Chris HaynesofSlamOnline.com writesthat new Portland Trail Blazers point guard Raymond Felton is "extremely excited" for the upcoming season and that his agent, Colin Bryant, says Felton will be playing somewhere. --------------------- "Raymond is a natural born leader who plays with a chip on his shoulder every night and this should bode well for Portland." ... "He will not sit out a full year of basketball," Bryant said. "He loves the game too much to take a full season off." --------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum and France defeated Serbia in overtime, 97-96, in their fifth EuroBasket Group B game in Lithuania on Monday. The win gives France the No. 1 seed in Group B with a record of 5-0; Their win over Italy on Sunday had already assured their advancement to the next round of the tournament. France finishes the group play round as one of only two teams -- along with Russia -- to remain undefeated. Here's aboxscore。Here's videoof a nifty Batum dunk off a cut and hand off via YouTube usernbainfos。Batum had his head bashed on the floor during the second half and wound up wearinga fairly dramatic head wrapwhen he returned to the court. Picture courtesy ofSebastian PruitiofNBAPlaybook.com。EuroBasket.comquotes Batumtalking about playing through the pain. ----------------------------- Serbia's Milos Teodosic reached in and was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Nicolas Batum. It was Teodosic's fifth foul and he exited the game but Batum, who had to wear a head dressing over an open cut beside his right eye after a nasty fall, missed both free-throws. ... Neither side was short of heroes in this spectacular game, with Nicolas Batum scoring 18 points on some of the most explosive moves ever seen at a EuroBasket. In another game, Batum might have come out because he needed stitches. "I said, 'No stitches during the game,' Batum said. "I don't want to come out this game." ----------------------------- Batum finished with 18 points, five rebounds, two assists, four steals and two blocks in 40 minutes on 7-for-12 shooting. San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker bounced back from a thigh injury to lead France with 24 points, two assists and six steals. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Jay Allenof750 AM The Game reportsthat Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge says he is still considering his overseas options. ------------------------- Talked to LaMarcus Aldridge on the sideline @ Oregon/LSU game. Told me his agent is pursuing a deal for him to play overseas during lockout. LA says competition in countries like Greece & Turkey is good enough to challenge him & help him improve his game. Aldridge is Blazers player rep. Says he's heard that a small amount of progress was made in CBA talks last week. ------------------------- Aldridge has been making similar statementssince July。奥尔德里奇,达拉斯,本机在attendan TXce for LSU's blowout win over Oregon at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Dwight JaynesofCSNNW.com writes波特兰开拓者不计划things out very well when it comes to their search for a new General Manager. ------------------------- It bothers me a bit that the Blazers never seem to have a good idea of who they want to hire when they fire the previous GM. I understand if you want to fire Rich Cho, but shouldn't you have a pretty good idea of who you want to fill that job before you let Cho go? ... Winning franchises work all this stuff out way up the line. They plan. They are proactive. They target people they want and put in the time to ensure they get them, even if it takes years to do it. They don't just knee-jerk fire people and then place an ad on Craig's List looking for a replacement. ------------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

On Sunday night, the rapper Lil Waynetweetedthat he was hanging out with Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy after performing in Seattle. --------------------- Seattle was one of, if not the best shows yet! Afterparty at iMusic with my homies Jamal Crawford and Brandon Roy...party time!!!!! --------------------- It's been a little more than a year since Roy made thestrangest cameo in rap music video history, and then apologized. Time flies. Wayne's new album, Carter IV, isavailable on iTunes。ed: bumped to front page and edited -- Ben

Remember that Sergio Rodriguez crossover on Steve Nash that made everybody go gaga over him? Turns out he's not the only promising young point guard with that distinction. The link'sin the title。--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum and France defeated Italy, 91-84, in their fourth EuroBasket Group B game in Lithuania on Sunday. The win keeps France at the top of Group B with a record of 4-0 and automatically advances them to the next round of the tournament. Here's aboxscore。Here are somevideo highlights。Batum finished with 20 points, five rebounds, one assist, four steals and a block in 34 minutes on 6-for-11 shooting. Charlotte Bobcats forward Boris Diaw led France with 21 points as San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker missed the fourth quarter due toa thigh injury。Here'sa strangely translatedaccount of the first quarter fromNBA-Infos.FR。(Click the link for a great picture of Batum dunking emphatically.) ------------------------ The French with a strong start to Batum dunk on a nice pass from Boris Diaw. Bargnani is also quickly returned to the game. On a nice throw-in TP is Batum for alley-oop, the French are ahead 6-3 input. The Italians begin to like their first matches, Bargnani, Belinelli and Gallinari take shots all the tickets, but only Bargnani puts it. Nicolas Batum continues his incredible start to the game with his third and his second dunk alley-oop well served by Tony Parker again. After a few lost balls reaffixable Italy to 8-8, but Batum instantly puts the French lead. ------------------------ Reading a computer automatically translate a foreign account of three first quarter dunks is almost more exciting than actually watching them take place. France wraps up Group B play against Serbia on Monday. Serbia is also 4-0 so far, so the game will determine the group's winner. Thanks toBlazersedge French Correspondent Brunofor the links. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

If LaMarcus were to dunk on you, you would list it on your resume.

DID YOU KNOW?... Diebler can dunk?!