By Matthew Sekeres
So here goes, trying to do Mike Grange justice and look forward to your feedback. Sorry this comes so late, but travelled to Seattle Thursday morning and was delayed at the airport and by traffic.
One game, Five things, v1.24
1. Andrea Bargnani: two points, one-for-three shooting, two rebounds, one assist, one turnover, one blocked shot in 18:48.
Brandon Roy: 25 points, 10-for16 shooting, nine rebounds, eight assists, four turnovers in 39:37.
I’ll be writing a piece for Friday’s paper on Bargnani’s struggles and the juxtaposition Wednesday night against Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, two players picked just behind the Italian in the 2006 draft.
Bryan Colangelo wasn’t exactly thrilled with my line of questioning on this topic and cautioned that you evaluate draft picks after five years, not one-and-a-quarter. He’s right, and he knew darn well that Roy would have a more immediate impact in the short-term. But when BC skirted a direct answer to my question about whether Roy has exceeded expectations in the eyes of NBA talent evaluators, something told me he didn’t expect Roy to be this good this early. Just a hunch.
Look, I still think Bargnani has the most upside of the three, but there is no question that Roy is on the fast-track to stardom. When I asked Nate McMillan if he would take Bargnani over Roy or Aldridge, his answers came quickly and succinctly: “No and no.”
2. The Trail Blazers are going to be sick when Greg Oden returns next year. Heck, they could be quite good without Oden. That was a hugely impressive collection of young players we saw, and to think that some still have enormous room to grow. Consider:
- Roy is good enough that Sam Mitchell compared him to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. 'Nuff said.
- Martell Webster and Travis Outlaw are both high school-to-the-NBA types, and while both have already matured nicely, both can still improve. Webster is a lethal long-range shooter, while Outlaw is a crazy athlete with multiple skills.
- Several times last night, Aldridge looked like a young Chris Bosh. He doesn’t have Bosh’s graceful gait, but their body types and offensive games are similar. If Aldridge turns out to be three-quarters of Bosh, the Blazers should be excellent in the coming years.
3. Kris Humphries’s stellar play of late got onto the Portland scouting report. Before the game, I saw the Blazers’ whiteboard and the messages the coaches wrote for the players, such as: “Humphries’ Energy.” Energy was written in red marker. Humphries went out and justified the compliment. His block on Outlaw’s tomahawk jam attempt was awesome. He was active on the boards again and is even setting screens with gusto. He is also playing within his limitations on the offensive end. That extension Colangelo gave Hump earlier this season is looking smarter and smarter every game.
4. The up-tempo style did wonders for Anthony Parker, who scored 16 points on six-of-eight shooting. Parker was able to take some shots in transition and there were plenty of opportunities in the half-court because the pace was so fast. AP was in a five-game slump and his confidence looked shot in Los Angeles earlier this week in a grind-it-out-affair. Here’s what he told me after Toronto beat the Clippers Tuesday: “I didn’t ever get in a good rhythm. I think I got two open shots and did not knock them down. Other than that, there were a lot of contested shots. I was trying to make something happen but I never got it going. I’m just going to leave that here.”
5. Grange tells me he tries to include one quirky “thing” from inside the arena. Sorry to disappoint, but when the T.J. Ford story broke in the second quarter, I lost my time to go wandering around the Rose Garden. So, nothing goofy for you, but I did see Blazers owner Paul Allen walking through the basement concourse as though he were an ordinary billionaire. If you didn’t see Sports Illustrated’s feature story on the normally-reclusive Microsoft co-founder, it’s worth a read. Find it here.
