Around The World: June 8

06/08/12

Written by: DHawes22

June 8

Trail Blazers: Mock Draft Database

Draft Express: Pre-Draft Measurements

Trail Blazers: Haynes: Husky Duo, Ross And Wroten, Would Love To Play For Rip City
“Everyday, everyday I think about that. That's a dream come true,” Wroten said with a grin. “That will be a blessing If I was the 6th or 11th pick. Jamal Crawford going there, a Seattle guy, Brandon Roy, being able to follow in his footsteps would be a great, great, great opportunity.”

Trail Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge: Back To Shooting
"I can start shooting today flat-footed (no jumping yet,) so I'm going to take advantage of that and start getting up shots. Want to work on my shooting form and ball handling. One of my goals for next season is to be better at attacking the rim off the dribble from the block and the elbow area."

Trail Blazers: Haynes: Heavy Hitters To Invade The Trail Blazers Practice Facility Next Week
"In his latest mock draft, ESPN's Chad Ford has the Trail Blazers selecting Weber State point guard, Damian Lillard at No. 11 overall. As for the other prospects, Ford has Kentucky small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist slated to go No. 2, Ohio State big man Jared Sullinger one spot ahead of Portland to New Orleans at No. 10, Duke shooting guard Austin Rivers at No. 18, and Washington combo guard Tony Wroten No. 23."

Trail Blazers: Sarah's 2012 NBA Mock Draft
"There are two glaring holes in Rip City right now and center is one of them. At 6-11 and 275lbs Drummond is an intimidating presence in the middle. His shot blocking and rebounding abilities make him a good fit to shore up Portland’s front court. If the Trail Blazers are targeting a proven point guard in free agency or via trade, which I’m hoping for, you can bet Drummond is on his way to town."

Oregon Live via Sporting News: Trail Blazers rundown: Are the Blazers interested in Dion Waiters?
"ESPN.com's Chad Ford reported Thursday that buzz was circulating regarding a draft promise reportedly made to Syracuse guard Dion Waiters, naming the Blazers, Raptors and Suns as the suspects. The Oregonian's Jason Quick quickly followed up, saying Blazers director of college scouting Chad Buchanan said a few weeks ago he "never" gives players a promise. Raptors GM Brian Colangelo has since told Ford no promise was made to Waiters. By process of elimination, that would leave Phoenix."

Oregon Live: 2012 NBA draft: Should the Trail Blazers draft Kendall Marshall? (poll)
"NBA ready as a passer and floor general, making him an instant contributor. Although he seems to prefer isolation to pick up his points, he is an excellent pick and roll point guard with his decision making off the screen, finding space to drive, pull up or hitting his man if available. Clearly prefers to drive the left side of lane on straight-line drives or spot up from 3 to get his points, but passing his play 90% of the time on offense. Needs to be more consistent shooting the ball from the perimeter, and if he does, should be just fine as defenses will have to respect his range."

CSNNW: NBA Combine: Perry Jones on LaMarcus and the Draft
"Projected between the 9th and 12th pick, Perry Jones III talks about LaMarcus, his position and the NBA draft with our own Chris Haynes."

CSNNW: Former Huskies enjoying NBA Draft process with Blazers on their mind
“I love the Trail Blazers,” Wroten said. “We don't have a team (in Seattle), so they're who I root for. If I was blessed to be able to play for them, it would be a dream come true."

CSNNW: NBA Combine: Jared Sullinger on Blazers and Oden
"Ohio State big man, Jared Sullinger, talks about playing in Portland, Nolan Smith and Greg Oden's situation."

CSNNW: NBA Combine: Austin Rivers - Playing in Portland
"Duke guard, Austin Rivers, talks with Chris Haynes about playing in Portland as well as what position he sees himself at in the NBA."

ESPN: The five best over-30 free agents
""He's a big who has some skill, and those are just hard to find," one executive said of Kaman. "But he's an old 30 based on his injury history." The Trail Blazers are expected to compete with the New Orleans Hornets for his services. The Heat supposedly have interest, although they don't have more than a $3 million exception to offer, and Kaman is sure to attract better offers. Despite some frustration with the Hornets last season, a source said Kaman would welcome the chance to return to New Orleans and play alongside presumptive No. 1 pick Anthony Davis."

Blazersedge via IPP Media: Blazers C Hasheem Thabeet Gives Basketball Clinics In Tanzania
"The towering player who attained milestone achievement after cruising into the world’s high-profile basketball league in America looks not greedy to share his success to his fellow Tanzanians. The clincin staged at the Don Bosco venue in Dar es Salaam, one of Thabeet’s ancestral routes that inspired him to a booming career success was jammed by basketball’s up-and-coming players of the new generation."

Oregon Live: NBA High-5: Foundation for Oklahoma City's success was built during tough times in Seattle
"Second-guessing about personnel moves is standard in the NBA. In Phoenix, the Arizona Republic's Paul Coro points out that the two probable finalists have key players the Suns could have had. They drafted Rajon Rondo in 2006, but traded him to Boston for Brian Grant (for cap room as he was about to retire). In 2007, they traded their 2008 first-round pick, Kurt Thomas and a 2010 first-round pick for a 2009 second-round pick, a move meant to clear Thomas' $8 million contract off their books to get under the luxury tax threshold. The Sonics used that 2008 pick on Serge Ibaka. Personally, I think the Oden-Durant thing would have been forgotten if Brandon Roy had stayed healthy and played a nice, long career in Portland."

Ball Don't Lie: The Memphis Grizzlies are not ‘looking’ to trade Rudy Gay, which is technically true
"The team is realistic about its roster's limitations, though. And without being cheap in terms of payroll of dismissive of Gay's overall game, the Grizz understand that a deal involving Rudy could net the team some of the rotation parts it needs in order to establish some depth. The Grizzlies did well to compete in the first round in 2011-12, surviving in a tough season played mostly without Zach Randolph either on the court or at full strength, but it badly needs help at all positions off the bench. And that's not even getting into the fact that they are paying franchise player cash for a worker (in Gay) that is at best going to fight for a coach-voted placement on the All-Star team."

Ball Don't Lie: LeBron James, in Game 6, gave us everything we’ve ever asked for
"We asked for it, and we got it. And not in some Game 2, at home, against a team James' squad should be handily defeating. Not in a Tuesday night League Pass setting in late winter against an eventual lottery participant. Nup, we got what we wanted in a contest that could have been the last game of LeBron's season. Although, Game 2 on May 2 or Game 32 on February 2 or June 7 in a do-or-go away Game 6, the ramifications hardly seem to matter at this point. All we can remember, a day later, is how brilliant James was."

Ball Don't Lie: LeBron James’ 45-point Game 6 explosion in a 4-minute supercut (VIDEO)
"James snared a game-high 15 rebounds, grabbing more than one out of three available Boston misses (of which there were many) while he was on the court, combining with Udonis Haslem (nine boards in 23 minutes, eight on the defensive end) to all but keep the Celtics off the offensive glass (the C's had zero offensive rebounds in the first half and just six second-chance points in the game). He dished five assists, leading to 13 points, including three 3-pointers for Mario Chalmers. He turned it over just four times in nearly 45 minutes of floor time, despite handling the ball almost constantly and using more than 37 percent of Heat possessions, according to Basketball-Reference.com. He controlled the game summarily, from the opening tip until he finally went to the bench with Miami up 22 and 3:11 remaining in the fourth quarter."

The Basketball Jones via Newsday: Home cooking could keep J.R. Smith in New York
“I’m getting kind of spoiled right now, going up and down the Turnpike,” Smith said. “My mom’s right there. She’s cooking. She’s coming up to New York and cleaning my place. After having that, I think it’s going to be harder off the court than it will be on the court [to leave]. On the court basketball is basketball everywhere. But you got your family and friends and everybody, so it will be tough.”

The Basketball Jones: Jeff Van Gundy wore Russell Westbrook’s glasses last night
"Let’s hope this sort of thing becomes more and more common, where announcers wear trendy clothes that they’ve seen NBA players sporting in their postgame press conferences. It’d be great to see Mike Breen wearing Dwyane Wade’s pink pants or Kevin Harlan rocking a shirt covered with maps. And by great, I mean “potentially horrifying.”

The Basketball Jones: Video: Some dummy threw a drink on LeBron James
"This is why we can’t have nice things, like 45-15-5 games that come around once every 50 years. Humans, man. Get it together."

SLAM via AP: Roy Hibbert Wants to Stay in Indiana, if the Money is Right
"On Thursday, he stopped short of saying he would give the Pacers a hometown discount. ‘I want to make sure that everyone knows I love Indiana,’ he said. ‘But as the process goes and we try to get something done, that’s something I’m leaving to my agent.’ [...] What the Pacers must decide is whether they can afford to keep him — or if it would be too costly to lose Hibbert. To Vogel, it’s a no-brainer. ‘I love our team so much, there’s such a great positive chemistry and any time you see any of those guys, it just lights up,’ Vogel said. ‘We’re going to get every single one of them (free agents) back. The Pacers are going to shoot for the moon.’”

SLAM: Post Up: Heat Force Game 7
"Last night, LeBron scored 45 only because he decided to stop there. He could’ve gone for 50, 60, or maybe even pulled a David Robinson. I hate you, I hate myself, and I hate everyone else that contributed to us settling into Game 6 without expecting this. Of course, the Celtics deserved all the praise coming their way, and deserved to be the favorites—a cruising veteran bunch, playing a close-out game at home, with proven late-game execution and killer instinct. Boston deserved all of it. But that doesn’t mean the Heat deserved to be counted out with such callous disregard."

SLAM via ESPN: Report: Orlando Magic Interested in Tom Penn for GM Job
“Penn, who declined to comment, has served in the front offices of both the Portland Trail Blazersand Memphis Grizzlies. [He] has a legal and financial background. Increasingly, NBA teams are giving that kind of experience more weight than having played in the league when hiring front-office personnel. Penn worked for seven seasons (2000-2007) as both legal counsel and assistant general manager for the Grizzlies and then three seasons as assistant GM with the Blazers. While with Portland, Penn helped the team pare a bloated payroll while remaining competitive but shedding their “JailBlazers” image. Penn also has some experience as a player agent.”

ESPN: Daily Dime
"I just went to my habits," James explained. "I wasn't going to feel sorry for myself or anything. I just go out and play as hard as I can and try to make plays for our team. And at the end of the day, whatever happens happens."

Sports Illustrated via Bulls: Derrick Rose recovering quicker than expected, says teammate Taj Gibson
“I think he’s going to be better in my honest opinion,” Gibson reiterated. “It’s tough when you’re coming off so many different injuries. You [usually] don’t have time to work on your body [during the season]. But after this injury, he’ll understand more than ever how important it is to maintain your body and stay on top of your legs. As he works through this recovery, he’s already been pushing his legs and it’s great.”

Sports Illustrated: Front office has San Antonio poised to contend next year and beyond
"The Spurs are in a very good place, cap-wise. They have about $49.2 million in committed salary for next season, assuming they pick up cheap guarantees on DeJuan Blair and Gary Neal and that Patty Mills enacts his minimum-level player option (something he may not do). They won’t have cap space (we’ll get there shortly), but they will have access to the full mid-level exception — a great way to attract a productive veteran, especially since several potential contenders (Miami, Chicago, the Lakers) will have access only to the small mid-level afforded taxpaying teams. They could use another reliable shooting guard with some creativity in his game or a big man who can defend the rim and hit a jump shot (a rare commodity in this price range). Erazem Lorbek, a Slovenian big man playing very well for Ricky Rubio’s old team in Spain and another piece of the Leonard deal, may fill this role eventually (the jump-shooting part, anyway), but the Spurs could have to dip into the mid-level to sign him."