Trailblazin' to the title

[JakeTheBlazer]

Reconstructing a playoff main-stay: A Blazer's dynasty

After 21 straight playoff appearances, the Trailblazers failed to earn a playoff spot last season. Through the years the team has been able to obtain extremely talented players but have failed to win a championship. During the mid/late 90's and early 2000 the blazer's boasted extremely deep rosters, some of the players you might remember as blazers include: Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, Bonzi Wells, Arvydas Sabonis, Detleft Schrempf, Brian Grant, Jermaine O'neal, Steve Smith, Shawn Kemp, Dale Davis, Isaiah Rider, Jim Jackson, and Walt Williams.

Although the Blazers teams have always been troubled with a lack of chemistry, the teams were able to make the playoffs until last season when the Blazer players started having more problems than just a simple lack of team chemistry. Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Rubben Patterson, Qyntel Woods, Zach Randolph, and Damon Stoudamire have all had run ins with the law. My goal for this dynasty is to repair the Blazer's image and get them back into the playoffs and hopefully a championship and with that....

TEAM ROSTER
33 Shareef Abdur-Rahim F
1 Derek Anderson G
14 Richie Frahm G
38 Viktor Khryapa F
23 Darius Miles F/G
25 Travis Outlaw F
21 Ruben Patterson F/G
10 Joel Przybilla C
50 Zach Randolph F
42 Theo Ratliff C/F
3 Damon Stoudamire G
31 Sebastian Telfair G
19 Nick Van Exel G

STARTING 5
C - Theo Ratliff

Strengths - Great Shot Blocker and Rebounder. Extremely Athletic and finishes well around the rim.

Weakness - Has become extremely injury prone over the past several years. How many minutes can we play him?

Future with the Blazers - Theo is without a doubt the best center we have on the roster, with Przybilla being are only other true center, but with questions about his durability I dont think he is worth the $10.94 million dollars he's being paid. Hopefully he doesn't get injured for a long period of time and other teams will find an interest him and I can trade him at some point, if I can't find a trade i like, i will probably not resign him during the off season and just free up some cap room.

PF - Zach Randolph

Strengths - Very strong low post player. Uses his body well on the blocks to get himself easy buckets. Has a good jumper from about 12 ft. outside the basket. Runs the floor well for a big man.

Weakness - Attitude problem. Sucker punched Ruben Patterson during a team practice. Doesn't pass well out of double teams.

Future with the Blazers - Only has the starting spot to show case his talent. He is one of the reasons that the team has such a bad image. Was suspected of lying to police for his brother. I do not want him on the team next season. He is in the last year of his rookie contract and the organization is hoping that he has a great year so that we may sign and trade him at the end of the season.

SF - Shareef Abdur-Rahim

Strengths - Athletic big man. Nice outside jump shot almost out to the 3pt line. Has a nice little post up game.

Weakness - Playing out of position at the 3 makes him a liability on defense, and he some what undersized at the 4 which also causes some problems on defense. Puts up very nice stats, but always on bad teams (grizzlies, hawks, blazers)

Future with the Blazers - After trading Zach randolph at the end of the season and barring an injury free season, we plan on resigning Shareef and give him the starting 4 spot. He is someone we would like to build around.

SG - Derek Anderson

Strengths - Extremely athletic swingman. Gets to the basket with ease and finishes with viscious dunks.

Weakness - Not a great defender or jump shooter. Attitude is sometimes questionable.

Future with Blazers - The only reason he's starting over Darius Miles is because we're shopping him to other teams. Ideally we'd like to trade him before the trade deadline for someone with an expiring contract, but if that doesn't happen we hope that darius miles will earn the starting 2 spot. Anderson should ideally be a 6th or 7th man.

PG - Nick Van Exel

Strengths - NBA veteran with tons of experience. Excellent at driving the lane and finishing. Great jump shooter. Extremely Clutch

Weakness - Age could be a factor in his conditioning, may not be able to play many minutes. Some what small, may be a liability on defense at times.

Future with the Blazers - Mentor for Sebastian Telfair for the season...Is in the last year of his contract, depending on the kind of year he has and what kind of money he asks for we may resign him to continue work with Sebastian Telfair. If he asks for too much money or too long of a deal he will not be resigned and we'll just use his $11.82 million dollar contract to clear up cap space

[JakeTheBlazer]

KEY ROLE PLAYERS
Sebastian Telfair PG

The franchise took a huge risk when they drafted Telfair with the 13th pick of the draft. Cousin of NBA all-star Stephon Marbury. Extremely quick, owns a nice handle, sees the court EXTREMELY well. Definetly needs to get stronger and of course get some experience running the point for an NBA team. Future of the Blazers franchise.

Darius Miles PG/SG/SF

Some what troubled player who was drafted 3rd staight out of high school. Has played for three teams (Clippers, Cavs, Blazers) but hasn't yet reached his full potential. Extremely athletic, and the teams best perimeter defender. Can play multiple positions (1,2,3) Some call him a bust, but you have to remember it took kobe, tracy, and jermaine, several years to maxamize their potential. The franchise is hoping that he'll become a positive contributor to the team for years to come.

Joel Pryzbilla C

Portland's only other true center behind Theo Ratliff. Can play a few quality minutes backing up the center position. Can come in and block a few shots and grab a few rebounds. Absolutely no offensive game, scores off tip-ins.

Ruben Patterson SF/PF

The supposed "Kobe Stopper." Too much talk, too little results. Brings a lot of energy to the game, but not extremely skilled. Doens't have the offensive skills to play the 3, and not big enough to produce much at the 4. Will probably back up zach at the 4 for most of the season.

Viktor Khryapa SF/SG

Rookie drafted in the late first round. Not quite sure what he'll beable to bring to the table. The team is hoping that he can develop a shooting guard type game, has great size for the 2 at 6'9, and has the skills to do it.

Travis Outlaw SF

The second highschool swing man on the blazer roster. Drafted out of highschool a couple years ago, has potential to be a very good contributor in the future. Hopefully doesn't become Jermaine O'neal 2 for the Blazers.

Richie Frahm SG/SF

Signed as a free agent after spending some time with super sonics. Great shooter. Maybe can become a kyle korver/steve kerr type spot up 3 point shooter?

THE INJURED LIST
Damon Stoudamire PG

"Mighty Mouse"...undersized point guard with bad attitude and drug problem, put him on the DL to allow Sebastian Telfair to get minutes running the team. May trade him before deadline if the right deal comes along, otherwise we'll just let him walk.

[JakeTheBlazer]

FREE AGENT SIGNING

The Blazers have come to an agreement with Jelani McCoy, a Center out of UCLA who has a few years of NBA experience (Sonics, Raptors, Cavs, Lakers) Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.



Jelani McCoy adds some depth to an already thin front line. To make room on the active roster, Richie Frahm has been placed on the injured list.

[JakeTheBlazer]

Week 1: California Love, Opening Week

at

Blazer Starters


Warrior Starters


THE MATCHUPS (Player w/advantage in Red)
Theo Ratliff vs. Adonal Foyle (Draw)
Pretty much a draw at the center position, with maybe Ratliff having a slight advantage offensively and athletically. Both are great rebounders, shot blockers, and low-post defenders.

Zach Randolph vs. Troy Murphy (Draw)
Both players excel at different areas of the game. For the Blazers to stand a chance of beating the rebuilt warriors, Zebo is going to have to dominate Murphy in the paint. Randolph should definetly have an advantage in the paint, but if Troy is hitting his outside shot, which does go out to three point range, the Blazers better be ready to counter with something.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim vs. Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Same situation as the power forward spot. Reef has an advantage in the paint where he has a size and strength advantage, and Lil' Dun has an advantage on the perimeter.

Derek Anderson vs. Jason Richardson
Advantage goes to the Warriors, Richardson easily matches Anderson's athleticism, has a better outside shot than DA, and is bigger and stronger. J-Rich is also a stronger defender.

Nick Van Exel vs. Baron Davis
Advantage goes to the Warriors again. Baron Davis does almost everything better than nick the quick, and is much bigger and stronger than nick. Nick Van Exel is a much better clutch shooter than B diddy, but it probably won't have an affect on the out come of this game.

Blazers Bench vs. Warriors Bench
Sebastian Telfair will probably be outplayed by Nba champion derek fischer, and the blazers lack any kind of back up big men that can match up against the size of the warrior reserves. The warriors have three european big men that could outplay any big man on the blazers bench (Biendris, Cabarkapa, & Tskitozvili)

Key Match Up
vs.
If Shareef Abdur-Rahim can dominate Lil'Dun like he is capable of, the Blazers stand a chance of keeping up with the high octane Warriors.

Projected Winner: Golden State Warriors
The Warriors backcourt and bench are just too strong for the Blazers. The Warriors should win quite easily.

[Mark.]

Im liking this one keep it going, I liked the player evaluations.

I take it this is a console one??

[JakeTheBlazer]

FINAL SCORE: Blazers 79 - Warriors 83

Winners:



As projected, the Warriors come away with a 4 point win. 5 Warrior players scored in double digits. J-Rich & Lil' Dun led the way with 16 points apiece. Derek Fischer came off the bench to score 12 points.

Derek Anderson led the way for the Blazers with 21 points. Unfortunately it took him 27 shots to get there, and 17 of those shots were 3's. He hit 7 for 27 from the field. Zach Randolph was held to 14 points but also grabbed 13 boards before fouling out.

Game Leaders:
Points:

Led all players with 21 points

Rebounds:

Both players grabbed 13 rebounds apiece.

Assists:

Both point gods dished out 5 assists. Telfair showed flashes of why he was picked 13 in the draft, dropping 5 dimes in only 19 minutes of play, and leading the team in this category.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Baron Davis

The Compoton California point guard scored 14 points on 7-12 shooting, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, and had 3 steals, while only turning the ball over 2 times.

[JakeTheBlazer]

Im liking this one keep it going, I liked the player evaluations.

I take it this is a console one??

thanks, yeah, i have live on xbox so i wont beable to put up all the nice graphics, but i'm gonna try do the best i can do.

[JakeTheBlazer]

WEEK 1: California Love Continued

(1-0) at (0-1)

Starters




THE MATCHUPS(Player w/advantage in Red)
Chris Kaman vs Theo Ratliff
Ratliff is better at every aspect of the game except the perimeter game.

Elton Brand vs Zach Randolph
Zach Randolph is good...Elton Brand is better...at everything.

Corey Maggette vs Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Maggette is superior in terms of altheticism, but lacks a consistent jump shot. Even if he blows by Reef he'll have to take a shot against Ratliff, who'll be able to provide help defense since he doesnt have to keep a close on Kaman. Abdur-Rahim should be able to take Magette anytime he wants to in the post.

Kerry Kittles vs Derek Anderson
Kittles runs and shoots threes, that's about it. DA should be able to keep up with kittles defensively, and his athleticism should allow him to get a shot up against kittles at any time.

Marko Jaric vs Nick Van Exel
Marco Jaric has a size advantage and could take nick into the post, but Nick should have a bigger advantage in the quickness department, and Jaric isn't the leagues strongest defender.

Clippers Bench vs Blazers Bench (Draw)
Both team's benches has a HS point guard...who will play better? Depth is an issue for both these teams. Bobby Simmons is a nice player for the clips coming off the bench, but his performance could be negated by the play of Darius Miles who used to play for the clippers and may put on a show for his old town. Chris Wilcox could be a factor, but you never know what you're going to get from him.

Projected Winner:

The Blazers should be able to pull this one out at home, both teams are pretty even talent wise, but being at home, the Blazers should pull out a win tonight.

Key Match Up
vs
Zebo has enough talent to keep up with Brand in the stats column. If he can do that tonight, Portland should come out of this game with a victory.

[JakeTheBlazer]

FINAL SCORE:Clippers 104 - Blazers 76

Winners:



The Clippers came in and CRUSHED the Blazers in their own building. Elton Brand dominated the game scoring 47 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Maggette also had a nice game scoring 20 points, grabbing 7 boards, and assisting on 5 baskets.

Zach Randolph was disatrous. He managed only 8 points and 7 rebounds in 31 minutes of play. Abdur-Rahim led the Blazers with 18 points and 10 boards before fouling out of the game.

Game Leaders:
Points:

Elton Brand got every single shot he wanted scoring 47 points on 21-30 shooting.

Rebounds:

Kaman and Ratliff both pulled down 12 board for their teams

Assists:

Both Clippers handed out 5 assists

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Easily goes to Elton Brand. Brand totally dominated Zach Randolph, scoring 47 on him.

[Mark.]

Two early losses, I think you will pull out of the slump soon, I think Reef should be your go to guy, when I did a dynasty with the blazers I found him really easy to score with.

Wat are your settings?

[JakeTheBlazer]

I'm playing an 82 game dynasty
The sliders are Pared's
12 minute quarters
Difficulty = Superstar

[JakeTheBlazer]

SIGNINGS



The biggest free agent signing this week involved Ron Artest, who after being waived by Indiana for his involvement in the Detroit brawl has bee signed by the New Orleans Hornets. He signed a 5 year multi-million dollar contract.



Ron Artest on signing with the Hornets "What can be said about this franchise that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan? It's bombed out and depleted. I look forward to turning this franchise around."


The celtics have come to an agreement with Lonny Baxter, a PF out of the University of Maryland. He should prove to be a decent back up to an already strong front line for the celtics. If kendrick Perkins doesn't show improvement over the next few games, Baxter could take his minutes.



The Celtics on Lonny Baxter "Baxter is a wide body that we're hoping can come in and grab a few rebounds for us, he gives us a little more depth at that 4 position and may possibly see spot minutes at the 5"


In a strange move this week, the warriors have decided to sign Euro big man Vladimir Stepania. He'll join an already deep frontline that already bosts fellow euro's Biendrin, Cabarkapa, and Tsitkishvili.



The Warriors on Stepania "Vladimir gives us another multi-dimensional big man who can play the post and step out and hit a few jump shots for us, he also has experience playing in the NBA."

[JakeTheBlazer]

TRADE DISCUSSIONS
and

Nuggets Send Marcus Camby & Eduardo Najera to the Blazers for Derek Anderson, Jelani McCoy, & Richie Frahm.

Benefits for the Nuggets
This trade would give the nuggets a legitimate starter at the 2 in DA who would provide even more athleticism to an already super athletic team. Moving Camby would also allow the nuggets to give more minutes to Nene who's been playing behind camby and kenyon martin.

Downside for the Nuggets
Trading Marcus Camby would significantly alter Denver's defensive game. Nene could fill in offensively for Camby, but he can't match Camby's shot blocking and rebounding. Denver's only legitimate shot blocker would be Kenyon Martin, and in the west, that just wouldn't be enough.

Benefits for the Blazers
The Blazers are rebuilding this season and adding Camby would add some depth to our frontline. Camby would probably step into the starting 5 spot which would allow us to move Ratliff to the bench which would be a much more desirable situation for the team. Camby runs the floor extremely well and is able to finish around the basket, there wouldn't be a drop in blocked shots and rebounds if he was inserted into the starting line up.

Downside for the Blazers
Although Camby hasn't had a serious injury in awhile, he is still prone to minor injuries that can put him on the sidelines for days at a time. Both Camby and Najera have some what long contracts that we may not want if they can't hold up physically during the course of the season. Camby is signed to a 6 year deal right now and is 30 years old. Najera has 4 years remaining on his contract, and even tho he's a nice player he's a less athletic version of ruben patterson.

[JakeTheBlazer]

WEEK 2: East Coast Swang

(0-2) at (1-1)

Starters




THE MATCH UPS (Player w/advantage in Red)
Theo Ratliff vs Chris Bosh (Draw)
Youth vs. Experience. Strength vs. Quickness. Perimeter vs. Inside. If Chris Bosh can hit his perimeter shots, Chris bosh could easily win this match up.

Zach Randolph vs Donyell Marshall
After last games embarrasment at the hands of Elton Brand look for Zach to dominate the paint against Marshall.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim vs Eric Williams
Eric Williams is a great defender, but lacks any kind of consistent offensive game. Reef is a much larger player and should be able to get buckets whenever he wants them.

Derek Anderson vs Jalen Rose
Anderson is the more athletic of the two and is leading the blazers in points per game, Jalen Rose is the bigger and more skilled of the two and is also leading his team in points, whoever plays the better game their team should come out on top.

Nick Van Exel vs Rafer Alston (Draw)
Both players have experience running an NBA team, and both guards can get to the rim, shoot the J, and dish to their teammates. If Alston plays a bad game the raptors could end up having a very tought night.

Blazers Bench vs Raptors Bench (Draw)
Both teams have very thin benches. Aaron Williams, Alvin Williams, and Morris peterson can all come off the bench and provide a spark. The Blazers can counter them with Ruben Patterson, Darius Miles, and sebastian Telfair.

Key Matchup
vs

Projected Winner:

Losing their first two games and getting blown out by the clippers at home should be motivation enough for the Blazers to pull this one out against a sub-par Raptors team.

[JakeTheBlazer]

FINAL SCORE:Blazers 84 - Toronto 85

Winners:


This game went down to the wire, but Jalen Rose ended up being just too much for the Blazers to handle. Jalen led all scorers with 22 points and dished out 7 assists. Donyell Marshall also had a nice game chipping in 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, 5 of which were offensive.

Zebo and DA did all they could to win this game, scoring 19 points a piece. Abdur-Rahim was held to 13 points but did grab 11 rebounds. We may have to make a change in the line up. Reef at the 3 doesn't seem to be working out.

Game Leaders:
Points

Jalen Rose did what he does and dropped 22 points on the Blazers on 9 for 16 FGs.

Rebounds

After his last outing, Zebo came to play grabbing a game high 16 rebounds, while also dishing out 5 assists and scoring 19 points.

Assists

Despite leading the game in points, Jalen Rose was also able to dish out the most assists.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Jalen Rose did everything tonight, scoring 22 points, dishing for 7 assists, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 2 steals.

[JakeTheBlazer]

TRADE DISCUSSIONS

and

With Ray Allen threatening to leave seatlle unless he is given a long term contract, the supersonics have offered to trade him and danny fortson to the blazers for Zach Randolph and Damon Stoudamire.

[JakeTheBlazer]

TRADE ACCEPTED
Portland TrailBlazers recieve Ray Allen and Danny Fortson from the Super Sonics.

Seattle Sonics recieve Damon Stoudamire and Zach Randolph

Trade Analysis
Blazers side of the trade
This was a no-brainer trade for the Blazers. We had no intention of resigning Damon Stoudamire at the end of the season, and we really didn't want to have an overpaid overweight problem child signed to a multi-year multi-million dollar contract. The franchise made a mistake in trying to build around Zach Randolph.

In return for two unwanted players, the blazers recieve an all-star shooting guard. Moving Zach Randolph opened up the starting spot at the 4 which means Reef can slide over to the four and Darius Miles will move into the starting spot at the three. Obviously Ray Allen will be starting ahead of Derek Anderson, and he and Shareef should form a nice one two punch.
The addition of Danny Fortson, a true 4 who can play some 5 makes ruben patterson expendable, and the franchise will be looking to move him.

Seattle's side of the trade
Seattle recieves two expiring contracts in return for their disgruntled star. Damon Stoudamire has attitude problems and seattle will probably allow him to walk at the end of the season if he has a poor season, Luke Ridnour, Antonio Daniels and Ronald "flip" Murray are all capable of running the point if Stoudamire doesn't show up to play.

Zach Randolph is a young and talented power forward who wore out his welcome in Portland after several run ins with teammates and the law. If Zach Randolph can thrive in the new environment Seattle offers him, he could have a break-out/all-star type year. If he does happen to break out, he could definetly resign with the sonics, otherwise it is the last year of his rookie contract and they could let him go, or they could resign him and trade him to another team.

All four players should be reporting to their new teams in the next few days, pending them passing their physicals

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Ron Artest on signing with the Hornets "What can be said about this franchise that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan? It's bombed out and depleted.

That sounds like something Artest would actually say...

[JakeTheBlazer]

Blazers Make Changes to their Starting Line Up
With the departure of Zach Randolph, Shareef will move to the 4 which gives Darius Miles the chance to start at the three


Strengths
Great great athlete, gets out and runs the floor getting easy baskets in transition, with D-miles in the starting line up there should be an increase in foul shots per game. Darius has a good handle for his size and gets to the basket easily and finishes with authority. He also is the teams best perimeter defender and he should be able to lock down the opponents best wing player.

Weakness
Lacks a consisten Jump shot. Dissappears at times. Still has maturity issues.

Future with the Blazers
Now that Darius is starting we expect him to produce some nice numbers offensively and especially defensively. If he can compiment Reef & Allen like we suspect he will, he will have a very bright future with our team.

Starting line up till Ray Allen & Danny Fortson join the team
C - Theo Ratliff
PF - Shareef Abdur-Rahim
SF - Darius Miles
SG - Derek Anderson
PG - Nick Van Exel

[Mark.]

Nice trade dude, I really like the reason etc you put foward for the trades, I dont think the Sonics would trade Allen for just Zach in real life but it still makes sense with the background you put behind it.

I look foward to seeing how the team plays now, esp with D-Miles starting.

[JakeTheBlazer]

Moving Reef to the powerforward position had a huge effect on the team, and dang jesus shuttlesworth is Buttas, i played two games with reef at the 4 and one game with Jesus, i'll post the results tomorrow whenever i get the time, and thanks for taking the time to read and comment on this!

[JakeTheBlazer]

Blazers turn things around



Over the past three games, Reef has been dominating opposing teams at the 4 position. Over the past week he has dropped 40 points on the nets, 28 against the celtics and 37 points against the toronto raptors, with the blazers winning all three games. Ray Allen came to the blazers avg 28 pts 5 boards and 5 assists per game, he continued his dominate ways dropping 26 points against the celtics and 30 against the raptors.

Blazers Consider Change in Starting Line Up


Over the past three games, sebastian telfair has come off the bench to lead the team in assists. He runs the team much more efficiently than nick van exel, and the coaching staff feels that van exel might be more effective coming off the bench to pick up the scoring whenever ray allen is on the bench. The team has also experimented running van exel and telfair in the backcourt at the same time, and, offensively they make a very nice duo. Another option would be to trade Ruben Patterson or rookie Viktor Khryapa for a veteran point guard who thinks pass first, Telfair still turns the ball over too often and would be nice to have a reliable veteran who could come in and run the team whenever telfair is not playing well.

[JakeTheBlazer]

Blazer Stars Struggle, Supporting Cast Steps Up



With 1.7 seconds left with the team down by 1 against the grizzlies, Ray Allen drove the lane and smashed a dunk on Stromile Swift. And 1. Game - Blazers. Ray Allen had been struggling all game and wouldnt' have been in the position to win the game if it hadn't been for the hard work of DA and D-miles. With Ray Allen struggling all game, DA came in the second quarter and scored 14 points, keeping the Blazers in the game. He finished the game with 17 points. Darius Miles who had been struggling to find his niche on the team all season chipped in 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, and 3 steals. The Blazers have won 4 straight games after loosing their first 3.

[JakeTheBlazer]

TRADE RUMORS

and

There's a rumor floating around that piston's point guard Carlos Arroyo has been unhappy with his role with pistons, playing behind Chauncey Billups and Lindsey Hunter. Some close to Arroy think that he's in Larry Brown's doghouse because of his lack of defensive intensity and inability to play within his offensive system. In exchange for Arroyo the Pistons would reive rookie shooting guard Viktor khraypa and Center Jelani McCoy.

Piston's Side of the Trade
Viktor Khryapa is a big shooting guard with tons of upside and could take minutes away from Carlos Delfino who has been some what of a dissapointment this season. Jelani McCoy would be good insurance for the pistons in the case that McDyess ends up hurting himself and the pistons would be left with Milicic who isnt exactly on Larry brown's good side.

Blazer's Side of the Trade
Carlos Arroyo would provide stability at the point for the blazer's who have been trying to solve their point guard woes. Van Exel has not been runnning the offense as smoothly as we had hoped and Telfair has been getting too many minutes for a rookie straight out of highschool. In the past 4 games, Telfair has led the team in assists of the bench, which is not a good sign for the team. Arroyo brings NBA and Olympic experience and had a very successful season running the Utah offense after john stockton left, he almost led his team into the playoffs in a year when many thought the jazz would end up in the lottery.

[The X]

I quickly skimmed over this dynasty and like what you do with the little recap and trade analyses

am interested to see if you can continue to turn the bad boy "Jail Blazers" into the nice guy "Trailblazers" again