Notes and Quotes: Blazers 119, Lakers 111

Wins don't get much more satisfying than that. It's probably still a bit premature, but if the Trail Blazers can somehow carry this momentum into the next game against Golden State, maybe they could rattle off a few wins in a row and get back into the playoff race. They've got a lot of tough games ahead, but if they play like they did tonight, they've got a chance to get quite a few wins before this season is said and done.

Notes

Brandon Roy’s 12 assists career high (old 11 three times this season)

Blazers 119 points season high point total (previous was 117-113 over Bucks 12/9 in OT)

Steve Blake matches his career-high three-pointers for a game with five (of 8) in first half

Jarrett Jack ties season high with 21 points.

Portland’s bench outscores the Lakers reserves 47-23

Blazers’ 64 first half points and 37 in second quarter both season highs (previous 61 vs. Nuggets 12/16 and 36 at Hawks 1/21

Trail Blazers have won five straight over the Lakers in the Rose Garden, 11 of the last 13, and 18 of the last 22

Quotes

Nate McMillan

“I thought this was our most efficient game in a long time. We started off kind of slow defensively but picked it up in the second quarter and through out the rest of the game. Our ball movement was terrific---29 assists with only six turnovers is a great ratio. I thought we spread the floor well with our shooters, moved the ball effectively against their defense and then seeing the ball go into the basket. We had not had much of that lately.

“Having everybody back gives our guys confidence for the rest of the season. I thought we got back to that point earlier when both of our units were terrific. We set that tone when James and Jarrett came in. Our bench outscored the Lakers 47-23. I think the whole team came out and had fun like we used to be doing during the streak. We were pretty active defensively. I thought our bigs---Joel and LaMarcus---played very aggressively and made it difficult for the Lakers inside. Kobe got his points but we made him work for them. It was just a well played game. There are so many things to be talked about: James coming in after a layoff and hitting those threes and spreading the floor; Steve Blake cashing in on those threes in the first half; and Travis now being able to create his own shots.

“This is a good reason for a number of reasons: We’ve been through some rough times. I was certainly good to have everybody back and it showed in the fact that we could attack them with so many options.”

Jarrett Jack

“This game ranks right up there with the rest of them (the victories this season). Everybody was stepping up big tonight. We’re competitors. Down in L.A. we didn’t play a complete 48 minutes. Tonight was a complete game, especially the contributions from our ‘bigs,’ Joel (Przybilla) and L.A. (LaMarcus Aldridge). They were grinding down low for us. We don’t back down to anybody when you come through the paint. Joel took a hard foul. I had his back; you know me. I’m trying to get in the middle of things.”

Brandon Roy

“I think this is a great team effort. Look at our scoring: It was balanced. Our defensive effort on Kobe was great tonight. We made him work tonight for everything he got. Yeah, it was a fun game. The fans did a great job of supporting us. They’re sticking with and we’re trying to do our best to win games. Joel set the tone (tonight) but our fans really set the tonight. They made it a playoff atmosphere and we did our best to try to show up. I thinks it makes Coach feel great to go to a number of guys. Having James (Jones) back and me being back out there. It just gives us balances. It makes both our lineups strong. Its great seeing everybody back out there again. We were having fun out there. I hope we can just finish the last games the same.”

Phil Jackson

“They certainly played a good fourth quarter. We matched them most of the game. A couple little things turned the game around. They changed the momentum. We played a very good game up until the four or five minute mark. You know fatigue has an effect on the ball game, but you don’t use it as an excuse. When you see the three point shooting - that’s usually where it comes out. They play real well; this is an aggressive team. Nate McMillan is a fine young coach. They did a fine job against us defensively. They deserve to win. You know you are going lose (the winning streak would inevitably end), but you hope to not have a slippage of fundamentals, or things like that.”

“Defensively, we didn’t get the turnovers. They were able to have one turnover in the first half and they had none in the fourth quarter. Defensively I didn’t think we were aggressive enough, so we have to look at that a little bit. Offensively, we were good. We just couldn’t finish this one out. You take the loss and just try to not let it hurt your momentum.”

Luke Walton

“They’re a good young team, especially at home. They hit a bunch of shots down the stretch and we didn’t make shots. A couple times we thought we could’ve built a little lead on them, but then we messed up. The start of the first quarter was one of those times. You keep a team like that around on their home court and they’ll make you pay. It’s a crazy league, sometimes the teams got your number, up here they’ve got our number right now."

Lamar Odom

“We played good tonight, but we just didn’t execute down the stretch. We scrapped with them, until we got to the fourth quarter. They beat us; they played well. They made some big shots when they needed it… They’ve got a great home court advantage here and we didn’t play well enough to beat them on their floor tonight.

Video: Nate McMillan post-game after the win against the Lakers

Photos: Blazers 119, Lakers 111

Just do it, again

Maybe I had never noticed it before, but it seems like the Trail Blazers are getting a lot of their season series' done in a hurry this year. We played the Utah Jazz all four times this season in less than a month. Both games against the Atlanta Hawks occurred in less than a week. And then there was the Seattle home-and-home back-to-back (which I think we do every year).

And tonight we take on the L.A. Lakers for the second time in three days, which is even stranger when you consider that Tuesday's contest was the first game between the two teams this season. It seems like an odd way to put together a schedule.

But it's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, according to some on the team, it can actually be beneficial to see the same team within a short span of time.

“You can be a little more prepared for things that they’re going to do," said Blazers point guard Steve Blake. “You get, not necessarily specifics, but just kind of a feeling for where players are going to be and who does what in their offense. You just get a better feel for the game when you play someone twice.”

That probably holds true for the most part, but does that logic still apply when you're playing a team on a 10-game win streak?

“You give yourself a day or two to make adjustments but you only give them a day or two to make adjustments," said James Jones, who missed the first game this season against the Lakers. "Playing games close together, you get a chance to keep the schemes fresh in your mind and have a fresh feel for their tendencies and what they like to do and maybe go out there and counteract what they’ve done and get a victory the second time around."

Though the Blazers ended up losing 13, the still did some positive things, especially in the first half. It might have been difficult to be optimistic about their chances tonight if they had been blown out on Tuesday, but by turning in a solid if not entirely consistent performance at the Staples Center gave this team something to build on.

"We played good basketball (against the Lakers)," said Nate McMillan, "we were in the game for four quarters but they made some plays down the stretch. We know we can do some things better. We have them again in our building, so the fire, the hunger to play them again right away after losing should be in you.”

Listen: 02.28.08 Edition of Trail Blazers Courtside

If for some reason you missed it, here's the podcast from yesterday's edition of Trail Blazers Courtside, your weekly radio show for all things Trail Blazers. Guests on this week's show include Nate McMillan, Von Wafer and Raef LaFrentz.

And just in case you're unaware, all of the podcasts that we do are available here.

Video: Greg Oden introduces Laura Bush

The Helping America's Youth regional conference was held today at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Greg Oden was there to lend his support and introduce First Lady Laura Bush. Below is the video from their opening remarks.

Photos: Helping America's Youth Press Conference

Draft talk already?

Chad Ford mentions in a chat today that PG/SG Russell Westbrook would "be perfect" for the Trail Blazers should he be available when Kevin Pritchard makes his pick this summer. I've seen Westbrook play a couple times this season, and the Blazers could certainly do a lot worse.

OregonLive.com's Sean Meagher has a lot more information on Westbrook. Definitely worth checking out.

So do you have a horse in the early draft race? If the season ended today, the Blazers would have the 13th pick. Are you more of a Kevin Love supporter? Should the Blazers draft big, small or somewhere in between? Or are you one of those people who think we've already got enough young talent and would prefer to trade the pick? Lets hear it.

Give the blog a call

You may or may not have noticed that there's a new button to the right of this post that says "Call Me!" If you hadn't noticed it, take a few seconds to divert your eyes two inches to the right.

So what is it you ask? It's a new feature here at the Center Court Blog which allows you to send me a voice message via your phone. The cool part is that once you leave a message, I can post that audio right here in the blog. I figure it might be an easier way to leave your thoughts and comments than registering through Blogger then leaving a typed message.

So here's how it works. You click the "Call Me!" button, then enter your name and phone number, then click the smaller "Call me" tab. Then, you'll immediately receive a phone automated phone call which prompts you to leave your message. That message then goes automatically to my email box, allowing me to listen to your message and then, if warranted, post the audio of you call in the blog. Make sense?

So go ahead and give it a try. As a topic, why don't you let me know how many wins you think the Trail Blazers will have in final 24 games of the season. Who should get more playing time in the remaining games? What chance do you think the Blazers have of sneaking into the playoffs? Anything else on your mind? Let me know that as well.

Two interesting stats from last night's game

I probably uttered more curse words during last night's game than I have the entire season. If we would have lost that game, I don't know what I would have done. Relinquishing big leads then eventually losing is bad enough when you're playing top-tier teams like the Lakers and Celtics, but to do the same things against the current incarnation of the Clippers? That would have been too much to take.

But luckily, the Blazers did get the win. Jarrett Jack came up huge after a tough game the night before. Same for Martell Webster and Channing Frye. Von Wafer, in his first action as a Trail Blazer, posted career-highs in (take a deep breath) points (11), field goals made (4), field goals attempted (10), three point field goals made (2), three point field goals attempted (5), defensive rebounds (5), total rebounds (5) and minutes played (32). In fact, Wafer's minutes last night constituted 26% of his time on the floor this season. What's more, Wafer only played 21 fewer minutes last night than Taurean Green (the player he was recently trade for) played during his tenure with the Blazers. Make of that what you will.

Onto those other stats. The first comes courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN).

The Trail Blazers earned a split during their visit to Los Angeles by defeating the Clippers on Wednesday after losing to the Lakers the previous night. Portland was the 14th team to play on the road at Staples Center on consecutive days. Three of those teams lost both games: the Timberwolves in 2001 (April 12-13), Grizzlies in 2003 (March 30-31) and Hornets in 2004 (Dec. 21-22).

I'm not entirely sure what the significance of that statistic is, but at least we're not the fourth team to ever loose back-to-back games to different teams in the Staples Center.

The other interesting stat (which is only kind of a stat) comes from the AP writeup of the game.

The win was Portland's first against the Clippers on the road since Dec. 18, 2002, when they erased a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit behind Scottie Pippen and Rasheed Wallace.

More good news! Another streak comes to an end this season.

Video: Greg Oden on Jim Rome

Greg, and his performance on 'Rome is Burning", speaks for itself.

Every possession counts

Probably one of the hardest things for a young team to do is stay focused for the duration of an 82-game season. And as the Trail Blazers continue to struggle after the All-Star break, you might expect that a seemingly lottery-bound team might simply play out the string. It’s an occurrence that has been known to happen on occasion, but with 26 games left to go, it’s the last thing on the minds of Portland’s players.

“We’re starting that last push,” said Martell Webster. “We’ve got a chance. There’s a sense of urgency right now for us to get out here and play the best possible basketball that we can. Try to win over .500. We’re trying to go over .500 and that’s going to give us a chance to possibly make it into the playoffs.”

The Blazers are 1-3 since the All-Star break, meaning that they’d have to finish 14-12 over the final 26 games to fulfill the goal of going .500. It’s a daunting task, especially considering that 14 of the remaining games are away from the Rose Garden, but it’s still attainable if the team can get back to doing the things that made them so successful during the 13-game win streak.

So how do they do it?

“We’ve just got to get back to making every possession count” said Steve Blake, “really focusing from the start of the game to the end of the game, and that’s what we plan on doing.”

With Brandon Roy out of the lineup for at least the next two games, making possessions count is going to be paramount to getting wins.

Notes and Quotes: Celtics 112, Blazers 102

You'll notice the phrase "season high" shows up an inordinate number of times into today's notes. As you might expect from looking at the final score, most of the season highs belonged to Boston.

Notes

-- Celtics 57.9% field goal shooting season high vs. Portland (old 56.4% at N.O. 11/2) -- Celtics 14 three-pointers and 66.7% (14-21) from long range both season highs vs. Blazers
-- 65 second-half points by Celtics season high for half vs. Blazers
-- Blazers 32 points high for 1st quarter this season (previous 31 vs. Raptors 12/19)
-- Travis Outlaw’s 24 points third time in four games +20 coming off bench, averaging 23.0 ppg in last four
-- 20,554 fans Blazers 15th consecutive sellout and 20th of the season.

Quotes

Nate McMillan

“Boston’s play seemed very similar to the way they played in Boston. This time Paul Pierce was hot. He didn’t have that good a shooting night back there. But any one of those three of those all-stars (Allen, Pierce, Garnett) are capable of carrying the team. Allen and Posey can spread the floor with their perimeter game and that puts a lot of pressure on the defense.

“That team knows how to mentally get back into the game. After we had that great first quarter they just stuck with it and ended up scoring over 30 points in the next three quarter. We want to get to that point where you can be down and be calm about it, play with poise and stay calm.

“I put Raef (LaFrentz) in the rotation and played Joel more again to try to improve our rebounding but we’re still getting pounded on the board. Boston is just stronger than we are. Their pressure and physical play was just taking us out of the game. And offense, with Brandon out with the ankle sprain, we don’t have a lot of players to make up the difference. At all the positions, with Garnett playing L.A. (Aldridge) and Posey on Travis and Pierce on Roy in the beginning you don’t have an advantage on the offensive end. You certainly can see why their record is so good and they’re getting sharp for the playoffs.”

Steve Blake

“They stepped up and played well. We started slow in the third quarter which gave them momentum and we couldn’t recover from it. When we are making shots we are tough to beat. That’s what we were doing---making shots---when we were winning all those games. Lately the shots haven’t been falling as much for an entire game.”

About the mood in the locker room: “We are upset that we are losing but we’ve been in this situation before at the beginning of the year when we were losing tons of games. We just have to find a way to fight through it.

Brandon Roy

About his sprained ankle: “It seems like its getting worse and its not getting any better. So tonight its was just a little too painful to continue to try to play through it . . . I hope its just a sprain, I hope its nothing more serious than that. Earlier I took some medicine and that was helping. But today it didn’t do anything for me. I was warming up and it just felt bad. It felt bad the whole game and by the third quarter Rajon (Rondo) tripped over it and was too painful to try to continue . . . It is pretty painful so I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Maybe a week or two of rest would help. We’ll see and we’ll talk about it after we know what the MRI says . . . Its not badly swollen but its very painful.

“At the start we played good basketball. The guys played good basketball throughout the game but I wasn’t able to make some of the plays I normally try to make to help us get leads or maintain leads. I was upset the whole game, even when we were up by 16, because I knew there was nothing I could do out there.

Doc Rivers

“It was just great defense. They had 32 points in the first quarter…the defense from that point on was phenomenal. It was our energy. We eased into the game and they came out excited and attacked us. We didn’t handle it very well. We’ve talked about how teams are fired up to play you and you have to match that to start games. This is a dangerous team to get down to on the road. We were down 17 at one point and then at one point to have a 18 or 19 point lead, that’s impressive. It was our defense. Our offense was fine, but it was our defense that won the game.”

(On three-point shooting)
“We’ll take 14 even it means taking more than 21 shot attempts. We got good looks though. It wasn’t like we were forcing it up and it wasn’t like we were looking for threes. We got the threes out of ball movement. We got the ball into the post and then got it out. Those are good threes’… the type of three’s we want to take. We’ve got guys capable of making them and that’s the right way to take them.”

Eddie House

“They got up early but we cut their offensive rebounds out. We started to contest shots. We got some easy looks on the other end. We made them guard. We got good looks. When you get in your rhythm it’s a whole lot better. You feel better about yourself and your feel better about your shots. When you get them in the rhythm of the game, more than likely you’re going to knock those shots down. When you don’t, it’s more hit and miss and that point.”

James Posey

“Our defensive intensity is something that was missing the last couple of games for the most part. For a quarter and a half of this game it was still missing. But we found a way to win the game and get stops. We controlled the boards during the run and got ourselves back in the ball game. On the offensive end we shared the basketball. We made it easy on ourselves on the offensive end and we got ourselves back in the game. They had energy at the start and everything was going their way. They were shooting a high percentage and they were crashing the boards at both ends. They got more opportunities. Once we were able to control that, it was a whole different ball game. When we move the basketball we’re a great team. When we don’t we suffer a bit. During that stretch we moved the basketball and got good shots. Tonight they feel for us and we were able to get a win.”

Video: Nate McMillan post-game after the loss to the Celtics

Not a whole lot going right for the Trail Blazers these days. Any of the momentum built up during the start of the season is long gone. All that remains are a bunch of tough games. Brandon Roy's ankle is sprained. James Jones' knee is still sore (though getting better). No one seems to be playing with a whole lot of confidence. And now the losses are starting to pile up. Still hovering over .500, and at this point, I'd think it would be a moral victory to end the season that way.

Here's what Nate McMillan, a man who doesn't put much stock in moral victories, had to say after the game.

Photos: Celtics 112, Blazers 102

Lets all jump to conclusions!

In my previous experiences writing Trail Blazer blogs I've sometimes been a bit too reactionary regarding criticism of the team, especially from those outside of Oregon. The way I see it, there's no way you can accurately pass judgment on a team that you've seen maybe five times over the course of a season, which I imagine is the frequency with which most national media, especially those on the east coast, see the Blazers. That's not to say that they don't have the right to make up their minds based on those limited viewings, but I simply don't understand how those evaluations could be taken all that seriously.

And sometimes, it's probably not meant to be taken too seriously. Case in point: Boston's favorite non-athlete son, Bill Simmons. Two days ago, Simmons penned an article running down a list of trades he would consider, at least that's what I think he was getting at. His first salvo had the Blazers trading LaMarcus Aldridge, the rights to Rudy Fernandez, a first-round pick in 2008 and $3 million in cash to Memphis for Mike Conley Jr., Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and a second-round pick in 2008. Simmons theorized that Aldridge won't be needed when Greg Oden returns and that he "won't ever make the All-Star team" thus rendering him tradable. Trail Blazers fans, as you might expect, largely disagreed.

I won't go into all the reason why I don't think that trade would have made sense, but to claim that having a healthy Greg Oden somehow makes LaMarcus Aldridge expendable is beyond me. The two front-runners in the Western Conference both just traded to add legitimate power forward/center combos to their teams. Did acquiring Pau Gasol make Andrew Bynum expendable? Is Amare Stoudemire destined to be traded because the Suns picked up Shaq? It's an argument that makes so little sense that I feel kind of stupid even addressing it.

As a side note, I try to think of good questions to ask Nate McMillan during the pre and post game availability in the hopes that he won't think I'm a moron. If I'm borderline on whether or not I think a question is good, I don't ask it. Would I ask Coach McMillan if having Greg Oden makes LaMarcus Aldridge expendable? Not a chance. And not only would I not ask Nate because it's a stupid question, but also because I've heard Nate talk about having both those guys on the court together so many times that I already know what his answer would be. That goes back to the point of seeing a team more than a few times each season.

But back to Simmons. Today, he writes about, among other things, the reasons why the afore-mentioned trade could work in a effort to answer the criticism he received from Blazer fans, who he describes as "irrationally devoted." Simmons sets up a few straw men to "prove" his point, the strangest being that Rudy Fernandez (who's a guard, by the way) might not be good because Marc Gasol is the best bigman in the Spanish ACB League. That doesn't make any sense to me. Oh yeah, and Aldridge, at the ripe old age of 22, is only 240 pounds. Kevin Garnett at age 31 weights 253 pounds, by the way.

But here's the part that prompted me to waste the better half of my morning writing this post you are now reading. One of the reasons that Simmons uses to validate his argument is that Mike Conley Jr. is a future All-Star. It wouldn't surprise me if that were true, but Simmons comes to this conclusion despite the fact that Conley Jr. has played in exactly 25 games his entire NBA career. My gut says that's not enough time to properly evaluate a player.

Next, Simmons goes on to say that Aldridge is "not indispensable" because, in 35 minutes a night in his second season, LaMarcus is only scoring 17 points and getting seven rebounds. And the part that seems to disturb Simmons the most is that LaMarcus doesn't get to the line as much as he should. It's a fair criticism. I'm sure everyone, including LaMarcus himself, would like to see him get more trips to the line, but is that really a reason to trade him for a guy like Conley Jr., who in his best month as a pro, averaged 10 points, 5.4 assists, 2 turnovers and 2.4 free-throw attempts per game in 33.9 minutes per? Isn't it much easier to find a 6-1 point guard than it is to find a 6-11 power forward? What has Mike Conley done to make Simmons think he's a future All-Star, and conversely, what has LaMarcus Aldridge done to make Simmons think he's not a future All-Star? Simmons then goes on to say that Aldridge's ceiling is that of 20 points, eight rebounds a night, which in Bill's world is a negative thing. Go figure.

It's foolishness to say that one guy with one year of college ball and 25 games under his NBA belt is a future All-Star, just as it's foolish to claim that a player in the middle of his first full season is not an All-Star. Most players, outside of the superstars, don't even start playing close to their best ball until they've been in the league at least four years. To point to a second year player and say, 'His ceiling is this' shows an extreme lack of knowledge pertaining to development in the NBA. And what's more, it's totally unnecessary.

Notes and Quotes: Blazers 92, Sonics 88

I didn't get a chance to post quotes last night, so I'm doing it now. There's still plenty of time to read up on what happened last night before watching what happens tonight. Does that makes any sense?

Notes

Brandon Roy 14 rebounds career high (previous 12 vs. Washington 3/20/07) . . . LaMarcus Aldridge 5 blocked shots ties career high (at Dallas 12/30) . . . Blazers 11 blocked shots season high (old 10 vs. Denver 2/4 in OT) . . . Blazers three players in double figure rebounding (Roy 13, Aldridge 12, Przybilla 11) first time since 4/4/98 at Phoenix (Brian Grant 12, Wallace 11, Rider 10) . . . Przybilla 4 blocks gives him Blazers career total of 425 moving him ahead of Arvydas Sabonis (422) and into a tie with Wayne Cooper (425) for seventh on the club’s all-time list.

Quotes

Nate McMillan

“We’ll take it. We did some good things out there. We wanted to get to the free throw line and be aggressive and tonight we did. It’s always good to get a ‘W’ and build off of that. I think another factor in our win tonight was that we made some plays down the stretch this time.

“We’re still being bothered by those five-minute stretches---this time in the third quarter---when we didn’t execute. But at the end I like the fact that we didn’t settle for jump shots. We took the ball to the hoop and we took care of the ball. But in that bad stretch we made three turnovers in a row and we didn’t make shots. If you get those open shots you have to make them. We got caught too often not knowing how much time was left on the clock.

“I was really pleased that Travis and LaMarcus got to the foul line by taking the ball to the basket. We need both of them to attack the basket and be aggressive.

“One of the reasons I had Jack in the rotation is he is one of our most aggressive guards. He’s a guy who can get to the basket and get to the foul line. Also, I’ve come to realize that we’ve got to find a way to get Joel (Przybilla) in the game because of his rebounding and shot-blocking. That’s why Channing didn’t get more minutes tonight because I kept Joel in the game as long as we could. You’ve got to give up something to get something and I felt we had to have Joel in the game to rebound.”

Travis Outlaw

“Jarrett Jack stepped up big time. We had everyone come in (to the game) and step up for us. It was nice. Joel (Przybilla) is a presence on defense. He really helps make a difference when you know you have a big man under there. I can gamble a little more and get up on my man. We needed it (the win). We really needed it. I think we need to go in there (Seattle tomorrow night) with a level head and play the game the right way.”

Steve Blake

“It was the little things that got us back to a win. It doesn’t matter how you do it. Get that feeling of winning again. It gets your confidence up and just makes you feel good about yourself. Hopefully that will carry over to tomorrow. I don’t think we played particularly hard but we did things down the stretch to win and that’s all that matters.”

Video: Nate McMillan Post-game

When you've lost five-straight, you'll take a win any way you can get it. Then again, maybe it was better to win this one close. If the Blazers had found a way to keep the 14 point lead they had at one point last night, maybe the Sonics would have came into tonight's game at Key Arena extra-fired up. How's that for rationalization?

Here's the video from Nate McMillan's post-game presser last night. Have a look.

Questions before the Sonics game

No telling who's going to be suiting up for the SuperSonics tonight. The Kurt Thomas to San Antonio for Fransisco Elson and Brett Barry trade is done. Barry's injured, so he won't play regardless, but I'm not sure if Elson is ready to suit up for Seattle. My guess would be no.

And even though it's not on the NBA transactions page, the word is that the Sonics participated in a three-way deal with the Bulls and Cavaliers, which result in Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West being traded for Ira Newble, Donyell Marshall and Adrian Griffin. Obviously none of those players will be available for tonight's game. That leaves 11 players by my count, which is more than enough.

But to the questions. Kevin Pelton, who works for the Sonics, answered a few questions about his team in exchange for me answering a few questions about our team (he also made a neat graph of the Trail Blazers season). Here's what Kevin had to say.

Casey: How does the trading away of Kurt Thomas and the acquisition of Brent Barry and Francisco Elson change the SuperSonics?

Kevin: In Thomas they lose a veteran who had played very well in the middle this season. On offense, Thomas' midrange game made him effective running the pick-and-pop with Kevin Durant, and defensively he is terrific one-on-one in the post and always in the right position.

However, the Sonics wanted to get young Robert Swift in the rotation in the middle as his comeback from a torn right ACL progresses, and playing five big men wasn't a possibility. Dealing Thomas moves Swift into the rotation and gives Johan Petro a chance to start. Petro, in his third year, has played very well recently off the bench and will now try to translate that production into increased minutes.

Casey: What has been the consensus opinion in Seattle regarding the performance of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green?

Kevin: Well, if you want the consensus I'm not really sure, but here's one observer's opinion. Durant has been thrust into a challenging situation, with the Sonics running a lot of their offense through him. The spotlight has been more powerful on him because he isn't sharing it with Greg Oden as would be the case if Oden were playing this season. Durant has handled it all in a manner belying the fact that he is just 19. He has demonstrated great character all year long and his game has grown over the course of the season. He became much more comfortable using Thomas' screens and has made strides defensively, where he uses his length to make up for occasional mistakes born of inexperience and create problems for smaller offensive players.

As for Green, he has been a regular part of the starting lineup since the Sonics last visited Portland in late December. The transition from a very structured offense at Georgetown where he was the focal point to playing a role in the more free-flowing NBA environment has been a challenging one at times for Green. He's learning to pick his spots and use his myriad skills to impact the game. We've seen growth this season in his outside shot and his ability to create for his teammates, which was a strength in college.

Casey: The Trail Blazers went through a similar situation with the Rose Garden as the Sonics are going through now with Key Arena. How much of a distraction has that situation been?

Kevin: I think the Sonics front office and the coaching staff have done a great job of making sure that it has not been an issue. They've been consistent in their mindset that the Sonics as a basketball team have jobs to do and the outside stuff will work itself out. The players and coaches had to deal with a lot of questions about the situation early in the season, but since then it's been relatively a non-issue. I haven't seen any kind of sign that it has been a distraction.

Thanks to Kevin for the great answers. Tip-off is set for 7:30 tonight, and it's Brandon Roy bobblehead night!

Listen: 02.20.08 Edition of Trail Blazers Courtside

If for some reason you missed it, here's the podcast from yesterday's edition of Trail Blazers Courtside, your weekly radio show for all things Trail Blazers.

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