FanHouse JoelPryzbilla

On this episode of the Young And The Cap Flexible...

In our last episode, we clued you into a potential deal that would send Carlos Boozer to Chicago, Kirk Hinrich to Portland, and Tyrus Thomas to Utah, among other moving pieces. The deal was refuted by several sources, but ESPN's sticking to their guns that the deal is on the table, but has hit a snag.

That snag? The Blazers insistence on keeping a phenomenal young player so that they can ... not play him?

According to Stein and Ford (the newest cast members of Dragnet), the snag is Jerryd Bayless.

Will Brinson kicked it at The OC for the Nike Global Training Summit.

Even as his team was booted from the playoffs by the Houston Rockets, Brandon Roy recently received high praise from Ron Artest. Artest decided to give him the highest compliment possible, stating that Roy, not Kobe Bryant, was the toughest player he's ever had to guard.

And you best believe FanHouse (specifically my homie Elie Seckbach) was jumping on that question when Roy made an appearance at the Global Training Summit, sporting his customized B-Roy Trainer 1's. We also discuss his offseason plans, what the Blazers' goals are for next year and what he's doing in the offseason.

Five Things takes a look at five things to watch out for in marquee games with playoff implications.

We've got a trifecta of Game 3's on Friday. We've got an Eastern Powerhouse trying to prolong its relevance, and the new Eastern Order trying to showcase how dominant it really is. We have a scrappy underdog showing you that to overlook them leads to your own peril. And we have a physically and emotionally wounded star-crossed titan battling the basketball equivalent of a populist movement.

So what should you be paying attention to this evening? 5 Things has you covered. Let's talk about Cleveland-Detroit, Orlando-Philadelphia, and Portland-Houston.

The Portland Trail Blazers had a plan coming into tonight's Game 2 versus the Rockets. They were going to get everyone involved. They were going to lock down on defense. They were going to share the ball, shut down on the Rockets shooting, and play tough playoff basketball.

Yeah, that didn't happen so much. But there is some good news.

They have Brandon Roy.

And some nights, that's enough.

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If Kobe Bryant's an action movie, the Blazers are a bad movie cliche. Jason Quick of The Oregonian has a terrific tale about a vicious Blazers practice in a San Antonio gym a month ago. Joel Pryzbilla and Martell Webster insulted each other then nearly threw down. Steve Blake assaulted a chair. Brandon Roy cursed his teammates out. Jarrett Jack started jawing. The whole team combusted on each other, as Quick tells it. And it was exactly what Nate McMillan wanted.

When McMillan finally ended the practice, he huddled the team and released some of his own frustrations. He told them he liked what he saw during the practice, but he was tired of seeing this only in practice. He couldn't understand why the team would go at each other so hard, yet treat the opponent with such passivity.

The Blazers haven't lost since a defeat at the Spurs the next day -- 12 straight wins going into tonight's battle with Philadelphia. Quick unleashes a line of statistics which show the team playing tougher basketball (better shooting defense, more offensive rebounds, more fouls drawn). I'd venture to say McMillan's gambit worked.

It worked for my youth soccer team when I was 11 years old, too. Only instead of hitting rock bottom ourselves, we went to see The Mighty Ducks together. Good times.

Thanks to my pharmacist barista, I feel like spreading more G-ODE silver lining. I admit Portland will be bad next season. Hell, they were already likely to suck; no offense to Oden, but the team was terrible with an experienced/crafty All-Star in the frontcourt, and Gregory wasn't entering the league at 25 points per game by any dreamer's effort. With Zach Randolph in New York, the Blazers were already going to have a problem getting together some offense. Only four players in the entire league used a larger share of their teams' offensive possessions than Z-Bo last season (T-Mac, Wade, Kobe, Melo). Brandon Roy was fairly consistent as a creator (for himself and others), but Randolph was statistically the centerpiece by a large margin.

If Nate McMillan is concerned about offense -- and he should be -- then his rotational decisions should be evident. The assumed frontcourt options are to start a tandem of LaMarcus Aldridge/Joel Pryzbilla or go with Channing Frye/Aldridge. Pryzbilla is actual allergic to shooting; the resultant hives are not pretty, I assure you. Frye, though disappointing in his sophomore Knickerbocker campaign, has shown elongated flashes of vast offensive efficiency. I doubt you need any convincing Aldridge has budding beauty in his core on that end of the court. And a Aldridge/Frye frontcourt could take some pressure off Roy in the halfcourt while providing gazelle-like targets for pass-minded Steve Blake and Jarrett Jack.

McMillan can one further to really give this team an offensive identity in Oden's absence: Start Travis Outlaw. When Aldridge and Randolph both sat during the last nine games of last season, Outlaw averaged 20 points a night on 31 minutes and showed zero hesitation in hoisting up the shots. (In the season finale against Golden State, he took 18 shots and 16 free throws.) I'm not saying a Blake/R.O.Y./Trout Law/Frye/Aldridge lineup makes you Phoenix -- but it sure as heck douses the G-ODEless sting a bit.