Welcome to the October 7, 2003 edition of The Blazers Report. I was unfortunately away on business yesterday and was unable to file the report when I left on Thursday. Sorry for the delay, I promise we will get back to a regular schedule. Well the Blazers opened camp with the veterans arriving and the main issues are the Blazers lineup, which we have gone into great depth but in true Blazers Report fashion we will continue along. We will begin with my continuing rant about the Blazers and their organizational issues with minor lawlessness. I heard Steve Patterson on the radio last week and continue to believe that the Blazers organization just does not get the point. Steve Patterson was saying how these issues were extremely minor, which I absolutely agree. His issue seemed to be passively stating that the media is blowing these issues out of proportion, which I agree. What he did not address and is the point, at least for me, is that these players simply cannot get cited or arrested. I cannot remember the last time I was stopped by a police officer. I do not see other teams constantly reporting minor traffic issues. And the fact is that the other organizations have not dug themselves a hole. In my business I travel and interact with a lot of various people and I constantly hear the “jailblazers” comment when I tell them I am from Portland. And it’s not even stret cred because it is traffic stops. It is just embarrassing. These players and this organization represent the city. They represent me. If I am being judged based on the organization, and that is an extreme overstatement, this team simply must walk a straight line. The organization needs to be very clear that it cannot afford a traffic citation. It cannot afford speeding, it cannot afford running a red light and it definitely cannot afford any actual fighting or technical fouls. This organization must mend its ways and I heard nothing in Patterson’s interview, nor have I heard from sources inside the organization, that this issue is being felt at the organizational level. I will say that sources have told me that people in the organization’s first impression of Patterson was that of a rich kid who did not understand the regular everyday worker. They had a similar impression of Nash when he came in as general manager. However, this view has changed due to their willingness to engage in discourse and conversation about the team and a very strong work ethic. Now maybe we can finally understand why a minor traffic citation is a big deal to me, because I, a citizen of Portland, do not want to be identified with the jailblazers, unless it has serious stret cred. Lineups HOOPSWORLD.com Oct 7, 2003, 20:45 By Jeff Robertson First, I did notice in the great Oregonian Mo Cheeks talking about how he would look at Derek Anderson playing point guard and one of the main issues was that Derek did not want to play the point but wanted to play the shooting guard position. I received more than a few e-mails telling me how wrong I was on this issue so once again the Blazers Report wants to point out what it has been saying all along: the Blazers would ideally like to start DA at point guard, Bonzi at shooting guard, Rasheed at small forward, Zach at power forward and Dale Davis at the center position with Qyntel Woods now surpassing Ruben on the depth chart and Damon Stoudamire and Jeff McInnis as the next players off the bench. The concern with this lineup is twofold: First, the issue of DA at the point guard. The second is the difficulty with Rasheed at the small forward position. Rasheed is a player who excels with his back to the basket and long arms making him almost unstoppable in the post. Of course Rasheed has a tendency to leak out onto the perimeter which makes him a nice small forward candidate, but as we have been saying, Rasheed struggles with taking the ball at the basket and does not shoot particularly well off the dribble, something which is essential for a small forward. Rasheed’s weaknesses are lessened with DA at the point guard because with Bonzi and DA you have two players who can take the ball at the basket and create serious mismatches leaving Rasheed often alone to play his game and Coach Cheeks to design the offense around, which is exciting. We will see during the preseason as Coach Cheeks tries to make this lineup work. The second lineup will involve the recently reinstated Damon Stoudamire at the point guard. This lineup keeps Rasheed at small forward, but now Damon is slashing to the basket without another perimeter shooter unless Bonzi improves in this area and him and Rasheed are playing a pick and roll game outside of the basket and Zach posting up and DA off the bench. This was an effective lineup in the playoffs, but may not be as strong playing more physical teams. The most likely starting lineup continues to be Damon, DA, Bonzi, Rasheed and Dale Davis. This lineup keeps the veteran players happy, brings Zach and Qyntel off the bench as a young and energetic tandem, and is a lineup that has been together now for 3 years. It does not take advantage of Zach’s presence in the paint which is obviously the biggest down issue. At this point the ideas of Qyntel at point guard is a very big experiment and Jeff McInnis has not done anything to take away Damon as the starting point guard. I expect it will be a who is more important in the starting lineup: Zach or DA which will drive the decision. If it turns out as Zach then the Blazers will decide between Damon and DA for the point guard which may simply be DA’s willingness to understand that Bonzi is the starting shooting guard like it or not. Blazers News and Notes The Blazers are very impressed with Bonzi coming into camp. He is walking the walk of a veteran leader and the Blazers have high hopes that Bonzi takes that next step from wayward youngster to all-star. He is in shape, playing lights out and his attitude is on. I expect a huge season from Bonzi. The Blazers have minimal interest in signing Deke Mutombo to a contract. The team is content with Boumtje Boumtje at the backup center and will not go up to the $3 million that the Toronto Raptors may be willing to spend to acquire Mutombo. The team does not think Boumtje can contribute serious minutes, but they don’t want to sit him on the bench for yet another year and carry 3 centers when Rasheed may play certain minutes. The Mutombo release effectively kills the Blazers acquiring Kenyon Martin this season. The salaries to match with Rasheed would be virtually impossible. There is also nothing to continuing reports about the Blazers looking to acquire Antonio Davis and Morris Peterson. The Blazers will not be making moves that do not include Ruben Patterson until sometime in December or January. -- 我實在搞不懂... 有人那麼白目還可以當版主... --

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