Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe: “Rasheed Wallace was introduced alongside the All-Star trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, coach Doc Rivers, and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge at the HealthPoint practice facility, with his wife, Fatima, and children nearby. Wallace signed a three-year deal Wednesday for $18 million, starting with a $5.8 million midlevel exception, with a player option on the third season. … The 6-foot-11-inch, 230-pounder won a title in 2004 title with the Pistons and has been to the playoffs for 13 consecutive years. Wallace, Garnett, Cleveland’s Shaquille O’Neal, and San Antonio’s Tim Duncan are the only active players to have 15,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 1,500 assists, and 1,000 blocks. ‘I’m excited,’’ Garnett said. ‘I know we are all here looking at each other like we’re teenagers again. I’m really excited about [next season]. This is not only a key addition, but a major addition to our team. You can play with this any kind of way you want to. It almost feels like AAU basketball all over again, doesn’t it?’”
Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe: “Garnett reached out to Wallace, but discreetly. ‘I don’t really chase too many people,’’ Garnett explained. But after Garnett finished the season having played 57 games because of a knee injury – his fewest since 1998-99 – he recognized Wallace’s worth. ‘This was my chance to play with another great big,’ Garnett said. ‘Another person who was not only as passionate, but as intense, and as versatile skillwise.’ Garnett flew in from Minneapolis to be in Waltham when the Celtics introduced Wallace yesterday. Rehabbing the right knee he strained in February, the thought of adding a player so similar to himself had kept Garnett up nights in anticipation. ‘I haven’t been really sleeping that much,’ Garnett said. ‘That’s how my excitement comes out. I’ve just been envisioning this whole year. I’m excited and I’m working to make sure that when I come in here for training camp that I’m ready and I’m ready full throttle.’”
George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press: “Kuester said three words he’ll use a lot are: communicate, help and trust. ‘We’ve got to do a great job of communicating on and off the floor,’ Kuester said. ‘We’ve got to do a great job of helping each other on and off the floor. When you have that communication and help, then that trust comes into play.’ Kuester said there was ‘no magic formula’ for getting the team back to where it was in 2004. Although he spent last season as the unofficial offensive coordinator for the Cavs, Kuester knows playing strong defense will be the key to success. ‘I’ve been an assistant for 14 years. This past season was the first I just focused on offense. Championships are won playing defense, and it’s going to be not different here. We’ll be a grind-it-out team for 48 minutes, and we’ll implement a system that will be concise, consistent, where our concepts and our terms will be preached every day at practice, shoot-arounds and games. So defense will play a huge role for us to also have success on offense.’”
Shi Davidi of The Candadian Press: “Much has been made over the past week about the role Toronto’s ethnic nature and large Turkish community played in helping lure Hedo Turkoglu to the Raptors. But it was another of the city’s assets that was just as instrumental, if not more so, in convincing the free agent forward to head north, and that’s Chris Bosh. ‘Little known fact, Chris helped recruit Hedo last Friday,’ Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo said Thursday at a news conference introducing the Turkish star. (I) reached out to Chris, Chris made a phone call and I would believe that would be a very important call for this guy to get when Chris Bosh calls you and says, ‘I want you to come play for us and make us better.’ And it was. ‘When I heard his voice I was really happy about it,’ said Turkoglu, who gets a five-year deal reportedly worth about US$53 million. ‘He’s been an all-star in this league and he’s been a dominant player. I was just happy to hear I’m welcome by that type of guy, it’s really important. I know he’s going to enjoy playing with me and I’m going to enjoy playing with him and other guys, too.’”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “The advantage goes to those with the last word. The Suns’ chances to retain free-agent forward Grant Hill improved after a Suns contingent of Managing Partner Robert Sarver, General Manager Steve Kerr and coach Alvin Gentry traveled to Orlando to meet with him Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to sources familiar with the talks. Suns officials could not be reached for comment. The Suns trip was a response to how the New York Knicks swayed Hill this week by giving him the option to accept a one-year, $5 million deal or a three-year, $10 million deal. The Suns’ initial negotiations did not make much of an impression on Hill, but the offer was sweetened on the recent visit, a response to the bargaining chip that former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks gave Hill after the forward visited New York on Monday. Suns guard Steve Nash also helped Phoenix’s recruiting cause, putting in a call to his co-captain and good friend, Hill, to lobby for his return to the Suns. Nash’s move falls in line with sources saying that the Suns and Nash have made significant progress toward a contract extension for the point guard.”
Patrick McManamon of the Akron Beacon Journal: “In some ways, criticizing the Cavs for the money Varejao was paid seems ill-placed. How would the frontcourt look if he were with the Oklahoma City Thunder? Consider the options if they didn’t re-sign Varejao. Right. There were none. The Cavs wanted him back, and they needed him back. They know it. He knows it. His agent knows it. Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors received an extension for $10 million per year. Bargnani averaged 15.3 points and is a much better shooter. But he’s not as good a rebounder, and not as good defensively — keys for the Cavs. Then ponder this list of guys: Vladimir Radmonivic, Matt Harpring, Leandro Barbosa, Jason Kapono, Tony Battie and Joel Przybilla. All will make $6 million to $7.5 million this season. Is Varejao overpaid? Of course he’s overpaid — until he starts finding a cure for childhood leukemia. But for the Cavs, it was a needed move lest they leave themselves short on the frontcourt.”
Alan Hahn of Newsday: “Eddy Curry has been ordered by the Knicks to report to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas so that team president Donnie Walsh and his staff can monitor the progress of Curry’s offseason diet and conditioning program, according to Jerry Powell, one of Curry’s offseason trainers. Curry will not play for the Knicks summer league team but is expected to be on the court for the second workout of a two-a-day session Sunday at Valley High in Las Vegas, where the Knicks will work out before their summer league opener Tuesday at UNLV. Powell says Curry, who began a strict diet and fitness regimen set up by California-based strength coach Tommy Weatherspoon in May and began workouts with Powell in June, has lost almost 50 pounds. ‘They want to see what he looks like,’ Powell told Newsday. ‘They want to see him get up and down with the summer league team and practice.’ There is good reason. The 6-11 Curry, who three years ago displayed all-star potential, ballooned to well more than 300 pounds this past season, when weight and conditioning issues caused him to miss 80 of the 82-game schedule.”
Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Through four games, Jrue Holiday is averaging 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.75 assists, 1.75 steals, 3.5 turnovers, and 0.8 blocks a game, hardly overwhelming numbers for the 76ers’ first-round draft pick. Yet there is something about his play, his fundamentally sound outside shot, his solid ball handling, his aggressive, on-balance defense that has many NBA insiders believing the Sixers got lucky when the 19-year-old dropped to the 17th pick. ‘If you’re Philly and he drops to you, it’s a no-brainer,’ one NBA scout said. The consensus is that while Holiday is more a ‘project’ than a ‘step-in-and-play’ guy, he has the physical tools to become an NBA starter and could contribute 12-15 minutes a game this coming season. ‘He looks like he belongs,’ said another scout. ‘He makes passes you can’t teach,’ said a third. ‘And in this league, when everyone is worried about their next shot, he would be a fun guy to play with.’”
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “The 6-foot-5 shooting guard said he would make his mark with the Oklahoma City Thunder by doing unselfish things. He would pass to open teammates cutting through the lane. He would defend the pick-and-roll. He’d dive to the floor for loose balls. ‘I’m not trying to come out here and show my individual game; that’s not the type of player I am,’ he said. ‘Seeing everybody else score makes me happy, especially when we’re winning.’ Harden has kept that promise during the Thunder’s first four games at RDV Sportsplex. On Thursday, he attempted just eight shots, scoring 15 points and adding three assists. The result: an 83-62 victory over the combined New Jersey Nets/Philadelphia 76ers squad. When a teammate made an ill-advised outlet pass that resulted in a turnover, Harden calmly said, ‘Easy pass. Easy play.’ It was a gentle, and relatively discreet, way to remind everyone just to stick to basics. ‘That’s one of the things about him that we felt like made him a good fit with our other guys,’ said the Thunder’s general manager, Sam Presti. ‘He’s a facilitating player. He’s somebody that we think really values his teammates.’”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Lean back. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. And keep saying to yourself over and over again: ‘In Otis we trust … In Otis we trust … In Otis we trust.’ Seriously, hasn’t Magic GM Otis Smith, after putting together the greatest team in franchise history, earned your confidence for a couple of years? Or, at the very least, for a couple of weeks? Instead, here we are in the first few days of free agency, and Smith is being loudly lambasted by the message board malcontents and radio rabble rousers. ‘He’s an imbecile,’ wrote one message board moron. ‘He should be fired!’ wrote another. ‘Otis Smith says his goal is to win a championship,’ rails Jerry O’Neill, who hosts an afternoon radio show on ESPN 1080 AM. ‘I think he’s been sitting on his hands instead of acting like he wants to win a championship. He’s letting some of the best free agents get away.’ I’m not here today telling you Smith is above being second-guessed; I’m just saying he deserves at least a modicum of patience after what he and the Magic have accomplished in recent seasons.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “Like most extreme makeovers, the Spurs’ summertime transformation has not come cheap. It has pushed the Spurs well past the NBA’s luxury tax line, sticking majority owner Peter Holt with a tariff bill that might reach $15 million next season, on top of a payroll that could exceed $80 million. It is a bold financial gamble by a team in one of the smallest NBA markets, especially in the face of a flagging economy uncertain to rebound anytime soon. It is an overhaul deemed necessary if the Spurs were to keep pace in an escalating offseason arms race involving Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, Dallas and the NBA champion L.A. Lakers. ‘The ownership group really allowed us to add some exciting pieces, and to be aggressive in putting together a team we hope will be in position to play late in the season,’ Buford said. ‘It’s really a credit to the ownership, the commitment they made not only to our team, but to San Antonio.’ Heading into the summer, the Spurs found themselves at a future-defining crossroads. They could have tried to reload on the cheap, crossing their fingers for one last run around the All-Star core of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Instead, Holt opened his pocketbook, and the Spurs went all in.”
Sam Smith of Bulls.com: “The Bulls Thursday night kicked off their rookie and free agent mini camp with first round picks James Johnson and Taj Gibson getting their first action with the team. But before I get to that, I guess I have to deal with this trade story that was making the rounds in Chicago and the NBA Thursday of a three-way deal involving the Bulls, Trailblazers and Jazz with Carlos Boozer going to the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich to the Trailblazers and Tyrus Thomas to the Jazz. Not true. Made up. Fabrication. Prevarication. Am I being too subtle here? The report on ESPN said the teams ‘discussed’ a deal and ‘two sources with knowledge of the three-team proposal confirmed there have been substantive talks…’ I’m not quite sure how you get that much wrong, but I think the editors may have left out the word, ‘not.’ As in the teams have ‘not’ discussed a deal, and there have ‘not’ been substantive talks. I have checked this out thoroughly and am convinced there never have been discussions about any such deal. There’s a theory going around that the Trailblazers have been putting out the false leaks (you’ll notice they make out well in all the scenarios without much detail of what they give up) because of pressure they’ve been getting in Portland over losing out on Hedo Turkoglu after they said they would sign him.”
John Canzano of The Oregonian: “The Blazers have reportedly offered a four-year contract, and Roy wants five. The Blazers must know they’re not going anywhere that matters without him. That the two sides aren’t on the same page is absurd. Which only makes me believe that general manager Kevin Pritchard isn’t operating with full autonomy on this one. It feels like the work of the Vulcans, doesn’t it? Consider that the league memo sent to all 30 teams this week set the salary cap and luxury tax threshold $980,000 lower than last season. And it stated that basketball-related income is expected to decline in each of the next two seasons, which would drive the salary cap figure lower. Then, on Thursday, Tod Leiweke, the head of Vulcan Sports and Entertainment said: ‘Paul Allen shouldn’t subsidize the Blazers to be in Portland and we’re getting closer and closer to that magical break-even number which Paul’s asked for.’ Allen has asked his team of analysts and advisors to cut costs, see. He’s given the basketball enterprise a two-year window to make ‘break even’ happen, and the hope here is that the Roy negotiations haven’t broken down because someone at the Seattle-based headquarters is missing the bigger point — the break-even point won’t last without Roy around to cut down the nets.”
(Photo by Brian Babineau NBAE/Getty Images)
