Ben Ball Roundup:Good News From DG, DC Shines Again & Other Notes

So we get to start this Friday with some great. Everyone can breathe a huge sigh of relief. DG's injury is not serious as some thought it was when it was initially reported couple of days ago. LA Times reports DG's injury to be "only minor." Brian Dohn was able to get a hold of him and got some amusing quotes about him coming back to the basketball court soon:

Gordon was injured Tuesday during the first drill of tryouts for the Under-19 United States national team, which is preparing for the World Basketball Championships, when he jumped for a pass thrown behind him and landed awkwardly. He admitted he had a few restless nights, but he was feeling markedly better after hearing the test results.

"I got better news. It's not anything major," Gordon said. "It's just enough to keep me out of tryouts, that's all.

Gordon will rest his knee for a week before beginning rehabilitation. Rather than travel to New Zealand for the championships, he is hopeful of playing in a summer league.

"I'll just pretend the Men's Gym (at UCLA) is New Zealand," Gordon said. "This isn't a major injury whatsoever. I should be back in commission in a few weeks."

Gotta love his attitude. I still think he should take his time a little and not rush back just to be safe. We are going to need him in a big way next season because I think he along with ML has the potential to really take control of the new generation of Ben Ball warriors. Anyway, great news all around.

Speaking of leader of Ben Ball warriors, it looks like DC has aced another job interview. This time it was with the Portland Trailblazers.  Sean Meager from OregonLive.com reports that DC shined in defense and penetrating the paint on offense. Sean was also impressed by DC's self confidence during his interviews.  Ben. from Blazers Edge (our SBN colleague covering the Portland Trailblazers) wrote this:

Darren Collison should give lessons on how to conduct pre-draft workout interviews to other prospects.  In terms of selling himself, understanding a team's needs, understanding his role within a team, conveying his desire to play for a specific team and overall "getting it" I don't think anyone has matched Collison.  [...]

It's like this guy read a month full of fanposts, condensed them down into talking points and then delivered them point after point in a verbal grand slam.  In addition, Collison's sincerity was off the charts, his toughness was praised by everyone that was asked and, perhaps most importantly, his skillset and size are complementary to Blake and/or Bayless.  There's not a lot of overlap between those three guys.  He seems like a fit on a number of different levels. 

Well here is the interview DC gave to Sean from OregonLive:

DC is of course lot more than just talking points. The Blazer's Edge posted a number of glowing reviews on DC's workout performance from Blazer's front office personnel including the following take from Chad Buchanan, their Director of College Scouting:

He's an NBA player. Thought he was very good today. Has great command of the ball. Very poised. Makes good decisions. Shoots a really soft ball. Good quicks, handles it. He's a pretty complete player. I think he's getting there [defensively], he's got the feet to do it. I wouldn't call him a great defender at this point but I think he can be. He was asked to do so much offensively that can kind of take away a kid's defensive mindset. He's going to be a fine guard in our league. I wouldn't say he has the same type of speed as Aaron [Brooks], he's got speed though. You don't see it as much because UCLA plays a slow, grind-it-out style so you don't see him going up and down as much. His family has a track pedigree, he has great north south speed. I think you'll see it at our level.