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Wednesday, Oct. 24,2012
Blazers not on trail for playoffs
BLAZERS
OPINION
Andrew Miilbrooke
Sports Editor
Many Blazer fans are happy
to hear that new head coach
Terry Stotts is bringing an excit
ing style of basketball to Portland
this season.
Long gone are the days of
Nate McMillan’s plodding, half
court sets as Stotts preaches an
offensive philosophy of pushing
the ball, featuring lots of move
ment, passing, and cutting. That
is the good news for Blazer fans
this season.
Unfortunately, with one of
the youngest rosters in the NBA
combined with the fact that many
unproven players will be forced
to play significant minutes this
season, the Blazers hgve no
chance of making the playoffs.
Let’s examine the five main
reasons that Portland will miss
the playoffs this season and be
in the running for a high lottery
pick in next year’s NBA draft.
1. The combination of a rook
ie point guard and first-year head
coach means that the Blazers
have major question marks at
two of the most important posi
tions in NBA basketball.
While rookie Damian Lillard
has proven to be a capable pen-
etrator and scorer in the pre
season, he has not been consis
tent or shown the ability to hit
the three-point shot - two traits
that are essential for NBA point
guards.
2. New head coach Terry
Stotts has a mediocre career
record of 115 wins against 168
losses in his two previous stints
as an NBA head coach with the
Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee
Bucks.
Stotts gained valuable experi
ence during the last four seasons
as an assistant for the Dallas
Mavericks,' but trying to win
with the second-youngest and
least talented team in the NBA
will be next to impossible.
3. All-Star forward LaMarcus
Aldridge, while a very capable
offensive player, is not a big-time
defender or rebounded Aldridge
fails to block out consistently in
the low post and rarely steps up
on defense to take a charge or
get a big blocked shot to ignite
the crowd.
While ‘L.A.’ earned his first
all-star nod last season, his game
seemed to plateau during the
past couple of seasons.
4. The Blazers do not feature
a true center on the entire roster.
J.J. Hickson is a player that any
team would want to solidify its
front line, but as a reserve - not
the starting center.
The Blazers gambled by
drafting rookie big man Meyers
Leonard early in the first round,
but he could end up being, a
very solid player in the league,
SOMEDAY! Leonard has shown
unbelievable raw athleticism,
but his game will definitely take
a few years to mature.
5. The Blazers have a bench
that is comprised o f a literal
“Who in the world is that guy?”
lineup of stiffs. I’m sorry, but
Nolan Smith, Luke Babbitt,
Ronnie Price, Jared Jeffries and
company will not be able to
compete with any bench in the
league.
So, Blazermaniacs - I f you
want to watch an exciting brand
of basketball, stay tuned to the
Portland Trail Blazers all season
long, but if you would prefer
to watch a winning team, you
might try becoming a Laker fan.
Don’t count them out in 2012-13
BLAZERS
OPINION
'v
Steven Weldon
Copy Editor
The Oakland Athletics, the
Baltimore Orioles, the Seattle
Seahawks, the New York Giants
and the Portland Timbers win
ning the Cascadia Cup despite
a terrible season. What do these
have in common? 2012’s sur
prises in sports. It’s time to add
one more to that list.
Don’t tell me I’m not being
realistic, but the Portland Trail
Blazers will make the playoffs in
the 2012-2013 season.
Every sports news outlet that
c u r re n tly p enciling ffl
their NBA season predictions,
and where do we fall? Dead last
in the Northwest Division.
Coming off o f a year short-
I reckon
I Ve got two
pieces of
advice for
you.
ened by a lockout, muddled
by Raymond Felton and Jamal
Crawford’s constant bitching,
and effectively ending when
head coach Nate McMillan was
handed his pink slip on trade
deadline day, the Blazers future
looked bleak.
Do you know why I think
this? On that fateful trade dead
line, the Blazers brass traded
aging stars for future commodi
ties.
Among the most important,
Gerald Wallace was traded to
N ew Jersey (now Brooklyn)
for their 2012 first-round draft
selection, as long as it sat outside
o f the top three selections.
How did we cash in? Damian
Lillard, the No. 6 pick in the
2 0 1 2 N B A Draft. The man
■out o f Weber State-Univefsity
knows adversity. He grew up
in Oakland, Calif, and was not
highly heralded out o f high
school.
Lillard laughed in the face
o f college scouts for not look
ing at him, and tore the Big Sky
Conference up. The last time he
played in Portland in college, he
dropped 38 points on Portland
State and CCC alum Chehales
Tapscott. The man knows how
to score.
As a result o f the medio
cre 2012 campaign, the Blazers
ended up with pick No. 11 in
the same draft. Meyers Leonard
arrived on our radar, and we
snatched up the 7-foot-l monster
out o f Illinois.
You want inside presence?
You got inside presence. Leonard
averaged 13.6 points per game
and 8.2 rebounds per game in
his sophomore season for the
Fightin’ Illini. His favorite thing
to do in games is dunk.
Outside o f our spectacular
rookies we have the usual sus
pects. The return o f LaMarcus
Aldridge. Nicolas Batum getting
the contract that he should be
earning.
Wesley Matthews and his
hard working mentality. As a
bonus, re-signing o f J. J. Hickson
gives the Blazers a solid option
off o f the bench, or in an incred
ibly talented starting lineup.
Our. questions come from
our bench, but w e’ve seen this
before! So many new players,
it’s bound to work.
With a new leader in head
coach Terry Stotts, who has made
playoff trips before, the chemis
try that this team can create will
carry them into April as the sur
prise team o f the year. You won’t
even have to join the crowd
ed bandwagon o f Lakers fans
parading past in Dwight Howard
jerseys.
Preview
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squat
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on.
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^VANCOUVER
Damian Lillard (left) practices dunking before a scrimmage at Blazers Fan
Fest at the Rose Garden on Oct. 21.