Unicaja与皇马——神奇的结束ing

Breakdown of the 76ers offense and defense this season.

The Trailblazers have more alley-oops than any other team in the league, yet never seem to make the SportsCenter highlights. For shame! Anyway, Joe Freeman talks with Aldridge, Miller and Fernandez about the Trailblazers' new love, the alley-oop. ---------------------------- "It's a high-risk play, but the players like it, the fans like it and if it's executed right, it's an easy way to score," said Miller, who has been one of the NBA's best lob passers for years. "I think that's everybody's favorite play. To see a lob or somebody get dunked on, that makes the game fun." Two seasons ago, coach Nate McMillan wouldn't even allow the Blazers to work on lob plays in practice -- much less feature them in games -- because the roster didn't possess the personnel to pull it off and lobs too often resulted in turnovers. But the addition of Miller at the start of last season and the acquisition of center Marcus Camby at the 2010 trade deadline bolstered the Blazers' alley-oop potential. ----------------------------

Do we stand at 14 or 15 players? Is this someone we should look into signing? From RealGM: Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has elected not to re-sign center Marcus Cousin to a second 10-day contract. Following the transaction, the Jazz roster now stands at 14 players. Cousin was originally signed to a 10-day contract on March 9 and appeared in four games for the Jazz (all as a reserve), averaging 1.0 point and 0.8 rebounds in 4.5 minutes per game. He registered four points, two rebounds and a block in 13 minutes of action at Minnesota on March 11.

Marc SteinofESPN.com reportsthat former Portland Trail Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard is being considered by the Sacramento Kings... ------------------- Sources close to the situation say that Kings co-owners Gavin and Joe Maloof, after years of patience, are giving strong consideration to starting all the way over should the team complete its increasingly anticipated relocation to Anaheim … which would mean a change in the front office, as well, before deciding whether to retain or oust Westphal. The Maloofs, sources say, are fans of former Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard and increasingly considering him as a potential hire for the looming new era in Orange County as the Anaheim Royals. It remains to be seen if the Maloofs can actually stomach going through with such an aggressive revamp, after working so closely with Geoff Petrie so long, but the Kings have been steadily declining since Petrie's unsuccessful dismantling of their glory-days team from the early 2000s. With the franchise stuck in the league's bottom five for three successive seasons and faced with concerns about how young cornerstones Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins mesh, there's a rising sense in Sacramento -- in what unavoidably looks like the Kings' final days there -- that the Maloofs' patience has finally run out. ------------------- Should the Kings follow through and relocate to Anaheim, they would represent a similar from-the-ground-up situation in which Pritchard thrived in Portland. Hard to think of a better face to help sell a new franchise and to win new fans. If you're not readingTom Zillerand the folks over atSacTown Royaltyevery day, as theyfight to keep their team,你商店uld be.Update: The Kings have发表了一份声明of support for current GM Geoff Petrie... ------------------- "There is absolutely no truth that we are considering anyone else for our General Manager position. We consider Geoff Petrie to be the best in the business and look forward to continuing our resurgence with him at the helm." ------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

This post-contract extension, loosened up Nate McMillan is turning into a goldmine for quotes, isn't he?Matt CalkinsofThe Columbianreportsthat McMillan pulled out his best one-liner about the three goggles... --------------- "There are the 3 Goggles," McMillan said. "But they must be bifocals because we're not seeing guys blow by us." McMillan has expressed in weeks past that while he's not planning to put a moratorium on the imaginary lenses, shooters' inclination to wear them is hindering the team's transition defense. "We've talked about it. This thing is nationwide," McMillan added. "You got guys posing — get back on defense." --------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

From the team... ----------------------- Portland Trail Blazers point guard Andre Miller has been excused from the team to attend to a family matter. His status for Saturday's game vs. the Philadelphia 76ers has not be determined. ----------------------- Also, point guard Armon Johnson has been listed as "questionable" with a right knee laceration. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Sebastian Pruitiis back with more Portland Trail Blazers video breakdowns.Earlier this week, he took a look at Rudy Fernandez's lob pass to LaMarcus Aldridge. Today, over onSBNation.com, helooks at all the different scenariosthat can lead to a Blazers three-pointer. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Chad FordofESPN.com(insider)has an early lookat this summer's top free agents. He ranks Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden as the No. 5 restricted free agent on the market (behind Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, Rodney Stuckey and Jeff Green) and writes... ----------------------- Saying that Oden is a huge question mark is the understatement of the year. Right now, he's making Sam Bowie look like an iron man. He has already had three major surgeries and will have played a total of just 82 games in four seasons. But when he has played, he's shown signs of stardom. In the 21 games he played in 2009-10, before a broken kneecap ended his season, he was sporting a whopping 23.14 player efficiency rating. If Oden can ever get healthy -- and it's a huge "if" at this point -- he still has time to become a dominant NBA big man (he just turned 23 years old). But whoever signs him to a contract will do so without having seen him play for more than a year and a half. Is any team, including Portland, willing to take that risk? Right now, it sounds like the Blazers are. We'll see how this intriguing story actually plays out. ----------------------- Ford also ranks Blazers point guard Andre Miller as the No. 5 "option candidate" but writes: 'He's owed almost $8 million next year if the Blazers don't exercise his team option, and I think the most likely scenario is that they hang onto him until they can get some sort of value in return." -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Nic Batum's slam on the Cadavaliers via GetBangedOn.com