Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports: “Kevin Garnett continues to make progress in his recovery from knee surgery, and the Boston Celtics hope their All-Star forward will be cleared for full-court scrimmaging by the start of training camp. Garnett began working out at the Celtics’ practice facility on Monday. For now, he is limited to participating in court drills that include shooting and running. He could be cleared for contact as early as the week before camp. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge said the team continues to be cautious with Garnett, who missed the playoffs with a right knee injury that eventually required surgery on May 26. ‘We’re looking for him to be there at the end of the season, not just the start of the season,’ Ainge said. ‘We’re getting him ready for training camp and looking forward to him being healthy in the playoffs. He looks good. Really good.’ Garnett played in only 57 games last season. The Celtics strengthened their frontline this summer by signing Rasheed Wallace and bringing back Glen Davis.”
John Reid of The Times-Picayune: “With a roster that includes rookie guards Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton, New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul already is embracing his role as a mentor. In his four seasons, Paul always had a more experienced point guard playing behind him. But earlier this week, the Hornets traded 12-year veteran Antonio Daniels to the Minnesota Timberwolves, making Paul the most experienced point guard on the roster. ‘Actually it’s a funny feeling, and all summer I’ve been thinking and talking about it,’ Paul said. ‘It’s crazy that I’m going into my fifth year and actually have a young group of guys to play that position with me.’ Paul, 24, resumed workouts in New Orleans this week and has taken the initiative to mentor Thornton, whom the Hornets obtained on draft night after the Miami Heat selected him in the second round. ‘I wake up and work out at 6 a.m., and Marcus said he had been working out at 8 a.m.,’ Paul said. ‘I told Marcus we’re going at 6. I think that’s part of being older now, and that I can sort of tell him that he’s going to work out with me.’”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “The Suns’ Amaré Stoudemire spent Thursday at ESPN, where he did interviews and is filming a commercial with mixed martial arts fighter Kimbo Slice. If Boris Diaw and Al Thornton pokes could damage his eye, Stoudemire ought to don his eyewear around Slice too. But Stoudemire’s recovery from a detached retina gets a rave review from his surgeon, Dr. Pravin Dugel. ‘This injury is more serious than any he’s had before,’ Dugel said. ‘This was more career-threatening. We came very close to having a lot of difficulty. With a traumatic detachment like he had and a lot of tears and scars in a person this young, the risk of losing vision is very high.’ Dugel said Stoudemire has 20/20 vision with contact lenses and no restrictions on his activity, other than to always use eyewear on the court. There is a slim chance Stoudemire could develop a cataract or more scar tissue, which, if severe, could cause a detachment. ‘Can bad things happen? Yes,’ Dugel said. ‘Is it likely? No.’”
Bruce Arthur of the National Post: “Steve Nash is seated and comfortable. He is wearing jeans and canvas sneakers, a light blue dress shirt underneath a grey cardigan and a grey tie. It doesn’t look like he’s in motion, just now. But he is. Nash is talking about stuff other than basketball, because eventually he’s going to be about stuff other than basketball. Yes, he’s a perennial all-star, a two-time NBA MVP, the architect of some of the most beautiful, fast-moving basketball any of us will ever see. But he’s also 35 years old now, and he orders two salads for lunch because he knows he is running out of hardwood. And so, like his fast-moving Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash is in transition. ‘What I’m doing off the court is definitely with a transition in mind, knowing that I may or may not play after this contract [which runs through 2012], but I definitely want to take the opportunity now,’ he says, talking with his hands. ‘Whether it’s soccer or filmmaking or my foundation, I want these things to have legs well beyond my basketball career.’”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “Contract negotiations between the Trail Blazers and star forward LaMarcus Aldridge continue daily as the Oct. 31 deadline nears, but general manager Kevin Pritchard said it could take time and is a ‘complicated’ process. The biggest problem is neither side knows what the figure for maximum contracts will be because the league doesn’t release that information until July 2010, when the league sets its salary cap and reveals the figure for basketball-related income (BRI). When a player signs a maximum contract – like Blazers guard Brandon Roy did in August – the first year of his contract is approximately 25 percent of that year’s BRI. The league typically releases those figures in the first week of July. The league allows maximum contracts to be signed without designating the exact amount. If the two sides were to decide on less than a maximum deal, that would be trickier. ‘We both understand LaMarcus’ value,’ Pritchard said of the team and Arn Tellem, Aldridge’s agent. ‘But getting that to correlate to the BRI is very complicated.’”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “NBA commissioner David Stern has often said Grizzlies fans struggling with the team’s string of losing seasons just need some luck. ‘I think they got lucky,’ Stern said Thursday, reacting to the arrival of 10-time All-Star Allen Iverson in Memphis. ‘A bona-fide star and future Hall of Famer who still has lots of game left is going to prove to be a significant and helpful addition to the Grizzlies.’ Stern spoke with The Commercial Appeal while traveling to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Springfield, Mass. He acknowledged Iverson’s experience as a key factor in advancing the Grizzlies’ rebuilding plan. The addition of Iverson gives the Grizzlies an NBA-high four players (with Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo, Zach Randolph) who averaged at least 17 points per game last season. ‘Given the way the team is constructed — with it being a young team — this is a chance for them to get better and get veteran leadership. It’ll be very good for the team and good for the community,’ Stern said.”
Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times: “First, it was Richard Jefferson. Then, it was Charlie Villanueva. Now, in the next couple of days, it’ll be Ramon Sessions. Three players who started for the Milaukee Bucks last season; three players who’ll likely be starting for other teams this season. The Bucks traded Jefferson, a talented small forward, to San Antonio — just one year after they acquired him from New Jersey. Villanueva, one of the better young forwards in the game, bolted to Detroit in free agency. And the Bucks didn’t so much as make him a qualifying offer. As for Sessions, he’s is on the cusp of joining the Minnesota Timberwolves, who signed him to a four-year, $16 million offer sheet. NBA officials wouldn’t be surprised if the Bucks matched the offer, they’d be shocked. Why? Two words: luxury tax. The Bucks’ payroll is at $68.316 million (A list of all the Bucks’ salaries is at the end of this story). The luxury tax is $69.920M Do the math. The Bucks are just $1.6M under the tax threshold.”
The New York Post: “Knick fans who are counting on LeBron James to join the hapless team after his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expires next year had better have a Plan B. The hoops star’s mother, Gloria, told Page Six it’s not happening. ‘He’s a hometown boy,’ she said. LeBron grew up in Akron, Ohio, but his home now is Cleveland. The Jameses were at the Monkey Bar for the book party Graydon Carter threw for ‘Shooting Stars’ (Penguin Press), the story of LeBron’s team at St. Vincent-St. Mary HS and their coach, Dru Joyce II. The book by James and Buzz Bissinger, excerpted in Vanity Fair, is subtitled, ‘A Poignant, Thrilling Tale of the Power of Teamwork to Transform Young Lives and Make Dreams Come True.’ Amid the likes of Ronald Perelman, Harvey Weinstein, Ron Howard, Vivi Nevo and Fran Lebowitz, one Knick fan told James how painful it’s been waiting for his much-hoped-for, Messiah-like arrival. Waving an arm around the softly lit dining room and its elegant crowd, the fan, sounding like a local Chamber of Commerce, remarked, ‘You don’t have anything like this in Cleveland.’ LeBron just smiled, but his mother later set us straight.”
Robbi Pickeral for The Charlotte Observer: “As a starter on North Carolina’s 2005 national championship team, swingman Rashad McCants earned the reputation as an athletic scorer, a determined winner — and a moody player. The latter is a stigma that followed him to the NBA, and that he thinks has helped keep him unsigned this offseason, despite the fact that he has averaged 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1.3 assists over four pro seasons. ‘I was always tough-skinned and hardworking, and I didn’t really care what people said about me, because I knew my ability,’’ said McCants, who was drafted 14th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves after his junior year, was traded to Sacramento last season, and is now a free agent. ‘But now, after five years, [that reputation] is still around, and it’s still haunting me from getting a job and being successful.’ After having a heart-to-heart with former Tar Heels Makhtar Ndiaye, Shammond Williams, Vince Carter and Terrence Newby in Chapel Hill last week, the Asheville native decided he wanted to try to open up to both Tar Heel fans – and potential NBA bosses. In a wide-ranging interview with The News & Observer on Thursday, he explains why he thinks he gets a bad rap, how he feels about former coaches Matt Doherty and Roy Williams, the genesis of the ailment that caused him to miss four games his junior season, and why he didn’t need a psychologist his freshman season.”
Tom Ziller of FanHouse: “The escalation of the public war of words between the NBA and its referees union continues unabated. After a story in the New York Times and an exchange of testy press releases let the world know this labor dispute would not be fought in the dark, the chief negotiator for the referees told FanHouse he believes the NBA is using the battle to push veteran officials out of the league. If the NBA and the National Basketball Referees Association do not reach an agreement by October 1, replacement refs — likely culled from the D-League — will be used for the first time since 1995. Lamell McMorris, the chief negotiator and spokesman for the refs union, told FanHouse in an interview late Thursday that the league is asking for an inordinate and unfair number of sacrifices from officials in the current bargaining, which broke off after a fiery meeting Tuesday. One of the league proposals would restructure the retirement benefits for referees, switching from the current pension system to a defined contributions program. McMorris said this proposal is a black hat method allowing the league to push out veteran officials. ‘The NBA is trying to push out the veteran referees without violating age discrimination laws,’ McMorris said. ‘These officials live the game, they love the game, and the league is trying to push them out.’”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Once both sides achieve their goals — that is, once everyone sees how bad the replacement refs are in preseason, and once Stern gets the concessions he wants, because, well, he is the all-powerful David Stern –- cooler heads will prevail. I don’t fault either side for taking the hard line, because that’s what you’re supposed to do in a negotiation. You have to be willing to walk away. But before the regular season begins on Oct. 27, I expect the posturing to dissipate. If it doesn’t, then we will have learned two important lessons: 1. NBA referees, for all their flaws, are far more qualified and valuable than most of us are willing to admit; and 2. Stern’s effusive praise and support of his refs during the Donaghy scandal was for naught. At that point, you could call him for lip service or you could call out the refs for not appreciating the daggers he absorbed for them during the scandal. Take your pick. In the end, it won’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong. If Stern meant it when he told the New York Times this week that his ‘obligation is to the game,’ then he won’t let $700,000 in salary and benefits stand in the way. That is what McMorris was betting, anyway, when he told the Times that the distance between the two sides is ‘not big enough … to justify a lockout.’ The wounds from the Donaghy scandal are still sufficiently open and oozing as to render a replacement ref plan for the regular season implausible.”
