FanHouse TravisOutlaw

Cherry Picking recaps yesterday's action.

The Blazers and the Rockets are both playoff teams that have their share of obvious flaws. In fact, neither one of them have any business getting out of the first round this season. But thanks to the way the seedings shook out, one of them will advance by default.

Unfortunately for Portland fans, that team is going to be the Rockets, and the reason is rather simple: This Blazers team is just not built for the playoffs.

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It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our NBA Awards series. First up: Sixth Man of the Year.

The Sixth Man award, as you probably have guessed from its name, is given to the player believed to have the biggest impact for his team coming off the bench. Over the past couple of seasons, the discussion is one that's been dominated by two names -- Manu Ginobili and Leandro Barbosa. This year, however, we have a new group of players in the conversation, and, while the voting was close, we were able to come up with a clear cut choice.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

NBA superstar LeBron James is having an amazing season, having led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the best record in the NBA. This makes him the leading candidate for the 2009 NBA MVP, if not bigger, Fabio-like levels of stardom. In this video we catch up with LeBron to hear what he thinks about the award, as well as the Fabio comparison. Plus, we ask LeBron who he pick if he had a vote. We also hear from Al Thornton, Steve Blake, Nicolas Batum and Travis Outlaw, and get their picks for the 2009 MVP too.

Check out the video after the jump.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Go ahead, keep offering up your qualifier-laden assertions that Kobe is the greatest. The most current line: "Kobe is the best closer." Yet anyone who watched LeBron James single-handedly beat the Blazers late Thursday would disagree.

Travis Outlaw had an extremely hot fourth quarter -- 5-of-5 FGs, 11 points -- until LeBron switched onto him late. From there, Outlaw missed four straight shots, including a three that LeBron blocked after making up roughly 15 feet during the wind-up.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Brett showed you what Dwyane Wade pulled to end Miami's double overtime thriller against the Bulls. But Flash did a bunch to get to that point, as well. Wade racked up 48 points, 12 assists, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

Since at least 1986-87, no player has gone for 48 points, 12 assists and three blocks. Only one man -- Michael Jordan -- has had 40 points with 12 assists and three blocks. Heck, only two players since 1986-87 have done the 48 points/12 assists bit: Larry Joe Bird and Stephon Marbury. (!) Wade is unbelievable.

Blazers small forward Martell Webster returned from his broken foot Sunday in Toronto. He played five minutes in the first half, but ended his stint at halftime with some soreness. Now The Oregonian reports Webster is back in a walking boot and will be out another four weeks.

By itself, this is not a serious problem for Portland, which ripped through a tough November with rookie Nicolas Batum filling Webster's starting spot ably enough (especially on defense). More specifically, Portland's offense has been better than anyone expected; Webster is a shooter foremost, but the team hasn't really missed his jumper. It's hard to imagine the team being a whole lot better if Webster had been healthy.

Where this hurts is in Kevin Pritchard's private trade machine. Travis Outlaw remains to be one of the few Blazers mentioned in rumors. Portland does have a few other assets: Raef LaFrentz's expiring, self-sustained contract, Sergio Rodriguez. But Outlaw's the man teams seem to want. And through all Steve Blake's success, the talk that the Blazers want a veteran point guard keeps up.

With Webster on the shelf, can Portland afford to lose Outlaw? Small forward is the one position in which Portland lacks remarkable depth. Rudy Fernandez and Brandon Roy prefer the two-guard, and Channing Frye really isn't quick enough to go down a weight class. If Pritchard moves Outlaw before Webster's ready, there's the risk of putting way too much pressure on Batum and messing up the guard rotation.

Since Portland won the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, rumors about the Blazers seeking the rights to Mike Conley have abounded. Conley and Greg Oden have played with each other for years, and call each other best friends. Portland's point guard position remains unsettled (despite the hefty attention paid to it in the draft), and it's believed that Conley is the right guard to match with the Blazers core on the court and with Oden off it.

Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reports Memphis and Portland have been discussing a swap which would reunite the pair, with Travis Outlaw serving as the apparent bait. Woj reports that nothing is in place as the teams negotiate over the extra parts -- I'd guess Memphis requires more assets in return for a still-prized young PG.

If Outlaw is the principal and the Grizz don't get much more in considerations, this is a coup for Portland. Just a year ago, LaMarcus Aldridge was the rumored Blazer involved in Conley talks. No slight to Outlaw, but Aldridge is a significantly better player -- one of the best young pivots in the game. Aldridge's ability makes Oden more special. Outlaw happens to be a decent wing, a cross between a poor man's Kirilenko and a poorer man's Stackhouse circa 2004. Outlaw could win a Sixth Man award eventually, and be a vital cog in championship team. But he's not your star small forward.

That makes me question the move from Memphis' end, assuming there isn't a lot more kitty in the pot. Unless Conley looks even worse from the inside than he does from the fan's view, or the Grizz know something we don't, it'd be a rather epic sell-off to lose him at this point. I understand O.J. Mayo has turned into the team's top option as future lead guard. But Conley's worth a lot more than a sixth man, right?

Danny Granger wasn't the only last-minute class of '05 extension: Martell Webster got paid, too. Webster, a lesser forward with less future responsibility, earned himself a four-year, $20 million contract, one which will come to fruition next season. Currently, Webster is out with a broken foot while Travis Outlaw and Nicolas Batum fill the gap.

Outlaw signed a three-year, $12 million deal last summer which locks him up through '09-10; rumors have placed Outlaw in trade talks since last spring, when his name came up in ploys for Jason Kidd or Devin Harris. The other factor in his continued Portland employment has been his thirst to play a bigger role in the offense than his current status allows; while Webster seemingly relishes the role of spot-up shooter, Outlaw would prefer to be a featured weapon. (This isn't to say Webster has no higher aims or that Outlaw is selfish; this is just an assessment of what each has said publicly.)

Webster's deal does a few other things, besides affecting Outlaw's situation. First, it closes one matter expected to rule Portland's 2009 summer, where several major players are eligible for extensions or free agency. Second, it makes Sacramento's extension of Francisco Garcia (at five years, $29 million) look a little worse by comparison. The market is relative; Kevin Pritchard and Joe Dumars (with the $20 million over four years for Jason Maxiell) are setting a high standard.

Guessing NBA starting line-ups on a night-to-night basis is a fool's game, and today is no exception. At least two coaches have made surprise changes of heart heading into the season opening slate.

In Portland, Nate McMillan has been talking up the prospects of giving injured Martell Webster's starting gig to rookie Frenchman Nicolas Batum. The fellow, a length of rope who whips around the court (sometimes without aim), didn't impress in the final few Portland exhibition games, though. As such, Travis Outlaw -- more of a sure thing -- has gotten the late call to start, reports Casey Holdahl of the Blazers.

In Chicago, Kirk Hinrich has been slated as the backcourt mate for rookie PG Derrick Rose. Instead, Vinny Del Negro has named Thabo Sefolosha the starting two-guard. To be honest, I didn't expect Thabo to be among the top four guards in the Bulls' rotation this fall, with Rose, Hinrich, Larry Hughes and ... um ... err ... (oh yeah) Ben Gordon (!) filling the spots. Hughes is broken (surprise), Gordon is still persona non grata (bummer), and here comes the Swiss Mister.

No word on whether Brian Scalabrine will take Paul Pierce's spot in the 8PM EST game, which you can follow with us here at FanHouse.

When Martell Webster broke his foot, I imagined a world in which perhaps Rudy Fernandez ascended to Portland's starting line-up. It was all a bit tongue-in-cheek, as Travis Outlaw seemed the clear favorite for the small forward job. Outlaw, of course, is a tenured pillar of PDX, a sparky bundle of basketball exuberance who seeks a greater stake in the team's future. Outlaw is the no-brainer here, Fernandez the fanciful daydream.

... and like a bat out of les Catacombes, here comes Nicolas Batum, the teenaged Francais who slipped to No. 25 in the '08 draft after years of lottery projection. Batum will not only stick in the States this year, he's looking to keep Webster's spot warm. From The Oregonian via Blazers Edge:

"I mean, at first it was one day. Then it was two days. And now it's three days. And it's still Nic," [Brandon] Roy said, pointing out that Batum has worked exclusively with the first unit the past three practices.

That leaves Roy with no other conclusion than [Nate] McMillan is very serious about starting Batum at small forward in the season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers, which his a mere 11 days away.

Since then, McMillan has said Batum will start in Portland's next preseason game (Monday at Sacramento). This is a stunning turn of events, even by Trail Blazer standards. Here we have this universally beloved roster filled with award winners and top picks and breakouts waiting to happen ... and a mostly anonymous French kid almost no one has seen in professional game action swoops in and gets a starting job. Has a team ever managed to be a consensus heartthrob of 60-year-old pundits and a cult favorite at the same time? This is some '72-73 Virginia Squires stuff here.