Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “NBA players usually slow down during the offseason. Dwight Howard, on the other hand, is living a whirlwind. Over the last seven weeks, the Orlando Magic’s all-star center has visited Vancouver, B.C., for an EA Sports function. He has traveled to Hollywood to prepare for a cameo in the upcoming film Valentine’s Day, which features Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba and Jamie Foxx. He’s even pitched a reality show called Dwight Across America. ‘I’ve been all around the country, but it’s been fun,’ Howard said Tuesday during a break from his basketball camp at UCF. ‘This is one of the best summers I’ve had in my whole entire life.’ And there is more travel to come, including a trip to China for adidas and a trip to Africa for the program Basketball without Borders. Howard just wants to clear up one thing: Despite all the fun he’s been having, he said he’s focusing on his game. Two training specialists — Bryan Meyer and Korey McCray — have accompanied the 23-year-old superstar as he has crisscrossed North America. Meyer, a trainer who works at RDV Sportsplex, helps Howard with strength and conditioning. McCray, who played point guard at Mercer University, assists Howard with his free-throw shooting and moves on the court.”
Nakia Hogan of The Times-Picayune: “In Charlotte, Okafor was at times perceived as too smart for his own good. Known for analyzing situations in detail, he wasn’t quite what Charlotte Coach Larry Brown was looking for in a big man. Brown wanted more passion on the court from Okafor. Brown grew weary of Okafor’s exercise routines before and after games, and at the end of the season said Okafor ‘got an A in stretching and pilates and yoga. I want him to have an A in basketball.’ ‘That kind of got a little bit out of hand,’ Okafor said. ‘I had missed games previously, and my mindset was that I was going to do everything possible to stay on the court. I have a stretch routine, 15 minutes before practice, 15 minutes after practice, 15 minutes before games, 15 minutes after games. That was that.’ That’s the way Okafor, who because of injuries was limited to just 93 of 164 games from 2004 to 2006, was brought up, to think his way out of problems.”
Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: “Sam Smith, as reputable as any NBA writer the last 20 years, reported a couple of weeks ago on some whispers around the league that Kevin Durant eventually could be a better ballplayer than LeBron James. Interesting theory. I don’t know if I buy it, but it sure is fun to think about. Durant is a wondrous talent; a 6-foot-10 shooting whiz who also can run and jump and do all kinds of things in the open court. Truth is, Durant ranks with LeBron and Kevin Garnett (when healthy) and Dirk Nowitzki as the NBA’s most unique players. There’s really no one else in the league like any of them. But the NBA’s television networks don’t buy the Durant-might-pass-LeBron idea. If TNT or ESPN/ABC believed that Durant was the second coming of King James, your Oklahoma City Thunder would not have just one measly national telecast this coming season.”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “Artest’s strength is of course his strength. Against perimeter players that like to post-up, even when in the mid-post at the elbow, he is still great. The Lakers know this well. Kobe had more than enough time against Artest to know his strengths and weaknesses. Artest’s strength defensively fits well against players such as Paul Pierce and LeBron James. And guess who appears to be among the favorites to be waiting for the Lakers in the Finals. On the other end, Artest is better than Ariza at carrying an offense, as he amply demonstrated with the Kings. The problem with that is that neither team wants him to carry their offense. Both would rather he play a role like Ariza’s, or the Lakers will prefer that the first few times he launches into one of his 18 seconds of dribbling attacks. The goofiness will not be a problem. The Lakers can handle it. And in truth, it did not hurt the Rockets at all. (And was a pleasure to cover.) The guess here is that he has grown well past the truly disruptive episodes of his past.”
Matt of Blog-a-Bull: “All NBA schedules are basically the same. As Bulls Confidential noted, the only variables are whether they play non-Central Eastern Conference teams 3 or 4 times, and while they play the Celtics 4 times they only get the Magic 3 times. There’s the analyzing of how many back-to-backs, or 4 games in 5 nights, road trips, etc. But if they were better, such schedule quirks wouldn’t matter. They won’t be good enough to crack the elite in the conference, and won’t be bad enough for a complete disaster. They just need to be good enough to have observers (and free agents) think they’re on the way up, best done by making the playoffs. But while it’s true the schedule always evens out at the end, the early tough stretch (highlighted, of course, by the circus trip) may have a serious effect on the Bulls coach, Vinny Del Negro. It’s not hard to envision a scenario where the Bulls stumble out of the gate in terms of record (whether they play well or not), and pressure will be on Gar Paxdorf to do something with a coach who is probably the most fireable in the entire league.”
John Canzano of The Oregonian: “Last season, the Blazers were the second-youngest team in the league, but played the toughest opening month in NBA history. It was tense, and there was no margin for error. And maybe that helped a young team grow. This year, the pressure is really on. Because Portland has a favorable early schedule, and lots of talent, and it won 54 games in the regular season a year ago. Which is only to say the franchise has an opportunity to build a strong start, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see the Blazers holding the best record in the West on Thanksgiving Day. Would you? We’ve talked a lot this summer about the organization’s failure to get things done. But on Tuesday, as you looked at the team’s cozy schedule and realized that Brandon Roy and the team were on the same page when it came to his contract negotiations, you couldn’t help but feel optimistic.A source close to the Roy negotiations told me on Tuesday that the two-time All-Star was eager to get the deal done. And that the Blazers were also on board, and wanting to make the deal official.”
Chris Perkins of the Palm Beach Post: “Miami has 13 players under contract, two fewer than the league maximum. Its payroll is around $70 million, above the $59.9 million cap and right around the $69.9 million luxury-tax threshold. Any player the Heat adds would in effect cost double – the player’s salary and an equal amount in the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax. Riley said there are no immediate plans to talk again with former Indiana guard Jamaal Tinsley or former Detroit guard Allen Iverson. Tinsley was to visit Miami but that meeting was canceled. If something developed with Tinsley or Iverson, Riley said, the Heat would offer no more than a one-year contract. Riley said the Heat has no interest now in former Heat guard Jason Williams. ‘It’s not about being frugal,’ Riley said, ‘it’s about being very systematic with the plan.’ That plan calls for Miami to have enough money to re-sign guard Dwyane Wade to a long-term extension, add another maximum-salary player next summer, and contend for the title in the 2010-11 season and beyond.”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Yes, Mario Chalmers had a pleasant rookie season for a second-round pick in 2008-09. But we’re not talking Derrick Rose here, or even Russell Westbrook. Yet if you didn’t know better, you’d swear that it was Chalmers, not Heat teammate Michael Beasley, who made first-team NBA All-Rookie last season. In addressing the veteran point guards his team has been linked to in free agency, Heat President Pat Riley flatly stated Tuesday, ‘I’m not bringing in anybody to start over Mario Chalmers.’ Understand, Allen Iverson has been vocal that he would demand the right to challenge for a starting position. And appreciate that a key to Jamaal Tinsley rehabilitating his NBA image would be a similar role. That role, if Riley can be taken at face value, apparently is already filled for the Heat. Of Tinsley, Riley said, ‘I like Jamaal. He hasn’t played for two years. He’s missed a ton of games over the last four years. It’s a situation that we’re monitoring, talking, and so that’s something we’re still thinking about, but we haven’t made any decisions about it. There’s isn’t anything pending right now.’ Of Iverson, Riley said, ‘Allen Iverson is Allen Iverson. He’s still a great, great player that’s slipping through the cracks here, for whatever reasons. Whoever signs him is probably going to get a very good year out of him.’”
Steve Aschburner of SI.com: “Lots of cities have ethnic neighborhoods, but the Raptors’ front office has a decided overseas and innovative bent to it. Colangelo arrived in February 2006 from Phoenix, where Euro-trained Mike D’Antoni excelled as coach of the Suns’ open-court style, and has been active for years in FIBA activities. Maurizio Gherardini was hired three months later, the former GM of Italy’s Benetton Treviso who became the first European to hold a senior management spot in the NBA. Masai Ujiri, a native of Nigeria, is one of the team’s assistant GMs. The foreign influence, already part of the franchise’s past, grew stronger. ‘We ended up having Delfino and Nesterovic,’ Triano said, ‘and we had Anthony Parker — we almost thought of him as a European player because he spent so much of his playing days over there and knew the system.’ Parker, recently signed away by Cleveland after playing three years with the Raptors, played five seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv and one with Virtus Roma after brief NBA stays in Philadelphia and Orlando. ‘Those guys came over and they seemed to have the same type of bond that teams over in Europe have, where it wouldn’t be uncommon for six or seven or eight of them to go out for dinner together when they land in a city,’ Triano said. ‘Sometimes in the NBA, that’s a rarity; guys seem to go their own way. But our team seems to do that.’”
Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com: “The countdown to the next NBA lockout began in a way Tuesday, with commissioner David Stern and a group of 10 team owners making it abundantly clear that they will not extend the current labor deal into the 2011-12 season. The owners met with players’ union representatives for nearly 3½ hours at a Manhattan hotel in the first formal round of collective bargaining talks toward the next NBA labor agreement. The current deal will run for two more seasons, and the owners must notify the players on Dec. 15, 2010, whether they intend to extend the deal for an additional season. But the message from the owners Tuesday was this: They’re opting out. And so began the countdown to June 30, 2011, when the current labor agreement — the one that raised the age limit and made permanent the luxury tax — will expire. ‘We knew that coming into today, and that’s why we agreed to meet today — to get this process started. We don’t plan on waiting until 2011 to have the talks we need to have to keep this relationship a strong one,’ players union president Derek Fisher said.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Owners leaving the meeting at the Omni Berkshire Place declined to comment on the proceedings. The key figures from both sides — Stern, Silver and Litvin for the league and NBPA executive director Billy Hunter for the union — did not comment beyond a joint statement released by the NBA. ‘The NBA and NBPA held our first collective bargaining meeting earlier [Tuesday],’ the statement said. ‘The 3½-hour meeting was both cordial and productive. There was a preliminary exchange of financial information but no proposals were made. We both look forward to another meeting before the start of the season.’ Ownership was represented by the following members of its negotiating committee: Peter Holt (Spurs), James Dolan (Knicks), Larry Miller (Trail Blazers), Wyc Grousbeck (Celtics), Clay Bennett (Thunder), Robert Sarver (Suns), George Shinn (Hornets), Jeanie Buss (Lakers), Dan Gilbert (Cavaliers), and Glen Taylor (Timberwolves). The players were represented by Fisher, Theo Ratliff (Spurs), Roger Mason Jr. (Spurs), Etan Thomas (Thunder), Keyon Dooling (Nets) and Maurice Evans (Hawks). Adonal Foyle (Magic), James Jones (Heat), and Chris Paul (Hornets) also are on the players’ executive committee but were unable to attend. Despite the owners’ less-than-rosy portrayal of league finances, Fisher emerged from the bargaining session optimistic about the chances of hammering out a deal.”
