Last night in a disapointing loss that was in our grasps mid fourth quarter, our 32 year old point guard played over forty minutes and looked like it he was 26 again. Dre shot almost 50% from the field running up 22 points and grabbing 3 boards (not bad for a guy with a 4" vertical). His ball handling and distribution were nearly perfect.. 16 assists and only 2 turnovers. I'll take an 8:1 assist to turnover ratio from my point guard any day.

What was most impressive to me last night was Andre's willingness to at least attempt to take over the game when it was appearant that it wasn't B-Roy's night. Andre has taken a lot of heat by the media (mostly 95.5 moring show, Canzano, and the Mikes) and even more by the fan's who will bash anyone they can after a two game losing "streak". You hear and read far to often that Dre "came in and disrupted" our team's chemistry that management has worked so hard to build (17 man rotations with 11.5 minutes a piece and letting individual players "figure out their roles" does not build chemistry and harmony). But the vet did not hesistate to step up when it became obvious that some one needed to. Props to Webster for playing his heart out the last two games as well. That needed to be said.

And my favorite part of watching my blazers lose by double digits to a sub .500 team was that JB and Mills were on the bench and on the floor with Dre, watching and learning from him how the position is to be played, watching how the break is to be lead and not forced, and learning the difference between letting the game come to you and taking what the defense gives you. I love that about Andre. We all know he is not that athletic (4" may have been an understatement but probably not much of one) and his D isn't what it was back in Denver, but he might just always have the highest basketball IQ on the court. This is the kind of guy we need on our team while our roster is at 50% and lacking offense and he is the vet we need to mentor our your guards for the next two seasons.

I'm not a fan ofSteve Blake的游戏。就像内特我觉得他太被动了nd conservative when you consider the vast amount of talent on our roster. I know Steve has been here for years and I know he brings a certain level of comfort to the game but he is and always will be a third tier point guard. Jerryd is looking more and more like a legitamet NBA player with loads of potential with the right coaching and direction and I know, I KNOW, super conservative Steve "the yo-yo" Blake is not the mentor for an athletic, flashy, above the rim point guard like JB. I know Dre has more trade value than Blake and so many of you are begging for a big man but this isn't the last season for the Blazers. Trading to make it to the second round of the playoffs, at best, is not worth the following seasons.

This Blazer team is looking at the perfect storm in the next two to three years if a few variables can pan out positively (the health of Oden and Pryz and the continued development of Nic, Rudy, Bayless and Aldridge). If the franchise sees this perfect storm as forecast nationaly, I would be devastated to see our playoff runs cut short as our greatest weeknesses are unveiled and exploited as they always are in a best of 7. Last year we saw it against Houston from game 1. Curtesy ofAaron Brookswe should have learned that Blake is not a starting point guard let alone a championship caliber 1. I'm not saying we need to ship Steve at the deadline or even break up with him this summer but with all of the talent we will have now at the 1 and 2, you have to ask "is there room for him as backup and is there enough coushion to resign a defensive liability that could be and hopefully is obsolete come mid next season?"