Aug 29th 2008 7:00AM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, Western, FIBA, USA BasketballImagine Nate
McMillan’s Olympic predicament. As an assistant on Mike Krzyzewski’s
staff, he had to concerntrate at the task at hand — or at the very least,
keep a straight face — as Spain’s Rudy Fernandez torched the Redeem
Team’s collection of All-Stars (and posterized Dwight Howard) for 22
points in fewer than 18 minutes.

Behind the stoic front, though, he was
going nuts, just like most of the fans back in Portland. From Jason Quick of :
“I’m sitting there (in the gold medal game) with a straight face,
trying not to smile,” McMillan said. ” (Spain) are the guys we have
to beat, but I’m caught. That’s my player and I want to (he claps
his hands twice) but I gotta (he makes a serious face) because we are going up
against him.”

[…] “I was so impressed with him that it
was to the point where after the second time I saw him, I didn’t sleep
that night because I was moving my rotations around,” McMillan said.
“I swear I did not sleep. I could not sleep thinking about him. Because
I’m saying, ‘We can put him here, do this with him, do that with him
and Brandon (Roy), and do this… So he’s playing for us. Oh yeah. I
see that right now.”
So what did he dream up? For now he’s planning on using Fernandez on the
second team alongside Jerryd Bayless and Travis Outlaw, although Fernandez will
occasionaly share the court with Brandon Roy. If Fernandez plays as well as he
did in Beijing (which isn’t out of the question given the quality of
competition he faced), can the Blazers keep him out of the starting lineup? I
like Steve Blake as much as the next guy, but I don’t see how they
could.

Aug 27th 2008 9:01AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, NBA Fans, USA Basketball

Nate Jones
brilliantly surveys the evolution of the player intro. Buckets of fun.
Dwyer takes it to Larry Brown and his revisionist history.
An essential collection of Kevin Duckworth tributes. Rest in peace, big fella.
Wayman Tisdale, still battling cancer, has part of his leg amputated. Best
wishes.

You bring the Chardonnay, Carlos Boozer will bring the artichoke
spread, Coach K will bring the yacht.

The five worst dunks ever. (Needs
more Birdman.)

Aug 26th 2008 1:03PM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Trail BlazersSad news out of Portland this morning, as former Trail
Blazer and two-time NBA All-Star Kevin Duckworth has passed away at the age of
44. The cause of death is unknown at this time.

Duckworth was a member of
the Blazers from 1986-1993, and was a fan favorite who played a substantial role
on two Blazers’ Western Conference Championship teams in 1990 and 1992.
Blazers’ fan Henry Abbott of TrueHoop shares this fond memory of the
Blazers’ big man:
I’ll always remember Duckworth for his starring role in the most exciting
basketball game I have ever seen in person: Portland’s come-from-behind
Game 7 win over Larry Brown, David Robinson, Rod Strickland, and the San Antonio
Spurs in the second-round of the 1990 playoffs.

Duckworth played in that
game against doctor’s orders, and while his stat line proved to be
average, he managed to make things extremely difficult for Robinson, helping
Portland keep things close. Portland found themselves down seven in the closing
minutes, but made a late and thrilling run to send the game to overtime, where
they were able to secure a crucial victory on the road to the Finals. Duckworth
remained active in the Portland community, and in fact “was on the Oregon
Coast representing the Trail Blazers as a Heritage Ambassador” when this
occurred. He will certainly be missed.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed 2008 second round
draft pick Bill Walker. Per team policy, financial terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
“Bill’s hard work and skill development this summer has given us the
belief that he can be in our short-term plans as well as our long-term plans.”
said Danny Ainge, Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations/General
Manager.
Walker, a 6′6, 220 pound forward from Kansas State University was taken
with the 47th pick by the Washington Wizards and was acquired by the Celtics for
cash considerations.  Walker earned Third Team All-Big 12 honors from The
Associated Press and the league coaches as a redshirt freshman this past
season.  The former Wildcat ranked second on the team in scoring with 16.1
points per game which also was good for fifth in the Big 12.  Walker scored 20
or more points nine times and topped the 30-point mark twice. Walker posted
career averages of 15.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in 37 games over two seasons for
the Wildcats.
Walker was acquired in a draft night trade from the Washington Wizards on June
26, 2008 in exchange for cash considerations.  Walker will wear #12.

Aug 22nd 2008 3:05PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Celtics, Trail Blazers, Eastern, WesternThe Boston Celtics signed
Darius Miles to a non-guaranteed contract today, a mere 860 days since he last
appeared in an NBA game. Does this make him officially relevant again? Not yet
— he still has to survive training camp cuts. From the :
“He’s coming to training camp and he’s going to try to prove
that he can make the team,” said Celtics general manager Danny Ainge.
“He has come in for a couple of workouts. He’ll try to make the team
somehow.”
That’s hardly a ringing endorsement, but as Henry Abbott notes, the fact
that they gave him a non-guaranteed contract rather than a simple training camp
invitation suggests Miles can still play. We’ll have to wait and see in
the exhibition season if that’s really the case.

Even if he makes
the team, though, he’ll have to sit out the first 10 games for apparently
testing positive for Phentermine, an appettite suppressant, at some point over
the last two years. Phentermine is a controlled substance, which makes it
illegal to possess without a prescription, and is banned by the NBA’s drug
policy, which Lindsey Hunter found out the hard way in May 2007.Continue
Reading

Aug 22nd 2008 10:02AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, FIBA

This is why everyone’s afraid of
Spain. The team didn’t play particularly symbiotic in its semifinal win
over Lithuania, but the sheer amount of talent wearing Spanish white made that
irrelevant. Pau Gasol, the second leading scorer of the tournament, scored 19.
Rudy Fernandez, who got clocked in the third and looked somewhere between dizzy
and asleep on the bench as a masseuse worked on his neck, dominated the fourth
quarter. On the night, he had 18 points in 27 minutes.

Ricky Rubio
— who played big minutes in the absence of injured Jose Calderon, even
starting the second half — was unspectacular in total. His fundamentals
leave much to be desired at this point, as would be expected for a 17-year-old
apprentice. He did, however, frustrate the spit out of Sarunas Jasikevicius on
at least a few occasions. In one case the elfish Rubio drew a foul on Saras near
the end of the first half by kicking out his leg on a jumper. Jasikevicius
looked like he could stab fair Ricky. (Of course, Jasikevicius often looks like
he could stab somebody.)

One thing which will be sure to cause non-Ricky
partisans annoyance in the NBA: he draws really odd fouls. As a devoted Kevin
Martin fan, I know how rooting for a slight guy who draws fouls with crafty
behavior can put you at odds with other fans. Ricky takes this to the extreme.
He molested Rimantas Kaukenas in the third, near midcourt. Kaukenas got called
for the foul. He looked as if he’d punt Rubio into the third
row.

Linas Kleiza was not a factor, except when he was missing shots and
getting called for a (dubious) “unsportsmanlike foul” on Pau with
less than five minutes left in the game. In Kleiza’s stead, Simas Jasaitis
of Tau Ceramica stepped up, hitting 5-of-7 on threes through the third quarter
for a team high 19 points (matched by Jasikevicius). Jasaitis’s biggest
shot, however, failed in the late fourth, and basically became the knock-out
punch for Lithuania.

Tattoo of the games: Robertas Javtokas’s
shark. It’s too bad the Spurs have abandoned him as a prospect following
his motorcycle accident a few years ago. That tat would fit right in with
Manu’s bald spot, T-Pizzle’s rap career and Duncan’s weekly
D&D game. (Also, in a bit of actual analysis: Javtokas was a beast on both
ends. He and Saras have a strong connection, and Rob’s red elbowbands
definitely help matters.)

The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and
can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA
team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch
streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if
the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet
elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand
— for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma
City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t
expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.

Jeff says: Miles has always been a question mark. Early on he was just an
athletic dunker who didn’t really know how to play basketball. But as his
career progressed, he kept showing stretches of occasional brilliance. He was
still raw and not yet developed, yet for 10 or 15 minutes here and there Miles
seemed like a future star, if he could just learn how to play. Only that never
really happened, because he got hurt, badly, over and over. And fell out of
shape. And even when he was playing well, there was never a sense that he ever
really loved basketball. But now he’s apparently back, in shape, and ready
to contribute. I think the Celtics are making the right move, taking a low-risk
chance on him with potential decent reward. And, here’s the news release:
The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed free agent forward
Darius Miles. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Miles, a 6′9”, 235lbs forward out of East St. Louis High School has
posted career averages of 10.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.15 blocks in 412
career games. Miles was originally drafted with the third overall pick in the
2000 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Miles last played for the Portland
Trail Blazers during the 2005-06 season when he averaged a career high 14.0
points and 4.6 rebounds in 40 games. Miles missed all of the 2006-07 and
2007-08 seasons due to microfracture surgery on his right knee.
“Darius has been in twice for workouts with us and has impressed us with his
progress, health, and attitude;” said Danny Ainge, Celtics Executive Director
of Basketball Operations/General Manager. “Darius will have the next couple
of months to prove to myself and Coach Rivers that he can help us win.”
The Bellville, Illinois native became the first player in NBA history to
receive All-Rookie honors straight out of high school when he averaged 9.4
points and 1.54 blocks for the Clippers in the 2000-01 season. Miles scored in
double-figures in 31 of the 40 games that he appeared in during his last NBA
season in 2005-06. As a starter in 23 of those 40 games he averaged 16.9
points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
“I’ve watched the Boston Celtics play a lot last year and loved what I
saw in their teamwork and chemistry on the court and it’s the team that I
want to try to resume my career with.” said Miles. “I am excited about
having an opportunity to play on a team that I feel my personality fits with and
a team that can have great success on the court.”

Aug 21st 2008 4:05PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, Western, NBA InjuriesIn his first public comments
since undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left
knee, Brandon Roy confirmed to anxious Blazers fans that was in fact expected to
be healthy for the start of the year. From Joe Freeman of :
“Yeah, I think I’ll be ready for training camp. But I still think
we’ll take it slow because there’s no reason to push it in training
camp. I think coach is going to want me to be in shape so I think I’ll do
a lot of off-the-court things to try to keep my wind up. But at the same time, I
like to play just to get my rhythm. I think I’ll be back before training
camp. But I … I may not do as much, I’ll just try to build it
slowly.”
Roy actually spoke about a bunch of topics, so if you’ve jumped on the
Blazers bandwagon, you’ll want to clear 10 minutes and read the whole
article. How many people are on the bandwagon? Consider this: USA TODAY ranked
the Blazers (who, mind you, didn’t even make the playoffs last year) in
their preseason power rankings over the likes of Detroit, Houston and Utah. Even
Roy was taken back:
“Fifth in the NBA? (chuckle) USA Today had that? Wow. (laughs)
Get used it, B-Roy. The bar has been raised this year, and everything hinges on
you staying healthy.

Aug 20th 2008 8:30AM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: 76ers, Trail Blazers, NBA FansAndre Iguodala feels like a new man
with his new contract and new teammates who should take the Sixers to new
heights. As such, he wants a new nickname. From the (via Skeets via Sixersoul):
“I don’t like ‘Iggy,’ I don’t mind ‘The
Other A.I.,’ ” he said. “It just shows the fans are watching
basketball and know what I do. I want to be ‘Dre, that’s
it.

“The A.I. thing, it’s about Allen, always being in his
shadow. He’s a different player, brings a different element. It’s
like Kobe and Michael Jordan. Everybody says, ‘Who’s the next
M.J?’ You never want to be compared to another player [that way]. I just
want to be me.”
I totally get what he’s saying about “The Other A.I.” —
he’s working on his own legacy, not living out Iverson’s — but
‘Dre isn’t much of a nickname. When I say “Iggy,” every
NBA fan knows who I’m talking about. Do you know how many guys named Andre
are in the NBA? Well, I don’t, but it’s a lot, including 40% of
Philly’s starting lineup. Sorry man, but unless you come up with something
better, it’s going to be Iggy for a while.Continue Reading