- Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Time: "Assistant coach Kurt Rambis said Odom's game was 'fair to middling, maybe poor,' and that Odom 'didn't seem focused out there.' Jackson took it a step further. 'I just got through telling him that this is really basketball now,' Jackson said Wednesday. 'He looks like he's either curling or doing some other kind of sport. He's not playing basketball. The first shot he took was a three-pointer in the middle of the third quarter? That was pretty interesting.' Jackson was non-committal when asked whether Odom would continue handling the ball."
- Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: "Daniel Gibson's father, Byron, is a close friend to Cavs assistant general manager Lance Blanks. It was Gibson's father who negotiated the sharp-shooting guard's five-year, $21 million deal. It was announced on July 16, and it didn't take long for agents around the country to voice their displeasure with the contract. Agents thought the Cavs took advantage of the father-and-son duo at the negotiating table. Many thought Gibson could have gotten more money had he been represented by a savvy, veteran agent. Gibson was a restricted free agent and there was little -- if any -- talking done with other teams. The Cavs bristle at such talk. They felt Gibson signed a fair deal. He will earn $3.7 million this season. The fifth year of the contract -- worth $4.8 million in 2012-13 -- is only half-guaranteed. 'The deal I got was good, fair,' Gibson said. 'An agent might have gotten the same thing, possibly more.' Gibson, 22, said getting absolute top dollar right now was not important. 'In the end, it wasn't about the money,' he said. 'At this point in my career, I wanted to set the table. In the future, I want to set the table for my family. Right now, it's a matter of how much I love the game. I would play the game for free.'"
- Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: "Was Rome built in a day? Were the World Champion Boston Celtics built in a single offseason? Er, wait. Don't answer that last one. But why not be optimistic? You can look at FedExForum as 15/16ths empty if you like. I choose to see it as is 1/16th filled. It was stunning, though, to see just how empty -- I mean, partially filled -- the place was, even given the understanding that the entire metro area has either given up on or become alienated from the Grizzlies. Yes, it was an exhibition game. Yes, it conflicted with Yom Kippur. You still don't expect to walk into an NBA arena 10 minutes before the opening tip to find hundreds of people in the lower bowl."
- Rob Parker of The Detroit News: "On the surface, the Pistons look like the same old, same old. There was no blockbuster trade, no free-agent signing in that got fans pumped about the upcoming season. But when you take a closer look, the Pistons have something new that they didn't have last season. Enter Rodney Stuckey. Before you say Stuckey was here last season -- which he was -- this Stuckey wasn't. This Stuckey is expected to have a much bigger role than last season when he came off the bench to usually spell either Chauncey Billups or Richard Hamilton. This Stuckey, 22, will now get nearly equal minutes as the two starters. Last season, Billups averaged 32 and Hamilton 33. Stuckey played 19 minutes a game."
- Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald: "Asked if the rumors were true that he consumed little else but Gummi bears last year as a college student, Bulls rookie Derrick Rose admitted he had a weakness not only for Gummi bears but all candy. 'At Halloween, I'd take all my nieces' and nephews' candy,' he said. 'It hit me right when training camp started, I started to know I have to change things like eating, resting. Really, the game is a mental game. I had to get my IQ a little higher.'"
- Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "No one asks Yao Ming if center is the position that will make-or-break the season. 'Weak link' does not come up when Tracy McGrady is asked about the shooting guards. Rafer Alston hears it all the time. Aaron Brooks is asked loaded questions about whether he is 'ready.' For point guards with the Rockets, it's part of the job, as much as bringing the ball up or getting it to the stars at other positions. It is a point neither contests, with the assumption the Rockets can go only as far as their point guards allow an accepted part of their lives."
- Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: "Barely a week into his first Spurs training camp, point guard George Hill has already accomplished something no rookie should be able to. He's made a veteran All-Star jealous. 'Pop is not screaming at him the way he screamed at me,' Tony Parker said, recalling his own hellish start as an 18-year-old point guard prodigy under coach Gregg Popovich. 'I always tell George he's so lucky. He doesn't have to go through near what I had to go through.' Parker has a theory as to his coach's newfound sense of Zen-like patience. 'I think Pop is getting soft,' Parker said with a grin."
- Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: "Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani believes that fellow countryman Danilo Gallinari compares favorably to Hedo Turkoglu, the Magic's versatile power forward who can also play shooting guard. 'He can do everything,' said Bargnani, the Raptors' former No. 1 pick. 'In Italy he always played small forward. I think he can play big forward.' Gallinari, the Knicks' first-round pick, remains sidelined with a sore back. 'It's too bad that (Danilo) is not ready,' said Maurizio Gherardini, the Raptors' VP of Basketball Operations who is also from Italy. 'He needs the preseason to get another taste of the league after playing just one game in the summer league. But I saw the warmup today. He looked pretty good. He's got everything -- talent, size -- to be a great addition to this team.'"
- Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: "A little more than a week after Carmelo Anthony proclaimed to be a changed player -- a new-and-improved version ready to truly make the team his -- there is tangible evidence he is headed in the right direction. His teammates say Anthony has been more vocal in practice, particularly in directing defensive traffic. He's encouraged players and has been an active participant in running, not something many star players are concerned with. 'I've seen some of it,' guard Anthony Carter said. 'Just like right now, he was running, trying to push everybody. He's trying to tell people where to go, and how to rotate and things like that.'"
- Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "It took more than three years and four visits to Phoenix, but the boos for Hawks guard Joe Johnson were barely audible Wednesday night."
- Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee: "It wasn't that [Spencer Hawes] missed 7 of 9 shots from the field, but the way his identity crisis continued as he settled for perimeter looks (eight of his attempts came from 12 feet and beyond) and appeared timid to enter the paint. It wasn't just that he was pushed around by Greg Oden, whose 285-pound frame trumps Hawes' by 40 pounds, it was the haphazard defensive positioning that led to three quick fouls and no signs of improvement on that end. With Brad Miller facing a five-game suspension to start the regular season and Hawes scheduled to take his place, the learning-curve cushion of last season no longer exists. A day after the exhibition opener, Hawes' discombobulated play left his coach and teammates searching for answers."
- Mike Sherman of The Oklahoman: "Remember all the folks who told us Oklahoma City was delusional to think it was getting an NBA team? Remember those who laughed when we thought the Hornets might stay? Remember when we were told that Mr. Microsoft, Mr. Coffee and Slade Gorton and all those superior intellects, millionaires and 'revealing emails' were going to force Clay Bennett's group to sell the team? None of that, none of those people, mattered on Wednesday night when Oklahoma City's -- that's right, OKLAHOMA CITY'S -- NBA team made its debut in Billings, Mont. The Oklahoma City Thunder might not be scheduling any ring ceremonies or NBA championship parades in this decade. But this preseason game was no small thing. It marked the first time a major league team that belongs to and in this city -- and this city alone -- ever took the court."
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "Until J.J. Redick actually does something notable in a real NBA game (not the 12 points he scored in that laughable 118-80 exhibition victory Wednesday against the Charlotte Bobcats), you will not see his name or his face anywhere near this column. I just can't take it anymore. Every time I open up the sports section, every time I turn on a sports radio show, every time I click onto a Magic message board, all you see or hear is J.J., J.J., J.J.. I called up Sentinel Magic writer Brian Schmitz's blog Wednesday at OrlandoSentinel.com and three of the four most recent posts were about J.J. For crying out loud, look at all the pictures of J.J. around this column. Even our photographer Gary Green is infatuated with the guy. The only way J.J. could possibly get more publicity is if he were having an affair with Sarah Palin."
- Frank Dell'Apa of The Boston Globe: "Darius Miles was 3 for 3 from the field for 6 points in a 16-minute stint in his first game since April 2006 with Portland. Miles missed the last two seasons after microfracture surgery on his right knee. 'I couldn't sleep last night, I was so nervous,' Miles said. "I'm not an option on this team, I'm just a role player. But that's fine with me. I love the way this team plays defense. This was my first time going five, six days in a row [in practice] in two years. I knew once I got past that Sunday practice, I'd have a day off. I've had no pain, no nothing. It's just been discomfort.'"
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