Well, yesterday 4 Blazers saw action, but Batum, Claver and Freeland combined for zero points in 21 minutes. (Rudy was good: 19 pts, 5 rbs, 2 assists in 36 mins.) Worse yet: !? Meanwhile, Omer Asik, whose rights we owned but traded (I can't remember for what) is kicking ass, and got 22 and 8 in 24 minutes against the Poles. But maybe he wouldn't want to come over to such a non-cosmopolitan city...
I guess if I gave more than two shits about the Eurocup then I might be mildly concerned. Instead I find myself asking the question, "How does this affect the Blazers playoff chances?". What's that you say? It does nothing? Oh, I see ...
I'm a little disappointed. I like to see my guys dominate, no matter what competition. If I saw Bayless playing a pickup game at the Y, I would hope he would annihilate everyone. However, if I wanted to pick one of our guys to do well, I'd pick Rudy. I'm happy to see him do pretty decently in the tournament.
As someone who picked Batum as a "breakout" candidate, his struggles are mildly disappointing, but probably just a blip. As for the news Freeland has back problems - I wasn't expecting him in a Blazer uniform anyway, but as a human being I still feel sorry for him. Chronic back injuries can wreck a career, and make life miserable even for non athletes.
Batum had a better time against Macedonia: It's a special French skill to be able to dunk AND slap a guy at the same time.
Spain lost to Turkey today. They are now 2-2. Recap/Box: http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/ci...rUf9le2.season_2009.roundID_6328.teamID_.html Rudy had 16p, 5r, 2st, 0as, 2to, on 6-8 FG (2-3 threes) in 36 minutes of action. Turk had 2p, 3r, 3as, 3st, 4to on 1-5 FG in 28 minutes of action. Omer Asik, who Rasta mentioned above did well again.
Omar Asik was turned into 3 future 2nd round picks I believe. Frustrating to see him do well when Freeland is not. Nice to have some talent overseas that we could tap as a replacement big man in a time of need.