Trail Blazers are either obsessed, or mildly interested, in acquiring a second NBA draft lottery pick they allegedly plan to use to acquire Conley Jr., who has played alongside Oden since junior high. The Blazers suspect most of the misinformation flying around about their phantom pursuit of Conley Jr. is coming from Camp Conley, which is run by Conley Sr. There is no pursuit, the Blazers said. They like Conley Jr., but they like their young nucleus even more. While it's true, a team source said, that the Blazers had a conversation with the Atlanta Hawks about their No. 3 pick, it was a single conversation that went nowhere fast. The Hawks apparently wanted two young Blazers (LaMarcus Aldridge and Jarrett Jack) along with Portland's first pick in 2008 as part of the trade. And I'm thinking the Blazers nodded and moved on because a source close to that phone call said, "I'm sure Greg Oden will become good friends with Brandon Roy." I have never met Conley Sr. But I've heard he's an intelligent, caring, pleasant man. I know he ran track at Arkansas and that he was the Olympic gold medalist in 1992 in the triple jump. And that he spent the last seven years working with USA Track and Field. Then, he recently decided to head into the sports agent business with Oden as his prized client. He started a management group (MAC Management Group) and recently partnered with an established agency (BDA Sports Management). I suspect Conley Sr. cares immensely for his son, and for Oden. He coached them both since they were in the sixth grade. And he's repeatedly said that he believes he's doing what is best for them. But what Conley Sr. is missing is what's best for the Blazers. I suspect it does not include his son. Especially not if the Blazers are asked to give up players like Roy and Aldridge, who no sane general manager would trade straight-up for Conley Jr. The Ohio State guard hasn't proven he can consistently shoot or win without Oden on the low block. The Blazers have games to win next season, and championships to chase beyond that. And they have a roster to manage today. And they're going to do what's best for the organization, even with Camp Conley spreading hype, trying to fuel trade talks and interest. That's what sports agents do, sometimes mucking up the whole process. Ruben Patterson's agent and Darius Miles' agent attempted to engineer trades for their clients, off and on during the last three years, and each time, they've been told to return to the Blazers with a trade that makes sense. Patterson didn't leave until the Nuggets came calling. Miles is still in red and black. So I suppose agents try, but ultimately are aware that they're not the integral players unless they're holding the leverage. Conley Sr. has leverage in Oden. He knows it. The Blazers know it. Maybe that explains their lone phone call, and mild public interest. Maybe they're the ones putting on the show, if only so they can tell Oden they tried. Anyone who has spent any time around Oden knows he loves Conley Jr. like a brother. And that he trusts Conley Sr. enough to sign with him over the more established and experienced agencies who could broker better sneaker deals. But right about now, I'm wishing Camp Conley could get a little visit from Bob Sugar, one of the sports-agent characters from the movie "Jerry Maguire," who would explain to the Conleys that this draft stuff is "show business, not show friends." You sort of hope this doesn't devolve to the point where Conley Jr. is threatening to sit out, or not report, if the Hawks pick him. And that Oden doesn't threaten to do the same to Portland should they pass on his friend. And that Conley Sr. realizes that the greatest gift he could give his son is the confidence that he'll know he can succeed with or without Oden. John Canzano: 503-294-5065; JohnCanzano@aol.com To read his blog, go to http://blog.oregonlive.com/ johncanzano; Catch him on the radio on "The Bald-Faced Truth,"

Portland is not trading Aldridge and certainly not for the number 3 pick and throwing in their first rounder. If ATL insists on it they will wait to see if Conley falls to MIL at number 6 and offer Jack and multiple 2nd rounders.

"Let’s start with The Scoop: According to the L.A. Times this morning, the Portland Trail Blazers will offer Zach Randolph and Jarrett Jack for Atlanta’s #3 pick next month and whatever else would be needed to match salaries. So that’s that." That's odd because a search of la times website shows no mention of this. That coupled with the fact that ATL would have to give back about 12-14 million in salaries makes this seem dubious at best, complete BS at worst. Do you have a link?

Quote: Marc Stein is just like all of the other hypocrits at ESPN. He, just like everyone else at ESPN, had Marvin as one of the top 2 players in the draft and didn't have Deron rated that high. However, after the fact, they slam the Hawks for taking the guy many felt was the #1 or #2 player in that draft over two point guards that had questions about their game coming out. Notice that they only criticize the Hawks. How about Larry Harris in Milwaukee? All he did was take the underwhelming Andrew Bogut with the top pick. Throw portland in there as well. They traded the 3rd pick in the draft to utah for the 6th pick and a later first rounder. Martell Webster is a disappointment so far (he's young and having an oden inside will help him but at best he'll be a sixth man shooting specialist I believe) and Jarrett Jack (hey I like him a lot but he is no paul or williams)

And I could have told you before I read it that there is absolutely 0% chance that they would trade Roy for the number 3 pick. 0% In fact I would say that the likelihood of the trade happening at all is fairly low. Oden extras (updated) Posted by Jason Quick May 26, 2007 13:30PM Categories: Draft lottery I had a wonderful visit with Greg Oden this week, part of which will be relayed through a feature in Sunday's editions of The Oregonian. First off, the kid is great. If the Blazers do indeed draft him with the top pick, people in this town will fall in love with him. He is hilarious. Smart. Polite. Interesting. And real. The word that keeps popping into my head with him is "pure". From a chemistry standpoint, he would be a great fit to the Blazers locker room. And from talking to Ohio State coach Thad Matta, we have yet to see the real Greg Oden on the basketball court. He was dominant for much of last season even though he couldn't catch entry passes or rebound with both hands because of his wrist injury. But after Matta worked him out after the season, he said he was amazing. A couple of things that didn't get into the story. The talk of Oden's camp pushing the Blazerrs to draft Ohio State point guard Mike Conley, Jr. is real, but it probably won't happen. The Blazers have made some initial offers to Atlanta regarding the third pick, but the Hawks want either Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge in return for the third pick, and that simply isn't going to happen. If the Hawks don't take Conley, Jr. with the third pick, look for the Blazers to turn to Milwaukee at No. 6 to possibly see if they can swing a deal. I asked Oden how important it is for him to continue playing with Conley Jr. - the two have been on the same team since 4th grade, during which they have never lost a home game - and his reaction wasn't as emphatic as you might think. "It would be really nice to be able to play with him, with how many years we have been together,'' Oden said. "Especially with the winning streak we have together. I mean, really, we don't lose. If we both come here, it's almost a guarantee we aren't going to lose. "But honestly, I think he has lived in my shadow. I mean, people don't really know - maybe the people who know basketball do - but he is the driving force of the teams we played on. But people have kind of put him in my shadow, and I don't know, maybe he wants to be his own person. That's what I think. I mean, he would never say that to any media or anything, but I think so.'' I asked Oden what number he would want to wear on the Blazers. He said his favorite number is 2, and he wanted to wear No. 22 at Ohio State, but the number was retired in honor of Jim Jackson. So he wore No. 20. In Portland, No. 20 is retired for Maurice Lucas. Oden said he has worn No. 50 in the past, but that is taken by Zach Randolph. And No. 2 is currently occupied by Dan Dickau, of which I'm sure an arrangement could be made to switch. "It's just a number to me,'' Oden said. "If somebody already has it, I can just get another number.'' I also asked him about his age - he turns 20 on Jan. 22. I told him he looks like he is 35, which got a chuckle out of him. "It's because of my beard. Sometimes I get lazy, and I just don't cut it,'' Oden said. "Plus, my barber is the only lady I trust to cut my hair, and she lives in Indianapolis. So when I was in Columbus, I was like ... I don't know about this. See, because I've got those little Shane Battier things on the top of my head (grooves), and she is the only one who knows how to cut it just right, so it doesn't show.'' I asked him his impressions of Portland after his two-day stay. "When we were driving to Nike (from downtown Portland), we were on the highway and you look over and see all these mountains and houses ... it's just beautiful. I asked the driver if you can really drive through the town and get to the other side, because you can't see anything but trees. So to me, it looked like a regular town with a lot of trees. But it's nice, very beautiful. Very beautiful. Oh, and we saw the volcano (Mt. St. Helens). It looked like a big cloud. It was huge.'' At any rate, he is a great kid. His reminds me of Shaquille O'Neal with his playfulness and his array of interests. He will be a fascinating subject in this town, a guy people will really relate to and feel a connection with. I will be filing reports this week from Orlando and the NBA pre-draft camp. At some point during the week, the Blazers will name their new assistant general manager (a hint: he has been mentioned in this blog before), but the Blazers are NOT expected to meet with either Oden or Kevin Durant in Orlando. The Blazers are allowed only two workouts or meetings with prospects, and general manager Kevin Pritchard said he wants both of those visits to be on his "home turf" here in Portland. The tentative schedule right now is to have either Oden or Durant in Portland on June 5 for two days, followed by the other player on June 6 for two days. Talk about red-letter days. **UPDATE: The dates of the Oden and Durant workouts in Portland have been pushed back to the week of June 17-22 in order to accommodate the travel schedules of everyone in the evaluating process. In wondered if this was a little late for the Blazers to be getting their first face-to-face interaction with both players, but Pritchard was confident that the 6-to-11 day window before the June 28 draft was enough time to bring the players back if needed. ---Quick

Quote: I can almost guarantee you that Chill has more value around the league. Yeah in the other NBA (National Bizarro-World Association).

I'd be leery if portland is offering Aldridge if I am the Hawks. He's shown very good potential here, and the only reason they would consider trading jack and aldridge for the 3rd pick is if they think that his heart troubles are going to crop up again. Pritchard is a wheeler dealer and trust me that is way too one-sided to sound like a good deal! And believe me after all of the freaking jail blazers jokes we've had to endure because of that jackass whitsitt the fact that aldridge is a literal choirboy is big points here. And you can bet your bottom dollar the GM for portland does indeed care what the fans here think after what we've been through.

LOL! That is the worst trade idea I have ever seen on this board (and that is saying something!) There is zero..wait scratch -100% of a chance that portland would do that trade! (I'll just assume you were drunk when you thought that one up) Now maybe if you want to be realistic, Jarrett Jack, dump speedy and all 4 of the second rounders portland has this year. LOL! (Hey I just noticed this is the first post I have done here in about a year and it is post number 666)... Wow, that's pretty.....weird...

Hey I thought I was the only Hawks fan in the Portland area.

Alexander Volkov... it seemed like he kept breaking his wrists if I remember correctly? It just seemed cool to have a Russian on the team in the 80s!

Portland OR for the last ten years... I grew up a Hawks fan in the South and lived in ATL for 6 years...

Quote: Diesel shall now be known as the Waffle King because he waffles on issues more than a democrat in a televised debate. Sweet I haven't seen that type of knee-slapping humor much post-Katrina.

Maybe you'd like me to go back and get his quotes about his team quitting on the season. Pryzbilla did indeed have quotes about being negative about how portland's season went(fair enough) but rest assured he had no interest in going back to Atlanta. His family loves Portland and even though he had comparable offers from DET and SA (two considerably more successful franchises recently) he stayed in Portland. The only place he was considering was Chicago and he was reportedly a coin flip between CHI and PTL. However, Ben Wallace's signing ended all of that.

What's Wrong with Jamaal Magloire? I have been doing all that trying to figure out why a guy who is 6-11, 260 pounds, a top ten rebounder, a former All-Star, a former NCAA champ, who just turned 28, played 82 games last year, and is apparently healthy--why would he be traded ever, let alone twice in two years--the last time for journeyman point guard Steve Blake and expiring contracts? What's wrong with Jamaal Magloire? Thanks to the people at Synergy Sports, I have been watching online video and poring through statistics of the newest Blazer Jamaal Magloire all morning. Here's the deal: I appreciate that you get a guy like Jamaal Magloire for a number of reasons beyond scoring. For instance, to match up in certain situations, to bang, to control the paint, for his extra fouls, as insurance against injuries to other players, for his intimidating size, to play defense, and most of all to rebound and block shots. You don't get him to score 30 points in half-court sets. Which is good. Because I'll tell you what I learned from that video: * On draft day Steve Patterson said the theme of the Blazers was guys who could defend and hit open shots. Magloire can not hit open shots. He should not shoot them. Literally. Statistics show it's better for his team if he does not shoot the open short jumper. * He's not efficient on offense, except perhaps in pick and rolls, which Milwaukee seldom did this with him, however. * After watching the freak show his last hundred field goal attempts, it got so I almost knew he was going to miss every time, with one exception: when he gets the ball on the move towards the basket and there's no defense around--well he can sure dunk with the right hand. * Milwaukee posted him up a lot against Detroit in the playoffs. This, I assume, was not because they thought he would put his hook shot to much use--it almost never goes in. But, with his size and strength, he's a threat to bull all the way to the hoop, and he can force people to foul him. And when you're playing someone like Detroit, getting fouls on big men is crucial. * He can't shoot free throws so you almost hope he gets fouled before he puts up that ugly hook shot, that at times results in airballs even from close range. * His point of release is low enough that his shot is blocked a fair amount despite his size. * He can jump, and does from time to time, especially on the run, when blocking shots, and rebounding. But when he has the ball with his feet set near the hoop, for whatever reason he appears maddeningly ground-bound, resorting to finessing the ball around and over defenders--something he's really not good at. * His offensive style is not totally dissimilar from Ben Wallace (although for some reason Magloire gets the ball in the post) although Ben Wallace gets many more points from steals and turnovers than Magloire does. * He's not much of a threat to use his left hand, which has to make him easier to guard. * If you look at his profile on 82games.com, you'll see that when Magloire's on the floor, last season the Bucks got a slightly higher percentage of rebounds than when he was benched, and the field goal percentage of the Bucks was slightly higher, while the field goal percentage of their opponents was slightly lower. They also committed a lot more fouls and turnovers. The net effect was that the team was slightly better, on average, when he was on the bench than when he was playing. One thing that occurs to me as I watch this: with a body like that, he could be incredible. I pray he's in a gym somewhere right now working on that shot, getting more explosive, and being determined to get back to the All-Star game. So, I checked out his official website to see what's going on in Magloire world these days. I was hoping to find mention of new personal trainers. Or rigorous workout regimens. Instead I found this: Construction is well underway for Jamaal’s presentation for the 2006 Toronto Caribbean Carnival Parade which will be taking place on Saturday August 5th. The theme is Guilty Pleasures and this year he has entered as a competitive band. There are 5 different costume selections to choose from; Envy - Green & Purple, Passion - Red, Vanity - Orange & Gold, Love - Red & Gold and Sin – Teal & Fuchsia. Oops. You know what this makes me think? You know how old-timers talk about how kids these days are trying to make it big in the NBA without mastering the fundamentals (like, for a big man, scoring with both hands around the basket)? I often wonder who, precisely, they are talking about. It occurs to me: they're talking about him! They're talking about Jamaal Magloire. He's the one who has all the tools but looks like he just hasn't put in the time to take full advantage. Kevin Pritchard offers the Blazer thoughts. Bad sign: he says it was really Steve Patterson's trade. He says that he hopes Magloire will play his tail off, and the team will reward him with a nice contract. He said the team didn't get him to trade him. The Blazers are so deep in the front court: Joel Przybilla, Jamaal Magloire, LaMarcus Aldridge, Zach Randolph, and Raef LaFrentz. Pritchard did say that at the trading deadline, teams tend to call looking for big guys. And don't forget next summer is chock full of big free agents, many of whom will be candidates for sign-and-trade deals. Having a free agent of your own with full Bird rights next summer could be incredibly valuable. I'll be honest, this was a sobering look at Portland's new center. But I'm still thrilled with the trade. In my mind, Portland traded a middling point guard for a middling center with tremendous size and some upside. And all of his shooting woes are solved if you just tell him not to shoot. The Blazers also have created a great environment for Jarrett Jack to emerge, while gaining some exciting options down the road in the world of trades, free agents, salary cap relief, and contracts.

Quote: How about Raef LaFrentz??.. he is that pick and pop guy. I am not sure what's his contract is like. It's pretty bad. He was the main reason boston did the telfair trade. He is at 3 years for 35 mil.

Quote: Portland is going to be a very interesting team in a few years. They are absolutely stock piled now with you talent. They could be looking at a starting line-up in a year of Jack/Roy/Webster/Aldridge/Pryz with some decent talent off the bench in Freeland, Kryapa, Rodriguez, Outlaw, Dixon, etc. They need to jetison Randolph and Miles asap and get a few stable veterans to set the tone for the next two years. They traded Khryapa to the bulls, and dixon is most likely gone from what I have heard. Hopefully you are right and portland turns it around. I'm a lot less worried about randolph than miles. Most are saying that Miles at this point is untradeable unless portland throws in aldridge or roy just to dump his contract. He is going into the 3rd year of a 6 year 48 mil contract. *shudder*