- John Denton of Florida Today: "There have been times when [Rashard] Lewis has wanted to grouse and demand more of a prominent role in the Orlando offense, but he's resisted. He's been fairly insulated from the fans' barbs about having not lived up to his massive contract, one that is paying him $15.6 million this season, and he's pretty much been content to go with the flow. In Lewis' eyes, any other sort of behavior would be selfish and toxic to the Magic's chemistry. The easy-going Lewis vows he isn't about to do anything at this point to disrupt an Orlando team he feels can do some serious damage come playoff time. 'I'm not the type who reads the newspaper, but I know there's going to be criticism, whether I'm the best player in the NBA or the worst player in the NBA,' said Lewis, referring to message-board rants he hasn't lived up to his contract."
- Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register: "Lamar Odom set an NBA record for the longest streak of postgame singing in the shower with his performance late Sunday night in Seattle. Jordan Farmar was fully capable as Odom's backup singer. These Lakers are indeed a glee club now. And even though they have everything to play for in these coming months, there's more: They're going to have everything to play for in these coming years. That's the beauty of the Lakers' makeover -- unlike Phoenix's facelift (Shaquille O'Neal, 36 next week) and Dallas' Botox injection (Jason Kidd, 35 next month). Kobe Bryant is 29, Pau Gasol is 27, Andrew Bynum is 20 and Farmar is 21. Yes, Farmar very much merits mention in that line, because the day is most surely coming when Farmar is more valuable to the Lakers than Odom."
- Marc Narducci of the The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Right now, it seems like a reach for the Sixers to reach the postseason, especially with the upcoming schedule that has 11 of the next 17 games against teams with winning records. And as stated in the previous blog, if the Sixers are having trouble putting away teams such as Miami while losing to the Timberwolves, what happens now, with consecutive games against Orlando, Golden State and Phoenix. As one reader datruth4life says, 'I think it's fool's gold to think this team can win enough games to get in the playoffs.'"
- Krista Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press: "The inside of coach Flip Saunders' mouth has taken a beating this season. 'You'll notice I bite my lip a lot,' Saunders said. 'I've got a lot of scars and stuff in there.' That's one result of having two rookies among the team's top eight players. Go nine deep, and there's forward Amir Johnson, who is technically in his third year but is getting playing time for the first time. It's enough to make any coach nervous, especially when the objective is to be one of the best teams in the league and compete for a title. But Saunders has ridden the anxiety waves and has stuck by Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo, even if it means a sore upper lip."
- K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune: "General manager John Paxson's theory that his crowded backcourt is a 'good issue' might be true in the long term. That's if Paxson can parlay an asset into something greater. In the short term, it will be virtually a daily issue -- inside and outside the locker room. 'Everything's fluid,' Boylan said. 'We'll try different combinations. You want to give guys a chance, not one shift out there and if you don't like what you see, you don't go back to it again. It's unfortunate, but we haven't had time to practice, where we could take a look at combinations.'"
- Martin Johnson of the New York Sun: "There were a lot of statistical techniques I learned from reading Bill James's 'Baseball Abstracts' in the 1980s, but one of his comments that resonated most deeply with me dealt with tactics: 'Good teams don't ask their players to do things they can't do.' Now, that might seem like just plain common sense. But after growing up watching a variety of inept Chicago teams, then moving to New York where there was no shortage of losers, that comment rang true to me. It came to mind this weekend while I was watching the situation between the Knicks and center Eddy Curry approach a boiling point. ... There's a place for players who do one thing really well: the second unit. It's where you find sharpshooters from behind the arc with few other skills, guys who can handle the ball and set up an offense but not shoot, and players who can defend but have no offensive game. Curry belongs on the Knicks' second unit. In fact, he should be the offensive cornerstone of the second unit, getting upwards of 20 minutes per contest."
- Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: "Earl Mornoe was at the Apollo Theater last night for a private screening of 'Black Magic' a documentary directed by Dan Klores about basketball at historically black colleges. Monroe, who went to Winston-Salem, is featured in the documentary, as are former Chicago Bull Bob Love and legendary coach John McClendon. ESPN will televise the documentary March 16 and 17. The documentary also was shown during All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, one day before the Hall of Fame announced 15 finalists for the class of 2008. Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon made the list but none of the great players and coaches from historically black colleges was named. 'I think it's a travesty,' Monroe said. 'You'd like to have people who are there at the Hall of Fame who have some sense of history of what it is all about; there are so many guys that are so deserving.'"
- George M. Thomas of The Akron Beacon-Journal: "Kenny Roda gave General Manager Danny Ferry credit for being able to unload an unhappy Hughes and his unwieldy contract. However, he thinks the key part of the trade is Smith, who will fill Gooden's spot in the lineup. 'I think Joe Smith, after one practice, knew the Cavaliers' offense better than Drew Gooden did in all the time he was here,' Roda said. Ouch. Roda wasn't the only media type offering kudos to Ferry. WJW (Channel 8) sports anchor John Telich got the chance to watch the new-look Cavs on Sunday and said the new roster gives coach Mike Brown the chance to play mad scientist with his lineups, figuring out what works best and especially what provides flexibility with the number of big men on the team."
- Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle: "When does confidence become cockiness? When do great expectations become overwhelming burdens?
When does the rarefied air of a soaring streak become detached from down-to-earth effort? 'As soon as you think of it as a streak,' Rockets forward Shane Battier said. 'In our situation, I don't think we have a great danger of that happening. Not because we're different from everybody else. But because of the situation we're in here in the Western Conference. Yeah, we've won 12 games in a row, and we're still only about two games from being bounced back out of the playoffs.'" - Matt Paulson of the East Valley Tribune: "Now the questions are, how long will that transitional period be, and with the Western Conference as bunched up as it is, how long can Phoenix afford it to be? 'I think it's going to take us a lot of time to really find out how we can best complement each other,' point guard Steve Nash said of himself and O'Neal. 'I'm confident we'll come to some sort of understanding out there that's going to be very difficult to contend with.' While the Suns want to ensure they are playing their best basketball, and the best of anyone in the league when the playoffs arrive in two months, they can't sacrifice too many victories along the way."
- Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times: "The whisper became a roar, a crescendo of anticipation, helped along by daily screams of delight from the NBA offices in New York. Valium and cold showers, David Stern. It'll be June soon. The Celtics played the Clippers at Staples on Monday night and won't get any closer than two time zones from L.A. the rest of the season. Unless. Lakers-Celtics. It still has that ring, probably always will."
- Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel: Ron Artest, 28, is the tremendously gifted, often-maligned, always-interesting character who might be the most intriguing player to watch this summer if he opts out of his contract to become an unrestricted free agent. He is in his athletic prime, talented enough to be one of the league's highest-paid players. Yet he carries enough baggage to scare even the bravest of the league's general managers. All-star forward Carmelo Anthony asked management in Denver to trade for Artest earlier this month -- believing he could push the Nuggets to the top, but the trade deadline passed without anything happening. Denver wouldn't give up third-year player Linas Kleiza -- a reserve -- to make it work. That's the Artest contradiction. ... If Artest didn't have such a checkered past, he would be lauded as one of the game's finest players, a rare combination of both defense and the ability to score many ways."
- Jan Hubbard of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "The number 419,904,000 caught my eye, not because it represented perhaps one-quarter of Mark Cuban's fortune, but because it made a long time seem even longer. That figure is the number of seconds that passed between Jason Kidd's two debuts as the Mavericks' savior. It was courtesy of the specialty Web site timeanddate.com, which also revealed that there were 13 years, three months and 20 days between debuts. The effect of Kidd's arrival, however, is the same in 2008 as it was in 1994. It's about hope. And all about joining a team desperate for success."
- Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle: "By now, it is a cliche to point out that Stephen Jackson controls the Warriors' pulse, their emotional core, even more so than Baron Davis. Nobody saw that coming when he arrived here 13 months ago, at least not the people who knew Jackson's reputation better than they knew him. Now the question is: Can someone with such transcendent leadership skills someday do great things off the court, too? Neda Barrie, the team's vice president of business development, wasn't expecting much when he was traded from Indiana. She had seen the video of him fighting Detroit fans in the stands, and she knew about the charges of gunfire in a strip-club parking lot. Then she spoke with counterpart from the Pacers, who told her: You're going to love him. He'll be your community-relations go-to guy. ... Every member of the club is supposed to do a certain amount of public service. Jackson doesn't quit at the minimum, she said, 'and he's never shy about dipping into his own pocket.'"
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