- Yao Ming is changing the world, and it involves boy bands. (Most amazingly, check out the guy in the background. Fascinating. Acts like this performance is no big deal. Keep watching at the end for outtakes when he brazenly interrupts the show. Hilarious.) Wouldn't the crudest of stereotypes dictate that Yao's coming to America would somehow inspire Americans to import "secrets of the East?" Instead, we are apparently exporting the opposite.
- It might be a long time before Philadelphia and Boston both win on the same night again. Too bad Memphis couldn't join the party.
- What are you doing next Wednesday evening? If you're a sports blog geek in New York, you really should be at the Happy Ending Lounge.
- Check out the lower echelon of the West. Only Memphis is really out of playoff contention. A measly six games separate seventh place and 14th place, which means also-rans like Seattle, Sacramento, Portland, and Golden State are just a good winning streak away from dislodging the more respected Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans, and the Clippers.
- Michael McCann, a Celtics fan, on Cedric Maxwell's comments about Violet Palmer.
- Chad Ford with important draft news, that new rules may severely limit the amount of time teams have to conduct player workouts. Jonathan Givony assess the ramifications. One result: teams like Houston that traditionally work out a ton of players will have to change their approach.
- TrueHoop reader Sadaqat e-mails with a Kevin Durant question that I'm just going to throw out there: "Have you heard anything about Durant’s shooting form / mechanics from any scouts? Watching him play he reminds me of Tracy McGrady more than anyone except McGrady’s perfect form is due to the fact McGrady keeps his shooting elbow out 2 inches right and 11 inches above his right shoulder on his shots (relative, if someone’s shorter or taller this number changes obviously) whereas Durant’s shooting elbow is significantly lower and tucked awkwardly resulting in a relatively poor form. His form remains a bit continuous instead of the stop and pop T-Mac (and Kobe, Lebron, Wade employ)(Melo has a less of a pop, a bit more fluid)(Ray Allen has a complete pop due to his release location and wrist form, also see Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd) employs. Actually scratch the McGrady reference since Durant’s body type looks like he’s going to grow about 2-3 inches more, putting him in the Dirk Nowitzki category. Hope I didn’t just confuse the hell out of you I was just curious."
- MJD tells us Ohio State's Nike uniforms will reportedly have a LeBron James logo instead of the swoosh. My first thought is that couldn't hurt if you were trying to bring Greg Oden into the Nike/LeBron James/Maverick Carter/Leon Rose/William Wesley fold. Although every scout I talk to thinks it's unlikely Oden is shopping for an agent (almost everyone expects him to sign with his former coach, and current teammate's father, Mike Conley).
- Shawn Bradley, guidance counselor. For real!
- The message from Denver has evolved. After Iverson has arrived, it was, in effect "don't be shocked if we win the title." Now we are told we should have expected the team would stumble through an adjustment period. I'm thinking lottery.
- Shaquille O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, and Jason Williams step up for the Heat. Gary Payton and Antoine Walker not so much. The Wizards didn't double Shaquille O'Neal, which is fair enough, he hasn't been proving it lately. But even when he's hot in the fourth, and there is no Dwyane Wade?
- LeBron James endorses Dirk Nowitzki as MVP.
- The Onion on Kevin Garnett.
- Remember autistic team manager turned three-point hero Jason McElwain? In addition to his movie deal, now he's reportedly making $15k per speech.
- Brian Windhorst on Las Vegas: "It wasn't about 'Hip Hop culture' or 'Gangbangers' or 'Thugs' that was unnerving in Vegas. It was about the lawlessness on the streets. I'm not talking about what sort of music was coming out of clubs or what color people were. I'm talking about people smoking weed in hotel hallways and out on the street. I'm talking about walking through a casino and as you try to sort through the crowd overhearing a handful of drug deals. I'm talking about guys reaching out and grabbing women they didn't know on the chest and elsewhere as they walked by. I'm talking about seeing guys flash guns. I saw all this with my own eyes. No, I wasn't afraid to leave my room. No, I didn't feel close to death on the streets. But hell yes, there was stuff going on that no public organization from the NBA to the NRA to the ACLU to the NAACP would want to be associated with. Giving me arrest numbers is meaningless. There were no police anywhere to arrest anybody and everybody knew it. And no, I'm no prude, I've been visiting Vegas on a regular basis since I was a teen-ager. I've been all over that town at 3 a.m. and seen plenty. I don't care what kind of spin is being put on this, the truth is no organization from a city to a county to a state to a pro sports league can endorse lawlessness. Period. Which is why this is an issue, not fashion or music or skin color."
- Dan Wetzel: "...perhaps [Shaun] Livingston can serve as a reminder to the supposedly sound, wise voices who always are telling these young athletes about the benefits of staying one more year in college, the ones defending the NBA's ridiculous age limit, the ones more concerned about their own entertainment or profit than the fact that even the brightest of basketball futures rides on a single, skinny ligament."
- Bruce Ratner says he'll spend to keep Vince Carter and Jason Kidd.
- Chris Broussard is picking Dallas to win it all, but he's not unaware of the Pistons (Insider).
- Tom Ziller: "Can we suspend Ron Artest? Seriously. I know he's an elite defender and a good player, but c'mon. The last four games: at New Jersey, Ron plays and dominates the ball, Kings lose in an incredibly ugly and uninteresting way; at Indiana, Ron sits, Kevin Martin dominates the ball, Kings look lovely on offense and win walking away; at Philadelphia, Ron plays and dominates the ball, Kings lose in an incredibly ugly and uninteresting way; vs Charlotte, Ron sits, Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby dominate the ball, Kings look lovely on offense and win walking away."
- Really weird case of history repeating itself in Boston. CelticsBlog hauls a Jackie MacMullan article from the archives, which is all about a Celtic team in disarray praying a big man from the draft (back then it was Tim Duncan) would save them.
- Worries that Indiana could fall out of the playoff picture.
- An interesting little journalistic dispute about Billy Hunter's comments about New Orleans.
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