K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “Asked by Mike North during an appearance on ‘Monsters in the Morning’ about the Bulls’ coaching situation, Reinsdorf said, ‘‘I have a lot of thoughts about that but they’re not thoughts that I really can say publicly. All I know is what we have right now is not good and we have to get better.’ Most read this comment as a direct shot at Del Negro. I speculated that it was more directed at the staff as a whole. Anyone around the team regularly has sensed an odd dynamic between Del Negro and veteran assistants hired by general manager John Paxson. Disconnect is too strong a word. But Del Negro hasn’t meshed as seamlessly with Del Harris, Bernie Bickerstaff and Bob Ociepka as Paxson had hoped. That’s not to say the coaches dislike each other. It’s more that Del Negro and the assistants have struggled occasionally to find common ground during Del Negro’s rookie coaching campaign.”
By The Horns: “The Vinny Del Negro Coaching Career Countdown Clock is officially ticking. In a time-bomb-that-could-go-off-at-any-time sort of way. But that was an open secret already, wasn’t it? Reinsdorf’s interview just made it official. It’s also a sign that Reinsdorf is pretty ruthless in how he manages the team. But hey, this is the guy who ran Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson out of town when he felt they’d outlived their usefullness. So, uh, yeah. I do find it interesting, though, that Reinsdorf gave John Paxson a free pass. I mean, isn’t Pax the man responsible for assembling the talent (leaving last season’s 33-win roster largely intact) and hiring Vinny in the first place (stating at the time: ‘Vinny is the right guy for us going forward.’)? Plus, Jerry failed to acknowledge that there are circumstances, some of which are, you know, extenuating. I mean, rookie head coach, rookie point guard, over half-a-season’s worth of player games lost due to injury, the teams’ recurring case of fumble-itis, and some seriously porous interior defense. But hey, why let reality get in the way of righteous indignation?”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “Hornets coach Byron Scott said it was not management’s intention to transform the team’s reserve corps into some Frankensteinian amalgam of Spurs’ benches past. It just sort of worked out that way. After watching his team lose to the Spurs in Game 7 of last season’s Western Conference semifinals, a series decided largely by the Spurs’ advantage in postseason seasoning, Scott sought to add players who could help close that gap. The Hornets began by adding James Posey, an NBA champion with the Celtics and Heat, via free agency. Then they signed Brown away from Cleveland. They brought in Marks from Phoenix to help round out the bench. In December, they swung a three-way trade to draw Daniels from Washington, in order to provide a veteran backstop to All-Star point guard Chris Paul. Of the collection of Spurs-turned-Hornets, only one (Ely) was with New Orleans for last season’s playoff meeting. ‘Those guys have been through a championship program, and you know they’ve been well-coached,’ Scott said. ‘They’ve been around big games and know what to expect. That can be invaluable.’”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “‘We don’t really have a strong post-up game,’ Hollins said. ‘And when I say that I mean we have young players who are learning the NBA game. In time, they’ll be good in the post. But we’re not an overpowering post team. They can post up but the more our bigs are on the move, the better they’ll be.’ Conley agreed, and singled out another rookie, Darrell Arthur, as someone who has taken the marching order and literally run with it. ‘When they run we’re a better team because we have great finishers down low,’ Conley said. ‘The style of basketball we’re playing right now fits Darrell perfectly. He’s an athlete. He loves to play above the rim. He’s at his best in transition. Right now, he’s feeding off the energy that coach is bringing.’”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “Opponents are making 45.2 percent of their shots against the Rockets. Last season the Rockets held teams to 43.3 percent shooting, second-best in the NBA. It was the fifth consecutive season in which the Rockets were first or second in field goal percentage defense. They were in the top five in each of those seasons in points allowed. A better measure might be points allowed per 100 possessions, a statistic that goes to the purpose of defense — keeping the other team from scoring — but discounts the statistical advantage of just playing slowly to limit the number of possessions and points scored. The Rockets rank in a tie for fifth in points allowed per 100 possessions (104.6). Still, there is a reason coach Rick Adelman has said for weeks he is seeing ‘slippage.’ ‘Defensively, especially, we’ve got to be more in tune as a team,’ Adelman said. ‘That’s always been the strength of this team, but right now we’re just defending on reaction and not thinking ahead about what’s coming. We’re not defending the ball; we’re too worried about our own man.’”
Alex Raskin of HOOPSWORLD: “Thanks to a few bargains on their books, the Cavaliers have less than $73 million committed for next season. West averages just over $4 million per season for the next two years with a team-option for 2010-2011 while Williams is guaranteed a total of about $26.5 million through 2010-2011. Gibson has a similar contract to West but his runs through 2012-2013. Meanwhile, Pavlovic’s $5 million deal can come off the books after this season as well. The bottom line is, if Szczerbiak continues to shoot well and he’s open to signing for significantly less than his current deal, the Cavs can keep him and still have plenty of room (not to mention Bird Rights) to re-sign James. According to Brown, one of the advantages of keeping Szczerbiak around is that he ‘gives us the ability to play small, to play big and another guy to stretch the floor that’s a veteran. He’s been around (a long time) and in a lot of different situations.”
Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press: “The remainder of this season is all about the development of one player. Rodney Stuckey becomes the yardstick on which this season is measured. It’s beyond rare that a second-year player from obscure collegiate origins gets the keys to a team that has advanced to six straight conference finals. But accelerating Stuckey’s growth process this season was the plan all along. The Pistons didn’t want a novice point guard running the show blind next season when it’s possible that the Pistons could add a definite NBA championship variable in either Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire by next year’s trading deadline, if not sooner. President Joe Dumars attempts the difficult this season, changing the tires on a car that’s still moving.”
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: “The phones calls and text messages started about 10 seconds after Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger’s name scrolled across the bottom of the television screen. The calls and messages were still coming in nearly 24 hours after he was named an Eastern Conference All Star. ‘It’s been crazy,’ Granger said. ‘I’m seriously ready to turn my phone off. It just keeps buzzing. I’ve got like 30 text messages I haven’t even read yet and 20-something voice mails I haven’t listened to.’ Things likely won’t slow down between now and the Feb. 15 All-Star Game for Granger. Friends and family members will be calling to ask for tickets to the game in Phoenix. Granger said he gets six tickets and can purchase another four or five for the game.”
Dave D’Alessandro of the Star-Ledger: “The experience is likely to change him — as it would almost anyone else — but Devin Harris cannot fully comprehend it yet. He can only guess the consequences of being given the chance to dazzle on TV screens in 100-plus countries, or being personally transformed into — to use the marketer’s loathsome phrase — a global brand. But others have a better idea of how All-Stardom could be a life-changing, career-affirming experience. ‘Absolutely,’ Vince Carter said, as he pondered the profound impact the All-Star experience will have on his Nets teammate. ‘Just the experience itself: He’s an All-Star. You know, it’s one thing getting the bid, but it’s another thing actually playing in the game, then coming home and the whole world watching — that one game.’”
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Although he made the all-star team for the second time, Lewis, too, is still driven by a draft-day snub. He declared his pro intentions in high school, but was in tears after falling out of the first round in 1998, even though his hometown Houston Rockets had several chances to take him. The Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) finally chose him as the 32nd overall pick and he became an all-star in 2005. He called his return to the all-star game, ‘a steppingstone in my career, especially after getting drafted in the second round.’ Quiet and reserved, Lewis is used to the spotlight shining elsewhere. He was Ray Allen’s sidekick for nine years until the SuperSonics imploded.”
Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “Outside forces seemed to conspire afterward to get the highly intelligent Bynum to take some introspective stock of himself. A reporter stopped him on the way out of the locker room to get Bynum thinking and talking about how much he would love to be chosen for USA Basketball’s upcoming summer training camp to groom young NBA players for future U.S. representation. Bynum also acknowledged his bigger dream: achieving greatness fast enough to join Bryant on Team USA in the 2012 Olympics in London. Once the Lakers’ team bus started to roll away from the arena toward the airport that night, Bryant added more context. ‘Hey, you know Tim Duncan is one of the greatest defensive players of all time,’ Bryant yelled from the back of the bus. ‘If you can do that to him, you can do that to anybody.’ Bryant said Bynum’s confidence ‘has shot through the roof’ since — and Bynum is now moving decisively after so much hesitation early this season.”
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David Waldstein of The New York Times: “D’Antoni has not hidden his frustrations with Robinson during those occasions when Robinson ‘goes off plan,’ as D’Antoni put it. But he also made sure to mention that there was more than one player contributing to a turnaround that had the Knicks percentage points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 20-25 record. Yes, Robinson has improved, but so have David Lee, Chris Duhon, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Jared Jeffries. ‘There’s just so many factors,’ D’Antoni said, ‘and he’s a big part of what we do, and I’m glad he’s playing well.’ But as much as any coach might be reluctant to assign wins and losses to one player — particularly a substitute who has at times neglected to get back on defense — it remains difficult to disassociate Robinson’s improved play from the team’s.”
Frank Isola of the Daily News: “Eddy Curry asked the Knicks for an advance of approximately $8 million last year to offset his increasing financial debt, the Daily News has learned. The Knicks rejected Curry’s bailout package, according to a person close to the troubled center, because the organization considered the amount excessive. The same source says that the Knicks did advance Curry approximately $2 million, which is commonplace in the NBA as long as the player is guaranteed to make double that amount on his existing contract. Curry will earn $9.7 million this season and is scheduled to make $22 million in the last two years of his current pact. Curry, 26, was granted an indefinite leave of absence by the Knicks on Monday, two days after his former girlfriend and the mother of two of his six children was murdered in her Chicago apartment. A 9-month-old girl also was killed and according to the Chicago Sun-Times, DNA tests determined that Curry was the father of the baby.”
C.J. of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Iverson was at the club about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday; the Pistons had a game with the Timberwolves Wednesday. ‘Iverson, Rasheed Wallace and about six other members of the entourage’ were at ‘a three-card poker table in the casino games room,’ said Sussman, with whom I communicated via e-mail and the phone. ‘Sheed didn’t wager, explaining to onlookers, I don’t gamble, but he certainly had fun sipping [beverages] and jabbing at his friends and other players who weren’t doing so hot. AI, on the other hand, had what we call ‘rubber band banks’ in his pockets — must have been around $50,000 (at least in one pocket) and he was getting beat up pretty hard at three-card poker.’ In other words, the night before the Pistons beat the Timberwolves, AI might have lost money at the casino. We can only hope that some members of his posse were real security guards, as walking around with a wad of cash invites the kind of attention that some pro athletes believe justifies carrying weapons.”
Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News: “Wade saw how LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd prodded and challenged the rest of the gold-medal winning ‘Redeem Team’ for coach Mike Krzyzewski. Back from Beijing to prepare for a new season, the last thing he wanted was a repeat of last year, when the Heat won a league-worst 15 games. With a first-time head coach in former No. 3 Heat assistant Erik Spoelstra taking over for Pat Riley, Wade decided to take it upon himself to gather teammates at a pre-training camp dinner. Again, he used his Olympics experience, outlining expectations to a group that, except for Udonis Haslem, had come to Miami after the Heat won the 2006 title. ‘The main thing was to let everyone know we’re on the same page and it’s not about one or two individuals,’ Wade said. ‘Everyone brings their egos to the gym. But like Coach K told us on the Olympic team, ‘Put ‘em under the umbrella.’ We still want the egos because that’s what makes a lot of guys what they are. But it’s not about one or two guys.’”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “There is one Suns player with the fans’ cache as an All-Star starter and the credentials of an All-NBA first team pick. If the Suns are ever going to trade Stoudemire, the time would be in the coming days. Internally, there have been frustrations with his inability to progress as a defender, rebounder, willing passer or even solid screener in his seventh season. There is a feeling that the Suns already have seen how far riding Stoudemire as a top scorer can take them, particularly as his game edges toward a reliance on perimeter shots with Shaquille O’Neal in his lanes. Stoudemire has never clicked in the locker room with teammates much beyond pleasantries. No big-man coach tutelage, from Marc Iavaroni to Bill Cartwright, has connected the dots for him. And while he keeps a global following, the Valley’s Suns fans have become more annoyed with his erratic play and consistent braggadocio.”
