Oregon Sports Final with Matt Smith, airing at 11:00 p.m. tonight on KPTV Fox 12 in Portland, will feature Blazersedge including interviews with authors past and present.  Tune in if you're curious or, well, just want to pop the TV ratings for your favorite site!

For those who may have forgotten, or might have missed it, Matt got mini-interviews with many of you earlier this month via this fanpost. 

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Since we're on the eve of the 70th game of the season and have had a long layoff it's probably time for a live chat before we slide down the final slope towards the playoffs.  I'll be here to talk Blazers, blogging, and whatever alongside you. 

Okie-dokie, the Diet Dr. Pepper is sitting at the ready and comments are now open.  Welcome!

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Travis Diener cleared waivers and the Blazers were able to formally announce his signing this afternoon.  Here's the press release.

TRAIL BLAZERS SIGN TRAVIS DIENER

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Portland Trail Blazers have signed free agent guard Travis Diener, it was announced today by General Manager Kevin Pritchard.

"We're very happy to have Travis on our roster," said Pritchard. "He is a veteran point guard who will be a good complement to our existing backcourt."

Diener (6-1, 175) holds career averages of 4.9 points, 1.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 15.1 minutes in 174 games (21 starts) during his five NBA seasons with Orlando and Indiana.

The 28-year-old Diener played in four games for Indiana during the 2009-10 season, averaging 0.8 points, 0.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 6.3 minutes. He underwent surgery to repair an injury to his left big toe on Nov. 20.

After playing his first two NBA seasons in Orlando, Diener posted career highs of 6.9 points, 1.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 20.5 minutes in 2007-08, his first of three seasons with Indiana.

A three-time All-Conference USA selection at Marquette University, Diener was selected by the Orlando Magic with the 38th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft.

Diener becomes the 15th player on Portland's roster and will wear No. 27.

 

Check back this afternoon for a lengthy analysis of everyone's favorite lightning rod: Jerryd Bayless.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter 

Update (Wednesday, 9:06AM): The Blazers have announced that Marcus Camby is out for tonight's game in Toronto.

Original Post (Tuesday, 6:57PM):

Blazers Center Marcus Camby sprained his right ankle during the first quarter of tonight's game against the New Jersey Nets. The team initially listed him as questionable to return and he did not play in the second half.  Camby left the floor for the locker room and underwent X-Rays, which were negative.

Blazers Broadcaster Mike Barrett said after the game, "We don't know what his availability will be for tomorrow night."  The Blazers play in Toronto Wednesday night.

Update (7:09PM):

Nate McMillan's post-game comments regarding Camby's ankle...

Hey, Camby, welcome to Portland. It's just amazing what our guys are going through. We think he's going to be ok. Not a real serious sprain, not a lot of swelling. So we're hopeful for tomorrow night.

Nate also noted that Jerryd Bayless "tweaked" his ankle while shooting a corner 3 pointer.

Bayless steps on a fan's foot. Tweaked his [ankle]. He should be ok too. But that's just part of being a Blazer this season.

Further updates when they become available.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

If you haven't yet heard about or seen SonicsGate: Requiem for a Team, it is a spectacular, independently-produced, full-length documentary about the move of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.  Everything is there: the local politics, the fan rallies, the history of the organization, and a great local soundtrack.  An absolute must-see for any NBA fan and, specifically, any fan of a smaller-market franchise.  

SonicsGate was originally released online at sonicsgate.org and received rave reviews from around the blogosphere.  This weekend, the movie is making its debut in Portland at the Beer and Movie Fest.  The movie will be screened at the Bagdad Theatre in SE Portland at 7:15PM Saturday night.  Tickets are just $3.  

Director Adam Brown emailed last night to encourage Blazers fans to check it out and to say...

We're all about Northwest basketball and hopefully renewing the I-5 Rivalry here soon. Blazers fans have shown a lot of support for the Save Our Sonics cause...    

Go Blazers! Great pickup with Camby BTW.     

Here's a video clip of Comcast Sports NorthWest's Ian Furness interviewing Producer Jason Reid about the movie before a recent Blazers game in the Rose Garden.

Click through to read a press release about the movie screening.  

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Continue reading this post »

OregonSportsLive.com has posted some really nice interviews with some of the less-heralded names on the Blazers' coaching staff. First, some progress reports on a few Blazers from shooting coach John Townsend.  

Townsend: I think Jerryd Bayless is shooting the ball a lot better. He was working with [former Phoenix Suns head coach] Frank Johnson. Frank got him to do some of the things I couldn't get him to do in regard to jumping, which transferred into a higher lift and a better, more consistent jump shot. So, he shot the ball really well in some of the scrimmages that we saw this fall.

I think Travis and Martell have both shot the ball really well. So, we'll see.

And here's a tidbit about pace from Assistant Coach Joe Prunty.

OSL: Do you think that running might be more of a focus due to the acquisition of Andre Miller?

Prunty: Well, that's what we're going to find out. Does he help our guys...throwing the ball ahead? And Steve does a very good job with that. Do our guys get out and run the wings better? We did a really good job at the end of last year running lanes, LaMarcus in particular on what we call a rim run, and running the floor hard. And so there's a lot of components to doing it, and you never want to put it on just one person. We think he can help, because he gets the ball up, and he does make other people better, but it requires the wings running, and it requires the bigs running and having good floor balance.

OSL also took the temperatures of Monty Williams and Maurice Lucas.

All must-reads.

-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)