Ronnie Brewer explains Jerry Sloan's unwillingness to play rookies to Eric Weiss of DraftExpress: "A lot of young players may not have the patience to stick with it for a long time and learn the system and his performance in it. So that may be a knock on him , but I don't think so. I wish I would have played more last year, but it paid off in the long run because I'm getting a lot of playing time THIS year, am in a starting role, and have been playing well so far. What I really like about Coach Sloan is that he's fair to everybody. He really doesn't play favorites with the stars or anybody else. In my opinion, he's a hard-nosed, hall of fame coach who tells it to you like it is. He's not going to paint a pretty picture for you. If you're not playing well he says, 'hey, you're not playing well.' If you're playing good, he expects more. He's not going to kiss your butt because you're playing well, because that's what he expects you to do. That's what they pay people to do, and they pay them well. So he expects you to play well and he lets you know when you're not, and I really like that about him. There are other coaches in the NBA that may not be as firm with their star players and I think our coach is. He pretty much wants perfection, and I think that's why he's been successful for so long ..."
Don't you worry Wizard fans, it all makes sense to Gilbert Arenas: "We started off real slow, slower than we expected, but now we have a rhythm. Nacho is on the scene now. We have new blood. NACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! is on the scene, so we're just ready." Wish I could tell you it made more sense if you read the whole thing.
Sean Williams having a nice little run for New Jersey. David Waldstein of the Star-Ledger: "Projected over 48 minutes, Williams would lead the league in blocked shots at 6.94. He's ninth overall at 2.94. Among players with at least 20 shots, he is second in field-goal percentage at 65 percent (13-for-20)."
People in San Antonio are chapped that Tim Duncan is listed as a center on the All-Star ballot. The way Yao Ming gets fan votes, Duncan -- who, let's be honest, hasn't had his best season so far -- stands almost no chance of being an All-Star starter. How on earth, Spurs fans want to know, could Duncan, who plays a lot of forward, be listed as a center? Who is responsible for this? It was a panel of media members whose input created that ballot ...
Wow. For no good reason other than to show they can, there's a somewhat coordinated fan effort to vote in Shane Battier and Antoine Walker as All-Star starters.
Jon Robinson of GameTap interviews Greg Oden, and shares some of the taunts that Oden heard in his college days: "Greg's so old, the key on Ben Franklin's kite was to his apartment. Greg's so old, when he reads the Bible, he reminisces. Greg's so old, when he was in high school, there was no history. Greg, how was World War II" He admits that last one, which occured at Michigan State, got to him a little.
If Kwame Brown ever makes a "how to shoot free throws" video with before and after elements, this will be the "before" clip.
Former Sonic chairman Howard Schultz is now seen as a pariah among Sonic fans. Whether that's fair or not, there's some irony to his comments in a Sonics.com chat one year into his ownership of the team: "I'd like to speak to our Seattle-based fans and our community. It's been over a year since we acquired the Sonics and Storm, and we've really tried to re-establish the relationship with our fans. Our goal was to be the most fan-centric teams in the league. The fans are what matters most. From my heart, we believe very strongly that we have to earn our fans' love and respect. And you don't just do that by winning games. You have to do that by playing hard and giving back to the community. I think we've made significant leaps, and we've brought back great Sonics basketball to Seattle. And I think we'll make Seattle fans very proud. I'm glad to be part of this and that we have the opportunity to do these things. Thank you."
The Sun-Sentinel's Ethan Skolnick's advice to Pat Riley: "Sit [Shaquille] O'Neal. Bench him. Not for the entire night, but for the first six minutes, three more than it takes the veteran center to accrue a couple of careless fouls, anyway. Take a stand against O'Neal's increasing tendency to stand still while rebounds carom away and opponents blur by. Take away some 'run' if he refuses to run, which he seemed to do against the winless Sonics, until the officials and booing fans chased him off the floor. Take note of Dwyane Wade's comments the past two days: Wednesday, the superstar spoke of teaming with captain Udonis Haslem to restore the Heat culture, and Thursday said O'Neal needs to be 'self-motivated.'" The Palm Beach Post has the same idea. Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel doesn't expect it to happen, and instead advocates a less O'Neal-centric offense.
Mark Madsen, on his blog: "In all my years of playing basketball you're always taught not to go for pump fakes of opposing players. Especially when an opponent is trying to post you up, you never want to jump in the air to block the shot. It just puts you too much at risk for a foul. I've only been on the same team with Al Jefferson for two months, but I have never seen a post player get so many of his defenders up in the air and then just drive past them. Each game, I know it's going to happen that he gets his post defender jumping in the air like a pogo-stick. The other day in practice I told Al, that I've never seen a player get so many defenders to go for his fake as does. Al told me that he learned his fake from Paul Pierce and their years together in Boston. Tonight was no different as Al got people in the air and utilized his signature, go-to move of the soft jump hook that seemed to be unstoppable."
Britt Robson of The Rake says that Rashad McCants' gunning looks a lot better when the shots go in, and hints at Brewer time: "I never would have thought that less than three weeks into the season scrappy rook Corey Brewer would be giving currently moribund vet Ryan Gomes a run for his money at the starting small forward position."
Steve Aschburner, who covered Kevin Garnett throughout his years in Minnesota, writes at some length about the Timberwolves and Celtics on MinnPost.com: "Even if some Wolves fans already are dating again on the rebound from a relationship of 12 years, don't expect Garnett to tear up his snapshots or trash his love letters. 'I think the emotional side of the trade and the team is in his rear-view mirror. But I don't think Minnesota ever will be,' [agent Andy] Miller said. 'He still owns property there [in Orono], he still thinks of that as one of his homes. I don't think the fans there are anything he wants to forget. Garnett's loyalty was always to the franchise and the community,' the agent said. 'He had his issues with McHale. But that was like a marriage that went astray.' It was all sorts of warm and fuzzy and raw, human drama. In Garnett, fans had a story line of a life, not just of a basketball team. He was a lanky and gutsy kid from South Carolina who moved way north, eagerly joined a team labeled by its own VP as a 'laughingstock,' stayed while a dozen valuable teammates left, got rich but worked hard for it every night, kept himself off the police blotter, never asked to be dealt and changed the way many folks thought about both NBA 7-footers and the Timberwolves. Now? It's like Jerry Seinfeld's line about cheering for a team after the players, the manager and even the ballpark change. 'When you get down to it,' the comic said, 'what you're really rooting for is the shirt.' Pardon us if we root for a green one."
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