Around The World: June 6

06/06/12

Written by: DHawes22

June 6

Trail Blazers: Mock Draft Database

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Elliot Williams 2011-12 Season Highlights

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Neil Olshey Fan Chat

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Paul Allen Fan Chat

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Neil Olshey Sit-Down Interview

Trailblazers.tv: Video: Neil Olshey Press Conference

Trail Blazers: Ford: Olshey Won't Be Afraid To Draft A Guy Like Drummond, Jones III
"Olshey spent a lot of time on the high school circuit and really values young players who were highly ranked coming out of high school. Look at their picks, DeAndre Jordan, Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Bledsoe, etc. He also loved OJ Mayo and worked hard to get him. So ... if they can't move up (I could see Beal) as a target, he won't be afraid at all to go after a guy like Andre Drummond or Perry Jones."

Trail Blazers: 3 Things That Stuck Out From Olshey's Press Conference
"He seems knowledgeable, experienced, passionate, and hopeful. It was moving when he became emotional when talking about Chauncey Billups, who the Clippers acquired when the former NBA Finals MVP was amnestied. That moment reflected a man who values relationships not just dollars. It seems Paul Allen and his team have taken a step in the right direction for the future of the franchise."

Trail Blazers: Rice's 2012 Mock Draft
"The Blazers will most likely trade this pick for a point guard or a big man, but if they don’t they will pick Damian Lillard of Weber St., a scoring point guard. But the Blazers wont want to use a 6th pick on Lillard or Zeller—maybe an 11th pick, but not the 6th. Jared Sullinger might be a long shot pick here since Blazers do need a banger inside."

Trail Blazers: Chad Ford Has Portland Addressing It's Needs In Latest Mock Draft
"There's really no gray area when it comes to Drummond. Either scouts love his size, potential, and athleticism or are turned off by his lack of production during his one year at Connecticut and have concerns about how his raw overall skills will translate to the next level. But with so few elite centers left in today's NBA, the opportunity for Portland to get their hands on one and pair him with LaMarcus Aldridge to form one of the league's most devastating front-lines, could be too tempting to pass up on."

Trail Blazers: Transcript: Neil Olshey Introductory Press Conference
"But I want to make it clear we’re not looking for quick fixes. We’re not looking for aging veterans that can slide us into the eighth spot and then we’re right back here a year from now trying to figure out what to do. This is a seminal moment in the future of the Trail Blazers and we need to handle it properly. I’m just excited."

Oregon Live: 2012 NBA draft: Should the Trail Blazers draft Bradley Beal? (poll)
"Beal’s a natural talent who plays very smart and gives his team the best chance to win every trip out on the floor. About as safe a pick and NBA ready an NCAA freshman eligible for the Draft is from this class. The Ray Allen comparison is solid because of his smooth jumper and potential off ball play in the NBA, but he can beat you in other ways if you don’t respect his skill set. With his skills as a complete guard with strong chance to be a mid-lottery pick in the NBA Draft, Beal is the real deal."

Oregon Live: Neil Olshey on challenge as Trail Blazers' new general manager: 'This is a seminal moment'
“If you ask me to handicap it, I’d say he is the in-house favorite right now,’’ Olshey said. “I’m not going to say we are not going to open up the search, but I think from due diligence standpoint we owe that to the organization, just to see what is out there, see if there’s guys who fit what we are trying to put together. But at the end of the day, I don’t see anyone bringing more to the table than Kaleb Canales.’’

Oregon Live: NBA High-5: Promoting Kaleb Canales to permanent Trail Blazers coach would not be that unusual
"I suppose the No. 1 objection would be Canales' lack of head coaching experience, which amounts to 23 games in which the Blazers went 8-15. You have to take the record with a grain of salt, though, as LaMarcus Aldridge missed the final eight games with a hip injury, seven of which were losses. Aldridge also sat out an earlier loss against the Clippers during Canales' tenure. Canales, when he had Aldridge, was 7-7."

CSNNW: Neil Olshey has a 'vision'
"The new Trail Blazer GM, Neil Olshey, held a very impressive news conference on Tuesday. Well spoken, confident, qualified and overall a breath of fresh air for Blazer fans."

Portland Tribune: What new GM Neil Olshey has planned for Blazers, Canales, Batum, Buchanan and more
“This is always where I wanted to be. (The Clippers) had a great run this past season, but after speaking with Larry last year, this is where my heart was. I want to raise a family here and be a part of the community.”

Columbian: Blazers new general manager hits ground running
"The good news is I'm a sprinter," said Olshey, who served as the Clippers vice president of basketball operations for the past two seasons. "We had our best offseason (last fall) when we had a five-day free-agent period. I like working under pressure."

Rip City Project: Meet The New Boss
"It wasn’t all softballs and home runs of prognostication though. Olshey answered a few tough questions about Chad Buchanan, Kaleb Canales, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, drafting, and potential free agents. His answers were concise and clear: Buchanan is part of the staff for now and he and Olshey will talk about the future when not working together to decide which former college players get to be drafted by the Blazers; other people are welcome to come knocking for Portland’s available head coaching job but they’ll have to prove they are better than Coach K; Nic and LA are Portland’s Blake Griffin and Chris Paul; the Blazers are going to work hard on the 2012 NBA Draft, and will not go all out to land big name free agents (Steve Nash) that aren’t going to be around seven seasons from now."

Ball Don't Lie: Behind the Box Score, where there is plenty of blame to go around in Miami
"James? He stands. Watch the tape. He's no threat at all, even if he ends up with the pass in that corner. He is telling defenses, with his inaction, that he is willing and ready to take exactly the sort of shot they want him to take. Blame the supporting cast, for offering no other alternatives. Blame Erik Spoelstra, for not getting his team to play a more active, dynamic and dangerous brand of basketball on that end. Blame James, for still doing this nearly nine years after being drafted. Blame Wade, who can be quite a martyr himself as he pounds that dribble away."

Ball Don't Lie: Young fan tells Miami Heat ‘good job, good effort,’ repeatedly (VIDEO)
"Children don't necessarily have any more perspective than older fans — when I was a kid, for instance, I took my favorite teams' losses much harder than I do now. Nevertheless, there is something refreshing in this young fan's approach in spite of its innocence. In not getting too down on his team's players, this child shows us that the result of a game only matters so much. It's the higher ideals and principles that really make the measure of a man."

Ball Don't Lie via Sports Radio Interviews: Keyon Dooling on the flailing Miami Heat: ‘I want them to keep complaining’
"I want them to keep complaining. That's fine with me. I hope they break that habit after this series so we can continue to take advantage of our fast break opportunities. Don't let the cat out of the bag. Let them keep complaining. When we see them complaining it means they're frustrated. That means we're doing our job, that means we're aggravating them on defense, we're agitating, we're contesting shots and that means we're making things hard for them so I kind of like to see that but it's been a frustrating series for them. They thought they were just going to walk in and have their way with us and we saw it a little bit different."

Ball Don't Lie via WEEI: Wally Szczerbiak, once critical, has a new appreciation for Kevin Garnett: ‘KG proved me completely wrong’
"Like he said in his interview last night, it's incredible what he's doing right now at his age," Szczerbiak said. "It is a credit to his craft, how professional he is. … He's playing the best basketball quite possibly I've ever seen him play, at the biggest moments. It's just incredible. Having said that, KG proved me completely wrong last night. [He] made two huge free throws down the stretch and made a big 15-footer. If I'm one of the naysayers that's helping motivate KG play at this level, then maybe the Boston fans owe me a little thank you. Because he's just playing off the charts."

Ball Don't Lie: Kevin Garnett still hates ageism, Atlanta Hawks co-owner, most everything not green and victorious (VIDEO)
"Garnett sent the Celtics home with a chance to close out Thursday by turning in another sensational performance — 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting, 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocks, a steal and swarming, roving, everywhere defense in just under three quarters of play. It was Garnett's third 20-point, 10-rebound effort of the Eastern Conference finals and his ninth in Boston's 18 playoff games, two more than he had in 60 appearances during the regular season."

The Basketball Jones: Gregg Popovich tells a reporter their boss did a bad job
"I feel like if this would have kept going, Pop would have ended up saying things like “And tell your publisher to find a more environmentally friendly printer” or “Maybe you should talk to your business development people about reworking their subscription model.” Throwing shots at an editor is pretty deep, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Gregg Popovich could go Cobb on this thing and take it even deeper. He’s a smart guy. I’m sure he knows how newspapers work and could easily come up with a few more journalism zingers.''

The Basketball Jones: Things of Note for June 6, 2012
"LeBron James didn’t score from the 8:10 mark to the 0:09 mark in the fourth quarter. I’m sure no one will mention this though, since LeBron’s fourth quarter performance is one of those things that tends to fly under the radar."

ESPN: The Thunder Will Close Out The Spurs In Game 6
"Fiction. Let's be clear: Any darned thing could happen.And if the Spurs win game 6 of course they'll be heavily favored to win game 7 at home. So you can see Game 6 as a must-win for both teams. But I have a weird feeling this won't play to form. I'm going to stick with my bizarre original prediction. A series that started with four straight home victories, I say will end in three straight road wins. Thunder in 7, not 6."