June 17 Workout Schedule

The closer we get to the draft, the bigger these workouts get, and Wednesday's workout is easy the biggest yet. We've got Pac-10 guys and national champions. First-rounders. This is the when it gets real interesting. The names are ...

Darren Collison, Guard (UCLA); Justin Dentmon, Guard (Washington); Derrick Brown, Forward (Xavier); Dante Cunningham, Forward (Villanova); Tyler Hansbrough, Forward (North Carolina); Jeff Pendergraph, Forward (Arizona State)

That's a nice group all the way around. We'll have coverage of today's workout up soon. And tomorrow we'll have even more. Once again, be sure to keep tabs on all of it through our Draft Central page.

June 16 Workouts Participants

Pre-draft workouts kick into gear tomorrow, as today at 3 p.m. is the last chance for underclassmen to pull their names out from draft consideration. Either you're in, or you're out.

Things start up again on Tuesday with six more workouts. The players are ...

Terrel Harris, Guard (Oklahoma State); Jermaine Taylor, Guard (Central Florida); Garrett Temple, Guard (LSU); Marcus Thornton, Guard (LSU); Joe Ingles, Forward (Australia); Jonas Jerebko, Forward (Sweden)

Guards and some international forwards. Should be an interesting mix. We'll have coverage of the workouts, which you can find over at our Draft Central page. Bookmark it!

Brandon Roy's Restful Offseason

There’s nothing like a relaxing summer to cure the aches and pains of an 82 game season. It’s important to take some time after the end of a long year to heal after subjecting your body to countless collisions on the court.

That’s exactly how Brandon Roy is approaching his offseason. Roy, anxious to begin working on his game after a 32 win rookie season, all but ran back to the gym after the buzzer sounded for the final time in 06-07. He took a little more time off last offseason, but he still pushed himself a bit too hard, which resulted in Roy need minor knee surgery before the start of training camp.

But now he’s learned his lesson. After 54 wins and a first round exit from the playoffs, B.Roy is taking an extended sabbatical from basketball.

“I’ve beginning to come out of my rest phase,” said Roy, “but not really playing basketball. Just exercising. I’ll start biking again this month, lifting some weights. I feel like I’ve taken a good month, but I’m still a month away from playing basketball on court and shooting and things like that.”

Roy only played 111 more regular season minutes in ’08-’09 than he did in ’07-’08, but playing six extra games (and playoff games at that) left the third-year guard ready to leave basketball in the rearview for a bit longer than usual. And he’s feeling the results.

“My body feels great,” said Roy. “This is the best I’ve felt since the season started because you play so many games. I want to go play now, you know?”

But he’s fighting the temptation to lace up the sneakers, at least for a few more weeks, with the plan being that an extended rest will be more beneficial in the long run than extra workouts.

“I’m ready to go now,” said Roy. “My body feels like it’s all healed up. All the little nicks are gone. I talked to Coach Nate and he said to just be patient. He said he thinks it’s a good idea to start riding the bike and exercising, but as far as basketball, stay away from it just a little bit longer.

“But the body feels great. I’m excited about that more than anything.”

06.11.09 Trailblazers.com Podcast

We realized during recording today that Gavin Dawson of 95.5 The Game, Dave Deckard of Blazer's Edge.com and I, Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com have been podcasting for over a year now. So happy anniversary to us.

This week talk more about the draft, throw out a few names, briefly discuss Travis Outlaw's twitter account, Kobe Bryant's place in history and how many championships is enough.



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Buchanan Pre-Draft Quotes: June 9

Shooting guards and power forwards turned small forwards were on display today for yet another pre-draft workout in Tualatin. Shooting guards Osiris Eldridge (Illinois State), Wayne Ellington (North Carolina), Danny Green (North Carolina), and Josh Shipp (UCLA) took turns on the wing while Damion James (Texas) and Dior Lowhorn (San Francisco) added a little post presence to what was a most perimeter oriented workout. And the marks were generally positive.

"It was good having a bunch of guys kind of all in at the same position," said Chad Buchanan, Trail Blazers director of college scouting. "You don’t get to see as much pick and roll stuff from a big and a little like you do in the past couple workouts we’ve had, but you get to compare guys who are all kind of the same."

And there was much similarity. All four of the shooting guards brought something unique to the table, be it athleticism from Eldridge, shooting from Ellington, defense from Green and versatility from Shipp, but for the most part, all were fairly similar. Same goes from James and Lowhorn, who were both described by Buchanan as "rugged" and "blue-collar."

The lack of a true floor general might have hindered the workout just a bit, but according to Buchanan, the coaches and scouts, along with team owner Paul Allen, saw what they needed to see.

"I thought it was a pretty high caliber workout today," said Buchanan. "It’s always nice to have a point guard in the workout though to really get a gauge for guys. Today that wasn’t the case, but I thought the caliber of play was pretty good."

As for each induvidual player, here's what Buchanan had to say ...

Osiris Eldridge, 6-3, Guard, Illinois State


"I thought he was obviously very gifted athletically. He can run, he can jump, he’s got great speed. He’s kind of a powerful little two guard. He’s a little undersized, a little streaky shooting the ball today, which is kind of reflective of what he did during the season as well. But he’s got NBA athletic tools.

"I’d expect him to go back to school. He put himself on the radar this year a little bit and I think he’ll be seen quite a bit next year."

Wayne Ellington, 6-4, Guard, North Carolina


"Very polished. If he gets a good look he feel like every shot he takes is probably going to go in. He’s got great footwork scoring the ball. Very poised, under control. Good basketball IQ. He can pass a little bit. Decent athlete, but I wouldn’t call him a great NBA athlete, but he just knows how to play. Comes from a great pedigree: McDonalds All American, National Championship."

Danny Green, 6-6, Guard, North Carolina


"Kind of the same thing as (Wayne). He comes from a great background, McDonald’s All American. He and Wayne are kind of similar in that they’re catch and shoot wings. Danny is probably a little better defender than Wayne, a little bigger obviously. He’s not quite as consistent a shooter, although he shot it better this year than he has in the past. I think both Wayne and Danny are late first, early second round type candidates. Smart defender."

Josh Shipp, 6-5, Guard, UCLA


"Josh seems like he’s been around for years. A very smart, intelligent player. He’s got great shooting mechanics. More athletic than you would think from a guy who’s battled a lot of hip and leg injuries. He had a bad back there for a little bit but he’s bounced back physically and looks really good.

"Trying to figure out where he fits in to our league. Is he a two? Is he a three? He’s probably a second round type candidate. He could go undrafted possibly, but he’s got size for his position and he can shoot a little bit. If he doesn’t get drafted he’ll end up on a summer league team somewhere."

Damion James, 6-7, Forward, Texas


"I would guess he’s probably on the bubble whether he stays in or goes back. He’s always been kind of a blue-collar rebounder, hustle energy guy for Texas. They moved him from four to three this year, which I think is going to have to be his position at our level. It’s still kind of a work in progress for him with his handle, creating his own shot.

"He’s improved defensively, especially this year. I thought he made great strides in guarding the ball. Plays for an unbelievable coach. Coach Barnes is great at developing players. Whether he stays in or goes back, I think he’d like to be a first round pick. It’s going to be down to the wire."

Dior Lowhord, Forward, 6-7, San Fransisco


"Brought him in, kind of a west coast kid that we saw a little bit during the season. Like his ruggedness, his toughness, his ability to defend. Played the four in college. He and Damien are similar in that they were fours in college and kind of rugged. They’re not slow of foot, but they need to improve their lateral quicks if they’re going to play outside the paint at our level.

"Blue-collar guy. I thought he played well today. He’s pretty athletic. I think he’ll go back to school. He plays in a pretty good league and we’ll get to see him a little bit next year. He’s probably maybe a second round type guy next year."

B.Roy On The Draft: In KP He Trusts

I noticed a fanshot over at Blazer's Edge on the topic of which player Brandon Roy would like the Kevin Pritchard to draft. The rumor goes (and I'm only calling it a rumor because I didn't hear it myself) that Roy told Brian Wheeler who he'd like to see the Trail Blazers target, and that maybe it was someone in the draft. It's a story tailor made for the internet: short on facts, long on speculation.

I don't have much insight into the mind of Brandon Roy, but I can report what he has told me, which is that he doesn't have the slightest idea what Kevin Pritchard and his staff are going to do on draft night.

"I don’t have any thoughts (on the draft)!," said Roy. "I don’t know what’s going on. I know we’re picking, what, 24th? I don’t even know."

Now that's not to say Roy doesn't like particular players in this draft. As far as I know he hasn't endorsed a specific player in the draft, but he has endorse a tactic: taking the best player available.

"I know those guys will do a great job analyzing and getting the best player possible with that pick," said Roy. "We were able to get Rudy around that range, Nicolas around that range, so we’ve gotten a lot of good players in the twenties."

That's what it comes down to for Roy; getting the best player for the Portland Trail Blazers. Brandon's not a personnel guy. He's a helluva ball player, but he's not investing the time and energy trying to come up with a draft plan. And like most anyone who has followed Kevin Pritchard's tenure in Portland, Roy has faith in the management team making the right decision.

"I’m sure they’ll do a good job," said Roy, "but I don’t have any idea what they'll do."

Which means we've all got at least one thing in common with Brandon.

June 9 Pre-Draft Workout Participants

The second round of pre-draft workouts has looks to have a bit more name recognition. Should be an interesting day at the practice facility. The participants are ...

Osiris Eldridge, Guard (Illinois State); Wayne Ellington, Guard (North Carolina); Danny Green, Guard (North Carolina); Josh Shipp, Guard (UCLA); Damion James, Forward (Texas); Dior Lowhorn, Forward (San Francisco)

KP Pre-Draft Quotes: June 5

The varsity staff was on hand today at the practice facility to watch the first full blown workout of the pre-draft season. Kevin Pritchard, Tom Penn, Nate McMillan, Dean Demopoulis, Monty Williams, Chad Buchanan, Steve Blake (with shoulder sling) and the training staff were in attendance to watch six players go through about an hour worth of drills and scrimmages. Nothing incredibly exciting, but worthwhile nonetheless.

"We feel like there’s great value in these workouts," said Pritchard. To see them out on the floor, to see comparables but also to take them to lunch and see how you feel about them. Part of what we do is the intel process and see if they fit with us organizationally."

You probably wouldn't recognize too many of the attendees at today's workout unless you're a serious college basketball fan, which in part speaks to the difficulty of getting players in your gym when you're picking at No. 24.

"It’s a little bit more challenging because of where we’re picking," said Pritchard when asked about scheduling workouts. "We’re getting more of the second round guys, but we’re seeing the guys we need to see.

"The real truth is that if we haven’t done most of the work by now then we’re behind the curve. Chad (Buchanan) and our scouts have done such a good job of getting us prepared for right now. Now is just the icing."

The participants in today's "icing" were Jerel McNeal, Greivis Vasquez, Omri Casspi, Micah Downs, Chinemelu Elonu and Chris Johnson. Here's what Pritchard had to say about each guy.

Jerel McNeal, 6-3, Guard, Marquette

"Scoring guard. Had a great career at Marquette. Really can get to the basket. He’s working on his shot. He needs to become a pure point guard, but has some attributes that will get him to the NBA. I definitely think he’s in the NBA."

Greivis Vasquez, 6-6, Guard, Maryland

"Love his height, love his size. He’s got great basketball IQ. He knows how to run a pick and roll. Will need to get a little bit better on defense, but he’ll be interesting in the NBA. He’s a point guard. He’s got tremendous size for the position."

Omri Casspi, 6-9, Forward, Maccabi Tel Aviv

"Tough kid. Shot the ball well today. He’ll make the NBA and he’s got a chance to be a first round pick."

Micah Downs, 6-8, Guard, Gonzaga

"Micah had a good day today. I’ve seen him at Kansas, I’ve seen him at Gonzaga. He can shoot the ball. In a league that needs shooters and size, he’s fits the bill. He reminds me a little bit of (Vladimir) Radmanovic."

Chinemelu Elonu, 6-10, Forward, Texas A&M

"He did a good job. He’s a physical presence. Tough, can finish around the basket. He’ll need to improve his perimeter shot, but he had a good day today."

Chris Johnson, 6-11, Forward, LSU

"Great length. Can block some shots. He gets off the floor quick, both on his first and second jump. He will have to become a better rebounder. He needs to gain some weight, get stronger. But he’s got a chance."

Roy, Webster Make Finals Predictions

I don't know about you, but I'm over trying to figure out how the 2008-09 season is going to play out. I certainly didn't expect the Magic to dispatch of the Cavs with relative ease, and I thought the Lakers run at the top of the Western Conference would come to a merciful end. But I was wrong. Part of that probably has something to do with the fact that I'm wrong more often than not, but I'll also chalk it up to this season's playoffs being more unpredictable than usual. And more exciting, for that matter.

So not that you really care, but I'm not going to venture a Finals prediction. Nothing, outside of a sweep by either team, would surprise me.

What you might care about though, is that Brandon Roy and Martell Webster are courageous enough to make their championship picks, and are willing to provide some thoughts on the playoffs in general.

"The playoffs have been great," said Roy. "It’s showing how much talent the NBA has, how deep a lot of the teams are. Every series could have gone either way, even with Houston taking the Lakers to Game 7."

Rick Adelman getting the Rockets to a Game 7 without the services of Yao Ming has to go down as one of the great coaching accomplishments of the '08-'09 season.

And as for the result of the Eastern Conference Finals?

"Before the series I said Orlando gives Cleveland problems," said Roy. "I thought, maybe in a seven-game series that Cleveland would overcome them, but once the series started, I said ‘Wow, Orlando is just the better team.’ That the good thing about seven-game series: there’s no upsets. Whoever wins was the team that was the better team. I think Orlando winning that series was big for them, but I can’t say I was surprised. They looked really good."

So no surprises in the ECF for Roy. But what about that Finals prediction ...

Said Roy: "It’s a tough one. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Lakers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Orlando wins the championship because I think they’re talented. They change the game a little bit with spreading the ball around Dwight and knocking down three-pointers. They’re definitely a tough team."

So Roy represents the Western Conference and picks the Lake Show.

Martell Webster wasn't as definitive in his pick, but he's definitively got a preference, one that may surprise you.

"These playoff series hasn't had just a couple great teams," said Webster, "all the teams are really good. There was hope for all the teams in these playoff series. But the shakeout, I think it’s a great matchup and I can’t wait to see what happens."

So what's the pick?

Said Webster: "I want Orlando."

Hold up. Martell, the guy who draws criticism for being a Kobe Bryant fan, is rooting for the Magic? Who'd a thunk it?

"But I thought you were a Kobe guy," says I.

"Nope," replied Webster. "I respect him. I love his game, but I want Orlando."

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.