Portland Trail Blazers Links: Meyers Leonard and Allen Crabbe Get Love

Often times when I'm reading a basketball related article I question whether or not the author has ever actually picked up a basketball, or for that matter, been on a team. Ten guys on a court with seconds to play....20,000 fans standing on their feet screaming... referees with whistles in their mouths....tick, tick, tick. When the horn sounds, and the players are leaving the court, journalists become experts like they've been- there- done- that hundreds of times.

So that got me thinking. What if someone that reads these links questions MY ability to find quality news?. So in the best interest of transparency, I thought it best to come clean. What I decided to do was share my basketball resume. Lay it all out there and let you judge for yourself. So here we go.....

1. In 7th or 8th grade I won a free throw shooting tournament (in my age group) sponsored by the Portland Parks and Rec. (Nailed 48 out of 50)

2. I once played in a pick up game with Damon Stoudamire's Dad Willie, and his Uncle Charles

3. I saw Jerome Kersey once on the deck at Who Song and Larry's in Vancouver

4. I went to closed circuit televised games at the old Paramount Theater in downtown Portland

5. I went to the very first Blazer game. (the roster here)

6. I survived the 90's (the Drexler years) when it was sociably acceptable to go to any bar in Portland or S.W. Washington, watch a game live, and drink tons of beer.

7. I played ball with Richard Washington

8. I shook Bill Schonely's hand.....twice!

So there you have it. I could go on and on, but I prefer not to gloat. I hope this puts to rest any fears that I might not be up to the task of finding good-quality Blazer news. Speaking of which.....

-Dan

The evolution of Meyers Leonard (by Jason Quick, O-Live)

More Meyers Leonard love (note the stash)  (by Jabari Young, CSNNW.com)  (Update: Batum expected to play Friday)

Blazers vs. Houston via Twitter (you don't see two franchises do this very often) (by Mike Richman, O-Live.com)

For you Ray Felton fans, he should be done with his NBA mandated suspension November 24th

From the Lance Stephenson video collection "I'm not afraid to make a fool of myself, part 12 (non Blazer news)

Allan Crabbe, the feel good story of the year?  (by Erik Gunderson, Columbian Trail Blazers writer)

Terry Stotts a friggin' genius??  (by Jamie Hudson, CSNNW.com)

Robin Lopez. This is a little dated, but it's a great video interview, and once again, it's RoLo talking about his brother(posted by Casey Holdahl via NBA.com)

1st trivia question: Who is leading the D-League in scoring?.... answer

2nd trivia question: Who's the tallest basketball player in the world?....answer

Greg Oden update  (by John Ledesma, Twitter)

Damian Lillard video.... respecting Derrick Rose  (by Jabari Young, CSNNW.com)

You have to watch this!. This is really well done, and at the end, will give you goose bumps. This totally ROCKS!! (by Sagar Trika & Aaron Choi, NBAFM/ YouTube)

Damian Lillard Mixtape