Rip City Report, Episode 19

Greetings from Las Vegas. Both Joe Freeman of The Oregonian and I, Casey Holdahl of this blog and Trailblazers.com, are in Sin City to cover Damian Lillard’s quest to make the USA Basketball roster for the 2014 FIBA World Cup, so we figured we might as well sit down and record the 19th edition of the Rip City Report. In this offseason edition, we discuss how Lillard has performed during the four days of workouts and handicap his prospects of making the final roster. And in a Rip City Report first, Lillard joined the podcast to talk about the experience with USA Basketball, during which he was able to work in some devastating burns regarding Joe’s beard and my rapidly-receding hairline. It’s worth listening for that 30 seconds alone. We also consider LaMarcus Aldridge’s decision to decline playing for USA Basketball at the World Cup, briefly touch upon the Trail Blazers’ performance at Summer League and congratulate Will Barton on becoming a father.