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While the rest of the basketball world was marveling over Brandon Jennings' on-court exploits during his 55-point explosion last weekend and poring over highlight reels of the game, Steve Shenbaum's evaluation consisted not of Jennings' incredible game, but of the rookie's post-game interviews with the media. Sure, Shenbaum was as dazzled by Jennings' performance as the next fan, but as a consultant who teaches athletes across the sports landscape on how to interact with the press, he was looking to see how his star client at GameOn -- Shenbaum's communications company -- handled himself in the moments after the final buzzer sounded.

Back in July, we caught up with both Shenbaum and Jennings just as the Bucks' point guard was starting his work with Shenbaum. Four months later, how is Jennings progressing as a communicator.

Here is Shenbaum’s review of Brandon Jennings' interviews after his Double Nickel, with the two primary postgame appearances (the first with Fox Sports North, which occurred just after the game ended; the second with the studio team at NBA TV a few minutes later):

Interview with Fox Sports North

• Obviously, Brandon was just leaving the court and was both tired and excited. These can be some of the more difficult interviews because the emotion of the game and the excitement, etc. is still present. I thought he did a great job. Brandon is a kid at heart and this interview allowed the viewer to see the “kid” side of Brandon.
• I’d like him to find a new cliché besides “it’s all paying off right now!” He used it back to back! Perhaps google “post game clichés” before a big game!
• Now that he has accomplished something amazing, it’s important for Brandon to show even more humility because he does not need to brag. He can let his game speak for itself.
• On a personal note, I would like to mention that those who claimed he would be a bust in the NBA might want to rethink that assessment, and it would be nice for them to step up and give him some credit!

Interview with NBA TV

• The first thing I noticed was how relaxed Brandon seemed to be. Obviously, he was in a good mood, which helps in any interview. I want him to show more excitement in his facial reactions, so the viewer feels his joy before he even speaks.
• Brandon can sometimes talk quickly, similar to his game on the court. At times, this will help him seem dynamic, but there are times when he may fall victim to some communications "speed wobbles." He has really worked on slowing down. When he slows down, he can also really think about what he wants to say and it’s also more interesting for the viewer because there is variation in his speed and delivery.
• He did a nice job describing what’s going on in the game and his practice/pre-game routine. He was clear and painted a nice picture.
• I was very pleased with Brandon’s smile. In the past, sometimes Brandon felt it was not “cool” to be excited. He would say bold statements with confidence but he would not add any facial affectation or he would add a smile when it wasn't necessary. This would sometimes be conveyed as arrogant instead of charming. I felt he was much more charming in this interview...and he now has some NBA statistics to back up his statements.
• He did a nice job allowing the audience to feel what he is feeling. He needs to find even more place to share his emotions so the viewer can experience the joy with him. It can be non verbal or verbal.
• I was pleased with the moment towards the end (3:44) where he really has fun with Eric Snow. He lightens up and seems to forget the camera is there but you can tell he is joking, unlike the comments he made prior to the draft about Ricky Rubio. Brandon does not disrespect Ricky. He thinks Ricky is a good basketball player, but Brandon is confident and he likes to have fun. If you put that combination together without facial reactions or any NBA experience, it can cause some issues. 55 points changes the entire perception of one’s words, doesn’t it?
• He needs to find moments to bring that relaxed style in the Basketball questions as well.
• He needs to be careful when the interviewer is asking the question. He tends to play with his mouth a bit and chew on lip. It’s not the worst thing but it distracts the viewer a bit.

Shenbaum concludes: In general, Brandon is much more relaxed as a communicator. But more importantly, he now has some credential to back up his "swagger." It's not just that he has changed, the viewer's perception of him has changed because he's not all talk. Action not only speak louder than words. Positive actions, both on and off the court, help support your words and make them more palatable.

Sonny Vaccaro is very proud of the fact that he has played a major role -- for instance, by promoting young players and getting shoe companies to sponsor coaches -- in building up NCAA basketball to be the massive business that it is today.

But that doesn't mean he loves everything about it. And in recent years, he has become one of college basketball's harshest critics.

He has special ire for what he calls "David Stern's stupid rule" banning high-schoolers from coming directly to the NBA, which has the effect of strongly encouraging, if not effectively forcing, American players to play in the NCAA.

In no small part to undermine that rule (which he expects will disappear in the next collective bargaining agreement), Vaccaro played an instrumental role in Brandon Jennings' career. Jennings famously skipped college basketball entirely, waiting out the NBA's age limit with a highly paid year in Europe, instead of playing at Arizona where he was academically ineligible.

Now, Jennings has demonstrated that he is a top-shelf NBA rookie, and Vaccaro is thrilled for him.

He's also bitter that Jennings has faced so many obstacles along the way.

Earlier this week, M. Haubs of The Painted Area wrote an exceptional blog post detailing all those who had nothing nice to say about Jennings before the draft, including NBA GMs and others. Vaccaro suggests that Jennings has been punished for rocking the boat. He tells the story of draft night, when he said his stomach was in knots because he was certain the basketball establishment would punish Jennings by drafting him far lower than he deserved.

This is the first in a series of conversations with Vaccaro, about Jennings, that'll be on TrueHoop in the days to come:

What's your initial reaction?
If he had gone to Arizona, under the flawed pretense of that university and that situation out there ... if he had gone there, there's no doubt in my mind he might have gone third or fourth in the draft.

Only Scott Skiles and John Hammond had guts enough to do it.

Henry, I saw you that night at the draft. I was a nervous wreck. I was like a child that night, [Vaccaro's wife] Pam and I. I'm not lying to you. It would have been sinful.

On the day of the draft I called around. I did. I'm not trying to make these people lose their jobs, but my belly was crazy. I was having a volcano inside of me. My wife was a nervous wreck. I kept telling her: They're going to punish him. They're going to punish him. That's why, in my mind, I will forever be eternally grateful for what Milwaukee did. They did what they felt was the right thing to do.

There's no question in my mind he's already as good as anybody. I'm not going to say he's better than the other rookies -- the point guard situation in this draft is very good. But to hear the pontificates stand up there and analyzing ... there's no history. If they want to tell me about these great [college] coaches coaching these Hall of Fame guys. How many of those players never make it? What they'll never do is tell you how many of the players from those great programs never make it.

They pick and choose who to lionize. They ordain guys. It's ridiculous. And then no one calls them down on it. And so I call them down and I'm the bastard.

The nice thing is that there's a free market, right? And now there's a way for someone like Brandon Jennings to find his way to the NBA without the NCAA. And while it may be unfair to judge the whole thing on one player, the fact is there is one player in the pipeline now, and so far so good.
He went through all the name-calling and everything. I can remember this ... one of the worst days of my life. Pam and I communicated with Alice. Alice Knox is his mom, she has been unbelievable. I communicated with Brandon five days a week while he was in Italy. No one knows that. 'Cause he'd had some missteps. He'd said some silly things. Which happens with athletes every day.

But I can never forget, I'll never forget, ever, the day they ran a crawl quoting Brandon Jennings making a statement. He said a lot of things about he was tired, they didn't pay him. It ran all day on ESPN. One year later, almost to the date, and I'll never forget it: "Rookie Brandon Jennings scores 55 points, third-highest total for a rookie in NBA history." It ran all day. One day they killed him, and buried him, and put the dirt on top of him and didn't even put a marker on his grave. The next time they knighted him.

It's ironic how things are, and we're talking about a 19-year-old child while they were doing that.

I don't think Brandon's going to be able to keep doing everything he has done, but we do know one thing, don't we? Whatever the future holds, it looks like he's going to be a pretty damn good player. We do know the kid can play professional basketball. A lot of his success will be dictated by teams, teammates, winning and losing ... you know that. But we do know it had nothing to do with someone teaching him. Brandon Jennings taught himself how to be prepared to be this kid.

What I can't stand is that 90% of these commentators don't have a clue. They don't know who can play. They read the press clippings. I mean just go look at what they've said. They read some article, and you can see how that led to what he said is just like the article. I hear it very night.

Very few people watch Euroleague or European basketball.
I agree with you.

I know three who have watched a lot -- Chad Ford of ESPN, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, and M. Haubs of the Painted Area who wrote that article I sent you -- and they were all very high on Brandon Jennings heading into this draft.
Isn't it interesting. You could name all kinds of top writers who had the same opportunities to see Jennings that these guys had. But no one took the time.

To hear some of these general managers say what they said, I mean what the hell did they base it on? They base it on a 19-year-old kid living 10,000 miles from home, going through a rough time. But what they never took into consideration is that he didn't quit. He didn't buckle. He didn't come home. He didn't throw a chair at somebody. He didn't yell.

You know how painful it was for that kid last year? And his mother? Do you know how strong the family had to be?

What did you tell him, when you talked?
Every day I'd tell him we're one day closer. Basically, I always used, "One Day More" out of Les Miserables. I mean, seriously, I got the album. And I'd say god bless you, now go practice. Go practice.

No one knows that when we first got there -- Pam and I went with him for the press conference -- we flew there 13 hours or whatever from L.A. And he went straight to the gym. He is a gym rat. He loves this game. And that's got to be worth something.

Why did Kobe make it and the other guy didn't? Well, I know why. Because I know what Kobe did and what the other guy did before he even got to be making it. I know his drive. I saw Jordan when we traveled Europe -- and what Michael did to prepare for exhibition games! In sports, you have to drive yourself. You drive yourself to success, or you drive yourself to the club after the game. That's the choice. You drive yourself personally, or you drive yourself to a nightclub. The guys that drive themselves personally are usually the ones that make it to the top. ...

Yet a lot of teams passed on him. There are about three or four teams that don't have a chance. But there's a chance to be exciting. There's a chance to be a better basketball team.

That could have been a lot of other teams, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Minnesota, New York, Golden State, Toronto.
I agree it could have been.

It wasn't not picking him that upset me. It was not picking him because they had bias.

When we started this talk, I had in my mind that scouting him was tougher. Maybe people are lazy and were used to an old way of doing things and so didn't investigate him as well. But you say teams punished him. Like they knew he was good but passed to try to prove his European model wrong?
Well just go read that article you sent me. They basically say that in so many words. How do you not even bring him in? OK, so Blake Griffin will be the top pick, but after that, how do you not bring him in to work out?

I think he didn't work out for some of the top teams, but that's not the point. They brought in some kids who were role models as college players. And they can all play. None of these kids are bad. But to not allow this one the chance to show he's better? He was right there on the draft board.

That was the mistake.

The interesting contrast was Ricky Rubio. Wonderful player! The funniest thing was that the media that was against Brandon was for Ricky. And a team that could have picked Brandon picked Rubio. And he didn't come!

Brandon was mystified. We had our people, Americans, vote for their kid, Rubio, against our kid, Brandon. That hurt. Nothing against Rubio. Nothing.

But it's interesting. He made a franchise look like a fool. He made the NBA look like a bigger fool. And we wasted a fortune traveling back and forth, he embarrassed us by not coming. I'm not picking on Minnesota -- they all wanted him. That's the irony.

And Brandon suffered the consequences.

But Brandon didn't create this situation! If he had the same opportunity Ricky did, to come here as an 18-year-old, you wouldn't be writing this story. He was denied that opportunity. He was denied it, Mr. Abbott.

That's my fight.

Check back for more Brandon Jennings conversation with Sonny Vaccaro on TrueHoop in the days to come.

By Henry Abbott

It's one of the ballsiest basketball offenses imaginable.

A player is suspended for five games for fighting. His team will really miss him. So they hatch a cunning plan, and on a road trip where they hope nobody will notice the difference they slip him onto the court in a teammate's uniform.

If you saw this on some TV drama you'd say "That is so totally fake. Nobody would try that. They'd get caught, for one thing. And most coaches and players just wouldn't go along with that kind of craziness."

But it really happened!

And, in one of the weirder turns of events, the team that did it was the exact same Turkish team that was just in the media (including TrueHoop) after playing a game that ended in a brawl.

Galatasaray Café Crown is the team. The (now fired) coach is Okan Çevik. The player is Cemal Nalga.

The coach says that the team had experienced several injuries, so they knowingly sent Nalga out there in his teammates uniform for a couple of exhibition games in Germany against Deutsche Bank Skyliner and EnBW Ludwigsburg. The player says he was just following orders.

Even though the entire coaching staff has been sacked, the team remains at risk of being fined and demoted from Turkey's top league.

The amazing thing is that the fraud almost worked. Even though the guy is hard to miss with both a big beard and a big build (watch the video), he was only detected, according to a report, after a rival team noticed suspiciously good statistics for Tufan Ersöz, the player whose jersey Nalga was wearing.

One little postscript: As Galatasaray and its players face whatever humiliation is coming their way -- a decision is expected early next week -- one of the players who will endure that hard luck punishment is Darius Washington, who is a decent player best-known for missing the free throws that could have won the Conference USA tournament and secured an NCAA tournament bid for Memphis.

UPDATE: Frequent TrueHoop contributor Coleman Collins plays in Germany. I asked him about this incident, and whether he would wear a teammate's uniform at his coach's direction. His response:

I think in a situation like this, as a player you pretty much have to do what you're told. You don't want to do anything to harm your relationship with your coach, especially because the job situations are significantly more tenuous overseas.

The fine policies are a lot more vague and you could easily imagine someone being fined for not doing what they're told to do. Also, the average player doesn't deal directly with the league office when they get suspended; they depend on the coaching staff and management to act as an arbiter on their behalf and also to keep them apprised of what they have to do to stay eligible to play.

If a coach tells you to do something, you assume that they're correct. 99% of the time they take care of things.

This seems pretty ridiculous though, and unnecessary, especially because the games were preseason exhibitions that didn't count for anything. The only reason I can think of is that the coach wanted to avoid getting beaten badly at home. I know for a fact that the games took place in Turkey at a preseason tournament, though I'm not sure if it was Galatasaray's home tournament. If it was, then the coach probably didn't want to start the preseason getting embarrassed at home by foreign teams, which (even in the preseason) would have put his job security at risk. It still seems like a ridiculous risk to take though.

It's also a sign of the times. It would be absolutely unthinkable in an American league, because of the extensiveness of the coverage, but without a lot of information being shared between countries overseas, teams that play each other in preseason exhibitions only have vague ideas of who they're playing against, unless the players are famous Euroleague-type players.

The fact that it was discovered (albeit two months after it happened) is a good thing, and the fact that it is being taken seriously is even better. The European leagues have an undeserved (in my opinion) reputation for being somewhat unprofessional at times, and when things like this happen it makes everyone look bad.

• Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The Hawks won their 10th game of the nascent season Wednesday night. In 2004-05, this franchise managed 13 victories over 82 games. A team once so far down it had to improve to get lousy is now, with the same coach and same power forward, tied with Phoenix for the NBA’s best record. Said Mike Woodson, the coach in question: 'I’ll never forget those 13 wins. I’ll never forget walking into the locker room and seeing those faces, knowing we couldn’t win many games.' We knew the Hawks would improve. When you’re 13-69, you can get no worse. But did anyone expect the Hawks to get better in quite this way? Jamal Crawford didn’t. A pro since 2000, he saw those Hawks firsthand. Did he foresee that woebegone bunch becoming the team that has become the league-wide talking point of the 2009-10 season? 'I’d be lying if I said I did. You knew they’d get better. You just didn’t know it would be that fast.' "
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "The Indiana Pacers have enjoyed a five-game winning streak during the past two weeks. Not so coincidentally, it was their hottest streak since the 2004-05 season, a campaign wrecked by one horrible night in Detroit. Five years ago today, in the final minute of a blowout statement victory over the defending champion Pistons, former Pacer Ron Artest fouled Ben Wallace, who then shoved Artest. Rather than retaliate, Artest retreated to the scorer's table -- until Pistons fan John Green hit Artest with a beer cup. What followed shook the NBA, destroyed the Pacers' realistic championship hopes and contributed mightily to the revamped roster you see today. ... 'That was the beginning of the end of things for the organization,' former Indiana Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said. 'It set things in motion.' "
• Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times: "It's amazing how things sometimes work out in pro sports. Remember when the Green Bay Packers incredibly saw quarterback Aaron Rodgers do a free fall on draft day when all the talk before the draft was how Rodgers would likely be one of the first players chosen? The Milwaukee Bucks now seem to have been the beneficiaries of Lady Luck as well. For starters, in the weeks leading up to the NBA trading deadline last February, the Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies had trade discussions. The Bucks coveted Mike Conley, a quality young point guard. If the Bucks had been able to consummate that trade, Conley undoubtedly would have been their point guard of the future and there wouldn't have been any need for them to draft Jennings. The Bucks also explored trading the 10th overall pick, the one they used to select Jennings, who last week scored a franchise rookie record 55 points against the Golden State Warriors. .... Based on conversations with Warriors officials, the Jennings' camp was led to believe Golden State was going to draft Jennings with the seventh overall pick. But that didn't occur, I'm told, because Minnesota, which had the fifth and sixth picks, surprised the Warriors and most NBA officials by taking two true point guards: Ricky Rubio and Flynn. Suddenly, Curry, who put on a stunning shooting display at the pre-draft camp in Chicago a few weeks earlier, was available for the Warriors, who quickly drafted him instead of Jennings."
• Kate Fagan of The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Elton Brand might not have been the star of the win -- that title goes to Andre Iguodala, who scored 25 points -- but he was at least auditioning for the role. On a night when Sixers coach Eddie Jordan considered benching him, Brand played his most active game of the season, finishing with 19 points, 11 rebounds, 6 blocks, 3 steals, 2 assists. He also played a season-high 41 minutes. It marked Brand's first double-double since Dec. 12, 2008. After Monday afternoon's practice, Jordan said he did not believe Brand could play effectively for 40 minutes. 'Obviously Elton was really, really solid for us, and what did he play -- 40 minutes?' said Jordan, smiling, in his postgame news conference. 'I was wrong and he was right.' "
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "Grizzly newcomer Jamaal Tinsley made his debut Wednesday night, albeit a quiet one. Actually, the veteran guard signed to a one-year, free-agent contract Saturday received an ovation when he entered the game with 4:09 left in the first quarter. Tinsley's night was relatively quiet after that. He logged just six minutes and didn't score or hand out an assist. Griz coach Lionel Hollins said he just wanted to get Tinsley on the court after sitting out 11/2 years. 'I wanted to give him a chance to play,' Hollins said. 'The game is really fast, you just have to get acclimated again.' Tinsley picked up two quick fouls, but the veteran was limited mainly because of his unfamiliarity with the plays."
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: "The Timberwolves' 11th straight loss generated a new level of concern for coach Kurt Rambis. In his easygoing, mild-mannered style of communicating, Rambis might have delivered his most scathing criticism of the Wolves after a 97-84 loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night at Target Center. 'A true professional brings it every night,' Rambis said. 'It's not my job to provide them with a Knute Rockne speech every game. It gets old. On a day like this, it was their job ... their responsibility to be ready to play.' Here's what bothered Rambis the most about the loss: The Wolves (1-11) hadn't played since Saturday at Memphis, while Houston put up a spirited battle Tuesday night at home against Phoenix before losing by six. Rambis believed his team, not Houston, should have had more energy and more focus, particularly in the fourth quarter when the game was within reach for the Wolves with nine minutes remaining."
• John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Point guard Derrick Rose is so disgusted with his play, he could pull his hair out. Check that. He apparently will take the opposite approach. 'I probably won't get a haircut,' he said Wednesday after practice. ''I might get a lineup, but I'm not touching my hair until I get back on track. I'm just trying to change something; there has to be something that I'm doing wrong.' Roughly 15 hours after another subpar effort -- 10 points on 2-for-12 shooting -- in the Bulls' 101-87 victory at Sacramento on Tuesday, Rose was still obviously upset. ... ''We're winning right now, so I don't care anything about my game,' he said. 'But if we weren't winning -- I'm playing terrible. I'm not going to the hole the way I used to. It seems like, to me, I'm not that aggressive. 'But it's gonna change [tonight]. I know that I'm gonna have to be aggressive from now on.' "
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "The scene before the game was pretty amusing. Tracy McGrady had picked Wednesday for his 'target date' to make his season debut. The Rockets have been steadfast since September that they were not going to even consider a timetable until an MRI Nov. 23, but he had said something about the 18th and they had repeatedly shot it down. So McGrady went through his now familiar pregame workout. He looked pretty good, too. Then while Rick Adelman was doing his pregame interviews outside the locker room, McGrady walked out in uniform, as if he really was going to play. Adelman had already said nothing has changed, even saying again there is no timetable. Though the Rockets only dress 11 players these days, McGrady remained on the inactive list. Before long, McGrady was back in the locker room, changing back into his jeans and a sweater, and after the game, laughed at himself for putting on the uniform as if it were a Halloween costume. 'I just wanted to see what it felt like,' he said. 'It's been so long.' "
• Patrick Hayes of MLive.com: "The Pistons have a problem that many teams would love: two young, promising point guards, both who have experienced some NBA success, both who should continue to get much better. But who's the guy? This is probably something team executives don't really worry about right now, but it's pretty clear that many fans are hugely behind Will Bynum while perhaps being a tad harder on Rodney Stuckey while he goes through growing pains that every young player does. ... The Stuckey/Bynum debate is going to rage on the entire season. I compared career numbers above, simply because with this season only 11 games old, I felt like the sample size is way too small. But let's be real: to this point in the season, Bynum has out-played Stuckey by a wide margin. That could certainly even out as the season progresses, but to this point, it's been pretty glaring to anyone who has watched the team. Who knows how the Pistons truly envision Bynum. It makes perfect sense to keep him in the role he's in, as a ball of energy off the bench who changes the pace of the game, who fearlessly attacks the basket and whose effort can never be questioned. But at the same time, if you're Will Bynum, you certainly want the chance at a starting job in the NBA, right?"
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: "From what information Wyc Grousbeck has deciphered, the league’s financial state is uneven. Commissioner David Stern has said that half or even as many as 20 of the 30 teams are in debt. 'Financially, not every team is very happy this year,’ Grousbeck said. 'The league is posting results that are better than I probably thought they would be, leaguewide, but on the other hand, there are still some trouble spots. It isn’t the happiest picture; it isn’t the best picture I can think of. It could be better. It definitely could be better leaguewide, and we’ve got some issues we need to address.’ He is happy to report that the Celtics aren’t struggling, primarily because the organization is being financially responsible. There are teams looking to dump veterans with lengthy contracts on the Celtics -- veterans such as Andres Nocioni, who could help this season. Team president Danny Ainge indicated that the Celtics will refrain from acquiring long-term contracts that may prove to be anchors on future salary caps."
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: "Coach Stan Van Gundy, tongue planted firmly in cheek, on all teams reporting their players undergo 'successful' surgery: 'Grant Hill had five successful surgeries. Somehow he could never play after them, but they were called a success. They're all called successes and that means the guy lived through it, which is a success, I guess.' "
• Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times: "The question is, will Mike Dunleavy still be coaching the Clippers when the kids, Gordon and Griffin, ride to the rescue? Recent NBA history would suggest that won't be the case. Eight teams fired coaches last season, and this season, New Orleans pulled the plug on Byron Scott rapidly, dismissing Scott last week. That was only days after the Hornets crushed the Clippers. The wild card, of course, is Clippers owner Donald Sterling. How much does he take into account the litany of injuries, and does Sterling extend his patience and see what Dunleavy can do with the tools at his disposal when Griffin and Gordon return? You might say there is a better chance of success at the slot machines than trying to predict Sterling's next move and timing here. That isn't the only ambiguous question. What ails the disconnected-looking Clippers on the court has the players searching for answers. 'Nope. No answers,' said Baron Davis. 'We're not unified. We're not all on the same page. We have to find a way to get in sync and get on the same page. It's tough. Last year, you could blame it on the talent, blame it on the chemistry. ... It's disheartening.' "
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "The Suns are back to running! The Suns are back to running! Well, not so fast. NBA fans are falling for Phoenix's high-scoring ways all over again. The system that made the Suns everyone's second-favorite team has returned and shocked the shoelaces off the NBA, leading to a tie with Atlanta for the league's best record at 10-2. But the story line has a new twist. The Suns actually do not run like they once did. In fact, they are an ordinary running team. Phoenix ranks 12th in the NBA in fast-break points, scoring 12.8 per game. They rank lower when factoring what percentage of their offense comes from fast breaks: 11.8 percent, which ranks 18th. That's behind Thursday's opponent, New Orleans, a 4-8 team that offers the Suns a chance to snap a 14-game losing streak on TNT (including preseason and postseason)."
• Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: "Following the Utah Jazz's 104-91 win over Toronto, Eric Maynor was welcomed into the locker room by a loud fan club. 'E-May!' bellowed Carlos Boozer. 'Yo, dog! I'm trying to give you some love.' The love Boozer gave -- in a glowing postgame comment -- was well-deserved. Yet again. 'He continues to impress me,' added Jazz point guard Deron Williams. 'He's playing great, composed. He's making plays. It takes a lot of pressure off a lot of people.' Especially, lately, off of Williams."
• Kerry Eggers of The Portland Tribune: "For a team that just committed something in the neighborhood of $143 million in salary to two players, the Trail Blazers are well-positioned for the future in terms of payroll. That doesn’t mean Portland will have salary-cap room to land a big-ticket free agent next summer. Still, the franchise that once paid $100 million in luxury taxes has its financial act together now. This season, the Blazers’ payroll is $56.2 million for their 15 players – an average of $3.75 million per player, under the salary cap ($57.7 million) and well under the luxury-tax threshold ($69.92 million). Portland is 27th among the 30 NBA teams in payroll, ahead of only Memphis, Minnesota, Detroit and Oklahoma City. Not bad for a team coming off a 54-win season and a Northwest Division co-championship. Of the bottom 16 payroll teams this season, only three -- Atlanta, Detroit and Portland -- made the playoffs last season."
• Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post: "Nuggets advance scout Chad Iske has the NBA at his fingertips. ... Iske doesn't simply get raw statistical data. He can also pair the data with video clips of every player and every play. And it's all available online within half an hour after each game ends. The service is provided by Synergy Sports Technology. It is basketball scouting for the digital age, and 26 of the NBA's 30 teams use Synergy. The company even offers a way for a team's coaching staff to prepare a set of video clips that can be downloaded to an iPod and given to players. 'It's very efficient, and it takes a lot of the legwork out of it for us,' said Iske, who has been with the Nuggets for 11 years. 'The change is amazing. When I first got here, we didn't even have enough VCRs to go through tape. Now we can go to our laptops, click on Synergy's website, and we get the information we need.' "

By Henry Abbott

It wasn't the flashiest performance of the night, but it was meaningful. After a summer of losing weight, and early season of injuries and ridicule, Knick big man Eddy Curry checked into an NBA game tonight with 1:32 left in the first quarter.

The miserable Knicks were down five to the Pacers at the time. Just two minutes later, the Pacers hadn't scored again, and Curry knocked home his first bucket of the season which gave the Knicks their first lead of the game.

In 12 minutes of play, Curry finished with 10 points, on four shots, to go with four rebounds, three turnovers and four fouls. The Knicks were plus-nine while Curry was in the game, and beat the Pacers by seven to double their win total of the season.

It may not seem like much. But remember, when Eddy Curry was nothing but a bad contract, the Knicks' future was dicey. If he's a productive player, whether the Knicks trade him or keep him, then the Knicks get to choose between keeping him as a post player to pair with a premium free agent, or trade him for an expiring contract (and the cap space to sign another top shelf free agent next summer).

For Eddy Curry, the biggest player on the NBA's biggest-market team, any production is big production, and this game was a promising start.

By Henry Abbott

• Magic Johnson vs. the credit crisis.
• The Chicago Bulls vs. the 1980s' last shreds of musical dignity.
• How not to guard Brandon Jennings, in still-frames of Monta Ellis and Mikki Moore. Operative quote: "This is wrong." And, in the wake of that whipper-snapper Jennings' arrival, the suggestion that Michael Redd may no longer be a necessary Buck.
• Derek Fisher, president of the players' union, says he thinks players understand the economic realities of today, and will work to avoid a lockout.
• It's a no-brainer that Gilbert Arenas has the potential to be a Twitter machine. The Gilbert Arenas-on-Twitter dossier.
• Chauncey Billups' agent would like you to watch this video. Chris Bosh's agent would like to destroy that video, especially for the key play (via John Schuhmann on Twitter).
• Acknowledge that the Thunder are good. Sure they lost to the Clippers on Sunday. But before that they won in San Antonio fair and square, and then last night they won in Miami, a team that had been 7-2. Royce Young of Daily Thunder: "I’d say everybody gets a game ball, but once again, Thabo Sefolosha was the stud of the evening. Miami relies on mainly one guy to provide their scoring. And that one guy was held to 22 points on 6-19 shooting and turned it over six times. Thabo on the other hands had just two points, but grabbed nine boards, dished out four assists and had four steals. He’s a wrecking crew." Also worth noting is that this game was a little chippy. UPDATE: John Hollinger (Insider) on Sefolosha: "He's already harassed Kobe Bryant (9-of-22, seven turnovers), Brandon Roy (5-of-17) and Kevin Martin (5-of-19) into rough nights, helping explain why the Thunder rank a healthy fifth in defensive efficiency. It also explains why the Thunder were so willing to ink their long-armed Swiss stopper rather than let him test restricted free agency in the summer of 2010."
• Hoping for less Devin Brown and more Darren Collison in New Orleans.
• Dan Feldman of PistonPowered: "After last night’s 106-93 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Jonas Jerebko went up to Kobe Bryant and congratulated him. Bryant look up, saw who it was, looked the rookie in the eye and said, 'Good game.' It’s funny, but I think Kobe was serious. Last night’s game turned for the worse when Jerebko began guarding Kobe Bryant. Bryant, who missed his first four shots, looked at the rookie and seemed to think, 'He’s guarding me?' All of a sudden, Kobe’s nagging groin injury and his cold shooting stroke disappeared. Bryant scored 40 points and added five rebounds, five assists and three steals. He controlled the game, and there was nothing the Pistons could do about it. That’s OK. Not many teams can do anything to slow Kobe. But it was encouraging the Pistons kept playing hard -- including Jerebko more than any other starter."
• If Austin Daye played for say, the Bulls, people would call him "the Bulls' version of Tayshaun Prince." But he plays for the Pistons. So does Prince. So I guess they'll have to call him Austin Daye.
• Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm's headline on the idea of Andres Nocioni in Boston: "The Celtics Have A Coupon For Average Combo-Forwards And They Would Like To Use It"
• Isiah Thomas's Florida International team won a game.
• You know how the Rockets have been trying out the idea that Trevor Ariza can be a star? I get it. I support it. I like Ariza. But at this early point in the season, it seems to me that he's great most of the time, but almost never when he's acting like a star. When he gets to dribbling, and hunting shots ... it tends to end ugly. Maybe that evolves over time.
• Derek Fisher tells the Kamenetzky brothers of the L.A. Times about Ron Artest and the triangle: "Ron (Artest) is the only that still has a lot of questions about how to respond or what happens if we call this or do this, and that's to be understood. But what would make his life a lot easier is if the other four guys would do the thing right, because there's only one place for him to be, if the other four guys are in the right spots. We're slowing down his learning curve by not paying attention to the details, and that's not fair to him and it's not fair to the team. Regardless of the win and loss record, we could just be playing much better."
• The king of the "and-one."
• D.J. Foster of ClipperBlog: "Everyone in the arena except for Baron realized he wasn’t a threat from outside tonight. The Clippers essentially have no chance to win when Baron reverts back to the shot happy, poor decision making version of himself that he was last year."
• Matt McHale of By the Horns: "The league’s leading rebounder -- which apparently isn’t good enough to get you onto the All-Star ballot these days -- finished with 15 points (5-for-8 from the field, 5-for-8 from the line), 14 boards, an assist, a steal, 2 blocked shots, 47 chest thumps and countless hustle plays. When Chicago’s sloppy play and poor shooting in the fourth quarter started to let the Kings back into the game, Noah stopped the bleeding by tipping in two misses by Kirk Hinrich and then adding a couple free throws. And forget the numbers. Noah’s energy and intensity is swinging games. It’s happening. Joakim’s transformation into a very special player began at the tail end of last season and it’s continuing now. The people who put together the All-Star ballot may not have realized it, but the people of Chicago are starting to. Noah has been the Bulls’ MVP so far this season. It may sound crazy, especially considering his limitations and the fact that Derrick Rose is the team’s franchise player, but it’s true."
• Must be some kind of record: The Cavaliers' J.J. Hickson books his third-straight career high in scoring.
• Portland fans are stressed out about a loss in Atlanta, the reality that wings Travis Outlaw and Nicolas Batum both seem to be out for a very long time, and owner Paul Allen is fighting Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. But the sunny side of Blazer fans' minds are focused on the fact that John Hollinger and David Berri, who often do not walk in lockstep, both call the Blazers one of the West's two best teams so far.
• Roy Hibbert needs the ball more.
• Marc Stein wants to make certain you saw this.
• The Nets are winless, but coach Lawrence Frank remains upbeat.
• UPDATE: Ron Artest on chucking Trevor Ariza's shoe off the court.

By Henry Abbott

Just happened across this quote from Alonzo Mourning's 2008 book "Resilience," which I'd recommend heartily to anyone who could use a little shot of resolve in overcoming a major challenge:

You can wait and hope, or you can go make it happen. Rebounds and rebounding from illness aren't that different.

For the record, Mourning is in the top 50 all-time in his rebounding rate, and surely he's also in the top 50 all-time in kidney transplant recovery. Here Mourning talks about the importance of really wanting to go get that ball.

• John Reid of The Times Picayune: "In the locker room after Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans General Manager/Coach Jeff Bower had his players gather around him. He told them they gave a good effort, but he was caught off guard when injured point guard Chris Paul handed him the game ball. After experiencing consecutive defeats since taking over for fired coach Byron Scott, Bower got his first victory 110-102 against the Los Angeles Clippers in front of 13,116 at the New Orleans Arena. Paul, who is sidelined indefinitely with a sprained left ankle, was cheering and talking with teammates on the bench throughout the game. 'When Chris came in and gave him the game ball, it put a smile on my face,' guard Bobby Brown said. 'For him to get his first win is very exciting.' It was Paul who took the news the hardest when Scott was fired, saying he was disappointed and should have been consulted before the final decision was made. But he appeared to be in better spirits, although he walked with an immobilized boot on his left foot and did not speak with reporters after the game."
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: "Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni were asked about Allen Iverson a dozen different ways Tuesday, and their responses were vague. They dutifully praised Iverson for his accomplishments, but kept their enthusiasm muted. If the Knicks were guided by expediency, this would be an easy decision. There are 72 games left, thousands of tickets to sell and a fan base that is losing interest and patience. Yet Walsh dismissed that line of thinking, saying, 'We usually try to make our decisions on basketball and take it where it goes.' If the Knicks were 4-6 -- the sort of record they expected -- they might have ruled out Iverson immediately. But they are 1-9, and suddenly, all things are possible."
• George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel: "Be bold, Orlando. There's no satisfaction in second place. Been there, done that. Isn't that the first loser, anyway? Break free from your image as a goody-two shoes franchise run by the Amway king, and bring some attitude into the huddle with the dysfunctional king of the NBA. Sign Allen Iverson. The Answer is your answer. Anybody else know of another 10-time All-Star and league MVP who is available at the moment? Cheap, too. We're talking Dollar Store prices in the NBA economy, because Iverson becomes an unrestricted free agent tonight after his release by the Memphis Grizzlies. All Rich DeVos has to do is cut a check for $1.8 million, take a deep breath, and not get too caught up in the specifics of Iverson's problems. Selfish, disruptive, petulant, among other adjectives, come to mind. So what? Orlando doesn't need him for the whole year. The Magic just need him to fill in for point guard Jameer Nelson, who is now officially one of the most fragile players in the NBA. He is expected to miss four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery today to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee."
• Scott Cacciola of The Commercial-Appeal: "And while the basketball side of the organization has not done the business side any favors this season, John Pugliese, Grizzlies senior director of marketing and communications, sounded stoic and even optimistic when asked about this latest hurdle. 'Our campaign was not focused around Allen Iverson ," he said. "It was focused around the young core of talent we had. So from a campaign standpoint, nothing will change. We have a loyal group of fans who are in this 'Griz Country' and part of 'Griz Nation,' and we've gotten a lot of support in the last day.' Still, the Grizzlies had designed a slogan that played off Iverson's nickname, 'Answer the Call.' Except Iverson is no longer calling. The Grizzlies are not offering ticket or merchandise refunds to disgruntled fans. At the same time, Pugliese said his marketing team caught a break with the timing of all this, considering new billboards are scheduled to go up Friday. O.J. Mayo, Gay and 'animated elf characters' will pitch holiday ticket packages, Pugliese said. All of the advertisements will be Iverson-free."
• Mike Jones of The Washington Times: "When they reported for training camp the final week of September, the Wizards were hoping to avoid their traditional slow start to the season. They opened 1-10 last season, 0-5 the season before that and 5-9 in 2006-07. But injuries to Jamison, Foye and shooting guard Mike Miller combined with a tough early schedule -- the preseason included six straight road games, and the opening stretch of the regular season included seven opponents that made the playoffs last season -- produced a 2-7 start. Given those circumstances, Flip Saunders said, it's no wonder his team has struggled. 'You can look at teams as far as their schedule and predict what kind of month they're going to have,' Saunders said. 'The way our schedule is here is that there are a lot of things in our building and we're on the road a lot or coming here on the back of back-to-backs. Because we played only one home game in preseason and the rest were on the road, I think that catches up to us a little bit. You can't worry about it now. Because we've been true to form as far as what's in the past. You can only worry about what we have going forward.' "
• Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: "Over the past several years as he's become more established within the league, LeBron James has often been a sounding board and a counsel for his peers. His cell phone is virtually a who's who of not just the NBA but also the college and even the high school ranks, a product of all the players he's met over the years at his annual Nike camp in Akron for the nation's top high school players. 'I'm all about helping the guys who come after me or some guys in the league giving some advice,' James said. 'This league can be a lot on anybody, and I have a little experience on the ins and outs of the league. There's more than just the game, and I'm glad I'm in position to give advice.' His role is sometimes well-known and sometimes hidden. According to a source, over the past week James often has been in contact with close friend Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. Paul was furious after the firing of Hornets coach Byron Scott, to whom he was close, and then Paul suffered a serious ankle injury. James and Paul are very close, and James is acting as a sounding board at the moment for the frustrated Hornets star, the source said."
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "It's time for the Pacers to make Roy Hibbert more of a focal point on offense. Don't get me wrong, the big fella has things to work on - reading the defense when he has the ball in the post and making quicker moves to the basket -- but he continues to show he can be effective when he gets fed the ball on a regular basis. ... Hibbert looks like a ghost on the offensive end when the Pacers decide they want to stand around on the perimeter and jack up jump shots. The Pacers are at their best when the perimeter players are constantly moving because that not only helps get them open, it usually frees up Hibbert in the post to make a one-on-one move to the basket."
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "The lob pass from point guard Jason Kidd to Roddy Beaubois has become a useful tool for the Mavericks. They have run it on the first play of at least two games that Beaubois has started. Against Milwaukee on Monday, they ran it after a timeout late in the second quarter and it worked perfectly to trigger an 11-2 Mavericks surge to finish the half with a 12-point lead. Opponents haven't figured it out yet, and there's a reason. They don't know when it's coming because there are no hand signals or voice commands from coach Rick Carlisle or Kidd. 'We call it after a timeout or at the start of a quarter,' Beaubois said. 'We don't have to say anything.' That would seem to be a dead giveaway, but even if defenders know it's coming, it's hard to stop because of Dirk Nowitzki. He's the pick-setter at the top of the key after Beaubois gives the ball to Kidd and starts his circuitous route to the far side of the basket, where he takes off after Kidd has released the lob pass. Defenses do not leave Nowitzki when he sets a pick. That frees Beaubois for a clear run at the weak side of the basket."
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel: "The last time the Miami Heat visited Atlanta, it walked off the court for the final time in the 2008-09 season, defeated 91-78 May 3 by the Atlanta Hawks in Game 7 of the first round of the NBA playoffs. Wednesday night, the rivalry resumes at Philips Arena. Then again, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is not sure 'rivalry' is necessarily the right word. 'I mean, any time you play somebody in the playoffs, obviously everything gets heightened, and it went seven games and it was a very physical, intense series,' Spoelstra said. 'But I don't think it's really a rivalry until that happens two or three times in a row in the playoffs.' Still, there was at least the spark of what might evolve. 'I think we both remember last year,' said power forward Udonis Haslem. 'Even though they won the series, it definitely was a competitive series. Tempers flared a little bit toward the end. It's nothing personal, but it was just good, competitive basketball.' With the two teams expected to fall in somewhere behind Boston, Cleveland and Orlando in the Eastern Conference, an encore could be in the offing."
• Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times: "An already subdued Clippers locker room -- quieted after a 110-102 loss to the Hornets on Tuesday night at New Orleans Arena -- became even more downcast when Kareem Rush arrived on crutches, moving slowly to his spot near the corner. There were a couple of murmurs in the room and finally one of his teammates asked, 'You OK?' Said Rush: 'No.' Rush then told his teammates that he had a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, which puts him out for the rest of the season. Conclusive word came less than an hour later when the MRI test result came in and confirmed what Rush feared and had told the other players. He suffered the injury late in the first quarter, with 2:31 remaining, hurting it not with glaring contact but when his knee buckled awkwardly as he went up to shoot on a drive. ... It is yet another devastating blow for the injury-ravaged Clippers, who are already missing the No. 1 overall draft pick, power forward Blake Griffin, and shooting guard Gordon."
• Elliott Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News: "Coach Phil Jackson blamed Pau Gasol's budding acting career for the strained right hamstring that sidelined the 7-footer for the 11th consecutive game Tuesday night. Jackson also trashed the show, "CSI: Miami," on which Gasol appeared Monday. Relax, folks. He was only kidding. Well, at least about whether Gasol hurt himself while pulling an accident victim to safety during the episode. Jackson was serious about the lack of depth and breadth of the series, which he admitted he viewed for the first time. 'I think he got injured on CSI and he's not telling us the truth,' Jackson joked before the Lakers faced the Detroit Pistons at Staples Center. 'I watched that program (Monday) night just to see if that was what it was about. He dragged that kid out of the car. I'm sure that's where he got his injury. I've never watched that show before. I can't believe people watch that stuff. I told him to keep his night job, what the heck.' "
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: "Alex English. He raised the bar as high as his retired number hangs in the Pepsi Center rafters. The Nuggets' all-time leading scorer -- by 5,000-plus points. He scored bunches in bunches. Now an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors, English was at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night. What he saw was himself. 'The fact that he can score reminds me of me,' English said of Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony. 'Just watching him, he looks stronger than ever. He looks confident.' The Nuggets (8-3) torched Toronto 130-112 in a shootout reminiscent of English's glory days in the 1980s -- 'One of those Doug Moe games, huh,' suggested Anthony, who scored a game-high 32 points."
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: "Jason Williams faces a tough task tonight in his first game as the Orlando Magic's starting point guard. He will defend Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook, who torched the Magic by scoring 17 points and dishing out 10 assists in the Thunder's convincing victory 10 days ago. Williams will celebrate his 34th birthday today. Westbrook turned 21 last Thursday. You don't need to remind the Magic of how dangerous the Thunder can be -- not after the Magic lost in Oklahoma City 102-74 on Nov. 8. 'We didn't play with energy, and they did,' Dwight Howard said. 'They were all over the place, and we were a step behind on everything: pick-and-rolls, rotations, everything.' Even with PG Jameer Nelson out because of a knee injury, the Magic would have no excuse if they play with less energy than the Thunder once more. Orlando had Tuesday off, while Oklahoma City played against the Miami Heat in South Florida on Tuesday night."

By J.A. Adande

Hmm, could there be some latent frustration in Phil Jackson about Pau Gasol’s slow-to-heal right hamstring?

Before the Lakers played the Pistons Tuesday night, Jackson said Gasol went through practice Monday and shootaround Tuesday morning and Jackson hoped Gasol would be able to play in the game. Alas, he remained on the inactive list. When Jackson was asked if he was concerned Gasol was being gun-shy, he jumped in and said, “That he’s a hypochondriac and might be a baby and won’t come out and play? Is that what you’re trying to say with that question?”

That drew laughs. Then Jackson turned TV critic, referring to Gasol’s guest appearance on “CSI: Miami.”

“I think he got injured on CSI and he’s not telling us the truth,” Jackson said. “I watched that program last night just to see if that was what [happened]. And then he dragged that kid out of the car; I’m sure that’s where he got that injury.

“I never watched [the show] before. I was totally amazed that people watch it. I can’t believe people actually watch that stuff.”

When someone compared Gasol’s acting duties to Andrew Bynum hoisting a Playmate at a Playboy Mansion party while out with an injury last season, Jackson stayed on his roll.

“That’s good for his shoulders,” Jackson said. “It’s another thing to be dragging someone and stretch your hamstring like Pau was doing.”

And finally, on Pau’s future in the acting biz: “I told him to keep his night job.”

By Henry Abbott

Turkey is home to some of the world's best professional basketball. Two days ago, for instance, rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce squared off, and the court was littered with past and future NBA players. The Bulls have high hopes for Ömer Asik, as the Cavaliers presumably do for Emir Preldzic and the Celtics for big man Semih Erden. Former NBA players like Tarence Kinsey, Lynn Greer, Darius Washington and Gordan Giricek were on the court, too, as Galatasaray earned an important win.

In addition to great basketball, though, Turkey is also one of the places on the planet where basketball sometimes has a soccer-induced hooligan problem.

At about the 3:19 mark of this video, you can see a brown-shirted fan run onto the court and wind up, and full running pace, to punch a player on the bench. According to multiple eye-witnesses and media accounts of the game, the player he hit was Kinsey, who can be seen flying into a rage attempting retaliation, before being hauled back by teammates.

Make fun of David Stern all you want for his sense of humor, but the NBA takes security fairly seriously, and that's not a bad thing.

Not long ago, Kinsey was scoring NBA points for Memphis or Cleveland. Now he's on the bench getting punched hard by a fan.

This is not exactly the first incident of its kind, either. These same clubs have seen similar things many times from fans of their related soccer teams.

And during last year’s Finals series, after the sixth and Final game between Efes Pilsen and Fenerbahce there was a similar scene.

Turkish TrueHoop reader Fatih Uzuner works for a sports marketing company, and has some insight.

As a sports professional, and a proud Turk, how does this make you feel?
I did not catch the game live (learning for my master’s exam) and got the link forwarded from a friend of mine from the Euroleague. My feelings in chronological order: shame, disbelief, irateness, embarrassment.

What's soccer's role here?
Soccer’s role is huge here. Fenerbahce plays in front of tiny crowds most of the time, even in the Euroleague (Fenerbahce is dead last in attendance). Only for games against soccer arch rivals Galatasaray and Besiktas, mostly soccer fans with no knowledge or appreciation for the sport of basketball whatsoever, come to the arena looking for trouble. Usually they swear a lot, are aggressive and more often than not, throw stuff on the court because of the lackadaisical security checks.

Worth mentioning: in other basketball regions like Antalya, Izmir or Bursa, fans are much more “civilized” and resemble the typical “Western Europe” indoor sports fans. More and more women and kids can go to basketball games in these cities/arenas.

Is this a sports problem, or something bigger?
The reasons behind these type of sports violence is societal and very deep-rooted. High (increasing) unemployment, low level of education and an unstable political, financial and societal landscape in general, lead to a growing latent aggression potential, especially amongst teenager and young grown-ups who usually have sports (mainly soccer) as their only purpose in life.

This issue goes much further and remains somewhat unexplored and unsolved.