NOw we get to the fun part. What are the BLazers going to change?

I honestly think they are close. THey do need an inside scoring threat since Oden/Pryzbilla will never be that and Lamarcus likes taking jumpers. A slashing scorer to relieve Roy and some kind of new team defense would also help.

Overall the Blazers had a great season and did better then many said they would. Outlaw needs to be traded, he IS the new Cliff Robinson, just horrible. The Blazers need to get a real small forward (could Martell Webster be that??) and look at getting a good starting point guard as well. I like Blake but I think he would be better off the bench. There will be some bargains out in the trade market this summer with the tanking economy.

When does football season start? Go Beavers and Seahawks! :)

Also, Oden needs more playing time!

could Martell Webster be that??

Please, dear Lord, no. Let's not waste another year waiting for Martell to become something.

I feel like the Blazers went back to game 1...badly prepared..badly everything.

Maybe the talking point is why the Blazers have sucked so badly on the road against good(ish) quality teams, and I include Houston in that category.

Err....paging Mr. Nate..please pick up the Vulcan bat phone.

I know what you are saying about Martell, Jack. It would be great to see what he can offer the Blazers but I agree it is time for the Blazers to find someone healthy.

I'll say it: trade Outlaw, Frye and Blake for another real post scorer and a true point guard.

We should be past the "show me" stage, particularly with guys who have been here for that long. Trade what you need to for a couple of proven veterans at any position but SG.

Blazers played well and even with Houston until Outlaw came in. First, he clunked, then didn't defend well against Artest, then, and then....and he clunked some more. Coach should of seen this, then pulled Outlaw and tried Batum. Outlaw let Artest score three times in a row. Batum can play defense better than Outlaw, and his "coldness" rubbed off onto the rest of the team. That for me changed the whole complexion of the game.

Roy, Aldridge, and Prz were men tonight, the rest stank up the place. (I'm not sure why you thought Joel did poorly--he was a beast on the inside). The thing that hurt us most was--once again--it seemed the guys whose purpose on the team is to shoot, were afraid to do so.

My thoughts on the players:

* Roy, LMA, Rudy, and Prz are definite keepers.

* Oden and Batum, despite lackluster-at-times rookie seasons, are keepers as well. Rookies that come in and play like veterans their first year, are fairly rare--Roy in 06, Rose this year. Writing off players after rookie seasons is foolish--far too many great players sucked as rookies. (And far too many guys look good as rookies but never advanced beyond that).

* Bayless is probably in the above category as well--even though we seldom saw him beyond garbage time. His role is easier to replace, though.

* Outlaw, Blake, Sergio, are all expendable, though I expect to some of this group back, at least. Outlaw is useful, but we have to depend on him too much. Blake is a decent PG and would be a fine backup; but is a liability as a starter. Sergio would do better on a different team. Blake is probably the most likely to stay; it wouldn't surprise me to see Outlaw moved elsewhere, given the number of volume shooters we have.

* Martell is probably not going to go anywhere this offseason as he's coming off of injury. Whether he'll be productive next year or not (he was doing very well in preseason prior to getting hurt--but that means squat). But the Blazers sure have used a 3 with his size and body to shove Artest around, and he's a far better outside shot than either Blake or Outlaw.

* Channing, who is a free agent, will join Ruffin, RLEC, and Randolph in the "don't let the door hit you in the ass" category.

* And Nate--will be back. Adelman is one of the best in the business; and I think Nate is underappreciated sometimes--but as stated in a prior post, Nate has done nothing to deserve firing. He's easily among the top third coaches in the NBA.

* Main Blazer needs: An upgrade at the PG position (no, Roy is not the answer there); more depth at the forward spot, particularly of the muscular variety, and I'd like to have a wrecking ball off the bench at the perimeter. Maybe Bayless, with seasoning, will fill this role--the team seems to be high on him despite his struggles this year.

All in all, a good season. Unless you win the championship, though, every season ends in disappointment.

Przybilla's blocks tonight were impressive. But 3 points, 8 boards -- not so much. Plus, I don't see why he played only 27 minutes. But maybe that's on Nate.

They could have beat Houston. It's a shame that they let it get away.

I think the Blazers need a tough-guy enforcer type at the forward spot. I cannot believe that in 6 games no one on the team didn't get in Artest's face and remind him that he's a psycho. Or knock Brooks on his a*s on one of his drives, or provide a big forearm in Yao's grill. Maybe the team is young and full of nice guys but we need some hardcase Eastern Conference type in here next year. BTW: NBA refs are s**t, and I'm not just talking about this series.

Brooks should have been beat up with frequency, particularly in that first game, where he pranced around like Peter Pan.

The NBA refs are proven crooks. You're supposed to ignore that.

Rudy stays. He's the only person on the floor who truly wants the ball with the game on the line. It sure as heck isn't Aldridge, who showed zero heart in the playoffs.

Rudy and Roy stay. Przybilla is Buck Williams, so he stays too.

Give Nate one more year with the understanding that next season we expect to challenge for the conference. Looking at the rest of the west, there's no reason not to. If he fails, it's Van Gundy time. Too bad Chuck Daly is 90.

What a magnificent game tonight. But enough about Boston and the Bulls. Seriously, 3 overtimes. Ray Allen over 50 points. Spectacular.

The Blazers? Nothing but love through the regular season. It felt weird to be mad at them during this series. How can I be down on such a great group?

It's simple: They didn't play heroic ball.
Now Chicago and the Celtics? That's what sports is all about.

Sports is a mutual agreement between millions of people that something really matters.

The great Celtic Coach KC Jones got it right when he said, "This isn't a matter of life and death. It's more important than that."

Of course he was kidding, but if enough people believe something really matters, then it does. I didn't get that from this series. It felt more like a lark. It didn't seem to matter like it should.

I think that's a little unfair to LA. He is what he is, a smooth shooting power forward who plays decent D and can make a move inside just enough to keep the defense honest. What we need is some pepper to go with his salt-a rugged, inside oriented PF to complement LA's game. Frye is not that and Outlaw, when he plays PF is sure not that. It will be interesting to see what kind of interest Outlaw draws as an unrestricted free agent. The other big need is at point guard, whre we currently have three halfway second team players. New Orleans is in deep financial doo doo and is about to increase their debt load by firing their coach. It's not out of the realm of possibility that we could put together a package for CP.

I don't think either Van Gundy brother--neither the one who looks like Ron Jeremy, nor the one who looks like David Hyde Pearce--would be a substantial improvement over Nate. Out of the two brothers Van Gundy, I prefer Stan... but neither of them is Phil Jackson.

Chuck Daly is not only old, unfortunately it seems he's dying of cancer as well. Too bad; he was a good one.

Aldridge--has much to work on, but I think he learned a bit the past two weeks.

While "heroic ball" is nice; I'd rather crush the opposing team by twenty. Celtics/Bulls is a great series, except for one thing--whoever wins is soon to be toast.

Given that Derrick Rose is The Man in Chicago going forward, and that Sacramento saw fit to turn the Bulls into contenders with the gift of John Salmons and Brad Miller--it seems that Captain Kirk might be expendable. I wouldn't mind having him around.

Bottom line--this team needs some tinkering and some seasoning. An overhaul is not called for.

Outlaw is not a free agent this season.

Channing Frye is, and I fully expect the Blazers to renounce him--NBA speak for "get lost".

He can play NBA ball, so he'll no doubt warm someone's bench next summer--and even get some minutes--but Frye is a role player at best--and not a role the Blazers need.

The Celtic-Bull series is one of the all-time best I've seen. Awesome game tonight.

Let's not wax hysterical about the Blazers' performance in this series. We all knew Houston was a match up nightmare for the Blazers. Houston is a tough team with great defenders and a smart coach. It could well be that the first game was more indicative of the quality of the two teams than the others, and that the heroic effort by Roy, as well as contributions from Aldridge and Przybilla,is what made the other games competitive. I predict the Rockets will give the Lakers some problems before falling in six games.

For next year, trade/dump Trout and Martell and bring in a veteran small forward. Grant Hill would be ideal and I think his contract is up with Phoenix. Sign him to a two or three-year deal and have him mentor Batum, who easily could be a star in the NBA.

That's all I would do. You don't need a superstar point guard to win an NBA championship, as long as you have superstars elsewhere. (See Lakers, Celtics, the Michael Jordan Bulls). Blake's kind of in the Derrick Fisher mold, so there's no need to get rid of him.

I was down on Aldridge after game 3 and 4 too,but he steppe dup big in games 5 and 6. He and Roy did everything they were supposed too.

You can't blame Nate too much, Batum and Bayless aren;t ready fo rthis yet and so he had to go with Outlaw \, Rudy and Blake, if they didn;lt score we had no chance.

Rudy at least helps you even if he isn't scoring, Blake is worthless if he isn't hitting the open 3. And Outlaw is even worse than useless if he isn't scoring.

Jack, I disagree about Webster, he was starting to play pretty well last year, hitting the open jumpers and playing pretty good on the ball D. I think he and Batum have us well covered at SF. Trade Outlaw and Sergio and/or Bayless for a real starting PG. Sign a veteran banger to back up PF (guys like Kurt Thomas, Joe Smith, etc, they are available either as cheap FAs or for minor trades every year, like say for a late 1st round pick when the last thing we need is another rookie, if we don't trade it just draft a Euro guy who is locked into a contract and slips, ala Manu and Scola both taken by the Spurs that way, man bet they wish they could take that trade back? Scola would look great next to Duncan!)

Lineups: New PG, Roy, Batum, LA, Oden. 2nd unit Blake, Rudy, Webster, new PF, Joel.

If we kept Bayless he is in in waiting to replace Blake as bu, I see him as an instant offense, change of pace off the bench kind of guy. And my dream is we get Jon Brockman as a 2nd round pick as our 12th man. He can flat board and fills the perfect 12th man role, he is tough on us in practice to make our guys better and in an emergency can play a few minutes of solid D and rebounding.

Webster brings one other thing that Batum didn't, and Outlaw didn't--he is a good rebounder for a small forward.

In the off-season the Blazers need to buy two or three referees.

Outcoached and outmuscled. Both of which should be top priorities to address in the off-season. Nonetheless, thanks for a fun year guys.

We just renewed our Blazer Season Ticket Package for the 2009-2010 Season yesterday. It's clear that at least a couple new faces will be on the team roster by the opening game tipoff in October. But I have to say for a team that most predicted would win 40-45 games tops this season, the Blazers exceeded my expectations on many levels. Does anyone here critical of the Blazers remember the thrashing the Lakers gave these guys at the start of the season? The team has really turned things around big time; and I wish them all the best of health and a productive off season. GO BLAZERS IN 2009-2010!!!!

I don't play fantasy GM so I'm not up to speed on who's going to be a free agent this summern. But everything I read about the state of the NBA indicates that the Blazers could have a monster off-season.

According to ESPN.com's Bill Simmons and others, the NBA salary cap is going down next year. Teams that can't sell their luxury boxes - which is most of them - will be looking to slash payroll. Thanks to Paul Allen, the support of Blazer fans, and Raef Lafrent'z Expiring Contract, the Blazers should have plenty of cap room to make a big deal or three. The NBA is now an accountant's league, so it should be fun to see how the Blazers take advantage of their financially-liberated status.

This season built a great foundation for a sustained Blazers run.

The way in which the whole team began to fall apart as the Rockets gained the advantage speaks primarily to the team's youth and coaching. I thought their early game was really fast and tough, but their miscalculations and haste showed that they were hoping to dramatically bury the Rockets rather than break them down piece by piece in a workmanlike fashion.
It has got to be disappointing to play with such heart only to be thoroughly dismantled by a team that is bigger, deeper, older, stronger, calmer and way more methodical.

$25K fines for Zachary and Jack Bog.

I found this thanks to howappealing.law.com

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1377964

The abstract: "This paper empirically investigates ways in which the National Basketball Association (NBA) may have benefited from its referees enforcing the rules inconsistently. We find that NBA referees make calls to favor home teams, keep games close, and extend playoff series. All of these actions likely increase league revenue. We identify these effects as caused by referee bias, as opposed to player behavior, using play-by-play data that allow us to analyze separately those statistics largely determined by the referees and those determined by the players. We also find that the biases do not increase in situations where their direct financial benefit to the league would be greater, and conclude that the biases are likely of an implicit nature. "

That was an interesting second half. It was awkward to watch each Blazer player act like, "The ball? I don't want it. You take it!"

Wait, aren't the refs to blame for the pounding the Blazers received? Where are you Portland fans?

The paper version of The O said that Outlaw and McMillan had an altercation during the game last night. It got so heated that Przybilla had to restrain Outlaw. (I can't find anything about this on the web. I'm pretty sure it was on p. 1 of sports, with Quick's tagline)

Where does he get the nerve? Outlaw was horrible in 5 out of the 6 games in the series on offense, and he's always horrible on defense and at rebounding.

I was dying for John Salmons back in February, who we apparently could have had for LaFrentz' contract, or Outlaw, or Sergio, or some combination. I wish KP had done that deal.

It was a good year. Everyone should calm down. They're young. Houston is good. I think they will give the Lakers a run.

You have to remember that the regular season and post season are two completely different monsters. The Blazers are a really good regular season team, but their weaknesses as a post season team were exploited mightily.

We can all see what we need, now it is up the the FO to make it happen. The only question is if they will.

MP: One year does not bring a verdict on this bunch in the play offs. They would have beaten N.O. or S.A. or Utah. Houston was a bad match up for them. They could use a CP type point guard but that could be Bayless. All I'm saying is they were 41 and 41 a year ago and won 54 games this year and got the worst seed for the play offs other than having to play the Lakers. This could be Houston's year to go to the finals. And them maybe Yao will go back to China.