I'm in Portland, where news is breaking here about a Seattleite we all care about -- Brandon Roy, last season's NBA rookie of the year. He missed practice due to more complications with his left heel, although MRI results showed no damage. Now, everyone here is wondering why he didn't have surgery during the offseason, especially since he had a flare up this summer. Blazers' coach Nate McMillan is even thinking about keeping his premier player out of the entire exhibition season.

Roy isn't exactly up for that, however. He said he likes to warm up to the regular season and doesn't want his first real stint to be the opener against San Antonio. He's going to stay out of practice this week and closely monitor the heel. Roy wants to play in at least three exhibition games, which would include the matchup against the Sonics, and thinks he can persuade McMillan to agree despite saying the coach was "firm" about his decision on Tuesday.

"With Greg [Oden] out, we're just too thin," Roy said about having surgery now. "I need to be out there to help this team win."

A surprise guest at camp was Dwane Casey, former Sonics associate head coach under McMillan and recently fired as Minnesota coach. Casey has been peeping in on McMillan's camp the past two days and Casey said he's going to make stops in Cleveland and Orlando, among others this season.

Sources say Casey had a few offers to get back in the league (he was considered for the Supes position), but he said next season is probably when he'll get back in the NBA.

Casey traveled to China with Blazers guard/forward Martell Webster and former Gonzaga star Adam Morrison (Charlotte) for an Adidas camp and both Webster and Casey had some funny stories about Morrison. My favorite was that Morrison is still into the chew (tobacco), but would also take smoke breaks with the Chinese outside the facility. They formed a semi-circle around the 6-foot-9 NBA player puffing away. How Morrison does it and still plays, nobody knows -- including Casey and Webster.