Tim Povtak of FanHouse: “Courtney Lee knows it won’t happen in just one season – he won’t make New Jersey forget Vince Carter — but he wants to make the Orlando Magic regret the day they traded him. ‘I’m going to be a man on a mission,’ Lee said Thursday afternoon after a training session at the IMG Academy. ‘I just hope they’ll be happy for me when I grow into the player that they wish they had. I’d like them to one day say ‘I wish we would have kept him.” Lee, who had a surprisingly-strong rookie season, was stunned to become a major part of the deal this summer that brought Carter to Orlando, while the Nets started to rebuild around younger players, hoping to put him in the starting backcourt alongside Devon Harris. The Magic got a proven All-Star guard to play with center and centerpiece Dwight Howard. The Nets got a potentially-explosive player who has All-Star aspirations. ‘I’d like to be Dwight Howard’s teammate again — in the All-Star game,’ Lee said. ‘They [Magic] have a history of trading good players [Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady, Corey Maggette, Mike Miller] who did well afterward. I hope that’s me. My goal will be to go out and dominate every game, but especially those games [when I play the Magic]. I’ll be jacked up for sure.’”
Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: “Brandon Jennings wants to be in tip-top shape when training camp rolls around about one month from now on Sept. 29. And the Milwaukee Bucks’ rookie admits he is looking forward to another date on the calendar – Oct. 30. That will be the night of his official National Basketball Association debut, when the Bucks play at Philadelphia in the regular-season opener. So he’s already toiling daily at the Bucks’ training facility, spending plenty of time on the court and in the weight room. ‘The organization felt it was good for me to come here early and start working,’ Jennings said Thursday. ‘As I get older, I will get stronger. I just want to get my legs going and get my conditioning up, so when the first day of training camp comes, I’ll be ready.’ … The Bucks are counting on Jennings to be their catalyst on the floor, with help from veteran point guard Luke Ridnour and newly acquired Roko Ukic, who played with Toronto last season. The fact he’s in here working is most important,’ Bucks general manager John Hammond said of Jennings, the 10th-overall pick in the June draft. ‘If a guy like that weren’t in here, then you would be concerned. It’s easy to talk the talk. What he’s doing right now is talking the talk and walking the walk.’”
Paola Boivin of The Arizona Republic: “Are you paying attention, Amaré Stoudemire? This man you’ve come to admire, this military theorist whose moniker you’ve chosen to adopt, has some valuable insight on leadership. Surely somewhere in the Chinese general’s book, The Art of War, is a chapter that says conjecture about your possible departure a month removed from Suns training camp is not the right approach to unifying a team, let alone a fan base. Sigh. Stoudemire has done it again, irking some with his comments Tuesday that the 2009-2010 season ‘might be my farewell tour.’ Poor timing? You bet. Worthy of an uproar? Hardly. Stoudemire is an enigma. His choices at times are ill-advised but rarely ill-meaning. You hang around this game enough, you can smell a bad seed. He’s not one of them. His challenging upbringing meant his didn’t learn many life lessons until he arrived in the NBA. The arts of teamwork and camaraderie come easier for players such as Grant Hill because they have benefited from years of constant parental tutelage. For those who learn on the fly, such as Stoudemire, attempts at leadership can be clumsy at times.”
Tom Ziller of FanHouse: “If the NBA’s age minimum were raised to 20 or 21, would incoming players be less likely to fall victim to depression or substance abuse? As Michael Beasley begins his apparently (and hopefully) earnest journey toward getting right, is there a case to be made for keeping kids in college another year? Unfortunately, college life is no cure for depression or dependency. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Beasley might be in a worse situation if the NBA mandated two years of post-high school activity before league admission. Unravel the gilded dressing on our idyllic portrait of the campus life and you’ll actually find that college can be a really stressful and unforgiving place … even for a basketball prodigy. In the American College Health Association’s 2008 survey, 11% of the nation’s college students reported having suffered from clinical depression within the previous year. Some 47% said they had experienced feelings of hopelessness. Nearly 60% reported feeling ‘very lonely.’ More than 30% said they had felt so depressed they could not function. Schoolwork, new environs, the pressures of work or what could effectively be considered work (such as near-pro basketball), physiological and psychological reasons.”
Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “With the office all but shuttered, and the players still a few days away from congregating for pre-camp scrimmages again, we thought it was time to talk to one of the few adults left in the room. And as usual, Eduardo Najera was in a talkative mood. First thing: The Nets denied the 33-year-old forward permission to play for Team Mexico in the FIBA Americas, because ostensibly, his abdomen has yet to heal. Come again? It still hasn’t healed five full months after his sports hernia operation? ‘They were right. I wasn’t ready,’ Eddie conceded. ‘I learned from the best that I have to slow down, especially with my age and this injury. I want to play so bad; I was under a lot of pressure to play, and I felt like I let them down. But my loyalty has to be to the Nets, and luckily they kicked some sense into me. The doctor and trainers — and Kiki and Rod — all said they don’t think it’s a good idea to risk being reinjured.’ Still, this had to be rough. Eddie is one of Mexico’s most beloved athletes, and the NBA’s greatest (only?) ambassador in a country of 110 million — a country where the league hopes to place a franchise someday. He’s a sponsor’s dream down there, the kind of guy who can be used to sell everything from milk to Gatorade to beer.”
Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Eddie Jordan labeled this season’s 76ers a ‘transitional’ team. New offense, new defense and new coach: not rebuilding but in transition. Before making an appearance Wednesday afternoon at a Sixers camp in Cherry Hill, the team’s new head coach talked about what has happened – and not happened – this summer and how he feels about his roster. ‘It’s a little bit of a different world, economically,’ said Jordan of the Sixers’ rather quiet free-agent summer. ‘And we understand the parameters and how things work now. Plus, we have a solid core group. Whether it’s economics or just the way you build a team, I think our group is solid.’ Since free agency opened nearly two months ago, the Sixers have re-signed guard Royal Ivey and signed center Primoz Brezec – both role players at best – and lost starting point guard Andre Miller to the Portland Trail Blazers. But Jordan stated again that his offense doesn’t need a ‘point’ guard. It just needs two guards. ‘We don’t consider it as a point,’ Jordan said. ‘We consider two guards. And, again, it goes back to talent. If you have two guards that are talented, things work.’”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “It is sad that one month from training camp, David Lee is unsigned and his agent Mark Bartelstein doesn’t know for sure if Lee will be signed by Sept. 28th when the Knicks bus to Saratoga.. That was my story today and don’t let anyone misrepresent it. I spoke to Bartelstein this afternoon, not realizing he had told someone else his quote was misrepresented in the piece. Not true. Bartelstein was angry with the headline but he had no problem with the way the story read. He said the story was accurate. ‘But people read the headline,’ Bartelstein said, which stated ‘Lee could be a holdout.’ Bartelstein feels the headline portrays his client in a bad light. But facts are facts. If Lee is unsigned, he won’t be coming up to Saratoga. And three times I asked Bartelstein if he thinks he’ll be signed by then and three times Bartelstein said he couldn’t be sure, that he never expected it to last this long.”
Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman: “To gather ideas for a new practice facility, Thunder and city officials the past year visited the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Anaheim Ducks, Duke Blue Demons and Baltimore Ravens. Team chairman Clay Bennett said the Integris Health Thunder Development Center, which broke ground Thursday, will be unique. … The development center will include two full length practice courts, a 27-seat team meeting room, team offices, state-of-the-art video weight and video equipment and a hydrotherapy area to assist rehabbing injuries. ‘Having two practice courts will be significant for us, especially during training camp,’ Presti said. ‘It gives coaches a lot of flexibility what they can do. Everything is geared towards the improvement of our team. Clearly, we’ve invested in young, driven, passionate players that work to get better.’ Dallas owner Mark Cuban gained notoriety by giving Mavericks players DVD players and flat screen TVs in their lockers. But providing perks wasn’t the No. 1 priority for Thunder officials. ‘This is not about the finishes or the notion that might be described as extravagance,’ Bennett said. ‘The programming of the building, the efficiency of the building, the utilization of the building, is where we placed our focus. We want our players to have all the tools available for their professional development. We aspire for that to be our identity, what the Oklahoma City experience is all about — premier treatment of players, coaches and staff.’”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “Wondering whether Allen Iverson will actually join the Grizzlies? The free-agent guard sure talks a good game. Iverson, 34, indicated Thursday on his Twitter account that he is close to accepting the Grizzlies’ latest offer. Iverson wrote that ‘Memphis is a place that I would love to play. The Grizzlies have good young players with a great upside. I love the city of Memphis too. ‘I would lead by example. I could show how important it is to work hard everyday, play the game the right way, & just like it’s your last!’ The Griz made their second offer of the summer to Iverson on Tuesday, trying to lure the dynamic scorer with a one-year deal that starts at $3.5 million and is loaded with incentives. Iverson first had a one-year, $5million deal from the Grizzlies to consider. The Griz pulled that offer off the table several weeks ago, but are willing to give Iverson what they have left to spend under the NBA salary cap. Iverson’s agent, Leon Rose, has been told that the ball is in their court with a timetable. Memphis’ plan is to move forward by mid-September.”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “It’s not automatic Allen Iverson, nicknamed the Answer, will end up a Bobcat. There are roster and payroll issues in the way. Also, the Memphis Grizzlies have made him a contract proposal in the past few days. But the Bobcats could use a scorer. The Bobcats were last in the NBA in points-per-game last season and Iverson’s career average tops 27 points per game. They could also use his star power, as a team struggling to sell tickets. This could either be a quick-fix and marketing boost or a threat to the Bobcats’ fine chemistry. Depends on who you ask. Billy King, a former national defensive player of the year at Duke, spent 10 seasons in the Sixers’ front office, eventually trading Iverson to the Nuggets. ‘Everything is about Allen, and it can’t all be about Allen at this point in his career,’ King told the Observer. ‘He’s no longer that intimidating figure who can just blow by everybody. So he’s got to do other things, and I’m not sure he will.’ King believes Iverson is so conditioned to a certain mindset that it’s too late, at 34, for him to re-invent himself. ‘(Iverson’s) personality is to say, ‘I can still do this. I can take all the shots and stay out late and do everything I did in my 20s,’ ” King described. ‘He needs to get to the foul line (to be effective) and if that doesn’t work, he’ll be very quick to yell at the referees for not giving him calls.’”
