The Fundamentals

Ramona Shelburne of The Los Angeles Daily News:  “”If I had to do it all over again, I would probably bring it up more, I would probably start more fights with him (Kobe Bryant). I was putting up great numbers, he was putting up great numbers, it made him all pissed off and he’s one of those (guys) where when he gets pissed off, he can go on and score 80 points. “I think we were the greatest one-two punch in the game, greatest little man, big man punch in the game. Period.” Why then, did Shaq rip Kobe in that infamous freestyle rap over the summer? “That was my bad, a bad thing to do,” O’Neal said. “I just threw his name in at the end, it was a bad move on my part.” O’Neal said he called Kobe shortly after the video hit TMZ.com and apologized, Bryant accepted the apology and the two have put it behind them.” [Video]

Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times:  “Assistant coach Kurt Rambis said Odom’s game was “fair to middling, maybe poor,” and that Odom “didn’t seem focused out there.” Jackson took it a step further. “I just got through telling him that this is really basketball now,” Jackson said Wednesday. “He looks like he’s either curling or doing some other kind of sport. He’s not playing basketball. The first shot he took was a three-pointer in the middle of the third quarter? That was pretty interesting.” Jackson was non-committal when asked whether Odom would continue handling the ball.”

WaitingForNextYear:  “I would love to see Mo Williams, LeBron James, Daniel Gibson and Delonte West push the ball off turnovers or long rebounds. I question however, whether the Cavs can be an uptempo team when they will have to drag Wallace and Ilgauskas along behind them. Andy Varejao looked like he had cement shoes on last season, hopefully that was just temporary because of his injury. Even Wally Szczerbiak doesn’t seem like the kind of player that you want running the floor for 30 minutes a game.”

Jeff Caplan of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram:  “Eventually, the quantity of turnovers will matter. In the league last season, average turnovers per game ranged from a high of 15.3 to a low of 11.1. Doesn’t sound like much, but Carlisle explained how the difference could break a season. “Probably about 10 to 15 wins,” Carlisle said. “If you look statistically in the league, the difference between 10th place and 20th place is sometimes hundredths of a point, statistically, so with the level of competitiveness and the number of one-possession games, the difference between 12 and 15 is enormous.”"

Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal:  “The Griz were laboring to score at times mainly because they were impatient. For several minutes in the third, their offense was reduced to draw-and-kick plays that resulted in 3-point attempts along the baseline from veteran guard Greg Buckner. Mostly, though, selfish play crippled the Grizzlies’ chances to score. On one sequence, the Griz were trying to set up a play in the half court, with Iavaroni imploring Gay to give Conley the basketball at the top of the key. Gay, however, danced around without giving up his dribble and finally attacked the rim against a host of Wizard defenders.”

Michael Wallace of The Miami Herald:  “Heat players have taken advantage of their time in Paris in different ways. For Heat guard Dwyane Wade, the trip has allowed him to reward his mother and sister by flying them to Europe to follow the team. It has provided second overall draft pick Michael Beasley a sense of direction. Beasley got lost wandering the streets of Paris but eventually found his way to the team hotel. ”Every building looks exactly the same around here,” Beasley said. “I walked past our hotel like four times and didn’t even know it. I just went to check things out. It’s cool, though, because everybody knows you. It gives you an appreciation for just how big our game really is.””

Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger:  “What matters is the fact that he, for the third time this preseason, has invoked the name Hubie Brown. You don’t mention the Godfather for any old reason, and you don’t have Mike Fratello sit in on three practices and then consult with him for 10 minutes after each one for any old reason. No, L-Frank is actually thinking about a platoon system, which Hubie invented in Kentucky back in ‘74-75. This is a bold and interesting thing. And why not be bold? If you sincerely believe that you’ve got 10 serviceable bodies, you might as well use ‘em. Like this, perhaps (eventually): First team – Boone, Yi, Simmons, Carter, Harris. Second team – Lopez, Anderson, Najera, Dooling, CDR.”

Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus:  NBA Trends

Alan Hahn of New York Newsday:  “As much as Mike D’Antoni has been countering questions about the point guard position by saying the system doesn’t really rely on one guy running the offense — sure looked that way in Phoenix — the first sneak peek at the Knicks version of the Sun-n-Gun saw some issues at the point. Chris Duhon, who was brought in to fill the facilitator role, struggled with a lot of fundamental mistakes that led to 7 alarming turnovers. It wasn’t as if he was throwing the ball away, but more like CYO-level issues such as traveling and carrying the ball. And we’re going to see him get a lot of open looks as he did against the Raptors last night. He shoots well in practice, but in the game he was 1-for-7 and 1-for-5 from three-point range.”

Jerry Brown of The East Valley Tribune:  “After drilling over and over on defense and a set offense, the Suns actually looked more uncomfortable when running situations presented themselves. On the final possession of the first half, Grant Hill was so surprised to get the ball on the break that he missed the easy basket. “It was almost like ‘Are we allowed to do this, dad?’ ” Nash said. “We’re learning. We’ve stressed the slow-down, half-court stuff because it’s been a weakness for us. To try to get back to what we’re good at and find that balance … it’s going to take some time.””

Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune:  “If you were paying attention this summer, you probably thought Deron Williams and Chris Paul signed identical contract extensions. Both opted for three-year deals with a fourth-year player option that will pay them the maximum allowed under NBA salary cap rules. Pretty straightforward, right? We’ll have to wait until July to find out exactly how much those contracts will be worth, but Williams and Paul can expect to make more than $14 million beginning in 2009-10 and $50 million to $70 million depending on whether they exercise that fourth-year option. It turns out, though, that Paul’s contract has sweeteners that Williams’ does not. As one person has described it, Williams signed a “max contract” but not a “max-plus contract.” This was the first time I’d ever heard that distinction in five years of covering the NBA. For starters, Paul has a 15 percent trade kicker that Williams does not.”

Sactown Royalty:  “Hollinger, in his ‘08-09 projections, figures a drop in Kevin Martin’s production is coming, from a PER of 21.07 in ‘07-08 to 19.98. Is it because Martin’s shooting will suffer under the weight increased shot attempts? I’d understand that — there’s a general expectation that forcing increased shots on a player decreases the player’s efficiency. But Hollinger projects Martin’s already sterling True Shooting percentage (61.8%) to get even better (a scandalous 64.2%). Is it because Martin will tally more turnovers and fewer assists registering as the sole focal point of the offense? That might make sense. Hollinger projects Martin will earn more assists per possession and fewer turnovers. So how on Earth will Kevin Martin get worse (according to PER) in his fifth season? He’ll … ahem … he’ll shoot less.”

Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee:  “A must read: West also revealed that he has begun writing an autobiography that is scheduled to be completed within 12 months. “It’s about my life,” he said, adding with a chuckle, “and it’s going to include the things that made me borderline insane at times. It will be honest. I’m a complex person. Nothing has ever satisfied me. That’s just who I am. It (the book) is going to be truthful, and it’s going to be serious.” A significant portion of the book, West said, will deal with his relationship with his former African-American teammates and colleagues during the 1950s and turbulent 60s. “My closest friends were black players,” said West, a native of Cabin Creek (or Chelyan) West Virginia, a rural riverside community not far from Charleston. “Maybe it was our (common) backgrounds.” He plans to detail his intense, almost sibling relationship with Baylor, who is four years his senior. West absolutely loves the guy.”

Lisa Dillman of The Los Angeles Times:  “Though many of the details remain unclear, several pieces of information emerged. Sources with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to comment publicly said that Baylor had been working without a contract since the early 1990s, having been told that one was not necessary. Now it appears Baylor is gearing up for a battle, hiring attorney Carl Douglas and employment law specialist Alvin Pittman. “Elgin gave 22 years of his life to the Clippers and it’s regrettable they are trying to put him out to pasture in this way,” Douglas said.”

Lang Whitaker of SLAM:  Breaks down the Pedowitz Report

Gilbert Arenas:  “It was 2002. I was on the Golden State Warriors and we were playing in Miami. It was the first time I actually put braids in my hair. This was when I had the little funky, ugly hairdo when I was trying to mimic Kobe but my curls wouldn’t curl right back then. So it’s before the game, we’re on the court and I hear this woman screaming my name. I’m thinking, “I know I don’t have any fans like that in Miami. I mean, I know I get buckets, but I ain’t got no fans …” and then I turned around and saw the lady and she says to me, “I’m your mother.” All I can remember is all the anger from all the years of beating up kids from them talking about my mother, it just got charged inside of me after I saw her. I played that game so angry that I got kicked out of the game for throwing my headband into the crowd.”