Britt Robson of the Rake: "For those who endured the increasingly dysfunctional, dispiriting decline in the team's fortunes the last three years, ending the inexorably fractious KG drama in exchange for a bona fide cornerstone player in Jefferson, a couple of draft picks, huge cap relief in Theo Ratliff's contract, and a couple of keepers in Gomes and (surprisingly) Telfair is a very good trade indeed. When the trade occurred I considered the circumstances and endorsed it. I still do. It was the right move and--*in context*--a good deal for the Wolves. But proponents of the trade should stop right there. Don't blame Garnett for the Wolves' failures, or proclaim that, all things being equal, you'd prefer to have Jefferson instead, because you risk looking like a fool."
Gilbert Arenas has a new blog post that covers a lot of topics, including just ripping into the idea that Jose Calderon is an All-Star. But one of the best points, to me, is this: "What's funny is after Shaq left a team in the past, no other players said what Dwyane Wade said. He really said it, 'He's done a lot for me, I'm going to miss the big fella. Thank you, big fella.' That's all the respect Shaq could ever want. You know, a player like him once in a while just wants somebody to say, 'Thank you' once in a while. The other two stars, Penny (my man) and Bryant never said that. It's kind of cool that D-Wade is expressing his feelings even though it was one of those moments where he could have been like, 'Damn, big fella left. Where is this team going?'" And he has one more follow-up tale to that whole shaving nightmare: "Thinking back on it now, it was pretty funny. I remember we were in L.A. and we were playing the Clippers and we were trying as a team to find stuff to try to cool the flesh down and we couldn't find anything. Everything hurt putting tights on, no tights, jock straps we tried everything and it didn't work. So what I decided to do was after I put my compression shorts on, I taped them to my leg around my thigh and I just poured a whole bottle of baby powder in there. Against L.A. I remember driving to the hole and got hit by Keyon Dooling and all you see is POOF, a cloud of smoke of baby powder. That's what I'm saying, it's funny now at 26-years old laugh at it, but it hurt then. My teammates used to be like, 'Oh, there goes Puff the Magic Dragon.'" Somebody, please find video of that.
Mark Madsen interview in the St. Paul Pioneer Press: "My teammates would be surprised to know that I like to cook. I like to make bread. I make one kind of bread. Whole wheat. I do it by hand. I grind the wheat. I have a grinder. I have 500 pounds of wheat in my basement that's vacuum-sealed. So, anytime I want bread I just go and take a little bit of wheat and grind it. I made 18 loaves one time in four hours. I freeze them and give a few away. You could go to a grocery store and pay two or three bucks. Or, you can make your own. I haven't actually done the math on the cash savings."
John Krolik on SportsHubLA: "More than once, Shawn Marion seemed pretty determined to shake the 'can't create his own shot' label, showing off some fancy dribble moves and holding the ball like he wasn't allowed to in Phoenix. Most of the time it led to a bad shot. I'm in the camp who thinks that Marion whined his way out of a perfect situation ..."
All the heartache that Miami is going through now and moving forward -- was the championship worth all that? I say absolutely, but it's easy for me to say.
Damon Stoudamire tells Newsday's Ken Berger about life as a Spur: "I've been in this locker room a short period of time and I see why they win. They just handle their business."
Chris Bosh -- taking his video career to a new level. My only real criticism -- I'm quite sure they don't use the four-point grade-point-average system in England.
On Friday, Ian Begley of the Daily News wrote: "While most of the Knicks act and talk like they want nothing to do with Isiah Thomas, Pacers forward/center Jermaine O'Neal has made it clear that he would gladly accept a trade to New York." Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star checked the transcript, and checked with the player, and determined that O'Neal said no such thing.
Channing Frye made a bet with Greg Oden: "I bet him whoever cuts their hair first has to walk the other person's dog. I don't know what made me make that bet, but oh well, it makes for a great story. Still, I'm really mad that I have to walk his little rat dog, Charles Barkley McLovin'. I don't even know what kinda dog it is but I don't even like walking my dogs let alone a little lap dog."
"The Last Shot," by Darcy Frey, is one of my favorite basketball books. Here's a close examination of the book, and its compelling and disappointingly rare idea to see top basketball players as humans.
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