Gilbert Arenas: “Coming back from this is going to show a lot. Nobody really knows how strong of a person I am in terms of what I overcame to get to where I am. But, for my fans out there, this is the true challenge. From the coach telling me that I couldn’t play on his varsity team, to not getting any minutes in college to getting drafted No. 31, that’s all minor compared to what I have to come back from now. It’s going to show what kind of will power I do have. I’m somebody who’s gone through three knee surgeries within 17 months. As fast as my stardom came, my knee tried to take it away from me. It’s going to just take that much to get back, but for somebody who loves basketball as much as I do, that’s not going to be a problem.”
Dan Labbe of The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “That’s why, for the first time, we’re going to get a chance to see whether Mike Brown really is able to coach on the offensive end as well as he has on the defensive end. For the first time in his head coaching career, Brown will go into training camp with a team offering him legitimate offensive weapons and plenty of flexibility in his rotation. Prior to this season, Brown’s best point guard option was Larry Hughes. Now he has Mo Williams, Delonte West and Daniel Gibson to rotate through the position. Brown has never had the realistic option of going small, either. In order to go small, you have to have at least one wing player not named LeBron James that can create shots for himself because James would most likely man the four. Adding Mo Williams gives Brown just that player.”
HoopsVibe: “In three seasons, Kirilenko’s ‘max’ contract with the Jazz expires and he could very well sign with CSKA. After all, home is where the heart is. And the club plays in his native Russia, where the ‘three-man’ is beloved for his heroics at the 2007 EuroBasket Championship. His wife, Masha, is a former European pop princess. He has been unhappy in Utah. In recent years, Kirilenko has struggled as the fourth star behind Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, and Deron Williams even crying during a media scrum in the 2006-07 playoffs. Overseas, in Russia, Kirilenko is the unquestioned first option. He’s done this before. In September 2007, rumours had Kirilenko trying to void the remaining four years and 60 million dollars on his NBA contract to join CSKA. Today, the Russian club has more money, power, and prestige and would pay him a salary greater than an NBA ‘max’ deal.”
Steve Dilbeck of The Daily News: “Which is not the same thing as saying it will happen, but if a Euro team is truly willing to spend $50 million per to sign a Kobe or LeBron James, they at least figure to listen. And Kobe has that whole other singular player thing going for him. He goes his own way. Unafraid to rattle foundations. Has almost unfathomable self-confidence in anything he does. Vaccaro has known Kobe most of his life. Knew his parents, had Kobe in his national basketball camp. Understands his unique makeup. “Kobe has his own mind,” Vaccaro said. “He’s bright. He could have gone to MIT and been successful. I watched his formative years. Even when he left adidas, he did it because it made good business sense. He made decisions. He’s never been afraid.”"
Art Thompson III of The Orange County Register: “More than one someone is not going to be around, when the Lakers finalize their regular-season roster next month. Needless to say, the competition should be fierce. But the same could be said at the forward position, too. Especially now that center Andrew Byunum is healthy again and has adequate backups in Chris Mihm and Josh Powell. That enables Pau Gasol to shift over from center to power forward. With Luke Walton hoping but not guaranteed to be a full strength when training camp begins in 12 days, this presents a ripe opportunity for Trevor Ariza to stake his claim to the starting small forward position. I know what Laker fans are saying, “What about Lamar Odom?” Odom has discussed with the basketball staff the possibility of accepting a sixth-man role, which has all sorts of delightful possibilities to it, due to the 6-foot-10 Odom’s versatility. He could come off the bench to play small forward or play the two position (shooting guard) or power forward. The Lakers’ staff even has discussed with Odom the possibility of him being a hybrid point forward and initiating the offense in that role.”
Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald: “President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, thrilled with what at the time was the Celtics’ fifth straight NBA title, simply wanted to meet his hometown heroes. The session, held in the Cabinet Room, next to the Oval Office, lasted 45 minutes – 40 more than the alloted time. It famously ended when then-Celtic Tom “Satch” Sanders turned to Kennedy, offered a hand and said, “Take it easy, baby.” Judging from the informal, good-time nature of the visit, it struck Sanders as the right thing to do. “Hey, he was a fan,” Sanders said yesterday of Kennedy. “After all, he was from Massachusetts, and he just wanted to talk about all of it. We went into the room where the Cabinet met. He told us to sit down and pretend we were members of the Cabinet and to represent the seat you were in.” Sanders can’t remember whose seat he occupied. Secretary of the Interior, perhaps? “Maybe Secretary of State?” said Sanders with a laugh. The first five minutes passed in a blink, and soon Kennedy’s aides started coming through the door. Sanders recalls their impatience. “Clearly we set that schedule way back,” he said. “People would come in and say, ‘Excuse me, Mr. President, but so-and-so is here,” and he’d say, “Well, they’ll just have to wait until we’re finished.’”
Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: “If past incidents are any indication, Josh Howard probably won’t face any punishment from the NBA for his latest brush with controversy. While the league still is processing information about Howard’s videotaped bashing of the national anthem, previous instances of players saying inflammatory things have not brought forth any suspensions. A couple years ago, Allen Iverson’s rap lyrics sent ripples throughout society and the league. Before that Charlie Ward’s anti-semitic comments were a source of angst. But when you think about it, dealing with free-speech situations is a delicate subject. Doing nothing is probably the prudent thing on the league’s part, although, again, nothing is for certain. Treading on free speech is often asking for legal repercussions.”
A. Sherrod Blakely of Michigan Live: “And While the level of experience among his assistants varies, Curry said added that he won’t have a lead assistant. “One of the things that we’re doing, the assistant coaches all have teams that they’ll have the entire season,” he said. One of the factors Curry used to in determined the teaming which teams to pair his assistants up with, was their familiarity with a particular team or a particular style of play. While deciding how to pair up his assistants, Curry examined their familiarity with particular teams and styles of play. For example, one of Walker’s teams will be the New Orleans Hornets because he came to Detroit after being the Hornets’ lead assistant last season. Another one of Walker’s teams will be the Washington Wizards, in partly because he used to coach them — but more significantly, because of his familiarity with Washington’s Princeton offense. Another Detroit assistant, Sullivan, will have the Charlotte Bobcats in part because of his familiarity with former Pistons coach and current Bobcats coach Larry Brown.”
Flan Blinebury of The Houston Chronicle: “From 9:30 a.m. through noon, an estimated 8,000 people had received food, ice and goods at the POD in the west parking lot at Robertson Stadium, and the line of pedestrians and cars still snaked for more than half a mile. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander had purchased three trailer loads of food and goods to be distributed along with the FEMA supplies. “We’ve worked with this group, Feed the Children, in the past with Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Katrina and also the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation,” said Rockets CEO Tad Brown. “We wanted to make sure we got them here, got the goods that we could distribute and bring some help and hope to the people who right now are going through some tough times.”"
Indy Cornrows: Bill Laimbeer And Larry Bird Still Don’t Like Each Other
Sam Smith of HoopsHype: “I understand well how this works. It’s about respect, right? No, it’s about competition. You don’t become a pro athlete unless you compete at everything. They compete in conversation. So when all us old timers who are trying to find the airline without baggage fees say you are rich whether you make $8 million or $12 million and never can spend it all, anyway, we don’t get it. It’s the same in your office. A salary of $75,000 might sound great until you find out the sinkhole at the next desk makes $85,000. Then it’s misery. Especially with athletes. It really isn’t about the money. Sort of. No one really realizes how good they are until you try to play against them. What gets you to that level is the desire (and we’d love to see it more often when they are there) to compete all the time. Gordon’s like that. And he’s a worker.”
Ken Berger of Newsday: “Here is the news that I saved for my loyal blog readers: D-Wade said he’d love to play for Mike D’Antoni in New York. “I mean, I love offense. Why wouldn’t I?” Wade said during a promotional trip to the NBA Store. “I love him. When we’re in practice, I love Nate McMillan, but I want to be on Mike D’Antoni’s team because Nate is preaching all defense and Mike is preaching all offense.” Asked how D’Antoni will go from being an assistant coach for Team USA to head coach of the rebuilding Knicks, Wade came up with, “It’s going to be exciting.” Easy for him to say. “We had a lot of dialogue throughout every practice because we open up against the Knicks the first game of the season,” Wade said. “So I look forward to seeing Coach on the other side on the 29th when we play here in New York.”"
