Nov 29th 2008 11:25AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, NBA RumorsSince 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?

Nov 26th 2008 4:44PM by Elie Seckbach (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, NBA Videos, Interviews

On Thanksgiving we all
give thanks, and the NBA’s Channing Frye is no different. In this video
the up-and-coming star of the Portland Trail Blazers tells us about his
grandfather, a WWII hero and a person who has made history in the United States
Army. The reason? Frye’s grandfather is one of the original Tuskegee
Airmen.

Check out the full video after the jump.Continue Reading

Nov 24th 2008 9:00AM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Suns, Trail BlazersA few weeks ago when the Suns hosted the
Blazers, Shaquille O’Neal had some interesting post-game words for
Portland’s Joel Przybilla. I think Przybilla is (believe it or not) one of
the few bigs in the league who isn’t afraid to be physical against Shaq,
so it’s not surprising that O’Neal would fire back at him both on
the court and off. But when the players matched up for the second time in this
young season, it appeared that the two were ready to start the game on good
terms.

Before the opening tip, Shaq and Przybilla shared a hug and a
laugh or two at center court. Given their recent history of some minor
altercations, I found this to be a bit odd, and got the chance to ask Shaq about
it after the game.

His hilarious response comes at about the 4:07 mark,
right after he’s done admiring my iPhone, which I use to record the
players’ postgame comments.Continue Reading

Nov 23rd 2008 2:30AM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA Last NightThe Suns had an important game
at home against the Blazers, needing to get back on track after losing their
last time out to the Lakers. But to many, finding out how Greg Oden would do in
his first game against Shaquille O’Neal was just as interesting.

With Shaq in the starting lineup and Oden coming off the bench, there
was a question of just how much time the two would actually spend on the floor
together. At about the eight minute mark of the first quarter, Oden reported to
the scorer’s table to check in, but Shaq ended up subbing out at the same
time, so it was unclear if we’d see more than a minute or two of the
matchup. But in the second quarter, Shaq came in and didn’t hesitate to go
at Oden the very first trip down the floor.

O’Neal posted up Oden,
and went to his patented quick-baseline-spin move, the one that usually leaves
young defenders standing there wondering what just happened as Shaq gets an
uncontested dunk. The move worked on Oden just as it had on Andrew Bynum two
nights earlier, but this time the refs whistled Shaq for a travel before he got
the chance to throw it down. Shaq would get another chance in to dunk on Oden in
the third quarter, and this time, he would not be denied.Continue Reading

Nov 19th 2008 3:35AM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Bulls, Magic, Raptors, Trail Blazers, Warriors, NBA Last
Night

Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard may be tight off the court, but that
didn’t stop Bosh from trying to do very bad things to Howard once the ball
tipped last night. Playing all but three minutes, Bosh tallied a preposterous 40
points and 18 boards on 12-19 shooting from the field, chipping in four assists,
two steals and a block for good measure.

Of course, Howard got the last
laugh — the Magic won 103-90 — but it’s not everyday that an
opposing big man makes Superman (18 points, nine boards) look like a mere
mortal.

Just in case you figured Anthony Morrow was a flash in the pan,
the undrafted rookie followed his 37-point explosion on Saturday with 25 more
points last night against the Blazers. He’s been on fire from beyond the
three-point line, connecting on four more three-pointers and combining to hit
8-for-10 in the last two games.Continue Reading

Nov 14th 2008 6:15PM by Elie Seckbach (author feed)
Filed under: Jazz, Lakers, Trail Blazers, NBA Videos, Interviews

The MMA
is one of fastest growing sports in the world and these days even NBA players
are getting into it. In this video we ask players like Luke Walton, Channing
Frye, Sasha Vujacic and Jarron Collins which fighters they enjoy watching, and
we also find an NBA player who is actually working out with an MMA star to
sharpen his basketball skills. When you hear which NBA player that is you will
be caught off guard.

Check out the full video after the jump, and find
out which NBA player would be a surprisingly tough tussle on the
hardwood.Continue Reading

Nov 14th 2008 12:55PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Clippers, Mavericks, Pistons, Trail Blazers, WarriorsAn account of
the hours-long Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton goodbye chat.

Which
teams will surprise us by not falling back to the Earth (or being
revived)?

How Baron Davis and Robert Rowell screwed up two
franchises.

Do NBA players/owners downsize on the eccentricity during a
financial crisis?

Things Mark Cuban hates, in order: 1) To lose. 2) To
lose. 3) The English language.

A look at how one bad basketball moment
can affect you for decades.

Nov 12th 2008 11:25PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Heat, Trail BlazersAs we previewed earlier, Greg Oden played his
second NBA game tonight in a successful return from a sprained foot injury
suffered in the long-awaited season opener in Los Angeles. Contrary to
expectations from the more cynical corners of the globe, no appendages flew off
of Oden and no stretchers were required. He played, he did not wince, and hey!
the Blazers won.

But Oden wasn’t exactly a star on the court. He
played only 16 minutes off the bench, and tallied only three points, two blocks
and two rebounds. He came in with three minutes left in the first quarter
… and looked gassed two minutes of play later. Oden had a fitness curve
the foot injury as a big guy in his rookie NBA season. Spending two weeks in
various states of recovery obviously doesn’t help.

One of those
other Blazer rookies played a major role in Portland’s victory over Miami,
though. Rudy Fernandez went absolutely nuts in his 29 minutes off the bench,
dumping in a team-high 25 points on 11 FGAs. This isn’t a fluke. Fernandez
has hit double figures in seven of the team’s eight games, and has hurdled
the 20-point mark twice now. With Miami closing (on the back of Dwyane Wade, who
is BACK) late, Fernandez — shot clock winding down — drove to the
foul line, spun away and hit a nasty turnaround/fadeaway/floater thing. The arc
of the shot defies physics, making the make a perfect cap for Rudy’s
perplexing adventure.

Oden finds himself with a long way to go in terms
of both his NBA career and the 2009 Rookie of the Year award. But Rudy (only 23
years old and cheap through 2011-12) is well on his way on both accounts.

Nov 12th 2008 11:05PM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Suns, Trail BlazersSuns’ head coach Terry Porter is finally
getting his Trail Blazers jersey retired, but he won’t be the only one
honored with a ceremony involving Portland’s number 30 in December.
That’s because the team has also decided to retire the jersey of Bobby
Gross, who played for the Blazers’ 1977 championship team, and just
happened to also wear the number 30.

On December 16, Porter will get his
jersey raised to the rafters during a ceremony on a Suns’ night off when
the Blazers face the Kings. Then, two nights later — against
Porter’s Suns — the Blazers will again raise the number 30, this
time to honor Gross. Before the Suns’ game against the Rockets, Porter was
asked how he felt about sharing the honor with Gross. It was very clear that he
thought it was strange, but laughed it off and refused to give any inflammatory
quotes, just smiling and saying “no comment, ” then chuckling some
more before saying, “Me and Bobby Gross.” Since Porter was too
classy to say how silly the dual jersey retirement is, I’ll go ahead and
do it for him.

Terry Porter played 10 seasons in Portland, is the
franchise’s all-time assist leader with 5,319, and its second all-time
leading scorer with 11,330 career points. Bobby Gross, on the other hand, played
for the team seven seasons, and averaged nine points and less than five boards
per game. Gross did raise his game considerably during the team’s one
championship season, averaging 17.3 points for the series when the team beat the
Sixers in the ‘77 NBA Finals.

Look, maybe Bobby Gross deserves to
have his jersey retired, and maybe he doesn’t. But it’s just odd for
the team to wait 30 years to do it, and then to do it two days from retiring
Porter’s jersey of the same number. Gross will be the seventh member of
that championship team to get his number retired. Funny, I thought that’s
what banners were for.

Nov 12th 2008 7:15PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Heat, Trail Blazers, NBA InjuriesGreg Oden’s previous
national TV debuts haven’t exactly gone as planned. Last season, the NBA
opened up the season with Portland vs. San Antonio, the new against the old.
Oden missed it due to microfracture surgery. The Blazers and Lakers we’re
a part of the league’s featured season opening double-header this season
… and Oden lasted less than a half before spraining his foot, an injury
that knocked him out for two weeks.

But Oden’s back! And hmm, how
convenient … the Blazers are scheduled for a nationally televised game.
Portland is 4-3 against a seriously daunting schedule without Oden, and faces a
two-faced Miami squad tonight.

I feel all this injury noise will be
forgotten some day. Henry Abbott might have put it best: these Oden injuries are
not related. Microfracture has got nothing to do with the broken wrist suffered
at Ohio State, nor the foot sprain suffered two weeks ago. These isn’t
some recurring malady. It’s a series of unfortunate events. The smart
money, you’d think, is on the series ending at some point.

You
can’t blame Blazers fans for either cowering into the bomb shelter or
planning for life without a full-time Oden, though. For all the luck and
excitement Portland has had over the past three years, this isn’t a
psychological roller coaster you’d wish on a billy goat. We with different
allegiances can look at tonight’s coolly — hey, it’s just
another game for the Blazers; Greg’s going to get a bucket and a couple
blocks and the world will exist another day. But I see why it’s something
larger for the men, women and children of Portland.

The game will tip off
at 8PM EST on ESPN.