Jeff Eisenberg of The Press-Enterprise: “With 14 returners back from last season who are each already familiar with Jackson’s triangle offense, the Lakers have been able to spend more time emphasizing defensive principles the first week of training camp than previous years. Already players say the extra work has resulted in improved focus and higher energy. “Whenever you have new guys you have to spend so much of training camp going through the triangle, because if one guy on the court doesn’t know what he’s doing, it messes up the entire offense,” Luke Walton said. “With everyone pretty much everyone coming back, we can focus more on defense. The sooner we start working on it, you start using those philosophies in preseason games and in practice. That’s when you really develop those skills.”"
Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “”She told me that we belong together,” Walton said. “And then she started flipping out about all sorts of stuff. She said she wanted to move to San Diego, but people wouldn’t let her. I was like, ‘What people?’ She’s like, ‘The people! The people in the universe! They won’t let me move, because they say you and I are supposed to be together.’ I was like, ‘Oh, wow. She’s crazy.’ ” The other extended conversation Walton had with Beshear came after he filed his first complaint with Manhattan Beach police. An officer left Walton’s home after taking Walton’s statement and immediately spotted the aforementioned black Honda parked down the block. When Walton went to identify her, he found Beshear in handcuffs – and in tears – by the side of the road.”
Ira Winderman of The Miami Sun-Sentinel: “It is rather remarkable that the Heat currently is carrying five point guards (Chris Quinn, Marcus Banks, Mario Chalmers, Shaun Livingston and Jason Richards), and yet could be at a deficit at the position regardless of the opponent. Similarly, even with four centers in camp (Mark Blount, Joel Anthony, Jamaal Magloire and David Padgett), it doesn’t get much better, for now, than again starting Blount. Quantity, the Heat has. Quality? That’s why a forward might have to be sacrificed. That said, when the Heat was playing its new “speed” game against the Pistons, Shawn Marion looked remarkably comfortable, enjoying some of his best minutes since he joined the team last February. If Marion isn’t the odd man out, perhaps Udonis Haslem will be. Either way, the Heat has a combined nine point guards and centers — and few answers at either position.”
Pickaxe And Roll: “George Karl is quoted as saying that in order to be a contending team there are certain defensive statistical benchmarks that must be achieved. The article never directly quotes Karl as to what those defensive categories are, but it goes on to talk about field goal percentage against and points allowed per game. I would imagine that the author on those categories because those are two that Karl mentioned to him. I think we all can agree that opponent’s field goal percentage is a decent indicator, although not a perfect one, of the strength of a team’s defense. Likewise, I think we can all agree that points allowed per game is a horrible way to evaluate a defense. I believe most everyone who reads this blog realizes that a much more accurate statistic for evaluating a defense is defensive efficiency.”
Rockets.com: Luis Scola wins Houston’s rookie dance off [Video]
Cavs.com: “Question: Could you see yourself playing in Russia? West: Not with all these tattoos I got. I’d be the first one to go. I know some Russians be shooting at me. I got a Chinese symbol over here, I got a Muslim symbol right here. So I’d look like a terrorist over there. I don’t think I’m going nowhere overseas looking like this. Question: What did you do with your off-season off the court? West: I got back to my roots, man. I stayed in my mom’s basement – in my old room – with a 19” TV.”"
Posting and Toasting: Talks to Knicks players about the Olympics, foot races, and tight end Zach Randolph [Video]
Chris Tomasson of The Rocky Mountain News: “The assignment was simple. Linda Markus, a fifth-grade teacher at Heritage Elementary School, asked pupils in her 1978-79 class to draw a picture of what each wanted to be doing as a grown-up. Young Mark Randall didn’t hesitate. He drew himself wearing a Denver Nuggets uniform. Fifteen years later, it happened. Randall took the floor for his hometown Nuggets. “It was a dream come true,” said Randall, a 1986 graduate of Cherry Creek High School. “My mom still has the drawing.” While this is not to discourage youngsters in Colorado, it might be easier to become an astronaut than suit up for the Nuggets. The team is entering its 42nd year and has had only seven men who played for a Colorado high school make the roster. Forward Nick Fazekas is vying to become the eighth.”
Coach Godwin for Hoops Addict: “To be quick but not in a rush basically means you must control your speed. Think of yourself like a stick shift; first gear is walking, second is a light jog, third is running and fourth is accelerating to your fastest speed. Chris Paul has the ability to go from first to fourth in the blink of an eye but more importantly every time he does so it is for a purpose. As much as I love college basketball, most to they players do not understand this theory. A lot of young players get the ball and want to go to fourth gear right away. Just like a car traveling at top speed they are out of control and end up making a bad decision. Paul understands this theory and this is why he is almost impossible to guard.”
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: “I could fake my understanding of the triangle offense and its place in this scheme before cleverly directing you to one of the books written by Tex Winters. Or I could put this in more practical terms. Rick Carlisle concluded his first training camp as the Mavericks coach Monday. The players ran and ran some more. He stressed defense. He experimented with different combinations. And how many new half-court sets did he install? None.”
Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal: “Iavaroni has said the only players with a green light to shoot 3-pointers are Rudy Gay and rookie O.J. Mayo. They must get to the free throw line a fair amount times to keep that freedom. But Walker doesn’t quite understand the concern over 3-point shooting with the loss of Mike Miller and Juan Carlos Navarro. “I can do that. I’m not worried about that,” Walker said. “As you get familiar with the offense you know what are good 3s to take. I’ll be there. I can replace some of that 3-point shooting.” The 13-year veteran is quick to point out that he ranks fourth among NBA active players in 3-point makes with 1,386.”
Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “Vince Carter, de facto captain, can take credit for much of it. Know what this guy did after that exhaustive practice/public scrimmage Saturday? He grabbed every last man and hauled them over to Wallington Lanes for a night of bowling. “We had a good time on me. It was fun,” VC said today. “It’s something I wanted to do, and those little things can help. Just creating memories — for us having a good time as a unit makes you want to play hard for them on the floor. I really believe that.” Carter, who looks like a ringer with every sport he tries, rolled a 192 to win the first match. Devin Harris won the second. “Bobby’s pretty good. Jarvis is pretty good. Trenton thinks he’s pretty good,” VC reported. “Brian Hamilton actually bowled a ball into the other lane, believe it or not.”"
Russ Bengston of SLAM: “If you believe what David Berri (who love Iverson like a fat kid love asparagus) and the rest of the stat-crunchers say, AI probably shouldn’t even be on this list at all. He’s—what’s the term?—a low-percentage, high-volume shooter, a guy who gambles on steals and dominates the ball too much and commits too many turnovers and doesn’t give his team much of a chance to win. This, of course, disregards the fact that he often gets off shots that no other player could even dream of shooting, and sometimes those shots go in. But that’s what you miss when you bury yourself in agate and spreadsheets. Still, Berri’s argument has at least some merit. Iverson does control the ball too much, he does forego principles of sound man-to-man defense to play the passing lanes, he does take shots that he has no business taking, he does have a tendency to fall into the “hell, I got this” mentality when he should be looking for the open man.”
Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: “But it wasn’t before a frank discussion with his college coach, Dr. Tom Davis, that Bowen realized just what he needed to do to extend his playing career. “I learned my role coming out of college,” Bowen said. “I knew right away what I was going to have to do. My college coach pulled me into his office and said, ‘To make it in the league, you’re going to have to be good at everything and be great at one thing.’ “So we kind of went down the list, ‘You’re good at this but not great at it. What can you be great at?’ I said, ‘I can be great at hustle.’ I can just work as hard as I can and do the little things. I really thought at the time it maybe got me a year in. That first year, the year of the lockout, I went to Turkey then came back and made a team and got an opportunity to play right away. I was labeled as that, and it’s stuck. It’s been great. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been very, very blessed.”"
Marcus Thompson II of InsideBayArea.com: “The Port Arthur perspective makes it clear that Jackson is neither all good or all bad. He is a dichotomy, a walking tug of war, torn between the good bubbling inside him and the tempting vices around him. One day, he is dedicating a new court in the inner city. They next, he is wearing gang-related paraphernalia, such as a red Phillies hat altered to read “Piru” — homage to his Bloods affiliation. You’ll hear about him surprising a needy family with Christmas gifts. Then you Google image his name and find a photo of him downing a bottle of Belvedere vodka at a party. “I want to tell the people who think that I’m this thug and this gangster and all that stuff I am one somewhat,” he said. “Because that’s how I was raised.… I can name 10 guys right now that I grew up with who 15, 20 years ago you would’ve seen me outside on the corner with these same guys. I could easily be one of those guys in jail right now.”"
Marc Berman of The New York Post: “Marbury said he’s been wrestling with this issue for several days on whether he could live with being a reserve for the first time in his career and playing shooting guard. “I don’t want to go through any more distractions,” Marbury told The Post. “I want all of us to concentrate on winning and not if I’m going to start or not. I want us to be able to go forward. If the Knicks want me to come off the bench, that’s what I’m going to do. I just want to win a championship in New York because we as New Yorkers deserve a chip.” Marbury said he had no conversations with Knicks brass and was not speaking under pressure from management.”
