» September 28, 2009 7:12 PM | By Brandon Hoffman
- Celtics coach Doc Rivers today said Kevin Garnett has no medical restrictions. KG, as quoted by Jessica Camerato: “I’m going full blast,” Garnett said. “I don’t think when you get in camp you go half-[way] with anything like that. But Doc and I have talked about time, taking it easy, listening to (Celtics trainer) Ed (Lacerte), the doctors, and what they’re telling me so I’m being patient with that.”
- Brian Windhorst: “Delonte West met with the media. He declined to directly answer questions about his arrest for gun possession two weeks ago in Maryland. He did say that he was off his routine at the time and is now back on his medicine. West passed his physical and is planning on being with the team at Monday’s first practice.” Windhorst also reports that LeBron James looks thinner than when he reported to camp last year.
- The Hoop Doctors published 10 interesting facts from last season, including this little tidbit about the King: “James dished out the most assists that resulted in a 3-pointer with 232, while finishing 8th in total assists. That accounts for nearly 40% of his assists. Not that it was any question before, but now we really know why Mo Williams made his first All-Star appearance as he finished 3rd in 3-pointers made last year with 183 (more than he made in any other two seasons combined).”
- Orlando GM Otis Smith on the Vince Carter signing: “I thought my core guys needed to be able to walk into a gym and see Vince Carter shooting at the other end and say, ‘Now we got help. Now we got a guy who can do it.’ I thought that was as big for their psyches as anything else.”
- Tania Ganguli penned a neat little story on Amar’e Stoudemire’s offseason: “He spent part of it recovering from an eye surgery to repair a detached retina he suffered in February. The injury sidelined him for the rest of the season. As part of his recovery, for 10 days Stoudemire stared at the ground for 22 hours each day so his eye could heal properly. He passed the time with his computer and books. He said he read about half the Bible, Stoudemire guesses, the ancient Chinese text the Art of War by Sun Tzu, a moniker he’s adopted for himself. He read The 40 Laws of Power, he said, and books about the Hebrew culture. Reading wasn’t part of his life growing up; he had no interest in school and chose basketball over his books whenever he could. He needed at 2.0 grade point average to play in high school, and he did just enough to accomplish that. But Stoudemire said he always had an interest in the world. ‘I had nobody to force education on me,’ Stoudemire said. ‘I feel like if I could do it all over again I’d definitely be a nerd.’”
- Mike Jones spoke with the always entertaining Gilbert Arenas: “A surly Gilbert Arenas talked, although he had to be coaxed to do so, but said ‘if there wasn’t a heavy fine coming, I probably wouldn’t have done this.’ He was pretty tight-lipped, answered in short, stoic answers early on, but warmed up as the presser went on and talked for 29 minutes about his expectations for the season (just stay healthy and let the rest take care of itself), the offseason pickups (he likes them), the topic that never goes away of ‘The pure point guard.’ (his retort, before going on a 3-minute tear, ‘What is a pure point guard?’). Arenas says there will be no more Agent Zero, no Hibachi this season. He said Gilbert Arenas the prankster is dead and gone as well. ‘I’m done being an entertainer. I just wanna play basketball.’ While he’s playing that basketball, Arenas expects to cut out the 3-pointer a good deal. Arenas said all the attacking of the basket that he has been seen doing this offseason is more like what you can expect to see, and now he’ll be shooting for percentage. ‘The Princeton was designed for the 4’s and 3’s, I took a lot of wild shots and fastbreak 3’s. But since I have the ball all the time this year, I’m not gonna take 500 3’s, I’m trying to take less than 100. I’m not gonna be a 3-point shooter this year. I’ll work most of the year on midrange J’s. The deep shot’s still there if it comes to a game-winner. But I’m not going to be sitting there launching 3’s. I’m going to be shooting for percentage.’”
Category: Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, New Jersey Nets, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Points in the Paint, Washington Wizards
Tags: Amare Stoudemire, Byron Mullens, Carmelo Anthony, Delonte West, Gilbert Arenas, Kenyon Martin, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Mark Cuban, Mickael Pietrus, Mikhail Prokhorov, Monta Ellis, Phil Jackson, Randy Foye, Stephen Curry, Vince Carter
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