By Henry Abbott
- Eric Konigsberg of The New York Times writing about author Sherman Alexie, and his allegiance to basketball: "He turned down offers to sell the movie rights to 'Diary,' a book he calls an extremely faithful recounting of his experience growing up poor on the Spokane tribal reservation in eastern Washington State. 'My concern was that they would never have been able to find an Indian kid who could act well enough and who was a good enough basketball player to play me,' Mr. Alexie said in a recent interview, adding that basketball was even more important to him than 'the Indianness of me.' As it did during his own youth, salvation for his misfit protagonist, Junior, comes when he quits the reservation and excels on an all-white high school team. 'I’d rather see myself played by a Puerto Rican or an Italian with a tan than have them ruin the basketballness of me,' he explained."
- If this gossip-site report is accurate, Lamar Odom's lawyers are better than Khloe Kardashian's. (Via Alana G.)
- Zach Lowe of CelticsHub on an conversation he overheard at Madison Square Garden last night: "When I went to buy a round of beers, the two ladies staffing the beer stand were talking about how large the crowd was for a pre-season game. Lady #1: 'There must be a lot of Celtics fans here.' Lady #2: 'Why?' Lady #1: 'Because these people aren’t here to see this sorry team.'"
- Pedro Moura of ClipperBlog: "An interesting one tonight, as the number of Maccabi fans in Staples Center severely outnumbered Clipper fans. The biggest cheers came on Maccabi scoring plays and during timeouts. Mike Dunleavy said it didn’t surprise him, joking both before and after the game that he would go by 'Don Levy' tonight to appeal to the decidedly-Jewish crowd."
- Jay Aych of the Painted Area scouts the EuroLeague: "The biggest story surrounding Barca this summer was the signing of Ricky Rubio, but their acquistions of other key players, particularly Erazem Lorbek, might be just as important. No surprise Juan Navarro is the linchpin of their offense. Will run him off screens all over the floor, especially baseline screens so he can curl into his patented floaters. Rubio will share ball-handling duties with Navarro, Jaka Lakovic and Gianluca Basile. Lakovic is a high-level combo guard with the ability to drill jumpers. Basile is another dangerous shooter. Not to mention, Victor Sada & Roger Grimau will also see some time running the point. So I don't know how effective Rubio will be at Barca with so many other players needing to touch the ball."
- The Hawks reportedly cut Mario West.
- What do the Bobcats do without Raja Bell? Brett Hainline of Queen City Hoops: "Raymond Felton has played plenty of minutes at the 2 before, so this is nothing new to him to have to slide over for a bit. Oh, and that Gerald Henderson guy had his best game of the preseason: 14 points in just 14 minutes on 7 of 8 from the floor. Dontell Jefferson is still hanging around and maybe this helps him stick to the roster - he did not do anything special last night, but he is a solid defender and Larry Brown has not traded him so far, and that has to count for something."
- How's Shawn Marion doing in Dallas? His production has been way down since his Phoenix days, but the argument being made is that he's as good as ever, but has suffered from systems that don't suit him. Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game: "Marion’s production has been ... delicious, but there are a few footnotes. First and foremost, he only played two games. Austin Croshere could put up mind-numbing numbers over two preseason games, but that doesn’t make him the 'missing piece.' Also, none of Marion’s minutes were played alongside Josh Howard. Having those two on the wing together could fundamentally change their production either for better or worse, but the absence of Josh is enough to think twice before proclaiming Marion’s greatness. But I won’t be stopped me from doing just that. In those two preseason games, he was great. Take from that what you will."
- John Hollinger's draft rater said Ty Lawson would be a great NBA player. The very early diagnosis of the Nugget rookie from Jeremy of Roundball Mining Company: "Ty Lawson has not been playing many minutes, but when he does get on the floor the stats pile up." At the same link, check the second set of highlights for Lawson's beautiful alley-oop pass on the break, not to mention a half-court buzzer-beater.
- Marreese Speights tops Kevin Pelton's list of "under the radar" prospects.
- A fairly humbling Blazer pre-season continues. Ben from BlazersEdge: "Blake and Roy in the starting lineup together didn't work. Andre Miller airballed two jumpers. The team shot hesitantly and poorly (just 2 of 15 from distance). Jerryd Bayless crossed himself over going to the hoop and the ball wound up in the third row. Martell Webster was all over the place, and not in a good way. Carlos Boozer took Travis Outlaw down to the block and took it to him. Dante Cunningham looked too small to play 4 in the NBA. Ime Udoka looked a step and a half slow on defense. Jarron Collins was a rag doll."
- Auburn Hills, the Philippines.
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Henry AbbottTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
J.A. AdandeTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
Kevin ArnovitzTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
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John HollingerTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
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