http://sportsblogs.org/entries.php?sport_id=3&date=2009-07-04&start=0 Sports Blogs :: National Basketball Association Daily Entries en-us The Spurs may not be able to overcome the loss of Manu.With the first set of playoff games in the books, what have we learned?5. Playoffs don't always equal excitement.These teams do realize it's playoff time, right? Only two of the games were close,... http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937948&src=rss 2009-07-04T20:22:10 Linkage for Jul 3 11pm through Jul 4 10pm: Turkoglu decision may affect Cavs interest in Parker and Marion NBA.com: Turkoglu to go with Raptors though Blazers may be upset Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog Hedo, Raptors agree to 5-year, $53 million deal - CBSSports.com Otis: Magic will not participate in Hedo sign-and-trade with Raptors - [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937895&src=rss 2009-07-04T20:14:27 Not since Tim Duncan arrived in 1997 or maybe Tony Parker in 2001 has there been such anticipation to see a Spurs rookie in action. That's what faces 6-foot-7 power forward DeJuan Blair. http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937889&src=rss 2009-07-04T20:13:23 While we wait on Rasheed Wallace's decision, we will have Summer League to take our mind off of the waiting. The Celtics will be participating in the Orlando Summer League that goes from July 6-10 or Monday through Friday of next week. The Celtics will play one game per day a... http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937883&src=rss 2009-07-04T20:06:14 Man, I was really hoping Hedo would be a Blazer! I’m a little bummed, but i am a huge Rudy Fernandez fan and I hope he stays  in Portland. It’s been reported that he can make around $7... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937838&src=rss 2009-07-04T18:15:49 BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics have offered forward Rasheed Wallace a contract as part of a major push to land the coveted forward. The Boston Globe report on Friday says the Celtics offered... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937837&src=rss 2009-07-04T18:15:47 The Cavaliers have once again lost out on a free agent they were taking a hard look at, as the LA Times among other sources report that Lakers free agent Trevor Ariza has made a verbal commitment with the Houston Rockets. It’s an interesting twist, as the Rockets lost Ron Artest (another player the Cavaliers [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937835&src=rss 2009-07-04T18:13:26 The Blues have done well this offseason to retain key pieces of last year’s team such as Keith Tkachuk, Jay McClemment, Brad Winchester, and Mike Weaver. I personally didn’t see Weaver coming back, not because of his lack of performance, but because I didn’t think that the Blues would have room for him on their roster. That changed once the team decided to buyout the final year of Jay McKee’s contract. The Blues now have Weaver, Erik Johnson, Carlo Coliacavo, Eric B... http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937770&src=rss 2009-07-04T16:24:28 http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937754&src=rss 2009-07-04T16:17:25 Larry Bird continues to recruit white leg horn players while cutting the bad and the ugly black ones i.e Tinsley and Daniels. His latest acquisition is Tyler Hansbrough, a ballplayer as white as snow. ' Hansbrough reminds me of myself ' said Larry Legend in the press conference introducing T.H.. Not really . You see , the Pacers' 1st round draft ch http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937753&src=rss 2009-07-04T16:17:23 It was a series where Alex Rodriguez got closer to Rafael Palmeiro on the all-time home run list. Mariano Rivera continued to pile up saves. Joba Chamberlain continued to pile up no decisions. The mark set by Andy Pettitte and Mo continued to increase. Ken Griffey Jr continued to approach Willie Mays in career HRs. Ichiro Suzuki continued to get hit after hit. Could he be on his way to a 9th consecutive 200+ hit season? Let's break this all down. A-Rod's been getting a day's rest eve... http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937549&src=rss 2009-07-04T13:22:23 From Terry Pluto of The Cleveland Plain Dealer: For LeBron James, the journey to repeat as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player begins Monday morning. That’s when the Cavs star will meet assistant coach Chris Jent at the team’s practice facility in Independence. “LeBron is driven to win a championship,” said Jent. “Most people have no idea how hard [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937425&src=rss 2009-07-04T11:17:12 From Dave Deckard: One of the broader lessons to be learned here is to never lose sight of the game.  You have to be a little ruthless to operate in this league.  Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions about players or contracts the same way Turkoglu made his decision about his future team.  Kevin Pritchard [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937424&src=rss 2009-07-04T11:17:11 NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball. The word out of Chicago is that Allen Iverson will go to the Bulls in an NBA sign and trade deal with Detroit for shooting guard Ben Gordon. The deal would put high scoring Alan Iverson on the Bulls for probably the [...] Post from: NBA Obsessed http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937378&src=rss 2009-07-04T11:05:20 GOOD RIDDANCE. [via http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937374&src=rss 2009-07-04T11:04:22 Herald Hedo Turkoglu to Blazers a no-go http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937269&src=rss 2009-07-04T09:05:18 Yahoo Sports Roto Arcade is already doing a fantasy mock draft. Yes, the acknowledge that it’s ridiculously early. And we love it! So, Charlie Villanueva is probably replacing Rasheed Wallace? That’ll work out well. EveryJoe’s Expert Fantasy analysis. And Fantasy Basketball Jedi looks at the Bucks. RotoWire.com via Yahoo Sports Rookie Fantasy Impact. And Barkley’s Mouth [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937236&src=rss 2009-07-04T09:01:01 Let’s party! John Hollinger of ESPN is reporting that Hedo Turkoglu will be signing for Toronto. Michael Grange of the G&M is doing the same. Apparently Hedo’s wife really likes Toronto and they didn’t even visit it when on their “free agent tour” because they didn’t even need to be convinced of it. [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937139&src=rss 2009-07-04T08:09:31 BlackTop Hoops wishes you and yours a happy and safe 4th of July weekend. On July 4th, 1776, the United States of America declared it’s independence from Great Britain. The 4th of July was celebrated first in Philadelphia in 1776. Philadelphia is also the home of the Big 5 which includes Penn, Temple, Saint Joe’s, Villanova, [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1937096&src=rss 2009-07-04T06:24:14 Hedo Turkoglu is now a Toronto Raptor.  Suddenly, Toronto looks like a playoff team again.  With a core of Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, Demar DeRozan, and Hedo Turkoglu, they could make some noise in the east.  They can definitely grab a 7 or 8 seed, with potential to probably get into the 5-6 range.  Turkoglu was just the playmaker they needed to relieve pressure off of Calderon.  Jose no longer is needed to handle the ball all of the time.  Toron... http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1936941&src=rss 2009-07-04T03:19:21 Wow.  That's really all I can type at this point.  I head out of town for the weekend with a Hedo Turkoglu deal basically in place for "your" Portland Trail Blazers, have that deal confirmed once I reach my destination, and then jump on the Blackberry right before bed and find a tweet from Miss Marissa calling out some unbelievable news. marissaivana  Dang! It was HE-DO and now it's HE-DONT.  @blazeoflo... http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1936908&src=rss 2009-07-04T01:23:46 Well that was fast. A day after Hedo Türkoğlu agreed in principle to sign with the Portland Trailblazers, the Turkish superstar backed out of his verbal commitment faster than you can say “bigger contract.” On Thursday, Türkoğlu unofficially accepted a five-year $50 million dollar offer from the Blazers… before arriving in Toronto today and being offered a [...] http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1936886&src=rss 2009-07-04T01:19:40 I guess I shouldn't be too surprised to learn that Hedo Turkoglu did a last minute 180 and decided to sign with the Raptors. These days it seems that a handshake is meaningless, and that is a shame. Hedo is only the second player to do this, the other being Carlos Boozer. What do you say? Not much other than it makes me glad to know that someone of such feeble character is NOT a Blazer. The Trailblazers have assembled a team of guys who hold themselves to high standards and high integrity-fac... http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=1936866&src=rss 2009-07-04T01:01:20