Trail Mix: Lillard tours China, Sabonis story gets a reboot
Damian Lillard is always a busy man. Not a month after playing his final playoff game, he’s been touring in China with adidas. Here you can see him coaching up some young Chinese hoopers as part of the adidas “Take On Summer” tour. Brand aware as always, Lillard is rocking his PDX Carpet D Lillard 2′s while coaching up the kids in China.
Damian Lillard coaching in the PDX Carpet D Lillard 2′s.
Dane Carbaugh did a review of florist edition of his signature shoe for Blazersedge. I don’t think anybody does product reviews on shoes quite like Dane. Check it out.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Golden State’s Stephen Curry would not participate in this summer’s Olympic games in Rio. This of course improves Lillard’s chances of joining the team. But is that a good thing? Eric Griffith explored that issue for Blazersedge. Given Coach K’s affinity for Kyrie Irving, moving Steph effing Curry off the ball, it’s probably safe to say Dame won’t be a featured player if he does go.
The Portland Trail Blazers have produced a series of podcasts on key figures and moments in Blazers history. Earlier this week, they did an excellent 33-minute podcast on how Arvydas Sabonis came to America and the Blazers. Sabonis was arguably the best player in the World before he came to the NBA but he spent most of his prime in Europe because Cold War. Michael Lewellen and Kris Koivisto did a very good podcast if you want to learn more about that story. The god Bill Schonley, who saw it all unfold, tells some great stories and they even got the GM at the time, Bucky Buckwalter, on the record.
Bill Simmons included “Sabonis coming over to the NBA in his prime” as one of the greatest “What if’s?” in NBA history. The Blazers were a perennial playoff team with excellent guards and wings. While Kevin Duckworth and Buck Williams were solid players, it’s impossible not to imagine Drexler, Porter, Kersey and Robinson circling around an offensive fulcrum in Sabonis. To me, this might be a bigger franchise what-if than missing out on Michael Jordan.
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He’s a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He’s covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com’s NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He's covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com's NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.