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Around The World: July 11

07/11/12

Written by: DHawes22

July 11

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Rookie Fan Chats

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Lillard, Leonard, Barton Press Conference

Trail Blazers: Trail Blazers Sign Spanish International Victor Claver
“Victor is a player with a high basketball IQ who will come in as a good complement to our roster,” said Olshey. “He defends well for his size, has a nice shooting touch, and we look forward to having him on board.”

Trail Blazers: Wojnarowski: Trail Blazers Sign Hickson
"Many assumed J.J. Hickson's brief stint with the Trail Blazers was over after the team declined to extend a the qualifying offer prior to the start of free agency. But it sounds like Hickson will be back on the bench for at least the 2012-13 season after, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, he signed a one-year deal Wednesday afternoon"

Trail Blazers: GM Neil Olshey On RFA Nicolas Batum's Interactions With Minnesota
"I guess he’s into mosquito bites and frostbite. I don’t know what to tell ya. But look, this is the game. This is a little unique, it’s different than our situation with Roy Hibbert because Bouna [Ndiaye] didn’t ask to negotiate with us. I was totally open to negotiate a deal straight-up. He said he wanted to go into the free agent market and do a deal with somebody else and put pressure on us to match or do a sign and trade and that’s his prerogative. That’s the business model they chose for his client and look, Nic has never said a bad word about Portland. Some of the issues he had with being here no longer exist, so I don’t think that’s a problem. The same core group of players is here. He’s a talented kid. The coaches we’re going to talk to will all embrace him being here, will understand that he’s got a skill set that goes beyond what he’s been asked to do the last few years and look, there’s going to be a responsibility that’ll come with that if it works out. Once you get paid the level of expectation goes up and if you’re asking to have more freedom to do other things you need to make sure you can produce. I think Nic’s capable of all of it and over the next few days we’ll sort it all out."

Trail Blazers: Comcast Sportsnet To Broadcast All Five Trail Blazers Summer League Games
"Trail Blazers television broadcasters Mike Barrett and Mike Rice will call the action during the five-game slate, which tips off Sunday, July 15."

ESPN: Source: Blazers, Wolves Talk Trade
"The Trail Blazers and Timberwolves are discussing a deal that would bring Portland free-agent forward Nicolas Batum to Minnesota in exchange for two future first-round draft picks and a veteran small forward acquired from a third team, a league source told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher."

Oregon Live: Joel Freeland to sign with the Trail Blazers, according to reports
"Spanish website Tubasket.com says he will travel to Portland in the coming days to complete a physical and sign the contract, reportedly three years, $9 million. On Monday, the 6-foot-10 Freeland said in an interview with HoopsHype.com he wouldn't rush a decision about his NBA future."

Oregon Live: NBA High-5: With roster filling out, Blazers look headed for rebuilding year
"But let's be clear: If the Blazers start the season with this current group, we're probably looking at a rebuilding season and a lot of growing pains -- a season that will test the patience of not only fans, but All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge."

CSNNW: Olshey on Batum to Minny: I guess he's into Mosquito bites and frostbite
“Yeah, If it goes to an offer sheet, absolutely,” Olshey said. “Nobody here sees a reason to let talent walk out the door. I would have preferred to handle it straight up, but he's not the only guys signing an offer sheet and hes not the only guy who's going to get the offers sheet matched. At the end of the day, as long as we create a great basketball environment, he'll have no problem.”

Rip City Project: Claver A Blazer
"Color me surprised. I thought for sure we’d never see this guy in a Blazer jersey. Like most of you, I don’t know very much about Claver. However, Claver will participate in the 2012 Olympics for his country. Last time Portland had an in-coming Spaniard in an Olympic year, that Spaniard was Rudy Fernandez. Although Rudy’s tenure in Portland ended in shame, and his NBA-career is over, that first season after an awesome Olympic tournament was pretty amazing."

Blazersedge via Sportando: Reports: British F/C Joel Freeland To Sign 3-Year Deal With Blazers
"Joel Freeland will play in the NBA with the Blazers as soon as the player and Unicaja Malaga will reach an agreement on his €1.5M buyout. Freeland will travel to Portland in the coming days for the physical and then he will work on his buyout with the Spanish team. Unicaja Malaga officially announced that Joel Freeland asked to leave the team for the NBA. Portland, Freeland and Malaga are now discussing the buyout. "

Ball Don't Lie: Deron Williams re-signs with Nets on iPad, leading several players making deals official
"Or, rather, as you see above, the 28-year-old point guard put finger to touch-screen, signing the deal on his iPad and tweeting a photo of the occasion, just as he'd shared his decision to stay with the Nets via Twitter on July 3. Plus, now that Williams is going to be making nearly nine figures over five years, he can afford to buy a stylus for his iPad. (Penmanship counts, Deron, even if it's not really a pen.)"

Ball Don't Lie: Hakeem Olajuwon wants to work with Serge Ibaka
"We shouldn't exaggerate the effect of Olajuwon's work with players — they meet for a few days at most, and real improvement depends on the active player committing himself to expanding his game. But if Hakeem wants to work with a player, that means he sees someone with potential to be great. There are few reasons not to listen."

Ball Don't Lie: Steve Nash is introduced by the Los Angeles Lakers, dons Laker uniform for the first time (PHOTOS)
"It's a shot that will make some retch, and some jump with giddy glee. Whatever your affiliation, it's still a jarring sight. And though we've had issues with the "COUNT THA RINGZZ" crew in the past, a basketball genius like Steve Nash running a show that involves Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and (especially) Pau Gasol is so more intriguing and appealing than him wasting his final years on a middling crew in Phoenix, or helping in Toronto's latest rebuilding attempt."

Ball Don't Lie: Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis officially join Miami Heat, headlining early Wednesday moves
''You've got to double-team LeBron. You have to double-team Dwyane Wade. You've got to double-team Chris Bosh. And then you think they're going to leave Ray Allen open?'' Lewis said [...]. ''They've got to leave somebody open. So I have to go [shoot] a million jumpers tonight and be ready to knock them down. Somebody's got to be open.''

DIME: Update: Nets Reportedly Out Of Dwight Howard Sweepstakes
"Well, I guess we should've seen this coming. With so much undecided and up in the air today, it was merely a formality that Brooklyn's "take us or leave us" deadline would come and go without a move. Now various reports coming from Marc Stein, David Aldridge and Jarrod Rudolph say Orlando closed off talks while Chris Sheridan says New Jersey has closed off trade negotiations with Orlando because they were content to move forward with a nucleus of Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries and MarShon Brooks. Either way it appears likely a deal between the two sides won't happen. According to Brian Windhorst, Magic GM Rob Hennigan is denying that Orlando has shelved their trade talks with the Nets, and also disputes the claim that he told Howard the same thing earlier today.]"

SLAM via Yahoo!: Brook Lopez Reportedly Close to Max Deal from Brooklyn Nets
"As close as the Nets and Lopez are on a deal, several sources wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Lopez still signing an offer sheet with another team for the full four-year, $58 million maximum contract if the final details are unable to be worked out. The Charlotte Bobcats have shown the most interest in signing Lopez to a max sheet, sources said. The Nets would undoubtedly match, but signing the offer sheet would be a way for Lopez to avoid any partial guarantees based on games that the Nets might want in his deal. King is scheduled to travel to Los Angeles on Wednesday to work on completing the deal with Tellem."

SLAM via ESPN: Dallas Mavericks Expected to Sign Chris Kaman
“Sources told ESPN.com that the Mavs are on the verge of finalizing a deal to team Kaman with close friend Dirk Nowitzki, his teammate on the German national team during the 2008 Olympics. The deal would be for one year, a source told ESPNDallas.com. Financial details were not immediately known.”

SLAM via CSN Bay Area: Jarrett Jack Traded to the Golden State Warriors
“According to a league source, the Wright trade is part of a three-team deal that will land the Warriors a veteran point guard. The source said the deal is not fully completed but it’s close. Jack is expected to back up Steph Curry at point guard. The 6-3, 197-pounder has six NBA seasons under his belt. Last year with New Orleans he averaged 15.6 points and 6.3 assists in 45 games. He has also played for Portland, Indiana and Toronto. It was reported in several outlets on Tuesday that the Warriors had acquired Edin Bavcic from Philadelphia. The Sixers owned Bavcic’s rights from a 2006 trade with the Toronto Raptors.”

ESPN New York: Jeremy Lin upset at Knicks
"He was surprised that the Knicks didn't make the first move," a league source told the paper. "They know they've got to mend some fences with him because he believes what the Rockets have told him, that the Knicks weren't as interested as they are."

ESPN Los Angeles: Lakers Introduce Steve Nash
"We didn't talk about the past at all," Nash said. "We only talked about moving forward and how he felt about this, how this could work and how we can win a championship and do we see eye-to-eye on that. That's all that really matters. We'll work the rest out as we go along here. I think you're looking at two very dedicated gym rats, frankly. There's definitely a lot of commonality in there amongst what seemed like a lot of differences from afar. I definitely think we can relate to each others' drive and competitive spirit."

ESPN: Charles Barkley fires back at Kobe
"Other than Kobe, LeBron (James) and Kevin Durant, I don't think anybody else on that team makes our team."

Sports Illustrated: Tim Duncan’s return keeps Spurs in talk for a championship — or a rebuild
"Duncan and Garnett handcuffed their teams by being so damn good at such an advanced NBA age. The Spurs and (especially) the Celtics had positioned themselves with cap room this summer, ready to move onto new eras in the history of their respective franchises. But Garnett and Duncan soaked up almost all of that cap room via charges, linked to their (giant) old salaries, that hang on a team’s books until that team renounces its rights to those outgoing free agents. And Duncan and Garnett played so well last season, on such lively legs, that they made it very hard for their teams to wipe away those cap charges and use their space to sign someone better. And so the other path made some sense for each: keep those holds on the books, stay over the cap, bring back most of the old gang on cheap, short-term deals and see what happens next season."

Sports Illustrated: Trail Blazers to match free-agent offer for Batum
"I think Nicolas would have more value than what Minnesota is willing to offer in a sign-and-trade," Olshey said at the Blazers' Tualatin practice facility."

Sports Illustrated: Nash on Lakers deal: 'Something I never foresaw'
"It's a franchise that I think everybody would dream of playing for," Nash said, evincing his usual sartorial style in a dark-blue pinstriped suit with an open shirt collar and a red pocket square. "It's an exciting project, to say the least. ... I definitely never thought I'd play 19 years in the league, and I feel very fortunate that I have my health and, most importantly, have the desire to do it. I still enjoy pushing myself to get better and produce. I don't foresee that changing, and that's the key ingredient."