Our pic of the day comes courtesy of East Rutherford where Blazers NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy and GM Kevin Pritchard react to winning the NBA draft lottery last night. The Blazers, who won 32 games (one less than the Knicks folks) had their slim 5.3 percent chance come through to pull an upset over the NBA’s worst Memphis and the Celtics:

With a core which includes the gifted Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Zach Randolph, Jarrett Jack, Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster, the Blazers certainly have a young nucleus in place where selecting either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant could just vault them back into the playoffs.

The question is what will Pritchard do with the moody Randolph. The former Spartan is a talented player who averaged a double double (23.6 PPG, 10.1 RPG) in 68 games. He turns 26 later this summer. Does he fit in or will Portland finally trade him? He’s a solid scorer and rebounder but is injury prone and has had his reputation questioned.

Maybe the Blazers go in a different direction here. Winning the No.1 overall pick gives them many options. Will some team make them a can’t miss offer to move down that puts them into serious contention sooner than people expect like ESPN’s Jon Barry asserted to the shock of Stephen A. Smith at a roundtable discussion?

You never can tell. Especially with a franchise which once passed on Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton to select Sam Bowie second overall over two decades ago.

With the Grizzlies and Celtics upset (if you saw Jerry West’s face and Boston’s Lottery Party reaction you know- not even kidding here! ), the Sonics moved up to No.2 while the Hawks were third which was good news for them because had they dropped further, that pick would’ve gone to Phoenix (gulp). Instead, the Hawks boast both the 3rd and 11th overall selections. They desperately need a point guard. So figure Mike Conley, Jr. to fit the bill there with one of those picks.

Memphis, Boston and Milwaukee (NBA’s three worst teams) slipped to fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

So, does anyone want to try to caption this pic of a demoralized West. Just look at it and his reaction:

“It’s about as disappointing as you could ever hope for. It’s like pitching pennies. It’s grossly unfair to the team, but I’ve said it before, I don’t think the lottery is fair. I never liked it. I don’t think it’s a good system at all, period.”

What a bitter old man. As if he didn’t have a lot of luck when he built those championship Laker teams. You chose to work in Memphis when you could’ve ridden out to the sunset. Take it like a man or just do everyone a favor and get out!

Does anyone want to put a real caption on that sad photo? Any takers?!?!?!?!?!

The Bulls had the rights to the Knicks’ pick as part of the Eddy Curry deal. The good news for lifetime man Isiah Thomas is that Chicago wound up with the ninth pick. They should still get a good player (Joakim Noah???) but at least it’s not the dreaded worst case scenario of either Oden or Durant.

Here’s the full lottery results with the draft in NYC set for June 28th:
1.Portland

2.Seattle

3.Atlanta

4.Memphis

5.Boston

6.Milwaukee

7.Minnesota

8.Charlotte

9.Chicago (from Knicks)

10.Sacramento

11.Atlanta (from Indiana)

12.Philadelphia

13.New Orleans

14.L.A. Clippers

One quick thought on Vince Carter’s demand for a three-year $60 million extension:

No freaking way the Nets and Rod Thorn do that. As the NY Post’s Peter Vecsey pointed out in a Tuesday column, the 30 year-old small forward is slowing down which also might explain the more predictable bail outs in Vince’s game against smaller defenders. He’s still explosive but just not as consistent. And as I’ve pointed out here before, the former Air Canada has never been a clutch playoff performer.

It’s time for the Nets to move on. If that means signing and trading the superstar, then they should do it. They can definitely find a taker and get something back for him.

Our pic of the day comes courtesy of last night’s Sens’ Game 3 1-0 win over the Sabres which put them within a victory of the Stanley Cup Final. Here is a great shot of captain Daniel Alfredsson tapping home the only goal past a sprawled out Ryan Miller to help give his team a commanding 3-0 lead on the top seeded Sabres:

Our pic of the day comes courtesy of Ottawa star center Jason Spezza as he prepares during a team practice for the Eastern Conference Final against Buffalo. The best-of-seven series begins Thursday night at 7 ET/4 PT up at HSBC Arena:

Sometimes, a picture is all you need to see because it can tell you so much. Our moment of silence for Josh Hancock:

It comes via Golden State’s huge Game Four win over the top seeded Mavericks to go up 3-1 in the first round series. Who else but their best player Baron Davis:

Quick thought: What in the hell did the Hornets get back for this guy? What were they thinking?!?!?!?!?!

This comes via last night’s Ottawa 5-4 Game One victory over New Jersey as they stunned three-time Cup winner Martin Brodeur by getting the first four on him in the opening stanza. Here’s a great high end look at one of those pucks beating the future Hall of Famer:

This comes courtesy of the Sabres’ 5-2 Game One victory over the Rangers as Thomas Vanek scored his second goal of the night beating Henrik Lundqvist top shelf. Check out this cool over the head look at it. The actual camera angle is referred to as the “high end” look because it’s shot all the way at the top of the arena:

It’s a classic pic from Wimbledon Centre Court:

Today, the prestigious Grand Slam tournament announced that they will hand out the highest prize money in tennis history. Both the men’s and women’s singles champions will receive 700,000 pounds or the equivalent of $1.4 million. The total amount for all the winners comes to 11,282,710 pounds- an increase of 8.7 percent from last year.

After many years of severe criticism and procrastination, the All England Club finally came to its collective senses and decided to reward women with equal prize money. Due to this smart decision, the women’s total prize money increased 19.8 percent.

It’s about time!

Our pic of the day comes courtesy of Alex Rodriguez, who made major league history by reaching 14 home runs faster than any other player when he connected for his second homer of the night against Tampa closer Al Reyes in the ninth during the Yanks’ 10-8 loss.

The 14 dingers in the Yank’s first 18 games matched Cards’ superstar Albert Pujols for the most in a first month. Just look at the contact the two-time AL MVP made in this shot:

It kind of looks eerily similar to Robert Redford’s baseball character Roy Hobbs in The Natural where everything he hit went out.

Comes courtesy of the big Ranger Game Two win over Atlanta from a toothless Shanny who got the winner. Doesn’t he look happy?

And one more with feeling from pest extraordinaire from No.1 Star Sean Avery with entertaining commentary below from the game’s most underrated player!

“When you win two on the road, I don’t care what organization you are, it’s an accomplishment.”

“It’s going to be unbelievable going home to the Garden; I get goosebumps thinking about how loud it will be.” 

“I’m sure that had something to do with who he was punching,” Avery said. “But that’s all right.”

It’s been all right for Avery since he joined the Rangers on Feb. 5. It was all right for the Rangers here in a hostile environment in which the single-finger salute was directed en masse from the stands at No. 16.

“I love that kind of thing; it pumps me up. I started counting the number of people giving me the finger, but I stopped when I got to 20.”

Read the rest of NY Post’s Larry Brooks article here:

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