Blazers Easily Handle Golden State
posted: 7/8/2006 at 12:20 AM
Portland 87 Golden State 70It's always nice to get a win, even if we spend so much time at summer league talking about how the final score doesn't mean that much. Tonight the Trail Blazers used a balanced attack to defeat Golden State's summer league team 87-70. Travis Outlaw led the way with 15 points, and looked much better following a tough outing in the first game at the Toshiba Vegas Summer League on Thursday.
Outlaw used his athleticism to get to the rim, and wowed the crowd by going high to finish an alley-oop from Martell Webster in the first half. Martell Webster, who scored 29 in the first game on Thursday, scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds against the Warriors.
The most interesting matchup of the night was inside, as LaMarcus Aldridge, the second pick in last week's NBA Draft, went up against the ninth pick, Patrick O'Bryant from Bradley. Aldridge had the clear advantage, and showed he deserved to go at least seven picks higher then O'Bryant. LaMarcus finished the game with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, and 2 steals. He also had several hustle plays, and is obviously starting to get a grasp of the Blazers' offense. Aldridge once again showed his shooting range, by hitting several perimeter jumpers, and was able to finish in the paint. His inside game helped the Blazers outrebound the Warriors 45-28.
Brandon Roy had 13 points and four assists on the night, but the numbers don't begin to tell the story. He played the point-guard position most of the night, and once again showed that he's quick enough to defend smaller guards, and has the ball-handling skills to bring it up against pressure. I happened to be sitting in front of the Minnesota Timberwolves coaching staff, and overheard one of the coaches saying "Roy does everything well," and "has no weaknesses in his game at all." I know this is just the summer league, and I don't mean to get overly excited about his abilities, but he is extremely impressive in his play, his leadership, and how he runs the offense. Again, keep in mind, he's not considered a point guard, but has shown that he can certainly handle that position if needed.
A very nice suprise tonight for the Blazers was Kevin Pinkney. He doesn't have much of a shot to make this Blazers roster come the regular season, but he has shown in the first two games that he has NBA talent. He showed his shooting range in this game, and is big enough to play several different positions. Pinkney ended the game with 14 points on 7-8 shooting.
Thursday we got a chance to talk to new Blazer Raef LaFrentz, and tonight Dan Dickau was on hand, as he made the trip to Las Vegas to meet the coaching staff and see some of his new teammates. As you can imagine, Dickau is very excited to be heading home to play for the Blazers for the second time. I had a chance to interview him before tonight's game. Check out
Summer League Central to watch the interview.
I was taking with Dickau this morning in the hotel lobby and we started talking about some of his new teammates. I asked him about Brandon Roy and he told me he'd actually met Roy several years ago. Roy was strongly considering attending Gonzaga, and Dickau hosted Roy on his recruiting trip.
This is not the only story like this on the team. It turns out that when Joel Przybilla was making his college choice he visited Kansas, among other schools. His host on his visit to KU was Raef LaFrentz.
First-round draft pick Sergio Rodriguez was also in town today and spent the evening sitting on the Trail Blazers bench. I had a chance to interview him on camera as well, and he was a little reluctant at first. He explained how his English is not very strong, but he did fine. Trail Blazers video coordinator Kaleb Canales, who does a bit of everything for this franchise, served as an interpreter tonight. He speaks Spanish and was walking Sergio through some of the offensive sets the Blazers use. Rodriguez is returning to Spain tomorrow and will get set to play with his national team in the World Championships in Japan. I told him how many e-mails I've been getting from fans of his in Spain. He said that made him feel good. For the interview and a message from Sergio in Spanish, check out
Summer League Central's video section.
As I've mentioned several times this week, if you scan the stands at the Vegas Summer League you see a lot of familiar faces. I concentrated on one section behind one of the benches tonight and saw, and I'm not exaggerating, George Karl, Mike Montgomerie, Kevin McHale, Randy Whittman, Duane Casey, Vinny Del Negro, Mike D'Antoni, Marc Ivaroni, Adrian Dantley, Buck Williams, Alvin Gentry, Byron Scott, Chris Mullin, Danny Ferry, Eric Musselman, Ron Artest, Marcus Camby, and Jerry Tarkanian. That was just in one section. Oh, and I saw Mike Rice.
Tomorrow the Trail Blazers will practice, and scrimmage, but don't play a summer league game. I'll be at practice and will have a chance to speak to some of the guys. I'll have an update for you tomorrow evening. This town is completely nuts, by the way. If you're into people watching, and I am, there isn't a better place to be than Vegas. I was thinking of this line from the movie
Intolerable Cruelty. Miles Massey, while playing the slots, says "You see, people get to Las Vegas, and all of a sudden the rules of the moral universe don't apply. God is dead, and it's like all things are possible.." And, it seems the people wearing the smallest, skimpiest outfits, perhaps shouldn't be.
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i wonder if dan dickau has any harsh feelings with this franchise since his last stop here.Also what did joel freeland do in the second game if he even played?
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They sound good Mike, I for one am stoked about the upcoming season. Positive, hard-working kids are sooo much better than thugs-let's hope their attitudes rub off on Miles- nah, let's just dump him! Peace. I'm out like Mike Rice's slot tokens...
I notice Roy has been playing the point all during the summer league. Are they planning on playing him at point during the year or moving him to the 2 guard and puttting martell at the 3 and putting Jack at the 1?
Come start of the season, are they planning on leaving Roy at the point or moving him to the 2, martell to the 3, and leaving Jack at the point?
Have you seen any other teams play? who looks like they picked good in the draft? I saw this video of Renaldo Balkman that makes Isiah look like he did his homework!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=S8M5TCUHxNA&feature=Views&page=3&t=t&f=b
By the Way i am very impressed with the new blazers website. Your blog is great and provides lots of behind the scene info that normal media can't get a hold of. I greatly appreciate all the work you do for the fans here!
Hey M.B.,
I wonder if you might be able to also give us an idea about what these young guys do in their "off" time down there in Sin City. I think only a few of them might be over 21 but in Las Vegas age doesn't really matter as much as being a professional ball player. Are they given opportunities to go out unchaperoned or are things pretty strict as far as where and what they can and cannot do?
Hey M.B.,
I wonder if you might be able to also give us an idea about what these young guys do in their "off" time down there in Sin City. I think only a few of them might be over 21 but in Las Vegas age doesn't really matter as much as being a professional ball player. Are they given opportunities to go out unchaperoned or are things pretty strict as far as where and what they can and cannot do?
To answer your question yellowjackets, I'm not sure they really know. Roy is playing the point in the summer league out of need. With Telfair traded, and Jarrett recovering from surgery, they really didn't have any choice. Roy has played some at the off-guard spot, but has mostly played the point. This is just showing us how versatile he is. Jarrett, by the way, is looking good. He told me today he feels great and will be going full speed by August.
Also, blazerbelieverforever, you are exactly right about Kaleb Canales. I'm not sure I know anyone who is as hard-working and as well-liked as Kaleb. He's extremely humble, and gets embarassed when I tell him how important he is to this franchise. The role of video coordinator is vital. Kaleb does just about everything else too.
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