Blazers

Cliff Pfenning

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Last seen: 9 hours 38 min ago

Joined: 2010-07-01

Rich Cho, we hardly knew ye.

It took less than a year for the Portland Trail Blazers to hire and then fire Cho as general manager of the team, which the team announced Monday.

"The fit between Rich and our team simply wasn't right," Trail Blazers team president Larry Miller said in a statement from the team. "This was a tough move because I respect Rich and he's a good person with many strong skills. But it simply wasn't a good match."

Chad Buchanan, the team's college scouting director, will serve as acting GM until a permanent replacement is hired, the team said.

Miller's statement is a hard one to digest because Cho seemed to be a perfect fit for the franchise. He was hired in part because of his knowledge of how to use a spreadsheet, which just screams “Microsoft.” And he absolutely stayed out of the limelight, which the Blazers do on a national level.

If it wasn't his call to snag Gerald Wallace from Charlotte, then he still had some kind of input there (or he stayed out of the way enough) so the deal would happen.

Wow. Maybe the team expects the upcoming draft, a month away, to be so lame it doesn't need a GM and is looking to save money on the salary it was paying for that position.

Team owner Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft, put a peaceful spin on the announcement, less than a month after the Blazers lost in the first round of the NBA Playoffs for the third straight season.

"This decision, as difficult as it was to make, reflects our willingness to admit and recognize that things haven't worked out," Allen said. "We're going to be tough on ourselves in assessing what we could have done better, and then go out and find the executive who is the best fit with the needs of our franchise. That chemistry and connection is critically important."

The Trial Blazers hired Cho last July, after he had spent nine seasons as an assistant general manager with the Seattle/Oklahoma City franchise. He succeeded Kevin Pritchard, whom the team abruptly dismissed hours before the 2010 NBA draft after re-building the roster from its “Jail Blazer” years to a playoff team.

So, who's next? Better be someone who knows how to use a spreadsheet AND has an advanced degree in chemistry. And that might not be enough to last a year.

Cliff Pfenning

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Last seen: 9 hours 38 min ago

Joined: 2010-07-01

On nba.com Friday, the league's marketing department tapped into its history of video and asked fans to make a highilght reel from among many of the top moments from the playoffs going back 70 1967 when Wilt Chamberlain led the Philadephia 76ers past the Warriors, the San Francisco Warriors, to the NBA title.

From there, Willis Reed shows up. Kareem shows up, Dr. J, even the Blazers' title game celebration led by Bill Walton is there.

Fortunately, Brandon Roy had a couple highlight moments this year against the Mavericks, because that's it.

There are only three highlights from past Blazers playoff runs. All those playoff games from the late 1980s through mid-'90s - the Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter years - they end up as highlight for the teams they played. Detroit's Vinnie Johnson, "The Microwave," burned the Blazers in the 1990 final. MJ was unbelievable in the 1992 Finals. Hakeem torched the Blazers during the 1994 playoffs. Even Sean Elliott hit a game-winner for the Spurs in the 1999 playoffs.

Utah also reached the Finals twice in the '90s, but the Jazz have three highlights from their runs. And they're on the losing side of the highlight five other times.

Read it here - the NBA loves the Blazers just like the Slam Dunk contest loved Baron Davis ... as a set-up guy. 

NBA Ultimate Playoff Moments

Okay, so what? They're just highlights. Utah only has four total, and three of them are from 1997. The theory here is that the sexier a team is on television, the more chances it'll have to win.

Let's go clubbin' at a bar where better looking people get invited to spend their money on drinks and appetizers. Others stand and wait their turn because eventually enough people will leave to allow them inside.

Some of the better looking people get that way simply by putting more effort into their appearance. This works in just about every field, too. Try harder, get rewarded.

There's no better example than this year with LaMarcus Aldridge. He ended up on the All-NBA third-team and should have been an All-Star. But Kevin Love got his spot, to at least some degree because Minnesota sold him to the world with a made-up fragrance.

The NBA is now selling K-Love, too. Through one of its league sponsors, Love is promoting Best Buy's "Hyper Upgrade" with a catchy video that features him looking like he's going out to a swanky club.

HYPER UPGRADE

Okay again, so what? Videos and fancy clothes don't get a victory on a court. Or do they? Foul shots, the ones a player gets and the ones another team doesn't, turn into points. And those videos, that sex appeal, help make that happen.

Sex appeal. The Blazers need more of it, not in Portland, but across the nation and the online world, too.

Cliff Pfenning

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Last seen: 9 hours 38 min ago

Joined: 2010-07-01

If you’ve been following the NBA Playoffs, even after the Blazers got eliminated, they’re starting to get the feel of something much more significant than just the run to the league title.

They’re getting the feeling of the run toward the impending battle of players vs. owners over the future of the league’s finances. Owners want to make more money/profit. Players want to keep making their big slice of the money the league currently takes in.

Also, Miami is playing Chicago in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Lakers have already eliminated in the West, leaving Dirk and the Mavs to battle Durant and the Thunder.

Lebron is still on the way to his first title along with the other two Amigos. Derrick Rose – the Player of the Year? Still alive with Chicago.

But, the sex appeal of the playoffs is quickly being overshadowed by the impending labor dispute, especially as the NFL labor dispute drags on.

The latest news is the NBA owners want a $45 hard cap on salaries: hard cap as in you can't spend over $45 million. No more luxury taxes and a soft cap - currently it's $58 million. What a change that would be. LeBron, DWade and CBosh can all still be on the same team, but the rest of the team would make the league minimum.

Wow, $45 million. The Blazers were spending twice that 10 years ago, and still didn't get to a final.

And, how about Timberwolves President David Kahn – a former sports columnist for The Oregonian. Shot his mouth off - again - at the NBA Lottery event for the first pick, although anyone jumping on him for his off-hand comment has never taken a charge on a court or written a comment in support of something as opposed to whining about something else.

As for the playoffs, I’ve pulling for the Mavs to meet the Heat. Dirk Novitski and Mark Cuban vs. LeBron James and whoever owns the Miami Heat (it’s not Pat Riley).

Cliff Pfenning

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Last seen: 9 hours 38 min ago

Joined: 2010-07-01

With the NBA Playoffs just beginning to heat up, the Portland Trail Blazers are headed for one of their most interesting offseasons in recent memory, on the heels of a third-straight first round exit, courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks this season.

The Blazers have the potential to return three All-Star caliber players along with former No. 1 pick Greg Oden for the 2011-12 season, but the health of Brandon Roy, the team leader on and off the court, is a significant question as is the health of Oden, who has played just 82 games in his three seasons with the team.

LaMarcus Aldridge developed into a future All-Star when Roy was lost for several weeks with knee problems, and Gerald Wallace, acquired in a mid-season trade with Charlotte, showed off he’s still capable of earning a spot on the Western Conference All-Star team as he had in the East two seasons ago.

Who’s the team leader now?

What about the possibility of a prolonged strike or lockout between owners and the players union?

There’s plenty of debating headed for Portland and its relatively untested general manager Rich Cho.

And the playoffs aren’t remotely close to being finished.

Cliff Pfenning

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Last seen: 9 hours 38 min ago

Joined: 2010-07-01

The playoffs might as well start this week for the Portland Trail Blazers. That’s one thing to read into the team’s’ remaining schedule.

With 16 games left in the regular season, the Blazers are in good shape to reach the playoffs for the third straight season, but the momentum they’ll take into the playoffs is the key to the next month.

Gerald Wallace has a month to power his way not only into the Blazers’ game plan, but through opponents. He’s the key to the team’s playoff chances and there’s plenty of chances to show that off to the basketball world.

Portland (37-29) sits in seventh place in the Western Conference, just two games behind Denver (39-27) in the race for the fifth seed, and three games ahead of Phoenix (33-31), which is ninth.

If the Blazers finish 8-8, they’ll have 45 wins and Phoenix would need to finish 12-4 to match that. Ain’t gonna happen.
Only a complete collapse will keep the Blazers from the playoffs.

That’s possible, though, as the team has 11 games against playoff of potential playoff teams in the remaining schedule, including two each against the top four teams in the West: San Antonio, Dallas, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City.

If the Blazers are going to put any fear into any of those teams, they need to start working on it now.

REMIANING SCHEDULE

MARCH

Tue 15     vs Dallas      7 pm              
Thu 17     vs Cleveland     7 pm              
Sat 19     vs Philadelphia     7 pm              
Sun 20     @ LA Lakers       6:30 pm          
Tue 22     vs Washington       7 pm              
Fri 25     vs San Antonio      7 pm              
Sun 27     @ Oklahoma City       5 pm        ESPN      
Mon 28     @ San Antonio       5:30 pm         
Wed 30     @ New Orleans       5 pm             

         
APRIL
Fri 1     vs Okla. City      7 pm              
Sun 3     vs Dallas       6 pm              
Tue 5     vs Golden St.      7 pm          
Thu 7     @ Utah       7:30 pm    ESPN      
Fri 8     vs LA Lakers      7 pm              
Tue 12     vs Memphis      7 pm              
Wed 13     @ Golden State       7:30 pm