Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “Andre Miller was the only player with a guaranteed contract who didn’t pass the Trail Blazers conditioning test on Tuesday night, while Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw and Greg Oden recorded notable times. In each of his five training camps, coach Nate McMillan holds a conditioning test that requires players to run the length of the court and back five times, or in other words, 10 lines. They have to do this in four different sets. Guards are allowed 61 seconds to do 10 lines, forwards 64 seconds and centers 65 seconds. Players are allowed to ‘bank’ time in each set, meaning if they finish under the designated time for one set, it carries over to the next sets. Miller finished his four sets 8 seconds under the required time. His punishment is a seven day, 30-minute detention with strength and conditioning coach Bobby Medina. … Oden, meanwhile, posted an impressive plus-18, which was tied for second best on the team with LaMarcus Aldridge and rookie Dante Cunningham. McMillan was reluctant to talk about the results, but he smiled and raised his eyebrows in approval when Oden’s time was brought up.”
Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald: “When Glen Davis walked into the Wai Kru mixed martial arts gym in Allston last month, you can forgive owner and head trainer John Allan for getting excited. Not being a basketball fan, Allan’s feelings had nothing to do with training an NBA player. Instead, Allan saw a massive 6-foot-9 project with the physical tools to become an MMA star. ‘Initially I was salivating because I was like, ‘Oh, I have the next big heavyweight star,’ ‘ Allan said. ‘It was close to the end of the lesson that someone informed me that I was actually training Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis from the Celtics.’ Despite the disappointment that he hadn’t uncovered a future UFC star, Allan went to work with Davis. And there was no kid-glove treatment for the professional athlete. Though Allan said his top priority always was to avoid injury, Davis was put through rigorous daily workouts. ‘With a name like Big Baby, when I found out that’s what he was called, I was a little surprised because he was all business,’ Allan said.”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “Marc Gasol insists he couldn’t be more ready to patrol the paint for the Grizzlies. Why wouldn’t the 7-footer be following his summer workout program? Forget for a second that Gasol played a lot of basketball this offseason, helping his national team capture the European Championship. He tackled something much bigger than tournament games in preparation for his second NBA season. ‘Collseroz By Tibidabo,’ Gasol said, naming the mountain in Spain that he regularly ran for eight miles to shed 25-30 pounds. ‘It was great because when you get to the top you can see all of Barcelona. ‘But it’s not easy getting there.’ Gasol, significantly slimmer and quicker, figures the hard work he put in to transform his body will make this season easier. Griz coach Lionel Hollins challenged Gasol to arrive at training camp able to run the court much better than he did during his rookie season. ‘He’s running the court really well,’ Hollins said. ‘That’s something he labored with last year. His agility and quickness will really help at the pace we’re trying to play.’ Hollins wants Gasol to be a factor in the Grizzlies’ up-tempo offense.”
Elliott Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News: “Lamar Odom was hazy on a few of the details Wednesday afternoon. He began boxing for conditioning about two months ago. Somewhere on the Westside. Maybe at the corner of La Cienega and Pico? Training with a Terry somebody or other. Every other day during the offseason. ‘I needed something combative,’ he said. ‘I was thinking about defense. It’s all footwork. I’m staying in there. I’m not a (wimp) anymore. It just made me think of competing at the highest level and that’s one-on-one. Warriors. I’m just waiting for someone to act up a little bit. I’m going to sneak one in at a real close range. Nah, I would never fight on the court. It’s all about footwork. I want to become a better defensive player.’ The bottom line is that Odom reported to training camp in excellent shape, better than at any time since Phil Jackson has been the Lakers’ coach. Jackson has criticized Odom’s lack of fitness in the past, but praised him Wednesday. ‘I don’t know what that was all about,’ Jackson said when asked about Odom’s boxing regime. ‘But it’s probably the only time he’s worked out in the offseason since I’ve been here. Oh, I shouldn’t say that. He had injuries two or three of those years. He had surgeries, but he is in better shape than he’s been in before.’”
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “The way Antonio McDyess sees it, Duncan should feel obligated to help him finally achieve his career goal of winning an NBA title. ‘He took a championship ring away from me back in 2005,’ said McDyess, a key player on the Pistons team the Spurs defeated in a memorable, seven-game NBA Finals. ‘He’s got his four rings.’ McDyess does have something Duncan covets: a gold medal from the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Duncan was to have been on the 2000 U.S. team, but had to drop off the squad when rehabilitation after an April knee operation did not progress quickly enough to allow full participation in the Olympic tournament. McDyess replaced Duncan and was one of the heroes of an Olympic semifinal victory over Lithuania, when his offensive rebound and putback basket provided the game-winning points. He still counts standing atop the Olympic medal platform in Sydney as the highlight of his basketball career. Nevertheless, he would trade that gold medal for one of the four rings Duncan has. ‘I don’t think about that Olympic thing,’ McDyess said. ‘I always think about that Game 7 in ’05, seeing Tim and the other Spurs celebrating. So I think we’re pretty much even.’”
Sekou Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “It’s taken all of two full practices with his new teammates for Hawks guard Jamal Crawford to clear up any misconceptions who and what he is on the basketball court. Sure, they already knew he could score with the best of them. He is, after all, one of just four players in NBA history to score 50 or more points with three different teams, joining legends Wilt Chamberlain, Bernard King and Moses Malone in that elite club. But they had no idea he was such a gifted passer and tenacious defender as he’s shown in the first hours of training camp. It’s those two surprising traits, in addition to Crawford’s ability to score in bunches from virtually anywhere on the floor, that are expected to make his transition a smooth one. ‘It’s the same feeling we had after our first practice when Mike [Bibby] got traded here,’ Marvin Williams said. ‘The previous point guards we had were guys that were more conservative and guys that were just trying to get the job done. Just like Mike, Jamal has that flash to his game that you don’t really appreciate until you’re out there with him. ‘You can be out there on the floor looking at that crack in the defense and wondering if he sees it and the next thing you know, the pass is hitting you in your hands. Or in your face, if you’re not careful. That’s when you realize you’re out there with a guy that’s on a different level.’”
Greg Johnson of The Grand Rapids Press: “It might be Rodney Stuckey’s third year with the Detroit Pistons, but new coach John Kuester’s arrival allows the former first-round pick a fresh start. Stuckey is running with it — literally. ‘I think the offense we are playing this year is going to keep me aggressive and keep me attacking,’ Stuckey said Wednesday between training camp sessions at the Pistons’ practice facility. ‘It’s going to be about making stops, and then getting the ball out and going and getting good shots. I think we’re all excited to get started.’ Kuester is excited to have Stuckey on his roster. He knows about Stuckey’s emergence in the playoffs two years ago against Orlando, and he knows the Stuckey he saw play against the Cleveland team he assisted last year. But he also sees a player who is only 23, stands 6-foot-5, weighs 205 pounds and possesses skills suitable for both guard positions. In other words, Stuckey is a prime candidate for the interchangeable guard approach Kuester prefers.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “Eddy Curry plans to return to Saratoga Springs tonight, but he will sit out three to five days of practice to recover from the procedure. He will miss the rest of the week-long training camp for the second straight year as well, with the Knicks’ preseason opener set for Sunday in Albany against the Nets. His comeback — after undergoing a highly publicized weight-training program that helped him lose 40 pounds — is on life support. Curry desperately needed this week of two-a-days at Skidmore College to get back into reasonable NBA game shape. Curry lasted 10 minutes of the first scrimmage Tuesday night before turning up lame, battling for a rebound with David Lee and hobbling off the court. ‘I feel sorry for him,’ coach Mike D’Antoni said. ‘It’s easier to get in shape this way than doing it on your own, and that’s what he’s going to have to do. It makes it a little bit tough.’ The plantaris muscle is a vestigial muscle, which no longer has use and 60 percent of people don’t even have it. The injury is normally associated with tennis, though Curry never has been mistaken for being a serve-and-volley specialist.”
Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: “Kevin Garnett’s advice to Rondo, who is negotiating a contract extension, is simple: Don’t back off once talks are over. ‘You don’t just play with it during negotiations or when you’re trying to make a point,’ Garnett said. ‘Every year you get a jersey you’re trying to prove a point, trying to get better. . . . Every year you get to display your art and craft, this is your mindset. I told him, man, just his confidence and how he’s looking (is good), and I’m talking about his mentality and the look on his face. It’s a relentless look. It’s a look that he’s ready. It’s a look that he has something to prove and he has a little chip on his shoulder. I told him, that’s what you play with.’ Garnett also supports the notion that Rondo is on the verge of an All-Star season, to a point. ‘Absolutely (Rondo deserves that), but more important mentally (is that) he understands his role in running this team,’ he said. ‘You don’t want anyone running off with personal agendas. I’m just telling you what I see. But he’s coming out leading us, and he’s setting the tone.’”
Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: “There’s a new training camp rule in the NBA that limits teams to one ‘contact session’ per day. Timberwolves assistant coach Bill Laimbeer is still trying to get used to the rule. After the Timberwolves completed Wednesday morning’s practice at Bresnan Arena, Laimbeer sent a text message to his good friend and former Detroit Pistons teammate Joe Dumars, now the club’s president of basketball operations. Laimbeer told Dumars the Wolves had a ‘non-contact’ practice. Laimbeer said Dumars replied: ‘This is the new NBA, Billy.’ For Laimbeer, a 6-foot-10 power forward who developed a notorious reputation for physical play during his 13-year NBA career, watching basketball for more than two hours with minimal contact is strange, if not absurd. ‘We would scrimmage twice a day,’ Laimbeer said of his training camp days with the Pistons. ‘We would line up five on five, throw the ball up and play.’ The new rule, installed to reduce injuries, limits teams to scrimmaging in either the morning or evening practice during camp. That leaves the other session for drills, conditioning and implementing new systems for offense and defense.”
Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Kevin Love’s tweeter is broken, but he promises a glorious comeback. Love, a child of the computer age, embraced the Twitter social-network phenomenon as enthusiastically as any pro athlete, so much so he unintentionally broke the worldwide news that Kevin McHale wasn’t coming back as Timberwolves coach and honestly offered up his comments on the team’s confounding draft night. He hasn’t tweeted since Aug. 14. For now, rookie Jonny Flynn is leading the Wolves, both at point guard and with the Twitter. ‘I got shut down a little while from the Boss Man,’ Love said. ‘But be on the lookout: I’ll be back. I just got tired of (Jim) Stack or (Fred) Hoiberg calling me and telling me not to tweet about this, not to tweet about that. I just said, ‘What happened to the First Amendment law?’ ‘ David Kahn, the Wolves president of basketball operations, said he wants Love to feel free to tweet and will encourage him to do so.”
Scott Bordow of the East Valley Tribune: “Steve Kerr admitted the 2008-2009 season was ‘by far’ the hardest of his professional career. For one of the few times in his life, he was the bad guy, criticized for Porter’s hiring, his firing and the Suns’ failure to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Kerr was so unnerved by the criticism that he approached TNT analyst and former coach Doug Collins at the All-Star break and asked him how he dealt with the slings and arrows. ‘Last year was tough. Things didn’t go as planned,’ Kerr said. ‘There were cracks in the foundation and I definitely deserved a lot of the blame. As a player you’re always one of 15 guys. You might have a bad game or a good game but it’s not like the spotlight is on you all the time. It’s different when you’re in this position. You’re the focus. You’re not human if you say it doesn’t bother you.’”
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register: “The Lakers have hired Chuck Person as a special assistant for training camp, and there’s an expectation he’ll stay on staff for the duration of Artest’s first season here, at least. Person was a very good NBA player who has become a very capable NBA coach, but what’s most important here is that he has a special connection with the flammable Artest. And the Lakers would be wise to keep using that as they chart these rough waters for the first time. Person was an Indiana Pacers special assistant, dabbling in some scouting and some coaching, when Artest was there. That’s why Person was in position to try and help Artest that night of the infamous brawl. Artest wound up traded to Sacramento; Person wound up an assistant coach there, too. Without Person in Houston last season, Artest still showed improved stability. He should be even less disruptive with Person’s help here and with the respect Artest has for Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Phil Jackson.”
Brian Windhorst of The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Last season the Cavaliers had a mantra, started in the preseason by coach Mike Brown. It centered on the importance of trust and how it could be used to build chemistry during the long NBA season. That sort of tactic may come off somewhat sophomoric and cliched, but it worked. Following Brown’s lead, the Cavs formed a close-knit team that had the winningest season in team history. Brown has a new mantra this season. It has to do with the team adopting a bunker mentality to avoid outside distractions. Again, it is not a new philosophy, but it is targeted. The star power and contract status of LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal figure to draw massive and potentially disruptive attention this season. The tactic is being put to the test right away, thanks to Delonte West, who skipped two-a-day practices again Wednesday. If you are keeping score, and the Cavs certainly are, West is now 0-for-4 in showing up for workouts. The players, some of whom tried and failed to reach West as of Wednesday afternoon, are attempting to go into the aforementioned bunker and move on. But the front office is sending a message that West’s decision to stay home will not be met with such tolerance.”
