Points in the Paint

» August 26, 2009 3:34 PM | By Brandon Hoffman

Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic: “Amare Stoudemire spoke a lot about himself as a player and his team in this article, which came from an interview Tuesday after he spoke to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School students and teamed with Staples to give each one a Nike sling bag full of school supplies. Prior to that, what struck myself and a fellow Suns reporter, the intrepid Craig Grialou of KTAR, was the speech that Stoudemire gave the children. This was not a lecture that Stoudemire was capable of making a few years ago. He must have spoke for 20-30 minutes and it was a purposeful message about education that he planned. That’s not an easy message to deliver to restless elementary kids and to speak continuously for that long, especially for a person with a scattered education in his youth. It was Stoudemire’s third visit to this school, where he has donated books and read to the children on prior trips. His speech focused on reading, writing and math, things that he has been catching up on as well. He is taking an online college world history course this summer. ‘I’m reading a lot more now than I did back when I was in school,’ Stoudemire said after the event. ‘Only because there really was nobody to motivate us to read and write and really attack education. That’s why it’s such a passion for me now to let these kids know to get a head start. When they’re my age, they can be smarter than me at this point.’”

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Tim Donaghy was back in a jail yesterday after failing to appear for his job at a beverage company in the Sarasota, Fla., area. According to federal authorities, the disgraced NBA referee violated the terms of his probation two months into his stint at a halfway house in Tampa, Fla. ‘He didn’t show up at his job [Tuesday] morning,’ U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Ron Lindbak said. ‘He was found elsewhere and taken to jail.’ Lindbak said he did not know where the arrest was made. ‘The people in these halfway houses operate under very strict rules,’ Lindbak said. ‘You break them, you land back in jail.’”

Much has been made of the fact that San Antonio, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Orlando, and Boston re-loaded this summer. Most of the hoopla has centered around Richard Jefferson, Ron Artest, Shaq, and Vince Carter, but lost in the scrum, is the return of Jameer Nelson — the All-Star. Remember him?

John DeShazier of The Times-Picayune: “As you might have surmised from Times-Picayune reporter Jimmy Smith’s latest offering on the Hornets, Chris Paul has been a busy, busy man this summer. But one of the few things he didn’t do was play for Team USA. No one in the organization is complaining. As prestigious as it is for the Hornets’ point guard to direct Team USA – and he’ll be a fixture on the national team for as long as he wants to be – it’s hard to get around the fact that each of the two summers he has played with Team USA, he has petered out at the end of his NBA season and his franchise has followed. And certainly, it seems plausible to draw a connecting line between the two. Sure, Paul has insisted that such a line doesn’t exist, that there have been no after effects from playing with Team USA. And, in his defense, playing for the national team hasn’t prohibited him from becoming the best point guard in the world. All of that competition in those workouts, playing alongside the NBA’s best American players and picking their brains to learn other ways of maintaining and improving has been a good thing. But it’s undeniable that after each of his two sessions of NBA superstar summer school, Paul has worn to the nub for the Hornets and hasn’t been able to sprint through the tape at the finish line.”

Using offensive rating, defensive rating, and plus-minus, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann examines how Artest might make the Lakers better against up-and-coming teams like the Portland Trail Blazers. The Lakers have lost eight straight games at the Rose Garden.

Charley Rosen on Allen Iverson: “In my very limited face-to-face encounters with A.I., I found him to be intelligent, fairly cooperative and extremely personable. So I have no personal beef with him whatsoever. I’ve also seen him play dozens upon dozens of times, both live and on TV. It’s therefore easy to appreciate his various talents, his competitive edge and his courage. Plus, I’ve discussed his game with several coaches, players (including his teammates), scouts and general managers. According to what Larry Brown once told me when he was coaching AI in Philadelphia, here’s the genesis of Iverson’s problems: ‘Everybody knows about the poverty, the mean streets and the absence of a father-figure in Allen’s childhood. But Allen was also deprived on the basketball court. Coming up, the kid never had good coaching. I mean, he was so talented that his coaches just let him do whatever he wanted to do. None of his coaches ever held him accountable for his selfish attitude. But I’ll give him this … Allen always plays hard and always wants to win.’”