Click here for a fun video from ESPN, linked through TrueHoop.  The beginning has your usual stuff.  Getting a haircut.  Beasley going to some old stomping grounds.  Interviews with prior coaches.  I know that there is some controversy on if he is good enough for #2, or the right fit for Miami due to some lack of maturity.  Get to the last minute or so, where he talks about what he will do and wear on draft day.  Don't know if this is lack of maturity, or not, but it is funny stuff.

Interesting post by Jason Quick over at the Behind the Blazer Beat Blog on Oregonlive.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/04/webster_shut_down_talks_about.html

There is a lengthy interview with Martel posted.  It details what he has experienced with his medical tests.  The most shocking tidbit was as follows:

Talk about how stressful and frightening it was to go through what you had to go through?
"It was stressful. I wasn't scared because I'm grateful for being in this league. They could have said that I can't play anymore..."

Basically, Martel was worried that his irregular heartbeat could have meant the end of his playing career.

Other tidbits include who visited Martel in the hospital, how he has felt like a "fan" watching the games behind the bench, and several references to how lucky he feels to be in the NBA.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/sports/basketball/04araton.html?_r=1&ref=basketball&oref=s login

Buck Williams is in the NY Times (via TrueHoop's Tuesday Bullets http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-31-4/Tuesday-Bullets.html ) politely discussing race and NBA management hires.  I must say that Buck's quotes are pretty vanilla and then the reporter uses them as a springboard for his own opinion.  

The interesting bit of the article that pertains loosely to the Trailblazer organization is two paragraphs that basically say that the NBA is more enlightened in its diversity in hiring than most places, but "the midlevel or journeyman N.B.A. white player is still ascending to the choice front-office position, the general manager's chair, by more than two to one".  

KP is an example of a (not even NBA) journeyman white player.  He has earned his position and done wonderfully; but it is an interesting paradox that so many of the former players that go to management are white when the majority of players are black.  

I'm not sure I have a point, just that I found it an interesting tidbit in an article that I clicked to because Buck Williams was in the TrueHoop tease.

One of the continued themes that seems to be coming out more frequently is how we have a bunch of "good guys" on our team (finally!).  Just recently, we have Roy on TNT talking about his learning disability and being a "humble guy".
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/12/roy_on_tnt_we_are_having_the_t.html
And Canzano talking about Jack being "super grounded" and how he won't let himself drive an overpriced luxury car.  http://blog.oregonlive.com/johncanzano/2007/12/the_blazers_are_looking_more_a.html

I'd like to add a bit story to this theme.  On December 23rd I took my household out to dinner.  It was raining, so I dropped them off and parked the car.  When I came in, I walked past a tall person and turned to look up at where a tall person's face would be.  That only got the the tall person's upper chest, so I almost gave myself a crick in my neck when I looked up even higher to his face.  I inwardly grinned as I continued over to my family to hear my wife and daughter commenting on the "size of that guy's feet".  I told them that "that guy" is Greg Oden, our #1 draft pick.

Greg was there with his girlfriend.  He could take her anywhere in Portland for a nice dinner.  Here is what I loved about the encounter:

1. We were at the Olive Garden.
   
2. He had to wait for his table, just like anyone else, and this didn't seem to bother him a bit.

One last note - It was obvious that everyone knew who he is, yet no one bothered him and Greg and his girlfriend got to have a quiet dinner together.  I must admit it took all my willpower not to take my 6 year old son and 13 year old daughter over to meet him.  I'm sure that Oden would have been gracious and flashed his great smile.  I just thought that it wasn't right.  Let the 19 year old kid have a date out with his girlfriend.

Henry Abbot is in Homer mode, but he is using info from one of his readers to heap some praise in Joel's direction.  The most interesting stat that I read is that opposing teams are shooting 6% worse when he's on the floor.

Here's the link:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-404/New-Statistical-Monster--Joel-Przybilla.html