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• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Kirk Hinrich's projected role — backing up both Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler at guard — could aid in his quest to have a healthier 2013-14. "I'm excited," Hinrich said. "I've come off the bench before and enjoyed it. I feel I can come in and bring energy. That will be a good role for me. Most of the injuries last year were just bad luck, so I try not to put too much stock into it. But early in last year's preseason, I had a lot of my small muscle groups hurting. So I'm just trying to do a lot more flexibility and functional stuff in the weight and training rooms before and after practice to prevent that." Indeed, one of Hinrich's regular-season injuries was freakish — a burst bursa sac in his right elbow that became infected. And who can forget Hinrich's final game, when he tied a franchise record by playing 59 minutes, 36 seconds in the triple-overtime victory over the Nets in Game 4.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: The 2013-14 version of the Suns head to Flagstaff Monday for a six-day training camp that begins a season of low expectations from the outside and high anticipation on the inside. There will be 10 new faces, but the return of a familiar one feeds the anticipation: Channing Frye announced Sunday that he is cleared to join the camp after a year away from basketball due to an enlarged heart. “It’s been a long journey getting healthy, but I did it through the support of my friends and family and with my will to not give up,” Frye said. “I’m very excited to be a part of this new young Suns team. I take pride in this uniform and can’t wait to run out of the tunnel to the fans that have been supportive throughout this whole process.” … Frye will ease into basketball activity, just as the Suns did with another big man this summer. Alex Len, the Suns’ No.5 draft pick, underwent surgeries on his left ankle in May and right ankle in July but resumed light court work in August. Last week, Len joined the voluntary workouts’ 5-on-5 scrimmages for 10 to 12 plays at a time with no pain.
• Bruce Arthur of the National Post: The NBA is a lot like Hollywood: it matters who you know, how successful you are, how much power you wield. People want to be attached to a blockbuster; over the past four years LeBron James went from Cleveland to Miami, Chris Bosh went from Toronto to Miami, Carmelo Anthony went from Denver to New York, Dwight Howard has gone from Orlando to L.A. to Houston, and Chris Paul has gone from New Orleans to L.A. Oh, and Brooklyn raided Boston, and others. As one NBA executive lamented not long ago, “I swear, this league is 60% luck.” So maybe Drake becomes a point of entry, which combined with Tim Leiweke’s connections to Hollywood — and hey, CAA, which is a force in the NBA — Toronto becomes something other than an outpost. But alone, it’s window dressing, fizz. The All-Star Game won’t help much, either. It’s recently been held in New Orleans, in Orlando, in Atlanta, in Phoenix, after which their best players left. The All-Star Game is a billboard, but a blank billboard doesn’t do much good. And that’s why despite the presence of Drake, Rob Ford, NBA commissioner-in-waiting Adam Silver and Leiweke at the press conference, the most important figure remains Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri, who has spent the summer quietly sitting on the competitive fence, the Andrea Bargnani trade notwithstanding.
• Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Managing owner Josh Harris reiterated Sunday that the 76ers are not moving to North Jersey. "My answer to the fans is I love the Sixers in Philly. I'm committed to it," Harris said during his state-of-the-Sixers news conference. Harris' keeping the franchise in Philadelphia isn't a surprise to people who know the billionaire businessman. They will tell you the surprising thing is that he's on board with the Sixers' tanking this season. "I want immediate results and immediate upside," he said. "But I think that the reality of professional sports is that things don't change overnight." The things that will allow Harris to keep his sanity during what will be a trying season are his offseason moves that were geared to bring a championship to Philadelphia in a few seasons.
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: Amar'e Stoudemire's hectic summer didn't include much basketball but it did include yet another knee surgery, the Daily News has learned. According to a Knicks source, Stoudemire had an unreported surgical procedure in July to repair one of his ailing knees. The Knicks open camp on Tuesday and have yet to announce that Stoudemire has had a third knee operation in 12 months. The surgery was described as "clean up" and isn't considered major. However, the secrecy surrounding Stoudemire's latest health issue could be an indication that the club is not optimistic that they can rely on the veteran power forward. Stoudemire appeared in just 29 games last season and had debridement surgeries on both of his knees, the right knee in October and the left in March.
• Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post: (New head coach Brian Shaw) will let training camp decide which players fall into which roles, but more important, the month of practices and eight preseason games will be the guide to what the Nuggets' new identity will be. Under previous coach George Karl, it was all run, all the time. Shaw will likely blunt some of that breakneck pace and will likely slot in a mixture of speed to continue using the altitude to the Nuggets' advantage and half-court patterns to make sure Denver can execute against any team, in any situation. "We're going to have to establish what our identity is as a team," Shaw said. "At this point, I don't know yet. I haven't had all the guys together. The last two years, when we were in Indiana, we were a smash-mouth basketball team. We did not relent; we did not give in to going small because other teams went small; we stayed true to who we were and took advantage of our length and size and our energy and power. I'll have to see what we're made of and what our identity will be. It will show itself when we get everybody together and get started."
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: If center Andrew Bynum misses the entire preseason, the Cavaliers don’t seem to think it will be the end of the world. The 7-foot, 285-pounder missed the entire 2012-13 season after having surgery on both knees. The former All-Star center signed a two-year, $24.5 million contract with the Cavs in the offseason. Only $6 million is guaranteed. The Cavs’ goal appears to be getting Bynum ready for the regular season. If he misses the majority of the preseason, so be it is the feeling from the team. Cavs media day is Monday and all eyes will be on Bynum. However, don’t expect to see Bynum on the practice court when training camp begins on Tuesday. Cavs coach Mike Brown said recently there’s been no timetable established for Bynum’s return. He hasn’t started court work yet, but he’s running on a treadmill.
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: After spending the last 61/2 seasons with the division rival Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks, Mike Dunleavy knew what the Bulls were about. His impressions were reaffirmed last spring, when he watched the Bulls beat the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs without Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich, then go toe-to-toe with the eventual NBA champion Miami Heat before falling in five games. ‘‘Absolutely, players take note of that,’’ the sharpshooting Dunleavy said of joining a team that shows fight. ‘‘This is a high-character team. You could tell with the way other guys stepped up. There were no excuses. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be part of something like that?’’ But then there was the issue of money. Dunleavy was projected to be a $5 million-to-$7 million-a-year signee. The Bulls got him for $3 million a year for the next two seasons. Sure, players have been pointing to the collective-bargaining agreement negotiated by former National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter as hurting the free-agent market. But Dunleavy, 33, said money wasn’t the biggest priority at this stage of his career. ‘‘The ghost of Billy Hunter will be haunting us for a long time, but . . . I’ve done well financially, so I could make a decision on what would make me happy,’’ Dunleavy said. ‘‘At this point, it’s playing with a group like this, having a chance to win.’’
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: If you’re a bottom-line, show-me-the-scoreboard kind of person, then the 2013-14 Celtics may not be your cup of entertainment. But this edition will not lack for story lines. It will be interesting to see how first-time NBA coach Brad Stevens adapts to his new digs and how well he establishes a working relationship with players who won’t have to sit out a year if they transfer. It will be beyond interesting to see how Rajon Rondo adjusts both physically and sociologically to playing without Pierce and Garnett. How much of what we saw from rookie Kelly Olynyk in July was the product of summer-league competition? Is Jeff Green ready to exhibit his considerable talent on a more consistent basis? Who among the Brooklyn refugees is here for more than a cup of chowder? The Celtics are wise to be patient as they seek to repackage their roster and multiple first-round draft picks into a worthy entity. But they are still on the clock as regards Rondo, who can be a free agent in two years. Before then, the Celts must show they are close enough to being good to make him want to stay, or, failing that, find the right trade for Rondo before he abdicates.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: The Magic will test rookie Victor Oladipo immediately. Oladipo, who played shooting guard in college, will be asked to play perhaps a significant amount at point guard, continuing the experiment the team began during its summer-league exhibitions. Oladipo faces a difficult test in the weeks ahead. A rookie season is difficult for any player — even someone who played three years of college ball at Indiana, as Oladipo did — and now Oladipo will try to pick up the nuances of the most complex position on the floor. Magic officials believe he can excel as a defender at both guard positions, but anyone would acknowledge Oladipo will have some rough moments on the offensive end of the court. But that should be OK given that the Magic are in Year Two of their rebuilding project. Taking some lumps now might pay major dividends a few years down the road as long as his confidence remains intact.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: The Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to Turkey as scheduled this week for its preseason opener despite the country's ongoing violence and the highly publicized crisis in neighboring Syria. Concerns over the safety of players, coaches and team and league personnel raised questions recently about whether the first leg of the Thunder's two-game European tour would be canceled. But the Thunder is scheduled to depart for Istanbul on Wednesday, with the team left to trust that the NBA-mandated trip will be as secure as any other road game. With a Sept. 6 travel warning issued by the U.S. Department of State to U.S. citizens traveling to or living in Turkey, Thunder general manager Sam Presti was asked last week about security concerns abroad. Presti directed the question to the NBA. But not before calling it “a very fair question.”
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Locker rooms can be crowded places during training camps. But that won’t be the case with the Pistons when camp begins Tuesday. Barring a last-minute invite, the 15 under contract will be the only players hitting the practice floor Tuesday morning when coach Maurice Cheeks opens his first camp with the Pistons. The NBA-mandated roster limit is 15 during the regular season, but teams can invite more players to camp for various reasons. The Knicks are bringing 20 players to camp. But with a roster with an average age of 25 and eight new players, the Pistons want to give minutes to their young players and for their regulars to start developing chemistry. There are also several camp battles to watch so it should make for a competitive environment. “This is probably what, in the old-school days, training camp was about, ... competing for spots, competing for minutes, and it gets no better than this right here when you have a lot of guys who can play different positions and in order to get minutes they have to be able to beat out another guy,” Cheeks said last week.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: After two days and three practices, the Rockets are beginning to run out of centers. Dwight Howard remains the center of attention, but his predecessor as the Rockets’ starter, Omer Asik, left the floor late in Sunday’s practice with a strained calf muscle. He is listed as day-to-day. Greg Smith (strained right hip) is also day-to-day and Marcus Camby (plantar fasciitis) is out this week, leaving Howard and rookie Jordan Henriquez available at the position. Guard/forward Francisco Garcia sat out Sunday to rest the sore groin muscle he tweaked at the Tournament of the Americas, but had been practicing.
• Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com Most of the team's newly acquired ammo will come off the bench and provide the necessary fire power and rest for starters. The addition of Mo Williams, CJ McCollum, Dorell Wright, Thomas Robinson and Earl Watson is a massive upgrade from last year's second unit. Those acquisition, alone, should pencil-in the Trail Blazers into the playoffs. However, if this team is serious about competing in more than 89 games this year (7 preseason + 82 regular season games), it's going to have to be a drastic change on the defensive end. Head coach Terry Stotts said this past offseason that they will instill a different set of defensive principles this year. He didn't elaborate at the time, but believe it's safe to say that the guards will benefit heavily from such a change. Reason being is most of the time perimeter defenders are told to shade their opponent to one particular side, knowing that you have help behind you. Often the plan is to force them to go baseline as most coaches hate giving up the middle.
• Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: As the Mavs hold their Media Day on Monday and open training camp on Tuesday, Gersson Rosas will try to work his magic again while humbly standing in the background. He knows he made the right move by leaving the Rockets for the Mavs. “There could have potentially been more options for me in the future around the league, but Dallas was a special place that I didn’t want to pass up on,” Rosas said. “I see a lot of potential here. “There’s a championship heritage here that’s important to me, and you have all the resources to be successful. It’s just the opportunity to do the work, and that’s why I’m here.” Lindsey, who has known Rosas since he was 22 years old, believes the Mavs have hired one of the fastest-rising young executives in the NBA who will do wonders for their franchise. “I think he’s a great example of someone who is a great student that has grinded his way to the top, yet didn’t skip any steps,” Lindsey said. “So it’s just a terrific example of what a high level of character and work ethic can do for you.”

• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: As with almost every element of the "LeBron Watch," it's all about reading the signs. So in advance of LeBron unveiling his limited-edition watch for Audemars Piguet on Friday night, there was this from an interview with Women's Wear Daily, regarding his potential 2014 free-agency plans and where he eventually would look to settle down in retirement: "I miss the slower pace back home but have grown used to my new city's little perks like fresh fish and sweet fruit. It will definitely be someplace warm. I don't want to go back to cold winters." LeBron, an Akron native, of course, has been linked to a possible return to Cleveland next summer, as well as a potential move to the Los Angeles Lakers.
• Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald: No, Dwyane Wade assured, his testy Twitter exchange with Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant was not a joke, not a publicity ploy for Gatorade (for whom they previously filmed a commercial) or any other product. But Wade is ready to diffuse the situation. Asked Thursday night if Durant’s comment that James Harden should replace Wade on Sports Illustrated’s list of the Top 10 players was uncalled for, Wade said: “Everyone has an opinion. We’re in an age now where everyone uses their opinion. That was it. He had an opinion. I had a response.” Asked if their exchange was a joke, he smiled and said, “No.”
• Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: For the first time in 14 years, when the Lakers open training camp Saturday they will be taking the floor in the middle of a Dodgers town. The domination of buzz that began with the Kobe Bryant era in 1996 has at least temporarily ended this fall as the Lakers find themselves surrounded in dysfunction, confusion and blue. Giant gold jerseys bearing No. 24 are being replaced by oversized blue shirts bearing No. 66. Lakers flags are being pulled out of car windows to make room for Dodgers flags. Worry about Steve Nash's legs have been muted over concern for Andre Ethier's shins. Bryant took a self-publicized high dive, yet more people were talking about the Dodgers going swimming. This columnist will not repeat the assumptions that led to the long-ago mistake of calling this a UCLA football town. The Lakers-Dodgers climate change could end by next summer, when the Lakers will have the money and space to bringLeBron James to town. But since the death of Jerry Buss, the Lakers have no longer been the Lakers, so who knows what happens next? Meanwhile, with the best and richest lineup in baseball and the money to keep it going, the Dodgers have again become the Dodgers, a team that owned this city even through the Showtime era, a group that has the economic stability to own it again.
• Nate Taylor and Harvey Araton of The New York Times: The decision to replace Grunwald, 55, with Mills may be an effort by the Knicks to position themselves for the pursuit of stars. Dolan may have concluded that Mills, who also worked a number of years for the N.B.A. in addition to his decade with the Knicks, and who got to know a significant number of agents and top players as he vied in recent months for the union job, will be a good person to lead the team’s free-agent efforts. Those efforts could include finding a way to shed the final part of Amar’e Stoudemire’s contract after this season to create cap maneuverability and possibly even make another run at LeBron James when he becomes eligible for free agency next summer. Mills could also lead an effort to lure another star player to the Knicks after this season, in part to persuade Carmelo Anthony to stay in New York. Anthony can opt out of his contract next summer. It seems possible that the Knicks, feeling the pressure of a much more visible and competitive Nets team nearby in Brooklyn, have concluded that their team needs a more accessible public face and that Mills would do well in that role.
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: While speaking with league sources about the four-year contract extension DeMarcus Cousins has agreed to with the Kings in principle, I learned another interesting bit of information: NBA Commissioner David Stern plans to attend the Kings home/season opener Oct. 30 at Sleep Train Arena. I am assuming Stern will be in Miami the previous night for the championship ring ceremony at the Heat-Bulls game, and then just hop onto his private jet for the 3,000-mile flight to California. No one should be surprised. Keeping the Kings in Sacramento has been on Stern's 'to do" list for at least a decade. And, obviously, his relationship with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, and former Golden State Warriors minority owner Vivek Ranadive - who had been itching to become a majority partner - facilitated the sale of the team and the proposed downtown arena. After this ordeal, there is no way the Commissioner, who retires Feb. 1, misses out on the emotional opening night celebration.
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: And as Bulls fans know all too well after the last three seasons, LeBron James’ rule has not been good for them. The Miami Heat forward is responsible for two of the Bulls’ last three playoff runs ending earlier than they hoped. In the bigger picture, James’ last six years stack up very closely to Jordan’s best seven-year stretch, before his first retirement. From 1986 to 1993, Jordan averaged 33.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game, while James averaged 28.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists from 2007 to 2013. Both are known for elite defense, but James has shown to be more versatile, guarding any spot on the floor. While their mind-sets on offense are completely different — James is more facilitator, Jordan was more assassin — they’ll be tied even more closely together if James and the Heat win a third consecutive NBA title this season, when James will still be 29. The Bulls’ mission is to stop that from happening. … It’ll be a great one if they can stay healthy, starting with Rose. While the Indiana Pacers also are expected by some to be the Heat’s primary obstacle in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers don’t have Rose. The problem is the Bulls might not have him, either — at least the Rose they had before he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament. But if the one-time MVP is anywhere close to what he was during the 2010-11 season — with an improved jump shot from all the rehab time — the Pacers will be the third wheel. Will it be enough to end James’ run at history? The Bulls start training camp Friday, and they know kings don’t abdicate their thrones easily.
• Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune: When the regular season opens Oct. 30 against Oklahoma City, Kanter will likely step into a starting role, signaling a brand new era of Jazz basketball. The team watched seven players exit in free agency, allowing Kanter, Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks and Trey Burke to all step into marquee roles. … The Jazz offseason was strategically quiet, with the Jazz adding players who would not get in the way of plans to turn the team over to a young core that includes Kanter. "That’s what the fans have been waiting for," Kanter said, "so that’s why I was like, ‘I cannot do crazy stuff and crazy tweets.’ " However, Jazz officials know they can’t ask for too much too quickly from their young stars, and with that, Kanter can’t leave the behavior that made him a fan favorite entirely behind. After the kids had filed out of the gym Thursday, he interrupted his declaration of maturity to make a quiet confession. "I still watch SpongeBob," he said.
• Tom Layman of the Boston Herald: In the wake of Danny Ainge’s comments that Rajon Rondo may not be back until December, new Celtics coach Brad Stevens thinks he has an in-house candidate to fill the star point guard’s shoes. Stevens said Avery Bradley may indeed see the bulk of the point guard duties until Rondo finds his way back from offseason knee surgery. “I don’t think there is any doubt that Avery has elite ability in a lot of ways as a point guard,” Stevens said at TD Garden yesterday morning, where he was a guest at the breakfast to promote November’s Coaches vs. Cancer college basketball tripleheader. “He’s an elite defender at the position. He’s an elite athlete at the point guard position. I think he’s a guy that’s gotten better. I think he’s a guy with more confidence, and I think he’s excited about the challenge if Rajon is out.” Bradley played well in flashes last season, but he also looked miscast as a point guard in Doc Rivers’ system. There is no denying Bradley’s acumen on the defensive side of the ball. The trick will be for him to find the abilities to facilitate the offense and produce some scoring — traits that weren’t consistently on display last year.
• John Canzano of The Oregonian: Monday marks another Trail Blazers media day. The NBA players will take promotional photographs, and perform those video vignettes you see at the home arena during timeouts. For a decade I've watched the players suit up and sit around like a friend on New Year's Eve, vowing, "This year, I'm serious; I'm going on a diet." The thing turns into a massive Eyeroll Festival. It's time for that to change. On Monday, nobody wants to hear the Blazers make the same tired promises. No talking about how much better the locker room feels, how they'll "try to compete for the playoffs" or "We're going to really push tempo this season." LaMarcus Aldridge said on media day in 2012, "I think it's a whole new feeling this year, which is good. Kind of like a new start after last season." If he trots that trite stuff out as an opening statement on Monday someone should poke him in the eye. If he declares the outlook for the 2013-14 Blazers -- as he did last September -- is, "as long as we get better every night... we should be good," he should face a firing line of year-old Chalupas. If coach Terry Stotts says, "We're looking to compete for a playoff spot. I don't know why anyone would say otherwise," he should have to take a lap around the arena. Enough with the meaningless talk. If the Blazers want to make Monday count, what we need to hear is that they will make the playoffs this season. Yes, I'd like a guarantee. Bet you would, too. Because as long as the organization is asking fans to invest their disposable income and emotion in this franchise, the least that a playoff-worthy roster can do is vow that, "It's playoffs or bust."
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: The Magic will be ultra-cautious as they bring Glen Davis back from his most recent foot surgery — making sure he doesn't do too much, too soon — and he will miss training camp, perhaps the entire preseason and maybe the beginning of the regular season. But Davis remains the Magic's best low-post defender. Once he's fully healthy, I envision him returning to his starting role, although Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson and Jason Maxiell could push him for minutes at the 4. Offensively, Davis is at his best when he's on the move and driving to the hoop. He has a tendency to fall in love with his midrange jumper. Davis could draw interest from other teams as the NBA trade deadline approaches on Feb. 20.
• Michael Pointer of The Indianapolis Star: What position does the now very rich Paul George play? George signed a five-year contract extension worth more than $90 million this week and his versatility is one of his best traits. Coach Frank Vogel can use him at shooting guard, small forward and even power forward, and have him to defend the opposing team’s top player, no matter where he plays. There’s a good chance you will see him at all three spots this season.
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Brandon Jennings sat on the outside looking in during this summer’s free-agency frenzy, arriving in Detroit in a three-year deal via sign-and-trade. The Pistons believe he’ll return to his prep school mode of being a distributor first, rather than primarily looking for his own offense, as he’s done during his first four years in the NBA. Jennings represents an upgrade over Brandon Knight in terms of point guard aptitude, but he must be willing to buy into the system and set up his teammates. Rumors of the Pistons pursuing Boston point guard Rajon Rondo won’t amount to anything anytime soon. Jennings can quiet them with steady play.
• Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Brett Brown's message for Evan Turner: Don't read media reports. "And I hope he's not caring about what goes on Twitter," the new 76ers coach said. Brown wants the Sixers' second overall draft pick in 2010 to get into a gym and rediscover a passion for the game. He said the key would be to go back to his time as a youth when he really enjoyed playing basketball. "Now that sounds a lot easier than it is to achieve," Brown said. "But it starts with the knowledge that you are putting in the time. You get a new toy to play with. And you are being allowed with that in a new place in the house. You need to help him find ways to really find a way to love." Turner appeared frustrated while playing under coach Doug Collins the last three seasons. The 6-foot-7 guard/forward also has been inconsistent since coming out of Ohio State as a junior. Turner averaged a career-best 13.3 points last season and was the only Sixer to start all 82 games. But for every solid performance, he had two or three horrible nights.
• Nakia Hogan of The Times-Picayune: Pelicans forward Jason Smith, who played for the 76ers during Jrue Holiday's rookie season in 2009-10, was effusive in his praise of their new point guard. "He's great," Smith said. "I got to play with him one year in Philadelphia. I have been praising him since Day 1. He is the most underrated point guard out there. That's a testament to how hard he works and the kind of guy he is on and off the court. … But Holiday isn't expected to be a savior for a New Orleans franchise that has combined to win just 48 games the past two seasons. He is, however, expected to be a key ingredient to an organization that has been rebranded and its roster overhauled. "Hopefully it's to be the vessel of the coach on the court," Holiday said of his role. … "We have guys like Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, Tyreke (Evans), even Eric Gordon, so I just have to get them the ball where it needs to be. I'll have to even penetrate at times, maybe get a shot and make something happen. But for the most part, I don't think it will be directly focused around me." With that nucleus, Holiday believes the Pelicans won't have any trouble winning much more than they have in the past.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: The Rockets, CEO Tad Brown said, will sell out every home game this season. For the Rockets in the Toyota Center era, that is a huge proclamation. “We’re further ahead in our sales process at this time than we ever have been,” Brown said heading into the start of team workouts Saturday. “The season-ticket base is up 34 percent. We are close to being sold out of season tickets. And we are pretty confident with the excitement that this team has already created in the market that we’ll be sold out of every game.” The Rockets have sold out every home game in just four seasons of their history, none since moving into Toyota Center in 2003. Beginning in 1994-95, the second championship season, they had a streak of 176 consecutive sellouts, including 149 consecutive regular-season games. The Rockets sold out 20 home games last season, including 10 of the final 15, but sales took off with the July signing of Dwight Howard.
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: The Cavaliers are attempting to strengthen their bond with their season-ticket holders. Last season, the Cavs launched Wine & Gold United, a year-round, season ticket-based membership program. They promised their members unprecedented and unique access. On Thursday, they provided a perk to their members and tried to deliver on that commitment. After getting league approval, they announced they would print the name of each Wine & Gold United member on the Quicken Loans Arena floor, starting with the 2013-14 season. Each account holder’s name will be displayed in the Cavs’ “All For One, One For All” gold-lettered decal. It will be positioned opposite the team benches. Throughout the season, members will have an opportunity to see their names on the court.

• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: With less than two weeks to go before camp opens Oct. 1, the Magic and veteran small forward Hedo Turkoglu have yet to agree on a buyout. Turkoglu has $12 million left on the final year of his contract, but only half of it is guaranteed.
• Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald: A relaxed and engaging Dwyane Wade spoke on a few issues on an appearance a little while ago on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC. Some highlights: On Game 6 of the Finals: "We were only down five with 20 seconds left. That’s what we do. We practice that all day." On free agency next summer: “There’s a lot of media probably watching this in Miami, so I can’t give them nothing.” (Wade said earlier this summer that he wants to stay with the Heat beyond next summer and is optimistic the Big Three will stay together.) On the possibility of a three-peat: “We hope. We're trying to get like the Lakers and Bulls. It’s going to be tough." On LeBron James’ wedding last weekend: “It’s a beautiful, beautiful wedding. Without giving away details, we had an unebelievable time. And I can’t tell you guys nothing else.” He said no phones were allowed and “no phones nowadays is unbelievable. You go nowhere without your phones.”
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News: Kobe Bryant continued rehabbing his surgically repaired left Achilles tendon, the latest work involving running at 75 percent of his body weight on a treadmill. Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti thinks Bryant remains a “few weeks away” before advancing to full-weight bearing running, though he added “there’s no projected date” on whether Bryant could play in the Lakers’ season opener Oct. 29 against the Clippers. It’s safe to pencil Bryant out for part of training camp, beginning Sept. 28, though it’s unclear if he could catch the tail end of the Lakers’ eight exhibition games through Oct. 25. It all fits the Lakers’ conservative approach in ensuring Bryant only returns from an injury he suffered April 12 once he fully heals. “He’s doing well and has had no setbacks,” Vitti said Thursday at his trainer’s office at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. “He’ll be ready when he’s ready. Nobody has a crystal ball on this thing.” Beyond improving his Achilles tendon, the Lakers training staff also wants Bryant to strengthen his legs, knee, back and core. They hope this approach will ensure Bryant closely replicates last season’s output, when he averaged 27.3 points on 46.3 percent shooting, six assists and 5.6 rebounds before the Lakers lost in a first-round sweep to the San Antonio Spurs without him.
• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: Deron Williams' right foot was in a walking boot, forcing him to miss out on playing in his charity dodge ball tournament Thursday. But he said it won't keep him from going all out in training camp or playing in the Nets' regular-season opener. "Basically, this is just preventative,'' Williams said. "They have me in it now so I don't have to worry about it when the season starts. "It's frustrating because I want to be hooping with the guys right now. I want to play in this. It's frustrating. I have to deal with [the media] speculating. It is what it is. As long as I'm ready for October, that's all that matters to me. But I'll be ready for it.'' Williams suffered a sprained right ankle and a bone bruise about 2½ weeks ago while working out. He said he worked out the following day and continued working out on it, but when he told Nets trainer Tim Walsh he had some pain in his ankle, Walsh sent Williams for an MRI. Williams, who was hampered by ankle injuries last season, said he will undergo another MRI next week, but he doesn't expect to be in the boot much longer. The Nets start training camp Oct. 1 at Duke University and open the season Oct. 30 against Cleveland. "If it's up to me, I'd be walking around right now,'' he said. "I could walk fine. It doesn't hurt. It's just protecting me from myself, I guess.'' When asked if he thinks he'll go full during training camp, Williams said, "That's my plan.''
• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: "I'm ready to get to work,'' Anderson Varejao told The Plain Dealer on Thursday afternoon. "I'm excited and I'm ready for the season. I can't wait." No wonder. Varejao missed the last 56 games of the season after a quad injury and then a blood clot. It was his third straight season cut short by injury, coming on the heels of a fractured right wrist that limited him to 25 games in 2011-12 and a right ankle/foot injury that ended the 2010-11 campaign at 31 games. "My goal this season is just to stay healthy,'' he said. "Everything else will come.'' Varejao spent most of the summer rehabilitating his quad in Brazil and working to strengthen his leg. He has only recently started playing pick-up games and, though his quad feels good, he estimates he's at about 70 percent heading into the start of training camp. … Varejao has heard all the speculation about a healthy Bynum -- still no guarantee -- forcing him out of the starting lineup and the two splitting time at center in an effort to reduce the wear and tear on both, but right now that's the least of his problems. "To me, it doesn't matter, as long as I'm important for the team,'' Varejao said. "That's the bottom line. I don't care. I'm going to work the same way, doing what do what I have to do to help the team. Whatever Mike Brown wants to do, it's his decision and I'm here to help.''
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: The idea of putting Omer Asik and Dwight Howard together in the frontcourt will offer an interesting training camp diversion, but not much of an option for significant playing time, much less the starting lineup. The Rockets did not get the league’s top center to make him a power forward and don’t want to turn one of their outstanding defensive centers into a liability defending the 3-point arc. Instead, they will likely choose between last season’s holdovers. Greg Smith started late in the season, but Terrence Jones might have the edge after strong showings late last season and in summer league. Donatas Motiejunas, who was the starter after the trades of Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris, added some much-needed bulk, but his low-post skills might make him better suited to coming off the bench when Howard is not on the low blocks. Robert Covington, a tweener forward, could serve as a stretch four, though Jones and Motiejunas could shoot well enough for that. If all else fails, the Rockets could go back to Smith inside, but if they are going to play two centers together again, they do have two others to consider.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: To hear journeyman guard Marco Belinelli tell it, he had no shortage of suitors when he hit the open market this summer. Only one could offer the combination of contract security, pedigree and championship aspirations as the Spurs, making it an easy decision for the Italian to accept their two-year offer. … Belinelli wouldn’t bite when asked about how he’ll be able to improve on the departed Gary Neal, whose slot in the rotation he’ll essentially be filling. He did say cite running the pick and roll, along with scoring and defense, as his main areas of expertise. That bolsters the notion that Belinelli was swapped out for the more one-dimensional Neal to add another competent ballhandler behind Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. It doesn’t appear to be a particularly impressive signing in light of his modest shooting percentage (41.8 percent career) and Player Efficiency Rating (11.6, 3.4 below average). But his with his adequate skills in multiple areas — Belinelli’s career 3-point percentage is almost identical to Neal’s — this could be one of those those pick-ups that pay subtle dividends.
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: When the New Orleans Pelicans open training camp on Oct. 1, veteran forward Jason Smith expects to be playing without any limitations despite requiring surgery last season to repair a torn labrum. Though Smith, 7 feet, 240 pounds, has been held out of contact work during volunteer workouts this month to avoid any setbacks in his recovery, he is expected to be cleared in time for camp. ``It’s all fixed; all better,’’ Smith said. ``It’s just knowing that it is better, and I’ve got to go out there and trust it. I think that’s going to be the big test going through training camp.’’ There probably wasn’t a player on New Orleans’ roster last season that played through more injuries than Smith. He played with a torn labrum for almost three months before he re-injured his right shoulder during a February game against the Brooklyn Nets.
• J. Michael of CSN Washington: It has been a while since Wizards assistant coach Sam Cassell has been back on the basketball court of his alma mater. And it's been quite a while since the team has been in this city, too. Led by Cassell, who played at Dunbar Senior High School in the late '80s, the Wizards held a basketball clinic for students Thursday. Bradley Beal, Garrett Temple and Bullets alumni Mike Riordan and Larry Stewart were among others in attendance. The Wizards begin training camp Sept. 28. They will play a preseason game Oct. 17 vs. the New York Nicks at Baltimore Arena. "I haven't been here in a long time. We used to call this place the Eastside Garden. It's changed. The banners are still the same," said Cassell, who graduated from Dunbar in 1988 before going on to a 15-year career as an NBA player. "This opportunity came up to me about coming back to my alma mater, why not?”
• Marcos Breton of The Sacramento Bee: I honestly don’t care if Seattle ever gets an NBA team. But I do hope Hansen is forever frustrated in his bid to be an NBA boss for the smarmy stunt he pulled in Sacramento. Here is a guy who opposes a public vote on the arena he wants to build in Seattle, but essentially finances one in Sacramento – all because he got his fancy pants in a bunch at being passed over for the Kings. The signatures his money bought – around 18,000 of them – are now apparently in the hands of locals who want an arena vote. Without them, the locals have around 3,000 signatures, maybe a little more, but nowhere near the 22,000 they need to qualify an arena vote for the June ballot. That’s why arena opponents made a gleeful announcement Tuesday that they had landed Hansen’s mother lode of signatures. They’re in business. And that announcement was followed by more Hansen buffoonery. In his public statement on the issue Tuesday, Hansen starts by saying he “inadvertently” funded the arena referendum effort. Then he said he decided to contribute to the effort before the NBA made its decision to keep the Kings in Sacramento. How can you “inadvertently” fund an effort you consciously decided to fund?

The biggest challenge with addressing the tanking problem is that the NBA draft lottery creates a natural trade-off between its effect on competitive balance in the league and on teams incentive to lose on purpose.

If I were in charge of the NBA draft lottery I would wait until the end of the season and then randomly select a number between 30 and 60. I would use the current lottery system but base the lottery on each team’s place in the standings after that randomly chosen number of games.

By way of example, we ran a simulation using last season. The number we randomly drew was 43. So that means we'd assign teams lottery balls not based on their record at the end of 82 games, but instead based on their record after Game 43.

It would change things somewhat, as you can see in the table. The current system really hurts teams like the Wizards and Raptors, who continued to play rather well during the last part of the season.

The table is not meant to provide evidence that teams like the Magic and Trail Blazers were tanking, but it does highlight how much teams can improve their lottery chances under the current system by losing more games at the end of the season.

This would reduce the incentive for teams to lose on purpose late in the season once they drop out of contention for the playoffs because regardless of which number is randomly drawn, any losses after game No. 60 -- usually played in late February or early March -- would have no bearing on a team’s chances in the lottery. At the very least, this would drastically curtail “tanking season,” assuming any team would want to pack it in much before the All-Star break.

In order for this approach to be as equitable as the current system requires, a team’s league ranking at a point mid-\season is correlated with their ranking at the end of the season. I took a date from seasons between 1991-2010 and find that there is an 88 percent correlation between a team’s rank after 30 games and their rank at the end of the season (with the average team moving three places in the ranking). If you wait until after the 60th game, the correlation increases to 97 percent (with the average team moving 1.5 places in the ranking).

Joseph Price is an assistant professor of economics and Brigham Young University. His research has often covered basketball topics, including incentives and league policy, interracial workplace cooperation in the NBA, performance under pressure and referee bias.

It's a wonderful time for the NBA, with young stars all over the league, an impressive collection of contenders and fascinating storylines from coast to coast. The one real downer, however, is that the game-changing talent of the 2014 draft is expected to inspire any number of teams to lose as many games as possible this season, in the name of the best possible draft pick. In the first post of a series, ESPN.com's HoopIdea explores tanking and its effect on the NBA.

Here’s a nice HD YouTube video, cued up to the moment when the world’s finest sprinters are lining up for a big race.

Eight of the best athletes the world has ever known, shaking muscles loose and then crouching into the starting blocks, poised to explode. They spend years getting to this level -- running fast defines these competitors. Yet they do their best at it only a few seconds a year.

This is that time.

It's fun to watch, even though the commentary is in German and it's a sport hurting for both celebrity power and highlight-worthy artistry. In fact, it's surely the simplest sport: It starts here and ends right over there. No turning. Not even really any pacing. Eight athletes in a row, each bound and determined to run faster.

We appreciate this on a deep level. "Wanna race?" is an ancient question almost every human has asked or answered. This trips a trigger. The rare delight of sports, in these complicated times, is to see eight crystal-clear agendas, so nakedly, completely and devotedly all in.

That’s competition, and that's part of us.

Screwing up a beautiful thing
Now imagine this. You’re the runner in Lane 4, hands placed carefully, heart racing, waiting for the starter. Three sprinting wizards to your left, four to your right. Everyone has had this date circled on the calendar all year. You’ve got glory to earn and a family to feed.

And you know there’s:

• $100,000 for first place
• $50,000 for second place
• And … $100,000 for last place

What?

Takes a lot of the fun out of the race, doesn't it? Knowing the competition’s big prizes are not just for winning, but for winning or losing.

A little weird, eh?

Of course, that's not what happens in track. But, oddly, it is roughly what really happens in the NBA.

Picture 30 teams trying to win
This season, one NBA team will work incredibly hard, make one smart decision after another, please the basketball gods and enjoy an NBA title in June.

Another team will turn the ball over a ton, play the wrong players and endure heart-wrenching injuries as the basketball gods look the other way. That team will trick the rulebook into an incredibly high pick in the draft of a lifetime with a good shot at a player who will change things for that team for a decade or more.

It's tough to say which team wins the bigger prize.

In other words: Every team would do its darnedest to give fans what they want -- real long-term strategy and real all-in nightly competition -- if the league would take its thumb off the scale. Thirty general managers are hard-wired to pull their hair out to win now and forever just like those sprinters -- if only the NBA didn't muck things up by giving a whole lot of those competitive people strong arguments to cut their competitive juices with the tonic water of tanking.

It's not that the league is forcing teams to lose. And rest assured we still get amazing competition. But the NBA is needlessly confusing things. You know what exits stage left when the priorities get cloudy? The beauty of clear priorities.

Give the big prize to the runner in last place, and it's just too much to expect everyone's best race after race, year after year. The race gets a little less fun to watch.

Maybe it’s not the biggest deal in the world. Maybe the sport can thrive despite this -- clearly it has.

And let's be clear: What I'm not alleging is that coaches or players are throwing games. I'm not even chapped at the owners or GMs who pursue losses by deciding to cut costs, keep bad coaches around, trump up injuries, trade away efficient players, play inferior players or save cap space for another day. They all should do what they think is in the long-term best interests of their teams -- I can't really call the Spurs idiots for the pathetic show they put on to get the draft pick that became Tim Duncan. Everyone should pursue wins, and more or less I believe everyone does. This isn't an ethical issue.

What's messed up is that the league has confused matters. When this season is over and teams like the 76ers, Suns, Kings, Magic, Bobcats, Celtics and Jazz have miserable records, did we learn those teams are dumb, or smart?

Losing badly in the NBA is no condemnation of the team. Which is a profound condemnation of the league. Whoever dreamed up that prize scheme simply got it wrong. It’s a strategy where you can more or less count on some competitors dogging it every time out. In casual conversation, I've heard NBA GMs mocking front offices in places like Houston and Milwaukee for "foolishly" trying to win season after season. It's all backward.

You want to see the most intense competition? You want every game to matter? You want maximum excitement? Well, duh. Stop rewarding failure. Stop creating the problem.

It casts a shadow over the NBA schedule. Maybe a third of the games feature at least one team that no doubt has players and coaches who are dying to win, but who have been intentionally handicapped by front offices that value losses. I don’t know who’ll win that Grizzlies versus Sixers contest, but I know the Grizzlies -- all of them, from the point guard to the president -- want to.

Meanwhile, we could, quite simply, with a wave of the hand from the NBA Board of Governors, have a league where all 1,230 games feature two organizations with all the naked competitive ambition of the sprinters in that video.

That’s what we’re exploring.

Why can’t we have that?

• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: It is September, the last month of Michael Beasley’s Suns career. Since his Aug. 6 arrest in Scottsdale on suspicion of marijuana possession, Beasley has not been as noticeable in the Valley as he was prior to it when he was working out at US Airways Center and spotted playing at a Phoenix YMCA. On Sunday, Beasley was playing basketball back home in Maryland. He participated in the Goodman League Roundball Classic in Hyattsville, Md., at DeMatha Catholic, a basketball-rich school that is not one of the six high schools he attended. Kevin Durant, Victor Oladipo, Greg Monroe and Thomas Robinson also participated in the game. Beasley led his team, opposite Durant, with 31 points for a 116-116 tie. The Beasley highlight package in this video is a reminder of how Suns people talked about how great he looked in pickup games at UCLA last summer. If you last past that portion of the video, you will see Durant go through the legs and behind the back to stagger Beasley at 1:43.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: DeAndre Liggins isn't the first player in Thunder history to be arrested. But his booking certainly is the most disturbing. And now it will serve as a case study. Put the Thunder to the test. For an organization that has always prided itself on being a pillar in the community and having a roster full of upstanding citizens, the team must now decide what to do with what could be its first felony offense if Liggins is convicted. The decision might be an easy one. Liggins is entering his second season with the team, third in the NBA. He was hard worker and a hustler but still a bit player in his first run with the Thunder, appearing in 39 games and playing a total of 290 minutes. Later this month, he was expected to enter training camp fighting for the 15th and final roster spot. Already shaping up to be stiff following the draft night additions of Andre Roberson and Steven Adams, the competition for that final spot now includes free agent signee Ryan Gomes and the expected signing of combo guard Diante Garrett. Liggins, on this team, is practically expendable.
• Chris Haynes of CNNW.com: Portland Trail Blazers All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge participated in Jamal Crawford's Pro-AM championship game at Seattle Pacific University Saturday afternoon. After Aldridge helped his former Trail Blazer teammate in Crawford win his first Pro-AM title since heading this event several years ago, the All-Star sat down with CSNNW.com to discuss a few topics centered around his eventful summer. … Q: Okay. Let's get into it. There was a report that you believed Portland was “too small” and “too boring” of a city. What's your response to that? LA: “Nah, that's not true. I'm a quiet person that keeps to himself, really. Portland doesn't bother me. I don't have an issue with the city of Portland. I've been there my whole career. I like the smallness of it and the passionate fans. That's not true at all.” … Q: Has your representation attempted to get you moved? LA: “Agents talk. I don't know what goes on there. I just worry about playing basketball.” Q: CSNNW.com reported that if moves weren't made to your liking, you would prefer to be moved. Was that accurate? LA: “Yeah, but I don't have to worry about that because we've added some good pieces this summer and I'm looking forward to working with them.”
• Marc Berman of the New York Post: J.R. Smith guaranteed Saturday the Knicks will bring home a championship and claimed the Nets are “still not good.” During a question-and-answer session with kid golfers at Chelsea Piers, Smith was asked how sure he was of the Knicks ending their title drought this season. “I’m 100 percent sure,” the swingman said. Smith was then asked why he joined the Knicks over the Nets when he came back from China in February 2012. “The Nets weren’t good,’’ Smith said. “Now they’re still not good.’ There has been much hype this offseason lavished on the Nets after their bold trade with the Celtics to acquire Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who has been the most outspoken promoter of Brooklyn’s chances in the Eastern Conference. … When asked by The Post why he is so confident, Smith said, “I feel comfortable. People ruled us out last year early, too. We added some great pieces. Unfortunately, we got rid of some good pieces. But we added Andrea [Bargnani], Beno [Udrih], Metta [World Peace]. We have to consistently play like we did the first 20 games last year the whole season. We can’t have a middle-of-season lapse. We have to consistently play the same way.”
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: Q: So what is your approach? Do you have a two-year plan? A five-year plan? Obviously, one of the goals is to better manage the salary cap and become major players in free agency.” Mike Malone: This is going to be a process. We have to change the culture, establish an identity, and while we'll try to win every night, we don't want to skip steps. We don't want short-term success. I'm not sure what year we get into our new arena, but by that year, we want to be a playoff team, and not to just be competing in the playoffs. We've talked about that. We know we have to have patience to do it right. Are our young guys getting better? Are we defending? Gang- rebounding? Running with discipline? The only thing I promised Vivek is that we will no longer be the worst defensive team in the league. So if we do that and change our culture, that will result in more wins and a better product. Q: The phrase "change the culture" has become such a cliché. What does it even mean? Mike Malone: “It is a cliché. What I mean is that when you want to change culture, you change people. When the players come back in September, they're going to get a sense that things are different when they're around our staff. They can see how hard we work, how committed we are. I'm running sprints last week with DeMarcus Cousins and Travis Outlaw, and they said, "Coach, we've never had a guy run sprints with us."
• Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com: Having only 11 guaranteed contracts totaling $43.6 million, and as few as four players with guaranteed money beyond this year, which could result in more than $30 million in cap space next summer, “we’ve got a lot to do,” Hinkie said. “You blink it’s halfway through the afternoon and you forgot to eat lunch,” Hinkie said during a 15-minute telephone conversation Friday. Still, Hinkie said, “So far, we’ve had a blast. It’s been a lot of fun. He’s been a real breath of fresh air.” Hinkie said Brown, who was introduced Aug. 14, has been in contact with every Sixers player to give an idea what is expected of them. Hinkie refuted a popular perception that he would like to trade a veteran (likely Thaddeus Young, who is set to make $9.2 million in 2014-15) to create even more cap space after the Sixers should have two lottery picks as high as Nos. 1 and 6 in the draft. “We have the most cap space (next summer) in the league right now,” Hinkie said. “I wouldn’t say we necessarily have a need for a whole lot more. We have a lot to work with.” … As for the embattled White, Hinkie answered a question about White’s possible role on the team generically and never mentioned White by name.
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: With expectations to emerge as one of the New Orleans Pelicans’ top players this upcoming season, swingman Tyreke Evans is not going to wait until training camp opens next month to start building chemistry with his new teammates. He’s already getting a head start in the process, taking part in the team’s volunteer workouts for the past two weeks. With raised expectations because of an improved lineup, 10 of the 15 players’ on the Pelicans' roster have been working out, doing conditioning work, lifting weights and taking part in pickup basketball games at the Alario Center. Next week, the Pelicans are expected to shift their basketball work to the Saints complex in Metairie when their new 55,000 square foot practice facility is expected to be completed. On Thursday, the Pelicans' workout group included forwards Anthony Davis, Jason Smith, Arinze Onuaku, Darius Miller and Lance Thomas, guards Austin Rivers, Brian Roberts, rookie center Jeff Withey and Evans.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Less than one month before training camp opens on one of the most anticipated seasons since the dynasty ended, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau made good on his vow to visit Derrick Rose's offseason base outside Los Angeles to witness Rose's workouts. Rose, who is set to attend training camp in late September after missing last season following knee surgery, is set to travel to Asia Sept. 4-16 for his second shoe promotional tour this offseason. Before then, he is working out with personal trainer Rob McClanaghan and other NBA players, including Jimmy Butler earlier this week. Thibodeau traveled west Wednesday to check in on Rose, who is sporting increased range on his jumper and a left-handed floater that he has worked on extensively this offseason.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: In a competition with Charlie Villanueva for most despised member of the roster among the fan base. He (Rodney Stuckey) has teased with flashes of standout ability for six seasons, but is coming off his worse season as he butted heads with former coach Lawrence Frank — an issue Stuckey has had in the past. Entering a contract year, so the end of his Pistons tenure is probably near. Reportedly offered to the Raptors (along with Villanueva) for Rudy Gay…. Even with the roster upgrades, Stuckey is still one of the most talented guys wearing a Pistons uniform and new coach Mo Cheeks mentioned Stuckey by name at his introductory news conference. He is in the mix to start at shooting guard in the season opener, but his expiring deal does have trade value.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: The Magic are working on a buyout agreement with Hedo Turkoglu, plan on giving second-round pick Romero Osby a chance to make the team and likely will invite as many as four more players to their training camp, according to a source close to the club. As expected, Turkoglu and the team have been trying to arrange a buyout with the 13-year veteran small forward. He does not figure into the team's rebuilding plans at age 34. Only half of his $12 million salary for next season — the last year of his contract — is guaranteed. If the Magic and Turkoglu can reach an arrangement, Turk will be waived. He then can become a free agent, eligible to negotiate with any other NBA team or play overseas. There are reports that Turkoglu has an offer with a team in his native Turkey if he decides not to stay in the NBA or is unable to sign a deal.

• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: Caron Butler donned a Suns uniform at a public unveiling of the new duds two weeks ago and that looks like it will be the only time he will be seen in it. The Suns have agreed to trade Butler, a Racine, Wis., native, to the Milwaukee Bucks for point guard Ish Smith and center Slava Kravtsov about seven weeks after they acquired Butler and hailed him as a veteran influence for the youthful Suns and part of the future. The Suns gain $5.65 million of cap space for any potential in-season trades but also save that money to make an expected costly waiver of Michael Beasley more palatable. Beasley would be owed $9 million of guaranteed salary. … “Much respect for the organization of the Phx Suns#staytuned,” Butler tweeted Wednesday night. … The Racine Journal Times first reported the trade talks Wednesday night. The deal should be finalized Thursday.
• Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times: But many NBA observers expected Caron Butler’s time in the Valley of the Sun to be short-lived. After all, the Suns are in a full-fledged rebuilding mode and are attempting to stockpile draft picks and young players for the future. The Bucks, meanwhile, are committed to trying to make the playoffs for the second straight season. After a flurry of offseason trades and free-agent signings, they appear set at every position except small forward, which is where Butler plays. Carlos Delfino, whom the Bucks signed as a free-agent in July, had been the projected starting small forward. But Delfino is still recovering from surgery for a fractured bone in his right foot. There are whispers that Delfino will miss the entire preseason and even a portion of the regular season. The Bucks also have two other young small forwards on their roster: Khris Middleton, whom they recently acquired in a trade with Detroit, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom they selected in the first round of the June draft. While the Bucks are excited about the futures of Antetokounmpo and Middleton, neither player is close to being ready to play major minutes next season.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: But here’s the thing: There’s no concrete evidence that summer hoops has a noticeably negative impact. Let’s look at the 52 players who have suited up for Team USA at the Olympics since 1992, excluding Larry Bird and Magic Johnson (retired) and Christian Laettner, Anthony Davis and Emeka Okafor (rookies). Of their combined 67 post-Olympic seasons: 34 played more or the same amount of games the following year. 33 saw their scoring averages increase. 40 improved or maintained their Player Efficiency Rating. Certainly there are players who suffered significant downturns, or fell apart physically. Robinson’s was the most dramatic case, limiting him to just six games. Then there were Alonzo Mourning (69 games missed in 2000-01) and Kevin Love (64 missed last season). Conversely, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, among others, all enjoyed perhaps the best seasons of their careers coming off Olympic play. Wade’s case is particularly noteworthy, with major improvements across the board after both Olympic campaigns — all the more impressive considering his general lack of durability. If anyone should break down after an extra slate of hoops, D-Wade would be among the top candidates. But not only did he survive, he got significantly better, improving his scoring average by 7.9 and 5.6 points, and his PER by 6.5 and 8.9. So what can we take away from all this? There’s no doubt long that as players continue to sandwich summers of international competition between marathon NBA seasons, a portion of them will continue to get hurt and/or worn down. But let’s be clear — this so-called wear and tear is not an automatic consequence of such a choice. As we’ve seen, there’s a strong case that the combination of experience and physical work — the latter of which every player engages in on his own to varying degrees — can actually be beneficial.
• Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press: The Wolves' Kevin Love, in town setting up residence for the coming season, showed up at Target Center this week weighing 240 pounds. "The lightest he's been since he's been a pro," Saunders said of the 6-foot-10 forward, who worked out at Target Center. "He's lost weight in his face, and his body looks leaner with muscle. He's really committed." Love was about 250 pounds last season.
• Jenny Dial of the Houston Chronicle: While things didn’t work out with forward Royce White and the Rockets, the NBA player (traded to Philadelphia in July) will have an everlasting mark in the Bayou City. On Wednesday morning, White announced a partnership with his non-profit organization Anxious Mind’s Inc. and Bee Busy Wellness Center to create the Royce White Institute of Mental Health on the city’s southwest side. The Wellness Center, which is a 17,000-square foot facility that will also have dental and primary care, is located at 6640 W. Bellfort and will open in January 2014. “When I met Royce White a couple of years ago, I knew we would do something special like this,” Bee Busy CEO Normal Mitchell said. “I think it will be a great thing for this community.” White, who has been open about his own struggles with an anxiety disorder, said that he thinks every city should have a center where free mental healthcare is offered. He started the Anxious Mind’s Inc. group while in college at Iowa State, and this is the organization’s first partnership. He said he hopes to see it grow. … He said he is looking forward to his chances of playing with the 76ers. “I was traded to Philadelphia and that’s where my career is taking me next so we’ll see what happens,” White said. “I am hoping I will be able to go there and produce.”
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: The Thunder’s roster, like always, it seems, has very little makeover from last season. Kevin Martin out. Draft picks Steven Adams and Andre Roberson in. That’s about it. But John Schuhmann of NBA.com points out that the Thunder is in good company in keeping its roster basically intact. … Basing his list on minutes played, Schuhmann finds that the team most returning the bulk of its roster is the champion Miami Heat. The Heat is bringing back 94.9 percent of its minutes played from last season. The Thunder is second in the league, at 86.5 percent. And the Spurs are fourth, at 82.4 percent. Inexplicably, the woeful Charlotte Bobcats are third, at 85.3 percent.
• Staff of the Toronto Star: Tracy McGrady has thanked the fans of three of the NBA teams he played for, including the Toronto Raptors. McGrady, who announced his retirement earlier in the week, tweeted out Wednesday photos of himself when he played with the Raptors, Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets. “Thank you Toronto. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to begin my career in the NBA. You believed in me and there my journey began. This incredible city will always hold a very special place in my heart.” — Tracy McGrady. The message comes despite the fact that McGrady was the constant target of boobirds at the Air Canada Centre, even after a decade he left for the Magic.
• Staff of The Dallas Morning News: Tracy McGrady will be remembered as a player who went straight from high school to the NBA and became a dominant, two-way superstar. He will always be remembered, too, as a player who struggled with injuries. However, Mavericks fans likely will remember McGrady for different reasons, reasons former 7-6 Dallas center Shawn Bradley would probably like to forget. During the 2005 playoffs, McGrady and the Houston Rockets went up against the Mavericks. A McGrady dunk on Bradley in Game 2 put the poster in posterized. To be fair, Bradley was a shot blocker. He led the NBA in blocks in 1997 and had more than 2,000 in his career. With Dallas in 2000-01, Bradley blocked 228 shots. He finished his career with an average of 2.5 blocks per game. But, despite his height and wingspan, he also had a habit of getting dunked on violently - and often - by NBA stars big and small.
• Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com: Portland Trail Blazers free agent forward Luke Babbitt has agreed to a one-year deal with the Europe club BC Nizhny Novgorod of Russia, a league source informed CSNNW.com. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the fact that no announcement has been made, added that the deal does not contain an NBA out clause. Babbitt's agent Bill Duffy confirmed the deal saying, “My take is Luke needs to play 30 minutes a game and play a more expanded role. We've had recent success with both Danny Green (of the San Antonio Spurs) and Patrick Beverley (of the Houston Rockets) getting an opportunity to develop their games in Europe and returning to the NBA. The NBA is a league of opportunity. We feel strongly this is the best move for Luke at this time.” Portland opted not to exercise the fourth year of his rookie contract before the 2012-13 season began, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer.
• Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun: Meanwhile, this Friday in Caracas, Venezuela, the Canadian men’s basketball team — a team that could turn this country on its ear at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics — plays its first game at the FIBA Americas Championship and hardly anyone seems to be paying attention — even though the event has huge implications. The bottom line is this: If Team Canada fails to finish in the top four in Caracas (and it’s no slam-dunk that they will, even with four NBA guys in the lineup), the program will suffer a significant set-back. With the hiring of NBA star Steve Nash as GM and Jay Triano as head coach last year, Canada Basketball pulled out all the stops in trying to attract the new generation of Canadian hoops talent to play for the national team, something that was never a sure thing in the past. There was a tendency for some of the young black players in Canada to shy away from playing on the national side, for a variety of reasons. Fortunately, that has changed over the past few years (including under former head coach Leo Rautins). However, if Team Canada should fail to finish in the top four in Caracas and fail to qualify for next summer’s World Cup in Spain, who’s to say if the impressive legion of young hoops talent would want to play for Canada down the road?
• Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune: Bobby Jackson, a great basketball player for the Gophers and for several teams in the NBA, is going to join the Timberwolves coaching staff as an assistant, according to President Flip Saunders. Jackson has a lot of familiarity with Rick Adelman, having played five seasons under him with the Sacramento Kings. Jackson started his post-playing career as an ambassador with the Kings and then as a regional scout working in player development. He became an assistant coach with Sacramento in 2009 and served in that role until June 5, when new head coach Michael Malone announced that the team would not retain any of the previous assistant coaches. Then there is the news that Saunders is going to hire Milt Newton to be the team’s general manager. Saunders and Newton agreed on terms of a contract after Newton spent this week visiting the Wolves. The two worked together for 2½ years when Saunders was the head coach of the Washington Wizards and Newton was the team’s vice president of player personnel. Newton held that role in Washington for 10 seasons before joining the Wolves.

• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: In five years when he’s (Tracy McGrady) eligible, is he a Hall of Famer. I don’t know. The raw numbers would suggest he’d have to get serious consideration. The tweeter was full of impressive stats yesterday, the most impressive that he was one of seven players to average 20 points, five rebound and four assists in eight straight seasons; the others were Kobe, LeBron, Jordan, Oscar, Garnett and Bird. Not bad company and if that’s your main criteria, you can’t keep him out, can you? I could, though. I could suggest that while his statistical impact was significant – there can be no argument about that, the raw numbers are shocking – there was just something about his body of work that should give voters cause for concern. Now, I suppose you could go either way on this one, there is a legitimate argument to be made both ways, I think, and since I’m a Hall of Fame hard ass and look at a much bigger global picture, I’m saying no. And I will say this and take whatever shots you’ve got: With respect to an impact on the sport, here in North America and around the world, he couldn’t hold a candle to Vince Carter. If you’re talking impact, there’s no comparison.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: In the wake of Tracy McGrady's retirement announcement earlier this week, let me just say this: T-Mac was undoubtedly a great talent, but he will also go down as one of the great underachievers in NBA history. I covered his entire tenure with the Orlando Magic, and he had the talent and explosiveness to become a greater player than Kobe Bryant. Unfortunately, he didn't have the desire. … Here's why I say McGrady was one of the NBA's great underachievers: Because he never, ever won a playoff series until this past season -- his final one -- when he was one of the last players off the bench for the San Antonio Spurs. In a sport where one player can make a huge difference (see LeBron leading the marginally talented Cleveland Cavaliers to the finals and the best record in the NBA for two years running), T-Mac never elevated his team's to anything other than mediocrity. … Will he go down as one of the top three Magic players of all-time behind Dwight and Shaq? Probably -- although Penny Hardaway might argue otherwise. For a lot of reasons, though, he will go down in history for another reason. No player I ever saw had more talent but accomplished less.
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra clearly has the football bug. He apparently also carries a message that resonates beyond basketball. Three weeks after attending practice and then addressing the University of Tennessee football team in Knoxville as a favor to friend and Volunteers coach Butch Jones, Spoelstra was in Renton, Wash., on Tuesday, addressing the Seattle Seahawks. "Just having him here in front of the team and just having him in meetings with us and having him out here in practice is an unbelievable experience for everybody," quarterback Russell Wilson said after Tuesday's practice. "For him to be able to talk about how his basketball team was successful and the way that they went about their business in terms of sacrificing . . . just that whole idea of sacrificing everything, the players, LeBron [James] coming to Miami, and Dwyane Wade sacrificing all that, all that type of sacrifice that it takes to be great and to be great so often, is kind of what he talked about for the most part. And having that discipline, as well, too, is something that he talked about, and just working hard, continuing to work hard, continuing to believe in yourselves and ignore the noise.” … Spoelstra is from nearby Portland, Ore., with this his second trip to the Pacific Northwest this offseason. He had visited with Chip Kelly at the University of Oregon in previous seasons, before Kelly became coach of the Philadelphia Eagles this season.
• Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN: Washington Wizards Vice President of player personnel, Milt Newton, will join the Timberwolves as the team's general manager, according to a team source. Newton will be heavily involved in pro scouting. The Wolves also plan on elevating Rob Babcock to a vice president of personnel position. Both men have a prior history with Wolves President of Basketball Operations, Flip Saunders. Saunders still will have final say in all personnel decisions, but will be leaning heavily on Newton and Babcock on all moves. Saunders is also said to be taking an assistant trainer, Koichi Sato, from the Wizards. Sato will focus on strength training with the Wolves.
• Fred Kerber of the New York Post: Play nice, guys. That essentially was the directive given to owners James Dolan of the Knicks and Mikhail Prokhorov of the Nets this past season during a meeting orchestrated by NBA Commissioner David Stern, who wanted to snuff any lingering tension between the two and prevent a full-blown feud, multiple league sources told The Post. “There was such a meeting and the parties both said it was a very cordial and pleasant one,” said one league official with knowledge of the sit-down, which happened early in the season. The official also confirmed Stern assisted in getting the pair together in an attempt to prevent a wave of spitballs going back and forth over the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. See? It’s not just players like Paul Pierce and Raymond Felton fueling the feud between the two NBA teams sharing the city. It has been going on for a while, but the Nets no longer are the poor stepchild performing in a New Jersey swamp. Another person with direct knowledge of the sit-down called it “cordial and friendly.”
• Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News: There’s no time for proofreading in the tattoo parlor. Larry Sanders showed off his newest tattoos on Instagram over the weekend, but the Bucks center was quickly given a spelling lesson by his fans who spied the unfortunate typo in permanent ink. The 24-year-old got fresh ink on both hands, with one reading “Ask” and another “Recieve.” Whoops. “Receive” is the proper spelling of the word, and Sanders was given plenty of reminders about the old “I before E except after C” rule. Oh, that pesky English language. Sanders, for his part was unfazed by the gaffe. Despite calls from his fans to delete the photo of the tattoo — “Please remove the picture. It makes U look like an idiot,” one Instagram user wrote — Sanders kept both photos up on his Instagram stream and followed them up with a photo of himself looking unimpressed with the hullabaloo and a caption that reads, “ummmmmmmm ... ain’t worried bout nuthin.” With a new four year, $44 million contract, he shouldn’t be worried. Turning an “I” into an “E,” and vice-versa, will hardly put a dent in his newly-fattened wallet.
• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: Former Atlanta forward Josh Childress will be among 40 or more free agents who will work out here as the Cavaliers continue to do their due diligence in the month leading up to the start of training camp, according to an NBA source. Childress' agent, Chris Emens, told HoopsHype.com his client would work out in Cleveland and San Antonio. Given the Cavs' current roster and salary situation, all the players face long odds of making the team, but some could earn invitations to training camp.
• Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle: Rising costs, rising sea levels, rising community concern. Everything is on the rise when it comes to the Warriors' proposed arena on the San Francisco waterfront. The Warriors insist that the arena will also eventually rise, that it is still on track to meet its projected 2017 opening date. But it continues to face obstacles. "I think the Warriors have underestimated how high the hurdles for a project like this would be," said David Lewis, executive director of Save the Bay, a regional organization that has worked to protect San Francisco Bay for the past 52 years. … "It's very expensive to rehabilitate those piers," said Warriors president Rick Welts. "But we still have the highest level of confidence this project will be done." … Welts said a third round of design will be unveiled in October. … "We are 100 percent focused on Piers 30/32," he said. "We're more convinced than ever that this is the best possible site for this project."
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: Alex Len was first on the Suns’ draft board in June but he is not first in the minds of his fellow rookies when it comes to NBA success. Len, this year’s No. 5 overall selection, did not receive much love in the nba.com annual Rookie Survey of the 36 rookies who attended a league photo shoot in New York earlier this month. Len and fellow Suns rookie Archie Goodwin, the No. 29 pick, attended the event in conjunction with the league’s rookie transition program. The NBA rookies gave votes to 10 rookies who they think will win Rookie of the Year but nobody voted for Len or Goodwin. Fourteen rookies got votes for who will have the best career but nobody voted for Len or Goodwin. And even for who is the most overlooked rookie, the rookies overlooked the Suns but voted for 21 other rookies. Perhaps Len’s ankle surgeries curbed optimism. Maybe it is the assumption that Len will be playing backup minutes to Marcin Gortat. Or they just might not think he will be as good as the Suns believe he will be. Goodwin did get a vote for “most athletic” rookie and “best defender.”
• Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune: When Utah Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin reached out to Alex Jensen about joining his staff, a number of qualities drew him to the D-League Coach of the Year and, likewise, Jensen to Corbin. That Jensen was a Centerville native and played a starring role on the University of Utah team that advanced to the 1998 NCAA championship game was low on Corbin’s list. Presumably, too, was this side benefit to five years playing professionally in Turkey: a unique ability to communicate with Jazz center Enes Kanter. "I’ve already sworn at him [in Turkish]," Jensen said, his permanent half-smile twisting into a full one. "Those are the first words you learn." Before being hired earlier this summer as a Jazz player development assistant, Jensen spent two years as the head coach of the Canton Charge and four years before that on Rick Majerus’ staff at Saint Louis University. His arrival completed the shuffle that began when assistant coach Jeff Hornacek left for the top job with the Phoenix Suns. Jensen, 37, will share player development duties with another Ute, second-year staffer Johnnie Bryant. He said he has already worked with about half of the roster, including in Santa Barbara, Calif., and in workouts between Derrick Favors and Karl Malone.
• Michael Pointer of The Indianapolis Star: The Indiana Pacers’ long playoff run this spring is making it easier for the team’s front office to sell tickets. Todd Taylor, the team’s vice president of sales and marketing, said Tuesday that sales of season-ticket packages are up nearly 30 percent from this time last year. Packages are considered anything 11 games or more because they give the buyer a guarantee to purchase playoff tickets, he said. Per club policy, the Pacers do not reveal total number of season tickets. But Taylor said the 30 percent bump includes about 1,200 new ticket holders. “I still think we’re in growth mode,” Taylor said. “I’ve only been here two years, but we’re certainly seeing a greater level of interest. When your team is relevant, and people accept your phone calls, you have a chance.” Taylor said more than 90 percent of season-ticket holders from last season have renewed their tickets.
• Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press: Negotiations for a $100 million renovation of Target Center finally are moving near completion, with the primary tenant Timberwolves agreeing to pay $44.3 million, the City of Minneapolis $50 million and the AEG sports and entertainment firm still negotiating the remaining $5.7 million. Reaching a deal with AEG, which manages concerts in the arena, had slowed talks. The current controversy between the Vikings and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority over whether team ownership has the wherewithal to deliver on its $477 million commitment for a $975 million stadium has caused the City of Minneapolis to be more cautious in negotiations with the Timberwolves. The Wolves say they have been forthcoming with whatever financial information the city sought, and there don't seem to be any issues. The Wolves are hopeful a deal will be approved at a Minneapolis City Council meeting next month. Meetings between Minneapolis and the NBA team took place last Friday, with communications continuing through the weekend, and meetings scheduled for this week.

In Part 3, Stan Van Gundy discusses how his Orlando Magic teams were constructed and how the defensive rule changes of the 2000s impacted the NBA.

Stan Van Gundy Q&A: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

So your Magic teams adopted a distinct, spread-floor strategy. How did you come by it?

The plan -- not just my plan but [GM] Otis Smith's plan -- was that, when you have Dwight Howard, he's the centerpiece of your team. What you always want to do is take your best players and figure out how to complement them and the best way to help a big guy like that is to get him room on the floor. And you do that by putting as much shooting out there as possible.

When we looked at guys -- I mean they drafted [J.J.] Redick -- shooting was always a priority. And then what happened in that first year the same summer that I came here. Then we got Rashard [Lewis] and [Hedo Turkoglu] who are both 3-men, but clearly among their top four players [at their position], along with Jameer [Nelson], so they obviously were going to have to play together.

So one of them had to become a 4-man. Rashard was just a better fit at the 4. Look, if Tony Battie had not gotten hurt that year, there's a good chance that we would have played big at least half the game and not been quite as much four-out. With the roster we had, it was just an absolute necessity that we played the way we did. And I thought the shooting around Dwight really helped. The thought was always trying to put guys around Dwight that complemented him.

Is concocting NBA strategy actually fun? Coaches are so famously miserable.

I really enjoyed that part of the job. Sitting around with your staff, and kicking around ideas and looking at different things and trying to find the best way to make it work for your team. I find that to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the job, to think about those things and really, really try to make it fit and make it all work.

What aspect of what you did strategically were you most proud of?

There's a fairly small group of guys who are just going to be successful wherever they go and in whatever system they're in. I mean, they're just so talented or so versatile or whatever it is that, wherever you put them, they're really going to be successful. But I think a great majority of the league and probably some guys that are in and out of the league, it really comes down to getting in a place where you fit what's going on. So my first year here, we had Keith Bogans and Mo Evans splitting time as the starting 2. And they were both really successful. Courtney Lee started as a rookie the next year on a team that goes to the NBA Finals.

If you want them to do things that aren't really going to fit their strengths, then they're not going to be as good. And I think that's why some teams don't like a guy because he doesn't really fit what they're trying to do. And then he goes somewhere else and plays well and people’s first reaction is, "Team A made a bad trade in giving the guy up!"

Well, maybe not. He didn't really fit what they were doing. I think that fit is so important for, I don't know what percentage, 80 percent of the players in the league.

Did the rule changes in the early 2000s change the league a lot?

Coaches are going to adapt to whatever the rules are. The rules certainly change strategy. Even within that, even since that happened, things continue to evolve. People are always trying to find a different way.

One of the big ones that's changed a lot, even more than the illegal defense rules, is what you're able to do with your hands out on the perimeter guarding people. Your team defense became a lot better because it's becomes a lot harder individually to guard guys.

I remember when we had Dan Majerle when I was an assistant in Miami, and Dan, at that part of his career anyway, wasn't the quickest guy in the world but he could certainly move his feet. He was a real, real tough guy, and very committed. But with his strength, and under the rules at the time where you could put a forearm on the guy, Dan could really reroute guys and things like that. And that rule changed. To me, that probably changed NBA defenses.

Look, I mean, I've only been in the league 18 years. I mean, you can go back and talk to guys who were in it a long time ago. But the time I've been in [the forearm rule] changed NBA defense and NBA defensive strategy more than the illegal defense guidelines.

Do the rules have something to do with why centers are less involved offensively?

They've certainly become a lesser part of NBA offense. Now, the reason. I think there's multiple reasons. Most kids growing up don't want to play in there. It's not a lot of fun. There’s a lot of contact. You’re not handling the ball. You’re not getting to shoot it with range. That’s number one. The other reason, there’s just not enough people feeding into the NBA who are low-post players who want to do that work.

It’s always been a defended position. A guard can just sort of get the ball and get himself a shot. A center needs his teammates to bring the ball down into him.

Passing as a skill really hasn't gotten much better. A lot of coaches actually think it's gotten worse, and so that makes it harder to get guys the ball. Certainly the defensive rules have allowed us to do things that we previously couldn't do to make it harder on post people.

I mean, you can front the post and bring another guy over behind him. You could never do that kind of stuff before. Certainly the rules have contributed to that. And I also think, you combine the rules with now, how are you still going to be able to get the ball inside because you don't have a rule that artificially gets your post guy some room? That’s also led to putting more shooting on the floor, and teams playing smaller, because the only way now to prevent teams from doing those kinds of things is to put enough shooting on the floor to get those guys space.

Stan Van Gundy can talk. Away from the sidelines -- and not screaming -- for more than a year, the former Orlando Magic coach no longer sounds like Dwight Howard's famously raspy imitation.

This Van Gundy is still bluntly honest, but he is also more expansive with his comments. He’s been guest-hosting weekly on Dan Le Batard's Miami-based radio program -- training that perhaps has turned Van Gundy's points into paragraphs, sound bites into monologues. Like any radio host worth his Arbitron, he keeps you invested throughout the verbal essays.

On this day, he’s pontificating on a variety of subjects, including his relationship with Howard, media coverage in the NBA, and more.

Stan Van Gundy Q&A: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Why are coaches getting fired so often when they dictate so much of the game?

That one I would have a hard time explaining. You get to the point where you're changing 13 jobs in one year, over 40 percent of your league and three guys [Vinny Del Negro of the Clippers, Lionel Hollins of the Grizzlies, George Karl of the Nuggets] who led their teams to the most wins in franchise history. Look, there's a lot of different reasons and I certainly don't know the ins and outs of each situation, but I think a large part of it is that there's sort of been a new breed of general manager coming into the league. We had younger guys. We've got guys not coming from coaching backgrounds as much. More guys coming from the analytics backgrounds. And they want different things than their head coaches. And I think in large part, I think a lot of them, [you] hire younger GMs without a coaching background.

My theory is that not all, but some of those guys are intimidated by experienced coaches that have their way of doing things and they're more comfortable having younger guys, first-time guys that they feel will listen to them more, that they will have more control over. So, there definitely has been a change. I think it's more coming from the GM side, but all of these things in the NBA tend to run in cycles, so we'll just have to see where it goes.

Why do you and Dwight Howard remain friends? Why do you still frequently text each other after everything that happened?

I do think that one thing that we all do is look at the whole picture when you're looking at something. And there's no one I know, there's no one that I care about, people I'm a lot closer to than guys I've coached like my family, there's not one of them I haven't had major disagreements with.

One, you still love them and everything else, but also you're judging by the whole picture. So, I can look at what Dwight did for me as a coach and for our whole basketball team in Orlando and everything else and I'm very, very appreciative.

Plus, I don't think there was ever a point where I didn't like Dwight personally. I like him. I've had a lot of laughs with him. He's a good guy. We had some things that we disagreed on. We had some things we disagreed strongly on and some times where we pissed each other off. And those were well-documented. But it doesn't negate all of the good things he did and the good times that were there in the five years we were together. So for me, it's not a hard thing to overlook.

Just look back at your life and the people in your life. If you're really being honest about it, then you're going to think of major blowups you had with those people. You're going to think of times you stormed out of the house. But you keep coming back because for the most part you will work off things in the big picture. You have to be careful not getting caught up in the moment too much.

Can media coverage have a corrosive impact on a team?

The media's job is different than ours. Let's put it this way: The media can certainly be a challenge. You're out looking for stories. And that's your job. And for a lot of people, maybe not a lot, but for a few people, the easiest way is to look for the negative.

The whole world has different challenges now with the 24-hour news cycle and just the volume of stuff that's out there. And everybody has to get out there. So you've got all these people now, because it's online 24 hours, if I want to get noticed, I got to have something different. And so the beat reporter writes his story and the team played well and blah blah blah. Well, I can't write that same story now. Nobody's going to read it.

So every angle is going to be covered. Every angle. That's not just in sports. That's in everything. It certainly presents a challenge, but I don't think that that's something you can blame on the media. I think coaches sometimes look at the media as the enemy. I don't think that's fair. It's going to be like any profession. Ninety-nine percent of the people are going to work hard and just try to do a good job. And you're going to find that 1 percent that lacks integrity, will trump up stories, won't be honest, but there's so few of them. I never wanted to look at the media as an enemy, I never wanted my players to look at the media as an enemy.

Do coaches get frustrated by media ignorance of strategy and details?

I never really got that frustrated by that. You have to realize that their level of knowledge is not going to be what a coach's is. The criticism from the media never really bothered me. I'd correct it when I can, but that's their job. If stuff wasn't personal, then it really didn't bother me.

I'm sure I've pissed off everybody I've ever met one way or another. And whether they like me or not, I hope they're at least basing it on the whole picture.

Is watching the NBA more fun now that you’re not coaching?

I would say I probably enjoyed it more when I was coaching because I was more specifically looking at it in terms of, "Wow, that would be good for our team" if I was just watching another game or, "When do we play that team? We're going to have to do this." I enjoyed the deeper analysis more than I enjoy just sitting down and watching a game.

I enjoyed how I watched the games as a coach more than I do how I watch games now.

Why do you respect (Tampa Bay Rays manager) Joe Maddon so much?

He is very analytical in what he does. Is there any way he can gain an advantage with his shifts, probably the most obvious one, or squeeze bunting? He's not afraid to go against the book. He's not managing worried about what might be said if something doesn't work. He's going to analyze situations and go with what he thinks gives his team the best chance to succeed in that situation and not worry about the possible repercussions. And to me, that's the biggest thing to learn.

• Ben Standig of CSN Washington: Further proof of Victor Oladipo's ascension from unheralded DeMatha prospect to the No. 2 overall in the NBA Draft came Sunday night at his former High School - against Kevin Durant. Look past the high-rising guard's inclusion in the Goodman League Roundball Classic. Even with several future professional peers also on the court and John Wall observing from the sideline, it was Oladipo in the game's spotlight matchup versus the Oklahoma City Thunder star. Durant is the face of D.C. area basketball, not to mention part of an incredibly short list of those considered the best in the NBA. The local products faced each other throughout, landing basketball-type haymakers via long distance shots, highlight dunks and tight defense until the final buzzer, which came without an actual winner declared. The game ended in a 116-116 tie. The mano-y-mano type scenario developed in the second quarter. On one possession, Oladipo stole the ball from Durant and quickly went into offensive mode with a fast break dunk. Moments later, the Orlando Magic rookie and supposedly suspect perimeter shooter pulled up from just inside half court and drained a 3-pointer. The 6-foot-11 Durant, who finished with a game-high 40 points, then backed down the 6-foot-3 Oladipo before fading back for a high degree of difficulty 3-pointer at the buzzer.
• Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News: The possible reasons for Deron Williams’ regression have been documented and dissected, with conclusions mostly bouncing from an extended aberration to the beginnings of an ill-timed downfall. There were injuries to blame in New Jersey, along with subpar teammates and poor fan support. Then there were more injuries in Brooklyn, extra weight, and Avery Johnson’s unimaginative offense. But new coach Jason Kidd has aggressively pitched the rejuvenation of his point guard. It’s a task Kidd seems most qualified to accomplish given his history at the position. On Sunday, the rookie coach revealed one of his goals for Williams. Not surprisingly, it concerns passing. “I’m going to push him. I want the best for him,” Kidd said after signing autographs at the Nets’ store in Coney Island. "When we sit down and talk about goals, team goals and also individual goals, I’m going to push him and I want to get him back to double-digit assists."
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: At some point, someone suggested the Thunder sends Serge Ibaka to Portland for LaMarcus Aldridge. Little by little, the idea began to spread. One prominent writer after another, it seemed, jumped on board the belief that Aldridge would be the final piece to the Thunder's championship puzzle. Their logic never really made much sense. And here's why. Ibaka, despite his shortcomings, still is younger, cheaper and more battle tested than Aldridge. Aldridge just turned 28. Ibaka will be 24 when the season begins. Aldridge will make nearly $15 million this season. Ibaka will be closer to $12 million. Aldridge has appeared in 18 playoff games and never made it out of the first round. Ibaka has appeared in 54 playoff games, experienced the conference finals twice and the NBA Finals once. At this point in their careers, Aldridge is the better player. Few would debate that. But what the popular ESPN Trade Machine can't take into account is fit. Aldridge has averaged better than 21 points in each of the last three seasons. But he also averaged at least 17 shots in each of those seasons, putting him on par with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant's volume. In Oklahoma City, Aldridge would have to adjust to being third banana after years of being the go-to guy.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: So 3½ years following his final NBA game, Allen Iverson finally decided to end the waiting game. He should be remembered as an all-time great. Three years from now, we’ll be driving to Springfield to watch his induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame. He was a pioneer, ahead of his time for his game and expression. Iverson was a complex player, undefined by a position, but as his numbers piled up and the wins didn’t, the perceptions about his selfishness grew exponentially. There is a recipe for growing old successfully in this league. You work. You stay in premium shape. You mentor and you avoid delusions of grandeur. Iverson likely wasn’t capable of carrying out those tasks, and while he tried to convince anyone who listened that he had been humbled, visions of Iverson attempting to snatch away shots and attention from younger, more worthy players remained in the thoughts of NBA executives. Recent history doesn’t view Iverson fondly, but long-term history should. Eventually, if he can get his financial life in order and determine a post-career plan, he could become a coach and pass on his wisdom. It is possible he can escape from his current spiral and become a positive role model. It’s possible that Iverson will inspire in his Hall of Fame speech in 2016.
• Stephen Haynes of Newsday: Jason Kidd thinks Jason Collins certainly has a place in the NBA and expects his friend to sign with a team before the season. But it won't be the Nets. "He wants to play still, but we have 15 [roster] spots already filled,'' the new Nets coach said Sunday. In April, Collins became the first active male athlete from one of the four major professional sports to announce his homosexuality. Kidd was among several athletes who voiced their support, and in June, the Nets reportedly had interest in signing Collins, a free-agent center. Kidd said that possibility was something the organization "talked about over the summer'' but likely won't pursue now. "His knowledge as a veteran … can help a young team,'' Kidd said of Collins, a Nets teammate for seven years. "He'll find a job at some point.''
• John Canzano of The Oregonian: Dorell Wright signed a two-year, $6 million free-agent contract with the Blazers this summer. He's one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, and joins a team that desperately needed depth. But if you spend any sort of time talking with Wright, what you understand first and best, is that he's a good father. This is why it was important that he arrive ahead of Blazers training camp, get moved in, and get his 5-year old son, Devin, enrolled in kindergarten. "I'm going to be there for the first day of kindergarten. It's a big, big deal. I'm here. We're here. My family is coming with me, and we're excited." Wright talked on Friday about signing with the Blazers. While he believes he'll compete for a starting position, Wright is the rare NBA player who isn't disillusioned, out of touch, or simply here to say what he thinks he's supposed to say so you'll like him. Wright said, "I know what I can do. I know what I can bring. But I see myself as a guy who comes in off the bench; knocking down threes, being a stretch-four." Does he prefer that? Nope. But Wright, who went from high school to the NBA in 2004, knows his role, and if Portland is going to find chemistry in a locker room filled with new faces, the faster they accept their roles, the more effective they'll be early.
• Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer: These days, the new Sixers coach is lean and gray-haired. He's a loving husband and a father of three children: Julia, 17; Laura, 15; and Sam, 8. But back in the day, Brett Brown cut a figure in gritty South Portland. Along with his scoring average, his outgoing personality, curly blond hair, and blue eyes captured the attention of the town's young women. Paddy MacNeil, now a waitress at J's Oyster, was one of them, from a distance. "He was a cutie," she said. While his looks caught people's attention, Brown's outgoing and grounded personality made him one of the most popular teenagers in South Portland. And he's still extremely popular in the port town - perhaps even more since the Sixers hired him on Aug. 12. "A lot of people were texting me back and forth, 'Can you believe what Brett has done?' " said former Sacred Heart football coach Paul Gorham, a close friend and former South Portland teammate. Gorham now resides in Connecticut. "Everyone is happy for him," Gorham added. "That's first and foremost. And proud of him. He can do nothing wrong in South Portland right now."
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Scratch that. Earlier this summer I predicted Chauncey Billups and Brandon Knight would be the starting backcourt for the Pistons. But that was before Knight, Khris Middleton and Slava Kravtsov were traded to the Bucks for point guard Brandon Jennings. The move also opened up two roster spots that allowed the Pistons to sign point guard Peyton Siva and center Josh Harrellson. So here’s another stab at projecting the playing rotation. STARTERS: C: Andre Drummond: Probably works better with Jennings. PF: Greg Monroe: Team hopes he fits with Drummond. SF: Josh Smith: Crowded paint still a concern. SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: Skill set better with the starters. PG: Jennings: Make no mistake — he will be the starter. SECOND UNIT: C: Monroe: Could be his best position. PF: Smith: Could lessen spacing issues here. SF: Luigi Datome: Shooting desperately needed. SG: Rodney Stuckey: Probably more effective off bench. PG: Billups: Will probably get 20 minutes per game.
• John Coté of the San Francisco Chronicle: The Golden State Warriors' plan to build a waterfront arena in San Francisco is months behind its original schedule, and the repair cost for piers to hold the venue has increased by as much as $50 million, city documents show. The team could miss its 2017 targeted opening, and the new figure - if it holds - raises the question of who would cover the bill. The basketball franchise's representatives dispute the cost projection and downplay the delays as routine for a complex project. They maintain that the arena will be ready for the start of the 2017-18 NBA season but acknowledge their schedule is tight - and doesn't leave much room for unforeseen problems. "When we began this project, we laid out a timeline that had a built-in cushion for the natural delays that occur on a project of this size," said Nathan Ballard, a Warriors spokesman on the arena plan. "We've got a lot of work to do in a short time frame, but we are confident we can complete it by 2017."

Our Summer Forecast panel of voters says Victor Oladipo has the inside track, but David Thorpe says you also have to consider Michael Carter-Williams.

• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: The strange summer saga of Brandon Jennings finally was resolved Tuesday. The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with the Detroit Pistons, inking Jennings to a three-year, $24 million contract and sending him to Detroit in exchange for point guard Brandon Knight, small forward Khris Middleton and center Viacheslav Kravtsov. … The move signaled the Bucks’ determination to start anew after a sour ending to last season, culminating in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Gone are Jennings and Monta Ellis, the starters in the Bucks backcourt all of last season and the team’s two leading scorers. In their places are the 21-year-old Knight and 25-year-old shooting guard O.J. Mayo, who signed a three-year, $24 million free-agent deal earlier this summer. … The Bucks have only five holdovers from the roster at the end of the season: Larry Sanders, John Henson, Ersan Ilyasova, Ekpe Udoh and Ish Smith. Instead of committing to a long-term deal with Jennings, the Bucks obtained a player in the third year of his rookie-scale contract. Knight will make $2.8 million next season and $3.5 million in 2014-’15.
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: The Pistons weren’t done wheeling and dealing, as Pistons president and Louisiana native Joe Dumars returned to his riverboat gambler ways, acquiring point guard Brandon Jennings in a sign-and-trade from the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pistons traded Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton and Slava Kravtsov for Jennings and will have him for the next three years at $24 million total. Mind you, this was not too far removed from Dumars demonstratively denying any talks with the Bucks, run by good friend and former Pistons executive John Hammond. Meaning he plays poker, too. In acquiring Jennings and Josh Smith, there’s two talented but mercurial players who could be termed as “wild cards.” Chemistry is indeed a fair question, but considering the Pistons got two players for far less than they felt they’d command on the open market — Smith wanted a max contract and Jennings wanted $12 million per season — they should have two players with things to prove to the NBA at large. A willingness to silence critics should make potential sacrifices a lot easier in what’s an interesting mix of talent, youth and experience in the Pistons’ locker room. The last time the Pistons changed three starters so dramatically in one offseason was in 2002 when they signed Chauncey Billups as a free agent, traded mainstay Jerry Stackhouse for some unknown guard named Richard Hamilton and plucked Tayshaun Prince late in the first round for what was a bad 2002 draft.
• Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: After the spinal tap incident sidelined Luol Deng for the final seven games of the playoffs, he mostly stayed silent, other than a few health updates on Twitter. Deng finally addressed the incident in an interview posted on nba.com. He’s currently in Ghana for one of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders events. “The end of the season was disappointing,” Deng said. “I worked hard all season, played in the All-Star (Game), and wanted to take the team as far as possible in the playoffs. But then, when I got sick, I think that we could have handled the situation better. “Obviously there are some things that you can’t handle. You can’t really handle getting sick, being taken to the ER or going to the hospital. I got the spinal tap and that’s where it went all wrong. My body didn’t react well to the spinal tap. I had some serious side effects that not only didn’t allow me to play basketball, but really put my life in danger.” No matter how you slice it, Deng’s hospital visit on the afternoon of Game 6 vs. Brooklyn didn’t go well. Due to concerns he could have meningitis, Deng was given a spinal tap. As it turned out, he didn’t have meningitis. His body began to leak spinal fluid after the procedure, leaving him in no shape to move around, let alone play basketball. After a few rough days, there was nothing to do but wait for his body to replenish the fluid. The Bulls say Deng is doing fine now.
• Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer: The Mike Miller introduction felt like the peak of the late-summer momentum that seems to have firmly re-entrenched the Grizzlies as a legitimate Western Conference contender. And Joerger went into a bit of detail about how Miller can factor on the floor, not only in spacing the court for the team's power players but also using his versatility to give the team more playmaking and more small lineup options. Perhaps most intriguing was the suggestion that this second go-round could last a little while. Joerger emphasized that Miller, in Memphis, would not be seen as merely a “hired gun,” but rather as a more meaningful part of the team and community. But the suggestion went further than that. Miller talked about “being a part of this for a long time to come.” Levien followed up by mentioning a “long relationship in Memphis going forward.” Miller signed a two-year deal with the Grizzlies with a player option in the second season, the idea being that Miller thinks he's got one more significant contract left in him. Based on the team's current salary projection, Miller might need to play out both years of his current contract to get a longer-term deal for above the vet minimum in Memphis. This will make next summer interesting. But that's next summer.
• Michael Pointer of The Indianapolis Star: Q: Despite having an outstanding season, there’s been a lot of speculation you may go back to coming off the bench this season, especially if Danny Granger is healthy and ready. Would you be OK with that? Lance Stephenson: “I’m just coming in to play hard. Whatever coach (Frank Vogel) decides to do, I think it’s a great decision. Me coming off the bench, Danny coming off the bench, either way, we’re deep. Whatever helps the team, that’s what I want to do.”
• Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: Derrick Favors knows he’ll need to more than hold his own, mentally and physically, now that Paul Millsap has headed to his backup’s childhood home to play for the Hawks and Al Jefferson has signed with Charlotte. That was the message they each had for Favors on their way out of Utah: “They both just told me, ‘It’s (your) team now; it’s time to take over; do your thing out there. You’ve been learning from us the past two or three years; now it’s time to play.’” To sum up Favors’ reaction to that sentiment: FINALLY! … More than ever, Favors realizes that devotion and continual self-motivation are critical to his long-term goals. Now that he’s a few months from the golden opportunity that he’s waited for so long, Favors realizes it’s on him to be a hard worker, a defensive beast, a reliable offensive presence and a solid leader for his teammates to get that chance someday to hold the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. And Favors believes he will.
• Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com: USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo has left the door open for Portland Trail Blazers All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge to represent his country if he has interest in doing so. However, Colangelo reiterates that he is not reaching out to players. He only wants players who are willing to make the necessary commitment to going through the entire process. When asked about Aldridge's chances of being added to the USA Basketball program, Colangelo's response was basically that he needed to hear from Aldridge, himself. “I am always interested in players who seek to compete,” Colangelo told CSNNW.com Tuesday night. “My phone is always available. Unless one is hungry and passionate about USA Basketball, there is little chance. “Certainly we won't solicit.” In mid-April, Aldridge informed CSNNW.com that he would participate if requested. It is unknown at this time if Aldridge will contact Colangelo.
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: Sorry, I can’t get excited about Ryan Gomes, who apparently is signing with the Thunder. Mike Miller? Absolutely. Dorrell Wright? OK. Derek Fisher? Fine. Ryan Gomes? Nope. A 6-foot-7 small forward who is a career 35 percent 3-pointer doesn’t fit the Thunder needs. Gomes always has been a good defender, but does the Thunder need a wing defender who’s not a great offensive threat? Let’s see. Thabo Sefolosha. DeAndre Liggins. Andre Roberson. I love defense as much as the next guy — OK, I love defense way more than most next guys — but the Thunder doesn’t need four wingmen whose forte is defense. It’s not that Gomes is a bad player. You’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you, but it’s true.
• Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: The team is on the verge of signing Spurs free agent forward DeJuan Blair to a one-year deal. Blair would be an immediate upgrade over Elton Brand, who signed this offseason with the Atlanta Hawks. He is 6-foot-7, 265 pounds but has a big frame and can beat up people. Phsyically, he would remind you of David West, without his touch around the rim or jumper from 15 feet. When Blair was a rookie out of Pittsburgh, he looked like he had the makings of becoming a nice, bruising power forward. A guy who scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench. As a rookie in 2009-'10, Blair played in all 82 games with the San Antonio Spurs and averaged 7.8 points and 6.4 rebounds. Since then, it's been a straight ride down the bench. Last season, he averaged 5.4 points, 3.8 boards and a career-low 14.0 minutes per game. When he's "good", he can push people around, defend the low block, and grab some boards and score junk buckets. He should be in the Mavs rotation, and be better than Brand.
• Shannon J. Owens of the Orlando Sentinel: So, a top 10 NBA draft pick, a former Orlando Magic guard, a Houston Rockets forward and a Euro Cup MVP walked into an Orlando recreation center gym the other night. I promise this isn't the start of a joke. How is this for a pick-up ball lineup? Austin Rivers, Courtney Lee, Chandler Parsons and Nick Calathes. All four gathered at the Downtown recreation center Monday night, competing together for the first time this summer in the Orlando Pro-Am league. With the exception of Calathes, who flew to Memphis to meet with theGrizzlies about potentially playing for the team, the rest of the NBA ballers came back for more rec hoops action Tuesday. "This is the best competition and best league in Orlando, so it's definitely fun coming out here," Parsons said. "The crowd gets into it, people are talking trash, so it's fun." And some of you thought all NBA players are spoiled millionaires with no love for the game. Clearly, you're not looking in the right places. Seriously, I've seen high school gyms pack with better crowds than what I witnessed Monday night as Parsons' 3 Stripes team beat 800-Trial-Pro — headlined by former UCF star Keith Clanton — 105-93 before a crowd of about 150 people.
• Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee: What began as a small group of neighborhood activists scraping for donations at a picnic in a midtown Sacramento garden has developed into a volatile political clash over whether to hold a public vote on the city's plan to subsidize a new Kings arena downtown. The debate has escalated in recent days. There have been allegations that paid signature gatherers are lying to voters, charges of doctored press releases and outrage on Twitter about claims made by both sides. In an indication of how intense the campaign has become, more than 56,000 city voters received an automated "robocall" Sunday evening extolling the virtues of a downtown arena and attacking the campaign under way to place the city's financing plan before the voters in June. Those kinds of robocalls are not unusual during campaign season. But a vote on the arena – if it comes at all – won't be held for another 10 months.
• Richard Goldstein of The New York Times: Ossie Schectman, a Knicks guard and a onetime all-American at Long Island University in Brooklyn, played when the two-handed set shot ruled and a 6-foot-8 center was a giant. When Schectman died on Tuesday at 94, he was remembered as a central figure in the National Basketball Association’s creation tale. He scored the first 2 points in the league’s history and became something of a celebrity when the distinction was uncovered, 42 years and 5 million points later. On the night of Nov. 1, 1946, the Knicks faced the Toronto Huskies at Maple Leaf Gardens, the home of the National Hockey League’s Maple Leafs, before 7,090 fans more familiar with face-offs than jump balls. The court covered the ice surface. It was the inaugural game of the Basketball Association of America, which became the N.B.A. three years later.

• Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra met with Greg Oden and watched him work out Tuesday in Indianapolis, as Miami continued to explore signing the seven-foot center whose career has been sidetracked by knee injuries. Chet Kammerer, the Heat’s vice president/player personnel, joined Spoelstra at the workout, which was also attended by officials from the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans. Bill Duffy, one of Oden’s agents, said Oden likely will pick a team next week and that every team that has shown interest “remains under strong consideration.” Besides the Heat, Kings and Pelicans, that list also includes the Mavericks and Spurs — who met with Oden previously — and the Atlanta Hawks, who will watch him work out Thursday. … Meanwhile, free agent center Marcus Camby has interest in the Heat, Bulls and Rockets. The Heat has inquired but is not believed to have made a formal offer as of Monday.
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: Malcolm Thomas is out, Marcus Camby is in? Not yet. A source said Tuesday that waiving Thomas doesn’t make the Camby move imminent. But it gives the Bulls some roster flexibility as they try to round out the bench by adding another low-post presence. The Bulls, who’ve offered Camby a minimum contract, are vying with several other teams, and the Rockets are the likely front-runners. Camby, along with Nazr Mohammed, would give the Bulls more protection at the rim and a rebounding presence behind Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson.
• Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Daily News: Josh Harris, the team owner and billionaire hedge funder, is accustomed to the pain and the risk of liquidation and reorganization. Sports fans are not. To use Harris-speak, the team's most valuable tangible assets now are: a forward who might not play until the autumn of 2014; a guard who might take three seasons to develop; and a pick that will not be in the top five. Then again, neither of their two picks last month was top five, either. Not among their assets: a coach. That last part matters the least. The team will be abysmal in the near future. Despite Hinkie's contention that his new coach will be long-term protected, whoever the Sixers hire is not likely to survive a couple of lottery-pick campaigns. Rest assured, it will be at least three seasons before the Sixers sniff the playoffs. Rest assured, it will even be longer before they contend. Yes, Hinkie could have chosen to keep Holiday, with a freshly extended contract and a fondness for Philadelphia. Hinkie could have chosen to add Carter-Williams and make Holiday a shooting guard. That would have meant no Noel, no extra first-rounder next year, and, very likely, still no playoffs. "I'm trying to . . . build something that is lasting," Hinkie repeated yesterday. "Special. With a capital 'S.' "
• Staff of The Dallas Morning News: On how much Dirk Nowitzki has left in the tank: Mark Cuban said, “If there is one missing piece between what everybody is saying and what we’re doing, everybody I think has dismissed Dirk like Dirk is done, and he’s on the downslide and he can’t play anymore and he’s not really the type of contributor that he was. Look, if you look at they type of mess we had in terms of our guard play and basketball I.Q., when Dirk got back and got into gear, we beat a lot of good teams and we were at a 48-50 game clip. You put a much better set of players around him and Dirk in a situation where he doesn’t have to rush back where he’s had all summer to prepare his body and get ready, knock on wood, but if we stay healthy, I think people are just dismissing Dirk in ways they shouldn’t. Like I’ve been telling people, Karl Malone won an MVP at 35, and there is no reason he can’t be considered in the MVP conversation at 35. I can also tell you that the way people are randomly dismissing him as basically being done has been incredible motivation for him.”
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: Some of the first lessons Jason Maxiell learned as a Detroit Pistons rookie came from veteran teammates Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess. When Wallace thought Maxiell was pressing a bit on the court, Wallace advised Maxiell to slow down and play more patiently. McDyess noticed that the bulk of Maxiell’s offense came from dunks. McDyess told the rookie that athleticism eventually fades away. McDyess recommended that Maxiell should start doing more work to hone his jump shot. Now, eight years later, Maxiell finds himself in a different role. The Orlando Magic recently signed him to a free-agent deal to provide frontcourt depth and to serve as a mentor and example to young players. “I’m not a very verbal guy, but sometimes you have to be,” Maxiell said in a phone interview. “I will guide them along the way. I’m going to show them the first time and help them out the second time. And, by the third time, they should have it down pat, and then they’ll be on their own.”
• Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: Jrue Holiday is getting a jumpstart on Pelicans training camp, in a sense, taking advantage of the opportunity to create some synergy with power forwards Davis and Anderson, who are both here this week, along with Williams, an assistant on Team USA working toward preparations for next year's World Cup championships. And, as Williams points out, this week's camp featuring such a New Orleans presence would seem to indicate a reversal of team fortune. "We feel like we've kind of turned the corner," Williams said "People said we couldn't do a lot of stuff in New Orleans with all the stuff from our past. I don't think anybody saw this happening." And though Williams hopes his players this week focus on the present, Holiday is using the work to enhance his relationship with guys he'll be playing with over the 82-game regular season.
• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: It's not as if new Cavaliers guard Jarrett Jack needs a job reference, but if he did, Golden State coach Mark Jackson is willing to provide one. Asked his reaction to losing Jack to free agency, Jackson said, "It was torture because he's an incredible, incredible…forget about basketball. He's a great leader, loves the game, no nonsense. He had a great year for us. For me, he was a joy to coach, an absolute joy to coach, and I'll have a relationship with him for the rest of our lives.'' … The Cavs signed Jack to a four-year deal that could be worth $25.2 million, $19.4 million guaranteed. He is expected to split time with Irving and Dion Waiters in the backcourt, including playing the point and allowing Irving to slide over to the two-guard. … Jackson didn't really say how much he lobbied to keep Jack, but it was clear how much he will miss him. "It worked out extremely well for Jack…another win for the good guys,'' Jackson said.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: With last week’s signings of draft picks Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tony Mitchell, Pistons fans are wondering about point guard Peyton Siva, a second-round pick. Siva has more name recognition than your average 56th pick because he is coming off a senior season in which he led Louisville to the NCAA title. But he could be a victim of the numbers game. The NBA allows only 15 players on the active roster and, with the signings of Caldwell-Pope and Mitchell, the Pistons have reached their allotment. There remains the possibility of a trade creating a roster spot, but president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said he is comfortable if this is the roster he will take into the regular season, although he remains open to dealing. He doesn’t feel compelled to deal just to create a roster spot. Dumars said he would like to keep Siva’s rights — which could mean an overseas stint. To keep his rights, the Pistons are required to tender an offer to Siva by Sept. 6. But he doesn’t have to sign until Oct. 15. So Siva could decide to go to the Development League and if he doesn’t sign the tender, the Pistons would retain his rights.
• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: Jonas Valanciunas had moments of domination against inferior competition en route to being named the league’s Most Valuable Player, Terrence Ross remains enigmatic with more potential than polish and Quincy Acy remains a delightfully hard-working tweener who may or may not have an NBA position. It’s pretty much what the team’s brass and coaching staff expected when the Las Vegas vacation began two weeks ago. Valanciunas was unquestionably the most pleasant surprise, he arrived bigger and stronger, more capable of adapting to the intricacies of NBA defence and more able to handle the speed of the game. He was the best big man in the 22-team event — even if he was playing against marginal NBA talent — but remains a work in progress. But there was no regression, he was better than he had been at the end of last season. “We’re still working on the fouls, obviously, and moving his feet but that’s all progress in the summer,” said the general manager. “We’re going to touch (base) with him a few more times this summer, even when he’s with his (Lithuanian) national team.”
• Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com: On Tuesday the media was allowed access to watch about 85 percent of Team USA's mini camp session, which was Day 2. In that time, it was pretty clear who were the two best point guards of the day – Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving and Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard. Irving is simply on another planet right now and that isn't anything new to report. His ability to turn it on and off was a pleasure to watch. Lillard is doing an excellent job of making his presence felt on both ends of the floor. Yes, he was consistently knocking down the outside shot and coming off the pick-and-rolls only to let it fly and watch it go through the net. We knew he could do those things, but his defense is what stood out. For the second consecutive day, Lillard was featured as his team's off-guard, meaning he had to guard players two to three inches taller than him. He did more than held his own today.
• Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: Don’t count Derrick Favors among the people fretting about who, what, when, where, why and how the Jazz are going to put points on their fancy new scoreboard with their revamped new team in 2013-14. The recently turned 22-year-old flashed a grin when asked about how the Jazz offense will cope in the Post Big Al/Not-So-Big Paul Era. “It’s time,” Favors said, “for two other people to be the new leading scorers.” The two candidates best positioned to take over an offensive responsibility that’s been shouldered by Jefferson and Millsap are participating together this week at Team USA’s minicamp. Who knows if Favors and Gordon Hayward will be able to match the 7,600 points Jefferson and Millsap combined to score over the past three seasons? One thing is certain. The soon-to-be fourth-year veterans can’t wait to have increased offensive opportunities — and the accompanying responsibilities.
• Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune: Karl Malone is still a workaholic when it comes to hitting the weights or taking grueling bike rides near the family’s home in Ruston, La. Three days before his 50th birthday, in fact, Malone asked a reporter to call him back "in three hours," when he’d be finished working out. "To be honest with you, it helps make me a better person," he said. "It takes the edge off. When I sweat, it gets me going." There’s another reason Malone still weighs 256 pounds — his playing weight. One of his new projects is mentoring the Jazz’s young players — specifically power forward Derrick Favors and center Enes Kanter. "I always had a suspicion, at some point, I’d be back involved with some organization," Malone said. "When I stepped back on the floor, I wanted to look like a coach. I wanted to look like I belonged. I thought it might help the young guys listen to me." Yes, Malone is the same guy who has always used the fear of failure as a motivational tool. "I don’t want to disappoint my family, my real fans or myself," he said. "… I’ve always wanted to prove something to Karl Malone and I still do."

• Marc Berman of the New York Post: Asked at Thursday’s summer-league practice about the team’s interest if World Peace becomes available, Mike Woodson said: “[General manager] Glen [Grunwald] is coming up and we’ll sit and talk more about him. We don’t have to rush to do anything. The core group is intact that won 54 games last year. That player, or two, could slip through the cracks with amnesty or someone waived or bought out. It can happen. We got to sit patiently and wait and keep roster spots open to see if that may happen.” World Peace has told his father he doesn’t want to uproot his family by going to another city. He told his father he especially has no interest in playing for a non-contender. However, by retiring, World Peace would forfeit the $7.7 million. If he clears without being bid on, he becomes a free agent and can make $7.7 million plus a portion of the $1.4 million veteran’s minimum (some money is rerouted to the Lakers). “My gut feels like if the Knicks want him now, my gut tells me it will happen,’’ said Artest Sr., who runs his own kids foundation in New York City. “I haven’t spoken to him yet tonight. I think he could be a prized possession for the Knicks. He wanted to play for the Knicks for so long, since childhood.’’
• Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News: What if Andrew Bynum had been able to play? It is the question without an answer for the Sixers. But on the day after Bynum agreed to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, ending his tenure in Philadelphia - a tenure of lucrative woe - it seems OK to speculate a little bit. It is all a guess, of course, but here goes. If Bynum had been as healthy as advertised - say, healthy for 60-something games last season. The Sixers would have made the playoffs. There would be no lottery pick, no talk of a lottery pick. The Sixers likely/possibly would have won a round or two in the playoffs. With a healthy big man and the ability to play in the half-court in the springtime, this is a fair assumption. Doug Collins likely would still be the coach. And not only that - he would be even more empowered and the organization would be subject to his every whim, or Kwame. The young players would still be ignored. … I was in favor of the Bynum deal. Given everything, it seemed a reasonable gamble. So this is all said in hindsight, granted. But it's all I have. Andrew, adieu.
• Monte Poole of The Oakland Tribune: But the endless maneuvers that delivered Iguodala were, for Bob Myers, a difficult test of executive skill. He aced it. "The hours that you put in are extremely expensive," he said. "You're really working a lot. And this (effort) actually consummated in a player. A lot of times, this doesn't happen. This easily could have not happened and we'd have nothing to show for it -- except for effort." Instead, triumph. Iguodala was the best player on a Denver team that won 58 games before being bounced by the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Moreover, Iggy is a Warrior because he was impressed by the franchise. That a star would discount himself for the Warriors is real progress. Like Lacob, Myers is getting things done at a pace previously unknown to the organization. Like Jackson, Myers is proceeding with faith and absolute conviction. All three are collaborating to wipe away decades of scorn and stigma. Lacob walked in and immediately promised a new day. Jackson introduced himself by vowing that "things be changing" with this franchise. Upon moving into the seat that had been occupied by veteran executive Larry Riley, Myers made no such grand proclamations. He said 14 months ago that he thought the Warriors would better in 2012-13 than they were in 2011-12. He was more prophetic than he could have imagined, with no sign of slowing down.
• Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: Are the Nuggets slowly sinking in the Western Conference? Houston landed Dwight Howard, the big prize in NBA free agency. The Los Angeles Clippers lured Doc Rivers, among the league's top five coaches. And what did Denver get? A kick in the teeth from Andre Iguodala, who bolted for Golden State. So here's the blunt question: Did the Nuggets take a step back? "Did we take a step back? I don't know," Nuggets president Josh Kroenke said Thursday. "It remains to be seen. But we're trying to build this team for the long haul." Was Iguodala a rat jumping off a sinking ship? Well, let's clear up a misconception. The primary reason Iguodala departed the Nuggets was not because he thought Golden State had a brighter future or that he was upset because Kroenke fired coach George Karl or he missed the deft touch in negotiations of former general manager Masai Ujiri. No, the top three reasons Iguodala departed were what it usually comes down to in the NBA: money, money, money.
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Pistons owner Tom Gores spotted a face he’d seen in the Palace, only Gores was in the bowels of the Staples Center in Los Angeles. “So I heard you played a little basketball for us,” the Beverly Hills resident said. Chauncey Billups, wearing his usual wide smile, nodded and shook Gores’ hand before turning his attention to Pistons President Joe Dumars after the L.A. Clippers beat up on the Pistons this past March. The two engaged in a conversation, asking about one another’s families and trading old jokes, an exchange that belied the mutual respect the two men shared. Although their relationship had been strained ever since Dumars traded Billups in the 2008-09 season, the door had been re-opened for a reconciliation, and Billups walked through it Thursday morning, signing with the franchise that made him a household name and a champion. The two year contract is worth $5 million, with a team option for a second season, according to sources. “Chauncey’s the best,” said Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey, who came to Orlando to visit with the team. “Ask anybody around this league, nothing but great things to say about him. We’re excited as an organization but the fans as well. He’s done a lot of great things for the city of Detroit.”
• Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News: Maybe Jason Kidd was taking a phone call from Andrei Kirilenko. With his team trailing 17-2 in the first quarter of Brooklyn’s 92-76 defeat — a loss that dropped the lowly Summer League Nets to 0-4 in Orlando — the new head coach left the court area to answer his cell phone, sparking an Internet uproar because the sequence was caught on NBA TV. When Kidd finished his call, he returned to the court area and began talking with former Nets GM Rod Thorn about golf. Despite accusations that Kidd left his duties, he did not coach the Nets on Thursday and was a merely spectator to assistant Eric Hughes. Other head coaches at the Orlando Summer League — including Erik Spoelstra, Kevin McHale and Mo Cheeks — have done similar things during games. They’re just not first-time head coaches caught on television.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: It's a calculated risk but one the Milwaukee Bucks were willing to take. The Bucks gambled they could land restricted free agent Jeff Teague with a four-year, $32 million offer sheet, which he signed late Wednesday. Now the Atlanta Hawks have a 72-hour period ending Saturday to match the offer or let Teague go to the Bucks. In a phone interview Thursday, Teague made it clear he wants to be part of the Bucks. "I'm definitely excited at the opportunity to come back to work with Larry Drew," Teague said of the Bucks coach and his former coach with the Hawks. "The Bucks have a good team, a young nucleus and guys that are ready to take the next step. I can help." Teague had dinner with Drew in Milwaukee on Wednesday night and spoke by phone with general manager John Hammond. The Bucks are seeking to replace both backcourt starters from last season and already have agreed to terms with shooting guard O.J. Mayo. "I think after one call he knew this is where he wanted to be," said Teague's Indianapolis-based agent, J.R. Hensley.
• Eric Koreen of the National Post: “What are we going to do, throw players away?” Ujiri said at the prospect of “tanking.” Last week’s rumour of dealing Rudy Gay to Detroit for the expiring contracts of Rodney Stuckey and Charlie Villanueva might be an example of what Ujiri was talking about. “We’re not going to do that. And I think winning is what you want to build around. And I think when you [try to trade away talent for little in return], I’m not so sure the karma is great when you do stuff like that. But I understand the whole big picture and we’re putting all the options on the table.” There are still little moves to make. The Raptors will probably bring in a third point guard to compete with Stone to back up Kyle Lowry. Marcus Camby, acquired in the Bargnani deal, wants to chase a championship, so he will either be moved in a bigger trade or bought out. There is no sense bringing in a veteran who does not want to be in Toronto. … It is a defiantly unglamorous approach to roster building, and it will mean that the Raptors might never “win an off-season” during Ujiri’s tenure. Again: the Raptors’ new general manager does not care in the least about that, and the (hopefully) momentary angst that might create.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: Gerald Henderson went fishing Thursday. I know that because he sent out a tweet, and the water was a beautiful blue. I mention that to illustrate that Henderson isn’t sweating this whole free-agent dance. Perhaps the rest of us should take a cue from that. Five thoughts on where Henderson’s restricted free-agency might be headed: THE BOBCATS WANT HIM BACK: They are wary of overpaying, but there’s no doubt they value him. Sometimes the Bobcats get a bad rap for not making an effort to retain their free agents. They offered more to Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin than either of those two got in the contracts they signed upon leaving the Bobcats. TIME MIGHT BE ON THE BOBCATS’ SIDE: It’s my experience the longer restricted free-agency plays out the more likely it is the player is back with his team, at least on the qualifying offer. Offer sheets – particularly the successful ones that change a player’s team – tend to come quickly into July. Then money dries up in a way that corrects the market.
• John Canzano of The Oregonian: The "This doesn't move the needle for me," crowd yawned at every one of Olshey's moves, no matter how sly and sensical last week. So you figure the naysayers probably graduated to a collective belch by Thursday. And I have no doubt by the middle of next season, they'll be the ones crowing that Olshey got lucky, as they claim he did with Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard. The Blazers are better. That was the point of free agency and the draft. The entire Western Conference got better, but the Blazers had the smartest summer in the league despite having only $12 million in cap room and lots of competition for overvalued free agents. Robin Lopez, Dorell Wright, Thomas Robinson and Earl Watson were the guys being introduced. I don't expect any of them will have their numbers retired and hung from the Rose Garden rafters. Then again, if there's a city that should appreciate the way Olshey pulled this together, it's Portland. … Be clear: The Blazers got Lopez, Robinson, Wright and Watson when they could have had a single star player. Maybe that didn't move your needle. But it sure moved the Blazers toward the playoffs again.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Through the first two days, the Thunder center was turning heads and being praised like never before. That was before he collided with teammate Reggie Jackson. The two bumped heads, and Orton missed the next two games with a mild concussion. But who knows what the story coming out of summer league would have been had it not been for a fluke injury, had Orton stayed healthy? Those first two days clearly belonged to Orton. Fans and media members from all over were gushing about how good Orton looked. “A monster” was what one person said Orton looked like, using the word as a term of endearment to describe his play. But no group was more surprised than the locals in the Orlando media — the same people who watched Orton sit the bench for the first two years of his career before his unceremonious exit. They couldn't believe how well Orton moved, how explosive he had become, how feathery his touch had grown and how aggressive he was around the rim. “All credit is due to the Thunder, the organization and the staff,” Orton said.
• Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune: The Jazz traded for Gobert on draft night — giving up the No. 46 pick and cash — no doubt because of his length. But general manager Dennis Lindsey said that night that the team saw more in Gobert than his height, reach (9 feet, 7 inches) and wingspan (7-foot-9). "You know how big guys can sometimes make the league and not put in the time and effort," Lindsey said, "and Rudy’s a serious pro already and you guys will soon see that." It was apparent in Gobert’s 11-point, eight-rebound, three-block performance against the Pacers. In addition to the tip-in, he had two putback dunks, a fadeaway baseline jumper, a dribble-and-kick assist to Jeremy Evans, and a polished spin move punctuated with a hook shot — which hit a spot on the backboard out of even Gobert’s reach. "He did a few more things today," Jazz assistant Sidney Lowe said.