December Player Report Card
Centres
Channing Frye - A
With Portland going 5-1 this month, much of the credit has to go out to Channing Frye. Frye has doubled his scoring from last month and has been eating up opposing centres with his outside-inside game while also becoming a steady force on the boards. Frye's shot blocking has also been turned up a notch, but defensively Frye needs to shut down and box out opposing big men more often. There's not much else to comment on Frye because he's been playing so well and so efficiently, but expectations for Frye shouldn't be raised too high. Horford and Aldridge are always nipping at the heels of Frye and could just as easily go off as Frye did.
Line of the Month - 20 pts, 12 rebs, 1 ast, 2 blks vs Memphis
Joel Przybilla - D
Pryzbilla was probably activated recently in an attempt to salvage some sort of value for him on the market. Pryzbilla got garbage minutes in the Blazers' blow out win against New York, but if he continues to put up similar numbers in the limited minutes he's given, Frye, Horford and Aldridge might have a minute or two shaved off from each of them to make room for Pryzbilla.
Line of the Month - 4 pts, 6 rebs, 1 blk @ New York
Pape Sow - C
Sow was on the active roster for the first half of the month, but has played in only 2 games and has been placed in the inactive list for the past two games. Sow showed some very good hustle and agility inside the painted area, but he just hasn't had the time or touches to make very good use of them.
Line of the Month - 2 pts, 6 rebs, 1 blk @ Utah
Power Fowards
LaMarcus Aldridge - C-
Aldridge continues to rebound well off the bench, but he just hasn't been getting the touches on the inside. Aldridge seems to be the third option for offence out of Frye and Horford and his confidence seems to have wavered because of that. There have been countless times during a game where Aldridge would allow his opponents to smother him when he's on offence and simply not fight back or call for the ball. Aldridge has just as much potential as the other core big men, if not more, but if this keeps up don't be suprised if Portland decides to keep Frye and Horford and Aldridge has his bags packing to a different team.
Line of the Month - 9 pts, 13 rebs (7 off), 4/8 FG @ New Orleans
Al Horford - B+
Despite missing the first two games of December, Horford didn't seem to be bothered by his ankle as he posted a solid 12 and 9 in his return to the lineup. Horford also posted back to back double doubles against Toronto and New Orleans, but what probably catches most people's attention was Horford's statline against the Hornets; 10 points, 12 rebounds and a team-high 6 assists (the under the legs bounce pass that absolutely humiliated Peja Stojakovic automatically comes to mind). Horford was touted as an above average post passer, but he has been really seeing the court well for someone his size, averaging around 3 and a half assists per contest since his return.
Line of the Month - 19 pts, 12 rebs, 3 asts @ Toronto
Small Fowards
Quentin Richardson - A
Q has continued to be an exellent model of a Blazer deserving an 'A' on his report card. Richardson consistently brings around 15-20 points a night and around 5 rebounds and 2-3 assists. There's not much more we can ask of Richardson except maybe bump up his free throw shooting from 65% considering that he draws a nice amount of trips to the line. There's also a growing trend beginning to be seen in Richardson's game. When he's shooting efficiently from the field (higher than 50%), his three point attempts go down. When Q starts to settle for threes, his field goal percentage dips to around the low 40 percentile. It would be tough to get his three pointer attempts down though, since he and Webster are the only legit scorers from beyond the arc.
Line of the Month - 17 pts, 14 rebs, 3 asts, 1 blk @ New York
Martell Webster - B
After a poor start to the month shooting-wise against Utah, Webster has been knocking down outside jumpers like no one's business. Webster doesn't attempt a lot of shots, but you can tell that he's really buckled down on his shot selection and doesn't just hoist up random shots like he did last month. Webster still continues to unimpress with the other areas of his game as his rebounding and passing aren't really that consistent thus far. It also wouldn't hurt to see Webster tone down the amount of attempts from outisde of 18 feet and use that NBA body of his to draw a few fouls every now and then.
Line of the Month - 15 pts, 3 stls, 3/5 3pt FG vs Memphis
Darius Miles - A-
Miles came back from injury this month and has been an all-around stat-stuffer, giving the team a a steady line of points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Miles also would occasionally explode offensively, with his 31 point performance in Dallas being a good example. Miles field goal percentage has also been killer lately; he hasn't shot below 50% in any of the games he played this month, which is a good sign indicating that Miles is finally developing that perimeter 'J' that his coaches have so desperately longed for him to develop. One thing that is a bit troublesome for Miles though is his turnovers. No other player on the team has turned the ball over more than Miles, and his 31 point game could be taken with a grain of salt as he also finished the game with 6 turnovers.
Line of the Month - 25 pts, 4 rebs, 4 asts, 4 blks, 2/3 3pt FG @ New York
Dorell Wright - B-
Nate McMillan probably suprised a lot of people when he made a slight change in his substitution pattern in a game against Dallas when he sent Dorell Wright out on the court. Being used for the first time by Portland, Wright didn't disappoint as he immediately drove to the basket for a trip to the line on the very first play on offence. Wright doesn't see a lot of time or touches on offence with Webster firmly entrenched in the sixth man role, but Wright does get the crowd amped with his hard-nosed energetic defence that has made even Coach McMillan a believer. Wright's hungry for minutes, but at this time most are content to simply see the young man get some PT and NBA experience.
Line of the Month - 9 pts, 2 rebs, 4/7 FG vs Dallas
Shooting Guards
Brandon Roy - A-
If you overlook Roy's stinker against Dallas, you'll find that Roy has really taken a liking to the point guard position. He has led the team in assists in every game except for a win against the Hornets, but that was mainly due to the fact that he did not recieve a substantial amount of playing time for long stretches of the game. Roy has also established himself as the team's free throw specialist, drawing countless amounts of trips to the charity stripe from opposing guards who can't seem to stop Roy unless they send the 84% foul shooter to the line.
Line of the Month - 20 pts, 5 rebs, 4 asts, 7/7 FT @ New Orleans
C.J. Miles - D
Miles has only played in 3 out of the 6 games this month. Miles usually got minutes due to his ability to float around the three backcourt positions, but with Jack coming off the bench and Dorell Wright quickly becoming a favourite of McMillan, Miles finds himself once again out of the rotation.
Line of the Month - 6pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts @ Utah
Point Guards
Jarrett Jack - F
After being regulated to back up duty, Jack has still yet to find any sort of rhythm. He has scored 5 points over 6 games.
Line of the Month - 1 pt, 4 ast, 1 reb @ New Orleans
Mardy Collins - (?)
Collins tallied 3 minutes in a win against New Orleans, but Collins' poor play at the point didn't help, especially considering that the bench warmers of the team took most of the heat for nearly losing a 20 point lead.
Line of the Month - 3 mins, 0/2 FG @ New Orleans
Blazer of the Month:
Channing Frye
17.2 ppg
9.8 rpg
1.8 apg
2.3 bpg
55% FG
I hope you can start a dynasty for Live '08, I remember your Live '05 (or was it Live '06?) dynasty was the bomb. It went on for like a zillion pages.
Just for that I'm turning him into the next Kobe Bryant and dropping 80 on the Rockets' ass.
). That thing had amazing longevity to it.
