Category Archives: portland trailblazers

6 Most Tragic Career-Ending Injuries in Sports

Every time an athlete laces their shoes, they know that the risk of injury is always right around the corner. There have been many young talents that were never the same after just one ill-timed twist of the knee or pop in their shoulder.

Jay Williams – Williams was a standout point guard at Duke and was the second player taken in the 2002 NBA Draft. He was all set to be the centerpiece in what many assumed could be the start of a new dynasty for the Chicago Bulls. He had an average rookie season, but did show promising signs that he could turn into a star. After his rookie season, Williams wrecked his Yamaha R6 motorcycle into a streetlight. He suffered major injuries including never damage in his leg, fractured pelvis and a completely dislocated knee. It was a single vehicle crash and didn’t need to consult a personal injury lawyer, but the Bulls were able to collect on an insurance policy to cover Williams’ contract. Williams did attempt a basketball comeback in 2006, but he was just a shell of himself. He has stayed in the limelight as a college basketball analyst for ESPN.

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2018-19 NBA Season Wins Over/Under – Western Conference

The Golden State Warriors are the best team in the NBA and they added a few more elites players that are looking for a ring.

The balance of power was already in the Western Conference’s favor, but they tipped even more in their favor this offseason.

LeBron James will play his first season in the West after signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Can LeBron push the Los Angeles Lakers to 49 wins?

Here are our over/under season wins total picks for the NBA’s Western Conference.

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2017-18 NBA Season Wins Over/Under – Western Conference

The NBA regular season kicks off tomorrow. The Celtics are at Cleveland and the Rockets travel to the defending NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors. Both are must-watch games for any NBA fan.

Picking regular season over/under prop bets in the NBA’s Western Conference takes some skill this season. You have unbelievably stacked teams like the Warriors, Thunder and Rockets, but you have to factor in the chances teams will rest their stars in a few games this season. A team that has already ‘been there, done that’ like the Warriors and Spurs, will probably rest their guys. The Thunder who legitimately look like they are having fun this preseason, have something to prove and may not rest as many stars.

Can rookie Lonzo Ball push the Los Angeles Lakers to 34 wins?

Here are our over/under season wins total picks for the NBA’s Western Conference.

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NBA: Season Wins Over/Under – Western Conference

nba-2016-17-season-wins-over-under-funny-western-conference-basketball-old-guyThe NBA regular season kicks off at the end of the month…and I can’t wait.

The offseason seemed to be gone in a blink of an eye. A ton of money was thrown around and some players are a few pounds of cash heavier.

NBA owners will want another ‘amnesty clause’ in the next CBA to bail themselves out from some of these deals. There are some guys who should have been wearing ski masks when signing their new deals.

The Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference last season and are early favorites to repeat this season. Any sleepers out there worth a bet?

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The Ten Worst NBA Contracts Signed this Offseason (So Far)

Solomon Hill 2016 NBA offseason bad contractsWe knew this NBA offseason would have a lot of buzz since many top players would hit free agency on July 1st and the fact that the salary cap will hit a historic high of $94.143 million for the 2016-17 season.

Even though we expected a lot of money to be thrown around, it just didn’t really sink in until we saw the quality of players getting such huge contracts.

This list isn’t an indictment on the players getting literally a ton of cash, but an indictment on the owners spending frivolously. I guarantee their actions during the first few days of the 2016 NBA offseason will make them cry poor when this labor agreement expires. I have a feeling they may need another amnesty clause if spending continues this recklessly.

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2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Portland Trail Blazers

LaMarcus Aldridge Portlandia Portland Trail Blazers NBAPortland was able to get into the second-round of the playoffs, but ran into the San Antonio. LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard just keep improving together, but they were not ready for the Spurs. No team was ready for the Spurs.

Portland didn’t mess with the team this off-season. They kept all the starters and just added some bench depth. This could be the season Portland matures and has a nice playoff run.

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Portland Trail Blazers.

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Greg Oden to sign with Miami Heat

Greg-Oden-Miami-HeatFormer Ohio State standout and #1 overall NBA Draft pick, Greg Oden decided which NBA team he chose to sign a contact. He’s going to the back-to-back NBA Champion Miami Heat.

Even though Oden has only played 82 NBA games and had three microfracture on his knees, teams were still drooling over him. The San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans and Miami Heat were the three front-runners to sign him.

Time will tell how much Oden can contribute to a team, but his two-year minimum contract is a no-risk deal for any NBA team. If he can play a few minutes a game, he can help bolster Miami’s weak front court.

Brandon Roy, Oden’s teammate in Portland, tried to come back last season from similar knee surgeries, but only played a handful of games with Minnesota after signing with them last offseason. His knees couldn’t hold up to the daily grind of the NBA season. He was released by Minnesota and it doesn’t look likely that he will play in the NBA again.

We wish Oden the best and want him to succeed, but the smart money is Oden wears a suit on the sideline for most of the season.

(My MS Paint skills are still on point. Expect many more photos edited in MS Paint in the near future…they make me laugh.)

Why Was Jared Sullinger Medically Red Flagged?

The 2012 NBA Draft is only a couple weeks away and teams are having prospects come in for personal workouts. Teams want to see the player workout in person, but they also do a lot of medical tests by their team doctor. If a negative results comes from the workout or physical exam, a player could drop a lot in the draft. It is something that usually sticks until they have a breakout game in the NBA.

Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger has been going through a rotating door of NBA Lottery teams. He has visited New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, and Portland Trail Blazers with upcoming visits to Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Detroit Pistons.

ESPN is reporting that numerous team doctors have found something in Sullinger’s physical examination. What is alleged problem? Could this be the reason for Sullinger’s poor play against Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.
Sources are telling ESPN that multiple team doctor have reported that Sullinger’s back could shorten his NBA career. Some team doctors have even advised their team to not draft him in the first round (First round draft picks have guaranteed contracts unlike Second round picks).

The specific injury appears to be a set of bulging discs in Sullinger’s back. His agent, David Falk, didn’t comment on ESPN’s article. His father Satch Sullinger told ESPN that the bulging area was due to his hamstring and quads being so tight. He says that it pulled on his hip flexor, but his son has been taking care of it with yoga and deep tissue massage.

DeJuan Blair had a lot of negative buzz going into the 2009 NBA Draft because of his lack of ACLs in both knees. He wasn’t picked until the beginning of the second round because every team was scared to give him a guaranteed contract. Blair went on to have a good rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs and has been a solid player in the NBA.

I have been a fan of Sullinger’s since I saw him play his freshman year. He had some explosion going to the hoop and I was expecting big things from him. My opinion started to become less favorable towards the end of his freshman year and throughout his entire sophomore season at Ohio State. He was playing below the rim and did not seem to have a vertical jump of more than 12 inches. The explosion wasn’t there and I suspected a nagging injury to be the problem. He had less than stellar reviews from his predraft agility tests. I hope this is an issue that can be resolved and we see the player who was lights out during the first half of his freshman year.

In my NBA mock draft, I have Sullinger drafted #12 by the Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee has yet to have him in for a workout and with this news, he could free fall out of the first round. I don’t believe that will happen, but he may drop out of the Lottery. If a team is serious about drafting him, they will make sure to get a second opinion and even a third.

I believe that Sullinger’s “ceiling” is a more offensively gifted Anthony Mason. If his becomes and issue and he has weight issues in the NBA, his basement is Sean May.

I’m hoping the Phoenix Suns draft him and their training staff can work another miracle.

By: TwitterButtons.com

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Jerry Sloan Pulls Out of the Running for Bobcats Coaching Job

Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan told SI.com he pulled out the running for the Charlotte Bobcats head coaching job. He was believed to be one of the finalists to replace Paul Silas after he was let go in late April.

There are other coaching jobs that would be more attractive to Sloan. The Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic are both looking for coaches this off-season. Could he be the lead coaching candidate for either of the teams or does he just not want the headache of trying to coach a team with the least amount of talent in the league? I would assume that it is a little of both.

Charlotte has a few other coaching candidates. If they would have been able to hire Sloan, it would have been a mandate that the front office is doing everything they can to turn the franchise around. Since Sloan is out of the question, which two young coaches does Michael Jordan have his eye on?

Charlotte’s open head coaching job will most likely be filled by someone without head coaching experience. The two lead candidates are Brian Shaw, who was an assistant under Phil Jackson with the Los Angeles Lakers and most recently the associate coach of the Indiana Pacers, and Quin Snyder, former University of Missouri Tigers coach and most recently an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Shaw missed out on the vacant Los Angeles Lakers coaching job last offseason when he was leapfrogged by Mike Brown. He licked his wounds and took an assistant job with Indiana last offseason. Indiana was one of the most improved teams in the NBA, further helping Shaw’s coaching stock. He is also a candidate for the vacant coaching jobs in Portland and Orlando. He is rumored to prefer either of those jobs over Charlotte. His #1 destination would be Portland, even though he has ties to the Orlando area since he once played for the Magic.

The biggest surprise is the emergence of Quin Snyder as a coaching candidate. He has only been an assistant with the Lakers for one season, but Kobe Bryant has been outspoken about Snyder’s coaching ability. Jordan is been rumored to be impressed that he has impressed Bryant so fast. Snyder has experience coaching at the NCAA level (Mizzou), NBA D-League (Austin Toros), and two seasons as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers and Lakers.

Shaw could be viewing the Charlotte job as a dead-end. If he doesn’t get either the Portland or Orlando job, he has a lot going for him in Indiana. The Pacers will be good again next season and his name will be at the top of the list for coaching vacancies next offseason.

My educated guess is that Charlotte hires Snyder to be its next coach. He is young and energetic, which will keep the young talent from getting discouraged through the long rebuilding process the team will endure. It is the perfect job for a guy to cut his teeth coaching at the NBA level.

It is unknown if Charlotte plans to hire a new coach before the NBA Draft later this month. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Andre Drummond, and Thomas Robinson are the three favorites to be picked at #2 if the Bobcats keep the pick. Although, Charlotte doesn’t see the value of picking either Kidd-Gilchrist, Drummond, or Robinson with the second pick. They could move the pick for a player and a mid-round first round pick and/or a 2012 first round pick.

Whomever is hired as Charlotte’s next coach will be given a minimum of three years to improve the team. The organization realizes they have dug a pretty deep hole for themselves. There are no fast and easy fixes for the team, so expect the same from them in 2012-13.
By: TwitterButtons.com

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Greg Oden Out For Season

Greg Oden, the former #1 overall pick, will miss another season to injury. He collided knees with Aaron Brooks while driving to the basket. He suffered a broken kneecap on his left knee, which will end his season. Is Oden injury-prone or was this a freak injury? It’s hard to say, but I try to explain in the following article.

The world was Greg Oden’s just two seasons ago when he was the #1 overall pick of the Trailblazers and he was coming off a season where he lead Ohio State to the NCAA Championship game. A lot was going for him, but then he had to miss his first season in the league due to micro-fracture surgery on his right knee. If you add his wrist injury that plagued him during his only season in college, people think Oden might be fragile like Samuel L. Jackson in “Unbreakable.”

I agree with the consensus for the most part, the list is very long of guys who are near 7 feet tall that play basketball. These kinds of injuries are a work-related hazard for anyone playing in the NBA, no matter the size. If a guy as speedy as Aaron Brooks slashes towards you and your kneecap is in the way, I would say that it’s a 99% chance that your kneecap is going to break. Even if he didn’t have the previous injuries, this was a freak accident.

The long-term prognosis for players coming back from this injury should be good. As long as the kneecap didn’t shatter and do any damage to the ligaments and tendons in the knee. Oden should be back next season, but how much longer can Portland wait for all of their weapons to be on the court at the same time? Travis Outlaw is due to be out awhile with a foot injury and even their coach, Nate McMillan ruptured his Achilles tendon in practice. Portland is getting hit with freak injuries, if I am a player on the Trailblazers, I would watch my step.

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A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Post-Draft Rumors: Shaq To Portland?

The Draft is the unofficial start to the off-season for the NBA. After the dust settles and the draft day trades get finalized, you start to hear rumors of players opting out, trades that didn’t happen, and rumors of players on the move. The post-draft activities is no different from past years, all of the above is happening.

After Shaquille O’Neal was traded to Cleveland, he mentioned that there could have been a trade that sent him to Portland. He told Steve Kerr that he didn’t want to play in Portland, so all the talk stopped there. The deal was proposed back in February, before the trading deadline last season. How would that trade work? Cleveland made the trade work with expiring contracts that totaled near the total of Shaq’s salary. Portland didn’t have cap space then, but had the expiring contract of Raef LaFrentz is now off the books. If the same trade would have been proposed a couple of weeks ago, it would have been difficult for Portland to make it. Martell Webster and Joel Pryzbilla could have been sent, but it’s all clearly speculation and not sure if the final numbers would have worked out.

Hedo Turkoglu finally sent word to the Orlando Magic that he will definitely opt out of his contract. He would be the prize of this year’s free agency class, but he could try and see if they can settle on a long-term deal to stay in Orlando. The trade for Vince Carter could have sealed Turkoglu’s fate, there may not be enough money to sign their post-season stud.

Is he or isn’t he? The rumors have been swirling about where Amare Stoudemire will end up. Rumors were circulating that Stephon Curry was going to be part of a deal that sent Stoudemire to Golden State, but Don Nelson has been vocal that Curry is staying in Oakland. We should know more this week about the fate of Amare Stoudemire.

Is Ricky Rubio staying in Spain or will he face the cold in Minnesota? A decision should be made in the next few weeks. The New York Knicks are rumored to be working on a proposal to land the talented point guard. If Rubio ends up in New York, you could possibly put an end to the rumor that Steve Nash will sign with the Knicks when he becomes a free agent.

America’s White Boy’s official NBA team, the Indiana Pacers, are saying that they will be very active this off-season. They drafted Tyler Hansbrough and A.J. Price, but those picks didn’t fill any pressing needs for the team. They are shopping T.J. Ford around in hopes of finding another point guard. They have plenty of expiring contracts, but with the state of the economy, don’t look for them to be buyers and taking on extra payroll. They are setting up for a run at a few free agents in a year. They need another young scorer to match up with Danny Granger.

A rumor that is starting to gain steam is Ben Wallace will be traded from Phoenix to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler. The Hornets need to get rid of Chandler’s multi-year deal and Wallace is in the last year of his deal. He has even said that he may retire, if that is true, the Hornets could buyout his contract and save some money.

With free agency starting on Wednesday, Glen “Big Baby” Davis could be looking for a starting job. He said that he is in a position to make more money and maybe even a starting gig. Davis was crucial in the Celtics run last year and with Garnett’s status still up in the air, they should try and work out a deal.

Wondering where Baylor’s Curtis Jerrells may end up? It looks like he will be playing for Dallas on their summer league team. He could end up with a spot on the Mavericks or more likely, this is a gig to showcase his skills and possibly land on an NBDL squad.

Other undrafted free agent landing spots…Temple’s Dionte Christmas accepted a spot on the 76ers summer league team. BC’s Tyrese Rice will be playing for Washington, UConn’s Jeff Adrien will be playing for Memphis, and Gonzaga’s Josh Heytvelt will suit up for Golden State on their summer league team. Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo could end up on Portland’s summer league, but no official word as of today.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Josh McRoberts Is Still In The NBA?

As I predicted, kind of, the Pacers would get another white boy on the team by the end of the night. I predicted that it would either be Kosta Koufos or Joe Alexander, but it turns out to be Josh McRoberts. Yep, the same McRoberts that should have went pro out of high school, but went to Duke and collected dust for two years and watched his draft stock plummet. He spent last season with Portland, but mostly on their D-League team roster.

The Pacers obtained McRoberts as a “throw-in” with the Jerryd Bayless/Ike Diogu for Jarret Jack/Brandon Rush trade. I didn’t find out that McRoberts was even involved until I was looking around on the internet and his name was mentioned last.

Josh McRoberts “could” end up being an average player in the NBA, but I am not sure where he will play. He still has one more season of D-League eligibility left, that’s always an option I guess. He grew up in Indianapolis and played at Carmel High School, where he won basically every National Player Of The Year awards you can win. One could assume that with him coming back home, he might be relaxed and play up to his potential.

He has been linked, in the past, with Lauren Conrad from “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills” fame. She is in the picture above with him, but she was too ashamed to be photographed. Sadly, I would also use something to cover my face if I were to ever be in a photograph with Mr. McRoberts…ask me this time next year and I could change my opinion.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.