First and foremost, I would like to take this first part to just say thank you to Brandon Roy. Thanks for all of the memories you have left us with, and thank you the hard work and dedication that you have put forth on and off the court for the city of Portland. I also want to wish him good luck on all of his future endeavors. Roy has made me be able to believe in this team more than ever. It is hard for us fans, as it is for Roy, to come to grips with the end of his career. He will always be remembered as one of the greatest players to put on a Blazers uniform.
As you may have heard we have just recently signed Jamal Crawford. After watching the charity event put on by LaMarcus Aldridge last month, there was nothing I wanted more than for him to become a Portland Trail Blazer. As of a last week, I thought that there was no way we were getting this guy. After Brandon Roy’s sudden retirement announcement and Greg Oden’s “setback” (once again), we seemed to be in shape to make a move. We made our move and Jamal is now a part of the Rip City family. We welcome you with open arms.
This is a much different team than it has been in the past 2 seasons. With Raymond Felton at the helm of the point guard position, this team is going to get out and run. On this team, Roy’s knees would have taken more of a beating than David Carr does while trying to play quarterback in the NFL. The Blazers now have a group of guys that can get out there and run, and that is what they are going to do this season.
These guys are going to have some fun this year. However, you can’t have fun without putting in hard work. Losing is never fun and it takes hard work to win games in the NBA. This is a short training camp and these guys need to learn to play with as a team if they want to win games. I feel that they will be fine. Crawford played with some of these guys in that charity game. I remember how close those guys looked together. This move will not disrupt the chemistry, if anything, it improves it.
For everyone who wanted Crawford to join our team, you might want to thank LaMarcus Aldridge for that. He led a swarm of people in recruiting Crawford over Twitter with himself, Wesley Matthews, and a whole lot of eager fans.
For the fans out there, don’t look at Jamal as some sort of savior for our team. He is going to come in and do what he has done over his career. He will be able to give us an efficient scorer off the bench. But by no means is he of Brandon’s caliber when taking over a game and closing it out for us. With the team we have, I don’t see us leaning on one guy to do that. We will have to do it as a team. Everyone will need to contribute. If we can do that effectively then this team will go a long way this season.
I am excited for this team. The roster looks to be set, as we also signed forward Craig Smith to add some more depth at front court.
Projected Starters:
- PG – Raymond Felton
- SG – Wesley Matthews
- SF – Gerald Wallace
- PF – LaMarcus Aldridge
- C – Marcus Camby.
Then our first two off the bench will be G – Jamal Crawford and SF – Nicolas Batum.
After that there will be some questions as to who will be getting minutes. This is my take on how these minutes will be distributed.
The biggest question is at the backup point guard position. Nolan Smith and Armon Johnson will be the two guys fighting for this spot. I think that Nolan Smith will get it. He is more of a pure point guard because of his IQ for the game. Both players and coaches are praising his IQ. He spent four years under Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), one of the best basketball coaches of our day.
Then we have a very athletic guard with a lot of potential in Elliot Williams. Williams suffered a knee injury last year during training camp that kept him out all season. I believe with Jamal’s ability to play both guard positions, this will allow head coach Nate McMillan to give both Williams and N. Smith a shot at proving themselves this season. I think both of these guys will get some minutes early on and if they can impress early it will lead to some quality minutes.
Next we have our backup big men. Recently signed free agents Craig Smith and Kurt Thomas join Chris Johnson as our backup big men this season. Kurt Thomas will be part of our rotation and probably the 8th man; third guy off the bench. That leaves four sports. Take two away because of Nolan and Elliot. The remaining two spots will be played out by either of the Johnson’s (Chris or Armon), Luke Babbitt, or Craig Smith.
I think all of these guys are capable of getting minutes. Unfortunately for them, only two will make the 12 man roster (only 12 guys can suit up per game, others are listed as reserves). I think it could be any of these guys. The one guy who I think is sitting in last is Luke Babbitt. He played well in the developmental league last season but didn’t perform when given the opportunity in any of his NBA appearances. I think that unless he really shines in this shortened training camp that he will be left on the reserves once again.
You can make an argument for all of the remaining guys fighting for those two spots.
Armon Johnson: He began last season as the backup point guard, but couldn’t hold on to it. If anything, we need to keep him on our bench because he is one of the best hype men we’ve had. He is full of energy and really makes for a better environment when he is on the bench.
Chris Johnson: If we want to play with the top teams around the league, we are going to need his length. He is a hard worker as well. But, we need him to play at a decent level. If we can get him and one of our young guards to step up this season then we are going to be a tough team to beat.
Craig Smith: I can’t say much about this guy. I have never really paid attention to his game. He is a big body though and we will need him for depth this season. You don’t go out and sign a free agent to sit on the reserves, so I assume he will get one of those spots. In who’s expense? That is yet to be seen.
Let’s go Blazers! Let’s do some good things this year.
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