ESPN's Marc Stein talks to Kevin Garnett, and the conversation ends like this: "Q: So if you or the Wolves choose not to pursue a trade this summer, do you think we'll still see some major changes with this franchise? A: There's got to be. F--- yeah. I think [head coach] Randy Wittman would echo that, so it's not just me."
SLAM's Lang Whitaker almost made a whole bunch of money selling his iPod: "During the photo shoot I was at yesterday, I ended up acting as DJ and playing some songs off my iPod to kind of keep things moving. I knew what kind of stuff the NBA player we were shooting liked, and after I hit him with a few remixes he hadn't heard before, he told me that he was going to buy my iPod. Not that he wanted to buy my iPod, but that he was definitely going to buy my iPod. I told him no, he wasn't going to buy my iPod not only because I hadn't had a chance to back up my iPod on my newest laptop and I didn't want to lose everything I had on there, but also because I had a three hour flight awaiting me later in the day, and I didn't want to be iPod-less on the plane. This didn't stop him. He kept telling me he was going to buy my iPod, and that I could name my price. And he was serious."
Blazer GM Kevin Pritchard talks team building with ESPN's Chad Ford. Kevin Pritchard says "we're not scared to move anybody" and he's focused on those who don't put the team first.
Tom Ziller watched one of my favorite NBA players, Josh Howard, in person: "Just a menace everywhere. His defense wasn't jawdropping this night, but his tenacity was. His offense ... he could easily be the #1 guy on an NBA team, no question. Maybe not a 65-win team, like these Mavs, but a decent to good team. His jumper is smooth, his slashing ability is high in the all-NBA rankings, and his passing is much better than I expected."
The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen reports: "Asked Mutombo's age, Yao Ming said, 'Like his number.' Mutombo wears No. 55."
Wow. You know how the whole appeal of Oklahoma City (as opposed to say, Seattle) is that the city embraces NBA basketball and has the mighty Ford Center ready and waiting? Berry Tramel of NewsOK.com reports the five-year-old Ford Center is not a long-term solution either, and if an NBA team really does move in, a new building would be in the discussion.
The Newark Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro urges you not to hold your breath waiting for Denver to buy out Kenyon Martin: "Teams don't buy out guys with four years and $60 million left on their contracts. Maybe C-Webb ($36M) and Shandon Anderson ($20M) were exceptions, but their teams had absolutely no use for them, and they were just in the way. The Nuggets and K-Mart may not be in love with each other right now, but even after two microfractures, I think they know that they'd be insane to count him out. I think he can be great again - perhaps not on his '02-03 level, but a perfect fit for the kind of system they're trying to form. Even if he and George keep trashing each other, you don't just throw away a healthy asset that you might use in trade, and they never exhausted all their options there."
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