Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times: “Whose time is this again? Here they are, on national TV this time, LeBron James, 24, vs. Kobe Bryant, 30, the future vs. the past. Handy as this is for headlines, marquees and commercials, it leaves out one important thing: the present. It’s a funny thing about eras: They’re not awarded, they’re won. Between 1997 and 1999, Utah’s Karl Malone won two MVPs to Michael Jordan’s one. Jordan’s Bulls won the ‘97 and ‘98 titles, giving them six in the decade, which is why no one talks about a Mailman Era. If James, currently the front-runner, becomes the MVP, it won’t matter a bit if Bryant’s Lakers win the title. Era-wise, Bryant now has all the advantages, starting with the team he’s on, the youngest, deepest superpower around.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “Why does anyone expect this team to be good defensively? It is a roster filled with below average defenders. Travis Outlaw continues to watch players drive by him at an alarming rate. How many embarrassing film sessions does it take before pride sets in? How about a teammate calling him out? Sergio Rodriguez, too. He can’t keep anyone in front of him, and that spells trouble for the rest of the team, which has become a brutal help defense team. This, people, is why Sergio never played in front of Jarrett Jack. He simply can’t guard people. The thing is, rookie Jerryd Bayless hasn’t been much better defensively. One-on-one, on the ball, Bayless is as good as anyone on the team. But in schemes and rotations, he is confused and/or late, which often times is fouling up the whole system. Look at the frustration of say, LaMarcus Aldridge during the OKC game, when he has to cover for yet another Bayless miscue. Brandon Roy, too, is not exempt. He can be a very good defender … when the game is on the line. Otherwise, he is just as apt to ‘ole’ a driving guard as he is to move his feet.”
Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: “Hornets Coach Byron Scott has had to work a little harder this season when it comes to figuring out a starting lineup. Last season, as New Orleans marched along to a franchise-record 56 victories, there were very few injury bumps along the road. David West missed one regular-season game with a bruised hip. Tyson Chandler sat out one game with a hyperextended knee. Chris Paul was sidelined two games with a sprained right ankle. Morris Peterson missed two games with a strained back. Peja Stojakovic missed eight, five with a groin strain, one with flu-like symptoms and two with back spasms. This season, every Hornets starter who has missed time because of injuries, the latest being Paul, who has sat out the past two with a mild right groin strain.”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “The Nuggets entered Saturday night’s game with a 34-16 mark, the best 50-game record in team history. Pretty cool, right, George? ‘I don’t think it means a lot to any of us,’ coach George Karl said, ‘because we’re in a nine-team race that if you go on a three-game losing streak, you’re going to be worried about the bottom rather than the top. That’s just the way it’s going to be. Every game seemingly at an earlier stage in the season has an importance and a value.’ It hit Karl on the train — yes, train — from Washington to East Rutherford, when he found himself ‘cussing out’ Sacramento after the Kings blew a lead to Utah, Denver’s division rival. ‘When you start scoreboard watching in January, it’s kind of ridiculous,’ Karl said. ‘But you have to.’”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “On Friday, Artest said that making the defense more consistent needed to start with McGrady and the improving condition of his left knee, though he added that was also the case with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and himself when he was in Sacramento. ‘It starts with everybody,’ McGrady said. ‘I understand what he was saying and I think if he had a chance to word it again he would have said it in a different way. It starts with Rafer (Alston), myself, Yao (Ming). It starts with all of us. You don’t just call one guy out. I understand what he was saying, though. When things are not going well, everybody wants to say things they normally don’t say and that’s what’s happening now. We have to win and stop doing too much damn talking.’”
Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The Hawks still hold the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference and are on pace to go 48-34, which would represent a clear upgrade from the eighth-place finish and the 37-45 record of last season. And the GM is beginning, ever so warily, to believe. ‘We’ve had so many injuries, and we’ve handled it,’ Sund said. (For the record, he spoke Saturday morning.) ‘That’s a real endorsement of this team.’ True, the Hawks are only 8-11 since New Year’s Day, but circumstances have grown exceedingly extenuating. Their starting five has been intact for only 20 of the 50 games. Al Horford missed a dozen games in January with a bruised knee. Marvin Williams missed two with a concussion, and Joe Johnson missed two this week with the flu. And then, just as Johnson returned, Mike Bibby sat out Saturday’s game with a sprained foot. And still the Hawks have risen from fifth in the East to fourth over the past month. Said Mike Woodson, the coach: ‘Our guys just keep fighting … I don’t know if I’m surprised, but I’m excited.’ It wasn’t so long ago that folks doubted if they’d raise even a whimper this winter.”
Ivan Carter of the Washington Post: “Before the injury-riddled Wizards were destroyed by the Denver Nuggets on Friday night — a loss that dropped the team to a league-worst 10-40 overall and 9-30 under Tapscott — Grunfeld said he stands by the decision to remove Jordan and would do it again. ‘Yes, I thought at the time and now, that we needed a new voice,’ Grunfeld said. ‘We were 1-10. During the preseason we played lackluster basketball and we played that way early in the season. [Jordan] had a very nice long run — he was the third-longest tenured coach — but after awhile I felt a new voice and new style was needed.’ The problem is that the Wizards have shown no tangible improvement since the change and in fact, it could be argued that they’ve gotten worse.”
The Oklahoman: “NBA general managers play their own version of the stock market. Owning five first-round picks in the next two drafts, Thunder general manager Sam Presti owns several tradable commodities. The most valuable, by far, are Oklahoma City’s pick this season and Phoenix’s first-round pick in 2010. Pardon the pun, but if the ‘Setting Suns’ continue their downward spiral, that pick could be highly coveted by other GMs. First-round picks acquired in trades are not the same. Oklahoma City owns Denver’s and San Antonio’s first-round picks in this year’s draft, provided both teams make the playoffs. Those are labeled ‘protected’ picks. If the Spurs or Nuggets nose dive and miss the playoffs — highly unlikely — the Thunder doesn’t get the pick until 2010. Phoenix’s pick in 2010 is different. It’s ‘unprotected.’ The Thunder gets the Suns’ first-round pick next season regardless of where the Suns finish.”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “Adam Morrison was odd. Not a bad guy, not a selfish guy. Just odd, in a way I’d never before encountered in two decades covering the NBA. When an NBA player acts odd, it’s usually an over-abundance of arrogance or boastfulness. Those guys think so much of themselves, they stop listening to what anyone else thinks. Morrison was just the opposite; he listened too much. His rookie season, he was so conscious of the crowd screaming ‘Shoot!” that he did so every time the ball hit his hands. He knew that wasn’t his game – he was more a creative scorer than a pure shooter at Gonzaga – but he tried pleasing everyone and instead pleased no one.”
Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “He wore Vans for practice. That was Vladimir Radmanovic’s last act as a Laker before he was traded Saturday to the Charlotte Bobcats in primarily a payroll-paring move for the future. The Lakers acquired small forward Adam Morrison, a bust to this point as the third pick in the 2006 draft, and shooting guard Shannon Brown. In his final Lakers practice on Friday, Radmanovic didn’t wear basketball shoes. He wore Vans – the low-top, slip-on kind of sneakers favored by skateboarders and, yes, snowboarders. Seriously. Or not seriously … because what undermined Radmanovic, 28, in every attempt to make his mark as a Laker was a lack of seriousness about his profession.”
Bright Side of the Sun: “Amare hasn’t helped himself this season. Since the Suns came off an east coast road trip in early November when Amare had some of the best games of his career (including THE best game against the Pacers), he’s played without the effort and energy and passion he needs to bring. We’ve waited and waited for Amare to turn it on like he’s done in years past but something is different this time and you have to ask Amare what that is. You can’t blame the coach and the system for Amare not playing hard. I simply do not accept that it is ok for a max contract player to slack just because he’s not getting enough shot attempts. And by the way, in the games when Amare is focused and is playing hard his shots attempts go up. The ball does in fact find energy and Amare himself refuses to be denied and he forces the issue. The correlation between his shot attempts and the system isn’t simply on the coach calling plays for him. Its about Amare deciding to put his head down and attack versus turning down those opportunities. When you’ve watched Amare for as long as we have in Phoenix, you can see the difference.”
Hardwood Paroxysm: “This is a guy who was being built up as the future of the franchise. And instead, he’s got a guy who can’t always play in back-to-backs telling people he’s the problem. He’s been undermined. If you tell a member of a team, “We don’t want you to be a leader,” you can’t then get mad at them for not being a leader. He should take it on himself. That would be the best solution. But Amare’s never been in a position to learn that. And in the season that should have been his to grow into that role, Kerr cut the legs out from under him and piled the Big Shaqtus on top of him. Phoenix is washing its hands with ‘ Stoudemire. And when he goes elsewhere and flourishes in a system that’s not Kerr-Porter, everyone will marvel and wonder, just as D’Antoni rebuilds the Knicks into contenders, Diaw and Bell have Charlotte playing respectably, and Phoenix continues to sputter into nothingness. The writing on the wall is in big, giant, neon letters, and yet no one seems willing to read it.”
Luke Walton for NBA.com: “Could I predict Kobe was going to do something off the charts during the day on Monday in New York City? Now that I think about it, I can say I saw him a little more intense than normal that day. Early in the game, Kob hit a couple shots and when a timeout was called, I noticed when we returned to the bench that he was in the zone. He was in the moment. He kept to himself and was very focused. Didn’t say a word. When Kob goes off like that, a lot of people have asked me, do you and your teammates watch in awe? It’s not like that. You’re so into the game that when Kob is particularly hot, like he was on Monday, you’re like, ‘Kob is on tonight.’ It’s not until after the game when you arrive home or to the hotel room and you watch the game when you’re like, ‘Wow. What an amazing performance.’ That’s when it really sinks in. Was that the greatest game I’ve seen Kob play? I would rank the 81-point game versus the Raptors No. 1 and then I would call it a toss-up between Monday’s game at the Garden and the game against the Mavericks when he outscored them after three quarters, 62-61.”
The Daily News: “Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is jumping – for joy. In a Chicago divorce court Thursday, Wade’s estranged wife, Siohvaughn, dropped her accusation that he gave her a sexually transmitted disease. Her lawyer, Dorene Marcus, wouldn’t comment on whether Siohvaughn had been misdiagnosed in 2007 when she first made her claim or on whether it was true that she smashed his trophies and other treasures when she found out, as a source tells us. Wade’s lawyer, James Pritikin, said: ‘We are pleased that these false claims have been dropped. In the interest of Mr. Wade’s children, we hope these matters can be resolved in a timely matter.’ The Wades have two sons, Zaire, 5, and Zion, 1. Siohvaughn also claims that the boys hardly ever see their dad. In fairness to Wade, who helped lead the U.S. Olympic basketball team to gold in Beijing, she did move the kids back to Chicago, and he’s kinda busy in Miami.” [Via HP]
Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News: “Sam Ward, a 62-year-old barber on the East Side, is one of Johnson’s closest friends. Ward said Johnson’s allegiance to the economically challenged neighborhood stems from his childhood in New Orleans’ Lafitte Projects. ‘He came out of the same kind of environment, the projects, and wants to give back,’ Ward said. ‘Now, mind you, he has also done that in other cities, but he had a real rapport with this community. ‘When he gave all that money to Antioch, he was saying, ‘Thank you, San Antonio.’ He could have said, ‘I don’t owe you nothin.’ Other ballplayers have come through here and haven’t given back. But that’s not Avery. On the East Side, he’s right up there with David Robinson.’ Johnson credits his parents for his philanthropic side. ‘They weren’t educated people,’ Johnson said, ‘but they had master’s degrees in love.’”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “There will be no trip for Deron Williams to the All-Star Game next weekend, but the Jazz guard appears determined to make sure he is not forgotten amid the festivities in Phoenix. The Jazz have won four of their past five games and Williams has come through with Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer out, scoring 35, 34 and 34 points in his last three games, including a 12-point fourth quarter Friday at Sacramento. Even so, the blue sleeve running to Williams’ right calf serves as a reminder that he still is not 100 percent healthy between the badly sprained left ankle he suffered in preseason and the bruised right quadriceps and swollen knee that kept him out Monday. ‘I’m a lot more explosive right now,’ said Williams, who has made 34 of 57 shots (59.6 percent) in his last three games. ‘My ankle still hurts — it’s going to hurt the whole season — but I’ve learned to deal with the pain.’”
Daily Thunder: “Perhaps you can make the arguement that Carmelo is every bit as good or even better than Durant. So be it, you’ve seen the stats, you make the call. People have their opinions. But remember, Karma has a way of biting you in the butt. Not too long ago, a super narcisssitic Stephon Marbury was asked who was the best point guard in the NBA? Well you guessed it, according to him, it was him. Now just a couple of years later, where is Stephon? Oh that’s right, begging to be bought out by the Knicks because he is a cancer. It’s much better to let the experts engage in the soap box pontifications about the best and the greatest than to open your mouth and insert your foot by naming yourself.”
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “When a coach takes over a team with a terrible record, there is a built-in platform from which to claim progress. Nevertheless, of the six interim coaches who inherited teams with anemic winning percentages, only four have forged improvement. What about the three coaches hired during the summer to replace coaches who were fired for failing to win championships? None have done as well as the coaches they replaced. Michael Curry replaced Flip Saunders in Detroit after the Pistons went 59-23 last season, a winning percentage of .720. Under Curry, the Pistons went into a Saturday game against the Bucks with a winning percentage of .553. The Suns ran off Mike D’Antoni after they went 55-27 last season, a winning percentage of .671. His successor, Terry Porter, has led the Suns to a winning percentage of .563. Avery Johnson was fired in Dallas after his Mavericks went 51-31 last season, a .622 winning percentage. Rick Carlisle sent this season’s Mavs into their Saturday night game winning at a .592 clip. Taking over a team that has won a lot while doing things one way under a coach can be tougher than turning around a losing team.”
Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic: “This game will be a bit strange for Suns fans. Both Phoenix representatives – Amaré Stoudemire and O’Neal – are reportedly on the trading block, and the decline in Stoudemire’s local popularity has been stunning. He is now the face of this underachieving crew, all talk and no rings. It doesn’t matter that Stoudemire lobbied hard and successfully for fan votes. It matters that most Suns fans don’t even think he belongs in this game. While O’Neal has had a nifty season and deserves a place in this game, his resurgence in Phoenix has come at cost. While Charles Barkley surely will be seen at a few parties, he will not be heard on TNT, still absent after his nocturnal performance in downtown Scottsdale. It will be hard for Suns fans to feel emotionally invested, and the current state of basketball in Phoenix is best summarized by Steve Nash’s conspicuous absence.”
Mike Martindale of the The Detroit News: “From outward appearances, Amy and Erik McDonald seemed like many of their Waterford Township neighbors. They lived in a modest frame house and she drove each day to her accounting job at The Palace of Auburn Hillls. But police said over a 2 ½-year period, the couple went on a $1.8 million spending spree with a Palace corporate credit card. Where it all went is still a mystery but a house full of property inventoried in court records indicates the McDonalds indulged in just about whatever they wanted — from high-tech electronics to pricey power tools. They also treated themselves to cruises and luxury resorts before fleeing Michigan. Erik McDonald, 38, even charged projected federal income taxes and child support owed to his ex-wife from a previous marriage, police said. Caught in New Orleans last month, they are due in court Monday on embezzlement charges.”
Ryan Lillis and Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee: “The mayor told The Bee on Saturday the meetings were not sparked by concerns over whether the Kings would leave Sacramento but were instead designed to bring him up to speed on the process of building a new arena. ‘The Kings are a lot more than a basketball team to Sacramento,’ Johnson said. ‘They’re a business, they’re an economic engine, they’re something that gives our city pride. (A new arena) has to happen. At some point, there needs to be a clear path to an arena.’ Today, however, there are significant roadblocks. NBA officials said last month the league’s effort to build an arena at Cal Expo has been hampered by a sluggish real estate economy. The delay led league and Kings officials to acknowledge that the Maloofs the family who owns the Kings have grown frustrated. John Moag, the NBA consultant who is working with Cal Expo officials on a plan for an arena, said the Maloofs have not spoken to him about filing a request with the league to move the Kings out of Sacramento.”
Anthony Schoettle of IBJ.com: “The Indiana Pacers have lost money in 25 of the last 27 years, including nine of the last 10 seasons in Conseco Fieldhouse, said Pacers Sports & Entertainment President Jim Morris. The losses, he added, are much higher than recently published estimates of more than $6 million annually. While Pacers officials have not officially asked to renegotiate the franchise’s Fieldhouse lease, they began providing city officials with team financial information before the 2007-2008 season as a precursor to potential renegotiations. A clause in the Pacers’ Fieldhouse lease states that, if the team is experiencing financial losses after its eighth season in the building, the franchise can ask to renegotiate the 20-year lease after 10 years. Pacers officials declined to comment on what could happen after 2010, but CIB member Pat Early conceded the 2010 payment could be just the beginning. ‘It could be ongoing if we don’t come up with some kind of solution,’ said Early, a longtime CIB member who helped craft the Fieldhouse lease. The Pacers aren’t alone. Ten of 30 NBA teams experienced financial losses last season, according to Forbes magazine. But few have registered losses as consistently as Pacers brass claims they have.” [Via Indy Cornrows]
