Timmay

CJ McCollum fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot as a rookie before the season started. This was the same bone he injured while at Lehigh and w/ Martell much fresher in people's minds then, there was a lot of worrying about CJ's future.

So hopefully this goes the CJ route.

For anyone who doesn't know what the "fifth metatarsal" is, it's the bone at the base of your pinkie toe. Should have full recovery after healing. But it hurts like heck right now, I'm sure.

Long-time Blazers fans may remember that Martell Webster suffered a fifth metatarsal injury in 2008. He came back a few months later, played literally one half of one game in Toronto, got re-injured, and missed the rest of the season.

So, the Blazers should exercise caution with Blake Wesley.

Random tip: If they're house spiders, don't relocate them outside. Crawl space is better.

FWIW, yesterday I was involved in literally two conversations where someone asked if the Blazers are hoping to just have Splitter be interim coach until they can bring back Chauncey Billups. Kind of speaks to the current opinion of the Blazers front office.

You claim this game is on NBC and Peacock, but your linked how-to-view guide shows it as Peacock-only, and my local NBC affiliate (West coast) isn't showing it. Is it really on NBC as well?

A long time ago I actually built up a series of notes about Billups and his tenure, for a point when the situation inevitably boiled over (but I didn't expect it to happen like this). Good news for the Blazers, I can't find those notes right now, and am not doing much writing.

The Blazers hired two coaches arrested by the Feds. One of them had some obvious concerns that were easily dug up by rando's on the internet. And the front office doing the hiring/vetting is still employed. And last night, their opponent's fans chanted "FBI" during a free throw. It's bad.

It's 56 less than a good Heinz 57. It's basic math.

I showed it to someone close to me, and she actually asked, "Wait, are they hiring someone named Al, or going to apply steak sauce to the situation?"

Look closer at the font of the "I" in "AL" in the screenshot.

A screenshot of a story about the NBA utilizing "AI" as a took to check on betting, but the font reflects that it looks like they spelled it as "AL".

In case you missed today's big news story broken by Shams Charania, the NBA has apparently hired some dude named Al, and will be utilizing him to check betting activity.

The Blazers' supposedly-tough early schedule is softening fast. Even beyond the two upcoming games against the Lakers minus Luka/LeBron, some of the "good" teams coming up aren't looking all that special.

At the start of the actual game broadcast, a calm Kevin Calabro reiterated that there are allegations against Chauncey Billups, he's placed on leave, then also read the Blazers' statement and threw it to Splitter. As you'd expect, both Kevin and Brooke were pro's throughout.

"Oh hey, we found a hidden provision in your old contract that you're required to return as head coach at your old pay if the next coach is arrested on Federal charges."

In a "my brain is funny" moment, I kind of treated Tiago Splitter's elevation to head coach as the equivalent of when Terry Stotts would move Jake Layman into the starting lineup to keep the rest of the rotation intact.

But then I also just kinda missed Terry Stotts.

Brooke was exactly the pro you'd expect her to be in that situation.

Blazers Broadcasting openly acknowledged the Billups situation at the beginning of the pregame show, with Brooke carefully stating the general situation of his suspension, showing and reading the team's press release and then moving to footage from Splitter's pregame press conference.

New Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter spoke with media pregame for the first time after Chauncey Billups' arrest.

While fielding questions, he made it clear the team is trying to stay focused on basketball and moving forward with their jobs.

Here are a few quotes from the interview:

I will always remember exactly where I was when the news broke that Billups was signed to a contract extension.

Until that moment, I gave Joe Cronin and the Blazers front office the benefit of the doubt, that they were just waiting out Neil Olshey's mistake.

It immediately became Cronin's mistake.

I think the players will move on pretty quickly, and are probably thrilled to have a game to play tonight in front of the home fans, who will almost surely be in an extra-good mood. Prepare for Tiago Splitter's introduction ovation.

So tonight’s Blazers pregame show is appointment viewing, yes?

It’s almost as if they were happier not knowing.

It has been a long day, and I'm spent. At the end of it, I mostly find myself just truly frustrated at the Portland Trail Blazers organization. There are absolutely no excuses to justify the franchise ending up in this position. Accountability is required.

I'm amazed how many people easily conflate "Chauncey Billups, the personality" with "Chauncey Billups, the person". The former enables the latter.

Horford does not play both halves of back to backs, so he should sit Friday in Portland with the Warriors on short rest.

Oh, hey, let's talk about something fun:

Tiago Splitter seems like a really promising head coach candidate. And at least as far as I know, he's not a terrible person. He should be a good candidate to guide the players through what is going to be a very awkward stretch until ownership changes.

I may be forced to assume that the @bsky.app trending topics system is broken since Chauncey Billups still isn't listed there.

There is a lot of "it's just a rigged poker game!" (which BTW is already really really bad based on the details) and I think it's sometimes getting missed that it already looks like it's worse.

I think the funniest thing I've read today are the ongoing arguments among NBA fans about whether Billups was intentionally trying to lose games as Blazers head coach, or whether he was just simply that bad of a coach.