Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “Indeed, the NBA isn’t exactly hemorrhaging talent. Among the seven who took the leap, Childress, a career reserve in Atlanta who averaged 12 points last year, was perhaps the most accomplished. He received a surprisingly lucrative contract from Olympiacos in Greece that will pay him 13 million euros over three years, the equivalent of $20 million tax-free American dollars. (Olympiacos was mentioned this past week as a club that wanted to be a player in the LeBron James sweepstakes when the Cavaliers’ star becomes a free agent in 2010.) But the exodus is getting plenty of attention from agents and general managers, because the European option is a timely development for some marginally talented players — especially those who are ensnared in restricted free agency. And they’ll all tell you the same thing: This show-me-the-euro scenario may not be a trend, but given the state of the American economy, it could become one if a superstar player decides to takes the same course.”
Julian Garcia of The Daily News: “If the Nets do manage to sign potential free agent LeBron James before the start of the 2010-11 season, it’s possible their fans in New Jersey could get the first look at him, as opposed to those in Brooklyn. The team’s move already has been delayed and Ratner has suggested recently that it could be pushed back again. In comments made at his company’s annual meeting in June – which were first reported Monday by a watchdog Web site – Ratner said he hoped to “close our loans and close the transaction by the end of the year. And then it will be about two and a half years to build our arena, and then the Nets will move from New Jersey to Brooklyn.”"
Anthony Cotton of The Denver Post: “That the exhibition games, versus Turkey and Lithuania, were routs for the Americans didn’t matter a bit to the 11,885 people who packed the arena. The games, which sold out within an hour from the time tickets went on sale, were a firsthand opportunity to see the men who are considered the foremost practitioners of a sport that seems to be well on the way to becoming the region’s national pastime. According to the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), some 300 million people are hooping it up. Amazingly, those numbers are only expected to grow, partially because of the Olympics, where pool play in the run for the gold medal opens with an incredibly titillating matchup — the U.S. versus Yao Ming and the host Chinese.”
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “The list of former college standouts currently on rosters in the ACB league include: Melvin Sanders (Oklahoma State), Chris Thomas (Notre Dame), Nik Caner-Medley (Maryland), David Noel (North Carolina), Aaron Miles (Kansas), Marcus Haislip (Tennessee), Louis Bullock (Michigan), Quincy Lewis (Minnesota), Curtis Borchardt (Stanford), Alex Acker (Pepperdine), Scott Padgett (Kentucky), Pepe Sanchez (Temple) and Pops Mensah-Bonsu (George Washington). Highly touted San Antonio Spurs draftee Tiago Splitter also plays in the league, and Memphis Grizzlies forward Marc Gasol, the younger brother of Pau Gasol, won the league’s MVP award last season.”
Chris Broussard of ESPN.com: “I caught major heat for saying Paul Pierce probably isn’t one of the league’s Top 10 players. Everyone seemed to miss the word “probably,” though, and assumed I was saying he’s definitely not. I proceeded to list some guys who are probably in the Top 10, and it just happened to come out to 10. It wasn’t my intention to list a definitive Top 10. But since I’ve been called out, I’ll now list some guys who I think are definitely ahead of Pierce: LeBron, Kobe, KG, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade and Tim Duncan. That’s nine guys right there. There are several guys battling for that 10th spot, Pierce among them: Pierce, Dirk, Nash, T-Mac, Carmelo, A.I., Yao (and, if fully healthy, Gilbert Arenas).”
Matthew Syed of The Times: “But Deng, a forward with balletic style, does not drive a Porsche or a Baby Bentley. He does not wear cascades of bling or spend evenings in the roped-off areas of shimmering nightspots. He does not lust after fame, adulation or any of the conventional trappings of materialism. Deng’s ambitions are forcefully different: “I want to make the world a better place.” It is a somewhat clichéd aspiration, but in Deng’s case it is shot through with personal and intellectual honesty. Whether it is talking about his impending purchase of a hybrid car or the possibility of funding a television channel devoted to environmental issues (a subject he has discussed with Al Gore, the former US vice-president); whether it is debating the responsibility of athletes to protest in Beijing or the ethnic roots of the conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, Deng combines moral seriousness with a commitment to action.”
Gilbert Arenas: “It’s hard for me to vote, because since I’ve been in the NBA I’ve been in the upper class so I’ve been a Republican. If you have any type of money, you’re a Republican, period. So, it’s hard because you see a better looking president in Obama – I don’t even want to say because he’s black, but he just looks the part – and then you have McCain who is Republican and I’m like, man. I know Obama is going to raise taxes on the upper class from 20-60 percent, that’s what I’m looking at. To be honest, I stopped paying attention a long time ago when it was Bush and Gore when Gore won the popular vote, but Bush was the president. Basically, what that told me was that everybody in America voted for Gore, but somehow, Bush became president. I am confused. Obviously, our vote doesn’t really mean anything.”
