Miles ready to be a team player. Jury out.

I apologize for my extended absence on this blog. The first month of school is a bitch.

Anyway -- article on OLive about DMiles and how he has "fallen in love with the work ethic and character" of our team in the last year he has been out. Hmm.

Now. I ain't saying people can't change. But this is pretty out there from the $48 Million, I wanna be traded, get me outta PDX guy we saw last year. Maybe Miles has grown up. He has a wife and a kid on the way. Maybe his partner in crimes Randolph is long gone and he figures he better get with the program, as in Nate's program.

He says himself in the article that actions speak louder than words. You got that right.
And really, since the last time he gave an interview was a year ago, it's been pretty quiet.
And by that I mean, no traffic stops. No arrests. No 911 transcripts. No reports of dog abuse.
All the usual "I don't want to be a Blazer anymore" behavior. And, he's lost 25 pounds, has logged quite a bit of time in the practice facility, and seems to be a changed man.

I do know that when I saw the GO interview last week, and he said he had been "talking to Miles" I wanted to scream, Run Away, Greg. Run away! because I still think Miles is locker room poision, until and unless I get some proof to the contrary.

Time will tell.

Oden era, interrupted

Well. Our worst fears about the Blazer admin's silence were realized as GO had microfracture surgery and will be out for the 07-08 season. There was so much build up, so much hype, with the pick. So much celebration, even sober people had hangovers. Jerseys bigger than buildings hung around downtown. We partied at Pioneer Square. Season tickets sold upwards of $2 million the day the pick was announced.

But the ensuing reaction and headlines around town since the announcement (finally) that Oden will not play even one game his rookie year are as over the top as the partying. "Gloom and doom hits PDX" Sadness, grief. Blazer nation on suicide watch.

I am here to tell you to get over yourselves. GO was not the second coming of Christ and his surgery is not the first sign of the end of the world. Really.

Dave from Blazer's Edge wrote an open letter to GO. He assured the 19 year old that his injury and inability to play right away will NOT mean Portlanders just will stay away in droves. Those types of fans are usually Laker fans. If the star is out, the Staples center is empty. Are Blazer fans that shallow ?

As Brandon Roy said on Courtside recently, GO is family. You don't desert family when the chips are down. You rally around him. Support and encourage him. Imagine how he feels. That's right. Some people saw banners hanging from the rafters, money signs in their eyes, and forgot that the "product" in this case is a 19 year old kid from out of town. And he and his mom, when he came out of surgery, said over and over to Nate and KP "we're so sorry, we're so sorry" as if his knee could have purposely messed itself up to keep Portlanders from their overhyped dreams of granduer. This is not about YOU, portland fans. It's about Greg Oden. Stop whining
and support your team, ALL of them. And let Greg do his rehab without the guilt trip.

Helllooooooo -- Oden to have surgery and other news

Ok -- survived back to school (mostly) and I am back in the blogging saddle, if you will. Only to find that the Blazers are playing all coy about our new face of the franchise and his knee issues.
Did we know going in that someone 7 foot 2 was gonna be high maintenance ? I kinda did.

First, tonsils. Now knee surgery. Geez. I can hear the collective OMG it's the return of Sam Bowie. (If you say who is that, you are not allowed to read my blog anymore -- at least until you do some googling and figure it out).

Look. He's 19. Does anyone born before 1970 even remember being 19 ? I barely can. I worked at Pizza Hut for $3.10 an hour and thought $90 a week was living way large. But I digress.

Perhaps the Blazer admin could calm some nerves by, say, giving an interview and saying, It's nothing. That would be the least I would expect. The silence makes people go, Oh S*** we should have taken Durant. Maybe we should have. But, we didn't. But the Blazer front office, Nate and KP owe the fan base, re-energized and paying way more than we ever thought possible for nose bleed seats, some explanation. Not even saying No comment is a bad move.

One hopes and prays for our collective Blazer Nation sakes that this is not a serious issue. If it is, let's go back to premise #1: he's 19. He's in shape. He will rehab quickly. It will be fine. And hey, he'll give some minutes to the other 10 or 12 on the bench that need to develop.

Really. Big picture, people. It will be fine.

SI.com recognizes Daddy Mac as coach of the future

Ian Thomsen lists his All-Future roster today at SI.com and Nate McMillan gets some love:

COACH
Coach Nate McMillan Portland Trail Blazers

If he can survive the next couple of years with his ultra-young roster, he could develop a Popovichesque relationship with Greg Oden. McMillan has the work ethic, defensive mind-set and integrity to become a championship coach.

Nice to see that some sportswriters recognize that it mostly comes back to good coaching, regardless of roster. Oh, and Oden makes the All Future list (5 years from now) as a reserve, along with Durant and DWade.

Ime headed to San Anton

In a move Portland is sure to live to regret, Ime Udoka is leaving town. Headed for Texas.
To me, this is similar to the woman who puts her husband through med school and then he dumps her when he becomes a doctor. Lame. Lame. Lame.

Apologies to Udoka, who is no girly-girl, but you get the point. The Blazers think they are all that and a bag of chips, now that Oden is in the picture. So no love for those that got you to this point. Nice.

According to the Oregonian today:

Udoka, who played at Jefferson High School and Portland State, will provide San Antonio with solid long-range shooting, superior perimeter defense and a tireless work ethic.

The Blazers invited him to their training camp last season as an afterthought, but he blossomed into an opening-day starter. He started 75 games at small forward, averaging 8.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, and shot 46.1 percent from the field, including 40.6 percent from three-point range. Before the breakout season, Udoka was a journeyman, making professional stops in Europe, the NBA Development League and the NBA. "He's excited to start the next phase of his career," Cowan said. "He wants to be a Spur for a long time."

This is extremely bad basketball karma. The Blazers better hope Outlaw is a hell of a trophy wife. Those starter wives often get the last laugh.

Canzano to launch radio show in September

The sports guy that Oregon sports fans love to hate is expanding his "Bald Face Truth" segment from local ESPN drive time to 4 nights a week on KXL, statewide, next month.

The first thing that came to my mind is Thank God, that means less Michael Savage.
The second thing was -- wait. The "can't ever say anything good about the Blazers" guy ?
Is going to work for the KXL owned Paul Allen, to talk sports including the Paul Allen owned Blazers ? Huh.

According to Canzano's blog, he has been granted 100% editorial control and autonomy. Which for someone who often does nothing but criticize is brave or stupid on Blazer management's part. At the very least it implies a lot of confidence in the new team.

Just saw the quote from Blazers first lieutenant, Mike Golub, who said:
"John Canzano is a lightning-rod for controversy and nobody knows that better than we do. With that being said, we feel confident about the direction of our organization and the new chapter of the team. Portland sports fans are passionate about the Trail Blazers and passionate about John's opinions. ... While we may not always agree with what John might say, this new partnership will add an unprecedented level of transparency."

Which, if you remember a couple years ago, was the last thing the Blazer management was about. The local media and the team were sworn enemies during the 90s and earlier this decade. This represents about 180% from the Blazer suits' earlier efforts.

So I guess that's all good. Although, it's kinda suspicious. It would be like the Bush administration saying Come on in, and we'll tell you all about the last six years, no problem.
Or like Darth Vader giving a seminar on sensitivity training. Odd.

Most of the time, I don't mind Canzano. I think his bark is worse than his bite in most cases.
I think he lives to piss people off and it's mostly an act for ratings. I also think it's good for the Blazers to be accountable to someone who does not romanticize the team and its baggage.
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, and perhaps also of fandom.

Blazers' new era reflected in 07-08 schedule

Well -- a couple of years ago, the chances of Portland playing a Christmas day game was about as likely as the whole family getting along for the holidays -- not very. Nate McMillan, when he joined the Blazers two years ago, set a Christmas game day on the top of his wish list. That he would realize that dream so soon (and with Greg Oden in his stocking to boot) is proof that somewhere along the way Nate has been on the realllllly good list.



Sure enough, we have a NW rivalry match up Dec. 25 that will bring Oden and Durant head to head. At home, even. Here's some other highlights from Blazers.com:



PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Trail Blazers open their 2007-08 home schedule on Wednesday, Nov. 7, against New Orleans at the Rose Garden on ESPN. Portland will tip off its 38th NBA season with a three-game road trip, beginning Tuesday, Oct. 30, at San Antonio.The San Antonio and New Orleans games will be televised nationally on TNT and ESPN, respectively, as part of a 19-game national TV schedule that features six games on ESPN, six games on TNT and seven games on NBA TV. Portland’s complete broadcast schedule will be available in the coming weeks.



" This is an incredibly exciting time to be a Trail Blazers fan and this season's schedule reflects that," said Trail Blazers chief operating officer Mike Golub. "With 19 games on national television, including a Christmas Day game at home, the league has taken notice of all of the good things happening with the team."



And may I say for the record, it's about damn time. Although starting the year with a three day

road trip may not be optimum, against the Spurs on opening night, it raises expectations that this year is going to be a great one. This can also be seen in the 19 games that will be on nationally, since last year, there was maybe one. Also, according to Courtside radio show, locally Comcast Sports Net will be showing quite a few games, and broadcast tv pick up the rest of those. Fox Sports Net also will have a few.



For Blazer fans, it's like Christmas came a few months early. So go celebrate the good fortune all those lean years have earned us. Party on!