Pick & Scroll: Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Nets Come Crashing In.

Your daily (Mon-Fri) roundup of links from around the blogosphere, typically Trail Blazers related. 

Tonight the Portland Trail Blazers(25-29) welcome back Gerald “Crash” Wallace in his first return to the Rose Garden since being shopped to the New Jersey Nets(19-36) a few weeks ago. 

Wallace is average 15.9 points, seven rebounds and 1.7 steals in his 10 games as a member of the Nets. 

Wallace was a fan favorite during his stint as a Blazer and often drew raucous praise from Rip City, but tonight the people of Portland must put their Crash-crush on hold — it’s in their favor to do so. 

Every Wallace inspired Nets victory damages the potential positioning of where the Top-3 protected lottery pick Portland acquired from the Nets could end up. Ideally, the Nets need to finish with the fourth-worst record in the league to give the Blazers a legitimate chance to land the No. 4 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. 

As much as many of Portland’s fans want the season to swirl down the toilet bowl, tonight should serve as a catalyst to reunite the entirety of the fan base toward the original common goal: winning a game.

Tonight, rise again, Rip City. 

Links:

• Oregonian Sports preview for tonight’s Blazers/Nets tilt.
• Mike Tokito of the Oregonian takes a look at his most interesting NBA stories over the last 24 hours, including Portland’s need to cater to free-agent-to-be Deron Williams and an in depth analysis of tanking. 
• Paul Allen’s “other” franchise led the way with their new NFL uniform makeovers. The Seahawks got swagged out, y’all.
• In other Pacific Northwest news, freshman phenom Tony Wroten Jr. out of the University of Washington has declared for the NBA draft. He’s projected anywhere between a lottery pick to a late first-rounder. Wroten attended the Garfield High School in Seattle, like Brandon Roy. Check out his highlights.
• On espn.com’s NBA page, Jared Sullinger declaring for the draft is inexplicably the top headline. This guy won’t pan out. Nothing to see here, carry on. 
• If David Stern had his way, the Kentucky freshman all-star team would be attempting a repeat for the title next year. Stern wants to add another year before players become eligible for the NBA draft.

Thoughts, ideas and challenges to 1-on-1 games, are happily accepted in the comments section.