Yahoo's Steve Kerr: "To me, Detroit is not itself and hasn't been for four games. That's why I'd be worried if I were a Pistons fan. If Flip Saunders' club is going to win Game 5, it needs to finally put a total game together. That would mean taking care of the ball, rebounding well and getting good, balanced scoring from its starters. We'll see."
Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold: "Any regular reader of this blog knows how I feel about the soap opera surrounding the Lakers -- I despise it. I like it as much as I like the trend of flopping. I started this blog in large part because I wanted to talk about the Lakers on the court at a time all regular media wanted to talk about what Shaq thought of Kupchak and who Kobe's wife was talking to at games. I just wanted to talk about the games. And yet, in the last few days I got sucked into the front office power struggle made public, the "who is the insider?" soap opera. Certainly all this impacts the team on the court, but it's still more General Hospital than NBA professional. And I feel like I need a shower just following it. Is it really all that hard for Kobe, Jim and Jerry Buss, Mitch, Phil and anyone else in the loop to sit down in a room and talk? Is negotiating through the media really necessary? Don't successful organizations have a master plan that everyone is aware of and working toward? Isn't talking things out face-to-face what good managers and mature adults do? Not everyone has been mature, but now everyone is being immature. These are the days that try fans' souls. It is the kind of day that makes me question my fandom (which Dan said so well) and makes me question blogging about it all. Kobe says he's tired of talking. I think I speak for a lot of fans when we say we're sick and tired of this whole situation, too. Maybe it costs me a bunch of readers, but I'm stepping away from the edge of insanity for a couple days. Write what you want in the comments, but I'm done updating who is fighting for what part of the sandbox for now."
Taurean Green is hearing the "Billy Donovan to the NBA" rumors too. In his Orlando Sentinel pre-draft camp diary, Green writes: "I've heard some of the stuff, but I haven't talked to him, so I really don't know the situation. I'd be kind of shocked if he left, but it's his decision. I definitely think he'd do well in the pros, if he gets the right team. He's a great coach, and he does a great job making adjustments. If he was in the pros, I'd call him and make sure he drafted me. And the rest of the guys, too. We could be the '07s in the NBA."
Green caught the eye of the Washington Post's Ivan Carter (who also got hassled by the cops yesterday): "Green just looked like a guy who is ready for the NBA. He's super quick but always under control and though he did finish with two turnovers in 20 minutes, I don't remember him making many bad decisions. He showed a nice J, got into the paint at will and was sharp in the open floor. Basicallly, he made things easier for everyone around him and I now have a better understanding of why Florida was so good the last two seasons." Carter also had nice things to say about the guy playing against Green, Zabian Dowdell.
The Grizzlies are in trouble. Evan Weiner quotes Michael Heisley in the New York Sun: "The handwriting is on the wall, if you want to have your franchises viable, then you can't have a situation where New York and Chicago and Los Angeles are doing very, very well and some other teams are, but, I would say, a significant percentage of the teams in our league are struggling financially. I am looking at an 800,000-population city and you can say, why are you there?' I basically looked around [in 2000, after he decided to leave Vancouver] and tried to go to what was available to me and we did a tremendous investigation and I am not knocking Memphis, I'm just saying it's a small market and that means we need revenue sharing or some help." In the same article, Heisley says that the league keeps the money from overseas Jersey sales that otherwise goes to teams. Wow. That's a lot of money.
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