- Extended edition of The Fundamentals today since the death flu prevented me from posting yesterday. Look for an extended version of Points in the Paint this evening late tonight.
Michael Lee of the Washington Post: “With the Washington Wizards (15-50) having the second-worst record in the NBA, there is a decent chance under the league’s lottery system that Griffin could team up with Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison next season. Griffin, a muscle-bound, 6-foot-10, 251-pound forward, has established himself as college basketball’s best player this season. He leads the NCAA in rebounding at 14.2 per game, leads the Big 12 Conference in scoring at 22.1 points per game and has the sixth-ranked Sooners in contention for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. ‘I think one of the reasons why [Griffin is] considered the number one pick is, for sure, for a lot of people he’s a safe pick,’ said an NBA player personnel director, who requested anonymity because of league rules prohibiting teams from speaking about underclassmen. ‘He’s going to be a bona-fide rebounder, night in and night out, and a lot of his scoring is through sheer effort. How he’s going to affect the game, I think Karl Malone is a pretty good comparison.’ Griffin has become a nightly fixture on the ‘top plays’ segment of ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter’ because of his vicious dunks, and he is putting up numbers comparable to Michael Beasley, last year’s Big 12 player of the year and the No. 2 pick of the draft last season. But as one NBA scout said recently, Griffin ‘is a little meaner.’”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “The last time Dwyane Wade was beaten down, he turned to noted trainer Tim Grover to build him back up. The result was Wade’s breakout at the Beijing Olympics. Now, entering the homestretch of the NBA season, the Heat guard is seeking similar reinforcement from Michael Jordan’s former trainer. For the balance of the season and playoffs, Wade has worked out an agreement with Heat President Pat Riley and owner Micky Arison that allows Chicago-based Grover to work with him one week every month at the Heat’s facilities. ‘He’s a guy who really helped me get healthy,’ Wade said of his grueling sessions last spring at Grover’s Chicago gym that pushed him past shoulder and knee injuries. ‘It’s something I really wanted, was him to come out and check me out. He knows my body. He helped me build it back this summer.’”
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: “The Celtics got a glimpse last night of what Stephon Marbury may be able to offer them down the line. The free agent pickup celebrated his two-week anniversary with the club by going for nine points and five assists in 17 minutes. Beyond the numbers, he just looked a lot more natural in the 102-92 win over Memphis, playing with a heretofore unseen certainty. ‘I’m getting comfortable,’ Marbury said. ‘I’m getting my legs under me.’ Asked if this was the best he’s felt with the Celtics, Marbury replied, ‘I felt pretty good in Miami. Maybe it was the weather. But this is the comfortable-est I’ve felt so far.’ It had to help that Rajon Rondo was back last night. Marbury had started the previous two games and found it to be no holiday. ‘It’s like, you want to play, but at the same time you know you’re not there to be able to play at that level,’ he said. ‘When it happened, it was like I was the turkey at Thanksgiving. It was like, ‘OK, you’re starting.’’”
Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star: “History says he is a fast learner, perhaps because he has been moulded by some remarkable influences. For instance, he played his NCAA ball at George Washington University, which counts among its alumni an NBA legend named Red Auerbach. And Auerbach, before his 2006 death, was an occasional presence at Mensah-Bonsu’s college practices, where the old sage would hand down wisdom gleaned from the experience of 16 championship seasons as a coach or executive with the Boston Celtics. ‘There wasn’t much dialogue – I just listened,’ said Mensah-Bonsu. ‘It was an honour for him to know my name.’ More recently, Mensah-Bonsu sipped the proverbial cup of coffee with the San Antonio Spurs, the four-time NBA champions. He lingered over every last drop. ‘They have some superstars on their team, but if you were to be in their presence, you wouldn’t know it,’ said Mensah-Bonsu of the Spurs. ‘How professional those guys are, it’s uncanny. I will carry it with me for the rest of my life.’”
Marcus Thompson II of the Contra Costa Times: “Warriors guard Stephen Jackson walked off the practice court Tuesday oozing testosterone, proclaiming his one-on-one victory over guard Jamal Crawford loudly enough for the entire gym to hear. He said he beat Crawford twice, and even feigned mercy when describing the game-winners. ‘Both jumpers,’ Jackson said. ‘I could have (posted him up) every time. I’m 235. He’s not 120 carrying two grocery bags.’ Jackson was already as brash as they come. Now he has 15 pounds of added muscle, which has also bulked up his ego. The ninth-year veteran — with the help of assistant coach Keith Smart — decided to dive into the regimen of Warriors conditioning experts Mark Grabow and John Murray. It’s a big reason he has been playing the best basketball of his career, why he has been able to turn a hot streak into three months of steady production, and why 40.2 minutes per game isn’t wearing him down.”
Kurt Streeter of the Los Angeles Times: “By Week 2 it seemed as though the Clippers were 99 games out of first place. Now, with 17 games left, the owner is showing his oddball nature, the controlling coach has only barely loosened his grip, and Davis’ supporting cast has proven decidedly Clipperish. Nobody looks happy, least of all Davis, once an All-Star, the most heralded free agent in the team’s history. He has at turns been injured, angry, disappointed, unsure — and, in the frantic, clueless, reactive way the Clippers do things, trade bait. ‘This has been the worst year of my NBA career, and the least amount of fun I’ve ever had,’ said Davis, a 10-year veteran, his head shaking, his voice low, his eyes partly shaded by a black Dodgers cap. He bit off part of the doughnut. He may possess a five-year, $65-million contract, but his face is a mask of sadness. ‘I’ve had seasons where I haven’t had great numbers, but at least I have had fun. But this year, it’s all just spiraled downhill from the start.’ He said he had imagined a brilliant homecoming, not this. That this is happening in front of family and friends in an arena a few miles from his childhood home in South L.A. weighs on his heart.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says he isn’t yet concerned at the relatively slow nature of Manu Ginobili’s rehabilitation from his latest ankle injury. Popovich, however, does have a timetable for becoming concerned. ‘This coming Thursday will be four weeks since he’s off the crutches,’ Popovich said before Saturday’s game against the Rockets. ‘At that point, we hope that he’s on the floor working out. If he’s not, we’ll be concerned.’ Ginobili, battling a stress reaction in his right ankle, missed his 14th consecutive game Saturday. He watched from behind the bench as the Spurs outlasted Houston 88-85. Popovich says Ginobili should return ‘in a week or two.’ He is aware that is the same prognosis he gave at this time last week. ‘I keep saying a week or two,’ Popovich said. ‘It’s like the stimulus package — pretty soon, it’s going to start having an effect.’”
Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “Anyone can plainly see that he’s trying. When the lights are on, you can see how much Vince Carter wants it, and, sadly, with every stride, it looks like he is stumbling toward an early vacation each time it eludes him. He doesn’t say much these days. But you can see it in his face: Desperation and longing and frustration. And sometimes pain — rivers of it. He has had challenges like this before, and he had always come through like a champion. He carried the Nets into the playoffs with a 15-4 sprint to the wire in 2005, and he was the best player in the NBA that year, post-break. He carried them to the sixth seed in 2007, when he averaged 25.2 points — a brilliant season, and probably the last Vintage Vince campaign, for which he received a $62 million thank-you note. Now, nobody really expects that anymore. He’ll have his big nights, but he is not the same kind of hero, or magician, or miracle worker. He has seen the last of his prime years, and he’s playing like a certifiable 32-year-old: Proud and still dangerous, but fallible.”
Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “James is averaging 28.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists a game for the Cavaliers (52-13), who are 2 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the Eastern Conference. Bryant is averaging 28 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists for the Lakers (52-13), who are eight games ahead of San Antonio in the West. Defensively, James also has the better stats. He is averaging 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocked shots a game. Bryant is averaging 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks. James is averaging about a minute more per game than Bryant. Two months ago, Bryant seemed irritated by talk of which player would win the MVP award, telling reporters to ‘leave me alone on that stuff’ after saying James should win it. But after a 23-point effort Thursday against San Antonio, Bryant seemed to warm up to the concept of another MVP trophy. ‘That’s all I’m here for, is to help us win. If the MVP comes with that, man, that’s great,’ he said.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: Cleveland Insiders: Knicks Unlikely to Land LeBron in ‘10
Sam Amico of Pro Basketball News: “In Cleveland, James is King. He can do no wrong in the eyes of most fans. That includes his appearance at a Cleveland Indians game while wearing a Yankees cap. Some fans were enraged, but most wouldn’t care if he showed up sporting pink slippers. All that matters to most fans is that he leads the Cavaliers to the championship. Meanwhile, they’re awful judgmental in New York. Most of the media there wouldn’t wait to sink their journalistic claws into James. They’d just be sitting there, waiting, for James to do something they deemed wrong (namely, failing to lead the Knicks to 10 titles in 12 years). When that happens, James would be fair game. The scrutiny would be relentless, unforgiving. Just ask Randy Johnson or Stephon Marbury or Alex Rodriguez. In Cleveland, James doesn’t need to worry about disappointing. He’s a monstrous fish in a mid-sized pond. He may be the only athlete in modern Cleveland history who can turn fans’ attention away from the Browns from time to time.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “Looking at the schedule, after playing 14 games in 24 days in 11 cities, the Cavs look to be heading for boom times as eight of the next nine are at home. That isn’t what James and Cavs coach Mike Brown see. Rather, they see a bubble, and they are worried about it popping. ‘It’s a small concern right now,’ said James, who averaged 39 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists on the three-game West Coast trip, but also played 44.7 minutes per game as the Cavs made up double-digit deficits to win in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Sacramento. ‘We’re letting teams get too comfortable, and that’s something we don’t want to do. It’s something we know, and it is something we have to get better at.’ Without much practice time and without Ben Wallace and now Delonte West, the Cavs’ defense has crumbled very quickly and all over the board. Their interior defense has been suspect all season but now has dipped another level with Wallace out.”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “The playoffs are a little more than a month away. Close games decide playoff series. Give one away, as the Rockets nearly did again on Friday, and another season ends before the second round. The Rockets head into Saturday’s game against the Spurs trailing San Antonio by a game-and-a-half for the division lead and the second seed. There is still a long way to go to determine the playoff order, but the eight Western Conference teams seem certain. Ninth-place Phoenix trails Dallas by six games. As much as the remaining 15 games will be about playoff positioning and the pursuit of home-court advantage, for the Rockets they are about honing the way they do things, especially at the end of games. They are about Aaron Brooks running the offense, about Ron Artest getting under control and about Yao Ming getting the ball closer than 25 feet from the basket. ‘It’s still our goal, to learn how to finish games,’ Brooks said. ‘It sounds like a broken record, but yeah, that’s it.’”
Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “They don’t hold parades to commemorate occasions such as these, but the Nets have just entered their fifth week of being pushed around like 120-pound weaklings. Consider this factoid: They haven’t outrebounded an opponent since Feb. 7 – that’s 14 games and counting, after losing a 37-32 glass battle in last night’s 109-100 loss to the Blazers – and there are probably several reasons why that is the case. Lawrence Frank just wishes he could think of one that he could actually fix. ‘Too many times off the ball, we lose (contact) with guys and let them get hard cuts to the rim, so we have to block out first,’ said the coach, whose team has been outrebounded by eight per game in this 14-game stretch. ‘And if we do a better job (guarding) the ball, we won’t constantly be in rotations, and we won’t have smalls (boxing out) against bigs. ‘And some of these are just mano-a-mano (battles) in which we have to do a better job.’ Early in the year, the Nets’ best rebounding frontcourt was probably Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson and Jarvis Hayes. But Anderson is out of the rotation – Frank gives away size by using Bobby Simmons and Hayes as the backup 4s nowadays — and Hayes can get a tough rebound with only one hand these days. The Nets rank in the bottom third in most rebounding stats, but in the one the team uses (known as ‘rebound percentage’) they are 21st in the NBA.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “For the Spurs, the biggest obstacle to returning to the NBA Finals is not the star-studded Lakers, who just won consecutive games in Houston and San Antonio. Nor is it the Rockets, the Spurs’ opponent tonight at the Toyota Center and the team nearest them in the Southwest Division standings. It is the hobbled team they see in the mirror. ‘For us right now, the big thing is just to be healthy,’ point guard Tony Parker said. ‘And get everybody back.’ The Spurs’ No. 1 goal is to get Ginobili back in time for him to find a groove before the playoffs. Nursing a stress reaction in his distal right fibula, his rehab has gone more slowly than expected. The initial prognosis called for him to miss two to three weeks, a signpost that passed on Thursday. Ginobili has not yet been cleared for practice. Wednesday marked the first time he was able to participate in anything but stationary shooting drills. One sign of hope: Ginobili went with the team on its two-game road trip to Houston and Oklahoma City, the first time he’s boarded the Spurs’ charter jet since before the All-Star break. The Spurs would like to have Duncan at 100 percent for a playoff run, but that might not be an option.”
Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “The Sixers are blowing a wide-open layup if they believe those fans aren’t attentive to exactly how they arrive to the playoffs – did they fade, griping, full of excuses, down the stretch? Or did they fight for every game, making the promised adjustments? We stand, 18 games left, at that fork in the road. In seasons past, the Sixers have been a second-half team. Last season, general manager Ed Stefanski stepped in, demanded playing time for the younger guys, and off the Sixers went, surprising NBA teams with their frantic pace. This season the Sixers believed, given history, they would again be better after the all-star break. But they haven’t been. Why not? What happened to that 14-4 team we saw before the break? The Sixers’ fastbreak style can be slowed, especially as opponents stop for their second, third, and fourth games on the NBA merry-go-round. And that’s where the Sixers find themselves: within the well-scouted dog days of this long season.”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “Offensive efficiency has been perhaps as fleeting as victories for the Grizzlies this season. On a three-pronged checklist for improving their attack, the Griz could mark off individual player improvement and more balance. It’s their execution that remains inconsistent, and something the coaching staff is emphasizing more in film sessions and with drills. The Griz have endured long stretches of ineffective offensive play in losing 12 of the past 13 games. Whether it’s been lack of ball movement, poor shot selection or turnovers in bunches, the Griz aim to limit those self-induced scoring droughts in order to end a four-game losing streak today when they meet the Detroit Pistons in an afternoon matinee. ‘We just have to continue to work on execution,’ Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. With youth often comes a lack of patience and focus.”
Howard Beck of The New York Times: “There is a sense that McHale is much more open to coaching than his curmudgeonly demeanor and curt answers would suggest. In the past, McHale has bemoaned the hectic schedule required of coaches, particularly the travel. His players said they never hear the complaint, except from inquiring reporters. ‘We heard that when he first came in,’ point guard Sebastian Telfair said, ‘but he’s definitely putting the time in. We haven’t had much days off. I thought we’d have more days off for a guy that’s so laid-back,’ he added with a chuckle. The job of teacher and mentor suits McHale, who was a Hall of Fame forward for the Boston Celtics. Even as an executive, he could often be found on the Timberwolves’ practice court, passing on advice to young players and occasionally giving instruction to the big men. ‘You feel that he wants you to do good,’ Telfair said. There is some evidence that he may even be a good head coach, the current record notwithstanding.”
Mark Heisler for HoopsHype.com: “When he left the Clippers and went to Indiana, I could break any stay with any team down into its constituent parts, which I called the Five Stages of Larry Brown: Arrival, Early Struggle in Which He Tries to Trade Everyone Starting With His Star Player, Triumph, Frustration, and I’m Out of Here. By Triumph, I mean, Triumph Equal to or Beyond Anything They Could Imagine, like taking a UCLA team with four freshmen in rotation to the NCAA Finals; winning an NCAA title with a Kansas team that was 15-13 at mid-season; taking the 76ers who were 22-60 when he got there, to the NBA Finals; stunning the Shaq-Kobe Lakers to take the Pistons to an NBA title. Conrad Brunner, who was covering the Pacers when Larry got there and later went to work for the team, told me it held true, every step of the way. By then, I knew most of Larry’s friends, like Donnie Walsh, the Indiana president, who had been on Frank McGuire’s staff when Larry played at North Carolina, who then served on Larry’s staff in Denver, and finally hired him in Indiana. Donnie told me the story of Larry’s first job, at Davidson, which doesn’t appear on his resume – because he left before even conducting a practice, upset that they wouldn’t re-carpet his office.”
Matt Watson of FanHouse: “The NBA lost a legend Friday evening when Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson, 86, passed away at his home. The exact cause of death has not been released, but his health had been in decline the last few years. Once a regular fixture in his courtside seats near the Pistons bench at home games, his appearances this season became increasingly rare. His wife Karen Davidson will succeed him in the role of team owner. Davidson’s name was rarely in the headlines, but he was one of the most successful and innovative owners in professional sports. Under his ownership, the Pistons won three NBA championships, the Detroit Shock won three WNBA championships and the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup. He was the first owner in the NBA to provide his team their own private jet, and he was the first to include luxury suites in his privately-funded arena, the Palace of Auburn Hills. In the years that followed, nearly every team has followed in his footsteps, and even though the Palace is now one of the oldest buildings in the league, it remains one of the league’s premier home courts.”
Bloomberg News: “The Nets are committed to moving to a yet-to-be-built Brooklyn arena for the 2011-12 season, overcoming economic concerns and legal opposition, Brett Yormark, the team’s chief executive, said. ‘It will happen,’ Yormark said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s ‘For the Record.’ ‘We’ll be there for the ’11-’12 season. We’ve presold 20 percent of our suites. We’ve got 8 of our 14 founding partnerships already completely signed. Next week, we’ll announce our ninth.’ Yormark said the team is awaiting resolution of an eminent-domain lawsuit before breaking ground on the Barclays Center. That may come in late spring or early summer, Barry Baum, a spokesman for the team’s owner, Bruce Ratner, said in an e-mail message. ‘The table has been set,’ Yormark said. ‘We feel very confident about the financing. We feel very confident about just the project in general, and once we get through this final piece of litigation, we’ll be in the accelerated mode to break ground and get ready to open.’”
John DeShazier of The Times-Picayune: “Thursday presented another told-you-so moment for New Orleans and the Hornets. But seeing as how both have spent an inordinate amount of time expressing that sentiment, and it gets juvenile after a while, even though it probably continues to have a satisfying ring to it, both should spend their time on this occasion taking well-earned bows and planning to make sure the train keeps rolling. This season, for the first time since the franchise relocated from Charlotte in 2002, the Hornets will not need any of the state’s inducement payments, thank you very much. The potential $6.8 million that the state would have had to fork over to help the team make ends meet became moot because Hornets fans have walked through the turnstiles at a rate that outsiders haven’t been shy about labeling inconceivable. Does the New Orleans Arena being filled to 99.6 percent capacity this season, averaging 17,122 fans per game when the sellout level is 17,188, appear to represent a fan base that doesn’t want an NBA team? Or does it indicate that the franchise hasn’t assembled a product that’s upper-echelon?”
Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald: “If there was ever a time when two sides would choose to go back in time to fix a failed negotiation, it’s the Bulls and Ben Gordon. The team’s leading scorer will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and in control of his own destiny. If he signs with a new team, the Bulls will most likely get nothing in return. Gordon is one of just seven NBA guards currently averaging 20 points while shooting better than 45 percent from the field. The others are Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Brandon Roy, Chris Paul, Michael Redd and Tony Parker. At the same time, this is the wrong time to be shopping for a huge payday in the NBA or anywhere else. Most every team in the league is facing declining revenues and will be looking to cut costs. Talk across the Bulls organization is that they definitely want to re-sign Gordon this summer and have been happy with his performance. But no one is sure whether it will happen, because the Bulls would almost certainly have to pay the NBA’s luxury tax next season in order to keep him.”
Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel: “Mindful of the impact the recession is having on fans’ pocketbooks, the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday announced plans to either cut or hold the line on season-ticket packages next season. The Bucks’ action follows moves by other National Basketball Association franchises to cut prices on season-ticket plans. John Steinmiller, the Bucks’ vice president for business operations, said Friday that the team was reacting to fan concerns. ‘We hear what they have been saying,’ he said. In a letter to season-ticket holders, U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), the team’s owner, acknowledged the tough economic conditions. ‘These are challenging times,’ Kohl wrote to fans. ‘I know it’s tough, and I understand that budgets need to be constantly evaluated. But you can count on us to provide exciting entertainment for you. We want and need your support.’ Kohl wrote that the Bucks’ ticket pricing was the least expensive in the National Basketball Association, and ‘we have maintained the same pricing in most categories over the past several seasons. Having said that, we intend to lower your ticket price next season, and we are making significant benefit improvements in your season ticket plan that reflect the difficult challenges and choices that face nearly every individual and business.’”
Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee: “After meeting with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson earlier Friday in Las Vegas to discuss the team’s future and the proposal for an arena project at Cal Expo, Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said the most pressing issue was improving the team and luring fans back into the building. In a rare appearance at Arco Arena his traveling has been limited because of double knee-replacement surgery he also said an arena deal ‘eventually’ will be consummated. ‘We’re going to get something done,’ said Maloof, leaning against a stool in the tunnel area during halftime of the Kings-Cavaliers game. ‘That will happen. We have a mayor who is supportive, who understands how important the team is to the community, and he’s committed to helping us. Kevin grew up in Sacramento. He knows. That gives us great comfort. So it will happen. ‘But all this talk about arena, arena, arena what we need to concentrate on now is making the team better and filling the building. That’s our priority. (Brother) Gavin and I are going to work harder than we ever have. We know what we have to do.’ Maloof plans to schedule meetings with local business leaders, season-ticket holders and sponsors in the next several weeks, as well as begin aggressively promoting the discounted season ticket packages for next season.”
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “At a time when major roster decisions loom in the next couple of summers, knowing that ownership is still willing to write a seven-figure check to give the Spurs a better shot against the Lakers this spring is cause for relief. More troubling news, though, was wrapped inside an item in Wednesday’s Express-News business section. Holt Cat, the company Spurs majority owner Peter Holt serves as Chief Executive Officer, announced it was laying off about 12 percent of its work force. Holt Cat, the largest Caterpillar equipment dealer in the U.S., has suffered along with the rest of the construction sector. In his role as majority owner of the Spurs, Holt has supported every player personnel move Gregg Popovich has believed necessary to keep the Spurs a title contender. They have an understanding: Popovich doesn’t spend money on players he doesn’t believe in, and Holt backs Popovich when he thinks the Spurs need a player like Gooden. But Holt is no Paul Allen, the mega-billionaire owner of the Trail Blazers.”
