Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times: “‘Kobe still looks to me like his legs might be a little bit tired,’ Jackson said. ‘So I constantly ask him if he wants to take a day off or if he needs a day off. I check in with him.’ Bryant sat out a few practices the first week of training camp and was sidelined for the second part of Friday’s practice after feeling a twinge in his back. He is not expected to miss preseason games tonight and Sunday at Staples Center. Bryant’s shot has been somewhat flat in preseason play. He is shooting 36% (nine for 25) in three exhibition games. ‘That’s all legs,’ Jackson said. ‘He’s got to get his legs into it.’”
Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “Bynum needed surgery on his right knee as a pre-teen. He had an injury to that knee as a high-school senior that was bad enough to be misdiagnosed initially as a torn ACL. Then he hurt his left knee last season, not meeting projections to return for the playoffs and eventually requiring surgery. Lakers trainer Gary Vitti, in explaining the complexity of Bynum’s injury a few days after it occurred, confirmed Bynum’s predisposition to certain knee injuries. Said Vitti: ‘He has a wide pelvis and is knock-kneed. It makes him prone to this type of thing.’ That unto itself is reason for the Lakers to lean toward bonuses in a contract rather than all guaranteed money.”
RaptorBlog.com: “Assuming that Shaq doesn’t win ‘one for the thumb’ in Phoenix (and I think that’s a pretty safe assumption), he might want to take a shot at signing on with a contending team for one more year in an attempt to go out in a blaze of glory. I would like to propose the possibility that Shaq signs a one-year deal that will send Lakers Nation into unprecedented fits of pique. I think you already know which team I’m suggesting Shaq could sign with: the Boston Celtics. In the 2010 off-season, Ray Allen’s contract will be off the books and the Celtics will have around $46 million in salaries.”
James Paton of The Rocky Mountain News: “Among the nation’s most influential Hispanics are Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, opera singer Elaine Alvarez — and the Denver Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony. Anthony, whose father was born in Puerto Rico, made Hispanic Business magazine’s annual list this year along with Federico Pena, the former Denver mayor and national co-chair of Barack Obama’s campaign.”
Cavs HQ: “Last night’s preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs showed that Brown has a long way to go if he wants to reach the pinnacle of the coaching world. On the other side of the floor Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, a man who already has 3 championship rings and has proven himself as one of the top two NBA coaches in the league, was guiding his team to a huge victory over Brown’s Cavaliers. Popovich was all over the floor, calling regular timeouts even with his team ahead, never missing an opportunity to teach and strengthen and improve the team. While the Cavalier defense was solid, the Spurs defense was suffocating, holding the Cavs to 34% shooting for the night, and 18/68 (26%!) after the first 8 minutes of play. The Spurs won handily, despite the fact that Manu Ginobili is still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered during the Olympics and Bruce Bowen was held out for the game. Lots of people say that the preseason doesn’t matter, and as far as wins and losses are concerned, I agree. But the preseason does matter when it comes to teaching a system and laying the groundwork for success throughout the year.”
Bulls.com: “Rose’s name should be popping up quite often in the papers and on television and radio in the coming months. That’s quite impressive for a guy who has never been able to go to a single Bulls game even though he grew up just a few minutes away. He remembers his older brother Dwayne turning off the television during a playoff game when Michael Jordan was about to shoot because he was too nervous to know the outcome. Little could Dwayne have ever predicted that his young brother Derrick would now have John Paxson from those Championship Bulls teams as his general manager, along with another former Bull, B.J. Armstrong, as Derrick’s agent. ‘I’m truly blessed. It’s a dream come true,’ says Rose. ‘My whole life is like a dream. I really can’t believe it.’”
Jason Friedman of Rockets.com: “Most NBA fans probably wouldn’t expect Shane Battier and Ron Artest to be fast friends. In fact, considering Battier’s reputation as the league’s model spokesman and Ron’s rep as the volatile player with a checkered past, many probably assumed they’d get along like oil and water. It’s an understandable assumption. It’s also one which is woefully wrong.”
Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News: “Mullin isn’t the most feared G.M. in the league, but he’s certainly respected. Rowell is a money guy who attracted Cohan’s attention when Rowell was an assistant athletic director at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. That is not Cohan’s alma mater, but it’s where he has family roots and where he donated $2.1 million for a performing arts building thoughtfully named Christopher Cohan Center. After a few flow-chart stops, Rowell was named team president and voice of the owner in 2003, a year before Mullin moved to the executive vice president slot. Have they been buddies the whole time? No. They both have their personality quirks and their own set of office allies. But they worked well together until about two summers ago. That’s when, as best as I can understand it, Rowell began to chafe at Mullin receiving the lion’s share of credit for the franchise-altering 2007 playoff run.”
Mary Schmitt Boyer and Brian Windhorst of The Clevelanad Plain Dealer: “‘I’ve had a history of doing that in the past, where I’ve quit teams or sabotaged my own success. At this juncture in my life, I don’t want to keep doing that. I want to enjoy being in the NBA. I want to enjoy being successful. I want to enjoy my life.’ So West returned to his home in the Washington, D.C., area to look for help. He spoke to a therapist, individually and in group sessions, and also was prescribed medication, which he says has made him feel much better. A gifted artist and poet, the introspective West opened a window to his soul and his life.”
Dave McMenamin of NBA.com: Ten Games to Watch in 2008-09
Chris McCosky of The Detroit News: “Katz knows the Pistons will be able to match any offer from any other NBA team next summer, but he is rolling the dice on Maxiell improving his leverage with a big season. It’s an agent’s job to get the biggest and best contract he can for his client and Katz apparently has decided he can do better than $5 million per year. Understandable, but unlikely. Katz presumably believes Maxiell deserves a contract akin to a full mid-level exception. He watched back-up center DeSagana Diop sign with Dallas for five years and $31 million (a full mid-level) this past summer. So, presumably, he’s hoping to get his client something closer to $6 million per season.”
Detroit Bad Boys: Jason Maxiell will test the market
Steve Adamek of The Record: “Stephen Jackson, fine citizen that he is, told ESPN.com while in China with the Warriors that if the Knicks were to release Stephon Marbury, he believes Golden State would grab him. Well, of course. It’d cost the Warriors a minimum salary if the Knicks buy out Steph (which doesn’t seem likely to happen). And Stevie Jax can hang out with the guy who basically dragged him down from starting the opening game of his rookie season in New Jersey to an end-of-the-bench player by the middle of that season. Any Net person from that era will tell you the worse thing Jackson did that season was start hanging around with Steph. It’s why the team didn’t sign him for the following season.”
Sactown Royalty: “Artest didn’t check Martin on any one play last night. A relief, right? Well, Artest did an insane job on John Salmons, tiring him out on one end and forcing him to take jumpers or run into Yao Ming on the other. Everyone has talked about Ron’s limitations as a man defender on the perimeter for a few years. We forget that at his defensive peak in Indiana he had Jermaine O’Neal, a great post defender in his prime, as a backstop. In Sacramento, he had … Brad Miller, not exactly a dominant paint enforcer. Ron’s smart. If he can’t get a steal or stop an aggressor outright, he’ll funnel. That’s what happened to Salmons the entire first half, and it showed in the box score.”
Marc Berman of The New York Post: “I wish Jamal Crawford attacked the man he was guarding with the same ferocity he attacked me in his ‘blog.’ If he played defense the same way he plays denials, maybe he wouldn’t have the distinction of playing more NBA games than any player without making the playoffs (532 and counting). There has been no apology and will be no apology to Crawford for the line I wrote in a prior blog that he motioned toward Marbury’s locker as Starbury and a writer had a brief exchange. The person who relayed the info is trustworthy and had no reason to make it up.”
Eric Musselman’s Basketball Notebook: The three window panes of life
Holly MacKenzie of SLAM: “Amaré has never been a boy. This is partly due to his ridiculous frame and never ending athleticism, but also because he was forced to become a man far before the transition naturally took place. Another basketball player; another story of making it against the path placed in front of him. Father passing away at age 12, mother in prison, six high schools and he only started playing basketball when he was 14 years old. Didn’t matter. Just like in the Nike ad, where an intense looking Stoudemire looks into the camera and growls, ‘Tell me I can’t. I won’t hear you.’”
Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald: “No rule or custom exists when it comes to playoff money, nor the way the winners spend their playoff winnings. Many teams are generous. Others grab for all of the cash while they can. The Michael Jordan Bulls supposedly kept their purse strings pulled tight. But count the reigning NBA champions on the side of, as the current political phrase goes, spreading the wealth. All 16 ballboys, in addition to being measured for a second level of championship ring that will be given to many non-basketball personnel in the organization, also received $500 each out of the team’s $3,225,206 in playoff winnings.”
