Around The World: August 16

08/16/12

Written by: DHawes22

August 16

Trailblazers.tv: Video: 'This or That' With Meyers Leonard

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Meet BlazerDancer Rea

Trailblazers.tv: Video: NBA Rooks: Damian Lillard

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!"

Trail Blazers: Lowe: Aldridge's Post Efficiency Improved Dramatically in 2011-12
"Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge made a giant leap in post-up efficiency last season, climbing from No. 39 (out of 73) in points per possession in 2010-11 to No. 7. Aldridge managed that based almost entirely on a higher shooting percentage, which is both encouraging and worrisome. He shot a spectacular 49 percent from the post last season, up from a run-of-the-mill 41 percent in 2010-11."

Portland Tribune: Stotts: 'I've learned a lot'
“There’s a chance I’ll hire somebody this week,” he says. “We may announce them one at a time or as a group, I don’t know. All the assistants will be on the floor, working with players. That said, I’m going to have some experienced X’s and O’s guys to help with game plans. We’re going to have energy. Players can feel the energy of a coaching staff.”

CSNNW: Kaleb Canales first interview post coaching search
“Again, like I mentioned , Brian, it's something that's in my blood. I've been born a Portland Trail Blazer. They've given me such an opportunity to grow and improve and develop. I'm always going to be a Portland Trail Blazer."

Blazersedge: Blazers G Will Barton Tells His Remarkable Life Story
"We had one room: me, my mom, Antonio and my niece. We sleep in one bed. Times I'll never forget. We're all sleeping in the same bed, four people. I'm taller than most kids at that age. I'm a big kid. I'm 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3. Antonio he's 6-foot-1, 6-foot. My mom, she's tall for a lady, 5-foot-10. And a baby. We all slept in the same bed, every night. We did that. Not once did I complain. Coaches ain't even know. Nobody knew. Not once. We ain't complaining, 'Oh, life is miserable.' We lived it because that's all we know. As long as I've got my family, we making it through. That's all I know. Surviving."

Sheridan Hoops: NBA Free Agency: Who Still Needs What?
"The potential plan is to start two rookies – Damian Lillard at point guard and Meyers Leonard at center. LaMarcus Aldridge and Eurobig rookie Joel Freeland can play the middle in a pinch, but the Blazers need another real center, and preferably a veteran. To add one, Portland could dump Sasha Pavlovic, whose salary is being paid by Boston."

Orange County Register: Eddie Jordan, Bernie Bickerstaff set to join Mike Brown’s Lakers coaching staff
"Bickerstaff, 68, gave Brown his first NBA job as a Denver Nuggets intern when Bickerstaff was the general manager of the team. He was most recently an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers the past two seasons but has been a head coach in Seattle, Denver, Washington and Charlotte."

Spurs Nation: Spurs kinda, maybe interested in Oden
"If Oden needs any inspiration, he need look no further than Walton, who played in just 167 games from 1979 to 1985 before enjoying one last hurrah with Boston in 1986, winning the Sixth Man of the Year award while helping the Celtics win the championship. And Bowie was at least solid after recovering from his injuries."

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."

Ball Don't Lie: Naughty by Nature and the 1993-94 Washington Bullets teamed up for a promo video (VIDEO)
"Oddly, this video has aged quite well. In large part, that's because "Hip Hop Hooray" is still a damn fine song. On top of that, though, this clip limits the contributions of the Bullets, showing them mostly in highlights and not showing their feet whatsoever when it comes to dancing. Googs dances, yes, but we also don't see him do too much. And yet the video isn't boring — it actually makes the 1993-94 Bullets seem like a fun team worth watching. (Forget, for a minute, that their 24-58 record suggests otherwise.)"

Ball Don't Lie: Derrick Rose speaks on season-ending ACL tear: ‘The closest to death I’ve got to’ (VIDEO)
"Rose wasn't alone in that breathless feeling; my main memory of the moments after Rose's fateful jump stop is gasping, getting up off my couch, standing with my hands on my head and saying, "Oh, God." (I suspect many other viewers, and especially red-and-black partisans, had a similar experience.) The combination of Rose's exit and Joakim Noah's later left-ankle sprain (which was severe enough to keep him out of the Olympics a full three months later) also wound up taking the wind out of the Bulls' sails, resulting in the East's top regular-season team falling in six games to the No. 8-seeded in the opening round of the playoffs."

Ball Don't Lie: Nets fan recognizes the team’s CEO on the street, and is awarded with an internship as a (semi) result (VIDEO)
"It's a lesson for the kids. Ignore the team's star point guard and well-respected coach, but memorize the head shots in suits and ties in the team's game program. You might get an internship and sweet jacket (sorry, "sick gear") out of it."

Ball Don't Lie via New York Times: Jay-Z’s profile about his work with the Brooklyn Nets reveals a strange NBA uniform rumor
"[Jay-Z] helped design the team logos and choose the team's stark black-and-white color scheme, and personally appealed to National Basketball Association officials to drop their objections to it (the N.B.A., according to a person with knowledge of the discussion, thought that African-American athletes did not look good on TV in black, an assertion that a league spokesman adamantly denied). He counseled arena executives on what kind of music to play during games. ("Less Jersey," he urged, pushing niche artists like Santigold over old favorites like Bon Jovi.)"

Ball Don't Lie: Players we want back: Amar’e Stoudemire
"This is why Amar'e Stoudemire's 2011-12 turn was such an absolute downer. Whether his poor play was a function of either Carmelo Anthony or Tyson Chandler's presence, or a delayed reaction to a season that didn't start on time, Stoudemire was a mess defensively and a relative miss offensively. His New York Knicks didn't really miss a beat, sticking with the same first round ouster that the squad experienced a year earlier, but the team and its fans rued the potential that was lost when the NBA's most versatile scoring big decided to decline so suddenly. A year after looking like a savior machine in his prime, Stoudemire may have tailed off into the NBA's worst contract."

Ball Don't Lie: Brian Scalabrine thinks anyone who mocks him is an idiot
"The idea that anyone who mocks him is an idiot, though, doesn't quite jibe with the way Scalabrine has conducted himself throughout his career. In Boston and Chicago, Scalabrine has been perfectly willing to play up his role as a fan favorite despite seeing little playing time. Plus, he has never complained about the at least somewhat ironic cheering that welcomes him into every game. It's not as if he has always presented himself as a serious-minded NBA player, no matter his confidence in his own abilities."

The Basketball Jones: What Does Jay-Z Do For The Nets?
“He said he was watching ESPN,” Mr. Yormark said, “and the size of our logo was too big, because the word Brooklyn was getting cut off on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. He said, ‘Call ESPN and get them to fix it.’ And he was right. And then they fixed it.”

The Basketball Jones: Tim Duncan listens to Stephen Jackson’s rap, Gregg Popovich doesn’t
"What a great comedy trio these three make. Stephen Jackson just wants to rap, Tim Duncan listens to it because he’s a good friend and Gregg Popovich just wants to drink red wine and not be bothered with that silly racket. Not that the Spurs would ever allow it, but I’d buy a DVD set of them if they ever appeared on The Association. So many laughs would be had and that’s without considering Matt Bonner goofing around, Tony Parker always trying to freestyle for Stephen Jackson and Manu Ginobili’s battle with male pattern baldness. They’d make for a great show."

DIME: John Salley Says MJ Isn’t One Of The 5 Greatest Players Ever
"Colin Cowherd has really jumped on the anti-Michael Jordan train these days – not Cowherd himself, but bringing guests onto his ESPN Radio show to rebut the notion that MJ is the greatest ever. First it was Jim Boeheim making a mere suggestion that LeBron James might be a better player than MJ. And now it’s former NBAer John Salley, who said that MJ isn’t the greatest either. And, even worse, he names five players who he thinks were better. So for those of you counting at home, Michael Jordan isn’t one of the five greatest players ever. According to John Salley, that is."

DIME: The Orlando Magic May Have Taken The Best Deal Available After All
"In the case of the Nets, the Magic simply weren’t willing to hamstring their future with the Lopez contract. And, as we’ve preached here before, it’s championship or 60 losses in the NBA. The middle ground is a futile no man’s land. By rejecting Brook Lopez as the centerpiece of any deal, that’s what the Magic were doing – rejecting mediocrity."

SLAM via New York Times: Olajuwon: Amar’e Stoudemire’s Post-Game Transformation is ‘Night and Day’
"‘It’s night and day,’ Olajuwon said. ‘What’s so nice is he wants it; he likes the post. He’s always wanted to play there, but he doesn’t have the moves that would give him that option.’ Since retiring in 2002, Olajuwon has become the N.B.A.’s go-to source for players hoping to develop their post skills. LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant have visited the Olajuwon ranch."

ESPN: Life After Dwight Howard
"Indeed, the Magic's draft picks still remain the key to their future. But what Vaughn can do is manufacture better value for his veterans if he can get them to play their best basketball. Then Hennigan can work to package his nonlottery picks with these solid veterans to perhaps acquire a lottery pick, or even just better picks. The same can be said for Moe Harkless and Nikola Vucevic, two young players with significant upside. Two years from now, will they be "players" or "teasers"? Vaughn will need to make sure they are the former."

ESPN: Stephen Curry to be ready for camp
"He's working out at the Warriors' practice facility as part of his rehab from the injury, which has bothered him the past two years. He thinks this offseason will be different because of the design of his training schedule that began about June 1."

Sports Illustrated: NBA's youngest GM steps into the limelight to chart Magic's new path
"The Magic decision makers ended up trading Howard and three other players in a four-team deal with the Lakers, Nuggets and 76ers that brought to Orlando guard Arron Afflalo; forwards Al Harrington, Moe Harkless, Josh McRoberts and Christian Eyenga; center Nikola Vucevic; three first-round picks (a lottery-protected selection from the Sixers in 2015, the lower of Denver's two first-rounders in 2014 and the Lakers' 2017 pick); and two second-round picks (from Denver in 2013 and a conditional pick from the Lakers in 2015). Orlando was roundly criticized for not getting enough for Howard and accused of bypassing potentially better deals with Brooklyn and Houston. But team officials insist that this was the best available trade for their long-term plan, their preferred package of players, picks and salary-cap relief that still allows them to create a team in their image as they build toward the key free-agency summer of 2014 (when they have just $29 million on the payroll)."

Sports Illustrated: Reviving Amar’e Stoudemire in the post
"There was never a huge margin for error in Stoudemire’s post game, even at his peak. He is insanely left-wing dominant, and he basically has two moves. First: a drive to the left baseline, usually preceded by a head/shoulder fake to his right, that can end in a number of ways: a blow-by dunk, a pull-up floater over a backpedaling defender, a pull-up jumper or a crazy finish in which Stoudemire goes under the rim, pops out the other side and launches an improbable two-handed fading mini-jumper. He’s uncomfortable finishing with his left hand, so those layups and floaters on the left side of the rim are righty shots, meaning he takes the ball back toward the defense rather than hiding it along the baseline and behind his body. And in 2009-10, Stoudemire rarely took jumpers out of the post — something that changed in New York, and generally changes for players as they age."