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Clippers associate head coach Alvin Gentry remembers the time he met Buzz Aldrin at a party.

• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Derrick Rose sat out the scrimmaging portion of Monday's practice as part of "planned rest." "He did some, the warmup phase," Thibodeau said. "And we went shorter (Monday). We had a teaching segment that of course he participated in and the warmup phase. But the live stuff, we were planning on giving him (Monday) off." Rose, who sat out all last season after left knee surgery, had said he didn't want to miss any practice time or preseason games if the decision was left to him. By all accounts, Rose has looked dominant thus far in practice. "With all our players, usually the third day and fifth practice we’re dealing with heavy legs," Thibodeau said. "We just thought we’d give him (Monday) off. Mentally, he’s sharp so he did his conditioning off the floor. He’ll be ready to go (Tuesday)."
• Nakia Hogan of The Times-Picayune: For most of Eric Gordon's two seasons in New Orleans, the perception was that he didn't want to be with the organization. It also didn't help that last offseason he signed an offer sheet with the Phoenix Suns. But Gordon tried to clear some things up on Monday and said he has never been unhappy with the New Orleans franchise. "The only frustrating part since I have been down here is dealing with the injuries," he said. "That's the main thing. I know what I can do, and this team knows what I can do. Now I am going to finally get a chance to make it consistent." And now that the Pelicans have a new nickname, practice facility and a bevy of new and young talented players, Gordon finally seems happy. "I've always been happy," he said. "It's just with me individually I've always been dealing with injuries and so fort. But when you have a lot of talented guys where you can have a chance to grow together -- because we are all young guys and we have a chance to grow together – anything can happen. And we have the talent to be a playoff team."
• Greg Stoda of the Palm Beach Post: This was a cool LeBron James. This was a LeBron James at ease. This was a LeBron James as comfortable in his own skin as anyone could imagine. If the never-ending conversation regarding his potential free agency bothers him — he becomes eligible July 1 — James did a remarkable job of hiding it as the Heat met the media Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena. His situation will be a season-long topic of speculation as Miami seeks a third consecutive championship. “I’ll tell you right now how I’m going to handle it,” James said, “I’m not going to address it.” And then he talked about owing his team his focus and how his concern is winning another title and how mature the Heat is and how his potential opt-out (and Dwyane Wade’s and Chris Bosh’s, too) won’t be a distraction. Nobody has to explain himself, James implied. They have a professional goal, and the effort to achieve it won’t be sabotaged by after-the-fact business. The locker room won’t fracture. “We’ve got a veteran ballclub that’s heard everything and seen everything,” James said. “I know how delicate a team can be. I know how important chemistry and camaraderie are.” Here’s the thing: They’ll all probably opt-out, because doing so provides the player with flexibility. It’s the prudent move.
• Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times: The pleasantries quickly gave way to a more sobering discussion when Doc Rivers first met with Chris Paul. Topics of conversation did not include Paul's six All-Star game appearances, his unmatched ability to close out games or his status as possibly the best point guard in the NBA. "He pretty much told me I wasn't anything," Paul said Monday during the Clippers' annual media day. "He told me I hadn't done anything, and he was right." Welcome to life with the league's most painfully sincere coach. Hard questions can be asked. Perceptions of one's self can change. Feelings can be hurt. But here's the thing: Championships can be won. "I'm honest," Rivers said in the biggest understatement of the day. For a Clippers franchise that has never gotten to the conference finals, Rivers' candor is as alluring as the new light-blue alternate uniforms the team unveiled. His frankness grabs your attention like an open parking space in a dusty media lot suddenly overrun by reporters drawn to the buzz of the most captivating team in Los Angeles. "He's been straight-up, he's been very real and when he talks you can tell he has the attention of everybody," super-subJamal Crawford said. "Winning that championship, being there contending, he did it as a player and now as a coach. He has everyone's respect." Not that it's always fun to hear what Rivers has to say.
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: Timberwolves forward Kevin Love reported for duty with his surgically repaired knee and hand reportedly all healed and his body lean. He also made one thing abundantly clear: The past is in the…well, you know. “Last year is last year,” the two-time All-Star forward, uttering a line he used repeatedly during a 12-minute session with reporters at the team’s annual media day. He made it clear he has little interest in discussing a lost season in which he played just 18 games after breaking his shooting hand not once but twice. Love also wasn’t much interested in discussing his relationship with former President of Basketball of Operations David Kahn, who was replaced by Flip Saunders last May. “The past is the past and it’s great to have Flip on board,” Love said. “We’ve had great talks. … We all know what happened last year, and we just want to move forward and take care of unfinished business.” Love looked like he’s in the best shape of his career, even though he said he doesn’t know exactly how much weight he lost from last season.
• Tom Layman of the Boston Herald: The search parties were called off as Gerald Wallace emerged yesterday for the first time wearing Celtics garb with the No. 45 stitched on his jersey. Wallace knew there might have been some misconceptions about his whereabouts after the draft-night trade that brought him, Bogans, Kris Humphries and MarShon Brooks to Boston for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. But, he said, he had a prior commitment with his basketball camp right when the introductory press conference happened, and like he does every summer, secluded himself in Alabama with his family. “The main thing that a lot of people have taken out of this is that I didn’t want to come, I didn’t want to be here, I didn’t want to be a part of it. That’s so far from the truth,” Wallace said. “I think the main thing is that I’m a veteran of 13 years and I’ve been traded three times in the past three or four years. This trade kind of caught me off-guard. I didn’t see it coming.” Wallace did say, however, that going from a team building toward being a major contender to one that is in rebuilding mode isn’t the easiest thing to accept. … Whether Wallace will be part of the rebuilding process will be figured out down the road. He has a contract that will be tough to move with three years remaining at roughly $10.1 million per, and Danny Ainge, Celtics president of basketball operations, said this is always a quiet time in terms of player movement. Ainge also said he doesn’t know what Wallace’s role will be on this team with an overcrowded roster at basically every position.
• Harvey Araton of The New York Times: It didn’t take long for Steve Mills to address his primary mission in assuming the Knicks’ top executive position last week, courtesy of his former and once again benefactor, James L. Dolan. On N.B.A. media day, Mills explained how the job opportunity appeared suddenly, announced the exercising of an option year for Coach Mike Woodson and then got down to the business of what promises to be a season of breathtaking pandering to Carmelo Anthony. He clearly is one of those superstar players that don’t come around very often, and the things he has done to make this team successful and to represent this city is something that’s very important,” Mills said. “So while it’s premature in the process, we’ve made it clear that we have every intention of making Carmelo a Knick for a long time to come.” Given a chance to declare it a mutual love affair and to say he couldn’t wait to put his Carmelo Hancock on a Knicks contract extension, Anthony politely abstained. “When the time comes, I’ll deal with that,” he said. “I’m not going to go through the season thinking about my contract.”
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: O.J. Mayo wanted to find a place to stay awhile. After spending his first four pro seasons in Memphis, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard was in Dallas just one year. When the Mavericks focused their off-season attentions on Chris Paul and Dwight Howard (failing to land either one), the unrestricted free agent Mayo could take a hint. So on Monday it was Mayo stepping up to a microphone wearing his No. 00 at the Milwaukee Bucks media day at the Cousins Center. Mayo, who was the third overall pick in the 2008 draft by Minnesota and traded to Memphis, knows big things are expected of him on this stop. And he's just fine with that. "I'm going to do whatever I need to do in order for us to be successful," Mayo said. "If I have to be the tough guy, if I have to bite, scratch, whatever we need to do." The Bucks signed Mayo as the replacement for Monta Ellis at shooting guard, agreeing to a three-year, $24 million contract with the former Southern Cal player. … But foremost on his mind is helping the Bucks. He understands his role will be a critical one on a team with a 21-year-old point guard in Brandon Knight and a young front line featuring fourth-year center Larry Sanders and second-year pro John Henson. "Last year (the Bucks) were the eighth seed but at the same time it was a losing season," Mayo said. "Hopefully we can get to a fifth or sixth seed this year and continue growing, show we're making improvements and strides."
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: New Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks mentioned he talked with Jennings on Monday about the expectations for the young point guard. Cheeks was asked what he said, but he deferred and said he was more curious to hear Jennings’ recollection of the conversation. “Everything was just straightforward,” Jennings said. “He said the team goes as far as I go. He’s looking for a guy who can come in here with a positive attitude every day and a guy that’s not too high and not too low, but in the middle. “He said he is going to be on me every day, and he’s going to put a lot of pressure on me.” One of the things that angered fans last season was former coach Lawrence Frank’s limiting of rookie center Andre Drummond’s minutes. Cheeks said he isn’t looking to limit Drummond and expects big things in his second season. “I’m going to put him out on the floor for sure,” Cheeks said.
• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: In a bold and franchise-altering day seldom before seen, one thing has become clear. They will forever be the Raptors but they will never be the same. With a new “global ambassador” who appears to have as much passion for the organization as almost anyone employed by it and a new look and colour scheme coming in two years, the Raptors kicked off the official run-up to the 2016 NBA all-star game in decidedly glitzy fashion. Drake, the iconic Toronto music superstar and now the unofficial host of the all-star weekend, will be part of the process of “re-branding” the franchise that has missed the NBA playoffs for the past five years. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke said the process has already begun to change the colour scheme and logo of the team that’s entering its 19th year in the NBA. The name however won’t change, Leiweke said, and it will not be a quick process. Leiweke said the team has already engaged a Toronto firm to help with the process, they will make an effort to somehow involve fans but thanks to marketing and licensing demands, the new look won’t be unveiled until the 2015-16 season. And the NBA will be heavily involved.
• Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said Monday was the only time he’s going to address Corbin’s contract situation with the media this season. “The Miller family is known for their support for players, of coaches, of management. We’re going to stand by our record,” Lindsey said. “I think as you guys have seen with Coach Sloan, the internal promotion what we did last year and support of Ty and the staff with the Raja Bell situation, coaches here are very well-supported. Beyond that, the Miller family and the management team, we’re not going to comment past that point.” The Jazz’s expectations for Corbin this season? “Our expectations,” Miller Sports Properties president Steve Miller said, “are that he shows up, which he will, and that he does the job that we’ve hired him to do, and he will because he’s the consummate professional.” Lindsey said he has a “gentleman’s agreement” with the agents of Hayward and Favors to not discuss their deals in public, either. Utah has until the end of October to extend the players’ contracts. If that doesn’t happen, the Jazz have the option of turning them into restricted free agents next offseason. “As you guys can assume, we’re having active conversations. We’re hopeful,” Lindsey said.
• Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post: Nuggets center JaVale McGee is working to get better control of his asthma. He is awaiting lung capacity test results taken recently to be able to pinpoint which medication will work best for him this season. "It definitely figures out what medicines I need to take, if I'm taking too much medicine, if I'm not taking enough," McGee said. "So it's definitely a good thing." McGee averaged 18.1 minutes per game last season in a mostly reserve role. Those minutes are expected to jump considerably now that new Nuggets coach Brian Shaw has all but declared him the starting center. "Definitely inhalers," McGee said of required equipment. "And then practicing past my first wind. It's not a huge problem. It's just that once.”
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: Fatherhood can impact guys differently. A newborn in the house means many things change. For Dirk Nowitzki, it meant being a “full-on home dad” for the last two months. In case you are wondering, it will not impact his job. Coach Rick Carlisle had the most emphatic answer when asked if daddy Dirk seemed any different to him. “If you’re asking if he’s settling into fatherhood and not as into basketball, I’ll tell you categorically, the answer is [expletive] no,” Carlisle said. “It’s been a tough couple years for him. The ’12 [lockout] season was dicey with the knee thing, and then coming in last year, it seemed like it was OK and then the thing puffed up. So he takes it extremely seriously. … This is serious business, and his effort has been completely matched up with the level of importance.”
• Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle: While most fans have a guess as to who the Rockets’ leaders will be this year, head coach Kevin McHale says it’s just too early to tell who will do the leading and who, in turn, will do the following. “We have only had four practices so far,” McHale said. “Right now they are just trying to get through those.” While most fingers point to James Harden and Dwight Howard, McHale said the leaders won’t emerge for a while. “They all have personalities, and really, I don’t know if you can say, ‘This guy’s a designated leader,’ ” McHale said. “Players are going to follow who players follow, and they follow guys for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes there is the older guy they follow because the guy is full of wisdom and he helps them out all the time. Sometimes it is the high-energy guy they follow because they are just like, ‘That guy plays so hard.’ All that leadership stuff, as it always does, will take care of itself.”
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: If you thought Michael Kidd-Gilchrist didn’t play like a No.2 overall pick last season, then know this: Kidd-Gilchrist didn’t think so, either. The Charlotte Bobcats small forward recalls his rookie season with disappointment – not about the team’s 21-61 record, but rather that he didn’t do more to help. His numbers weren’t bad. He averaged 9.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and just under a shot-block per game. But he’s used to excelling, and this was well short of that in a class that featured rookie of the year Damian Lillard with Portland and stellar big man Anthony Davis with New Orleans. “I was disappointed in myself,” Kidd-Gilchrist said at media day, on the eve of training camp Tuesday morning at UNC Asheville. “It wasn’t the losses. I like all my teammates and we bonded a lot. I was mad at myself. I set goals and I didn’t reach any of the goals that I set. All my life I did that and last year I didn’t reach one goal.’’ Asked for specifics, Kidd-Gilchrist said he set out to be rookie of the year and failed. He set out to make first-team all-rookie, and failed.
• Monte Poole of The Oakland Tribune: Bob Myers has a fabulous job, with a salary that allows him to live anywhere he likes, visit any place he chooses. On this particular day, as soft clouds hover above the Bay Area, the Warriors general manager chooses state prison. He's not alone. Another member of the 1 percent club, Warriors coach Mark Jackson, a former NBA star, also arrives at the joint. These two are voluntarily rubbing shoulders -- literally -- with men serving time at this world-famous lockup on the north shore of San Francisco Bay. Myers and Jackson and Warriors assistant coach Brian Scalabrine, one year removed from playing in the NBA, are joined by other members of the Warriors organization, including assistant general manager Kirk Lacob, the son majority owner Joe Lacob. They all brave the morning commute to come here and play basketball with the inmates. So, naturally, this visit is about much more than hoops. "It's basketball, but, for the most part, this is about impacting lives," Jackson says.

PLAYA VISTA, Calif. -- Every day is media day in Los Angeles. When celebrities and athletes who live out of town want to broaden their public appeal, they descend on the city and its landscape of sound stages, hideaways, beachside compounds and gleaming office towers where producers, publicists and image-makers broker meetings. The cyber-razzi want to be close to their prey, so they also call southern California home.

Until quite recently, the Los Angeles Clippers lived on the far outskirts of this world. Their long slog through the wilderness has been well-documented, and now, too, has their emergence as a legitimate NBA organization.

Nobody who thinks seriously about basketball in Los Angeles dwells any longer on whether the Clippers have reversed their history, or whether it’s even possible the Clippers could ever be spoken of with the same affection as the Lakers. It’s not that these questions have been answered, it’s that posing them has gotten boring. As Clippers team president Andy Roeser is fond of saying in response to existential questions about the team, “We’ll see.”

In the meantime, the Clippers have developed into one of the league’s more interesting teams. They feature two charismatic superstars, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, each with a personalized storyline or two. They established a signature style of play -- the capacity to do that usually means a team is really good. And Los Angeles is the only big market that can decisively say the resident NBA team is the city’s most popular. If the NFL’s exodus did one thing, it was to solidify Los Angeles as the country’s biggest basketball town.

No matter how big the swell of media interest, media day isn’t the place where an NBA team can advance compelling storylines. The court at the Clippers’ practice facility was literally covered by a layer of black porch turf. Not much actually happens at media day, but it’s still the day when organizations, players and coaches lay out the campaign’s talking points. The sound bites we hear just before training camp constitute the team’s stump speech heading into fall, the familiar litany of themes to be visited and revisited over the course of the season.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers manages this messaging as well as any coach in the league, which is why it’s so easy to imagine his succeeding in Los Angeles. The Clippers have made, if not a 180, then certainly a 150. Yet Rivers is the organization’s first coach who could both communicate and project credibility to his players and the fan base. Some past coaches excelled at one task but struggled with the other, but Rivers brings the whole package.

At Clippers media day, Rivers was the first guest greeted on stage by the Clippers’ bright radio broadcaster, Brian Sieman. Soon after the hire, Rivers quickly established a tendency to use “we” when speaking about past events from the Clippers’ point of view, a pattern that was noticeable again on Monday.

“The areas where we struggled were huge. One is transition. With the athleticism we have, we should be a better transition defensive team,” Rivers said on the podium. “And then guarding the 3-point line. We were 26th or 27th in the league in 3-point defense. And in a league that shoots 3s, we have to get better at that.”

Mood and tone might be Rivers’ strongest assets as team spokesman, but he’s not careless with his words in the slightest. Rivers wants to convey that he’s taking ownership not just of the future, but also of the past. When you coach the Celtics or Lakers, associating yourself with the mystique of an organization is easy, but with the Clippers, history isn’t something people who work for the team want to be constantly reminded of.

The Clippers have had a peculiar relationship with the media over the past few seasons. They’re a team that’s thrilled fans with aerial exploits, but also repelled some of the NBA League Pass cognoscente with their moodiness.

The flash point of this tension has been Griffin, who was worshiped when he first dropped from the sky, made dunking fun again and quickly cultivated a sensibility that made him the league’s best pitchman. On the court, Griffin produced as a high-usage scorer, efficient rebounder and elite passer. There’s room for improvement mechanically and defensively, but Griffin contributed an enormous amount of offense to a team that’s won nearly two-thirds of its regular-season games over the past two years.

It’s almost impossible to believe a person who looks like Griffin and has enjoyed his on and off-court success could ever want for confidence. But Griffin is far from impenetrable -- maybe farther than many. He endured a backlash, along with the empty innuendo (the requisite rap of being soft or a fake tough guy). And by accounts from Griffin’s teammates, he often served as a whipping boy last season when one was needed.

Ask Rivers about the twists and turns in Griffin’s evolving persona in the public imagination and he probably couldn’t tell you -- and if he could, he wouldn’t. What Rivers clearly understands is that his power forward has the potential to be coached up enormously. Part of that project includes steeping Griffin in the dark arts of the Thibodeau-constructed defense. Encouraging Griffin’s continued progress with shooting sensei Bob Thate is another piece. But above all of the component parts is something more vital, if less tangible: letting Blake Griffin know he’s going to be a better basketball player two years from now than he is today.

“One guy that has stood out to me is Blake,” Rivers told the audience at media day. “Just sitting in my office up there and looking down on him and watching him work. I knew he was a worker. I didn’t know he was the worker to the extent that he’s worked this summer. He’s put in a lot of time. I’ve been impressed with his scheduling. He does a lot of stuff and nothing gets in the way of his basketball, and that shows me a great sign of maturity.”

Lots of coaches say lots of nice things about lots of players on media day, but Rivers is doing something larger here -- he’s bringing back the old Blake Griffin narrative, the one about the kid who conditions by running up sand dunes, treats his body like a temple and rides himself harder than anyone else could. Rivers, fascinated by Griffin’s ability to move the ball, opened a dialogue with Griffin about how to utilize his skill set in the pinch post, where refined big men such as Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett prospered as both scorers and facilitators.

When Rivers talks generally about the anatomy of the Clippers, the team he describes has two superstars. Paul doesn’t require much reassurance about his role, but Griffin never really discovered his precise function in the offense under Vinny Del Negro. He got plenty of touches down on the box, but they weren’t connected to any greater system of principles, or those principles were never communicated clearly.

Rivers might have been talking to the media on Monday, but the message was targeted at his 24-year-old power forward. That message? This is your team as much as it is anyone’s, and we’re going to help you claim it.

• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: The best thing that Ryan McDonough inherited with the Suns’ general-manager job was a low bar set by his predecessor and a chance with some flexibility out of his starting block. Previous GM Lance Blanks dropped that bar too low for even a limbo, but he and Lon Babby, the president of basketball operations, also took on a different kind of mess than the last-place team McDonough absorbed. It was about this time two years ago when Blanks showed up for work, raising eyebrows by arriving three weeks after accepting his first GM job. It might be hard to blame him, considering any muscle a GM would like to flex was eliminated when the Suns, in the July between Steve Kerr’s departure and Blanks’ arrival, took on about $82 million of contracts for Hedo Turkoglu, Hakim Warrick and Josh Childress (they are still paying him $14.5 million over the next two seasons). McDonough has created some optimism with the drafting of Alex Len and Archie Goodwin and acquisition of Eric Bledsoe, but where will his moves stand in two years? There were 24 players acquired by the Suns for regular-season play during Blanks’ 20 months on the job, one in which he certainly did not act alone. One-third of them remain Suns.
• Staff of The Dallas Morning News: What the Dallas Mavericks will do in future offseasons remains a mystery especially with Mark Cuban running the show. While the Mavericks appear to be building for the future at point guard with Shane Larkin, a reunion with J.J. Barea is not out of the question. Dallas did show some interest this offseason, and Barea said he wouldn’t mind returning in the near future. "It's a great relationship with Mark Cuban. If they want to bring me back to Dallas, I am very [good] with it," he told ESPN.com. "But I'm happy in Minnesota. They're the ones that wanted me there, the ones that signed me for four years, so until they decide to trade me, I'm going to give them all my effort in the games." Barea spent the first five years of his career in Dallas and was a fan favorite during the Mavericks’ title run in 2011. After that season, Barea became a declined a 1-year contract offer and became a free agent. Last year, Barea averaged 11.3 points and 4.0 assists per game for Minnesota.
• Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times: Lamar Odom will be 34 in November. Yet Vinny Del Negro, whose contract wasn't renewed after last season and who probably will be doing television commentary this season, disagrees with the "senior executive of an NBA team." "Lamar can still play," he said. "It's not the basketball skills that are the problem. Once he gets himself in shape and gets his mind wrapped around basketball, he can help somebody." Del Negro said he hates how quickly people will "knock a guy when he is down." He said he hates all the hearsay — "none of us really knows exactly what is going on" — and said of the executive, "If the guy is that powerful, he should have the guts to use his name." We see it all in athletes these days. Overpaid clowns who run their mouths while missing a brain; con artists who work overtime on their public image and very little on their games; sulking jocks with little to offer outside the lines and an expectation of canonization. Odom is none of these. Messed up? Sure. Someone who might have addiction issues? Obviously. Deserving of punishment if it is proved he put others in danger by driving under the influence? Certainly. But dismissed quickly by all of us, especially many in the NBA? Given no chance of recovery and return? Scorned by a public that recently rooted for and adored him? Not now. Not yet.
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun: Another victory to close the opening round-robin portion of the FIBA Americas would ensure Canada enters the next phase 2-1 and would enhance the odds of advancing further. Victories against teams previously eliminated do not carry forward. The squad has been able to come together and play well quicker than most anticipated. That’s largely been because of how good Pickering’s Cory Joseph has been. While manning the point, Joseph has been treating opponents like his adversaries in the NBA Development League, where he was a standout months ago. He’s been stuffing the stat sheet, racking up points and assists, even leading Canada in rebounding against Brazil. Joseph looks like a veteran on the court. Reaching the NBA Final and being developed by the league’s best organization, San Antonio, has been huge for the former first-round pick. And he’s playing like a star. Practising every day against MVP candidate Tony Parker surely has something to do with that, as well. Even though he’s the youngest player on the team, Joseph is used to making an impact alongside older teammates. He did it at Pickering Collegiate as a varsity starter alongside players like his brother Devoe, now a teammate again with Canada and he’s done it with the Spurs. Joseph heads into Tuesday in the top 10 in tournament scoring (fifth), rebounding (ninth) and steals (sixth) and leads in assists even though he has also played off of the ball.
• Staff of the Detroit Free Press: Pistons forwards Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome will play for their respective EuroBasket13 teams this week in Slovenia. Datome and Italy open with Russia on Wednesday. Jerebko and Sweden play Greece the same day. Pistons president Joe Dumars and assistant general manager George David were scheduled to leave for Slovenia on Monday to watch both in the tourney, according to pistons.com. The tournament runs Wednesday-Sept. 22, with five games for each team in six days in the qualifying round of the 24-team field. The top-three teams in each of the four groups move on to the second round. Italy, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Russia and Turkey are in Group D. Italy and Sweden play Monday in the final game of group play.
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Q: With the Grizzlies waiving Fab Melo, should the Heat consider giving him a chance to earn a roster spot? I read reports last year that he would have been Miami's pick in the draft had he not been selected by the Celtics. -- Rudy, Miami. A: If most-recent impressions factor in, then I would consider it a longshot, based on how the former Sagemont standout looked in front of the Heat staff at the Orlando summer league while playing for the Celtics. The Syracuse product remains a raw presence likely destined for more time in the D-League. If the Heat are able to offload Joel Anthony's contract, then it might be possible Melo could be brought in to compete with Jarvis Varnado, but such a spot might not even exist with Greg Oden essentially a developmental project, as well.
• Gerry Mullany of The New York Times: The former basketball star Dennis Rodman returned Tuesday to North Korea, where he plans “to see my friend” Kim Jong-un, the dictator whose country until recently was threatening to annihilate the United States with nuclear weapons. Mr. Rodman said in Beijing that he was planning a five-day visit to the North but played down speculation that he would try to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary who has been jailed there since late last year after being detained on North Korean soil. “I’m not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae,” the Basketball Hall of Fame member told Reuters in a telephone interview. “I’m just going there on another basketball diplomacy tour.” His visit comes amid a thaw in relations between North and South Korea, sworn enemies that just months ago appeared to be on the brink of military conflict.
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: JaVale McGee’s Pop-A-Shot adventures.

Most agree the Miami Heat are the popular pick to win the 2014 title. But if you ask J.A. Adande and Bomani Jones to pick the Heat or the field, they don't agree.

 

• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: I always found Allen Iverson to be a polarizing figure, he was self-confident to a level that some felt was off-putting but I think that’s what made him special in a lot of ways. I’m sure there was a rather substantial chip on his shoulder and he didn’t mind that everyone knew. He had a level of disdain for authority that was palpable at times, his clashes with Larry Brown were significant but those are two very strong-willed men so that shouldn’t come as too much a surprise. thing is that all the extraneous stuff — the posses, that legendary practice rant (and it was my dear friend Phil Jasner who started that, bless his soul), the tattoos, the “I’ve got to get mine” attitude — probably clouded judgement of him too much. And that’s his own fault, isn’t it? I’m not suggesting he — or anyone — should totally change the way they are just to get along or to present a false version of their character but at some point if you’re in a team sport, some bending for common good may be necessary.
• Tom Layman of the Boston Herald: Walter McCarty’s education as a coach came from a very unpopular voice here in Boston. But without it, the former Celtics reserve forward might not be answering questions as a new assistant for Brad Stevens. McCarty — who was hired by Stevens to fill out the Celtics coaching staff with Ron Adams and Micah Shrewsberry, along with holdovers Jamie Young and Jay Larranaga — spent three seasons, starting in 2007, as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville under his former C’s coach Rick Pitino. It was there where he learned the intricacies of what a coach does behind the scenes, and how to find a voice as an assistant from a guy who has brought three different programs to the Final Four. “Working for Rick Pitino taught me a lot. It really prepared me for how to prepare for opponents, how to scout games, how to teach and develop players, and how to speak and communicate with players, as well,” McCarty said from the Celtics practice facilities before a private basketball clinic with MarShon Brooks for YMCA of Greater Boston youth yesterday. “I think without those three years and that schooling, that education under Rick Pitino, I think this would have been a tough get.” … McCarty is the only assistant on Stevens’ staff with any NBA playing experience. He has one year under his belt as an assistant for Jim O’Brien with the Indiana Pacers in 2010-11, and he is hoping his 10-year resume as a player will benefit Stevens and the players in the Celtics locker room.
• Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times: As much as he (Doc Rivers) needs fresh scenery, the Clippers will need his strategizing and motivational skills to meet the high expectations they will face this season. With Blake Griffin in his prime and Chris Paul secured to a five-year, $107.3-million extension, winning a playoff round or two won't be enough for this team. Rivers must make the players' considerable individual talents add up to a cohesive whole, polish their many assets, and solidify their defense before they can be a championship contender in a rugged conference. "The expectations are great. I don't want us to shrink from that at all. I don't want us to run from that," he said. "But what we've got to get our guys to understand is expectations are one thing. Realization is a whole different thing, and just because you're expected to do anything doesn't mean you've arrived. We have not arrived. We didn't win a playoff series last year. So we have a lot of work to do as a group. We should expect to do that work. We have to expect that it's going to be much harder and we have to embrace it and do it."
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: LeBron James might be entitled to his opinion, but it doesn't mean Magic Johnson has to agree. Asked in a recent Fox Sports television interview to name his three greatest NBA players of all-time, the Miami Heat forward paused and then somewhat hastily went for Michael Jordan, Julius Erving and Larry Bird. Omitted and paying attention, former Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson replied Thursday on Twitter. Johnson first posted, "Lebron is entitled to his opinion, but I still think that he and I have a similar game and that's why I LOVE to watch him play!" That quickly was followed by, "NBA Championship rings are all that matter; Jordan 6, Me 5, Bird 3, LeBron 2 and Dr. J 1." … For the record, James did add that if he was asked for his top four, Johnson would have made that list. Somewhat surprised by the question asked during his charity event in Akron, Ohio, two weeks ago, James' first response was, "Michael Jordan, uh, wow . . . Michael Jordan . . . wow, this is tough . . . Michael Jordan, uh, Dr. J., Larry Bird. "You give me three? Oh my God. Three? Larry Bird, Dr. J. Michael Jordan." James said stopping at three was difficult. "I know," he said. "Can I get four? All right, Magic."
• Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer: The remaking of the 76ers continues. The team has acquired Tony Wroten from the Memphis Grizzlies Thursday for a protected second-round pick, a league source confirmed. This pick is based on where the Sixers, who are expected to struggle, finish in the standings. As a result, they basically surrendered nothing for Wroten, a 2012 first-round selection. “Just want to say thank you to ALL the Memphis Grizzlies fans, coaches, etc.,” Wroten tweeted Thursday. “I love the city of Memphis. Will always have love for you guys. GnG.” The 6-foot-5 point guard later tweeted ‘Where the homie @MeekMill at? LOL” before tweeting “Philly Philly Philly. City Of Brotherly Love. #215.” Robert Williams, better known as Meek Mill, is a rap artist from Philadelphia. The source said this move was about acquiring Wroten’s 1.1 million salary. Including his pay, the Sixers have around $41.2 million of salary guaranteed to 10 players for the upcoming season. NBA teams must have a minium payroll of $52.811 million. The Grizzlies needed to make this trade to shed salary and open up a roster spot.
• Kevin Nielson of Sportsnet.ca: Heading into the final year of his contract and with a new management team to answer to, Dwayne Casey’s tenuous future in Toronto will likely come down to the play of three wing players: Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross. Gay has seen his three-point shooting plummet from his career high (39.6 per cent) in 2010-11 to 32.3 per cent last season. The Raptors forward had off-season eye surgery to correct an astigmatism, and Casey is hoping this will help his star forward rediscover his outside shot. … Many believe that the outside combo of Gay and DeRozan is doomed to fail as neither has the ability to stretch the floor from long range. While Gay was bad from beyond the arc, DeRozan was terrible (28.3 percent), especially for a player whose position has the word ‘shoot’ in the title. … While Casey acknowledged Ross’ potential, the old-school coach will not reward him with minutes based on potential alone. The Raptors coach is looking for more consistency from the sophomore forward.
• Nat Newell of The Indianapolis Star: The Indiana Pacers always-engaging center Roy Hibbert is back at it on social media. After sending out a picture following a workout in San Antonio earlier in the week in which he dwarfed Tim Duncan, Hibbert put pictures of himself in an airplane bathroom on Instagram. The answer? He doesn't. He wrote with the photo, on his accountroyhibbert55,” “I'm not one to take selfies but I know y'all were wondering how I fit in an airplane bathroom and the answer is ... I don't. #crampedlife”
• Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News: The NBA could award the All-Star Game in 2015 to the Garden and have its All-Star weekend events leading up to the game held in Brooklyn, but there won’t be a decision on the specifics for another few weeks, according to well-placed league sources. The Garden and Barclays Center continue to be in discussions with the league, with each entity looking to host the weekend’s main event — the 64th All-Star Game. “It hasn't been finalized,” one source said Thursday night. The league plans on making a decision by mid- to late September. The idea of having the Knicks and Nets co-host the weekend has been known since last February. It’s also possible that the All-Star Game could return to New York before 2020, with the game hosted by the Nets and the Knicks having the Friday and Saturday night events. The 2014 NBA All-Star Weekend will be held in New Orleans.
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun: Canada dropped the opener of the Tutu Marchand Continental Cup to host Puerto Rico on Thursday night. The tournament is a tune-up for next week’s FIBA Americas Championship, where four berths will be earned for next year’s FIBA World Cup in Spain. Minnesota guard J.J. Barea lit up the Canadians with 23 points and eight assists, helping Puerto Rico to a 40-30 half-time edge by notching 15 through two quarters. Orlando forward Andrew Nicholson paced the visitors with 21 points and Cleveland big man Tristan Thompson was excellent with 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks in 22 minutes of play. Canada closed within three heading into the final quarter, before a 10-2 run made the deficit too great to erase. Another tough opponent in Argentina awaits Canada on Friday.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It has been a busy offseason for Lou Williams. The Hawks guard has been rehabbing a torn ACL and hopes to be ready for the start of training camp. He also has been in a studio recording his recently released mixtape entitled 'Here Goes Nothin' under the name Lou Will. There are 16 tracks and the mixtape features other artists including 2 Chainz, Meek Mill, The Casey Boys from Jagged Edge, K. Michelle and Quez from Travis Porter. I listened to the tracks for language and content. Nothing major. I will leave the reviews to you and those far more qualified. Williams announced the release of the mixtape via Twitter Tuesday.

ESPN's Summer Forecast panel says the Thunder are the favorites to win the West, but Insider David Thorpe doesn't see it that way.

• Howard Beck of The New York Times: Two seasons ago, Chris Paul joined the Los Angeles Clippers and brought instant credibility to a woebegone franchise. Now he will try to do the same for the debilitated N.B.A. players union. Paul was elected president of the players association Wednesday after making a belated decision to run for office. He defeated Roger Mason Jr., who was elected first vice president at the union’s summer meeting in Las Vegas. Paul’s candidacy was a surprise, even to many union leaders. But his election indicated a recognition by the players that their most influential voices are needed in the most prominent roles. Paul, 28, is the first superstar to hold the president’s title since Patrick Ewing in 2001. He replaced Derek Fisher, whose term expired. … The union is trying to regain its footing after nearly two years of controversy and infighting, and a damning audit that charged Billy Hunter, the executive director, with nepotism and mismanagement of resources. Hunter was fired in February.
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich is widely applauded as the best coach in the NBA. He’s been with the Spurs 18 seasons for a reason. Just don’t try to tell DeJuan Blair about Pop’s coaching greatness. The new Mavericks big man once was an up-and-comer with the Spurs before things went sideways, Tiago Splitter arrived and Blair’s stock went down faster than a margarita on the Riverwalk. So what happened? “I don’t know,” Blair said. “Pop stopped [playing] me. I couldn’t tell you what was going through that man’s head at all. Nobody knows but him.” What was perfectly clear, though, was that Blair needed a change of address. “I had to leave and come here where I think they’ll give me confidence and believe in me,” he said. “I didn’t think they believed in me in San Antonio, so that’s pretty good here. I feel supported. That’s how it is.” … The Mavericks signed him specifically to fill the void that Brand left. As Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said, Blair isn’t afraid of contact. “DeJuan, I think he’s a beast, and he put us on our backs a few times and had no problems dunking on us [when with the Spurs],” Cuban said. “And I think he’s ready to turn that around and send it in the other direction. So yeah, I think DeJuan will help us.”
• Jason Quick of The Oregonian: But I also understand I have not been perfect myself. It's a public stage we are on, and there are times I wish I could take back something I said on the radio, or revealed while being interviewed myself. And there are situations I wish I handled better. Two in particular. First, I badly misplayed the Brandon Roy/Andre Miller saga. I blindly took Roy's side that Miller was a poor fit for the team and that he was killing the Blazers offense because both he and Roy needed to handle the ball. The truth of the matter was Roy was being a big baby. Miller, who would later became one of my favorite players I've ever covered, was too professional, too wise to engage in the debate. "It's just basketball," Miller would say. "I don't see what the problem is." Eventually, I came to understand and appreciate the beauty that was Andre Miller. Later, I told him I was embarrassed how I handled the coverage. That I was wrong. We now greet each other warmly when we see each other, a relationship I take great pride in. The second regret is not focusing on Rasheed Wallace's talents as much as his attitude. Part of that was inevitable. He was such a jerk, such a hothead that his attitude often was the story. But so was his talent -- particularly defensively -- and sometimes I think my disgust for his attitude got in the way of recognizing his play.
• Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune: Corey Brewer was a first-round draft choice (seventh overall) of the Timberwolves in 2007 and, after playing with the Mavericks and Nuggets, is back with the Wolves. He was asked if the fans are going to see a different Brewer than they might remember. “I am a whole different player now,” the 6-9 forward said. “I’m better. I got to go to Dallas and win a championship and learn from guys like Shawn Marion, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, and I was in Denver and we were winning. It was all about winning. … I feel like I was making the open three. I know how to get my shots and I know what to do and what not to do.”
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Don’t expect to see a lot of center Josh Harrellson when the Detroit Pistons begin the regular season. If things go according to plan, Harrellson will probably only get minutes when foul trouble, injury or suspension strikes center Andre Drummond and power forward Greg Monroe. But things don’t always go according to plan and Harrellson, 24, has two things the Pistons were looking for — he is young and he can shoot the ball. The Pistons announced the signing today — a two-year deal with a partial guarantee for the first season with a team option for the second season. The Pistons were attracted to the 6-feet-10, 275 pounder gives because he provides size in case of an emergency and he is a 32% career three-point shooter.
• Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News: The pressure of living up to Linsanity nearly crushed Jeremy Lin during his first season in Houston. The former Knicks phenomenon — who captured the world’s attention during a 25-game stretch with New York two seasons ago — told a crowd in Taiwan that he experienced, “emptiness, confusion and misery” in his first season with the Rockets. “I became so obsessed with becoming a great basketball player ... trying to be Linsanity, being this phenomenon that took the NBA by storm,” the 24-year-old said at the Dream Big, Be Yourself youth conference in Taipei. “The coaches were losing faith in me; basketball fans were making fun of me. ... I was supposed to be joyful and free, but what I experienced was the opposite. I had no joy and I felt no freedom.” Following a breakout season with the Knicks, Lin signed a three-year, $25 million deal with Houston last offseason. Lin stated that he preferred to stay with the Knicks, but Garden chairman James Dolan felt deceived by Lin — who restructed his contract with the Rockets to include a $14.9M third year — and the team declined to match the offer the Harvard-bred point guard got from the Rockets. But Lin couldn’t replicate the run he had with the Knicks in Houston, averaging 13.4 ppg and 6.1 apg. Not unlike the end of his run with New York, Lin sat out the final two games of Houston’s first-round playoff loss to Oklahoma City with an injury.
• Marc Berman of the New York Post: Iman Shumpert said whether Knicks owner James Dolan was ticked at him for allegedly balking at playing in the Las Vegas summer league in July isn’t his problem. Shumpert played just one summer-league game before heading to China and Taiwan to help open an Adidas store and serve as NBA ambassador. The controversy arose when an outtake from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith’s interview with Dwight Howard surfaced on YouTube. During an off-air chat, Smith told Howard he heard Dolan was furious at Shumpert for allegedly not wanting to play summer league and he wanted him traded. Smith said later on his radio show he believed Dolan was no longer peeved because Shumpert showed up. “That’s fine, that’s the media,’’ Shumpert said at yesterday’s Delta Open event with U.S. Open’s No. 1 seed Serena Williams at Madison Square Park. “Things get blown up in this day and age, with social media. It’s crazy. That video got out there and stuff happens. I’m happy to be a Knick. I’m worried about business.” Asked if he knows for certain if Dolan is still irritated, Shumpert said, “I don’t know. It doesn’t concern me. I got to make sure we go out and play basketball.’’
• Tom Couzens of The Sacramento Bee: Though there appears to be nothing to the latest rumors, it's unlikely Fredette will get much playing time this coming season – if he's still with the Kings. The Kings acquired Greivis Vasquez to be their starting point guard, likely pushing incumbent Isaiah Thomas to a backup role. Look for rookie Ray McCallum, who impressed coaches this summer in Las Vegas, to be ahead of Fredette at the point, too. Things are just as crowded at shooting guard, with first-round draft pick Ben McLemore expected to start and Marcus Thornton getting plenty of playing time, too. Throw veteran John Salmons into the mix and that means there will be few minutes for Fredette. So where does that leave the guard who made "Jimmermania" a household word and won every major college award as a senior at BYU just two years ago? … Look for the Kings to try to deal Fredette before the February trade deadline, if not sooner, because it's time for Fredette – and Kings fans – to move on.
• Sean Highkin of USA Today: Roy Hibbert has been in San Antonio recently, working out at the Spurs’ facility. Recently, Tim Duncan joined the Indiana Pacers center and brought some boxing coaches with him to help them with their routines. One thing that jumps out: how much taller Hibbert is than Duncan, one of the most dominant big men in NBA history. The Big Fundamental is in the middle, wearing red, and Hibbert (on the left) totally dwarfs him. Hibbert’s size played a major role in the Pacers’ ability to push the Miami Heat to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals — if they had won that game, they would have faced Duncan’s Spurs in the Finals. Instead, they’re teaming up for offseason workouts.
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun: Final auditions are about to get underway for Canada’s senior men’s basketball squad. Training camp has concluded and now, with only a week remaining before Canada’s most important games in two years, players on the bubble will try to prove their worth in Puerto Rico. Canada will play four games at the Tuto Marchand Continental Cup there, starting Thursday, against the hosts, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Brazil. The event is the traditional tuneup for the FIBA Americas tourney, which tips from Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 30. Canada and its three opponents in Puerto Rico will be joined by six other teams in Venezuela, with four berths at next year’s FIBA World Cup in Spain up for grabs. Canada has not competed at a major event since finishing sixth of eight teams at the 2011 FIBA Americas. … Steve Nash was beloved by teammates for his unselfishness on and off the court. Nash used to treat his fellow Canadians to dinner regularly when he was still an active player with the program. New leaders Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph appear to be carrying on the tradition. The pair recently bought every member of the squad custom Team Canada Beats By Dre headphones.

Back in March, during the height of the 2013 playoff chase, the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies were jockeying for the No. 3 seed in the West. The two teams already loathed one another, their feelings dating to their seven-game series in spring 2012. Things often can get stale in an NBA arena by mid-March, but when the Clippers and Grizzlies hooked up at Staples Center, the buzz was electric.

For the first quarter that night, the NBA was the product at its fullest. The appeal of the game was noted by the Clippers’ broadcast team, along press row and across Twitter. High-grade professional basketball.

The Clippers and Grizzlies are two of the league’s better teams, but neither play in a well-choreographed system that lends itself to hoops ballet. Yet in the first quarter that night, every player on the floor moved with purpose, and crisp decisions were made instantaneously. The ball popped around the floor and the game flowed freely. Oddly, there were no lead changes and the teams combined for only two fast-break possessions. Each team shot greater than 60 percent from the field, but that's not altogether unusual for a single quarter. It was something else:

Zero free throws attempted.

Time of quarter: 20 minutes.

There were no long red lights where the game came to a stop so we could watch nine guys stand around as one player goes through a rote skills challenge of hitting a standing set shot from a predetermined spot on the floor.

The mandatory timeout following the first stoppage after the 6-minute mark came inside of five minutes. The Clippers took an additional timeout a few minutes later to shuffle the deck after a string of sloppy possessions, but apart from that, the quarter zipped along. Blake Griffin was the best version of Blake Griffin, the big man who can beat you with both refined skills and brute force. Tayshaun Prince hopped into a time machine and beat the Clippers with his handle and down in the post. And after an exhilarating 20 minutes, the game was tied 24-24.
 

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An average NBA game features in the neighborhood of 43 free throw attempts -- 43 buzzkills that send our attention away from one of the greatest stages in the world toward our mobile devices, remote controls, refrigerators and toilets.

Why?

From "Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball’s Early Years" by Robert W. Peterson:
 

… At first field goals counted one point and there were no foul shots; offenders were penalized by temporary removal from the game. Then free throws were introduced as penalties for fouling, including such violations as running with the ball or kicking it. Free throws were shot from 20 feet until 1894-95 when the distance was reduced to 15 feet. The rule-makers tinkered with scoring too, setting the value of a field goal at three points and penalizing fouls by awarding a point to the opponents. Finally, for the 1895-96 season, they settled on two points for a field goal, one for a successful foul shot.

Just to clarify, we stop the action more than 20 times per game because the forefathers of basketball, nearly nine decades before the birth of LeBron James, decided that free throws were a good idea during the infancy of the game, a period during which basketball was far more a recreational endeavor than a spectator event. Entertainment value was the last thing on the minds of these men as they sought to codify basketball's legal system.

More than a century later, the free throw is still central to the game. But apart from timeouts, when the game is essentially suspended for other business, is there a moment during 2 1/2 hours that generates less drama (Ollie be damned), where players demonstrate less of what separates them from us, where the formulaic casts a darker shadow over the spontaneous?

Men like James Naismith and his successor, Luther Gulick, were unquestionably smart and innovative. Basketball wouldn’t have flourished globally if not for their vision and craftsmanship of the game. They realized early on that without a proper disincentive, players would hack each other with impunity. As Peterson documented, rule-makers experimented with awarding a point to a fouled team. If a player was fouled, points were awarded directly and we moved on.

There was no "earning it at the line,” because what did the recipient’s ability to hit a set shot have to do with the intent and consequence of the foul he received? As a general principle, “earning it at the line” is not a force of good in basketball. Earning it at the line results in potentially spectacular plays disintegrating into a flying collision, some of which result in injury rather than pyrotechnics. Earning it at the line is the equivalent of intentionally pulling the plugs on the speakers just as the party is getting good.

Since basketball’s formative years, leagues have continued to dabble in new ideas surrounding the free throw. In 1950, the NBA instituted a jump ball following free throws to provide a further deterrent to fouling, an idea that was short-lived. Three-to-make-two was introduced in 1954, then eliminated in 1981.

Tradition has played a prominent role in the evolution of the game, but it hasn’t been sacrosanct. That’s a good thing, because tradition shouldn’t act as the sole source of authority, especially for a game whose innovation in rules, style, schemes, form and presentation has propelled its popularity. The 3-point shot was first introduced as an experiment during preseason games in 1978. It’s been an essential ingredient in the league’s renaissance in the past three decades -- from non-existent to arguably the most exciting regular outcome of an NBA possession.

The scourge of the free throw is a far easier problem to diagnose than to treat because there are no simple antidotes. Could we just automatically award two points to a player when he gets fouled in the act of shooting or while his team is in the penalty? One or the other? Maybe two points for a shooting foul, but only one point and possession for a non-shooting foul in the bonus?

We could, as D-League president Dan Reed recently suggested on TrueHoop TV, make every shooting foul one-and-one. That would eliminate first attempts that produce dead balls and another 30 seconds of stasis, though it might also encourage more hacking because there would be an even better chance for opponents to get the ball back at no expense.

And if we did eliminate the free throw altogether, what could we provide in its place that would give trailing teams the opportunity to close the gap during the final few minutes of a game? We could eliminate consecutive timeouts, consequently forcing the leading team to get the ball in bounds on the first attempt. If they can’t -- and we see this all the time -- that would create a change of possession in five riveting seconds as the crowd explodes over a gritty defensive stand (or goes into shock as their team turns the ball over with no time expiring on the clock, all because they couldn’t get it in!).

Free throws are an entrenched feature of the game, so it’s difficult to imagine basketball without them -- but we do have reference points like those 20 minutes in March when the ball was live 60 percent of the time, and like any great piece of visual storytelling, you couldn't take your eyes off the action because you might miss something.
 

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JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Would basketball be better with fewer (or zero) free throws? You can give us your ideas and talk with us and other fans in the following places:

• Facebook: Go to our NBA on ESPN page and talk it over
• Twitter: Go to @HoopIdea and tweet to us with the hashtag #hoopidea
• Google+: Go to our HoopIdea Google+ page and discuss
• TrueHoop: Read our HoopIdea posts here and contribute on the conversation page
• Email us at hoopidea@gmail.com

And for the truly ambitious: Shoot a short video of yourself explaining your HoopIdea, upload it to YouTube and share the link with us on Twitter or Google+.

Thanks to Curtis Harris for his help on the historical material in the post.

• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: Finally, Derrick Rose’s left knee wasn’t the main topic of conversation for Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. Speaking to the media on Saturday for the first time since lead assistant coach and close friend Ron Adams was let go, Thibodeau did his best to dismiss the idea there’s a rift between him and general manager Gar Forman. “No, we’re fine,” Thibodeau said before the Bulls played the Memphis Grizzlies in their first NBA Summer League game. It was convincing enough to quiet the speculation for now, but Thibodeau didn’t sound thrilled by Adams’ removal. “As I tell our players, I tell everyone, we’re not looking backwards, we’re looking ahead, and we’re getting ready for next season,” Thibodeau said. “That’s all we’re thinking about.” Asked if he felt good about where he and Forman are, Thibodeau said, “Yeah. We’re getting ready for next season. We want to be a championship-caliber team, and that’s all we’re thinking about.”
• Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: Metta World Peace wouldn't mind playing for the Clippers now that he's a free agent. "Of course I'm interested in Clippers," World Peace texted to The Times on Sunday. "I have to meet them first." The Clippers also are interested in speaking with World Peace, said NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. There have been reports the New York Knicks are also interested in World Peace, who was waived by the Lakers under the amnesty provision on Thursday. Sunday at 2 p.m. Pacific time was the deadline for teams with salary cap room to bid on World Peace. But no team did, allowing him to clear waivers and negotiate with the team of his choice. The most the Clippers can pay a player with World Peace's experience level is $1.4 million. He still will get the $7.7 million owed by the Lakers.
• Marc Berman of the New York Post: Metta World Peace is free to come home — 14 years later. World Peace is a free agent after clearing amnesty waivers last night, and the Knicks officially expressed interest to the agents of the former Ron Artest at the Las Vegas Summer League. The Knicks are trying to schedule a meeting with World Peace in Las Vegas today or tomorrow. Agent Marc Cornstein said nothing is set in stone on the meeting yet, but said there’s “mutual interest.’’ World Peace, when asked if he’s coming to Vegas to sit down with the Knicks, responded via text message to The Post, “No, going to watch Floyd Mayweather train.” Cornstein planned to speak with World Peace last night to go over his options. Knicks coach Mike Woodson acknowledged the club likes what the Queensbridge product can bring. “I like his skill set a lot,’’ Woodson said. “A lot of teams liked his skill set over the years. He does a little bit of everything.’’
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: It's been a polarizing summer for Thunder fans. Many wonder why the team isn't doing more. But those fans seem to have forgotten a major element that defined the Thunder's season in the two months since OKC was knocked out of the playoffs in the second round. Russell Westbrook suffered a season-ending knee injury. Had the team's star point guard not gone down with a fluke injury, who knows how the Thunder's season would have played out? That's the main reason the Thunder hasn't made any sweeping changes or departed from its process. When Westbrook returns, the Thunder is expected again take its place at the top of the Western Conference. But money matters also have shaped the Thunder's summer.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: Hakeem Olajuwon, a key part of the Rockets’ recruiting efforts to land Howard and a large part of the festivities Saturday after Howard signed, will rejoin the Rockets in an official capacity for the first time since he spent the final season of his career with the Toronto Raptors in 2002. Olajuwon’s duties and title are being discussed, and he will spend much of the year at his home in Jordan. But he will work with Rockets interior players, as he does with big men around the NBA each offseason, as a team employee. “We are going to bring him in as full-time as is possible,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said Sunday. “It’s not done, but we have mutual interest to get it done, and we’ve had some early discussions. “We want him to work with Dwight and Omer (Asik), and he wants to do that.” Olajuwon, 50, has worked with Howard in two offseasons, and Howard has spoken about training with him again, this time as the latest in the line of Rockets All-Star centers.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: From Sports Illustrated to ESPN to CBS, all the major U.S. media players were left in awe of the Raptors big man who made his debut in the final game of Day 2 at the Las Vegas Summer League. That it came in a loss to a Miami Heat squad that likely doesn’t have a player who will make an NBA squad this year is beside the point. What everyone in attendance saw was a player who has taken a solid rookie season and is already giving every indication his sophomore season will dwarf it. The more astute critics were careful to point out that Valanciunas’ dominance is coming against players who for the most part are a couple of years behind him in their development. Normally Valanciunas would have played at least once in the summer league already considering he was drafted in 2011. But playing another year in Lithuania before his buyout was complete (the 2011 summer league was cancelled anyway, a victim of the lockout) and then helping Lithuania to qualify for the Olympics and play in them last summer kept him away. So unlike many others, Valanciunas isn’t here to open eyes or audition for a job. He has got the job already based on that solid rookie season. What Valanciunas is here to do is take the next step and — as harsh as this may sound — that means crushing the competition that stands opposed.
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: There has been a lot of enthusiasm surrounding the Trail Blazers’ addition of Thomas Robinson this offseason. General manager Neil Olshey labeled it an “absolute steal” and the consensus — both locally and nationally — seems to be that the Blazers scooped up Robinson for nothing when they acquired him for a pair of second-round draft picks and a couple of international prospects. But after two uneven summer league appearances, including Sunday’s 81-63 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, that opinion has a fresh perspective. Robinson’s effort and energy have been inconsistent. His raw and beastly athleticism have been more imposing than productive. Far too often, he’s resorted to one-on-one offensive play rather than embracing the dirty work he supposedly relishes. … But two summer league games is the only body of work Blazers fans have so far, and it’s been a hit-and-miss experience. Robinson is a bundle of hustle and muscle, who — at 6-foot-10 and 240-pounds — is a hulking, physical force. He thrives on contact and rugged play and, thanks to a 7-3 wingspan and a 35-inch vertical leap, he excels at rebounding and defense. What’s more, he loves both.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: Atlanta's Schröder looks eerily like.... Rajon Rondo. Their mannerisms are quite similar and Schröder causes the same type of defensive havoc as Rondo, at least in summer league. Schröder plays aggressively on defense and also has an uncanny confidence and swagger. The Celtics seriously considered taking Schröder with the 16th pick but traded up to take Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk, a selection they are thrilled with after his impressive summer league performance. Schröder finished with a Rondo-like 9 points on 4-for-12 shooting, 8 rebounds and 4 steals in Atlanta's 75-71 win over Miami.
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: Don Newman, however, kept Otto Porter Jr. as his starting shooting guard, and the result was another rough outing offensively for the 6-foot-9 rookie more suited to play small forward. Porter once again got off to a decent start, scoring eight points in the first half as he caught a backdoor pass from Jan Vesely for a layup, made a mid-range jumper and even threw down two rare fast-break dunks. But he went scoreless in the second half, missing all five of his shot attempts, and finished 4 of 13 from the field in the Wizards’ 82-69 loss. “It’s hard to get that comfortability right now, playing different positions, trying to figure it out, trying to execute,” Porter said. “It’s different.” … The Wizards certainly aren’t panicking since they are obviously experimenting with Porter. In the regular season, Porter usually will be surrounded by better offensive players, which will allow his skills as a do-it-all complementary piece to stand out. Newman said the Wizards are “fishing around” to figure out how to best use Porter when the regular season begins. Coming from a structured system at Georgetown, Porter is trying to find his way in a much more wide-open summer league style. More of a reactionary, adjusting player, Porter is still trying to get a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of his teammates.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: Fast as Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford hopes Cody Zeller develops, he’s wary of overloading the rookie with data. “What we’re doing with him is a little different than the other three guys’’ under contract, Clifford said following an 86-80 summer-league victory over the Dallas Mavericks. “We’re just kind of letting him feel his way. He’s so smart, and the (NBA) rules are different. He’s so bright that you can see every time you practice, he figures something else out.’’ Zeller, the fourth overall pick, finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and a block. He improved dramatically from his first game, when he totaled eight points and five rebounds. Some of that was simply about shooting. He missed a bunch of jumpers Friday against the San Antonio Spurs that fell through Sunday. But it was also about Zeller’s comfort level in the high-post sets the Bobcats are implementing to let him be a passer-shooter.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: So where does this leave the Bucks and Brandon Jennings? He has served as Milwaukee's starter for the past four seasons since being selected 10th overall in the 2009 draft. And he averaged 17.5 points and a career-best 6.5 assists last season while continuing to struggle with his shooting percentage (39.9%). Jennings was in contention for an all-star berth at the halfway point of the season but he struggled at the end of the season and in a first-round playoff series against Miami. The fact the Bucks aggressively sought another point guard could put a serious damper on Jennings' thoughts of playing a fifth season in Milwaukee. But it's the way restricted free agency works, a painful process at best. The Bucks made a $4.3 million qualifying offer to Jennings, so they still have the ability to match any offer the 23-year-old receives from another team. So far Jennings has received no offers. A sign-and-trade deal with Jennings also could still be done, and the Bucks could look at other point guard options through trades or the free-agent market.
• Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune: If Flip Saunders had behaved this way when he was 5 years old, someone would have prescribed Ritalin. The man is on fire. As the Timberwolves’ personnel boss discussed his many moves on Friday, he could barely sit still. And after the news conference, when the room had emptied, he gushed with the kind of optimism that most team executives try to keep hidden beneath a layer of professional caution. “I’m really excited about what we have,” Saunders said. “I don’t want to put any expectations on us. And the reason I don’t want to put any expectations on us is I don’t want to make those expectations too low. I do believe if we stay healthy, the way Rick [Adelman] coaches and with the system we have, that we could be a very scary team.” He’s right. With the addition of defensive-minded wing Corey Brewer, Saunders and Adelman, the Wolves coach, have built the deepest, most versatile roster in franchise history. In this case, “franchise history” isn’t too impressive. Look at it another way: This year’s Wolves will have a bench that could have beaten the starting fives of a few recent teams. If Adelman starts Brewer at small forward for defensive purposes, the starting five will be Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, Brewer, Kevin Loveand Nikola Pekovic. The next seven players will be J.J. Barea, Chase Budinger, Derrick Williams, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng, Ronny Turiaf and Alexey Shved.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: It's official: The Spurs' main starting five last season will be back. The Spurs on Saturday announced the re-signing of center Tiago Splitter. The Spurs had a good idea of Splitter's market value, and they weren't surprised when they learned the Trail Blazers were preparing an offer sheet of four years at $36 million for the restricted free agent. When word reached Portland that the Spurs intended to match their offer, the Blazers withdrew from the process, and Splitter agreed to the same terms to stay in San Antonio. Of those on the Spurs' playoff roster, only forward DeJuan Blair, guard/forward Tracy McGrady and guard Gary Neal remain unsigned for next season. It's highly unlikely Blair or McGrady will be back, but Neal could return if he doesn't get a restricted free agent offer the Spurs deem too costly. Portland's planned offer for Splitter was deemed well within the parameters for starting centers with skills similar to the Brazilian. “I don't think you ever look at anything as 'no matter the price tag,'” general manager R.C. Buford said, “but we had expectations of what the market was going to bring. It was clear there was a market for Tiago; we had the opportunity to match because of his being a restricted free agent.”
• Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Tank the season? Trade Dirk? Start over? No, no, no, no and no. And an extra no on the trade-Nowitzki thing. On a radio talk show the other day, a host gushed about the largesse of draft choices that a trade of Dirk would bestow. No doubt Nowitzki could, even at age 35. But what kind of team, exactly, would be interested in trading for an aging, 11-time All-Star? A contending team that would view Nowitzki as its final missing piece. A team willing to take on the league’s second-highest annual salary, $22.7 million. In other words, a playoff team, not a lottery one. And if the Mavericks wouldn’t be picking from one of the first three places in the draft, what would be the odds of finding another Dirk Nowitzki? I’m not an old-school guy, really. But I do bristle under my button-down collar about this. I didn’t want to see Mike Modano skate in anything but a Stars uniform. Dirk, playing for the Houston Rockets, would similarly jar the senses. Fortunately, there is no apparent local movement afoot to package Nowitzki for either a bag of NBA beans or the family cow. It’s hard to imagine that owner Mark Cuban has ever seriously considered it.

• Bill Livingston of The Plain Dealer: If healthy, the 7-foot Bynum could remind critics of just how good he was in Los Angeles. At the very least, he gives some depth to a roster whose bigs consist of fragile Anderson Varejao, third-year man Tristan Thompson, project Tyler Zeller and rookie Anthony Bennett, the top pick in an unexciting NBA Draft. Of more importance to fans who have seen three straight seasons of sometimes epic losing, the Cavs are actually trying to make the playoffs with the Bynum gamble. You'll see more teams "pack it in" next season than there were San Antonio Spurs guarding the rim and daring LeBron James to shoot jump shots in the recent NBA Finals. All this positioning will be to try to get the prize of next year's draft, incoming Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins. … Mike Brown is back now as Cavs coach. Bynum had his best season as a pro with Brown in Los Angeles. The stars aren't aligned, but they're not crossed, either. Bynum is hardly the most daring gamble Horseshoe Casino impressario and Cavs' owner Dan Gilbert ever took.
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: Sometimes, the best moves are the ones you don’t make. Other times, they are the ones you try to make, but get left at the altar. The Mavericks have lost out on Andrew Bynum, a source said Wednesday evening. The Mavericks had met earlier Wednesday with the 7-foot center who didn’t play a second last season because of surgery on both knees. The Cleveland Cavaliers outbid the Mavericks and we all know money usually rules the day in the NBA. The guess here is that the Mavericks will end up being happy they finished second in this race. (Or third, maybe, since Atlanta was in the mix). But Bynum’s health is so uncertain that it wouldn’t be a shock if he missed a good chunk of the upcoming season. The Cavaliers — young and building for the future — could afford that sort of risk. The Mavericks would have taken a chance. But with a win-now philosophy, they could not justify pouring a ton of guaranteed money to Bynum if they weren’t sure he was going to be available for most of the upcoming season.
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: With the addition of draft picks Ben McLemore and Ray McCallum, half the roster has been restructured, and more shuffling is expected. Bottom feeders seldom become upwardly mobile after one offseason. It took years to create this mess and will require several smart draft selections and free-agent signings, slick negotiating and deal-making, and quality, consistent coaching to transform a team that is still adjusting to sticking around. But the theme – cautiously courageous – should come with the following caveat: continue to resist the allure of Monta Ellis, one of the few upper-tier free agents still available. No, no, no, no, no, no. The reasons? Where to start? The Kings don't need to imitate their neighbors in Oakland, don't need another undersized scorer, don't need another volume shooter, don't need another ball-dominant player, don't need a veteran who struggles to defend his position and who, despite a history of knee and foot problems, opted out of a contract with Milwaukee that would have paid him $11 million in 2013-14. Given Vivek Ranadive's fondness for Ellis – the two were together with the Warriors – this is a test.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: The point guard merry-go-round continues to spin for the Milwaukee Bucks. And on Wednesday night it spun firmly in the direction of Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeff Teague. Teague signed a four-year, $32 million offer sheet with Milwaukee, Bucks officials confirmed late Wednesday. The Hawks will have three days to match it, and if they do not, Teague will be the Bucks' new starting point guard. The league's moratorium on signings and trades ended Wednesday, but the Bucks still had unfinished business regarding their pursuit of Teague and the fate of last season's backcourt starters, Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis. Milwaukee is seeking to revamp its backcourt after earlier agreeing to a three-year, $24 million contract with shooting guard O.J. Mayo. Jennings, a restricted free agent, and Ellis, who is unrestricted and will not return to Milwaukee, have yet to land new contracts.
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: The Timberwolves made room for the defensive-minded wing player they lack by agreeing to contract terms with unrestricted free-agent Corey Brewer, while also agreeing on a three-team deal that will send veteran guard Luke Ridnour to Milwaukee, two league sources said Wednesday. The Wolves cleared enough salary-cap space for Brewer’s three-year, $15/million contract by reaching agreement on a sign-and-trade with Oklahoma City for free-agent signee Kevin Martin and by sending Ridnour and his $4.3 million salary back to the Bucks without accepting any salaries in return. Both trades are contingent on Brewer and Ridnour passing physical exams as soon as Thursday.
• Phil Collin of the Los Angeles Daily News: Barnes, Hollins and Collison signed free-agent contracts. The Clippers are still shopping, with forward Lamar Odom and Antawn Jamison still on the wish list. It all started with Paul, who acknowledged he was ready for the grumblings of fans who thought he wielded too much input in player selection and determining that Vinny Del Negro would not return as coach. "I knew that going into free agency that any time something happened, everybody was going to say 'What is Chris doing?' but it comes with it and I was prepared for that," Paul said. "I was shooting a commercial when I found out about (the Redick-Dudley deal). It's part of the process." New coach -- and senior director of basketball operations -- Doc Rivers now has to take the parts he has acquired and assemble them with mainstays Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Jamal Crawford. "I told our guys if you feel like this team has a chance, then you want to play with us," Rivers said of his recruiting pitch. "If you don't, and I was honest, go somewhere else and try to win it. I told all of them that because that's our goal." Paul's early commitment to the cause set the tone.
• John Niyo of The Detroit News: Nice guys don’t always finish last. But the Pistons have done enough of that lately for Joe Dumars, the nicest of the Bad Boys, to know this rebuilding project of his at The Palace needed a few more rough edges. That sounds a bit counter intuitive, I realize, given some of the insolence and insubordination this franchise has endured in recent years. But as quiet as The Palace has grown amid the sparsely-attended games and successive 50-loss seasons, so has the roster, in a way. Out with the old, and in with the new? Of course. It couldn’t — and didn’t — happen soon enough, honestly. But the Pistons’ youth movement also brought with it a passivity that was at times painful to watch the past couple of years, and not just for the fans. Josh Smith, the newest free-agent addition, is a lot of things, and not all of them good. But passive isn’t one of them, and that, Dumars insisted as he officially introduced the talented, temperamental forward to Detroit on Wednesday, is part of his plan, too.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: The first step toward getting Howard signed was to complete the trade of Thomas Robinson to the Portland Trail Blazers. That deal was made official Wednesday, with Robinson, the fifth pick in the 2012 draft, going to Portland in exchange for the rights to forward Kostas Papanikolaou and center Marko Todorovic and two second-round picks. The Rockets will get Portland’s pick in 2017 and either Denver’s or Minnesota’s, whichever is better, in 2015. … With that deal complete, the Rockets have to officially complete the trade of Royce White and the rights to Furkan Aldemir to Philadelphia. They can then sign Howard, but that likely will not come next. To sign second-round pick Isaiah Canaan to a three-year deal (with several team options), they have to sign him into cap room, something they can not do if Howard has filled the cap space. Once the trade of White and the $1.7 million guaranteed on his contract and the signing of Canaan are complete, the Rockets will be ready to sign Howard, expected either Thursday or Friday.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Mike Dunleavy Jr. received lengthier and more lucrative free-agent offers than the two-year, $6.2 million deal he signed as the Bulls' main offseason acquisition. But the reason the veteran shooter took less is because he wants more. Playoff appearances, that is. "I've been in the league 11 years and I've been through a lot of mediocrity," Dunleavy said Wednesday at the Berto Center. "To be a part of this is special. I don't take it for granted."
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: You can't talk to new 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie for more than a minute without some form of the word "observe" coming from his mouth. He is taking in his first summer league as a general manager, so his sightlines are somewhat different. He is evaluating the talent of the two players he drafted last month in Michael Carter-Williams and Arsalan Kazemi. He is looking at wannabe players both on the Sixers and other players whom he may decide to try to bring to training camp. And, of course, he is keeping his eyes open for whom he will bring in as the next coach of this franchise. … Ah, the coach. Yesterday and throughout the summer league, it will be Michael Curry. Could he also be on the sideline when the Sixers open the regular season or could it be someone else? Again, Hinkie is observing. "I think he's done a really good job," Hinkie said. "Our practices have been lively and energetic. We've spent a lot of time [practicing] system-wise, but we've also spent a lot of time on skill development, too. I think overall it's been a good week for our whole staff. We've got most of the assistants from last year here and I think they've done a good job. I am very pleased." So is he evaluating Curry for the coaching position? No doubt Curry is auditioning, and an interview after the summer league is most likely on the agenda. "For sure, I am evaluating everyone," Hinkie said. "We've had some of our scouting staff here so we've spent some time together. I observe a lot and I'm trying to observe everything."
• Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Let’s be clear: Paul Millsap would be a fine addition at just about any price, but at this price he’s a steal. He’s a proven power forward – proven at power forward in a way that Al Horford is not, let me emphasize – whose signing won’t hamstring the Atlanta Hawks for the next half-decade. Nineteen million over two seasons? Great deal. Of Millsap, Hawks general manager Danny Ferry said Wednesday at Philips Arena: “His energy level night in and night out is unique … He embodies the identity and the values we want to have.” Let’s also be clear about this: At the moment, the Hawks aren’t as talented as they were last season and not nearly as gifted as they were before Ferry arrived and starting clearing cap space. … Ferry again, speaking of a 4-5 tandem of Millsap and Horford: “The thing I really like is their ability to pass the ball … The chemistry between them should be very good.” And let’s be clear about one final thing: Playing as a team is a great and laudable thing. Still, this is the NBA, and in the NBA, as the former Hawks coach Larry Drew said, “Talent wins.”
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: More than a few eyebrows were raised when Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard was included on the Blazers' summer league roster. Why would someone who led the NBA in minutes played and enjoyed a remarkable rookie season land on a summer league team? Well, it would not be wise to expect Lillard to play in any games when the team travels to Las Vegas on Friday. Lillard decided to take part in summer league to be around his teammates and get to know the Blazers' newest additions, including Thomas Robinson, CJ McCollum and Crabbe. Lillard has participated in minor portions of the Blazers' practices, but he is not expected to play in any games in Las Vegas. "I think more than anything, I’ll be there for support," Lillard said.
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: In four seasons with three teams, Maynor has already assumed that role for all-star Deron Williams in Utah, all-star Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City and rookie of the year Damian Lillard in Portland. Last week, Maynor arrived as a free agent signee in Washington, where he has been tasked with the same assignment for John Wall, a former No. 1 pick who started to fully tap into his potential late last season. Feeling the need to upgrade behind Wall, the Wizards targeted Maynor immediately after the free agent recruitment period began. And desiring to end the suspense about his future, Maynor reciprocated the interest and accepted a two-year deal worth about $4 million and includes a player option for the second season. “I think this is the kind of team that’s going to be on the rise,” Maynor said. “I just wanted to get it out the way. I didn’t want to be waiting. I felt like this was a great situation for me. Young team. Up-and-coming. Nice deal for me. I’m excited about being here.”
• Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer: My friend and colleague Tom Sorensen has criticized the Jefferson signing, in large part because he wants the Bobcats to have another bad team next season to get another high pick for the 2014 NBA draft – preferably the first pick. It sounds fine in theory, but we all know that it rarely works. This isn’t the NFL. Even if you have the worst record in the NBA, there’s a 75 percent chance you won’t get the No.1 pick. The Bobcats had that happen in 2012, when a 7-59 record still didn’t earn them Anthony Davis. So if you’ve got an opportunity to get a player like Jefferson, then you go for it. Right now. Yes, he’s more toward the end of his career than the beginning. But he has been very durable the past three years, he’s only 28, he will be a low-maintenance locker room leader. He will make Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo more effective by mentoring them and allowing each to do what they do best.

The Houston Rockets have made the biggest splash this offseason, but they aren’t the only playoff team from last season making moves.

Below is a statistical look at some of the other moves made by 2013 playoff teams looking to improve.

Golden State Warriors/Andre Iguodala

The 6-6 Iguodala has a skillset that should complement the Warriors' hot-shooting backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Iguodala’s strength on offense is his ability to finish around the basket.

Of the 135 players with at least 200 field goal attempts inside five feet last season, only LeBron James (75 percent) finished with a better field goal percentage than Iguodala (73.4 percent).

Iguodala made more field goals (212) inside five feet than Curry and Thompson combined last season (206).

Defensively, Iguodala can also take the tougher defensive assignments off the hands of Curry and Thompson.

Iguodala was the fourth-best defender in isolation last season, allowing 0.63 points per play. Thompson ranked 44th and Curry ranked 65th as isolation defenders (min. 100 plays).

New York Knicks/Andrea Bargnani

The Knicks traded Steve Novak and several other pieces to acquire Bargnani. Despite shooting 45 percent from 3-point range with the Knicks, Novak fell out of the rotation in postseason play due to concerns over his defense.

However, if the Knicks expect Bargnani to replace Novak’s offense while providing better defense, they may be mistaken.

Win shares estimates the number of wins a player contributed to a team based off statistical performance, and can be divided into offensive and defensive win shares.

Novak was slightly better defensively according to the win shares but was more than five wins better on offense than Bargnani. This is due in part to Bargnani shooting 42 percent from the field and 30 percent on 3-pointers during that time.

Furthermore, the Knicks were nearly the same defensively with or without Novak on the court the last two seasons, allowing 101.4 points per 100 possessions with Novak and 101.1 points without him. The Raptors were 2.8 points per 100 possessions worse with Bargnani on the court the last two seasons.

Los Angeles Clippers/J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley

The Clippers shot 36 percent from 3-point range last season, 15th in the NBA. During the postseason, however, the Clippers struggled from deep, shooting just 30 percent, third-worst among the 16 playoff teams.

Both Redick and Dudley should be able to help the Clippers from beyond the arc as they are two of the 18 active players who have attempted at least 1,000 3-pointers and hit at least 39 percent of those shots since 2006-07.

That was the year Redick entered the NBA and one year before Dudley began his career.

Keep up with the latest buzz on free agents here:

Will Kobe's reported pitch turn off Dwight?

By Chris Broussard | July 4, 2:54 p.m. ET

Two people close to Dwight Howard said Kobe Bryant's reported "pitch" in this past Tuesday's meeting with Howard will hurt the Lakers' chances of retaining the superstar center.

"It'll be a complete turnoff," said one person, who has worked closely with Howard during his career. "He'll be offended and think, 'How can you teach somebody who's been to the Finals how to win?'"

Neither of the sources have spoken to Howard since the meeting with the Lakers. But both have known Howard for years.

Bryant, who joined Lakers brass and teammate Steve Nash in the Lakers' recruitment meeting, said Howard needs Bryant to teach him how to win championships, according to a Yahoo! Sports report.

"You need to learn how it's done first," Bryant reportedly said, according to an anonymous source in the meeting. "And I can teach you here. I know how to do it, and I've learned from the best -- players who have won multiple times over and over. Instead of trying to do things your way. Just listen and learn and tweak it so it fits you."

One person close to the situation said this is not the first time Howard has heard that from Bryant. The source said Bryant began relaying that sentiment to Howard as soon as they became Laker teammates last season.

"Kobe was saying that from the very beginning," the source said. "It was a source of tension between them from the outset."

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Barnes' future with Clippers unclear

By Ramona Shelburne | July 4, 9:46 a.m. ET

The Clippers would love to bring back Matt Barnes, who added toughness, 3-point shooting and perimeter defense in a reserve role last season. Barnes would love to come back to the Clippers, too. But with the Clippers getting serious with forward Carl Landry, their affection for Barnes might not be enough.

Sources close to the situation have told ESPN that it might not be possible financially to sign Landry and re-sign Barnes. The Clippers will certainly try -- as they genuinely like both players -- but with only a mid-level exception at their disposal, it simply might not be possible to do both without treading into luxury tax territory (a brave new world for the Clippers).

Click here for more buzz on free agents »

• Manu Ginobili tweets that he has a deal to remain a Spur for two more years. The Spurs are the kings of efficient deals, but aging stars are a new test of a system that has basically been three big deals and everyone else cheap and replaceable. There's a big cost to hanging on to one of the big deals too long. It's not a long gamble, though: The team is lining up to have huge cap space in the summer of 2015.
• Danny Ainge is not a Buddhist, but that religion can help get in the mindset of a tanker. Saying it again: My fixation with tanking is NOT about whether or not teams should or shouldn't do it. Have no dog in that fight, and would never begrudge anyone doing what they believe is best for their franchise. My question is: Is that really what the league wants to reward? Rewarding the worst-run teams has long kept the free market from lighting a fire under owners to identify and develop the best-possible front office talent. No reason 30 teams couldn't have awesome GMs. And there's little reason to believe this system really helps bad teams become good more than any other would.
• Amin Elhassan (Insider): "The Clippers added two of the best shooters in the league and didn't break the bank to do it. This is the clubhouse leader for 'best transaction of the summer.'" At the same link: No love for Tyreke Evans as a Pelican.
• Not trying to tank, but getting that kind of roster anyway: The Bucks.
• The way the CBA is now a lot of guys don't have that much to gain from a good agent. Rookies and max players have deals that are more or less fixed. On the other hand ... every now and again you can get a fat check for not even playing. Happy financial tales from Quentin Richardson, Joe Kleine, Gary Grant, Steven Hunter, Aaron McKie and Keith Van Horn.
• Here's how you'll injure yourself with fireworks.
• The view of Dwight Howard from Houston: Exhaustively detailed and constantly updated on Red94. And a small note: The talk that Howard can earn $30 million more from the Lakers than another team is not an apples-to-apples comparision. The difference in salaries over the next four years is less than $4 million. The Lakers edge is they can sign him for a fifth year right now -- add that on, and we get around $30 million difference between one team's four-year offer and L.A.'s five-year offer. But the only scenario where Howard would earn nothing five years from now is one where he's retired in four years. Otherwise, he'll be making up a big chunk of that $30 million with whatever his salary is five years from now.
• The Knicks are in win-now mode, but can they really expect to win an East featuring the Heat, Pacers, Nets and the like?
• On Grantland, Charles Pierce is evidently seeking hate mail from Chris Paul fans: "Then there's Chris Paul, who has condescended to return to Los Angeles now that the Clippers gave him 107 million good reasons to be coached by Doc Rivers. This is another guy with a costume-jewelry résumé whom the league nonetheless slobbers over. You have your analytics and I have mine, but if you're a big-money point guard, the basic metric is whether you can get your team to win anything and, right now, Paul's got one division title with L.A. He, however, has fewer rings than Rajon Rondo or Mario Chalmers."
• The thing about big men is that everyone needs them and there aren't very many of them. In a market like that, your choices are normally to draft them, or overpay them. (Going without is not an option, nor, likely, is finding a good one in the D-League.) So, with that in mind: Would you pay Nikola Pekovic $60 million?
• You know what I'd like to read? A nice, plain-English explanation of the market effect of the qualifying offer. It's an important and tricky devise, which keeps a player simultaneously from testing the market or being truly employed. I'm curious why CBA negotiators rejected all other plans to go with this mess of legalese all those years ago. My guess is that the complicated rules, like fine print everywhere, create confusion that benefits those who had the best lawyers on the day the deal was written. Would be cool to understand the thinking.

• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: And now, they all wait. After five meetings squeezed into 48 hours, from the Rockets’ opening pitch to the Lakers’ closing appeal, Dwight Howard left his agent’s office Tuesday afternoon, slipped out of a pinstriped jacket, and squeezed behind the wheel of a white Ferrari hatchback without coming close to tipping his hand. … Monday’s meetings with the Hawks and Warriors and Tuesday’s sessions with the Mavericks and Lakers. By Tuesday night, the Rockets believed they had effectively stated their case. “I feel like we did everything and answered every question and we’re the best option for him to win,” general manager Daryl Morey said on Tuesday. “I like how he is going about the process. He is taking his time and weighing everything. We think when he does that, we’ll come out ahead.” There were discussions about the Rockets’ ability to continue to build their roster, and Howard spoke about being including in decision-making — something Morey has routinely sought with stars — but no specific names were mentioned. Morey added that he is not looking to deal Omer Asik or Jeremy Lin.
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: If you would bet on the day of D12's decision? Which date would you choose? Eddie Sefko: July 4...just because that would mess up everybody's holiday....not that there are any holidays this time of the year. Actually, a more educated guess will be Friday. He'll take a couple days to turn everything over in his head, let his agent (Dan Fegan) tell him about the financial implications and then the white puff of smoke will come out of the chimney and we'll have a new Pope.
• David J. Neal of The Miami Herald: Can you imagine former Lakers ace general manager Jerry West or Jeanie’s late father, longtime Lakers owner Jerry Buss, doing anything like that even for Kareem or Magic Johnson? It’s the kind of degradation that could have Jerry Buss spinning in his grave while earning a ghostly laugh from Theodore Lodigensky that such a comedown is the way of all flesh in Hollywood. Lodigensky is the Czarist Russian general who wound up working as an extra in Hollywood after the Russian Revolution. Lodigensky’s humiliating story wound up filmed as The Last Command with Emil Jannings winning the first Best Actor Oscar for playing the Lodigensky role (and the lead in The Way of All Flesh). Unfortunately for the Lakers, they’re in this position because current GM Mitch Kupchak is even further from West as a GM than he was from Hall of Famer West as a player. Kupchak didn’t analyze what he was getting in Howard and how he fit with what they had, personally and professionally. He didn’t do what the Heat has done so well (with some exceptions) over the past 17 years. Which is why one team now puts up billboards celebrating championships and tries to figure out how to stay there and a former champion puts up billboards trying to keep from falling to relevance-only-by-good-name.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: David West for three years, $36 million to stay in Indiana? We get that. He’s a proven commodity there, and his departure would have damaged a championship contender on the court and off. But a New Orleans offer sheet averaging roughly $12 million for Tyreke Evans? Teams, like Detroit — which should have learned its lesson in 2009 with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva — weighing maximum offers for Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala? Kevin Martin getting four years and $28 million? Andrew Bynum still a hot commodity, after not playing all season and reportedly refusing to work out? It’s just another sign that nothing has been learned, nor will it ever be. Look at this list, from 2010. Other than the free agents that the Heat secured, and Dirk Nowitzki re-signing with Dallas, which of the major ones have worked out? Carlos Boozer? Amare Stoudemire? Joe Johnson? Now, go further down the list, but not too far. Travis Outlaw? Richard Jefferson? Tyrus Thomas? Laughing? You’ll do the same about this summer in three years.
• Bob Young of The Arizona Republic: The Suns won’t say it, but we will. The Kendall Marshall draft pick last season was a mistake. … The Suns sent Jared Dudley to the Clippers, who once played in his hometown. The Milwaukee Bucks, the third-team in the deal, ship guard JJ Redick to the Clippers and get second-round draft picks in exchange. This isn’t to say that Marshall, who was selected when Lance Blanks served as general manager, doesn’t have a place in the Suns future. It’s just that it’s probably as the team’s third point guard. Starter Goran Dragic was the best player as the Suns playmaking guard last season, but he’s got combo-guard skills. So Bledsoe can serve as his backup and also play alongside him against some lineups. Butler, meanwhile, is a player the Suns almost drafted when they took Shawn Marion in 2002. Some thought at the time Butler was the better pick. The deal also may explain why the club decided to exercise a team option and keep wing guard Shannon Brown. The Suns have dramatically improved the athleticism of their lineup. We’re going to miss Dudley, though. The guy is about as media friendly as players get, but he also is one of those “glue” players teams love.
• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: It’s kind of fun sitting out free agency in some ways, isn’t it? Don’t have to sit around every minute of every day either waiting for the phone to ring or the little text “ping” on your phone to go or to read something on the tweeter that someone else because of a function of timing. … But just because that’s where things are today — and it’s been enjoyable so far — doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done around these parts and it’s going to be quite interesting to see what Raptors GM Masai Ujiri can pull out of his hat in the next week and a half. He needs help, there is no question about that. When the Andrea Bargnani trade goes through he’s got an ugly unbalanced roster and you have to think he’s got something mind already to clear up the glut of wings and address needs. However, with the zaniness of the money so far, I’m wondering if it might not be prudent to let the top names, and even some in the second tier, shake out before pouncing on the leftovers.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Even now, decades after professional sports salaries began surging into the stratosphere, the money can still be shocking. Take the four-year, $36-million extension Tiago Splitter finalized on Tuesday with the Spurs. Even for someone who expected his new salary to fall between $8-10 million per year, the sheer bulk of it took my breath away for a split second. All that cash for what is, by most measures, a solid but wholly unspectacular player. Let it serve as another reminder that real-world sensibilities simply do not apply to the multi-billion dollar industry that is modern pro athletics. The value of Splitter’s contract can only be determined through that lens. And with that necessary perspective, it’s actually quite reasonable. Consider: The average NBA salary in 2012-13 was $5.2 million. The average salary for a starting power forward salary was $8.8 million. The average salary for an NBA All-Star was $13.3 million. Considering Splitter fits the Spurs so well on both ends of the court, as a pick-and-roll finisher and defensive partner to Tim Duncan, it can be argued that they might have actually gotten a slight bargain.
• Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer: On a day when wing players around the NBA were signing bigger-than-expected deals — four years and $27 million for J.J. Redick, four years and $30 million for Kevin Martin, three years and $16 million for Chase Budinger, and four years and $22 million for Martell Webster — the market for Grizzlies guard Tony Allen seemed to be moving in divergent directions. On the one hand, the asking price for starting-caliber but non-All-Star wing players was coming in higher than the Grizzlies may have hoped to go for Allen. On the other, some potential Allen suitors — notably the Clippers and Pacers — seemed to be filling up roster spots or salary space needed to entice Allen. In the end, the negotiation between Allen and the Grizzlies seems to have come down to years — a guaranteed fourth year for the 31-year-old guard with a sometimes balky knee. And Allen got his fully guaranteed fourth year in a four-year, $20 million dollar deal that is, nevertheless, still less on a per-year basis than any other wing player signing on Tuesday. This for the only player in the group that has made three straight all-defensive teams, the only player in the group who just started on a conference finalist, and, certainly, the only player in the group to have significant, tangible box-office and marketing value beyond his on-court merits. … Re-signing Allen wasn't the only business the Grizzlies conducted late Tuesday night. The team also reached a multi-year agreement with forward Jon Leuer with a starting salary a little lower than the qualifying offer the team declined earlier in the week. The three-year deal at just under $3 million gives the Grizzlies room to develop Leuer at a low risk, in the hopes that he can be a cost-effective stretch-the-floor option at the back of their frontcourt rotation.
• J. Michael of CSN Washington: The Wizards used the full mid-level exception, meaning it doesn't count against their salary cap, to sign Webster to a four-year contract worth $22 million Tuesday. They will have the option to buy him out in the final year which isn't fully guaranteed, so the commitment is actually less than $20 million until further notice. … So looking at the big picture, Webster’s signing makes perfect sense as long as he holds up physically. He had two back surgeries before coming to Washington and ended last season on the bench because of an abdominal strain. But consider this: Kyle Korver, an elite three-point shooter like Webster, earned $5 million for the Atlanta Hawks last season and as a free agent now he'll get at least that much. Kevin Martin, a sometimes lethal shooting guard, signed a deal with the Timberwolves on Tuesday that will pay him $30 million for the next four seasons -– an average of $7-plus million per. That’s the going rate, and neither is a two-way player like Webster who is a far better defender than both.
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: J.R. Smith's list of potential suitors continues to grow but the contracts signed by two free agent shooting guards on Tuesday increases the likelihood of Smith returning to the Knicks. The Clippers agreed to acquire J.J. Redick in a sign-and-trade with the Milwaukee Bucks while Oklahoma City Thunder free agent Kevin Martin verbally agreed to a four-year, $28 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The maximum the Knicks can offer Smith, the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year, is a four-year contract starting at approximately $5.5 million per season. Smith has told close friends that if the money is comparable his preference would be to re-sign with the Knicks. Still, some of the teams that contacted Smith's representatives have the ability to offer a deal approaching $30 million. The Pistons, Mavs, Rockets, Bucks and Bobcats have all expressed interest in Smith, who is coming off his best season.
• Tom Sorensen of The Charlotte Observer: I hope the Charlotte Bobcats’ interest in Al Jefferson is a public relations move. See, fans? We’re tired of waiting. We want to improve now. That’s why we’re bringing Jefferson, the second-best big man in all of free-agency, to Charlotte Wednesday. We’re going to pick up his airfare, put him up in a nice hotel, buy all his meals – the man weighs 289 pounds – and maybe throw in Jordan Brand gear. And it’s all on the house except the Jordan Brand gear, which we’ll sell him at cost. Jefferson, 6-foot-10, will average about 17 points and nine rebounds for whomever he plays. He’s smart and effective and would be the best big man Charlotte has ever had. The Bobcats could use him next season. But they don’t need him next season. Next season is the season the Bobcats have to go through to reach 2014-15. That’s all it is. I’m not suggesting that Charlotte tank. … Every recent move the Bobcats have made is about 2014-15. The move they don’t make should lead there, too.
• Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman: Money is tight in New Zealand youth basketball. And Steven Adams didn't have a lot of it growing up. So the towering 7-foot “Kiwi Phenom,” as he's referred to now, was unable to play the game until he was 14 and was out of the spotlight until he was 17, making the meteoric two-year rise that followed all the more impressive. As of 2011, he was still a relative unknown in New Zealand. But by last Friday afternoon Down Under, Adams was the hottest name in his home country, becoming the first New Zealander ever selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, going 12th overall to the Thunder. “Eyes were glued to the television,” New Zealand sports radio personality Glen Larmer said of the draft coverage. “Both major television networks led with the news that night. Not just the sports news, the lead of the entire bulletin. So that just gives you an example of the massive interest and following of this last week.”