If you read nothing else today, read SLAM founder Tony Gervino (the guy who, on the advice of his then-managing editor Anna Gebbie, gave me my first NBA writing assignment) telling the tale of Glen Rice's wife. I guess in theory it's a tad PG-13 here or there, but it's a good story, well-told.
Sixer devotee starts a blog called Depressed Fan. And what do you know? New Philadelphia GM Ed Stefanski calls him up, explains the team's strategy, and tries to make the guy a little less depressed.
The Akron Beacon-Journal's Brian Windhorst defends Mike Brown's new contract: "I think part of the reason is that he doesn't command respect with his demeanor. In front of the cameras he's always hokey, pretends to know nothing and always tries to divert attention with jokes. It's an act, the man is usually well prepared and a very deep thinker. He also always takes the blame for things, never calling out a player or ever raising personnel issues. Remember the Paul Silas line: 'Look, you can't make chicken salad with you know what.' That earns him points in the organization but not with the fans. The NBA is a bottom line business. Here are some bottom lines: Brown's got the best winning percentage in team history. He has the first back-to-back 50 win seasons in 14 years. He's got four playoff series wins in two years. He promised he'd make the Cavs a defense-based team and he has. Over the last year coaches like Sam Mitchell, Lawrence Frank and Eddie Jordan have gotten new deals and Brown has accomplished more than all of them. He was one of the lowest-paid coaches in the league, he had earned a raise. Sure, he's got LeBron James. Show me someone considered to be a good coach who didn't have great players."
Anyway you slice it, Washington's win in Boston was special. (Highlights.) On his blog, the Washington Post's Michael Lee writes all about it, including this: "The Wizards scored 25 points in the final five minutes, 57 seconds of the game. They scored 35 points in the entire first half."
Break up the Bobcats! Also, Carmelo Anthony got called for a travel that a lot of NBA players have gotten away with in the past.
Even if invited, don't expect to see Travis Outlaw in the dunk contest. The Oregonian's Jason Quick reports: "When Outlaw was in high school, he took part in the McDonald's All-America dunk contest in Cleveland. 'I had a bad experience,' Outlaw said. 'I missed all of my dunks.' He said he tried a windmill dunk, a leaner in which he took off from deep in the key and another dunk he couldn't remember. 'I couldn't get one down,' he said. 'After that, I was like, 'All right, I'm done.'''
Virtual tour of the Suns locker room, which is a lot like a real locker room, only with tight shorts for the GM. Also, be sure to click on the stereo above the big TV in the main locker room, and on the phone in the locker next to Boris Diaw's.
TrueHoop reader Robert emails his case that the Lakers should be OK without Andrew Bynum for a while: "As of today, the Lakers are 26-11. Assuming that the eight-week projection for Bynum's return is accurate, then the Lakers have 26 games left without him. Over the past two seasons, when Bynum wasn't the player we've seen this year, the Lakers were generally a .500 team finishing with 42 and 45 wins respectively. If the Lakers revert to being that .500 team, then they'll win 13 of those 26 games. That would give the Lakers a 39-24 record with 19 games remaining in the season. I see no reason that the Lakers could not win 11 of those last 19 games considering that 11 of them are at home and only 10 are against teams currently in the top eight in their conference. 50 wins this season would be a major step this year for the Lakers considering they're the third youngest team in the league and they didn't have Bynum for 1/3rd of the season."
Draft Express's Jonathan Givony watches the D-League showcase, and has this to say about Kyrylo Fesenko: "A constant staple of Fesenko's game is the effort he brings to the offensive glass, and today was no exception. He was constantly in the mix for loose balls, using his big frame to the fullest and coming up with a couple of extra possessions for his team in the process, even if these weren't always counted directly as offensive rebounds for him. Fesenko surprised us with two parts of his game in particular that leave a lot of optimism regarding his long-term potential. For one, he made some terrific passes, both from the high post and when doubled out of the low post. He sees the floor nicely from his high vantage point and is extremely unselfish getting players around him involved, always looking to make the extra pass like everyone on this team. Another was the way he moved his feet defensively. Fesenko is not what you would call a quick player by any stretch, but when stepping out to hedge screens and then recovering back into the post, he did a very nice job. On one occasion he was caught out on the perimeter on a switch and was forced to defend a 6-5 and pretty athletic wing player in Scooter McFadgon. McFadgon took him off the dribble and Fesenko slid his feet nicely matching him stride for stride in fundamental fashion, finally meeting him at the rim and getting off his feet to swat the shot away and then grab the loose ball. That's a pretty impressive play for a guy that size to make, and should make Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz pretty happy."
Chris Sprow of the Chicago Sports Weekly makes a guest appearance at FreeDarko: "The league and the players in it are going, in some cases, to such great lengths to show you who they are, that they're forgetting the distance is part of what drove our fascination. We can see their exploits; it's more fun for the fan to construct their personalities. Instead, your imagination is broken because Gil ain't a feminist, he just stumbled across the Cliff's Notes for Madame Bovary. Keep us away. Let us interpret. Quit being so image-conscious and so communication-addicted that a mute Kirk Hinrich feels forced to talk to me after a game when he really wants to sneak away into the dark tunnels. He doesn't have a mystique, but maybe the distance would let us create it for him. MJ never blogged. Even his best attempts at personhood just came off like a trip on Haley's Comet to give us the occasional view, before he flew off back into his celestial orbit of the basketball universe. The good gods are the ones who let us tell their tales. The other ones just look pushy."
A "dirty triple" is not really dirty at all. Maybe it should be called a "grit triple," which sounds cool. Anyway, it's a triple double which involves blocks.
Sitting the Heat's stars, points out one of the Heat's stars, is not really fair to those who have bought tickets to their upcoming games.
Dave D'Alessandro and Lawrence Frank think Brandon Roy is -- as the guy who penetrates and dishes to shooters -- really the point guard of the Trail Blazers. And as such, D'Alessandro says, he's as good as any: "We're still trying to figure out why we keep hearing the names of Deron [Williams] and Chris Paul when they raise the subject of great young point guards, and Brandon Roy is almost an afterthought. Odd thing, that. Sure, the other two are brilliant: They have a pile of All-NBA teams in their futures. But put these three in a lineup? We pick Roy and we don't look back."
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