In a cavalcade of Celtic interviews with SLAM's Michael Tillery, Kevin Garnett says: "My mom is intense man. My grandmother is intense. I have an older sister who's intense. We all come from the grind. We are all taught to work for everything we have. I haven't thought of anything different from this point. You go at something balls out. 100%, 110% each night. That's it you know? I'm a country boy. I work in the yard, chop wood, cut grass. I'm from hard work."
Michael Vick, I learned today, has become buddies with the founder of PETA. There are echoes of that in the NBA, with this story of Ron Artest's new-found heavy involvement with various animal charities in Sacramento. After getting in trouble for keeping maltreated pets, he's volunteering his time and money helping to get animals spayed and neutered. Volunteers are impressed with his involvement, but as Cynthia Hubert reports in the Sacramento Bee, there are parts of the operation Artest wants no part of: "Later Artest ducked inside the shelter's spay clinic, where several pit bulls lay on their backs on gurneys under anesthesia, their front legs in the air, their bellies sprayed with iodine and ready for surgery. Suddenly the man who goes toe to toe with massive basketball players turned squeamish. 'Oh, no, I can't watch the operation,' he said, looking away. 'I don't want to see that.' Johnson steered him toward the door. 'I don't want to have to catch you if you faint,' he said."
A prosecutor in Denver has been suspended three days without pay after giving Kenyon Martin lenient penalties for excessive speeding. In 2006, Martin was reportedly ticketed going 101 in a 30 mph zone, and then a few months later for going 103 in a 55 mph zone.
Mark Faller of the Arizona Republic finds Mark Cubans' blogger ban mystifying: "... maybe the problem is calling what newspapers do online 'blogs.' Maybe we need to create an entirely new vocabulary. I can't speak for the Dallas Morning News, but I can tell you that all of our blogs, whether they be from a columnist or a beat reporter, are largely just another delivery method for those writers. On Tuesday, for example, our Cardinals reporter, Kent Somers, updated the Larry Fitzgerald contract story all day long at azcentral.com, then wrote a more expanded piece for today's Republic. All during this process Somers has been updating the situation online (and in the paper), sometimes offering his observations. We call it a blog, but does it really matter what it's called? We have two reporting avenues -- print and online -- and at times we'll actually be able to use separate reporters for each. During the Suns and Diamondbacks playoffs last year, we assigned a 'cyber' reporter to give readers regular reports during the day. And here's the key, Mark Cuban: They were reporters. That was their primary function -- to report news."
Deron Williams has some nice things to say about playing for Jerry Sloan. Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: "'I got blessed into a great situation and a great coach,' Williams said. 'I had to earn his trust my first year and go through some hard times, but the payoff is a lot better. ... I'm having fun and I get a chance to win. Not a lot of guys that get drafted in the top five get a chance to win this early in their career.'"
Quadratic formulas vs. tanking. The basic idea is that the more you win after you have been eliminated from the playoffs, the more ping pong balls you get in the lottery.
After Channing Frye said Sacramento was one of his least favorite cities to visit, he is asking for suggestions about what he should when he is there, and the people from Sactown Royalty are happy to oblige.
Next Wednesday, March 19, David Stern will be in Albany reflecting on his career as an executive and a lawyer. I wonder if we'll be able to see that on YouTube or something. Be interesting to get a better sense of the man that I still don't feel like we know all that well.
David Berri of the Wages of Wins writes that Chris Andersen is a major upgrade over Tyson Chandler's current backups in New Orleans: "In contrast to [Hilton] Armstrong and [Melvin] Ely, Andersen has demonstrated an ability to hit his shots, rebound, avoid turnovers, and block shots. As a consequence, his Win Score is well above average. When we turn to Wins Produced and WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes], we see that Andersen produced 9.4 wins in the 1,999 minutes he has played in a New Orleans uniform. This works out to a 0.225 WP48, well above the 0.100 average mark. To put that number in perspective, if the Hornets had Andersen all season , and he maintained his per-minute performance in the minutes given to Armstrong and Ely, New Orleans would currently have 49 wins (at least, that's the projection). Furthermore, this team would be on pace to win 64 contests. In sum, moving from Armstrong/Ely to Andersen vaults the Hornets to the top of the very competitive Western Conference. Before fans of the Hornets get too excited, there are a few caveats to mention. First, it's not clear that Andersen can return to his previous level of production after a two year layoff. Plus, even if Andersen could still play, it's not clear that the Hornets would bench Armstrong and Ely and give all of their minutes to the Birdman."
Steve Kelley of The Seattle Times: "Wondering where all of that euphoria you felt late last week has gone? Worried, more than ever, that the best chance of saving the Sonics has been lost in the ennui of Olympia? You're not alone. 'I feel the same way,' Seattle's deputy major Tim Ceis said Tuesday afternoon. He thought he had the makings of a great deal. He had an impeccable group of investors assembled. He had the support of City Hall. He had a proposal to remodel KeyArena that glittered with possibilities. But he never had the state. Never had the governor's support. Never got close to the speaker of the house. And, just as quickly as this $300 million deal seemed to come together last week, it came unraveled even faster this week. Now what?" A Republican challenger to Washington's governor says the plan on offer is too good to ignore. And a columnist is talking about letting Clay Bennett walk away with the team, but hanging on to the Sonics name, records, logo, etc. for a Seattle replacement team to come later. (One problem: what happens to that teams records, name, and logo?)
The Pacers' David Harrison has been much maligned this season -- as a druggie and a hothead -- but he played a good game last night and ended up with six blocks.
In the wake of that Elliot Spitzer news, Freakonomics interviews a high-end call-girl about her business practices, and she says her clients include professional athletes. People often wonder why those living in the land of groupies would pay for sex, and I think the Spitzer tale has at least part of the answer: discretion.
Stan Van Gundy can coach. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "I was one of those who believed Brian Hill did about as well as he could with the roster he had last year, but Magic GM Otis Smith thought differently -- and correctly. Which is why he fired Hill and hired Van Donovan, er, Van Gundy, who took over a team that was two games under .500 last year and now has it 17 games over. 'Stan's a teacher who teaches guys in a way they can understand,' Smith says. 'He puts players in situations where they can get better.' A contrarian could argue Dwight's development into a superstar this season has been a natural progression based upon his youth when he entered the league. But what about Turkoglu? He's in his eighth season and has never been close to being this good. Van Gundy has turned a career role player into a Middle Eastern Magic Johnson."
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