06.04.09 Trailblazers.com Podcast

Summer looks to be here, and so to is this week's podcast with Gavin Dawson of 95.5 The Game, Dave Deckard of Blazer's Edge.com and I, Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com.

This week we delve into Brandon Roy's summertime parenting, draft trade rumors, the Jerryd Bayless/Greg Oden Ohio workouts, Dave, once again, breaks down the summer salary cap situation, and some other stuff that you'll be interested in. Promise.



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Updated: Friday Pre-Draft Workout Participants

I know you've all been waiting anxiously for the list of players who are coming to work out for the Trail Blazers. The entire list isn't available, and things are always subject to change, but the following are the six players who will be in town Friday for workouts.

Jerel McNeal, Guard (Marquette); Greivis Vasquez, Guard (Maryland); Omri Casspi, Forward (Israel); Tasmin Mitchell, Forward (LSU); Chinemelu Elonu, Forward (Texas A&M); Chris Johnson, Forward (LSU); Micah Downs, Forward (Gonzaga)

UPDATE: As I noted, these workouts are subject to change, and change we have. Tasmin Mitchell has been replaced by Micah Downs, a forward out of Gonzaga.

The Origins Of Schonz's Finest Phrases

During his 80th birthday celebration here at Trail Blazers HQ, Bill Schonely regaled the staff with stories about the origins of three of his most famous catch phrases. The Schonz, never one to shy away from telling a story, recounted the histories of "bingo, bango, bongo," "lickety brindle up the middle," and, of course, "Rip City!" I had never heard any of these stories, so I thought it was only fair to share Schonely's comments with you as well.

The following are direct quotes from The Schonz. Enjoy.

Bingo, Bango, Bongo

"Bingo bango bongo is really an old golf phrase. You hit the ball out there, you put it on the green, and it’s in. It’s three shots: bingo, bango, bongo.

"Dave Twardzik in our championship year was a guy who used to go up the middle all the time and also Bobby Gross in those days. Let’s say Bobby inbounded the ball in the end zone to Twardzik, who threw it down to Maurice Lucas and he layed it up and in. That was bingo, bango, bongo."

Licktey Brindle Up The Middle

"As far as Dave Twardzik was concerned, he was nicknamed “Pinball”, and I used to say a lot of times I would call him that. But when he would drive up the lane, as some of these young kids are still doing today, I would say 'lickety brindle up the middle.'

"Where did lickety brindle come from? Well, when I was a little tyke back in Pennsylvania up in the Dutch Country my uncle had two little brindled dogs. We’d walk there on the weekends after church and spend Sunday afternoon with him and at other times. His dogs would be very quick and he would always say, ‘They’re lickety brindle. Look how quick they are.’ That came to me during a Trail Blazers game. Lickety brindle up the middle, and it worked."

Rip City!

"In 1970 I was trying to come up with a phrase that would be synonymous with my broadcast as well as the team, and I couldn’t figure out anything at all. Normally when you call a basketball game, all the clichés that you use, that was used. I wanted to try and upgrade that a little bit.

"The mighty Lakers came to town one time, actually for the first time in Memorial Coliseum, and we had our first 10,000 crowd. A typical Trail Blazer night: they were down by 25 or 26 points in those days. But all the sudden the game was changed.

"They’re playing Wilt Chamberlain and West and Rudy LaRusso, Gail Goodrich and all of the mighty Lakers in those days. And our group, Geoff Petrie, Rick Adelman, all the rest of those guys, they made a comeback. Jimmy Barnett was playing with us, former University of Oregon player, now one of the broadcasters for the Golden State Warriors. A longtime Oregonian and a good Blazers guy, a good NBA guy. He was a flake. He had all sorts of, not problems, but he was always doing some crazy things, not only here at home but on our travels.

"He came over the midcourt line, and in those days I was sitting right at midcourt. Not too many press people, Chuck Charnquist had his stat crew down here. Very small, maybe you’ve seen some of the old pictures. But Barney came over the midcourt line and for whatever reason -it would have been a three-point play in this day- he let it fly. I brought him out of the backcourt, he came over the midcourt line right in front of me -I’ll never forget it- and let it go. And I’m thinking why did he ever do that? Well lo and behold, in it went. At the end of my description, out came, ‘Rip City! All right!’ The crowd at the Coliseum was going crazy, the Lakers immediately called for a timeout.

"I sat back after the commercial cue and the guys were saying, ‘Rip City? Yeah, leave that in.’ So the rest is history. T shirts and signs and everything. It means something good, and we have something good going on right now. And Rip City is back."

06.01.09 Kevin Pritchard On The Bald Faced Truth

In case you missed it yesterday, Trail Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard called in to The Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano to discuss scouting the draft, being opportunistic, breakfast burritos and much, much more. You'll definitely want to give it a listen.



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(Audio provided, as always, by the fine folks at 95.5 The Game)

Without Selig, We Wouldn't Have The Schonz

The city of Portland owes Bud Selig a debt of gratitude, regardless of whether or not a Major League Baseball franchise is ever awarded to the Rose City.

You see, back in 1970, Selig had an empty baseball stadium in Milwaukee, WI just waiting for a tenant. The Braves had packed up and moved to Atlanta, leaving County Stadium without a team. So Selig, along with Edmund Fitzgerald, made a play for the Seattle Pilots. The acquisition was approved, and the Pilots became the Brewers. Seattle was left without a Major League Baseball team.

So what does this have to do with Portland? Well, a 40-something Bill Schonely was, at the time of the move, the radio voice of the Pilots. With the Pilots gone and Schonely unwilling to move to Milwaukee, he was left without a marquee gig. He was still making a living calling games, everything from University of Washington football to Seattle Totems hockey, but it wasn’t the same as working in the big leagues.

Then came a phone call.

“Harry Glickman found out I was available,” said Schonely. “He called me and said, ‘Schonz, how would you like to do NBA basketball? I just got a new franchise here.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I read all about it.’

“Well I didn’t have the slightest idea in those days about the NBA. I had done Major League Baseball, University of Washington Huskies; I was doing Seattle Totems, the National Hockey League, rodeo and roller derby. I staying in Seattle and Harry said, ‘Well why don’t you come down? We’ll talk because I think you can do NBA games.’ I drove down here, we talked for about five minutes, we shook hands and the rest was history.”

Almost 40 years of history, to be exact. And on June 1, Schonely’s 80th birthday, he’s still as enthused about the Trail Blazers as he was when he first took the job as the first voice of the team back in 1970.

“I’ve been a diehard Trail Blazers fans since the first day I met with Harry Glickman,” said Schonely. “It’s been a huge part of my life. It’s been the love of my life and I want to stick around until we get another one of these.”

‘These,” in this case, is a championship ring, the ring Schonely was awarded as a member of the 1977 title team. And it never would have happened if Selig hadn’t poached the Pilots away from Seattle.

“I always thought I was going to be in baseball a long time,” said Schonely, “but it didn’t work that way. It’s been an absolute thrill since Day One.”

Rose Festival And Trail Blazers

If you're on the fence as to whether you'd like to spend part of what is shaping up to be a beautiful weekend at the Rose Festival, maybe the inclusion of various Trail Blazers will give you a nudge in the right direction.

First off, Bill Schonely, a man who needs no introduction in this town, will be the Grand Marshal of the Portland General Electric/SOLV Starlight Parade. I'm sure he'll have his best parade wave ready to go.

By the way, The Schonz turned 80 on Monday, and as part of his birthday celebration, we're soliciting your favorite Bill Schonely moments. Please take a moment to jog down memory lane and recount you most cherished call or run in with the most iconic voice in Portland.

But there's more! If you're looking for something to do during the day, consider going down to the Rose Festival Waterfront Village to check out the NBA Nation Tour stop. Travis Outlaw will be there at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and Martell Webster will be stopping by at 4 p.m. on Sunday. And our old friend and current San Antonio Spur Ime Udoka will make an appearance at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Sure to be a great way to say hello to your favorite small forwards. Here's the full schedule for the NBA Nation stop.

Aldridge And Obama

This time of year, most players in the NBA who aren't lucky enough to still be involved in the playoffs are catching up with their families and friends. And at a little over a month removed from the regular season, some guys are back in the gym preparing for a season that is still almost six months away. When it comes to the NBA, there really is no offseason.

So how is LaMarcus Aldridge spending his free time? Well, he's working out a little bit in Dallas and doing some light traveling in between. Oh, and he's also spending a little time with the leader of the free world.

Aldridge was invited to attend a fundraiser in Beverly Hills hosted by none other than President Barack Obama. LA, who's a bit more socially-minded than people give him credit for, jumped at the chance to chitchat, shake hands and have a picture taken with the first Black president in United States history.

"My agency told me about it," said Aldridge. "They said I'd have a chance to spend a few moments and get a picture with him, hear him speak for about 15 or twenty minutes. When they told me about it, I really wanted to do it. So they did what they had to do to get me in."

And at no small expense. Reports had tickets to the gala costing anywhere from $1,000 to $15,000, but the price wasn't enough to keep Aldridge from the opportunity of meeting one of the most powerful and influential people in the world.

"He came out and talked for about 15 minutes," said Aldridge. "He’s a very powerful speaker; a great guy. He talked about how he had made mistakes, but that he was trying to learn something from those mistakes. Kind of the same things we talk about."

The notion that Obama could admit to flaws in his young administration seemed to resonate with Aldridge.

"To meet Obama and to hear him speak and to hear other people share their views about Obama was cool," said Aldridge. "He talked about trying to be a better person by learning from the things that he had done wrong, talking about things we can do to put this country in a better position."

Before setting down for a buffet dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Aldridge talked with President Obama for a few minutes, wherein the conversation turned to what it often does for professional basketball players: height.

"We talked a little about basketball and our season," said Aldridge. "When I got a chance to talk to him he was standing by one of his bodyguards, who was a pretty big guy. Not as tall as me, but definitely taller than Obama. He looked at me, looked at his bodyguard, then said, ‘This is how I feel every day.’

"I got to talk to him for a few minutes, but there were a lot of people to talk to. Guys like Jaime Foxx, the guy who created YouTube. There was a whole different caliber of people there."

05.28.09 Trailblazers.com Podcast

I hate to toot my own podcast horn, but this week's edition with Gavin Dawson of 95.5 The Game, Dave Deckard of Blazer's Edge.com and I, Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com, is some quality stuff. Good conversation at a pleasant audio level.

This week we give our opinions as to whether Kevin Pritchard and his staff should trade up, trade out or stand pat in 2009 draft, discuss if this year's draft is all that important, eye a few free agents and discuss who caries the "untradable" distinction. There's more to it than that, but you'll have to listen to find out.



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Blake To Have Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgery

Steve Blake, who battled through serious shoulder pain for much of the 2008-09 season after going full tilt into a pick, is going under the arthroscopic knife to, as KP puts it, "clean a few things up." From the press release:

Trail Blazers guard Steve Blake will undergo arthroscopic shoulder surgery on Friday, May 29, General Manager Kevin Pritchard announced today.

“Steve continues to experience some shoulder discomfort,” said Pritchard. “We need to go in, clean a few things up and get it stabilized. He should be good to go in about 6-8 weeks.”

The injury originally occurred when Blake separated his right shoulder trying to fight through a screen in the second quarter of Portland’s game at Philadelphia on January 14. The injury sidelined Blake for five games. He returned to action on January 26 at the Los Angeles Clippers and re-aggravated the injury in the second quarter, forcing him to miss an additional eight games.

The surgery will be performed by Dr. Neal S. ElAttrache at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles.

You had to figure Blake was going to need a little extra help with the shoulder in the offseason after he admitted he basically didn't use his right arm in practice toward the end of the season. Tough dude, that Blakey.

Brian Grant Speaks Out

Brian Grant, who recently came forward to admit he's battling early onset Parkinson's disease, spoke to Trail Blazers staff and media at the Rose Garden today with his wife Gina. Grant, his left hand shaking, discussed his diagnosis, the depression that preceded it, treatment and the freedom he's found in coming to terms with the disease.

Below are some of the things Grant had to say this afternoon. Hopefully it will help you better understand Brian's condition and his mindset as he fights to take control of his affliction.

BRIAN GRANT

"Let me start off by saying I don’t have to worry about (the tremor) now. You know what it is. I ain’t going to worry about the tremor. I’m a little nervous right now.

"We’re happy to be back in Portland. I had my best years in the NBA here. It was a family when I played here. I see a lot of faces that I remember from the time that I played here. A lot of new faces. Portland has always been home to me ever since we left and it was always my mission and our mission to get back to Portland in some point in time to raise our children in this community. We’re just really, really happy to be back. Really, really happy to be reconnected with the organization. Definitely happy to see the direction the organization has gone in.

"With this, the Parkinson’s and everything, I’ve never been one to turn away from help. From the time that I set down with the team and told them about the Parkinson’s, the whole organization has stepped out in full force to try and help in any way they could. I appreciate it, my wife appreciates it.

"It’s really good to come see everybody out here. This isn’t a bad time in my life. It’s actually a very, very good time. The bad time was the past seven months. When I went out on the court that night at Kevin Duckworth’s thing, just trying to hide everything. I’ve been in hiding for seven months. I’m finally out. I can finally live and be free.

"God has shown me what my mission is now. I’ve been asking him for the past two and a half years since I retired, ‘What am I going to do?’ Not that there wasn’t things for me to do, but what am I going to do? I don’t know what’s going on with me. Now I know what my mission is."

"When the tremor first came on it was probably about... I noticed it a little bit right after I retired but it wasn’t enough to make me think that I had a tremor. Sometimes as an athlete, especially when your body is starting to come down from a season, you’ll have a twitch in your leg or a twitch in your neck, something like that. I thought it was a regular twitch."

"I had just started working out, like probably a week before I went to the doctor. I had picked up a lot of weight. I was probably about 289 lbs. I had been in the house, not doing anything, gotten lazy. The tremor was pretty bad so I wasn’t really doing anything. So I had really been hitting it hard for a week.

"I went to OHSU and met with Dr. Nutt. When I went there, I had to get on the scale. It’s a digital scale. I’ve got the regular scale, the one with the weights on it. I went on there and I said, ‘This can’t be right. This can’t be right.’

"So we go in, he meets with us for about two minutes. He gets a really serious look on his face and he says, ‘Brian, you have Parkinson’s. I believe you have Parkinson’s.’ And I’m sitting there looking at the window like this and Gina’s rubbing my arm thinking, ‘Oh my goodness. What is he going to say? What is he going to do?’ I turned and looked at Dr. Nutt after about five second and go, ‘I can’t believe that scale said I was 289.’ That was the big thing, the big joke. That kind of broke the ice in there in the room.

"I was taken back, but at the same time I was relieved to know that, ok, this is what it might be. He couldn’t tell me for sure, but he was pretty sure I had Parkinson’s. So then from that point it was, what do I do? I knew I had to exercise. I knew I had to eat healthy. From that point I went a different route. I seeked out Dr. Newman and started a whole regiment of blood test and things to see what I was deficient in as far as minerals and vitamins and things like that. So I started doing supplements, a lot of supplements, IV therapy to put minerals and vitamins back into my system and build them up."

"I had actually sat with Vinnie Del Negro for most of the season in Phoenix when I was getting ready to retire and he told me, “Look Brian, when you retire, you’re going to go through a slight depression. All players do.’ You just kind of go through it because it’s what you were used to doing all of your life. Now it’s changed. It’s come to an end. When I went through it, it was just BOOM, something that was out of left field and I really couldn’t understand what it was about or where it was coming from.

"I know now it was sort of the precursor to the Parkinson’s. A lot of times when people go in for depression they’ll check for other signs that may be Parkinson’s because Parkinson’s and depression go hand in hand just because of the physiological changes your brains goes through. So when I met with Dr. Nutt almost seven months ago and he told me that I had Parkinson’s, that he thought I had Parkinson’s, the conventional medicine, which is very good and I use conventional as well as naturopathic, they suggest that you use certain drugs to maybe stop the progression. If I don’t want to have a tremor and I want to be able to do things I can go ahead and start taking L-DOPA, which would actually take the tremor away. Kind of like a quick fix. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to go that route so I went the naturopathic way.

"I don’t have to tell you if you live in Oregon that this is probably the best place in the world to do that. So I hooked up with Dr. Newman in Vancouver, WA and just kind of explored where my body was at as far as blood tests. I was very deficient in a lot of areas, vitamins and minerals. I have a very high content of mercury in my system, which can come from anything. I’m an avid fisherman and I’m one of those fisherman who if I catch it, I eat it. Maybe not the best thing to do. Not saying that’s why I have Parkinson’s, but we just took a different approach. I took a naturopathic approach toward things. All vitamins and supplements and things like that.

"I realized I was going to go public and once I went public, right now I’m really nervous. It works with your nerves. If I’m angry, it’s (shakes hand). If I’m sad or down it might be calm. Nervous, it really shakes a lot. My symptoms in doing naturopathic treatments have decreased. They’re a lot less than they were before I started. I’m just kind of going down both roads. I’m going down a conventional path as well as the naturopathic path to try and find an answer for me because each case is different. There’s no two cases that are the same.

"I’m learning as I go to. I was telling Gina that I’ve been having the craziest dreams. Crazy vivid dreams. I’d maybe have one or two a week, but now I have them every night. Every night a crazy dream. Come to find out that’s sort of one of the symptoms of it.

"As far as pain, I’m not in any type of pain other than stiffness in the shoulder because of the constant tremors. It’s just like anything: if you do it long enough then everything starts to tighten up. I go to a masseuse and get massages. I haven’t started it yet, but I’m going to go and start taking this course in qigong. It’s basically Tai Chi. Just try to focus my energy. I believe in a lot of different things, so I’m just going down any path that I can. Other than that I don’t really have any other symptoms other than the tremors.

"The calmer I am, the calmer (the tremor) is. As we continue to go along here, as I calm down, you’ll notice it will start to calm down. If I’m not thinking about it, if I’m actually thinking of something else totally off the cuff, then it will kind of go away. It just goes away. And then all of the sudden I’m think my hand isn’t shaking, then all the sudden it starts shaking. And the other time it doesn’t shake is when I sleep."

"This community has always been a community that openly embraced me and my family. When I got here there were a lot of things being said about the organization and the players. But I got here, made friends with all the players and understood all the players. And I also understood the community. This city loves their team and they support their team. But more so than loving their team and supporting it, they love people who don’t just take without giving back.

"When we got here it was an easy fit for us. It was a very easy fit. They opened up to us the same way we opened up to them. Now that I am in the situation I’m in, going onto the website, facebook, I’m just reading them and … thank you is what I’m trying to say because your words mean a lot."

Post Memorial Day Links

I trust everyone enjoyed their three-day weekend. Batteries recharged and ready to ... continue waiting for pre-draft workouts to start. We've got five picks to make! Let's get some kids in here pronto.

The Chicago pre-draft camp does start today, if I'm not mistaken, so maybe I'll be able to track down some news from the Windy City. Until then, enjoy some rather odd links I've found over the last few days.

• Somewhat strange rumor that Nate Robinson wants to be a Trail Blazer. How bout we comprise a team completely made out of former Seattle residents?

• The Beastie Boys are recording tracks for their new album in the submarine on Paul Allen's yacht? I really hope that's true.

• Dave Deckard's thoughts on why moving up to grab a point guard wouldn't be his first course of action. Blazer's Edge teammate Ben Golliver disagrees.

• Calls for the Birdman in Portland. I bet you could search every NBA team blog and at least half would have a similar sentiment.

• Brandon Roy tell Hardknock TV (whatever that is) that Shaq is the best rapper in the NBA. Roy does get in a shoutout for Martel Webster's MC skills.

• Swell work by new papa Wendell Maxey at Hoopsworld in getting Kevin Pritchard on record regarding this year's draft strategy.

• Jose Calderon won't be available to help the Spanish National Team qualify for the 2010 World Championships, which potential opens up a spot for Sergio Rodriguez.

• An interview with Petteri Koponen. You always know an interview is going to go well when the first question is, "How do I pronounce your name?"

• Another video interview with Brandon Roy. Elie Seckbach might have the most unique voice of anyone in the NBA press corp.

• Channing Frye wants you to use his preferred food delivery service.

• This 365 days of Greg Oden gallery on Flickr has been cracking me up.

Waiting On Team USA Invitations

Nothing official has been released regarding the Team USA mini-camp at the end of July aside from the news today that Toronto Raptor coach Jay Triano will be running the show in Las Vegas. There's been a lot of unofficial confirmations regarding who has been invited, but nothing from the desk of USA Basketball.

Geoffry C. Arnold reported a few weeks back that Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden were being invited to try out for the 2010 World Championships. The tone of the article suggested they'd be offered the opportunity, but that no specific request had been made.

Yesterday the Associated Press released a story stating definitively that Roy, Aldridge and Oden had been invited, along with 21 others, to the July mini-camp in Las Vegas. It should be noted that while the mini-camp is being used to decide which players will be part of the World Championships team, those players won't necessarily make the 2012 Summer Olympic team.

According to Chris Sheridan, eight spots are most likely locked up for the World Championship team, leaving four available lockers. Sheridan lists Aldridge, Roy, Oden and Jerryd Bayless, who played on the 2008 Select Team, as potential options.

At this point, it's questionable that eight players from the Redeem Team will take part in the 2010 World Championships, at least according to head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"First of all, that summer, 2010, is when some of these guys are going through [free agency]; I don't know if they can afford to do that," Krzyzewski told Chris Sheridan. "LeBron [James] is great, but if he's going through the biggest negotiation of his life at that time, can he afford to do it?"

A very astute observation from Coach K. Career's are riding on 2010 free agency, and I don't think anyone would blame a player for taking that into consideration when making their decision.

Why does it matter? Well, according to John Hollinger, Roy would be a favorite to slide onto the team should any of the eight holdovers from the Redeem Team decide to pass on the World Championships. Hollinger gives Aldridge a shot as well, through he seems less sure of that candidacy.

05.21.09 Trailblazers.com Podcast

This week's Trailblazers.com Podcast is all about the awards. Gavin Dawson of 95.5 The Game, Dave Deckard of Blazersedge.com and I, Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com, make our picks from the Blazers roster for rookie of the year, best defensive player, non-Brandon Roy MVP and a host of other distinctions. We also talk a bit of draft lottery at the end. It's almost an hour, so buckle up.



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Mock Up: Snap Judgments

The lottery did have a small impact on the Trail Blazers draft fortunes, as we're now in possession of the 33rd pick in the second round thanks to the Clippers, but as you're well aware, we've been locked into the 24th pick since the tiebreaker ceremony on April 17.

With the draft lottery taken care of (way to go Clips), the first wave of mock drafts are popping up all over the internets. Let's take a look.

Chad Ford, ESPN.com

Darren Collison, UCLA, PG, 6-1, 165 lbs.
Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard's perpetual search for a point guard continues. Last year, the team acquired lottery pick Jerryd Bayless, but it's pretty clear that Bayless is more of a Ben Gordon type than a Steve Nash type. Collison's quickness, penetrating ability, leadership and defensive talent would have to intrigue the Blazers

Collison has been projected all over the place during his four years at UCLA. Getting him at No. 24 would seem like a no-brainer from a "best player available" standpoint. Then again, Collison strikes me as the kind of guy who could really improve his stock in predraft workouts, much in the same way his backcourt partner Russell Westbrook did last season.

Ian Thomsen, Sports Illustrated.com

Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina, PF, 6-9, 250 lbs.
He is definitely going to succeed in the NBA, not as a star but as a hard-working contributor to the second unit of a good team. He'll be a reliable guy off the bench for Portland.

I'm torn on whether or not I buy this one.

On one hand, Kevin Pritchard and his staff have made a habit of taking chances late in the first round. They did it with Joel Freeland, Rudy Fernandez, Petteri Koponen and Nicolas Batum. To me, Hansbrough doesn't fit that mold. Not because he's not an international, but because he's the epitome of a safe pick. Probably never going to be more than a role player, but he's not going to make you regret taking him either. That just doesn't seem like KP's style at No. 24.

But then again, the kid is a winner. And if there's one thing the Trail Blazers front office likes out of draft picks, it's hardworking players from successful programs. Pritchard has also mentioned on numerous occasions that he seeks out Roy Williams' advice on many a topic, and I'm sure the UNC coach has a lot of nice things to say about Psycho T.

Draft Express.com via HoopsHype

Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech, PF/C, 6-8, 233 lbs.
High-energy power forward who displays intriguing characteristics for a role-player prospect. Not incredibly tall, but extremely long and athletic with a great frame to compensate. The stereotypical hustler. Very active around the basket, gets his hands on plenty of loose balls, an excellent offensive rebounder and a talented shot-blocker to boot. Makes plays around the rim, quick off feet and very instinctive. Gets to the free throw line but does not convert. Likely won’t ever be a huge scoring threat. Work ethic, character are reportedly superb. Still raw, but with a big upside.

I know absolutely nothing about this guy. We're pretty loaded at center, but a backup power forward who can bang could certainly find a spot in Nate McMillan's rotation. And as stated above, No. 24 is the place for high risk, high reward.

Sean Deveney, Sporting News

Austin Daye, Gonzaga, SF, 6-10, 190 lbs.
He’s coming off a knee injury and a so-so season, but Daye is big and loaded with potential.

Again, a guy I don't know that much about. If he's the best player available, then so be it, but we're already stacked at small forward. Stacked I yell ya'. Also seems strange that a sophomore coming off a knee surgery and so-so season would enter the draft if he was going to get picked in the last first round. From what I can tell he hasn't hired an agent, so if he doesn't improve his stock through predraft workouts, I wouldn't be surprised to see Daye head back to the Dog Pound Kennel for another season.

Hoopsworld.com

Austin Daye, Gonzaga, SF, 6-10, 190 lbs.

Again, a tough nut to crack.

Tom Ziller, AOL Fanhouse

Omri Casspi, Maccabi Tel Aviv, SF, 6-8, 220 lbs.

Caspi's name has been out there for a while, meaning his book is probably pretty extensive at this point. Playing for one of the two best international clubs in Maccabi Tel Aviv certainly doesn't hurt this cause with the Blazers brass. Then again, Chad Buchanan mentioned during the first round of predraft workouts that the international prospects were pretty thin this year.

Caspi fits the mold of what Kevin Pritchard and his staff like to do late in the first round. Thing is, it's hard to tell how many European prospects the team wants to store away, especially when the "championship window" seems on the brink of opening.

NBA Draft.net

Jrue Holiday, UCLA, PG/SG, 6-3, 205 lbs.

This is a pipe dream. No way Holiday is on the board at No. 24 unless something outrageous happens. The kid has size, great character and a ton of talent just waiting to be harnessed. Heck, Chad Ford has him going 10th to the Bucks and Draft Express has him at 18th. One thing is for sure: if for some reason he is on the board at No. 24, he's a Blazer. Period.

Inside Hoops.com

Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech, PF/C, 6-8, 233 lbs.

Well, we've got some early consensus. I'll have to do some research on this fellow.

If you've found any other legitimate mock drafts around the internet, throw those in the comments and I'll add them to the list. We'll update once a week up to the draft.

So Long Lottery

NBA Draft Lottery goes down tonight at 5 p.m. Pacific. Forgot? You're not the only one.

And in this case, it feels real good to forget. It was miserable ending up with the worst possible pick in 2006 (though that turned out just fine), elating to buck the odds and come away with the top pick in 2007 and somewhat relaxing to end up right where we should have in 2008. Now that we've made our return to the playoffs, we have the luxury of not having to care at all about the Mid-May Ping Pong Ball-a-thon.

But if you're one of those folks who always like to have a pony in the race, consider rooting for the Wizards to beat out the Clippers for position in the draft.

The Clippers ended up tied with the Wizards for the second worst record in NBA last season, which required a coin flip to decide which team would get one extra ball in the hopper during the lottery. The Wiz won the flip, resulting in Washington having 178 chances out of a 1000 to win the lottery. By losing the coin flip, the Clips have 177 chances out of 1000 to win the lottery.

None of that makes much of a difference to we Trail Blazers fans, until you get to the second round. See, the Trail Blazers acquired a second-round pick from the Clippers in exchange for Mike Taylor (the first D-League player to be drafted) during a 2008 draft night trade.

But since the Wizards and Clippers finished with the same record, the order of the second round is determined by which of those two teams finishes higher in the draft lottery. The coin flip doesn't apply. The team that ends up with the better first round pick gets the worse of the second round picks. And since the Trail Blazers own the Clippers 2009 second rounder, we would end up with the 32nd pick, rather than the 33rd, if the Wiz get the better of the lottery. Small potatoes, but at least it's something. And according to Draft Express, that could be the difference between Jermaine Taylor out of Central Florida and Sergio Llull from Euro club Real Madrid. So there's that.

Of course, you could also argue it's better for the higher pick to go to the Eastern Conference, wherein we'll only have to play against said pick twice a season until we make the NBA Championship, but that's a topic for another post.

05.18.09 Trail Blazers Courtside Podcast

There was so much good stuff on last night's edition of Trail Blazers Courtside. You'll want to take it all in, especially with the severe lack of new Trail Blazers news.

First off, you can listen to both hours of Courtside commercial-free. Mike Barrett, Brian Wheeler and Antonio Harvey hold down the hosting duties. Mike Rice was undoubtedly on the golf course getting in a few extra holes before the rain returned.

Hour One



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Hour Two



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If for some reason you don't have enough time to listen to both hours (though what kind of Trail Blazers fan wouldn't), I've broken out three interviews from the show. Team President Larry Miller, NEW Vice President of Basketball Operations Tom Penn and Director of College Scouting Chad "Buck" Buchanan all made appearances on Monday's show, which you can listen to below.

Larry Miller



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Lots of good information during that interview on the plans to develop the Rose Quarter.

Tom Penn



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Far as I know, this interview is the only public statement Penn has made since deciding to stick with the organization. Penn talks about his decision and what it entails. And as always with Penn, the discussion eventually makes it's way to the salary cap.

Chad Buchanan



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Last but not least, Chad Buchanan talks about last week's pre-draft workouts, the upcoming workouts both in Portland and beyond, the relative weakness of this year's draft and the lack of international talent coming into the league this season. Buchanan is always a great listen.

Show Your Support For Brian Grant

Brian Grant, one of the all-time beloved Trail Blazers, went public today to discuss his battle with Parkinson's Disease. It's a terrible affliction for anyone to deal with, but it must be that much more difficult to be diagnosed with this disease when you've relied so heavily on your body for your livelihood. It sounds like he's already making great strides in battling the condition.

If you'd like to support or at least stay current with Grant's fight against Parkinson's, you can follow him on Twitter, join his Facebook group, and watch "Outside The Lines" this Sunday.

Question And Answer Session

Brandon Roy plays it low during the offseason. The guy puts in so much work between October and May that, as soon as the season ends, he's a ghost in these parts. Can't blame him.

He does resurface every now and then. Case in point: Roy was at the Nike Global Training Summit in Newport Beach, CA. Both Dime Magazine and AOL Fanhouse caught up with B.Roy, and both outfits turned out a Q&A. Dime's is here, Fanhouse's is here. Questions about Ron Artest's comments, the playoffs and workout in the offseason abound.

Kevin Pritchard On The Thundering Herd

It's almost a week old, but if you're like me, you probably haven't had a chance to listen to Colin Cowherd interview General Manager Kevin Pritchard on the May 12, 2009 edition of The Thundering Herd. But we've got you covered.

KP's interview can be streamed or downloaded below. Plenty of interesting stuff to keep you going during these lean news days.



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Audio provided courtesy of ESPN Radio

Brandon Roy And Winning What Others Have Won

Brandon Roy has put together quite the list of accolades in just three NBA seasons. He was nearly unanimously voted Rookie Of The Year in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Roy was selected as an All-Star. And his latest honor, that of being named to the All-NBA Second Team, might be his most impressive individual accomplishment yet. All in all, it’s been a stellar start to what will hopefully be a long and successful career.

What Roy has accomplished in his first three seasons, at least as it pertains to awards and All-Star appearances, is not unprecedented. There have been 24 players in NBA history who have won Rookie Of The Year, been named to two All-Star teams and at least one All-NBA team in their first three seasons. That number goes up to 25 if you count Tim Duncan, who would have surely made the All-Star team in 1999, his second season, had it not been for the lockout. Being the 26th player to receive that combination of distinctions is nothing to discount, especially considering thousands of players have come and gone through the history of the NBA, but it’s not as rare an achievement as one might think.

But scarcity doesn’t really tell the story; names do. With his combination of accolades, Roy joins the likes of Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Willis Reed and Bob McAdoo. Or on a more contemporary tip, there’s Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James. All members of the Rookie Of The Year/Two-time All-Star/All-NBA in the first three years club.

When you compile the list of players who have managed this somewhat esoteric milestone, you notice a common thread, one that, if history is to be trusted, will assure Roy’s status as one of the best to ever play the game as a Portland Trail Blazer.

It goes like this: Of the players in NBA history to have won Rookie Of The Year, been named to two All-Star teams and at least one All-NBA team, all in their first three seasons, just two who are eligible have not been enshrined in the NBA Hall Of Fame. Only Walter Davis and Ralph Sampson, both of whom were befallen by unusual misfortune (Davis with drugs and Sampson with injuries), have yet to make the HOF after achieving this particular set of accomplishments in their first three seasons.

Does this mean Roy is a lock for the Hall Of Fame? Hardly. And even if that were the case, I wouldn’t want to be the one to jinx it. There’s plenty that can go wrong between now and when B.Roy decides to hang ‘em up, but if he stays on this same trajectory, the sky is the limit.

UPDATE: Someone over at Blazer's Edge suggested I give the names of all the players who won Rookie Of The Year, were named to two All-Star games and made an All-NBA team in their first three seasons. Here's that list.

Bob Pettit
1955 NBA Rookie Of The Year
54-55 All-NBA
55-56 All-NBA
1955 All-Star
1956 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1971

Maurice Stokes
1956 NBA Rookie Of The Year
55-56 All-NBA
56-57 All-NBA
1956 NBA All-Star
1957 NBA All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 2004

Tom Heinsohn
1957 NBA Rookie Of The Year
60-61 All-NBA
61-62 All-NBA
1957 All-Star
1960 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1986

Elgin Baylor
1959 NBA Rookie Of The Year
58-59 All-NBA
59-60 All-NBA
1959 All-Star
1960 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1977

Wilt Chamberlain
1960 NBA Rookie Of The Year
59-60 All-NBA
60-61 All-NBA
1960 All-Star
1961 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1979

Oscar Robertson
1961 NBA Rookie Of The Year
60-61 All-NBA
61-62 All-NBA
1960 All-Star
1961 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1980

Jerry Lucas
1964 NBA Rookie Of The Year
63-64 All-NBA
64-65 All-NBA
63-64 All-Star
64-65 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1980

Willis Reed
1965 NBA Rookie Of The Year
66-67 All-NBA
67-68 All-NBA
1965 All-Star
1966 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1982

Rick Barry
1966 NBA Rookie Of The Year
65-66 All-NBA
66-67 All-NBA
1966 All-Star
1967 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1987

Dave Bing
1967 NBA Rookie Of The Year
67-68 All-NBA
70-71 All-NBA
1968 All-Star
1969 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1990

Wes Unseld
1969 NBA Rookie Of The Year
68-69 All-NBA
1969 All-Star
1971 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1988

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1970 NBA Rookie Of The Year
69-70 All-NBA
70-71 All-NBA
1969 All-Star
1970 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1995

Dave Cowens
1971 NBA Rookie Of The Year
72-73 All-NBA
74-75 All-NBA
1972 All-Star
1973 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1991

Bob McAdoo
1972 NBA Rookie Of The Year
73-74 All-NBA
74-75 All-NBA
1974 All-Star
1975 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 2000

Walter Davis
1978 NBA Rookie Of The Year
77-78 All-NBA
78-79 All-NBA
1978 All-Star
1979 All-Star

Larry Bird
1980 NBA Rookie Of The Year
79-80 All-NBA
80-81 All-NBA
1980 All-Star
1981 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1998

Ralph Sampson
1984 NBA Rookie Of The Year
85-85 All-NBA
1984 All-Star
1985 All-Star

Michael Jordan
1985 NBA Rookie Of The Year
84-85 All-NBA
86-87 All-NBA
1985 All-Star
1986 All-Star
*Eligible for Hall Of Fame in 2009

Patrick Ewing
1986 NBA Rookie Of The Year
87-88 All-NBA
88-89 All-NBA
1986 All-Star
1988 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 2008

David Robinson
1990 NBA Rookie Of The Year
88-89 All-NBA
90-91 All-NBA
1990 All-Star
1991 All-Star
*Eligible For Hall Of Fame in 2009

Shaquille O'neal
1993 NBA Rookie Of The Year
93-94 All-NBA
94-95 All-NBA
1993 All-Star
1994 All-Star

Grant Hill
1995 Co-Rookie Of The Year
95-96 All-NBA
96-97 All-NBA
1995 All-Star
1996 All-Star

Tim Duncan
1997 NBA Rookie Of The Year
97-98 All-NBA
98-99 All-NBA
1998 All-Star
1999 No All-Star Game (Lockout Season)

Vince Carter
1999 NBA Rookie Of The Year
99-00 All-NBA
00-01 All-NBA
2000 All-Star
2001 All-Star

LeBron James
2004 NBA Rookie Of The Year
04-05 All-NBA
05-06 All-NBA
2005 All-Star
2006 All-Star