The Indianapolis Star's Mark Monteith on Reggie Miller: "Miller is working out twice a day to test his body, so he's obviously seriously considering a comeback. He just as obviously has a flair for the dramatic and loves challenges, so it's not out of the question that he'll be wearing a Celtics uniform next season. I don't see what he has to gain from it, because I don't see the Celtics as a serious title threat. They're an intriguing team, but even if all three of their superstars stay healthy and even if they find adequate role players and even if Doc Rivers proves himself to be a premier coach when given talent, I just don't see them winning a title. Championship teams take time to gel. They are never microwaved."
Pat Riley is sticking around yeah, yeah, yeah ... Don't you get the feeling he's going to do whatever he wants whenever he wants, despite this latest round of promises? He's the king of double-speak.
Speculation about what's up with Greg Oden. Is there something more than a tonsillectomy? I'll add two thoughts to the mix: Thought one is that Oden was on a crash course with major league exhaustion even before the draft. You remember him greeting reporters at the Portland airport when he showed up for his workout? He was still groggy from the Nyquil. Since then he has traveled 350 million miles and shook 30 million hands. Or something like that. And everywhere he has gone, he has been surrounded by crowds wanting this or that from him. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if plenty of those eager to see him succeed have been eager for him to say no to some stuff, and just take it easy for a while. Thought two is that he has been playing basketball. You can hear about his workouts here.
Top guard prospects O.J. Mayo and Derrick Rose. Who's better? "If you ask me, it's Derrick 'Pooh' Rose all day, every day, and twice on Sundays," writes Trey of IBallForReal.
Golden State of Mind sends off Adonal Foyle in amusing fashion. Love the photo with this caption: "Known for his mentoring, Foyle shows [Mike Dunleavy] the veteran move of showing the 'disappointed' face after another tough loss."
The Raptors aren't positive they want a recovering Jorge Garbajosa to play for his national team next month.
Sun Sports Broadcaster Whit Watson, who worked for the Magic alongside Penny Hardaway from 1993-1997, on Hardaway: "He was completely impossible to guard. Taller than any point guard in the league, faster and more athletic than any two-guard, capable of playing the three when necessary. He was stunning. As good as Shaquille O'Neal was for Orlando during that stretch, it was Penny who truly thrilled the crowds. Off the charts. Unfortunately, we were cheated from seeing him through his full potential for two large and ugly reasons. One, he was unbelievably thin-skinned. Penny had rabbit ears for criticism, real and imagined. I could offer some bleeding-heart analysis as to why this was true -- no male role models in his life, raised in poverty by his mom and grandmother in horrendous neighborhoods in Memphis -- but all I know for sure is, he internalized everything. When things didn't go his way, he brooded at an Olympic level. His well-publicized leadership of a palace coup in Orlando, the "team meeting" that led to Brian Hill's first firing from the Magic back in '97, was less a sign of any maliciousness on his part and more an indication of his fragile psyche. Brian Hill was an old-school, red-faced screamer, and Penny recoiled from that attention. He needed to be stroked, reminded that he was wonderful and beautiful. That didn't happen in Orlando. And Two, his body failed him. Hardaway was never a weight-room guy, and by the time he reached his peak in the NBA, he was carrying a ton of tread wear. A lifetime of basketball combined with very little workout maintenance led to a physical breakdown. After enduring multiple surgeries on both knees, he was never the same player -- when your game is predicated on playing above the rim, and you're suddenly hopping at 75 percent of capacity, you've got to change or perish. He perished, professionally speaking. Pretty simple. There's a chance, I suppose, that the time away from the game may have allowed Penny to heal up a little bit, and Pat Riley has already complimented his new signee for his willingness to get himself back into shape, but if the Heat expect Hardaway to be a standstill shooter, it's going to be a short comeback. Asking an innately physical player like Hardaway to suddenly "get it" at the age of 36 is a tall order. Still, I find myself rooting for Penny to make it with Miami. When I left the Magic in 1997 to move to Connecticut as an anchor for ESPN, Penny Hardaway was one of only two Magic players who stopped me to say good luck and congrats -- the other, not surprisingly, was Darrell Armstrong."
The Akron Beacon-Journal's Brian Windhorst says the Cavaliers will pluck more assistant coaching fruit from the Larry Brown tree (as it were). Probably not great news for those Cavalier fans looking for signs of a revved up offense.
Classy guy alert: Dee Brown is cast adrift by the Jazz, but reportedly keeps his commitments to appear on behalf of the team at several events with children.
The NBA's new slogan is reportedly "Where Amazing Happens." As someone who has spent a fair chunk of the last few years toilet training young humans, that makes me think of the bathroom.
The triangle offense explained somewhat by Forum Blue and Gold contributor Renato Afonso. One big point about the triangle: "The real key is simple -- whenever a pick is set, the player in motion has the option to make a small curl towards the basket allowing him to take an easy mid-range jump shot. So, the players better be good at it. (Editors note: Think about how many times MJ did that.)"
The case that comebacks never end well, from Basketbawful: "I guess Magic Johnson did 'okay' in '96 -- 14 PPG, 7 APG, 6 RPG, 32 games, and a first round playoff exit -- but he came back fat and sassy; his once-slender body was covered in 40 pounds of excess blubber, he feuded with his younger teammates, and he even got suspended for chest-bumping an official. Watching the greatest point guard of all time play power forward and waddle up and down the court -- leading my college roommate to quip 'Hey, the Lakers are running the FAT BREAK!!' -- ruined about 50 percent of my childhood memories.'"
UPDATE: The Wikipedia entry for the show "Martin" is being updated by a TrueHoop reader and others eager to assemble the master list of all the NBA players who list "Martin" as their favorite show. Anyone who has ever read an NBA media guide knows this list is going to be long.
UPDATE: Columnist Terry Pluto, author of the legendary ABA book "Loose Balls" (and Brian Windhorst's co-author of the forthcoming LeBron James book "The Franchise") has announced that he is leaving the Akron Beacon-Journal for Cleveland's Plain Dealer.
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