Weekend Fundamentals

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times:  “Do you want to be great or just good? That was the question Kobe Bryant posed to his young Lakers teammates during practice today. He doesn’t want his teammates to become complacent with a 4-0 start, or for them to relax because they have so much time off in-between games, or for them to not put in a high-level effort in practice. Come to work and work hard ever day, Bryant has impressed upon his teammates. ‘That’s our message for the week is we can either be good or we can be great,’ Bryant said. ‘This is the time that we can really use to get better to make another step forward.’”

Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer:  “Turnabout is fair play. For years, opponents came to the United Center and Michael Jordan would find some way to beat them. Time after time, whether it was a dunk, a 3-pointer or suffocating defense, Jordan made the difference. Now it’s LeBron James’ turn. James, who made his first 3-pointer of the season in Friday night’s victory over Indiana after starting the season 0-for-18, had 16 points in the fourth quarter and hit two huge 3-point shots in the final two minutes to lift the Cavaliers to a 106-97 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night. No wonder he was smiling for the final 12 minutes. ‘That’s the quarter when it’s time to close the game out,’ said James, who finished with 41 points. ‘When you can come into somebody’s building and make big shots like that and quiet the crowd, it brings a smile to my face.’”

Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe:  “Even if Detroit ends up wanting Iverson back, competition for his services can be expected. Portland, Atlanta, Miami, the Clippers, Oklahoma City, and Memphis all could have salary-cap space. With point guard Mike Bibby a free agent next summer, keep an eye on Atlanta, since Iverson owns an offseason home there. He could be the final piece to make the Hawks an NBA power and would sell tickets. Miami and Portland could also use a veteran star point guard. ‘The whole thing about it is I want to go somewhere where I have a chance to win a championship and be where my family can be happy,’ Iverson said. ‘That’s the most important thing winding it down. I’m not talking about winding it down in a year or two. My goal is to play until I’m 39 years old and hopefully I can stay in one city for that long until my career is over.’”

Keith Langlois of Pistons.com:  “Dumars suggested this was a trade he wouldn’t have entertained if not for Curry and the less traditional offense he’s installed that emphasizes more movement and a greater sharing of ballhandling, playmaking and decision-making, an offense Curry believes will make the Pistons a less predictable offensive team in the playoffs. ‘I do see him as a major component of being less predictable,’ he said. ‘Also, go back to Mike’s (offense) with a lot of motion. The reason that fits so well with someone like Iverson is because the traditional offense has a point guard standing up top, the play is running and he just stands there and passes. There’s no sense trading for Allen Iverson if you’re going to just have him standing there. But if you have a lot of movement, cutting, slashing, that plays right into his game. That’s another reason we think it will get him in position to do what he does best.’ The question I put to Joe D the day after the trade: How would Hamilton’s game, predicated on movement without the ball and heavy use of screens, fit with Iverson’s freelancing genius?”

20 Second Timeout:  “Paul has opened the season with six straight games with at least 20 points and 10 assists, breaking the previous record of five set by Oscar Robertson in 1968. Frankly, I’m not sure what to make of this record. Robertson averaged an aggregate triple double for the first five years of his career, including 30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg and 11.4 apg in 1961-62, the only time an NBA player has averaged a triple double for a whole season. So, Robertson did not just put up 20-10–he put up 30-10, plus 10-plus rpg, for five years. It is hard to believe that Robertson never started a season with more than five straight 20-10 games but if he had something like 35-9 plus 12 rebounds that means more than just having an arbitrarily defined 20-10 streak. Also, there is no doubt that assists are awarded more liberally today than they previously were: in 1961-62, assists were awarded on 52.2% of made field goals, while last year assists were awarded on 58.4% of made field goals.”

Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic:  “A year ago this week, D’Antoni saw the soap opera begin when Marbury lost his starting job on a flight to Phoenix and returned to Gotham before the game. D’Antoni made the same flight in May. He left after the Suns’ winningest four-year era and took a four-year, $24 million job. ‘About three weeks after we played San Antonio, I was on a plane going to New York, and I looked around and go, ‘How’d we get here?’ ‘ D’Antoni said. ‘I don’t know what happened. Probably too much emotion on my part. Too much whatever. Coaches are right that when the season’s over, you should take a month vacation and then come back and decide what to do.’ Even with two contract years left, waiting was impossible. His ability to smile and joke in the face of setbacks had vanished. ‘A lot of (stuff) went on at the end,’ he said. He is not over the divorce. He asks about players and assistant coach Alvin Gentry’s dearly departed goatee. He knows the Suns’ record but won’t look at more than a highlight or a box score.”

Marc Berman of the New York Post:  “Stephon Marbury essentially has lost his basketball job, but is trying to create jobs through his Starbury Management LLC. The Knicks’ exiled point guard has been doing much better as a businessman the past few months than as a basketball player. Marbury broke free this summer from selling his Starbury sneakers and apparel line exclusively at Steve & Barry’s, hooking up with Amazon.com, which gave him a “master distribution” channel. That allows Marbury to sell any of his products – from bath products and DVDs to children’s books and sneakers – on Amazon.com and Starbury.com.”

Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News:  “The Spurs aren’t just struggling, and this isn’t just about injuries. This is about the Spurs’ philosophy. Once they found their three stars, they chose to build everything to fit around them. Gregg Popovich valued intelligence and personality in his locker room, and the Spurs’ staff searched for players who paid attention and listened to detail. The Spurs weren’t averse to talent. They just believed chemistry mattered above all else in their supporting cast. It’s worked well enough to sometimes beat those who jumped higher and scored more easily. Last spring, with Manu Ginobili already limping, the Spurs didn’t edge the Hornets on the road in a Game 7 because they were physically superior. The Spurs have ended up with this shallow talent pool sometimes out of necessity. Drafting low in the first round, with Peter Holt’s payroll needing to stay under the luxury tax, the Spurs have had to find bargains. Sometimes, too, they’ve made the right moves, only to have them backfire. Tiago Splitter, for example, is a 7-footer who would help the Spurs’ defense, and the rising Euro lured him to stay overseas. But sometimes the Spurs have passed up talent because they wondered if it would fit their exact puzzle.”

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:  “So far, however, the Rockets have shown only glimpses of that significant part of their offensive plan. Getting the ball and player movement that Rick Adelman values so greatly has been the ongoing issue since he took over as Rockets coach before last season — and one of the problems that has kept them in the bottom third of the NBA (22nd in scoring and 27th in shooting) offensively. ‘We just have to find ourselves,’ Artest said. ‘We’re still searching. It’s coming together. We haven’t played our best ball yet.’ Despite assumptions about his offense — and his frequent displeasure with the ball movement — Adelman does not plan or even want to run his Sacramento offense. It would make little sense for a team with Yao, Artest and Tracy McGrady to run an open-post attack full-time. That would take them from their offensive strengths. Instead, Adelman wants the motion — and the ability to read and react to what it creates — to be a portion of his offense with the Rockets.”

Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:  “The problem, one which existed long before Carlisle took over, is the Mavs possess virtually no post offense with their two centers, the 7-foot Nowitzki prefers playing on the perimeter and capable slashers like Josh Howard and Jason Terry too often settle for jump shots. That equation on Friday resulted in the Mavs countering 40 Denver free-throw attempts with 35 3-point attempts, a figure so high it even made a 3-point proponent like Carlisle cringe. ‘You can’t look at [Friday’s] game as how we’re going to play because in a long season you’re going to be hot and cold with the 3s,’ said Jason Kidd, who made six 3s in the game, but missed his lone free-throw attempt to tie with 19.9 seconds left in the 108-105 loss at Denver. ‘We’ve got to get the ball inside,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to get to the free-throw line because we’re letting our opponents get to the free-throw line and now we’re relying on that 3 to kind of catch us up.’ Opponents have shot 47 more free throws and made 44 more than the Mavs. That’s nearly a nine-point differential per game.”

Blog Maverick:  Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban offers his services to President Elect Obama’s economic advisory team

John Krolik of SLAM:  Krolik receives media credentials for the first time and is welcomed by an unlikely Houston Rocket [Hint: he's a former DPOY]

The Knicks Blog:  Breaks down the positive/negative results of Knicks guards fighting over/under ball screens

Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic:  “Were you watching Saturday night’s Suns win in Milwaukee thinking how you don’t remember seeing Shaquille O’Neal score like this in a while? Your gut was right. O’Neal’s 29-point output was his best scoring game since March 2007. He had only scored more than he did Saturday on six occasions in the previous three seasons. ‘Guys were looking for me,’ O’Neal said. ‘Nothing else was really working so coach kept calling my play and I was just trying to make them double. They weren’t doubling at times. I was hitting tough shots. When they did try to dig down, I’d kick it out. ‘I like to show them I still got it.’”

Bright Side Of The Sun:  Shaq giveth and Shaq taketh away

Michael Lee of The Washington Post:  “Arenas walked by Thomas and Thomas stopped him to look at Arenas’s hand. Then Thomas licked his thumb and rubbed Arenas’s hand trying to smear off the ink. When the ink remained, Thomas chuckled, shook his head some more, and walked away. I walked up to Arenas to see what got Thomas so worked up and looked in amazement. Arenas has decided to show his permanent support of President-elect Barack Obama with a tattoo. Arenas had the words ‘Change We Believe In’ tattooed onto the fingers of his left hand in cursive writing. Then, Gilbert showed the outside of his pinky finger, which had ‘44’ inked on it.”

Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News:  With a list of the ten higest paid NBA players at each position

Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:  “Something2Prove is a full-scale campaign that doesn’t hide from the team’s poor performance last year. Shot by Miami-based advertising firm Southern Brand Collective in a gritty, documentary style, it shows Heat players speaking to the media about what or to whom they must prove something — ‘To the doubters’ for Wade; ‘That it ain’t all hype’ for No. 2 draft pick Michael Beasley. ‘I think it’s honest,’ said Russell Morrison, a new season ticket holder from Tamarac. ‘I think the team will work real hard. There’s a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar, (so) they’re going to have to.’ One ad agency president, Jason Brown, CEO of Brown, Parker & DeMarinis Advertising in Delray Beach, said he thinks the campaign exposes the players to fans. ‘It’s always good to get your players out in front of people. They have a new exciting young player in Michael Beasley, clearly Dwyane Wade is a superstar, an Olympian,’ Brown said. ‘At the end of the day, if they don’t win, no ad campaign is going to help them.’ Brown estimated the campaign is probably costing the Heat ‘seven figures, which in the real world is a lot of money, but which in the world of the NBA is minimum wage.’”

Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle:  “What Rowell has done, though – aside from giving himself a full-page photo on page 5 of the Warriors’ media guide – is create the public perception that the Warriors’ front office is in complete turmoil. That’s the truth, as it turns out, but it comes without that magic touch called finesse. Although Rowell had final say on money matters, Mullin orchestrated the lamentable contracts for Adonal Foyle, Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy. The Mike Montgomery call was an abysmal failure. Nobody was too thrilled over draft picks Ike Diogu and Patrick O’Bryant. But aside from Nelson’s obvious influence, the Warriors became a relevant franchise for four reasons: Davis, Jackson, Ellis and Andris Biedrins (with plenty of help from holdover mainstay Jason Richardson). Mullin was at the heart of those decisions. He’ll go down as the executive who pulled Golden State out of the doldrums after 13 years of disgrace. If Rowell wants change, that’s his right. It’s just a shame his ego is the real story here.”

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:  “Sources say that the missing money was found through credit cards that Nochimson used without Hamilton’s knowledge. Hamilton’s agent is Leon Rose of CAA, who helped his client uncover the alleged impropriety by Nochimson. The union’s investigation of the alleged transgressions could also assist Hamilton in a civil suit against Nochimson. ‘I feel violated,’ Hamilton said. ‘It is about the money, but it’s also the trust factor. It’s the loyalty factor. You befriend somebody. You bring them around your family. Everybody knows him. Everybody loves him, just because of you. He pretty much ran my corporation. He knew how to manipulate it. ‘The loyalty part killed me more than anything.’”

Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee:  “There have been stranger NBA stories. Doug Moe hired a sneaker salesman as an assistant. Pat Riley added a practicing attorney to the scouting staff. Numerous other franchises have provided jobs for the sons and daughters – oh, wait, not the daughters – of their owners, head coaches or front-office executives. So the notion of hiring a sports writer as a regional scout isn’t completely nutty. Occasionally it even evolves into a thriving, enduring, three-for-all marriage. Keith Drum. Geoff Petrie. The Kings. Fourteen years after he accepted the job, Drum, a recovered sportswriter turned regional scout, remains one of Petrie’s most trusted staffers. He might be more influential than that. Inquire about Drum over at Arco Arena, and many suggest that, of all the scouts, the man known as ‘Drummer,’ the cerebral looking fellow with the wire-rimmed glasses and close-cropped hair, is the one who has Petrie’s ear. Both of them. But a sportswriter? Can a blogger be far behind?”