The Salt Lake Tribune: “An analysis by The Salt Lake Tribune of hundreds of tax documents filed by NBA player charities has found these foundations face a dizzying array of problems, especially those set up by the athletes themselves, without outside expertise. Among the findings of The Tribune’s analysis of 89 stand-alone NBA player charities: Together, they reported revenue of at least $31 million between 2005 and 2007, but only about 44 cents of every dollar raised – or $14 million of that $31 million – actually reached needy causes. The average NBA player foundation put just 51 cents of each dollar it spent toward charitable programs, well below the 65 cents most philanthropic watchdog groups view as acceptable. Tax records show budgets are quickly eaten up by poor planning and administrative costs. While a handful of player charities appear to be well-financed and tightly managed organizations that do good, a larger number are unimpressively funded and their activities poorly documented. Up to a quarter of NBA player charities analyzed lacked even basic documentation required by the Internal Revenue Service.”
The AP: “Even after the streak-busting loss at Los Angeles, victories at Golden State, Sacramento and Portland would have given the Celts a 70-16 record and an .814 winning percentage for the calendar year, which would have ranked fourth-best for a team playing a minimum of 80 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The best calendar year belongs to the Chicago Bulls, who went 74-11 (.871) from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1996, fueled by their NBA-record 72-win season in 1995-96. And though the C’s went 66-16 last season and won 27 of their first 31 games of the 2008-09 campaign, the potential 69-17 mark (assuming wins at Sacramento and Portland) wouldn’t even rank as the Celtics’ best calendar year ever. The 1973 version would rank second to Chicago at 68-14 (.829), followed by the 1966 Philadelphia 76ers [team stats] (69-15, .821). Thanks to the Celtics’ loss to Golden State, the 1985 Lakers (65-15, .813) and 1971 Milwaukee Bucks (65-16, .812) will maintain their positions in the top five.”
Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times: “With one Celtics loss from Nov. 14 to Christmas, the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan ranked them the No. 2 team in the franchise’s history, behind the 1985-86 Celtics with their Larry Bird-Kevin McHale-Robert Parish-Bill Walton front line. Another Globe story on the Celtics noted, ‘The overwhelming feeling is that they can’t get much better.’ That had better not be true, for the Celtics’ sake. Celtics players dismissed the impact of Bynum’s return, as if he were a 7-foot equipment manager who had wandered on the court. The alternative would have been to say, ‘His mere size changes everything. Even if we can still beat them, we’re going to get cricks in our necks looking up at them.’ The Celtics are very short for such a physical, defense-oriented team, with Garnett their only rotation player over 6-9 in bare feet. Tough as he is, Kendrick Perkins, who’s listed at 6-10, looks 6-8 1/2 , at most. (I saw him next to the Globe’s Marc Spears, who’s 6-6. Perkins looked an inch or so taller.) Glen Davis, listed at 6-9, looks about 6-7 1/2 . Leon Powe, listed at 6-8, looks 6-6 1/2 . Then there’s their bench, as in, what bench?”
Matt Steinmetz of the Golden State Warriors Examiner: “It’s no secret the Warriors’ perimeter players have struggled to keep their men in front of them _ particularly in high pick-and-roll situations. But a bigger problem is that once a Warrior perimeter player was beaten, he tended to stand and watch while the rest of the play was completed. That’s a big no-no these days under Smart. ‘If you’re beaten off dribble penetration, you’ve got to keep coming, you’ve got to keep going,’ Smart said. ‘You don’t stop when you’re beaten because someone is going to help you, so you’ve got to help somebody. ‘You’ve got to get in somewhere. If you keep moving, and help comes, there’s going to be another pass made and maybe we get a hand on it, deflect it, maybe we get a three-second call or a shot-clock violation. You keep reinforcing what you laid out.’ Speaking of deflections, last year that was a monster stat for the Warriors. This year, not so much. The Warriors had 27 deflections against the Celtics on Friday, a very high total for them this season. But last year, it would have been just another night, and a lot of times below their usual output.”
Alan Hahn of Newsday: “Look, this isn’t about being easy on the coach and his system, this is about understanding reality: the new regime isn’t going to be on the hot seat here for quite some time. So whatever you’re seeing right now is, as Q-Rich said, all on the players. We see now that Harrington’s POTW run earlier this month might have been fool’s gold and, subsequently, gave him a sudden sense of entitlement to almost 20 shots per game (now that’s how you get fatigued). You love Al’s passion for being a Knick, but for three games I’ve noticed he also has an appetite for gettin-his, which is an attitude that will make you look really bad in this type of offense. My fellow Fixers who see this game like Kasparov sees a chess board would have recognized two major issues that have hampered the offense, aside from poor shooting (which, I will argue, is a result of taking bad shots more than it is simply just not being “on”). The first issue is spacing. Duhon and Lee were working the pick and roll to near perfection about two weeks ago, mainly because the middle of the floor was so wide open. But if you watch the team now, you’re finding more bodies near the painted area, more clutter.”
Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The Dallas Mavericks are defying convention at almost every turn under coach Rick Carlisle, whose button-pushing and use of unorthodox lineups are drawing surprising comparisons to the one former Mavs head coach no one would have figured. ‘He has a vision going into each game and you can start to see it now,’ guard Jason Terry said. ‘At first, early on you were like, ‘Uh, what is this guy doing?’ He’s a mad scientist. That’s what I’m going to call him.’ Hold on, isn’t that what they called Don Nelson? Critics of the Carlisle hire complained he was too stiff, too impersonal and too demanding, like his predecessor, Avery Johnson. Who would have thought that one-third through the season Carlisle would actually turn out to be the next Nellie? ‘It’s almost like with Nellie back in the day,’ Dirk Nowitzki said. ‘He was liable to do anything. With Nellie, I remember my first year I was guarding Muggsy Bogues. With Rick it’s the same.’”
Ivan Carter of the Washington Post: “The Wizards entered last night’s game against Oklahoma City with an unsightly 4-23 record, so thoughts about the playoffs have pretty much been replaced by thoughts of the draft lottery for many Wizards fans. However, interim coach Ed Tapscott and the organization as a whole — including owner Abe Pollin and president Ernie Grunfeld — are still approaching each game with the idea of winning. It is why team insiders continue to insist that Gilbert Arenas will return to action at some point this season and it explains why Tapscott continues to juggle his starting lineup and rotation in hopes of finding a way to turn things around.”
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: “Bird said he knew the Pacers would struggle once it was revealed that swingman Mike Dunleavy would be sidelined indefinitely with bone spurs in his right knee. Dunleavy, the Pacers’ second-leading scorer last season, has yet to play a game this season, but he started practicing with his teammates last week. ‘My mind changed a little bit on how we could do because I feel he’s our best all-around player,’ Bird said about Dunleavy. ‘Obviously Danny (Granger) is having a great year, but as far as ball movement and hitting guys off the cut and rebounding his position, I thought with him in there we could be pretty darn good. But since he’s been out we’ve struggled, especially on the offensive end at the end of games and making plays. We always seem like we’re that one basket away. I feel like if Mike was in there, he could create the pass to do it or he could do it.’”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “The Magic are giving up six points fewer per game this season than last and Dwight Howard has developed from a big man who impacts the game defensively every night, not just when he feels like it. His ability to change shots at the rim and the addition of good wing defender Mickael Pietrus via free agency made them a more potent defensive team. Also, point guard Jameer Nelson seems to be coming into his own. His stats are up across the board. He’s averaging six more points a game and shooting better than 50 percent. His ability to penetrate and get his own shot despite his size is a big change to the Magic’s system. They’ve had great 6-foot-10 3-point shooters in Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. There’s a reason they take so many 3s — it is very hard to affect a jump shooter with that height advantage. Especially if you have to double-team Howard, who is playing as well as ever on offense, and leave the guys on the outside open. As a team that wants to defend the interior and allow jumpers, the Cavs had major trouble dealing with them last season. The Magic shot well and beat the Cavs two of three times.”
Michael Cunningham of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “The two players were linked as soon as they were selected as part of the celebrated 2003 draft class, James No. 1 to Cleveland and Wade No. 5 to the Heat. They’ve stayed connected due to their friendship and status as the top two young stars in the game. But put their resumes side-by-side, a comparison that Wade acknowledges he and James ‘enjoy,’ and one line puts Wade on top: his 2006 NBA championship ring. ‘He wants one,’ Wade said Saturday before the Heat traveled to Cleveland for tonight’s game. ‘Until he gets one, I am going to continue to have that over him. I am sure he can’t wait to get one so he can even that score. He has an opportunity to do it with the team he has, but it’s going to be tough.’ There’s still Boston and Orlando for Cleveland to contend with in the Eastern Conference, and also the usual challengers from the West. But at least James finally has a team similar in caliber to the one Wade lifted to the Heat’s title. While Wade soared alongside Shaquille O’Neal and a deep supporting cast, James has had to toil with the likes of Larry Hughes and Eric Snow.”
Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer: “‘James proved so versatile Tuesday he even suggested to Brown the Cavs stop doubling Yao Ming in the post. He’s not getting enough credit,’ Brown said of James the defender, if not the defensive assistant.When Brown talks about that end of the court, which he only does when he’s awake or asleep, eyes glaze. Minds wander. Pens begin doodling in reporters’ notebooks. Brown has nominated James in postgame news conferences for All-NBA defense first-team honors more than once. James keeps providing reasons for the accolades — a trend Brown saw blossom at the Summer Olympics. ‘I think Beijing helped his confidence as a leader,’ Brown said. ‘I think it helped his confidence as a defender. But overall it helped his confidence as a winner. It drips from him now.’”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “While a third of a rookie season does not make an NBA career, the Love-Mayo get-together leaves a lot to be desired. One guy (Mayo) is constantly in the first sentence of early Rookie of the Year narratives, while the other (Love) is struggling to become a footnote. Mayo leads all rookies in scoring, and granted he’s been afforded more of an opportunity in Memphis. Still, one has to wonder what sense it would have made for the Griz to keep Love, who last Tuesday made a free throw in a one-point, 15-minute performance that ended his two-game scoreless streak. Love is averaging 7.8 points on 38.7 percent shooting, 7.8 rebounds and has had the problem scouts worried about when he entered the draft: Measured at less than 6-8 barefoot, he has gotten his shot blocked repeatedly near the basket by everyone from big centers to athletic guards.”
Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “‘I think he has a better understanding of his teammates, which is important for the point guard. He’s got great hands. He’s a very good pick-and-roll player, runs the offense well. ‘He’s been good on the break. As I’ve said a couple times, we need to help him more by getting up the floor with a little more thrust. We’ve done that the last few games. The past six or seven games he’s been very, very good.’ Ridnour’s six steals against Utah on Tuesday were a career single-game high. Entering Saturday, he had handed out 25 assists and committed just six turnovers over a three-game span. ‘He does a lot of things in games even when it doesn’t look like it or he doesn’t have the numbers,’ Skiles said, ‘as far as keeping us organized and keeping us playing at the pace we like to play at.’ The former Seattle SuperSonics guard said he enjoys playing for Skiles, and he also learned under another former point guard when Nate McMillan was head coach of the Sonics. Ridnour said he doesn’t think of himself as the general of the team but as one player in a unit.”
Kate Fagan of the Philadephia Inquirer: “Part of the frustration with Iguodala can be found in the numbers. After averaging 19.9 points a game last season, Iguodala started this season slow and now is averaging 15.2 a game. But the most glaring number is the contract Iguodala signed in the off-season: $80 million over six years. To whom much is given, much is expected. And perhaps more than Iguodala is capable of delivering. ‘Is LeBron James a shooter?’ Iguodala asked rhetorically. ‘You can ask that question, too. ‘The thing with shooting is, it’s all about confidence more than anything. Sometimes you can’t make anything, sometimes you throw up the craziest shots and they go in. ‘I don’t think I have one thing – I think I can do everything,’ Iguodala continued. ‘I think I’m a basketball player. I don’t think this team relies on me to be a shooter; I think this team relies on me to do everything.’ DiLeo said Iguodala’s value does not always translate to consumable numbers.”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “Stoudemire will be eligible for a Suns contract extension this summer because he will have two contract years remaining, one of which he could opt out of to be part of the 2010 NBA free-agency bonanza. If he does, he would pass on a $17.7 million salary in 2010-11. It is a decision he might face, because it is not a given that Phoenix would extend his contract. Stoudemire is giving the Suns reason to ponder a longer commitment. The best impression has come on the boards, where he is averaging 12.3 rebounds over the past eight games. ‘I’m just attacking,’ he said. ‘I really want to eliminate any flaws in my game. Rebounding at the start of the season was one. Before the season, Shaq (O’Neal) and I talked about what the deal was. Shaq wanted to get all the rebounds. I want to get out and run. But it became an issue that I’m not rebounding. Scratch that. That’s in the past.’”
Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee: “He is sabotaging his career. He is disappointing his teammates. He is frustrating Kings fans, most of whom bit their cheeks and swallowed their tongues, resisting the urge to blast him with boos when he returned from the five-game suspension earlier this season. Now we learn that, with the erratic production and uninspired performances, he is setting a lousy example for Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson and Donté Greene. On Tuesday, the veteran center who is supposed to be the team leader was fined for arriving late to practice. ‘I was just at home playing with (daughter) Anniston,’ Miller explained, sheepishly, ‘and I lost track of time. I told Kenny (Natt) it won’t happen again.’ Seriously. What is Brad Miller doing besides wasting his time and that of the Kings? This makes no sense. It’s not as if he is playing horribly, or even as poorly as in 2006-07. But his unwillingness to fully engage with his teammates (and the season) is crippling both parties and diminishing his trade value.”
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: “It’s been a bit of an up-and-down season for O’Neal, who took longer than expected to get back to game speed early in the season and then suffered a setback with knee and ankle woes. He’s had a few duds since coming back – including a five-point game in Oklahoma City a week or so ago that ended prematurely because of a sore shoulder – but he’s been dominant of late. ‘Everybody talks about what people do individually (but) you can’t do what you do without your teammates putting you in a great position, without your coach drawing up plays and putting you in your comfort zone,’ said O’Neal. ‘That’s really what I’m doing, I’m just playing and being part of a system with some great teammates who are being very, very unselfish. ‘I’m starting to feel like I felt in Indiana. I felt this way before the situation with my knee and the flagrant foul and kind of lost it. Now I’m starting to feel it again. I know where my sweet spots are as far as being able to get to the basket pretty much pretty easily.’ The combination of complementary play from Bosh, the team’s leading scorer, and O’Neal, the most effective low-post player on the roster, is something the Raptors have been banking on since the season began. They are still feeling each other out with shot totals and off-the-ball movement but there are more good nights now than bad.”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “I was shocked when the Bobcats exercised the option on Morrison, at a cost of $5.2 million guaranteed. There was a technical incentive for doing that – under the collective bargaining agreement, it would have been problematic to trade Morrison without adding next season to his rookie-scale deal – but it still looks bizarre to add to the Bobcats’ financial obligation for this pick. That winds me back to the original question: When was the last time a team chose a player this high, and got so little return? If you extract the cataclysmic injuries – Jay Williams and Darius Miles – you probably have to go back to either Darko Milicic (No. 2 in 2003) or Kwame Brown (top pick in 2001). Milicic starts in Memphis, so I guess Brown was the bigger bust. And who chose Brown in Washington? Oooh. Michael Jordan. The same guy in charge when the Bobcats chose Morrison five years later.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “Over the years of covering McMillan’s teams, there are certain practices, and conversations that stick out. Looking back, they seem to be at defining moments of the season. Last year, for instance, I remember our conversation about the practice in San Antonio, which kick-started the 13-game winning streak. You remember the practice – Steve Blake threw a chair (twice) and Martell Webster and Joel Przybilla nearly came to blows. I also remember the shootaround before the Sacramento game last season when he gathered the team and told them that he was stepping back as a coach, that they had grown up enough that they didn’t need him standing and yelling instructions all the time. Today felt like another one of those defining moments. I’ll walk you through the highlights … First off, after the shootaround, McMillan escorted Greg Oden into his office for a meeting that lasted about 30 minutes. McMillan said he called the meeting on the heels of John Canzano’s column in Saturday’s editions of The Oregonian that said Joel Przybilla has earned the starting center job more than Oden. McMillan’s message to Oden was the same one he has been telling the rookie center all season: Start having fun.”
John Canzano of The Oregonian: “I spoke with Nate McMillan, Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden for Saturday’s column in The Oregonian. Even Oden agrees Przybilla is outplaying him, and I think it’s time for the franchise to cool it with the ‘He’s the No. 1 pick’ and start the guy that gives the team the best chance to win. Przybilla should start. You know it. I know it. Your spouse knows it. Your dog knows it. Oden has been handed his starting position, he’s been babied, and is held to a different set of standards than the rest of the team. This isn’t the blueprint for raising a hard-nosed player. He uses Paul Allen’s private bedroom on the team jet, a luxury afforded to no other player. I’m not ready to say he’s a bust. He’s not. But it’s time to go to Przybilla. Oden is a long way from reaching the age at which we can make a sound judgment, but moving him to the bench is looooong overdue. And he’s the only player on the roster being handed anything, which makes me wonder if the directive is coming from up the management chain.”
Eric Musselman’s Basketball Notebook: The pick-and-roll is universal
Howard Beck of The New York Times: “For two decades, Cooper has been the pre-eminent agent for N.B.A. coaches. His client list is deep and decorated, including Lenny Wilkens, Chuck Daly and Doc Rivers. But today’s coaches have all the staying power of a 1980s hair band, which is why Cooper just endured one of the most agonizing months of his career. In a dizzying 24-day stretch from late November to mid-December, six N.B.A. coaches were fired. All were represented by Career Sports and Entertainment, Cooper’s Atlanta-based agency. The statistical anomaly is mostly a reflection of Cooper’s broad reach — as of opening night, he represented 9 of the league’s 30 head coaches, a staggering percentage in a niche business with a limited client pool.”
Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “‘I came for Brooklyn,’ Yormark openly admitted in a recent conversation in the boardroom at the team’s East Rutherford headquarters. ‘And like everyone, I’m frustrated with the delays. But I’m convinced of this: It will only make the accomplishment grander.’ The monomania that surrounds the Nets’ planned move to Brooklyn consumes only half of Yormark’s long day, which is interesting, because building the Barclays Center — the centerpiece to a $4.2 billion, 22-acre monolith known as Atlantic Yards — would be a full-time job for anybody else. But the other half of his job is keeping the fans of New Jersey interested in Bruce Ratner’s team while promoting the move across two rivers. That’s okay, Yormark can multitask. And by all accounts, he can still do it faster and better than anyone, and always with a face-forward tilt: His magnum opus was getting Barclays — the third-largest bank in Great Britain — to fork over $40 million to secure naming rights for the arena, which won’t be ready until 2011 at the earliest. That deal took him only 30 days to complete last January.”
