The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand — for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.
Category: Portland Trail Blazers Blog
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Brandon Roy out 4-8 weeks after knee surgery
The Portland Trail Blazers announced that guard Brandon Roy underwent arthroscopic surgery today to repair a partial tear in the meniscus of his left knee. Roy is expected to be out 4-8 weeks.
“We are looking forward to Brandon making a full recovery and expect him to be ready for the start of the regular season,” said Trail Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard.
Trail Blazers team physician Dr. Don Roberts performed the surgery at Southwest Washington Regional Surgery Center in Vancouver, Wash.
Brandon Roy to have arthroscopic knee surgery
The Portland Trail Blazers announced today that guard Brandon Roy will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday to repair a tear in the meniscus of his left knee. A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) taken Tuesday revealed the tear in the meniscus.
Trail Blazers team physician Dr. Don Roberts will perform the surgery at Southwest Washington Regional Surgery Center in Vancouver, Wash.
A timetable for Roy’s return will be set following the arthroscopic surgery.
OJ Mayo wins InsideHoops fan poll
An InsideHoops.com fan poll asked, other than Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley and Greg Oden, which rookie will rock in 2008-09. Blowing away the competition was Grizzlies rookie OJ Mayo, receiving 44% of the votes. Over 2,700 fans participated in the poll.
We left Rose, Beasley and Oden out of the poll because they’ve received massive amounts of attention for a while now. Admittedly, Mayo has as well, but for the past year Rose and Beasley have been mentioned as the top picks, while Mayo was considered “in the lottery” but not a lock to go quite as high.
Finishing second in the poll with 17% of the votes was Trail Blazers rookie Jerryd Bayless, whose popularity rose after playing very well in summer league.
Third was Kevin Love at 13%. Anthony Randolph, Eric Gordon and Russell Westbrook also got nice support.
How to determine schedule for any team
The Oklahoman (Mike Baldwin) reports on a team’s 82-game regular season schedule: “Four games against division opponents. Four games against six out-of-division conference opponents. Three games against the remaining four conference teams. Two games against teams in the opposing conference. A five-year rotation determines which out-of-division conference teams are played only three times.”
Darius Miles comeback attempt
SI (Ian Thompson) reports: Darius Miles is trying to become the first player to return from an injury that was deemed to be “career-ending” by the NBA. If he were to sign a new contract and play in 10 or more games this season, his $9 million salary would go back on Portland’s books — though his return would not affect the Trail Blazers as badly as has been advertised. Miles underwent microfracture surgery to repair his right knee in November 2006. He hasn’t played since, and he was released by the Blazers in April after the “career-ending” judgment was made by an independent medical examiner appointed by the NBA and the players’ union. In recent weeks, Miles has had workouts — ranging from two hours to less than 30 minutes — with the Nets, Celtics, Suns and Mavericks, all of whom controlled the terms while asking Miles to compete against other players.
2008-09 Salary Cap set to $58.680 million
The National Basketball Association today announced that the Salary Cap for the 2008-09 season will be $58.680 million. The new Cap goes into effect immediately as the league’s “moratorium period” has ended and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.
The tax level for the 2008-09 season has been set at $71.150 million. Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $71.150 million.
The mid-level exception is $5.585 million for the 2008-09 season and the minimum team salary, which is set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $44.010 million.
For the 2007-08 season, the Salary Cap was set at $55.630 million, the tax level was $67.865 million and the mid-level exception was $5.356 million.
Joe Prunty is new Blazers assistant
The Portland Trail Blazers named Joe Prunty an assistant coach, it was announced today by general manager Kevin Pritchard.
Prunty spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks. Prior to his time in Dallas, he served for nine seasons with the San Antonio Spurs as assistant video coordinator, video coordinator, advance scout and most recently, assistant coach. During his time with the Spurs, the team won three NBA Championships.
More info on Prunty is here.
The big story about the Blazers going into next season is that they expect to have the full services of center Greg Oden. Hopefully that serious surgery he had doesn’t have a permanent effect. It could prevent him from being 100 percent for a full season. Or two. Or forever.
Rudy Fernandez joins Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers reached an agreement to sign Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez, it was announced today by general manager Kevin Pritchard.
“I am so excited about joining the Trail Blazers and the NBA,” said Fernandez. “The whole staff did a tremendous job making me feel like a very important team member to them and made me forget about the economic issues because of the rookie scale.
“My dream has been to play in the NBA and Portland is giving me this opportunity. I was amazed about everything that Mr. Allen, Kevin Pritchard, Coach McMillan and the rest of the guys did to show me how much they wanted me. Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, I can’t wait to play with them. We will do nice things!”
More here.
Rudy Fernandez to join Blazers next season
The Oregonian (Joe Freeman) reports: Rudy Fernandez, a high-ceiling shooting guard with an accomplished international resume, announced his intentions to join the Blazers next season (2008-09) during a news conference Friday in Badalona, Spain, a promise that will net the team yet another talented young player. The 23 year-old 6-foot-6 Spaniard, whom the Blazers acquired in a draft-day trade with Phoenix last season, said he expects to join the team sometime after the upcoming summer Olympics, assuming the Spanish National Team he plays for is a competitor. “(The Blazers) have pushed hard for me to join them and have assured me I will be an important figure for them,” Fernandez said at the news conference, according to Reuters. “It wasn’t an easy decision to take but it is the time for a new challenge after a fantastic year with Joventut.”