Wednesday August 27 2008 - 12:45pm Eastern
There’s not a lot going on with the Raptors right now. Chris Bosh is shining his gold medal and Jose Calderon is nursing his groin. Other than that, we’re simply counting down to the start of training camp on September 30. Thus, let’s have a quick look at some other small stories in basketball …
CANADIAN HONOURS
The Under 17 Canadian National Championships were held this past weekend in Charlottetown, PEI and Ontario and Quebec came out the big winners.
The Ontario girls won gold with a 77-44 win over Alberta. Natalie Achonwa and Kayla Alexander each scored 20 points for Team Ontario to lead their squad to victory.
On the boys side, Alberta fell again … losing to Quebec, 90-81. Quebec’s Jonathan Tshibuy had 19 points and 6 rebounds to lead his team to the big win over the defending national champs.
BACK TO BEIJING
Following a hugely successful Olympic tournament, basketball will be returning to Beijing in October when the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks tip off the 2008 version of the NBA China Games.
The Warriors and Bucks will actually start the NBA China Games in Guangzhou on October 15 and then travel to Beijing for a tilt at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena on October 18.
The League’s “NBA Cares” program will also be very active in China; taking part in a number of events and activities to help those affected by the earthquake in the Sichuan Province.
Too bad Yi Jianlian got dealt from the Bucks to the New Jersey Nets this summer.
R.I.P.
Former NBA’er Kevin Duckworth has passed away. He was 44 years old.
The cause of his death is still not known. Duckworth was in Oregon for a promotional event for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Duckworth played in the NBA from 1986-1997, with his best years coming in Portland. He was a 2-time All Star and he made it to the NBA Finals with the Blazers in 1990 and 1992.
Terry Porter, Buck Williams, and Clyde Drexler may have got most of the headlines, but the Blazers wouldn’t have had the success they did (in the late 80’s and early 90’s) without Kevin Duckworth.
Duckworth averaged 11.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over his 11-year career. In addition to his time with Portland, the big man also played for San Antonio, Washington, Milwaukee, and the LA Clippers.
E. Smith
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when will Calderon be healed from the groin injury ?
- KevinEric,
Did you hear that Jose reportedly said in a radio interview that he thinks Spain could’ve beaten the USA if they played under “FIBA rules”? What do you think about that?
- nicoleHi Eric,
I love ur blogs. Here is a my predictions for the east:
1. Boston 61-21
- Warren2. Detroit 54-28
3. Cleveland 49-33
4. Toronto 50-32
5. Orlando 49-33
6. Philly 48-34
7. Washington 47-35
8. Chicago 44-38
CONTENDERS-
NEW JERSEY 40-42
Atlanta 41-41
interesting warren. i think miami could be on the rise again too. we’ll see!
- E. Smithkevin - i really have no idea. nobody does — other than jose and his doctors. but i fully expect to see him back and healthy in time for training camp
- E. SmithNicole - I did hear/see that. The comments are a bit vague … so I’m not completely certain what he’s referring to. The U.S. won; fair and square. Spain was playing by the same rules. It was a great game and the Americans found a way to win - and hold of Spain. We should be able to leave it at that
- E. Smith“The fact is, I played on one leg for two years,” says O’Neal, whose averages shrank to 13.6 points and 6.7 rebounds in 42 games last season after he reinjured his knee in 2006-07. “You hear people say that you slowed down, that you don’t have it anymore — but you know that you still have it. All the naysayers who are saying that I lost a step, they’ll get a full dosage of me next year.”
- MilesThis is for Warren.
- JeeYou have Toronto listed having a better record than Clevlenad. So they should have the 3rd spot.
Even if Cleveland is a division leader, the Top 4 seeds are categorized by winning percentage.
Isn’t that correct Eric? I would have Atlanta or Miami 8th instead of Chicago. They still have a long way to go and
They still have some concerns to address, the major being inside scoring.
I was wondering what teams in the NBA were better (if any) in terms of representation at the Olympics? And if we used a point system with gold medal players getting 10 points, silver 7 points, bronze 5 and the rest 1 I think that we have 18 points with Ukic, Jose and Bosh.
Warren has an interesting list for the standings, but I think that with his predictions the West has to fall off a bit. He has 483 wins for those 10 East teams.
- Tait Luste