- Tom Knott of The Washington Times: "Judging from his selective trip down memory lane with Mike Jones of The Washington Times, Gilbert Arenas has returned to his old, mercurial, otherworldly self. As it turns out, he holds the organization accountable for his protracted stay on the shelf. He says he needed to be protected from himself, if not bound in the parachute he was training with two summers ago, and ordered to stop overdoing it. But he says no one in the organization had the inclination to do so, perhaps because of a need to sell tickets, and so he became a victim. That could be one version of the truth. It could be equally true that Arenas was going into the opt-out year of his contract and the organization was looking to keep him happy. If the intent of the organization was to rush Arenas back and sell tickets, it has not worked out well."
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel: "So where does the Heat stand 10 days before the Sept. 28 start of training camp at AmericanAirlines Arena? Heat President Pat Riley recently offered his perspective on a season that largely will be dependent on growth of young players such as Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers and Daequan Cook: 'We've got a team where we hope that Daequan and Mario and Beas are going to improve, double what they did last year, and that we're going to get the performances out of Jermaine and Dwyane and Udonis that we can expect because they're veteran players. The addition of Quentin Richardson, I think, is going to help us. ... That's where we are right now.' "
- Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee: "Just Desmond Mason's luck, the Kings didn't cap their roster at lucky No. 13 after all. Geoff Petrie's prediction/declaration that his team would have 13 players this season was followed two days later by the signing of Mason, so pardon me for not being sure what to make of all of it. What's more, Mason - who has a non-guaranteed deal and will have to prove healthy and productive in order to become No. 14 -- adds another log to the wingman jam while the position of greatest need -- that being center -- is the fire that remains untended. But after all, it's been hazy around here for some time now, so just hold your breath and wait for the smoke to clear. Because Kings coach Paul Westphal says so ... 'So much of how this is going to look when the smoke clears is based on competition, and the more competition that you can provide these players, the more you're going to find about them, about who can rise to the top and who deserves the opportunity to play and learn from their mistakes and who deserves to sit and watch and learn,' Westphal said. 'You can learn a couple different ways.' In other words, give him a little bit of time before shooting off the flares."
- Eric Koreen of the National Post: "Heading into the summer, any and all angst related to the Toronto Raptors could be directed at general manager Bryan Colangelo. He was the person who assembled last year's 33-win roster, one that was supposed to be destined for much more than that. But after overhauling two-thirds of that roster, Colangelo has regained some of that lost lustre in the eyes of Raptors' fans. Now the pressure falls to Jay Triano, who is on the verge of running his first training camp as an NBA head coach. And with 10 new players to familiarize himself with at the Raptors' training camp, which opens Sept. 29 in Ottawa, Triano knows what the theme will be. 'Building a team is going to be one of the biggest things that I do with so many new players,' Triano said yesterday, as he served as guest drawmaster for the Woodbine Mile. 'A lot of it is going to be teamwork, a lot of meetings, so they all understand what's expected of each and every guy and what I expect of them. And then there's got to become a familiarity between each other.' "
- Janis Carr of The Orange County Register: "Kobe Bryant will go one-on-one with Carmelo Anthony on Friday in a game that will test each players' shooting, defending and fingers. The two NBA stars go head on in a video game competition in the soon-to-be released NBA 2K10 and they will be playing in front of a virtual community of fans through a webcast."
- Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: "A dock near the Eastbank Esplanade along the Willamette River officially was dedicated to former Trail Blazers center Kevin Duckworth Thursday evening, as a small group of people gathered to honor the man who died in August 2008. There was a nice turnout of former players, family members and those closest to Duckworth, including teammates Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey. Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman dedicated the site around 5:30 p.m., just after Trail Blazers president Larry Miller, Steven Duckworth, Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey said a few words."
- Frank Dell'Apa of The Boston Globe: "A year ago, the Celtics hoped for improvement with the addition-by-subtraction formula, losing key players to free agency (James Posey) and retirement (P.J. Brown). Now they have changed the equation, adding Marquis Daniels, Rasheed Wallace, and Shelden Williams to a team that had a 62-20 record. So far, the changes are adding up, according to coach Doc Rivers. 'I like our team, I like the way it's put together,' Rivers said yesterday. 'Obviously, it's informal workouts and guys are just running around and taking bad shots. But you do get a chance to see some of the things you didn't know about some of the new guys. The fact they're in there is important to me.' Celtic players agreed to begin workouts early in an attempt to improve conditioning and develop chemistry among the new players. Kevin Garnett has been rehabilitating his surgically repaired knee, and Rivers said, 'He will be ready. He'll be ready on first day of camp, ready to play.' "
- Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "Larry Bird's original plan was to go to training camp with 14 players; the Indiana Pacers president wanted to leave the last roster spot open in case the team needed to sign a player later. The availability of guard Luther Head caused Bird to change his mind. The Pacers signed Head, a former University of Illinois standout, to a one-year, partially guaranteed contract Thursday. 'It was too hard to pass up,' Bird said. 'I've been after Luther for two years. I think he's a player that can come in and get something done for us.' "
- Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News: "Pistons rookie Austin Daye has been getting a lot of text messages from friends back at Gonzaga. Sch
ool has started and Daye is reminded of college life. 'It's kind of funny because a lot of my friends are saying how I'm missing out on a lot of stuff, a lot of the parties going on,' Daye said after an informal workout Thursday at The Palace. Daye, 21, has a ready response for his pals at school. 'I'm getting paid for what I want to do and I love to do,' said Daye, a 6-foot-11 forward who averaged 12.7 points and 6.8 rebounds at Gonzaga last season. Daye, a first-round pick, is getting acclimated to NBA life, on and off the court. Training camp begins Sept. 29 and Daye is doing whatever he can to learn some basics before practice begins. 'The defenses are a lot different than in college,' Daye said. 'You have to know when to be in spots and not to be in spots on the defensive side. It's an adjustment.' " - Chris Tomasson of NBA FanHouse: "With the Western Conference race expected to again be very close and the Nuggets having a tough schedule during J.R. Smith's absence, the first seven games could end up proving pivotal. 'We're definitely worried,' Nuggets center Nene said of the loss of Smith for home games against Utah and Memphis and for road games against Portland, Indiana, New Jersey, Miami and Atlanta. 'J.R. is a hard player. He can affect the team with his talent. We're going to miss him definitely.' Smith averaged 15.2 points last season and was runner-up to Dallas guard Jason Terry for the NBA's Sixth Man Award. While Smith doesn't mean as much to the Nuggets as Stephen Jackson does to Golden State, it's worth nothing that, when Jackson was suspended by the NBA for the first seven games in 2007-08, the Warriors started 1-6, with the suspension perhaps costing them a playoff berth. Then again, Nene believes Smith could be as valuable to Denver as Jackson is to Golden State. '[Smith] can be one of the top players in the league,'' Nene said. 'He's so talented. He can shoot. He can dunk. He can jump. He can do whatever he wants.' "
- Dave D'Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: "Full disclosure here: We haven't watched any of the workouts in the last few weeks, so we're basing this assertion on the opinions of three or four witnesses who know what they're talking about. Terrence Williams -- for reasons that elude logic -- looks like the Nets' best player two weeks before camp opens. Nobody wants to say this aloud for print, but they'll go this far: 'He's playing really well - a freak of nature athletically,' Keyon Dooling said yesterday. 'In the moments I've watched, he's really unique. What you don't see from the great athletes is a high basketball IQ. But he has a nice floor game - a really nice floor game.' Then there's this from Mr. Reticence: 'He's really good. I worked with him some, watched him some, and I'm very impressed,' Lawrence Frank said. Both sounded as though they were looking over their shoulders, waiting for someone to jam a towel down their throats. Nobody wants to christen any rookie as The Next Big Thing, but everyone else we spoke to claims that T-Will the Thrill has absolutely torn up the gym."
- David Aldridge of NBA.com: "The last time the league used replacement officials was early in the 1995-96 season, when the league locked out its officials for more than two months and players chafed at what they considered sub-standard officiating. As a reminder, the union sent out an informational memo Thursday detailing the numerous fines and suspensions handed out by the league during the period when replacement officials were used in regular season games. According to the memo, the NBA issued more than $200,000 in fines and suspended players for a total of 26 games for fights in November of that year, compared to $147,000 in fines and 22 games in suspensions for all of the 1994-95 season. In addition, the memo detailed injuries to Chris Webber and Shaquille O'Neal that the anonymous author claims may have been prevented if the regular referees had been on the court to keep physical play from escalating. The memo also quoted prominent players, including Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who decried the job the replacement officials were doing and welcomed back the veteran referees once they agreed to a new deal on Dec. 7. The league pointed out Thursday that rules changes that have limited the physicality of the mid-'90s make the game much different than it was 14 years ago. But the union, obviously, believes its officials are second to none, and will be missed when they're not on the court."
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