Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times: “These days, perhaps only two things put fans in seats for preseason games — gimmickry and giddiness. A full house of 16,236 braved chilly weather and windy conditions to see Phoenix and Denver play on an outdoor tennis court last weekend at Indian Wells, an event billed by the league as ‘NBA Outdoors!’ Portland fans have flocked to the Trail Blazers’ first three exhibitions to get early looks at heralded center Greg Oden, who sat out last season because of a knee injury. Average announced attendance for those games: 19,049. Other than that, the main things exhibited have been a lot of empty seats. Fans in a half-full Tulsa arena witnessed Kevin Durant’s 26-point effort in Oklahoma City’s first game in its new state. Former USC star O.J. Mayo also had 26 points and drilled six three-pointers in a preseason game in Memphis, Tenn., where his new team resides. The announced attendance was 7,793, but one observer put it closer to half that number.”
Dan Labbe of The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “You could very easily take each team and give them two neutral site games every year. Why two? Everybody loses a home game. You could have the games in places where there is no NBA. Places like Pittsburgh, Columbus or Seattle. The only requirement of a city would be an NBA-sized arena or close to it. You could even get away with a 10,000-seat facility here and there. The point is that if you live in Pittsburgh, you could have the opportunity to watch LeBron James in a real NBA game that counts. Sure there would be people that didn’t care, but you could definitely win over some new fans.”
The Associated Press: “Bruce Ratner’s $4 billion dream for a new Brooklyn will have to wait, at least until next year. The New Jersey Nets owner and developer has been plagued by a string of problems that have delayed his plans for a new NBA arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Brooklyn. Ratner said a recent court ruling would delay the project by up to six months, meaning the Nets won’t move in until least 2011.”
Brian Windhorst of The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “One more thing on LeBron, he played a few minutes at power forward tonight. The Celtics are the type of team where it makes sense to try this. When they go to Leon Powe or Big Baby Davis, the matchups are favorable to put LeBron on them defensively. Doesn’t make much sense to ask him to guard KG or Kendrick Perkins, as he had to do on one possession, because it invites isolations. Not that LeBron can’t hold his own, but it may lead to cheap fouls. This is an intriguing thing to keep an eye on in the coming weeks. LeBron loves the way he can play with the Olympic team, which is a lot of up-tempo with great point guards and some power forward play against some guys he’s simply more athletically gifted than. The Cavs went out and got Mo Williams and are now playing LeBron at power forward some. Coincidence? Uh, no.”
Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee: “The irony is that becoming a running team is much more a marathon than a sprint. The process requires a team’s dedication to its new method and a commitment to pushing the gas pedal every time down the floor. Not to mention the right personnel. For the Kings, it can hide their deficiencies and showcase their strengths. The lack of a dominant post player doesn’t lend itself to the sort of halfcourt offense most of the NBA employs, nor does that style make the most of guards who can beat their opponents down the floor and convert the perimeter looks that often come out of the break. Add a point guard stable that is ready and willing to play their fast-paced part and frontcourt players known for their shooting and passing skills, and you begin to see why Theus and Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie figured the time was right for run-and-gun.”
Woody Paige of The Denver Post: “The Nuggets must beat the Jazz in the four regular-season games, for first place in the final NBA Northwest Division standings, and in four playoff games. Beat Utah, and the Nuggets can win a postseason series. It’s not a cheer, a call to charge or a command. It’s the Nuggets’ challenge. Proof: Two seasons ago the Nuggets had a 45-37 record in the regular season and ended up second in the division to Utah (51-31). The Nuggets lost three of four to Utah. If they had beaten the Jazz in all four games, the teams would have tied, and first tiebreaker is head-to-head results. The Nuggets had no chance against San Antonio in the first round. The Jazz defeated Houston, then Golden State, before losing to San Antonio. More proof: Last season the Nuggets had a 50-32 record in the regular season and ended up second in the division to Utah (54-28). The Nuggets lost three of four to Utah. If they had beaten the Jazz in all four games, they would have possessed the superior record and won the division.”
At The Hive: “New Orleans brought in the 29 year old Mo-Pete last offseason to provide some insurance for Peja and to provide an additional scoring threat to space the floor. While he excelled at knocking down the trifecta (career high 39.5%), many (including myself) felt that Byron Scott did not involve him in the offense well enough. If you had asked me for a hasty diagnosis of the problem in June, I would have mentioned that the offense called for Mo to take too many threes. Any Hornets fan could have told last year that Peterson not only attempted a ton of triples, but also took his shots late in the shot clock. But how related was this ramped up three point shooting to Peterson’s career low PER? Did Peterson- always a high volume three point shooter- finally reach his breaking point?”
Monte Poole of The Contra Costa Times: “The Warriors, meanwhile, had no winning seasons and zero postseason appearances in 12 years of Cohan ownership — and were roundly criticized and ridiculed — until management was turned over to the Mullin-Nelson team. And now, after the team’s first playoff appearance and back-to-back winning seasons, it’s Rowell and Cohan with all the answers? It’s widely known that Stephen Jackson would like a contract extension, that Rowell is at the center of negotiations, with Mullin on the periphery. Mullin is entering the last year of his contract, there has been no serious discussion regarding an extension and, according to Rowell, Mully’s own performance is under scrutiny. As is that of Nelson, also in the final year of his deal. We say with certainty, too, that Cohan and Rowell were more than mildly irritated by Nellie’s clumsy attempt at a cash grab during the summer of 2007. In other words, what was going to be a challenging Warriors season now has enough subplots to engage the mildly interested and be endlessly fascinating to the morbidly curious.”
Hoops Addict: “I spent the majority of the third quarter watching Jermaine O’Neal and I was impressed by what I saw. His footwork is back, he’s assertive on the defensive end and he’s preventing teams from double or triple-teaming Chris Bosh. While he’s not making an impact on the boxscore – he finished with a pedestrian 11 points and 2 rebounds – he appears to be easing into the Raptors offense shooting a high percentage, drawing charges and making opponents think twice before they drive into the lane. Yeah, he’s wearing a knee brace and was tugging on shorts in the second half, but from what I can tell the brace isn’t constricting his lateral movement or his vertical jump and I don’t see this being an issue this season.”
Jerry Brown of The East Valley Tribune: “Suddenly Barnes, who had played such a key role in Golden State’s surprising playoff run and monumental upset of No.1-seeded Dallas a year earlier, wasn’t the same player or person. His mom passed away on Nov. 1 and he missed the first part of the season to take part in the funeral and get family affairs in order. ‘You’re on the phone crying all day … and then you’re supposed to get it all together and play basketball at the highest level that night. It was just too much,’ he said. ‘I tried my best to keep playing hard and just put everything out of my mind, but it was so soon. Too soon.’ His frustrations were evident. He led the league in flagrant fouls with five – two more than anyone else in the league.”
Bobcats Baseline: “Left resting on my doorstep was a crinkly medium-sized white envelope containing the above crumpled letter, the brochure for a ticket donation program, my Season Ticket Holder ID card, and a stack of plainly printed, ticketmaster-style loose tickets with a couple of rubber bands around them. Hella lame… You see, I was hoping to be able to post something more like this, a great post from Warriors blog Golden State of Mind detailing the arrival of the blogger’s 2007-08 tickets last year around this time. Looks cool, huh? The tickets are nicely printed up in little books with decent graphics, the letter is on fancy paper (and not wrinkled up) and they even included a chintzy promotional bag. I suppose that’s how a proper franchise does things. But not the Bobcats. I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised — this is the franchise that just recently let about 35 employees go and considered dropping radio broadcasts as a way to save money.”
3 Shades of Blue: “We have more talent, and I will tell you why they are not noticing. Marketing. Marketing has been the achilles heel for the Grizzlies ever since they got here. They didn’t feel the need to market because it was new and fresh. When that wore off, we had the new arena smell to market the team. Then, it was 3 playoff appearances and 3 straight sweeps in the first round with no wins. There has never been a long standing effort to connect the team to the city other than the great, and I mean great work they do with St. Jude Children’s Hospital. When are the talking heads going to realize that 2 panels on MATA buses and a couple of billboards just don’t cut it?”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “Every time I write about Kyle Korver, as I did for Wednesday’s paper, I keep coming back to one set of numbers: 62-20. The Jazz went 38-12 after Korver arrived from Philadelphia last season, a pace that would equal a 62-20 record over an entire season. (Actually, I’m rounding down a little. The real pace is 62.32-19.68. But I don’t think anyone’s going to argue with 62-20.) That number is the reason why I think Kevin O’Connor could afford to bring back the Jazz intact this season, even if Houston did add Ron Artest, New Orleans did add James Posey and the Lakers will get back Andrew Bynum.”
Marc Berman of The New York Post: “There was another telling moment in the locker room tonight. Stephon Marbury told a writer to move away from inside his locker-room cubicle as he emerged from the shower. The two had an exchange, nothing big. The more telling part was Jamal Crawford motioning to a couple of media members to check out the scene. It’s apparent which combo guard wants Marbury out of town. The whole Marbury coming-off-the-bench saga will pick up steam now that Starbury expressed some frustration with his predicament, saying tonight, ‘I’m a starter, period.’ He was going so good, too, but his scoreless outing was too much for his ego to take.”
Bright Side Of The Sun: Shaq calls Spurs Cowards and Disses Nash and Amare
Black Jesus Disciples: “The real shame of it is that for casual NBA fans, he’s the face of the Suns franchise. This shouldn’t matter all that much, but because the Suns franchise has always been the epitome of class, it does. With his Kobe rap, harassment charges, and insistence on mumbling his special brand of stupidity every now and then, the Big Saguaro is knocking the Suns franchise down a notch or two in the area of professionalism. What’s more, with this team making such a transition, chemistry has never been more important. Shawn Marion may have been moody and even childish at times, but he was the last guy who would throw his teammates under the bus.”
