- Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: "Why did veteran guard Lindsey Hunter choose to join the Bulls less than three weeks before his 38th birthday? To hear him describe it, the family ties added up. For starters, his wife, Ivy, grew up on the South Side. 'I'm kind of a Chicago guy,' Hunter said before Thursday's game against Dallas. 'So I'm pretty familiar with it. I spend a lot of time here in the summer.' Hunter is in relatively good shape because he trained with his 13-year-old son, Lindsey, a middle school cross-country runner. Then when asked why bother playing again after 15 years in the NBA, Hunter pointed to his father. 'My Dad (another Lindsey) worked at General Motors for 30 years,' said Hunter, a native of Mississippi. 'He talks to me every day about if you get a chance to play, you should play. He said, 'I worked at a plant for 30 years, and you get to play basketball. So, if you can do that, you do it.' I thought about that and was like, OK.'"
- Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press: "Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton were crying. There they were, two NBA All-Stars, in Billups' room in the Hilton City Center in Charlotte … crying. And laughing. And crying again. The Pistons had just traded Billups to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince had gotten word that morning, when Billups did not attend the team's shootaround. They got back to the hotel and pounded on Billups' door. Billups was on the phone with his wife, Piper. He told her he'd call her back later. It turned out to be much later. 'It was the hardest two or three hours that I've had in a long, long time in my life,' Billups said. 'We just couldn't believe that it's over. It's over. That's the thing that's so tough about trades. No matter what happens, it's over. So those two or three hours were crazy.' They reminisced, told stories, savored their last hours before Billups' 4 p.m. flight to another franchise. It was a strange dynamic, and not just because of the crying."
- Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "The Mavericks are disjointed. It seems they haven't figured out anything about coach Rick Carlisle's system. But the rest of the NBA has certainly figured them out. Put your best defender, whether he's big or small, on Dirk Nowitzki. Hound him as much as you can. And sooner or later, the Mavericks wilt."
- Mike Jones of The Washington Times: "The Washington Wizards avoided a franchise-worst 0-6 start with a victory over the visiting Utah Jazz on Wednesday, allowing the players a bit of relief. But only a bit. Although the Wizards finally got in the win column, the sense of urgency hasn't subsided, because Washington has to turn its attention to the much-improved Heat, whom they face Friday night in Miami. 'You sleep good one night, and then get prepared for the following game,' forward Caron Butler said. 'But the thing about the NBA is there's always challenges ahead the night after. So after we woke up this morning, you had to think about Miami.'"
- Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Of all the things the Milwaukee Bucks were lacking for a large portion of this decade, one of the less tangible qualities, but one that nevertheless will help shape their course from here, was a sense of professionalism. While it may be more difficult to quantify professionalism than the effects of a lock-down defender or a power forward who can score, its absence was almost as damaging as it manifested itself in players being late for practice, meetings and buses, and the general malaise characterized by an undisciplined team. While being on time and disciplined won't by themselves win NBA games, those assets that are the basis of professionalism are beginning to re-emerge in a team trying to do one of the hardest things in sports, which is to change a losing culture."
- Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: "Cavs forward LeBron James said he listens to Jay-Z music before almost every game. 'Music is a big part of my life,' he said. 'It helps me get ready for the games. I listen to everything: hip-hop, R&B, alternative.' One thing he said he refuses to listen to is sports talk radio. He said his iPod is chocked full of all kinds of music, even some Barry Manilow. He even showed the media his iPod before the game, which had three Manilow songs -- 'Mandy,' 'Copacabana (at the Copa),' and 'I Am Your Child.'"
- Peter Vecsey of the New York Post: "A bloated bulging disc is apt to hit a nerve in the spine, thus the contractions of pain when the body moves or is jarred. X-rays show Danilo Gallinari's disc is hardly bulging. Just to be on the safe side, additional MRIs are planned by the Knicks. In view of the findings, some people within the Knicks organization are wondering - not in a wicked way, honest - if Gallinari's distress might be as much mental as physical. Nobody questions the sincerity of his anguish; it's his threshold for pain that's in question. That's where the head trip comes into play. Badly sprained ankles, broken bones and torn ligaments are less frightening than back problems, I submit, because they're unambiguous. The injury is obvious, and so is the solution. Back trouble is invisible to everyone -- fans, teammates, management, investigative journalists, etc. -- exempting the tortured soul wracked by pain."
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: "GM Otis Smith is as old school as they come. He demands his players act professionally and adhere to a dress code. Road trips are business trips. But even Smith had to hand it to his 6-foot-11, 270-pound all-star center, who stepped onto the flight wearing a red kimono and a black wig, and rambling in some weird voice. Dwight Howard was impersonating 'Sho'Nuff' from the kung-fu spoof 'The Last Dragon'. Smith was impressed because Howard was going the old-school route, considering the movie came out in 1985. That's the year Dwight was born. 'Yeah, for Dwight to even know about 'The Last Dragon' ... You got to give him that for creativity,' Smith said, still laughing. 'Morlon [Wiley, the team's director of player development] looked at Dwight and says to me, 'What's the fine for that?' 'Eventually, it will wear off. I don't know how long this will go on for Dwight. It's all entertainment.'"
- Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "The Suns big men are lobbying for one style. Center Shaquille O'Neal maintains that championships are won from the inside out and would not mind getting about 15 shots every game. Forward Amaré Stoudemire mentions how "we will see if we can correct those mistakes" after saying he did not get enough shots during an 11-point outing in Wednesday night's 94-82 loss to Houston at US Airways Center. The Suns perimeter players are lobbying for another style. Shooting guard Raja Bell, who was scoreless Wednesday, says the Suns are built to be a running team and are playi
ng with uncertainty. ... If there is resistance to the new system, Terry Porter said he has not heard it from them. 'I think there are times that they do want to get out and run, which I totally understand,' Porter said. 'I'm not stopping them from doing that. We just have to do it after getting a stop.'" - Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News: "They say 40 is the new 30. That must mean 70 is the new 60. Gone are the days when coaches, after turning 65, actually were doing their only coaching in a rocking chair while watching TV. Come back in 2020 and maybe we'll see the NBA's first 80-year-old coach. If anybody thought Don Nelson was done when, at 64, he left Dallas in March 2005, they were greatly mistaken. Nelson, the NBA's oldest active coach at 68, recently signed a contract extension with Golden State that takes him through 2010-11. If anybody thought Larry Brown was finished after New York dispatched him 2 1/2 years ago at 65, they also were quite wrong. Brown, who is 68 and four months younger than Nelson, joined Charlotte this season on a four-year deal that runs through 2011-12. If Brown fulfills his contract and Nelson doesn't sign a new one, Brown would become the oldest man ever to coach an NBA game."
- Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: "The Celtics still will be seeking to practice the politics of inclusion as they distribute the basketball among themselves, both tonight against Denver and for the rest of the season. They want to play as a team and treat each other as equals. But when it comes to scoring, they now know Paul Pierce is a little more equal than everybody else, if you get the drift. This has become even more clear the past two games, in which the captain averaged 35 points. In fact, during his past five quarters, Pierce has burned the strings for 56. 'Oh, I think that all the time,' he said with a slight grin when asked if he simply wants the ball sometimes. 'But I try to play within the flow of the offense. I don't want to take away from everybody else's abilities. I know what I'm capable of, but it's a team game and we need each other to win.'"
- Ramona Shelburne of the Los Angeles Daily News: "Only three current Lakers -- Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton -- were around for the 2004 NBA Finals series between the two teams, but the memories those players have seem vivid enough for everyone. 'I think there's a lot of respect in terms of the talent on each team,' Fisher said. 'But for me personally, losing to them in the Finals in 2004 still resonates strongly. So anything remotely related to Detroit or the Pistons, does not sit very well.'"
- Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee: "Nine games into his career, Donté Greene is ready for his time. 'The whole time since Kevin (Martin) has been out (with an ankle injury), I've been letting (the Kings' coaching staff) know that I can play,' he said after scoring five points and grabbing two rebounds in eight minutes of Wednesday's win over the Clippers. 'I told (assistant) coach (Chuck) Person I was ready during introductions. And then I got out there and produced. I just want coach to know he can put me in there.' It's not that Greene is growing impatient. He said he's simply confident, knowing that a training camp's worth of work and practice sessions have helped his defensive inefficiencies and that the timing may be just right to impress."
- Kerry Eggers of The Portland Tribune: "In the long run, though, Sergio Rodriguez must go. Let me back up -- it's either Rodriguez or Nate McMillan who must find another team. And it's not going to be the coach. McMillan is a half-court offense guy. His teams don't run. After finishing last in the NBA in fastbreak points in each of the last two seasons, Portland is 26th this season, averaging a pedestrian 7.1 points per game. McMillan's offense consists mostly of pick-and-rolls and isolations, with Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge posting up or going one-on-one, and Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez spotting up on the perimeter. Rodriguez is a point guard made for a transition game. McMillan likes his players scrappy. Blake is scrappy. Bayless, I think, will prove to be very scrappy. Rodriguez works hard and does his best to be scrappy, but he is more flashy and creative. In short, Rodriguez is not McMillan's kind of player. That's not an indictment of the coach, merely a fact."
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