Yardbarker: Clifford Robinson

1989 NBA Draft Remix

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:20:10 -0500

by Jeff Fox It appears that Kobe Bryant knew what he was doing when he switched his jersey from no. 8 to no. 24. After doing countless NBA Draft Remixes it was become clear — the number eight is cursed! Don’t believe in curses? Then explain why the following players all were picked at no. 8 in the Draft: Bo Kimble, Mark Macon, Shawn Respert, Adonal Foyle, DeSagana Diop, Chris Wilcox, Rafael Araujo, Channing Frye, Brandan Wright and Joe Alexander. And, of course, the 1989 NBA Draft...

The Pacers Years: Ron Artest

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:35:49 -0500

This article was originally seen at Always Miller Time. Click here to see The Pacers Years: Jermaine O’Neal Hello all and welcome to the second part in my tale of great Pacers players. Today, I discuss Ron Artest’s career with Indy. 2001 It all began during the 2001-02 NBA season. Artest was currently with the Chicago Bulls, making a name for himself. It was on February 19, 2002, when Ron Artest was traded to the Indiana Pacers for Jalen Rose, Travis Best, and Norm Richardson. Brad Miller, ...

Portland Trail Blazers Dictionary for Dangerous Fans

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:37:00 -0500

The ultimate knowledge base of current Blazers terminology, slang and randomness to help your inner-homer come to life at games or in a bar with buddies? (Well, maybe in due time.) If we've left anything off that you feel needs to be added, please drop a comment with your request. This thing will hopefully grow and grow and grow throughout the years so feel free to chime in. *This list is all about fun, so if you find yourself offended by it or for some reason needing to spa...

BREAKING NEWS: Calbert Cheaney makes comeback with Warriors

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:18:30 -0500

After a sitting out the past 3 seasons, the stalwart of the pre-Boom Dizzle for Speedy and Dale era of GSW hoops Calbert Cheany is making a comeback! Move over Brett Farve, it's Calbert's comeback day today! Calbert played great intimidating help D to cover for some Charmin soft former Warriors. via imgs.sfgate.com Jump for the all the details and more! Okay Calbert won't be bringing his high hoops IQ and steady jumpshot to the actua...

Sir Clifford Robinson's House Broken Into

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:26:21 -0500

Normally I would never shell out a link to a Fox network, especially KPTV, but they are reporting on Clifford Robinson and his North Plains house getting broken into. Burglars broke into the home of former Portland Trail Blazer Cliff Robinson recently, ransacking the house and stealing everything from televisions to guitars, deputies said Tuesday. The break-in on Jackson Quarry Road in North Plains occurred while Robinson was out of town. It's unclear when the theft happened, bu...

It's eBay Time Again!

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:35:59 -0500

Back before the season started we shared some great Blazer related items that were available on eBay. Every so often, we'll scour eBay's vast selections for some of the best in Blazer related buys. These are some hot items, so act fast. Following the Trailblazer's championship year the Payless ...

Four Rules to Live By For a Successful Late-Round NBA Draft

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:58:58 -0500

Who knew that getting caught watching classic NBA Drafts by your girlfriend would be worse than getting caught watching porn? NBATV has been running classic drafts all day/night, and I was in the middle of watching the 1996 NBA Draft with John Calipari justifying why his Nets just drafted Kerry Kittles over Kobe Bryant when the GF popped her head into my home office. "What are you watching?" she asked with a look of suspicion on her face. "Um, the NBA Draft from 1996," I replied. She then just nodded in a trance-like state and vacated the room before the Mavericks drafted Samaki Walker. Awkward. Anyway, the 2008 version of the NBA Draft is on Thursday (5pm MST, ESPN) and I can't wait. Like the NBA Draft Lottery and All-Star Weekend, I'm a total sucker for the draft. In fact, I'm missing an annual college alumni event on Thursday just to watch it live. Even in this era of DVRs, there are certain sporting events you still have to watch live, like big playoff games, the NBA Finals and of course, the NBA Draft. It's just not the same unless you have your friends calling with comments like: "Who the f--k is Efthimios Rentzias and why the f--k hasn't Bernie been fired yet?!!" within seconds of making a pick. Since my favorite team isn't drafting until 20th, I've looked at the past 20 NBA Drafts (the modern era, if you will) and who was drafted in the 18-24th pick range. There are way more misses than hits, but the hits include talented guys with notorious off court problems like Rod Strickland, Jayson Williams (before he was killing limosine drivers and shooting dogs at point-blank range), Latrell Sprewell, Zach Randolph, J.R. Smith, international steals like Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Andrei Kirilenko, Nenad Krstic, Sasha Pavlovic and some players that have been integral on NBA Championship teams like Brian Shaw, "Eddie" "star" Rick Fox, Sam Cassell, Michael Finley, Derek Fisher, James Posey, Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo. But as noted above, an astute GM can find good value with the 20th pick if he knows what he's doing and abides by the following four rules... Rule #1: Stay away from centers in the back of the draft. By my accounting, in 20 years only four decent centers have been drafted in the first round from the 20th pick onward: Vlade Divac in 1989, Elden Campbell in 1990, the Big Z in 1996 and Brendan Haywood in 2001. In fact, an entire landfill could be filled up with the corpses of bust centers like Cook, Duane Causwell, another "Eddie" "star" in Dwayne Schintzius, Alaa Abdelnaby, Stanley Roberts, Elmore Spencer, Geert Hammink, Zidek, Loren Meyer, Lauderdale, Travis Knight, Leon Smith, Jake Tsakalidis, N'Diaye, Pavel Podkolzin and David Harrison (and I'm sure I missed a few). Rule #2: Don't get seduced by the "best athlete available" argument. Most teams drafting late in the first round - like the Nuggets in 2005 - made the playoffs, so they go into the draft willing to gamble on "raw talent" with "big upside" (anyone who has watched the draft should be familiar with Jay Bilas' buzz words by now). But history tells us this is a flawed strategy, and teams like the Nuggets have paid the price for drafting this way (see Brooks, Kevin and Hodge, Julius). Consider the case of Hodge specifically. Had the Nuggets drafted for what they really needed - a backup power forward for the oft-injured Kenyon Martin and Nene - Jason Maxiell or David Lee might be Nuggets right now. Rule #3: When in doubt, draft a power forward who played at least three years in college or somewhere overseas. There's been a slew of good-to-great power forwards over the years who have been neglected in the earlier part of the draft. I did some research going back to 1988 and came up with this list of NBA-ready (due to them staying in college or playing professionally overseas) power forwards who were selected late in the first round (or even in the second round) during that 20 year span: Clifford Robinson (36th pick overall), Jayson Williams (21st), Antonio Davis (45th), P.J. Brown (29th), Kenny Thomas (22nd), Krstic (24th), Carlos Boozer (34th), Luis Scola (55th), Anderson Varejo (30th), Maxiell (26th), Lee (30th), Ronny Turiaf (37th), Paul Milsap (47th), Leon Powe (49th), Carl Landry (31st) and even "Big Baby" Glen Davis (35th). Rule #4: Put a premium on character and work ethic. At the end of the day, a terrific college player with a tireless work ethic and solid character will figure out a way to be a productive NBA player, even if he's deemed "undersized" for his position by the draft pundits. Most of the power forwards listed above would fit this description, as do other late round or second round steals. Notable names on this list include Shaw, Fox, the late Bobby Phills, Cassell, Bryon Russell, Finley, Eric Snow, Fisher, Jackson, Posey, Eddie House, Michael Redd, Gerald Wallace, Gilbert Arenas, Earl Watson, Prince, John Salmons, Josh Howard, Jason Kapono, Luke Walton, Steve Blake, Kyle Korver, Nelson, current Nugget Linas Kleiza and Jordan Farmar. Drafting players in professional sports is hardly an exact science, and it's easy for armchair GMs such as myself to look back in hindsight at what should have been. But if you look at the teams that have been most successful in the latter part of the NBA Draft recently, such as the Lakers, Pistons, Jazz and Spurs, they generally abide by the four rules stated above.