The Good:

Before the Portland game, I probably would've told you that we sucked. That we were a mediocre team that beat two crappy teams at home, and lost easily to tough teams on the road. What was worse was that we lost to a young, quick, athletic team in the Bulls, and to a tough, bruising, team in the Jazz. We were doomed in mediocrity. Then the Portland game began, and I wanted to hang myself for being right after the first quarter. As I youtubed how to properly tie a hanging knot, the second quarter began. I noticed some semblance of defense being played by the Spurs, so I decided that at least my new knowledge will spare me a few extra minutes next time. 

Now, it may just be because the Blazers play a really slow game, and take their time in setting up their offense, or it could just be the we were playing good defensively , but we somehow managed to make them waste the shot clock a few times during a stretch. I think it's a combo of those two, but with the our defense being more than half of it. If Pop keeps Bogans in the starting line-up, tomorrow's game against Toronto should give us a better idea if having Bogans in the line-up will have a strong impact on defense, and it wasn't just a fluke.

One of the reasons why I like Bogans in the starting lineup is because aside from making us much more potent on defense, it also opens the door for Jefferson to take a greater load offensively (bogans can't even shoot mid-range jumpers), which should boost up his confidence and help him get more comfortable with the team. Having Bogans' defensive intensity around should also inspire Jefferson to match it. But of course, we have Pop, and it is still pre-season early in the season, so he's still playing around with line-ups. I believe he'll keep Bogans in the starting line-up for the next few games and then try a different starting line-up. I hope Bogans shows Pop enough to put him in as a starter towards the end of the season.

Other good things that came from the game include, Parker's "short term" injury. Blair's ability to learn how to destroy other limbs, and McDyess displaying the sweet jumper. Blair is also displaying some kind of foot movement one defense, which isn't a bad place to start. He still has ways to go though.

Another good thing I noticed was that Bonner was actually playing some good defense on Lamarcus Aldridge. Bonner would push Aldridge out of the paint using his strength, you read that right, strength! Now, I know Aldridge is kind of a softie, but Bonner was looking like tougher than Timmy during that game, who simply got out-muscled by Oden throughout the game. Which leads me to my bad things:

The Bad:

We're small. Our frontcourt is not on the right side of 7 feet. Youngevity cannot play extended minutes or he'll run out of gas or hurt himself, DeBeast is a rookie and does rookie things on defense, SAM has yet to prove he can be the defensive presence the front office expected when they signed him. Yawn and Haislip haven't shown much to Pop to warrant them even dressing. However, many will tell you, it's still early in the season. Ratliff will get more burn towards the end of the season, and maybe in the playoffs if Bonner or Blair aren't up to par with Pop's demands. Blair is still learning, give him more time. He mostly guarded centers during college. Power forwards are a different animal, specially in today's game. He also has to learn the system. Same thing with Dice, give him a little time before making a judgement call on his defense. As for Mahinmi and Haislip, it's a long season, and there are bound to be more injuries, odds are in their favor that they'll have another chance to prove what they've got to Pop. So I guess it's not so bad, we expected a struggle for the first couple of games. What I didn't expect though:

The Ugly:

Tim Duncan cannot jump. I know he never really did, but it's gotten much worse. I know he's not in game shape, but after watching the game, and watching the youtube video linked above countless times, it doesnt' seem like he's even trying to jump. This has led me to believe that Pop just told him not to jump until after the ASG. I joked about it at first, but I really believe he's not even trying to jump yet. Is his knee really that bad? Or is he just out of shape? It's depressing to think that as much as we all complain about not having a good 7 foot low post banger to have next to Duncan to dominate teams, we might not even have that in Timmy anymore. I'm hoping it's just Pop telling Duncan to take it easy out there.This could just be that Duncan was matched up against Oden though, who's deceptfully springy and active considering his age lackluster rookie season.

Anyways, the answer just seems to be wait and see. So I will wait until tomorrow, and see for any improvements. It'll be interesting to see what Rage can do to slow down Hedo's pick and roll game. I'm also looking forward to see Dice handle Bargnani (a good 3 point shooting big). Conversely, I'm dreading to watch Bonner handle him, not really, I want to see that too. Duncan should also look more old and tired paired up against Bosh. While their froncourt is probably their strength, (I'm including Hedo in the frontcourt), it still seems really soft to me. Hopefully our bigs can take advantage of it. Our guards are considerably better than theirs though (even with Parker out), so I'm saying we have pretty good chances to win, and feel a little bit better tomorrow. Okay, I'm really done now.