An Outlaw turned good

There is a great article about Outlaw on the front page of the Yahoo basketball page. It talks about Outlaw during his senior year and how unsure he was when he was playing in All-Star games.

"The look in the poor kid's eyes told Bob Hurley that the long, spindly kid out of Starkville, Miss., was lost. Drills? Offensive sets?

Just a blank stare."

It then goes on to talk about what the Blazers have done to help Travis.

"Through it all, Pritchard has delivered a blueprint on how to transform a raw basketball specimen into a productive professional. He cleansed the Blazers of the malcontents, assigned a bright assistant coach, Monty Williams, to work with Outlaw and 2005 prep draftee, Martell Webster, and measured progress over the long run. Pritchard decided that the Blazers weren't going to invest all this time and work and have them finally prosper somewhere else in the league.

Once McMillan arrived in 2005, everything changed for Outlaw. All the reads, all the options, Outlaw struggled to learn the system. He would get lost on the floor, end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. When his mind was racing so fast trying to keep up with his teammates, it was impossible to play basketball with instinct, with reaction.

On the surface, perhaps, Williams' background had little in common with Outlaw's. He had been a 4.0 student in high school, a Notre Dame graduate, on his way to a 10-year NBA career. Yet, Williams' life had taught him that everyone learns in different ways, and part of coaching, part of teaching, had to be adapting to the student."

There have been so many people (me included) that wanted to give up on Travis, but they people that really matter had something that none of us have, patience. It is great to see that the Blazers are tking there time to teach this young team how to play. I get a sense that there is loyalty throughout this organization now that has been missing in the past. I think this has helped the confidence of the players and helps the teams chemistry.