In brief: Dickau hired by Blazers

Basketball: Former Gonzaga Bulldog Dan Dickau is leaving the broadcast table to become a player development assistant with the Portland Trail Blazers. Dickau, who had two stints with Portland as a player, joined Greg Heister and ex-Zag Richard Fox for Gonzaga men’s basketball broadcasts on KHQ, but he won’t be able to continue with his new duties.

“I’m extremely excited,” Dickau said. “It’s definitely time to be done playing after three years out of the (NBA). The more I thought about this and what I want to do, this is a perfect opportunity. It’s a great opportunity to learn the coaching side of it.”

Dickau said he’ll miss being an analyst for GU games. He won’t have to relocate because he lives in the Portland area. “I really enjoyed the first four games we did, but there isn’t the competitive factor like there is in games,” Dickau said.

The Blazers said he will focus on the team’s guards.

Jim Meehan

Sounders have their goaltender

Soccer: The Seattle Sounders have signed goaltender Michael Gspurning to replace the retired Kasey Keller in goal.

Gspurning, 30, has spent the last four seasons playing for Skoda Xanthi in Greece’s top professional league where he was an all star in the Greek Super League.

Describing his style of play, the 6-foot-5 Gspurning said he won’t always be making highlight-reel plays: “This is not so much my thing. I’m very tall, and for this reason I can catch some balls … very economically where maybe a small goalkeeper makes a big saves and it looks good on the television.”

Everett Herald

EWU home against Linfield

Men’s basketball: Eastern Washington returns to Reese Court this evening at 6 to take on NCAA Division III Linfield College in a nonconference game.

The Eagles (4-3), who suffered a 75-49 road loss to Washington State on Saturday, will be trying to keep their 2-0 home record unblemished against the Wildcats (2-5), who snapped a four-game losing streak with a 100-86 win over Multnomah on Monday.

Collin Chiverton, with an average of 15.1 points per game, continues to pace EWU’s offense, with Cliff Colimon and Cliff Ederaine each averaging 11.3 points.