# 2007 Las Vegas Summer League: Trail Blazers



## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

The 2007 Trail Blazers Summer League Roster

*Location*: 
UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center









*Schedule:*
_Friday, July 6th_ - Celtics vs Blazers* (7:00 PM)
_Sunday, July 8th_ - Mavericks vs Blazers (1:00 PM)
_Wednesday, July 11th_ - Lakers vs Blazers (7:30 PM)
_Saturday, July 14th_ - Celtics vs Blazers (7:30 PM)
_Sunday, July 15th_ - Sonics vs Blazers* (7:00 PM)


*= Broadcast on NBATV

*Coaches:*















*Monty Williams-Dean Demopoulos*

*Roster:*
(Click Name for Profile/Stats)

*
#0 Taurean Green








#2 Josh McRoberts








#6 Stefano Mancinelli








#7 Petteri Koponen








#8 Martell Webster








#11 Sergio Rodriguez








#12 LaMarcus Aldridge








#18 Rick Apodaca








#31 Zendon Hamilton








#40 Chris Ellis








#41 Joel Freeland








#52 Greg Oden








*

*
Projected Starters:*
*PG:* Sergio Rodriguez
*SG:* Martell Webster
*SF:* Josh McRoberts
*PF:* LaMarcus Aldridge
*C:* Greg Oden

*Rookie Radar:*


> *Greg Oden, 7-0 Center/Ohio State/Freshman *
> 
> Oden, a 2007 AP First Team All-American for the Ohio State Buckeyes, declared for the draft late last week. Even though most people thought that it was a foregone conclusion that Oden would declare, it wasn't a given for the young center.
> 
> ...


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

http://www.basketballforum.com/portland-trail-blazers/366294-summer-league-roster.html


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

Why does Zendon Hamilton sound so familiar? Did he play for our summer league team last year?

I see they have Telfair with a Trail Blazer uni on in that picture.


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## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

B_&_B said:


> Why does Zendon Hamilton sound so familiar? Did he play for our summer league team last year?
> 
> I see they have Telfair with a Trail Blazer uni on in that picture.


We had signed him at the beginning of the season, and was on our roster for a short time. 

Thanks I'll add some of your stuff on here.


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## c_note (Jan 30, 2007)

So is that Rick Apodaca the guy that made the team through the Hoop try-outs in Salem? I know they gave 1 roster spot away in this manner.


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

c_note said:


> So is that Rick Apodaca the guy that made the team through the Hoop try-outs in Salem? I know they gave 1 roster spot away in this manner.


I read somewhere that the try outs at The Hoop was canceled.


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## 2k (Dec 30, 2005)

My god that team could win 30 games in the regular season.


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## ehizzy3 (Jun 12, 2006)

i dont think mcroberts can play the three


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## Paxil (Jan 1, 2003)

I love the way Zendon Hamilton played for us. Would love to have him on the team. Scrapped like hell... but I just don't see a roster spot for him.


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## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

ehizzy3 said:


> i dont think mcroberts can play the three


Monty Williams said Josh or the Stefano guy will, my bet is Josh.


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## antoniorgrv (Jul 3, 2007)

c_note said:


> So is that Rick Apodaca the guy that made the team through the Hoop try-outs in Salem? I know they gave 1 roster spot away in this manner.


Rick Apodaca is a player from Puerto Rico, he participated in Orlando's training camp team in 2003. MVP of the Poland league in 2006, was in Italy last year, were he posted a 18 ppg. Member of the Puerto Rican national team. His best weapon is his defense, and when you add 18 ppg in Italy you have a solid player. Likes to penetrate, but he can shoot the three, even when guarded. He finishes easier than some player, because he surprises them by being lefty. So really the question is if he can play the 1, he can guard it, but how will he distribute the offense.

hope I helped


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Hope my English dude Freeland gets some burn. 

Oh and *shudders* your summer league squad is downright scary!!!!!!! 

You lucky bunch you


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## Utherhimo (Feb 20, 2005)

yeah GO FREELAND! 

england or the UK would have a good basketball team if they would only start caring about basketball more on a nation level!


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## HispanicCausinPanic (Jul 2, 2005)

Hamilton was with us at the beginning of last season. I think they let him go when LaMarcus came back.


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

There is some good summer league info in this Eggers story:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=118340924764206600


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## hasoos (Jan 3, 2003)

It appears from that read that Koponen does not have a euro league contract holding him back.


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## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

hasoos said:


> It appears from that read that Koponen does not have a euro league contract holding him back.


I don't think that's the problem, its just if we want him to stay there a year and develop more instead of coming here and only getting time in practice and not getting on the court.


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## hasoos (Jan 3, 2003)

Blazer Freak said:


> I don't think that's the problem, its just if we want him to stay there a year and develop more instead of coming here and only getting time in practice and not getting on the court.



I see what your saying BF, but here is what I am worried about. We have him at a time where we don't have to buy him out of a contract, and if he signs one in Europe now, chances are it is a multi year deal, and then the Blazers havea real problem, because if the contract is of any size, his guaranteed money of his rookie contract will not be enough to offset it and buy it out. That means we do not see him for 4 to 5 years when the buyout is reasonable. 

Secondly, remember that if he is indeed a Tony Parker rookie year level of player, chances are he could push for a starting job here his first year. I don't know if he is that level, but I have read a lot of complimentary material on Koponen. I have not read one review where they were not fascinated by his level of play. Remember guys come into the league in the late first round and 2nd round and crack lineups every year. 

Wasn't it just last year a lot of people were convinced that Sergio would not play here, and yet here he is. Now in his 2nd year of NBA play.


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## el_Diablo (May 15, 2003)

actually, I believe koponen has a contract (a year left) currently with honka espoo, but portland should be able to buy it out.. honka is not paying him too much anyway, don't expect him to stay next year in any case (nba or europe) and they would be crucified in finland if the reason why petteri didn't get a chance to play in nba was the greed of honka staff.


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## o.iatlhawksfan (Mar 3, 2006)

that game against Seattle, is gonna be BIG!


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

o.iatlhawksfan said:


> that game against Seattle, is gonna be BIG!


Not really. Both Oden and Durant will probably be at the ESPY awards and wont play.


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## Ed O (Dec 30, 2002)

hasoos said:


> Wasn't it just last year a lot of people were convinced that Sergio would not play here, and yet here he is. Now in his 2nd year of NBA play.


And that was a mistake. Sergio is now one year closer to free agency, and we didn't get anything significant out of him as a rookie... we were one of the worst teams in the NBA and he didn't get get regular minutes.

Further, Pete is a year younger than Sergio was at this time last year.

Unless Koponen forces the Blazers to sign him this year, the franchise would be better off with him overseas for at least another year.

Ed O.


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## Blazer Ringbearer (Jan 28, 2003)

Holy crap!

I was just looking at the bios for the summer league roster here:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/blazers/2007/07/everything_you_wanted_to_know.html

And I just realized that Terrance Green is playing for the team - I went to high school with the guy! He was in my class at Benson. He's AC Green's nephew, I believe.

Apparently he was playing in China on Yi's team... crazy!


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## barfo (Jan 2, 2003)

Blazer Ringbearer said:


> Apparently he was playing in China on Yi's team... crazy!


Well, since we've acquired pals for Oden and Sergio, perhaps this means that we'll be trading with Milwaukee to get Yi. 

barfo


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## Blazer Ringbearer (Jan 28, 2003)

barfo said:


> Well, since we've acquired pals for Oden and Sergio, perhaps this means that we'll be trading with Milwaukee to get Yi.
> 
> barfo


I think this would make a good reality show... 

Terrance and Yi


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

Celtics summer league roster:



> 57 Lance Allred C 6-11 270 Weber State
> 46 Pat Carroll G/F 6-5 190 St. Joseph's
> 11 Glen Davis F 6-9 289 Louisiana State
> 59 Torin Francis F 6-11 252 Notre Dame
> ...


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## yuyuza1 (May 24, 2006)

Guys,

Quick just updated his blog. Says Oden vs. Durant is back on. 

Side note: Oden will probably get his tonsils removed later this summer.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat


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## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

I'll update this thread with a summary of the 3 games I get to see. 

I'll be back sunday!


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## hasoos (Jan 3, 2003)

Ed O said:


> And that was a mistake. Sergio is now one year closer to free agency, and we didn't get anything significant out of him as a rookie... we were one of the worst teams in the NBA and he didn't get get regular minutes.
> 
> Further, Pete is a year younger than Sergio was at this time last year.
> 
> ...


I absolutely do not agree. In every post you put up, you act like the Blazers didn't improve last year. You don't give Lamarcus any credit, you don't give Sergio any credit, it is rare to even hear you give Brandon Roy any credit. Sergios playing time over here was very important last year. He may not have got consistent time, but he was very instrumental in getting wins in many games, and he was very important because he drew back fans. You will never see a fan come to a game and say "I can hardly wait until Steve Blake comes in." But you will see fans say they can hardly wait until Spanish Choclate hits the court. For the Blazers last year, that was very important, it was part of what turned the franchise around. 

Secondly, I could care less how old he is. If he can play ball, he earns his spot. As far as I know there is nothing to tell me he is any better or worse then what we have until we get to see him play.


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

Boston should have put Telfair on their summer league squad.


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## Ed O (Dec 30, 2002)

hasoos said:


> I absolutely do not agree. In every post you put up, you act like the Blazers didn't improve last year. You don't give Lamarcus any credit, you don't give Sergio any credit, it is rare to even hear you give Brandon Roy any credit. Sergios playing time over here was very important last year.


Blah blah blah. The team was one of the worst in the NBA last year. Did they improve? Sure. But the season didn't matter, and Sergio's presence was irrelevant.



> He may not have got consistent time, but he was very instrumental in getting wins in many games, and he was very important because he drew back fans. You will never see a fan come to a game and say "I can hardly wait until Steve Blake comes in." But you will see fans say they can hardly wait until Spanish Choclate hits the court. For the Blazers last year, that was very important, it was part of what turned the franchise around.


First of all: the Blazers didn't GET "many wins" last year, so you're (on the face of it) overstating Sergio's value... secondly, the attendance from last year wasn't THAT much better... it went up 10%, which is good, but I think that near 50% increase in wins from the previous year had more to do with that than the backup point guard.

You don't SERIOUSLY think that Sergio helped turn the franchise around, do you?



> Secondly, I could care less how old he is. If he can play ball, he earns his spot. As far as I know there is nothing to tell me he is any better or worse then what we have until we get to see him play.


If you don't care about how old he is, then you are clueless and/or without a care about the long-term impact of a player's natural physical maturity.

Ed O.


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## Blazer Ringbearer (Jan 28, 2003)

I don't think Sergio had much of an impact on the court overall, but if he does fit into the long term future of the Blazers, last year might have been good for him in terms of adjusting to the NBA.

His PT was limited, but he did get plenty of practice time and NBA coaching.

We'll see this year whether he is signficantly improved as a player. I submit that he probably learned more last year than he would have playing another year in Europe.


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## Sambonius (May 21, 2003)

I think it's borderline insanity to say that Sergio didn't have much of an impact last season. Every time he stepped onto the court the pace of the game changed dramatically and the opposition had to play our game. He is one of the only guys on our team that can single handedly change the pace of the game and that dictates how the other team is often going to play against us.


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## hasoos (Jan 3, 2003)

Ed O said:


> Blah blah blah. The team was one of the worst in the NBA last year. Did they improve? Sure. But the season didn't matter, and Sergio's presence was irrelevant.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Blah blah blah is the best you can do? The season that turned the team around didn't matter? Sergio wasn't part of it? 

You picked the wrong day to stop sniffin glue.


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## yuyuza1 (May 24, 2006)

B_&_B said:


> Boston should have put Telfair on their summer league squad.



According to the Celtics' website, he apparently is living in Vegas now, and trained with the team during their practice. Maybe he can get some playing time?

I'd love to see a Sergio-Bassy matchup.


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

Barrett's update from Vegas:

http://mikebarrettsblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/blazers-vs-boston-tonight.html


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## yuyuza1 (May 24, 2006)

Look at Aldridge!


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## Boob-No-More (Apr 24, 2006)

Good lord, those two make Luke look small! And believe me, Luke is still a big guy. I saw him at the Craft Warehouse off 185th last Fall right before Halloween and he's still an imposing looking dude.

BNM


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

http://mikebarrettsblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/oden-better-in-second-game.html

According to Barrett, we scrimmage against Denver and the Clippers today.


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

Sounds like Oden played pretty well in the scrimmages.

http://mikebarrettsblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/oden-dominates-scrimmages.html


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## Ed O (Dec 30, 2002)

hasoos said:


> Blah blah blah is the best you can do?


You brought up several things that were TOTALLY irrelevant. I don't give Roy credit? Or Aldridge? What are you talking about? Not only do I give them plenty of credit for their play, but they have NOTHING to do with Sergio.



> The season that turned the team around didn't matter? Sergio wasn't part of it?


#1: Portland didn't turn that much around on the court. They catapulted up to 32 games and were one of the worst teams in the NBA. They were better than the year before, when they were the WORST team in the NBA, but that's not necessarily turning it around. Adding Roy and Aldridge was critical... but that was a draft day maneuver.

#2: Sergio had almost nothing to do with the 10 game improvement. He played in 862 minutes the entire year, and his PER was somewhere between Outlaw's and Dickau's.

Both of these things are OK. Improvement is good for the team (even if there was no guarantee of a permanent turnaround) and Sergio was pretty good for a young player (even if he was barely relevant to the improvement of the team).

Sergio is a year closer to free agency, however, and Dickau (or any PG free agent from the D League) could have played those 862 minutes and the team wouldn't have been much worse off in the short run... and would have been better off in the long run.



> You picked the wrong day to stop sniffin glue.


I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

Ed O.


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

more from Barrett:

http://mikebarrettsblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/oden-finished-in-vegas.html


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## barfo (Jan 2, 2003)

Ed O said:


> hasoos said:
> 
> 
> > You picked the wrong day to stop sniffin glue
> ...


I believe I can explain. It's very hot today in PDX, and more glue molecules sublimate when the glue is heated, thus making today a very good day to sniff glue. 

barfo


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## Anonymous Gambler (May 29, 2006)

barfo said:


> I believe I can explain. It's very hot today in PDX, and more glue molecules sublimate when the glue is heated, thus making today a very good day to sniff glue.
> 
> barfo


Personally, I still think there must have been a bottle of Elmers around when Zach was traded, but that's just me.

Am I the only one that hates the trade, but still thinks the Blazers will make the playoffs?


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

Trail Blazers vs Lakers - tonight @ 7:30


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