Aussie_Wing

Looks like we may have found our replacement, and in my view, we're stuffed. At 9 p.m. Portland time, Joel Przybilla will have a tele-conference with his agent, Bill Duffy, regarding an offer from the Detroit Pistons. This comes after former Detroit center Ben Wallace agreed in principle to a free agent contract with the Chicago Bulls. The Pistons immediately made contact with Duffy regarding Przybilla, and apparently Przybilla will strongly consider the offer from the Pistons. Reached at about 8 p.m. Portland time, Duffy said he expects Przybilla to make his decision by Tuesday morning after spending a night mulling over Detroit's offer. Bottom line: It doesn't look good for Portland. Both Portland and Detroit can offer the mid-level exception (about $5.3 million a year), and actually Portland can offer a little more with yearly raises, but the lure of being an instant winner with the Pistons appears to be very powerful with Przybilla.

Exactly, we traded away Darko basically to keep Ben, assuming he would re-sign. And now we don’t have Ben and we don’t have Darko who could turn out to be a star. If only we held onto Darko for another few months we would have our solution, simply start him or at the very least give him more minutes. It’s all such a waste, we traded away our best young prospect with the intention of signing Wallace, and now he runs off just because he wants an extra $4. Very angry.

Well to be honest I'm not too fussed at all. He was a hindrance to us in the playoffs because of his lack of offensive ability and he seemed to be slowing down. For that amount of money, the Bulls can have him. It will be sad to see him wearing another uniform though…

We'll have plenty, because Wallace won't be here next season. Chicago offered him 4 years 55 million, or something of that nature. He said he wasn't happy with the Pistons offer, so I think it's only a matter of time before he packs his bags and heads to the Bulls.

Who says we'll make the Playoffs?

This is the answer to out goaltending woes?

Can't believe how easily Murray defeated Roddick.

Yeh I still genuinely believe Delfino will be a good NBA player, just needs consistent minutes to show his worth.

So Agassi has played his last match at Wimbledon after losing to Nadal in straight sets. He should’ve won the first set as he was up 5-2 in the tiebreak, but as soon as he lost that set it was all too easy for Nadal.

"There wasn't going to be enough minutes for him," Dumars said. "I talked to his agent (Roger Montgomery) about three weeks ago and he asked me how the minutes were going to go for Maurice next season. I said I didn't see them changing all that much that he would still be platooning minutes with Carlos Delfino. He said if that was the case, then maybe it was best for Maurice to go elsewhere." Dumars, who has said he wanted Delfino to play a larger role next season, obliged. I think Delfino will stay.

The Pistons traded small forward Maurice Evans to the L.A. Lakers for the 51st pick of the night, a 7-foot-1 center from Senegal named Cheick Samb. Evans, signed as a restricted free agent with the Pistons in September, had two seasons left on his contract. He split time coming off the bench with Carlos Delfino, although Evans had edged Delfino in coach Flip Saunders' rotation by the end of the season.

Not surprised, just disappointed.

I think we traded that pick for Arroyo... Can't believe all the Spartans that were taken, Shannon Brown is a champ. Why did he have to go to the Cavs...

Anyone get the feeling that Kindl is another Schneider? His strength is obviously his offensive ability and his skating, but his main weakness according to most sites is that he is prone to giveaways, and his decision making can be patchy. Obviously has immense upside but to me it sounds as though we have another Schneider on our hands.

This probably won't please the 'grit lovers' though. In regards to one of our other choices: "Despite Axelsson’s high penalty totals, Nill said he isn’t a hard-hitting physical force. The bulk of his penalty minutes resulted from misconducts, and discipline is something he needs to work on. "

Anyone watching right now? Roddick is in action, but looking mighty shaky. Hewitt won in under 70 minutes, he's looking very good and thankfully is in a good section of the draw.

Detroit starts its Playoff campaign tomorrow at the Palace against Milwaukee. I'm extremely confident we can destroy the Bucks; they shouldn’t pose much of a threat. In other news, the Heat just came through with a win against the Bulls; however they weren’t very convincing at all.

Unbelievable from Howard, why on earth did he call a time out? That ruined any chance they had of winning the game. Miami now up 3-2, hopefully the Mavs can win both games at home but they sure have done a good job to make this series a massive struggle.

The French Open, the second Grand Slam of 2006, gets underway today. World No.1 Roger Federer is through to the second round despite struggling early in the first set where he was down two service breaks. Nadal has won 55 consecutive matches on Clay and will be the one to beat. Other threats are David Nalbandian and after coming off a Masters series win Tommy Robredo could also be a danger man. On the Women’s side it is very wide open with many players having a strong chance of success. World No.1 Amelie Mauresmo will be looking to finally have some success at her home Grand Slam. Clijsters, Petrova, and Henin-Hardenne are all major chances, and Maria Sharapova could also be in with a chance. As I type this Sharapova just saved two match points, her ankle is restricting her movement badly. Lets hope she can recover. My predictions: Men's: Federer def Nadal. Women's: Henin-Hardenne def Mauresmo.

Well it’s not looking good. Nadal takes the 3rd set 6-4 and immediately breaks in the 4th set and leads 2-1. Federer was awesome in the 1st set and really came out aggressive. But it’s all gone downhill, Nadal has barely made an error in the last hour and Federer, as you said, isn’t moving well and he’s just making error after error. His single-handed backhand has been exploited today; the heat of the Nadal forehand is just making it impossible for Federer to control. Let’s hope things change.

So Henin-Hardenne v Kuznetsova in the women's final. Can't say it interests me at all. The men's final on the other hand should be a beauty. Federer v Nadal yet again, and this time I feel Federer will finally be able to beat him. Last time they played it was a 5 set thriller, with Federer losing the match despite holding 3 match points. He's been getting closer to Nadal every time and I believe he'll go one better tomorrow.

I wouldn’t mind Bonzi Wells. He was originally drafted by the Pistons, but his rights were traded. He does a lot of things well, he doesn’t need a lot of minutes in order to score, he’s an awesome rebounder for his size, and he’s got good hands. He would be a very useful addition to our bench. I remember I complained all season about how poor our bench was, no one was willing to listen. In regards to Carlos Delfino, I came across this. “Kelvin Cato will not be re-signed. The Pistons likely will look to trade Delfino, who wants to be moved to a situation where he has a chance to play". So it looks as though there goes another one of our extremely talented youngsters due to lack of game time. We’ve had talent on our bench, and even though there are constant calls that our bench is not good enough, we still refuse to play these guys. Can’t understand it.

I thought the Nadal/Hewitt game was played at a brilliant standard. I was very pleased with the way Hewitt played especially considering he’s barely played in the last few months and clay is his least favourite surface. He will be one to watch at Wimbledon that’s for sure. Federer is up against Ancic tonight which should be an absolute beauty. Ancic beat Federer back at Wimbledon in 2002 so this game will be very interesting. I genuinely believe Federer will win the French this year, he’s been getting closer to Nadal every time and Nadal’s spent almost 9 hours on court in his last two matches. On the women’s side I can’t see anyone beating Henin-Hardenne, she’s just at the top of her game right now. I would love to see Hingis win it as it would mean she’s won every Grand Slam.

17 year old Nicole Vaidisova just defeated World No.1 Amelie Mauresmo 6-7, 6-1, 6-2. Year after year Mauresmo finds a way to choke at her home Grand Slam, and isn't it great! Vaidisova played unbelievable today, her ground strokes were on fire, with plenty of power and precision. She really is one of the best young players on tour. She now faces Venus Williams in the Quarter Finals. Lleyton Hewitt will face Rafael Nadal tomorrow and I don't have much confidence. Lleyton is playing great but I think there's only one man who can possibly beat Nadal...

Some big matches tomorrow. Venus Williams vs. Patty Schnyder Justine Henin-Hardenne vs. Anastasia Myskina Maria Sharapova vs. Dinara Safina Lleyton Hewitt is still fighting, however he will likley face Nadal who is currently serving for a 2 sets to 1 lead.