Portland Trail Blazers Blog – Page 89 – NBA Blog

Kevin Duckworth dies at 44

Kevin Duckworth, 44, a two-time NBA All-Star who starred on Western Conference Championship teams in Portland in 1990 and 1992, passed away Monday evening in Gleneden Beach, Oregon.

Two recent pictures of him are here. Also join in fan reaction here.

A member of the Trail Blazers from 1986-93, the 7-footer – affectionately known to Trail Blazers fans simply as “Duck” – also played for San Antonio, Washington, Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Clippers during his 11-year NBA career.

“Today is an extremely sad day for the Trail Blazers family,” Trail Blazers President Larry Miller said. “Kevin will be remembered by fans as one of the most popular and recognizable players to ever wear the Blazers uniform, but to people who knew him, he’ll be remembered as one of the warmest and biggest-hearted.”

Duckworth remained in the Portland area after his playing career ended, where he was an avid fisherman & outdoorsman, and a skilled carpenter. He was on the Oregon Coast representing the Trail Blazers as a Heritage Ambassador on the team’s 19-city Statewide Summer Tour. The cause of his death is unknown, and will be determined by a Lincoln County Medical Examiner.

A second-round draft pick of the San Antonio Spurs out of Eastern Illinois University in 1986, Duckworth was only 14 games into his NBA career when he was acquired by the Trail Blazers from San Antonio in exchange for Walter Berry.

One season later, the 7-foot center was thrust into the spotlight because of injuries to Steve Johnson and Sam Bowie. Duckworth responded by averaging 15.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, establishing himself as a pivot presence instrumental in Portland’s emergence as one of the NBA’s dominant teams.

Duckworth remains the 10th leading scorer (7,188) and rebounder (3,327) in Trail Blazers history, compiling averages of 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 527 games with Portland. During his tenure, Trail Blazers teams compiled a record of 356-193 (.648). In 684 career NBA games, Duckworth scored 8,085 points (11.8 ppg), grabbed 3,945 rebounds (5.8 rpg) and shot 46.8 percent from the field.

“This is a devastating loss,” said Traci Rose, Trail Blazers Vice President of Community Relations. “To this day, Duck is adored throughout this state and remains a brother to his teammates and to Trail Blazers staff. We will forever miss our beloved 00.”

Information on memorial services will be announced as it becomes available. Duckworth is survived by his mother and sister.

Celtics sign Darius Miles

Jeff says: Miles has always been a question mark. Early on he was just an athletic dunker who didn’t really know how to play basketball. But as his career progressed, he kept showing stretches of occasional brilliance. He was still raw and not yet developed, yet for 10 or 15 minutes here and there Miles seemed like a future star, if he could just learn how to play. Only that never really happened, because he got hurt, badly, over and over. And fell out of shape. And even when he was playing well, there was never a sense that he ever really loved basketball. But now he’s apparently back, in shape, and ready to contribute. I think the Celtics are making the right move, taking a low-risk chance on him with potential decent reward. And, here’s the news release:

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed free agent forward Darius Miles. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Miles, a 6’9”, 235lbs forward out of East St. Louis High School has posted career averages of 10.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.15 blocks in 412 career games. Miles was originally drafted with the third overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Miles last played for the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2005-06 season when he averaged a career high 14.0 points and 4.6 rebounds in 40 games. Miles missed all of the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons due to microfracture surgery on his right knee.

“Darius has been in twice for workouts with us and has impressed us with his progress, health, and attitude;” said Danny Ainge, Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations/General Manager. “Darius will have the next couple of months to prove to myself and Coach Rivers that he can help us win.”

The Bellville, Illinois native became the first player in NBA history to receive All-Rookie honors straight out of high school when he averaged 9.4 points and 1.54 blocks for the Clippers in the 2000-01 season. Miles scored in double-figures in 31 of the 40 games that he appeared in during his last NBA season in 2005-06. As a starter in 23 of those 40 games he averaged 16.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.

“I’ve watched the Boston Celtics play a lot last year and loved what I saw in their teamwork and chemistry on the court and it’s the team that I want to try to resume my career with.” said Miles. “I am excited about having an opportunity to play on a team that I feel my personality fits with and a team that can have great success on the court.”

Web viewing of NBA games may soon exist

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.

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.