Around The World: May 11

05/11/12

Written by: DHawes22

May 11

Trail Blazers: Aldridge's Surgery Was A Success
"LaMarcus Aldridge underwent successful surgery today to repair a labral tear in his right hip. Dr. Marc Philippon performed the surgery in Vail, Colo., with Dr. Don Roberts present. Aldridge is expected to make a full recovery."

Oregon Live: Joel Freeland and Victor Claver will factor into Trail Blazers' summer plans
"We're high on both players," Cronin said. "And they are intrigued about the possibility of coming over. Nothing is a lock, but there is a good chance it will happen this year. We'd be very happy if we could get them over next year."

Oregon Live: You Be The GM: Wesley Matthews
"He closed out the year on a high note, posting averages of 17.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in 38.6 minutes per game in April. He scored 18 points or more seven times, including a pair of 30-point performances."

Rip City Project: Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews: From undrafted to draft lottery representative
"It’s a no brainer that LA most deserves this recognition. The guy is a stud and finally had the breakthrough All-Star year that he needed to reach the next level. After coming alive as a legit offensive threat halfway through last season, his numbers and productivity continued to climb in 11-12. This season LaMarcus posted some of the best numbers of his career: 21.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists in in 36 minutes per game. He also busted the top ten charts in a couple other statistical categories worth noting, ranking 8th in points per game (21.7), 7th in field goals made per 48 minutes (11.62) and 8th in points scored (1191)."

ESPN: Sources: Blazers eye Hawks GM
"With the Atlanta Hawks eliminated from the playoffs, changes could be in order on the court and in the front office. General manager Rick Sund, in the last year of his contract, has drawn interest from the Portland Trail Blazers, according to sources. The Blazers recently asked the Hawks for permission to speak to Sund, but Hawks ownership refused to grant permission until its season ended. Sund agreed with ownership's stance."

ESPN: Greg Oden's Sad Stories
"Maybe it's too tall an order to expect an injured young athlete to take charge of complex affairs in that way. It's normal and right to make mistakes when you're young. That's cool. But it's getting past time when we can blame anybody but Greg, for instance, for things Greg did or didn't do."

Blazersedge: Blazers G Jamal Crawford Received 3 Third Place Votes For NBA Sixth Man Of The Year
"Portland Trail Blazers guard Jamal Crawford received three third place votes for the 2012 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, which went to Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden. Crawford won the award during the 2009-2010 season. Crawford, 32, averaged 14.0 points, 3.2 assists and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 38.4 percent from the field and 30.8 percent on threes while playing 26.9 minutes per game. He led the NBA in free throw percentage, shooting 92.7 percent."

Ball Don't Lie: Metta World Peace returns to the Lakers for Game 7, and what should they expect?
"But he's Metta World Peace. It's not so much that he's going to fling an elbow at Denver's Andre Miller (mostly because Dre would probably block it with his cane) or do something suspension-worthy in his first game back. It's because MWP is the definition of mercurial. You don't know what you're going to get from him every night; and, worse, one has to wonder just how much he can contribute after nearly three weeks away from in-game NBA action. What can the Lakers reasonably (hah!) expect from their man Metta in Game 7? And should expectations even be placed on the guy?"

Ball Don't Lie: The Atlanta Hawks? Gone Till November
"Because, with Joe and Horford and Smith all making eight figures in 2012-13, Atlanta will be just about at the salary cap level with six rotation players under contract plus Ivan Johnson and Donald Sloan possibly playing under the relatively cheap qualifying offer. Not to knock the players they'd be shaving off the roster this offseason (Tracy McGrady, Vlad Radmanovic, Jason Collins, et cetera), but the team won't be losing much and yet they won't have much room to work. Unless some team is ready to make a depth-establishing deal for Josh Smith and his expiring contract, Atlanta will roll into 2012-13 looking about the same."

Ball Don't Lie: The Chicago Bulls? Gone Till November
"2012-13? It's going to be the same cast and crew, you know. The Bulls will be paying the luxury tax, unless owner Jerry Reinsdorf deliberately wants to ruin his own team's chances at a title by passing on fully guaranteeing any of the much-needed Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer or C.J. Watson's contracts. This same roster is coming back, eventually, and the Bulls don't have a lot of assets to put together a deal for … what, exactly, does the team with the NBA's best record two years running need?"

Ball Don't Lie: Ivan Johnson flips off a Boston Celtics fan following Atlanta’s Game 6 defeat (PHOTO)
"Johnson has, somewhat famously, done this before. He was banned for life from the Korean Basketball League he called home from 2008-2010, for flipping off a referee. And though Ivan is unlikely to receive anything more than a fine for this particular infraction, we would wish to impress upon him that it probably is time to retire the move. Not so much because that fan (or, potentially, that referee) didn't deserve the gesture, but because nobody likes to be pigeonholed as having just one go-to move in response to your detractors, no bird pun intended. We at Ball Don't Lie hope Ivan spends his offseason both working on his conditioning and variations on his retort themes."

Ball Don't Lie: Kobe Bryant hammers Kenneth Faried with a flagrant foul (VIDEO)
"Bryant was assessed a type-1 flagrant foul for swinging his right arm and cracking Faried in the head; for a brief period, as Deadspin's Timothy Burke noted (and showed), the rookie from Morehead State looked to be completely out of it. After getting back to his feet and getting his wits about him, Faried knocked down the two free throws he was awarded following the flagrant, and continued to play on."

Ball Don't Lie: Behind the Box Score, where the Nuggets were too much for Kobe Bryant’s gutty game
"Denver's guards continue to get their way. Ramon Sessions is clearly an upgrade defensively from Derek Fisher, but he's never been known as anything more than adequate defensively, and Ty Lawson (after a so-so Game 5) absolutely had his way with the Lakers on Thursday night. It took just 18 shots for Lawson to put up 32 points, and he added six assists while declining to add any turnovers. Add in Kenneth Faried's hustle and Los Angeles' apparent apathy, and you have a blowout that isn't fully represented by a relatively close 17-point Denver advantage."

The Basketball Jones via ESPN: Carlos Boozer knows what really matters, yo
“I thought I played well, especially with the kind of season it was,” Boozer said, when asked to asses his second season in Chicago. “We had the best record again in basketball, won our division again, had the top seed again, that’s all that matters, yo.”

DIME: Upset Special: How The Pacers Can Beat The Heat
"What do you not get out of the Granger-West-Hibbert group? Hibbert (12.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 2.0 bpg) and West score in the post. West and Granger (18.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg) score from mid-range. Granger scores from long range. Hibbert and West rebound. Granger and Hibbert handle the ball and pass well for their positions. Hibbert protects the rim. All three defend their position, have leadership roles on the team, and buy into coach Frank Vogel’s philosophies and system. All three can play up-tempo or slow-paced, full court or half court. They cover every base you want covered by your front line."

DIME via Indianapolis Star: Pacers Coach: Heat ‘Are The Biggest Flopping Team In The NBA’
“They are the biggest flopping team in the NBA,” Vogel said. “It’ll be very interesting to see how the referees officiate the series and how much flopping they reward.”

SLAM: Post Up: Sixers, C's Move On
"Watson took some bad shots throughout the game, going 2-11 from the field and finishing with 6 points. But with the Bulls nursing a one-point lead with seconds to go in regulation and the Sixers trying to foul intentionally in the backcourt, instead of waiting until the foul came so that he could go to the free throw line and ice the ganme, Watson dribbled the length of the floor (after a no-call on a Jrue Holiday intentional foul) and passed the ball off to Omer Asik, who was fouled on a shot attempt at the rim. It was another episode of “when the right basketball play goes wrong” and worth noting that Omer Asik is a 46 percent free throw shooter, while Watson shoots 81 percent. Asik—as expected—bricked both free-throws, and Andre Iguodala secured the rebound, dribbled the length of the floor, was subsequently fouled by Asik and drained his two free throws to seal the Sixers victory."

SLAM via NBA: Kobe Bryant: Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol Must Play Better
"Bryant followed soon after. “Of course I agree with that,” he said of Brown’s critique. “I talked with Pau a little bit after the game and I’ll speak with Andrew as well. It’s one of those things where psychologically you have to put yourself in a predicament, in a position, where you have no other option but to perform. You have to emotionally put your back to the wall and kind of trick yourself, so to speak, to feel that there’s no other option but to perform and to battle, when you have that, when you have that mindset, your performance shines through, your talent shines through. It doesn’t matter what the defense does. It doesn’t matter because you’re emotionally at a level that is above that. That is the mindset that they have to put themselves in.”