First Cup: Thursday

• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: "After nearly three months of uncertainty, the Trail Blazers have finally settled on one thing regarding their lingering search for a new general manager: Interim GM Chad Buchanan is no longer a candidate for the job. In a meeting Friday, Blazers president Larry Miller told Buchanan he is out of the running because Miller and team owner Paul Allen have decided they want to hire someone with GM experience or with extended service time as a 'No. 2.' Buchanan, who has been with the Blazers for seven years, has never held a permanent NBA position higher than director of college scouting, a job he has maintained the past four seasons. 'They’d like someone with more experience — I totally understand that,' Buchanan said. 'I wasn’t shocked.' Buchanan will remain the Blazers’ interim GM indefinitely and he and Miller said they want the burgeoning 38-year old executive to remain with the organization no matter who is hired as GM. And although he won’t be Portland’s next GM, Buchanan will have an active role in the search."
• Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: "The Warriors' new ownership team has little control of the arena, which it leases. The parking attendants are controlled by the city and could be getting a different company message from the Raiders or A's, who share their services. That hasn't stopped Peter Guber's marketing vision from developing Technicolor dreams. He wants to add more health-food options, find better ways to entertain the 1,500 or so fans who show up 1 1/2 hours before tip-off, and polish every crevice of Oracle Arena. 'We need constant and never-ending improvement,' Guber said. 'I mean, we've got no (spot)light at center court. That's simple drama. ... Our music sometimes sounds like it was chosen by a passing truck. No detail is small, but we can't fix every detail all at once. I ain't the master of the universe, but I'll take my shot.' Guber rarely has taken an out-front role with the Warriors. More often, he sits in the owner's suite instead of sitting courtside with Lacob, whom Guber calls 'a visionary who has the audience at heart and deeply cares about the product he's fielding.' Guber is trying to figure out a way to make that product available to all - a tough sell when the Warriors' proposed schedule includes no Sunday home games and all home tip-offs at 7:30 p.m."
• Tracee Hamilton of The Washington Post: "Do it, John Wall. Don’t let yourself be lured by offers from European leagues. Don’t fall victim to the fantasy of nonstop Xbox. Don’t waste the time given you by the NBA lockout. Do it, John. Go back to college. Wall told the Associated Press he was considering continuing his education at Kentucky if the lockout isn’t settled soon. No one in Wall’s family has ever gotten a college degree, although his sister is a sophomore and might beat him to it. So he would be the second person in his family to graduate college. That’s still impressive. ... Wall makes no secret of the fact that he misses Lexington. He was used to playing in packed arenas, full of rabid fans. That hasn’t been his NBA experience thus far. The Wizards will have to improve exponentially before it is. But if Wall wanted that atmosphere, he could have stayed in Lexington three more seasons. That was the price he paid for going pro. Now, he has an opportunity to give back, to send a message to kids of all ages that a college degree is something to strive for. He also has an opportunity to use his money and his free time for something worthwhile to John Wall. So do it, John Wall. Pursue that degree. Race your sister to the finish. Even if she beats you, you’ll both still win."
• Staff of the Detroit Free Press: "With no summer league and likely no NBA training camp, Pistons rookie Brandon Knight did the next best thing: He went back to college. At 19, Knight has plenty to learn about being a professional. The 6-foot-3 guard, who spent one season at Kentucky, recently worked out with his former team during the NBA lockout, which began July 1. 'I definitely miss (college) already,' said Knight, the eighth pick in the 2011 draft. "You build a close relationship with your teammates, your coach, your assistant coaches and also with the fans. The entire place. You build a new family. But once you move on, you can't really look back and regret the decision you made. The best thing you can do is move forward.' Many players who turned pro early amid labor uncertainty find themselves in Knight's position. Eighteen of the 30 first-round picks had at least one year of college eligibility left."
• Michael Rand of the Star Tribune: "What if the Wolves had drafted Ray Allen and traded him for Stephon Marbury, just as they did, only Marbury finds an advisor, inner peace, SOMETHING to make him realize that he and Kevin Garnett together could be the next Stockton-to-Malone? That he realized he could still be an Alpha Dog because KG didn't like to take the big shot in the fourth quarter? That Wolves team, with the right parts to go with KG and Steph, would have been dangerous for a decade. ... What if the Wolves had drafted Ray Allen and kept him? Would a sharpshooter like Allen -- who proved more than a decade after being drafted that he and KG, much older and with pieces around them, could win an NBA championship -- have given the Wolves the kind of complementary player they could build a consistently threatening playoff team around? Quite possibly. Our best guess is that KG and a full-potential-realized version of Marbury would have been more devastating, but KG and Ray Allen would have been a mighty fine nucleus."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "There may be static between the NBA and the players' association, but the Grizzlies plan to continue clear communication with their fans. Whenever the league ends its lockout and commences the 2011-12 season, the Grizzlies will be heard on WMFS 92.9 FM/680 AM for at least the next three seasons. The Griz announced Wednesday a multi-year agreement to simulcast all games on the Entercom Communications stations. The deal brings to an end the Grizzlies' arrangement with WRBO 103.5 FM after several seasons. Although Soul Classics offered a stronger signal (100,000 watts), the Griz were enticed by the sports programming ESPN (10,000 watts) will provide surrounding its broadcasts."

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/31513/first-cup-thursday-169

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