- Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: "The Spurs missed on Josh Howard. His opinion of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' doesn't change that. The Spurs should have drafted him in 2003. The only issue would have been how the Spurs would have eventually fit him into their payroll, but they would have found a way. He's too good. They would be better now -- and maybe favorites -- if they had him. But as Howard acts less mature with every word he utters, there's reason to wonder if he was the real loser of that draft-day decision. Had he been with the Spurs all these years, he would have won championships; he might have helped the team win another, too, in 2006. He also would have hung around with another Wake Forest alum, and he would have plugged into an attitude that believes boring news is good news. This is where Howard's image and life would have detoured."
- Chris Herrington of The Memphis Flyer: "After suggesting one of the team's three young point guards would be moved this summer, it looks like Chris Wallace will instead be bringing all three back into training camp, with the addition of two other players -- O.J. Mayo and Marko Jaric -- with at least a pretense of playing point guard. Despite this logjam, Mike Conley needs to seize the job -- on the court and off -- leaving no doubt who this team's point guard and floor general is. Frankly, I see him beating out Kyle Lowry and Javaris Crittenton decisively in that regard. The bigger question will be how Conley fits in a starting backcourt alongside Mayo, a guard that seems to need the ball to be effective and whose long-term NBA position could be point guard. That question won't begin to be answered until Conley and Mayo pair up against NBA competition."
- Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "Change is good. They are referring to new coach Rick Carlisle. But they also believe the transition from Avery Johnson will show an earlier change -- trading for Jason Kidd -- was a smart move. The fresh, upbeat atmosphere will be a theme as the Mavericks prepare for training camp, which will be held at SMU's new training facility. And one of the team's leaders insists the attitude has, indeed, changed. 'Automatically,' Jason Terry said. 'It's obvious, if we come back and play the way we played the last two years, the system wasn't bad, but now you've changed the roster. So we needed to go in a different direction.'"
- Peter May for HoopsHype.com: "If the NBA is, indeed, a players' league, then the New York Knicks' front-office transformation this year will amount -- to coin a phrase -- to putting lipstick on a pig. Basketball operations boss Donnie Walsh is universally well-respected. New coach Mike D'Antoni is universally well-respected. They are the lipstick -- and the rouge, blush, mascara and everything else new and attractive about the Knicks. Neither, however, will play a minute for this year's Knicks who, on paper, look an awful lot like last year's train wreck."
- Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: "Mike Gminski mentioned something a bit off the topic we were discussing, but certainly worth passing on: That dumb jocks have little chance of succeeding under Brown, because his system is so complex and changes over the course of each season. 'He loves the gym and he loves to tinker -- plays, he will tinker with them all season,' said Gminski, the smartest player I've covered in the NBA. 'He'll change a play four times in the course of a season. That means the point guard has got to be on top of things, and when you have four variations on each play, you have to have smart players. Players with high basketball IQs do better with Larry than great athletes who don't have that.'"
- Basketball 24/7: "Luol Deng has cost Great Britain's basketball team £60,000 a victory during their successful European Championship qualifying campaign. But that is money well spent as Chris Finch's team concludes its amazing qualifying efforts for the 2009 European Championships in Bosnia Herzegovina tonight. ... Deng only made the GB line-up after British Basketball paid an extra £240,000 insurance premium to cover an old back injury. And Finch said: 'Obviously right now, that represents money well spent because we have qualified for the European Finals for the first time ever. It also sends out a message about how serious and well run this programme is. Luol is not only a great player, he' s a great ambassador for the sport and a vital part of what we are doing.'"
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