Blazing a trail to Portland, a dynasty

[Shakes]

Oct 15, 2004:

In a shock move, Microsoft co-founder and Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen announced that GM John Nash was being fired after just one season. Replacing Nash is to be unknown Australian Shane "Shakes" King.

Allen explains: "I thought the way Nash has managed the team did not bode well going forward. He's setting the team up to be middle of the road, and that's just not good enough. We need someone who's not afraid to make radical changes. I also think that someone from outside the NBA community will do a better job in not trying to get too smart and over-analyse things on the basketball side."

In a pre-written statement released to the media, Shakes says "To be named GM of this franchise comes right out of the blue. It's a great honour and I'll do what it takes to repay Paul's faith in me. I don't like to use the word rebuilding: every team, whether 1st or 30th, has to be constantly looking to rebuild their roster. However, I can assure you that there will be major retooling of the team the next couple of years. We're coming into a period of flexibility, and we'd be crazy not to make use of it. Let the etnire side be on notice: perform or you will not be playing here any longer."

Former GM Nash was unavailable for comment.

[Shakes]

Oct 16:

In a move that has completely overshadowed yesterday's GM change at Portland, the NBA today announced that it will be cutting the season down to 29 games, with best of 3 series in the playoffs.

NBA Commisioner David Stern told reporters that it is a move that the league had been looking into for a while. "Every fan wants to see their team at their best every night, and we believe this move will offer that. Furthermore, it will lessen the load on players bodies, hopefully allowing us to see the stars play longer. Also, with only 29 games a season, and 3 game series in the playoffs, every game counts for a lot more, and we can expect the action to be a lot more intense. People in every sport have been talking about players being over-worked and over-exposed to the detriment of the game: the NBA is proud to take the initiative in being the first to do something about it".

Reaction to the announcement was mixed. Team owners were generally wary, worried about revenue figures, although none were willing to make any statements on the record at this stage. Fans were clearly divided into two groups. Some, like 54 year old Mike Mathews, a lifelong Celtics fan, thought that this move would up the stand of play, and "help the league recapture the level of play that it had in its glory days". Others, such as 17 year old Lakers fan Fred Franks though it would be strange "not having a game every other day" and that "only seeing your team play once a week" would "suck donkey cock".

Most players approved strongly of the move, however there were one or two dissenters. Timberwolves' player Latrell Sprewell, when asked what he thought of it, said "I just know this is all part of a plan for a pay cut for us hard working players. How am I going to feed my family then?" Meanwhile, the Net's Vince Carter grumbled "Everyone's talking about us being able to give it our all for the entire 29 games now. That's OK in theory, but damn, that's at least a dozen more games than I tried for last year! People need to have realistic expectations going into this." Kevin Garnett and Jason Kidd both made themselves unavailable for comment when asked about their team mates' statements.

[brad feet]

nice write-ups, i like the thing you wrote about the nba decreasing the number of games to 29....
all you need is presentation in this dynasty.... keep it up

[Wormy10]

Yea good idea
Not to bad for nothing but writing

[Shakes]

Oct 28, 2004:

Dear Blazer Insider subscribers:

As you have no doubt already heard by now, the Blazers have aquired up and coming forward and 2nd draft pick Emeka Okafor, along with sharp shooter Steve Smith and big man Jahidi White. In return, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Nick Van Exel and Joel Przybilla will be leaving portland for Charlotte.

We're very excited to have Emeka on board, as we believe he will make us more competative at both ends of the court for years to come. His game is ideally suited to both power forward and centre, and he will no doubt see time at both positions as the season progresses.

Steve Smith will provide the side with much needed extra outside shooting. He also brings valuable experience to the side, and having played two years with Portland in the past, I have no doubt he'll be quick to fit in here.

Jahidi White will provide backup in the big man department, and as his contract expires at the end of the year, allows us to maintain flexibility going forward. Jahidi has assured me he intends to make the most of the chances he gets and prove himself worthy of a contract extension at the end of the year.

It's been no secret that Shareef has been wanting to move on to another team, and as we were faced with losing him in the free agent period, this trade was the better option. Although obviously we'd have preferred not to lose him, and would have rather not to have to see Van Exel leave too, the reality of the league is that you have to give up quality players sometimes. We wish them the best of luck in Charlotte, where I'm sure they will be an important force in establishing the expansion team.

However, I'm certain that once Blazers fans see what Emeka can do now, and the potential for the future of the side he offers, that they will not be too disappointed to see them go.

Best Regards,

Shakes.

[Shakes]

Oct 30, 2004:

Portland 17 24 22 23 86
Cleveland 30 19 23 27 99

The debut of Emeka Okafor was a successful one on a personal level, but nobody could stop the LeBron James led Cleveland from racing to victory in both side's opening game of the season.

From the moment Cleveland took control of the ball from the opening tip and quickly racked up a 10-0 lead in front of their home fans the Blazers always looked in trouble. Although the Blazers threatened to challenge at several stages, they never took the lead, and ended up losing by 13.

The blazers closed within three in the first quarter, and within one shortly after the half-time break, but whenever they got close the Cavs upped their defense and held them out. The key stat was Cleveland's .440 from the floor compared to Portland shooting just .362, and a dismal 6/28 threes.

LeBron James was named player of the game for his 30 points on 14 of 30 shooting. Ilgauskas also contributed 21 points and 12 rebounds, frequently using his height advantage at the offensive end. Okafor top scored for the Blazers, picking up 26 points to go with his 16 rebounds, while Randolf had 21 and 20. Between the two of them they had 13 offensive rebounds and hit 21 of 42 from the field, but it just wasn't enough to overcome the rest of the team's combined 13 of 52 performance.

GM Shakes was visibly disappointed with his team's performance after the game. "We just didn't get it together of defense quickly enough. The first quarter killed us and we could never catch up. The offense doesn't worry me too much: all we need to do is get it into our heads not to jack up so many bad attempts at the three and we'll be fine. But we have to fight harder on D while the game is there to be won."