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Rival Report: Blazers.com’s Mike Barrett
November 1, 2007 Throughout the 2007-08 regular season, Hornets.com will be chatting with writers from other NBA websites to obtain unique insights on the Hornets’ opposition, prior to home games at New Orleans Arena. With the Hornets hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, Nov. 2, we caught up with Blazers TV play-by-play broadcaster Mike Barrett. Barrett is a frequent contributor to the team’s official website, Blazers.com, including writing the popular Barrett’s Blog. Portland (0-1) opened the regular season with a 106-97 defeat at San Antonio. LaMarcus Aldridge looked impressive for the Trail Blazers, tallying 27 points. Hornets.com: Good afternoon Mike and thanks for joining us. Let’s start by going back to May 22. The Trail Blazers’ offseason took an exciting turn, when they won the NBA Draft Lottery, despite having only a 5.3 percent chance of doing so. How many backflips did you do and what was the initial response like from Trail Blazers fans? Barrett: It was nuts. We were hosting a special lottery-night radio show, and were live on the air when it was announced. A crowd of several hundred Blazer fans were bouncing off the walls with us. In the moments after the announcement, we were joined on the radio by general manager Kevin Pritchard, coach Nate McMillan, and Brandon Roy, who was representing the team on the panel at the lottery. We’ve been through a lot since dropping that Game 7 of the Western Conference finals to the Lakers in 2000. Obviously, a lot of what we went through was bad. That night was surreal, and for Blazer fans, helped ease the pain of being out of the playoffs for a few years. Season tickets started flying, and the Oden vs. Durant debate immediately kicked off. Of course, Oden was selected, and was stunned when he saw about 8,000 Blazer fans jammed into downtown Portland for his introduction to the city the day after the draft. I was the emcee for the event, and was on stage with Greg. I’ll always remember walking onto that stage with him and looking out at the wild crowd. He leaned over and said, “Wow. I can’t imagine what this place would be like if we won a title.” He’s amazingly humble, and was shocked so many people came out to see him on a rainy July afternoon. Hornets.com: Unfortunately for the Blazers, Oden’s rookie season ended before it began when it was discovered that he’d need microfracture surgery in September on his right knee. Can you give us an update on Oden’s progress? Barrett: Immediately after the surgery, he spent so much time apologizing to the team, and to the fans. He felt like he let down the whole city. It was such a blow, because no one really expected that he’d need that surgery. He had been playing in pickup games with his teammates since late August, and looked so good. Channing Frye told me after one of the games, “that kid is a beast, and has no idea how good he’s going to be.” This was after Frye had just returned from Vegas where he was playing against the Olympic team. Greg was at just about every practice during training camp, and has constantly been around the team. He wants to make as many road trips as possible, and will most likely be on the bench when we play in New Orleans. I know he’s scheduled to make that first trip. He’s basically been spending time in the pool at the team’s practice facility. He gets to lose the crutches very soon, and I know he’s looking forward to that. He’s only 19, and the doctors have said that the rest of his knee was in great shape when they went in for surgery. It was a specific incident that caused the pain, and that was good to hear. The doctors rated his knees “pristine” in his pre-draft MRI exams. And, of the degrees of microfracture surgery, his was on the very light end, if that makes sense. He’s taken calls and advice from Jason Kidd, Amare Stoudemire, and others who have had the microfracture surgery. Most have told him he won’t even have to necessarily miss the entire season, but that’s the plan right now. They’re not going to take any chances, that’s for sure. Hornets.com: As an Oregon native who has followed the Trail Blazers for many years, what do you think when you see writers referencing the career of Sam Bowie in regards to Oden’s injury? Barrett: It’s only similar if you’re taking about injuries to centers. Bowie broke his tibia three different times, twice in games, and once in pregame warmups. They were ugly injuries. And, Bowie had a pre-existing condition. I was surprised to hear an ESPN radio host say that Oden, Bowie, and Bill Walton all had knee problems. Bowie’s was a broken shin bone, and Walton had chronic foot trouble. Fortunately, Walton’s trouble didn’t begin until after he hung a championship banner in Portland. The next season, when he went down with the foot, the Blazers were 50-10 at the time. If Bowie hadn’t been drafted before Michael Jordan, most fans probably wouldn’t even know who he is (most probably don’t anyway). It’s probably not fair that they’re grouped together, but that’s how it goes. Oden hadn’t even been born when Bowie broke his leg for the third time. Hornets.com: After the draft, many NBA observers tabbed the Blazers as the league’s most promising young team and a potential playoff qualifier in the West. How much do you think the team’s expectations and goals for 2007-08 changed since Oden’s knee surgery? Barrett: Expectations have certainly changed, at least nationally. Greg would have been able to step in and be an impact player defensively this season. I think he’ll be one of the league’s best shot blockers the moment he hits the floor. Offensively it will take him some time. It’s tough to say how many more wins the Blazers would have had with him in the lineup. Having him would have certainly added to the team’s following around the league. Oden has that superstar aura, and that would have been fun to be a part of. I still think with Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Channing Frye, Jarrett Jack and Martell Webster, the Blazers are one of the NBA’s most talented young teams. But, they are very, very young. Last season they improved 11 games in the win column from the previous season. I am thinking perhaps 38 to 40 wins this year. Most of the national predictions have them coming in around 30 to 32 (they won 32 last season). Hornets.com: One of the Blazers’ other big offseason transactions was the trade of high-scoring power forward Zach Randolph to New York, which cleared a spot in the lineup for 2006 No. 2 overall pick LaMarcus Aldridge. Based on his potential and relative lack of playing time as a rookie last season, do you see him as a viable Most Improved Player candidate? Barrett: I do, and I think he’ll lead the Blazers in scoring this season. Many people don’t realize that Aldridge had surgery on his shoulder late last summer and missed all of training camp. He was unable to do much upper-body lifting, and got a slow start to the season. Now, he’s completely healthy, and has added a lot of strength. Opposing players who faced him in the preseason raved about his improvement. He’ll spend most of his time at the power-forward spot, but can play some center as well. He’s not as good as Zach was with his back to the basket, but is a better shooter from the perimeter, and is a much better defender than Randolph. Aldridge and Joel Przybilla will block a lot of shots inside for this team. Aldridge can also run like a deer, and will allow the Blazers to play a much faster tempo. They’ll look to get a lot of their points in the secondary fast break, and that will mean shots for Aldridge. Zach is amazing in the paint, but dominates the ball, and doesn’t move particularly well. Aldridge is very good at making his teammates better. I’m not sure the same can be said of Zach. Kevin Pritchard wouldn’t have made that trade if he didn’t believe in Aldridge. He has seen as the future, and that’s why Zach was moved. Keep in mind, the Blazers got Frye, James Jones, Spain’s Rudy Fernandez (who will join the team next year) and saved $33 million by trading Randolph. In the summer of 2009, the Blazers stand to be $29 million under the salary cap because of this trade. Roy, Aldridge, Oden and $29 mill to sign free agents sounds pretty good.
Barrett: Brandon is so polished, and so mature on the floor, I don’t expect any sophomore slump or anything like that. The one area that he really improved in last year was his long-range shot. He struggled with the NBA three-point line early, and then at midseason it was like a switch was flipped. Roy is one of those guys who just makes everyone on the floor better. He’s always in the right place, executes everything perfectly, and wants the ball in the clutch. The Blazers have four point guards with Jack, Steve Blake, Sergio Rodriguez, and Taurean Green – the rookie out of Florida who has really surprised so far. Still, expect to see Roy running the team late in games, and starting the offense. McMillan wants the ball in Brandon’s hands as much as possible. He’s also possibly the team’s best post-up player. With him at the point it really creates matchup trouble for opponents. I expect him to work more from the block this year. He’s also an excellent perimeter defender, and got better late in the season last year. The X factor for Roy is his heel. He sat out 20 games early last season when he had pain in his heel, and it’s flared up from time to time in camp. That’s why Nate sat him so much in the preseason. Surgery is possible down the road, but probably won’t be explored until next summer, if at all. His minutes will be monitored early in the season. Hornets.com: In 2006, Paul missed on a unanimous vote for ROY when Utah broadcaster Ron Boone cast a first-place vote for the Jazz’s Deron Williams, which upset some Hornets fans. In 2007, Roy missed being a unanimous choice when Toronto broadcaster Chuck Swirsky voted for the Raptors’ Andrea Bargnani. What was the reaction of fans to Swirsky’s decision? How about your reaction? Barrett: Everyone was well aware of this, and Chuck took a little beating in these parts. He knew he would, but I do admire his willingness to be a team guy, vote for Bargnani, and then admit it. It’s not that big of a deal, really. But, being Boone took so much heat the year before, Chuck had to know it was going to happen to him as well, especially being he was the only one who didn’t vote for Brandon. I’m not sure team employees should have a vote in stuff like this, because of what has happened the last two years. In the effort to be “team” guys, they put themselves in tough spots. Just the way it goes. Chuck is a great guy, and he nailed me on his radio show in early September for nailing him in my blog. With Oden out, we shouldn’t be involved in something similar this year. But, keep in mind, if Oden doesn’t play at all this season, he’ll be eligible for the award the following season. Chuck, you listening? Hornets.com: We appreciate you answering our questions today, Mike. Keep up the good work on Blazers.com and on your game broadcasts. We’ll be watching you and your grizzled TV partner, Mike Rice, on NBA League Pass this season when we’re looking for a late-night West Coast hoops fix. Barrett: The West will be brutal again, so there should be some great games. I look forward to the trips back to the Big Easy, one of our favorite stops. I hope Hornet fans continue to embrace their team. |
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