Around The World: August 15

08/15/12

Written by: DHawes22

August 15

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Best Of Summer League 2012

Trailblazers.tv: Video: August 13 Trail Blazers Courtside

Trailblazers.tv: Video: NBA Rooks: Damian Lillard

Trail Blazers: Video: Barton Goes For 72 At Under Armour Pro-Am
"If you follow Will Barton on Twitter, you already know about the 72-point performance Barton put on at a pro-am in Baltimore's St. Francis Academy. According to the Baltimore Sun, Barton and a group of lesser-known players from the area known as "Baltimore's Best" beat "Team Armour," featuring Under Armour athletes Brandon Jennings, DeAndre Jordan, Derrick Williams and Kemba Walker, 124-109 Tuesday night."

NBA: Morning Tip
"Terry Stotts, the Blazers' new coach, thought so much of the Blazers' old head coach, Kaleb Canales, that he insisted Canales remain on staff. Which disappointed Dallas, who had hoped to hire Canales to replace Stotts, the Mavericks' now-former assistant coach. Which should tell you Kaleb Canales is going places."

Oregon Live: Colleagues say Terry Stotts is perfect choice to lead Trail Blazers rebirth
"Those experiences in failing are going to be good for him," Karl said. "One thing you can't simulate is experience, and his experiences will prepare him for this chance. Terry has a first-class mind and a passion for the game, and I'm just happy the game of basketball is giving him another opportunity. He has all the talent to be a special coach. We all need opportunities to make mistakes and grow from our losing, and I think Terry has done a great job of staying focused and committed. I think Portland has made a really wise move."

Sports Illustrated: Terry Stotts talks Blazers, his coaching influences, ‘Donkey Kong’ and more
"I’m a big, big believer in the three-point shot. You have to have a decent number of three-point shooters on the court just for the spacing — at least two or three. It opens up space to run pick-and-roll, post up, and for penetration."

ESPN: Future Power Rankings
"When we first started doing this, Portland ranked right near the top. But since then it has been a steady descent. Since our last traipse through the Future Power Rankings, the Blazers imploded on the court and their pursuit of free agents failed. So you won't be surprised to see them drop more than any team in this edition, slipping 10 places to 23rd."

NBA: Summer Report Card
"The Trail Blazers definitely have a future. But they also have a past, and the ability of Aldridge, Batum and Matthews in particular to use the bad memories of 2011-12 as a lesson will be a key to moving forward. Dealing in emotion will likewise be important for Batum in dealing with the expectations of the new contract."

Trail Blazers: Idaho Stampede To Hold Team Tryouts
"The organization, under direction from the Portland Trail Blazers, the team’s single NBA affiliate, will host the tryouts in Portland on Sept. 22, 2012 at the Trail Blazers Practice Facility and in Boise on Sept. 29, 2012 at the Ada County Boys and Girls Club. Both tryouts will start with registration at 7 a.m. and end no later than 6 p.m."

CSNNW: Craig Smith explains why he passed up NBA offers to play in Israel
“There was talking (to NBA teams) but I heard those talks before. At the end of the day, I wanted something better,” Smith said. “I wanted the opportunity to play a lot of minutes. If I'm not put in that position, it doesn't do me any good. I was tired of being considered a nice guy and being the 10th guy on a team. I'm really sick of that. There's a fire burning in me. I got to play.”

CSNNW: Blazers coaching candidate Steve Clifford to join Lakers coaching staff
"Clifford was in talks with the Portland Trail Blazers in recent days for their assistant opening as well. However, the chance to be a part of the Lakers organization was too much to pass up, CSNNW.com was told from a source close to the situation."

Trail Blazers: The Rivals Plan: Two LAs, Oklahoma City And The Return Of Roy
"The smallest of the four big ticket plans, the eight game Rivals Pack packs a big punch. You’ll be in the building and eating a corndog while others are wondering how to get their hands on a way to see the return of Brandon Roy and the sure to sell out L.A. Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder."

Trail Blazers: Why The Value Plan Makes 'Cents' For You
"The Value Pack starts at just $5 a game. That’s 12 games for as low as $60! Talk about some serious bang for your buck. But that’s not even the best part about this ticket plan. Four of the 12 games take place in the month of January. And there is absolutely no better place to be during an Oregon winter’s night than inside the raucous Rose Garden. Not to mention this pack gets you into the arena to see some of the league’s biggest names and brightest young stars such as Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Kyrie Irving, John Wall, and Rudy Gay."

Trail Blazers: Big Games Plan: 12 Of The Biggest Games
"This game has it all. Season opener, at home, against the loathe-inducing Lakers, in Steve Nash's first game in purple and gold and it's on Halloween night! Any game against the Lakers at the Rose Garden is going to be a lively one, but the confluence of circumstances in this particular game sets the stage for one of the all-time season openers in Trail Blazers history."

Portland Tribune: Summer camp as normal for Dudley, kids
“We’re maxed out every year,” said Dudley, 47, who played 16 years in the NBA before retiring in 2003. “Sign-up begins at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and by 12:07 a.m., we’re booked.”

Trib Star: HUGHES NEWS AND VIEWS: Oden's fight through adversity includes stop in Terre Haute
“I would love to play [in 2012-13], but I’m not going to rush anything,” he said Thursday. “I need to take a year off. What I told Mike was ‘Look, I want to get back with a team. I want to play. If there’s a chance that later on in the [NBA] year, if I feel good or if I’m healthy enough to play, I would love to play this year.’ That’s the conversation we had. I think some people kinda blew that up and took his words and kinda changed them around. I know I need to get healthy first before I do anything.”

Rip City Project: Did Neil Olshey Fail His First Off-Season With Portland?
"A lot of it is Minnesota’s fault. They tied up $45 million in that ridiculous offer sheet the Blazers matched for Nicolas Batum. Another part was the failed Roy Hibbert experiment. Had the Pacers decided not to match Portland’s max offer, this conversation would be completely different."

Blazersedge: The Portland Trail Blazers All-Time Cult Classic: Arvydas Sabonis
"Though Sabas was cleared to play internationally in 1989 he did not end up coming to the NBA until 1995, playing his first years in European leagues. Blazer fans were slightly distracted during this period by the rise of the NBA Finals teams led by Clyde Drexler. Sabas-mania died down slightly as real, live championship hopes flourished. Ironically this would end up making the Sabonis legend even bigger in Portland. The Blazers would fall short of a title three years straight during Drexler's prime. When he was traded during the 1994-95 season the dream died. Sabonis would show up at the beginning of 1995-96."

SB Nation: Recurring Dwightmare: 4 NBA Stars Who Could Hold Their Teams Hostage
"Like Love, we're a few years away over here. The concern in Portland is that while Aldridge continues to improve, the Blazers are not in position to capitalize. They kept Nicolas Batum and drafted really well (Damian Lillard, I'm a believer!), but this team is pretty far away from contending in the stacked West. In two years, when LMA has a year to go before free agency, he'll be 29 years old. It'll take some brand of Luke Babbitt infused miracle for Portland to be a legit contender by then."

Ball Don't Lie: ‘NBA 2K13′ will include the Dream Team* and Team USA 2012, allow for debate-settlin’
"The sharper cookies among you noticed that asterisk in the subject line and might be wondering what's up. Well, the whole Dream Team isn't represented in "2K13" — Scottie Pippen won't be included on the '92 roster, because he couldn't come to terms with the game's makers, according to multiple reports. (That's especially weird considering he was one of the all-time legends available for selection in the 2012 model of the game; you'd figure there must be some relationship in place there. But apparently, not enough to get this deal done.)"

Ball Don't Lie: With Dwight Howard in tow, the Lakers are facing a huge luxury tax hit
"There's a general tendency to think of the luxury tax as a penalty, and it is in the sense that anything past a future salary threshold has a negative financial cost. But the key here is that it only affects those who live in luxury, i.e. the very rich franchises who only pay these sorts of salaries because it's financially viable in the first place. The luxury tax acts as a deterrent, but almost as a byproduct, a sort of warning sign for those who cannot pass a certain level of salary without inching towards financial destitution. The Lakers are going to pay a serious luxury tax because they can afford it. All other teams that pay an eight-figure tax in the future (likely the Knicks and very few others) will do so for the same reasons. They pay it because they can."

Ball Don't Lie via Roundball Mining Company: Denver’s GM Masai Ujiri details his team’s defensive plans for newly-acquired Andre Iguodala
"So I think that was where the upgrade was. We feel Iguodala is going to be able to score a little bit more because of the way we play. I think the Sixers played more of a halfcourt game and they played more in a halfcourt setting. We go up and down, and that's his game. He likes to find people, he likes to make plays, he likes to attack the rim, and that's how he plays. So I think on both sides we have somebody that can play-make for some of our other players and … an elite defender that's going to help us be better on defense."

Ball Don't Lie via Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns GM Lance Blanks likes Luis Scola because he is gross
"Scola gives us a griminess and a crustiness that we need," Blanks said. "He's what I call an example. He's a good guy and a good example for young guys to be around and observe."

Ball Don't Lie: Nice to see you again, Derrick Rose (VIDEO)
"Seeing Derrick Rose — the youngest player ever to be named the NBA's Most Valuable Player, the Chicago Bulls' centerpiece star and one of the most exciting point guards in the world — back on his feet, working hard as he rehabilitates from the catastrophic anterior cruciate ligament tear he suffered during the first game of the Bulls' opening-round postseason series against the Philadelphia 76ers in an effort to make good on his promise to fans to "be all right" and get back out on the court as soon as is reasonably possible, did my heart good. And while they'll need to curb their enthusiasm just a bit — remember, as KD wrote in discussing Tim Hardaway's claims about D-Rose developing his jump shot, "as soon as is reasonably possible" is going to be a good long while — I'm pretty sure it did Bulls' fans hearts good. Hell, it did all our hearts good."

Ball Don't Lie: Billy King was going to retire as 76ers GM following Allen Iverson’s ‘practice’ presser, but scotch and good sense stopped him
"Putting Brown and Iverson in separate and back-to-back press conferences after a disappointing season (the Sixers had made the NBA Finals the year before, only to bow out in the first round in 2002 as an offseason roster shakeup and evolving Eastern conference caught up with the team) and that afternoon's nasty exit meetings? Probably not the right idea. It's true that there was significant pressure on the 76ers to answer questions behind Iverson and Brown's relationship — even a time zone away and decade's worth of technology removed we were still following it on the internet and cable TV that day well before AI went to the podium — but that stuff tends to dissipate."

The Basketball Jones: Kris Humphries subpoenaed Kanye West with a Nordstrom box
"Just chill, Kris Humphries. You are making $12 million to play basketball this year, you zinged Kanye West on Twitter and everyone thought it was great, and you don’t have to be on Kim Kardashian’s show any more. Realize you were a pawn in a reality TV show and move o. It’s not like you didn’t benefit greatly from it, aside from becoming the NBA’s most disliked player, which sucks but is not that big of a deal. People will forget about that Kim Kardashian stuff eventually. You’re rich, you’re young, you’re playing basketball in New York, people know who you are — things are good, man. Sure, you fell in love with a girl who just wanted to get married to an athlete for TV ratings, but whatever. That kind of thing could happen to any of us. There’s no need to put reality TV on trial because that is not a real thing and “Survivor” is a great show. Just relax."

SLAM via NBA.com: Andre Iguodala Is Very Excited to Be a Denver Nugget
“It’s a high-energy group with a lot of athleticism. I’ve played with Andre Miller and know how valuable a player he is. Ty (Lawson) is one of the best young point guards in the league and Danilo (Gallinari) can really stretch the defense with his shooting and can do a lot of other good things offensively. The young bigs like JaVale (McGee), (Kenneth) Faried and (Timofey) Mozgov are all talented guys who will only continue to get better.”

SLAM: Preview: NBA 2K13
"As far as I know, bounce passing has never really been a big element of basketball video games—most of the passes thrown are just automatically chest passes, probably because they’re just an easier way to move the rock from point A to point B. Anyway, by pressing the pass button and another button—the left trigger button on Xbox 360, not sure about other systems—you can easily make a bounce pass to a teammate. It might sound a little unnecessary, but at certain points during an offensive set, like in the midst of a pick-and-roll, it’s a nice option to have."

SLAM: Disappearing Act
"Time went on, I got grown, mind got blown…and Magic Johnson ran the L for the next decade. Four more rings, three MVP trophies, and a yearly starting spot on the Western Conference All-Star squad. I remember the early years, when I’d had enough of my older cousin beating me one-on-one and we’d play Magic and Kareem instead, taking turns throwing no-looks and sky hooks against invisible Birds and McHales under the hoop in my uncle’s driveway. I remember stapling a picture of Larry Legend onto the dartboard in my backyard. I remember when the biggest battle on my 8th grade basketball team wasn’t over playing time or shots, but over who’d get to rock the No. 32 jersey. And I remember how nobody cared that our school’s blue-and-white unis didn’t match the purple-and-gold scheme on our Converse Weapons."

DIME via FOX 26 Sports: Hakeem Olajuwon Says JaVale McGee Should “Dominate” The NBA
“He has tremendous talent. I give him all these moves and he can finish and he’s already skilled. So now just show him how to use that skill to (get) to the next level.”

True Hoop: Another superstar joins another super team
"My main thought is: If the Lakers can figure out a way back to the Finals in 2013, tip your cap to them. The Heat and Thunder are great and built to stay that way. Knocking off one or both is a tall order. This was an against-all-odds Rambo-type front-office performance. The salary cap is getting harder every year, and given the way NBA spending is headed, the Lakers really do have an insane amount of money committed to Bryant. You take far too much credit away from Mitch Kupchak and the Buss family when you imply their success is based merely on luck."

ESPN: Andrew Bynum Likes 76ers
"To be honest, my first experience here's been so great, I'm really looking forward to making this my home."

The Basketball Jones: Video: Leandro Barbosa annihilates Andres Nocioni with a crossover
"You know a crossover is nasty when the guy who did it still has time to take a calm gather dribble before shooting an uncontested jumper. Even James Harden thinks Andres Nocioni got crossed up here."

ESPN: Will LeBron Be Back For 2016 Games?
"Enter Kevin Durant. It was just last week that Team USA's leading scorer told ESPN.com that he still thinks there's a decent chance he and a few other prominent players can convince Mike Krzyzewski to stay on as the Americans' coach. Now Durant says he'll be making the same personal pitch to James as well for Brazil. "I'm going to talk to him," Durant said. "I'm sure he's had his fair share [of the Olympics], but I would love to play with him again."

Sports Illustrated: Jordan: Dream Team would have no problem vs. London gold medalists
"I know Kobe said some things early on and I responded to those -- where the '92 Dream Team, I felt, was a more well-rounded basketball team," Jordan said. "He felt we were a little old, but we only had two players that were over 30 at the time -- that was Magic [Johnson] and Larry [Bird]. Everybody else was 29 or below [Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing and John Stockton actually turned 30 shortly before or during the Olympics], so I think that the team itself would have been well-rounded defensively, offensively, inside, outside."

Sports Illustrated: Spurs, Thunder, Kings among teams in the West hoping that patience pays off
"Even with all of these players on board, Portland is still on pace to slide easily under the cap in each of the next two summers. In the meantime, they get to look at everything: Batum’s improvement, rookie point guard Damian Lillard’s potential, the ongoing mystery of Hickson, all the youngsters and whatever trade possibilities become available. That’s not a bad place to be as the Thunder, Lakers and Spurs jostle atop the West, with the Nuggets, Clippers, Grizzlies and Mavericks not far below."