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And tonight is one of them. For an early regular seson game this one has a little extra juice. TNT is here, division rivals with nearly identical records, Oden is healthy and Boozer is faking it still so he doesn't get embarrased by Oden. A win tonight would give the Jazz at 2-0 record against the Blazers for the season series and even up the records for the year 15-9 each. So in anticipation of tonights big divisional clash we got together with our Blazer friends at BustaBucket.com. The following is their response to some questions I posed to them, you can see their questions to me and my response to them over at www.bustabucket.com later today.
Question: Do you want Boozer? Who would you trade for him? His so-called strained hip is getting old. I think that the Jazz are trying to move him secretly while they can.
Answer: We don't want Boozer. He's no doubt a great player but I think his mental make-up wouldn't fit in with the current Blazer team. There's just something about him, the loyalty question comes into play regarding his departure from Cleveland and I just don't have a good feeling about him. On the other hand, we could use an aggressive low post presence who is more physical than Frye or Aldridge. It must be nice to have a guy like Paul Millsap waiting in the wings just in case Boozer was to get traded.
Question: What is Blazer Nations expectation for Oden? Who in history would you compare him to? I say he is the next coming of Dikembe Mutombo, which is not a bad thing at all, just not as big as the hype he gets nationally.
Answer: I think for most fans the expectations haven't changed yet if you're looking at the big picture. Oden hasn't been Dwight Howard this year but he has had flashes of brilliance and he's continuing to get acclamated to the NBA game. I think it can't be stressed enough how long it's been since he's really played prior to this season. He had the entire year off last year, he was injured at Ohio State and then in high school he never faced any kind of real talent. I think this year he'll learn to guard other giants of the league and next year will be the real testing ground to see whether expectations are really being met.
Question: Are there any "Jail" Blazers left on this team? It seems to me that this is a very likeable team with no real knuckle-heads.
Answer: I've noticed remnants of "Jailblazer" talk around the league this year, a lot of blogs and people still think that is a semi valid statement. Frankly, it doesn't exist anymore. Travis Outlaw, the only guy on the team who's from that era had nothing to do with the downfall. We have a group of incredibly likable guys who not only don't get into trouble, they are becoming community contributors in many ways. They may end up being one of the most likable NBA teams unless they start winning championships, in which case everyone will probably hate them!
Question: I feel that the Blazers are a good point guard away from being serious contenders. Having said that would you trade Brandon Roy for Deron Williams strait up?
Answer: Interesting question. There is no doubt that Deron Williams is a stud. I personally love his game and would love to have him on my team. If I were a third party observer looking at that trade and looking at the pieces Portland has, I'd probably strongly consider it. Especially since Rudy Fernandez could play that shooting guard spot. All that said, there is no way we'd do the trade. Brandon Roy is the face of the Trail Blazers. Not only is he the extension of the coach but he is the team leader, the clutch player, & All-Star all wrapped into one. He's become somewhat of a legend already and I don't think there is one true Blazer fan who could part with him.
Question: What would Blazer fan consider a successful season? Making the playoffs? Winning a series or two? Conference Finals? For the Jazz I think we would all say it's Western Conference finals or bust.
Answer: A successful season for the Blazers would probably be getting to the 1st round of the playoffs and at the very least, playing a competitive series. What I mean is, if we win the first round of the playoffs, that would be amazing and would exceed expectations. But if we lost badly in the first round, I think it would leave bad feelings and probably would be viewed as a failure. Bottom line, we need to get to the playoffs, play well, then whatever happens happens. The Portland long-term goal is more important than just this season.
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