I Bleed Blue and White

Most of you probably know this already, but Notre Dame transfer Scott Martin tore his ACL during a workout on Thursday and will miss the entire season.  After a disappointing year for the Fighting Irish, some hope was restored with Luke Harangody announcing his return for a senior year.  In addition, the infusion of transfers Martin (Purdue) and Ben Hansbrough (Mississippi) into Notre Dame’s rotation was supposed to be a big lift.  Now, with Martin out, Harangody will have to shoulder much of the load down low yet again.  Martin put up decent numbers at Purdue in his sophomore season, averaging over 8 points and almost 4 rebounds a game, so don’t underestimate the impact of this injury in the rugged Big East. 

Just a quick note on Dante Cunningham and the Portland Trailblazers.  They, along with the rest of NBA teams, opened up camps this past week in preparation for the start of the season in about a month.  The coverage on the Trailblazers website is very in-depth, with numerous blogs, videos, pictures, daily recaps, and much more.  Definitely check it out to keep up to date on Dante and the rest of his new teammates.

For most 22 year-olds, a guaranteed large sum of money would most likely turn into a spending spree.  Dante Cunningham is not a part of most 22 year-olds though.  With his contract officially signed with the Portland Trailblazers, Dante remains humbled, as all he continues to think about is the upcoming season and helping the team win.  Center Court, the official Trailblazers blog written by Casey Holdahl, caught up with Cunningham, and he discussed his thoughts on certain topics now that the contract is signed.

Dante, on what he plans to do with his big salary:

I really don’t want much.  I just really, really want to play ball.  I’m going to bring out my old truck from college out here.  I live in a townhouse so I really don’t need much here.  It’s kind of a laid back kind of place.  You really don’t need to be flashy or anything like that out here.

On what he’s been up to lately, Cunningham states:

I got here Wednesday, signed on Friday, found a house Saturday, so I’m moving in today.  It’s rolling along right now.  Guys are coming in.  It’s clicking.  I’m liking Portland a whole lot.

Regarding rookie hazing:

Jerryd Bayless talked to me a little bit about it at summer league.  He informed on a couple of tricks, who to stay away from.  Everyone goes through it.  It’s a rite of passage.  Hey, I’m ready for it.  Hopefully no one gets too crazy, too overboard on me.

It’s great to see that Dante hasn’t changed one bit since moving on to the NBA.  Humbled, poised, hard-working.  No glamour.

Last night, Dante Cunningham returned from his groin injury that forced him to sit out Friday night’s game.  With his return, the Portland Trailblazers beat the San Antonio Spurs for their first win of the NBA Summer League.  Cunningham put up another solid effort, playing a game-high 30+ minutes and scoring 14 points on 7-12 from the field.  He also grabbed 2 rebounds, had 1 steal and 1 blocked shot, and committed zero turnovers.  Dante’s former Big East counterpart, DeJuan Blair, scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds for the Spurs.  The Trailblazers wrap up their Summer League schedule tonight vs. the D-League Select team.

Coming off another stellar performance in the NBA Summer League, Dante Cunningham will miss tonight’s game against the Denver Nuggets due to a groin injury.  Apparently, he injured the groin in Wednesday’s game against the Houston Rockets, although Dante finished the game, scoring 20+ points again.  The Trailblazers play tonight, tomorrow night, and Sunday night to wrap up their summer league schedule, and as of right now, Dante is listed as day-to-day. 

Aside from Cunningham’s recent injury, though, he has been a pleasant surprise for the Trailblazers.  Summer league coach Joe Prunty has noticed Dante’s good play:

Dante has been very solid.  He’s been aggressive offensively.  He’s been getting shots and he’s been confident stepping up and trying to knock those down.  And he’s doing a decent job on the boards.

How has he played so well thus far?  Usually, rookies come in very nervous with lots of pressure and hype to live up to.  Well, it might have all started with the strict household he grew up in.  Cunningham, on his parents: 

They didn’t take any (nonsense) from me.  So I understood what I could do and couldn’t do; what was OK and what wasn’t OK.  And I learned that whatever I was doing, I should give all my focus to it.  That has carried over to my basketball. I don’t put up with any (nonsense).

Another Trailblazers blog, called Blazersedge, posted in-depth scouting reports for some of the summer league players, including Dante Cunningham.  Trailblazers scout Chad Buchanan covered virtually every facet of Dante’s game.  Some notable information from the report:

He plays every play until the play is finished.  He doesn’t give up on rebounds or loose balls.  Playing at Villanova that’s how they are.  They build this junkyard dog mentality with all their guys.

The roster as it is today it’s going to be tough for him to come in and get a lot of minutes.

It certainly is going to be tough for Dante to get minutes this year with the Trailblazers, with all of the forwards they have, but that shouldn’t deter Dante.  He already has 2 summer league games under his belt to use as hard evidence to show that he can play at the NBA level.  Other teams are always watching and you never know when a situation may arise where you are thrust into a prominent role.  If he keeps playing like he is, he will get minutes somewhere. 

Before we talk about Dwayne Anderson, I wanted to wrap-up talking about Dante Cunningham’s first game in the NBA Summer League.  Obviously, Dante had a very good game in terms of statistics, but the most important thing is what the Portland Trailblazers coaching staff thinks.  The Portland Trailblazers game recap relayed some important quotes about their game last night.   Head coach of the Trailblazers summer team, Joe Prunty, discussed Dante’s play:

He looked very comfortable.  I thought he did a really nice job setting screens, slipping screens, separating after he set screens.  I thought he did a really nice job of going after boards.  He got a few of what I like to refer to as ‘dirty rebounds,’ where they’re out of your area, you hustle after them.  They’re not the ones that sort of fall into your lap.  So I really appreciated the effort he gave. 

Additionally, the Portland Trailblazers official blog, called Center Court, written by Casey Holdahl, provided some discussion about the game and postgame audio from the players, including Cunningham. 

One more thing before we get to Dwyane.  Just a quick update on former Villanova coach Patrick Chambers.  It seems like he is doing well at Boston University.  Little did I know that he named former Villanova walk-on, Ross Condon, as one of his assistant coaches awhile back.  I found this out in his blog, seeing a picture from one of his older posts. 

Chambers also has a Twitter account, which he regularly updates, keeping fans in the loop regarding the BU basketball team.  

Finally, on to Dwayne Anderson.  Undoubtedly, many wondered how Anderson would perform in live NBA game action, as he was supposed to take the court tonight for the Washington Wizards summer team.  After checking the box score, Dwayne’s name was not to be found, which left some questions to be answered.   I checked around a little bit, and it looks like Dwayne was cut from the Washington Wizards yesterday, along with a slew of other players.  I did not see any reasoning behind the decision, but my guess is only a certain number of players can attend the Summer League, meaning the Wizards had to cut down their roster, and unfortunately, Dwayne was one of many to lose a spot.

Tonight, Dante Cunningham saw his first live game action in the NBA, albeit in the Summer League in Las Vegas.  Despite the Portland Trailblazers losing to the Toronto Raptors, Dante put up very stellar numbers.  He started at forward, playing 31+ plus minutes, scoring 21 points on 8-17 from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line.  Additionally, he grabbed 9 rebounds (4 of them offensive), had 1 steal and 1 assist, and committed 0 turnovers.  All in all, a very well-rounded, solid debut.

The Portland Trailblazers began practices this week in preparation for the 2009 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.  The Blazers open up their summer campaign on Monday, July 13th.  These games will be crucial for Dante Cunningham and the rest of the younger, unproven players, as they vie for roster spots.  Dante and Patty Mills gave their thoughts on what they hope to accomplish in the summer league games.  Unfortunately, for Mills, after this interview, he broke his foot on the first day of practice.  He will be about for quite some time, which does not put him in a good spot to make an NBA roster this year. 

Jason Quick and Joe Freeman, writers for The Oregonian, have a blog surrounding the Portland Trailblazers.  In one of their recent entries, they discuss the start of summer practice and what the new guys bring to the table.   Maybe more importantly though was their discussion of who would make the Blazers roster this year. 

[General Manager] Pritchard has said it’s probable that [Jeff] Pendergraph and Cunningham will make the 15-man regular season roster; Mills will be fighting for a spot.

If this is true, definitely a positive for Dante.  Also, as mentioned earlier, it will be tough for Mills to have any shot of making the team after his injury. 

Never heard Mills speak before, and even though I knew he was Australian, it was almost weird to hear his accent from the video posted.  Don’t see too many Australian basketball players.  Hopefully, he can get healthy soon.

Some may think that the NBA Summer League doesn’t mean all that much, but for players not drafted and those just drafted, it is a chance to impress NBA coaches and hopefully, make a team.  Dante Cunningham was recently named to the Portland Trailblazers summer league roster, along with fellow draftees Jeff Pendergraph and Patty Mills.  The Trailblazers will play 5 games against other NBA summer league teams starting on July 13th on the campus of UNLV.  Stay tuned to see how Dante performs in these contests.

With the NBA Draft in the rearview mirror now, let’s take a look at what some people are saying about Dante Cunningham going 33rd overall to the Portland Trailblazers. 

• Most importantly, Dante knows he must continue to work hard. 
• Villanova coach Jay Wright thinks Dante is a good fit for the Trailblazers.
• Trailblazers GM Kevin Pritchard and coach Nate McMillan got the players they wanted, including Cunningham.
• The Big East was the best conference last season, and it shows with 9 players from the conference being selected in the draft. 

We want to hear your reactions as well, so feel free to leave some comments.

As mentioned in the previous post, Dante Cunningham participated in a pre-draft workout today with the Portland Trailblazers.  Joining Cunningham was Derrick Brown (Xavier), Darren Collison (UCLA), Justin Dentmon (Washington), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina), and Jeff Pendergraph (Arizona State).  After the session, Chad Buchanan (director of college scouting for the Trailblazers) and Kevin Pritchard (Trailblazers General Manager) gave their thoughts on each player.  Buchanan on Cunningham:

Just a solid role guy.  He’s physical and can shoot a little bit.  Tough kid.  Comes from a great coach, great program.  Very solid player.

I think most people would echo the same thing about Cunningham, but it’s good to see NBA people recognizing what Dante is all about.