Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 3:17 pm  |  11 responses

Steve Blake’s Gone!

…and in a better place.

by Sandy Dover

I was watching “Men Of A Certain Age” on TNT late Monday night, and I happened to check ESPN and saw this: Steve Blake got traded!

Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m taking Steve to task, but it might’ve sounded like that in the recent past. Regardless, in spite of Coach McSonic’s tough man act and “do it the right way” silly talk, the Xs and Os of the game have showed that Bayless was superior when he got Steve Blake’s minutes, and being a sJerryd Baylessycophant of Brandon Roy’s new max-status space bubble and catering to him being comfortable with Steve is worth less than the option of winning more with Bayless.

Again, Steve Blake is a fine player and I actually liked him in Portland, but not when he took away minutes from superior players like Bayless and Andre Miller. Now the Trail Blazers have the ability to play big for the playoffs with Marcus Camby, the godsend big man they’ve needed since LaMarcus has had to be the man for Portland (something he’s disappointingly failed at considering at what price Portland extended for).

It’s a positive for Los Angeles, too. The Clippers get a super-competent guard to back up Baron Davis in Blake, and with the addition of Travis Outlaw, there’s some hope for the future, however bleak and disappointing the set-up may be. Blake probably won’t have to gnash his teeth about his role, either, as he was not very emotive or seemingly content in Portland in this season, despite having a knockout summer training regimen with an ultimate fighting star. Outlaw will now have the ability to get a real chance to flourish without having to adapt to “black team” or “white team” status of Blazers yesteryear.

So congratulations and well-wishes to you, Steve and Travis. Go forth and prosper.

Marcus, congrats to you, sir. You have a winning team to actually play for. Instruct young LaMarcus in the ways of aggressive post play.

…And Jerryd, make the most of your new freedom. It’s your time, son.

Dovi out.


Sandy Dover is a novelist/writer, artist and fitness enthusiast, as well as an unrepentant Prince fan (for real). You can find Sandy frequently here at SLAMonline.


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  • http://fantasyshark.net Mr. Showtime

    Maybe one of these days, Camby will also learn the ways of aggressive post play. Instead, Marcus can teach LaMarcus how to be a good help defender and poor post defender, take ill-advised 3s, and brick 18 footers from the top of the key.

  • Brian

    Blake didn’t do any MMA training this offseason due to his shoulder surgery. That was the year before. He also had stated at some point that he would be willing to take less than he’s worth in order to stay in Portland because he loves it here so much (he even kept this is home base after he was traded away the first time).

    The more you know.

  • http://www.bartking.net Bart King

    Hello, Editor? I’d like to report a sentence misdemeanor: “Regardless, in spite of Coach McSonic’s tough man act and ‘do it the right way’ silly talk, the Xs and Os of the game have showed that Bayless was superior when he got Steve Blake’s minutes, and being a sycophant of Brandon Roy’s new max-status space bubble and catering to him being comfortable with Steve is worth less than the option of winning more with Bayless.”

  • Steve Fan

    you wrote a well written piece. But some points I’d like to address.. Contrary to what you believe, Steve was very very happy in Portland, and was a positive influence for the Blazers. Although i am a fan of Bayless and am happy to see him succeed and have a opportunity to shine, Steve did not take away from Bayless’ minutes. Bayless has more all star tendencies, while when Blake is in the game the whole team is involved. The Blazers played better with Steve in the line up. Granted we needed a big guy, it still kills me that Steve had to leave Portland! I know that he is not happy with this trade. It is unfortunate with all the injuries that the team has had to result to this, but thats the NBA for you. Unfortunately he is not forced to play with ball hog Davis, and a team that has no hope for the play-offs. But Steve is a great person and will make the best out of the situation and will hopefully be traded to a greater team in no time. This reminds me of when he got traded to the Bucks! He hated it, but look, that didn’t last long, and great things came from it! Denver then Portland! Steve will do great things!

  • http://twitter.com/PDXGayBBall dma

    Ditto to Steve. Blake loves this city as does his wife. I’m sure this trade was very difficult for Pritchard to pull.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/category/blogs/san-dova-speak-easy/ San Dova

    STEVE–>
    You know, my issues with Steve are actually issues that have less with him, than with Portland’s coaching and management. I actually like Steve as a player, and from what I gathered, he’s a nice guy (I remember how his parents were on CBS or ESPN about seven years ago, saying how they traveled hours up and down the highway to see him play at Maryland). Really, I look at Steve as Portland’s security blanket, because Roy and McMillan couldn’t ever let him go. When Andre came, he’s clearly better, but he was somewhat disrespected by that whole starting thing. Then, Bayless would come in and totally play fantastic for Portland, but McMillan would say something like, “He’s not ready”, but then Bayless would come in and totally tear into the other teams. Steve was a victim of circumstance, and really, Steve’s a great reserve and a good starting guard, but Portland has better players than him waiting. It’ll be good for Portland, but I hope Steve continues to do well, and he always has. I actually was surprised when Portland traded Steve the first time, when he and Juan Dixon were both signed from Washington.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/category/blogs/san-dova-speak-easy/ San Dova

    And thank you, sir :)

  • http://www.need4sheed.com Tarzan Cooper

    NO, not GUMMO!! WHYYYYYY

  • http://www.slamonline.com Nima Zarrabi

    Nice piece Dove. Steve Blake is a great dude. He loves the city he plays in, is great in the community and serves as a fantastic role model for young kids. And he has skills. But he is not a starter in this League.

  • md33

    I always thought he made a better Steve Kerr type of shooter than an actual point gaurd running the team…which worked out okay, since Roy had the ball in his hands 70% of the time anyway.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/category/blogs/san-dova-speak-easy/ San Dova

    NIMA–> Thanks :)

    MD33–> You’re right about Blake in that role…but it only works when Brandon Roy’s the point guard, and that’s the issue. Andre Miller’s a point guard, and a great one, so if you play him, he can’t play shooting guard, so Roy has to play off of the ball–something Roy can do well, but has whined about to the media and to McMillan when they had him, Steve and Andre as the 3-2-1.
    Really, if I were Portland, just make Brandon the point guard, because he may be Andre’s equal at point guard that way, but if Brandon wants to get better, he should get more accustomed to being a wing and quit sulking about it like has, because he knows that he’ll get point guard minutes any. Again, if Brandon was the point guard, trading Steve wouldn’t have made any sense, since Steve is a combo guard, but because they have two great point guards in Andre and Jerryd Bayless, that set-up had to be broken up. It was holding the team back.

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