Portland Trail Blazers

Name Height Inches no Shoes Height Inches w/shoes Weight Body Fat Hand Length Hand Width Wingspan Inches Reach in Inches No Step Vert Reach in Inches Max Vert Reach in inches No Step Vert Max Vert Bench Agility Sprint Steven Adams 83 84 255 6.7% 9.5 11 88.5 109.5 138 142.75 28.5 33 11.85 3.4 Name Weight > than standard (in lbs) Body Fat Reach > than standard (in inches) Wingspan > than standard (in inches) Vertical > than standard (in inches) Speed > than standard (in sec) Agility > than standard (in sec) # additional bench reps than expected Steven Adams 16 -3.69% -0.41 1.6 0.81 0.03 0.12 Steven Adams weight is 16 lbs more than average, but his body fat is 3.7% less than average, so his extra weight is muscle, not fat. His length would be described at a little longer than average; his reach is 0.41" shorter than average, and wingspan is 1.6" longer than average. His athleticism is a little better than average, an above average leaper, with good agility, and average speed. Below are the top 20 Comp seasons to Steven Adams at age 19. The 4th column is only statistical similarity. Steven Adams Freshman season Age 19 Player Age Conference Statistical Similarity Andre Drummond 18 Big East 94.4% Joel Przybilla 19 Big Ten 93.5% Evan Eschmeyer 20 Big Ten 93.4% Hasheem Thabeet 19 Big East 92.8% Ekpe Udoh 19 Big Ten 93.9% Robin Lopez 18 Pacific 12 94.9% Jamaal Magloire 20 Southeastern 95.1% Byron Mullens 19 Big Ten 93.4% Terrence Jones 20 Southeastern 90.7% Josh Boone 19 Big East 97.2% Loren Woods 18 Atlantic Coast 93.7% Eric Montross 19 Atlantic Coast 93.2% Ed Davis 19 Atlantic Coast 95.4% Tristan Thompson 19 Big-12 91.4% Derrick Favors 18 Atlantic Coast 91.2% Bernard James 26 Atlantic Coast 94.8% Kelvin Cato 21 Big-12 92.8% Andrea Bargnani 19 Italian 89.0% Meyers Leonard 19 Big Ten 90.3% Bernard James 27 Atlantic Coast 94.3% Very Best Case Comps Andre Drummond 5% Likely Best Case Robin Lopez, Ed Davis, Derrick Favors 15% Most Likely Joel Przybilla, Kelvin Cato, Tristan Thompson 60% Likely Worst Case Eric Montross, Loren Woods 15% Absolute Worst Case Hasheem Thabeet 5% Average Adjusted Stat Line for Target Player Season Shooting Statistics Totals FG FGA FG% 2P 2PA 2P% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% TS% eFG% Steven Adams 1 162 323 50.2% 154 299 51.5% 8 24 33.3% 81 128 63.3% 53.9% 51.4% Steven Adams 2 195 395 49.4% 183 360 50.8% 12 36 33.3% 103 163 63.2% 53.5% 50.9% Steven Adams 3 217 432 50.2% 204 400 51.0% 13 32 40.6% 120 177 67.8% 55.0% 51.7% 3 Year Average 194 388 49.9% 183 357 51.1% 11 31 36.0% 103 158 64.9% 54.2% 51.3% Season Accumulation Stats Totals ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV A/TO PF PTS Steven Adams 1 127 196 327 32 26 66 59 0.54 147 413 Steven Adams 2 136 254 387 56 33 66 73 0.77 166 505 Steven Adams 3 158 268 436 54 35 91 78 0.69 192 567 3 Year Average 142 243 388 48 32 75 71 0.67 170 502 Season Shooting Statistics per 36 Minutes FG FGA FG% 2P 2PA 2P% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% TS% eFG% Steven Adams 1 4.63 9.22 50.2% 4.40 8.54 51.5% 0.23 0.69 33.3% 2.31 3.65 63.3% 53.9% 51.5% Steven Adams 2 4.63 9.38 49.4% 4.35 8.55 50.9% 0.28 0.85 32.9% 2.45 3.87 63.3% 53.5% 50.9% Steven Adams 3 4.75 9.46 50.2% 4.47 8.76 51.0% 0.28 0.70 40.0% 2.63 3.88 67.8% 55.0% 51.7% 3 Year Average 4.7 9.4 49.9% 4.4 8.6 51.1% 0.3 0.8 35.7% 2.5 3.8 65.0% 54.2% 51.4% Season

Last week, we noted that Adidas was releasing a special "Real Deal" Rookie of the Year edition shoe for Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard. Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com has a nice article from a limited release event for the shoes held at Portland's Compound Gallery on Thursday. What took Lillard aback was seeing a line of people braving the wind and rain for as long as nine hours outside of Compound Gallery in downtown Portland just for a chance to buy his limited-edition adidas Real Deal sneakers. "It is kind of surprising because you see this with Jordan's shoes," said Lillard of the people who waited for the opportunity to buy one of only 530 pairs of Real Deals produced by adidas to celebrate his Rookie of the Year season. "When the Jordan's come out, everybody is camping out waiting for them. Whether it's raining, snowing, no matter what it is, they're waiting for the shoes. And I appreciate the people in Portland sitting out, camping out waiting for my shoe." Here's a video recap from YouTube user heskicks. Lillard was recently named "Sneaker Rookie of the Year" by a shoe website. He appeared in his first Adidas ad earlier this year and starred alongside Washington Wizards guard John Wall and Philadelphia 76ers guard Jrue Holiday in a nationally-televised ad that has run during the playoffs. Lillard recently offered a behind-the-scenes look at that video shoot. Adidas also unveiled this shirt honoring Lillard at his Rookie of the Year press conference. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Damian Lillard possesses various traits one needs to excel as he did during his rookie season, but none may be more vital to his success this season than his unflappability. Very infrequently was he unprepared or phased by whatever situation was thrown at him, from lining up opposite future Hall of Fame point guards Steve Nash, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul and Tony Parker in the first two weeks of the season to leading the league in minutes played as a rookie.

Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times reported this week that Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen and his band, the Underthinkers, will be releasing his debut album "Everywhere at Once" in August. Now he's assembled a debut album with his band, with a lot of help from other friends, including Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, Joe Walsh, Los Lobos' David Hidalgo, Derek Trucks, Doyle Bramhall II and Neville Brothers scion Ivan Neville. It's no mere vanity project for the 60-year-old billionaire -- all proceeds will go to support educational programs at the nonprofit EMP. "I've rarely gone a week without picking up a guitar," Allen wrote in his bestselling 2011 memoir, "Idea Man. "It's more than a hobby; it gives me balance and keeps me in the moment, which can be a challenge with all the projects I'm pursuing at any one time... I take music with me wherever I go." Allen told Mike Barrett of Blazers.com last summer that the album was in the works. I've also been working on a new album, which I guess I can talk about. There's a movie called Magic Mike and one of my songs is playing in the background, I'm on the soundtrack. KIROTV.com offers additional details. Allen plays guitar on the 13-track album of what's described as "blues-based guitar rock nuggets." Ann and Nancy Wilson, also Seattle natives who twice topped the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, are contributors on Allen's album. Joe Walsh, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, and Ivan Neville also are contributors. The album is being released on Sony's Legacy Recordings label. "Paul wrote or co-wrote every song on the album and also plays guitar on almost all the tracks," according to the Amazon description. "All of Paul's proceeds will be donated to the charitable organization of the EMP Museum." Old friend Ryan White of The Oregonian reacts to the album news. Paul Allen will release his major-label debut on August 6. Wonder why he didn't Kickstart it? "Everywhere at Once" is the name of the album, as well as something you can be when you have billions of dollars. Here's the full press release if you're interested. Born and raised in Seattle, he started on violin in second grade and played the instrument through the sixth grade. But after he received his first guitar at age 16, and saw Jimi Hendrix for the first time later that same year, there was no looking back. Prior to the Underthinkers and Everywhere At Once, he formed the band known as Grown Men in 1996 and they independently released an album in 2000. ... "I'm still moved by the power of live music," Paul Allen summed up in his book, "and I seek it out every chance I get." The album will not include a Gotye cover entitled "Somebody that I used to Cho", or a groovy throwback cut called "Kevin is a place on Earth", or a hip-hop detour dubbed "It's all about the Buchanans, baby" or a rock-infused version of the National Anthem entitled "Olshey, can you see?" but it should still probably be pretty cool. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

The current Blazer roster consists of 4 solid NBA starters and bunch of question marks. This past season we outperformed our expectations with no consistent bench players. Our expected cap room is supposed to be around $13 million. Slightly more if we waive Sasha Pavlovic and don't sign Maynor to a qualifying offer. Last summer, there were a lot of players who were over paid at the beginning of free agency but towards the end teams were getting great value (i.e. Carlos Delfino, Houston Rockets, $3 million). If we need to get to a 9 man rotation with the cap space we have, we can't spend all of it on 1 player. We need to get value players to fill out the roster. I have looked at free agent players who are veteran NBA players, who would fill roles for our team. Name, Position, Former Team, 2012 Salary Earl Clark, SF, LA Lakers, $1.2M Ronny Turiaf, C, LA Clippers, $854.4K Andray Blatche, C, Brooklyn Nets, $854.4K Toney Douglas, PG, Sacramento Kings, $2.1M Elton Brand, PF, Dallas Mavericks, $2.1M Eric Maynor, PG, Portland Trailblazers, $2.3M Of these players, Earl Clark is going to get the biggest pay raise. He can hit 3's and play defense. If we could pay him $20M over 4 seasons, but slope the cost towards the end we would use ~$3.5M of our cap room. I understand that he is a SF, but I am a huge proponent of playing Batum as both a SF and SG. This allows Matthews, Batum, and Clark to split the minutes at the 2 and 3, with some of the minutes also going to Lillard in a 2 PG set. Also, Clark could play some stretch 4. Ronny Turiaf is an underrated defensive C, he rebounds and he hustles, and somehow he always makes the league minimum. We could offer him a two year contract just above the minimum, and shore up our C position. He's played for winning teams and could help foster that in our locker room. Great bench cheerleader. I was also a fan of Eric Maynor, but would not want to over pay him. There are a lot of solid back up PGs available this summer. Toney Douglas is a better defensive player than Maynor and might be cheaper. but we could go with any number of players here. Elton Brand and Andray Blatche are more question marks. Brand is at the tale end of his career, has lost a few steps, but still rates as a solid NBA bench player. He can play either of the front court positions and has the most experience of anyone on this list. Andray Blatche got out of DC, has played well in Brooklyn, but still has some stigma related to his bonehead moves. I wouldn't want to pay him more than $3M, but would gamble on him for the right price. If we can use our cap space wisely, and land three or four solid NBA players, we just might be able to compete with the best teams in the league next year. Proposed roster 2013: PG Damian Lillard/Eric Maynor SG Wesley Matthews/Will Barton SF Nicholas Batum/Earl Clark/Victor Claver PF LaMarcus Aldridge/Elton Brand/Joel Freeland C Meyers Leonard/Ronny Turiaf Thoughts? The current Blazer roster consists of 4 solid NBA starters and bunch of question marks. This past season we outperformed our expectations with no consistent bench players. Our expected cap room is supposed to be around $13 million. Slightly more if we waive Sasha Pavlovic and don't sign Maynor to a qualifying offer. Last summer, there were a lot of players who were over paid at the beginning of free agency but towards the end teams were getting great value (i.e. Carlos Delfino, Houston Rockets, $3 million). If we need to get to a 9 man rotation with the cap space we have, we can't spend all of it on 1 player. We need to get value players to fill out the roster. I have looked at free agent players who are veteran NBA players, who would fill roles for our team. Name, Position, Former Team, 2012 Salary Earl Clark, SF, LA Lakers, $1.2M Ronny Turiaf, C, LA Clippers, $854.4K Andray Blatche, C, Brooklyn Nets, $854.4K Toney Douglas, PG, Sacramento Kings, $2.1M Elton Brand, PF, Dallas Mavericks, $2.1M

Ryan Beltram of the Eugene Daily News composes a list of five players the Portland Trail Blazers should target this summer, including New Orleans Pelicans center Robin Lopez and Milwaukee Bucks forward Mike Dunleavy. Robin Lopez He might not be as talented as his brother Brook, but Robin Lopez showed that given the minutes, he can provide high energy, shot-blocking and hustle. Anthony Davis missed time this season due to injury and as a result, Lopez was New Orleans' starting center for the majority of the season. A legitimate 7-footer, Lopez can provide the size Portland lacked with J.J. Hickson at center. Appearing in all 82 games, the former first-round pick doubled his scoring output and produced career highs in rebounding, block shots and free throw percentage. He would need to increase his rebounding efficiency however. At 26 minutes a game, Lopez averaged under six rebounds per game. But if he was in Portland, they would undoubtedly split his minutes with Meyers Leonard at the five position. So the team wouldn't be getting a game-changing center, but at least a guy who can fill up space in the paint. Mike Dunleavy Speaking of the Milwaukee Bucks, Dunleavy is another veteran player who would provide much-needed shooting and scoring punch off the bench. A double-digit scorer for his entire career, Dunleavy would give the Blazers 10+ points, 4 rebounds and nearly 40 percent shooting from long distance. The former Portland resident wouldn't help much on the defensive end (particularly on the perimeter), but Dunleavy's size allows him to play multiple positions so the team could put him on the other team's worst offensive player. The Blazers aren't getting big-name free agents like Chris Paul or Dwight Howard. They don't have the money or the desirable location for that. But they do have a young team that isn't far from becoming a playoff contender again. For two or three veteran players looking for a team, that has to be enticing. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen is making the most of his offseason. After recently selling a pair of blue curtains painting for $43.8 million, he has now purchased, restored and displayed a 46-foot tall V-2 rocket used by Nazi Germany in World War 2 at his Flying Heritage Museum in Everett, Washington. Bill Sheets of the Herald Net reports that there are now only six such rockets in the United States and 16 total in the world. Even better, the paper filmed time-lapse video of the rocket being assembled (below). Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen added the rocket to his collection of World War II-era aircraft and weapons in 2003, and its restoration was recently completed, military aviation curator Cory Graff said. The restored rocket was brought to the Flying Heritage Collection museum at Paine Field in three sections on Monday, and crews worked all day to have the rocket reassembled and ready for display today. ... "It's definitely an iconic piece of machinery. It fits very well into our technology theme," Graff said. "It's great to have that as an example of a milestone of World War II aviation and technology." Aubrey Cohen of the Seattle PI has more details. Just like Christmas here, except you know what's in the package," Graff said. And most Christmas gifts aren't 46 feet tall, with the ability to carry 2,000 pounds of explosives 200 miles at 3,400 mph. V-2, short for Vergeltungswaffe (Retaliation Weapon) 2, was the commonly used name of the Aggregat-4 rocket, which Germany deployed in the last year of World War II. It was the world's first long-range ballistic missile, the first human-made object to travel into space and the basis for future U.S. and Soviet rockets and ballistic missiles. Image via HeraldNet video on YouTube -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com (Insider) offers his thoughts on the three best fits for the Portland Trail Blazers, who will select No. 10 overall in the 2013 NBA Draft. Ben McLemore, SG, Kansas (Chad Ford Big Board ranking: No. 2): McLemore would be an excellent complement to Lillard in the backcourt as a great shooter and athlete. His main criticism, lack of aggression, would not be an issue in Portland with other offensive options ahead of him like Lillard and Aldridge. C.J. McCollum, Combo, Lehigh (No. 7): McCollum is undersized as a shooting guard, but he is a big-time scorer with some playmaking ability and mirrors Lillard's maturity and professionalism despite being just 21. Ideally, McCollum could be the third guard in a rotation with Lillard and Wesley Matthews. Cody Zeller, C, Indiana (No. 9): Zeller might not fit the bill of a defensive anchor, but he is a center with attributes no Blazers center has -- an excellent feel for the game and the ability to play with his back to the basket or face up. He is the type of player you can insert into a game right now. Cody Zeller was a popular name among the post-lottery mock drafts. Chad Ford of ESPN.com has liked McLemore for the Blazers in an ideal world. Blazers guard Damian Lillard listed McLemore, C.J. McCollum and Nerlens Noel as his three favorite players in the Draft. Hat tip: Casey Holdahl, Blazers.com -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Timmay I used Excel to put this together because it worked much better last time, but it still has a lot of garbage syntax stuff. So if you would be so kind as to work you magic and clean up all the garbage I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance, ziggy. Some of you may recall my earlier fan posts regarding a comparables analysis of Damian Lillard, Meyers Leonard, Will Barton, Victor Claver, and some of the other 2012 draft class. I have continued to work on my model, and have made a large number of enhancements, and improvements since my last post. A quick recap of what I have done; 1.) Expanded the database of college and European league players, and I now have a database of about 4,000 player seasons. This is basically every college season for every NBA player since 1990, and all the seasons from the best European leagues since 2000 for all NBA players. This provides a more complete list of Best Comps. 2.) I have added to the process to include age, college class, and also player league or conference. One example of how this played out is that for Damian Lillard as an example, Steve Nash became a comp for Lillard, and Jeremy Lin moved way up the comparable list. 3.) I am now including multiple seasons in the player’s comparables analysis. This is important in evaluating how players progress, regress, or maintain consistent levels of overall production. 4.) I have increased the number of comps from 10 to 20, and instead of looking only at comparable players, I am using comparable seasons, so you will occasionally see multiple seasons for a specific comp. An example of the effects of this is in the case of Damian Lillard, where multiple Steph Curry seasons appeared in his top 20 comp seasons. Curry became in essence a “better comp” and influenced the Lillard projections to a greater extent. 5.) The results of the first 3 year projected stat lines have been generally pretty accurate, though obviously not perfect. I would say that they have been directionally very accurate, highly accurate for some categories, good for other, all the way down to marginally/reasonably accurate on a few stat categories. Some players were extremely accurate, other players very accurate, some accurate, and a few would be described as marginally accurate. The marginally accurate were generally due to very low minutes played. I have had a number of iterations to this predicted stat line, and I have continually improved the tool, but it is certainly a work in progress, and I have a number of ideas to make it more accurate. This is still a work in progress, and I am continually looking at ways to improve the tool, but I thought I would publish the results for a number of players in this draft, specifically, but not limited to players linked to the Blazers at #10. I will start with Cody Zeller. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Name Height Inches no Shoes Height Inches w/shoes Weight Body Fat Hand Length Hand Width Wingspan Inches Reach in Inches No Step Vert

In the never ending search for someone to fill our hole at center, Chris Andersen has begun to intrigue me more and more with his stellar play late in the season and playoffs. He is certainly a giant personality (does anybody on our team have the clout to put him in his place, like Lebron or Wade surely have?), and has some things in his past that make you a bit leery. But, on the court he is exactly what we need. High energy, productive rebounder and rim protector, and can finish pick and rolls. Obviously, at 34 years old, he is not a long term solution, but he could be a great stop gap for a year or two while either Meyers or our pick at #10 (Adams) developed? You might be able to get him on a two year deal, with the second year either non-guaranteed or a team option. The price he would command would leave you with additional cap space to target further depth at wing. What do you think? Intrigued? Or, is your brain hurting at the thought? In the never ending search for someone to fill our hole at center, Chris Andersen has begun to intrigue me more and more with his stellar play late in the season and playoffs. He is certainly a giant personality (does anybody on our team have the clout to put him in his place, like Lebron or Wade surely have?), and has some things in his past that make you a bit leery. But, on the court he is exactly what we need. High energy, productive rebounder and rim protector, and can finish pick and rolls. Obviously, at 34 years old, he is not a long term solution, but he could be a great stop gap for a year or two while either Meyers or our pick at #10 (Adams) developed? You might be able to get him on a two year deal, with the second year either non-guaranteed or a team option. The price he would command would leave you with additional cap space to target further depth at wing. What do you think? Intrigued? Or, is your brain hurting at the thought?