New Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra to Sports Business Daily (subscription): "I am half Filipino. I'm proud of my heritage. I didn't know when I got hired that I was the first Asian-American head coach in the NBA. So, I took that with a great deal of respect and honor. I think any time that you can be a part of something to possibly break down any kind of barriers or stereotypes, then I'm all for it. And if it's at all possible for somebody down the line to have a door opened or see an opportunity that might not have been there before, then I think that's a tremendous opportunity."
The Boston Celtics cut Darius Miles. Blazer fans rejoice, although there's no guarantee he won't play ten games for another team, and put his contract back on Portland's salary cap for next summer when they plan to court free agents. There's also no guarantee we don't start hearing talk, again, that the Blazers ruined his career.
How's James Posey working out in New Orleans? The buzz was that his contract was too long, or too rich. But they're title contenders, and he's a great fourth wheel on any title-winning team. After watching a little preseason, Ryan Schwan of Hornets247 writes: "I'll say this right now. I love James Posey. Love him. He's giving it all in the pre-season, his defense is intelligent, his offense is the same. Already the Paul-Posey connection in the corner is catching fire. The Hornets are going to make it RAIN from three point range this year."
Stephen Danley played basketball at the University of Pennsylvania (with Ibrahim Jaaber, who has been playing well in Europe) and is now at graduate school in England at Oxford, where he just attended tryouts, which he has written about for The New York Times: "I was not worried about making the team, but I was worried about trying to play a game after just one practice. It seems like a recipe for disaster, but the guys insisted that we were in better shape than last year. For example, this year, we have a coach."
The tallest man in basketball, China's Sun Ming Ming, settles in with his new team in Japan. Ed Odeven of the Japan Times writes: "Sun scored his first basket of the game -- his team's first two points, in fact -- on a dunk. It was unlike most dunks this reporter and the 2,205 fans in attendance had ever seen. The 236-cm center stood on his tiptoes, extended his long right arm and in a swift, forceful motion jammed the ball through the cylinder."
A chronicle of NBA players trying to rap, through the years, with video and everything. I guess there might be a need for a language warning in a case or two, but much more pressing is a general warning that this is not pretty.
TrueHoop reader Tim, a Spurs fan, reacting to word that Nicholas Batum might start for Portland: "I'm happy for Nicolas Batum. But his emergence has brought me back to a central NBA consideration -- team success is dependent on top-shelf front office personnel, despite the presence of superstar talent. Kevin Pritchard, you'll recall, had to trade for a pick at #25 to land Nicolas Batum because his old friends in San Antonio were set to draft him at #26 -- Batum and his agent stopped circulating medical tests hours after he worked out in San Antonio, all but formally announcing to the league that he was bound for Texas. If that weren't confirmation enough, after the draft Batum was vocally disappointed not to have landed in San Antonio, wondering what went wrong. Well, it turns out that two of the best run organizations in sports knew what they were doing. If Batum is an opening day starter, throw another gold star on Pritchard's chart. One modest coup after another is his established pattern. Curiously, after the draft both Batum and George Hill's agent acknowledged the Spurs had issued a promise to their players. I'm not sure if Hill's was a promise at 26, meaning the Spurs would have promised two players the same draft selection or, as is more likely the case, that the Spurs intended to draft Hill at #45. Hill, like Ian Mahinmi a couple years prior, was a player whose draft status was so hot that the league did not include him in its predraft media guide. He was probably a good bet for the mid-second round. Whatever the case, the Spurs are no worse for it. Hill will be in San Antonio's 8-man rotation from the season's opening tip forward. ... Conversely, I'm confident that had it been San Antonio who had drafted Batum, leaving Portland in the cold, Pritchard would have made good with another player at a different selection. Elite front offices get it done. Sometimes they swing and miss, but seldomly. Fans in places like Utah, New Orleans, San Antonio, Houston, Portland, Oklahoma, Detroit, and Philadelphia should sleep easy. Pity that most of those cities are in the Western conference. Fans in Charlotte should consider melatonin."
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
