Portland Trail Blazers Blog – Page 89 – NBA Blog

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.”

NBA fines Rasheed Wallace

Rasheed Wallace of the Detroit Pistons has been fined $25,000 for his use of profanity and criticism of the officiating following last night’s game, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

Wallace made his comments to the media following the Pistons’ 106-102 loss to the Celtics in Game 5 of the 2008 NBA Eastern Conference Finals in Boston.

Blazers re-assign Josh McRoberts to D-League

The Portland Trail Blazers today re-assigned rookie forward Josh McRoberts to their NBA Development League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, it was announced by Trail Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard. McRoberts was previously on assignment with Idaho from Jan. 9-Feb. 3 and from March 17-April 7.

During his first two stints in Idaho, McRoberts averaged 7.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 26.8 minutes in 15 games with the Stampede. This season in the NBA, McRoberts is averaging 1.5 points, 1.3 rebounds and 3.5 minutes in five games with the Trail Blazers.

Originally selected in the second round (37th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft, McRoberts played two seasons at Duke, where he averaged 10.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 69 games.

McRoberts is scheduled to re-join the Stampede on Friday, April 18, when the hosts the Los Angeles D-Fenders in the second round of the 2008 D-League playoffs. Tip off is set for 9:30 p.m. ET.

Apr. 16: Suns 100, Blazers 91

The AP reports: Little-used Sean Marks had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Phoenix beat the Portland Trail Blazers 100-91 on Wednesday night in a game that ended up having no bearing on the Suns’ playoff seeding… The Spurs led Utah by 26 at halftime, and it wasn’t long before D’Antoni sent in reserves D.J. Strawberry, followed by Marks, Alando Tucker and Eric Piatkowski. Marks’ 16 points matched a career high and his 13 rebounds set a career high. Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shaquille O’Neal didn’t play after halftime. Stoudemire finished with 12 points in 18 minutes, snapping his streak of consecutive 20-point games at 18 games, the third-longest in franchise history… Travis Outlaw scored 24 points and had 12 rebounds for Portland, which finished 41-41 and missed a chance for its first winning record since 2002-03.