Around The World: May 30

05/30/12

Written by: DHawes22

May 30

Trail Blazers: Mock Draft Database

Trailblazers.tv: Video: May 29 Pre-Draft Workouts

Trail Blazers To Hold Draft Lottery Viewing Party At Buffalo Wild Wings
"The Trail Blazers will hold an NBA Draft Lottery viewing party on Wednesday, May 30 starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Lloyd Center Buffalo Wild Wings location, as the order for the first 14 picks of the 2012 NBA Draft are unveiled."

Trail Blazers: The NBA Draft Lottery Explained
"First lets get into some definitions. The terms “lottery pick” and “lottery team” are interchanged regularly in discussion about the lottery but in fact have different meanings. A “lottery team” is one of the 14 teams who didn’t make the playoffs and is involved in the lottery process. (All playoff teams are seeded in record order of worst to best for the final 16 slots in the NBA draft.) A “lottery pick” is a player selected first, second or third in the NBA draft. This is because the drawing in the NBA lottery is to select the order of ONLY the first three picks, not the order of all 14 teams, a common misconception—though nine times out of ten when you hear anyone use the term “lottery pick” they’re talking about anyone drafted top 14. After the first three picks are selected the 11 remaining lottery teams are slotted into positions 4-14 based on their records beginning with the worst."

Trail Blazers: Allen: GM Search Down To Four
"Yesterday, both Jason Quick and Chris Haynes reported that the search for a general manager was down to four finalists: David Morway, Neil Oshay, Jeff Bower and Tony Dileo. All experienced, qualified candidates."

Trail Blazers: 2012 NBA Draft By Position: Small Forwards
"A member of Kentucky’s National Championship team, and his stock grew during the NCCA Tournament. He’s still raw offensively, leaving school after his freshman year. But his potential seems limitless. He’s wildly athletic, and unlike a lot of small forwards, doesn’t shy away from contact in traffic. In fact, he seems to welcome it. He plays hard all the time, enjoys the defensive end of the floor, and could be one of the top players picked overall at any position when this draft is rated a few years from now. A top ten pick for sure, maybe even top 3-5."

Trail Blazers: Bill Schonely Honors Veterans With Moving Memorial Day Speech
"So ladies and gentleman, on this Memorial Day, let us all thank God that we are blessed with the opportunity to live in a country that produces individuals like Brian Bertrand. Let us never, let us never ever take that blessing for granted. And when it comes to always remembering the sacrifices made by the men and women of America’s military, civilians, our National Guard, let us, all of us, never be found sitting on the bench."

Trail Blazers: Video: Predraft Workouts Begin
"We'll have more video from Tuesday's predraft workout with Tyler Zeller (center, UNC), Meyers Leonard (center, Illinois), Casper Ware (point guard, Long Beach State), Kris Joseph (forward, Syracuse), Garrett Sim (point guard, Oregon) and Kent Bazemore (Old Dominion) later this week, but in the interim, you can watch today's live show from Tualatin. There's some light shooting drills along with interviews with Chad Buchanan, Zeller, Leonard and Sim. Give it a watch if you weren't able to join us live."

Oregon Live: NBA High-5: Superstition? Conspiracy theories? Must be time for the draft lottery
"I'm going to be very leery if Anthony Davis ends up in Brooklyn," Barkley said to a Chicago radio station (via Simmons). "You know, I'm going to be very leery because I know the NBA has a lot riding on that new arena, especially if Deron Williams leaves and they didn't get Dwight Howard. You know, I go back to Patrick Ewing, so I believe in the conspiracy theories."

Oregon Live: Trail Blazers' search for GM down to three finalists; decision coming 'soon'
"Morway has been an executive with Indiana for 12 years, and has teamed with president Larry Bird to resurrect the Pacers into a rising power in the Eastern Conference while maintaining cap flexibility. With sharp drafting (Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough), savvy free agent pickups (David West), and heady trades (Darren Collison, George Hill, Leandro Barbosa), the Pacers reached the second round of the playoffs this season and enter the summer with around $20 million to offer free agents. Morway is a former agent and baseball executive and is viewed as a sharp business mind who is adept at blending the gap between basketball and business within a franchise."

Columbian: Blazers take look at centers in workout
"They (Leonard and Zeller) are both very talented and will get a lot of consideration," Blazers acting general manager Chad Buchanan said. "It's hard to find centers."

Portland Tribune: Blazers 'close' to picking GM; three candidates remain from four who talked to owner Paul Allen
"Olshey, 46, replaced Mike Dunleavy as the Clippers’ GM in 2010 after having spent the previous seven years with the club as an assistant coach, assistant GM and director of player personnel. Olshey’s agent is Warren LeGarie, who represented former Portland GMs Kevin Pritchard and John Nash and ex-Blazer assistant GM Tom Penn."

CSNNW: Lottery implications for the Blazers
"The Trail Blazers have a .80 percent shot at the No. 1 pick, .95 percent shot at the No. 2 selection, and a 1.15 percent shot at the No. 3 selection."

CSNNW: Paul Allen spoke with Tony DiLeo
"CSNNW.com has learned that the Philadelphia 76ers senior vice president and assistant general manger Tony DiLeo spoke with Allen in London as well, regarding their opening. I'm being told that it was merely conversation and not a formal interview such as Olshey's meeting. Jeff Bower, David Morway, and Neil Olshey are the team's three finalist I'm hearing."

NBA: Once lottery's pingpong balls land, Draft questions begin
"Imagine if the Trail Blazers win. Of all 13 teams on stage tonight -- the Hornets have their own spot and the unprotected Timberwolves pick as well -- Portland is the only one that would not have an immediate upgrade with Davis at power forward. Not with All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge holding down that spot. Long term could be another matter, as the debate of proven vs. potential returns. But the Blazers don't want another couple years of patience. Aldridge and Davis could work together, but whoever is hired as general manager in Portland would be fielding a lot of calls. The Blazers want trade options, and they would have them."

Indy Star: Indiana Pacers: Coach Frank Vogel looks to future
"I'd be shocked if he does come back. I'm actually shocked that he's not a head coach already. He's got it all. He's going to be one of the top five head coaches in the NBA for the next 10 years when he finally gets his shot, and there's not a doubt in my mind that's going to happen. I had high expectations for him coming in, and he flat out blew me away and exceeded those expectations, much like our team did, with everything he does. He has no weaknesses to him at all. He's a workaholic."

Ball Don't Lie: Judging the team representatives of the NBA’s draft lottery
"So why not, instead of sending one of team owner Mikhail Prokhorov's deputies up there, ask the currently jobless Isiah Thomas to act as Brooklyn's go-to guy? Thomas, you'll no doubt recall, ran New York's other team into the ground from 2003 to 2009, and possibly pushed the Knicks toward sending all manner of assets Denver's way for the right to overshoot for Carmelo Anthony. When the selection goes Portland's way, metropolitan fans can remind themselves that as bad as Billy King has been in his time as GM of both the Philadelphia 76ers and Nets, he's still got one up on Isiah Thomas."

Ball Don't Lie: U.S. Supreme Court rejects man’s copyright claim on phrase ‘Let’s go Thunder,’ because duh
"Seriously: This case — ridiculous on its face, laughable on its merits, nonsensical to anybody — took nearly two years to reach its resolution, and had to be muted and snuffed out in the place where they do things like debate the limits of free speech, discuss what kinds of people have the right to marry one another and decide if someone maybe shouldn't be killed by the state. That really just happened!"

Ball Don't Lie: Behind the Box Score, where the San Antonio Spurs are as good as we’ve ever seen
"This mix of elegance and function appears limitless. Other offenses, other championship offenses, have looked more potent. Looked to boast more potential once it gets out on the break, or if the Big Superstar is nailing impossible shots, or if nobody can handle the big man or stay in front of the waterbug. Kobe and Shaq's Lakers were something else. Magic's Lakers seemed to always find the open man in transition, and Bird's Celtics made the extra pass an art form. But in recent, three-point line era history? The only team this reminds me of is Chicago's triangle-pushing Bulls."

The Basketball Jones: Eleven factual tidbits regarding the NBA lottery
"The team with the smallest odds that actually won the draft lottery was the 1993 Orlando Magic, who had the 11th-best chance out of 11 teams to win. The next best team that beat the odds were the 2008 Chicago Bulls who had the ninth-best chance out of 14 teams."

The Basketball Jones: Video: World’s biggest Kawhi Leonard fan goes nuts after dunk
"Looks like your uncle was VERY excited for this Kawhi Leonard dunk. He might not have been the biggest Kawhi fan on Earth heading in to the game, but after witnessing what has to be the greatest dunk he’s ever seen in person, he’s no doubt Kawhi Leonard Fan No. 1."

The Basketball Jones via Yahoo!: Gregg Popovich once threatened Tony Parker with the worst punishment imaginable
"Early in his career, Parker once dared to shake off a play call from his coach. Popovich called a timeout and blasted Parker before he could even reach the bench. “You know I’m crazy!” Popovich yelled. “Do that again, and I’ll play Steve Kerr 95 minutes a night if I have to!”

The Basketball Jones: Video: Manu Ginobili hits three, emits prodigious yell
"Seems like Manu Ginobili was pretty excited to hit that three. Maybe not as excited as your uncle was about that Kawhi Leonard dunk, but still pretty excited."

SLAM: Post Up: Spurs Win, Again
"When Parker wasn’t throwing a pebble into his visual ocean, the team’s sets and crispness of execution positioned his teammates to find more than enough space for open shots. Wide open shots. After an abysmal defensive fourth quarter on Sunday in Game 1, the Thunder weren’t much better for 48 minutes on Tuesday. They were flatfooted, uncommunicative and had that perpetual lost look of a team unable to offer up much resistance. The Spurs hit seemingly dozens of threes; all of them wide open. They hit their first five long-range shots of the second half, which was key to the lead swelling from 11 at half to an overwhelming 22-point spread midway through the third."

ESPN: What's the key to a Celtics turnaround?
"Their offense. The Celtics can't shoot 39 percent against the Heat and expect to win. Boston has to make shots and force Miami to play against its half-court defense. Eliminating the Heat layups will help, but you know the Celtics defense will typically be stout. It's the offense that's a nightly wild card."

ESPN: Bobcats continue coach search
"Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan told Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing that he didn't make the cut to be the team's coach, a league source told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard Wednesday."

ESPN: Anthony Davis looks ahead to draft
"I'm trying to make sure that I'm in great shape, getting in a good lift and putting up a lot of shots," said Davis. "My goal is to be ready to play with these guys (on the Olympic team)."