- Ivan Carter of The Washington Post: "The NBA is popular throughout the world, and Gilbert Arenas has a large following because of his spectacular play, his blog and his knack for self-promotion. But the Wizards are not particularly well known overseas as a franchise -- or at least that appeared to be the case Sunday. After players filed on to buses to take them back to the hotel following Sunday's practice, an English-speaking Berliner who happened to be walking by tried to figure out what she was seeing. 'Who are the Wizards?' she asked. When told that the team is from the United States and plays basketball in the NBA, the woman smiled. 'Oh, like the Lakers,' she said."
- Pete Thamel of The New York Times: "The owners of Olympiacos, the Greek club that sent ripples through the basketball world by signing Josh Childress over the summer, say they have only just begun poaching players from the N.B.A. Panayiotis and George Angelopoulos are billionaire brothers with the goal of making Olympiacos the best team in the world outside the N.B.A. Panayiotis Angelopoulos, 35, is so serious about their team that he negotiates contracts with N.B.A. agents and watches game film of prospective players. With a brash tone and hands-on manner, he is the Euroleague's version of Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks."
- Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: "Check the scale. He's eight pounds heavier. Check the identification. He turned 21 years old last Saturday. Check the game. Mike Conley is shooting the basketball better and delivering it with predictable precision. More importantly, the 6-1 point guard taken fourth overall in the 2007 draft at age 19 is making a man's stand at the forefront of the Grizzlies' youth movement. Conley returned this season displaying the assertive behavior vital for a point guard in the up-tempo offensive system head coach Marc Iavaroni champions. There is a building consensus that Conley's left behind the passive and deferential qualities from last season, and is making a firm case as the Grizzlies' starter at his position."
- Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: "One upside of being removed from the starting lineup is that Stephon Marbury is now guaranteed not to be booed during player introductions. What happens when Marbury does enter the Knicks' first home preseason game Tuesday night is anyone's guess. The fans won't have Isiah Thomas to kick around anymore, so by process of elimination Marbury is a strong possibility to emerge as the new Penn Plaza piņata, with Eddy Curry running a close second. Yes, Curry and Jamal Crawford actually have a lower winning percentage than Marbury during their time in New York. But Marbury is the symbol of the Isiah years, which included only one playoff berth and zero playoff wins."
- Tim Buckley of the Deseret News: "... the real million-dollar case for the Jazz on Sunday was the one adorned with No. 47, and it's all because of how turning a one-time All-Star into the team's chief sixth man could prove to be win-win for both Andrei Kirilenko and coach Jerry Sloan's club. Hitting 7-of-10 from the field, Kirilenko again came off the bench and had a team-high 15 points the Jazz's 93-80 preseason win at Portland. It's a look first displayed in Utah's exhibition victory over the Los Angeles Lakers last Tuesday in Anaheim, Calif., and one seemingly growing increasingly popular not only for Sloan and Kirilenko but also key Jazz teammates."
- Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: "He had been on opposite poles of Coach Phil Jackson for weeks, publicly questioning him at the team's annual media day, but an olive branch was extended Sunday night. 'That was like my alter-ago talking,' Odom said of last month's outburst. 'Seriously. That's Odom. Not Lamar. I'm being dead serious. I'm a good locker-room dude. I don't want to be detrimental to the team, especially, like, how this is a championship-caliber team.' It's been an unusual block of time for a player considered one of the friendliest on the team, if not the league. A year ago, he shelled out about $40,000 during training camp to feed teammates every day in Honolulu -- morning, noon and night. Now, he feels he's getting shelled on all sides ... in a contract year, no less."
- Carroll Rogers of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Within 10 days of his retirement announcement, Abdur-Rahim was introduced as the newest member of Reggie Theus' coaching staff. 'For athletes, it's death, taxes and retirement,' said Theus, who rekindled an idea the Kings had last season to hire a big man coach. 'There's no way around it. Fortunately, Shareef will have a chance to wind his career down slowly and still be involved. What you miss most about playing after years go by is camaraderie and the competition. In coaching you get to compete but in a more cerebral way. And the camaraderie is there, not only with players, but the coaching staff is a new family.' Abdur-Rahim called it a blessing. 'Having to quit something cold turkey [is hard],' he said by phone from Sacramento. 'Hopefully, I can take advantage of this and learn and do well in this and see where this leads me. Go from there.'"
- Frank Dell'Apa of The Boston Globe: "A 7-foot center leaves a Bay Area team to join the Celtics after being called either lazy or unmotivated. That is what happened in 1980, when the Celtics acquired Robert Parish from the Warriors, and again this year as Patrick O'Bryant joined the Celtics as a free agent. O'Bryant might not win as many NBA titles as Parish. He might not even become the Celtics' starting center. But, so far, O'Bryant has been disproving the negative labels in leading the Celtics in field goal percentage (.632), blocked shots (1.7), and rebounds (6.3) during the exhibition season."
- Gary Washburn of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "According to those close to Gary Payton, he offered to work for the Sonics in a community or coaching role after retiring from the Miami Heat in 2007 but was rebuffed. He participated in a Save Our Sonics rally during the team's trial against the city of Seattle in June, but Mayor Greg Nickels settled the case with the Professional Basketball Club (LLC) and the Sonics relocated to Oklahoma City in July. Payton predicted Seattle will get a new team within three years. 'I'm inside with the NBA a little bit; I think before 2011 a team will be here,' he said. 'A lot of teams want to move and I think Seattle's got a good shot at it.' ... Payton said he is optimistic the NBA will return and he wants to be part of the new team. 'I'm still looking forward to a team that will come here and when it does come here, I want to be a part of that team,' he said. 'We won't have a mishap that will happen like that again, where a team would leave. It's in a downfall here, but with the fans' spirit here, it will always remain u
pbeat.'" - Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "DeSagana Diop's camp and tournament work in conjunction with the SEEDS Academy, which Fall, a 6-9 native of Senegal who never made it to the NBA, created in 2003. SEEDS stands for Sports for Education and Economic Development. The academy does not promise a career in basketball, but rather a platform for a greater education and future. Diop, 26, hopes to bring teammates and other NBA players to his camp in the future to open eyes to the vastly differing perceptions of poverty and opportunity. 'We survived; I was eating,' Diop said of his childhood. 'Poor there is like nothing here. People say they grew up poor; they're not. They grow up in the 'hood; that's not the 'hood, man. In Senegal, poor is you don't have electricity, you eat once a day.'"
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