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Bertram
Posts: 803

Posted 04/27/2009 10:49 AM
We know Brandon Roy does; but who else? Throughout this series we've only seen glimpses of other players outside of Brandon Roy, but it has showed us who REALLY has IT.

LaMarcus Aldridge-The second piece of our franchise has showed that...he's soft. Who gets schooled by Luis Scola. Scola hardly needs help against him. Aldridge, for now, does not have that shine. I do however feel that he will. I compare him to Pau Gasol because their games are similar if you look at Pau last year vs. This year. Pau got physical. Aldridge will become physical after this season.

Travis Outlaw-Does not have the shine at all. What he's got is..he's just got to go. I am now perpetually disappointed in him. To think I jumped off the hate Outlaw bandwagon on to the Outlaw is great bandwagon...worst decision of my blazer fan career.

I am a fan of B-Roy and LaMonster!

RipCityRevival
Posts: 683

Posted 04/27/2009 11:32 AM
To his credit, I think Outlaw has had the hardest transition. He has been with the Blazers from the end of the Jailblazers, through the tough times, and is now over excited about being in the playoffs. Everyone else came from successful teams at their level. Travis never really has had that experience. This is a pretty new concept for him and the pressure is really foreign. With that said, he needs to ge over it and step up his game. He is the missing link, the X-Factor, if he doesn't step up, we might eek out game 5 but we lose in 6. He's been in the NBA 5 years now, time to grow into your own shoes my friend. It's the NBA. I'm sympathetic to his having to adjust, but I am also realistic about how important he is to this team. Whether you want to say he's a good player or not, that's your debate but nobody can deny that if he got his act together this series would be a different story.

I am a fan of #20 in the rafters, but #1 in our hearts and prayers...The Enforcer

Bertram
Posts: 803

Posted 04/27/2009 3:50 PM
Yes, if he got his act together. But that's the problem. He is a low basketball IQ player and it looks EVEN LOWER in the playoffs. He passes up Open shots when nobody is running at him, and when someone is deciding to close out on him he takes the jumper instead of attacking. He doesn't switch on defense or gets there too late. He is the epitome of everything we don't do on this team this series. Rebound, play defense, be aggressive. He's lame and is a HUGE reason we haven't done as good as we should have. But I will say this positive, it's our first time in the playoffs for a lot of the players so being critical about the team is wrong; next year is a different story...a story in which we have an upgrade over Outlaw.

I am a fan of B-Roy and LaMonster!

Travis
Posts: 56

Posted 04/27/2009 9:49 PM
I am conflicted actually. I have made a lot of judgements on players and everything but I maintain the right to take it back as of next season. I think this off season we will blossom into the team we are gonna become. I think really no matter what we do next year will be a whole new ball team and do not wanna hear anymore about being the youngest team or any far out plans next year we need to consider this team like any other team. I am not sure what some people are waiting for what gonna happen 2-3 years from now to put us over the top experience or what. This team needs to make atleast a deep playoff run next year unless we hit a contender early(which is not Houston).

I am a fan of a run at those rings in 2011 when GO comes back to dominate!!!!!!!!!!!

RipCityRevival
Posts: 683

Posted 04/27/2009 10:46 PM
I will say it again here since not everyone reads every other post. What I recognize in Outlaw's behavior is simple animal behaviors. To relate it to you, Outlaw is like a mountain lion. If a mountain lion comes upon you alone, you could be dinner. If you make a lot of loud noises and posture yourself in an agressive fashion the mountain lion will get scared and flee. Similarly, Outlaw tears it up in the regular season because there isn't the pressure of the Playoffs. All of a sudden, here are guys he is used to playing against, but they are fighting harder than last time, the crowds are louder than last time, and the game means more than last time. So when a guy rushes out on him, he gets rid of the ball so they go the other direction. He flees. He has the open jumper, he HAS to make it if he shoots it, so he passes it. He flees. Again, I don't worry about him next year because, unlike Mountain Lions, we can learn to not be afraid of those things pretty quickly. I trust Nate will address that killer instinct this offseason, if he hasn't this week, and he will be a different player next year. Some of it is basketball IQ, but it mostly looks like panic, animal instincts. His instinct is FLIGHT, not FIGHT. That is what makes Rudy so awsome is that he is all FIGHT, Joel is all FIGHT, and Roy is all FIGHT. I also think Bayless is all FIGHT, but he lacks the skills as of just yet. Once that FIGHT gets passed on to the other players, this will be a different team. LA goes back and forth, once he locks into FIGHT mode he will be dominant.

I am a fan of #20 in the rafters, but #1 in our hearts and prayers...The Enforcer

Bertram
Posts: 803

Posted 04/27/2009 11:58 PM
You hit the nail on the head. I agree with everything you just said.

I am a fan of B-Roy and LaMonster!

Dman
Posts: 101

Posted 04/28/2009 8:29 AM
Go back and look at the last 30 games and then try and tell me that Aldridge is soft. You can't, because he's not.

I am a fan of Since 1969 when the NBA awarded Portland the franchise.

Bertram
Posts: 803

Posted 04/30/2009 10:07 PM
He sure showed he was soft in the beginning of the playoffs. So don't go saying I can't because I just did.

He didn't crash the boards, he didn't show up defensively against Scola, he allowed Scola (given Scola was getting away with calls) to push him around. Now the last two games, sure he was there. But he has yet to be the beast I know he can be. It will be there next season. I don't doubt that. But for now, he's soft and is consistently soft.

He'll do a Pau transformation though. Pau was soft last season, but now..he's a beast.

I am a fan of B-Roy and LaMonster!

Dreb25
Posts: 3

Posted 04/30/2009 10:19 PM
L.A may not be completely soft, but he does has "soft spots" (if you will) he did allow Scola to push him around for the most part of the series. And I think the Pau compairson is a great one, because when he goes back and looks at da tape of this series I think he will see a player who just does not go "hard" enuff all the time and he will take pride in going "hard" next year just as Pau does this year. With that said great year Blazers, lets build on this for next year.

Bertram
Posts: 803

Posted 04/30/2009 10:23 PM
Yeah. Pau saw himself in the finals last year. All it takes is a taste of glory and it drives a competitor to want more. So they go that extra step and do everything they can to improve their weak points. That's what Pau did and that is what Aldridge will do.

I will make this prediction now. Aldridge will average 19.5 points a game at least, with 8 good rebounds a game (only reason it's not 10 is because you can't average 10 a game with Oden and Pryzbilla grabbing the boards all the time). He will make the all-star game next year, and be named Western Conference player of the week at least once. Roy will average 24 points a game at least, with 5ish assists and 4ish rebounds.

I am a fan of B-Roy and LaMonster!

Bertram
Posts: 803

Posted 04/30/2009 10:24 PM
Oh and be top 5 for MVP rankings in NBA.com.

I am a fan of B-Roy and LaMonster!

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