Loading ...Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: “That doesn’t mean Oklahoma doesn’t have a basketball legacy. It’s just that our epic players of the past played elsewhere in the NBA. Which brings us to Mark Price, the greatest hoopster in state history. Don’t buy it? In 1993, Price made first-team All-NBA, which means he was one of the five best players on the planet. Alvan Adams and Wayman Tisdale were great collegians and excellent pros, but never were they first-team all-NBA. Price was. The little kid from Enid, son of high school legend Denny Price, grew up into a fabulous point guard. A dead-eye shooter and savvy playmaker. Not to mention a quality man who still does Oklahoma proud.”
Tim Kawakami of The Contra Costa Times: A Q&A with Warriors GM Chris Mullin including commentary on Monta Ellis’ anke injury
The Hoop Doctors: 7 of the Worst Basketball Related Songs
Bobcats Planet: “I’ve been thinking, Maybe having a team full of nice guys and solid citizens isn’t the best way to build a roster. Sure Emeka Okafor, Sean May, Gerald Wallace and Jason Richardson are all nice upstanding guys but sometimes you need someone on your roster that your opponents are scared of. Not simply scared that you might drop 40 on them or turn them into a Sportscenter top 10 highlight, but scared that you might handle things outside of the “normal” parameters of an NBA game like our good friend Xavier McDaniel did in this particular example. Yeah, X may have taken it a little too far… just slightly I suppose, but I guarantee you that after the attempted strangulation he regarded Mr. McDaniels and the rest of the Sonics with a far greater amount of respect.”
Brian Hanley of The Chicago Sun Times: “MetLife, the NBA’s insurer which covers the top 150 salaries in the league under a group policy, has the right to exclude 14 high-risk players every year. Decisions are based on the player’s injury history and the amount of money remaining on his contract. Deng came under MetLife scrutiny when he signed a $71million, six-year contract at the start of this month. It is the fourth-highest contract in the NBA in terms of outstanding money. MetLife subsequently used an MRI scan taken last November when Deng, 23, injured his back and missed three games to exclude him from the coverage. British officials fear that the insurance problems may prevent Deng from playing in the 2012 Olympic Games in London and even put Britain’s involvement in the tournament in doubt.”
Hardwood Paroxysm: The First True Modern Hillbilly NBA Player Has Come
Indy Cornrows: “I went through my own battle with the big C almost ten years ago. It included major surgery which I’m reminded of when I wake up in the morning and several times throughout the day, every day for the last ten years. Life changing event doesn’t begin to describe the emotional and physical scars I try to suppress. But the silver lining from my battle and the daily reminders is what eases my mind, giving me great hope for Tisdale in his recovery. That “whole ‘nother radar” allows you to accept what has happened and then deeply appreciate everything else in your life. Little things. Big things. Difficulties. Accomplishments. They’re all enhanced on a level that’s impossible to explain. It’s like you take a daily inventory and realize how much you have to be thankful for above and beyond the challenging struggles. It’s something I wish everyone could experience without having to pay the cost required.”
David Barboza of The New York Times: “Mr. Bryant and LeBron James, another big N.B.A. star, make regular trips here. Nike and Adidas, the world’s two biggest sneaker brands, are aggressively expanding retail outlets in China and bringing over some of their biggest athletic stars. This year, Nike even produced a reality television program, “Kobe’s Disciples,” that was broadcast on China’s biggest television network. It featured 24 Chinese youths living and training in the United States and getting tips from Mr. Bryant. “The reason Kobe is as big as he is here is not an accident,” Charlie Denson, Nike’s brand president, said in an interview in Beijing. “Kobe realized some years ago that the China market is a great place to be. And he’s been here consistently, every year, for five or six years.””
Hornets Hype: “Don’t tell me what my city needs and does not need. You weren’t there. You came to party, but you didn’t want the baggage. You weren’t there with the doors hanging open and banging in the wind, up and down an eerily empty street littered with debris. You weren’t there when the traffic lights didn’t work for a year. You weren’t there when the Saints scored a touchdown 90 seconds into the first home game after Katrina, and a whole city leapt up in unison, and it meant something. You didn’t see all those little kids dressed in Chris Paul jerseys. You weren’t there the night I heard an indescribable roar, and I looked up from the court, and realized New Orleans Arena was full, from bottom to top.”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “On the day Childress signed his headline-making deal, 1 dollar was worth 0.6366 euros, according to www.x-rates.com. As of Wednesday, the dollar had strengthened such that it now is worth 0.6810 euros. That might not seem like much, unless you’re the Olympiacos owner who has to pay Childress in dollars. It will now take 4.54 million euros to cover that $6.7 million that Childress is owed this season and 13.6 million euros over the life of the contract. In barely a month, the cost of Childress has increased by nearly 300,000 euros for this season and 900,000 euros for three years. All thanks to the exchange rate, which has made American players more expensive. There’s also reason to believe that the dollar will continue to strengthen against the euro. The New York Times had a front-page story Sunday about the world’s economic woes, with Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Great Britain all experiencing either recession or flat growth.”
