after a year of staying away i took my dad to the game tuesday night. i was pleasantly surprised by the hustle on the floor and the caliber of the crowd in general. so far the changes that have been made are positive, why stop? if zach isnt going to take playing here seriously than he should be sent packing. the problem is he will never be diciplined, his talent is a get out of jail free card and he knows that. it matters not when your rich and arrogant who signs the check. just ask rasheed. if the blazers had real cahonies they would sit him down without pay for a month, teach him a lesson on taking us all for granted.

Make it three wins in a row for the Blazers, including back-to-back nights on the road. All against fairly lame East Coast teams, but all without Randolph. He couldn't have picked a worse time to screw up this badly.

He's not outta here:

When players make mistakes off the court, they are often private matters between the team and the player. We know our fans respect the need to handle certain matters internally.

We know what that means. He's for sure grounded this summer and totally busted!

That just means "Don't expect any more announcements soon."

Look at what I've quoted. "[C]ontinues to be a part of the ongoing effort to build toward a championship caliber club" means "doesn't get traded." And so we're left with "Character will be a key measuring tool for whether each of our players doesn't get traded." And come on, in the character department, we're talking time to cut and run.

If they had said "the key measuring tool" instead of "a key measuring tool," it would be even tighter. But when they start using language like "whether [he] continues to be a part of... [the] club," that's trade talk.

Of course, it's all subject to change when the Seattle nitwits finally decide on a new GM...

The latest: Zach was on his way to the airport to catch a red-eye when he stopped in at Exotica. So says "a team official."

But he couldn't stop in at the Rose Garden from 6 to 10 p.m. to play the game...

Reports this morning, after third win without Randolph, say that he will be coming off the bench when he returns.

That's a step in the right direction and could be indication that he is not guaranteed to be part of the team next year.

Ah, the key piece of info I needed to not call you insane, Jack (or Insane Jack) lies in Aldridge's stat line: He's averaging 21 and 9 with Z-bo out. Is that sustainable or one run up against crap teams? Hard to say. But it sure does open up the possibility for trades.

But really, when we're talking equal value, it doesn't mean 'players as good as' or even just contracts that add up. Will teams even give us desirable expiring contracts for Z-Bo at this point? That would at least free up cap space to make a run at someone.

Gotta be someone in the West. You don't need PFs in the East, evidently.

Also, don't know if this was missed in the last couple of weeks:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03092007/sports/blazers_ex_gm_had_no_chance_sports_peter_vecsey.htm

One of the depressing parts of that is the truth about small market teams: We have to take flyers on the Z-Bos and Ron Artests of the world to have any shot of stockpiling assets to assemble a playoff squad. Sure, we can develop young talent like Roy and Aldridge. Then they'll go to the Lakers and Heat after losing here for too long.

Yo! Jack, why are you so down on people exercising their constitutional rights? The guns were legal and protected by the Second Amendment to the US constitution. The Oregon Supreme Court, for better or worse, has ruled that strip clubs are protected free speech under the Oregon constitution. ZBo looks to me a like hard-working young man who gets in the normal amount of trouble for his age.

When he's shot dead and lying in a grave next to his cousin, maybe you'll wish you cut him a little less slack.

From an employer's perspective, when one of your employees asks for a week off to bury his gangster cousin, and you say yes, do you expect him to be in the strip club at the end of his first day off? And if that's what he does, do you just say "Don't let it happen again"?

ZBo looks to me a like hard-working young man who gets in the normal amount of trouble for his age.

Huh? I have never been in as much "trouble" as he has in my life. In fact, I dont know anyone who has. And "for his age"? Please, he's an adult, and he needs to grow up.

And lastly, the first amendment protects you from the government, not public opinion.