Michael Grange of the Globe and Mail: "One of the most accomplished players in Canadian basketball history, Jay Triano, 50, will make his debut as the Toronto Raptors' bench boss tonight in Salt Lake against the Utah Jazz, becoming the first Canadian-born head coach in the NBA. Those in the NBA and elsewhere in the basketball community are optimistic about his chance to succeed. 'I think he'll be fantastic,' NBA star and fellow Canadian Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns said. 'He absolutely loves the game of basketball. He's passionate, a workaholic, and the kind of coach guys love to be around. He's got all the ingredients to be an NBA coach.' 'He's got extreme confidence, extreme knowledge of the game,' said Tony Ronzone, the Detroit Pistons' director of basketball operations. 'He can adjust to different styles of play. I'd think he's going to be terrific.'"
Michael Lee of The Washington Post: "The only team in the past 20 years to lose in the Finals and win the next year was the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons, who avenged a loss to the Lakers the previous season. During the preseason, Phil Jackson told his team that during his nine championship seasons with the Lakers and Chicago Bulls, he faced the runner-up only once, and that was in 1998 against the Utah Jazz, which had lost to Chicago the year before. Since then, the 2002-03 New Jersey Nets are the only runner-up to reach the NBA Finals the next season. 'The rest of the teams fall on hard times,' Jackson said of the teams he faced in the Finals. 'Either they don't make progress or teams catch up with them. And there is disappointment in the lack of confidence, perhaps, of losing in the Finals and exposing their weaknesses. This is something that we really want to review, and we have to make a better effort than last year.' However, Kobe Bryant didn't hesitate when asked if his team was tough enough to win the title. He responded, 'Yes.'"
Jim Reeves of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Slowly but surely, the Mavs, even without Josh Howard, seem to be shaking off their rough start and finding their legs. Give Jason Kidd a large share of the credit for that. 'He's more comfortable in the system that we have now,' Jason Terry noted. 'Coaches give him freedom and players have adjusted to his style of playing. We know if we get out and run the floor, he's going to get us the ball. He's the best to ever do it [finding the open man]. Him, John Stockton and Steve Nash are the three I think about. Not dissing Magic Johnson, but these are guys who make their teammates better. They play the game so unselfishly, you can't help but want them to be on your team.' What's done is done. Kidd is here, for better or for worse, and from the head coach to the players in the locker room, there's no looking back. Maybe it's time to stop gnashing those teeth and follow their example."
Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: "Allen Iverson made it clear Thursday that he still thinks he's A.I. He still thinks he's the guy who averaged more than 30 points per game four times in 10 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, tonight's Pistons opponent. He still thinks he's the guy who has averaged more than 40 minutes a game during his NBA career. And he says he's ready if the Pistons want him to revert to his old playing style. 'Yeah, that's just the competitive nature that I have,' said Iverson, 33. 'That's just inside me. I want to be the guy with the ball. I want to be the guy making the decision. But that's just not the case any more, and I have to adjust. I don't have a problem with it. I think the bigger picture is winning a championship.'"
Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News: "'I'm a player,' said Sam Cassell when asked if he considers himself more a player or coach at this point. 'As a winning team, you don't fix nothing that's not broke. This is not broke. Doc understands what I can do. I've got the best of both worlds. I'm working on my game and I'm definitely - at some point this season - going to help this team out.' In the meantime, he fills his practices running sets with the team, fills games giving counsel to the active players -- Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo chief among them -- and fills in any silent gaps with a constant chatter that rattles through the rafters both in Waltham and at the Garden. In that way, he feels he is helping the team win regardless of whether he's playing or not. 'Ain't nobody on the court going to show you more pump fakes and angles to the basket than me,' he said. 'They know I can score the ball. I'm a guy who couldn't jump high, couldn't run fast, but I knew angles and cuts, and I knew how to put the ball in the basket.'"
Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "Danny Granger has blossomed into the face of the franchise and one of the NBA's premier scorers. He is averaging a career-high 24.4 points. Reggie Miller did that. Once. 'He's taken his game to a different level,' Boston coach Doc Rivers said. 'He's an All-Star. He's playing at an All-Star level, there's no doubt about that. When you play (the Pacers), that's the guy you have to at least try to contain. It's very hard to do.'"
Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: "Most people assume Ben Gordon will bolt the Bulls next summer as an unrestricted free agent, but money always talks. I suspect he'll stick around if the price is right, no matter how bad the relationship between management and his agent, Raymond Brothers. One line I heard last summer about the Gordon impasse is if signing the 6-foot-2 shooting guard would make the Bulls a championship contender, they would gladly pay the luxury tax. That makes sense, but signing Deng, Hinrich, Nocioni and Ben Wallace (who was traded for Hughes) hasn't made the Bulls a championship contender, either. Drafting Rose, a complete stroke of luck, has brought the Bulls a potential elite player, which is usually the first step toward contending for a title. Getting the right pieces around him won't be easy and it might eat into some of those profits."
Rick Noland of The Medina County Gazette: "I think the organization is stronger than it's ever been: Earlier this week, I opined that the Cavaliers were in better position to win a title than they've ever been in the franchise's less-than-illustrious 39-year history. From the top on down, the organization is also in the best shape it's ever been in. Owner Dan Gilbert will not only dole out $90.5 million in player salaries this season, he will pay more than $19 million in luxury taxes -- all without a peep of complaint. Beyond that, Gilbert has hired quality people at all levels and in all departments of the organization, stayed out of the limelight and let his employees do what he is paying them to do. The results speak for themselves. The Q is not only sold out on a nightly basis, it is filled every night. The front office, led by general manager Danny Ferry, consists of intelligent, thoughtful people who don't make knee-jerk reactions. The head coach, Mike Brown, has convinced his players that defense wins championships. The superstar, LeBron James, has bought into it, and everyone else has followed suit."
Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: "Wilson Chandler is the rarest of Knicks, and not only because he is athletic, oozing with potential and doesn't seek the spotlight. What separates Chandler from most of his teammates is that management believes he will still be around after 2010, when the Knicks dive into the free agent market to revamp their roster."
Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: "Since he entered the NBA in 2002, Hornets guard Devin Brown has been the energized equivalent of one angry man. It happens when you go undrafted out of college (Texas-San Antonio) and have to rise through the ranks of the professional minor leagues. 'You walk around with a chip on your shoulder, ' Brown said after Thursday's light practice at the Alario Center, 'because you see a lot of guys, whether they're first or second-round picks, they kind of don't come to work every day. I don't like that because I've had to go through the whole D-league and USBL (United States Basketball League) to get to where I'm at. That's why I go after everybody, whether it's Kobe (Bryant) or the 15th guy on the roster. I'm going out there to try to prove a point to everybody who didn't take a chance on me or that has and hates to see me leave. I know there are a lot of guys in my situation. You just walk around with a chip on your shoulder.'"
Mike Jones of The Washington Times: "In the five games since Eddie Jordan's firing, however, the Wizards have seen a change in Andray Blatche. His teammates said he appears more focused and driven in practice, and he has become more vocal in support of his teammates even when on the bench. His statistics indicate improvement as well. ... Blatche said the reason for the change is simple. 'It's just having a coach that gives me confidence, builds me up, and he gets me going,' Blatche said. 'He makes the game exciting for me, and I just give the effort. He has my back within practice and the game, and I just feel like it's my right to give him the effort.'"
Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News: "Go back to 1995-96, when Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, both from the draft class of 1984, finished Nos. 1 and 2 in scoring. Go back to 1951-52, when Paul Arizin and Bob Cousy, both drafted in 1950, were Nos. 1 and 3 in scoring. Keep going back until the first draft in 1947. It has never happened. Never in NBA history have the top three scorers in a season all come from the same draft class. But it could happen this season. Yes, it's early. But the top three scorers, Miami's Dwyane Wade (28.4 average), Cleveland's LeBron James (27.4) and Toronto's Chris Bosh (26.6) are all from the class of 2003. 'That would be pretty cool,' Bosh said of the three possibly making NBA history. 'I think it would really add to that '03 thing that everybody has been talking about. ... We're all doing big things together.'"
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