Nov 5th 2008 5:46PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: Bulls, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Hornets, Jazz, Kings, Pistons,
Raptors, Trail Blazers, Eastern, Western

With 13 games on the slate
tonight, there’s a lot to keep an eye out for. Here are the big five we
came up with.
Normally no one really cares about Cheikh Samb’s kidneys and spine
(outside of his Mom, I’m sure. I mean, everyone hopes they’re okay,
but it’s just not a real big topic, you know?). But if the pieces being
sent to Denver in the Allen Iverson trade don’t get their physicals
completed in time, it means we’ll have to wait on Iverson to join to the
Pistons on the floor, and that makes tonight’s game against the Raptors a
lot less exciting.

If the particulars do get taken care of, this could
be a huge game. Iverson would go up against Jose Calderon who has the Raptors
feeling pretty confident. Even without Iverson, though, this game features a
stunning array of matchups that the Pistons seem to have a slight advantage in,
but may be countered by the star power of Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal.
Iverson would definitely tip the game to Detroit’s favor, but even then,
you don’t know how he’ll immediately mesh with the offense. Keep
your eyes affixed to see if Iverson plays tonight, because this is an immediate
test for both teams.

()Continue Reading

Nov 4th 2008 10:15AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Grizzlies, Trail Blazers

Terrific, terrific story about
high-schooler Renardo Sidney and the need for change in youth basketball.
Bill Wennington has a mean streak.FanHouse’s own Matt Moore is following
the Grizzlies this year. He gives his early assessment.
Assessing the trade values of the entire Portland roster.

Lil’
Wayne calls Greg Oden a bust: Weezy also calls Trevor Ariza the “David
Price of the Lakers,” which is infinitely more enlightening than that Oden
take.

For the third straight year, Jeff Clark of CelticsBlog has grabbed
the best team bloggers to preview their teams. You can find all 30 teams covered
here.

Nov 2nd 2008 3:10AM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA GossipAfter a day of rest between games,
Shaquille O’Neal was very active in the Suns’ win over the Blazers.
Shaq played 30 minutes and finished with a nice line of 16 points and eight
boards, while hitting six of his eight shot attempts and four out of five from
the foul line. Besides the extra day of rest, Shaq seems to have a little extra
motivation when he faces the Blazers’ Joel Przybilla.

I don’t
know if Przybilla has talked trash to Shaq in the past, or if his attempt to be
physical with Shaq is something the Diesel has taken personally over the years.
The only incident I can remember between the two is this one from last season,
but it happened only a minute into that game, so the animosity probably
didn’t start that night. (Oh, and they had to be separated in this one
too.) In any case, Shaq gets up to play against the Blazers’ big man, and
after his performance tonight, he was feeling good enough to run a little
smack.

“Przybilla can’t guard me when I’m 27, 37 or
47,” O’Neal said. When it was mentioned that Przybilla would
probably be seen a lot in a Shaquille O’Neal highlight reel, Shaq smiled
and said, “Thanks, Przybilla.”

Again, I’m not sure
exactly how many incidents there have been between these two over the years. But
whatever has gone down seems to be enough to get Shaq going when the two face
each other, even at this late stage of his career.

Nov 1st 2008 3:00PM by Nate Jones (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, NBA Last NightWith all the attention given to the
return of Greg Oden this season, you might have thought the rest of the Blazers
were chopped liver. Did people forget that Brandon Roy was an All-Star last
season, or that LaMarcus Aldridge is a budding Rasheed Wallace clone (minus the
occasional crazy, of course)?

That’s why it was kind of funny to
me when a lot of folks started predicting doom for the Blazer when Oden got
injured again against the Lakers. This team won 41 games in the Western
Conference with Roy dealing with a bum foot for a good part of the year (Roy
only officially missed seven games last season, but he was basically playing
injured for a good amount of games).

A young team with tons of room for
improvement was already playing .500 ball in one of the toughest conferences in
NBA history. That tells me something folks. Basically, with or without Oden,
this will be a solid team for years to come.Continue Reading

Nov 1st 2008 2:36PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Trail BlazersDanny 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.

Oct 31st 2008 3:39PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Rockets, Trail Blazers, Warriors, WizardsLamarcus Aldridge
isn’t mad at Brandon Roy about the ribs any more, thanks to Travis
“Chuck Woolery” Outlaw and .

The Warriors traded for Marcus
Williams a few months ago. Apparently he has not impressed, as the team declined
to pick up his ultra-cheap 2009-10 option.

Dwyer tries to put Greg
Oden’s injuries into perspective.

Yao gets rejected by the rim.
(It’s more funny in isolation on YouTube than it was during the game,
where it looked like Yao wanted to rip someone’s eyebrows off.)

A
little trip down L.A. Stars Lane.

A ‘Zards fan agrees with Bill
Simmons that Gilbert Arenas is the new C-Webb.

Oct 30th 2008 2:00PM by Elie Seckbach (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, NBA Videos, Interviews

In this exclusive
video, we talk to NBA All-Star Brandon Roy of the Portland Trail Blazers about
his new and exciting young team. Find out why he thinks he’s lucky to be
on such a good team. We also catch up with Channing Frye, Greg Oden (before his
most recent injury) and the newcomer, Frenchman Nicolas Batum, who shares with
us the one thing people want to know about his homeland.

Watch the video
after the jump.Continue Reading

Oct 29th 2008 9:00PM by Nate Jones (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, NBA InjuriesThe press release just dropped from the
Portland Trail Blazers detailing the severity of Greg Oden’s injury. The
Blazers say that the injury is a mid-foot avulsion fracture that will hold him
out of the line up for the next 2-4 weeks.

This is good news for the
Blazers, as the injury could have been much worse. However, the NBA might not be
feeling the injury so much, as they had plans to highlight Oden in match ups
against Shaquille O’neal, Dwight Howard, Yao Ming, and Tim Duncan over the
next two weeks. Of course all of those games are nationally televised games, so
it is a real blow to the league’s promotional efforts to have Oden out
right now.

Despite the promotional harm to the league, this is pretty
much good news for the Blazers and their fans. I guess all you Blazer fans
thinking about jumping off the ledge of your balcony can now step back in the
building.

Oct 29th 2008 4:45AM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, Trail Blazers, NBA VideosPortland Trail Blazers fans have
been waiting a long time for this night, and unfortunately, it was a huge
disappointment. I’m talking about the NBA debut of the team’s number
one (overall) draft pick from a season ago, Greg Oden. The big man missed all of
last season with a knee injury, and after waiting an entire season to play in
his first game, he lasted just 12 total minutes in the team’s season
opener before leaving with a sprained foot.

Oden was scoreless on the
night, going 0-4 from the field while looking generally clunky all around. After
the game, Blazers’ coach Nate McMillan discussed the injury, and obviously
is hoping it’s not too serious.

You can see video of the
coach’s comments, after the jump.Continue Reading

Oct 28th 2008 7:52PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, Trail BlazersGuessing 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 (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.