- Kobe Bryant with the quote of the year: "As far as me hitting the wall, so what if I did? I didn't, but so what if I did? What does it mean if you did? It means nothing. Because? Because I'll run straight trough it." If you want to teach your children about championship mentality, and about qualities from sports that are useful in other parts of life ...
- And just like that, here's Mark Cuban encouraging those out of work to develop a similar mentality.
- From Luke Walton's blog on Wednesday: "At the end of practice today, Phil called us to the middle circle. He said everybody meet in the hotel lobby at 7:30 for a mandatory team bus tonight. Where are we going? Good question. I have no idea. Maybe we'll see Mickey at Disney World or visit Epcot, go see a movie. Who knows? The surprise trips are not uncommon. One time this season, we were in D.C. and we all got on the bus for a shootaround and next thing we know we were touring the city for two hours. Or another time in training camp in Hawaii, everyone thought we were going to practice and instead, Phil took us to a military field and we did paint ball for about four or five hours. I can't imagine we're doing paint ball tonight but you never know with Phil. Most of the time when Phil schedules these excursions, they end up pretty cool." (Via BallerBlogger)
- Hedo Turkoglu vs. the L.A.P.D. He got a preventative warning against jaywalking by Staples Center. Chris Sheridan reports seeing all kinds of people getting in trouble for jaywalking there. Man oh man, let me tell you -- I jaywalked there more than once, in front of police and everything. I won't do it again, though!
- Steve Nash, comedy Finals reporter. (Who says "I'd love to" when asked if he'd play for the Knicks.) Have you ever seen Jeff Van Gundy laugh so hard?
- Outtakes of Dwight Howard being a goofball on the set of some TV commercials. David Thorpe says the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals was Sports Illustrated writer Chris Ballard, for writing the article that got Howard to be serious.
- I am not certain what is going on between Ricky Rubio and his team, but I am certain it is not amicable. There had been a lot of friendly talk about working together on a lower buyout, and letting Rubio pursue his dream.
- Shopping the NBA draft, looking for wingspan.
- Geoff Petrie on video, talking about Paul Westphal. His tone of voice is near-morose, but he says people like Danny Ainge, who played for Westphal, have great things to say about him.
- Ty Lawson has an amazing assist-to-turnover ratio.
- Michael Beasley's off-season workouts suggest he's not planning to be a power forward, but instead more of a perimeter player.
- The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen quotes Rafer Alston on the point guard's unlikely road to the NBA Finals: "You bounce around, don't handle your business in the classroom, are forced to go to junior college, bounce from one junior college to the next, get drafted and bounce from the CBA to NBDL and then find your niche in this league. I think 75, 80 percent of players in this league don't take that road, but it shows the perseverance and dedication it takes to make it this goal to be at the ultimate level. When you're growing up below the poverty line, you can get so caught up and frustrated about the way life is for you. For me, it was great to get away from that and go to the park and have so much fun and excitement. You know going back home, the living conditions are not their best. I'm living proof that anything is possible."
- Uh oh. Another one of those "planning the parade before the series is won" stories.
- With a new multi-faceted points system, John Hollinger ranks the best franchises in the NBA. The Lakers are tops, ahead of the Celtics, Spurs, Bulls and Suns.
- Not entirely dissimilar, a ranking of the best leagues in Europe.
- Ben Gordon says he has no idea about his status with the Bulls.
- Andrei Kirilenko is working with a new off-season trainer.
- Stan Van Gundy, two feet on the ground: "I was at the Division III level and I got out coached a lot of times. I was at the Division II level and I got out coached a lot of times, and there's some coaches at some of those schools right now who have got it in the back of their minds and looking at me and saying, 'You've got to be kidding me.' There was a guy, I don't know if he's there anymore, in fact I know he's not, but there was a guy at Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bruce Webster, he beat me nine out of ten times when I was at Lowell. You've got to be good in this business but you've also got to get a lot of breaks. If you don't realize that, if you really think you're sitting here because of your genius or anything, I don't know, maybe your background is different, but I got my butt kicked a lot at every level, including this one, so I sort of know where I stand in this profession."
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