"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. July 18, 2008 – Robin Lopez, Phoenix Suns, and Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves, two top 15 draft choices in the 2008 NBA Draft who have made strong impressions in the 2008 NBA Summer League, will join the original 10 NBA players named to the 2008 USA Basketball Select Team to complete the 12-member roster...

 

 

The select squad will begin training July 20 in Las Vegas and is expected to train and scrimmage against the USA Senior National Team from July 21-24."

From Nba.com

from the official Phoenix Sun's site (which I thought was an interesting place for a debate.)    LINK

This caught my attention  :  ... "more high school players decided to enter the draft even though they could have used the experience gained in college: Travis Outlaw, James Lang, Sebastian Telfair, Dorell Wright and Martell Webster are just a few of the names..."

Do you think that one year of college could have helped those Blazers?

With Brandon Jennings jumping to Europe, there is another option to consider. Is this a good or bad thing?

If the poll doesn't cover what you think, or if two answers apply, use the comments to express your thoughts.

UPDATED. Sorry I left off the "Don't tinker with the rule, it's great" and "none of the above, I have a better idea" options, so you'll have to put those in comments (can't edit polls once they are published.)

Poll

Which of the following best describes your feelings about the NBA draft age limit?

• Sign the kids right out of HS - most need the money so they'll go to Europe otherwise
• Raise the age limit - one and done is ruining college bball
• To heck with high school - sign them up at age 12
• Expand the NBA so there is room for more players so Europe won't tempt them
• Restructure the NDBL so its players don't count against NBA rosters
• Expand the NBA roster size and bring back the inactive list

  79 votes | Results

Darius in the news again - but this time it's just a weird tidbit that comes from googling a name. His home in southern IL has been underassessed for a number of years ; nothing to do with him, but with the assessor's office. What I found most interesting was the value of said house and the property taxes. You can see the street view using Google maps (but there is no URL to take you to that.)

In the FanPost comments about the Summer League roster, the International Basketball League was mentioned. Portland Chinooks? Who knew?!

Well, not only the Portland Chinooks but the Central Oregon Hotshots, the Jazz of Tacoma, the Salem Stampede, the Vancouver (WA) Volcanoes as well as the Vancouver (BC) Titans AND teams in Japan and China!

"The International Basketball League is a fourth year basketball league featuring two rules that reduce dead time: 1) one timeout per quarter 2) an immediate inbound. The result is an athletic game that is very fun to watch. The IBL scoring average per team in its first three seasons was over 126 pts per game. The IBL also is based on affordability for an owner. IBL owners get very efficient schedules--owners are guaranteed a maximum of one trip that requires air travel. This efficiency of schedule means that once a team is founded, that team will survive and then thrive."

The Chinooks apparently play in the Rose Garden (at least some games there) with attendance at their season opener around 5,000.) The season runs from April through June.

Individual Tickets Child (17& under) $5 Adult (18 & older) $10 Seniors (55 & over) $5

Chris Dudley & Jerome Kersey are on the Chinooks advisory board and Gary Payton's little bro is on the team - along with Shammgod Wells (I remember his name from somewhere.)

Sounds like this might be a whole lot of fun!

Thanks to Casey

  88 Nicolas Batum F/G 6-8 190 R 12/14/88 France

4 Jerryd Bayless G 6-3 200 R 8/20/88 Arizona

40 Josh Davis F 6-8 235 3 8/10/80 Wyoming

0 Chris Ellis F 6-9 280 R 3/5/84 Wake Forest

18 Morris Finley G 5-11 175 R 8/2/81Alabama-Birmingham

42 Eddy Fobbs C 6-11 240 R 9/17/80 Sam Houston St.

51 Steven Hill C 7-0 245 R 11/14/85 Arkansas

28 Petteri Koponen G 6-4 195 R 4/13/88 Finland

30 David Lucas F 6-8 246 R 5/14/82 OregonSt.

50 Aleks Maric F 6-11 275 R 10/22/84 Nebraska

6 J.R. Pinnock G 6-5 207 R 12/11/83 George Washington

21 Bernard Robinson G/F 6-6 2253 12/26/80 Michigan

31 Brandon Robinson F 6-8 215 R 4/15/81 Auburn

17 Jon Stefansson G 6-5 200 R 9/21/82 Iceland

Nice to see Chris Ellis back.  I hope he gets a contract with someone this year.  JR Pinnock is a familiar name - has he been at Summer League before?

David Lucas?  Related to Mo?

So where shall I put this? If I made it a FanShot only 3 other people would see it. Hmmm.

Anyway, the Blazers have picked Bill Bayno's replacement. He's Joe Punty, former assistant at Dallas and San Antonio. He'll head for Las Vegas to help Monty Williams with the summer league team.

Link to story by Jason Quick.

Since I need more words I'll borrow Jason's quotes from Nate: "He has an excellent background, and both Monty and Kevin really endorsed him,'' McMillan said. "The fact that he coached in Dallas, and worked with (Gregg) Popovich in San Antonio ... I think he can bring something to the table. We need that. He has been a part of championship basketball. I want his knowledge, his information, as well as his ability to work on the floor.''

only nobody knows it except for a few... On the front page of today's Oregonian sports section is a photo of three fans at the Rose Garden - one of them (Rich Bonjour) is wearing a BlazersEdge Cult of KP t shirt. The BE part is on the back (facing Mikes Barrett & Rice) - but I know it's there because I have a shirt just like it that I wore to last year's draft. I'll bet that by appearing so prominently the shirt will create a lot of interest. Congrats to Dave for designing a winner! And Rich - would you be Obrich Kenobi?? - thanks for wearing it last night.