- Steve Nash says some sunny things, but there's no getting around the word "deficiencies" that he used in discussing the Suns roster.
- Tony Parker seems to think Tim Duncan's clock is ticking pretty loudly.
- What would Red Auerbach make of advanced statistics? A lot of the new metrics employed today address the exact concerns he had with old statistics.
- To go up on the tippy toes or not? Analyzing the free throw shooting of some of the best: Steve Nash (tippy toes), Ray Allen (no tippy toes), Dirk Nowitzki (tippy toes) and Chauncey Billups (no tippy toes).
- Just because Tiago Splitter has played in Europe does not mean he shoots 3s.
- Kendrick Perkins does not know how to concede ground, even if that ground is his spot in the starting lineup.
- The NBA knows all about a Tom Thibodeau defense, but what about a Thibodeau offense? Early word is he wants to run, and failing that, get it in the post. Sounds great. Also sounds like the kind of thing everybody says, but saying it does not make it so. On that note, the Cavaliers are also talking about run run running.
- Jerry Sloan sounds like a guy who is not happy that the rules say teams can only hold one contact practice per day.
- Royce Young of Daily Thunder on media day: "I found it interesting that the players came in one-by-one to be greeted by the media. Typically, two or three come in at a time and there are different players in different areas. This time, it was one at a time. And to kick things off was Tweedy Carter, which made for some awkward moments as everyone in the room tried to figure out who that is."
- Chris Douglas-Roberts assures everyone there are no character issues or egos in the Bucks locker room. So that's reassuring.
- The Amway Center will soon be the gold standard in NBA arenas. A sneak peek.
- Rip Hamilton says (via Piston Powered) "the more scorers we'll have, the better we'll be" and somewhere a vein pops out of David Berri's forehead.
- Rudy Fernandez says he prefers the style of play in Europe, and when his contract is over in the NBA in two years, he will probably return. He says he does not want a trade, but prefers to return to be with his family. Not sure how this becomes a happier story, unless that guy can embrace the challenge of learning to feel at home in the country where he signed the four-year deal.
- For all their lack of talent, the Pistons also have a crowd at the perimeter positions, and everyone's wondering how John Kuester will hand out minutes between Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Gordon, Austin Daye, and Tracy McGrady.
- There's an anecdote in Jack McCallum's Seven Seconds or Less where an NBA player can't understand why a team trainer won't buy himself a $300,000 car. Here's a chart showing that most people don't understand how little money the rest of the world has.
- David Simon, the guy who made "The Wire," a race-rich TV show that captivated the NBA for a while there, won a MacArthur Genius grant. That's sort of like being named an All-Star, only instead of a paid vacation and some swanky parties, you get $500,000.
Henry Abbott | email
TrueHoop, NBA- Senior writer for ESPN.com
- Founder of TrueHoop blog and network
- Began writing about NBA for magazines in 1999
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