ESPN NBA

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

• Mark Cuban puts the kibosh on Dirk Nowitzki playing for the Germans in the European championship.
  
• Dave Berri is much more bullish on the Rockets in 2009-10 than most observers, and appraises the team from -- no surprise -- a very Berrian persepctive: "... wins are about more than scoring.  And when we measure these players contributions to wins (via Wins Produced), we see that Houston has fewer problems than people believe.  Consequently, I think it's possible that Morey's considerable reputation is about to become further enhanced." 
  
• Courtney Lee is still smarting over the trade from Orlando to New Jersey, says former teammate Dwight Howard. 
• Kurt Helin of Forum Blue & Gold on Magic Johnson's post-Laker life in Los Angeles: "After Magic left the Lakers he did not leave Los Angeles, he invested in it. He invested in the urban, poor neighborhoods that nobody else would, and got big name companies to join him (but not without considerable work). He showed corporations they could make money in areas that before they had feared to tread, and while those floodgates have never truly opened, they are more open now than they have been."
• Brian Grant has never been to a hockey game, but he's built a strong friendship NHL lifer Brent Peterson, now the Nashville Predators head coach. Both men suffer from Parkinson's disease.
• Quentin Richardson is in perpetual motion. Somehow this no longer seems so far-fetched.
• I like this piece by Shoals on J.R. Smith and representational issues that arise when we size up ballers. 
• Another senseless death, this time in Milwaukee over ... a car. 
• Suns rookie Earl Clark was a big basketball card collector as a kid, and just handed down his collection to his nephew. 
• Charley Rosen gives us (in alphabetical order) his best NBA defenders. Not on the list? Dwight Howard and LeBron James.  
• In honor of Sunday's premiere of "Mad Men," John Krolik of Cavs the Blog puts together power rankings for the year's best ads. 
• Clippers center and Texan DeAndre Jordan is an avid fan of Kornheiser and Wilbon ... and, apparently, our friends to the north. From DJ's twitter feed: "PTI! I'm waiting on the Canadian flag wave! That's my favorite part of the show!"