Portland is making a change — Jamal Crawford, not Raymond Felton, will be the starting point guard for the Trail Blazers when they face off against the Spurs tonight, reports the Oregonian. So here’s your starting job, Mr. Crawford, enjoy trying to stop the hottest player in the league in Tony Parker. But the move isn’t a surprise. Felton is shooting a career low 37.1 percent so far this season, 22.9 percent from three, his assists are at a career low while his turnovers are at a career high, his PER is 10.5 (that of of a third-string guard) and he helped lead the Trail Blazers to a franchise low 7 points in the first quarter against the Lakers Monday night. Portland is struggling, Felton is struggling and coach Nate McMillan decided to shake things up.

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HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: Their make-over probably won’t stop with Rasheed Wallace.

Reports indicate the Los Angeles Lakers are speaking to the Portland Trail Blazers about Ray Felton, who is upset after losing his starting spot.

Face it: Derek Fisher is old and Steve Blake has struggled since signing with the purple-and-gold.

Coach Mike Brown would surely run Felton through pick-and-rolls like Mike D’Antoni did in New York last year. And the veteran table-setter would also fit Brown’s get-stops mentality on defense.

Best of all, Felton has the tenacity to stand up to Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant -without creating a Smush Parker type standoff.

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The Los Angeles Clippers are tired of seeing Blake Griffin take hard fouls and have vowed to protect their All-Star forward if it continues. "I feel like people are intentionally trying to hurt him," Clippers center DeAndre Jordan said. "It'll all come back around."

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HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: One Los Angeles Clipper, DeAndre Jordan, gets it. They must fight back.

For months, opponents have subjected superstar, franchise face, and NBA glamour boy Blake Griffin to hard fouls with little to no fear of retaliation from his Clipper teammates.

The 2011 Sprite Slam Dunk champ faces such tactics for two reasons. First, it sometimes throws him off. And two, opponents hit him with a hard foul to prevent him dropping a grand facial on their dome (you know exactly what we’re talking about).

Old time basketball is one thing. Fans of the Detroit ‘Bad Boys’ or those old Anthony Mason Knick squads have no issue with a wee donnybrook breaking out at an NBA game. The problem has been that the Clippers haven’t defended their star teammate by returning the hard foul when opponents drive the lane.

Part of this is personality. The Clippers are a young, loose bunch. Their focus has often been in question; many like star table-setter Chris Paul seem to enjoy the glitz of Los Angeles.

Part of this is on-court style. The Clippers are a fast, lively bunch who excel when in the open-court tossing each other highlight reel alley-oops.

Credit Jordan for stepping up and talking about sending a message. With the grind-it-out playoffs around the corner, he and the Clippers must do far more than talk, though.

--Got thoughts? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.

George Karl Throws Accusations at Bynum.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: Crying because you got smacked down ain't manly.

Denver Nuggest coach George Karl suggests Andrew Bynum didn't earn his triple-double. Karl says Bynum was playing illegal defense the entire game. The reality is what else is Karl goingto say. He can't exactly admit that Bynum dominated the Denver big men like they were a bunch of 15-year old AAU players away from home for the first time. He can't tell his team they don't stand a chance in hell of beating Los Angeles, so he told the world LA cheated.

Bynum produced the first triple-double of his career with 13 rebounds, 10 blocks, and 10 points. His 10 blocks ties an NBA record. Karl's post game rants appear to be both posturing to the refs and giving his team a rationalization for their total game-1 collapse.

Denver entered Sunday's game hopeful of their chances with Metta World Peace being out, but the Lakers erased any optimism on Denver's sideline with a first game 103-88 smack  down. 

Got thoughts? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.

Rumor: Vanessa Bryant calls off her divorce from Kobe.

HoopsVibe Very Quick Call: Kobe must be one helluva smooth talker to get himself out of this one.

Kobe Bryant is quoted as saying, "Kevin Durant is a 6'11" version of me."

HoopsVibe Very Quick Call: That's one hell of an endorsement coming from the Black Mamba.

Pau Gasol trade a done deal for LA.

HoopsVibe Very Quick Call: Pack your bags Pau. You won't be back in Hollywood next season.

Lakers' Ramon Sessions entering free agency. 

HoopsVibe Very Quick Call: Sessions smells that the Lakers are in a tough position and he's smart to levarage it for more money.

Los Angeles guard Ramon Sessions is declining his one-year option for 2012-2-13 and instead looking to test the free agent waters. He's clearly hoping to garner more than the $4.55 million option the Lakers had on the table. 

Sessions had a productive year with Los Angeles averaging 12.7 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.8 rebounds in 23 regular-season games. The Lakers need his speed and quickness both on offense and defense. They will be forced to still try and sign him through free agency, but would likely have to pay more.

LA traded long time point guard Derek Fisher away last off-season, due to his declining lateral mobility and will be in a bad situation if they can't resign Sessions for a reasonable amount of money. They've still got Gasol as an option to trade, but the problem is they don't have much money to play with and the number of quality guards available this off-season with comparable quickness are few.

For more info, updates, and babble follow on twitter @HoopsVibe.com

Photo Credit: AP NEWS.

Odom traded to Los Angeles

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Lamar loves LA. Now let's see if he can still play ball.

Lamar is headed back to Los Angeles, but not back to the Lakers. He's heading back to his original LA team, the Clippers. The only difference is this time they actually have a descent team. This is all part of a three team deal. The Clippers, Mavs, and Jazz all have their hands in the cookie jar in this trade.

The trade sends Odom to the Clippers and Mo Williams to the Jazz. The Jazz are capable of absorbing Williams's $8.5 million price tag due to an $8.2 million trade exception, similar to the one that brought Odom from the Lakers to Dallas last season.

The deal hinges on Williams exercising his $8.5 million player option for next season, but sources say Williams is game. The Clippers are clearly banking on the fact that having Lamar back in LA where he feels comfortable, he will be able to bounce back to his 2010-2011 form as the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year and not his 6 points per game form in Dallas. The Jazz are happy to get their hands on Williams's 13.2 points per game as Mo is known as an offensive machine.

Andrew Bynum hints he may be headed to Orlando.

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Does everyone only communicate through twitter?

Lakers to retire Shaq's number.

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Well, we knew Orlando wasn't going to do it.

It's official, the Los Angeles Lakers will retire Shaq's #34. The dedication ceremony will be on April 2. One day earlier and we would have really had some news. I can think of nothing more fitting than a dedication ceremony on April Fools Day.

Most view this as a given. The Lakers needed to retire his number seeing has he will go down in history as one of the best big men ever. His numbers speak for themselves and yet, I can't help but thinking Shaq's a little relieved. It's obviously common knowledge that Shaq left LA feuding with Kobe. Shaq bounced around the league with a number of teams, won a championship in Miami, and grew to accept his role, as a backup center.

His career stats are impressive though. Shaq's a 15-time All-Star, won 4 NBA titles (3 in LA and 1 in Miami), he finished with 28,596 points, (23.7 ppg), 13,099 rebounds (10.9 rpg), and 2,732 blocks (2.3 bpg). These are monster numbers and his per game averages were somewhat deflated by his lengthy exit strategy from the league where he played significantly past his prime and lowered those numbers. 

He will be remembered for his on the court dominance, his larger than life personality, and even his off the court antics. His ex-wife has left us with the dubious pop reality of "Basketball Wives" on VH1 and Shaq's transitioned into an NBA analyst. 

For more info, updates, and gossip follow @HoopsVibe.

Photo Credit: WENN

Meme of the Day.

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: This one goes out to Kobe and Laker fans everywhere. Enjoy.

By now, any fan or follower of the NBA is familiar with the article, Brian Windhorst, NBA writer for ESPN.com, published on Thursday about the Lakers eyeing Lebron James.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  Talk about Lebron doing anything and expect the pot to get stirred.

Three different games mark the beginning of the 2012-13 NBA regular season Tuesday night.
 
Hoopsvibe's quick call:  After an interesting offseason, let the games begin.

Lakers fire Mike Brown. Who will be new Lakers Coach.

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Here's the short list of the names being tossed around for the job.

Apparently, even Phil Jackson was shocked that the Lakers decided to hire Mike D'Antoni instead of the Zenmaster himself.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  So are we, Phil.  So are we.

The Lakers lost to the Grizzlies Friday night, falling to 0-4 on the road.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  Kobe can't do everything; Gasol and Howard will need to be consistent on offense if the Lakers want to win games.

The Lakers lost again last night, and their performance has been so sub-par lately that hearing them lose is no longer coming as a surprise.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  They are going to have to step up their game in a lot of areas if they want to be a competitive team in the Western Conference this season.

The Los Angeles Lakers have waited long enough for Steve Nash's return and it's been reported that the wait is almost over.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  As great of a point guard Nash is, I'm not sure he's going to be the Lakers' savior this season.

Clippers staying focused as they tear apart the West.

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Could the Clippers really be this good? Are they built for the playoffs?

Despite a 15-15 record, Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant has good reason to be confident going into tonight's game against the 76ers.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  Even in his 17th season, Bryant hasn't lost a step.

It's just amazing how poorly this has worked out.

HoopsVibe Very Quick Call: The Lakers are a trainwreck that keeps having new accidents.

Who's better the 71-72 Lakers or the 12-13 Heat?

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: The season's not over, but comparisons have already begun. This one's a lot closer than Heat haters want to admit.

The question has been boiling to the service as the Miami Heat's winning streak kept growing. Now that it's over some comparisons are unavoidable. Both teams are clearly dominating the league, but lets go inside the numbers.

Win Streak: Lakers 33 games, Miami 27.

Overall Record: Lakers 69-13, Miami 56-15 (11 games left)

Big 3: Lakers (Chamberlain, West, Goodrich), Miami (James, Wade, Bosh).

Lead over closest team: Lakers 18 games ahead of the Warriors, Miami 11.5 ahead of the Knicks.

Points Per Game: Lakers 121, Miami 103.4.

Points Allowed Per Game: Lakers, 108.7, Miami 95.6.

Field Goal %: Lakers 49%, Miami 49.6%.

Computer Simulation: Gives the edge to the Lakers 54% of the time. (Got to love the age of computers)

Looks like the Lakers are the better team on paper. If these two squads went head-to-head it would be a match-up nightmare for both squads. Who does Miami put on Chamberlain? Who do the Lakers put on LeBron? Although both teams would put up big numbers the Lakers would eventually win. They'd dominate the boards and although Wade's quickness would offset some Laker offense, the big three of Los Angeles are more balanced in terms of skill sets. West, Goodrich, and Chamberlain are position players. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh are hybrid players that still today don't always know their roles.

Of course, all bets are off if the Heat don't win the championship at the end of the season. If we learned nothing from the New England Patriots almost undefeated season before they lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, it's that great regular season count for almost nothing if you don't cap it off with a ring. 

Ex Laker arrested by FBI agents this week for murdering a single mother of four in Atlanta.

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Nothing about this isn't tragic.

Stephen A. Smith creates a stir claiming the Clippers are in talks to execute a blockbuster trade with the Celtics.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  This rumor sounds almost too ridiculous to be true, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Kobe Bryant has been all over Twitter since he joined a few months back, and on Tuesday, decided to tweet a pretty graphic image of his achilles surgery from a month ago.

Hoopsvibe's quick call:  If you get a little queesy, you might not want to look at this picture.  We warned you.

HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: This morning, I was doing my normal am routine: black coffee, cream-cheese bagel, and NBA news.

One rumors excerpt on HoopsHype caught my eye. ESPN Los Angeles had an exclusive tale of LeBron James in Las Vegas. In the one trailer paragraph I read, there were scantily clad women, gambling, and booze.

`Vegas Baby`. What a perfect way to start my day. Or so I thought.

I clicked the link and got a blank screen. I clicked the link a second time and still got a blank screen. Third times a charm, right? Wrong.

While the Hoopshype link took the reader to a new screen, something, or someone, made sure the story didn't appear. Mid-morning, I learned ESPN had `pulled` the story.

I guess what happens in Vegas, really stays in Vegas, especially if you’re an NBA superstar with a recent run of bad publicity.

Thankfully, this thing somehow ended up on the Internet. A version of the story is available here in HTML.

Enjoy kids.

--Oly Sandor.

Got thoughts on LeBron's Vegas adventure? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.