News From Around The World: October 16

10/16/12

Written by: DHawes22 / avg. rating: 4.0

October 16

Trail Blazers TV: NBA Rooks: Lillard And Leonard

Trail Blazers TV: Sportlandia: Luke Babbitt Interview

Columbian: Damian Lillard out
"It's tough but it's not a regular-season game," Lillard said. "I wanted to play since it's the first home game but I understand that I need to be healthy and get my foot right before the first (regular season) game."

Trail Blazers: Preseason Record Falls To 1-2 With Loss To Kings
"Stotts also took the low-stakes opportunity to experiment with using players at different positions and in various lineups. Joel Freeland got the start at center, though played just 13 minutes, ending the game with two points and four rebounds. JJ Hickson, coming off the bench for the first time in the 2012 preseason, turned in a solid night with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes."

Trail Blazers: Haynes: Lillard's Father Taught Him Well
"For the majority of their storied 42-year existence, the Trail Blazers' superstars have shared the same character traits and qualities: honesty, integrity, humility, and hard-working. While Damian Lillard isn't a superstar...yet, the lottery pick and current "Franchise Point Guard" already embodies these traits and he has his father, Houston to thank. "

CSNNW: Houston Lillard the reason Damian has a step up on life
“I feel like now that I'm in the NBA and not only can I provide for my family, but I'm in a position to where I can change people's lives. Not financially, but just having an affect on people and that's how he is.”

Trail Blazers: JJ's Hidden Talent
"If you want it, baby you got it. Just bust a move!"

Trail Blazers: Blazers Test The Zone
"As for the positives, Damian Lillard was very solid offensively. He ended with 20 points, and was 4 for 8 from behind the arc. He's now averaging 16 points through the first three games, and is shooting 47 percent. And, he's playing about 10 fewer minutes per game than he's going to get in the regular season, so that's a good sign."

Oregon Live: Trail Blazers zoned out in Sacramento, lose 117-100 to Kings
“I’ve got to watch the tape to see specifically,” Stotts said, when asked what went wrong with the zone. “I think we were slow reacting, we were tight in the paint, we didn’t block out, we didn’t guard the ball in the zone — you still have to guard your man, you still have to block out. You have a lot of man-to-man principles in the zone. And we weren’t as alert as you need to be when you play zone.”

Blazersedge via SacTown Royalty: Eyewitness View: SacTownRoyalty Impressions from Blazers-Kings Pre-Season Game 3
"Portland has a real gem in Damian Lillard. He reminds me of a mix between the Kings two young Point Guards, Jimmer and Isaiah. Lillard has Jimmer's shooting ability with Isaiah's athleticism, a deadly combination. He struggled early, partially because I think he was being a bit tentative and deferential. He shone when he became more aggressive and actively looked for his shot. He'll need to get a lot more comfortable running an offense and preventing penetration by his man, but there is star potential here."

Cowbell Kingdom: At the buzzer: Sacramento Kings 117, Portland Trail Blazers 100
"The rookie point guard had a pretty subpar first half, scoring just three points on one of six shot attempts. But coming out of half time, Lillard made adjustments. He scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half. The Oakland native impressed with his ability to shoot off the dribble and looked comfortable playing in pick-and-roll situations. Lillard looks like he’ll have long career in the NBA."

Oregon High: NBA High-5: Athletic, versatile Nuggets (coming to Portland Wednesday) have the look of a challenger
"Last night, the Nuggets took advantage of his passing skills, having Iguodala facilitate the offense in a point-forward role against Golden State, the Denver Post's Benjamin Hochman reports. After being greeted with a huge ovation in his home preseason debut, Iguodala handed out seven assists and allowed point guard Ty Lawson to play off the ball."

Portland Tribune: Blazers trail all the way, fall to Kings
"Former Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks scored 12 of his 16 points for Sacramento in the first half. ... Lillard was 7 for 14 from the field, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. ... LaMarcus Aldridge scored 16 points, and Nicolas Batum added 14, but both shot poorly — Aldridge 5 for 15 and Batum 5 for 16 ... Joel Freeland made his first start for Portland at center, but the rookie played only 13 minutes, contributing two points and four rebounds. ... Seventeen players saw duty for the Blazers, who make their preseason home debut Wednesday night against Denver at the Rose Garden."

CSNNW: Kings exploit Blazers zone defense en route to victory
"It's still a process for me. I'm trying to pick my spots when to be aggressive," Lillard. "I'll figure it out."

Rip City Project: Pre-Season Game 3 Recap: Blazers 100, Kings 117
"Like Portland, Sacramento is a small market. Like Portland, Sacramento has had its moments as a top-level franchise, a game or two and a player or two from a Championship. Like Portland might become, Sacramento seems to be in a perpetual state of rebuilding. This group of Kings has some of the things this group of Blazers hope to have: promising rookies, a fun style of play, plenty of League Pass Alert potential. This group of Kings, or at least the group of Kings on this Sacramento roster who were also on the roster in 2011-12, also has some of the things Portland is hoping to avoid: guys who play up or down to their competition, waxing and waning interest and intensity, potential franchise players who are known as much for how they behave between plays as how the play when the clock is running."

Blazersedge via CBS Sports: Moore: David Lee Says LaMarcus Aldridge Was 2012 All-Star Because Of Blazers' Record
"I think all the individual stuff will come. If you look at my numbers around All-Star [time] last year and all the stuff we were doing. LaMarcus Aldridge makes the All-Star team, and I don't. I think if Portland and Golden State's records are reversed, it's probably the opposite way [and I make the All-Star team]. And he's a great player; I'm not talking bad about him at all. But I think all the All-Star appearances, all the respect you want to get, that comes with being on a winning team."

Ball Don't Lie via CBS New York: The New York Knicks’ season ticket-holder showcase was not well received by one notable attendee
"Cervasio asked the older players how they are able to play at their age. Rasheed Wallace answered it was because 'they took care of their bodies.' Nearly all the players on stage started laughing out loud since Wallace is so out of shape that he can't even scrimmage. He was also just a tad overweight in his final year with the Celtics. Truly unintentional comedy."

Ball Don't Lie via Wall Street Journal: Brook Lopez attends NY Comic Con, meets heroes, leaves teammate behind
"About a dozen Comic Con devotees who were waiting on a line craned their necks to gawk at this sudden intruder. "Who is he?" asked Catwoman, aka Brittany Holzherr, a 22-year-old NYU graduate. According to an unscientific survey, roughly 5% of Comic Con's attendees recognized Lopez. ("Oh, s---! That's Brook Lopez!") The other 95% remarked on his height. Those who did know who he was had the unsettling habit of reaching out to grab at one of his elbows."

Ball Don't Lie: The Jeremy Lin revisionist history begins in New York
"It's possible that Lin was a lightning-in-a-bottle, flash-in-a-pan, pick-your-cliche shooting star, and that the Rockets did indeed overpay. But Lin did what no other player since Patrick Ewing and John Starks has been able to do -- make people outside of New York care about the Knicks. Slicing him to pieces before he's even played a regular-season game for Houston smacks of spurned love. And if there's one thing that sportswriters, and particularly New York sportswriters, can't stand, it's to be left behind. Expect much more of this out of the Big Apple as the year goes on, whether or not Lin plays up to expectation."

Ball Don't Lie: Ball Don’t Lie’s 2012-13 NBA Season Previews: The Washington Wizards
"What Grunfeld has done, though, is earn himself another chance. Nene's deal will never die, it can't even be used under the amnesty clause, but Okafor and Ariza's contract expire the same summer Wall will be handed a massive contract extension. This allows Grunfeld to work around the margins, even with Wall's massive salary cap hold, as Washington works with cap space (and not contract extensions) for the first time in a decade."

Ball Don't Lie: Derek Fisher could be a Los Angeles Laker again, thanks to a contract misunderstanding
"The problem for Los Angeles, and potentially Fisher, is that the team is pretty well stacked at point guard. Not only do they boast the all-world talents of Steve Nash in Fisher's former starting spot, but career backups Steve Blake and Chris Duhon are also stuck to the bench. Both are on the trade market, but it's hard to see any team (no matter how desperate) dealing even that infamous conditional second-round pick for the last two years and $8 million on Blake's contract, and Duhon may have played the worst basketball of any player in the NBA last year. That's not us being cruel, Duhon is struggling that much."

Ball Don't Lie: Ball Don’t Lie’s 2012-13 NBA Season Previews: The Orlando Magic
"What remains is a rebuilding team full of players either in or past their primes, with the two and possibly three best players from last year's team sent elsewhere. From one through 10, in the Magic rotation, it's hard to find a player whose game we either dislike, or one we couldn't see working effectively as a helper on another team. That's a warming element for Magic fans, who could watch as desperate GMs talk themselves into thinking that they're an extra tweener forward, small forward with guard skills, or wing scorer away from great things. Because most of these players are around average, and making just above average money, they're quite tradeable."

Ball Don't Lie via ESPN Dallas: Dallas Mavericks suspend guard Delonte West indefinitely, according to report
"Sources told ESPNDallas.com that West's suspension stems at least in part from an outburst in the locker room after the Mavs' 123-104 preseason win Monday over the Houston Rockets. He had 2 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound in 16 minutes during the win."

The Basketball Jones: The Fantasy Jump Off: Top 100 fantasy players, tiers 16-20
"Matthews isn’t moving toward a transition per se, as much as he probably wants to take a step backward after posting up 13.7 points on 41.2 percent shooting from the floor and 86.0 percent from the foul line, 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.0 triples last season. As solid as those numbers were, it’s a slight drop-off from the previous season’s 15.9 points and 44.9 percent field goal shooting, in particular. His minutes (34 per) should be in line with his two seasons in Portland and it will fall on him to regain his very good shooting touch."

The Basketball Jones: The TBJ 2012-13 NBA season prediction countdown: 27-25
"In the first season of the post-Nash era, Suns GM Lon Babby is wisely stockpiling draft picks and trying to create cap flexibility so that they can return to being an annual contender, as they were from the mid- to late-2000s. This season should be a difficult one in Phoenix as Goran Dragic is a significant dropoff from Nash, no matter what you think of Dragic’s skills, and there’s little reason to believe the Suns won’t have a team defense in the bottom third of the league once again."

The Basketball Jones: Jason Terry hates who the Celtics hate
"That’s how you make fans, people. Your team’s fans hate the Lakers? You hate the Lakers. They also hate the Heat? You also hate the Heat. It’s that easy. There are few greater bonds than that of a shared hatred. It’s where that “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” saying comes from, and that’s a pretty smart saying. It might even be a proverb, so you know it’s legit."

SLAM: “I Couldn’t of Told You I Was Gonna Live to See 25″
"You know what, man, I wouldn’t a said that. I couldn’t of told you I was gonna live to see 25. So to be able to say I’ve been in the NBA for 12 years now, to be able to have a lovely wife, six beautiful kids and it’s looking like a beautiful career in music, it’s been a blessing. I think I’ve been blessed because I’ve always been humble. What you see is what you get from me. I’m not trying to be something I’m not, and I’ve always given everyone the same respect they gave me. I think the game’s taken care of me because I’ve always played every game like it’s my last."

SLAM: Top 50: Joe Johnson, no. 22
"Yes, he settles for jumpers. But, watch Johnson those times when he’s determined to get his 6-8, 225-pound frame close to the rim and it’s easy to imagine what could happen if that was his focus every game. Consider his confidence on the low block and his above-average defense, and it’s simple to picture Johnson seamlessly helping any team."

SLAM: Top 50: Steve Nash, no. 21
"Think about this: Steve Nash may be the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA. Only seven players in the sport’s history have shot at least 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from behind the arc and 90 percent from the free-throw line for a season. Nash has accomplished that feat four times, and nearly hit those marks again last year. No one else has done so more than twice. Yet, shooting is rarely the first skill that someone mentions when talking about what makes the two-time MVP so great."

ESPN: Timberwolves: 2012-13 Forecast
"Finally, this team's management has built up quite a file of head-scratching moves; despite a largely solid summer, Roy might be the latest for that manila folder. One can't just assume it will be the last. Nonetheless, Minnesota was a playoff team before Rubio got hurt, and it has made major upgrades at several positions that were negatives last season. Even with Rubio diminished, chances are the Timberwolves will bust through into the West's top eight."

Sports Illustrated: With Brooklyn dream finally a reality, Nets ready to compete
"For so many years the Nets were a what-if team. What if they get Carmelo? What if they get Dwight? What if they move to Brooklyn? The Barclays Center, a $1 billion masterpiece at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush, is finished, more or less. The most high tech stadium in sports, or so it is being billed, offers free wifi and an app for fans to order food from their seats with a three-story sized scoreboard hanging from the rafters. The sponsorship of, well, everything gives the building a bit of a goofy, Roger Dorn-owns-the-Indians feel but a team that for decades played in front of swaths of empty seats won't have any trouble selling tickets. Consider: the 14,219 in attendance for Monday's preseason game against the Wizards was more than the team averaged last season."

Sports Illustrated: 2012-13 NBA Preview: Atlantic Division
"After being in transition for years, New York entered a full training camp with coach Mike Woodson emphasizing defense around a front line of leaders who are capable of protecting the paint. Health permitting, the Knicks will build their defense around Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler, former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas, who will prove valuable when the playoffs come. Carmelo Anthony is in terrific shape after the Olympics and promised to share the ball with Amar'e Stoudemire, who spent the summer developing his low-post game. Most important is the acquisition of Jason Kidd, who will help fellow point guard Raymond Felton establish a flow to enable Anthony and Stoudemire to work in tandem. They'll be seeking to reincarnate the gritty climate of the old Jeff Van Gundy Knicks, and it's an achievable goal."

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."