Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “The Blazers’ opportunity to “show” will start on Tuesday, when the team begins a week’s worth of two-a-day practices. But for McMillan, the real start will be Monday night’s team dinner, during which he plans to address what could be one of the biggest topics this season for him, and the team: Playing time. Last season, when the Blazers finished 41-41, McMillan played nine players regularly. Two of those nine have departed (Jarrett Jack, James Jones), but three high-caliber players (Oden, Fernandez and Bayless) have been added. “This year we have two of everything,” McMillan said. Depending on how one looks at it, the roster is either crowded or competitive. McMillan’s job, he says, is to convince his players of the latter. And he said he doesn’t think it will be that tough of a sell, mainly because the players control their own destiny.”
Tom Ziller of NBA FanHouse: “Thousands of kids have emulated Nash on the playgrounds this decade, and thousands more will continue to try to play Nash’s style as his career tails off. Jason Kidd won’t be forgotten, nor will Gary Payton or Brevin Knight. But the stylistic idol of this era of point guards will most certainly be Nash. What’s more: he’s already influencing the game’s top young point guards, like Chris Paul. Paul is one of the best, most endearing young players the NBA has to offer. At age 23, he shows off canny maturity on the court: he knows exactly where to attack, how to throw even a great defense (like Dallas and San Antonio in the playoffs) off-balance, how to get his bigs and wings on the same path. These aren’t unique traits for a point guard. But the way in which Paul executes them … it’s Nashian.”
Mike Moreau of HOOPWORLD: Does Jabbar belong in the Jordan-Magic-Bird Club?
Greg Cote of The Miami Herald: “Marbury, 31, is a two-time All-Star said to be fully recovered from January surgery to remove bone spurs from his left ankle. He has reportedly gotten below 200 pounds and calls himself in the best shape of his career. We might also assume a certain fire to prove his many critics and skeptics wrong. His last outstanding season was 2004-05, when he averaged 21.7 points and 8.1 assists, with declining performance since in direction proportion to deteriorating relationships with his bosses, Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas. Marbury has been ripe fodder for the hungry back pages of the New York tabloids, where everything is cartoon exaggeration. Not to airbrush the warts that are real, but one suspects if Marbury had been the same person doing the same things in Atlanta or Seattle, his national notoriety would be a tenth of what it is. He is worth the risk.”
Three For All: A Stephon Marbury inspired haiku by Russ Bengston of SLAM
Chris Tomasson of The Rocky Mountain News: “Iverson during the summer was willing to opt out of the final season of his contract and sign a multiyear deal with the Nuggets. His camp even presented the option of Iverson playing for less money this season, but the Nuggets never came back with an offer. “I was kind of bothered by it,” Iverson said. “Being the fact that, from the time that I got here (in December 2006), I gave them everything I had. Obviously, I did some good things. . . . I thought they would at least make an offer for me to turn down. I thought they’d at least offer me a dollar or something. “But there aren’t no hard feelings. I feel like there are good people around here. They have their reasons for why they didn’t do anything, just like they got their reasons for what they did with Marcus.” Iverson said he’s “set for life” and “obviously . . . would consider” taking a pay cut next season.”
Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: “And Karl doesn’t think Iverson’s future with the Nuggets should be any part of the discussion going into this season. “I don’t think this is a year you should even think about that stuff,” Karl said Wednesday. “What you should think is delivering a winning product that has shown improvement, and probably that improvement is success in the playoffs. I don’t think the organization thinks that way.” Since trading to get Iverson in December 2006, the Nuggets have boasted the top scoring duo in the NBA — Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined to average 52.1 points per game last season — but it hasn’t translated into playoff success. The Nuggets are 1-8 in the playoffs with seven straight losses with Iverson and Anthony.”
Pickaxe And Roll: “As fans we want to see meaningful games, and we have not been subjected to a meaningless game since April 16, 2003, but realistically how meaningful are games that we know are bound to at best lead up to a sixth straight first round loss? The debate for the importance of making the playoffs over being a lottery team always hinges around the value of playoff experience. Well, as a Nugget fan I can assure you that I am not looking forward to any more playoff experiences involving this current roster. They have garnered enough experience losing. They have experience losing on the road and losing at home. The have experience losing in close games and losing in blowouts. They have experience losing with dignity and losing like spoiled children. I think they are all filled up on experience.”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “For the first time since I started covering the NBA, I must admit that I don’t have any real feel for how the team I write about will finish. After the way they played after the Kyle Korver trade last season, the Jazz very easily could go 39-2 at home, claim the Western Conference’s top playoff seed (which comes with home-court advantage) and win their first championship. But with so many players that can become free agents next summer, the Jazz also could exit the playoffs after just one round. Neither outcome would surprise me, which is why I’m describing this as a make-or-break season. My biggest question is how the Jazz will come together with so many players having uncertain futures. Just to recap things, Paul Millsap, Ronnie Price, Jarron Collins and Brevin Knight all will be free agents after next summer. Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Korver all can opt out of their contracts and become free agents. That’s seven players right there.”
Red’s Army: The Marketing of an 8 Year Old Basketball Prodigy
Ryne Nelson of SLAM Online: “He’ll never land a modeling gig with Sean John, and he’ll probably never design a signature sneaker. He’ll never get like his teammate Greg Oden and sing a piano duet with J.T. in front of a national audience. When a system is working well, we don’t notice the nuts and bolts. But when there’s a wrench in the system, the wrench becomes our only focus. Brandon Roy stands out like a freckle – it goes unnoticed until it’s specifically being searching for. But in Brandon’s case, this freckle is a birthmark the size of a quarter – the mere fact that it’s different seems to merit our attention. Brandon Roy is different all right. He does pretty much everything on and off the court well. He makes the right decisions – starting with his choice to pull his name out of the 2002 Draft – and exudes an air of control without speaking a word. There’s an inexplicable calm that he brings to the fore.”
Brett Edwards of NBA FanHouse: Shaq’s Palatial Digs on Star Island
The Hoop Doctors: 6 NBA Hairstyles that Branded the Player
Preetom Bhattacharya of HOOPSWORLD: “Hope is what got Charlie Villanueva through a tough childhood. Diagnosed at 12 years old with Alopecia Areata, Villanueva stood out from everyone else not just because he was tall but also because the disease causes significant hair loss. Bullies pounced on the opportunity to poke fun at someone different and, reflecting on his childhood, Villanueva remembers how difficult that was for him. “Bullying tears a person down,” Villanueva said. “Creating awareness of what bullying does to people is important because it happens every day in schools. It’s just a bad thing and deserves attention – it’s something people don’t necessarily think or talk about.” Villanueva used basketball as a tool to overcome the negativity the bullies made him feel. Now, through the Charlie Villanueva Foundation, he works with those who are being bullied to give them the same hope he has.”
The Wages of Wins Journal: “Those that look at statistics and the NBA, though, have a different perspective. Although wins are often a very good measure of team quality, a team’s efficiency differential – offensive efficiency minus defensive efficiency – is a better predictor of future success (an example of this point is my discussion of the NBA Finals last June). What does efficiency differential tell us about the Kidd acquisition? At the time of the trade Dallas had a differential of 4.3. When the season ended, the team’s differential stood at 4.9. For a team to increase its differential from 4.3 to 4.9 in just 29 games, that team would have to post a mark of 6.0 in the final games of the campaign. In other words, the Mavericks clearly improved after Kidd came to town. Yes, the Mavericks were again losers in the first round. But remember, the Hornets had home court advantage in this series. And the Hornets posted a differential of 5.7 last season. In sum, these teams were not that different. In such a situation, it’s not surprising to see the team with home court advantage win.”
Phil Jasner of The Philadelphia Daily News: “Elton Brand, preparing diligently for the 76ers’ coming season, asked to see last season’s playbook. “There is no playbook,” coach Maurice Cheeks said. “That playbook doesn’t exist anymore.” The new playbook isn’t necessarily built around Brand, the power forward signed in the summer as a free agent, but it is built to maximize use of his skills as a low-post player at both ends of the floor. But the next step is always the hardest. In this case, the next step for the Sixers means emerging as a legitimate contender in the NBA’s Eastern Conference rather than a team merely battling to become a playoff entrant.”
The Lakers Nation: “While Ariza is not much of an outside shooter, a casual fan may not have noticed that in more than 200 games in his career prior to coming to LA, Ariza hit just four three-point shots in 28 attempts. This amounts to an incredibly poor percentage (14%) and an incredibly low shooting rate (1 per 134 minutes of game play). Meanwhile, Ariza hit 5 of 15 shots from the arc with the Lakers. That’s 33% and one shot per 29 minutes. These numbers come in a very limited sample size, but it is suggestive of Ariza’s willingness to make his game more dynamic and fit the team around him. Apart from an otherwise unremarkable jump shot, Ariza is an efficient offensive player, who shot 52% from the floor largely on slashing moves to the hoop. A solid rebounder despite his lack of bulk, Ariza also uses his length to benefit in passing situations. His ast/to ratio (nearly 2:1) was just slightly better than Odom’s, who, while touted as a skilled passer, is a poor decision-maker.”
Sarah Rothschild of The Miami Herald: “Last week, Beasley admitted he was in their room but hid when security arrived. He was fined $50,000 for his role and failure to cooperate with the NBA’s investigation. Both players declined to provide details. ”I don’t really know,” Chalmers said. “It’s a situation that’s over with.” Beasley revealed that he was in the room, but when asked if he ducked out of the way when security entered, he said: “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t really want to go into detail. What’s done is done. We made a bad mistake. I frown upon it myself.” He said he admitted his involvement after talking to coach Erik Spoelstra and president Pat Riley. ”It was eating away at me to watch my teammate go through so much and me basically hiding behind the lights,” he said. “I just felt it’s the right thing for my team and just to stand by my teammate.””
Chris Perkins of The Palm Beach Post: “It was good that Michael Beasley spoke Wednesday. It wasn’t so good he didn’t really say anything. Sure, he apologized. But he didn’t fully explain whether he was actually hiding in the room. Nor did he fully explain why he came forward. Supposedly this thing was “eating away” at him — watching teammate Mario Chalmers take a public beating and get fined while Beasley stayed in the background — and that’s why he came forward. However, in the six-minute interview there wasn’t much time for probing questions. And the ones that probed too deeply weren’t answered fully. And when asked if he was hiding in the hotel room when security first entered Beasley answered, “Honestly, I don’t know.” Honestly? You mean he “honestly” can’t remember whether he was hiding?”
Ebay.com: Oklahoma City Thunder season tickets are selling far above face value [Via Blue Blitz]
Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel: “They need him to be more of a leader. “We’d like to see that in Dwight,” GM Otis Smith says. Smith, a former NBA player himself, also knows that you can’t rush a young star’s natural maturation “as much as we might want to try.” So, just how long does it take to become a total professional who has unwavering tunnel vision? For most young stars (LeBron was the exception), it doesn’t begin until after they have soaked up all the individual awards and accolades and backslaps. It is then, hopefully, that they really start to see the big picture. Smith brings up Howard’s idol, Kevin Garnett. Howard at one time fancied himself as the next KG — a bigger, just as graceful, version. But it is another area of the KG composite that the Magic would love for Howard to imitate: Garnett’s unrelenting, galvanizing will he brings to the floor each night, along with that scowling game face.”
SLAM Online: Josh Childress Didn’t Look So Good In His Debut
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “As money goes, the NBA Developmental League can’t come close. As coaching and competition go, the Euro League is mostly superior. There are no NCAA limits on practice time. There are no AAU bagmen pretending to be assistant coaches. Jennings will get coached and get benched and get the best-paying professional apprenticeship in history. “We just got back from a three-day road trip to Serbia, and it was three days on the road with older guys, where I had to work to fit in,” Jennings said. “This is the pro life. Nobody is babysitting me. The biggest thing for me is this: I have to prove myself. I want to let these guys know that I’m here to help them win. I don’t want them to think that I’m just some hotshot American kid trying to take all the shine here so I can set myself up for the NBA draft. “Here, it isn’t like what basketball was in the U.S., where everyone just sits back and watches the individual player. It’s team first here. People come to watch the team play, and the team win. What I want to do is build relationships with my teammates, with my coaches.”"
