Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star: "When T.J. Ford considered calling it quits, he would glimpse the basketball court in the backyard of his suburban Houston home. 'I would look at that court and I would think, even though I could retire if I wanted to, I still would play basketball,' said Ford. 'I'm at the same risk playing in my backyard that I am playing on this court, I feel. So that helped me understand it. I'm still young. It doesn't make sense to quit something I've worked so hard at to get to this level. To come back down and play at somebody else's level?' In other words, if Ford wasn't at American Airlines Arena last night, playing in his first NBA game since he was taken off the floor on a stretcher on Dec. 11, he probably would have been looking for a game somewhere else."
The NBA answers a blogger's questions about how the TV schedule is made. I wonder what would happen if fans got to vote -- so we could all decide if we wanted to see Jazz vs. Hornets or Lakers vs. Bobcats. The assumption is that the league would feed us Lakers Lakers Lakers, while the fans would want to see the better basketball game. But I suspect voting would make it so that we'd see even less of small market teams (at least, small market teams that don't feature Yi Jianlian). Remember, NBA fans who vote consistently vote in All-Star starters who wouldn't even make the team if the experts were in charge.
OK, you NBA fans, you say you want humility in your NBA players? Here's a guy who shares a modest apartment -- chosen for its proximity to the team's practice facility -- with his girlfriend, brother, and two dogs. He does not like lavish vacations nor going out, and he drives a 1996 Chevrolet Impala. And he's no scrub. He hits game-winners and makes big plays night in and night out. All that, despite the fact that he is on his second NBA contract -- which is when the real money starts flowing.
If Andrew Bynum heals well, who out of Pau Gasol and Bynum guards the speedier/outside shooting fours of the West? I mean, against the Spurs they can stay with Fabricio Oberto and Tim Duncan. But who's going to stand with Mehmet Okur at the three-point line, and who is going to chase Carlos Boozer around? A detailed look at how Pau Gasol might affect the Laker defense.
Dan Steinberg of the D.C. Sports Bog asks Carmen Electra, and various celebrities, and playmates and stuff why there are so many celebrities and playmates and stuff hanging around the Super Bowl. He asks them what questions he should ask them. It's kind of hilarious and certainly post-modern. He even gets a hug from that lead singer of Sugar Ray. I can't think of any way this is really about basketball, but you should watch it anyway. Here's an unrelated blog post about the death of the entertainment industry. If I had a team of graduate students, I would assign them to write papers explaining the connection between these two blog posts.
Now openly campaigning for a coaching job: Larry Brown. Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "'I am pretty confident I will [coach] in some capacity, whether it's an assistant coach, or involved in a franchise in some way, or possibly get back to [head] coaching,' Brown said. 'I don't feel really good about the way it ended [in New York]. If I didn't look in the mirror, I feel pretty young and energetic,' Brown added. 'When I look in the mirror, I kind of think I'm 67.' Besides not wanting to see his legacy tarnished by that awful season in New York, Brown remains a gym rat. 'I love coaching, I love being in the gym, being around coaches,' he said. 'I never had any friends other than people I worked with, until we moved to Philly and we started meeting the parents of our kids' friends.' Brown was approached during the summer by Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers. The offer to be an assistant coach was tempting, he said. 'I was real close, until I spoke with Mr. [Ed] Snider and he asked me to come back,' Brown said, referring to the Sixers' chairman. 'I thought real serious about it.' Since leaving the Knicks, Brown has been involved in discussions about several coaching jobs, and not just in the NBA. 'I interviewed for the Princeton job,' he said. 'A number of people talked to me about being back in the league [NBA]. At the same time, it was best being involved in the way I was.' But? 'Now I really miss coaching and teaching,' Brown said. 'So we'll see.'"
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: "Rasheed Wallace, Carl Landry, Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu all had field days against the Pacers recently. Here's a question for all you Hoosiers to ponder: Can you think of any other Pacers team that had a defense this bad?"
Why do NBA teams have shootarounds? There are many reasons -- the team gets some more media time, the players learn about their opponents, etc. But I think the biggest reason may be that if you know you have to be in a gym somewhere tomorrow morning looking professional, you might go to bed a little earlier. Young men who have the impression that their workday starts in the late afternoon can, the theory goes, get in a lot more trouble than those who have to get up and go to work in the morning. Nevertheless, it can feel like busywork. Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: "They drag their tired selves out of bed and wander through a breakfast room and on to a bus. Headphones on, some with sleep still in their eyes, they arrive at an arena in late morning, where they are expected to process intricate information about that night's opponents. All a lot of them want to do is get back to the comfort of the hotel. They walk through some plays, perhaps even paying attention every now and then, before they pack up, check emails and text messages sitting courtside and saunter back to the bus for the ride back to the hotel. It's a scenario played out in so many cities on so many sleepy mornings, a scenario known as an NBA morning shootaround. It's tradition. And, truth be told, that's about the only reason it exists most times."
Shocker: Joakim Noah -- leader of the last two NCAA champion teams, and the leader of all rookies in PER most of the season -- can play basketball.
Allen Iverson had a miserable night in Portland. But he hit three huge shots and Denver eked out an overtime win in Portland. Portland's night -- marred by a key missed free throw, a key turnover, and sloppy execution when it mattered -- becomes a story of hard lessons for a young team. The lessons suck for now. But they're great lessons if you're worried about being good in two years.
Jameer Nelson is glued to the bench behind Carlos Arroyo and Keyon Dooling, and Stan Van Gundy doesn't seem thrilled with any of his point guards, saying Hedo Turkoglu is the only guy who creates shots for other players. Also, something I realized watching Orlando last night: Dwight Howard is awesome, but when the Magic really need a bucket, a lot of times he never even touches the ball. Some of that is because creating his own shot is a strong, but not the strongest, part of his game. Some of that is his medicore free-throw shooting. Some of that is coaches who don't like to include passing in their most important plays. And some of that is that the Magic aren't great at finding him with the ball.
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register: "Who will win more championships: Tom Brady or Kobe Bryant? It has to be Bryant now. They've each been stuck on three for some time -- Bryant since 2002, Brady since 2005. Each won his first three times and then suffered an upset his fourth time in the championship round. Bryant is 29; Brady is 30. Bryant quietly scoffs at the widespread notion he has too many miles on him to remain dynamic for much longer. He trains like a madman -- to the point that his wife is just like any other wife, Vanessa Bryant saying simply: 'He works too much.'"
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