Archive for June, 2009

Here’s Part II of our 2009 NBA Mock Draft (Part I, the results, are here). Since we put the mock together last Sunday, picks like Blair, who has seen his draft stock drop recently, might seem a little off, but we’re sticking with what we have for now. Part III will be coming soon and we’ll do a final mock just before the draft since things change on an hourly basis. I took care of the even picks, while SJ handled the odd. But if you don’t agree with something, just yell at both of us on Twitter/in the comments. [...]

We officially have our first trade of the NBA mid-Finals offseason. Doesn’t have much, if anything, to do with Portland, it’s just exciting to get the ball moving in the trade market. Toronto saves about $2 million a year for the next two years with the move, and the Raps sure could use the frontcourt help. Still seems like a lock that they’ll take DeMar DeRozan with the No. 9 pick if he’s still on the board. For the Sixers, well, they must be banking on Elton Brand staying healthy for a full year and/or Speights continuing to grow, because [...]

Chad Ford updated his news about the NBA Draft. A lot of high praise for Tyler Hansbrough and some bummy news for DeJuan Blair fans. The article is entitled: ‘Hansbrough big winner’ so combining this with Byron Scott’s praise last week and Hansbrough’s stock seems to be on the rise. I would almost say it’s a guarantee that he doesn’t drop to Portland at 24. Here’s some of the praise Ford had for Psycho T: “I think it’s time to declare Hansbrough the big winner of the 2009 NBA draft combine. He basically measured the same size as Kevin Love, [...]

Couple shout-outs to some other fine blogs around the interwebs, not all NBA related: -Chris Bosh Bobblehead commercials, and his new IPhone app. -Rick Reilly is one of the first people to get on a Tony Hawk Ride with Tony Hawk. -Baseball Game Etiquette. -The Yankees need to step up their drafting if they want to stay competitive. -The sick truth about horse meat and where it goes.

FanSided.com is hosting a Live Blog of the Finals tonight, so people from all over the network are going to be in there. Join us, it should be a good time, and hopefully a better game than Thursday. NBA Finals Game 2 – Magic at Lakers

We’re giving you Part I of the Mock Draft today, which is just the results of SJ and I arguing for the better part of the day. Monday, I’ll post our explanations for each of the first-round picks. Everything you see in parenthesis marks an either/or situation — mostly if the team appears likely to move the pick. # Team Player P School 1 LA Clippers Blake Griffin PF Oklahoma 2 Memphis Hasheem Thabeet C UConn 3 Oklahoma Cty Jordan Hill (Trade Down) PF Arizona 4 Sacramento Ricky Rubio PG Spain 5 Washington James Harden (Trade Down) SG Arizona St. [...]

The latest from Mike Barret: As you probably know, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden were invited to play for the USA Basketball Select Team in Las Vegas this summer. While Oden and Aldridge will play, Roy will not. The Blazers, along with Roy, decided some rest is perhaps more in order, and that certainly seems like a good decision. We have, however, learned that Jerryd Bayless has now received an invitation, and will play on the select team against Team USA. This is huge for Jerryd, as he’ll join the group of about 16 players in this prestigious [...]

Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune + Kevin Pritchard = something to talk about. “I don’t see a scenario where we don’t pick up their options,” Pritchard says. “They’ve both been terrific for us. We like those guys way too much.” So while they both could possibly be traded, their options will be picked up. I don’t think this is a shocker at all but when you’re dehydrated for something to talk about it becomes news. I couldn’t have imagined why Portland wouldn’t pick their options up, Blake is the starting PG and Outlaw is the sixth man. You don’t [...]

Why on earth does it feel like there is just nothing going on in the world of basketball right now? Oh right because there is nothing going on. I mean honestly, the NBA has been deader than the careers of anyone who appears on a VH1 reality show. The news? LeBron not shaking anyone’s hand. Ummmm, ok. It’s gotten so bad that today I actually missed the College World Series of Softball. And I’m not even kidding. This is a blogger’s nightmare. And that’s when you end up with random thoughts like this. Where are all the crazy rumors this year? Every [...]

Of course, that’s pretty much what Mr. Ford always says about Portland, but his comments in today’s chat were fairly interesting: Mike (Portland, OR): Any ideas what Portland is up to this off-season? It seems unlikely we stay at 24… I expect us in the Top 10 or not in the 1st round at all.. Your thoughts? Chad Ford: (1:44 PM ET ) From what I’ve been told, Blazers will trade the pick to the highest bidder. They have plenty of young players and would like a little more cap flexibility Now, does highest bidder mean they’re simply looking for [...]