- "The Hip Hop Helen of Troy," Carmen Bryan, is about to publish a book detailing her passionate exploits with Nas, Jay-Z, Allen Iverson and more. It's due out after Thanksgiving, but what is reportedly an excerpt from that book is floating around online, and it includes a pretty graphic description of a night in Atlantic City with a certain smallish 76er. Here's a sample: "His body was sick! He was lean with perfect muscles and natural cuts. He had a lot of scars all over his body, which turned me on even more. He was like a warrior, so rough and had the battle wounds to prove it. He stood naked on the edge of the bed and looked damn near edible." The bed: a naked man's elevator shoes.
- Max calls it "one of the best point guard duels I have seen in a LONG LONG time." Chris Paul (highlights) had 34 points, 10 assists, two steals (and six turnovers) in the loss, Baron Davis (highlight) got 36 points, nine assists, three steals (and NO turnovers!), and the win. Game video. Baron Davis always seems to have something to prove against Byron Scott, and made it happen despite Jason Richardson's sitting in street clothes.
- Blazer fan sticks it to Tas Melas on the Basketball Jones podcast this morning. It's eight or nine minutes in.
- Will Leitch really wants to make it onto Jackie Christie's list. For my money, Lang Whitaker has done more for the Christies TV show than any human on the planey, but he still made her haters list. Whitaker has more great coverage of the show: "Jackie gets ready to walk down the aisle, and the music that plays over a montage of clips from the first few episodes is that song from a few years ago, 'I’m a Bitch.' (Lyrics include: 'I’m a bitch/I’m a lover/I’m a child/I’m a mother') Let’s just say that Jackie is a complex woman."
- As we have discussed before, Nike is going to hold a bunch of skills camps starring NBA players like Steve Nash, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, and Amare Stoudemire. Tom Farrey has an excellent article. One theory I have heard: there has long been an understanding that Nike and adidas would let "their" athletes attend camps run by NBA players, regardless of company affiliation. (Otherwise, it's verboten for Nike players to go to adidas camps and vice-versa.) So these celebrity camps are a brilliant way for Nike to get top adidas athletes at a Nike camp--while still getting some credit for promoting skills and basketball development.
- Mark Madsen says he has been tight with Jason Terry ever since a Stanford/Arizona game when the Mad Dog and the Jet were both sidelined needing stitches. They bled for hours together in some training room waiting to get sewn up, and have been tight every since. Then Madsen talks about bringing back the old ball: "Ultimately, I think some sort of compromise will take place with both issues so that all sides involved will be happy. If we do get to go back to leather as the NBA has indicated publicly is a possibility, we must ensure that the leather used is only from trusted sources that do not employ harsh or cruel treatment to the animals providing the leather. In my opinion the only leather that should be used is leather from an approved list of ethical beef producing companies/entities. Most of those would probably be domestic where stricter policies are in place. It think this was one of PETA.org's concerns with the old ball and the use of international leather sources where bad treatment of animals is prevalent. I think we should open a dialogue with PETA also to ensure that we get this right." One of his commenters responds: "Hey Mark, I can't make an intelligent coment on the ball, but I would be willing to donate my own skin to make a ball if it would help the Timberwolves..."
- Get ready for LaMarcus Aldridge. Mike Barrett (who is having a baby right about now) "LaMarcus took part in a spirited three-on-three game following practice. It was Aldridge, Stephen Graham, and Dan Dickau going against Sergio Rodriguez, Travis Outlaw, and Martell Webster. I never saw who won the game, but I did see LaMarcus doing some impressive things. You're going to love this guy. He's a better shooter, with better range, than you're probably expecting. He's got some seriously long arms and will really add to the front line. He also runs the court as well as any player the Blazers have, big or small."
- There is a world championship for rock-paper-scissors, and it's this weekend. This guy could train Jon Stewart for next time he faces LeBron James.
- Former Net President Jon Spoelstra in the Associated Press: "Spoelstra, president of the Nets from 1993-95, said that his players were in so much legal trouble then, team publications could have been filled with 'mug shots... One year we had six guys in jail. Not together, because that would have meant teamwork.'"
- As a cultural entity, the Los Angeles Clippers, according to ClipperBlog, have a certain something to offer white L.A. hipsters: "the Clips have offered these guys a window of opportunity to be nostalgic, to be a little bit black, and to exist in opposition to the Lakers."
- Adam Morrison, post-game tobacco chewer. Chewing tobacco does not help athletic performance, which I say with certainty after being part of some informal student-run experiments in high school that involved much of the cross country team and a seemingly endless supply of Copenhagen.
- Indiana writer Mark Monteith on the Mavericks: "Their off-season trades with the Pacers cast doubt. They had a good thing going, but brought in two players, Anthony Johnson and Austin Croshere, who don’t fit their style of play. They also gave up on their best intangible, Darrell Armstrong. What do Mavericks fans think when they check Pacers boxscores and see Armstrong playing better than Johnson, and both Marquis Daniels and Rawle Marshall playing better than Croshere? And that doesn’t include the other Mavs-to-Pacers transfer, Josh Powell, who excelled in the pre-season."
- Why do I get the feeling we won't be seeing Darius Miles anytime soon? If he misses enough games, the Blazers will reportedly start collecting insurance money.
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