A pair of decisions involving the Trail Blazers are looming tonight. Owner Paul Allen has completed final interviews with coaching candidates Kaleb Canales and Terry Stotts, and the team is expected to make its choice shortly. Free agent center Joel Przybilla is reportedly making his pick between the Blazers, Bucks and Mavericks tonight, though if his drawn-out midseason decision on where to sign is any indication, it could be a few more days. Here's what we're hearing from Portland and other Northwest Division cities in the meantime:
- With C.J. Miles on his way to the Cavs, Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune looks back at the seven years Miles spent with the Jazz after the team drafted him out of high school in 2005.
- Smith also catches up with Damian Lillard, the sixth overall pick this June by the Blazers. Lillard dishes about his success in the Las Vegas Summer League, where he was co-MVP, and his recent conversations with LaMarcus Aldridge, in which both players have set making the playoffs as the goal for this season.
- Dwight Jaynes of CSNNW.com says he thinks Canales will coach the Blazers next season, and theorizes that Stotts remains in the running in part so that he'll be seen more favorably the next time an NBA head coaching job opens. Stotts is represented by Warren LeGarie, who's also the agent for Canales and GM Neil Olshey. Being perceived as a legitimate candidate for the Blazers' job will help Stotts get another head coaching job someday, Jaynes says.