Utah Jazz

Blake Stern previews the NBA's Central Division, breaking down each team's projected lineup and burning question entering the year.

NBA Central Division Preview: Burning questions, rotation projections

Spencer Davies speaks with Taqwa Pinero about his life journey and how he's preparing both the future and current hoop generations.

Taqwa Pinero's knowledge is its own currency, and he's paying it forward

In Colombia, Juan Palacios joked, a soccer ball is given to you at birth.
Basketball found him on the back of a public bus in Medellin when he was 11.&nbsp;
More accurately, it found his mother, Maria.&nbsp;
&ldquo;My mom is about 6-foot-2,&rdquo; said Palacios, a standout hooper at the University of Louisville from 2004 to 2008. &ldquo;One night, after work, a basketball coach sat next to her on the bus. He said, &lsquo;We need a limo so we can be comfortable.&rsquo; He asked her if she had any kids and when she told him I was 6-1 and 11 (years old), he said he wanted to meet me.&rdquo;
His name: Angel.
&ldquo;The guy saw me and told me, &lsquo;You are going to be the best basketball player in Colombia and you will travel the world,&rsquo;&rdquo; Palacios remembered. &ldquo;I had never touched a basketball before.&rdquo;
Now, 37, Palacios is one of the best players in Colombia and basketball has taken him all over the world.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Everything he said became a reality,&rdquo; Palacios said.
Last year, Palacios, who is in Year 14 of his professional basketball career, visited Angel.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He has Alzheimer&rsquo;s, but he remembers me,&rdquo; Palacios said. &ldquo;He was super excited with everything I have accomplished.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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A chance meeting on public transportation, because his mom wanted more leg room, started his journey on the hardwood; within three years, Palacios began drawing attention for his play with the Colombian U18 Men's National Team.&nbsp;
At 15, speaking almost no English, Palacios moved in with a host family and enrolled at Our Savior New American in Centereach, New York.&nbsp;
&ldquo;[They were] like, 'Okay we'll take him,' but it was more of, 'Let's do something nice for him and the world,'&rdquo; Palacios said with a laugh. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t have much hope that I was going to be good, until they saw me at our first practice.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Palacios was a Third Team All-America selection his senior year. Shooting better than 50% from the floor and averaging 20.2 points per game, he was nearly 6-foot-9 and a bulldozer at power forward &mdash; an NBA prospect.
&ldquo;I was playing with grown men over here in Colombia,&rdquo; Palacios said. &ldquo;I knew the hard work I was putting in; I knew I was nice [before they did].&rdquo;
When it came time to pick a college, Palacios chose Louisville for one reason: Rick Pitino.
In Palacios, Pitino saw a frontcourt duplicate of former NBA player Jamal Mashburn; in Pitino, Palacios saw a &ldquo;genius.&rdquo; Someone who understood people every bit as much as he understood basketball.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He holds himself in such a way, when he talks, you have to listen,&rdquo; Palacios said of Pitino. &ldquo;I understood how he was able to manage people. He treats everyone according to what they need. He understood what guys had to be pushed; what guys had to be left alone &mdash; that was how he got the best out of everyone on the court.&rdquo;
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An integral part of a Final Four team his freshman year and Elite Eight team his senior year, Palacios attributed his longevity in the sport to his experience at Louisville.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There is nothing I have seen as a professional that I didn&rsquo;t see with Rick Pitino,&rdquo; Palacios said. &ldquo;Practice, preseason, he prepares you for life.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The most important piece of advice Pitino gave him: &ldquo;Always be under 10% body fat.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I am 37,&rdquo; Palacios said. &ldquo;There are a lot of guys that [came up with me that] have already retired. Longevity is hard &mdash; it&rsquo;s something he cultivated in me.&rdquo;&nbsp;
As a pro, Palacios has played in Spain, the Canary Islands, Colombia, France, Turkey and, currently, Lithuania.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I want to go to Asia, because I have never played there,&rdquo; Palacios said.&nbsp;
As long as his body feels good and he is still performing at a high level, Palacios doesn&rsquo;t expect to retire anytime soon.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have the millions that LeBron does to take care of my body,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get to the point that I look bad on the court. But if the knees don&rsquo;t hurt it will be hard to retire.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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This summer, Palacios took on a new challenge: Rejoining the Colombian national team for the first time in years, in the hopes of leading the country to a FIBA World Cup appearance in August of 2023.
&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t really pay us and I don&rsquo;t need the exposure, but at the end of the day I love my country,&rdquo; Palacios said. &ldquo;I pride myself on doing things that haven&rsquo;t been done too often &mdash; I am glad I came, being part of this is amazing.&rdquo;
In early July, Palacios helped pace Colombia to back-to-back, must-win games over Chile and South American powerhouse, Brazil.&nbsp;
Palacios was the high scorer with 26 points in the back-and-forth, double-overtime win against a Brazilian team anchored by former NBA players Marcelo Huertas and Bruno Caboclo.
&ldquo;That was a crazy moment &mdash; nobody thought we could beat Brazil,&rdquo; Palacios said. &ldquo;Anything can happen in a basketball game &mdash; on the first possession you felt the intensity of the game. Those special moments are what we play for.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The wins advanced Colombia to the second round of World Cup qualifiers &mdash; with games on Aug. 25 and Aug.&nbsp; 28 against Mexico and the United States.&nbsp;
If Colombia qualifies for the World Cup, it will be the nation&rsquo;s first appearance in the tournament since 1982.
&ldquo;Having the opportunity to play against great competition is what I am all about,&rdquo; Palacios said. &ldquo;Playing against the U.S. is going to be nice &mdash; I am thankful.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Noah Perkins interviews former Louisville standout Juan Palacios about Colombia basketball, his time under Rick Pitino and more.

Juan Palacios hopes to guide Colombia to FIBA World Cup

For all the handwringing this summer over Damian Lillard's happiness in Portland, the Trail Blazers guard is staying put, hopeful the team's moves will pay off.
The biggest, of course, was parting ways with coach Terry Stotts after nine seasons. Portland hired Chauncey Billups, who has no prior experience as an NBA head coach.
The nucleus of Lillard, guard CJ McCollum and center Jusuf Nurkic remains intact, but Portland shored up the roster with the addition of Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller and Ben McLemore. Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter have moved on.
While the team didn't strike any splashy offseason deals, Lillard believes the Blazers are in a better place,
&ldquo;Obviously at the end of last season, I wanted to see our roster improve, I wanted us to have a better chance to win,&rdquo; Lillard said. "And we had our conversations throughout the summer about what that looked like and how we could take steps in that direction, and I come into this season with faith that that&rsquo;s going to happen and that we&rsquo;re going to do that.&rdquo;
Portland finished 42-30 last season and earned the sixth seed in the Western Conference. The team won 10 of its final 12 regular-season games but the playoffs ended quickly with the Blazers eliminated by Denver in the opening round.
Lillard is entering his 10th NBA season. The closest he&rsquo;s come to a title was a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2019.
He ranked third in the NBA with an average of 28.8 points last season, and was in the top 10 with 7.5 assists. But it may be Portland's last season with their All-Star and Olympian, unless the team gets results.
&ldquo;I think we all know we've got to get over the hump,&rdquo; Nurkic said.
ANFERNEE'S OPPORTUNITY
Portland didn't make any moves for a proven backup point guard in the offseason, an issue that's plagued the Blazers in recent years. McCollum has taken on those duties at times.
Anfernee Simons, going into his fourth year in the NBA, is looking to fill the role.
When Lillard was given the night off in a preseason game against the Sacramento Kings, Simons scored 24 points.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s continued to make strides and stay aggressive. I want him to always just be confident," Billups said. "Even some nights those shots aren&rsquo;t going to be falling, just him being aggressive and getting spots he wants to get to and playmaking.&rdquo;
MORE INVOLVED
Nurkic is excited about taking on a greater offensive role this season.
Nurkic was frustrated with how he was used last season under Stotts, who leaned on him defensively. Nurkic averaged 11.5 points and nine rebounds last season but missed time because of a broken wrist.
Billups told Nurkic in the offseason that he'd expand his presence on both ends. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking for a big year personally for me and the team," Nurkic said.
VACCINATION STATUS
The Blazers are 100% vaccinated among the players and coaching staff. Lillard said when the vaccinations became available, he wanted to line up his whole family for the shot.
&ldquo;I have a lot of people in my family who I&rsquo;m tight with and spend a lot of time around, and I&rsquo;m just not going to put their health or their lives in danger because I have to go do research,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;As a kid I had to get shots my whole life, before I went to college I had to get shots. And I couldn&rsquo;t tell you one thing about any of them.&rdquo;
FRAUD CASE
Trail Blazers assistant coach Milt Palacio was among 18 former NBA players who were charged in federal court this month with defrauding the league&rsquo;s health and welfare benefit plan. Authorities said the scam involved claiming fictitious medical and dental expenses.
As a result, Palacio was placed on administrative leave by the Blazers.
&ldquo;The federal investigation is independent of the Trail Blazers organization and we will have no further comment pending the outcome of the legal process,&rdquo; the team said.
Former Trail Blazers Sebastian Telfair, Darius Miles and Ruben Patterson were also charged.
BUSY OFFSEASON
The Blazers backcourt didn't rest in the offseason.
Lillard got married to his college sweetheart, won an Olympic gold medal, and released new music. Not to be outdone, CJ McCollum announced he and his wife are expecting their first child, bought a winery and that he was named president of the NBA Players Association.
Lillard brought his gold medal to the team's annual media day, asking whether he should pass it around to the reporters present. Then he quickly changed his mind: &ldquo;Y&rsquo;all can&rsquo;t touch my medal.&rdquo;

For all the handwringing this summer over Damian Lillard's happiness in Portland, the Trail Blazers guard is staying put.