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• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Hired-gun lawyer David Boies late in the day on Monday announced the players were withdrawing that lawsuit filed in Northern California last week and consolidating it with the one they filed in Minneapolis at the same time. So the lawsuit filed here that had Anthony Tolliver, Derrick Williams, Caron Butler and Ben Gordon named as plantiffs now also gets many other names added to it, most notably Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Steve Nash and Chauncey Billups. So why here? Simply timing. Boies said the move was made for expediancy's sake, which means he thinks they'll get a court date set faster in Minnesota than the March date set by the Northern California court. All of this, of course, is intended never to get that far."
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: "The crucial moment occurred as the clock approached midnight on Nov. 10. After another marathon negotiating session, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the owners had put an offer on the table. Players either could accept it or instead face a much worse deal. Players viewed that statement as an ultimatum. Minutes after Stern completed his press conference, Magic player representative Chris Duhon told me, 'This ultimatum is just going to make most players angry and go the distance.' That’s exactly what happened. The players rejected the deal. Their elected leaders decided to dissolve their own union and take their battle to the court system. What intrigues me is how Stern, and the owners he works for, could’ve made such a drastic miscalculation (assuming, of course, that they wanted a deal in the first place). They should have known that the union never would’ve accepted an offer under that level of public duress. If the union had agreed to the deal, the union’s leaders would’ve looked like weaklings."
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "For all the shots Shaquille O’Neal has taken in print and in promotion at Pat Riley’s expense when it has come to his new autobiography, 'Shaq Uncut: My Story,' one somewhat leaps off the page. That would be Page 180, when he talks about Riley’s 'Gestapo conditioning.' Monday, at a Miami Heat Thanksgiving event at the Miami Rescue Mission, Riley took a moment from assisting to address some of what recently has come his way from his former star center. 'He’s marketing. He’s a marketer. He’s just marketing right now,' Riley told the Sun Sentinel with a dismissive laugh. 'That’s all he’s doing.' Riley then was asked specifically about the use of the term 'Gestapo.' 'I’m trying to figure out whether or not Hannibal Lecter, the Gestapo or John Gotti, I don’t know which one is worse,' Riley said of the characterizations he’s received from O’Neal over the years. 'They’re all equally insulting.' ... Riley joked to the assembled media at Monday’s event that they should wish O’Neal a happy Thanksgiving. And then he said he has moved past the friction that led to O’Neal’s trade to the Phoenix Suns in 2008. 'He’ll use anybody and say anything to market whatever it is he has to market,' the Heat president said. 'So right now he’s marketing his book.' "
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "The quality of play in these charity games is pretty dreadful – and not worth the risks. Blow out a knee. Sprain an ankle. Fracture a cheekbone. Under normal circumstances, when a player sustains a significant injury during the offseason, he has access to the team's medical staff and some of the most advanced orthopedic care in the world. But that doesn't happen during a lockout. Players are locked out of team premises, barred from contacting team officials and, more importantly, precluded from consulting members of the medical staff. 'Do I worry about getting hurt?' DeMarcus Cousins repeated, pausing thoughtfully, after Sunday's Goon Squad exhibition at UC Davis. 'I fell last night while I was walking down the street. You can get hurt doing anything. You don't let yourself think about it.' It's probably time to think about it, which might explain the no-shows at these events and why the players at the Pavilion didn't get close enough to each another to catch a cold."
• Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News: "Spurs guard Tony Parker is sounding more like a businessman the longer he stays with ASVEL Villeurbonne. Parker told Basketactu.com that he will remain playing with his French team for the rest of the season if the NBA is canceled because of the lockout. And he also plans to make a bid for French forward Boris Diaw if the lockout continues. Diaw hasn’t chosen to go overseas, but has hinted he might join Parker if the season is wiped out. Parker has been successful since beginning with his team. His team is playing in the 2011 Eurocup as he’s won MVP of the month and week since joining the team. As the lockout continues, Parker is becoming more engrossed with his French team. He will return to the Spurs as soon as the lockout ends, but it sounds like he’s busy with his own team."
• Marcus Thompson II of The Oakland Tribune: "It is common practice for rookies -- especially first-rounders, millionaires-in-waiting -- to get a loan from their financial adviser. Some, like Thompson, however, don't want to accumulate debt. So he's 'living like a broke college student' while staying at home with his parents. Tyler is living with his brother in Cupertino. The hard part about the waiting, they say, is they have no idea when it will end. Eventually, they'll get paid, get to play on the big stage. Until then, their time is filled trying not to go insane. 'They need to work out,' Oakland-based agent Aaron Goodwin said. 'Take a class or two online. Do some work towards finishing their degree.' Both Warriors rookies said they work out daily. Preparing for camp, whenever it starts. Training for their debut, whenever it comes. Tyler, who's been training at Cal, said he is embracing the center position. He's trying to get in the best shape possible and work on his low-post game. Thompson trains at various spots in Southern California and plays pick-up with various NBA players in the area. Still, he acknowledged the monotony of it all. 'It's de-motivating,' Thompson said. 'Not knowing when the season is starting. Not knowing how long this will go on. We're doing the same thing every day. I'm not going to lie. It's hard to stay motivated.' "
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: "Dwight Howard will not be playing in President Barack Obama's basketball-themed campaign fundraiser next month, after all. The online flyer for The Obama Classic Basketball Game on Dec. 12 in Washington, D.C., no longer lists Howard as one of the players 'confirmed to play.' Howard was listed on the same flyer over the weekend, and the Orlando Magic superstar himself indicated on Twitter on Saturday that he was going to play in the game."
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: "Andray Blatche may have missed out on his first NBA paycheck of the season last week – and might lose out on $6.4 million if the NBA lockout wipes out the 2011-12 campaign – but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to make Thanksgiving special for some families in need. Blatche plans to join Roger Mason Jr. and the National Basketball Players Association on Tuesday to hand out 100 turkeys on a first-come-first-serve basis at the Laurel Boys and Girls Club from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. I can’t do this, so I’ll give out some turkeys. (Alex Brandon - AP) Blatche has given away turkeys through his charity foundation in the past, but he rarely had the opportunity to connect with people since he was busy playing for the Wizards. But already this year, Blatche has given turkeys to single-parent mothers, breast cancer survivors and battered woman in his hometown of Syracuse, in South Carolina and Florida. He also volunteered over the weekend at a round-robin basketball challenge sponsored by the Maryland-National Capital Park Police."
• Peter Vecsey of the New York Post: "One of the countless calamitous consequences of the negotiating impasse between NBA owners and players is the unavailability, because of the lockout, of game footage for anybody who might be facing a documentary deadline ... for example, Joyce Sharman. Forty seasons ago, her husband, Bill, guided the Lakers to professional sports’ longest winning streak, 33 straight. Joyce is co-producing the documentary. But the way things are going, by the time it’s finished it’s not going to be all that timely. Considering Bill Sharman is 85, and two stars from that team (Wilt Chamberlain, Happy Hairston) are deceased, while two others (LeRoy Ellis, Flynn Robinson) are battling cancer — and taking into account the team’s impressive imprint — you would think David Stern would have headed lickety-split to the appropriate location and personally unlocked the league’s film archives."
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: "Lamar Odom stood in front of his locker in Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center one night and did his best to explain to me what it is he feels he gets out of those Power Balance bracelets. Odom, a minority investor in the company that has its roots in Laguna Niguel in Orange County, now has to deal with word via the Sacramento Bee that Power Balance has declared bankruptcy and via TMZ that Power Balance is closing up shop after a $57 million class-action lawsuit settlement. ... UPDATE: Power Balance’s Jason Damata reached out to the New York Daily News to say the settlement was $1 million and the company isn’t going out of business but has filed for bankruptcy."
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: "The Cavaliers are losing one of their most valuable game-night contributors, a highlight maker whose work is respected throughout the NBA. Jonny Greco, the video production director renown for the team's pre-game introductions and spoofs, is leaving the organization to take a job with World Wrestling Entertainment. Greco, 32 and his staff have won three regional Emmys and three national industry-insider awards. Not a bad haul for someone who worked just seven seasons for The Q. Although fans might not know his name or face, almost any regular to The Q for Cavaliers or Lake Erie Monsters games would recognize his scoreboard productions that included mock interventions for Boston Celtics fans and Candid Camera parodies featuring 'Puff' Dog."
• Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News: "Hip Hop is no more. Seeing as how there is no actual basketball to talk about during the NBA lockout, this qualifies as big Sixers news. After receiving hundreds of communications from fans, nearly all of them advocating the end of a symbol of a different era, the team's new ownership will announce today that the never-beloved mascot has been put out to pasture, literally. To spare the sensibilities of the one or two children who weren't scared to death by the rabbit, the team will say that Hip Hop fell in love, married and moved away to start a family. Apparently, it either was that or announce that they were going to boil him in a pot on a really big stove in a remake of 'Fatal Attraction.' ... The task of coming up with a replacement for Hip Hop will fall to two firms specializing in the business. One is Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which began as the workshop of the late creator of the Muppets. The other is Raymond Entertainment Group, whose founder is Dave Raymond, the original Phillie Phanatic."

• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "It is hard for most Suns fans to muster some dislike for Steve Nash, but the NBA lockout puts all owners and players on the public's bad side. Nash gets it. Fans have his sympathy. He even thinks they are right. However, Nash would like fans to understand that the players' selfishness comes with a point. 'You have two wealthy sides arguing over percentage points,' Nash said. 'It's hard for fans to understand that this is a business. I don't blame them. If I were in their shoes, I'd be critical, frustrated or even angry. You just want to see the game you love. Both sides are arguing for inevitably selfish reasons, but also for what's right when they are gone. It's a big mess.' A new collective-bargaining agreement, which could last 10 years, won't benefit the 37-year-old much. The 30 days of season that have been canceled would cost Nash $2 million in salary if no days are restored. He said his loyalty is to future players. The players union reportedly has fractures, but Nash contends it is solid. 'It's strange, because it's never been the most stable group,' Nash said."
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: "The damage-control efforts have supplanted any attempt to break the 125-day stalemate with the league, which has already canceled a month of games. That is why players, agents and even N.B.A. officials are eager to see what message emerges from the union Thursday. 'I think there will be a lot of clarity coming out of the meeting on Thursday,' said one person aligned with the players, who has communicated with both league and union officials this week. The first agenda item, the person said, is 'to hash out the Derek Fisher situation.' Two people with ties to the union said the issue was mostly resolved in a Tuesday conference call involving Fisher, Hunter and the board. But one person said it was important for everyone to speak face to face before the matter is put behind them."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "A seasoned University of Memphis professor walked up to Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and waited patiently. The gentleman finally shook Heisley's hand, revealed that he is a Grizzlies season-ticket holder and spoke glowingly about the team's success. Heisley smiled. 'Thank you,' the Chicago-based billionaire said. Except for his speech on business principles during the Fogelman College of Business and Economics alumni awards program, Heisley used an economy of words Wednesday --- especially regarding the NBA and a labor impasse that has wiped out the first month of the regular season. 'I know very little. I'm not on the negotiating committee so I can only tell you that I think on both sides -- all of us -- hope we have a season,' Heisley, the event's keynote speaker, told a crowd in the Holiday Inn at the University of Memphis. 'The players want to play. The owners want to play. It's a difficult negotiation. But they are all working very hard.' "
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: "LeBron James did not listen to coach Mike Brown, writes O'Neal in 'Shaq Uncut: My Story', and received special treatment in the season leading up to his free-agent decision. The self-proclaimed Big Diesel also addressed James' failure in last season's NBA Finals, likening it to his infamous Game 5 performance with the Cavs against Boston in 2010. O'Neal's best behind-the-scenes material involves his relationship with former Los Angeles Lakers teammate and rival Kobe Bryant. But he offers Cavs fans a glimpse of the way the franchise placated James, a two-time league MVP. 'Our coach, Mike Brown, was a nice guy, but he had to live on edge because nobody was supposed to be confrontational with LeBron,' O'Neal writes. 'Nobody wanted him to leave Cleveland, so he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do.' ... O'Neal cites a meeting in which the coach was called out for the double standard applied to James. 'I remember one day in a film session LeBron didn't get back on defense after a missed shot,' O'Neal writes. 'Mike Brown didn't say anything about it. He went to the next clip and it was Mo Williams not getting back and Mike was saying, 'Yo, Mo, we can't have that. You've got to hustle a little more.' So Delonte West is sitting there and he's seen enough and he stands up and says, 'Hold up, now. You can't be pussyfooting around like that. Everyone has to be accountable for what they do, not just some [of] us.' Mike Brown said, 'I know, Delonte. I know.' Mike knew Delonte was right. I'm not sure if Kobe [Bryant] is going to listen to [new Lakers coach] Mike Brown. LeBron never really did.' "
• Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press: "Wednesday evening would have been the Timberwolves' Target Center season opener against Atlanta if not for the NBA lockout. One guess is that the Wolves' starting lineup under new coach Rick Adelman would have been the same as last season - Luke Ridnour and Wes Johnson at guards, Kevin Love and Michael Beasley at forwards and Darko Milicic at center - with forward Derrick Williams and guard Ricky Rubio coming off the bench. It's unclear which, if any, free agents the Wolves would have signed. The Wolves' next game was to be at Philadelphia on Friday, then a return home to play Toronto on Saturday."
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: "While the NBA lockout doesn't appear to be headed to a conclusion anytime soon, one of the few issues that have been resolved is the amnesty clause. ... Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva take up nearly 75 percent of the team's payroll, so it's natural they are the most likely candidates to be released. There's a case that can be made for each: Haimlton will be 34 in February and his production has been declining rapidly the past two years. After shooting a career-low 41 percent from the field in 2009-10, his 14.1 points per game last season was the lowest in his Detroit career. Factor in the team's efforts to trade him for essentially nothing and some of his well-documented troubles with the last two coaches, John Kuester and Michael Curry, he would appear to be the most obvious candidate."
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: "Since July 1, the images and names of Wizards players have been blacked out and redacted until further notice. They’ve been stripped from the side of the building, taken down from the walls near the locker room. Their presence is felt, minimally, only in the merchandise section of the team’s Web site. The concourse inside the arena is filled with pictures of Capitals, Mystics and Bullets. Yes, Bullets. Not Wizards. Mixed in with posters of Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green and Alana Beard, you can find Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, Phil Chenier, Rick Mahorn and Jeff Ruland. Part of the arena is in 2011, the other in 1981. Signs and posters along the walls are covered in red, white and blue, so there aren’t even any pictures of retired Wizards in those bronze and blue uniforms anywhere. Images of all of the Wizards’ logos – the new red, white and blue sorcerer; the Washington Monument on the basketball; and the dc – now occupy the spots near the locker room where oversized pictures of Wall, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee, Nick Young and Trevor Booker once hung."
• Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com: "Looking at available free agent centers, one particular name was eye-catching as it pertains to the Sixers’ needs. Don’t worry, the name is not Samuel Dalembert, who is a free agent and will land somewhere with a contract somewhere in the $5 million per year range. The name is Kwame Brown. Before you utter something about him being a bust, hear us out. Brown is a 10-year veteran who began his career in Washington playing for, yes, Doug Collins. The No. 1 overall pick in 2001 struggled as a rookie, averaging just 14 minutes. He played for Collins his sophomore season as well, but his best year was his third season, when he averaged 11 points and 7.4 rebounds with Eddie Jordan as head coach. Brown has never been a shot blocker, but he can defend and his 6-11 body alongside Brand would form a formidable low-post presence. He has been a backup and starter throughout his career, but if the Sixers used him as a starter it would benefit the team’s bench."
• Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: "The Warriors are most likely to go simple/quick and use the expected new amnesty clause to remove Charlie Bell’s remaining $4.1M from cap calculations (but they’ll still have to pay him). It makes a lot of sense, if you analyze the different tugs and pulls in the GSW front-office set-up ... The practical reason: If they waive-amnesty Bell, they’ll get to about $10.5M under the presumed salary-cap line, and that’s JUST ABOUT ENOUGH to make Nene (or a low-post scorer like him) a very, very strong free-agent offer. $10.5M to start is almost exactly what I would project Nene asking for, in a new-labor landscape. Hmm, interesting, isn’t it?"
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times: "Yes, I sneered when I read ESPN.com's Marc Stein report that Davis either wants to play for the New York Knicks, Charlotte Bobcats or the Lakers should Cleveland make him a free agent. ... Davis surely has the talent and could help the Lakers at point guard. The supporting cast around him would force him to swallow his ego. Winning may ease Davis' mood swings. With so much uncertainty how a lockout shortened season will evaporate the Lakers' energy or whether Mike Brown will truly win over his players, however, adding Davis to the mix wouldn't be worth the risk."
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times "But as Eric Musselman prepares for the D-League draft -- in which the D-Fenders have the No. 1 pick -- on Thursday, he insists he is not putting in this work primarily to reenter the NBA head-coaching realm. 'In my mind this is the best job outside of the 30 NBA head-coaching jobs. For me, at this stage with where I am, I would rather be the D-Fenders coach than an NBA assistant. So I couldn't be luckier.' "

• Danny Chau has reviewed Jerry West's new memoir on Hardwood Paroxysm, and tallied a nice collection of oddities: "West was a churchgoer as a kid, but instead of finding peace with God, he found church bingo -- another excuse to fire up his competitive spirit, and obsession with doing things (and in this case, shouting things) quickly. West finds himself 'wondering who would win in a fight between a coyote and a pit bull,' a silly thought that didn’t come from his childhood, but in sitting down to write his memoir. West and legendary Lakers announcer Chick Hearn were escape artists. They would stage competitions to see who could inconspicuously leave team functions. In an Italian restaurant, West questioned a diner sitting next to him about her choice of beverage. She was drinking beer (instead of red wine) with her pasta, which he found preposterous. So he paid for her meal."
• If you find yourself hankering for someone to make fun of billionaires who pack up their toys and go home when things don't go their way ... John Hodgman has you covered.
• NHL players share lessons of their missed season.
• The league and the players have plenty to fight about without bringing up the age limit.
• Ettore Messina is new to the Lakers' coaching staff and the NBA, but he's not counting on being able to boss Kobe Bryant around.
• Wages of Wins wants to give all the money to Kevin Love.
• If the owners are seen as driving a league that is high-risk to miss games will that hurt their ability to demand a huge next national TV deal?
• Terrible news! Basketball-Reference's excellent hoops blog is saying goodbye.
• Tracy Murray on Twitter to Kris Humphries, regarding the Kardashians: "Any1 w/balls can't be in that fam."
• Imagining the scene in Mark Cuban's basement on the opening night that wasn't.
• This year, the NBA is leveled by labor strife. Last year, it was the norovirus.

• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times: "Years removed from his public sparring from Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal proclaimed since then that the feuding served nothing more than a motivational tool between the two teammates and nothing more than a marketing tool for the general public. O'Neal attempted saying that with a straight face when the two formally ended their feud in 2006, when they reunited for the 2009 NBA All-Star game and when he retired this offseason. Not that any of us believed it, but we can now say for sure that O'Neal still harbors ill will toward Bryant. 'Shaq Uncut: My Story,' his autobiography written with respected hoops writer Jackie MacMullan to be released Nov. 15, makes it pretty clear how Bryant's pending sexual-assault case and O'Neal's uncertain NBA future ultimately led the Big Fella to threaten Bryant during the 2003-04 season."
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "As expected, the NBA lowered its lockout hammer Monday on Micky Arison for offering opinions on the ongoing work stoppage on his Twitter account last Friday. NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed to the Sun Sentinel that the league has fined the Miami Heat owner. Yahoo reported the sanction was $500,000. NBA Commissioner David Stern had issued an edict before the July 1 start of the lockout that team and league personnel would not be allowed to comment on the lockout beyond the confines of league-approved media sessions. Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan was fined $100,000 in September for comments made to an Australian publication regarding the lockout. At that time, the league only acknowledged the sanction, not the scope of the fine. Such was the case again Monday."
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "What fans must remember about this labor impasse is to not hold it against the players. If there was a fault meter in this lockout, the players would be holding steady near the bottom and the owners' needle would flick and rock past the red line. It's not the players' fault that they have been receiving 57 percent of the basketball-related income for years. And the economic climate shouldn't merit a drastic drop down to 50 percent or lower. If the owners are trying to break the players' union and get them to cave into a deal that guarantees profits for all teams, all they should have to do is prove that all their other business ventures have built-in profits. Somehow, that seems unlikely. As fans, you have to try to remember Dirk Nowitzki's greatness, Jason Kidd's cool demeanor, J.J. Barea's gigantic heart and Tyson Chandler's screams. Forget about the dollar signs for now. Just take comfort in the knowledge that basketball will return at some point. And when it does, those rings will be waiting for the Mavericks."
• Marc Berman of the New York Post: "Knicks owner James Dolan is frustrated the lockout rages on and the club’s season opener tomorrow against the Heat at the Garden has been wiped out. But Dolan, part of the owners’ negotiating committee, is content about one of the agreed-upon aspects of a new collective bargaining agreement: the size of the salary cap will not go down. More than any team in the NBA, that will benefit Dolan’s big-market Knicks the most, ironically. According to multiple sources, one of the resolved issues in a new CBA is the 2011 cap will remain at the level as it was in 2010 -- $58 million. ... Economic projections from sources say the salary cap will then grow to about $60 to $61 million in 2012 -- when the Knicks will have the largest cap space in the league and have room to woo either Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Dwight Howard, who are slated to become free agents. The Knicks could be at least $20 million under the projected 2012 cap. Ironically, Dolan has been seated across from Paul, who is the Knicks’ top priority, during many of the labor bargaining sessions because Paul is on the union’s negotiation committee. According to a players source, Dolan has been the least combative of the owners and often serves as a mediator during contentious moments."
• Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: "Sean Elliott felt physically fine about a dozen years ago. The NBA’s opening night was cancelled, just as it is tonight, but Elliott kept working to stay ready. 'I was anticipating some type of season,' he said Monday. He got some type of season, all right. The lockout crunched 50 games into three months. Then, in March of that shortened 1999 season, Elliott’s kidneys began to fail. He not only survived, he did so while playing all the way to the Finals. And that’s why he thinks a compacted season is not only tolerable for today’s players, it will also be telling of them. 'We will see who is serious about it,' Elliott said. 'And who has been out there messing around.' Elliott reports his health remains good. Monday was the birthday of his brother and organ donor, Noel. And asked if he told his kidney “happy birthday,' Sean laughed. 'Every year,' he said."
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: "The majority of system-based issues have already been agreed upon, according to multiple national media outlets. Thus, much of the framework for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that will end the work stoppage and kickstart a stalled 2011-12 season is technically in place. So why wait? And what’s to be gained from a mutual hardline holdout that will result in missed games and millions of dollars in lost revenue — all at the risk of alienating fickle sports fans already dealing with a shaky economy? A lot. For owners: a clean sweep that returns the NBA’s power back into their hands, resetting the hierarchy of a kingdom that swayed last season while superstars such as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony dictated the futures of multiple franchises at once. 'You still essentially come down to the people that own the league saying, ‘We’re worried about the next 10 years, not the next six months … and there’s a desperate need for a long-term correction,’ ' said Tom Penn, an ESPN analyst and former NBA small-market executive."
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: "In an ideal world, the Cavaliers would be busy preparing for the 2011-12 season opener Wednesday in Boston. The media would be talking about Cavs guard Kyrie Irving's NBA debut or center Anderson Varejao's return to the court after his ankle surgery last season. Instead, there's very little chatter. Just a lot of apathy."
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: "The longer the hardwood stays in hiding, the more teams risk a critical breaking of habit. Teams know that many people renew their season tickets each year because, well, it’s just what they do. Fans might give a stray thought to pulling back when they see the bill, but after a while, the games become part of their routine. After a while, it’s harder to imagine their winter without the games. NBA folks are concerned about making it all to easy for fans to get used to missing the games. And this is where the confluence of a prolonged lockout and the current economy could mushroom into a nasty financial hit. In the one marketing course we took in college, the difference between inelastic and elastic demands was learned. Groceries are in the former category; tickets to sporting events are in the latter. You might want to go to the games, but you don’t need to go. That point could be brought home when suddenly you can’t go. It is your resulting reaction that most frightens salespeople and owners around the league. The fact the purchasing public might be forced into NBA withdrawal is an unwanted unknown."
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: "But before anyone gets prepared for the Wizards to slash $22 million from the payroll – or about $18 million, if you include money lost from the cancellation of the season’s first month – there are a couple a reasons why it makes sense for the Wizards to keep Lewis through the 2011-12 campaign. ... If the players agree to a 50-50 split of revenues, the salary cap would likely be close to $51 million, with a luxury tax level set for about $62 million. So keeping Lewis for another year wouldn’t hurt the team financially and waiving him could actually create more problems: if the Wizards’ payroll drops below $30 million, the team would be forced to pay other players — possibly for more years — in order to meet a potential minimum salary. Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is going to have to pay Lewis at least $32 million no matter what. So, would he rather pay Lewis to play for him or simply pay him to leave to join the contending team of his choice? Lewis was plagued by injuries last season and won’t ever return to his all-star form of three seasons ago. But he is healthy again, still has some game left, and could provide a veteran presence for a team that otherwise has Andray Blatche – or Young, if he comes back – as the oldest player on the roster. ... It probably is a slam dunk that the Wizards will eventually cut Lewis, but it doesn’t have to be immediate."
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "Coach Tom Thibodeau and his staff have been logging normal business hours at the Berto Center, albeit not working out players who are prohibited from using team facilities. John Paxson, Gar Forman and basketball management have been performing background on potential free-agent targets and preparing for various scenarios they can pursue once they receive the new collective bargaining agreement rules. ... Grant Hill, Caron Butler, Tayshaun Prince, Jamal Crawford and Jason Richardson are among the intriguing wing players who will be unrestricted free agents should they fit in the Bulls' salary structure. Given that a maximum extension for Derrick Rose also is on tap, it's unlikely they'll be major players especially because they likely will be over the salary cap and only able to offer veteran's minimums. Sources familiar with management's thinking said there are no plans to use the amnesty clause on any current Bull. As for the business side, team sources said the Bulls not only haven't laid anybody off, but team Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf has paid full salaries to the basketball operations staff. League sources said several teams have reduced salaries of assistant coaches and scouts. Other teams have let scouts go."
• John Powers of The Boston Globe: "As long as the season ends by the beginning of July, there’ll be time to get the players in camp for the tournament that begins July 29. And if there isn’t a season, the US still can use any of the three dozen players in its pool, which includes all but a couple of members of the Beijing gold-medal team and last year’s world champions. 'We’re autonomous,’ said USA Basketball board chairman JerryColangelo. 'We’re not part of the NBA.’ What’s encouraging is that the players’ agents want their clients at the Games. 'They’ve reached out to me to say they’re in, that they’re playing no matter what,’ said Colangelo. There are two compelling reasons for the Jameses and Wades and Durants to don their star-spangled suits. If there’s no NBA season, they will have gone more than a year without performing. And if they win the gold medal, they’ll be seen as patriots instead of pampered prima donnas. What’s crucial, though, is that the “A’’ team does sign up. Whenever the US has sent second-tier pros, it has finished third or worse. And sending anyone else would be a fool’s errand."
• Michael Lee and Peyton M. Craighill of The Washington Post: "After years of disappointment, though, the Wizards have their work cut out for them. Just 29 percent of NBA fans in the region named the Wizards as their favorite team in the Post survey, which was taken in August shortly after the NBA locked out its players. A surprising 14 percent of the region’s NBA fans list the Los Angeles Lakers as their No. 1 team, while 9 percent name the Boston Celtics and 7 percent the Miami Heat. ... By contrast, 72 percent of the region’s NHL fans name the Capitals as their favorite team, 48 percent of the NFL fans list the Redskins and 42 percent of the soccer fans say D.C. United is their No. 1 pro team. ... An obstacle for the Wizards, the poll suggests, is finding a way to attract the region’s newer residents. Fans living in the area for at least 10 years are more supportive of the Wizards. Among those who care at least a little about the NBA, 36 percent of long-time D.C. residents name the Wizards as their favorite basketball team, but only 9 percent of newcomers say the same. The franchise has done a lot to reconnect with longtime fans by associating the club more closely with the Bullets’ legacy. The Wizards have established a player alumni association and in May unveiled new uniforms with a red, white and blue color scheme and a horizontal stripe that harkens back to the old design popularized by Bullets Hall of Famers Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes. And the team’s new 'D.C.' logo echoes that of the Bullets before the franchise changed its name. Winning on the court would help as well."
• Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star: "When is a front-row seat not a front-row seat? Perhaps when it’s for a Toronto Raptors game. A Raptors season-ticket holder alleges the team’s owner, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, treated him 'like dirt' by installing a new row of premium seats directly in front of his $915 courtside seats. MLSE says the aggrieved fan is a dishonest and cunning scalper. A judge will settle the clash. After a flurry of court filings, unsuccessful mediation and a lengthy discovery process over the past four years, Toronto businessman Mark Michalkoff’s complaint against MLSE is heading to a courtroom. A trial over the dispute is scheduled to start Nov. 15 in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto and is expected to last a week."

• Wizards shooting guard Jordan Crawford tells the Washington Post's Michael Lee, "I don’t tell nobody, but I feel like I can be better than Michael Jordan."
• Nicolas Batum -- absolutely killing it in EuroLeague play. Nick Gibson of Sheridan Hoops: "Batum threw up a ridiculous line of 26 points, seven rebounds and eight assists with a pair of steals and a ranking of 36 (think of ranking as a poor man’s PER, without the per-minute and pace adjustments). Those stellar numbers were enough to earn him the Euroleague’s Week 2 MVP award."
• SportsFeat unearths a 1977 article written by Woody Allen about Earl Monroe for Sport magazine: "What makes Monroe different is the indescribable heat of genius that burns deep inside him. Some kind of diabolical intensity comes across his face when he has the ball. One is suddenly transported to a more primitive place. It’s roots time. The eyes are big and white, the teeth flash, the nostrils flare. He dribbles the ball too high, but with a controlled violence. The audience gets high with anticipation of some new type of thrill about to occur." (Hat tip: David Roth)
• Grantland's Men in Blazers will match your devotion to an NBA team to a soccer club you can root for while the lockout continues.
• Ira Winderman asks whether zone defenses in the NBA stifle individual brilliance. Perhaps, but the isolation and clearout-heavy NBA of the 1990s was painfully boring at times. Strategic intrigue brings a lot to basketball, a game that thrives on individual talent but also the choreography of fine-tuned team play.
• LeBron James, Clyde Frazier, Sarah Palin, Rob Mahoney, John Wooden and Basketball Prospectus all in one place -- on The Painted Area's 2011-12 Basketball Books Overview.
• A brief history of the 3-pointer at the Los Angeles Clippers' site, which means prominent placement for one Eric Piatkowski.
• Some old-time Washington, D.C. hoops legends rally around an old friend, now in prison, who was once of the District's can't-miss prospects.
• Andrew Sharp of SB Nation thinks there's something disingenuous about Michael Beasley's claims that he was exploited and betrayed by his former agent and AAU coach: "He felt betrayed when he found out that his agent had been taking care of his mother? He didn't think it was suspicious when his mother moved to Kansas State with him and had a new car and house when she got there? And this 'betrayal' just happens to crystallize after Bell had negotiated the parameters of a shoe deal for him, but before he signed it and would've paid Bell a hefty commission?"
• The gray wool suit -- an essential for the civilized man, but might be a bit toasty for Dwyane Wade in Miami. In the accompanying interview with GQ, we get a glimpse of how Wade stocks his wardrobe with the help of his iPad: "So how does Wade put his looks together? With the help of his stylist, Calyann Barnett. Barnett's star client loves getting dressed but hates shopping—he can't exactly roll up to the Miami Bloomingdale's—so she sends photos to his iPad and fills up his new 800-square-foot closet."

• Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News: "Considering that they began their stewardship on a day when the NBA continued to lock out its players during a labor dispute, a day when they could not even mention the names of their players in public, Harris and Aron and the rest did the next best thing: they cut ticket prices on nearly 9,000 seats, some by as much as 50 percent. 'Slashing' was the word Aron used, more than once. It is absolutely the right way to go - and especially if the lockout lasts for any significant period of time. Harris, a billionaire, is obviously not in the habit of setting money on fire - but trying to get started on any kind of a turnaround in this environment is beyond difficult. 'Clearly, we need to do a better job of getting the town excited about the Sixers,' Harris said. Later, he added this dose of reality: 'One of the reasons we didn't put any time frame on our goal is because we can't.' It should not be impossible, even if smart people before him have been unable to figure it out. We all have seen the other teams develop this lasting brand loyalty. Last year, the Sixers were young and exciting and made the playoffs. Their coach, Doug Collins, is widely liked and respected. If they can continue to progress, there should be something here to build upon. Of course, Harold Katz probably said the same thing at some point when he owned the team in the '80s."
• Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com: "One name stood out on the release listing the 'other investors' with the 76ers’ new ownership group. That would be Philadelphia native Will Smith, the well-known actor and singer, who is joined by his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. 'We were aware that he might be interested and we reached out to him,' said Sixers managing owner Joshua Harris after Tuesday’s formal news conference at The Palestra. 'He’s a local Philly guy and a basketball fan. Who wouldn’t want Will Smith and his wife in your group?' Harris said he doesn’t expect Smith to take a hands-on role with the team."
• Tim Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Lockout notwithstanding, the NBA announced Tuesday that its Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the sale of the Philadelphia 76ers. Meanwhile, the league remains quiet on the proposed sale of the Hawks, which appears stalled in the approval process. 'Nothing new at this point,' NBA senior vice president of communications Tim Frank said by email Tuesday. The Atlanta Spirit Group’s agreement to sell a majority stake in the Hawks, as well as the Philips Arena operating rights, to Los Angeles businessman Alex Meruelo was announced Aug. 7, contingent on approval by the NBA. Ten weeks later, a decision on approval does not seem close at hand. A vote is not on the agenda for the league’s Board of Governors meetings Wednesday and Thursday in New York, Frank confirmed. The Hawks will be represented at the meetings by Bruce Levenson, a member of the group attempting to sell controlling interest in the franchise to Meruelo."
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "You've got it all wrong, Dwight. That's why there was such an overwhelming sense of civic sadness when your comments to Esquire magazine began to leak out earlier this week. For the first time, it sounded to many of us that you want to leave Orlando more than you want to stay. ... You have a communal bond here and an entire city that loves you. If you go to L.A., you'll be going to Kobe's team. If you go to New York, you'll be going to Jeter's town. The fans and media in those cities will rip you apart if you miss a free throw that cost their team a championship. In Orlando, we'd just blame it all on Gilbert. See what I mean, Dwight? See why your Esquire comments made fans here so sad? You told the magazine, 'There's a lot more you can do in a bigger city.' Not true. There is a lot more you can do in Orlando. Much more than you can ever achieve elsewhere. In a bigger city, you will be known, but you'll never be loved."
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: "The session was easily the longest of the 110-day lockout, and the two sides were being helped along by the presence of a federal mediator. According to sources, the reason things were dragging out longer has to do with the preferred strategy of George Cohen, the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Cohen favors speaking to each side individually, then taking small proposals back and forth. If he can achieve some agreements, it was said, he can then moves the sides toward a larger resolution. For the first several hours at the midtown Manhattan hotel, sources were saying the league’s committee and the union spent very little time in the same room. But, while nothing was certain at the late hour, no news was taken as a positive sign in that the lengthy session comes after much contentiousness. 'They’re still talking, so that has to be better than not talking,' said a source."
• Amos Maki of The Commercial-Appeal: "The Memphis City Council approved a resolution Tuesday asking the council's attorney to 'explore all options' -- including a lawsuit against the NBA -- to recover revenue that may be lost due to the lockout. "Everything is on the table to recover the funds, if any are lost," said council chairman Myron Lowery, who sponsored the item. A yearlong lockout could send the fund used to pay off FedExForum bonds into the red by 2022, forcing the city and county to make up the difference. The shortfall could reach $10.6 million by 2029, or about $600,000 annually for each government."
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: "JaVale McGee’s early exit from the NBA players’ union meeting in Los Angeles on Friday drew the ire of National Basketball Players Association president Derek Fisher when Fisher was asked to respond to McGee’s claim that some players were “ready to fold.” Other players have chimed in, but there is a reason why the Wizards center was at the Beverly Hilton valet counter waiting for his car while the union was going over its strategy to about 25 players. McGee was on his way to the airport to catch a flight to Manila, where he was scheduled to go on a promotional tour through the Philippines for Smart Communications, the country’s leading wireless provider. He will film commercials and make some appearances as part of a newly-signed endorsement deal with the talk and text company, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. And from there, McGee will continue his journey through the South Pacific by stopping Hawaii to participate in the USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour called Hoops for Troops."
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Ricky Rubio has arrived. Well, sort of. He left Spain for Los Angeles last week and is there seeing the sights -- Malibu and Santa Monica last weekend -- while working out daily with NBA players. Yesterday, he played pickup ball on a team with Pacers star Danny Granger, Chicago's Joakim Noah, Utah rookie Enes Kanter and Cavs forward Omri Casspi. Michael Beasley made a call on Twitter the other day, asking Rubio to play in his All-Star Classic game on Friday at Osseo High. No indication that's gonna happen, though."
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: "Jazz rookie center Enes Kanter has hit the West Coast. Kanter arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday and played in a pickup game Monday with Minnesota's Ricky Rubio, Indiana's Danny Granger, Chicago's Joakim Noah and Cleveland's Omri Casspi. Boston's Paul Pierce also participated in the session, which featured about 15 NBA players. Kanter will likely stay in Los Angeles for the remainder of the week, and plans to bounce around the country playing in pickup games as long as the NBA lockout continues. 'I want him to be around NBA players,' said Max Ergul, Kanter's agent. Ergul said that Kanter's recent workouts with Tim Grover in Chicago went well. However, Ergul believes it's important for Kanter to begin competing against and blending in with NBA talent, since the league canceled the preseason and training camp has been postponed."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "Jerry West was lured to Memphis to be a savior and give the Grizzlies much-needed credibility in 2002. ... Although West enjoyed Elvis-like status during his stay -- police once stopped traffic to allow him to cross Union Avenue -- he says 'unsettling things happened too.' West became the object of at least two stalkers, which forced him to hire a security guard. 'One woman even went so far as to buy a wedding dress for the happy life she envisioned we would have together,' West wrote. West also details his rocky relationship with former Griz coach Mike Fratello, who took over after Hubie Brown unexpectedly retired in 2004. West fired Fratello soon after the 2006-07 season began because of philosophical differences."
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: "Jerry West has complained in the past about Phil Jackson not embracing him and is doing so again. One point that should be made about that time is that Jackson came in and needed both Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal — who were separately close with West — to accept that it was Jackson’s voice they needed to hear first and foremost. In that regard, it’s not surprising at all that Jackson, who isn’t that much of a warm fuzzy anyway when it comes to being social (and we sure know West isn’t the easiest guy to warm up to), tried to keep Bryant, O’Neal and the team in as tight a new circle as possible. The result was an immediate NBA championship in 2000 after the Lakers were swept out of the second round by San Antonio in 1999. For sure West was uncomfortable with the idea that Jackson would date the owner’s daughter, Jeanie Buss. But that venture has stood up, too, with Buss and Jackson even now still together after Jackson’s second departure from the Lakers."
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "The United Service Organization officially announced Tuesday the 'Hoops for Troops' tour that Derrick Rose confirmed he would participate in during his shoe promotion last Saturday. Rose and fellow NBA players Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Mike Miller, D.J. Augustin, Tyreke Evans, JaVale McGee and Brook and Robin Lopez will be in Hawaii from Oct. 23-28 to put on clinics designed to boost morale for military families. 'I am honored to take part in a USO tour and greatly appreciate the USO’s efforts in organizing this trip,' Rose said in a statement. 'I am so thankful for the great sacrifices the service members and their families make for our country and it is a truly special opportunity to give back by sharing our love of basketball with them.' "
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "Danny Granger, along with every other NBA player, isn’t getting paid during the lockout. That’s not stopping Granger from sharing some of the near $11 million he made last season with some of the unfortunate Conseco Fieldhouse workers who aren’t getting paid because of the lockout. Granger is the process of trying to arrange a dinner with the fieldhouse employees who are impacted financially because of the lockout. He also wants to put together a charity game where the proceeds can go to the workers. Paul George, Brandon Rush, James Posey and Dahntay Jones want to help their teammate with the event, too. People like the concession workers, stat people and ushers get paid by the game. There have already been three preseason and three home games cancelled because of the lockout. You’ve got to commend those players for trying to put something together because the perception around the country is that the billionaire owners and millionaire players are nothing but greedy."
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: "Alex Jensen was introduced to the media on Tuesday at the Edgewood Community Center. There's no question he's a coaching disciple of Majerus. 'I used to tell our guys in college, he's going to ruin the game for you,' Jensen said. 'You're going to learn it so well, when you watch an NBA or college game, you're going to point out what they are doing wrong. He's one of the best basketball minds around. I was lucky to learn from him as long as I did.' When Charge general manager Wes Wilcox first approached Jensen about the job, the latter was skeptical. He remembered how things were in 2002-03 with the Yakima Sun Kings, who won the CBA title that year. 'I thought about my experience in the minor leagues,' he said. 'It's totally different now. I played in the CBA for a season and had a great experience. I was in the spot a lot of these players will be in. The opportunity to be a head coach with this organization with the same beliefs as I do was too much to pass up. Their philosophy is the same as to what I've been taught. It was an opportunity that came along that I couldn't pass up.' Wilcox said Jensen was the obvious choice."

• George Will of The Washington Post: "The NBA's dispute, which has already caused cancellation of the preseason and the first two weeks of the regular season, at a cost of perhaps $500 million, illustrates an agreeable truth: Man is an economic animal, rationally maximizing income, except when he isn't. Many of the players are prepared to lose substantial income by prolonging negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement. They are doing so to win concessions that will primarily benefit players much younger than Garnett. Fans accuse the players of avarice, but the longer the impasse persists, and the larger the losses, the more altruism will explain this."
• Jim Ingraham of The News-Herald: "I find it hilarious, for example, the NBA owners feel like they are really putting the screws to the players’ union by staging a lockout. Many of the players who are being locked out already have so much money they don’t have to work another day in their lives. ... I don’t care if grandstanding Delonte West is working as a stock boy in a furniture store or not. All I know is Kris Humphries is so worried about not having a paycheck he killed some time during the lockout by marrying one of the Kardashians. Kris Humphries? I mean, it’s not like these locked-out NBA players, in the grand scheme of things, are being prevented from doing something that is critical to the advancement of mankind. It’s not like they are teachers, inventors, doctors or the judges on 'American Idol.' Locking out NBA players from playing basketball is basically like canceling recess."
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "In a mob scene Saturday reminiscent of — dare it be said — the unveiling of early Air Jordan models, Derrick Rose thrilled fans, some of whom had been waiting since 2 a.m., with midday appearances at two downtown stores to promote his new adidas shoe. Rose also continued to unveil the self-assuredness that has helped him become the youngest most valuable player in NBA history on the court and an eloquent spokesman off it. In pointed comments about the NBA lockout, Rose turned up the volume beyond the aw-shucks routine of his rookie season. 'Everybody knows it's not our fault,' Rose said, naturally taking the side of his fellow players. 'If it was up to us, we'd be out there playing. I think that it's wrong. I know (the owners) can easily take care of it and not take advantage of people. I guess that's how people are. 'It's very sad. They're not thinking about anything we're saying. They're not taking into consideration anything we're trying to give them.' "
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Is this NBA lockout -- the league's first since a similar dispute shortened the 1998-99 season to 50 games -- really about ensuring that competitive balance? Or if owners agree to a new system that doesn't have a restrictive hard salary cap and rules that allow small-market teams to keep their star players, is it simply a play for more money? And will any conceivable system ever really save owners from themselves? The NHL missed an entire season in 2004-05 in the name of a new owner-friendly system, and yet, soon after, those same owners went looking for every loophole they could find in the pursuit of a title. The NHL's hard cap ensured small-market teams could again compete with wealthy Detroit, Toronto and the New York Rangers. But it also has seen Chicago dismantle its championship team just months after winning the 2010 Stanley Cup, and the league next summer could be right back in a standoff over a new labor agreement. ... No system will stop NBA general managers and owners from unwise drafting or silly spending, although owners seek shorter player contracts that aren't fully guaranteed in the final years in any new deal as a way to protect themselves from injuries or their own bad decisions."
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "The point being that if players want to find a way, they can find a way. Under the previous agreement. Under a draconian new one. Stern acknowledged as much during his NBA TV interview, admitting that the reduction of Bird Rights, the increase of the luxury tax, the hardening of the cap can only do so much to sway player preference. 'There are natural advantages to certain cities,' he said. 'Some people like lakes, and you can go to cities with lakes. Some people like the ocean and you can go to South Beach. But there is an increasing sense that 'glamorous' cities have an edge and I guess it's always been that way.' For Wade, James and Bosh there will be difficult decisions as early as their 2014 opt-outs, decisions compounded by a CBA that well may be loaded with one-way signs out of South Beach. But the three made it work before and the hunch is no matter the configuration of any new CBA, none will be announcing intentions of eventually taking their talents to Sacramento, Minnesota or Milwaukee."
• Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: "Just 10 months ago the New Orleans Hornets were an economically foundering team on the brink of extinction in New Orleans, nearly sold to an out-of-town billionaire with designs on relocation, before NBA Commissioner David Stern took the unprecedented step of having the league purchase the team to prevent it from being spirited away. Jac Sperling, the New Orleans native Stern appointed, is the franchise’s chairman and governor and has helped dramatically improve the team’s financial viability. He spearheaded a drive to sell 10,000 season tickets and is negotiating a long-term lease renewal with the State of Louisiana. Sperling believes once the season-ticket goal is attained, the Hornets will be able to introduce a new owner and new lease agreement simultaneously. Sperling sat down with Times-Picayune Hornets beat writer Jimmy Smith for a Q&A this week and addressed myriad subjects, including the fact there will be no exit clause in the new lease a new owner could exercise to threaten a future move, and how NBA owners view the Hornets’ plight."
• Bob Young of The Arizona Republic: "However, now that NBA Commissioner David Stern has declared Tuesday as the last day - seriously, he isn't kidding this time - that an agreement can be reached before the league will have to cancel its big Christmas Day tripleheader and likely lose most of the season, maybe it's time to re-examine Hahn's idea. In fact, we'd take it a step further if the NBA actually ends up cancelling the entire season. Why not get all the shoe brands involved? The website hoopshype.com maintains a list of all the sneaker brands and the players who endorse them. One could easily come up with 12 teams or more, all of them stocked with at least a few All-Stars and with plenty of players left over to rotate onto the rosters, which could range from 15 to 20 players. Nike, of course, is the monster. There are 188 NBA players listed as Nike endorsers, including 45 former All-Stars."
• Andy Young of The Denver Post: "Downtown Denver businesses, especially those catering to the Pepsi Center crowd, are bracing for a chilly winter with the growing prospect that the Denver Nuggets? won't play a game before the new year. Area bars and restaurants, pedicabs and sports-apparel stores estimate that 10 percent to 50 percent of their business comes from hoops-related sales. Each Nuggets home game generates about $1.5 million in economic activity for the city, according to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Over the course of the regular season, opposing teams and their entourages book an estimated 4,000 hotel rooms, equivalent to the size of a medium convention. That could be wiped out as National Basketball Association team owners and players struggle to reach a new labor agreement. The first two weeks of the season have been canceled, and NBA commissioner David Stern? said last week that games through Christmas will likely be called off if a deal isn't reached by Tuesday."
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: "But here’s the thing, Jazz fans. While owners and players slug it out after news conferences and through text messages, and plausibly serious threats to cancel Christmas are followed by gun-to-your-head references, the billionaires are actually your best friends. Moreover, they’re looking out for you. The millionaires? Not so much. ... In one single CBA, the NBA can attempt to fix what was shattered when LeBron James fled to Miami and Carmelo Anthony turned a ridiculous hostage situation in Denver into new digs in The Big Apple. Will it work? We’ll see. Revenue sharing must improve. Some small-market teams (ahem, Minnesota) must make better decisions. But the owners have made it this far by sticking to their guns and remembering that everyone lost last season when messy Milwaukee played sorry Sacramento. If the billionaires can stand united for the long haul, maybe the NBA can actually become competitive again. And maybe, just maybe, the Jazz can draft an annual All-Star and keep him in uniform for more than 5?1/2 years."
• Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times: "Jerry West, the Lakers' Mr. Clutch who was an All-Star in all 14 of his NBA seasons before helping assemble teams that won six NBA titles as Lakers general manager from 1982-2000, says in his new book that his personnel job was 'like putting on a Broadway play and hope you cast it perfectly.' In 'West By West: My Charmed, Tormented Life,' to be released this week, the 73-year-old Hall of Famer, newly hired as special advisor to the Golden State Warriors, reveals the dark drama that swirled around and within him during his legendary run in Los Angeles. He writes of beatings and an absence of love being raised by his father, Howard, in West Virginia; of the Korean War death of his immensely kind brother, David; and of fighting the demons of depression and insecurity during both the lows of repeated NBA Finals losses to the Boston Celtics as a player and the highs of his last title as GM."
• Carla Peay of The Washington Times: "On a chilly Sunday morning in October, 18 basketball players showed up to pursue a dream. The setting was an open tryout for the NBA Developmental League Champion Iowa Energy, the WizardsD-League affiliate, held on Oct. 16 at the Northern Virginia Sportsplex. The tryout was a six-hour process of drills, running, and three games of two 20-minute halves. Players who show promise will have their names submitted to the league office, and will become eligible to be drafted. The Energy will invite 17 players to training camp, which starts in mid-November. The team’s final roster has 10 spots. But for players looking to impress the Energy coaches and general manager, the criteria for making a D-League team might not be what you’d expect. 'You’re not going to find a superstar at an open tryout for a D-League team,' said Energy general manager Chris Makris. 'Guys think if they make it to the D-League and score 25 points a game, an NBA general manager will notice them. NBA GM’s are smarter than that. NBA teams already have scorers. They’re looking for the same thing we are, guys who can transfer their game to what we need at this level, guys who have a high basketball IQ.' In other words, the team is looking for role players, and good ones."
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "Now 26 and back in his hometown, Zach Andrews is a compelling success story – a product of a foster care system who at times was homeless and who, on more than a few occasions, despaired over his bleak circumstances. His late father was never in the picture. His mother is still around, he said, but was never really there. He often visits his old high school (class of 2003) to encourage other youngsters confronting similar situations but also to reconnect with the former teachers, counselors and coaches he says "transformed" his life. In his four years at Cordova, he discovered theater arts and developed decent study habits, and as he grew into his gangly 6-foot-9 frame, emerged as one of the area's elite basketball players. ... Andrews last weekend tried out for the L.A. D-fenders, the Lakers' minor league affiliate headed by former Kings coach Eric Musselman. If Musselman offers a job, Andrews will take it. But he still plans to try out for the Kings' affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, next Sunday. In his gut, he hopes the Kings come through. He already has had conversations with the team – sort of."

• Dan Jovic of Fox 8: "So far this season the Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary football team has been ready for anything that came their way on the football field, that was until Tuesday. Members of the state's third ranked Division III team were shocked when two-time NBA MVP LeBron James showed up for practice wearing full pads and took part in the late afternoon session. 'I not gonna lie, it was pretty cool to see him out there,' said starting quarterback Kevin Besser. James borrowed the equipment and jersey of #13 Clayton Uecker, who did not practice today due to injury. Uecker is also the tallest player on the SVSM roster at 6'5". SVSM running back Sae'Von Fitzgerald said James looked just like every other member of the team with a helmet on. 'He wore everything. Shoulder pads, helmet, visor... everything,' said Fitzgerald. But when it came to tackling, James was off limits."
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "An NBA collective bargaining agreement will be reached by the end of this weekend. That's my prediction. That's where I'm putting my beer money. I've already told two friends I would buy the kegs if I'm wrong. If the lockout persists, regular-season games will be lost for only the second time in NBA history. But nothing that transpired these past few days convinces me to tap into the savings. Progress was made on a number of issues, including the adoption of a more generous revenue-sharing package that the small- to mid-market owners have pursued for years. Also, the owners softened their insistence on implementing a hard vs. soft salary cap, though details about luxury penalties, guaranteed contract lengths and player exceptions have yet to be finalized. ... Losing preseason games is a minor inconvenience. But a week from now? If Stern, Hunter and Fisher aren't seated together at a microphone, all smiles and ready to start collecting their salaries, I'll take back my beer bet."
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "In truth, the players have done the compromising. They are giving back from the current deal. The owners’ compromises are from their own previous proposals, not the previous system they put together or the mess they created. Stern, however, framed the argument in a way to put pressure on the players. Even if they can ignore public perception, many within the union will believe a version of a 50/50 split could be workable. There remain many other issues to negotiate. Even the 50/50 split was more of a proposal to make a proposal. Each percentage point is worth roughly $40 million, putting the sides $80 million to $160 million apart, depending on how the split is determined with guaranteed minimum and maximums. By the time the back-to-back news conferences were over, for the first time, the sides did not seem far apart. That is how Stern wanted it to seem. He orchestrated his little show masterfully. That won’t get a deal done. The 1998 lockout stretched into 1999, so this one could drag on, too. But increasingly, it seems as if Stern and the owners will get what they wanted all along. The trick will be to get it done by Monday so that the full season can be saved."
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: "With no meetings scheduled and both sides seemingly dug in, the chances for playing a full season appear grim. While a 50-50 split appears equitable, the players contend that with the league holding 8 percent of player salaries in escrow, the figure is slanted toward the owners. ... NBA superstars such as Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant attended the meetings and were active in the discussions. On their Twitter accounts, many players sounded resigned to the idea of missing regular-season games. Stern said he truly believed the sides were close to an agreement, especially when the hard salary cap and rollbacks were eliminated from the equation. If Stern does cancel the first two weeks of the season, the Celtics also would lose home games against the Charlotte Bobcats and Los Angeles Clippers."
• Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: "The NBA is not the NFL. Heck, right now, amid the major leagues' thrilling late-season rush, the NBA is not even baseball. Yet the NBA's average player salary of about $5.1 million equals the average salary of those two sports combined. The NBA players need to do the math, listen to the yawns, and look in the mirror. The NBA players need to take a pay cut and go back to work in a sport that will be healthier because of it. Under the old agreement, the players were making 57% of basketball-related income. After Tuesday's negotiating session, the owners were talking about giving the players 50%. What happens if the players take that horrible pay cut? They will still be the highest-paid team athletes in American pro sports. Some of them will still make millions to spend their lives on a bench. The only thing that might radically change is that more owners might have more money to field better teams, increasing parity and popularity while ensuring survival."
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: "Detroit Pistons free agent Tracy McGrady denies a report that a deal is 'in the works' for the 14-year veteran to play in China during the NBA lockout. In fact, McGrady ruled out even exploring the option of playing overseas if the lockout threatens the regular season, which is scheduled to begin next month. 'Not at all,' McGrady texted the Free Press this afternoon when asked whether playing overseas is an option. The Philippine Star quotes a player who has signed with the Chinese league’s Foshan Dralions as saying the team also was pursuing McGrady, a 32-year-old six-time All-Star. Center Marcus Douhit said he was told that a deal is 'in the works.' ... He played for the Pistons on a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract. Speculation is that he will sign with an NBA contender after the lockout."
• Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News: "Spurs guard Tony Parker will announce Thursday that he will play for his French team ASVEL during the rest of the NBA lockout. Parker has been hinting at playing overseas for the past several weeks. But if the players and owners don’t settle, the French website sports.fr reports that Parker will play for his own team. There was an issue with insurance to guarantee Parker’s contract with the Spurs. But he will pay that stipend out of his own pocket to play for the team, perhaps as soon as Oct. 14 against Paris-Levallois. The contract has an opt-out for Parker to return to the Spurs as soon as the lockout finishes. But playing any kind of basketball comes with the risk of injury."
• Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald: "Heat employees, who took a 10 percent paycut July 1 when the lockout started, saw their paycut increase to 25 percent this week, which will be the case for five months or until the lockout ends, whichever comes first... Shane Battier and Grant Hill – who are on Miami’s list of potential free agent targets – both have interest in talking to the Heat after the lockout, friends say."
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: "Jazz rookie center Enes Kanter has returned to the United States and resumed workouts with trainer Tim Grover in Chicago. Grover worked out Kanter last spring during predraft sessions. Utah then selected the Turkey native with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Kanter plans to remain in Chicago for the immediate future, keeping an eye on the progress of the NBA lockout. Contract offers from Chinese professional teams are off the table. 'The China thing, what happened is … Enes' priority is the NBA, as an NBA player,' said Max Ergul, Kanter's agent. 'Once [China] came up with that rule change — we thought they could've bent it around — it's just not happening. They're very stern; they don't want a player coming and leaving. I'm not going to put my signature on something that might force him to stay there for a whole season.' Kanter will consider signing with a European pro club if a strong offer is presented and the NBA's work stoppage continues."
• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: "Samardo Samuels is trying to make the best of the extra time he has on his hands. The Cavaliers' 6-9, 260-pound forward from Jamaica, who thought he'd be in training camp by now, spent most of his summer working on his game in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and is currently working out with former Cavs assistant coach Chris Jent, now an assistant at Ohio State. While Samuels may be working on his shot with Jent, the most important things he said he learned this summer were how to prepare and how to win. He spent time with Baron Davis, Mo Williams and Elton Brand, and then played in the Impact Basketball summer league with former NBA champion Chauncey Billups, whose approach and attitude really impressed him. 'Even in the little games we played in the Impact League, to see the approach he takes and the seriousness he has for the game was fun to be a part of,' Samuels said of Billups. 'He's one of the best at doing it right now.' Samuels picked up a lot just watching the veterans getting ready to play. 'Those guys know how to win,' he said."
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "First-round pick Nikola Mirotic said the only reason he stayed in this year's NBA draft is because of the strong possibility his rights would be acquired by the Chicago Bulls. In an interview with HoopsHype.com editor-in-chief Jorge Sierra, Mirotic said he was 'thrilled by the Chicago option' and was told by Bulls management roughly two to three weeks before the June draft that it planned to try to acquire him. Because of his prohibitive buyout with Real Madrid, Mirotic spooked some teams away despite his first-round talent. The Bulls sent picks Nos. 28 and 43 and cash to the Timberwolves for the rights to the Montenegro forward, who was picked 23rd. ... Mirotic's deal with Real Madrid runs through 2015 with an NBA out, however the Tribune previously reported his buyout is roughly $2 million Euros. Mirotic told the web site he wants eventually to play in the NBA, however he isn't sure if he will make the jump in 'two, three, four or five years.' "
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times: "When he won his lone NBA championship as a player in 1972, Jerry West felt uncomfortable basking in champagne and celebrating. When the Lakers unveiled his statue this year during All-Star weekend, he expressed paranoia no one would actually attend the ceremony. And in his autobiography,'West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life' slated for an Oct. 19 release, West says the book centers more on what he calls 'growing up in a very abusive household' in West Virginia than it does about sharing salacious details. 'This book is not a book trashing people,' West said Monday night at a local Best Buy, which promoted the debut of NBA2K12. 'I don't trash anyone in this book. This book is an honest accounting of who I am. Maybe it's a little bit too honest. It was painful to write, to be honest with you. I'm hoping that people who led a very awkward life can take something from this book. There's not a whole lot of basketball in it.' "
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: "The Cavaliers reportedly have selected their new radio play-by-play announcer. Unfortunately, they are not ready to announce the candidate for another day or two. Several industry sources say the Cavs wanted to 'stay local' in replacing Joe Tait, who retired after 39 years after the 2010-11 season. They appeared to be looking for a younger candidate who was adept with social media. Everything pointed toward Cleveland native and Detroit announcer Matt Dery. However, he was told on Tuesday that he didn't get the job. Cavs broadcasting director Dave Dombrowski has been reaching out to candidates to let them know that they didn't get the job. An industry source said former television announcer Michael Reghi also got that call on Tuesday."
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: "The NBA on Tuesday officially canceled its entire preseason schedule and the first two weeks of the regular season could be next. A large chunk, if not all, of the 2011-12 season is in serious jeopardy. For those who invested in Trail Blazers season tickets, this entitles you to a refund. According to a team source, season ticket holders will receive refunds based on when and how many games are ultimately canceled. Refund checks will be mailed from the team to season ticket holders by the 10th of the month during the month after games are missed."

• Multiple reports say Robert Horry's daughter dies at age 17 after a lifelong battle with a rare chromosonal disorder.
• Rich Cho lands on his feet quickly, as the new GM of the Bobcats. Word is that Cho impressed the Bobcats in negotiating for Gerald Wallace. Here's a Q+A about his approach to running a front office. It's from when he got his last job before being abruptly fired in Portland, so it's basically still fresh.
• Another first for the TrueHoop Network: The Two Man Game's Rob Mahoney -- a frequent contributor to The New York Times' website -- has cranked out the words to go with a photo-rich book about the Mavericks' title run.
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar makes Eminem look impossibly short. (Via Trey Kerby)
• Mikhail Prokhorov congratulates Mark Cuban on his silence, title.
• A Buddhist take on the Finals.
• Ron Artest says a failed Corey Maggette physical is the only thing that kept him from becoming a Clipper. Instead, he ended up in Sacramento.
• Ricky Rubio could turn out OK, even if you make projections based on his more recent and pedestrian statistics.
• Tom Haberstroh on Erik Spoelstra's rotations in the Finals. Subtext: J.J. Barea killed Mike Bibby. On NBA Playbook you can see a lot of what comes up in Haberstroh's post in video.
• LeBron James congratulates the Mavericks in a statement on his website. This will be parsed for evil intent.

NBA official Bob Delaney wrote a book ("Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob") about his time fighting the mafia undercover as a New Jersey state trooper.

The book is serious, but includes a nice little Irish-American St. Patrick's Day anecdote:

My parents were born and raised in Paterson. They met for the first time at a skating rink when they were fifteen. As the story goes, my dad asked my mom, Mary, to fix him up with one of her friends, but my mom skated with him and fixed things for herself instead. They started going together at sixteen. When my dad turned seventeen, he enlisted and gave my mom a ring. Two years later, he returned home to the States and couldn't have wished for a better day to get discharged: St. Patrick's Day -- March 17, 1946. The celebration party with his family and friends lasted well into the night at the Market Street Tavern.

One month later, Mom and Dad got married, honeymooning thirty minutes away in Newark at an old hotel called the Robert Treat.

A quick search didn't reveal any remaining evidence of the Market Street Tavern in Paterson. However, the Robert Treat is still there. It's a Best Western now, just a stone's throw from where the Nets and Bulls will play tonight. Delaney did not get the assignment, however.

In many ways, Michael Lewis’ "Moneyball" revolutionized the way people see baseball, while kick starting the advanced analytics movement in other sports. "The Extra 2%" by Jonah Keri details the improbable success of the Tampa Bay Rays and will undoubtedly become the next must-read tale for savvy sports fans -- and its lessons can be usefully applied to basketball as well as baseball.

Finishing last place in their division in nine of their first ten seasons with an average record of 65-97, the Tampa Bay Rays were a perennial laughingstock in MLB. Until two seasons ago when, armed with innovative Wall Streeters making personnel decisions, the Rays underwent a dramatic turnaround, making it to the World Series in spite of a payroll just one fifth that of their in-division rivals, the New York Yankees.

While baseball and basketball have many differences both in how the games are played and how teams are built, there are some common threads, one of which was highlighted by NBA decision makers this past weekend at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: you don’t want your team to be stuck in no man’s land. While conventional wisdom may suggest the more games a team wins, the closer it is to a championship, there is little value in a veteran-laden, cap-strapped roster winning 40 to 45 games in a season, as it will likely be in a situation with little room to improve itself.

When Andrew Friedman took over as GM of the Rays in the 2006 season, he quickly recognized this concept “Winning 66 or 71 games didn’t make a dramatic difference to us," he says in Keri's book. "It was about putting ourselves in position to win 92-plus.”

Preaching patience, Friedman stuck to that mantra the next season as well: “It wasn’t about constructing an optimal 25-man roster. A move we didn’t make in 2007 allowed us to make certain moves in the offseason.”

Building a championship team is an incredibly difficult task no matter the sport. Ultimately only one team can win each season, and the margin for error is so small that in order to have a chance, every move a team makes needs to be made in direct or indirect furtherance of that goal. Sacrificing flexibility and assets for short term gain may placate media and fans, but if the goal is more than mediocrity it’s not in a team’s best interest. As Rockets GM Daryl Morey said at the Sloan Conference, “Having a bunch of coachable guys is just enough to get beat.”

In the MLB, small market teams are at a major disadvantage, often having a fraction of the big clubs' budgets. To bridge the gap, teams like the Rays have to spend wisely, finding any market inefficiency they can to exploit. In the book’s foreword, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban explains the Rays’ strategy:

So they dream up new ideas, whether it’s to find a new relief pitcher, improve their brand, or build their profit margin. No one idea is likely to make a huge difference. But collectively, those ideas make the difference between winning and losing, or between winning a little and winning a lot. Those ideas, working together, result in that little edge the Rays are constantly looking for.

The Rays used a variety of methods to gain an edge over their opposition, many of which are applicable in one way or another to the NBA. The most noteworthy of which is their emphasis on player development. Keri writes:

The Rays needed more than raw talent, or even the ability to spot talent, to topple the Yankees and Red Sox. It took a player development system that could mold those draft picks, international signings, scrap-heap free agents, and trade targets into big league contributors. To that end, they employed two roving minor league instructors for the three biggest specialties -- two field coordinators, two hitting coordinators, two pitching coordinators -- instead of the standard one per skill.

“They’re throwing more resources at the minor leagues, emphasizing it more, than anyone else,” said Baseball America writer John Manuel.

While the NBA’s minor league system is considerably less useful when compared to the MLB’s, it’s clear that certain teams have long been at the forefront in experimentation, namely the Spurs, Mavericks, Rockets, and Thunder, each of whom runs their own D-League affiliate. It’s no coincidence that those are likewise among the teams most likely to use their flexibility to acquire additional draft picks and are usually regarded as having some of the highest emphasis on player development at the NBA level (along with a handful of others).

Looking at other unconventional ways NBA teams can get an edge, investing in statistical analysis is certainly atop the list, something more and more teams are getting involved in, with over 20 teams sending employees to the Sloan Conference this past weekend. Still, the level of investment varies among teams, and it’s no surprise the four teams mentioned above are also among those investing the most assets in analytics and have been doing so for quite some time.

Like their NBA counterparts, the Rays, too, are heavily invested in statistical analysis and a slew of other areas in their never-ending quest to find an edge:

For a fraction of the cost of a major league minimum salary, the team can benefit from cutting-edge statistical analysis, a physicist’s view of the game, or innovative psychological techniques. Richer rivals can build palatial stadiums, pay nine figures for Alex Rodriguez, or draw on the fandom of an entire region. Upgrading a terrible defense, addressing bad base running, providing counsel for talented, young players -- all of these steps have been pointed toward a more modest, but equally important and beneficial goal: wiping out weaknesses.

Ultimately, though, just as in the story of Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s in "Moneyball," what’s important about the Rays and those following a similar path in the NBA is not statistical analysis or psychological testing or any other individual method. To focus on one specific issue is to miss the forest for the trees, as it’s really about the overall approach.

“We’re constantly assessing what we’re doing,” Friedman said. “After we make decisions, we postmortem them at a later date. We keep copious notes on the variables we know, everything we knew going in. Then we go back to review the process. It’s something we’re continuing to refine and will be in perpetuity. I hope to never get to the point where we’re content, or we feel great about everything and go into autopilot mode.”

In the NBA as in any sport, it’s all about having a plan, working towards the end goal, staying open-minded, constantly learning and further developing the process. The simultaneous importance and scarcity of stars combined with the extreme difficulty of acquiring them makes the margin of error in building a contender in the NBA extremely small, and no matter how well a team executes, the odds are still stacked against them. That’s why it’s important to find any possible edge, something that can give "The Extra 2%."

Jason Miller's Pulitzer and Tony award winning 1972 play "That Championship Season" tells the tale of a great high-school basketball team getting together, decades later, to remember the old times.

That gets complicated quickly.

Ben Brantley's New York Times review of a new revival includes this intriguing passage:

Within the show’s first 10 or 15 minutes these guys have casually linked themselves to unsavory activities that include graft, bribery, political patronage and sex (en masse) with a retarded girl in high school. Drinking copiously and slurring ethnic slurs, they are obviously not contented souls. But they have the untarnished memories of that championship season, and they have each other. Right? As Coach (whose personal heroes include both President John F. Kennedy and Senator Joseph McCarthy) tells them, it’s teamwork that keeps this country great in an era of dissension.

That myth unravels so early that much of “Season” is a matter of marking time and waiting for the big symbolic moments, like when somebody throws up into the silver victory cup.

They're about far more than just exercise and competition, and John Wooden knew all about that.

• Jack McCallum spent the better part of a year with Mike D'Antoni's coaching staff, and wrote a book about it. That book was not flattering to the notion that Amare Stoudemire would ever lead a great team, or anything like that. Five years have passed, and now McCallum's on Dave Zirin's radio show, relating a story about how D'Antoni recently told McCallum that he had never been around a leader like Stoudemire. The lesson: You have to allow for the fact that people change, often for the better. That's a good thing.
• Evidence that the NFL is starting to listen to stat geeks, who have been advocating things like going it on fourth down and passing more. This was a huge issue at the MIT Sloan Sports Conference last year. If you think teams should be listening to you, by the way, you have a few days left to submit them for the chance to present them in a speech at that conference.
• Not sure I have ever had more fun on the radio than this conversation with Ryen Russillo . On that show I reiterate an earlier position that I wouldn't assume Kobe Bryant is the best guy in the NBA to take the shot with the game on the line. Related: John Hollinger (Insider) points out that Bryant is due to break the all-time NBA record for most missed field goals.
• Tim Duncan has already sat out ten fourth quarters this season, as the Spurs blow out one opponent after another. That leads, of course, to a suggestion that Gregg Popovich may listen to Lil Scrappy.
• A beautiful Hawks play, undone by a pass that sailed too high.
• Possibly bad sign for Sixers fans: That Ed Snider is so consistently identified with the Flyers, even by a fellow NBA and NHL owner. You don't want your first priority as a sports fan to be the second priority of your owner.
• Halfway into the season, the Spurs are on pace for 70 wins, but don't expect them to get there.
• When Lloyd Daniels was a Greensboro Gater. Yes, that's spelled correctly.
• Dawn Evans has the same kidney disease Alonzo Mourning had, and is leading the NCAA in scoring.
• Hey, another major knee injury for a Blazer, as Marcus Camby goes under the knife. Portland's fifth knee surgery of the young season. Chad Ford's talking about bad Blazer karma for how they handled Kevin Pritchard. Re-capping, Camby's the emergency replacement to the backup to the starter, all of whom, now, have had knee surgeries. Joel Przybilla has been back for weeks, but still hasn't jumped yet this season.
• If I were Gerald Wallace, I'd show this to my kids.
• How does Kevin Love get all those rebounds?
• Younger Pistons, playing more.
• A tough moment for referees in Chicago vs. Charlotte. Big bad calls, back-to-back. (Via Basketbawful.)
• Most likely to win the East's top spot: the Celtics.
• Rod Benson on HoopsHype: "I truly believe that Kobe Bryant could go a month without food, water, or an iPad if it meant another championship. Kevin Garnett would give up trash talking for an hour if it meant two more rings. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Still, when the new GQ comes out and Kobe is dressed up like an Amish Eskimo, the fans, the kids, and the players will all be reminded of the other side of the game. They’ll all strive to be good enough to one day have their own GQ cover. Of course, nothing is absolute, but if there are other hoopers out there like me, I’m pretty sure they love the lifestyle too. I’ve been envisioning this life since I was 12 years old: the travel, the money, the parties with people who other people consider to be important. It all comes with the territory. While I work on getting MVP of the Korean League (maybe?) this winter, it’s so that I can resuscitate the party this summer. Why not? I will have earned it."
• The Magic are rabble-rousers.
• Dropped passes, no post moves, excessive fouls. Profile of a "project" big man; specifically the Wizards Hamady N’Diaye who toils in North Dakota.

In 1974, Walt Frazier and Ira Berkow collaborated on a book called "Rockin' Steady: A Guide to Basketball & Cool." It has been updated and re-released.

Is it cool?

Let me help to answer that question by telling you that the first time I opened it it fell open randomly to an illustrated section about how to catch a fly with your bare hand:

Most people grab straight for the fly. That's wrong. You have to sort of curl your hand backward and slowly circle the fly. Then you come around in front of him. You have to be careful and patient, then move your hand forward and he'll fly right into your palm.

Catching a fly when he's in midair [takes] amazing hand quickness. But I seldom perform these feats anymore. Like I said, my reputation's out. Flies won't come within 10 feet of me anymore.

The next page I found was a list of all the clothes Frazier owned at the time the book was originally written. It's just a list, but it's a great read, and includes:

• Pockets in pants, none. (Once I didn't have pockets for use anywhere on my suit. It was a trip getting used to. I bounced around with my money in a Puma bag and carried it over my shoulder. When I was really steppin' out, I'd give the money to the girl I was with; but that's risky. That's why I have inside pockets made in my jackets now.)
• Maroon cords with UFO patch on backside.
• 2 orgy belts, one white with brown and black figures; one black with white and brown figures.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to remove the pockets from all my pants.