Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “Matching the offer to Millsap would cost the Jazz nearly $20 million for 2009-10, between the signing bonus, the first-year salary and luxury-tax penalties, at least for now. The Jazz have seven days to decide about matching, something they have vowed to do all summer. Meanwhile, DeAngelo Simmons, Millsap’s agent, criticized the Jazz for insisting on having an offer sheet brought to them. ‘I think we should’ve come to an agreement early,’ Simmons said. ‘If Paul was their first priority like they said, we should’ve come to an agreement early. It should always be what do you value Paul Millsap as your player?’ Simmons added. ‘Not what happens with Shawn Marion or [Anderson] Varejao. They haven’t taken any charges for you. Why would you care about somebody else?’ O’Connor said the Jazz didn’t want to bid against themselves, before taking a jab at Portland, which signed Millsap despite already having LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward. ‘What I can’t imagine,’ O’Connor said, ‘is if they’re going to pay what’s reported out there to the backup, what are they going to pay their starter? That’s probably a maximum contract.’ Asked if Portland was trying to bully the Jazz, O’Connor shot back: ‘I don’t think the Miller family likes to be bullied.’”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “‘We can’t replace Yao,’ Adelman said. ‘We’re missing Yao, Tracy, Ron and Von; that’s four of our top seven scorers. We have to find someone else to step in there. I think Trevor is a case in point. We know what he did for the Lakers. He ran the floor and was a spot-up shooter. We’re hoping he can do more with the ball. He plays hard. He passes and cuts and moves and attacks. We have to give him more chances to do that to expand his game. He fits the way we want to play.’ Ariza is in many ways the prototype of the ways the Rockets want to change. This is not just because of Yao’s loss. ‘All our acquisitions, if you trace them, especially in the last two years, have been anticipating being a more up-tempo team,’ general manager Daryl Morey said. ‘We anticipated our second team to do that. It just happens now that it is probably going to be our first team next year. We wanted players who could play in transition, and also work in the half court with Yao. Our acquisitions have been pretty consistent — more athleticism, play in transition, defensive-minded, attack the hoop.’”
Janis Carr of the Orange County Register: “What can Laker fans expect from Ron Artest? We asked someone who would know first-hand, someone who was up-close-and-personal with the guy last season — Rick Adelman. Adelman coached Artest last season in Houston and gave the mercurial forward a thumbs up after watching the Rockets Summer League team take on the Timberwolves on Sunday. ‘You can expect him to play hard every day and give a good effort every night,’ Adelman said. ‘I think that if he stays with what he is supposed to do offensively, he’ll be fine. He can score, hit open shots and is still a good defender.’ OK, but will he really be able to defer to Kobe Bryant, take a backseat to Pau Gasol? Not cause a scene? ‘He did that with us when Yao (Ming) was on the court,’ Adelman said. ‘I think if he respects somebody on the court, I don’t think there will be any problems. Especially since they are coming off winning the championship. I think the pressure is going to be on him to fit in and help them. With the players they have, he doesn’t have to be a dominating player.’”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “Amaré Stoudemire is penned up, but his mind is racing with creativity. After Friday’s outpatient surgery to remove fluid from under the retina that detached last season, Stoudemire is confined to lying face down for all but two hours of the day. He has a Bible, a phone and a laptop computer nearby as his survival kit. ‘Expect me, like you would expect Jesus, to come back. I’m coming,’ Stoudemire, the man with a ‘Black Jesus’ tattoo, said by phone midday Saturday, shortly before putting a nearly identical message on his Twitter account with the postscript: ‘I’m doing well. ‘Still I rise.’ ‘ Stoudemire leaned on the Tupac Shakur song ‘Still I Rise’ in his most trying times of knee rehabilitations and turned it into a motto. Again, Stoudemire is looking at a comeback from injury, with an eye injury considered to be as serious as any of his three knee surgeries.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “The most important summer development for the Knicks occurred here at Valley High School last night. A slimmed-down, more-limber Eddy Curry joined the Knicks’ summer-league team on the practice court, dunked with ease and moved with grace and agility. According to team president Donnie Walsh, the 6-foot-11 Curry has lost 30 pounds since he began a new training regimen in Detroit, and you could see it in his face — a taut jaw reminiscent of his rookie year with the Bulls. There is now hope Curry will be a genuine part of this Knicks team. At the very least, he could become a tradable commodity if Walsh needs more cap space for 2010. ‘It’s definitely different,’ Curry said after the practice in which he did not scrimmage. ‘My body just reacts a lot faster. Before everything I did was real calculated. Now it’s instant.’ Curry’s look was completely different, too, sporting no cornrows and a short, neat haircut. ‘I was just glad to be out there in a Knicks uniform,’ he added.”
Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald: “Not only is Wade’s hesitant approach to his extension window, which officially opened Sunday, justified, it’s practically the smartest move available to him. You know that popular line players use about leaving the front-office decisions to those in the front office? Well, it’s times like these when players such as Wade can actually come closest to playing general manager. So why not take advantage? Let’s recap: After what was a surprising, but overall just OK season, Pat Riley said ”there can’t be any major franchise changes without [Wade's] commitment” to an extension. That was meant as part compliment — why would the team sign any other players until they knew their top talent would be around for a while — and part negotiation ploy. Wade took it strictly as the latter, deciding to respond by suggesting he will not only decline to extend, but would consider leaving if championship-level basketball wasn’t brought back to Miami pronto. What else was he supposed to do, put full trust in the team president that, in the past few seasons has brought back, almost in its entirety, a creaky championship club that never could have repeated even if healthy, then traded for Ricky Davis figuring he was the solution?”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Yes, Dwyane Wade said Sunday, ‘I got my 12:01.’ Miami Heat President Pat Riley, indeed, reached out to his talented shooting guard the first minute he was allowed to sign Wade to a contract extension early Sunday morning. That overture, however, did nothing to end the waiting game, despite Riley and agent Henry Thomas confirming that a maximum, three-year extension offer that would keep Wade under contract through 2013-14 immediately was placed on the table. ‘There’s nothing further to discuss other than I got a call at 12:01,’ Wade said before participating in his charity Summer Groove all-star game at AmericanAirlines Arena. Riley, through a spokesman, confirmed the contact, but declined further comment, other than to acknowledge the two would ‘meet when the time is appropriate.’ … Riley’s overture came via text message. ‘It was a text,’ Wade said. ‘We’re in the new world today, so, yeah, it was a text.’”
Alan Hahn of Newsday: “One immediate thought when you watch Jordan Hill is how ferociously he gets after the ball. Rebounds, challenging shots and even loose balls, Hill is active. Now, in three summer league practices so far, it’s obvious his legs aren’t quite under him so the explosion isn’t quite there. He should be playing above the rim and we haven’t seen that aspect. His post moves are raw and he is hesitant with the ball. The shot is flat (again, attributed to the legs). But the Knicks have seen enough with the 6-10 1/2 Hill to believe he can eventually grow into being a ‘center’ in Mike D’Antoni’s system. His mid-range game, quickness and ability to run are the reasons why they want to develop him as such rather than as a power forward. The belief is that Hill can pull opposing bigs out to the perimeter and either shoot his jumper or blow by them with his quickness. I think that aspect of his game (putting the ball on the floor) certainly needs to improve before that becomes a legitimate part of his skill set. But he’s young.”
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “Consider this the summer of Westbrook. When it’s all said and done, the 20-year-old point guard could return as the most improved Thunder player when the roster reconvenes in Oklahoma City in the fall. The writing is on the wall. Westbrook is largely more patient. He’s no longer forcing the issue as often as he did as a bright-eyed rookie last season. He’s now looking for options out of ball screens that don’t just end in a shot attempt by No. 0, or worse, a turnover. But his offensive ability and aggressiveness still is there. Westbrook knifes his way into the lane and finishes with a refined pull-up jumper at the free-throw line on one possession and throws down a dunk in traffic on the next. ‘He’s improving,’ said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. ‘Just talking to Russell, he even says it. The game is slower for him. And that’s good. Russell is a dynamic athlete, but I like the fact that he is thinking the game and he’s improving his cerebral part of the game. As a point guard, you have to be able to think. You can’t just go out there and play.’”
Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty: “Point guards like Russell Westbrook or Rajon Rondo — it’s impossible to take your eyes off them during the course of a game because they are everywhere you look. Tyreke Evans, while fitting into the same defense-drive-rebound phylum as the two aforementioned kids, isn’t quite the same. You can lose Tyreke Evans, turn your attention over to the other players on the court. Yet, there he is with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. It’s because Westbrook and Rondo surprise you with the rebounds and the wacky defensive plays. They look out of place, even though they do the same thing over and over (and over). I will never get used to seeing Westbrook crashing the board, or Rondo doing his behind-the-back trick. But Evans looks like he belongs in the paint pulling down rebounds. He looks like he belongs when he challenges shots from power forwards. He looks perfectly natural careening into three bodies on every drive, knocking his adversaries down while standing tall. If Westbrook and Rondo embody the attributes of a power forward from the point guard position, Evans is a power forward at the point guard position.”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “Last Thursday, the 8,475 Twitter followers of Dahntay Jones — the former Nuggets guard who just signed with the Indiana Pacers — were greeted to a hip-hop lyric and a personal message: At the end of the racially slurred lyric by Rick Ross, the message said: ‘the nuggets did me dirty.’ A half-hour later, Jones’ Twitter (@dahntay) sent this update: ‘FYI . . . my cousin put up that Rick ross quote. But it does fit. Lol.’ So it seems, Jones (his cousin too) was indeed miffed the Nuggets didn’t offer him a four-year contract like his new team did. ThroughTwitter , we were treated to the raw revelation of an athlete’s true feelings, far from the cliche-laden locker room interviews. We also were treated to some raw rap lyrics and lewd language. And other Nuggets such as J.R. Smith and Sonny Weems occasionally tweet the vile ‘N’ word. As the Internet becomes more sophisticated, it becomes more personal. Sports fans get a glimpse inside a star’s Escalade or entourage. It’s fascinating, because right now it’s like the Wild West — there aren’t any rules or regulations. So, on occasion, you will get a brutally honest and real depiction of a guard with his guard down.”
Pete Thamel of The New York Times: “The trickle of American basketball players who have skipped college or left early to play overseas is slowly becoming a stream. For those who hope to return for a career in the N.B.A., the seminal moment came in June. That was when the 19-year-old point guard Brandon Jennings made a dramatic entrance from behind the stage at the N.B.A. draft to shake hands with Commissioner David Stern after being selected 10th over all by the Milwaukee Bucks. He had spent the previous year playing in Europe. At last week’s Nike-sponsored camps for the country’s top high school prospects, the consensus among players and college coaches was that playing overseas would be more of a rarity than a revolution. ‘If Brandon Jennings was Christopher Columbus, was it enough to get other guys on the ship?’ said Dave Telep, the national recruiting director for Scout.com. ‘It was successful. But was it so successful that it sucked guys into the plan? I don’t think guys look at that and say, ‘I can’t wait to get to Milan.’ ’”
