Around The World: May 8

05/08/12

Written by: DHawes22 / avg. rating: 5.0

May 8

Trailblazers.tv: Video: May 7 Trail Blazers Courtside

Trail Blazers: Quick: General Manager Search Heating Up
"The Portland Trail Blazers offseason will be defined by four tasks: finding a general manager, conducting the 2012 draft, navigating free agency and finding a new head coach. There's not much you can do about free agency until July, and it probably makes sense to hire a general manager who will, in turn, play a large role in determining who the team's next coach is, so that search is probably best left until a new GM is in place."

Oregon Live: Candidate for Trail Blazers' general manager job gets interview with owner Paul Allen
“There are a lot of positives about this job,’’ Miller said. “There’s the opportunity to come in and determine who the coach is going to be, we are in a decent position overall with cap space and picks, and we have an owner who is still committed. Paul has basically said ‘I’m not going to spend money crazily, but I’m still going to try and build a winning team here. And if that means spending money, I will do it.’ So I think it is a good situation for somebody, and I think people see that.’’

Oregon Live: You Be The GM: Hasheem Thabeet
"He started three of the Blazers' final four games -- the most since his rookie season -- averaging 3.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 15.6 minutes, but did not play (coach's decision) in the season finale. His eight rebounds April 21 at Memphis were a season high. In 15 games with Portland, he averaged 1.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 7.7 minutes."

CSNNW: Kiki Vandewege calls Portland GM job "attractive," wants to return to executive seat
“The Portland job is a very attractive position,” Vandeweghe told CSNNW.com. “I think the Blazers are a great organization with a tremendous fan base and great owner in Paul Allen. Portland is always a place that is close to me and I loved my time there as a player. I think anybody has to listen whenever a great situation like that presents itself. Portland has all the ingredients for success: committed knowledgeable fans and a great place to live. Those are the building blocks and ingredients to building and sustaining success."

Blazersedge: Blazers To Face Lakers During 2012-13 Preseason
"The Los Angeles Lakers announced their home preseason schedule for the 2012-2013 season in a press release on Tuesday. The Portland Trail Blazers will travel to California to face the Lakers at Ontario's Citizens Business Bank Arena on Oct. 10 at 7 PM."

Oregon Live: Wesley Matthews To Represent Blazers At NBA Draft Lottery?
"Guard Wesley Matthews will likely represent Blazers at May 30 draft lottery. Team awaiting word whether his schedule allows him to make it."

Blazersedge: Transcript: Blazers Acting GM Chad Buchanan Talks Season, Offseason Plans & Expectations On 1080 AM The Fan
"Part of the reason why we didn't come to an early agreement with Nic on his extension back in January, part of it is finding a number that both sides are comfortable with but also by not doing an early extension with Nic his cap hold is $5.4 million that sits on our books heading into free agency as opposed to whatever the extension number would have been at. It does allow us a little more cap room heading into free agency but we're allowed to go over the cap to re-sign our own player because we have Nic's Bird rights. There was benefits to not getting a deal done early. We'd have liked to have done it, Nic would have liked to do it too, but the numbers didn't match up on both ends. We can still spend our cap room and match an offer and go over the cap this summer as long as we're comfortable with the number on Nic and still retain him."

Blazersedge: Wojnarowski: Blazers Dealing With "Rejection" In GM Search
"There's a lot of guys capable of doing the job and doing it well. There's more than one out there. They just need to pick one. They just need to hire one. This has gone on for a long time. They've had a lot rejection, quietly, a lot of rejection. They checked in with a few standing GMs in the league. I think the feeling among GMs everywhere - on the surface, it's an attractive job. Resources, unbelievable fanbase, history, an owner who is willing to spend historically. All of those things. The ownership situation - people aren't sure about it. Is [Paul Allen] going to keep the team? Is he going to sell it? And then obviously, the layers of bureaucracy in being the GM there. Whether it's dealing with the people in Seattle, whether it's the role [president] Larry Miller is going to have. Paul Allen obviously."

Oregon Live: NBA High-5: Whining and flopping take some of the shine off Clippers' feel-good story
"On TNT, commentator Chris Webber had some strong comments about it, saying (via USA Today) after Griffin flopped to draw a foul on Marc Gasol: "I would caution him to be careful with flopping. ... The teams that were known for floppers do not get respect. ... You're 270 pounds. The other guy is 300 pounds . It was not a blow to send you (to the floor). People watch tape. Coaches and GMs send tape into the league. You do not want to be known as a flopper. With him being so good he doesn't need all the extra stuff."

Ball Don't Lie: Hakeem Olajuwon responds* to Shaq claiming he lost the ’95 Finals because he was ‘too nice’
"A response* by Hakeem Olajuwon, who actually averaged 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, two blocks and two steals per game in the Houston Rockets' sweep of O'Neal's Orlando Magic, making 56 shots on Shaq in four games."

Ball Don't Lie: Cool shirt, Nick Young
"Dress like a fool and you have to show it," Paul said, according to Pedro Moura of ESPN Los Angeles. Judging by the smile on Young's face here, it doesn't seem like he minded showing it too much. And judging by the quizzical look that CP3's son — whom you might remember from rockin' a sympathy mask or showing us the Blake Face — is shooting Young here, he finds Swaggy P's ensemble as curious as the next man"

Ball Don't Lie: The Utah Jazz? Gone Till November
"They'll have room to work, and that's such a luxury. With that cap space in hand the group will be allowed to take in more salary than it sends out in a trade. The team also boasts a pair of assets that teams badly covet — potentially great players with expiring contracts, as both Harris (set to make $8.5 million next year in a front-loaded deal), Al Jefferson ($15 million) and Paul Millsap ($8.6 million) will have their deals come off the cap in a summer of 2013 that will see the Jazz with only tiny qualifying offers on the books for 2013-14."

Ball Don't Lie: Metta World Peace hasn’t spoken with James Harden, and has no plans to (VIDEO)
"Gladiator-nonsense aside, to say "I didn't really know [Harden was hurt]" a second before pointing out that NBA players flop? That's some pretty low stuff, Metta, especially when taken in tandem with your tweets that have pointed to visual evidence of Harden's relatively rare flop attempts culled from the duration of his three-year career."

The Basketball Jones: Keith Closs goes to a Clippers game in a Keith Closs jersey
"But besides the reports of a Closs sighting in the arena, I offer you these two questions that should prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is indeed Keith Closs wearing his own jersey to a Clippers playoff game. 1. Who else owns a Keith Closs jersey? 2. How many people that do own Keith Closs jerseys are this tall?"

The Basketball Jones: Video: Some dude gets Tony Parker in his hair
"My favorite part of this Tony Parker haircut — and I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I am going to go out on a limb and assume that it is all of our favorite parts because we all seem to maintain a similar ethos with regards to hair portraits of NBA players — is about halfway through when you see a pre-paint Tony and his stubbly beard is just this guy’s partially trimmed hair. I don’t know why that makes me laugh so much, but I am guessing that it is because I never realized how much Tony Parker’s face looks like the back of a head."

DIME: Video: Awesome Sixers Playoff Intro Video
"The Philadelphia 76ers debuted this new starting lineup intro video and fireworks display at home this past weekend during their series with the Bulls. If you’re a Philly fan, this will get you fired up."

SLAM: Post Up: Clippers In Command
"There’s this big, hazy cloud over last night’s Clippers-Grizzlies game and it’s distracting us from how good Chris Paul is and how we should all be buying his shirts and shoes and jars of sweat for cloning purposes. So let’s address it right away. Blake Griffin was very gently caressed a couple of times by Memphis’ big men—from Zach Randolph to Marc Gasol to Mike Tyson’s Punchout character Hamed Haddadi—and fouls were called. They weren’t fouls, and Blake pretended like the sun had fallen on him."

SLAM via Contra Coast Times: Reports: Charlotte Bobcats to Interview Patrick Ewing, Michael Malone
“Malone, considered one of the NBA’s top assistant coaches, was expected to be a hot commodity this offseason. Malone is under contract for two more years with the Warriors. But Golden State general manager Bob Myers acknowledged Malone would likely be a head coaching candidate this offseason. [...] Ewing is a close friend of Charlotte owner Michael Jordan, and several sources believe the Hall of Fame center will turn out to be a serious candidate for the opening. Charlotte will make pitches to Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Malone and former Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan, but will likely hire its next coach from a pool of candidates like Ewing who have been less in demand for head-coaching jobs."

SLAM: Video: Lionel Hollins Says Chris Paul ‘Does a Good Job of Flopping’
"The Los Angeles Clippers have become known for their flopping ways as much as their lobs this season — and it’s drawing harsh criticism during these Playoffs. Last night, Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins event went as far as to compliment Chris Paul’s ability to flop during an in-game interview."

SLAM: Video: Shawn Kemp Performing Shakespeare
"This past Sunday, an aproned Kemp performed a loosely interpreted scene from Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew with Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley. The Reignman may not have a career as a thespian, but he played the chef’s role well at this Seattle Shakespeare Company’s fundraiser."

ESPN: Which team down 3-1 is most likely to win its series?
"The Memphis Grizzlies have dominated the boards and have been able to force turnovers to get out in transition for easy baskets. Couple that with their bruising interior big men and it's no wonder every game has gone down to the wire against the L.A. Clippers. The Grizz have the required toughness needed to come back and force Game 7."