Sportsland, Oregon: 2/7/2011 - #45

In this post-Super Bowl episode, Los and the gang start off recapping the Blazers' 109-103 victory over the Bulls. This leads perfectly into All-Star snubs, With LaMarcus Aldridge getting looked over twice in the selection process. Finally, the guys talk about the Big Game, who looked better, why the Steelers fell flat, and of course, what the best commercial was.

Sportsland, Oregon: 11/29/2010 - #39

In Part 1 of an intense two-parter, Los, Cliff, and Derek delve into a Civil War preview after a busy sports weekend. They also manage to nominate their choices for the Game of the Year (Two of which happened on Friday). Amidst all of this, they manage to recap the weekend's excitement, throw out BCS Hypotheticals, and even talk some High School Football and NFL action.

In Part 2 of the post-holiday podcast, Los and the gang get into the Blazers recent issues. How'd Roy look in his two games back? Will Wes Matthews work as a starter? Is Batum in the doghouse? Can Nate McMillan figure a strategy for the end of games? All this, plus this week's segments,including What Plucks My Duck, What Makes my Beaver Eager, and We Wanna Watch.

Sportsland, Oregon: 11/23/2010 - #38

In the first part of an extra long holiday podcast, Los and the gang delve into the Blazers injury woes and their outlook for the rest of the season, and discuss the action around the rest of the league. Then they move on to BCS talk, including possible championship scenarios, Black Friday, and awards winners. This is all followed by the NFL, and early seasoncollege basketball action.

In Part 2, Los and the gang wrap up everything else they missed in Part 1, including NCAA Women's soccer, Baseball Rookie's of the Year, High School football playoffs, Kentucky vs Portland in Men's basketball, and this week's segments, including This Week in Oregon Sports History and What Plucks My Duck.

Sportsland, Oregon: 11/15/2010 - #37

In the first part of a two part episode, Los and the gang open up with their concerns about the Blazers situation, specifically Brandon Roy's comments and health. After that it's on to the world of college football, with plenty of Ducks talk after their tight win, which inevitably leads to BCS Championship talk and Heisman Trophy predictions. They wrap up Part 1 trying to figure out who the best team in the NFL is.

In Part 2, Los and the gang wrap up everything else they missed in Part 1, including NCAA Women's soccer, Baseball Rookie's of the Year, High School football playoffs, Kentucky vs Portland in Men's basketball, and this week's segments, including This Week in Oregon Sports History and What Plucks My Duck. You can check these out at oregonsports.com, or in the nifty player on the right.

Sportsland, Oregon: 11/8/2010 #36

Back after an extended break, Los and the gang start off a packed show by remembering the great Maurice Lucas on the day of his memorial. They also delve into the Oregon Ducks National Championship chances, the Portland Pilots Women's Soccer National Championship chances, the Blazers' start to the season, and some NFL talk.

Sportsland Oregon: 10/18/10

In this week's episode, Los and the Oregonsports.com crew discuss the year's first BCS Rankings. They also commend OSU for its 2ot loss to Washington, and apologize to PSU for causing their last second heartbreaker.

In a Special Edition NBA Preview, Lostradamus and the Oregonsports.com crew analyze everything you need to know about the upcoming NBA season. From the Blazers' outlook to the end of year awards, plus playoff predictions and teams to watch out for. They also come up with a new nickname for LaMarcus Aldridge at the end of the show, in addition to the usual weekly segments. You can check it out in the nifty player on the right.

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode 10/11/10

Plenty of things to talk about in the Oregon sports world, including the Ducks ascension to #2 in the polls, the Beavers clawing back into the Top 25, MLB end of season awards, and a tearful goodbye to the Timbers this season. All that plus the usual segments, and Blazers talk. Check it out in the nifty player on the left.

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode #32

In this week's episode, Los and the gang open up right after Pat Chung's amazing Monday Night Football outing. Then they move on to some Ducks and Beavers football, and weigh in on the possibility of PSU winning theBig Sky. Finally, the guys talk about the Blazers training camp, and throw out their personal suggestions for NBA divisional realignment. You can check it out at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio or in the nifty player on the right.

Sportsland, Oregon: Special Edition

With the opening of NBA training camps this week, Los and the gang take some extra time to talk Blazers in the Special Edition of Sportsland, Oregon, covering everything from training camp and Rudy to injuries and outlooks. We even bring up the future of the Northwest division and journalist-turned-GM David Kahn. You can check the podcast out at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio or in the nifty player on the right.

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode #29

In this week's episode, Los and the gang determine the merits of #5 Oregon's victory over PSU from both sides, and look ahead to #24 OSU's trip to the Smurf Turf against #3 Boise State. They also talk Timbers, high school football, and churn the Rudy Rumor Mill.

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode

In the first part of our 25th episode, Los and Cliff open with the strange situation for the McMinnville High School football team. After discussing the pros and cons of offseason workouts for high school athletes and trying to figure out how far is too far, the guys move on to the Oregon Ducks #11 ranking on the AP preseason poll, Rudy's trade demands, and what's wrong with the LPGA website.

In the second part of this split podcast, Los and Cliff delve into LaGarrette Blount's penchant for punching and whether or not fighting should be allowed in sports. They also get to the weekly segments, including "What Plucks my Duck," "This Week in Oregon Sports History," and introducing a new segment, "Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game." You can check out both parts of the episode at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio or in the nifty player on the right.

This Week in Oregon Sports History: 8/9 - 8/15

There are many goings on in this second week of August, and we at oregonsports.com would like to wish a Happy Birthday to a few individuals. First off, Happy Birthday to a few basketball legends that have nothing to do with Oregon: Happy 82nd to Celtics great Bob Cousy on 8/9 and happy 51st to Lakers legend Magic Johnson on 8/14. Another NBA legend born this week but no longer with us was Knicks coaching hero Red Holzman, who was born on on August 10, 1920.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), Happy 22nd Birthday to Portland Trailblazer Patty Mills on August 11th, and Happy 44th Birthday to Scott Brosius who now has back-to-back weeks featured on "This Week In Oregon Sports History."

And finally, this week in Oregon sports history we peek into the future, as Lostradamus celebrates August 13th, 2010. This Friday, Scottie Pippen will be enshrined to the Basketball Hall Of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, joining Lenny Wilkens, Bill Walton, Clyde Drexler, and Drazen Petrovic as the 5th Blazer player in the Hall. While known mostly for his 6 championships with the Bulls dynasty of the 90's, Pippen played 4 seasons for Portland from 1999 to 2003. He was the leader on some very talented Blazer teams that could never quite get over the hump of the Lakers in the early 2000's, and his legacy in Portland (and everywhere else, for that matter) might be remembered quite differently if the Blazers hadn't surrendered a 17 point 4th quarter lead in Game 7 to the eventual champion Lakers in 2000.

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode

It's the first week in August, and Sportland, Oregon has a jam-packed show. First, the show opens up with Mike Donovan's tales from the red carpet at Shake It Till We Make It. Then the conversation moves towards the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2010, with Oregon sports expert Cliff Pfenning voicing his thoughts. There's also tons of Timbers talk, and trade speculation for the Blazers that does not involve Chris Paul. Finally, the gang discusses the merits of the Pac-10 football East Coast publicity tour. You can check it out in the nifty player on the right or at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode

With the dog days of summer amidst them, Los and the gang go into the different rumors surrounding Chris Paul's possibility of becoming a Blazer. They also break big Timbers news a little early, recap the Beavers' record-setting Sunday, and even discuss the journalistic ethics of reporting on rumors about player's mothers. Check it out in the nifty player on the right or at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode

In this week's episode, Los, Cliff, Mike and Jeremy discuss the Blazers' new GM, Richard Cho. They also keep it local with talk of the Timbers' friendly loss to Manchester City and the Timbers' U-23 team's perfect season. Finally, they throw in some judgement on long term sports contracts, the British Open, and Jeremy gives his take on the Miami Heat's franchise. Check out the podcast in the nifty player on the right or at www.blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio.

This Week in Oregon Sports History: 7/23/1984

As it turns out, 1984 was not the dystopian catastrophe George Orwell predicted. Instead, the Russians were boycotting the Summer Olympics in LA, the greatest NBA draft class in history was about to settle in with their new teams, Vanessa Williams renounced her Miss America crown because of Penthouse, and crack began to take the LA underground by storm.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), on July 23 of that same year, Northwest native and 3-time NBA All-Star Brandon Roy was born in Seattle, Washington. Roy played his high school basketball at Garfield in Seattle. After declaring for the NBA draft before college, he withdrew his name from consideration and went on to have a very successful NCAA career at the University of Washington, where he would earn Pac-10 Player of the Year and All American Honors his senior year.

After graduating, Roy was selected 6th overall by the T-Wolves and acquired in a draft day trade by the Blazers in 2006. "The Natural" would go on to win Rookie of the Year award, and earn All-NBA second and third team honors in 2009 and 2010, respectively, despite dealing with several injuries. Along with his 3 All-Star selections, Roy is the face of the Portland Trailblazers and has the luxury of having a last name that could pass for a first name.

Why Wesley Matthews won’t matter

Would you move to Portland for $1.29 million a day for a week? I know Wesley Matthews would. In fact, when Portland offered Matthews a five-year, $34 million contract, the team reportedly offered more than $9 million during the first week of the contract.
The ploy was to lessen the likelihood that the Jazz would match the Blazers toxic deal. Last year, Matthews made the league minimum $457,588. He will make twenty times that in his first week with the Blazers.
But now that the Jazz have declined to match the offer, the question becomes is Matthews worth it? History says probably not.
In his only season in the NBA, Matthews went from a second round refugee to a started for the Jazz, averaging 9.4 points a game. In ten games of playoff action, Matthews stepped up and averaged 13.2 points a contest. Not bad numbers from a first-year player regardless of his draft position.
However, history shows that free agents do not have long or productive shelf-lives after signing with the Blazers. First, here’s a list of every Blazer all-star and how they ended up with the Blazers.

Clyde Drexler, ten selections total, eight as a Trail Blazer (1986, 1988–1994) DRAFT
Sidney Wicks, four selections total, all as a Trail Blazer (1972–1975) DRAFT
Maurice Lucas, four selections total, three as a Trail Blazer (1977–1979) ABA DISPERSAL DRAFT
Rasheed Wallace, four selections total, two as a Trail Blazer (2000–2001) TRADE
Brandon Roy, three selections, all as a Blazer (2008–2010) DRAFT DAY TRADE
Kevin Duckworth, two selections, both as a Blazer (1989, 1991) TRADE
Jim Paxson, two selections, both as a Blazer (1983–1984) DRAFT
Geoff Petrie, two selections, both as a Blazer (1971, 1974) DRAFT
Terry Porter, two selections, both as a Blazer (1991, 1993) DRAFT
Bill Walton, two selections, both as a Blazer (1977–1978) DRAFT
Lionel Hollins, one selection as a Blazer (1978) DRAFT
Cliff Robinson, one selection as a Blazer (1994) DRAFT
Kermit Washington, one selection as a Blazer (1980) TRADE

Out of the 13 Blazer all-stars, ten were acquired on draft night and three were traded for. Not one free agent signing has ever been named an all star for the Blazers. Now just because a player doesn’t make an all star game, it doesn’t make him a bust.
However, only two Blazer free agent signings have ever averaged more than ten points per game for their Portland careers. Rod Strickland had a productive five-season tenure with the Blazers averaging 16.2 PPG and 8.2 APG, while Billy Ray Bates poured in 12.3 points per game off the bench in two seasons in the early 80s.
After doing the research, I believe the three best FA signings ever by the Blazers are Strickland, Ruben Patterson, and Steve Blake. Those three are the only free agent signings to be in the top-45 in points scored in a Blazer uniform. All three played five seasons with the club and none of them have or will finish their careers as Blazers.
When it comes down to it, free agents have not been able to find success in Portland. For Matthews, matching his rookie season numbers would actually be an improvement over almost every FA ever to sign with the Blazers. However, for $34 million, he might be expected to perform a little better. Like, maybe, 11 points a game.

Portland's Next GM Should Be..

With Kevin Pritchard having been deposed and LeBron James moving on to bigger and better things, the Trail Blazers must still find a replacement for their open GM position. Three candidates have already interviewed, and a fourth name has floated around the rumor mill but is yet to be contacted. While Danny Ferry, Randy Pfund, and Richard Cho have interviewed for the position, Kiki Vandeweghe appears to be the best candidate for the job when you look at the resumes and their relationships to the Portland community.

The early favorite for the position was Danny Ferry, who recently resigned from the same post for the Cleveland Cavaliers. After spending most of his mediocre playing career in Cleveland and San Antonio, he then moved on to the Spurs' front office, where you would think some of the front office success would have rubbed off on him before he took the GM job for the Cavs in 2005. Instead, he managed to waste the ability of the most talented player of his generation for 5 years.

Since joining Cleveland, he was faced with the pressure of getting LeBron James a ring, and figuring out how to bring in the proper personnel to allow him to succeed in the playoffs. The major moves that transpired during his era were not enough to bring Cleveland a championship. All that paying Larry Hughes $11 million per year and re-signing Drew Gooden and Donny Marshall brought the town was a 4 game sweep out of the 07 Finals. Ferry then managed to turn these three role players into an over-the-hill Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak (who's expiring contract he would fail to deal later on) and Delonte West (who would supposedly go on to bang LeBron's mom. Of all the women in Northeast Ohio at his disposal, he went with the King's mother). He also managed to pick up Mo Williams, the only All-Star (dubious) LeBron ever played with.

For Ferry's last two blockbusters, first he flipped Wallace and the athletic Sasha Pavlovic into Shaq. Shaq went on to clog the middle and change the whole Cleveland offensive dynamic. For his second blockbuster, he managed to land Antawn Jamison for practically nothing (since he got Big Z back a month later) at the trading deadline. Danny Ferry seems to be the opposite of the kind of GM the Blazers would need. While he was saddled with "Win NOW!" pressure from the very beginning, he still overpaid for mediocre players and did not use contracts properly. And then there's this, from his basketball reference page, sponsored by a fan:

An Extremely Ticked Off Cavs Season-Ticket Holder sponsor(s) this page.

Danny Ferry was a colossal failure, both as a bad NBA player and as an atrocious NBA general manager. He will forever be known in the annals of professional team sports as the first person in history to have destroyed the same sports franchise twice.

A bit much, but you get the idea.

The next candidate, and also the one with the best resume, is Randy Pfund, former Miami Heat GM. This resume comes with a huge asterisk, due to the fact that the legendary Pat Riley was head coach during much of this tenure and president through all of it. It's been Riley who receives the credit for Miami's run the past 15+ years, from all those Atlantic Division titles in the late 90's, to the drafting of D-Wade and subsequent championship after he landed Shaq. Now, it's been Riley as the de facto GM since Pfund resigned in 08. The Heat don't even list a GM on their executive page.

For argument's sake, give Pfund the benefit of the doubt, since he held the title. If it was indeed him masterminding these moves, then he did a tremendous job building a perennial contender and a champion. Since signing on to a talented Heat team that featured Tim Hardaway and Alonzo Mourning in November of 96, he managed some great acquisitions that began with landing 23 ppg scorer Jamal Mashburn for essentially nothing (underachieving Kurt Thomas, Pedrag Danilovic, and Martin Muursepp). He then traded away his rival GM Chris Wallace (of Gasol trade fame) and a second round pick, landed Terry Mills and Veshon Leonard through free agency, and made a deal for a young and promising Brent Barry that only forced him to give up Ike Austin and Charles Smith. He then turned Leonard into All-Star Chris Gatling and Eddie House, then turned those two into Brian Grant (who, if you don't remember Portlanders, was a potential All-Star on an extremely deep Blazers team that was a blown-17-point-4th-quarter-lead-in-Game-7-on-the-Road from going to the NBA Finals and probably winning a championship).

Over the next few years, Pfund managed to keep the Heat afloat after their championship window had essentially closed by landing Anthony Mason and Eddie Jones for an (at this point) injury-plagued Mashburn, picking up Lamar Odom, and drafting Udonis Haslem, Caron Butler, and a guy named Dwyane Wade. With all these pieces in place, he then turned Odom, Grant, and Butler in Shaq, except unlike Ferry, he brought in Shaq when he still had something left in the tank. Now, with two superstars like Shaq and Wade, Pfund brought in quality supporting members like Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, and an old Gary Payton which ultimately brought Miami its only title in 2006. It probably would have been two titles if it weren't for timely injuries to Wade and O'neal in 2005. After the glory days were gone, he turned Shaq into Shawn Marion, and drafted Michael Beasely and Mario Chalmers after the Heat bottomed out in 08. The unwritten fact throughout all of this is that Riley receives all of the credit, and rightfully so. It's difficult to say no to a figure as legendary as Riley. Just ask Shaq in 04, or James, Wade, and Bosh in 2010. While it may have said GM on Pfund's letterhead, the real one managing the situation was Riley.

The latest candidate to interview for the postion is Richard Cho, the assistant GM for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Cho has been involved with the organization for 11 years, going back to their days as the Seattle Supersonics, so he has a little Pacific Northwest awareness in him. Before he worked for the Thunder, he worked as an engineer for Boeing in Seattle, and then (like many others in NBA front offices) went on to get his law degree. He's been a part of a very exciting up and coming team, and Sam Presti has done an amazing job acquiring the perfect personnel to support his superstar Kevin Durant as well as been very economically savvy, and now has the Thunder in a position to be very successful for a very long time. Although he doesn't have much experience in the limelight, Cho has been learning behind the scenes at one of the smartest and best run front offices in the league. While in theory this is a good thing, examples have shown in the past (see: Ferry, Danny) that working for a well run organization does not mean you've learned anything.

Finally, there's former Blazer Kiki Vandeweghe. Although he has yet to be officially contacted by the Blazers, his name has come up in conversations over the past few weeks. First, his track record shows he can turn around a franchise. Since he took over the Nuggets in 01-02, he turned them from a cellar dweller to a perennial playoff team that has been favored to win the West. His major moves have been landing free agents Andre Miller, Veshon Leonard, and Juwan Howard, landing Kenyon Martin (for late draft picks), trading on draft day for Nene and Marcus Camby, and drafting Melo. After the 06 season his contract was not renewed, thought it is not his fault the team underachieved.

His next GM stop was a messy New Jersey situation, that again he made the best of. By the time he took over, Jason Kidd had already left, Vince Carter wanted out, and the Nets were in rebuilding mode. Still, he made the best of the 08 draft, picking up Brook Lopez (who has now become the cornerstone of the franchise) and Chris Douglas-Roberts, who was a serviceable reserve.

The key things to focus on are his tenure in Denver, his draft record, and ultimately his connection to the Blazers. He played his entire career in Portland with an injured back and still averaged over 20 ppg. He scored 47 in his first game ever as a Blazer. He's #17 on The Oregonian's top 40 Blazers of all time. He played an integral part in the development of Clyde Drexler. He's even been used as an excuse for why Portland drafted Sam Bowie (they had just traded for Kiki a few weeks earlier). If you look at the players he got in Denver, all for next to nothing, you can see he knows how to assemble the missing pieces of a team. If he can get free agents to come to a place like Denver, then Portland shouldn't be such a leap. Now that he already has a decent team assembled, he will be able to plug in the missing pieces without much fuss. Based on his track record, and his connection to the organization, Kiki Vandeweghe would put the Blazers in the best position to continue to develop and succeed.