About a week ago I blogged about the University of Washington's Spencer Hawes, who is about to be a lottery pick. He said he was a die-hard George Bush fan, which riled up a lot of people in Seattle. DraftExpress just interviewed Hawes, and it's clear Hawes read that post. His response is perfect and wise: "I'm not going to be one to go force my beliefs on other people. But I think I'm not going to try to downplay it when the questions come up. If people want to know my opinion, I'm not going to hesitate to give it to them. ... I think some people take it a little too seriously. It's just something that I've been raised that way, to speak up in what you believe in and defend your points. ... This is what separates our country from so many others. You have the opportunity to say what you want and speak your mind." He should start a blog.
Sometimes I write about the sneaker wars, and the many things shoe companies do to get in the hearts and minds of young players. Then I have heard from various people close to the situation that it's all a crock -- players with whichever company offers the most money. Brian Berger of Sports Business Radio says that's not true. Right now, for instance, Berger writes Kevin Durant will be weighing a decision between a massice offer from adidas, and his loyalty to Nike, a company that has cultivated a relationship with him over time: "Durant will be meeting with Nike officials this Friday at their world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. The company will make their presentation to Durant and discuss potential marketing strategies with him in an effort to woo him and convince him he should sign with the company. Durant has worn Nike shoes in high school and at the University of Texas and has a close relationship with several of the company's reps. Durant's decision will likely come down to money vs loyalty and brand activation. If he wants the bigger paycheck, he'll sign with adidas. If he feels a loyalty to the Nike reps he's close with and believes that Nike will do a better job of marketing his brand than adidas will, he'll sign with Nike. Nike made a similar pitch to LeBron James in 2003 when they convinced him they'd make him a marketing star in the mold of Michael Jordan. Reebok bid more money to sign James than Nike did, but James ultimately chose Nike because he felt they'd do a better job marketing his brand."
Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune: "Former Blazer coach Rick Adelman surely will be a candidate for the Seattle job and would be interested. But Adelman's first choice would be to secure a job with the Blazers. He has spoken twice with Pritchard, who would like to hire him in some capacity."
The Associated Press quotes Avery Johnson saying the kind of stuff that makes me think he's a great coach: "I wasn't the best of players and didn't have the best of skills, but you were not going to shake my confidence. We need all of our players to be confident, to be resilient, to be persistent and that's what I want to see tomorrow. If I don't see it at shootaround, I'm going to be highly upset ... because I need to have it going into that game tomorrow night. We've got to be confident and really sure about what we're doing."
TrueHoop reader Bernard is worried and wants answers: "I have just watched a bunch of playoff games. It irks me no end that defensive players are trying and draw charges instead of making plays on the ball. This is obviously taught as proper now- even Tim Duncan has desecended into this practice. It is of course even worse when someone flops. I think that flopping would diminish greatly should refs allow players to complete drives to the basket -- which after all are the MOST exciting play in basketball. Michael Jordan never had to deal with defenders barely beating him to a spot -- where Jordan had a clear path to the hoop -- and having the defenders rewarded with a charging call. Defenders had to block him to deny him. This is the NBA not NCAA. What to do?"
SI.com's Kelly Dwyer writes something I have been thinking: Dallas is lacking ball distribution. "[Jason Terry]was killing Dallas in Game 4 with his inability to get Dirk Nowitzki the ball. Nowitzki deserves plenty of blame for not being more aggressive, and he is being zoned away from easy looks for most of the game, but Terry has to find ways to lob him the rock with the 6-7 Mickael Pietrus guarding the Maverick All-Star. Dallas is done if he doesn't."
Mario Elie has interviewed for the head coaching job in Charlotte. Houston's FOX 26 Sports reports: "'I met with Bernie Bickerstaff and Michael Jordan. It was an amazing meeting. They are two great men who I really respect. The meeting went well. All I can do is wait. I'm sure they are going to meet with other people. I think I am as qualified as anyone,' Elie said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports."
Life aboard the good ship Golden State, in a funny Seattle Weekly essay by"Ballsdeep": "And if Nellie's the captain in my hackneyed 'ship as NBA team' metaphor, then Golden State fans have been the galley slaves. Endlessly pulling at oars season after season even though we could sense something wasn't quite right topside. But pull we did, often aimlessly -- more often ridiculously."
If you're an unruly fan, an NBA referee might hand you a card that says this: "You are being issued a warning that the comments, gestures, and/or behaviors that you have directed at players, coaches, game officials and/or other spectators constitute excessive verbal abuse and are in violation of the NBA Fan Code of Conduct. This is the first and only warning that you will receive. If, after receiving this warning, you verbally abuse any player, coach, game official or spectator, you will be immediately ejected from the arena without refund." That's only a tiny percentage of what I learned from Wizznutzz today. UPDATE: More on the episode that led to Steve Javie handing out the card quoted above (scroll down). In that same post, Jamie Mottram tells of meeting Ian Eagle, Gheorghe Muresan, and Bill Raftery. Mottram was all excited about ... Raftery.
Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon-Journal: "It will probably be an eternal argument: should LeBron James shoot or pass in crunch time? He believes he always should make the proper basketball play and pass. But it will always be a catch-22. Sometimes he'll be right and sometimes he'll be wrong. This week he was dead on. You can read all the stats, but basically the 'other guys' kicked the Wizards around. Zydrunas Ilgauskas got more open shots in the last four games than he usually gets in a month and Drew Gooden wasn't far behind. I always write LeBron is unstoppable when he drives to the basket, well the Cavs are unstoppable when the supporting cast plays like they have in this series."
A good profile of Avery Johnson and his family. All those journalists who have been saving up Maverick stories for use throughout the playoffs. But they are trotting them out now, in case this show is all over.
Rudy Gay will be a really good NBA player. But all those people who said Memphis robbed Houston when they got Gay for Shane Battier ... it's not at all clear to me that's true. Battier is really good, makes his teammates better, and came up big in a big game.
UPDATE: A lot of NBA figures wear wristbands with little inspirational messages on them. Even David Stern, as Dan Steinberg reports: "'Mine?' he said, pulling up his sleeve. 'Mine says Patek Philippe.'"
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