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03
Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related
stories to digest with your Timbits. At least for now. We’ll
see how long this lasts.
Paul Coro, Arizona Republic: "When Matt Barnes was recruited by the Suns in July, he heard about the possibility of starting and took a recruiting call from the resident starting small forward, Grant Hill. It wasn’t about the starting role for Barnes, but the pitch was enough for him to know he would get significant minutes. Barnes got all of it Thursday when coach Terry Porter named Barnes as a starter, allowing Porter to manage Hill’s minutes and help calm a young reserve group. ‘Grant brings a lot to that second unit with a lot of stability as a veteran with possibly two rookies on that second unit,’ Porter said. ‘He can relieve some of the pressure that Goran (Dragic) may get at times and I like Grant to have the ball in his hands. That’s one of his strong points — to make decisions and make plays.’"
Brian Rogers, Houston Chronicle: "As the DWI trial of Houston Rocket point guard Rafer Alston continued Thursday, jurors saw two police videotapes in which the athlete argues with officers and denies that he was intoxicated. In the first video, taken from the arresting officer’s patrol car, shows Alston stepping out of his Aston Martin, talking to the Houston police officer then turning around and presenting his hands to be handcuffed. ‘You’re just going to take me in anyway,’ Alston says. Jurors also saw a second video, of Alston refusing to take a breath test or any field sobriety tests. ‘I had a few drinks, I’m not drunk,’ Alston can be seen saying in the second video. ‘It’s stupid.’ Alston is accused of driving drunk on Washington about 2:30 a.m. Aug. 7."
Josh Greene, Suns.com: "It’s safe to say nobody is as happy to see the regular season begin as Amar’e Stoudemire. Already working through the effects of a torn iris, the Suns’ power forward added a dislocated left pinky to his recent dossier of injuries [last night]. But at least he still has sense of humor, as well as a positive prognosis. ‘It’s been a pretty interesting preseason for me,’ smiled STAT, who ended his night with 17 points in 23 minutes of action before the third-quarter injury. ‘I made a move to the middle, and it just spun back. The contact between ball and hand is where the dislocation happened. Trainer Aaron Nelson tried to pop it back in but couldn’t do it, so I came back here and had (team physician Thomas Carter) get it back in. It took awhile, but I feel great.’"
Steve Adamek, Bergen Record: "Eddy Curry’s feelings are hurt. Danilo Gallinari’s back no longer hurts enough to keep him off the practice floor. Allan Houston’s body hurts too much for him to play anymore. In other words, the Knicks were in a world of hurt, for different reasons, Thursday as they prepared for tonight’s preseason finale against the Nets at the Garden. […] Also Thursday, the Knicks picked up the contract options for next season on Chandler and Mardy Collins. The Knicks have another option (built into all initial rookie contracts) on Chandler for 2010-11."
Brian Hanley, Chicago Sun-Times: "Larry Hughes was optimistic Thursday he will be back well before the six-to-eight-week time frame he initially was given after dislocating his right shoulder in the Bulls’ 85-75 victory Wednesday night at Minnesota. ‘I’m pretty positive it won’t take me that long to get back on the court,” said Hughes, who was wearing a sling. ”It’s kind of a weird thing the MRI looks as good as it does. It’s really weird that it’s not bothering me as much as it should or nothing’s really showing up.’ Hughes said he will undergo a second MRI exam today in which dye is injected into the joint in hopes of getting a more clear picture of any damage."
Chris McCosky, Detroit News: "Rasheed Wallace has shot better than 47 percent over his 13 NBA seasons. He is considered one of the best perimeter shooting big men to play the game. So if you think he’s sweating his .236 shooting proficiency during the exhibition season, forget it. ‘I am not worried about that at all,’ said Wallace, who along with Richard Hamilton sat out the Pistons’ 88-87 exhibition loss to the Hawks on Thursday. ‘I can’t hit them all the time. These are just some of the woes we all go through. It’s cool, though, it ain’t nothing.’"
Jeff McDonald, S.A Express-News:
"Spurs guard Manu Ginobili has added some light shooting to his
rehabilitation regimen as he works his way back from offseason ankle
surgery. The emphasis is on the word "light." ‘He’s on the court
shooting, just stationary shooting,’ coach Gregg Popovich said. ‘He’s
not moving or crossing over or pulling up or anything like that. At
this moment, he’s not really close to contact or anything like that.’
The timetable on Ginobili’s return remains the same — sometime in
December. That’s not to say Ginobili can’t find a way to wow a crowd
now. Amid Thursday’s shooting session, Ginobili was walking from one
Spurs’ practice court to another. When he got to a spot roughly where
the P.A. announcer would be stationed had this been the AT&T
Center, Ginobili casually lofted the ball, underhanded, toward the goal
he was approaching. Fifty feet away the shot swished, much to the
amazement of the gathered media."
Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Twenty months later, Shaun Livingston is back. One of the most inspiring stories of the 2008-09 NBA season wound up taking place one week before the start of the season. In a college gym, out of television view, during an otherwise meaningless exhibition, the former prep prodigy completed his climb from a gruesome Feb. 26, 2007 knee injury when he took the court for the Heat in Thursday night’s 100-80 exhibition loss to the Hornets. ‘It’s special just to play again, considering where I was,’ the 6-foot-7 playmaker said before taking the court at the Mitchell Center on the campus of the University of South Alabama. He closed with five points on 2-of-6 shooting, three assists, four fouls and one turnover in 18 minutes."
Alan Hahn, Newsday: "Donnie Walsh laughed not because the question was preposterous but because he knew his answer would be considered as such. What do you mean you can’t buy your way out of bad, unwanted contracts? What in the name of Jalen Rose, Maurice Taylor, Shandon Anderson, Jerome Williams, etc., etc., etc. are you saying? ‘I don’t want to shock you guys, but money is an issue in the NBA, in every situation,’ Walsh said yesterday after the Knicks cut non-guaranteed contract players Dan Grunfeld and Allan Houston. ‘I don’t want to say that because it might be heresy here in New York.’ The Knicks threw money at people to get them to leave for years — add coach Larry Brown to the above list of players — but Walsh has brought a new order to the Garden. It was evident in September, when he resisted cutting a $21.9-million check to make Stephon Marbury go away."
John Reid, New Orleans Times-Picayune: "From the first day of training camp until the final preseason game, Hornets point guard Chris Paul could sense the urgency from his teammates. He saw it at every position, competitive battles for an opportunity to earn minutes in Coach Byron Scott’s rotation. In games, they played as if winning was the only option. For the first time in franchise history, the Hornets closed out their preseason schedule with a 7-0 record. In its finale, New Orleans routed the Miami Heat 100-80 in front of 5,375 at the Mitchell Center on the campus of the University of South Alabama."
Eddie Sefko, Dallas Morning News: "The Mavericks are going with [J.J.] Barea and Jason Terry behind Kidd. And the ideal game plan is to play Terry more at shooting guard than point guard. ‘I earned a shot, so I’m going to give it [my best] shot,’ Barea said. ‘I get the feeling [from the coaches] and I get that feeling from J.T., too, that he’d like to stay at shooting guard more than playing the backup point.’ The waiving of [Keith] McLeod was not completely unexpected. His contract was not guaranteed. But if the Mavericks had kept him beyond Thursday, they would have had to start paying his salary. Coach Rick Carlisle said there’s a chance the Mavericks could re-sign McLeod when he gets healthy. But for now, it made no sense to keep him."
Ramona Shelburne, Los Angeles Daily News: "So just how serious were the Clippers’ contingency plans if the diagnosis on Baron Davis‘ sprained left ring finger came back negatively? Apparently, serious enough to have free agent guard Lindsey Hunter in for a workout this week. ‘We worked him out and he looked great,’ Clippers coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy said. ‘He’s in great shape, and a good veteran guy.’ Now that the Clippers have official word that Davis should only be out another week and doesn’t need surgery, it’s unlikely they’d sign Hunter, who won NBA championships with the Lakers in 2001-02 and Detroit in 2003-04."
Also Ramona Shelburne, Inside The Lakers: "I’d heard a few weeks ago that Andrew Bynum is a car guy. Normally in the NBA, that means a guy spends a bunch of his rookie contract on fancy, tricked out, fast cars. But in Bynum’s case there’s a little more to it. Apparently, when he grows up, or finishes his NBA career, whichever comes first, Big Drew wants to become a mechanical engineer and build cars. ‘I like cars alot. I work with them on the weekends,’ he said. ‘That’s something I think I want to get into after I’m done playing. Maybe go to school and become like a mechanical engineer. I really like it. I like how they work.’ These days, Bynum can be seen scooting around town in either a Yukon Denali, his BMW M-6 or Nissan Skyline."
