Two reasons to watch this video:

1. The footage of Zach Randolph crashing into Hasheem Thabeet and breaking his jaw.

2. Travis Outlaw’s vicious put-back dunk over Rudy Gay.

This is just ridiculous! Both Travis Outlaw and Rudy Gay are two of the best leapers in the L; too bad this time Gay got the business end of Outlaw’s fully extended tomahawk in the second quarter of the Blazers 93-79 win over the Grizzles. Got to love Mike Rice though: “Listen to this fans!”

While any casual NBA fan would be hard pressed to differentiate between Jarron Collins and Jason Collins on the street, it will make it easier when one of them is wearing a Phoenix Suns jersey. After being waived by the Blazers along with Ime Udoka in favor signing rookie Patty Mills, word out of Phoenix is that the Suns are very interested in signing the seven-footer. Read More »

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 »

Martell Webster is finding himself in an unfamiliar position heading into the upcoming season. The former Seattle Prep star and Blazer starter from ’07-’08 is playing catch-up in Portland.

Webster’s foot injury, which kept him from seeing the floor for all but five minutes last season, is ready and cleared for action. Still, Webster is stuck in a logjam of small forwards vying for the starting nod. Read More »

Last week we brought up the point guard battle going on in Portland, and were pretty certain that after signing Andre Miller to a three-year, $21 million deal, it was a no-brainer that the 12-year vet was going to start. Not so fast. According to The Oregonian, Nate McMillan was very clear with Miller when the team recruited him this summer saying that he “envisioned Miller coming off the bench, running pick and rolls with Oden and funneling fast-break passes to Fernandez and Webster streaking on the wings.” And it appears that’s how it’s going to be. Read More »

Not every NBA squad was able to effectively handle their business during the offseason. Longtime Chicago NBA writer Sam Smith, who now blogs for Bulls.com, posted a piece about the five trades he think will happen first this season. Some of the potential moves he writes about aren’t so shocking - everyone in the world knows the Jazz would love to move Carlos Boozer (Smith even notes that the Jazz team shop is selling Boozer jerseys at a 50% discount and that he is nowhere to be found in the team’s marketing campaign this year).

Below are Smith’s predictions and some of the evidence he cites to illustrate that a deal is on the way: Read More »

Today, Juwan Howard signed a one-year contact with the Portland Trail Blazers according to GM Kevin Pritchard. This will be the 15-year NBA vet’s eighth team. Last year, he split time between Denver and Charlotte where he averaged 4.1 points and 1.8 rebounds. Howard is also the last member of the Fab Five still standing in the NBA. What does he bring to the Blazers this year?

This image just popped up on our Twitter feed from @blazeoflove with the question, “New uniforms?”

Blazers uniforms with the words “Rip City” on the chest is either the best thing or the worst thing ever. We can’t decide how we feel about it. And if these are official, are we looking at “Motor City” Pistons and “Clutch City” Rockets unis (among others) shortly? (click on the headline for a larger look)

What do you think?

Follow Dime on Twitter @DimeMag

With the vision of the 2009/2010 NBA season becoming more and more clear each day, we’ll take a look at each division and explain what we think we know about each. Sure, there are a lot of things that could change before opening day, but we have a pretty good idea of how each team will look and where we think they’re headed in the upcoming year.

Next up, 5 things I think I know about the Northwest Division… Read More »