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“If I’m guarding, say, LaMarcus Aldridge and I make him shoot a bad percentage, then I hope they pay attention to that. I just wish there was a stat for keeping your man to the lowest field goal percentage.” (Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images)

“I may not be top in the league in blocks but if I’m guarding, say, LaMarcus Aldridge and I make him shoot a bad percentage, then I hope they pay attention to that,” says Hayes. “I just wish there was a stat for keeping your man to the lowest field goal percentage.”

Well guess what, Chuck? You just so happen to work for the most number-crunching team in the league. Of course there’s a stat for that!

Consider these numbers (courtesy of the Rockets’ Basketball Operations department):

• Steals: Hayes ranks 2nd (out of 303 players; behind only Rajon Rondo) in the entire league in Steal% (Steals per defensive possession). Keep in mind, the top spots in this category are typically reserved for point guards and wings, as illustrated by the fact that Hayes currently is the only big in the Top 10.
• Lest you think his lofty status is simply a byproduct of a small sample size, since 2007, Hayes ranks 14th in the entire league in Stl% and is by far the best big (1st out of 127). No other post player is even in the top 35.
• Charges: (Offensive Fouls Drawn per defensive possession) Since 2008 Hayes is top 10 (6th out of 265) in the entire league in drawing offensive fouls.
• Team Defense: Since 2005, Hayes has the best Defensive Efficiency Rating (Based on team points allowed per defensive possession while the player is on the floor) regardless of position in the entire league.

I consider myself a tailor whose job is to create the best possible suit for the team. I’m not a prêt-à-porter guy; I don’t produce those “ready to wear” clothes. I’m like a man who makes a suit that’s supposed to fit its owner perfectly. That means it takes time for me to understand what’s best for the team both defensively and offensively. Like, we can defend a pick-and-roll in many different ways. And the way we defended it with CSKA could be ill-suited for a team that’s not as powerful and at the same time is much quicker than CSKA. We have to adjust our pick-and-roll defense, adjust principles of defensive rotations, etc. It’s my job to define through experiment what we should do.

Same goes for the offense. With CSKA, we didn’t run a lot of pick-and-rolls. We liked to create post-up opportunities for our bigs and set plenty of off-the-ball screens for the shooters. But here in Madrid day by day I become more and more confident that this is a team that should use pick-and-rolls more often. We’ve got a lot of frontline players who can pick and pop out, which could give us versatility as far as offense is concerned. At the same time, it’s important not to overlook posting-up that forces defenders inside and creates space for our shooters on the perimeter.

Figuring all this out takes a while and in the meantime we’re not playing consistently and sometimes lose games.

• LeBron James won't rule out playing for the Clippers or any other team.
• Kevin Durant missed some big shots that could have sealed a win against the Lakers, and an emerging commitment to defense played a role. Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman: "Although Durant wouldn’t use it as an excuse Thursday, his fourth-quarter blunders can partly be attributed to fatigue, which he did admit set in. Lakers forward Ron Artest pestered Durant defensively all night, and, unlike years past, Durant was trying to be equally disruptive on defense. It led to near exhaustion by the final buzzer. 'It’s new to me,' Durant said. 'The last two years I wasn’t playing as hard on the defensive end and was getting used to the concepts. But I’m trying. It takes a little time.'"
• Someone who e-mailed Deadspin: "Manu gave the bat to an usher. The usher took it outside and it flew away. I'm a officer at the ATT center and I saw it my damn self. ... PETA: grow up. Go bother the circus and leave Manu alone."
• A reason to master the free throw: Because if one day, like Chris Dudley, you think you might want to run for governor, you probably don't want the feature article to open with the point that you were one of the league's worst free throw shooters. Dudley has an ivy league education, a record of charitable work, and a commitment to trying to do good. But he'll be known for bricks? That's no way to kick off a political career.
• Chris Avis of Grizzlies.com: "Just because you think Mike Conley should start over Allen Iverson does not mean that you think Conley is better than A.I. I think that’s the biggest misnomer about coming off the bench. Everyone assumes that the 5 best players on a team start and that the bench is comprised of lesser talent. To a degree, this is correct. The best players usually start, but there are exceptions. One of the reasons that players like Jason Terry and Manu Ginobili come off the bench is very clear; the 2nd unit needs scoring."
• The Orlando Sentinel, far from fearing independent blogs, has nominated several for awards, including the outstanding Magic blog Third Quarter Collapse.
• Sacramento Mayor, and NBA legend, Kevin Johnson is reportedly engaged.
• A look at how many minutes rookies are getting.
• Who's better, the Lakers with no Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol, or the Memphis Grizzlies? Tonight we find out.
• Matt McHale of By the Horns on the key non-call that sealed the Bulls' win in Cleveland last night. (Looked to me like LeBron James lost control of the ball when he planted his elbow in Joakim Noah's chest. Noah, for his part, said there was no contact at all.) "I have to call shenanigans on that, Joakim. There was plenty of contact, much of it initiated by LeBron in the hopes of drawing the foul. But, after allowing James to partially knock Deng out of his way with a shoulder block, the officials overlooked a little body-to-body contact between the MVP and Chicago’s wild-haired center. Game over."
• John Krolik of Cavs the Blog on something new in Cleveland this year: "Last year, the Cavs’ opening unit absolutely destroyed people and set the tone, whether it was Wallace or Varejao in the starting lineup. The Cavaliers were the best 1st-quarter team in the league by a huge margin, and it was a huge reason they were able to cruise to so many victories. And it wasn’t just that they got results -- that first unit played some of the prettiest basketball I’ve ever seen the Cavs play. They worked from the high post, cut from the weak side, utilized LeBron off the ball, moved the ball from side to side, freed up shooters on the weak-side with screens, worked cutters from the top of the floor, and played egalitarian basketball wonderfully as LeBron set up teammates and worked on the weak side. This season, the starting lineup has gotten off to one sluggish start after another, with the exception of the Boston game, which was more about the Cavs hitting shots than good offensive sets. The energy isn’t there, and with the poor Shaq/Andy spacing, the starters are trying to force-feed the ball into the post and watch Shaq or LeBron go to work rather than playing 5-man basketball and working the entire floor. Shaq can still punish teams when they single-cover him, but the team has looked incoherent and confused during the opening stretch instead of controlling the flow of the game." Some of that is undoubtedly the Shaquille O'Neal effect, but don't forget that the architect of Cleveland's offense last year was John Kuester, who is now calling the shots in Detroit (where the offense has looked pretty lively).
• The Two Man Game's Rob Mahoney: "In life, in love, in highly competitive games of Scattergories, and of course, in basketball, there exists a delicate balance between convention and innovation." Hats off to Mark Cuban for hiring Nancy Lieberman to coach the men of the upcoming Frisco-based D-League team.
• If you go to Cha Cha days at the University of Central Florida, don't be surprised if you find a "zero altered poisson regression" of Marcin Gortat vs. Dwight Howard." Honestly, I don't really understand it, (beyond knowing that "poisson" means fish in French) but I'm quite certain Ryan Parker is doing important work.
• What do you think about the owner of the Cavaliers putting a lot of effort into opening a Cleveland casino? The NBA's message to basketball fans on gambling is getting very complicated.
• When the Kings signed Desmond Mason, the blogosphere was adamant that he couldn't help a team. A few weeks later, the Kings apparently agree, having waived him.
• A long time ago there was a very funny NBA blog called YAYSports! Then it kind of crawled off and died. Only it didn't really die. It -- or the blogger behind it -- actually crawled off to make a movie. This movie, which will be released next week.

• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "Kevin Martin leaned against the wall in the Kings' practice facility Thursday afternoon, still very much in shock, his damaged left wrist dangling at his side. Hours earlier, an MRI revealed that the league's third-leading scorer -- and the Kings' best player -- sustained a hairline fracture Monday night in a collision with the Memphis Grizzlies' Allen Iverson. Martin was presented with three options, all of them terrible: He can wear a soft cast and attempt to play, risking further injury and possibly a complete break. He can undergo surgery and have a screw inserted to stabilize the bone, with recovery projected at six to eight weeks. Or he can have the arm casted and hope that the wrist heals itself during a comparable six- to eight-week rehabilitation period. ... Thursday's announcement dampened an already somber mood at the practice facility. Hours after the Kings dropped a tightly contested game with the Atlanta Hawks, team officials learned that veteran forward Andres Nocioni had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence."
• Mike Fratto of The Washington Times: "In the wake of losing Mike Miller for seven to 10 days with a sprained left shoulder, Washington's depth will be tested even more. But Randy Foye said the team is equipped to handle such a situation. No announcement regarding the lineup has been made, but the fourth-year guard made a start against New Jersey when Caron Butler sat out and is the most likely candidate to step into Miller's spot in the starting lineup. 'At the guard positions, we are really deep,' Foye said. 'No matter who goes down or who goes out, we have someone there who can do just as much as the guy who was in that position.' "


• Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle: "Chuck Hayes' teammates love him, too. He's likable, decent and funny. The Rockets love Hayes because of who he is and what he is. He's an NBA center. He's also 6-6, 238 pounds. ... These first few games of a new season have amounted to a coming-out party for Hayes. The Rockets no longer have Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo, and so Hayes is averaging 29 minutes a game. That's around 10 more a game than he has gotten in the other four years of his career. No Rocket is doing more with his minutes. No Rocket is more indispensable. Hayes is averaging 8.8 points and 7.8 rebounds. He's out there because of what he gives the Rockets defensively, but when teams ignore him on offense, his teammates have begun to look for him. His 64.7-percent shooting percentage is the NBA's fifth-best. He's seventh in the league with 2.4 steals a game. He does not fly like Kobe Bryant. He does not have Dwight Howard's size. He doesn't have Tim Duncan's slick moves. All Hayes proves is that guys who care and work hard can still do special things."
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: "Ron Artest said his former Rockets teammates were 'definitely trying to get me ejected' by throwing elbows at him, and he acknowledged he might've indulged the notion if not for a little NBA commissioner/angel appearing on his shoulder. A jolt from Ariza just minutes into the game -- after Artest said Luis Scola already threw one -- nearly sent Artest, suspended 72 games by Stern in 2004, back into arrest. 'I wanted to (choke Ariza) because he hit me with the elbow,' Artest said. 'But then I thought about David Stern, and I thought I wasn't going to do this. I got hit with three or four elbows. It's just not fair. I don't want to fight.' Did I clearly articulate that Artest did think about it, though? Let me clarify: He mentioned that he thought in the moment how certain he was that he was stronger than Ariza and contemplated his interest in making someone his 'punching bag.' Yet with Kobe Bryant interceding and shepherding Artest away, the match didn't light – and Artest was able to joke (I think he was joking) about it all. He basically invited anyone else to come hit him and said: 'I'm not fighting anymore. I'm tired. I give up. I'm not fighting anymore.' "
• Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: "What will LeBron James tell the media in New York on Friday? LeBron: 'There will be a lot of intensity, the fact that we only play there once. July 1 is right around the corner, so it will be exciting. I'm looking forward to winning an NBA championship here. It is going to be a long season and I can't think about what is going to happen July 1 or after that or what I'm going to do. We'll see what happens, I've never given any indication I'll leave Cleveland or be somewhere else. It doesn't matter where I'll be, I'm good enough to help a team win basketball games.' "
• Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: "Everyone who watched Ty Lawson blow by defenders, sprint the ball upcourt and hit 3-pointers that New Jersey's defense conceded in order to keep him out of the lane came away impressed. And a scene that is sure to be repeated this season followed the Nuggets' Wednesday night blowout victory. Denver coach George Karl was peppered with questions about his rookie point guard from a media contingent that seemed shocked at what it witnessed. Odd, because Lawson led North Carolina to the NCAA title a year ago. But Lawson figures to turn heads all season long in his NBA debut, including that of his coach, who detests the reputation he has for not playing rookies, although three weeks ago he defended his right not to play Lawson. 'Just remember, there's not a lot of rookies that have helped teams win 55-60 games,' Karl said then. 'Our job is probably to win 55-60 games this year. There's a difference between being good and being a player that produces winning. There are players that are good but don't know how to win in the NBA, and rookies are usually a lot of those guys.' "
• Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News: "Detroit visits Orlando tonight, which on the surface shouldn't be a good thing. The Magic are among the top teams in the East. But the Pistons have won 20 of their last 25 regular-season games against the Magic, including Tuesday at The Palace. 'I can't explain it,' Rodney Stuckey said. 'It's one of those things.' He said the Pistons try to focus on imposing center Dwight Howard and make his life difficult, but other than that, there's nothing out of the ordinary."
• Michael Hunt of the Journal Sentinel : "Tuesday night in Chicago, Lindsey Hunter, who has been in the league just three years less than the kid has been on the planet, was letting the rookie have it from his catcall perch on the Bulls' bench. Slow down, young fella, come on, slow down! Apparently, that's not the way it's going to be for Brandon Jennings. Three games into his NBA career, and already the kid's governor has been disconnected. When was the last time the Milwaukee Bucks had a player with this much natural ability and personality in one package? Probably Ray Allen, and you saw what he did for the organization. If there was ever a right player at the right time for a franchise starving for success and attention, Jennings just might be it."
• Michael Wallace of The Miami Herald: "Might I suggest three words to those who have clearly drawn lines and are firmly on one side or the other inBeasley-action this Michael Beasley/Udonis Haslem debate. Pipe down. Please.Don't get me wrong. Passion this time of year, just two weeks into the NBA season? Perfect. But outright rage in some corners after just five games? Ridiculous. Here the Heat sits, off to a solid 4-1 start entering Friday's game against the Denver Nuggets. And here many in Heat nation stand, picking apart who sits in crunch time at the end of games. While coach Erik Spoelstra's rotation decisions cost him in Tuesday's loss to Phoenix, there was no price to be paid Wednesday in Washington."
• Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun: "It's obvious that Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo did not sign point guard Jarrett Jack this summer because he's a big fan of alliteration or because Jack is a buddy of Chris Bosh. Colangelo acquired the former Georgia Tech star (he played with Bosh during the 2002-03 season) because Jack gives the Raptors a second, quite able, ball-handler at the point, something extremely valuable if Jose Calderon is out or having an off day. That was exactly the situation in Toronto's 110-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. Calderon struggled, managing nine points and just one assist in almost 32 minutes of play. But Jack, along with others on the bench, including Antoine Wright and Amir Johnson, gave the team a lift en route to the win. Jack finished with nine points, six assists and three rebounds in 31 minutes and played hard on defence."
• Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News: "For those of you who think NBA teams piece together and establish their identity through the summer, training camp and the preseason. ... Consider the 76ers, 2-2 as they enter tonight's game against the 0-5 New Jersey Nets, the league's only winless team: 'Right now, we're just in between, really trying to find our identity,' veteran guard Willie Green said after practice yesterday. 'But guys are coming to practice working hard, and we're running our offense, but it's still taking a little bit of time. It's one of those things where we're going to have to turn our practice play over into our game play.' Green said they have been comfortable working against one another. It's those pesky opponents who somehow get in the way."
• John Canzano of The Oregonian: "Blazers front office executives talk positively about their mandatory team-building experience. And maybe they're slapping backs and working more efficiently because they went on desert hikes, climbed walls and sat around afterward talking about what it was like to overcome obstacles together. There's real value in bringing people together. We all know that. And the Blazers understand that better than most professional sports organizations that haven't navigated the field of broken glass that lies behind this franchise. Sure, fans are concerned about the 2-3 start. The Spurs are next. And we're coming to the realization that the expectations for the team weren't out of whack, but the circumstances certainly were. If Miller and Roy are still struggling to play together in December, you can start talking trade of the new guy. And if McMillan continues to dabble in a way that prevents the Blazers from finding comfort, we can begin the dialogue about whether he's the right coach to lead the team into the future. But all that talk today is insanely premature. It makes you want to climb a pole and jump off it."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "The retooled Grizzlies don't seem to have a problem sharing the ball. Concentrating without the basketball enough to avoid making the Grizzlies an embarrassment on defense? That's another story ... That's the story behind the Grizzlies' 1-4 start to the regular season. Memphis ranks no better than 28th out 30 NBA teams in five key defensive categories. The Griz are dead last in two areas: points allowed (115.2) and opponents' field goal percentage (.505)."
• Jeff Rabjohns of The Indianapolis Star: "Ten years after Conseco Fieldhouse opened its doors, this shrine to Indiana basketball -- part museum, part arena -- remains one of the most revered basketball venues in the nation and has altered the idea of what an NBA arena should be. The retro-styled home of the Indiana Pacers -- a modern venue soaked in history -- has influenced other teams to rethink nondescript multipurpose buildings and embrace designs tied to basketball's past. Charlotte, Dallas, Memphis and San Antonio are among franchises that modeled specific elements of their new arenas after what they saw at Conseco. New Jersey, which has a new arena in the works, also is aiming in that direction."
• Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: "In the trade that shook the NBA world 21 months ago, the Lakers sent Marc Gasol, Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, and first-round draft picks in 2008 and 2010 to the Grizzlies for Pau Gasol. McKie never played for Memphis and Crittenton has had an unremarkable career and is now with Washington. Remarkably, the Lakers have not lost three consecutive games since acquiring the elder Gasol.'
• Jordan Godwin for the Houston Chronicle: "It remains to be seen whether the Rockets' sizzling start will translate into a playoff appearance this season, but tonight they'll look every bit the part of an NBA champion. Trevor Ariza, Luis Scola, Aaron Brooks and the rest of the new-generation Rockets will pay homage to the franchise's storied past when they play their first regular-season game in their new alternate jerseys. Look out, Oklahoma City Thunder: The ketchup and mustard is back. 'The feedback has been great, and fans are very fired up,' said Chris Dacy, the Rockets' chief strategy officer. 'They're happy to see the traditional look from the championship days.' Unveiled in September, the jerseys will serve as an occasional alternative to the team's current red-and-white combinations. The Rockets' creative marketing team started designing the jersey more than a year ago when the NBA granted permission to proceed."

• Ryan Schwan from Hornets247: "The Chris Paul Insane Shooting Update: He went 14-23 tonight, and 3-4 from three. Incredibly, that lowers his shooting percentages for the season to 64% from the field and 75% from three." In the same game, Maverick Jason Terry had 35 points on 18 shots.
• Schwan also has this note about Jason Kidd: "Speaking of finishing terribly, I'd like to thank Jason Kidd for driving to the hoop on two key posessions at the end of the game. Nothing speaks more to the deterioration of his skills than the fact that the Hornets played Stojakovic, Posey and Songaila on him defensively for a lot of the game, and Kidd was still not a threat except as a spot up shooter."
• Michael Beasley, benched with the game on the line. Again.
• Fascinating look at teamwork, from Michael J. Mauboussin in the Harvard Business Journal: "Many companies, sports teams, and entertainment businesses hire a star when they want to quickly improve the organization’s results. More often than not, however, newly transplanted stars fail to deliver, because they’re separated from the people, structures, and norms that helped make them great in the first place. In one study, professors from Harvard Business School tracked more than 1,000 acclaimed equity analysts over a decade and monitored how their performance changed when they switched firms. The dour conclusion of the research: “'a company hires a star, the star’s performance plunges, there is a sharp decline in the functioning of the group or team the person works with, and the company’s market value falls.'” (Via Caltech coach Dr. Oliver Eslinger.)
• What do you think about the idea of Vince Carter, Hall-of-Famer? If the Magic win a title with him, it's possible.
• Earlier today I wrote about the evils of predictably isolating superstars in crunch time. Here's an argument for it. Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold cites Laker broadcaster Stu Lantz: "The Lakers final play of regulation, when Bynum came out high to set a pick for Kobe, both players trapped Kobe and he had no lane and no options. Stu questioned bringing another defender out high rather than clearing out when everyone in the building knew Kobe would take the shot." I hear that argument. But my point would be that the offense has one distinct advantage over the defense: It can know what will happen next. If everyone in the building knows who's going to shoot, haven't you given up that advantage?
• This post opens with a must-read amazing rundown of the various point guards who have run beside LeBron James.
• I once wrote that Dirk Nowitzki is unconvincing as a scorer when he puts the ball on the floor and drives into the paint. If I ever write that again, feel free to send me the link to this video.
• The cultural implications of various Thunder player hairstyles in conservative Oklahoma City. Apparently, being a poet gives a guy some leeway with key fans.
• The Celtics' early season defense and wins are flirting with records.
• Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom, on how the Hawks beat the Kings. My question is: If that's so easy, why doesn't every team do that to every superstar? "The Kings failed to find way to get Kevin Martin shot attempts and didn’t have an adequate backup plan during this period. Martin checked into the fourth quarter around the 10-minute mark but didn’t attempt a shot until there was 3:43 left in the game. The Hawks made a concerted effort to keep the ball out of his hands and to force any other King to beat them. And it worked. 'They had a pretty good plan. Every time we set a ball screen, they were doubling it,' said Martin on why the Hawks were able to keep the ball out of his hands."
• This video has an insane Baron Davis behind-the-head pass, while rebounding, to Chris Kaman. Tremendous.
• J.E. Skeets has a lot to teach Tyler Hansbrough.
• Handicapping the D-League draft. Look out for Nate Miles, the recruit who got the UConn program in all kinds of hot water.
• The Wizards' TV ratings are way up. Funny thing about wins.
• Meet the Mavericks new stat guy.

Before heading out to the court, that was probably the most nervous I got all night. Everybody was piled in the hallway. You could hear the crowd, the music playing. We all got pretty excited. One of our captains gave a good speech to get us motivated.

Then my teammates tried to play a joke on me. As soon as we said "1-2-3 Warriors!" we got in single-file to take the court, and I was the first person in line. When we got to the end of the tunnel, I turned around, and they were further down the hall than I thought they'd be. Because I'm the only rookie, they had planned to let me run out on the court by myself and then kind of look around all dumb -- and then they'd come out eventually. But since I saw them, they couldn't really pull it off.

• Carmelo Anthony
• Tim Duncan
• Tony Parker
• Pau Gasol
• David West
• Caron Butler
• Leandro Barbosa
• Shane Battier
• Michael Dunleavy, Jr.
• Nene
• Kendrick Perkins
• Jamal Crawford

• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "The NBA is the ultimate what-have- you-done lately league. A day after Dirk Nowitzki's outrageous fourth quarter against Utah, everybody was still talking about it. Good thing. That way they didn't have to talk about his 4-for-15 shooting and his six personal fouls Wednesday night against New Orleans. Or his streak of 20-point games ending at 29. He finished with just a dozen, or 17 fewer than he had Tuesday – in the fourth quarter. But although Nowitzki was frustrated by the New Orleans defense, it still couldn't erase that crazy, 29-point fourth quarter he had Tuesday. Lost amid everybody trying to find adequate words to describe that game was that one of Nowitzki's new wrinkles in his game has gone mostly unnoticed. 'He's just a special player,' Carlisle said. 'What he did last night, we may not see that again in this league for a lot of years. He's gotten better every year. This year, he's made an effort to drive the ball more to his right. He's always been a very strong and natural driver left. But he's driving it right more, which I think helps keep defenses honest.' "
• Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: "The Lakers won another game but might have lost another big man. Pau Gasol is a little closer to returning, but Andrew Bynum was injured toward the end of the Lakers' 103-102 overtime victory Wednesday over the Houston Rockets. Bynum was fouled hard across his right arm while going up for a shot and sustained a sprained elbow with 24.7 seconds left in overtime. He will be re-evaluated today in Los Angeles. 'I can't even lift my arm right now,' Bynum said. 'They just took a shot at me. That's that, I guess. It's not that bad. It just takes a little while to heal up.' Anybody ready for Lamar Odom at center? On the day that Gasol was cleared to resume basketball-related activities, the Lakers secured an overtime victory on the road for the second time in as many days, in no small part because of Kobe Bryant's 41 points and Derek Fisher's last-second steal."


• Dan Steinberg of D.C. Sports Bog: "'Sometimes it's just frustrating,' Brendan Haywood said last week, when Caron Butler hurt his knee. 'It feels like we're cursed.' Well, that was last week. Then came Wednesday night's loss to the Heat, when Mike MIller went down with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder--'Felt like it slid a little bit on me and went numb,' Miller said, describing the injury. Flip Saunders said he'll likely be gone 7-to-10 days. But even if it really is that brief of a recovery, this means that within the season's first six games, 60 percent of the Wiz starters will have missed at least one game with an injury. The two who have been spared are Gilbert Arenas, who missed most of the last two years with rotted knee, and Brendan Haywood, who was sidelined for 75 games last season. Does that really seem fair?"
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel: "There was a point early in Wednesday's fourth quarter, when Dwyane Wade normally goes to the bench, that he locked eyes with Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. 'He pretty much nodded his head,' Spoelstra said. The message was understood. Wade would play to the finish, play all 24 minutes of the second half on the second night of a back-to-back set that began with Tuesday's track meet against the Phoenix Suns. 'This,' Wade said after scoring 40 points in the 93-89 victory over the Washington Wizards, 'is one of those games where you have to will your team to victory.' And where there is a will and a Wade, there is a way."
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: "Two years after leaving the Timberwolves, Kevin Garnett is still capable of getting what many NBA observers refer to as a 'hometown call.' The 15-year veteran had a significant hand in the Boston Celtics' 92-90 victory Wednesday night at Target Center, leaving the Wolves fuming and winless since the regular-season opener. Garnett heard boos from most of the crowd of 19,133 after he tied up Wolves forward Corey Brewer for a jump ball with 3.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Brewer and Wolves fans felt Garnett should have been called for a foul after he reached in to put his right hand on the ball. A replay on the video scoreboard appeared to support the claims. 'I've been waiting for a game like this when a veteran player gets a call or no-call,' Wolves rookie point guard Jonny Flynn said. 'It definitely happened tonight.' "
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: "Brandon Jennings said he got some instant advice from fellow point guard Derrick Rose in the waning moments of the Bucks' 83-81 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. The words of wisdom came soon after Rose had blocked a potential game-tying shot by Jennings, while the teams were lined up for two foul shots taken (and missed) by Bulls center Joakim Noah. 'Actually, Rose told me when I came back down, 'Next time you get in a situation like that, just bring it back out and try to run something else,' ' Jennings told reporters after the Bucks' practice session Wednesday. 'Me and Rose, we go way back. We're cool. I'm still learning. He gave me a little advice. So I'm going to try to take advantage of it next time I play him.' "
• Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: "With one message posted on his Twitter account Tuesday afternoon, Deron Williams underscored the urgency facing the Jazz in the season's first week. 'On the way to the Dallas game!!!' Williams wrote. 'Need this win ... Bad.' Even if it was the first week of November, the Jazz already were playing a must-win game. By the end of the night, they had been punched in the gut, courtesy of Dirk Nowitzki and his 29-point fourth quarter. In the span of 24 hours, the Jazz swung from one extreme to another, yet dropped both games all the same -- embarrassed at home by a Houston team that had eight players score in double figures, and flattened on the road almost single-handedly by Nowitzki. Now the Jazz must regroup at EnergySolutions Arena tonight against San Antonio, in front of the same fans who booed them repeatedly only three nights earlier and didn't bother to stick around for the final horn against the Rockets. 'We haven't gave them much reason to cheer yet,' Williams said. 'We've got to get the best fans in the world up and out of their seats for a little bit, and we haven't been able to do that.' "
• Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: "In this part of the Northeast, caring about anything in the sporting landscape Wednesday night began and ended with the World Series. The arena was sparsely populated, which allowed the Nuggets fans in attendance to be pretty much as loud as the Nets fans. But while the loudest cheers were saved for Yankees highlights, the Nuggets and Nets played a competitive basketball game. For a half. The Nuggets came to life in the second half and put away the injury-depleted Nets 122-94 at the Izod Center. 'The equalizer in the NBA is the length of the game,' Nuggets coach George Karl said. 'The length of the game usually brings talent forward, and the better teams come forward over time.' "
• Josh Robbins and Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: "Magic fans probably don't want to hear about Phoenix Suns SF Grant Hill advising any Magic player about playing with injuries. But Hill said before facing his old club on Wednesday night that he did speak with point guard Jameer Nelson last season and encouraged his former teammate not to come back to play in the playoffs. 'Put that on the record. You can ask him. I told him not to play, just from my own experience,' Hill said. 'Not so much from a basketball standpoint. Maybe I shouldn't have, because you don't want to plant that seed in somebody before they're going out to play. But I said, 'Look, I've been out there when [I'm] not right and even when you are right, it's a process when you miss that much time. So, you're going to second-guess your shoulder and your confidence and all that.' Then, as you're not at that level, everybody else is at that level. Then you start to lose your confidence.' Nelson missed the last half of the season after shoulder surgery but returned to play in the Finals against the Lakers. He struggled mightily, proving Hill's point."
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: "Help and recover. It is one of the most common defensive laws in basketball. Through four games this season, in which they've won two, the 76ers appear to have the help part down. It's the recover part that is giving them the trouble. And that has led to an alarming number of made three-pointers by their opponents. Of the 438 points scored against the Sixers this season, 153 of them, or 35 percent, have come from shots beyond the arc. Opponents have made 51-of-113 treys, or 45 percent. In the season-opener at Orlando, the Magic drained 16 of 29. In the home opener in Milwaukee, the Bucks shot a pedestrian 7-for-23, then Halloween night in New York, the Knicks launched 41 threes, converting 14. Then in Tuesday's disastrous 105-74 loss to the Celtics, Boston canned 14 of 20. The help and recover principle goes like this: The farther your man is from the basketball, the more the defender slides to the lane for help against penetration and to cut off passing lanes. As the ball moves closer to his man, the defender also gets closer. Once the ball comes to the defender's assigned player, he should be there as the ball gets there. That's the recover."
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: "The Charlotte Bobcats might not be much offensively, but they're adapting to what coach Larry Brown means when he says play the game the right way. Two statistics in particular demonstrate that: The Bobcats are second in the NBA in rebounding and average dramatically more free-throw attempts than their opponents. In both cases, small forward Gerald Wallace is the key reason. Through the first four games, the Bobcats are averaging 46.25 rebounds, compared to 39.75 for their composite opponent. That's second in the league (to Memphis), both in rebounds per game and rebounding differential. Wallace is averaging 14 rebounds per game, second only to Toronto's Chris Bosh at 14.7."
• Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "It had to be comforting to the Warriors and their fans to see the Memphis Grizzlies and Allen Iverson arrive in Oakland on Wednesday. It was a reminder that the Warriors haven't cornered the NBA market on disaffected players or odd chemistry. Iverson missed the Grizzlies' first three games with an injury, came off the bench in Game 4, then groused that he has no intention of being a supporting actor in anybody's drama. It would seem that a detail like that would have been hammered out up-front, not after the contract was signed. Uh, Mr. Iverson, we'd like you to provide a spark off the bench. You want a spark off the bench, go hire a bad electrician. In your NBA Most Dysfunctional Team fantasy league, you are golden if you took the Grizzlies, but don't give up just yet on your Warriors."
• Iliana Limón of the Orlando Sentinel: "Marcus Jordan stuck to his guns and wore his father's iconic Nike Air Jordans, a decision that has cost the University of Central Florida its six-year, $3 million exclusive contract with adidas. Adidas spokeswoman Andrea Corso said in an e-mail to the Orlando Sentinel, 'The University of Central Florida has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to adidas. As a result we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward.' UCF Athletics Director Keith Tribble said late Wednesday that he was surprised by the statement from adidas. 'There's really not much I can say because I don't know anything about it and have not heard anything official from adidas about our agreement,' Tribble said. 'As I said before, we spoke with adidas officials throughout this process and were continuing contract negotiations with them. I have not seen anything in writing or heard directly from adidas about a change in our relationship.' "

"We all came to see whether this kid can really play. I'd heard the hype, watched the video and heard various opinions from my scouts. I wanted to see how he stacked up against other top kids his age. Then he doesn't show. He sure isn't making this easy on us. You want to like the kid, but he ain't giving you a lot to go on."

"I'm not sure how you take a kid without a real body of work that high. I know this is a weak draft, but are we really taking kids who have struggled to produce in college or Europe in the lottery? I'm all for upside, but it's ridiculous. If Jennings can't get on the floor in Italy, how does he help my team in the next couple of years? How do you take him over some really talented college kids who have proven they can play? Jonny Flynn, Ty Lawson, Steph Curry. Those guys are talented too and they have track records."

"I promise you. If you brought LeBron James over from high school straight to Europe, we would have messed him up. We demand different things. It is not enough to do something. You must do it correctly. Everyone who comes, young or old, from America, has to adjust. He was able to do it better than most I have seen. One more year in Europe, and he would be a star. I don't know if the NBA feels the same way."