Robbi Pickeral of The Charlotte Observer: “Ruby Sutton has a distinct pet peeve when it comes to the subject of her former pupil, Michael Jordan: the oft-told story of how he was ‘cut’ from the Laney High varsity basketball team as a sophomore, spurring him to greatness. ‘Back then, (most) 10th-graders played JV; that’s just the way it was. Nobody ever ‘cut’ Michael Jordan,’ Sutton, who still teaches physical education, said this month, shaking her head as she retold the story for at least the 100th time. Him not making the varsity that year was not his motivator – he was motivated well before that. He just always wanted to be the best.’ … Much of Jordan’s sweat, though, was saved for the basketball court – be it playing pick-up ball at Empie Park, working out on the homemade basketball court behind his house (where the goal has long since been stolen) or meeting the janitors at Laney High every morning so he could practice before class. ‘When I would arrive at school at 7 or 7:30, Michael was already here,’ Sutton, his physical education teacher, said. ‘And he wasn’t just working on shooting. He was working on the types of things kids didn’t want to work on, like footwork.’”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “It takes a lot to embarrass Michael Heisley — the Grizzlies’ brash, billionaire owner with the booming voice. But Allen Iverson — all 6 feet, 180 pounds of him — did so with one question. The 34-year-old, 13-year NBA veteran simply asked Heisley if he really wanted to win. ‘I was talking about winning more games. He was talking about the playoffs and he doesn’t want to just make the playoffs,’ Heisley said. ‘I was embarrassed. … If anybody says I’m just trying to increase attendance, they’re full of it.’ Heisley will be on hand this morning when the Grizzlies introduce Iverson to the public as their latest free-agent acquisition. He isn’t embarrassed by the Grizzlies emerging as the only NBA team to show public interest in Iverson. Heisley called signing the 10-time All Star a no-brainer for a team that has struggled miserably at the box office and in the standings over the past three seasons. ‘People said if you’ve got a chance to get good players, would you? Well, we’ve got Zach Randolph and Allen Iverson,’ Heisley said. ‘I didn’t give up one rookie. My guys will play. But Allen is the perfect guy to help these young guys know what it means to win.’”
Eddie Johnson of HoopsHype.com: “There is one stat attributed to Iverson that quite honestly cost him an opportunity to sign with a contending team and most likely will cause head coach Lionel Hollins some migraines during the course of this upcoming season… That statistic is under the minutes column. Iverson has averaged an insane 41 minutes a game through his career. He has only averaged less than 40 minutes per game twice. Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest ever, averaged over 40 minutes only three times and that was early in his career. This stat is mindboggling. Iverson has probably run the longest distance of any NBA player over the last 13 seasons. Now I assume readers are wondering, why this stat is the cause of Iverson not getting a better opportunity? Well, I can pretty much surmise that if we polled every coach that Iverson has played for, they would say they’d rather have played AI 35 to 37 minutes instead of 41. Playing Iverson 36 minutes a game would have given a role player a chance to prolong his career, given a coach a chance to share the ball and satisfy some of Iverson’s teammates. But most importantly, it would have saved some miles on a guy that plays at 100 miles per hour. Sitting Iverson just five extra minutes would have shaved off 4,430 minutes, which is basically a year and half.”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “Luis Scola starred for Argentina again this month, earning MVP honors for the second time in three seasons for carrying his national team beyond expectations limited by injuries and absences, something the Rockets would like for him to somehow do again. With Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Walter Hermann, Carlos Delfino and Fabricio Oberto all unavailable, Argentina still qualified for next summer’s World Championships in Turkey, largely because Scola willed his team to five-consecutive wins, averaging 23.3 points in the tournament. I asked him last spring if he planned to play this summer and he looked at me as if I were nuts, either because he is observant or because for him, there is no decision to make. He of course wants to play any time he has that option. This is how he goes about his career, always seeking to squeeze everything he can from every opportunity. It is also how he plays, getting the most he can from his ability. Scola is one of those guys we all knew that plays in a way that matches his personality. In his case, that means he plays hard, with passion and for the team. And the rest of the time, he embraces experiences around the world his career brings him.”
Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: “Michael Redd is back on the court, and that is good news for the Milwaukee Bucks. The 30-year-old shooting guard is encouraged with his progress six months after undergoing surgery in early March, to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Redd worked out with teammates at the Cousins Center on Wednesday and said he ‘could see the light.’ He suffered the injury in a Jan. 24 game against Sacramento and played in just 33 games last season. Redd underwent surgery on March 3. The Bucks were 17-32 without him in the lineup on the way to a 34-48 record. ‘It was dark that first week after surgery, that first night,’ Redd said. ‘I’ve been working hard every day, knowing there is more for me to explore, there’s another chapter in my career.’ Bucks strength and conditioning coach Jeff Macy has worked with Redd this week and been impressed. ‘He’s pretty much at an advanced stage of returning to play,’ Macy said. ‘Physically, he’s very strong right now. He’s making the transition from machine-based conditioning. He’s more on his feet now.’”
Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News: “This was the summer of 2008, and Rodney Carney – through no fault of his own – became a pawn in the 76ers’ chase to sign Elton Brand. The Sixers had cap space, but not quite enough to fulfill a package for Brand, an unrestricted free agent from the Los Angeles Clippers. That led Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski to a complicated deal in which he sent Carney, Calvin Booth and a future first-round draft choice to the Minnesota Timberwolves. That gave the Sixers the final chunk of space they needed to acquire Brand. One season later, the Sixers have brought Carney back, not as a pawn, but as an intriguing piece in new coach Eddie Jordan’s pass-and-cut Princeton offense. At 6-7, with terrific athletic skills, a streaky perimeter game and supposedly improved defensive skills, he seems to have at least some of what the Sixers need. ‘It’s a little weird to be traded away and then to come back,’ Carney said after agreeing to the terms of a 1-year contract. ‘They seem to be pretty full at the wing positions, but they want to run and that’s my game.’”
Michael Wallace of the Miami Herald: “Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade said Wednesday he won’t sign a long-term extension with the Heat and will revisit his future with the team as a free agent next summer. Speaking from the Chicago-area church he bought for his mother two years ago, Wade said he and agent Henry Thomas told the Heat it would be best to hold off a decision until after the 2009-10 season. With training camp set to open Sept. 28 in advance of the Oct. 28 season opener against New York, Wade said his focus has shifted from contract talk and toward preparing for his seventh NBA season. ‘Yeah, that’s no longer a conversation we’re really having right now,” Wade told The Miami Herald at a function to kick off his Wade’s World weekend of charity events. ‘We’ve talked about it all summer. We know where they are — they know where we are. We both want the best. But the focus is only on trying to get better than we were last year. And then we’ll get back to the table and look at everything.’”
Howard Beck of The New York Times: “The N.B.A. has not used replacement referees since 1995, when a labor dispute dragged into early December. The consensus of fans and players then was that the substitutes were overmatched. Stern did not deny reports that the league has begun recruiting replacements, which would almost certainly include referees from the NBA Development League. ‘I can confirm that we have referees who have to start training relatively soon, and we’re planning to start the season with an officiating staff,’ he said, adding later, ‘It’s very sad to have to move to that, but obviously our obligation is to the game.’ The previous five-year deal between the N.B.A. and the referees expired after last season. The breakdown in contract talks was first reported by ESPN.com. League officials, responding to the global recession, want to reduce the referee budget by 10 percent, or $3.2 million, according to the ESPN report. The union has offered to accept a reduction of $2.5 million, leaving a gap of $700,000. A person involved in the talks also cited those figures, although league officials called them inaccurate.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “Jordan needed enemies and slights to keep his edge – real and imagined – and Phil Jackson fed that with a cold-hearted manipulation. Krause was the easy target. Us against them became us against him. He was the slovenly scout who never looked the part, the GM whom the coaches and players were convinced wanted too much credit for the championship run. Jordan could be vicious, and forever spared no indignity with Krause. Krause didn’t give Jordan everything, but he gave the most. He delivered Jordan history’s greatest coach in Jackson. He gave him Tex Winter and an unstoppable triangle offense. He gave him a Hall of Fame running mate, Scottie Pippen. Jerry Krause gave him a championship cast for three titles, and when Jordan returned from baseball, the GM reshaped the roster for three more championships. Jordan couldn’t do it alone, and never did. Whatever Jordan wants to believe, no one in basketball has ever given more to his greatness than Jerry Krause. No one. Jordan owes him a deep debt of gratitude in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech on Friday, and the Hall of Fame owes Krause a bid on the wall in the class of 2010. It’s a disgrace that Krause has never made it past the screening committee – never mind as a finalist.”
