Anthony Cotton of The Denver Post: '"I don't really know right now what's the plan for our team. I guess I'll have to deal with that when I get back,' Carmelo Anthony said of the Nuggets' recent roster changes, which included allowing Eduardo Najera to sign with New Jersey and then trading Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers. Chris Andersen, a former Nugget, has agreed to sign a one-year contract with the team. '(The Camby) trade right there shocked me. I think it shocked everybody on the whole team. But we can't cry over spilled milk. We gotta keep on going, keep everybody upbeat, keep everybody confident. 'We still have a good team. With Camby we were that much better, but we still have a good team.'"
Michael Grange of Toronto Globe and Mail: "Finally, the globalization of the game means that playing basketball overseas isn't quite the novel adventure it might have been a decade ago. 'More and more, it's going to be just a basketball decision,' Raptors senior vice-president Maurizio Gherardini said. ... 'It is too early to identify this as a trend," Gherardini said. 'You have to see things over two or three years to judge that. There are a 1,000 different reasons why things happen. This could just be a coincidence. Every season is different.' The irony, Gherardini said, was that the NBA's efforts to grow the game internationally in some ways paved the way for the day when upper-tier NBA players would look at playing abroad as an alternative to the NBA."
Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News: "What was the Nuggets' most glaring weakness last season? Defense. What does losing Eduardo Najera and Marcus Camby do for your defense? Weaken it. So these moves make little or no basketball sense, which is why Warkentien is resorting to board game analogies. When he starts talking Risk, we should make sure he has no access to nuclear weapons. As Camby's agent said in the only Nuggets-related blast of honesty all summer, that deal was a salary dump, as was the goodbye to Najera without so much as a contract offer. Nor are the Nuggets in the market to use any salary-cap exceptions to add complementary pieces to a team that clearly needs a few. You can't blame Silent Stanley, either. Why should he absorb eight-figure luxury-tax bills for a team that can't make it out of the first round of the playoffs? Combined with the decision not to give Iverson a multiyear contract extension, this summer's moves point to a year of cost cutting until next summer, when Iverson's big contract comes off the books."
Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Kevin McHale said he received telephone calls from a handful of agents looking for a home for their point guards and also entertained trade talks for players who could give Randy Foye support at that position. On Wednesday, McHale said his preference always was to bring back Telfair, who turned 23 last month and would be an NBA rookie had he gone to college for four years. 'We had a lot of options, I just had a comfort level with Sebastian,' said McHale, the team's vice president of basketball operations. 'You've got to remember, Sebastian is a young man who has so much growth in front of him. He says he's going into his fifth [NBA] year. I was 30 going into my fifth year. He's so young, he's just developing. ... We wanted him back so badly.'"
John Hollinger for the New York Sun: "Although the Nets' primary focus remains on the long term, there's at least hope for the short term too. No, they won't be talking about contending for the Eastern Conference title, and they probably don't project as a playoff team either. But it's at least plausible to discuss the Nets as being a competitive team -- at a minimum one that should be at least as competitive as the squad from a year ago. That's not a bad place to start for a team that just traded two of its best three players to kick off a rebuilding effort."
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "What the Warriors are doing is shuffling the deck so furiously that it will be November before anyone notices Baron Davis is no longer around. It's an old casino trick. Some dealers actually toss the deck into the ceiling fan. Barring a monumental run of good luck, there's no way the Warriors have covered the loss of Davis."
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: "New point guard Marcus Williams requested and will wear No. 5 with the Warriors this season. Hmm. Chubby point guard from LA, used to wear No. 5 with the Warriors? Yep, that was Baron Davis number, always has been his number, and Williams is wearing it because he's from LA and grew up idolizing Baron. Williams wore No. 1 with New Jersey the last two seasons, I'm assuming because Jason Kidd had No. 5 locked up (until Kidd was traded last winter). Williams wore No. 5 when he was at UConn. I didnt realize it then, but now it seems clear he was always saluting his hero, Baron Davis, with the jersey number."
Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald: "The Celtics have invested in Tony Allen's future because they believe the side effects from a serious knee injury are in the past. Allen and the Celtics put the finishing touches on a two-year, $5 million deal yesterday at HealthPoint in Waltham. 'We just think he is healthy now,' said Ainge, who sounded relieved to be through with the bargaining process. 'We (knew) there would be a transition last year when he came into training camp with a leg brace and wasnt 100 percent healthy or mentally confident in his leg. 'By the end of last season we thought he had turned the corner and Doc (Rivers) and I both think hes going to have a breakout year this year.'"
Lenny Megliola of the MetroWest Daily News: "Wyc Grousbeck, by all accounts, has done well in life. He's always been able to pay for his meals. Just not lately. 'It's getting embarrassing,' says Grousbeck. 'I like buying my own meals.' This is what happens when you own a team that wins a championship, as Grousbeck's Celtics did June 17 at the delirious Garden, crushing the Lakers 131-92. Grousbeck can't walk into a joint without somebody offering to pick up his tab. The championship season memories are stockpiled in Grousbeck's mind. 'I haven't stopped smiling since June. My teeth are starting to hurt.'"
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