C´est un peu long à lire... mais interessant 
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Courtside recap
BBfan4life´s weekly recap of KXL´s Courtside Monday Night show:
( 1) Mike Barrett and Mike Rice are the hosts tonight. Courtside will be on through out the summer. Rice is saying that he´s been with the Blazers a long time and for 15 years out of 16 years, they made the playoffs and he really misses it. Playoffs are " a different beast". Mike discussing Charles Barkley getting on Tony Parker ( Spurs) for walking in hall with arm around girlfriend ( Ava), hat backwards, wearing a 2-year old Championship T-shirt. Charles asked what he ( Parker) thought he was doing coming like that? Not serious enough: there is a mindset you have to be in for the playoffs. Barrett is saying you need time to be alone, apart from family and friends, to mentally be focused and ready. Notice the Spurs lost their first night. Mike Rice is saying how Pistons have really sacrificed to be where they are. Interesting comment: Rice said that Rasheed led in Technicals again this year, yet it was hardly even mentioned in the press because they know how important Rasheed is to their team. Duncan was even quoted as saying that Rasheed was one of 3 players that bother him the most with his defense. John Nash will be on around 7:30. At 6:30 Mike Rice, JR, who is an assistant coach at St. Joes will be on. Coaching options up next.
( 2) Rice discussing Lakers game, playing all of their big-guns, yet our young guys beat them: Opened up everybody´s eyes as to what these young guys are doing and can do. Regarding coaches: Barrett saying rumor is that Phil Jackson is meeting with Isaiah Thomas for lunch this week. Rice doesn´t believe it. He said Jackson would never coach for Thomas. He´s just trying to get more money. Will want around &7-$10 MIl. He´ll be back with Lakers ( Rice believes). The coach mentioned the most for Blazers is Flip Saunders; even Paul Allen has mentioned him. Mike Rice discussed his 5 top priorities: #1 John Nash ( keep him or replace him?), #2 The Coaching situation, #3 Damon and SAR: Do we keep them for their leadership? And at what cost?, #4 DA & Ruben. Ruben brings so much energy into the game. Guess who missed the most games of the season? Hint: It wasn´t DA. Ans: Zach Randolf. He missed 36 games, which has to make management nervous. DA is in 2nd place, missing 35 games, and Theo missed 19 games
( 3) David ( a caller) recommended getting Terry Porter as coach, with Clyde as Asst. Coach. ( They currently have jobs. Things change quickly in the NBA though). Rice continues with his priorities: First John Nash situation to get the deals done, then coaching to see who can coach the players we end up with. Orlando, Knicks and Blazers are the 3 teams most on the " hot seat" with the most to get done in the summer.
( 4) Mike Rice JR is on now discussing the transition from college B-Ball to NBA. He said there are 48 under-classmen who are without agents right now. What can the NCAA do to help these kids who are thinking of going out for the NBA? Ans: College coaches would like information to get out to potential players quicker. They want to have NBA Regional Camps set up so these kids can make an educated decision for themselves, rather than an agent making this decision for them. That way colleges don´t lose players like Duane Jones, their 6´10" Center without him knowing what he´s getting into. ( I think that was the point he was making).
( 5) Mike Rice, Jr discussed Aaron Miles; he loves to run and is great in the open court. Rice JR thinks he´ll go second round in the draft. He was part of a Workout yesterday with 4 or 5 point guards going after each other ( 2 on 2), plus 10-15 mins. of range shooting the 3´s; next, pull-up shooting ( 2 dribbles, then shoot). They also do one on one, dribbling up court, then conditioning drills 30 min, and 30 mins pick and rolls. Hour and half workout. Mike said players without agents have to pay for this themselves and it gets expensive.
( 6) Should we trade out draft pick for an experienced player or trade for a closer to #1 draft pick? Rice is saying, " What do the Blazers need?" We have youth. There are 3 PG´s in the top 10. Andrew Bogut, Chris Paul, etc. What we need, which is a shooting guard, is the thinnest in the draft this year. Rice is talking about a European who plays for Chicago, Nocionie ( spelling?) and how great he was at rebounding and scoring; has a Harpring-type body. It´s risky drafting a European, which is why you need to have a European staff to help in that situation, evaluating the Europeans in the draft.
( 7) John Nash will be on soon and they´ll discuss their draft pick ( whether to trade it or keep it). IMPORTANT: Regarding Joel Przybilla, Blazers can only offer him what we are under cap or a mid-level exception, and Joel caught alot of attention of other teams in NBA who WANT HIM. So, we have to keep spending in mind in order to retain Joel! That´s got to be a top priority!
( 8) John Nash is on. They´re discussing the victory over Laker Game: Nash is explaining how we couldn´t make the playoffs, so the decision was made to develop the young guys, which was a hard decision for the veterans to take. But at that Laker game, it validated that they ( young guys) benefited from the experience. Nash: " HA has a tremendous up-side. If he was on a college campus, he´d be great and that is his situation" ( age wise). He´d been producing in practice and it was nice to see him do it in a game. Mike asked John if it´s difficult for him to do his job with questions about whether he´ll stay here or not, hanging over his head? Nash said only when he has to publically discuss it. ( ha). Anyway, he´s under contract until June 30th, and it´s such a busy time of year, he doesn´t have time to worry about it. There´s the Draft preparation, setting up meeting with Free Agents, playing in Las Vegas this summer, etc. Regarding a new coach: Nash: " It´s a critical and important decision and one of the hardest things to do. I favor an up and down style of play like Seattle, but we would like to get the Best coach and let him fashion the team accordingly. There´s more than one way to skin a cat. We´d like to get someone who can teach and also be a strong disciplinarian. We´ve been contacted by several coaches who are interested, so we will have several to choose from."
( 9) Nash to Telfair: " You don´t have to be 30 years old to be a leader. If your game is good enough and if you have the willingness..." No question that Telfair is going to be a " leader", but how soon he´s not sure yet. How does Darius fit into this picture? Ans. " He´s the biggest challenge the next coach will have to work it. He and Bonzi are similar. Mo Cheeks said that Bonzi could be great one night and not produce another. Darius is like that. He´s young enough you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he´s been around long enough that he needs to be more consistent." Who is our trade bait? Nash: " Mostly, you get the phone calls for guys you don´t want to trade: Interest in Telfair, Outlaw and Kryappa. We´re not going to get too involved in trading those guys. There is interest in Van Exel´s contract, but some are bad contracts in return." Joel will generate alot of interest, but Nash said he does not want to trade him. Someone told Nash that he was a genius for signing up Joel, and Nash replied if he were a genius, he´d have signed him for 3 years ( not 2). ha ha.
( 10) John Nash going to Russia to watch Sergi Monya ( sp?). His team will make the Final 4. Different topic: There may have been disappoint over us not getting Vince Carter when you see how well he´s playing and what he´s doing now. But when you look ahead, Telfair, Outlaw, and Kryappa wouldn´t have played much if we´d have gotten Carter; We still wouldn´t know what we´ve got in those players. It would have been good for us for the short-term, but looking into the future, we are molding the future. Need patience for that. Rice is saying that we need a PG with veteran experience to help out Telfair. Replaceing DA at this time may not be worth it; saving money is going to be important ( remember, we´ll need some to retain Joel). Can´t make a bad decision now. In two years, Outlaw, Kryappa and Ha are going to be a " Player" in the NBA. We have a lot of 3´s; if we bring in Michael Redd, we´ll be stunting Outlaw´s playing time. Question for Rice: Would you trade NVE´s expiring contract and 1st pick for Michael Redd? Ans: He´d rather have Joe Johnson ( fits into our style of play). They need a shot-blocker, so maybe we could trade Theo for Joe Johnson ( they have a lot of 2´s). Rice and Barrett love Joe Johnson.
( 11) Miles is getting married this summer! Will that help mature him? Will he get it? Rice is saying you look around the NBA at teams with chemistry and trust, and he just doesn´t know if it´s there ( concerning Miles). Alot may depend on the new coach and what he´s able to do with him. Rice goes back and forth, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because he´s only 23. ( But you can sure hear the doubts in their voices).
( 12) Great players difficult to play with: Iverson and Marbury because they have so much talent and are not surrounded by great talent, so they feel they have to get the job done themselves. Is that stepping up or being selfish? Miles is the same way - can be selfish with ball wanting to get it done himself. Well, that´s it for Courtside tonight!
La stat du jour: 78.5%
Il a des qualités défensives d´accord mais de là à le mettre devant Tim Duncan, Camby ou Shaq, il y a un pas qu´il ne faudrait pas franchir.
mais ça me rappel quelque chose...
