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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 28

February 28, 2013  ·  7:20AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: Between the late-game heroics of Monta Ellis in Houston and the all-around, game-long goodness of Steph Curry in New York, it would have been easy to pick either of those games as our one to re-watch this morning. Those two games are definitely worthy of another look, but rather than pick one over the other, we’re going in a different route as we often like to do. Our choice instead is Mavs-Grizzlies from the Grind House in Memphis. It wasn’t as pretty offensively as the Bucks-Rockets or Warriors-Knicks games, that’s for sure, but watching the Grizz go on a franchise-record 24-0 run to climb from a 25-point hole sure was something. We’re a fan of solid big man play around here and the Grizzlies’ combo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol were at their best, pounding the Mavs for a combined 43 points and 22 rebounds.

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News of the morning

Nash still ‘happy’ he chose Lakers | Horford keeps on rolling | Grizzlies comeback astounds | Stotts gets praise, even in losing | Report: Oden won’t decide fate until July | Howard surprises fans

Nash reinventing himself in L.A. — The dreams Lakers fans had of Steve Nash directing the offense, pick-and-rolling teams to death with Dwight Howard and harmoniously fitting in with Kobe Bryant in the backcourt haven’t all come to pass as expected this season. First, there were the early weeks of the season that saw Nash recovering from a leg injury. Nash recovered from a leg injury. Then, once Nash returned, he was the off-guard in L.A. while Bryant put on his best Magic Johnson impression. Now, Nash is finally getting comfortable in his role in Lakerland — although it is far from the one he used to play as point guard for the Phoenix Suns. USA Today’s Sam Amick has more on the changes Nash has gone through:

Two-time MVPs aren’t typically asked to reinvent themselves, but 39-year-old Nash is doing just that for a Lakers team that has seven weeks to salvage its season and avoid the embarrassment of missing the playoffs. At 28-30 — and with those summertime proclamations of league-wide dominance seeming so far away now — they are 2½ games behind the Houston Rockets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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And so, Nash — the Picasso of point guards, a masterful orchestrator of offenses — has been asked to change. He plays off the ball, watching Bryant take his old job for long stretches before he’s able to put his old hat on. He does what Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni, his friend and longtime coach with the Phoenix Suns, has asked them all to do: sacrifice.Since changing to this counter-intuitive style in a Jan. 25 win against the Utah Jazz, with Nash handling roughly half the playmaking duties he did before and his assist numbers during that time (5.5 a game) barely half his norm over the past eight seasons, the Lakers have won 11 of 16 games.

“His desire to figure out a way to make it work is remarkable,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. “He’s always prodding, always making the sacrifice. Yet you have to catch yourself and say, ‘This is a two-time MVP.’ He could certainly say, ‘No, I’m not changing. You’ve got to do it my way.’ How many two-time MVPs are as accommodating as he is?”

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This isn’t exactly what Nash and D’Antoni had in mind when they reunited Nov.12 — largely because of the broken left leg Nash suffered Nov. 3 that kept him out for seven weeks. They envisioned Nash as the engine in D’Antoni’s high-octane system, ignoring how an aging team might fare in a system that pushes the accelerator every time out.

Yet Nash insists he’s content with the compromise in large part because this decision was never just about basketball. His agent, Bill Duffy, calls the three-year, $27 million sign-and-trade deal that brought Nash to Los Angeles from Phoenix a “family values contract” because of how Nash bypassed opportunities in Toronto and New York last summer so he could be closer to his three children.

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“Ten out of 10 times, I make the same decision again,” Nash told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. “I’ve gotten to see my kids probably four times as much as I’d seen them if I’d have gone back East. That’s first and foremost. Second of all, it’s a great experience to play for the Lakers organization. … I’m happy here.

“I’m beyond playing for the credit or the adulation. I feel secure in myself as a player. I just want to help this team, regardless of what it means for me personally.”

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“If L.A. wouldn’t have worked, I honestly think he would’ve considered retiring,” Duffy says. “He said that three or four times from July 1 to July 5 (during free agency), and I was saying, ‘If he wants to retire, I have to respect it, but let’s piece this thing together so you can get what you want and continue to play.’ “

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“It’s been different. It’s been an adjustment,” Nash says. “But I want to embrace these challenges. I’m at a stage of my career with a new club where I’m playing with Kobe — he’s a great player — and finding that balance and accepting and embracing that opportunity is key. It’d be nice, in some ways, to have a bigger impact on the game. You have to balance it with all the guys, all their needs and personalities. I embrace it.

“I really appreciate it. I could still be in Phoenix and have the ball in my hands the majority of the time and probably be out of the playoffs again, so it’s worthy of trying something new — especially since the upside here is potentially great.”

Red-hot Horford keeps Hawks soaring — As our own Sekou Smith mentioned in Hang Time just a few days ago, the Atlanta Hawks in the post-trade deadline world are operating like the Atlanta Hawks we saw the first two months of the season. Elite-level hoops has returned thanks to the standout play of Al Horford in particular, who burned the Jazz last night with a career-high 34 points (two days after a career-best 22 boards in Detroit), punishing a solid Utah frontline featuring Al Jefferson and Derrick Favors. As the Hawks move into the second half of their six-game road trip (they’re 3-0 thus far), a perfect run is within reach, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Hawks led by as many as 20 points and held off a late rally en route to a 102-91 victory over the Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena.

Al Horford was at the center of the victory as he scored 16 of the Hawks’ 20 fourth-quarter points on the way to a career-high 34 points.

“He was big,” coach Larry Drew said. “We were running plays for him. When the shot wasn’t there he was passing the ball. He got everything within our offense. The guys were doing a good job of finding him. He is really playing at a high level right now. I mean an extremely high level.”

The Hawks (33-23) won their fourth straight and sixth in the past seven games. It was also the fifth straight road victory for the Hawks, who surpassed the 100-point mark in each. The Hawks have won four straight over the Jazz.

Horford continued his torrid streak over the past seven games, scoring over 20 points in each. He added 15 rebounds. Over this stretch of games, Horford is averaging 25.4 points (178), 12.4 rebounds (87) while shooting .681 percent (79-116).

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The Hawks sealed the game by opening the third quarter on a 24-12 run to lead by 20 points, 80-60.

“The start of the second half was the bigger of the two,” Josh Smith said of the Hawks’ first- and third-quarter efforts. “We wanted to be able to control the momentum of this building. It’s a hostile environment. They have awesome fans who definitely heckle the visiting team. We knew we were going to receive a big punch in the second half and being able to answer in that third quarter was huge for us.”

The Jazz got to within eight points in the fourth quarter but there was not stopping Horford. He and Smith scored all 20 of the Hawks’ points in the final period.

“It was one of those things where in my mind I was like we’ve built this lead and we’ve worked too hard to give it up,” Horford said. “It’s one of those things where you don’t want to lose so you do whatever you have to do. We just kept fighting. I just kept fighting. I’m proud of my teammates.”

Grizzlies comeback an astounding feat — We gave the “Hang Time Grizzlies” some love above in our recap of the night, but Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal has some more interesting tidbits from Memphis’ club-record comeback against Dallas last night:

The Griz tossed aside a 25-point deficit and changed the makings of a lopsided loss with their defense to earn a dramatic 90-84 victory over the Dallas Mavericks before 16,017 fans who still might be wiping their eyes in disbelief.

“Grit, grind, heart, sacrifice I could name 10-15 words (to describe) this,” forward Zach Randolph said after the Grizzlies extended their winning streak to eight games. “It was one of those games.”

A game in which:

• Griz coach Lionel Hollins called time out twice in the first 3 ½ minutes.

• The starters were benched in the first five.

• The Mavs racked up 38 points in the opening period and enjoyed a 51-29 lead with 5:25 left in the second quarter.

• Memphis outscored Dallas 36-4, which included a franchise record 24 unanswered points, during a stretch that bridged the second and third quarters.

• Dallas looked feeble throughout a five-point third quarter — a Memphis franchise-record low for an opponent in any quarter.

“A lot of it was pride,” Griz point guard Mike Conley said. “We felt the grumbling in the stands. We were embarrassed.”

Stotts has Blazers going right direction — After a surprising 20-15 start that had Portland in the thick of the playoff race, the Blazers have gone 6-16 since and are more or less assured of a place in the Draft lottery. But with the emergence of likely Rookie of the Year winner Damian Lillard, as well as the contributions by J.J. Hickson, Wesley Matthews and All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, things are looking somewhat bright in the Rose City. Depth has been a problem for the Blazers all season, but as John Canzano of The Oregonian notes, coach Terry Stotts has Portland headed for a breakthrough sometime soon:

Because the only difference-maker Portland really needs is Terry Stotts. He’s been here all year, and if owner Paul Allen and general manager Neil Olshey get Stotts some depth this summer and add some smart peripheral pieces, I’m convinced he’ll be the Blazers coach who finally breaks through.

Nate McMillan was at his best in 2009-10, overcoming an absurd run of injuries to finish with the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. But Stotts is staying relevant with a roster that was broken from Game 1, refusing to make excuses or join the rest of us in declaring this season done. Stotts lost again Wednesday, this time, 111-109 to a more dangerous, deeper, better NBA team that ran circles around the Blazers but could never quite get away.
Yes, even after a loss, it’s clear that Stotts is doing a terrific job.
This season isn’t headed to the playoffs. Nobody is going to hang a banner commemorating it. But we’re witnessing the finest job of Blazers coaching in more than a decade, and Stotts very nearly pulled it off again against the Nuggets. Forget the playoff teams, forget the teams that won more games, and just look at the lineup and teaching that Stotts used to combat the 48-minute relay-race the Nuggets put on.
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Those who have spent time around Stotts this season say he’s a master at compartmentalizing a larger task. He walked into a meeting earlier this season with the Blazers facing a daunting road rip, and according to support staff and players announced, “We have six games in front of us. Let’s break down these six games.”
The coach proceeded to splinter off the games, making each stand alone. By the time he was finished talking, nobody was focused on the road trip. Everyone was locked onto what it was going to take to win a single game, the first one.
“I’m doing a different kind of teaching now,” Stotts said. “The stuff I was doing early was more about getting people to understand what we wanted. Now, we’re taking that further, and focusing on the next level.”

Report: Oden won’t choose team until summer — It seems like every few weeks, we hear something new about former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden: he’s interested in the Cavs, he’s going to sign with the Heat, he’s unsure of his future … take your pick. The latest chatter surrounding the oft-injured big man, according to Sam Amico of FoxSportsOhio.com, is that he won’t decide which team he’ll sign with until at least July:

Former NBA center Greg Oden will not decide on his next team until July, sources close to the situation told FOX Sports Ohio.

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Oden’s agent, Mike Conley Sr., has said Oden is 100 percent and could become a future All-Star.

Oden, 25, is currently taking classes at Ohio State — the school he led to the NCAA title game in 2007, when it lost to Florida. The Trail Blazers drafted the 7-footer one spot ahead of Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant.

Sources told FSO earlier this month that Oden was leaning heavily toward signing with the Cavs. However, no commitment has been reached by other side.

“We’ll see,” Cavs general manager Chris Grant said last week. “We’ll still talk to them and see what their position is and see what his goals are. Just like any other free agent, if something happens that makes sense, we’ll do it.

“If not, that’s OK. Who knows? From our standpoint, we have no idea.”

Howard surprises a few fans — Lakers fans are a pretty loyal bunch, especially in California. So when fans were presented with the opportunity to show off their team gear at an adidas photo booth in L.A., throngs of them showed up. None of them knew, however, that Dwight Howard (and adidas pitchman) would be there, too (H/T Pro Basketball Talk): 

ICYMI of the night: After rejecting Kobe Bryant on Tuesday night, JaVale McGee adds another superstar name to his swat list this week: Portland rookie Damian Lillard …

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 26

February 26, 2013  ·  7:36AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: After a Feb. 10 win against Denver, Boston was in the midst of a seven-game win streak and feeling good about its place in the East pecking order. But the Celtics’ five-game road trip West hadn’t gone as planned and they found themselves 1-3 with a date against the Jazz entering Monday. The Celtics had every reason to fold up shop, especially after looking listless at times in the first half and unable to contain Gordon Hayward most of the night. Never count out Paul Pierce, though, as he came through big for Boston as Celtics-Jazz ended up being our one to watch. Pierce showed off his Truth-y goodness in the win, particularly in the extra frame, where he scored seven straight in OT to salt away the victory:

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News of the morning

Nuggets beat D’Antoni, Lakers at own game | Horford finds a rhythm | Report: Bulls’ Gibson out 2 weeks | Can Celtics’ lockerroom change players? | Playoff hopes hurt in Toronto

Nuggets run Lakers out of Denver — Once Mike D’Antoni supplanted Mike Brown as Lakers coach, the assumption among some fans was that D’Antoni would employ the high-octane system he used in Phoenix in Lakerland and all would be right in the world. Yet as D’Antoni and the Lakers have learned time and time again this season, playing up-tempo isn’t the fast track to success for L.A. In fact, it’s the complete opposite and was proven so again last night as the Nuggets simply ran the Lakers out of Denver with a fast-breaking offense. Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register and Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com have more:

From Ding:

Big picture, the Lakers have still gone 11-5 since the day of their clear-the-air team meeting in Memphis. But the feel-good sentiments were contrasted Monday night by some ongoing cold – or should that be “old”? – realities for this Lakers team.

The Lakers were as slow as ever in letting the Denver Nuggets blow by them. Final score: Denver 119, Los Angeles 108.

Fast-break points? Denver 33, Los Angeles 3.

“Man,” Kobe Bryant said, “that’s a killer.”

The Lakers are last in the NBA in points allowed per game off turnovers, and that’s just how Denver took control of this game – also running off Bryant’s early missed shots. The Nuggets kept control with Dwight Howard shooting 3-for-14 on free throws and Bryant’s individual defensive effort lacking even as he rediscovered his shooting stroke.

From Shelburne:

Those who have been waiting to see what Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni’s high-octane offense looks like finally saw it Monday night.

Too bad it was the Denver Nuggets playing it.

All that great spacing and shooting and scoring D’Antoni’s teams have become known for over the years … yeah, that was George Karl‘s Nuggets running the Lakers off the court in a 119-108 win Monday night.

“They’re good,” D’Antoni said. “They spread you out and they shoot a high percentage.

“We just couldn’t catch ‘em.”

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D’Antoni was glum after the loss, but not unusually so. That wistful, pining, ”If they could only see what I see?” quality he carried around with him during the first few months of his tenure on the Lakers bench is gone now. He’s either squashed it for good or put it in a place where it doesn’t bother him as much.

What’s become clear during the Lakers’ modest revival — they’ve still won 11 of their past 16 games despite Monday’s loss — is that they’re no longer trying to play like one of D’Antoni’s teams.

The coach — and his team — have adapted. Or at least accepted that the up-tempo style is not going to fit this team, this season. There are still elements of it that work, including the pick-and-roll game and the emphasis on spacing and rhythm. But the rest of it has kind of been shelved for now.

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For the Lakers, it served as a reminder of the decisions they’ve been forced to make this year. The Nuggets’ run-and-gun style was the vision D’Antoni was hired to bring to Los Angeles. For now, though, with no training camp and injured, ill-fitting personnel, it’s just not to be.

The coach has taken a lot of criticism since he got to L.A. So have many of his players.

It’s way too soon to start praising him. The Lakers are still in great danger of missing the playoffs after Monday’s loss dropped them to three games behind Houston for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

But it’s not too soon to recognize that D’Antoni also has made some difficult sacrifices since taking the job — to his principles, his pride and his legacy.

“There’s no job in the NBA that’s easy,” D’Antoni said, refusing to make a sympathy play. “You don’t just fall out of bed and have things happen. It gets more complicated with injuries. I didn’t know Steve [Nash] was going to be out. I didn’t know Steve Blake was going to be out. I didn’t know Dwight wasn’t healthy 100 percent. So, yeah, there are some side issues. But everything is hard.”

Hawks’ Horford hitting his stride — When the Atlanta Hawks have been in the headlines on this site and others, the name heard most is Josh Smith and his future with the team as a pending free agent. While we were all focused on J-Smoove, his future and the trade deadline the last few weeks, Al Horford, the lone ex-All-Star selection on the Hawks, has been tearing it up. He’s averaging 24.6 ppg and 12.4 rpg over his last nine games and went wild last night against the Pistons, notching a 23-point, 22-rebound game in the Hawks’ win. Atlanta has won three in a row, sits at No. 4 in the East and much of that is due to Horford, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Al Horford is completely over the hamstring strain that bothered him earlier this season. It shows.

The Hawks center is averaging 24.2 points and 10.0 rebounds with a .679 field goal percentage (55 of 81) over the past five games. He has scored over 20 points in each of those games, a career first.

“I think it just has to do with me being healthy and we are playing through me a lot more,” Horford said Monday before the Hawks played at the Pistons. That helps. I’m able to stay in the rhythm of the offensive.”

Horford said the hamstring is no longer limiting his running and jumping. He also dealt with a calf issue.

“When we have a lot of ball movement and high assists it gets everybody involved not just me,” Horford said. “When that happens I usually do pretty well. When we don’t and we stick, that is when my game gets affected and we tend to struggle as a team. It’s not hard to figure out that if we have a high assist total we are going to have a good chance.”

Report: Bulls may lose Gibson for 2 weeks — Bulls reserve forward Taj Gibson injured his knee in the second half of Chicago’s blowout loss to the Thunder on Sunday night. Now comes word, via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, that the Bulls’ depth — which has been hampered all season by the loss of star Derrick Rose – may suffer another blow following the results of Gibson’s MRI on Monday:

Taj Gibson celebrated the birthdays of Jerry Reinsdorf and Joakim Noah on Monday by having an MRI performed on his sprained left knee.

Well, not really, but the confluence of such events seemed fitting for a star-crossed Bulls team these days. For every celebratory moment — a blowout win in Charlotte, Noah turning 28 — a somber one follows in the form of a convincing loss to an elite team or another injury.

At least Gibson’s MRI didn’t reveal a torn ACL, although it did confirm a sprained MCL that could sideline the defensive-minded forward up to two weeks.

Can Boston’s lockerroom change Crawford, Williams? — Depending on whom you ask, new Celtics Jordan Crawford (acquired via a trade with Washington) and Terrence Williams (signed as a free agent) are seen by some as one-dimensional players, talented-but-emotional players or young players in need of some veteran guidance … or a combination of the three. Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald brings up a great point in questioning whether the Celtics’ veteran core of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and the like can do anything to change the careers/league-wide outlook on players such as Crawford and Williams:

It is the common perception that the Celtics dressing room is a healing commune where those of questionable basketball reputation can be saved. A Lourdes of leaping, if you will.

So as the Celts return home today with Terrence Williams and Jordan Crawford — two players who would not have been available to them were it not for concerns about their approach to the game and the fact they did not entirely please previous employers — there is the expectation among some, and hope among others, that regularly observing Kevin Garnett and breathing the same air will improve their focus and make them better teammates.

The newest C’s have the opportunity to either prove the perceptions a lie or rip off the old tags and begin anew.

Pierce knows that altering the career course of another adult may be quite a bit to ask, but he also recognizes it’s part of his job as captain and accomplished veteran.

“I think you just try to feel things out with new guys,” he said. “I mean, at this point in the season you usually get a chance to talk to guys in practice, but there’s not a lot of practice time.

“But it seems like these guys, from what you’ve heard about them from other teams, it doesn’t look that way from what I’ve seen in the past few days.”

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Doc Rivers is well aware of the upside of both Williams and Crawford, but he’s not banking on his regulars to make them fit into the Celtics’ system.

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Beyond that, Rivers tries to avoid preconceived notions. He doesn’t want to read the labels on the players the Celtics acquire.“You know, one of the things I’ve learned is that I don’t listen to hearsay,” he said. “I really don’t. I never have.

“I’ve learned that lesson long ago. There’s been a lot of players who you hear are bad guys or are not great guys that I’ve had that have turned out to be great guys. And I’ve had some that people said were great guys and they’ve turned out not to be.

“So I just don’t ever listen to the hearsay. I give everybody a chance, and if they don’t become that, then they don’t become that. I leave it at that.”

He doesn’t listen even when the comments are coming from his close friend, Washington coach Randy Wittman, who pulled Crawford out of his rotation?

“No, I don’t,’ Rivers said. “I really don’t, because there’s always circumstances. He may be right in what they’re saying, but there could be other circumstances that we can’t see. So I just let it go, and if they turn out to be a bad guy, then they’re a bad guy. Some turn out to be good guys.”

Loss harms Colangelo, Raptors’ playoff hopes — Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo has done a decent job of attempting to salvage Toronto’s season given his trade to land Rudy Gay and his deadline-day deal to add point guard depth in the form of Sebastian Telfair. But last night’s loss to Washington not only dropped the Raptors 4 1/2 games behind Philadelphia for No. 8 in the East, but also dealt a bit of a blow to Colangelo and his future in Toronto, writes Eric Koreen of The National Post:

Monday’s game, a 90-84 loss to the Washington Wizards, did not help the Raptors’ chances. They are now 4½ games out of the final playoff spot.

It was a putrid game, particularly the first half, when the Raptors turned the ball over 12 times. Rudy Gay and Kyle Lowry both struggled badly from the floor.

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While the loss was certainly disappointing, it does not do much to change the Raptors’ position: They are fighting for a playoff spot, even if they are unlikely to prevail.

“That was our goal going into this year,” Dwane Casey said. “We got started off on a rocky start and dug ourselves a huge hole to start the season. We didn’t go about it [the right] way. We kind of got to the point where we wanted to be as far as knocking on the door on the playoffs. I think those are the terms that I used as far as our goal in the building process. [Acquiring] Rudy accelerated that process. I’m happy with our team. I like the direction we’re going in. I like our core group that we have.”

The team’s reality will have untold reverberations on the future. At the nadir of the season, it looked like president and general manager Bryan Colangelo would have to take the fall. If the Raptors fail to make the playoffs this year, it will be the first time in franchise history they that have missed the post-season in five consecutive years.

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However, minus the specific nature of some of the controversies and concerns that the team has dealt with in the season’s first two-thirds, where the team sits now is exactly where the Raptors figured they would be. In fact, the Raptors trading Jose Calderon and his expensive expiring contract for a dynamic wing player such as Gay would have been an ideal scenario heading into the year. It was, as Colangelo likes to say, part of the plan.

So, where does that leave Colangelo?

In lieu of a franchise superstar — and Gay is not at that level — the person in charge of moulding the roster is arguably the most integral man in any basketball organization. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment will have three options: pick up the third-year option on Colangelo’s contract; offer Colangelo an extension beyond next year; or decline to pick up the option, effectively firing him.

ICYMI of the night: If you’re a Laker-hater (or just a Nuggets fan), two plays from last night had to get your attention: JaVale McGee coming over to swat Kobe Bryant and Kenneth Faried powering home an alley-oop over Dwight Howard …:

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Morning Shootaround — Trade Deadline Edition

February 21, 2013  ·  7:06AM

As today’s trade deadline approaches at 3 p.m., we’ll have coverage throughout the day on all the latest buzz and Twitter chatter. Here’s your dose of what’s buzzing as deadline day rolls along:

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3:10 P.M. UPDATE

3:03 P.M. UPDATE

2:59 P.M. UPDATE

2:52 P.M. UPDATE

2:25 P.M. UPDATE

1:50 P.M. UPDATE

1:22 P.M. UPDATE

1:14 P.M. UPDATE

12:57 P.M. UPDATE

12:40 P.M. UPDATE

Spurs miss out on Redick? – As of trade deadline day, the Spurs were one of several teams hot on the trail of Magic guard J.J. Redick. But despite a push to acquire him, it looks like San Antonio can forget about adding another shooter to the league’s best team, writes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.

11:55 A.M. UPDATE

A couple more quick hits from the world of Twitter …

10:44 A.M. UPDATE

A few quick hits from around the world of Twitter (which you can keep up with via our Twitter Reacts post, BTW)

And a quick note from Memphis, too …

Small move — or no move at all — likely for Grizz – Unless someone pulls off a major blockbuster between now and the 3 p.m. finish line, the Memphis Grizzlies will be the team on record in 2012-13 for pulling off the biggest trade after they shipped out Rudy Gay on Jan. 30. That said, it doesn’t look likely that Memphis will pull off another big deal, but a minor one may be in the cards. Ronald Tillery of the The Commercial-Appeal has more on what the Grizz may do:

The reality is that Griz brass is trying to be opportunistic today in hopes of getting something for nothing at the 11th hour (Orlando has made it clear J.J. Redick can’t be had for anything less than a first-round pick). As of this morning, the Griz were looking at their exceptions one of three ways: 1) acquiring a guard/swingman they like from the end of another team’s bench 2) grabbing an established big man only if he’s accompanied by a second-round pick 3) not using the exception at all.

The Griz need more size and could always use more shooting. However, they don’t want to acquire a guard who has no shot at cracking the rotation. It’s been difficult enough for Austin Daye to get minutes now that Quincy Pondexter is healthy.

So don’t be too surprised if the Griz did something minor today or nothing at all. But as is the case at the trade deadline, you can always expect the unexpected. Doing nothing would mean the team would likely pick up a D-League player they like to occupy the 13th roster spot. (more…)

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Twitter Reacts: Lakers’ Buss Dies

February 18, 2013  ·  12:09PM

From NBA.com staff reports

Jerry Buss, the Lakers’ longtime owner who led L.A. to 10 championships, countless division titles and saw some of the NBA’s most iconic players suit up for his franchise, died today at 80. As expected, folks all throughout Twitter  — both current players and former, as well as pundits and media types around the league — had something to say about the NBA losing the owner of perhaps the league’s most well-known franchise. Below is a smattering of the comments:

https://twitter.com/paugasol/status/303573656771125248 (more…)

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 18

February 18, 2013  ·  8:50AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: What a weekend in Houston — Kenneth Faried showing the nation at large his “Manimal” routine … Kyrie Irving showed he’s got an impressive stroke from 3-point range … Terrence Ross dethroned Jeremy Evans for the Sprite Slam Dunk title … they’re all among the more notable events of the weekend that was in Texas. If you somehow missed last night’s marquee event, the All-Star Game, well, that’s your mistake. Overall a solid game quarter-by-quarter and the West took care of business down the stretch thanks to the exploits of game MVP Chris Paul and it’s near-MVP, Kevin Durant. There’s still time to relive the good times from H-town with all of our All-Star coverage, but if you just want to catch up on the game, well … here you go:

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News of the morning

Kobe: Howard staying ‘doesn’t matter’ | Bogut restriction-free? | LeBron happy for Irving, Cavs | Raptors make push for 2016 All-Star Game

Your daily dose of Dwight drama – Be it as All-Star participants (like Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant are) or as other members of the team, the Lakers got away from L.A. for a few days during the NBA’s All-Star break. But just because Kobe and Dwight weren’t in Lakerland doesn’t mean the constant Dwight will-he-stay/will-he-go? drama was quieted. In the past few days in Houston, we had reports of a Howard-for-Rajon Rondo swap and we had Howard himself piping up on all the latest rumors. And then we have Kobe speaking up after the All-Star Game itself on Sunday, shedding a little more light on his thoughts on what should happen with L.A.’s star big man. Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times has more:

Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard were here, so of course there was going to be drama.

Howard said Friday that Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak had told him he would remain with the team through Thursday’s trade deadline.

On Sunday, Bryant said “it doesn’t matter” what his team does with the six-time All-Star.

“I don’t know what they are going to do,” Bryant said Sunday at Toyota Center after helping the West defeat the East, 143-138, in the All-Star game. “But at this point … , it doesn’t matter. what matters to us is what we do on Wednesday [against the Boston Celtics] and go from there.

“That’s the most important thing. That’s my message to the team is that you can’t worry about the future, you can’t worry about the past, you just have to focus on the present and we really have to maximize every single game.”

No minutes restrictions for Bogut — The Warriors got off to an impressive start to the season, racking up a 22-10 record through Jan. 2. But since then, they’ve gone an unimpresive 8-12 and have fallen from a sure home-court seed in the playoffs to No. 6 in the West. Center Andrew Bogut returned to the Warriors’ lineup on Jan. 2 and has been in and out of the mix as he works his way back from his ankle woes. He took some shots at Golden State’s defense of late and hasn’t been able to do much to shore up the interior thanks to a minutes restriction that had him playing about 19 minutes a game when he DID play. Ric Bucher, via Sulia.com, says Bogut is looking ready to bear more of a role and more minutes, though:

Hard as it is for me to believe after watching him last Tuesday against the Houston Rockets, Andrew Bogut says that he expects to play without restriction following the All-Star break, including playing in back-to-back games. We won’t have to wait long to find out if that plan holds — Warriors play at Utah on Tuesday and at home against the Suns on Wednesday.

LeBron glad to see Irving as face of Cavs — We need not detail all of LeBron James‘ rise and fall as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, as those of you visiting these parts know well enough about what he did — both good and bad — as a Clevelander. Since he moved on from the Cavs to the Heat in the summer of 2010, Cleveland has been looking for someone to take over the mantle of the franchise that was left in James’ departure. Enter All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, who is the reigning Rookie of the Year winner and the newly crowned Three-Point Contest champion, too. Although Cleveland is 16-37 and seemingly on its way to another lottery season, there is hope there and even the former King of Akron can see it:

The business of basketball is booming these days, and the one-man brands of players like Irving are built in times like these. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ point guard thrilled the masses in the Rising Stars game on Friday, won the three-point contest on Saturday and was ready to enjoy his newfound elite status in his first All-Star game on Sunday with 15 points on six of 11 shooting. All the while, the counterintuitive notion that the Miami Heat’s LeBron James could return to Cleveland as a free agent in the summer of 2014 continued to grow, in large part, because Irving’s talent is tantalizing enough to make the Akron, Ohio, native seriously consider going home again.

“He’s unbelievable,” James said about Irving’s coronation as the new king of Cleveland. “He’ll be (among) the top two, top three best point guards in the league. He’s headed there already.

“He’s doing some great things right now. They should be excited about having him in Cleveland.”

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Irving came to Houston from Cleveland on Thursday, and the welcome challenge of keeping up with a jam-packed schedule began. The first of 27 items on his four-day itinerary was what’s known in NBA circles as ‘The Circuit,’ a string of media appearances and in-house interviews inside the Hilton hotel that comes in rapid-fire form. And per the NBA-issued paperwork that became his All-Star weekend bible of sorts, this called for a collared shirt.

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The Cavaliers jersey came off and the infamous gray T-shirt went back on, and Irving made his way to the ‘Circuit’ that would occupy his next two hours. There was an NBA TV set, an ESPN radio room, an NBA Cares room and a photo studio where shots of players in their off-floor attire were tweeted to the masses and made available to the media. It was inside the Grantland room, however, where Irving struggled to keep up with the dizzying array of names, faces and microphones.

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For all the intriguing parts of Irving’s story, whether it’s his love of music (he still sings and played the horn baritone as a child) or the pursuits that go beyond basketball (he takes classes at Duke in the offseason and made a promise to his father to finish his education), the question of whether he would lure James back to Cleveland was the only one that seemed to matter over the weekend.”Right now, I’m just living in the present,” he said during the ESPN radio spot. “All the what-ifs, and what could happen, you know obviously people are going to be — I’ll probably get that question all weekend. But right now it’s just about me and my team getting better.”

The mere fact that Irving is such a significant part of the James story line is as good an indication as any of his rising profile, not to mention the drastic change it represents from the start of his career. When he was drafted first overall by Cleveland, the only James-related question was whether Irving could handle the incredible shadow he had left behind.

“It’s funny how the roles have changed a little bit,” Irving told USA TODAY Sports. “I was replacing him, and now there’s all these rumors that he can come back. But it’s about brushing off that question and just being in the present — just being in the present and trying to develop this core group for the Cavaliers. My eventual goal is to win a championship. And before I retire I just want to win a championship. That’s it. It’s a learning process game to game.”

Winter-weather All-Star weekend? — Not since the 2005 All-Star Game in Denver has the NBA put its midseason showcase in a cold-weather climate, but that might change come 2016. According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, the Raptors and Maple Leaf Sports are getting the pieces in place to push for the All-Star Game to be held in Toronto. If Toronto gets its wish, the game would be held in the furthest northern city in North America since Minnesota hosted All-Star weekend back in 1994. Here’s more on the proposed bid:

The process of staging the NBA’s all-star weekend is elaborate and time-consuming and it’s impossible for things to happen without a huge amount of lead time.

Three years in the case of Toronto.

According to several sources, Maple Leaf Sports and the Raptors have already begun the process of submitting an official bid to host the 2016 all-star game to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the franchise and to bring one of the league’s most popular events to an international venue for the first time ever.

People with knowledge of the hospitality industry in Toronto say league officials have already been in the city making inquiries about hotel availability and convention space.

League sources said there have been no other expressions of interest yet in the 2016 event; the 2014 weekend is scheduled for New Orleans and NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said here Saturday night that either Brooklyn or New York are odds-on favourites to host the 2015 game.

“There are two (2015) applications in, one from Brooklyn and one from the Garden,” said commissioner David Stern.

The league accepts bids for all-star games from cities interested in hosting them that include specifics on hotel and convention space and arena modifications needed to stage the event. The league does not solicit bids from specific cities.

“We don’t consider anything in a vacuum,” said Stern. “We announce that bids are open for future all-star games.”

The Raptors have never bid for the game, often because of a lack of space for the massive NBA Jam Session that’s part of the weekend; that won’t be an issue for 2016, sources said.

For the departing Stern, the event here will be the last he’ll preside over since he is scheduled to retire weeks before the 2014 game.

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Silver, who assumes the commissioner’s duties next February, said the selection process isn’t likely to change and while it might be intriguing to take the extravaganza to neutral cities, perhaps in Europe, that might not be workable.

“We’ve discussed playing internationally. . . . I’m not sure if it will work logistically, but it’s something we’ll continue to study,” he said. “We’ve looked at other neutral cities. We’ve looked at refreshing All-Star Saturday Night and other innovative events for the weekend, and I think we’ll continue to do that, the same way we have under David’s leadership.”

ICYMI of the night: Seeing as how Michael Jordan‘s 50th birthday interview on NBA TV (8 ET) is merely hours away, it is only fitting to pick this Jordan-esque reverse layup by Russell Westbrook:

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 14

February 14, 2013  ·  7:34AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: Although the matchup of All-Star point guards failed to live up to our hopes, the Spurs-Cavs game was a thriller down the stretch. Tony Parker did his part, going for 24 points and seven dimes, but Kyrie Irving had one of his toughest nights of the season, shooting 2-for-15 for six points to go along with seven assists himself. Rookie Dion Waiters showed some clutch skills with a step-back jumper to give Cleveland a two-point lead with 9.5 seconds left. But Parker — who won his lone Finals MVP by dicing up the Cavs in 2007 — went to work, operating out of the pick and roll to find a wide open Kawhi Leonard on the baseline for the game-winning 3-pointer.

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News of the morning

Brown chimes in on old squad | KG done with All-Star Games? | Jennings clarifies future | Big Al question dogs Jazz | Why Spurs won’t get J-Smoove

Ex-Lakers coach sees bright future for L.A. — Depending on your point of view, it may not seem that long ago that the Lakers fired coach Mike Brown after going 1-4 to open the season. Since then, there’s been plenty more drama in Lakerland, USA, and we haven’t heard much from the man who had the first crack at making the Dwight Howard-Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant-Steve Nash “superteam” work this season. Brown stopped by Colin Cowherd‘s ESPN Radio program yesterday, though, to say he sees some signs that the Lakers are heading in the direction he couldn’t get them to go when he had the gig:

Former Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has had three months to ruminate on his former team and its struggles amid the additions of coach Mike D’Antoni, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, and the departure of Andrew Bynum.

Brown says despite a slow first half, he sees a Lakers team that can, with some work, turn its season around.

“I think it can be done,” Brown said Wednesday in a telephone interview with “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on ESPN Radio. “Mike has a different philosophy, and it’s worked for him the many years he’s been coaching in the NBA. And I’m sure he’ll figure it out, which he’s been doing.

“He’s been making some adjustments as time’s gone on. So I think it’s a matter of time before they get it going.”

Brown noted he was skeptical when D’Antoni, upon his hiring, said the Lakers would implement a run-and-gun style offense and score in the 110-115-point range — “be the old ‘Showtime.’”

“I did not feel that was a running team,” said Brown, who was fired in November after a 1-4 start to the season. “Kobe [Bryant] is a guy who can run, but if you look back at the history of his career, he really hasn”t been on a running team, in his 15, 16, 20 years — whatever he’s been in the league.

“Then you talk about having two bigs,” Brown said of Howard and Pau Gasol. “And both of those bigs are agile and capable runners, but they’re not the type of runners that you need to have to play in a system that’s going to score those types of points.”

Brown related his experience as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, when they had both Tim Duncan and David Robinson, saying an efficient scoring tandem is indeed possible between players with the skill sets of Howard and Gasol.

Regarding his firing, Brown said he was “shocked” to learn of the Lakers’ decision.

“But I always look at it this way,” Brown said. “It’s their team. They have every right to do what they want to do with it. You know, I appreciate the opportunity that they gave me, and it was a decision that the Busses and Mitch Kupchak came to. They felt they would be better going in another direction. So from that standpoint I respect it, I appreciate the opportunity, but it was a little surprising.”

KG bidding adieu to All-Star Game? — All-Star starter Kevin Garnett is making his 14th appearance in the league’s midseason showcase, but I guess we should all take time to soak in his play there. According to the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy, Garnett says this will be his final All-Star Game. That would seem to imply that KG is pondering retirement after this season, but the Celtics’ standout said his reasons for not wanting to be in the game in the future have more to do with fatigue than the end of the road in the NBA:

Kevin Garnett said last night that his 14th All-Star Game appearance on Sunday in Houston will also be his last, though the Celtics forward stopped short of saying he was retiring at the end of the season.

Garnett, realizing he had just set off an alarm, then turned cryptic. He has two years remaining on his contract.

“This is definitely my last All-Star Game,” he said. “Ya’ll don’t know what I know. I’m more than grateful, and I’m not going to act like I have more All-Star Games in me. I’ll enjoy this one with friends and family. That’s what I meant.”

Garnett added he simply plans to enjoy himself this weekend.

“I’ll have no feelings whatsoever,” he said when asked about Sunday. “I always enjoyed each All-Star Game. I’m not a guy who is going to show too much emotion at that time. The All-Star Game for me is more for friends and family. You always have that wild-assed uncle who shows his ass, you always have that friend you always have to pull to the side and have that little conversation (with). It’s a fun time.”

Garnett admitted to feeling the wear and tear on the inside this season.

“The last four or five days have been exhausting,” he said. “Mentally more than physical. The three overtimes against Denver was emotionally draining, the travel, having to come in here and prepare after losing to Charlotte, so yeah, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind.”

Jennings refutes talk of frustration — Bucks fourth-year guard Brandon Jennings is having one of his better all-around seasons, averaging 18.5 ppg, 6.1 apg, 1.9 spg and shooting 36.4 percent from 3-point range. Jennings, a restricted free-agent this summer, had a chance to sign a four-year, $40 million extension with Milwaukee but passed on it and will test the free-agent waters this summer. An analysis story on ESPN.com said that Jennings has “irreconcilable differences” with the Bucks’ front office and is demanding a trade by the Feb. 21 deadline. But Jennings later came back and spoke with ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard — who did not write the first Jennings story — to clear up his side on things:

ESPN.com, in an analysis story on 10 NBA players who could be traded, cited sources as saying Jennings is frustrated. One source called it “irreconcilable differences” and said Jennings wants to be moved before the Feb. 21 trade deadline.

“That is not true,” Jennings said in a text message when asked if his relationship with the Bucks is beyond repair. “Just because I got a new agent doesn’t mean anything. That stuff never came out of my mouth. They’re just reaching for a story since I changed my agent [to Jeff Schwartz].”

ESPN.com said it stands by its reporting.

A year ago, Jennings told ESPN.com that he was “doing [his] homework on big-market teams.” Since then, Jennings’ long-term status in Milwaukee has been the subject of speculation among league insiders, and when Jennings left agent Bill Duffy, the rumors swirled again about whether the guard is unhappy with the Bucks. The Bucks offered Jennings a four-year, $40 million extension, according to sources, but he turned it down. He will become a restricted free agent this summer.

One other theory being floated: Jennings is upset because he didn’t make the Eastern Conference All-Star team, despite leading the Bucks into playoff position by averaging team-highs of 18.5 points and 6.1 assists, or that he wants more exposure than small-market Milwaukee can offer.

Jennings denied that.

“Being in Milwaukee wasn’t the reason I didn’t make the All-Star Game,” Jennings said. “Guys just had better numbers than me.”

When asked about his future on Wednesday, Jennings said he’s only focused on the present.

“That’s something me and Jeff will discuss in the offseason,” he said. “The Milwaukee Bucks are in 8th place in the East, and I’m looking forward to helping them get to the playoffs in the second half of the season.”

Jazz’s lingering question: What to do with Big Al? — Utah has one representative — Jeremy Evans in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday — heading to Houston this weekend, which might be a good thing for the front office. Leading scorer Al Jefferson has been thrown about in trade rumors, but nothing of serious merit has floated out there. Jefferson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, has said in the past the Jazz will have the right of first refusal for him. The emergence of second-year center Enes Kanter as well as Utah’s desire to eventually free up minutes for third-year big Derrick Favors puts it in a situation where some decisions have to be made, writes Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Jazz’s biggest issue, as they head into the All-Star break after Wednesday’s game at Minnesota and anticipate the NBA’s Feb. 21 trade deadline, is what to do with Jefferson. His expiring contract will make him a free agent in July, creating options for the team. How the Jazz’s management addresses the Jeffersonian Dilemma is central to the franchise’s immediate and long-term future.It’s complicated, that’s for sure. The answer is not as simple as saying the Jazz should trade him just to get something in return before he walks away. Any deal they make next week must genuinely advance their rebuilding process, not merely bring them some temporary assets that the other party wants to unload.

The Jazz keep showing enough flashes of potential, such as Tuesday’s convincing win over Oklahoma City, to make this season’s goals worth pursuing, as opposed to starting over with two months remaining. When the injured Mo Williams and Gordon Hayward return, the Jazz should be able to solidify a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and I’ll always endorse postseason play as meaningful.

The tricky part of this discussion is that the Jazz have become so dependent on Jefferson that he’s both the solution and the problem with their offense.

Averaging 17.5 points and 9.4 rebounds, Jefferson has done more than anyone could have expected of him in his third season with the Jazz. He’s the team’s closest thing to an All-Star and he cares about winning, by all accounts.

It’s just while I’ve come to appreciate his game more and more, I still say his style — backing in, holding the ball, faking and working for a shot — just doesn’t fit the Jazz’s traditional offensive approach that calls for the players and the ball to keep moving. To his credit, he’s become much more willing to pass in the last month, resulting in the team’s field-goal percentage finally climbing above .450, ranking in the top half of the league.

The summary is that even though I don’t see him as a long-term fixture here, trading him is not necessarily the right call.

The Jazz should move Jefferson only if they can net a return that’s a reasonable percentage of the package they received from New Jersey/Brooklyn for Deron Williams two years ago. They got Derrick Favors, Devin Harris (later traded for Marvin Williams), a first-round draft choice in 2011 (Enes Kanter) and a future first-round pick, which will be conveyed via Golden State this year.

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In any case, the D-Will deal should be somewhat of a model for any trade of Jefferson. It actually would make more sense for the Jazz to trade Paul Millsap, as popular as he is, because Favors is better prepared than Kanter to assume a bigger role right now.

For the sake of their future, the Jazz have to commit themselves to Kanter, at some point. I’m just not sure that time is next week.

Why Smoove to the Spurs doesn’t make sense — Few players have had their name bandied about in trade rumors more the past few weeks than Hawks forward Josh Smith. From New Jersey to to San Antonio (and points inbetween and beyond), there’s been talk of the multi-talented forward having his skills shipped to any number of contenders around the league. The Spurs would seem to be a Finals shoo-in should they pick up Smith, but we’ve got a dose of reality courtesy of the San Antonio Express-News’ Jeff McDonald on why a Spurs trade for Smith is nonsense:

And so we come to the “rumor” that the Spurs are looking to trade for Atlanta forward Josh Smith. In a power-rankings column yesterday, the great Marc Spears at Yahoo! Sports mentioned the Spurs as one of many teams expressing interest in Smith.

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This morning, the folks at ProBasketballTalk took Spears’ mention a step further, hopping on the trade machine to put together a hypothetical deal between the Spurs and Hawks. To PBT’s credit, the site made imminently clear the “hypothetical” part.

The deal they made up: Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Jackson’s expiring contract, a pick (perhaps?), a young point guard (perhaps?).

Again, nobody is reporting that the Spurs and Hawks have discussed any sort of deal at all. It’s all hypothetical.

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If I may, here are three reasons why the Josh Smith-to-Spurs thing will not happen.1) The Hawks are primarily interested in acquiring picks. Lottery picks. The Spurs, as you may have read, are 41-12. They’re going to have to do a championship job of tanking after the All-Star break to wind up in the draft lottery. As it stands now, they’re going to have the No. 30 pick overall. Not an enticing trade chip for a team like Atlanta.

2) The Spurs have little to no interest in adding big payroll after this season. Smith is going to want a maximum contract when his deal is up. It’s the reason the Hawks are shopping him. I have no doubt some team out there will give Smith the payday he desires. I guarantee you it’s not going to be the Spurs. You really think the Spurs would be interested in giving up Kawhi Leonard — a guy Gregg Popovich envisions as the future face of the franchise – for a half-season rental? Because I don’t.

3) Leonard is borderline untouchable at this point. Look, you never say never about trading anybody (except maybe Tim Duncan). But thanks to the rookie scale contract system, the Spurs have Leonard — aka “Bruce Bowen with skills” — for two more seasons at a total of $3.1 million. That’s chump change, and quite a value for a player who is becoming increasingly important to what the Spurs do at both ends of the floor. For the budget-conscious Spurs, a player so vastly over-performing his contract is worth holding onto for dear life.

ICYMI of the night: JaVale McGee gets a lot of heat on Shaqtin’ A Fool when he does something wrong, and most of the time the criticism is deserved. But when he does something right — like this dunk last night over Gerald Wallace – well, we’ve got to give him props …:

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 12

February 12, 2013  ·  7:47AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: How about the Spurs last night? Taking care of one of the East’s elite — Chicago — without any of their Big Three (Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker)? Impressive stuff, no doubt. However, our pick this morning is the Nets-Pacers game. Deron Williams sat this one out while undergoing treatment for his bothersome swollen ankles. The Nets could have folded up shop after being down 76-72 with 1:38 to go. But Joe Johnson came up with a big shot to force overtime and Brook Lopez showed his All-Star stuff as Brooklyn won in one of the NBA’s toughest places to do so, Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

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News of the morning

Media at fault for Kobe-Dwight spat? | Mavs may stay quiet during deadline | Bynum’s return pushed back | Pacers ready for Granger’s return | Irving, Scott to have own shootout | Drummond’s creative rehab work

Media to blame for Kobe-Dwight rift? — Before the 2012-13 season, most of us thought the Lakers might be a daily part of the conversation about a run at the championship. Instead, the Lakers have been a daily part of the conversation as we all attempt to figure out why they can’t even reach .500, let alone talk about a title. From Mike Brown‘s firing to Mike D’Antoni being hired, from Steve Nash‘s injury to Pau Gasol‘s injury and from Dwight Howard‘s back woes to conflicts between Howard, Kobe Bryant, Nash and others on the team, what’s happening off the court has been much-discussed in Lakerland. According to Bryant, though, any drama that exists between Kobe and Howard is something that the media has made up. Ramona Shelbourne of ESPNLosAngeles.com has more from Bryant on this issue and more:

If Bryant wanted to call out Dwight Howard for resting his injured shoulder for three games last week despite being medically cleared to play, he would’ve just done so. Instead, Bryant claimed his call for “urgency” was misinterpreted as a call-out and turned into a “manufactured conflict.”

“I didn’t say anything wrong. I didn’t say anything to hammer him over the head or take a run at him,” Bryant said before the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice Monday. “That was actually manufactured. I’d own up to it if I took a run at somebody.

“Urgency is something we’ve been trumpeting, we’ve been beating that drum since the beginning of the season when we started struggling.”

The comments Bryant is referring to came from an interview he gave to ESPNBoston.com’s Jackie MacMullan before the Lakers played the Boston Celtics last Thursday. Howard had sat out the previous three games, and the Lakers had just learned they would be without injured forward Pau Gasol for at least six to eight weeks.

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Bryant did not say the quotes in the story were taken out of context. Rather, he took issue with the controversy that spiraled from them and the perception of a rift between himself and Howard.He said that he reached out to Howard to make sure he understood it wasn’t his intention to call him out.

Bryant has been with the Lakers for 17 seasons and has grown somewhat immune to the noise generated by Los Angeles’ media. But even when he hears it, Bryant said he’s learned it doesn’t have to be a negative thing.

“It actually helped us keep our edge, keep our intensity,” Bryant said of the controversy that always hovered over his championship runs with Shaquille O’Neal. “It gave us something to kind of build towards. But like I said, there was actual conflict though.

“At least the Shaq stuff was actually warranted. This is just comical.”

The situation escalated over the weekend, however, when Howard’s father took exception to the comments, as well as coach Mike D’Antoni’s handling of the the issue.

Asked Monday whether he could’ve done a better job handling the situation, D’Antoni said:

“We’re not going to play out what we do in the locker room or how I should coach in the media,” D’Antoni said. “That’s been our problem. Everybody wants a story. Everybody wants to give a story. The story is whether we win or lose and how we play.

“We will sit down with a player, we sit down with players all the time. I’m not going to play it out through the media. I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think any team I’ve been on has ever done that, and I’m really surprised here in L.A. that seems to be the norm. … That’s not good.”

D’Antoni bluntly stated that he doesn’t believe the Lakers have a “communication problem.”

“Most of the time when there’s a communication problem, it’s because the message being received is not the message you want,” D’Antoni said. “It’s not that they don’t know what they need to do, how we need to act as a team, whatever. If you don’t like the message, then you go say there’s a communication problem.”

‘Bank of Cuban’ still open, but deals iffy — A little less than a month ago, Mavs owner Mark Cuban proclaimed that the ‘Bank of Cuban’ was open — meaning Dallas was open to a trade come the Feb. 21 dealing deadline. Since then, Cuban seems to have softened on that stance and is offering a few caveats to any potential deals the Mavs may make, writes Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com:

If the Mavericks don’t make a trade before the Feb. 21 deadline, Mark Cuban insists it won’t be due to a lack of effort.

President of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and coach Rick Carlisle have both gone on the record recently with predictions that the Mavs will stand pat. Cuban acknowledges that could be the case, but he continues to actively search for opportunities to upgrade the roster of a 22-28 team while keeping the Mavs’ future in mind.

“It takes two teams to trade,” Cuban said Monday evening. “There’s a lot of deals we would make [laughs], but nobody seems willing to do what we want to do. You never know, but nothing imminent. The bank’s still open.”

The bank is still open, but Cuban will be very judicious when determining whether a deal is worth sacrificing space under the salary cap this summer. Tampering rules prevent Cuban from coming out and saying it, but the Mavs aren’t bowing out of the Dwight Howard sweepstakes unless they can acquire a building block in the next week and a half.

“It’s gotta be something really, really, really good,” Cuban said. “It’s got to be a futures type player that we can build around or really adds a lot.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean an established All-Star. It just has to be a player the Mavs project to become an All-Star, or at least one of their top three players. Cuban points to the Mavs’ acquisition of Steve Nash back in the day as an example.

“There’s been lots of players we picked up over time that weren’t All-Stars that turned into cornerstones,” Cuban said. “We’d take those. They don’t have to be proven. They’d have to be someone we think it’s just a question of time or system or coaching or whatever.”

Bynum switches timetable on return — The Sixers have done an admirable job of hanging around the Eastern Conference playoff picture (they’re three games behind Milwaukee for the No. 8 seed) despite not having Andrew Bynum all season and recently losing Jason Richardson for the rest of the season. Hope had come to Philly once Bynum finally started working out with the team recently and going through some drills. A post-All-Star break return was penciled in just a few weeks ago. But Bynum’s return is apparently being pushed back — again — as pain in his left knee is growing, writes Jason Wolf of USA Today:

Andrew Bynum has eased up on his workouts after experiencing “a lot of pain” in his left knee and is unsure if he’ll make his Philadelphia 76ers debut this month.

“I think I worked well for two days on the court and then I got a lot of pain,” Bynum said Monday, “so we backed down a little bit today. I’ll probably go on (the anti-gravity treadmill) tomorrow.”

There is no official target date for Bynum to join full-team practices, or for him to play in a game. But earlier this month, the one-time all-star center told reporters that he was hoping to appear in his first game with the Sixers “around the all-star break.”

Bynum was asked Monday whether he was still planning to play in a game this month.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “It’s all going to depend on if we get a setback or not. Right now, I think things are going well. I’m losing weight and staying on the court for as long as I can.”

But he also said the pain in his left knee “limits me from continuing to go.”

“I don’t know if it’s normal soreness, or if I’ll have to play with it,” Bynum said. “I don’t know what it is. It’s not anything that I haven’t felt, so it’s not new. And it continues to kind of go away over time, so it’s all good stuff. No swelling.”

Pacers can’t wait to see Granger again — Indiana is in the thick of the upper half of the Eastern Conference thanks to a 13-8 stretch since Jan. 1 and the emergence of Paul George as an All-Star. Still, Indiana has fallen on a little bit of hard times, losing two straight and seeing its 15-game home win streak come to an end after an upset loss to the Raptors on Feb. 8. Good news is on the horizon with Danny Granger expected to suit up for the first time this season on Wednesday. He’s expected to resume his role as a starter, displacing Lance Stephenson. While there’s a tendency among Pacers fans to not upset the apple cart, writes Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star, this is the best move for Indiana long term:

This idea that Granger should be a high-scoring sixth man, this notion that the Pacers shouldn’t mess up a good thing by moving Lance Stephenson back to the benchd…

Naaaah.

An hour before the Pacers’ 89-84 overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets Monday night, Vogel said he’s initially going to use Granger off the bench in order to get his legs back under him, but once he’s in basketball shape – that should take a week – he’ll be back in the starting lineup.

And that’s that.

Because the stats here don’t lie: Once George Hill took over the point guard spot late last season, the Pacers had the most productive starting five in the NBA. They’ve been very good with Stephenson – check out my new favorite website, 82games.com, to see the numbers – but they were the best in the league with the old starting five.

The best.

“Obviously, there’s some merit to having one of those guys coming off the bench, much like with San Antonio and Manu Ginobili or Oklahoma City when they had James Harden, but that (original lineup with Granger) was dominant,’’ Vogel said. “That’s something we’re looking forward to getting back to.’’

Pacers fans should be forewarned: It’s going to take some time. For one thing, Granger hasn’t played in months. He is a notoriously slow starter, even when he’s healthy, and it’s going to take a couple of weeks before he’s fully re-acclimated back into the team. My guess is, as soon as Granger struggles – and he will – there will be a hue and cry to restore Stephenson to the starting lineup and relegate Granger to the bench.

Don’t.

And no, they won’t.

…

For two years, Stephenson looked like a lost cause, an immature kid with little hope of finding his way. He wasn’t getting it done on the court, and he was no treat as a teammate in the locker room.

Then, the light came on.

And just in time, given Granger’s injury. Would the Pacers be where they are now without him?

“He was finding his way early in the season and finding it well, but I’m not sure if he really understood he belonged,’’ Vogel said. “When he struggled a couple of games on the West coast, we sat down and I reiterated and illustrated to him how important he is to being a big part of our success. That may have been the moment when the light came on for him, and he’s been on a tear since then.

“I think he’s being smarter with his passing. He’s a homerun passing kind of guy. That’s his DNA, that’s what his instincts are. But now, more than in the first two years, he’s reined it in and kept it under control. If he makes a fancy pass, it’s a safe, fancy pass, which is something we welcome. And defensively, he’s continuing to grow. He’s staying disciplined in our defensive scheme. He’s chasing guys, he’s negotiating through screens; he’s still a work in progress, but he’s much better than he was the first two years.’’

Granger can’t return quickly enough. After a nice run of 15 straight home victories, the Pacers have now lost two straight home overtime games, the latest one to a Deron Williams-less Nets team playing the back end of a back-to-back. Paul George and David West, their two best players, shot a combined 3-for-21. This was the kind of game the Pacers couldn’t afford to lose, not with so many Eastern Conference bunched up around the 3-4-5 seed.

Irving gets first Three-Point Contest challenger — Cavs All-Star guard Kyrie Irving is going to be mighty busy during All-Star weekend. He’s not only in the league’s showcase event, but he’s on Team Shaq in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge on Friday evening and will also participate in the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest on Saturday evening. Irving’s coach, Byron Scott, wants to get a preview of sorts of how Irving will do in the Three-Point Contest, so he’s challenged him to a post-practice 3-point shootout, writes Bob Finnan of the News-Herald:

Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said he challenged point guard Kyrie Irving to a 3-point shootout after practice on Tuesday at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Scott wouldn’t say if the media would be invited to this must-see event.

Irving has been invited to the Three-Point Contest during All-Star weekend in Houston. Scott competed in the event twice — a last-place finish in 1987 and a third-place performance in ’88.

“I challenged him today,” Scott said. “We’ll go around twice. He’s talking a lot. I think I have a good shot at (beating him). My only problem is if I get tired.”

It’s almost turned into an endurance test. Sixty seconds of constant shooting is more than people realize.

“We’ll have fun,” Scott said. “Basically, it’s to show him how the contest is done.”

Irving said he read where Scott challenged him.

“That’s something a third-place winner would do, go behind my back and challenge me,” he said. “The challenge is supposed to be tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. I’m getting up early and doing my pushups.”

They have nothing riding on the contest — yet. By the time they get to the end of practice on Tuesday, trash talk could escalate. Don’t be surprised if some cash is bet.

Pistons get creative with Drummond’s rehab — Detroit’s standout rookie, Andre Drummond, is going to be out a month after suffering a back injury. Leave it to Detroit’s longtime trainer, Arnie Kander, to come up with an innovative way to get the Pistons’ big man back on track. The method of choice? Beating a drum during practices, which will serve a two-fold purpose, writes Terry Foster of The Detroit News:

Andre Drummond beat the drum slowly and softly Monday before the Pistons game against the Charlotte Hornets at The Palace.

And that wasn’t good enough for strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander.

“You got to work now,” Kander told Drummond. “Let’s go.”

Drummond saw that Kander was serious and pounded on his drum a little quicker. But he was not the second coming of Buddy Rich.

The Drummond drum beat served two purposes. It is helping his sore back get better and it also is a way for Drummond to keep connected with his team. He will be with teammates every day during his rehabilitation. Step one was beating on a drum that he carried with him throughout the game-day practice.

The idea is to strengthen his core by keeping his back straight while he taps on the drums. Drummond injured his back last week and is expected out four to six weeks.

“He is our Ringo Starr,” Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. “I think it is very important that when you are injured in all professional sports to remain engaged. Sometimes in sports when you are injured, you become invisible. I think it is important that we integrate him in everything we do and he integrates himself. Mentally you are preparing like you are playing, but physically you can’t play. So you prepare yourself as best you can.”

Drummond’s spirits were up Monday. He joked with teammates in practice and poked his head in during a media scrum with guard Will Bynum. He also participated in a simple drill that helps stretch teammates.

…

Frank said the injury is especially rough on Drummond because it is his first injury — and he might not be able to handle things as well as a veteran who has been injured before.

“This is his first time going through anything like this,” Frank said. “A veteran guy kind of understands the nature of it. But when you are 19 years old and this is your first injury you can become invisible sometimes. You know that happens sometimes. You not only can become invisible but it is easy to not just take care of yourself 100 percent. When you are young guys don’t know.”

ICYMI of the night: So many great dunks by the Clippers last night … thankfully, we’ve got them all in one tidy highlight that is a must-watch:

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 7

February 7, 2013  ·  8:06AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: A 13-game night means there’s a little bit of everything for any kind of fan: lottery team showdows (like Bobcats-Cavs or Suns-Hornets), playoff team scuffles (such as Grizz-Hawks) and elite teams in action (like Warriors-Thunder, Rockets-Heat and Spurs-Wolves). We’re not going to pick a lottery showdown and that Grizz-Hawks game ended up being a blowout, so it’s out. The elite teams (OKC, Miami and San Antonio) did what they wanted and there was little doubt they’d win. So our pick today is Bucks-Jazz. Although Utah won by 14 points, Milwaukee gave a good fight most of the night. Plus, we’re a fan of watching big men go to work, and what team in the league has a better stockpile of ‘em than Utah with Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter? It’s enough to make Karl Malone wish he could teach ‘em all a few tricks (more on that below) … 

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News of the morning

Kobe wants ‘urgency’ from Dwight | D-Will still in pain | Malone wants to re-join Jazz (on bench) | ‘Sheed looks back on D.C. days | Sixers’ Richardson done for season? | Carter a ‘long shot’ to be traded | Wall a franchise star?

Kobe pleads for ‘urgency’ from Howard — The Lakers got word Wednesday afternoon that an MRI revealed Pau Gasol has a tear in his foot and are awaiting word as to how much time he will miss. Meanwhile, center Dwight Howard has missed L.A.’s last three games to rest a torn labrum in his shoulder. Oh, and, the Lakers have virtually no backup big men after they lost forward Jordan Hill for the season in January to hip surgery. All that said, Lakers star Kobe Bryant knows that for L.A. to climb back into the playoff race and stay there, he’ll need help from Howard sooner rather than later. ESPNLosAngeles.com details what Bryant is feeling about Howard and his need to rest his injuries:

“We don’t have time for (Howard’s shoulder) to heal,” Bryant said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with ESPNBoston.com’s Jackie MacMullan. “We need some urgency.”

The interview with MacMullan came one day after Bryant publicly challenged Howard, stating that playing through an injury is “something that you have to balance out and manage.”

Bryant also asserted that Howard is preoccupied with how he is perceived by fans and media.

“Dwight worries too much about what people think,” Bryant told MacMullan. “I told him, ‘You can’t worry about that. It’s holding you back.’ He says, ‘OK, OK, OK,’ but it’s always hovering around him.

“He just wants people to like him. He doesn’t want to let anyone down, and that gets him away from what he should be doing.”

Bryant also speculated that Howard, in his first season with Los Angeles, may not be accustomed to the Lakers’ standards.

“(Howard) has never been in a position where someone is driving him as hard as I am, as hard as this organization is,” Bryant told MacMullan. “It’s win a championship or everything is a complete failure. That’s just how (the Lakers) do it. And that’s foreign to him.

“When you think about it, there aren’t many organizations that look at it that way. There are only two that can really honestly say that’s what they live by — Los Angeles and Boston.”

Howard preached patience in a recent interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, pointing to the fact that Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal needed three years before winning a championship with the Lakers.

But the 34-year-old Bryant, who is averaging 27.6 points per game in his 17th NBA season, is approaching this season with more desperation.

“We don’t have three years,” Kobe said. “We’ve got this year.”

Howard is listed as day to day, and his status is uncertain for Thursday’s game against the Boston Celtics.

The Lakers are hopeful Gasol’s injury will prompt Howard to return “sooner than later,” a team source told ESPNLosAngeles.com.

D-Will still dealing with pain — Deron Williams has had a rough season, part of which can be attributed to various injuries which have hampered his effectiveness and made him less-than the All-Star guard he usually is. Last night against the Pistons was no different for Williams, who had a rough night stats-wise and was mostly ineffective against Detroit’s young guard combination of Brandon Knight, Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:

For Williams, it was another game with more pain. He came up limping and grimacing in the first quarter, with a knock that appeared to involve his knee or thigh. In the second quarter, he required attention from the trainer after grabbing his shoulder.

Williams walked it off, like he does with most of his aches and pains. And per usual, he never really recovered.

The point guard, who has been a shell of his former explosive self because of the injuries, had his moments in the fourth quarter, including a smooth crossover that led to an 18-foot jumper. But Williams was mostly ineffective, slow and hesitant, finishing with 12 points and nine assists — leaving him with averages of 11.8 and 6.5, respectively, in his last four games.
He also is missing his first All-Star game in three years.

“Right now I think he’s sore,” interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said of Williams, who has injured both ankles, his foot, his thigh and his wrist this season. “There’s no question. Someone like Deron who played all summer — we are beyond the halfway mark, so the guys that are playing big minutes are beat up. They are sore. In his case, his ankle and his wrist. He’s had trouble with that the whole year.”

Williams hasn’t dunked once this season, or hit a game-winner. So it was no surprise Lopez got the call down the stretch, with the game there for the taking thanks to Detroit’s fourth-quarter ineptitude (the Pistons shot 6-of-20 in the period).

Mailman wants back in with Jazz — Few players are as synonymous with a franchise as Karl Malone is with the Jazz. The Hall of Famer, former two-time MVP and the No. 2 all-time scorer in NBA history hasn’t suited up for Utah since the 2003 playoffs, but a statue of him resides out front of EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City and his No. 32 jersey hangs from the rafters in it. Malone currently serves as an the director of basketball promotions and assistant strength and conditioning coach for his alma mater, Louisiana Tech, but has also hosted a weekly radio show on ESPN 700 in Salt Lake City in the last year. He appeared with ESPN 700′s Hans Olsen and James Rust on Wednesday afternoon and made his case to join Utah’s staff as an assistant coach:

Malone doesn’t want to replace any of Tyrone Corbin’s current full-time helpers, but he wouldn’t mind finding a spot next to Sidney Lowe, Jeff Hornacek, Michael Sanders and Brad Jones.

“All they’ve got to do is call me,” Malone said during an interview with ESPN 700′s Hans Olsen and James Rust on Wednesday afternoon. “I’ll work with the big men for free for a while until it work.”

This isn’t the first time Malone has offered his coaching services to the organization he helped turn into a powerhouse and a two-time NBA Finals squad during his 18 years in Utah.

“I’m saying it again. Ain’t nobody took me up on it,” Malone said. “Maybe they don’t want to hear me.”

Malone said he wouldn’t necessarily want a full-time gig and he has no desire to travel with the team every game.

…

“But look. We can start off and see if it working,” Malone said. “If not, I’ll be the first one to say, ‘Guys, it ain’t working.’ And they don’t have to say nothing.”

Malone has no doubt if the Jazz’s former coach was still in charge — or is again elsewhere someday — he’d be in a gym teaching bigs how it’s done.”If coach (Jerry) Sloan ever got another coaching job, I would be with him sometime,” he said. “End of story.”

…

“I’m being dead serious about this,” Malone said. “I don’t want no cameras around. I would be more than willing to come.”One large factor Malone is interested: He’s a big fan of the Jazz bigs.

“Utah Jazz is one of my favorite teams. I still have them doing damage,” Malone said during the 25-minute interview. “Utah Jazz have a group of the best big men that’s in the league. Go through any team (and compare).”

…

“All in all guys, don’t start blowing up the team,” he said in the radio interview. “If you don’t have to get rid of a big guy, don’t get rid of a big guy. You don’t see a lot of them coming down the pike. But the fact of the matter is, we have talent on this team.”The sports talk-show hosts also asked Malone who he’d pick if he had to between Big Al and Malone’s fellow Louisiana Tech product, Millsap. Malone grumbled and laughed about being put on the spot but then — you guessed — gave his opinion.

“I love Paul Millsap and he’s going to play somewhere all he want to. If you’re making me choose between one or the other — and I’m Tech Nation, Paul Millsap — Al Jefferson, to me, is a bigger guy that would do more damage at that position if you can’t bring but one of them back,” Malone said. “Try to bring both back. Whatever you do, do not get rid of these two young kids (Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter).

‘Sheed still remembers his Bullet days — Long before Rasheed Wallace was an All-Star performer as a Portland Trail Blazer and a key part of the Detroit Pistons’ championship team of 2004, he was the prized pick of the Washington Bullets (now Wizards) in 1995. Going No. 4 overall to Washington, Wallace garnered All-Rookie Second Team honors and was part of a young-but-developing squad that included Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Calbert Chaney and other young talent. But after his rookie season, ‘Sheed was sent to Portland for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant as the Wizards tried to make a serious playoff push. Wallace talked with the Washington Post’s Michael Lee about his D.C. days and what could have been had he stuck around:

“Every time I’m back here, people say, ‘Man, why’d you leave?’ ” Wallace said, shaking his head, at Wednesday’s morning shootaround at Verizon Center. “It wasn’t up to me.”

Wallace still blames former Bullets General Manager John Nash for his exit after one season with the team, but Nash had resigned before Wes Unseld eventually shipped him to Portland for point guard Rod Strickland and forward Harvey Grant in one of those promising-big-for-fading-small deals that the franchise was so accustomed to making in the 1990s (ahem, Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond).

With a few more gray hairs peeking out of his scraggly beard and unkempt Afro, Wallace still looks back on his time as a Bullet as a classic could’ve-been.

“Man, I think about it a lot,” said Wallace, who averaged 10.1 points and 4.7 rebounds in his rookie season. “I understand it was all business and money, but we had a helluva squad here. I wish we could’ve stayed like two, three years together, just to be able to see what we could’ve done.”

The Bullets were stocked with front-court talent back then, with Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Gheorghe Muresan, Jim McIlvaine and Bob McCann and Wallace was often viewed as a luxury. Wallace started 51 games as a rookie, getting a lot of time at power forward as Webber recovered from a dislocated left shoulder, but he also dealt with troubles on and off the court in his short stint with the Bullets. He also didn’t need much time to establish a reputation for berating NBA officials, and had been mentioned in trade rumors since January of that season.

The Bullets reportedly offered Wallace to Philadelphia for the No. 1 overall pick, which turned out to be Allen Iverson.

Still, Wallace was stunned when he was seated in a barbershop in Philadelphia and got word that he was going to join the Portland Trail Blazers.

“My cousin called, and told me, ‘You just got traded to Portland.’ I was like: ‘Man, whatever. I didn’t get traded,’ ” Wallace said with a laugh. “About two seconds later, my agent [Bill Strickland] called and was like, ‘The rumors is true.’ I was like, ‘Aarghhhh!’ ”

…

The “what ifs” will never be resolved in Washington but the memories remain. When asked what he misses most about his days playing at the Capital Centre in Landover, Wallace said: “Just the enthusiasm of the crowd. The crowd felt the same things that we did. That it was a helluva team and we could’ve did some things. …I think we would’ve went far in the playoffs, because we were big. Unfortunately, I started those games that I did because Web went down. I hate to move into his starting slot like that. But man, we could’ve did a lot of things.”

Richardson facing season-ending surgery — The Sixers have spent the season waiting for All-Star big man Andrew Bynum to get into the lineup so they can see exactly what kind of team they have. But while Bynum has been rehabbing and progressing, Philly has been waiting to get veteran guard Jason Richardson back, too. Richardson hasn’t played since Jan. 18 as he’s been dealing with a nagging knee issue that will now likely require surgery and six to nine months of recovery time, writes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports:

Philadelphia 76ers guard Jason Richardson learned Wednesday he will miss the rest of the season due to a left knee injury that requires surgery, a source told Yahoo! Sports.

The 12th-year veteran was told by a doctor in New York City that he has a cartilage tear the size of a quarter on the right side of his left kneecap. Richardson is expected to be out six to nine months following surgery that is expected to take place next week.

Richardson had missed the previous seven games after being diagnosed with synovitis in his left knee. He finishes the season averaging 10.5 points and 3.8 rebounds while starting in all 33 games he played in during his first season with Philadelphia. He is under contract through the 2014-15 season.

Carter a ‘long shot’ to be traded — Our own Jeff Caplan caught up with Mavs swingman Vince Carter, who has been hot lately for the Mavs, averaging 17.6 points on 49.0 percent field-goal shooting and 45.0 percent from 3-point range over his past eight games. Carter’s name has been bandied about in trade rumors, but the likelihood of him being shipped out of Dallas seems slim, and he seems to be enjoying his second season in Big D, too:

There’s no doubt that teams are and will inquire about Carter’s availability. Dallas reportedly didn’t get involved as a third team in the Memphis-Toronto trade that sent Rudy Gay to the Raptors because it wouldn’t part with Carter. Detroit took the role and acquired point guard Jose Calderon from Toronto.

A league source Wednesday characterized the odds of Dallas moving Carter by the Feb. 21 as a “long shot.”

Which Carter said suits him just fine, despite the Mavs needing a significant run just to get into playoff contention.

Carter signed a three-year contract with the Mavs prior to the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season as part of the franchise’s retooling following the 2011 championship. His hopes of helping Dallas repeat didn’t materialize, but he had found a good fit. When the club decided to bring him back this season at $3.1 million, it fully guaranteed his final season next year at $3.2 million.

Carter’s contract is certainly attractive, but with Dallas uninterested in taking back salary and unlikely to net a major asset, there’s little reason to trade him when the club still believes it can make a push into playoff contention.

“There’s a reason he’s such an important guy to us,” Carlisle said following Wednesday’s win. “People key on his offensive stuff, but he’s just a big team guy. He’s one of our leaders.”

Two seasons ago with Phoenix, Carter’s career seemed to be closing quickly as his production continually dropped.

“Sometimes you get on a team where your talent isn’t needed, utilized,” Carter said. “This is a different type of offense here. I don’t know, I felt pretty good then and I will say I do feel even better. I put my work in after that summer because it kind of bothered me to even hear somebody think that or say it at that point in time because I still felt at that point physically able to contribute, to be effective for any team.”

Wall not a ‘franchise’ guy? — Ex-Magic coach Stan Van Gundy got in a little hot water with folks in the D.C. area after appearing on ESPN 980′s The Sports Reporters in late December and saying that Wizards guard John Wall wasn’t a great decision-maker or a franchise cornerstone. Van Gundy recently talked to Ben Standig of CSNWashington.com and clarified his point a little bit, but Stan Van apparently isn’t a huge fan of Wall as the ONLY top-level talent on the Wizards: 

“I said this: John Wall is a talented guy, a very good player. I don’t think he’s good enough that you can build a franchise around him,” Van Gundy said after serving as television analyst for George Mason’s home game against Drexel last Thursday night. “I don’t think he can be your best player, certainly not clearly your best player. You need one guy better than him or a couple of guys at his talent level for them to win.

“To me that’s not a negative. I didn’t say it as a negative. I think some people took it that way. I just don’t see John Wall as a franchise player because – a lot like Rajon Rondo; I don’t see him as a franchise player even though he’s an All-Star – he’s not a good enough shooter yet and he’s not a reliable go-to scorer.

“In the NBA, your franchise guy has got to be a guy you can put the ball in his hands late in the game and he can get you a basket. I don’t see that from John Wall at this point in his career. Maybe it will develop, but I don’t see it.”

ICYMI of the night: Ricky Rubio likes setting Derrick Williams up for dunks, as we’ve seen before. But last night’s ultra-high alley-oop to Williams might have been one of their best connections yet …:

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 5

February 5, 2013  ·  7:49AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: Can’t deny that amazing performance by LeBron James last night against the Bobcats — the reigning MVP made 13 of 14 shots, the league’s third-best shooting performance with at least that many attempts in the last 18 years — as Miami won. But our vote goes to Bulls-Pacers in a matchup of two of the East’s elite squads — both in terms of records and defensive ability. Paul George showed why he’s both an All-Star and one of the best all-around young talents in the game with a 25-point, 11-rebound, five-assist performance that included an amazing dunk and a dazzling assist. Surprising as well was both teams combining for 212 points, considering where the Bulls (19th) and Pacers (26th) rank in offensive rating.

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News of the morning

Dwight doesn’t want a circus | Do Pacers need to make a deal? | Chandler makes some history | New worry for Sixers’ Bynum | Clips quiet on KG talk

Dwight doesn’t want a ‘circus’ — After a ‘Dwightmare’ that lasted pretty much all of last season (and into the 2012 offseason), Dwight Howard isn’t looking to create more drama in Lakerland. In a sit-down interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Howard defended his actions last season, spoke of not wanting to be a distraction in Lakerland, further detailed his nagging shoulder injury and discussed playing with Kobe Bryant. ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Dave McMenamin has the report off the interview, which has some pretty telling stuff about how Howard views himself:

“I’m not a crybaby,” Howard told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on SportsCenter on Monday. “I didn’t try to cry my way out of Orlando. That was never my intention, or not what I did at all. And I understand everybody thought it was that way because of what was being put out there. I’m not indecisive. I love this game. You know I play it because it inspires me; it inspires millions of kids around me, adults and all. And, I’m going to have fun while I do it.”

Howard becomes a free agent July 1 but wants to live in the present, sticking to his goal of winning the first championship of his nine-year career this season, no matter how unlikely it may seem with the Los Angeles Lakers getting off to a 22-26 start more than three months into the season.

“Right now, my only focus is to get us into the playoffs and win the championship,” Howard said. “Nothing else matters at this point.

Howard talks about his future in L.A. and knows the Lakers want him back, but he isn’t ready to commit to them just yet:

…

The Lakers have made it clear that they want Howard to be a keystone for the franchise moving forward, with general manager Mitch Kupchak telling Newsday this week that the center will not be traded, but Howard does not want to focus on the future just yet.

“I understand, you know, what the Lakers want,” Howard said. “And I also understand that right now, there’s no need for all the circus, and all the stuff that happened last year to start back up. I don’t want it, my team doesn’t need it, I don’t need it, and frankly, our fans don’t need it neither.”

What the fans do need is to see more of Howard looking like the player who became the first person in league history to win three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards. First he needs to be on the court to do so.

Howard is considered a game-time decision when the Lakers play the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday because of a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder. Howard, who has missed four games this season because of his shoulder but has not missed any time from complications stemming from offseason back surgery, said he continues to battle with his health.

“Well with my back you know, it’s not all the way there, 75 percent,” Howard said. “And with my shoulder, it’s day to day. This is the first year recovering off of a back surgery. I really don’t think people understand the severity of the surgery and the injury, and how long it takes to recover. Even sitting down in this chair right now is causing my legs to go numb, and just having this tingling sensation all the way down my legs. So, that happens when I’m playing. That happens when I’m just sitting on the bench for a couple minutes. It’s not easy.”

In terms of playing with Bryant, Howard says he can’t let the fact Kobe tends to shoot a lot disrupt his game:

“You play with Kobe Bryant you know, he’s going to get them up,” Howard said. “But, at the same time, I have to find ways to still be effective. I can’t allow that to affect how I play. There were a lot of times early in the season where I would get upset you know, because I felt like he shot the ball a lot. And you know, I wanted some touches down low. Do I want touches, yeah. But, whatever I have to do to help this team win, I have to keep my mind in that area.”

It’s Finals or bust for these Pacers — Indiana’s win over Chicago pulled it into a tie for the Central Division lead and has the Pacers sitting at No. 3 in the Eastern Conference. Reason to be happy, right? Not exactly, according to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star. The Pacers have shown the ability to be very good, but need a game-changing scorer off the bench to realize the team’s full potential: a Finals-worthy squad. Kravitz expounds on his point and has a few deals he’d like to see Indiana make:

It’s not enough for the Indiana Pacers to win 50-plus games and go deep into the playoffs. It’s not enough for them to be a really good team that has a chance to take the Miami Heat to the edge and make them sweat, as they did one year ago.

The bar has to be raised higher, an NBA Finals appearance or bust, and there’s only one way that’s going to happen:

Before the Feb. 21 trade deadline, team President Donnie Walsh and general manager Kevin Pritchard must make a season-changing deal.

…

They have two needs if they want to go from nice playoff contender to NBA Finals possibility.

They need a dynamic scorer off the bench. Right now, they’re hanging on by their fingernails, scoring by committee. But they don’t have anybody like, say, a J.R. Smith of the Knicks, who can come off the bench and drop 20 on an opponent.

Go grab somebody like J.J. Redick, the Orlando sharpshooter who would give the Pacers the dead-eye presence they so sorely lack. That might mean losing Redick, a free agent, at season’s end, but it could be worth the investment.

Or how about picking up some of the pieces when and if the Boston Celtics decide to break up the old gang? The Pacers would re-unite with Leandro Barbosa in a heartbeat. The Pacers would love a piece of Jason Terry. Somebody. Anybody.

They could also use a bit more size at the backup point guard spot, even if that’s not as great a crying need as a scorer off the bench.

What’s frustrating is, they were within minutes of pulling off a trade last year for O.J. Mayo. And then when that trade fell through, Jamal Crawford, a free agent, decided he would no longer wait around and signed instead with the Los Angeles Clippers.

…Who do they move?

I’d make Tyler Hansbrough available.

I’d make Green available.

I’d think about moving Lance Stephenson, even though he has emerged the way former team boss Larry Bird envisioned he would.

And I’d part with a first-round pick in a year in which the draft is unusually weak.

Here’s who I wouldn’t part with: Danny Granger.

He has been the subject of fan trades for years, and just this week, there was another rumor that the Houston Rockets were making exploratory calls about Granger’s availability.

Listen to me.

Don’t trade him.

Without him, they have zero chance to make any noise in the playoffs.

The Pacers are close, really close, likely a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference.

But they’re not an NBA Finals contender.

Not yet, anyway.

No big secret to Chandler’s rebounding success — With his 20-rebound game against the Pistons last night, Tyson Chandler joined Willis Reed as the only player in Knicks history to amass 20-plus rebounds in three straight games. In the 13 games before this rebounding outburst, Chandler averaged 11.5 rpg — right at about his season average (11.2). So what has led to his big turnaround on the boards? Newsday’s Jim Baumbach says a stern talk with coach Mike Woodson lit a fire under Chandler to pick up his rebounding work:

The way Knicks coach Mike Woodson sees it, when a 7-footer with Chandler’s wingspan plays with as much energy and hustle as his center has recently, those rebounds are going to pile up. And after a recent stern talk initiated by Woodson, Chandler has been proving his coach’s point twentyfold.

In Monday night’s 99-85 victory over the Detroit Pistons , Chandler grabbed 20 rebounds for the third straight game, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished by a Knicks player in more than four decades.

…

He credited his recent rebounding surge to a frank talk he had with Woodson in the coach’s office last week that “mentally lit a fire under me.”

Woodson said he thought Chandler’s play had been slipping for a few games, and the coach wanted to put a stop to the troublesome sign before it became a trend.

So Woodson called Chandler in and harped on the fact that now that he’s an All-Star for the first time in his 12-year career, he has to play like one all the time.

“I didn’t think he was playing complete basketball,” Woodson said. “He was taking possessions off. He wasn’t moving the pace offensively and he wasn’t getting it done in terms of rebounding the basketball. And you can’t be an All-Star in this league and not play like it.”

As hard as it was for Chandler to hear that from his coach, he said he didn’t take offense. Instead, he said he channeled his emotions on the court — especially when chasing down those missed shots.

“The last thing you want is for people to start questioning you,” Chandler said. “And I agreed . . . Sometimes you need that. You need a little push.”

Bynum keeps working, but worries about bone bruises — Sixers big man Andrew Bynum is ramping up his on-court knee rehab a little each day and is still targeting post-All-Star break to make his Philly debut. But as he works to return, his main concern is avoiding a bone bruise on the knee. Tom Moore of Phillyburbs.com has more on what Bynum’s rehab schedule and concerns are:

Bynum said prior to Monday’s home game against the Magic that he expects to play sometime in February, barring “a bone bruise or something like that.”

The earliest it would seem Bynum could be in uniform is Feb. 20 in Minneapolis, which is the first game after the all-star break.

As for the Feb. 14-19 break, Bynum said the plan is to go to his home in Los Angeles for the first part and to return to Philadelphia that Sunday or Monday.

Bynum has missed the entire 2012-13 campaign due to bone bruises in his both knees.

Asked what is keeping him from playing, Bynum replied, “My doctor said it’s fear of a big bone bruise, so we need to nurse it back up to playable conditions without having a setback or creating a bone bruise.”

While he’s still isn’t even playing 1-on-1 in his workouts, he said he’s progressing to the point where his sessions last as long as three hours and consist of running, lifting weights and basketball drills. He’s running on the anti-gravity treadmill with 75-80 percent of his body weight.

Bynum said it hurts when he does “jumping, lateral movement and defensive slides” and wonders if it’s a range-of-motion issue.

The second set of Synvisc shots he received Thursday in New York from personal physician Dr. David Altchek don’t seem to be helping much, according to Bynum, though his right knee “feels phenomenal.” That’s the knee he hurt bowling. He injured the left knee doing a basketball drill in September.

Z-Bo trying to find way out of slump — Memphis’ double-double machine and All-Star, Zach Randolph, was more than dependable the first three months of the season. He averaged 15.6 ppg and 12.8 rpg from October to January and, aside from shooting 33.3 percent in Memphis’ lone October game, never shot worse than 43.5 percent in any month. Much has changed for him from late January to the start of this month, as he’s averaging 6.7 ppg, 14.0 rpg and shooting 26.5 percent from Jan. 28-Feb. 1. Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal talked with Randolph about the cause of his swoon:

Zach Randolph pontificated for several minutes about the Grizzlies’ offense, how he needs to play and the nuances of opposing defenses geared toward weakening his presence in the paint.

Then, the Griz power forward fielded a simple question.

“How are you feeling?” a reporter asked, wondering if the lower back pain that caused Randolph to miss a game about two weeks ago might still linger.

“I ain’t the one to complain,” Randolph said. “If it was (hurting) I couldn’t tell you.”

Randolph let loose a hearty laugh. But there isn’t much amusing about Randolph’s inability to score over the past three games. What’s funny — as in odd — is the All Star has missed layups, tip-ins, settled for off-balanced jump shots while fading.

The veteran’s offensive problems have added up to a three-game stretch in which he’s scored a total of 20 points on 9-of-34 shooting (26 percent).

This is so funny that Randolph put a stamp on it.

“This has probably been the worst slump since 2003 for me,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve really played good offensively this whole year. I have my spurts. I’ve been doing other things.”

…

From coach Lionel Hollins to every teammate, the Griz agree that they can help Randolph get back on track.

No one but Randolph can correct his inexplicable misses around the basket, but the Griz have talked about improving their early offense and overall spacing to alleviate pressure in the post.

“He’s got to work harder to get up and down the court so we can get some easy buckets for him, and we haven’t done that,” Hollins said. “And we’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball to him in the post where he can operate and then getting out of his way.”

…

Hollins preferred more pick-and-rolls and transition offense without an injured Randolph most of last season. The gradual move away from setting up and throwing the ball in the post continued this season.

However, Randolph has relied more on facing up and launching midrange jump shots as his effectiveness around the basket has decreased.

“On the offensive end, it’s not like it was two years ago. It’s been different,” Randolph said. “The beginning of the season was different. But it’s just a matter of me getting right. That’s what I do. I’m an offensive player and a rebounder. I’ve just got to keep pushing.”

Clippers staying tight-lipped on KG talk — As we mentioned on the Hang Time blog yesterday, reports are circulating that the Clippers may be chasing after Celtics forward Kevin Garnett. One of the players believed to be involved in a potential trade, guard Eric Bledsoe, didn’t have much to say about a deal and neither did his coach, Vinny Del Negro. Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders, though, if a trade is just what these Clippers need most:

The aging, expensive Celtics recently lost point guard Rajon Rondo to a season-ending knee injury, knocking an already unbalanced season sideways.

With the Clippers potentially looking for help to get back on track, the Celtics contemplating blowing their roster up and going into full rebuild mode and the Feb. 21 trade deadline approaching, the game of connect the dots is in full swing.

Which led to a report that surfaced Sunday in the Sporting News that indicated the Clippers had inquired about the Celtics’ Kevin Garnett.

The Clippers reportedly are dangling point guard Eric Bledsoe and forward Caron Butler for the 37-year-old Garnett, who has two more years on his contract beyond this season worth $23 million.

Bledsoe has enough on his hands trying to hold things down

until Paul returns from his knee injury – that included playing the entire second half Sunday against the Celtics – let alone worry about trade rumors.

“I’m just focused on the Washington Wizards,” Bledsoe said before Monday’s game. “Just focused on the Wizards and trying to get back on a winning track.”

It was a clever way of downplaying the reports, but the reality is Bledsoe knows full well his name is out there in trade talks. To deal with it, he boils his focal point down to the most minimal element.

“It’s what I can control,” Bledsoe said. “So I’ll focus on the Wizards and trying to get back on the winning track.”

Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said trade talk isn’t an issue and most of the rumors being bandied about have little validity.

“Most of (what’s reported) isn’t accurate,” Del Negro said.

Does it make sense for the Clippers to take on the two years and $23 million remaining on Garnett’s contract after this season, considering it will take him beyond his 40th birthday?

They remain tight-lipped about their deadline plans, but all indications point to a level of interest in exploring ways to improve the roster.

“We’re no different than any other team out there. If there’s an opportunity to do something to get better we’ll look at it,” Del Negro said.

ICYMI of the night: First, he got Dwyane Wade. Now, Eric Bledsoe can add Martell Webster and John Wall to his list of block victims this season: 

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 2

February 4, 2013  ·  7:11AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: That big, annual pro football championship game (I think it’s called the Super Bowl, right?) last night ensured no other games of note took place before the 6:30 ET kickoff. That said, there were only three games on Sunday (all matinees), so our pick of the day goes to Clippers-Celtics. Boston isn’t exactly crying itself to sleep after losing Rajon Rondo for the season as it has gone 4-0 in the Rondo-less stage of the season. Paul Pierce showed of his “Truth-iness” to the Clips — Matt Barnes got a good look in particular — by nailing the game-sealing step-back 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left over Barnes to halt L.A.’s hopes of a last-minute comeback win.

.

News of the morning

Howard unsure if he’ll play on Tuesday | Celtics meet with Oden | Pistons fans called out | Bosh gets traditional Toronto greeting | Wolves’ Roy at crossroads

Howard won’t rush back — Dwight Howard sat out Sunday afternoon’s game in Detroit because of lingering pain in his right shoulder due to his torn labrum. He continues to take a day-by-day approach to his availability for the Lakers, but told the Orange County Register’s Kevin Ding he’s not going to hurry back just to get hurt again:

“It feels a little bit better, but still sore,” Howard said Sunday. “Certain movements hurt, and I don’t want to go there in any pain or go out there thinking about it too much.”

Howard aggravated the torn labrum Wednesday in Phoenix. It wasn’t the first time, and the pain fades after each aggravation, but Howard remains leery of another incident.

“It’s still not there yet,” he said. “I’m not going to try to rush myself back and have the possibility of hurting it again. There’s no need for that.”

Howard had a platelet-rich plasma injection into the shoulder Saturday. That treatment isn’t expected to provide immediate relief, but Howard’s shoulder has naturally felt better in days after each aggravation. The tear isn’t going to go away whether he takes a game, a week or the rest of the season off.

“Me and Kobe play two different positions,” Howard said. “The position I play, I use a lot of force coming up — whether that’s going up for a dunk or a shot. Hook shots, all that stuff, is this motion right here. It’s a lot of that. Playing in the post is doing this a lot.

“All that stuff, you need your shoulder stable for it. It’s a little bit different than, I would say, a guard position. You’ve got guys 260-270 you’re holding off. You’ve got to be really strong in your shoulder and all that stuff.”

Howard said it hurts him raising his arm up and especially backwards: “A lot of movements I’d be doing in games, trying to block shots, stuff like that.” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni acknowledged that Howard should try to work on not bringing the ball down so low under the basket, which is how opponents have hurt the shoulder repeatedly. Howard said he needs to be in a “stable” position to decrease the chance for aggravation.

D’Antoni said previously this seven-game trip will be the “telling tale” of the Lakers’ season. About Howard not playing Sunday, the third game of a previously 1-1 trip, D’Antoni said it was “his call.” About the labrum tear, D’Antoni said: “It’s not going to go away.”

Where have all the Pistons fans gone? — In the annals of NBA history, one of the more underrated Finals matchups — in terms of on-court play, dislike of each other’s city and so forth — has to be Pistons vs. Lakers. Three Finals matchups (with the Pistons taking two of those) will create some animosity toward each other, but that’s not the case now. As Terry Foster of The Detroit News points out, there were more Kobe Bryant and Lakers fans in yesterday’s Lakers-Pistons matinee at The Palace at Auburn Hills than there were Pistons fans:

We saw another shameful performance at The Palace on Sunday. This time, it didn’t come from the Pistons, who actually played with spirit and nearly stole a game from the resurgent Los Angeles Lakers.We witnessed the annual migration of Kobe Bryant lovers who wore his jersey and cheered his every move. Thanks to Pistons guard Will Bynum it was not a total sham. He ignited the Pistons and even turned Lakers fans into Pistons blue.

…

Let’s talk about the real losers. They are Pistons fans who turned The Palace into Staples Center East, the Lakers’ home away from home. Many came dressed in Lakers gold and purple and they cheered as loudly for Bryant as anything the Pistons did for much of the game. There were banners and signs for Bryant but few for the Pistons.

I don’t know what ignited the crowd more. Was it the Earl Clark dunk off a Bryant inbounds pass to end the first half? Or was it when Bryant dunked over Brandon Knight and stared at the crowd?

…

This was a repeat of a few weeks ago when LeBron James came to town for loud cheers. People wore James jerseys and cheered a man this town once said it hated. It wasn’t always this way but the passion for the Pistons changed over the years.

Michael Jordan used to get booed in this building. People hated him and his Picasso-looking sidekick Scottie Pippen. But later in his career, even after Jordan destroyed the two-time champion Bad Boys and said they were bad for basketball, Jordan was forgiven and lauded.

James swept the Pistons in the 2009 playoffs and Piston fans sent him off to “MVP” chants after he scored 36 points against the home team. Even when the Pistons beat Bryant and the Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals he refused to credit the Pistons for his subpar series.

So why do you cheer a guy like this?

Celtics meet with Oden — It’s been a rough week or so in Boston, what with Rajon Rondo lost for the season and, then, rookie big man Jared Sullinger (back) out now, too. Sullinger’s agent, David Falk, says his client having surgery now is the best thing for the Celtics’ long-term plans … but that doesn’t make Boston fans feel better today. What might, though, is the notion of former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden in Celtic green. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe has the details on both Sullinger’s future and the prospect of Oden: 

Sullinger was flagged with back issues during an NBA pre-draft examination, causing him to drop to the Celtics with the 21st overall pick. Falk said Sullinger’s condition was corrected with Friday’s surgery, and he is expected to return to basketball activities in six months.

Sullinger was examined twice by a back specialist in Philadelphia prior to the draft.

“The Celtics knew when they drafted him there was a certain level of risk that required surgery, as did several other teams,” said Falk. “Some teams treated it like he was going to have a heart attack or something. [The Celtics’] Brian McKeon is one of the most confident team doctors I’ve ever dealt with. There were so secrets, nobody was trying to hide any facts. There was a possibility that he could require surgery, but the recovery time is less than an ACL.”

Falk said the Celtics could have delayed the surgery by giving Sullinger anti-inflammatories and treatment, but wanted to take the safer approach.

“Jared’s 20 years old, to try to take a short-term risk could jeopardize his career long term. Having surgery was the most appropriate response,” Falk said. “Had he tried to continue to play and aggravate it six or eight weeks down the road, he would have missed the playoffs and the start of the season. It was a calculated decision.”

…

The Celtics met Saturday with free agent center Greg Oden at their training facility in Waltham. Oden, who has not played since December 2009 because of recurring knee problems, is expected to return to the NBA next season. He met with coach Doc Rivers, who said the two talked about Oden’s AAU days with the Indy Heat, a team that also featured Josh McRoberts, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook.

“I said hi to him,” said Rivers. “We reminisced about high school days when I watched him on AAU.”

The Celtics have no expiring contracts, so they would likely need to create a salary slot for Oden, who is expected to sign for more than the veteran’s minimum.

Raptors fans never forget — Like Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady before him, Chris Bosh is learning just how good Raptors fans are at holding a grudge. Bosh left Toronto as a free agent in the summer of 2010 to join forces with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami and Raptors fans haven’t let Bosh forget it. The same greeting was routinely cast upon Carter and McGrady, both ex-Raptors, on their returns to Toronto for many years after their respective departures. Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has more:

It’s been nearly three years since Bosh decided to leave Toronto, yet the sting remains for the fans. They booed him every time he touched the ball despite this being Bosh’s fourth return to face his former team.

“Yeah, I’m a little surprised,” Bosh said. “They (fans) pay their money. They can do what they want. I hope they just remember the good times.”

Bosh said the jeers served as his motivation, especially in the second half when he scored 22 of his 28 points.

“I was hearing a lot from the fans,” Bosh said. “I thank them for continuing to stay on me and calling me names. That helped my focus a lot. I was like, `I need to get in this game to shut them up.”‘

Roy pondering his future — The injury bug has been frequent visitor to the Timberwolves, who have seen Brandon Roy, Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and Alexey Shved (among others) miss valuable time this season. In the case of Roy, who hasn’t played since a 14-minute stint on Nov. 9, the prospects of a return are unclear. He’s still rehabbing after having knee surgery and the process of getting better has left Roy wondering what to do next if his comeback attempt fails. Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com has the details:

The plan for the Minnesota Timberwolves guard was to make his return to action Feb. 1 against the Los Angles Lakers at Target Center, after having two successful workout days. After that, he would join the team for practices leading up to the game.

Friday’s session went as planned. Saturday’s didn’t.

While performing a move in the first 20 minutes of the workout, he felt something in his right knee that he has felt far too often. He tweaked it, eliminating any possibility of him returning to action before the All-Star break.

“As soon as it happened, in my head, I said ‘I quit. I just quit,” an emotional Roy told CSNNW.com. “That was my first thought, that I couldn’t do this anymore.

“I’m at a crossroad in my career.”

He’s certain that if he can’t get right this season, it will be the end of his career. And he’s fine with that.

“I look at it like this has got to be the last season,” he said. “I don’t have any regrets because I know I tried to give it another season. So me saying this has to be the last season, it’s not as difficult as it was last year. I tried. I gave it that last effort and it’s time to move on. I’m at that range to where I’m at peace with things.”

…

After attempting this comeback and giving it his all, he realized that he has more to offer than just his physical talents. Roy’s game wasn’t predicated on beating defenders off the dribble or blowing by them with his speed. He was a thinker on the court who knew how to make plays without being the most athletic player in the world.

It took some time for Roy to find himself beyond playing basketball, but he says that thanks to prayer, family and friends, he has received a new calling.

Post-playing career, I now introduce you to Coach Roy.

“Now, I think there’s something in me that I can offer to basketball. There’s a message that I can bring to basketball. I wasn’t the fastest, the highest jumper, but my knowledge of the game helped me be an effective player at a high level,” Roy said. “Coaching at the NBA level is where I see myself. If this season is it for me, I’m not staying away from basketball. I would want to get in as soon as possible.”

On the Trail Blazers’ bench?

“Maybe one day,” he said. “My knowledge of the game and understanding of chemistry, I think that stuff, I can offer. These young kids today are good, but they lack those things.”

ICYMI of the night: Impressive inbounds play there, Lakers, and a great pass from Kobe Bryant to Earl Clark for the buzzer-beating dunk. Still pales in comparison to our all-time favorite version of this play:

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