Knickerblogger Mike: "While no one became a Knick fan because of their progressive stance on feminism, if the organization performs unseemly acts it projects onto their fans. In a way, what the Knicks did was give all their fans a black eye."
Influential sports lawyer Howard Wasserman thinks a civil verdict is a tough enough standard for the NBA to react. Writing on the Sports Law Blog: "We insist on findings 'beyond a reasonable doubt' in criminal cases because it is the State seeking to punish someone by taking away their life and liberty, so we want to be a bit more certain (even if absolute certainty is impossible) before we permit the State to do so. But that requirement not carry into any other legal context. A person can be deprived of his property (e.g., forced to pay damages to another or forced to stop allowing his factory to pollute the stream or forced to rehire a wrongfully terminated worker) at the demand of another private person even if the evidence only makes it more likely than not that some legal rules were violated. If there was enough to support a civil jury's conclusion that Thomas and the Knicks engaged in unlawful conduct, I do not see why the NBA should hesitate to use that conclusion to impose its own punishment."
Jerry Sloan, already building the confidence of another European player. Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune quotes Sloan on Kyrylo Fesenko: "He's not ready to play. He's too young right now. He's got a lot of things to learn and see where he is. He's trying to figure out where he is. He's in a different world right now, so it's not fair to try to put any kind of guidelines or expectations on him."
Bold: New Sacramento Coach Reggie Theus kicks off the season by announcing a curfew of midnight on nights before road games, and a general ban of cell phone use on the team bus. Everyone from agents to players has nice things to say about it for now, but let the power struggle between the filthy rich veterans and the rookie coach begin. A lot of coaching types have told me quietly they didn't like this hire -- they're not convinced Theus knows his stuff -- but I'll say this: the dude has alpha dog written all over him.
Marc Spears of the Boston Globe: "The Celtics' projected starting five of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo were playing cards Tuesday night when an idea arrived that they all should shave their heads as a sign of unity. Allen and Garnett, both Celtics newcomers, were already shaven bald. So Perkins, Rondo and Pierce agreed to follow suit and came to practice bald-headed Wednesday. Celtics vice president of media services Jeff Twiss nicknamed them 'The Bald Five.'"
Baron Davis on video, getting a beard trim from a lovely lady in Hawaii: "Can't wait to get my blog on."
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