By Joe Becker

On Sunday I had brunch with Bill Russell, Dr. J. , Julius Erving and a few other NBA greats. Actually, I didn't sit with them, but I had brunch with them and about a thousand other NBA luminaries and fans.

It was the 8th annual NBA Legends of basketball brunch at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It's put on by the National Basketball Retired Players Association and they did an amazing job. NBA Commissioner David Stern was there and he said..."This is absolutely the best part of the weekend for me." I might agree.

Besides Russell and Erving....some of the other Legends on hand were.....George Gervin,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Bill Walton, Moses Malone and Oscar Robertson just to name a few. There were dozens more including Kobe Bryant, who made a guest appearance.

Former Blazers Coach Jack Ramsay was honored along with the 1977 NBA Champion Portland Trailblazers. It's the 30th anniversary of the Blazers only NBA Title. It was nice visiting with Dr. Jack and the rest of the team again. Our Ace Sports photographer Brian Warner and I did did a story on the 77 Blazers reunion in Las Vegas.

I must say, the Legends Brunch was first rate all the way.

Blazer fans should be proud of Rookie Brandon Roy. Brandon was there for the Rookie Challenge last Friday and he was so classy. I know he had to be tired. The Blazers were in Miami on Tuesday, Orlando on Wednesday, then flew back to Portland on Wednesday night. Brandon flew to Las Vegas on Thursday. Brian Warner and I met with Brandon at the Palms on Thursday night. He did a nice interview with us and then made his way through the NBA circuit.
I watched as Brandon went through interviews, photo sessions and did promos. He was very polite and courteous to everyone. He was the same way the next day during the Rookie practice in the morning and the Rookie Challenge Friday night. He is a talented player and a real gentleman.

The Rookies and Sophmores worked out at the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. The Ace and I talked with Andre, who seems like a really nice guy. Agassi is from Las Vegas and it looks like he is doing some great things for the kids in his hometown.

All-Star Saturday was a blast...including the Slam Dunk Contest, 3-pt shootout and Skills Competition. I really enjoyed the skills competition won by Dwyane Wade of Miami. He was amazing. Did I mention I was just a few feet from TV star Eva Longoria. I met her last year at the Rose Garden before a Spurs game. She was very nice.

On Sunday, my press seat for the All-Star game was in the upper level, but I wasn't complaining. There are hundreds of media members from all over the World there...and the NBA took care of us. I could see very well. As usual, Shaq, Lebron, Kobe, Amare and company were good....but I also saw Adam Sandler, Prince, Dave Chappelle and David Hasselhoff in the stands. It was a good time.

I made one bet while in Las Vegas. After dinner on Saturday night, I put 5 bucks on Greg Biffle to win the Daytona 500. He was near the front until the big crash at the end. Oh well.

Some of the locals said it was the busiest weekend in Las Vegas in 25 years.
The traffic was terrible on Friday, day and night...but heck, it was 75 degrees every day, the sun was shining and the STARS were out!

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