The Portland Trail Blazers have a considerable dose of fantasy appeal. They boast five players who can feasibly be taken in the first half of most standard-sized drafts, which is an impressive feat. Armed with a new, able point guard, the Blazers should be a darling for fantasy owners whenever the league resumes. And if the knees of its hometown hero and hometown bust hold up during a shortened season — wait, let’s not get too greedy. Read More »
If the lockout goes down as expected, the Portland Trail Blazers will enter the summer having answered one of their biggest personnel questions and practically set its starting lineup in June.
Point guard Raymond Felton joins from Denver in a draft-day switch with Andre Miller. Unlike Miller, Felton doesn’t need the ball in his hands on every possession to be effective as a scorer and is an equal at distribution. And on the day he was introduced by interim GM Chad Buchanan along with draft picks Nolan Smith (No. 21) and Jon Diebler (No. 51) on Monday, Felton put the ball in the Blazers’ court about making him a franchise point guard. Read More »
While Blake Griffin, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins have rightfully stolen the main limelight of the rookie race thus far, a lot of other young guys are still finding their bearings in their first NBA season. And being in L.A., I’ve been fortunate enough to have already seen a good amount of those rooks roll through town.
With the bulk of the season still remaining, and teams becoming more comfortable with their new talent by the day, it only seemed natural to see how the League’s newest commodities were fitting in. And with teams from Detroit to Portland coming through to play the Clippers and Lakers recently, it provided us with a nice hodgepodge of rookie thoughts. Read More »
Evidence was building up for Russell Westbrook, if anything, to have a meltdown in crunch time rather than take over last night’s Thunder/Blazers game. Throughout the second half, Wetsbrook was attacking the basket only to miss shots and not get calls. Meanwhile, Andre Miller (16 pts, 11 asts) was kind of busting Westbrook’s ass and picking apart the OKC defense Westbrook was supposed to spearhead. But right when it seemed Westbrook was one more no-call away from a technical foul or a rash of bad decisions, he locked in. Read More »
It’s never fun to be the last player in the green room on Draft Day. As a hooper, you grow up dreaming of that one moment where you will stand up proudly on stage at Madison Square Garden and pound knuckles with David Stern for the first time. Being invited to sit as a green room attendee is fun, but it can sometimes turn into a schoolyard kickball game; waiting anxiously to hear your name called by the captain. And that’s just what happened to Nevada sophomore Luke Babbitt. Read More »
It’s just hours before the Draft, and there are still guys out there who fans may know nothing about. Enter Armon Johnson. Explosive athlete. Teammate at Nevada of Luke Babbitt. The Knicks were even rumored to be trying to get into the first round to get this dude. And if you ask me, he sounds like he could get used to being in New York. The Draft’s top secret is out.
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