Rudy Fernandez is stuck between a rock and Paul Allen’s pocketbook, and he’s not getting out anytime soon. Unfortunately, he hasn’t realized it yet. Feeling underutilized and under-appreciated, Fernandez has threatened to sit out the remaining two seasons of his contract unless the Blazers trade him or buy out the remainder of his contract so he can play in Europe.

Meanwhile, the Blazers refuse to give up a valuable asset for chump change, choosing instead to call Fernandez’s bluff.

The result is a standoff as lopsided as the 2002 NBA Finals.

On one side, you have Fernandez, a third year veteran unhappy with his role with the team. His beef is legitimate: he’s not getting minutes and, despite being an all-around talent, he has been relegated to the role of one-dimensional shooter. The problem is he has no leverage. He’s the NBA equivalent of a bank robber without a gun. The Blazers have him under contract and there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it other than bitch and moan, which he’s done a fair amount of this summer.

On the other side are the Blazers, holding a Delonte West-sized arsenal.

With both the NBA and FIBA on their side, they are in a position of absolute power. As long as the Blazers have Fernandez under contract, which they do for this season and next, he can’t go anywhere. Fernandez can posture about leaving for Europe all he wants, but technically his fortunes are chained to the whims of general manager Rich Cho for the next two seasons — under FIBA rules a player can’t sign with a European team unless his NBA team releases him.

On top of that, the league is putting the squeeze on Fernandez to keep his mouth shut. They’ve already fined him $25,000 for “statements detrimental to the league” in response to his refusal to play for the Blazers, and I’m sure they won’t hesitate to do so again if it means keeping their international rep intact.

David Stern has long made bones about wanting to expand the NBA’s international reach. There’s no way he’s going to let one disgruntled Spaniard ruin it for him.

On top of that top (see what I did there?), Fernandez isn’t as essential to the team’s success as he was in previous seasons. He’s a talented player (you don’t break the rookie record for 3-pointers by chance), but the offseason signing of Wesley Matthews means the Blazers are as loaded at shooting guard as they’ve ever been. In other words, he’s no Darrelle Revis.

All of which adds up to zero leverage for Fernandez.

As John Hollinger tweeted on Wednesday, “You could push on a string and get more leverage than Rudy Fernandez has right now.”

Given the tepid trade offers Cho has been receiving, Fernandez is better off shutting his mouth, returning to the team and putting in the extra work needed to increase his value at the trade deadline.

He may be itching to get out of Portland, but this is one standoff Fernandez is not going to win. Right now he’s just prolonging the inevitable, and making everyone miserable in the process.

Patrick Crawley is the sports editor for Neon Tommy and the managing editor of Basketball Fiend. Follow him on Twitter at @BasketballFiend.

• Greg Oden’s latest injury has Blazers fans singing the blues

I’m not ready to write off Greg Oden of the Portland Trailblazers yet, but if past performance is indicative of future results he’s not gonna spend a lot of time on the court. He injured his wrist his only season at Ohio St. and he’s now in his second season in the league and he still hasn’t played one full game. I wanna believe Greg’s body will eventually allow him to play basketball without any major injuries even though at the age of 55 it’s amazing he’s lasted this long.

Darius Miles recently signed with the Boston Celtics meaning Cs fans will get a steady dose of Miles pounding his head if the troubled forward can get on the floor. Darius and former Los Angeles Clippers teammate Quentin Richardson started doing the DFHB years ago, and it’s good to see that Miles is keeping the tradition alive.. Even while playing air hockey.

The info section on the YouTube page for this video says Darius Miles was playing against a kid. If that’s true it means Miles is the type of dude that congratulates himself over for the most mundane task… I made it to practice on time.. Double fisted head bump. I took a leak and didn’t get any on the floor.. Double fisted head bump. I didn’t violate the NBA’s anti-Drug program.. Double fisted oohh.. oooops.

Two good notes for Darius Miles.. At least he doesn’t sound punch drunk in the above video like he did in this Slam Ball interview:

and none of his homies are getting busted for having a couple ounces some weed.

Former NBA player Vincent Askew is locked up as the result of a May sexual encounter with a 16-year-old girl. The menace to virginity claimed to be a high school recruiter to lure the young lady to his hotel.

CBS4.com has the details of Askew’s arrest:

He is now sitting in the county jail charged with three counts of sexual battery on a 16-year-old. The consensual sex allegedly took place in May at a Ramada hotel down the street from Dadeland Mall.

He allegedly told the victim that he was recruiting for Gulliver Prep girls’ basketball team. She did not attend the school.

CBS4′s David Sutta spoke with Gulliver staff, and they told him he supervised the pool at the middle school for a month. They were considering hiring him as a coach.

The fact that it was consensual sex doesn’t and shouldn’t matter. Askew’s 42 years old. Vince wasn’t much of a player, but he should be able to pull legal aged women that he doesn’t have to entice with hopes of a spot on the high school basketball team. I guess it’s not all Askew’s fault. There’s obviously something in the Florida water that makes athletes chase under aged girls.

Vincent Askew, NBA, arrest

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B0heT301xM]

Fresh off of being the number one overall pick and signing a new deal, Greg Oden was at the Blazers’ first Summer League practice. Kevin Pritchard says the team needs to strengthen the backboards now that Greg’s around.. Jarrett Jack and Sergio Rodriguez think Oden’s “big”. Thanks fellas.

It seems like the Blazers were succesful at their image makeover. The “JailBlazers” are a distant thought since the new face of the franchise showed up. Oden might not ever win a championship but he’ll never embarrass the franchise either.

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According to information provided by the Oregonian’s Jason Quick and my assumptive deduction, 2 players from the Garnett, Iverson, and Kobe trio were recently offered to Portland in exchange for the #1 pick. You can listen to Jason drop the hint here or just check out this quick excerpt:

“I know that two Western Conference teams have offered their superstars in return for the number one pick… And they are Hall of Famers and the Blazers have turned them down on both.”

There you have it. So how did I end up with Kobe, KG, and AI representing the players on the block? Walk with me.

NO CONSIDERATION: Portland and Seattle obviously. New Orleans, Memphis, Utah, Golden State, and Sacramento all have zero Hall of Famers on their rosters at this moment.

NOT YET: Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and the L.A. Clippers all have players that are close or should play their way into the Hall of Fame. Dirk Nowitzki should be in one day, Tracy McGrady needs a few more solid years and he has to do some damage in the playoffs, Yao Ming could get in one day if he continues to improve, and Elton Brand has a legitimate chance if he continues on his current pace. I don’t have Steve Nash from Phoenix in the Hall of Fame yet. I know Steve has the two MVPs but his career numbers 14pts, 7.6ast, and 2.9rbds, are still lower than Stephon Marbury’s 19.9pts, 7.9ast, and 3.0rbds, even with Nash’s incredible 3 season stretch.

NOW WE’RE TALKING: San Antonio, Denver, Minnesota, and the L.A.L are the only teams in the Western Conference that have Hall of Fame locks on their rosters right now. Let’s go ahead and assume that the Spurs aren’t dealing Duncan. That’s a safe bet right? Well, that leaves Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant as the only players that could have been offered to Portland.

So who were the two players? I could see Minnesota making that offer. They would set Garnett free and start over with a major chip in their pocket. The T-Wolves would have been looking at a young nucleus of Oden/Durant, Randy Foye, and Rashad McCants (depending on what you think of McCants’ game). The Nuggets would presumably move Iverson out, bring in Durant/Oden and piece either one of them together with Melo, Camby, J.R. Smith, and hold on to Steve Blake. What about the Lakers offering Kobe? I can’t see Portland turning down a trade offer that includes Kobe Bean Bryant unless they are so turned off by his off the court problems, and so wary of his emotions that they wouldn’t want the best player in the league on their roster. Plus, the Lakers would become a non-factor for a couple of years while their young roster developed. I can’t see the La-La land management doing that.

That means (to me) that Minnesota tried to trade K.G. and the Nuggets tried to trade Allen Iverson for Portland’s number one. I guess the Blazers figured why trade for aging superstars with a ton of mileage when they have the chance to draft a player that they could have for the next 15 years. Portland was right on with this decision. They’re not an A.I. or Garnett away from the championship so there’s no need to bite at the lure of a big name.

I originally peeped this story over at Henry Abbott’s True Hoop. It’s the ninth link down. Courtesy of ESPN and True Hoop

You can read the paraphrased version of Casey Holdahl’s interview with Jason Quick here, or you can listen to the entire interview here.

This is the snippet of Jason Quick on the two Western Conference teams offering Hall of Famers for the #1 pick.

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