The Calm After the Storm
posted: 6/29/2006 at 10:25 PM
It was a great morning at Trail Blazer headquarters on Thursday. As you can imagine, there was this buzz around the office, and everyone seemed to have a little extra hop to their step. There were also a lot of smiles. Things went even better than expected during Wednesday night's draft, and it was time to breathe a sigh of relief.
I was asked this by several e-mailers today, so I'll get it out of the way early. LaMarcus Aldridge will be wearing number 12 for the Trail Blazers. He wore 23 at Texas, but says 12 was his original number growing up, and would like to wear it in Portland. Sergei Monia wore it last season before he was traded, and Aldridge will have it now. Brandon Roy wore number 3 as a Washington Husky, but 3 belongs to Juan Dixon on this team. Roy says he'll wear number 7. Joel Freeland, the final pick of the first round, will wear number 14. Raef LaFrentz will wear number 9, and Dan Dickau will wear 21. I know you wanted to that information. I also heard today they are working on the Aldridge and Roy Blazer jerseys, that you can buy, as we speak.
The Oregonian's Jason Quick had some nice information in his blog last night about Brandon Roy. Jason was in New York for the draft, and said he ran into Roy at LaGuardia before their respective flights back to the west coast. The most charming item to me was that Quick mentioned Roy was still wearing his Trail Blazers cap, he received at the draft, yesterday morning as he was getting ready to board his flight. That perhaps sounds like an insignificant thing, but I love that kind of stuff- Roy, very excited to be a Blazer, still proudly wearing his Portland gear for all the world to see.
We had an early-morning broadcasting meeting at headquarters today, and during the meeting president Steve Patterson stuck his head in the door. We gave him a round of applause and he stepped in and smiled. We all fired questions, wanting to know details from the war room. Patterson told us how tense the early moments of the draft were, and how all the moves the Blazers made were absolutely necessary to acquire the guys they had targeted. He also told us the trade the Blazers made with Minnesota to land Roy at number six was in doubt until the very last moment. The Houston Rockets badly wanted Roy and were also negotiating with Minnesota to get the pick. The clock was ticking. Owner Paul Allen stepped up, as he did all day, and provided the necessary ammo to push the deal Portland's way. It was amazing to me how some of these national "experts" ripped into the Blazers during the draft for making these moves. I'm fine with legitimate analysis, but do your homework.
The Chicago Bulls were negotiating with other teams for their number-two pick. Some questioned why the Blazers were forced to part with Viktor Khryapa to push that deal over the top. As Kevin Pritchard stated, simply, in the post-draft news conference, "You figure out who you want, then you go get him." That was not only my favorite quote of the day, but became a theme to live by on draft day for the Blazers, obviously.
Aldridge, Roy, and Freeland are in Portland now, and will be introduced to the city and fans later today. You got to hear from Aldridge and Roy on our draft radio show, and I'm looking forward to hearing from Freeland as well. I had a chance to spend some time with him after his workout in Portland last week and you are going to love this guy. As I told you last week, he has only been playing basketball for three years, and was bagging groceries for $5 bucks an hour before he decided to go to Spain to pursue a basketball career. He's only 19 and has tremendous potential.
After meeting the city, the players will head for Lake Tahoe to join the rest of the summer league team. Nate McMillan wanted to get away for a few days before heading to Las Vegas, and this is going to be a little pre-summer league training camp.
The broadcasting crew is heading for Las Vegas, of course, but Brian Wheeler is getting a jump on the rest of us. He's actually going to Lake Tahoe as well. Wheels will be joining me in this blog over the weekend and he's going to tell us exactly what's going on as the team gets ready for Vegas. So, check back late Saturday night, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday for his reports. Wednesday we'll join him, and the rest of the team in Las Vegas.
I've mentioned this before, but our coverage of summer league this year will be better than ever. A lot of it will be available right here on this web site. There will be a special "Summer League Central" page for you to visit every day. I'll have a daily report, we'll have exclusive video highlights, interviews, photos, and tons of information. What happens in Vegas, at least on this trip, will not stay in Vegas. You'll get it all (almost all anyway. You've got to give me some privacy. It is Vegas afterall). To answer the most-frequently-asked question from my friends, no, I'm not taking my clubs. Rice will, but he's not as dedicated as I am. Plus, he enjoys playing golf when it's 137 degrees. I'll use what little down time I have to give you reports from the pool. I suppose you'll want photos from there as well, huh?
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someone knows if sergio rodriguez is going to play on summer league? I ask about it because he starts with spanish team at 10th of july.
thank you!
Hey fellas, how are you doing? My name is Bruno and I´m a great NBA fan from Spain, and I truly gotta say that I´m pretty much surprised and disappointed at the same time because nobody is saying almost anything about Sergio Rodriguez, like he was just any other pick. I must say you are wrong on what you may think about him. I´m also fully aware that you don´t know him whatsoever, that you haven´t heard his name before and that he is completely unfamiliar, but you´ll see as the time goes by that he´ll become one of your favourite players ever. And I´m not kidding, seriously. This guy is gonna make you go nuts and make you jump off your seats with his amazing ball-handling skills, his baskets, his highlight-plays, etc. Suffice it to say that Sergio is known in my country as the Spanish Magician. And he really has deserved to be called with this nickname. And that´s not coincidence.
He is still very young, 20 years-old right now, and he has a long way to improve to reach a NBA level like Steve Nash(by the way, the real Sergio´s idol), but please, give him some credit. I´m absolutely sure he won´t let you down.You´ll see.
Please tell me more about the new Blazers!!!! Sergio it's an amazing player, we have to make space for him , now!!! we can't wait two or three years. We all know that he could not be prpared to play at the highest level of the best point guards in the league, but the earlier he starts the earlier he will achieve his best level (and he could be one of the ten best point guards in the league in two or three years). He is crazy about coming to Portland and play in the NBA, give him the opportunity this year and you won't regret. Which number will he wear? He likes 11, could he wear it in Portland?
All the critics are attacking the Blazer's drafting skills by claiming that they didn't have to make any of their draft day trades. Maybe theyre right that the trade for Aldridge might not have been neccessary (The bulls wanted Thomas and the Bobcats Morrison). But I think the Blazers knew exactly what they were doing. You can't just sit back and wait for things to happen. The Houston Rockets for example were really interested in Brandon Roy, but they waited until he was drafted by Minnesota to start trying to get him. The Blazers didn;t just play the hand that they were dealt, they actively pursued their goal and they got exactly who they wanted. This is going to be the motto of their year. Nobody will make them oout to be good, but if they make some moves and play with a desire for immediate results, they'll be a lot better than anyone supposes they'll be.
what about Sergio Rodriguez?
What about Sergio Rodriugez? He seems to me like he is the European version of Telfair when he was coming into the league a couple years ago. If thats a good comparrison then we got a steal. I believe this kid is going to be special. Do you know anything more about him?
I saw film of sergio rodriguez in a game against turkey and it was just one dazzling pass after another. definitely a pass-first PG, by the way, though he made a 3-pointer and a fall-away J.
very promising stuff.
Paul Allen deserves serious props for this draft along with Blazer management. Thank you for making the future so bright! Paul your enthusiasm and involvement in decision making and backing Steve Patterson and especially Kevin Pritchard is greatly appreciated by this die hard Rip City fan. It may take a season or two but look out. This team is going to be so exciting to watch. Blazermania is back!
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