Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “Iverson isn’t a bad guy, and he’s the fifth-best scorer in NBA history. But if you’re looking for a leader, a nurturer, someone who will raise the character or intensity of your locker room, you’ve wasted your time. Iverson is Manny Ramirez when he went from the Red Sox to the Dodgers: A great talent who some teams – many teams, actually – would consider more trouble than he’s worth. He’ll be a mercenary; someone with such talent you overlook the pimples. There will be pimples if he’s a Bobcat. He’s a Hell-raiser, and now-Bobcats coach Brown knows that. Brown sees what a good locker room the Bobcats have, and must figure they can manage Iverson’s quirks. My buddy, Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News, once explained all this: A superstar is supposed to make his team better, but the Sixers made Iverson better that year they made the NBA Finals. Here’s why – they were all he wasn’t. Between Eric Snow, Aaron McKie and George Lynch, they compensated for Iverson’s flaws. They allowed him to do what he does without imploding.”
Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune: “If Kevin O’Connor wasn’t about to celebrate his 10th anniversary as general manager of the Utah Jazz, Jerry Sloan isn’t sure he would be preparing for his 22nd season as head coach. Why? Sloan gives O’Connor considerable credit for helping him survive the transitional years surrounding the retirement of John Stockton and the departure of Karl Malone. Rattling off a partial list of free agents who signed with Utah during those seasons of uncertainty, Sloan said, ‘Raja Bell, Matt Harpring, Carlos Boozer, Memo Okur. … If Kevin hadn’t gotten those things done, I probably would have been gone a long time ago.’ O’Connor became the Jazz’s primary decision-maker on Aug. 26, 1999, when he replaced Scott Layden, who had been hired away by the New York Knicks. According to those who know him, O’Connor has become the NBA’s second-longest tenured general manager behind Sacramento’s Geoff Petrie because of a tireless work ethic, an intense competiveness and a franchise-first approach to his job.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “Ilgauskas’ contract is a massive trade chip because of how many teams will be looking to dump salary for next summer. The Cavs will not have a great deal of cap room, so using that expiring contract could be the last swing at making a major addition for a while. For that reason, Danny Ferry would be compelled to consider it despite his personal relationship with Ilgauskas. Obviously, Z is an integral part of the team and has been for the last 10 years and no one is sure how Shaquille O’Neal will mesh with LeBron or hold up during the season. So it would have to be a home run deal. Of course there is always the option that Ilgauskas could be traded, bought out and re-signed, but I don’t think that should ever be assumed as many people who have e-mailed me about this topic have done over the last several months. In short, it very well could become a complex and emotional decision six months from now.”
Lynn Worthy of the Lowell Sun: “I look at House as the type of guy you can’t help but want to see succeed. A talented scorer in college, he left ASU as the school’s all-time leading scorer and as the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year as a senior. He shares the Pac-10 single-game scoring record with Lew Alcindor. Things obviously changed when he got to the NBA, but House has remained confident in his own abilities. And when it comes to his shooting ability, he crosses the line from confident to cocky (he set a franchise record for 3-point shooting percentage in a season by draining his long range shots at a 44.5 percent clip). But you’ve got to love that, a guy who has been doubted his entire career yet still brings a swagger with him every day. Swagger and faith. Tattooed on House’s upper right arm is the phrase ‘Jeremiah 29:11’ and a reference to a verse in the bible which reads: ‘For I know the plan I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ An apt passage for a guy who makes his living playing basketball, but may never get a long-term contract and likely go on year-to-year for the rest of his career.”
Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald: “Bill Walker credits his mother, Nancy Sloan, basketball and his imagination for keeping him out of trouble. Sloan made sure her son was always involved in sports. He took it from there. He’d watch NBA games on television and then run outside and re-enact everything he saw, from the last-second shots to the postgame interviews. Though Walker is now living his dream, it wasn’t easy reaching this point. While he was in elementary school, Walker, his mother and younger sister were homeless for three weeks. When his family moved into an abandoned house, the cockroach and rat-infested dwelling wasn’t much of an upgrade initially. But with most of his friends in similar situations, Walker didn’t realize how tough he had it. Now that he’s made it to the NBA, he hasn’t lost sight of where he came from – literally. Last year Walker had the number 1023 tattooed on the left side of his neck as a reminder of that broken-down house on 1023 Minton St. in Huntington.”
Peter May of The Boston Globe: “The 2008-09 season will likely be filed under the chapter ‘annus horribilis’ when Antoine Walker pens his memoirs. He never got into a game, spending the first six weeks as an inactive or nonplaying Memphis Grizzly before being bought out of his contract. No one picked him up. There were a couple of well-publicized brushes with the authorities – an arrest in Miami in January and another in Las Vegas in July, the latter of which resulted in three felony charges of kiting checks worth $1 million. (The actual debt when he was arrested was more than $822,000, and there is a hearing next month to see if there is enough evidence to proceed.) But there also was a much less-publicized setback for the former Celtic in March, when an arbitrator ruled that he owed his former agent, Mark Bartelstein, more than $450,000 in unpaid fees. Bartelstein sought the money after Walker came up short on paying his 4 percent agent commission, apparently upset at Bartelstein for not being able to get him a new, lucrative deal.”
Brett Pollakoff of FanHouse: “The NBA’s offseason goes on far too long for the league’s die-hard fans, but the latest craze of its athletes sharing their most intimate thoughts via Twitter is helping to keep us connected. And, in the case of Ron Artest, we’re also getting a preview of what to expect once the season does finally begin at the end of October. The latest from Ron-Ron — who you may remember from such stunts as giving his cell phone number out to the general public — is that he’s not at all happy with the way things ended with the Rockets. Specifically, he claims that they ‘did him dirty‘ by ‘messing up‘ his Bird rights, and because of this, he plans on carrying out a vendetta against them as long as he’s in the league. Over two separate Twitter dispatches, Artest explains why he’s upset. ‘Houston did me dirty. I can’t wait til next year when we go to Houston. I’m not shooting. All defense. Somebody getting locked da f**k up. I still feel blessed but they messed up my bird rights. So it’s on as long as I’m in the league.’ Now of course, we all love imaginary reasons for players to feud with other teams. Who can forget the entertainment value of Gilbert Arenas’ revenge tour of the 2006-07 season? But the issue that Artest raises as the basis for his future actions on the court against the Rockets really doesn’t seem to be one that’s all that legitimate.”
