Corvid

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. ----------------------------

From Jason Quick: "Charlotte coach Paul Silas on Wednesday held out center Joel Przybilla in the Bobcats game against Chicago after the former Trail Blazers center limped through a Tuesday practice. Przybilla and the Bobcats will play host to the Blazers on Friday and it is unclear whether Przybilla will play. UPDATE: "Charlotte center Joel Przybilla will not play Friday against the Trail Blazers because of pain in his surgically repaired right knee." ----------------------- According to reports, he'll be out for a while.

The New York Times talks about the benefits of napping, the sleep routines of several NBA players, and interviews the Trailblazer's sleep doctor. ---------------------------- "Everyone in the league office knows not to call players at 3 p.m.," said Adam Silver, the league’s deputy commissioner. "It’s the player nap." ..... Some N.B.A. teams have received an education in the art of napping from Dr. Charles Czeisler, the director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the sleep medicine division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Czeisler, known in the N.B.A. as the sleep doctor, has consulted with the Boston Celtics, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Minnesota Timberwolves about the virtues of receiving enough sleep. Napping was a significant piece of the tutorial. ----------------------------

Matt Calkins of The Columbian talks with Portland Trail Blazers guard Patty Mills about his family's heritage. ------------------ "Unless someone asks me, it’s not a subject I talk about much," Mills said. The subject pertains to his Indigenous Australian heritage, more specifically his Aboriginal mother, Yvonne, who as a 2-year-old was taken from her mother along with her older brother and three older sisters. The abduction was part of national effort led by the Australian government and church missions to remove Indigenous Australian children from their homes and assimilate them into white culture. It is now classified as "The Stolen Generation," and Yvonne was a textbook victim. "That’s the chip I carry on my shoulder," Mills continued. "Not just being an Indigenous Australian, but knowing that my mom’s side of my family never got to see me play." ------------------ ed: bumped to front page

Storyteller has a new series focusing on different aspects of the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement. He's managed to take arcane topics and turn them into highly-readable and informative posts with lots of good examples. Huzzah! A is for Average Player Salary B is for Base Year Compensation C is for Circumvention D is for Disabled Player Exception and so on . . . He's up to F so far. There's also a link to Storyteller's Twitter on the page, so you can follow him for updates.

"Warkentien, who knows where all the bodies are buried in Denver and has a strong relationship with Anthony, is about to be employed by the enemy. A person close to Warkentien confirmed a report Sunday night by Yahoo! Sports that the Knicks intend to hire Warkentien as a high-level consultant. The move, which has yet to be finalized, represents the first step in Knicks president Donnie Walsh's long-time efforts to hire a right-hand man. In the past, he had considered Warkentien, former Warriors executive Chris Mullin, and former Trail Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard, while coach Mike D'Antoni had some other candidates in mind. "

A Sports Illustrated journalist and a finance professor have joined forces to write a Freakonomics-style book that looks at the cliches, truisms, and myths of several sports. The book is getting good reviews, and this Wired interview gives a nice glimpse of what it's all about. Anybody read it yet?

From the Oregonian: "One week ago today, on the eve of the first day of training camp, the Trail Blazers not only received a vivid and painful reminder of the past but also a peek at the possibility of the future as they watched inspirational videos during a team meeting. The videos, conceptualized by coach Nate McMillan and general manager Rich Cho, helped crystallize several themes that they hope will serve as the backbone of the team's rise from first-round playoff loser into championship contender."

"Republican candidate for governor Chris Dudley continued to use his Portland home during the years he claimed Camas, Wash., as his residence to avoid paying thousands of dollars in Oregon taxes."

More about Brian Grant's "Shake It Til We Make It" fundraiser for Parkinson's disease. This is turning out to be a huge event, with Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox attending, as well as Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Brandon Roy, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Greg Oden, Steve Nash, Terry Porter and Rasheed Wallace.

The NBA has some interesting new videos up looking at officiating, including this behind-the-scenes video of a day in the life of a referee. (Never really though about it before, but refs have to ice their knees too.)

Even though we'd all like to forget the Knicks game, here's a Dime Magazine article about the Blazers visiting the Big Apple. Spoiler alert: They are not seduced by the bright lights and glamour.

Sounds like the guys are feeling confident. Some classic quotes from the team about swagger, including Roy's cool swag, French quiet swag, Spanish rockstar swag, Bayless' high energy swag, Frye's screw it swag, and Outlaw's lack of swag.

This sounds like a fun thing to check out. The Blazers have teamed up with the Humane Society to find homes for dogs, cats and bunnies named after Blazer players.

Another great report from Jason Quick, with fantastic stuff about LMA's head, being "a redass," and unfinished business with Bayless.