Blazers Pick Up Canby

The Portland Trailblazers have needed a big inside presence ever since starting center Greg Oden and backup Joel Pryzbilla went down with season ending injuries. They finally found one on Tuesday as they acquired veteran Marcus Canby from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers received forward Travis Outlaw and guard Steve Blake. Canby is expected to make his debut in a Blazers\’ uniform on Friday when Portland hosts the Boston Celtics.

The transaction also served to answer the nagging question about Portland\’s point guard situation. Steve Blake and Andre Miller have shared time running the offense, but Blazers\’ management apparently felt that Miller was a better fit with superstar shooting guard Brandon Roy. Ironically, until Miller picked up a lot of the offense slack lately with Roy on the shelf with a hamstring injury the presumption was that he\’d be the one heading elsewhere as the NBA trade deadline approached.

All three players involved are in the final year of their current contract, meaning that barring anything unforeseen Canby\’s career in Portland will probably last only 23 games plus the playoffs. Outlaw and Blake may or may not fit into the Clippers longterm plans-assuming that one of the NBA\’s most consistently underachieving teams actually has \’longterm plans\’ in the first place.

Canby was introduced to the Rose Garden crowd during Portland\’s rout of his old team, the LA Clippers receiving a standing ovation. Earlier, he\’d indicated that he was excited to be going to the Blazers:

\”I think it\’s a great situation for myself. It\’s a first-class organization that really takes care of their own. I hope I can bring my knowledge of the game, and blend in these last 27 games. I\’m really excited to be here.\”

He talked about the strange situation of actually being in Portland when the trade went down:

\”I only brought one change of clothes. It\’s been a real rough, rough 24 hours for me, but real exciting at the same time.\”

Canby also said that he\’s interesting in staying in \’Rip City\’ longterm:

\”Hopefully things work out for myself and work out for the team. Hopefully they have plans for me in the long term.\”

Portland GM Kevin Pritchard added:

\”We are very excited to bring an experienced big man of Marcus\’ caliber to the team and we feel he\’ll help us a great deal down the stretch run. He\’s a fierce competitor and has been one of the league\’s best defensive players for quite some time.\”

The 35 year old Canby has long been considered one of the NBA\’s best defensive big men. Despite playing on a LA Clippers team well off the playoff pace in the Western Conference, he\’s second in the league in rebounds with 12.1 per game.

Ross Everett is a respected freelance writer experienced in travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, flower arranging and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Superstar Shortage At NBA All Star Game

The NBA All Star game was played without a couple of high profile participants this year as the Los Angeles Lakers\’ Kobe Bryant and Philadelphia 76ers\’ Allen Iverson would not play due to injury. Kobe and \’AI\’ were the latest in a string of injuries to All Star players that also claimed Portland\’s Brandon Roy and New Orleans\’ Chris Paul. The NBA has been much more strict about attendance at the All Star game since a number of players skipped out with dubious injuries.

Kobe Bryant has been plagued with minor injuries all year, but missed the Lakers\’ last three games prior to the All Star contest due to an ankle sprain. Los Angeles is hopeful that by not playing in the game that Kobe will be able to return to action immediately after play resumes following the All Star break. Bryant did travel to Dallas to participate in All Star game festivities.

Iverson has missed Philadelphia\’s past five games due to an illness suffered by one of his young children. Unlike Kobe, Iverson wasn\’t expected to be in Dallas this weekend due to the nature of his situation. It\’s debatable that Iverson deserved an All Star game nod in the first place. He quickly wore out his welcome in Memphis to start the year, and eventually landed back in Philadelphia where he\’s averaged 14.4 points per game since his return. He was voted in to the starting lineup by NBA fans, and this renewed calls from the media to revise the procedure for selecting All Star game participants. Many would be pleased if the fans were taken out of the process of selecting the starting lineup altogether.

Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks was chosen to replace Bryant in the Western Conference lineup, while New York\’s David Lee was the East\’s fill in for Iverson. The West already had two \’fill ins\’ named to their roster as Denver\’s Chauncy Billups and the LA Clippers\’ Chris Kaman took the place of Chris Paul and Brandon Roy respectively.

NBA betting enthusiasts had several options on the menu beginning with the annual \’rookies vs. sophomores\’ game on Saturday. The Sophomores were a -12 point favorite with the total set at 245\’ but were crushed by the rookie team. As usual, defense was in short supply at both the \’rookie v. sophomores\’ game and the actual All Star event.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Clippers Fire Head Coach Dunleavy

In one of the stranger front office shakeups in recent NBA history, the Los Angeles Clippers have \’relieved\’ Mike Dunleavy of his head coaching duties effective immediately. He\’ll remain on board as the Clippers\’ general manager, and both he and the team cited the demands of the forthcoming trade deadline and free agent market as a catalyst for the change.

Not surprisingly, there is much speculation as to the back story behind the move. Some with knowledge of the situation suggest that Clippers\’ owner Donald Sterling wanted to fire Dunleavy altogether, but relented due to the $5 million the team will owe him in the final year of his contract next year. More recently, a bizarre rumor has been circulating that Sterling has approached Isiah Thomas about taking over Dunleavy\’s coaching position and becoming team president.

Dunleavy issued this statement, playing along with the team\’s insistence that the decision to give up coaching was \’mutual\’:

\”I\’ve come to the conclusion that this is the ideal time for me to direct my efforts toward the many personnel opportunities that lie before us, such as the trade market, the draft and the free-agent process. We fully expect to be active and productive on all those fronts.\”

Team President Andy Roeser sounded a similar tone:

\”We fully agree with Mike that this is the right time to make this change. It just seems clear that the team needs a fresh voice and we hope that our players will respond in a positive way.As we approach the trade deadline, the NBA draft and the upcoming free-agent period, our team is very well positioned from a salary-cap standpoint. Mike\’s experienced input will be vitally important as we continue to develop our young talented nucleus and shape our team\’s future.\”

Dunleavy\’s agent Warren LeGarie continued the same theme:

\”This is something we\’ve been contemplating for some time. There\’s a shelf life to coaching sometimes. So you constantly have to keep measuring whether [the team\'s inconsistency] is because of injuries, because of you, or something else. And at some point you have to make a judgment call about what\’s best for the team, and that\’s what Mike did.\”

The Clippers have lost 7 of their last 10 games to fall to 21-29 on the year. They\’re 17 games behind the Western Conference leading Los Angeles Lakers and 8 games out of the final playoff spot. The schedule won\’t get any easier for the Clippers after the break as they head to Portland\’s Rose Garden Arena to take on the Blazers.

Ross Everett is a well known cheerleading coach and a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports. He provides Internet and broadcast media outlets with daily free sports picks when not working with Olympic bound ice skaters. He is a widely published writer specializing in sports handicapping, falconry, auto racing and wombat breeding. He lives in Southern Nevada with his Asian houseboy, three dogs and a wombat.

Will The Indiana Pacers Improve in ‘09-’10

The Indiana Pacers had a very mediocre season in 08′-09′ season finishing 36-46. The bright spot for the Pacers was their home record, 25 -26. The Pacers were terrible on the road, 11-30.

With Reggie Miller now gone the state of Indiana looks to Danny Granger to help create a perennial playoff team, once again like in the 1990’s.

The 26 year old Granger made serious waves during his 4th season in the NBA. Always known to be a player with tremendous upside, Granger flirted with this potential during his first few seasons in the league. The 2008-2009 season, however, was a different story altogether.

Granger was a one man show in Indiana, single handedly responsible for many of the team’s 36 wins. His 25.8 points per game were the fifth highest in the NBA, and he was one of the only players in the league to average over one block and one steal per game.

Guard T.J. Ford had one of his best seasons to date with scoring 15 points per game and 5 assists. If the Pacers ever expect to compete in the same division as the Cleveland Cavaliers, their defense must improve and improve fast.

The Pacers will have to improve on their 36 win season if they expect to make the playoffs. The Pacers did draft A.J. Price and Tyler Hansbrough – what playing time they will see should probably be limited in the beginning of the season but increase as the season moves forward. Unless you are an outstanding rookie, rookies see little action their first season.

The last time the Pacers finished with a record above .500 was in the 04′-05′ season – Pacers fans would hope to avoid another sub .500 season for the fifth straight year.

Head Coach Jim O’Brien has a good group of young talent that he would like to mold into a playoff team that can at least compete against the top teams in the East. If O’Brien manages another 36 win season his job could possibly be in danger. The President of Basketball Operations, Larry Bird, is a patient man – but he can’t tolerate another losing season.

For more on the Pacers, check out the Pacers forumss at RootZoo Sports. Be sure to play their free nba trivia with over 60,000 questions.

The Rockets Look for Success Without Yao and Artest

The Houston Rockets possibly over achieved last season stretching a 7 game series with the champs Los Angeles Lakers. They fought hard, but just couldn’t pull it out.

The Rockets defeated the young Portland Trailblazers team in the first round of the playoffs 4-2. The Rockets season ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 7 games in round 2.

This nearly happened, as the Houston Rockets took the Los Angeles Lakers to a full seven games during the Western Conference semifinals last season. While the Lakers won this game 7 by a whole’ points, the Rockets had LA’s number during a few of these games, leaving many wondering just how dangerous this efficient basketball team was.

Yao Ming has been battling injuries his entire career and many as of late. We still do not know if he will play in the 09-10′ season.

Will the Rockets still be the same, pesky team that scared so many NBA clubs last season? Or will Ron Artest’s move to the Lakers bridge the gap between the two franchises by that much more?

The Rockets did pick up free agent Trevor Ariza – who had a very good regular season and played even better in the playoffs. Aaron Brooks had his break out season with the Rockets averaging 16 points per game in the playoffs – 5 more then his regular season average. Luis Scola had his best season in the NBA averaging 12 points per game and 8 rebounds.

The Rockets are a playoff team with the current roster they have. If the Rockets are ever going to contend for a championship they must stay healthy. Every year someone seems to get hurt thus limiting their chances at a serious title run.

With that in mind, they do still have a deep team and have done well without him. If T-Mac can stay healthy and Yao does return this year, that’s a dangerous combo.

For more on the Rockets check out the Rockets forum at RootZoo Sports. Be sure to get the latest nba fantasy basketball news there as well.

Next Page »