- Ryan Greene of the Las Vegas Sun: "If there's any true justice in professional sports, the NBA Las Vegas summer league's single-game scoring record will belong to Anthony Morrow forever. Morrow, Golden State's 6-foot-5 second-year guard, took his place in the league's record books on Thursday evening, as a late baseline jumper gave him 44 points in a 104-84 victory over New Orleans. Less than a minute later, his seventh 3-pointer of the night gave him a final total of 47. ... It was only a year ago when Morrow came to the summer league to play for the Warriors with nothing more than a sliver of hope to hold onto. This year, he arrived with a wealth of confidence and a mohawk. ... He started off with 17 first quarter points on 7-of-8 shooting, and once he went into the half with 25 points next to his name, a buzz began to grow inside of Cox Pavilion. Morrow's swagger was at full strength, too. He was calling for the ball and going to work one-on-one against any and all challengers. He'd cross defenders over and drive to the bucket, or he'd hit step-back treys. Everything was falling. 'When he had 17, I said 'You've gotta break that and get at least 50 so we can go home one and two (in the record books),' said Warriors forward Anthony Randolph, who tied the old record of 42 on Tuesday against Chicago."
- Brad Rock of the Deseret News: "I look at the Jazz keeping Paul Millsap the same way I look at four-wheel drive: pricier than it should be but not impossibly so. And when you need it, you're really glad you have it. Word leaked out Thursday the Jazz will match Portland's four-year, $32 million offer sheet, thus ending a week of stress for everyone involved. Earlier this year, the Jazz hinted they'd re-sign their off-road, all-purpose forward, at almost any cost. And they did. Granted, the deal averages out to a million or two more than they hoped, but you won't hear anybody complaining. Durability and reliability have value. Besides, once they get past the $10.3 million that is due by the end of this month -- think of it like an insurance deductible -- the rest of it will be fairly manageable. So they retained Millsap the same way you buy a car at a Larry H. Miller dealership. The market sets the price."
- John Canzano of The Oregonian: "As they were preparing the Millsap offer, which included paying Millsap $10.3 million in the first week of his contract, Portland GM Kevin Pritchard said, 'We're not just looking for a fit here anymore, it's a special fit.' Which brings us to free-agent Lamar Odom. He's tough. He's versatile. He's a winner. And he fits Portland's lineup perfectly, which is why owner Paul Allen should green light the move today to make him the next Trail Blazer. ... The Lakers offered Odom a three-year, $27 million contract. It's not enough. Odom wants more years, and Portland can offer just that. Which is why Pritchard should stop reading this column and pick up the telephone now to close a deal with Camp Odom. I know there's friction on the court between LaMarcus Aldridge and Odom. But this is show business, not show friends. If Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest can find love in the name of winning, then so can Aldridge and Odom. ... Blazers fans might cringe at the thought of a former Laker in a Blazers uniform. But what they should consider is how badly it would hurt the Lakers to lose a player of Odom's caliber. The Lakers would never have won the world championship without him, and they know it."
- Israel Gutierrez of The Miami Herald: "The summer of 2010 is dead, killed by a combination of recession, impatience and an overdose of hype. Right now, the summer of 2009 is the new 2010. And if there was anymore evidence needed of that fact, it's that the Heat, once one of the leaders in the march for 2010, is discussing possibilities of building itself a winner now instead of waiting through another meaningless season. The latest involves the somewhat -- depending on who or what you read -- possibility of Miami acquiring Carlos Boozer, a post-threat power forward from Utah, and Lamar Odom, a familiar and versatile forward who helped jump-start the latest era of Heat basketball in 2003-04. Other than declaring the summer of 2010 old news, which is weird because it's still a year away, the Heat making those two moves would be following a new trend. Call it the Lakers design. The NBA isn't as much a copycat league as the NFL, but this easily could be sold as a case attempting to build a champion in the almost exact mold of the most recent champion."
- Martin Frank of The News Journal: "It didn't have to happen this way, where the 76ers are about to turn the point guard position over to Lou Williams, who has never really played point guard in the NBA before, while letting Andre Miller leave for nothing. The Sixers could have traded Miller before the deadline in February, gotten something in return while finding out if Williams could play the point guard position over the final two months of the season. Of course, that might have meant missing the playoffs, and those three extra home games, and those untold number of fans who all of a sudden developed championship fever and lined up to renew their season tickets. OK, maybe not. Now, the Sixers are going in blind, not knowing if Williams can be an effective NBA point guard. That's because Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski decided to keep Miller at the deadline, then take the chance that he would re-sign him over the summer. But Stefanski had to know in February that he couldn't keep Miller. He had to know then that the salary cap and luxury tax numbers would either stay the same or go down, that he couldn't give Miller anything near the $10 million a year he earned last season, that he wasn't going to commit to anything more than two years. He had nothing to lose by giving Williams the opportunity back then."
- Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "Chase Budinger was by far the Rockets' most efficient and consistent scorer, finishing the summer league with 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting in 26 minutes Thursday. He averaged 17.8 points, making 68.1 percent of his shots. 'He showed he's a player,' Dunn said. The Rockets' other second-round acquisition, Jermaine Taylor, had a mixed experience. And like Dorsey and Budinger, his last game was typical of his summer play. He made four of 10 shots, scoring 11 points, but misfired from long range. Taylor averaged 11 points in four games. He made 38.1 percent of his attempts but was just 2-of-13 from beyond the arc. 'Jermaine is a talented player,' Dunn said. 'He got off to a slow start when he got injured in practice. You can see he has some gifts, some ability.' James White's play was difficult to assess. He struggled in the first few games to produce offensively, often failing to get touches within the offense or to perform when featured in iso plays. But he played well defensively and excelled in the open court. 'I feel I did a good job,' White said. That was far from enough to co
mplete the Rockets' roster decisions early. With the addition of center David Andersen, the Rockets will have 14 players under contract, including White's non-guaranteed deal, and not including Taylor and Budinger. But for now, the Rockets left Las Vegas feeling better than when they arrived." - Marc Berman of the New York Post: "One way or another, Omri Casspi was facing the Knicks at the Garden this season. But he's happier to do it in Sacramento Kings' purple, not Maccabi Tel Aviv's yellow, when he becomes the first Israeli to play in the NBA. Tonight at 6, Casspi will face the Knicks in a summer-league matchup in Las Vegas (MSG Network). Playing them in New York, however, will be more special with more than 100,000 Israelis living in the New York area. 'I'm excited about getting there, playing in front of that Jewish community,' Casspi told The Post. 'I'm excited to see the reaction of fans.' Israeli TV showed the NBA Draft live at 2 a.m. and the Holy Land is ga-ga over Casspi being the first Israeli selected in the first round -- 23rd -- meaning he has a two-year guaranteed contract. Two other Israelis were drafted in the second round, both in 2006, Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin, but were cut."
- Steve Silver for The Washington Times: "The Washington Wizards aren't keeping it a secret that they are shopping for an experienced big man. Rumors continue to swirl that the Wizards are targeting anyone from Fabricio Oberto to Chris Wilcox to fill a void at center. JaVale McGee thinks he can put an end to that. Entering his second NBA season, the 7-footer who played at Nevada knows he needs an impressive summer league performance to earn a spot in the Wizards' starting lineup. 'That's definitely my main goal right now,' McGee said. 'Any player wants to be the main guy. I'm just trying to work as hard as I can and be the best at my position.' "
- Howard Beck of The New York Times: "The N.B.A. is taking tweeting to new heights. On Friday, the league will gain its 1 millionth follower on Twitter, becoming the first professional sports league to hit the mark. About 20 Twitter accounts have reached the 1 million follower plateau. Among corporate accounts, only Whole Foods has more followers than the N.B.A., according to the Web site trackingtwitter.com. But the N.B.A. still lags behind one of its biggest stars. Shaquille O'Neal, who was an early adopter, has accrued 1.6 million followers since he began tweeting last November. All 30 teams have Twitter accounts. The Los Angeles Lakers have the biggest following (700,000)."
- George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press: "It didn't take long for the Pistons to start the merchandising machine for their latest free-agent signings. The Palace Locker Room Store is selling preorders for jerseys of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Gordon's No. 7 jersey and Villanueva's No. 31 sell for $69 each. The Pistons are selling blue and white T-shirts for $20 that feature a name and number on the back, and the team logo and a number on the front."
- Pat Disabato of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Craig Hodges is one of two players to have won the NBA's annual three-point shooting contest three times. The other is Larry Bird. Hodges, a Park Forest native, also has two championship rings courtesy of his 3½-year stint with the Bulls. He has another coming as shooting coach for the champion Los Angeles Lakers, whom he has served since 2005. Between those highs were some gut-wrenching lows. The 1978 Rich East graduate's career ended at age 32, when he was released by the Bulls and never signed with another team -- despite the fact he connected on 40 percent of his three-point attempts in his 10-year career. Hodges remains convinced he was blackballed from the NBA after showing up at the Bulls' White House celebration in 1992 wearing a dashiki and handing President George H.W. Bush a letter asking him to address injustices in the black community."
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