Tim Duncan came this close to signing with Orlando a few years ago, and Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News tells the story: "Popovich and Buford arrived the next morning for their meeting. There, they faced Babby and Marc Scott, who worked for Duncan at the time, as well as Tim and Amy. Scott and Amy, in particular, began to pepper Popovich with basketball questions, and Popovich responded as he often does with the media. This is not a way to enhance ambiance. Babby tried to lighten the mood. 'You didn't know you would be talking to four Red Auerbachs,' he said. Popovich didn't have answers because there were none. The Spurs didn't have many draft choices or much cap space. And if they could have predicted the future and told Duncan he would someday win with a French point guard and an Argentine slasher? 'Had they said that,' Babby said Wednesday, laughing, 'we would have gone to Orlando.' Popovich, Buford and Babby left the meeting and went straight to a private jet to see Hill in Detroit, and the atmosphere was awkward at best. 'I felt underwater,' Buford says now."
On the Daily Dish, where I am still sitting in for Chad Ford, I talk to Tim Duncan's agent Lon Babby about the reality that basketball fans have a hard time embracing Tim Duncan even though everyone who knows him says he's a great guy.
Is teamwork the most important thing, or a really great center? I'm sure we'll discuss this more in the future.
Great film study of Greg Oden from the Sonics' Kevin Locke: "Greg Oden moves with incredible ease for a player of his size. He has a very good understanding of the game and space on the floor which makes him a defensive force. His best quality is a remarkable quick jumping ability for a big man. His game is still loose. He hasn't been forced to do the little things that separate good players from great ones because he has been so overpowering. He was a man amongst boys in college. He will need to bring a high level of intensity and focus to his NBA game."
Locke also sizes up Kevin Durant on film: "He is much more a fundamental player than he is an athlete. He wows you with his skills and his length, but not with his ability to fly above the fray or sky to the basket."
Greg Oden and his agent tell me this is really his blog. I have been reading since the beginning, and was waiting for something momentous to quote. But I'm tired of waiting. So far it's all about how good the teriyaki chicken is at the McRoberts house.
Dogged: as a Division III player, new Seattle GM Sam Presti once took six charges in a game. You get the feeling he'll eventually get good at whatever he does, with that attitude.
One pie-in-the-sky NBA fix, 11-foot rims, is getting a test drive, as Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times reports: "Newell has been planning the event for months but finally saw the hoops go up Tuesday morning. 'I feel like an 11-year-old,' Newell said as the work was completed. That night, the players gathered for the first practice. It escaped no one's notice that at the same time, Game 3 of the NBA Finals was being played to record-low TV ratings. 'The main thing everybody asks me is whether they would ever really change the baskets,' Newell said. He tells them 'that's not my decision,' but he hopes to provide some evidence in case the conversation ever gets serious."
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