Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: “So now we know how they spent the fourth months since last season’s final meltdown against the Boston Celtics. They copied them. The last time we saw them, they were suffering an embarrassing 39-point defeat in the clinching Game 6 of the NBA Finals. If you can’t beat them, well, you know the rest. This wasn’t Showtime, it was Shove-time. This wasn’t the Lake Show, it was the Take Show. They took the career debut from Greg Oden, who looked like some immature lug from the Southern Section, stumbling and bumbling against Andrew Bynum, and this was before he sprained his foot and finished with zero points. They took the perimeter from Brandon Roy, the Blazers’ All-Star who dried up under the Kobe lamp, going 0 for 6 in the first half and finishing with just five baskets in 15 attempts. They took the middle from everyone else, with LaMarcus Aldridge and Channing Frye combining to go four for 19, Frye getting shut out in nearly 17 minutes.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “After Game 1, there’s plenty of time to show improvement, but also lots of room for it. That includes late-game management as the Cavs missed key free throws and displayed general bad mechanics. That included stuff like losing Celtics while pressing and ending one play with Anderson Varejao taking a 3-pointer.After an impressive start filled with ball movement, some easy baskets and numerous trips to the foul line in a progressive first half, things regressed in an unexpected but familiar fashion. As the game wore on and the Celtics made the charge you’d expect from a defending champion, the Cavs did a great deal of standing and dribbling as their offense dried up.”
Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: “They opened the Rose era with a reasonably impressive 108-95 victory in front of the usual sellout crowd Tuesday night at the United Center. As a team , the Bulls shot 50.7 percent from the field and built a 20-1 advantage in fastbreak points. Rose finished with 11 points, 9 assists, 3 steals and 4 turnovers in his official pro debut. He threw the ball away on his very first possession, then assisted on a Drew Gooden jumper the next trip down the floor. Rose easily could have piled up 15 assists if the Bulls knocked down a few more of the open jumpers he created.”
CelticsBlog: Boston’s Banner Ceremony [Video]
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “Two days before the Trail Blazers’ first practice, and one day before the team would greet reporters for its annual media day, a season of potential took its first significant step. It was somewhat of a secret start to the season, as coach Nate McMillan invited the cornerstones of the franchise — Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden — to his West Linn house for dinner. ‘The whole hype,’ Roy said, ‘was that Coach Nate was cooking.’ Throughout the night, they talked finances. They talked football. But mostly, the subject of conversation was themselves: to one another, about one another, for one another. In Trail Blazers parlance, it was a meeting of the Super Heroes.”
Casey Holdahl of Trail Blazers.com: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Brandon Roy is nails and ice all rolled up into a 6-6 combo guard package. In fact, I think he might actually be exuding confidence, literally. If I can get a sample of B.Roy’s sweat, I’m sending it to a lab for testing because whatever has gotten into that man needs to be harnessed for the betterment of mankind. It sounds like gushing (and to a certain extent, I guess it is) but I can’t think of a better way to describe the way Roy is carrying and conducting himself these days. He’s like a Buddhist monk with a jump shot. Supreme confidence coupled with unflappable tranquility. He’s just so … ready.”
Mike Trudell of Lakers.com: “Amidst the media search for starting lineup news, some very interesting questions - and answers - appeared. For example, Phil Jackson was asked if his team’s depth is its best quality. Instead of taking the bait and simply praising his second unit as he often (deservedly) does, Jackson said that the best thing about the Lakers is the ’supreme talent’ of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Jackson explained that having superstars who have the ability to simply do things better than their opponents is what truly transcends in basketball. Sure, it’s great to have depth of talent, but it’s not doing much good without super talent. Makes you think about Jordan, Pippen, Shaq and Kobe from Jackson’s title runs. He gets it.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “‘Michael’s always had a great ability to show empathy with a player’s situation,’ said the Spurs’ Popovich, who hired Brown to be his assistant in San Antonio in 2000. ‘One guy may need to be jumped on he’s because he’s got a tough spirit but maybe another guy is more sensitive and you need to handle him one-on-one in the film room. Mike has a great sense of how to handle personalities and knowing what would make that person to allow themselves to be taught.’
A significant facet of Brown’s technique is to get players invested in decisions. Often, whether in a practice setting or even in the heat of a timeout in a close game, he will allow the players to make decisions on plays or strategy.”
Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News: “Which is why this matters. For all his brilliance, A.I. has not led teams to the heights his remarkable individual numbers would suggest. Even he admits this. ‘This is going on my 13th year, and I’ve been to the Finals once,’ he said as training camp opened. ‘I would have thought I would have been there five or six times by now and won a championship. So, obviously, the commitment is there from me to sacrifice my game and do whatever the team needs me to do. If that means doing something different offensively, I’m willing to do that.’ The question is whether he can, whether the mind of a scorer can become the mind of a facilitator, depending on who’s playing beside him in the backcourt.”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “Since the wide-eyed 19-year-old with the wide grin landed at DIA in 2003, he has Pied Piper-ed the Nuggets to the playoffs every season, but never out of the first round. He has averaged 24.4 points per game in his career and made the past two Western Conference all-star teams, but he’s never been linked to conversation for the all-defensive team. He helped make a punch-line franchise a playoff team, but he also sucker-punched an opponent and was suspended for 15 games. He has been arrested for a DUI, but he’s now doing community service to promote smart driving. He had an embarrassing, immature role on the 2004 bronze-medal Olympic team, but he had an enlightening, mature role on the 2008 gold-medal Olympic team. And this season, Anthony is campaigning that fans will see ‘a different me.’”
Baron Davis: “It’s really important to me that I get out and show everyone what I’m capable of because it seems like there are so many people that want to write us off already. Obligatory Haters. All the more people to prove wrong. (Oh, and Bill Simmons: I’m not coming on the podcast until you get your act together and be a real fan. LOL) Our first game is against the Lakers. I say Bring It On. It’s exactly how you want to start off, by playing against the best in the West, sizing ourselves up against the Western Champs. Kobe is still my favorite too. Sitting here, watching him on TNT, and I’m still rewinding his dunks on my Tivo just like the rest of you. LA is his town. But it’s my home too and LA’s big enough for us both. Clipper Nation: I know you have been patient a long time but I’m here to assure you that you are gonna be proud to be a part of this season. I’m shooting baskets at the park outside my house tonight before I go to sleep. Tomorrow, I’ll be at Staples Center early to make sure my family and friends are all settled. Theres a lot of pressure on me now that I’m back at home - that’s what everyone’s saying. So I guess that means the pressure starts tomorrow. Gotta make sure to load up my ipod with the right music to warm up to. It’s Makavelli, All Eyez on Me… you know the drill. Strictly LA hip hop for the Lakers vs the Clippers.. or should I say, Clip Hop LOL. Remember when you were a kid on Christmas Eve? Tonight’s kinda like that cause the sooner I go to bed, the sooner I can wake up and it’ll be game day.”
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: “‘As a father now, I understand some of the things I missed growing up because I didn’t have my father and I try to do those things,’ he says. ‘I try to raise my kids exactly how I wanted to be raised. That’s being caring, being there for them no matter what. ‘If I’m on the road, I call my daughter every single day, ask what she learned at school, how did school go? I even talk to my little boy and he doesn’t even know how to talk, he just knows that dada’s on the phone.’ Those are conversations O’Neal never got to have with his father, who abandoned two sons and their mother before Jermaine was born. They were in contact once, when it became apparent a teenaged O’Neal was destined for basketball greatness – and riches – but they’ve never spoken again. ‘I think having a man in a kid’s life is a different part that I think kids need,’ he says. ‘You see so many situations where kids are raised by only their mother or only by their father and they’re kind of missing a little bit.’ O’Neal arrives in Toronto having lived through more defining moments in his 30 years than some do in 60, each contributing to the man, the father, the person he’s become. It is a litany of events that could have destroyed a lesser man.”
Bucks.com: “Question: ‘The average fan believes that, considering what NBA players are making, they should play hard every night, and you certainly did that as a player. Does it bother you when others don’t?’ Scott Skiles: ‘It’s not just a professional-athlete situation. It’s a human-being situation. A lot of people make a lot of money and don’t work hard at their jobs or get excited about going to work. Now if those people are crass enough to think, ‘Well, if I just made more money, then I’d be excited,’ I don’t think that’s very common sensical. So they’re just like everyone else. I think the large majority of NBA players play hard almost all the time. The truth is, there are some that don’t. But the vast majority of them do. I think if you looked at the percentages, it’d be the same as any other profession, or even better.’”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “No longer a spring chicken, not yet an old man, he’s snuggled in basketball’s version of middle age. ‘Every year, you end up going back to basketball, and it’s a little more fun,’ Duncan said. ‘I probably enjoy playing now more than before, and I’ve been a basketball junkie all along.’ Duncan is coming off a season in which he averaged 19.3 points per game, only the second time he finished below 20. Yet he remains the kind of showpiece big man every team covets, but few possess. ‘He’s still one of the top three big men in basketball, and you can make an argument he’s the best,’ said Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, who was on the Phoenix bench last season. ‘His game is great. I don’t mean good — I mean great.’ Duncan isn’t unstoppable every night anymore, but he can be unstoppable any given night. Just ask the Suns, who saw him climb into the way-back machine and drop 40 points on them in last season’s playoffs. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich traces the incremental decline in Duncan’s scoring to the rise in Manu Ginobili’s.”
Chris McCosky of The Detroit News: “Johnson already has proven a lot of people wrong. He didn’t have a lot of supporters when the Pistons drafted him 56th overall in 2005. He had just turned 18. He had attended three Los Angeles high schools. He was rail thin, at that time 210 pounds on a 6-foot-9 frame. To ask him to hold a defensive position against the likes of Ben Wallace or Rasheed Wallace was pointless and cruel. His shooting stroke resembled a shot put, a crooked hoist from the shoulder. He wasn’t comfortable handling the ball, and he struggled to grasp the half-court offense and team defense. And, as green as he was on the floor, he was completely out of his element off it.”
Suns.com: Steve Kerr cites three reasons why he’s so optimistic about the upcoming season [Video]
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “There haven’t been many perimeter-oriented trios to dominate successful teams over the past two decades. Only two come to mind. The Washington Wizards present a modern-day version with their reliance on guards Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler and forward Antawn Jamison. One of the more popular perimeter trios played together in 1989-91 with Golden State. Known as ‘Run TMC,’ Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin once averaged 20 points apiece in a season but never made a deep playoff run.The Griz believe they have struck the right balance.”
Chris Perksin of the Palm Beach Post: “How far can a healthy, revitalized Dwyane Wade carry the Heat? ‘If he plays like he did in the Olympics, I think he’s got a chance to put Miami back on the map,” Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni said.But if the season unravels as it did last year, Wade expects to be the main target of critics. ‘Some people are going to say, ‘He needs to do more,’ Wade said. ‘Some will say, ‘With LeBron (James) or Kobe (Bryant), they’d be a playoff team.’ They’re going to say whatever they want to say.’ Doesn’t matter to Wade. He’s not listening. He’s back on the court. Back in his element. Back in control.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “Spurs point guard Tony Parker has a pointed message for Phoenix’s Shaquille O’Neal: If you don’t like being purposefully sent to the free-throw line, start making free throws. By now, everybody with a cable box knows O’Neal’s feelings about the Hack-a-Shaq strategy the Spurs employed in last year’s playoffs (The Big Cactus calls it ‘cowardly.’) Just don’t expect Shaq to shame the Spurs out of it. ‘Shaq likes to talk,’ Parker said after Tuesday’s practice, on the eve of the Spurs’ season opener against the Suns. ‘But as long as he doesn’t make free throws, we’re still going to do it.’”
Lang Whitaker of SLAM: SLAM’s Official 2008-09 NBA Preview
Free Darko: Free Darko presents The Macrophenomenal Website
The Basketball Jones: Ep. 330: Video Killed The Podcastin’ Star
Tim MacMahon of The Dallas Morning News: “Brandon Bass, who came to the Mavs after a couple no-impact years with the Hornets, is the team’s poster boy for bargain shopping. With him in the mix, that gives the Mavs four outstanding athletes who are between 22-24 years old and have a shot at developing into good NBA players. Wright, a solid defender who has a good feel for playing with Kidd, appears to have seized the starting job at shooting guard. Bass established himself as a key reserve last season, giving the Mavs a ferocious finisher who can play either frontcourt power position. Green and Williams are fighting for minutes right now, but the Mavs believe both 22-year-olds have bright futures if they’re willing to put in the work. While they’re considered busts by fans of the teams that spent mid-first-round picks on them, remember that they’re kids who would be college seniors if they went that route.”
Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe: “An NBA championship ring is beautiful, not only for its appearance but for what it represents. Most players never own one. So Larry Bird probably stares at his three gorgeous rings all the time, right? ‘They’re, uh, I think they’re in a barn somewhere,’ the Hall of Famer said. ‘I haven’t seen them in, I don’t know. I think my wife can find them. But I know we have a cabinet somewhere in the garage. Eventually I’m going to give them to the Hall of Fame or something because they’re just like old pieces of stuff. It’s nice to see them sometimes. But after you get ‘em, they’re kind of a pain to keep up with.’”
Anthony Rieber of Newsday: “Why, you might ask, would anyone care about Marbury’s political views, or about those of any athlete? Well, LeBron James has stumped for Obama and Browns quarterback Brady Quinn recently made an appearance for McCain in the battleground state of Ohio. It could make a difference for some voters. But that’s not actually why I went to Knicks camp on Monday to talk to Marbury about the election. No, I gave Marbury the microphone because he’s the only athlete among the New York elite (at least as judged by salary) who still has a horse in this race.Of the 20 New York athletes who made or will make $10 million or more in salary in seasons that began in 2008, only two gave money to a presidential candidate, according to Federal Election Commission records: Marbury and Alex Rodriguez.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “With tens of millions of dollars in annual operating losses and a $3.5 billion Brooklyn arena and real estate deal in peril, New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner has listened to overtures of two prospective foreign ownership groups, two league executives with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports. The most serious advance, sources say, were made in recent months by Russian oligarchs, tycoons invested in the country’s oil industry. The Russians’ working plan would’ve been for full ownership of the Nets and control of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, one source said. Also, a Middle Eastern group, based in Dubai, expressed interest to the NBA and Nets ownership.”
Jason Friedman of Rockets.com: “Much has been made about the Rockets’ seemingly avant-garde approach to team-building. When Daryl Morey took over as general manager seventeen months ago, most people saw his background in statistical analysis and immediately labeled him the prophet (or pariah) destined to usher basketball into the ‘Moneyball’ era. Now that conclusion isn’t necessarily false, it’s just that, like most generalizations, it’s overly simplistic. Morey and the rest of the men who make up the Rockets front office absolutely employ a rational, analytical approach to assembling a roster, but the image of them as stat geek automatons subservient to the whims of their spreadsheets and databases couldn’t be further from the truth. These guys not only love the game of basketball, they know it, too.”
[Note: Due to a power outage in my area, I was without electricity for about 8 hours yesterday. Thankfully, power was restored shortly before the Celtics-Cavs game. But consequently, I’m frantically trying to catch up with my RSS reader. The moral of the story: don’t take your NBA news for granted kids. I almost lost my flippin’ mind with no internet access on opening day. If you’ve seen many of the links in today’s Fundamentals previously or elsewhere, I apologize. We should be back to your regularly scheduled programming by tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.]
