ESPN NBA

In the mid 1970s, legendary Celtics coach and team president Red Auerbach gathered several NBA stars, and a veteran of refereeing, to make a video. The goal? To end flopping.

That's right, nearly four decades ago, Auerbach was the Pied Piper of what has become the Stop the Flop movement, as you can see on video.

"Coaches today in high school, college and pro, are teaching the players how to fall! This is unreal!"

The Auerbach in this video is not a man who minds jabbing a finger at the camera to make a point.

Auerbach leads players like Wes Unseld and Mike Riordan through flopping scenarios. After Riordan hits the deck, Auerbach quizzes him. "Did Wes Unseld hit that man hard enough to knock him down? What went through your mind, Mike? What was your purpose when making that pick?"

Riordan says that initially he was "trying to free my teammate Elvin Hayes here for a jumpshot or a move to the hoop without the ball. But also, if I could get away with it, to draw a foul on Wes in setting that pick. To fake a foul, in other words. That was the second purpose."

Auerbach brings Hall of Fame referee Mendy Rudolph into the conversation. Rudolph jokes about how "Mike went and did some 'Hollywood acting." Rudolph's advice: Don't call a thing.

Auerbach directs another scenario, with another flop. Rudolph says "it was a great acting job by Clem Haskins. Now the contact between Mike and Clem was totally incidental, and again the officials should ignore it completely to eliminate this kind of acting in our game."

Then Rudolph adds another option for officials: "If they’re smart, again, to stop it, to stop it early in the game: Call a blocking foul on this man right here, and he’ll stop falling on the floor picking up splinters on his backside.”

"Well I happen to agree with you," says Auerbach. "I am very, very much opposed to this kind of basketball.”

"We’ve got to stop this sort of play in the NBA," replies Rudolph.

Auerbach: "Exactly!"

Auerbach closes the video by turning to the camera and addressing viewers:

This segment is not aimed at referees, believe me. It’s aimed at coaches, it’s aimed at players.

What are we going to do about it?

Let’s clean this thing up!

Let’s not hurt the game.

• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: The Oklahoma City Thunder forward is too brilliant a ballplayer to have not taken his rightful place among the game's all-time greats. On Sunday, in the 61st NBA All-Star Game, Durant did just that. The same silky smooth shooting stroke that fans inside Chesapeake Energy Arena have become accustomed to seeing, coupled with growing ability to get to the rim, powered Durant to Most Valuable Player honors as he led the Western Conference to a 152-149 victory over the East inside Amway Center. ... “MVP is something that you want to get in this game, and I'm glad I got it,” he said. “It made me feel better (that) all the guys congratulated me. It's just crazy right now that I can hoist this trophy.” Durant barely could stop smiling as he sat atop the dais in his postgame interview. Of all his awards and accolades, and there have been plenty, Durant clearly took great pride in this one. “It's right up there at the top,” Durant said. “As a kid, you dream of playing in an All-Star Game. But to be MVP is another level. I keep saying it, but I'm excited I got it and I'm glad I get to celebrate this with my family and my teammates and everybody in Oklahoma City. “We'll see if I get another one down the line.” This, too, we know is only a matter of time.
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: LeBron James had Kobe Bryant in the crosshairs and the game plus the MVP award within his grasp. But when the moment of truth arrived, James passed. Twice. James passed on two chances to take the potential game-winning shot in Sunday night’s All-Star Game, conjuring memories of last year’s NBA Finals when he played brilliantly — except in crunch time. In fact, his turnover with 1.1 seconds left sealed the West’s 152-149 victory. “I definitely wish I could have that one back,” LeBron said. Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, who could end up meeting James and the Miami Heat in June, captured his first MVP award by scoring 36 points. James also scored 36 but passed up two shots in the last 10 seconds. Heck, even Jeremy Lin would have shot once.
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times: On a night where Kobe Bryant became the leading scorer in NBA All-Star game history, he hardly looked like the best player on the court. In a game that could have featured a Bryant game-winner, he offered none. At a time where he could have showcased highlight reels, Bryant didn't have any. But that's fine. The Western Conference's 152-149 victory Sunday over the Eastern Conference doesn't mean anything. It just confirmed never-ending story lines that are ingrained in our minds. LeBron James' 36 points on 15-of-23 shooting and numerous dunks revealed his tremendous talent. Yet, his last-possession turnover sparked more punch lines about closing games. Kevin Durant's 36 points on a 14-of-25 clip earned his first All-Star most valuable player award and showcased his continual improvement as an elite player. Andrew Bynum's first All-Star appearance shows he's reaching his potential. But his six-minute stint because of right knee soreness sparks health concerns, even if his procedure this weekend was routine. As for Bryant, his 27 points on nine-of-17 shooting surpassing Jordan's All-Star scoring record with 271 points through 13 All-Star game appearances showcases his longevity. But his failure to surpass Hawks forward Bob Petitt with five All-Star MVP awards shows the emerging talent around Bryant. He has bigger things to worry about, though, than going on a scoring spree after Dwyane Wade gave him a bloody nose in the third quarter. An innovative procedure on both his surgically repaired right knee and sprained left ankle this summer ensured a healthier and more productive campaign where he's leading the league in scoring (28 points per game). But other signs show Bryant must pace himself for the remaining 33 regular-season games.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: What kind of a Celtic would Paul Pierce be if he didn’t capitalize on an opportunity to chide Lakers guard Kobe Bryant? Pierce took full advantage while sitting on the bench last night during the final moments of the West’s 152-149 victory over the East. With the Eastern Conference squad looking to foul while trailing by 1 point with 18.1 seconds left, Pierce encouraged teammates to foul Bryant. The East fouled Bryant and he missed the second of two free throws, allowing the East a golden opportunity to tie or take the lead. New Jersey’s Deron Williams missed an open 3-pointer in the final seconds, but perhaps Pierce was key to giving the East that last possession. “I was just heckling him, that’s all, just a good friendly heckle going on between two rivals,’’ Pierce said. “I was having fun. It’s the All-Star Game. That’s all it is. Just a little heckling, trying to get him to miss the shot, he missed the shot. It gave us a chance.’’ Pierce and Bryant have faced each other in two NBA Finals over the past four years, and both are known for their on-court banter.
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: Timberwolves forward Kevin Love rocked a tuxedo to his second consecutive NBA All-Star Game appearance on Sunday night because it was, after all, a very special night. "It's Oscar night," he said. "I had to look my best." The Western Conference's surprisingly tense, suddenly entertaining 152-149 victory over the East ultimately proved he was dressed perfectly for the occasion. "It's show business," Love said. And Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, Miami's LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant, among many others, put on the show on a night when the West team led by 20 points with eight minutes remaining but by just one with 22 seconds left. Owner of a four-year contract extension to stay in Minnesota but an L.A. guy at heart, Love chased his first All-Star double-double only to finish three rebounds shy on Sunday night with his 17-point, seven-rebound game.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Derrick Rose: For the second straight season, Rose refused to participate in pregame frolicking, looking stonefaced and serious as other Eastern Conference starters danced and smiled. Rose finished with 14 points and three assists in 18 minutes, 17 seconds, sitting out the second and fourth quarters entirely and playing the least of East starters. He did sport some striking orange shoes in the first half and switched to blue for the second. ... Tom Thibodeau: In perhaps the most hilarious moment of the night, the screaming, gyrating pop artist Nicki Minaj gave way to the serious-minded coach during pregame introductions. Then, Thibodeau -- wait for it -- actually sat down while "coaching." Thibodeau knew his role: "Dole out the minutes and get out of the way," he said.
• Mike Tokito of The Oregonian: The highlight of LaMarcus Aldridge’s NBA All-Star Game debut might have come at the start of the second quarter. Aldridge, who did not play in the first, entered the game to start the second. As he went in, he caught the eye of his mother, Georgia Young, who had come back from cancer and for whom seeing her youngest son make his first All-Star Game meant so much. “My mom looked at me and she smiled when I checked in,” Aldridge said. “She seemed happy that I was checking in. That was a real good moment for me.” Sunday was not a long night for Aldridge, who played 9 minutes, 48 seconds, but it was a victorious one as his West team defeated the East 152-149. Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant was voted the game’s MVP after he scored 36 points.
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: His All-Star commitments complete, Kyrie Irving spent Sunday as atypical teenager going to an amusement park, hopping roller coasters at Universal Studios. The wildest ride, however, awaits him. After three days of fun and exhibition basketball, Irving and his fellow Cavaliers rookie, Tristan Thompson, resume their pursuit of a playoff berth. The Cavaliers (13-18) host Boston on Tuesday and travel to New York the following night to face the Knicks. These are critical games as the opponents are immediately ahead of them in the standings. "We've had a good first half and probably surprised a lot of people," Irving said. "But we've got some important games right away after the break and we have to be ready." Thompson put it more succinctly: "We have a lot of unfinished business."
• Kyle Veazey of The Commercial-Appeal: Do the math: Being selected to an NBA All-Star team is a lofty accomplishment. Only two dozen players each year make the rosters. Given the nearly 400 players that play in the league, it’s only natural that it could lead to a loftier self-evaluation of a player’s abilities or worth. Which, in turns, has pitfalls like comfort and complacency. So enter the Grizzlies’ Marc Gasol, selected to the team for the first time and a 14-minute, four-point player in Sunday night’s 152-149 Western Conference win here at Amway Center. Does being selected to such an elite circle make him think he’s reached a peak, make him think he’s achieved — with no incentive to do more? No, he said. And as usual, he answered with a reflection to how he’s only here because he makes his teammates better and is part of a winning team. But then he allowed himself to entertain the notion that All-Star status could make him feel too comfortable — if only to illustrate that he realizes its dangers. “If I would,” Gasol said, “I would be in trouble.” Instead, Gasol says he’s looking forward to boarding a flight this morning bound for Memphis. The playoffs are in sight, as he reminded a reporter after the game, and that’s the goal at hand. Not a goal of making more and more of these All-Star games.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: And, now, the time has come for the Magic to turn out the lights on the spectacular Dwight Howard era. Orlando has dreaded this day, but now it's here. All-Star Weekend was nice way to forget about it for a while – sort of like two divorcing parents having one last Christmas together. Dwight and the Magic put on a happy face for friends and family, but it was all for show. Dwight was a great host, smiling widely, saying all the right things, even taking the microphone before the game and thanking the All-Star fans for coming to "my city, my home." The Magic and the NBA had that home – the sparkling, spectacular Amway Center -- decorated beautifully. But now it's time to take down the lights and tell the kids Daddy's leaving. Unless Dwight does an about-face, takes his mother's advice (she reportedly told TNT's courtside reporter Craig Sager she wants him to stay in Orlando) and commits to signing an extension, the Magic must deal him and get something of value. "That's my mom's opinion," Dwight said afterward when asked about Sager's report. "… I don't want to talk about that stuff right now." Obviously, he will need to talk about it with the Magic very soon because they must identify the best deal they can and make it before the March 15 trade deadline. Team CEO Alex Martins insisted Sunday night that the team has not made a decision about whether they will trade Howard. The Magic apparently are holding out hope they can hold onto him until the end of the season and convince him to stay.
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: The NBA has been without a good old-fashioned feud for a while. Reggie Miller’s Pacers against the Knicks and Michael Jordan’s Bulls against the Bad Boys happened a long time ago. AAU basketball and summer leagues have made the NBA too friendly. It’s time for the Bulls and Heat to turn back the clock. For a weekend, it was jokes and fun. Starting Tuesday, weapons up.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: Athletes are still figuring out this whole twitter thing. During Saturday’s dunk competition, ex-Raptor Jarrett Jack took to twitter (like many of us did) to publicize his disgust for this year’s event. Jack took particular aim at Minnesota rookie Derrick Williams calling him out for riding on the back of a motorcycle that he eventually (and lamely) jumped over. He also made reference to Williams “cash register mouth” an apparent dig at the rookie’s underbite. Williams responded in kind first pretending he didn’t know who Jack was and then suggesting “All I know is come draft night. That team lookin for a point guard.” Williams checked himself after that saying he had to chill out. Jack eventually suggested Williams had to stop taking things so seriously, that he was only having some fun. But it didn’t sound like fun for either.
• Frank Fitzpatrick of The Philadelphia Inquirer: With the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game on March 2, 1962 almost here, that long-ago night in Hershey has been dissected more thoroughly than a crime-show corpse. Details of the historic event - the ball, the broadcast, the fans, the absence of sportswriters, Wilt's pregame arcade exploits, his postgame ride home, the badly embarrassed Knicks, the thoroughly cooperative Warriors - have become so familiar that the enormity of the accomplishment seems somehow diminished. But sometimes interesting questions about that game and its implications arise: What happened in Chamberlain's next game? Why hasn't any NBA star come close since? How many others at any level have scored 100? And what became of them? ... So why has no one else approached 100? Well, the pace of NBA basketball, with its penchant for isolation offense, has slowed considerably since 1962. And defenses have gotten much tighter. The 316 points the Warriors and Knicks combined for on March 2, 1962, would be inconceivable today. This season, at least at this point, just three of the NBA's 30 teams even average 100 points a game - Miami, Denver, and Oklahoma City. It was 44 years after Chamberlain in Hershey before someone even got to 80 points. Kobe Bryant scored 81 on Jan. 22, 2006, in the Lakers' 122-104 win over Toronto. No NBA player has ever finished in the 90s. That means the two top scoring performances in NBA history have come from native Philadelphians. Aside from Bryant, only two others have topped 70 in the half-century since Chamberlain's 100. David Thompson hit for 73 in 1978 and David Robinson scored 71 in 1994.
• Kerry Eggers of The Portland Tribune: Bill Schonely is getting his place among the media greats who have covered basketball and the NBA. The Trail Blazers' beloved founding broadcaster has been honored with the 2012 Curt Gowdy Media Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. "I am absolutely stunned. This is something I've only dreamed about," Schonely said. Other winners of the award, which was first presented in 1990, include Marty Glickman, Chick Hearn, Johnny Most, Dick Enberg, Marv Albert, Dick Vitale, Bob Costas, Hubie Brown, Dick Stockton, Jim Nantz, Rod Hundley, Doug Collins, Al McCoy and Joe Tair. "To be included with the talented individuals who have won this award in the past is an honor I can't begin to put into words," the 82-year-old Schonely said.

Crunch time in the NBA, when the most exciting, meaningful plays are likely to happen, has become quite the slog. With your help, HoopIdea is talking about some ways to make these last moments more fluid, exciting and fast-paced -- you know, like the rest of the game we love.

So how did we get to the point where coaches and players can call enough timeouts for the last two minutes to take a quarter of an hour? A look back at the evolution of timeout rules in the NBA tells us two things:

1. Timeout rules are far from fixed. In fact, the NBA has tweaked them relentlessly to create a better product.
2. After decades of extending the game, the league seems to be moving in the right direction by removing impediments to a viewer-friendly finish.

The evolution of an NBA timeout:

1891: Dr. James Naismith’s original rules do not include any mention of timeouts.

1949: Coaches are allowed to call timeouts. Previously, coaching was not allowed during games.

1974-1984: Advancing the ball to half court

• 1974-75: In the last two minutes of the game or overtime, no timeouts are allowed once the ball is inbounded until the ball is in the frontcourt.
• 1976-77: For an inbounds play for the last two minutes, the offensive team has the option of moving the ball to midcourt or taking it at the spot following a timeout.
• 1977-78: During the last two minutes of regulation or overtime, if a team requests a timeout immediately after getting possession, they shall have the option of putting the ball into play at midcourt or at the out-of-bounds spot.

1984-2001: Tweaking the 20-second timeout and end-of-game rules

• 1984-85: There is an increase in number of timeouts a team is allowed in overtime from two to three, regardless of the number of timeouts called or remaining during the regulation play or previous overtimes.
• 1994-95: The second or more of back-to-back timeouts when the ball is not inbounded will be limited to 45 seconds.

2000-01: Incorporating the media timeout, prolonging the finish

• The number of timeouts per team per game increases to six from seven.
• The number of fourth-period timeouts per team increases to three from four.
• The number of timeouts per team during the last two minutes of the fourth period or last two minutes of an overtime period decreases from three to two.
• Full timeouts in regulation and overtime are reduced from 100 to 60 seconds except for the mandatory media timeouts in the second and fourth period and the first two timeouts of each period, regardless of who calls them.
• If neither team has taken a timeout in the second and fourth quarter when there is 8:59 remaining, there will be a mandatory timeout after the first dead ball.
• In any period, if neither team has taken a timeout when there is 5:59 remaining, there will be a mandatory timeout after the first dead ball. Previously, mandatory timeouts were taken after dead balls after 9:59 in the second and fourth periods and after 6:59 in every period.
• Following a change of possession (made basket, timeout, rebound) in the last two minutes of regulation or overtime, the offensive team can call a full or 20-second timeout and advance the ball to midcourt. Previously, the offensive team had to call a full timeout.
• During 20-second timeouts in the last two minutes of the fourth period and/or any overtime period there are unlimited substitutions.

2006-present: Tweaking end-of-game rules and reducing number of timeouts

• The head coach may request a timeout (20-second or full) at any time during a game as long as his team has possession of the ball or there is a suspension of play.
• Number of timeouts per team are reduced to six (again) from seven. Teams can use no more than three timeouts in the fourth period and no more than two timeouts in the last two minutes of regulation, in addition to one 20-second timeout per half.
• 2007-08: To reduce the number of full timeouts at the end of games, if a team has two or three full timeouts remaining when the fourth period reaches the 2:00 mark, one of the timeouts becomes a 20-second timeout and the team retains only one full timeout. So if a team has not used its 20-second timeout for the second half, it then has two 20-second timeouts at its disposal.

CURRENT NBA SYNOPSIS

If a team has two or three regular timeouts remaining when the fourth period or overtime period reaches the 2:00 mark, those will change to one regular timeout and one 20-second timeout. (Thus, a team may never have more than one regular and two 20-second timeouts in the last two minutes of a game.)

Regular timeouts are 60 seconds in duration, except the first two timeouts in each period and the extra mandatory timeout in quarters 2 and 4, which are 100 seconds. (While that is the rule, these timeouts often take much longer in actual games.)

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

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• Email us at hoopidea@gmail.com

• Bob Sansevere of the Pioneer Press: Even though Kevin Love would have been a restricted free agent and not likely to leave next season, the Wolves had to send a message to Love, his teammates and fans that they were committed to keeping him as a core member of the team. The message would have been even stronger if the Wolves had given Love the fifth year he wanted instead of an opt-out after three seasons. The Wolves were more worried about down-the-road deals with Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams than locking up Love for half a decade. If Love stays the full four seasons and re-signs with the Wolves, it's no big deal. But if he doesn't, this deal will haunt them because once Love leaves it's difficult to imagine Rubio and Williams wanting to stick around.
• Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune: With Adelman in place, Kevin Love was willing to sign a contract extension on Wednesday tying the Hollywood-loving West Coaster to at least three more winters in our friendly Siberia. Without the presence of Adelman, I don't believe Love would have signed a deal that, for him, was a compromise. Of course, without Adelman, the Wolves might have continued to play so poorly that they would have been forced to trade Love in another attempt to rebuild. Only with the team and Love himself showing improvement did this contract make sense. As it is, the deal feels more like cohabitation than marriage. Love did not land the five-year maximum contract he sought. He settled for a four-year deal with the ability to opt out after three years if he doesn't like the direction of the franchise. Three years from now, Adelman and Rubio will be at the end of their current deals, as well. In other words, Kahn has three years to build around the three most important people in the organization, and to persuade them to stay longer. For all of the Wolves' improvement and promise, Kahn's work is only beginning. Hiring Adelman gives him a chance to succeed. Only a series of intelligent personnel moves will give Kahn and Adelman a chance to win big.
• Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic: The good times are gone. Empty seats weep silently. And after all these wonderful years of service, Steve Nash suddenly has become a liability. The Suns must trade him soon, before he can turn a flawed, talent-deprived team into something mediocre. No one wanted it to end this way. But after three successive home losses to Cleveland, New Jersey and Toronto, it's time to face the sobering truth. Marquee free agents won't be coming to Phoenix any time soon. The only way to spawn another contending team is through luck of the draft. And the only foreseeable reward for this awful season in progress is a place inside the NBA lottery, where the right number of ping pong balls could lead the Suns to their next franchise player. Maybe this situation would feel different if Nash wanted to end his career in Phoenix. But there's no evidence he'll accept the direction and pay cut coming from the new regime. And judging by the declining attendance at US Airways Center, where a famous buzz has been replaced by a sense of mourning, there is no proof that sentimentality is still selling on Planet Orange. ... This is a tough swallow. But the Suns must protect their bottom-feeder status at all costs. It's the only way out of the woods in the near future. In the NFL, the Colts just endured a horrific season. But once they land Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick, it will have been worth the despair and then some. And if Indianapolis can say goodbye to Peyton Manning, we surely can do the same with Nash. Again.
• Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: At least the Dallas Mavericks won't have to worry about any more pregame ceremonies. For the second time in as many pregame ceremonies, the Mavericks were unable to get their emotions in check and play a decent basketball game. Back on opening day, the Mavs raised their NBA championship banner into the American Airlines Center rafters, then went out and got blown out by the Miami Heat, 105-94. On Wednesday, the Mavericks received their very pretty and utterly expensive championship rings in another pregame ceremony, then went out and got blown out by the Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-90. "Are there any more?" coach Rick Carlisle asked of the ceremonies. Fortunately for the Mavericks, there aren't any. And there won't be any next season, either, if the Mavericks keep playing like they did Wednesday. From late in the second period when the Timberwolves quickly trimmed a 10-point deficit to two at the half, the Mavs were totally disengaged. They seemed to be a step slower and lacking in energy the remainder of the night. Or maybe they just wanted to get home and take a good look at their championship ring. Either way, this was a clunker of a game for the Mavs, who are 11-8 and 1-1 on this four-game homestand.
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times: The Lakers and Clippers say they don't have a rivalry. But they sure do act like it. The Lakers' 96-91 victory Wednesday over the Clippers ended with one image that surely defines the heightened animosity. After Clippers forward Blake Griffin fouled Lakers forward Pau Gasol with 1.1 seconds left, Clippers guard Chris Paul attempted to swipe the ball from Gasol's hands while the two jawed at each other. Kobe Bryant also stepped in, jawing continuously at the Clippers guard, as Gasol walked to the free-throw line. Gasol then put his hand on top of Paul's hand, which prompted the Clippers guard to shove Gasol's hand away and tap him on his head. "I got a son of my own," Paul said. "I don't know if Pau got kids, but don't touch the top of my head like I'm one of your kids. I don't know what his intentions were and it doesn't matter. I don't know if he's got kids but I'm not one of them." Gasol appeared amused that Paul took offense to his antic. "I'm sorry he felt that way," Gasol said. "I do that all the time with my teammates. It's okay. If I touch your shoulder or back, there's nothing mean about it. It is what it is." And what that is exactly? From a neutral perspective, Gasol acted pretty immature in reaction to Paul and Bryant continuously trash-talking. "Chris is chippy," Bryant said. "I'm extremely chippy and that DNA spreads to the rest of the team. That's how it is."
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: All indications from sources close to Dwight Howard are that, while his list of preferred teams also included the Mavericks, he’d love to wind up in a star center like Los Angeles or New York, which would leave out bucolic Boston. But his repeated reverence for the Celtics [team stats] fairly begged the question. And even though we don’t believe this is a team of his dreams, we do know that the Celts will have a great deal of money to throw at a free agent or two in the next offseason. And if Howard is still available — if the Magic don’t blink and move him before the March deadline — C’s president Danny Ainge will undoubtedly put in a call to Team Dwight. The question is whether he’ll answer. “Always. Always,” Howard told the Herald. “I’d always listen to a team like that. “My thing is I want to win. It’s not something like I’m doing this for money. I win. I want to do it my way.” There may be two problems for the Celtics in that last paragraph. Howard may question whether the club can win with him, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, a collection of minimum salary veterans and a few children. And his “way” likely means a bigger stage.
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: Lewis said Grunfeld and Wittman set the tone for a new era during the hour-long meeting before shootaround, as they told the players that they were going to be held more accountable, that minutes weren’t going to given but earned and production — not reputation — would be rewarded. Wittman also told the players that he was upset that he was in the position, reminding them that the came to Washington to help Saunders, not replace him. For one night the message rang loud and clear. Grunfeld said he dismissed Saunders because the team needed a new voice, but after recording his fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Blatche argued that Grunfeld was half-right. “I don’t know, man. I can’t honestly say we needed a new voice. We just needed somebody to actually check us like Wittman did,” Blatche said. “That’s what we needed. He put everybody on front street and tell them about themselves and told them what it’s going to take to win and everybody went out and did exactly what he said.”
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: But for a franchise that focuses more on how goals are attained rather than simply attaining them, there has to be at least a small measure of concern setting in — because, offensively, the Thunder has been sloppy. For the better part of these first 18 games, Oklahoma City has struggled with sharing the basketball consistently and finding balanced scoring. Most alarming, however, has been the team's inability to take care of the ball. Oklahoma City had 21 turnovers Wednesday, overshadowing the second wire-to-wire win of the season. But the Thunder was just too talented to not overcome those miscues against a Hornets team that dropped its ninth straight game and fell to a Western Conference-worst 3-15. Still, the turnovers have been an issue all season and it figures to be only a matter of time before they really come back to bite the Thunder at a bad time.
• Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald: If anything has come from the first month of the NBA season it’s that Thibodeau ought to win coach of the year again. The man is possessed by the need to coach and obsessed with the need to teach. Even without the requisite practice time and games squeezed together like soggy pancakes, not to mention several serious injuries and a different lineup every game, Thibodeau has the Bulls playing terrific basketball. He demands it from every player in every game, and he’s not afraid to embarrass any player who doesn’t show up with a determined effort and serious concentration. “As soon as you start feeling good about yourself, you’re gonna get knocked on your (butt),” Thibodeau said. “Getting ready to play is a big part of this league and we weren’t ready to play. It starts with me. I have to get them ready to play.” It will be easier for Thibodeau on Friday against Milwaukee than it was Wednesday coming off a 16-3 start, but it just doesn’t mean much. It won’t until the Bulls play postseason minutes against the Miami Heat and then Thibodeau won’t have any trouble getting his players’ attention. Until then, it will be only a question of which team can get healthy before the games really count. Yeah, like it or not, the real games are three months away.
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: Danilo Gallinari, 23, is having a breakout season on both ends of the court. So the Nuggets locked him up Wednesday for the next four seasons. Gallinari's acceptance of a $42 million-plus contract extension shows that the Denver front office believes what coach George Karl has said, that Gallo could be an NBA all-star someday. "It was easy to say yes to this contract," said Gallinari, who was averaging 17.4 points and 5.2 rebounds entering Wednesday's game at Sacramento. "We have a lot of very good young guys, very unselfish players, and I'm looking forward to playing with this team this year and with a lot of the guys in the next few years." Kosta Koufos, a backup 7-footer, also accepted a contract extension — three years, $9 million, with the third year a team option. Koufos, 22, is now averaging only 11.3 minutes after Wednesday night's 122-93 win at Sacramento. But he has played a big role in some games, including a victory at New Orleans in which his energy and blocked shots led to a fourth-quarter surge. Gallinari's and Koufos' contract extensions signify Denver's desire to build around a young nucleus. Last month, the Nuggets locked up starters Nene (five years, up to $67 million) and Arron Afflalo (five years, up to $43 million).
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: Despite extensive negotiations that lasted right up until Wednesday night's deadline, the Hornets could not reach an extension agreement with guard Eric Gordon, league sources said. Gordon will become a restricted free agent on July 1 and the Hornets can match any offer. The Hornets had to get a deal completed by 11 p.m., central time. Hornets General Manager Dell Demps did not accompanied the team to Oklahoma City so he could negotiate with Gordon's agent, Rob Pelinka.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: Indiana Pacers guard George Hill and center Roy Hibbert will have to wait until the summer to get their next contracts and find out where they'll be playing next season. The deadline for contract extensions passed Wednesday night with neither player agreeing to a new deal. They will be restricted free agents, meaning the Pacers can match any offer made to them, this summer. "We'll just wait until this summer and see what we can do," Pacers President Larry Bird said. It's not surprising that Hibbert didn't agree to an extension. He and agent David Falk said last week that they would prefer to wait until this summer to work on a new contract. Hill's status, on the other hand, is somewhat surprising. ... Hill and the Pacers appeared to be on their way to agreeing to an extension Tuesday when talks broke down, with the sides about $1.5 million apart in yearly salary. "I thought it was going to happen after hearing they wanted to keep me here," Hill said. "I think everything my side did was reasonable. You never know how that is going to go. It's a business and both sides came to the conclusion that we didn't meet up where we wanted to meet. We just have to see what happens." Hill could turn out to be a one-year rental if a team makes an offer the Pacers feel is too high to match.
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: The 9 p.m. Wednesday deadline for the Trail Blazers and Nicolas Batum to agree on a contract extension came and went without a deal, raising questions about the small forward's future with the organization and rankling his agent. After weeks of negotiations that included talks throughout the day Wednesday, the Blazers and Batum's agent, Bouna Ndiaye, could not find middle ground, guaranteeing that Batum will become a free agent after this season. And Ndiaye says Batum will explore every available opportunity on the market. "They say they love him but they didn't offer him something fair, so that's it," Ndiaye said. "We tried and there's no deal. On July 1 we're going to look at the market first before we come back to the Blazers. That's for sure." Wednesday's development does not necessarily signal an end to Batum's tenure with the Blazers, even if Ndiaye lands an offer from another team, but it does create uncertainty. Assuming the Blazers tender Batum a qualifying offer after the season -- a virtual lock -- he will become a restricted free agent on July 1. At that point, the Blazers would have the right to match any offer from another team.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: Andrea Bargnani, two games into his return from a two week absence with a strained left calf, came up lame in the first overtime. Bargnani limped off the court noticably favouring the same left calf that sidelined him. He sat down and immediately put his head in his hands. When he tried to get up during a timeout, he put no weight on the leg at all. It was the kind of injury that took a lot of the enjoyment off the Raps double-overtime 111-106 win. Strange really didn’t begin to decribe it.
• John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News: You don't want to make too much of one loss, but this was a bad one, because the Sixers have played a soft schedule and they need to build up as good a record as they can against the bad teams to get some kind of cushion for those tougher games. Again, the Sixers were going to lose to a bad team eventually, because every NBA team has one of those games every now and then. The key for this team is to not let the disappointment against the Nets carry over into tomorrow's game against the Charlotte Bobcats (3-16) at the Wells Fargo Center. On Saturday, the Sixers play the Detroit Pistons (4-15). After doing such a good job of taking care of business for the first 18 games, now would not be a good time for the Sixers to stumble against a string of teams they should definitely beat. Not with the Orlando Magic coming to town on Monday, as the Sixers start a stretch that includes games against the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers. This six-pack against some the league's elites has loomed on the horizon as the time we begin to find out what this team truly is about and what it might be capable of.
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: Few NBA rookies are doing more offensively with less minutes than Kyrie Irving. That will soon change, Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. The 19-year-old point guard, averaging just 27.7 minutes per game, is going to see his playing time increase in the coming games. Eventually, Irving could be playing in the 30- to 33-minute range. Scott offered the assessment Wednesday, a day after Irving played just five fourth-quarter minutes in a 92-85 loss to the Miami Heat. The point guard contributed seven points and two assists in that stretch and helped the Cavaliers cut the deficit to three points with nine seconds remaining. "I should have played him a little more," Scott admitted. "I thought the second unit was playing well and I kind of rolled with them a little bit more than I usually would. Right now, he's at the point where he should be in the 29- to 31-minute range. "Last night was one of those things where I got lost in watching our second unit play as well as they were playing on both ends of the floor." Irving entered play Wednesday ranked ninth in scoring (17.4 points) among all guards, but 48th in playing time. Four rookie guards -- Ricky Rubio (32.6), Iman Shumpert (32.0), Brandon Knight (31.8) and MarShon Brooks (29.8) -- are averaging more time on the court.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: The Rockets on Wednesday let pass the deadline to pick up another season on the contracts of their four lottery picks from the 2009 NBA draft — Hasheem Thabeet, Jonny Flynn, Terrence Williams and Jordan Hill — to save enough cap space next summer to acquire a maximum-contract player. Each will become a free agent after the season. Guard Courtney Lee will become a restricted free agent after he and the team could not come to an agreement on a contract extension by the deadline. “My only thought is to continue to play well and help this team as much as possible by doing the things I do,” Lee said. “That will increase value. Hopefully, someone will see that, whether here or other teams in the league.” Of the players taken in the lottery in 2009, only the four Rockets players and the Orlando’s Earl Clark are unsigned for next season. The decisions on the rookie contracts were not unexpected. Of the four, only Jordan Hill is receiving playing time. Hill was “a little” surprised. “I have to just move on from there,” Hill said. “It’s all about business."
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: For much of the season, Tony Parker has been waiting for coach Gregg Popovich to lose it. Game in and game out, win or lose, good play or poor, Mount Popovich would not erupt. Not like it used to in its magma-spewing heyday. “As he gets older and drinks more wine, he gets more patient,” Parker said. Wednesday night, with a lead against Atlanta growing tenuous and the Spurs sleepwalking out of the halftime locker room, Popovich’s patience finally wore out, and Parker finally got his explosion. A quick timeout 60 seconds into the third quarter, followed by a mass substitution that brought three starters to the bench, sent a clear message in what became an easy-does-it 105-83 win at the AT&T Center
• Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kirk Hinrich made his season debut and looked surprisingly smooth at times (some nice catch-and-shoots) , a bit ragged at others (simply losing the ball for a turnover). “I was very encouraged by Kirk’s performance tonight,” Drew said. “I thought he would come back winded. He played with a nice rhythm and his shot looked good.” ... If tonight is an indication, and you never can tell sometimes with Drew, Hinrich will get most of his minutes at point guard. That would mean Jannero Pargo slides to the end of the rotation while Willie Green stays put. ... It was another “Tracy McGrady, Playmaker” night. You can see that his mind is way ahead of his body.
• Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press: If the young guys can get better at two plays a game -- turning turnovers into assists, or fouls into good defense -- the net result will be an improved team. It will take a lot more time, but it can happen. Sometimes bad NBA teams almost beat good teams. We can't make too much of it. But this felt like a little more than that. It felt like youthful talent asserting itself. There were moments of genuine excitement in the Palace, moments when even the empty seats seemed to be cheering. Pistons fans have to hope their young guys heard it, were inspired by it, and desperately want to hear it again and again and again.
• Chris Nielsen of the New York Post: A slimmer and rejuvenated Eddy Curry tried to keep his bitterness to a minimum as he anticipates tomorrow’s first showdown against the Knicks, but he admitted there are people he is not fond of in the organization. Curry, who had a terrible stint under Mike D’Antoni and may go down as one of the biggest busts in Knicks history, signed with the Heat after the lockout ended. “It feels good to be wanted,” the 7-foot center said. “As far as self-worth, I always feel like I’m worth a lot. I have high expectations for myself, even when other people don’t. I’m pretty much fueled from the inside and that’s all that really matters.” Curry and D’Antoni never saw eye to eye. “I’m completely numb to the situation,” Curry said. “I got friends over there and I got people I don’t like so much over there. But that’s between me and them, and we’ll just keep it professional.”
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: Remember when Antoine Walker was described as a “volume shooter?’’ It was a validating way of saying, “He puts up a lot of bad shots, but he’s talented enough that some of them go in.’’ Kemba Walker is in the early stages of “volume shooter syndrome.’’ ... Right now Walker isn’t a point guard. I get some grief when I write that, and that’s fine, but some of you don’t get that Walker is much more a scorer in a vacuum than a facilitator. That doesn’t make him a bad person or a bad player. As Silas is prone to saying, NBA players tend to define what they are, rather than coaches. If Walker continues down this path, he’s a combo guard off the bench. He’s not a lead guard. Nothing wrong with that, and we’re a long way from a final judgment. But when Silas said two games ago that it was Walker’s responsibility to think others get theirs first/Walker gets his second, this isn’t working at all. Change is coming and Silas is patient. Kemba should go with the flow and learn.
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: The Griz will try to bounce back with a win after having their seven-game win streak snapped Tuesday at Portland. Meanwhile, the Griz and Clippers will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the American Basketball Association's founding during the NBA Hardwood Classics series. The Griz will wear commemorative uniforms of the Memphis Tams and the Clippers will sport Los Angeles Stars attire. Memphis will also don Tams uniforms Feb. 12 when the Utah Jazz visit FedExForum. As part of the season-long celebration, the Griz and Clippers will be one of nine teams along with Charlotte, Denver, Indiana, Miami, Minnesota, New Jersey and San Antonio to recognize the ABA anniversary by wearing commemorative uniforms.

In Russia, Robert Horry suggests that originally, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant got along beautifully until Phil Jackson intervened.

Horry has been in Russia and was interviewed by Sports.ru. On his blog Rush'n Hoops, journalist Alexander Chernykh has translated some of Horry's comments into English, including this:

I think Phil Jackson started that feud. It happened many times that after team practice he would say, “Kobe said this about Shaq, and Shaq said that about Kobe… We couldn’t believe how could that happen, because just the day before we saw them together, jumping on one another. Phil liked it when there was conflict of some sort.

I always tell people; if you look at those championships, you’ll see who were the closest players on the team. Normally those are the guys who are the first to hug each other. And when we were winning, it was always Shaq and Kobe who hugged. I think this will answer your question. Later it was blown out of proportion by the media and both players started doing something that didn’t make sense.

Horry also says Hakeem Olajuwon and Bryant are the best players he has ever played with. In the case of Bryant, he particularly credits his unmatched dedication.

UPDATE: Roland Lazenby says the O'Neal vs. Bryant feud preceded Jackson.

UPDATE: On Twitter, Horry objects to how he has been quoted.

As a bit actor in "Space Jam," Steve Shenbaum devised a clever approach to bond with Michael Jordan: with a lighthearted joke about gambling.

It bombed so badly that he wishes now he would have instead said nothing at all.

But that didn't stop him from starting Game On Media where he uses techniques rooted in improvisation (and something he developed working with Carmelo Anthony, he calls "coins") to advise athletes like Yao Ming, Greg Oden, Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, the New York Yankees and others in how to connect with people

He says his real life is a little like that movie "The King's Speech," where he's playing Geoffrey Rush's character and Yao Ming is the king. He makes a hell of a podcast guest.

Steve Shenbaum on NBA Today.

In 1966, Frank Deford profiled Elgin Baylor for Sports Illustrated. What emerges is undeniably one of the greatest players, and characters, in NBA history. Of course Baylor scored with the best, and rebounded better than almost anyone his size. Today is January 16, 2012, the day we honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. It also happens to be, according to Hoopedia, 53 years to the day that Baylor made it known that he would not let West Virginia racists sap his dignity. Deford tells the tale of the racial encounter that marked Baylor's rookie year:

Then in January the Lakers went to Charleston, W. Va. for a game with Cincinnati. The hotel clerk, a mousy chap, looked at Baylor, immaculate as always, and at the two other Negroes on the team. "We can't take those three. We run a respectable hotel," is what the little man said. Baylor stiffened. He decided simply that he would not play.

But he made no fuss. The papers did not even know. Some of his teammates called him selfish. As the team walked out of the locker room, one Laker spoke over his shoulder: "Nine of us go out to play; nine of us split the playoff money." Baylor heard, as he was supposed to. He made no reply, and he did not move.

Hot Rod Hundley, a teammate who was from Charleston, came back to implore Baylor. He went through the litany: We Need You; For The Team; Please; This Won't Accomplish Anything Anyway. Baylor listened, and only at the end did he speak. "Rod," he said, "I'm a human being. I'm not an animal put in a cage and let out for the show. They won't treat me like an animal."

For the first time Hundley, the white kid from Charleston, understood the great pride that lives in Elgin Baylor. "Baby," he said, "don't play."

The Lakers lost that night but made the playoffs, and Baylor even carried them to the finals before Boston beat them. "By the end of the year," Hundley says, "we couldn't shut Elg up." They split the playoff money 10 ways.

You'll thank me if you take the time to read this amazing Thomas Lake story, in Sports Illustrated, about Michael Jordan's high-school coach Clifton "Pop" Herring. That Jordan wasn't really cut is only a tiny part of what fascinates. For instance, don't many assume Jordan's not making the varsity as a sophomore was a sign of his coach's idiocy? Well, as it turns out, Pop knew what he was doing, with and without Jordan:

The decision to leave Jordan on jayvee as a sophomore was not an oversight. Herring and his assistants knew Jordan would ride the bench on varsity, so they put him on jayvee, and it worked out perfectly. When he got to varsity, he was ready to lead the team. Pop gave Mike his time but made him earn everything else. They would play Around the World after practice, and Pop was nearly unbeatable. Jordan hated to lose, of course, so he kept improving until the day he finally won.

Some people, including Pop's friend Jimmy Hebron, the coach at New Hanover, believe Herring could have won a state championship if he had put the explosive and fast-growing Jordan at forward and let him "play volleyball" with the towering Leroy Smith. Hebron says this as a compliment to Pop for putting Jordan's development ahead of Pop's own desire for trophies. It's true that Jordan was better served by playing point guard than he would have been banging on the blocks, but Pop's assistant and friend Ron Coley says the move was designed to make the team better. They knew Jordan was their best player, and they figured the surest way to get him the ball was to put it in his hands at the start of every play.

The Great Cutting Myth suggests that Pop was unworthy of being Jordan's coach, or that he failed to appreciate the divine gift he'd been given. But the numbers show otherwise. Pop was a winner before Jordan arrived and a winner after Jordan left. He took Laney to the divisional semifinals in 1978 and '79. But in '79--80, when Jordan led the Bucs, in one game scoring 51 of their 55 points, Laney won fewer games than it had the year before, and the Bucs again lost in the divisional semifinals. Pop let Jordan carry the team again as a senior, and what happened? The Bucs lost yet again in the divisional semis, even though they entered with a 19--3 record. Jordan scored 26 points but shot "poorly" against New Hanover in that final loss, according to the Wilmington Morning Star. With 33 seconds remaining he missed two free throws that would have given the Bucs a four-point lead. Seconds later he missed a long jumper and then committed an offensive foul, his fifth, and the resulting free throws gave New Hanover a lead it never relinquished.

Pop had his best season two years after Jordan left. The Bucs made the state playoffs for the first time in their history. In their opening game, against Hoke County, they had a 12-point lead with 90 seconds left. Pop emptied his bench. One assistant coach nearly had a fit, because the game was still in question, but Pop wanted all his guys to be able to say they'd played in the state playoffs. He even put in a kid they called Bouffant because of his perfect red hair. "Bouffant can handle the pressure," Pop said, and Bouffant could. He scored two points, and the Bucs won by 11, and they rode home in celebration, grooving to Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, because Pop always loved his music.

Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss, Jr. stepped away from the camera to pen a fantastic series of anecdotes about those he has photographed, from Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods to John McEnroe and Paulina Porizkova. It's very respectful, heartfelt and amusing.

I learned about it through Deadspin, which highlighted the one moment Iooss really rolled his eyes at an athletes' behavior. And with good reason: It's about LeBron James, and it speaks powerfully to the idea that James is one arrogant son-of-a-gun. Iooss writes:

I've seen a lot of entourages, but none like his. In July 2010 I got an assignment from Nike to shoot LeBron right after his TV special announcing his move to the Heat. We rented the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where the Lakers and the Clippers used to play, and there were 53 people on my crew -- including hair and makeup artists, production people, a stylist. I had $10,000 in Hollywood lighting. It was huge. When LeBron arrived, it was as if Nelson Mandela had come in. Six or seven blacked-out Escalades pulled up, a convoy. LeBron had bodyguards and his masseuse. His deejay was already there, blasting. This for a photo shoot that was going to last an hour, tops.

This is how crazy it was: I wasn't even allowed to talk directly to LeBron. There was a liaison, someone from Amar'e Stoudemire's family. I would say to him, "O.K., have LeBron drive right," and then he'd turn to LeBron and say, "LeBron, go right."

Holy smokes. I literally cannot imagine what happens in a person's brain to make them unwilling to be spoken to by a photographer. Wow. That's arrogance on steroids. But maybe also incomparable fragility. (Other than getting your feelings hurt, what fear could drive this?)

No matter my thoughts, I am aware that most people will read that story and conclude:

• This is unbelievably arrogant.
• This is a new trend, these athletes who think so highly of themselves.

I'll co-sign the first point, but the second one not so much.

My first argument is imaginary, and therefore you may want to discount it some. But imagine with me that you are Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan reading this story. Those are stars most fans are more comfortable lauding. Those are stars not seen as having heads too big.

Do you think their main reaction would be how arrogant?

Or do you think their innermost thought would more likely be: Please, I'm better than that guy.

I'd bet big money on the latter. And I don't even know that I'm bothered by that. All four of those players -- James, Jordan, Bird and Johnson -- are just about the best ever at something maybe a billion or so people try hard to do well. It might not be possible to be anything but arrogant, having mowed down so very many doubters and opponents along the way.

My second argument is real, which makes it even stronger, and it's basically: The best players' most egregious arrogance was once played down -- now it's featured.

A great example of this comes in a great anecdote from Harvey Araton's new Knicks book "When the Garden was Eden" where we learn about Celtics' legend Bob Cousy hurting his team with one of the most selfish acts in sports history.

The 1969-1970 Knicks had won 17 in a row, tying a league-wide record set by Bill Russell's mighty Celtics. That 18th game, on November 28, was being played against Cincinnati Royals, whose coach was none other than Celtic legend, and contributor to the threatened record, Bob Cousy.

Cousy had retired as a player in 1963, more than six years earlier. He had turned 41 the preceding August. But did he nevertheless declare himself an active player for this hugely important game?

He did.

In so doing, did he express to the players he was charged with leading that he thought his creaky old-guy game was better than theirs?

He did.

Did his players build a lead in this game?

They did.

Did Cousy check himself into a game for the first time in the better part of a decade in the final two minutes with the Royals up three?

He did.

Did he provide both of the key turnovers that led to the Knicks' shocking come-from-behind win?

He did.

Araton writes that the entire episode was a sore subject for Cousy's star player, Oscar Robertson:

When play resumed, Cousy selected himself to inbound, hemmed in along the sideline near midcourt. "He put himself in because he didn't trust anyone else, like he was trying to make a point: 'I'll show you how it's done,'" Robertson said. "And then he was the one who turned the ball over -- not once but twice in, like, ten seconds."

The miracle began in Cousy's eyes. On the inbounds play, the Knicks extended their defense to midcourt to challenge the pass -- except for DeBusschere, who deliberately held back a step and half from his man, Van Arsdale, while counting down from five. He knew Cousy had left himself without any remaining time-outs and would have to find someone open. With an instinctive feel for how much space he needed between himself and Van Arsdale, DeBusschere anticipated the release and angled his way between passer and receiver. The ball came to him like a lovesick puppy; he bounded downcourt and dropped in a layup.

Araton says the media handled Cousy's ploy delicately -- crediting the Knicks' brilliance far more than Cousy's foolishness.

Which still does not sit well with Robertson. Again, Araton:

Robertson, conversely, wondered whether Cousy was just selfish. Was he too eager to protect the Celtics' share of the record that he had helped set? Did he have [legendary Celtics coach Red] Auerbach -- the mentor he always affectionately addressed by his given name, Arnold -- in mind? It still annoyed Oscar that nobody back then had dared question the tactic, at least not that he recalled. "No alarm, no criticism in the media about how a guy at that age could do that," he said.

Bob Cousy is a Hall-of-Famer and a six-time champion, even though he weighed just 175 pounds. He has earned essentially infinite praise. The point of all this is not to muddy Cousy's stellar reputation.

The point of all this is to acknowledge that under the microscope, everybody is flawed enough, human enough, and if they're superstar athletes, almost certainly arrogant enough, to anger and disappoint from time to time.

Whether or not that dominates our perception of them ... that's up to us.

• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "With the goal of trying to save an NBA season that would start on Christmas Day, representatives for the league and its locked-out players will meet today to resume negotiations that secretly began Monday. Whenever a deal is struck, Grizzlies free agent forward Shane Battier is convinced that both sides share blame for the league's work stoppage. 'It's disappointing on all sides,' Battier told USA Today this week. 'When we look back at this, there's blood on everybody's hands. I don't think there's one group to blame. In the information age we live in, the communication is the issue which I think is ironic. Communications between owners and players, players and players, owners and owners. I believe there could've been clearer channels of communication to cut off some of the miscommunications that seem to occur. ... Both sides were dealing with things that could've been addressed earlier in the process, but there's a whole new set of rules with the litigation.' "
• Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Unlike during the 1998-'99 season, Sam Perkins believes this year's group of NBA players are more together than the crew from 13 years ago. Now an assistant coach with the NBA Development League's Texas Legends, the 50-year old Perkins averaged 11.9 points and 6.0 rebounds during a 17-year career that ended in 2001. He also won an NCAA title at North Carolina in 1982, and was the co-captain of the 1984 USA Olympic gold-medal winning squad. Perkins shared his opinions with on several topics, including the NBA lockout, which has put the season in jeopardy. (Q): You were involved in the NBA lockout during the 1998-'99 season. What do you think is the difference in that lockout and this year's lockout? (A): I think it's now in the hands of the players, because they stood firm and collectively as opposed to '99, where agents were involved and we separated a little bit. So we had disparity in some cases. But I think this year you don't have that. So you have a lot of guys inclined to stick together."
• Deron Snyder of the Washington Times: "The NBA lockout is hurting a lot of 'little people' right now, from ushers and vendors to bartenders and waiters to bellhops and drivers. But if the labor dispute continues much longer, some tall people might be hurting, too. It could happen next week when the 'Homecoming Tour' tips off in Akron, Ohio. Or during the 'Obama Classic' on Dec. 12. Or another of the myriad charity/exhibition/pickup games NBA players have staged since summer. I’m concerned about some participants in the fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign. Among the confirmed players are Magic Johnson, Doc Rivers, Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo. Maybe they’ve forgotten, but the NBA used to stage an old-timers game during All-Star weekend. It’s no longer part of the festivities (replaced by the Rookie Challenge) and for good reason: Retired All-Stars David Thompson and Norm Nixon suffered major injuries during the 1992 Legends Classic, a ruptured patella tendon and a ruptured quadricep tendon, respectively. Thompson at 37 and Nixon at 36 were the youngest players in the game. The aforementioned geriatrics will be the oldest players in Obama’s fundraiser. ... The threat of injury goes hand-in-hand with another reason these games are risky propositions for the players. Watching too much freestyle basketball dulls the fans’ senses and makes the games dull. There’s a limit on our tolerance for get-out-the-way defense, streetball dribbling tricks, unstructured play and monotonous one-on-ones. We can only take it in small doses, specifically, once a year each February. But if every game is like the All-Star Game, no thanks."
• Wendell Maxey for The Oregonian: "It's been seven months since the 6-foot-8 Batum departed Portland for France after a season in which he averaged a career best 12.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. While the NBA lockout jeopardizes the 2011-12 regular season and Batum's return to the Rose Garden, he's undergone a transformation beyond what his 22-years shows. It began in September playing with the French National team at the 2011 European Championships in Lithuania. It continues today where Batum stars for reigning French League champion SLUC Nancy, which also competes in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. No longer is Batum the 20-year old shy kid who arrived in Portland in 2008 as the 25th overall selection in the NBA Draft. He has matured from a boy to a man and into a team leader for Nancy. 'I grew up,' Batum said when asked how he's changed since last season in Portland, his words reverberating with confidence. 'People have shown me respect -- the coaches, the players, the refs. I've gone through some great experiences this summer with the national team and now here. When the game is on the line I want the ball. The game is in my hands. That is very good for me. This is different because this is my team.' ... Batum may have grown up on and off the court the last few months in France, but Portland is never far from his mind, or his game. In a matter of seconds, Batum jogs down the hall and into the locker room and retrieves one of his size 16 red and white adidas basketball shoes. There it is -- the Blazers pinwheel logo screen printed onto the shoes' tongue with 'Batman 15' scrolled on the side. 'I don't forget,' Batum said with a smile. 'I don't forget Portland.' "
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: "John Stockton drives left, hurriedly pulls up while the clock races downward and drills a 3-pointer with no time remaining to send the Jazz to their first-ever NBA Finals. Jerry Sloan rushes the court like a madman, waving his arms and beaming as he races along the hardwood. Karl Malone delivers, time after time after time. Thanks to the magic of television, the Jazz have been one of the premier teams in the league during the 147-day lockout. While modern stars such as LeBron James have become faceless during the work stoppage, relegated to random charity exhibition games and promotional appearances, the NBA has lived through its storied past. Some say the best way to live life is not to look back. But that’s often all the lockout-out league has been able to do, as days have turned into months and a work stoppage that began July 1 pushes toward December."
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun: "Like many professional athletes, coaches and executives, Jay Triano quietly gives back to his community. The former Raptors head coach, now the special assistant to GM Bryan Colangelo, was recognized recently for his good work. Triano was given the first Humanitarian of the Year Award by the Angel Foundation for Learning, which has worked for the past 25 years to assist underprivileged students in the Toronto Catholic District school system. Triano told QMI Agency he had good mentors growing up and likes to help out where he can. 'It goes back to (his friend) Terry Fox, he tried to make a difference,' Triano said."

• 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."

• Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times: "Bob Costas, the television sports analyst widely considered one of the best in the country, was no different from many athletes, sports fans and basketball experts 20 years ago Monday when Magic Johnson held a news conference to tell the world he was HIV-positive. 'I was stunned,' Costas said, 'and my immediate thought was, knowing what we thought we knew about HIV, we would watch Magic Johnson die a public death, that he would waste away. This was what we thought we understood about the virus, that his days were numbered.' Now the number of days Johnson has ahead of him seems limitless when the strong, healthy-looking basketball great, onetime coach, voluble television commentator and successful businessman puts on his smile and optimism and shakes your hand."
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: "Somewhere along the way, the bait and switch was pulled. To wit: We came to Manhattan to cover a basketball labor negotiation, and a session of Congress broke out. The NBA: Where Washington happens. ... The NBA and Players Association have essentially drawn lines in the sand here. And while the numbers would appear to be close, they may not, in fact, be on the same beach. That’s because of the Washington Effect. While commissioner David Stern and union president Derek Fisher may have their personal opinions as to what constitutes a fair and equitable arrangement, they are not speaking for themselves. Like D.C. party leaders, they negotiate with the Damoclean sword of 'Can I get the votes for this?' hanging over their heads. And as in Congress, they are being tugged toward the strong-minded edges. ... And with a season hanging in the balance, the more strident members are formulating plans to veer in this direction. One would think more moderate types would step forward and prevent a season from being lost when neither can justify such a catastrophic result. But one would think they would have understood that before they got to Nov. 7 without NBA basketball."
• Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner: "The emergence of Michael Jordan as the face of a hard-line faction of NBA owners seeking to bury the players association has prompted a fierce backlash. Players apparently thought he was one of their own and couldn't help but feel betrayed in a seemingly hypocritical move by the greatest player of all time. Nick Young might have made the loudest statement about what Jordan represents now -- and he wears Nike shoes. 'im not wearin jordans no more cant believe what i just seen and heard from MJ,' Young tweeted. '#ElvisDoneLeftTheBuilding and i didnt delete it' Jordan famously told late Wizards owner Abe Pollin during the 1998 labor negotiations, 'If you can't make a profit, you should sell your team.' Young will be cheered for showing solidarity as players weigh an ultimatum delivered by NBA commissioner David Stern during negotiations Saturday. It said they have until Wednesday to accept the league's current proposal or the next one will be far more lopsided in the owners' favor."
• Bob Young The Arizona Republic: "The truth is Michael Jordan is closer to Wall Street than the kids on the street who wear his shoes. Lose them, and what's left? Selling boxer shorts to the country club set? When a Twitter follower of Stephon Marbury's tweeted Sunday, 'Hearing Mike Jordan is going real gangsta on the players,' Marbury had an interesting response. 'Mike has never been with the real. Mike lives up there in the air up there. He can't come down,' Marbury tweeted. Marbury also tweeted of the labor fight: 'The money will be for the kids coming in the next 10 to 20 years. That's the sacrifice!' It's a sacrifice Jordan doesn't understand and one he never had to make."
• William C. Rhoden of The New York Times: "Shame on the league for not pushing for true partnership, but shame on the players for not insisting that equity in the league become a nonnegotiable plank in the labor talks. Instead, the currently stalled negotiations have involved the same wage-based scuffles between employer and employees: we give you a piece of the pie, and we’ll fight over the size of the slice every few years. The N.B.A. and the players are engaged in another season-threatening battle over the distribution of what has become about $4 billion a year in revenue. This is not what a partnership looks like. If the N.B.A. and the players were actually partners, with players having an ownership stake in the league, we might be watching basketball instead of owners against players, owners against owners and players against players."
• Kerry Eggers of The Portland Tribune: " 'I’m never for decertification,' veteran agent Aaron Goodwin told me Sunday night, 'but I’m afraid it’s going to go to that, because the owners are not negotiating fairly. Their offer is not a good one at all.' With due respect to Goodwin — whom I’ve known for many years and have always respected — the players are being sold a bill of goods. I have read attorney Jeffrey Kessler’s comment that 'the players will not be intimidated,' and that 'they are not going to sacrifice the future of all NBA players under these types of threats of intimidation.' 'The way the talks are headed, I think the decertification thing is coming,' Hawes told me before Sunday’s exhibition. 'What we give up (in negotiations), we’re not going to be able to get back. It’s been give, give, give by us so far. It’s not just about this year. It’s about the future, the next five, 15, 20 years.' Hold on now. The average player salary was $5.8 million last season. Were the players to accept the deal on the table now, it could fall to the $4.5 million range. That’s still a truckload full of greenbacks. The future looks pretty secure to me — unless the players are foolish enough to press the issue and lose the season."
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: "Spurs forward Matt Bonner, a member of the National Basketball Players Association’s executive committee, said Sunday the union’s leadership has scheduled a conference call for Monday to discuss its next move. ... Bonner described the frustration of Saturday’s session, which was conducted under the guidance of George Cohen, head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. 'Saturday sucked,' he said. 'The way we saw of saving the season and getting a deal was by saying the system was more important to us, BRI more important to them; we can compromise on BRI if they can come more to us on the remaining system issues. That’s what we were hoping would get a deal and we really thought the approach we took was going to get it done. But when George came back after taking our offer to the owners, what he came back with was five or six changes in system things, and all but one were what the owners wanted. It was basically their deal.' ... The threat of decertification and the uncertainty that comes with it could give the union the leverage it needs to coax a better offer from the league than the deal it rejected Saturday. 'I’m sure we’ll talk about everything on the call,' Bonner said."
• John Canzano of The Oregonian: "One of the teams won 164-157. People cheered. Players sweated. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 47 points. Bam. There's your Rip City Classic basketball game, presented by LaMarcus Aldridge. And I have to say, when last call came, everyone in the joint was smiling. Now can someone hurry and get us an NBA game? Because as wonderful as it was to see Durant and Aldridge run around, and as cool as it was to see a parade of dunks, and lots of game-operations entertainment, the most memorable moment on Sunday came in the second half when 5,000 fans began chanting, 'Let's go Blazers!! ... Let's go Blazers!!' ... This was plenty of action for one evening. And the Blazers front office could learn something about game operations, promotion, and the deep hearts of fans on a night like this. But ultimately, everyone knows these sideshow 'night club' games are no substitute for 19,980 at the Rose Garden on a Sunday night in a meaningful display of the best athleticism and basketball coaching on the planet. The owners are dangling a 51 percent split with a Wednesday deadline? Sign the deal, players. Sign it now. Lock it up. Get it done. Or risk finding out how a public that enjoyed a one-time night of dunking and three-point shooting would soon stop showing up with passion and enthusiasm. It doesn't take stones to be stubborn and ignorant. It takes real courage, though, to look around on a night like Sunday and realize that a sideshow isn't a show at all. Again, great event. But one a year is plenty."
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun: "Greed. Ego. Stupidity. Stubbornness. Self-defence. Blame all of those things and more for the mess the NBA currently finds itself in. Amazingly, despite the current state of the world’s economy, despite the fact that the league brings in billions of dollars annually and is coming off of one of its most intriguing seasons in years, all signs point to the 2011-12 campaign getting obliterated entirely. Commissioner David Stern has set a Wednesday afternoon deadline for the National Basketball Players Association to accept the owners’ latest offer. Failure to do so would yield a far less appealing offer, Stern warned. It is hard to believe it has come to this. Most expected a few games to be wiped out, but few anticipated total annihilation. Not after the NHL lockout, which evaporated the 2004-05 schedule and resulted in the NHLPA finally taking a deal in July of 2005 that was by all accounts worse than what they could have accepted seven or eight months earlier. ... What’s the answer? The owners need either to offer more in the way of basketball related income, or back up a tiny bit from that scary hard cap-sounding cliff, and when they do, the players have to take the deal. Otherwise they will be settling next summer, with empty wallets and with an even less appetizing deal."
• Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal: "When the Cavaliers traded LeBron James to the Miami Heat last summer, they included language that went largely unnoticed at the time, but could come into play as this labor battle drags into its fifth month. As part of the sign-and-trade, the Cavaliers have the right to swap picks should the Heat finish with a higher selection in the 2012 draft. It was scoffed at and dismissed at the time of the deal, since the Cavs are rebuilding and the Heat are one of the elite teams, but it becomes much more intriguing if this entire season is abolished by the lockout. If the players follow through on recent threats to decertify the union, there is a legitimate chance this entire season will be lost. Messy, lengthy antitrust lawsuits will inevitably follow and a deal that was so close to completion only a week ago will crumble. If that happens, it will send the logistics of next summer’s draft into limbo. ... When the entire 2004-05 NHL season was lost to a work stoppage, every team was included in the following draft lottery. In order to be diplomatic, teams’ cumulative records from the previous three seasons were used to factor draft odds. The NBA certainly doesn’t have to adopt that same system, it’s simply a viable example. It’s also a scenario that would cripple the Cavaliers, since they finished with the league’s best record the two years prior to James leaving. But they could be aided by the Heat, who were a middle-of-the-pack playoff team for two years before James’ arrival and would have slightly better odds at a higher pick than the Cavaliers using the NHL’s example. Should the Heat find good fortune with a higher pick in the draft, the Cavs can snatch it away."
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Rick Rubio has talked with pal Kevin Love since he’s been here in the U.S., but hasn’t spent time with any other new Timberwolves teammates while he’s been in L.A. ... He did play with a bunch of them – Love, Beasley, Randolph, Derrick Williams, Wes Johnson, Martell – for a week around draft time at Target Center. Included in that time was two days spent working with Randolph. ... He has played with a variety of NBA players – everyone from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Nick Young and Ryan Hollins – in workouts, whoever shows up that day to train. He said he needed to come here this fall so he could see, feel, watch how NBA players play and understand how the game is different than the European game. 'In the end, it’s basketball,' he said. 'But here, it’s different. Here, it’s more physical. The contact here is more allowed. Not more allowed, but harder. The hands are quicker and you have to be ready when you penetrate to protect the ball.' One guy he hasn’t seen but would love to play with and against: Steve Nash. 'I never played with Steve Nash,' he said. 'I would love to play against him. I think I can learn a lot of things from him.' "

• 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.