Around The World: August 27

08/27/12

Written by: DHawes22

August 27

Trail Blazers TV: Get To Know Damian Lillard

Trail Blazers TV: Meet BlazerDancer Greta

DIME: Dime Q&A: Meyers Leonard On Portland’s Future And The Center Curse
"Well the history doesn’t affect me at all. It is what it is. Whatever happens happens. But I’m just going to come every day and learn as much as I can and work as hard as I can."

Madison: NBA: No summer vacation for Trail Blazers' Wesley Matthews
"I’m always excited to play basketball, but something is different about this year," Matthews said. "It’s a rebuilding year. The way things are shaping up in the West, no one’s really expecting us to do anything. So I like those odds. I like that feeling where you’re counted out."

Hoopsworld: NBA PM: 5 NBA Players Who Must Evolve
"The Blazers were originally doing this very much the Oklahoma City way. They drafted great players, planning to develop them into a collective that could dominate the Western Conference for years to come. If Brandon Roy and Greg Oden hadn’t gotten hurt, they would likely be right on track. In the wake of those injuries, the rebuilding process has come back around, and as much as that depends on the development of rookies Damien Lillard and Meyers Leonard, this has to be Nicolas Batum’s year. He got the hefty pay check, now it’s time for him to become the player the Blazers keep saying he’s going to be."

Trail Blazers: The BlazerDancers Talk Trip To Estonia
"The whole trip was a whirlwind, which made it all memorable and exciting. Thinking back on our time there makes me nostalgic. I feel lucky to have had time on our first day there to walk around Tallinn, take in the beautiful sights and architecture, and do a bit of shopping in the square. It was also very fun being able to watch some of Sprite Streetball tournament and to dance for the first time in my fifth season as a BlazerDancer. Its always an amazing experience to be able to perform, let alone in a different country! I felt at home the whole time in Estonia and the people were very welcoming and friendly. Overall, the whole trip was an awesome experience and I'm grateful to have so many fun new memories."

Trail Blazers: Meet BlazerDancer Greta
"Greta spent her whirlwind rookie season learning the ropes and soaking up every moment. “My favorite experience by far was FanFest. I just couldn’t get enough of the crowd, I couldn’t get enough of the energy and the whole environment,” she said. “I had the most fun that night, even though it was just us scrimmaging against each other.”

Trail Blazers: Meet BlazerDancer Jasmine
“You can just get lost in a performance and you can feed off an audience’s energy. I went through a lot of hard times when I was younger, but when you’re performing and dancing you almost forget about everything and you get to express yourself and whatever you’re going through.”

Trail Blazers: Thorpe: Why Damian Lillard Could Win Rookie Of The Year
"I would agree completely that Lillard's more polished coming out of the collegiate ranks than Westbrook as Russ was viewed as somewhat of a raw prospect and Dame had four years in school (albeit only playing three due to a medical redshirt) compared to his two. But more polished than No. 1 overall pick and Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose? That's some serious praise. Yes, Lillard is 22 coming into his rookie campaign versus Rose's 19, but D-Rose led his Memphis Tigers all the way to the National Championship Game as a true freshman. If Lillard comes anywhere close to Rose's rookie averages of 16.8 points, 6.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds per game than Rip City is in very good hands for the foreseeable future with Damian Lillard running the show."

ESPN: Uni Watch: Blazers Rank No. 48 On Best Uniforms In Sports List
"A handful of NBA teams have worn diagonal stripes over the years, but the Blazers are the only team currently employing that concept. It works -- here's hoping they never move away from it. Fun fact: The Blazers' pinwheel logo is a graphic representation of a five-on-five basketball game. It's also one of the few logos in the league that doesn't include a depiction of a basketball."

Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard All Over NBA Rookie Survey
"Lillard's ability to hit shots is one of the main reasons the Trail Blazers drafted him with the No. 6 pick. Personally, I think Terrence Ross ends up being the best shooter of the 2012 draft class."

Sports Illustrated: The short list of potential one-team starts
"LaMarcus Aldridge: Three relatively affordable years on his deal (about $15 million annually) as the centerpiece on a rebuilding team. Portland will get calls."

Blazersedge via Grantland: Simmons: Portland's Criticism Will Fuel Raymond Felton Bounce-Back
"Did you see his quote? His quote was, I think, my favorite quote of 2012 by an athlete. He was mad about how people were talking about how fat he was. He's like, I don't know the exact words, but he's like, 'I've been in shape for seven of the eight years of my career.'"

Trail Blazers: Blog Contest: Which Ticket Plan Is Right For You?
"Do you prefer the marquee matchups the Big Games Plan entails, the bang for your buck the Value Plan provides, seeing rivalries old and new, rekindled with the Rivals Plan, or maybe your schedule dictates that the Weekend Plan is the option for you? Blog about which ticket plan you would choose and why. If your blog is chosen as the best, you’ll be the new recipient of two, lower-bowl tickets to ANY Trail Blazers home game this season!"

Ball Don't Lie: Kevin Seraphin’s love of snakes has reached Jake Roberts status
"It doesn't appear that Snakey has to worry about sharing his master's love, though — these two monsters aren't coming home with Seraphin. His Jake "The Snake" Roberts moment came during a trip to an Ibiza spa that offers snake massage therapy, which is apparently a real thing that "involves surrendering to your fears, knowing that the serpent sliding across your back is able to remove the blockages in your muscles and nervous system." It is, as you might expect, not for everyone — no less a thrill-seeker than Dita Von Teese said no thanks to the serpentine massage — but judging by the smile on his face, it sure appears to be up Kevin's alley."

Ball Don't Lie: Indiana Pacers guard Paul George throws down 360-degree, through-the-legs windmill dunk in Shanghai (VIDEO)
"If the dunk looks familiar to you, it might be because George's Shanghai slam resembles the 360-degree windmill that he completed at the 2012 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All-Star Weekend, though he's since added the extra wrinkle (and difficulty) of going through his legs in mid-spin. If the dunk doesn't look familiar to you, it might be because George did that February dunk in the dark while wearing glow-in-the-dark stripes on his jersey, marking arguably the worst decision of a dunk contest that saw Chase Budinger both pretend to be Cedric Ceballos and jump over Diddy, which is saying something."

Ball Don't Lie: The 10 best plays of the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats, the worst NBA team ever (VIDEO)
"Unfortunately, sometimes the NBA forces nostalgia. Every offseason, our friends at NBA.com and Turner Sports put together a highlight reel for every NBA team of the 10 best plays from the season that was. On Wednesday, the NBA's official YouTube page premiered their installment for the Bobcats. It's not the best set of highlights you'll ever see, to put it lightly, and there are few reasons for celebration. At Deadspin, Barry Petchesky provides some helpful context for the plays: only three came from Bobcats wins, and the top play — a game-saving block by rookie Bismack Biyombo — came against the lottery-winning New Orleans Hornets, which means this particular win might have hurt Charlotte in the long term."

Ball Don't Lie: Fab Melo breaks a folding chair, wins $10,000 grand prize (VIDEO)
"Twenty years ago, the NBA would have submitted this clip to AFHV, and David Stern and Adam Silver would have won the $10,000 grand prize. Then Bob Saget would have interviewed them, and we would still be watching that moment today on YouTube. And so it all comes full circle."

DIME: The Top 25 Career NBA Salaries
"Garnett might be No. 1 right now, but expect him to be easily passed by the likes of LeBron James and others. But for now, Garnett has probably been worth every penny. And even now, at the end of his career, he’s still a top NBA big man."

DIME: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is Getting His Laker Statue
"The Los Angeles Times learned today that Abdul-Jabbar will get a statue erected sometime during this season outside Staples Center, a decision that apparently has as much to do with the arena’s owner, AEG, as the Buss family. In the story, the Lakers have said there is no set-in-stone criteria for earning such a statue, though statue criteria has been known to vary widely outside the NBA — just look at Stephon Marbury‘s instant bronzing in China."

SLAM via Yahoo!: Kobe Bryant Predicted Lakers Would Get Dwight Howard a Month Before They Did
“Kobe called that a month before it happened,” Durant told Yahoo! Sports while promoting his new movie “Thunderstruck.” “I didn’t believe him. He was just like, ‘We are going to have Dwight. We are going to have Steve Nash.’ He just talks a lot of trash, jokes and laughs. But he said it. I don’t think anyone paid attention to it but me and him. He said it and it happened. And they got better, a lot better. “Dwight’s name was being thrown on every team. Houston, Brooklyn, the Lakers. But I guess he called it right.”

SLAM via Dallas Morning News: Dirk Nowitzki Says He’ll Play Two More Seasons, Then ‘See How I Feel’
"Nowitzki has two years remaining on the four-year, $80 million deal he signed in 2010. When asked why he doesn’t just jump to a ‘Super Team’ and try to win a championship elsewhere, Nowitzki replied: ‘I bleed blue.’ Those are positive signs for Mavericks fans after a tough summer of pursuing Deron Williams and losing out on the Brooklyn point guard. When asked if he feels the team the Mavericks have put together can win a championship this season, Nowitzki replied: ‘I always feel that way.’”

SLAM via Newsday: Carmelo Anthony Says the Knicks Have No Rivalry With the Brooklyn Nets
"’There’s no rivalry between us and Brooklyn right now,’ Anthony said. ‘It starts on that first game. We’ll see what happens with that first game. But as of right now, we are focused on ourselves. We are not really focused on nobody else.’”

Sporting News: L.A. Clippers' Blake Griffin healthy, happy
“In talking to my doctor, he told me if this was the season and the playoffs were coming up, I would have been out two or three weeks,” Griffin told the L.A. Times. “We’re kind of taking our time with it and really making sure … that my strength is 100 percent back to where it needs to be.”

Trail Blazers: Weekend Plan: Specially Designed For Families And The Busy Nine-To-Fiver
"Built for the family-oriented fan with a busy work-week, the 12-game Weekend Pack maximizes the thrill-factor while keeping the competitions to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A smattering of Western Conference rivals and Eastern Conference visitors during one-offs and key home stands, you can get your hands on this schedule-friendly pack for as low as $11/game and $52/game in the lower bowl."

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."