These days, the business of basketball is good for the Portland Trail Blazers. However, not too long ago, the City of Roses tagged their only pro sports team by another name: the Jail Blazers.

The era of the Jail Blazers is an interesting and lengthy time period, through which it extends from J.R. Rider’s heyday, until really 2005. Whereas, the Blazers had been branded with this label for a while, I chose to further examine Burnside’s best from ’01 through the ’04 season. Read More »

One of the most interesting parts of the first few days of NBA training camp is seeing the lineups we’ve speculated about all summer finally coming together. Some of them haven’t changed a bit, some of them look real good, and some — try Chris Duhon, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Al Harrington and David Lee in New York — just look good and terrible … Speaking of Gallo, apparently Mike D’Antoni has fallen back in love with the kid and is talking him up big-time. After the Knicks fans booed him out of MSG at the draft, the quick assumption was that Gallo would be the next Skita Tskitishvili, but if he stays healthy and carves out a nice little Andrea Bargnani-like niche for himself, that’s a big W for the Knicks … Read More »

Here’s one straight from the Go Somewhere And Sit Down files: After Michael Jordan jokingly called out Bryon Russell during his H.O.F. speech, of course somebody had to go track down Russell for his reaction. And of course the 38-year-old Russell — who as recently as this summer was talking about trying an NBA comeback — had to go make himself look like the “Can’t let the game go” retired ballplayer, challenging MJ to a battle. “I’ll play his ass right now,” Russell told Yahoo! Sports. “This is a call-out for him to come play me. He can come out here in his private jet and come play. He’s got millions of dollars. He can pay for the jet. He can meet me at the Recreation Center in Calabasas. We can have Mark Jackson do the commentating. We can have Mitch Richmond do the officiating. We can put it on TV and see if Michael’s still got it.” Read More »

We argue. You decide…

BARON DAVIS (by Ben York) When he wants to be, Baron Davis can be an elite player in the NBA. Judging by his trips to India that culminated in his recently found enlightenment, it’s my belief that he wants to be a threat again in ‘09-10.

When he asserts himself, Baron can be downright unguardable. He’s not that far removed from his phenomenal seasons in Golden State where he averaged over 20 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds a game. Read More »