Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Today in links: April 22

Joel Przybilla's favorite Celtic, a Mr. Kevin Garnett, has been announced as Defensive Player of the Year. A well-deserved honor, though they might consider changing the name of the award to the "Defensive Player of the Year at the center/power forward position", as only 18 of the last 20 winners (the exceptions being Gary Payton and Ron Artest) have been post players.

On to the Blazers ...

• Dave at Blazer's Edge has two great posts today: A breakdown of Brandon Roy's statistics from 2006-2007 to 2007-2008 and a defense of blogging.

• It's Jarrett Jack Day on OregonLive's "You Be the GM" series. Early results have the fans sending Jarrett packing by a 57-43 margin.

• Very nice piece by Jason Quick regarding Sergio Rodriguez's season.
After a promising rookie season, during which general manager Kevin Pritchard said NBA teams peppered the Blazers with trade requests, he's faded into anonymity.

"I was frustrated," Rodriguez said. "Not only because of how many minutes I played, but how I played in those minutes, and how I had to play in that time I was on the court. I was frustrated in myself, my game -- everything."

During the season, friends from Spain twice visited him for extended periods. During those times, Rodriguez said he and his friends would come to the Blazers' practice facility in Tualatin and play. They didn't play the game as much as they created their own version of basketball art, where court vision, improvisation and acrobatics came together as one.

"When my friends came here, we used to be here all day playing," Rodriguez said. "And that's what I need right now. I need to have fun. I know I have a lot to work on, and I still plan to work on everything, but I need to play with my friends and enjoy basketball, more so than (seeing it as) working."

• Dwight Jaynes makes the case for Bill Schonely's inclusion in the NBA Hall of Fame. Jaynes also thinks Schonley should add a Gowdy Award to his mantle.

Brandon Roy was on the selection committee that hired the head coach at Garfield High, his old stomping grounds in Seattle.

1 comment:

RipCityMortgage said...

I couldn't help but notice Brandon Roy's free throw % drop this year. He seemed fatigued often which could have something to do with it. I did notice that his stance is a bit narrow. The shooting coaches should look having him widen his stance a few inches to add stability (think Steve Nash).