Andy Martino of the New York Daily News: “The Houston Rockets guard known as T-Mac was in a refugee camp in Chad, speaking with victims of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in neighboring Darfur. What had begun as a celebrity fact-finding mission was leaving a profound impact on McGrady, transforming the once-pampered superstar into an impassioned activist. The trip also resulted in a documentary film and collaboration with the United Nations. More than a year later, McGrady and his partners are ready to launch the Sister School Initiative, which will work with the U.N. to fund education in refugee camps, and link African and American schools with the ambitious aim of modernizing education in war zones. McGrady has already enlisted several NBA stars, and hopes to use his platform to bring change to this region where women are raped, children are killers and babies are set on fire, a region whose troubles changed him forever.”
John Krolik for SLAM: “The lone red flag: An aggressive zone is vulnerable to penetration, and the only Lakers giving up an opponent PER better than the League-average 15 is Derek Fisher, who is allowing his counterpart to have a PER of 22.5, which is really, really high—only Devin Harris and Chris Paul currently have a PER higher at point guard. The only other Laker giving up an opponent PER higher than 15 is Fisher’s backup Farmar at 17.4. This could signify a possible monkey wrench in the whole scheme—point guards have the easiest time against the Lakers’ scheme, or Derek Fisher sucks at defense, which he kinda does anyway. Still, it’s worth watching when the Lakers play their likely WCF adversary in the Hornets—the first time they met, CP3 had 31 points on 19 shots, 13 dimes and 7 boards.”
Jeff Eisenberg of The Press-Enterprise: “Reducing Bryant’s minutes is a perennial goal, but Coach Phil Jackson has been especially wary of overtaxing his superstar this season because of Bryant’s short offseason and busy summer playing in the Olympics. So far Bryant is averaging only 34 minutes, more than four fewer than last year and his lowest total since the 1997-98 season when he started only one game. Bryant has logged 33 minutes or fewer in seven of the Lakers’ 10 victories, including 33 against Phoenix on Thursday. He was able to rest again in the fourth quarter Friday night against Denver, scoring 29 points in 29 minutes to lead another easy victory.”
Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News: “Guess what? Besides being No. 1 in the hearts of San Antonians, the Spurs are drawing larger local TV viewers than last season’s NBA Finals teams Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. Of all the home markets, no team in the league had higher local television ratings than than the Spurs through Nov. 20, according to Nielsen research. As of Nov. 20, the Spurs are averaging a 6.6 local household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. Those early-season games have been spread over both broadcast (KENS and KMYS) and cable outlets (ESPN, NBA TV and Fox Sports Net Southwest). The rating is the estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute.”
Jerry Brown of the East Valley Tribune: “Even when the Suns threw the ball all over the floor and pushed the gas pedal at every opportunity in past seasons, they were able to take care of the basketball and create enough turnovers themselves to balance the books. But as the Suns have slowed the pace and struggled to grasp a happy medium between a set offense and a shift to up-tempo, the turnovers have been coming fast and furious on the offensive end and tough to come by on defense. Not only are the Suns second-worst in the league when it comes to committing turnovers (16.61 a game), they are also second-worst in the league at creating turnovers (12.46). That means the Suns are giving the ball to the other team more than four more times a game (4.15), twice as many as any other team in the league and far too many for a team that fancies itself a contender.”
Michael Grange of the Toronto Globe and Mail: “People close to Steve Nash were talking to him this past summer about how he thought things would work out this season with the Suns as they fully abandon the D’Antoni era and embrace a Shaq-focussed, Terry Porter-driven, bore-the-hell-out-of-everyone approach in Phoenix. ‘It will either work out great, or it will be a disaster,’ was Nash’s take then. The Suns are 8-5 and got waxed at home last night by the Lakers, one of the teams the Suns re-invented themselves in order to beat; the Spurs being the other. Nash is heading for five-year lows in scoring, assists, shooting percentage and three-point shooting percentage. He left the game last night with back spasms. How do you think things are working out?”
Chris McCosky of The Detroit News: “It’s time for the Pistons to get about the business of re-establishing their identity. Yes, they’ve played eight of the first 12 games on the road and persevered with an 8-4 record. Yes they made a major, chemistry-altering trade. Yes they’re working on their fourth starting lineup. But they are home now; four comfortably spaced games, all against non-playoff teams from a year ago, over the next 10 days. It’s time to make some headway on this work-in-progress which got knocked several steps backwards by the Celtics on Thursday. ‘A lot of things that we’re doing we are ahead of schedule on and there are things I am not as pleased with,’ coach Michael Curry said. ‘Defensively, we’ve taken a step back since training camp. But the last two weeks we haven’t had much practice time. I feel pretty good with practice time we will be able to get back on target defensively.’”
Micah Hart of Hawks.com: “Here is what I like about this Hawks team so far this season. Generally speaking, they find a way. In games against Oklahoma City, Washington, and now Charlotte, the Hawks let inferior teams hang around too long and nearly let the win slip away. And yet, they didn’t. Whereas in the past the Hawks might have lost at least one if not several of those games, this year’s squad has kept its poise, played tough D when it mattered, and hit clutch shots down the stretch to come away victorious. Yeah, I wish these games had been 20-point blowouts (Josh Smith or no Josh Smith), but a one-point margin of victory counts just as much 30. It is possible that playing down to the level of the opposition will come back to bite this team in the rear at some point. At the same time, the lessons learned by winning ballgames in the final minutes will come in handy, no matter who the competition is.”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “In 20 years of covering the NBA I’ve never seen a more ridiculous technical foul than the one called on Larry Brown in the first half against the Hawks. Quite literally, Brown yelled out, ‘Hey, ref” – nothing more – and it caused referee Eric Lewis to ‘T” up Brown. Brown was standing right in front of me at the time, so I know what was and wasn’t said. Is it now a punishable offense not to recall a particularly referee’s name during a game?”
A. Sherrod Blakely of MLive.com: “With great expectations comes the great burden of living up to them. And Stuckey, by his own acknowledgment, has not done that this season. ‘I’m struggling right now,’ he said. ‘But I’ll find it, though.’ The ‘it’ is his game, which has been inconsistent since the Allen Iverson trade. In the games Stuckey played this season before Iverson’s debut, he averaged 10.5 points with 14 assists and six turnovers. His numbers are not nearly as impressive in the six games he has played with Iverson. In those games, Stuckey averaged 6.5 points per game and tallied more turnovers (16) than assists (13). That includes a five-turnover, zero-assist performance in Detroit’s 98-80 loss at Boston on Thursday.”
Chris Perkins of the Palm Beach Post: “It’s no shock that the scrappy Heat is fifth in the NBA in steals with 8.5 per game. But for the undersized club to be eighth in blocks with an average of 5.75 … well, that’s surprising even to the players themselves. ‘I’m pretty sure we’re not even in the top 15 in size,’ said 6-foot-7 forward Shawn Marion. The Heat is relying on energy, quickness and athleticism to compensate for the fact that no one in the rotation is taller than 6-9. Miami, which hosts Indiana tonight, is doing it with an outside-in formula – the smaller guys are doing the high-profile work. Guard Dwyane Wade (6-4) is tied for seventh in the league in blocks at 2.0 per game; Marion is 12th at 1.8. ‘We get a couple of them here and there at the rim,’ Marion said, ‘but most of them are coming from weak side or even on the ball.’ Wade is tied for second in steals per game at 2.5 and rookie guard Mario Chalmers is tied for 11th at 1.83.”
ClipperBlog: “Is the 2008-2013 Elton Brand worth 5 years and $82 million? We’ve always been aware that Elton’s torn Achilles might prevent him from returning to his 2005-06 glory, and that power forwards tend to atrophy more quickly as players than wing guys. But most Clipper fans sublimated those fears in any discussion of Elton’s longterm worth to the franchise. Sure, Elton might see his FGAs drop from the high-teens to the low-teens over the course of his new contract, but like any diligent aging ballplayer, he’d develop new tricks: He’d expand that 15-footer out to 20 feet. And even though his natural shooting stroke would make it difficult for him, maybe Elton could learn to shoot the 3PA like Charles Barkley! None of that is happening for Elton in Philadelphia.”
Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press: “It would have been nice if the Timberwolves had made a game of it. It would have been nice to show Kevin Garnett that the franchise was on track, building and growing in his absence. Instead, the Wolves reminded Garnett of why he was so lucky to escape. The Celtics outscored the home team 35-10 in the third quarter to run away with it and end Minnesota’s season-high winning streak at one in a row. The good news is that at last the Wolves didn’t have to worry about collapsing in the fourth quarter. They were already collapsed by then. So, K.G., what do you see for our lads in the future? ‘Next question,’ he replied. In the third quarter, after a big Celtics run, Garnett got all excited. He crouched low, pumped his fist and roared. All of this happened about three feet from Wolves owner Glen Taylor, who was sitting courtside in one of those expensive seats no one wants to buy. ‘I didn’t know that,’ Garnett said. ‘But who cares?’”
Big Ticket for Celtics Blog: “The situation that KG came into this league under makes him even more endearing to the Minnesota faithful. KG was a revolutionary, starting a league changing trend of preps-to-pros. People wanted KG to fail. He was supposed to be the rule that proved ‘this is why you go to college’. But he was defiant. Writers and basketball brass across the country clearly did not know who they were dealing with. A supremely athletic, supremely sized, supremely eager kid that gets to play basketball for a living. They thought he would succumb to the lush life and ignore the rigors required to make it in the NBA. What they didn’t know was how easy this sounded to him. Bust his butt playing a game that he loves?? Yes please. Kevin Garnett spent his senior year of high school in Chicago’s South side, raising his sister without a parent present, working multiple part time jobs to make sure they had food and clothes. And here came some writers that didn’t even know him, saying he didn’t know how hard basketball would be…. are you kidding? Well Minnesota saw his fire, they saw his passion, and they saw his dedication. They adopted him as their own favorite son and watched him rapidly grow into one of the most dynamic players and personalities in the league. When you are a part of that, even as a fan, you feel some responsibility.”
Art Thompson III of the Orange County Register: “With the Clippers’ trade Friday of forward Tim Thomas and guard Cuttino Mobley to the New York Knicks for forward Zach Randolph and guard Mardy Collins, that means only one player on this year’s team was actively playing for the Clippers during the final weeks of the 2007-2008 season. That is totally amazing when you think about it. The Clippers literally have been made into an entirely new team over the course of the summer and first month of the 2008-2009 season. The lone player that remains is second-year player Al Thornton, who has moved into the starting slot at small forward, vacated when Corey Maggette left and signed as a free agent this past summer with the Golden State Warriors.”
Arsenalist of Raptors Republic: “OK, let me try to get through this as best as I can because I honestly feel sick. As I sat there at Philthy McNasty’s watching the fourth quarter of this game I couldn’t help but think, damn, Devin Harris is good. He can do anything he wants on the floor tonight, there’s nothing Jose can do to stop him. Nothing. He doesn’t even have to make a move to get past him, just pure unadulterated quickness will get him scores and others open shots (and they did). Impressive. Then I watched Carter do his thing and I’m thinking if he ever decided to give 100% he’d challenge for the best player in the league year in and year out. Why does he always have to bring his A-game against us? Why can’t he just let bygones be bygones and then I remembered that we’re the ones who are booing him and reminding him how good he can be. Harris and Carter were simply amazing to watch and made Calderon and Parker look like severely inferior players in crunch time. We all know that Sam Mitchell is quite the joke of a coach but last night we saw him at the height of his incompetency and it had nothing to do with the choking fourth quarter offense. Forget about designing plays to get us scores in crunch time, the man failed to come up with an inbounds play. Twice. Both times coming out of a timeout.”
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: “With a series of increasingly costly mental and physical gaffes, the Raptors allowed Carter to pull off the kind of heroics he once did with regularity around these parts in a 129-127 Nets overtime win that could be a crippling blow to Toronto’s psyche. Sure, it was Carter’s dunk 1.5 seconds from the overtime buzzer that ended the game, just like it was his circus shot of a three-pointer with less than a second left in the fourth quarter that caused the extra session. But when the Raptors look to assess blame for this one, they have to look inwards first.”
Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus: With a look at the Dean Smith, Bob Knight, Pat Riley, Rick Pitino, Jack Ramsay, Mike D’Antoni, and Hubie Brown coaching trees
Eric Musselman’s Basketball Notebook: The saddest thing in life is wasted talent
Joshua Coleman of 3 Shades of Blue: Compares OJ Mayo’s minutes to that of Brandon Roy, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and LeBron James during their rookie seasons
Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post: “There was nothing at all subtle about what president Donnie Walsh did yesterday, a brash, transparent re-working of the 2008-09 Knicks that was really about laying the groundwork for the 2010-11 Knicks. This is what he had promised all along, of course. This was what he had signed on for. He has never said, ‘The New York Knicks are looking forward to the summer of 2010 so we can welcome LeBron James to town,’ because that probably would be construed as tampering. But he might as well have said it. Might as well have sent the message in neon to the rest of the league. Because all across the NBA yesterday, that was the message that was delivered loud, clear, true and unmistakably. As one league source said, ‘There has never been any doubt in anyone’s mind that the Knicks wanted No. 23 [James]. I think we were all looking to see if they would really have the fortitude to get in place to make it happen. And now we know.’”
Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News: “The Knicks at least have a legitimate chance of making the biggest free agent splash since the Lakers signed Shaquille O’Neal. This time, the role of the Orlando Magic will be played by the Cavaliers. Shaq wanted Hollywood, in addition to L.A.’s millions 12 years ago. Try as it did, the Magic could never match what Jerry West had to offer. Bright lights, big city. Barring something unforeseen, such as the Cavs somehow figuring out a way to get Kobe Bryant in a deal while also keeping Le-Bron on the team, Cleveland could be reduced to praying that James decides to stay at home. It’s not a pretty picture, but let them worry about that out in Ohio, where the Knicks’ maneuvers had to rival what fans felt when the Browns were making noise about bolting for Baltimore. Nothing is certain, we know, but in 20 months Walsh and Mike D’Antoni can go knocking on James’ palace door with a king’s ransom in hand. With the help of two of Walsh’s old friends, fellow New Yorkers Chris Mullin and Mike Dunleavy, the Knicks became players again.”
Alan Hahn of New York Newsday: “D’Antoni said he went to Marbury before the game and offered him the chance to play. ‘There’s 30-35 minutes out there and they’re yours if you want them,’ the coach said. Marbury declined. ‘I was told they were moving in another direction and that I wasn’t in the plans,’ Marbury said, ‘so that’s it.’ Donnie Walsh, who had a terrific day as a GM, now has to put all of his focus on finally putting an end to the Starbury Saga. ‘I haven’t talked about Marbury basically because I don’t have anything really to say,’ Walsh said in the conference call. ‘I haven’t thought about that part of it so I can’t answer that question right now. Obviously, I want to think about that now.’”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “‘When reporters asked Marbury, he disputed D’Antoni’s take, saying he was told yesterday he’s ‘not in the plans.’ ‘The only thing I’m at liberty to say is that I was told they were moving forward and I’m not the person who chooses to play or who doesn’t.’ Marbury told me privately later the conversation didn’t go like D’Antoni said it did. Marbury thinks D’Antoni is using this incident to force Walsh’s hand. And so with Tim Thomas, Al Harrington and Cuttino Mobley on the way, Marbury appears headed out with Jamal and Zach.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “The Cavs worry about Jay-Z and the New Jersey Nets’ proposed move to Brooklyn. They worry about Joe Dumars and the Detroit Pistons, and they worry about Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks. They’re terrified that they’ll lose LeBron, and that he’ll do to them what losing Shaquille O’Neal did to pro basketball in Orlando. All things considered, the Cavs don’t doubt that James will walk out the door. They’ve just not thought that it would be for the Knicks. ‘They think New York is a joke,’ one NBA GM said Friday. The Cavs understand that bright lights and big stage of Madison Square Garden and Madison Avenue are formidable for a generational talent that sees himself a lot more like a global brand, than a hometown basketball star. They know something else, too: New York just thrust a lot more pressure on itself to sign James than Cleveland has to keep him.”
