Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “NBA teams know Jennings is gifted, but most are intrigued with his staying power. How’s he handling adversity? How’s he interacting with his older teammates? Just three weeks ago, Jennings’ first coach with Lottomatica quit. For most draft picks, Jennings is experiencing a much more realistic simulation of a rookie year than had he been jacking up shots and getting coddled at the University of Arizona. Two NBA executives who’ve watched Jennings practice in Italy left impressed with his progress. ‘It shows that he had the [guts] to be a trailblazer,’ one Eastern Conference executive said. ‘This isn’t ideal if his confidence is frail, but so far he hasn’t shown to be a wuss. If the team can get to the Euroleague Final Four, he still has a chance to shine.’ Vaccaro, the retired sneaker executive, has turned himself into a conduit between Euro teams and the families of high school stars. He says that 13 different families of the top class of 2009 prospects have talked with him about the European option.”
Jonathan Abrams of The New York Times: “He was brought along with restraints by the Mavericks’ former coach, Avery Johnson, a respected N.B.A. point guard for 16 years who earned the nickname the Little General. Harris was the team’s point guard in the 2006 N.B.A. finals as well as in a deflating first-round loss to the Golden State Warriors the next year that followed a 67-win regular season. He showed progress in Dallas and earned more freedom in the offense. Still, Harris said he felt that each mistake was magnified under Johnson’s microscope. Through his own experience as a player, Johnson always seemed to know where the point guard should deliver the ball and which gap to attack. So Harris tried to make just the right decision, sometimes to his detriment. ‘That was a part of it,’ he said. ‘Probably the worst thing is having a coach that used to be a point guard, especially one that has championship experience.’”
Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times: “With a small group of fans chanting, ‘Fire Dunleavy!’ near the end of the Clippers’ 100-92 loss to Elton Brand-less Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, there really was only one viable option. Talk to Donald. That would be Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was understandably distraught sitting courtside at Staples Center, watching his team dissolve in a barrage of mental mistakes down the stretch. After all, it should have been a festive night for an NBA owner, a home game on New Year’s Eve. It was anything but as the Clippers had 18 turnovers on the way to their 23rd loss in 31 games and watched Andre Iguodala and his 28 points lead Philadelphia to its first win in five games. The 76ers did it without former Clipper Brand, who is out because of a dislocated shoulder. ‘Not one of my better nights,’ Sterling said in a brief chat with a couple of reporters in the corridor. ‘I don’t take losing well.’”
Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “Not that they want to acknowledge teams in the Eastern Conference with June still six months away, but the Lakers now have as many losses as Cleveland (26-5) and the Celtics (28-5), who stumbled at Staples Center last week and finished 1-3 on their recent West Coast trip. The Lakers have won four consecutive games and showed glimpses of a resurgent defense last week, leading Kobe Bryant to answer optimistically when asked what grade he would give the team so far. ‘An ‘A,’ no doubt,’ he said. ‘I think we’ve done a great job playing and put ourselves in a [great] position.’ The schedule has tilted their direction, with 17 home games and 13 road games. Their most recent break in the action ends Friday at Staples Center against injury-ravaged Utah, followed by two more home games — Sunday against Portland and Tuesday against New Orleans. ‘We’ve had a lot of breaks,’ Bryant said. ‘We’ve had a lot of times where we’ve had three or four days between games, which is very rare. The flip side of that, though, is you’re going to have to make it up at some point in time.’”
Bright Side of the Sun: Shaq’s team defined
Luke Byrnes of HOOPSWORLD: “Mayo’s quick start has generated considerable buzz around the league and those who cover it, and whispers of a possible All-Star appearance are beginning to come to the foreground, from players, coaches and the media. ‘It’s a possibility,’ teammate Mike Conley said of Mayo making the All-Star team. ‘He’s really playing like one right now. If he keeps it up he has my vote.’ But it isn’t just his ability to get to the basket or knock down jump shots that makes Mayo standout from his peers, not just in this rookie class, but throughout the NBA. Mayo is a leader of men and carries with him a wisdom seldom seen from a person so young and inexperienced. Saturday night, following the Grizzlies third loss this season against the Spurs, a double overtime thriller on the road, Mayo put his leadership and wisdom on display. Fellow rookie Marc Gasol sat dejected after the tough loss and it was Mayo in Gasol’s ear, talking about how valuable an experience the loss was and explaining how close the Grizzlies were to, not only competing with, but beating the best teams in the league. On the Road.”
Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe: “If the walls of the Rose Garden’s visiting locker room could talk, the most interesting of the little-known postgame conversations among ‘The Big Three’ would be revealed. The Celtics’ Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce have been having postgame powwows to go over wins and losses since joining forces last season. Considering that the defending NBA champions (28-5) departed for a four-game West Coast trip with the best start in league history, those post-buzzer talks had been mostly short and lighthearted. But after a 91-86 loss to the Trail Blazers Tuesday, the Celtics’ third loss in four games, they had a more lengthy discussion. ‘That’s kind of like the meetings of the minds,’ Allen said. ‘When you’re frustrated, you have to just find a way to make sure we talk it out. We just try to understand by bouncing [things] off of each other. What are we doing? What’s going on? How did we talk?’”
Red’s Army: “So PJ Brown is officially retired. I gotta admit – the news is ruining the buzz from my morning mimosas. I was really, really hoping he’d be wearing a Celtics uniform in March. And just when I started believing Dikembe Mutombo would help, he goes and signs with Houston. For weeks now I’ve been holding the line with our current bench. Give them time and they’ll be fine. But after watching the Portland bigs beat the hell out of us, I quickly became a member of the ‘we need a big guy off the bench and we need one now’ group. The sooner we get one in here, the more time he’ll have to get acclimated to the rotation and the better off we’ll be in April. Danny needs to be called out on the Patrick O’Bryant signing. The C’s had very limited funds to spend this offseason and they dumped $3 million on a guy who plays less than Scot Pollard did last season. That $3 million could have gone into the James Posey fund.”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “Morrison is the second-highest pick in franchise history (Emeka Okafor went second overall in 2004.) Two of the wing shooters playing ahead of Morrison – Raja Bell and Matt Carroll – weren’t drafted. ‘It’s tough,’ Brown said of trying to find minutes for Morrison. ‘I tried to make a decision between him and Matt. I don’t feel comfortable (benching Morrison) because I think he can play. ‘But we just don’t have the time to play them all, especially since I’m trying to play three (point) guards (Raymond Felton, D.J. Augustin and Sean Singletary).’ Morrison acknowledged not playing well, but suggested that’s in part due to inactivity. ‘I hadn’t played in four games. I was fine at the start of the year,’ Morrison said. ‘I’ve just got to take those shots and knock them down.’ The Bobcats entered the season with a glut of wing players. Some of that glut was eliminated when Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley were traded to the Phoenix Suns Dec.10. That trade meant opportunity for Morrison – he played 37, 19 and 19 minutes in the first three games after the deal – but he’s 5-of-25 from the field since Richardson and Dudley departed and hasn’t scored in the past five games he’s played.”
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: “O’Brien has remained detailed in his preparation. He often puts players through lengthy film sessions before practicing after losses. He treats game-day shootarounds like regular practices, meaning players tape up and scrimmage. ‘Every loss is difficult until you have a chance to break down the video and look at what has happened and then you figure out how you can improve and what your teaching plan is going to be for the next practice,’ O’Brien said. ‘You get on with your life and you forget about what happened in the past.’ The Pacers’ effort, a key element that kept many fans away from Conseco Fieldhouse the past couple of years, can’t be questioned. They have beaten Houston, Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers. Only six of their 21 losses have been by more than 10 points. Their past four losses have been by a total of 12 points. It’s how they lose — a league-high nine double-digit blown leads — and who beat them that cause concern.”
Ivan Carter of the Washington Post: “The good news is that the Wizards have played their best basketball at both ends of the court during the past four games. The Wizards went toe-to-toe with three contenders in Cleveland, Houston and New Orleans, which pulled away late in the fourth quarter Tuesday night. Mike James, who was acquired in a trade that sent Antonio Daniels to New Orleans on Dec. 10, is settling into his role as starting point guard, Dominic McGuire has provided toughness, defense and rebounding as a starter at forward and Andray Blatche is posting career highs in scoring and rebounding. The competitive stretch has also lightened the mood in a locker room that had lost some zip during the rough eight-game losing streak that ended with the win over Oklahoma City. ‘I think it’s encouraging because the young guys are improving,’ veteran forward Antawn Jamison said. ‘You see that happening and we’re still going to go in there and compete night in, night out. We’re in games until, you know, the fourth quarter and then, we struggle but we have to continue to work hard and see where that takes us.’”
George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal: “Sometimes it seems as if they believe that they can flick a switch, and all that talent just kicks into gear. It might look that way at times — especially in situations such as the early fourth quarter, when the Heat’s 16-point lead all but vanished, giving them a 78-77 margin. Cavs forward LeBron James said the team in no way believes it is invincible. ‘That’s not us. We just have to pick it up and start games better,’ he said. ‘It’s hard sometimes, but you have to figure out how to come into the games and start the games how you finish them. As a professional team, we have to realize that, which I think we know. We have to do that.’ It’s not just a lack of intensity. There’s another fact to consider. While the Cavs were clicking and beating up on teams earlier in the season, in one respect, reality has kicked in. The Cavs played few of the tougher opponents on their schedule during the early part of the season. Their most difficult games were against Boston, New Orleans and Detroit, since then it’s been a veritable cakewalk for a team rich in talent in starters and on the bench.”
Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Howard, always a smooth customer who cruises in meticulously restored and customized classic American cars, wears his jeans baggy and his ball cap askew in the style of the day, is concentrating — albeit sometimes in strange ways — on keeping his profile low and his game on the court. Eager for a bizarre 2008 to fade away, the Dallas Mavericks forward rings in 2009 happy to be back on the court after a troublesome ankle injury kept him out nearly half the season. It doesn’t mean he’s enthused to talk about it. Asked for his New Year’s resolution, Howard said, ‘Don’t repeat 2008.’ Asked how he plans to accomplish that, he said, sounding slightly amused, ‘Avoiding the media.’ Even after his heartfelt apology to the organization and fans through the media on the eve of training camp, Howard is clearly jaded and wary of an instantaneous, 24-hour media machine after a harsh summer of negativity brought about by his own missteps.”
