- Dale Kasler of The Sacramento Bee: "The owners of the Sacramento Kings have surrendered controlling interest in their Las Vegas casino, in a deal that they say improves their finances considerably. After months of negotiations, the Maloof family announced Tuesday that it has reached a 'recapitalization' agreement with the Palms Casino's main creditors, investment firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners. Co-owner George Maloof said the deal erases the Palms' debt but leaves the family, which built the trendy casino a decade ago, with less than 50 percent of the equity. That gives controlling interest to TPG and Green. But Maloof, who enjoys a high profile in Las Vegas, said he will continue to run the Palms. He said 'it's not disappointing at all' that controlling interest has passed to the creditors. The deal could have significant implications for the Kings at a crucial time in the team's history. The Kings passed up an opportunity last month to move to Anaheim, agreeing to give Sacramento a last chance to build a new arena. City officials and the NBA expect the Maloofs to contribute to the project, but the amount remains to be seen."
- Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "It took the Dallas Mavericks 31 long years to win their first NBA title. But they don't think it will take that long to win their second. The Mavericks strongly believe they have what it takes to repeat as NBA champions. That's the job that will be asked of the Mavericks as they enter next season as the defending NBA champions. And it's a job they're more than willing to accept, although they know they will have a big-time target on their backs next season. 'Our plan is to get the same crew back and let's take another run at it,' Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson said. 'In an ideal world this team would come back and we'd make another run.' The Mavericks have six unrestricted free agents -- center Tyson Chandler, forwards Caron Butler, Peja Stojakovic and Brian Cardinal, and guards J.J. Barea and DeShawn Stevenson -- who they have to address. Nelson wouldn't prioritize the list, but it's clear that Chandler, Butler and Barea head the Mavericks' wish-list. 'I love them all, they're all part of the family,' Nelson said of the six free agents. 'So how do you separate your daughter from your son?' "
- Harvey Fialkov of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "For his first seven years in the NBA, Heat forward Chris Bosh toiled in relative anonymity in Toronto, where hockey is king. So none of the Heat's 'Three Kings' had to make a bigger adjustment than
Bosh when it came to handling the spotlight as well as the basketball. It was no surprise that seconds after the Heat were eliminated by the Mavericks in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, it was the introspective, book-reading giant who seemingly took defeat the hardest. TV cameras caught Bosh collapsed and sobbing on the corridor floor en route to the locker room. 'I haven't experienced that pain in a very long time,' Bosh said after his season exit interview at AmericanAirlines Arena on Tuesday afternoon. 'Basketball hasn't given me that for a while. To be so close and to work so hard and get to that point, just to come up short, it kind of just got to me. I gave it everything I had. Sometimes when you give it everything you have emotionally -- I'm not an emotional guy -- it just took over. I really just couldn't help it, but I got it out of me and I feel a lot better for it, and I can move on.' " - Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "The question was met with the typical Stan Van Gundy sarcasm oozing like syrup from every syllable of every word of his answer. When I asked Van Gundy on Tuesday about the suggestion among some that the Magic need to change their style of play and quit relying so much on the 3-point shot, he rebuked the theory like it was one of David Stern's refs. 'As you can see from what the Mavericks did to the Heat [in the NBA Finals], the 3-point shot is certainly not the way you want to go,' Van Gundy chided. 'That style hasn't had any success.' ... This is probably an overly simplistic evaluation of the postseason, but I'll say it anyway. The biggest difference between Dallas' championship run and Orlando's first-round flameout is the Mavs made their 3s at a nearly 40 percent clip in the playoffs while the Magic shot a miserable 26 percent. The Mavericks are a beacon of hope to Magic fans for two reasons. First, they showed the Heat could be beaten and a championship delivered with only one superstar on the roster. Second, they showed you could win with a philosophy and a style of play that closely resembles The Stan Plan: Spread the floor and fire away on offense. Take away the paint and force jump shots on defense."
- Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer: "Slight of build and careful with his words, Rich Cho looks like who he is -- a former Boeing engineer with a law degree. If the Bobcats were to ever play another NBA front office in a pickup game, owner Michael Jordan, coach Paul Silas, assistant coach Charles Oakley and Higgins would star while Cho would sit on the bench. But Cho is exactly the sort of medicine the Bobcats need -- a very smart man who worked his way up from an intern with the Seattle SuperSonics into a respected NBA executive. Higgins called him a 'glue' guy -- someone who will help the Bobcats' various parts stick together. 'I've been called a lot worse,' Cho said, his smile showing the braces on his teeth. Cho also has no connection to Jordan, and that's important. I loved Jordan as a player and was totally in favor of him buying the Bobcats. But he needs to be debated and occasionally told that he's outright wrong -- he actually respects you more when you do that. Hiring Cho -- who was fired after 11 months as Portland's general manager by billionaire team owner Paul Allen over mysterious 'chemistry issues' -- proves that Jordan and Higgins are willing to be challenged. ... I believe Cho just made the Bobcats better. They need to have a very good day on June 23, the day of this crucial draft. They have a better chance to do that now because they had a very good day Tuesday."
- Lacy J. Banks of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau and general manager Gar Forman have gone underground. For the first time in the 43 years I’ve covered the team for Ebony magazine and the Sun-Times, the Bulls are refusing to tell the media about which players they’re bringing in for summer tryouts, refusing to make them available for interviews and refusing to grant interviews themselves. Or is it just me? A Bulls spokesman explained: ‘'Well, we have a new coaching staff now. They want to do things differently. And this is one of the areas they’re making changes.’ Thus, unless Thibodeau and Forman become media-friendly again in terms of supporting offseason coverage, we might never know which players succeeded in their tryouts until next season. That is, if there is a next season. Remember, the owners and players are trying to negotiate a new collective-bargaining agreement. The current one expires June 30. If no agreement is reached by then, owners might lock out players for the first time since 1998, despite record TV ratings. The Bulls’ new self-imposed gag rule smacks of censorship. It moves to limit what we can report about the team’s preparations for next season. Perhaps, because they are once more selling out every game and have a long waiting list for season tickets the way they did in the dynasty days of Michael Jordan, they don’t need any offseason coverage, except for their own online offerings at bulls.com, written by my colleague Sam Smith."
- Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press: "The great Kurt Rambis experiment will reach its logical conclusion fairly soon. And Kurt will go the way of the McLean burger, Sony Betamax and Clairol's Touch of Yogurt Shampoo. There is a public perception that Glen Taylor, David Kahn and the rest of the Wolves' powers that be are hanging upside down in a closet somewhere, most likely wrapped in cocoons. But now that the NBA Finals are over they should be emerging right about now, ready to rock and roll. We know that Rambis and Kahn do have "the big meeting" scheduled. I'd expect the guillotine to come down then, but gently and accompanied by a series of accolades not heard in these parts since Kahn fired Kevin McHale. That's probably one of the reasons it's taken him so long. By nature, Kahn hates firing people. The McHale thing really pained him, and on the day he let him go Kahn's eulogy was reminiscent of the ones given to any number of dead presidents. But the fact remains that Rambis did not do a good job. Furthermore, I have never seen a more unenthusiastic coach. He looked like a parent roped into T-ball duty while the regular coach was on vacation. Rambis appeared to be totally and completely miserable and about as upbeat as a funeral procession. After a while, that can't help but rub off on the Wolves players, who have enough problems of their own."
- Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: "Before he leaves Northeast Ohio to take over the Los Angeles Lakers, Mike Brown wants to thank Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and, yes, former Cav LeBron James. Though Gilbert fired him and James seemed to turn on him at the end of Brown's five-year tenure, Brown had nothing but praise for the two as he prepared to relocate his family to the West Coast. 'I wouldn't trade the world for the experiences I went through here in Cleveland,' Brown said Tuesday afternoon at the Westlake Recreation Center in his first interview with local reporters since being named the Lakers coach one year to the day after Gilbert fired him. 'I'm in the seat I'm in now because of Dan Gilbert and [former GM] Danny Ferry and everybody else but also because LeBron James and the success we had together as part of the Cleveland Cavaliers. I know the situation, obviously, didn't work out for myself and the Cavaliers, which is unfortunate, and people might think I'm crazy when I say this but I have to thank Dan Gilbert. I don't have anything but good things to say about the man.' "
- Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman: "Eric Maynor tweeted the entire way through his tattoo. No better way to spend 12 or 14 hours. Mind you, this was not just another tattoo. The Thunder guard added to his heavily tattooed right arm by having the entire thing inked Monday afternoon. On a background of clouds that run shoulder to wrist, there is a dove, a basketball with a crown, a silhouette of the three crucifixion crosses, another dove and another cross. The sleeve is sweet. Maynor's post on Twitter: 'im just getting the whole sleeve right now.' Teammate James Harden tweeted a bit later that he was there watching Maynor get inked. 'Should I get my 1st tat?' he asked. Maynor responded, 'yessssssir.' Seems like it's only a matter of time. Getting a tattoo is catching on the Thunder like runny noses at a daycare. ... Does it change the way you feel about K.D.'s jumper? Does it have an impact on your opinion of Perk's defense? Does it change the fact that all of these guys have been fantastic on the court and every bit as good off of it? These guys have avoided trouble, save Nate Robinson and his tiny bladder. They haven't filled the police blotter or dominated the headlines with tomfoolery. They haven't embarrassed themselves, their team or this city. Tattoos do not bad guys make. These are the same players that Oklahoma City has come to love. They're just a little more colorful than they used to be."
- Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: "Arron Afflalo is, really, kind of a weirdo. He's an NBA player. He's due for a pay raise that could flirt with eight digits. And it's the offseason -- time to enjoy life or, as some in the league call it, 'The Life.' But the Nuggets guard confessed, 'I really like to turn it up for the offseason.' Afflalo's schedule now is five- to six-hour workouts five days a week. His agent, Sam Goldfeder, has been in the basketball business for more than a decade. Asked where Afflalo's work ethic ranks among players he has seen, Goldfeder said: 'At the very top. You have your hard workers, guys like Blake Griffin . But Arron is in that class, without a doubt. He works out like an animal.' Afflalo averaged 12.6 points last season and enters this summer as a restricted free agent. Gold-feder and Nuggets executive Masai Ujiri have said they see 'Triple-A' re-signing with Denver. But that might not be for a while, because the NBA likely will have a work stoppage beginning July 1. 'I have confidence that we can get a deal done,' Goldfeder said. 'There is a very strong mutual admiration between Arron and Nuggets management.' "
- Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: "The Jimmer Fredette-Kemba Walker showdown is set. It didn't happen in Sacramento as once planned, but both hyped players and lottery prospects will participate against each other in a pre-draft workout for the Utah Jazz on Wednesday morning. The NCAA Tournament spotlight-stealing point guards will be joined in the tryout session by 6-8 forward Paul Carter (Illinois-Chicago), 6-10 forward Josh Harrellson (Kentucky), 6-2 guard Senario Hillman (Alabama) and 6-6 guard Malcolm Lee (UCLA). As usual, this workout is not open to the public. The 6-3 Fredette, who earned national player of the year honors at BYU this past season, and the 6-1 Walker, who led UConn to the national championship, are among the intriguing players who will likely be available for the Jazz with their No. 3 overall pick. The Jazz also have the 12th selection of the draft, which takes a place a week from Thursday. The wildly popular Fredette worked out in Phoenix on Monday and has also received rave reviews from his showings for New York (17th pick), Indiana (15th) and Sacramento (seventh)."
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