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[Monta Ellis #11]

Nets GM: P.J. deserves a chance

SAN ANTONIO — After seeing the Nets pick up victories over the hapless Bobcats and Cavaliers in their first two games with P.J. Carlesimo in charge, general manager Billy King Sunday again threw his support behind his interim coach.

King said the Nets haven’t contacted any other candidates, and Carlesimo is going to get a chance to coach the team and see what he can do.

“We’ve put our support behind him, and we’ll look at things and evaluate them later,” King said while appearing on ESPN 98.7 FM. “I know people have been throwing lists together and things like that, but we have not contacted anybody.“We have not sat down and said, ‘What about this guy?’ We made the move, and we’re going to let P.J. coach.”

King’s comments echo the sentiments owner Mikhail Prokhorov expressed when he met with the media during Friday’s win in Brooklyn over the Bobcats, when he repeatedly said the Nets need to support Carlesimo, who took over for Avery Johnson after his dismissal on Thursday.

During the interview, King said several variations of “P.J. is our coach,” and in addition to saying the Nets have yet to contact anyone, refused to even address any of the names that have been floated out there.

The most notable of the names is Phil Jackson, whom Prokhorov playfully said he had never heard of Friday before saying, “Now P.J. is the coach ... and if [a search] becomes necessary, you know [who] the usual suspects are.”

When King was asked about Jackson, he simply reiterated his support of Carlesimo.

“I don’t know how many times I can say it or Mikhail can say it, but P.J. is our coach,” King said. “We’re going to let him coach and re-evaluate things later. I know Mikhail said it about 10 times when he was asked, and I’ve been saying it, and I think people keep dismissing what we say.”

One thing King was willing to address were the season-long struggles of star point guard Deron Williams. After the Nets signed him to a five-year contract for just under $100 million this summer, making him the cornerstone of the franchise’s first few seasons in Brooklyn, Williams has underperformed, averaging 16.6 points and 7.8 assists while shooting just over 40 percent from the field and just under 30 percent from 3-point range.

But King, who said Williams might be worn down after spending the summer preparing for and playing in the Olympics, said he’s confident Williams is going to get his game back on track.

“He’s not playing well, but we’ve seen it,” King said. “We know who he is. I remember a player across the river last year in Carmelo [Anthony], people were doubting him and wondering what’s wrong, and sometimes when guys change or you get a system change like that, it takes them awhile.

“But he’s going to be fine. I’m not worried.”

With a pair of expected victories under their belts in the first two games with Carlesimo in charge, the Nets now head into a pair of road games that will present much stiffer tests — first tonight against the Spurs, followed by a game Wednesday in Oklahoma City against the Thunder.

Both games, ironically, will be homecomings of a sort for Carlesimo, who spent several years working under Gregg Popovich with the Spurs as an assistant before getting his last head-coaching job with the Thunder, where he worked for parts of two seasons.

More than anything, though, King is hopeful that the Nets, after a hectic several days, can begin to get back into a regular routine.

“There’s been some tumult around us with the replacement of Avery, and so I think more than anything you need to calm the waters and let guys breathe as a group, and try to gel,” King said. “If we’re in the middle of a search and people are talking names, then you bring another guy in, the turmoil just continues. So we need our guys and P.J. needs our guys to just focus on now and San Antonio.“The great thing with P.J. is it is San Antonio, but he worked there for a long time so he understands them, and then going to Oklahoma City he was the head coach there so he understands those guys a little bit. It’s a great challenge, but I think our guys will be up for it.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/nets/...pmLG9GwObmVilM

[Monta Ellis #11]

Brandon Roy will attempt return to NBA after setback following knee surgery

After seriously considering retirement for the second time in three years, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Brandon Roy says he will again attempt to find treatment for his failing knees and try to play in the NBA.

Nevertheless, the chance of the three-time All-Star guard returning to a productive career is remote, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

"….The past two days I have been weighing all of my options as I try to continue my basketball career," Roy said in a statement released by the team. "I have decided to explore additional treatment options and an extensive rehabilitation plan.

"My goal has been, and continues to be, to return to the basketball court as healthy as possible in order to help our team."

After returning to practice for the first time since knee surgery on November 19th, Roy suffered a setback in recent days, and strongly considered forgoing the search for further treatment avenues and another long process of rehabilitation to instead retire, sources said.

Roy developed into one of the NBA's best shooting guards in five-plus seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, earning three All-Star appearances and winning the 2007 Rookie of the Year award.

Several knee surgeries and the erosion of knee cartilage eventually forced his retirement in 2011. The Blazers used the NBA"s amnesty clause on Roy and paid him the remaining $63 million of his contract owed him.

[Also: Kings deny Knicks comeback with wild game-winning three]

After undergoing the platelet-rich plasma procedure that revived the careers of Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady, Roy embarked on a comeback over the summer. He signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the T'wolves, but played only five regular-season games before issues with his right knee again required surgery.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--br...195014930.html

[Monta Ellis #11]

Pau Gasol: I won't request trade

LOS ANGELES -- After he endured his fourth benching in the fourth quarter since Mike D'Antoni was hired as coach, there is no denying Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol is having a hard time fitting in with the team he once helped win two championships.

The Lakers ultimately could decide they just can't make it work with the former four-time All-Star; however, it won't be Gasol pushing his way out of town.

"No, oh, that's radical," Gasol said when asked whether he would request a trade following the Lakers' 107-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. "I still believe. I still have faith in what we have. I still have faith that I can be a big part in helping this team succeed. Right now, I'm not being able to do that very often."

Gasol finished with just two points on 1-for-6 shooting along with four rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes against the Clippers. He sat the entire fourth quarter until Dwight Howard fouled out with 1:07 remaining and Gasol finished off the game in his stead.

D'Antoni said the benching had "nothing" to do with the plantar fasciitis and knee tendinitis that have plagued the 32-year-old Gasol this season.

"He just didn't have a good game," D'Antoni said.

Gasol expressed his frustration with the role he has been handed in the offense.

"It's difficult sometimes because it's not up to me to get involved," Gasol said. "I'm trying, but the times that I am at the elbows are the times that I get more involved and can make more plays from there, but it's not consistent."

Following the last time Gasol was benched in the fourth, a narrow Lakers win over the Charlotte Bobcats, Gasol met with D'Antoni for dinner to discuss how best to integrate him with the team. More than two weeks later, Gasol was not so sure things had changed since then.

"I don't like watching from the bench," Gasol said.

He did differentiate Friday's benching from the others against Memphis, Orlando and Charlotte, noting that the Lakers cut a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit down to two without him in the game.

"The guys on the floor were doing a great job cutting down the lead, and we gave ourselves a chance, so it wasn't that frustrated from that point but it was still hard," Gasol said.

The 7-footer said his effectiveness has become too reliant upon whether his jump shot is falling (he went 0-for-2 from 3 on Friday) and said he would have to become more assertive.

"I have to have more initiative because I can't wait for other people to make decisions for me, so I have to make them myself," Gasol said. "That's a little uncharacteristic of me, but right now I feel like I have no other choice if I want to be more effective."

Kobe Bryant came to Gasol's defense once again, as he has several times this season since initially suggesting Gasol needed to put on his "big-boy pants," stressing the importance of using the 12-year veteran in what the team is trying to accomplish.

"We have to figure that out," Bryant said. "We need to go through him a lot, lot more. A lot, lot more. He needs more touches on the elbow, more touches on the post. He's not a scorer type of a person, he'll be the first to admit that, but he can make plays for others down there. He can control the game from down there, and we got to find a way to get him more activated."

Bryant said part of the problem stems from finding a way to accommodate both Gasol and Howard when they're on the floor simultaneously.

"We got to figure out that spacing," Bryant said. "But, he needs to have the ball. For sure."

Bryant said he planned to speak with D'Antoni about Gasol's role at practice Saturday.

"Pau is just going to continue to be patient," Bryant said. "He's obviously frustrated and has every right to be. I'm frustrated for him. But, I mean, that's something that we have to solve because we're not going to get where we have to go with him not playing at maximum potential and using his maximum potential."

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/s...-request-trade

[Monta Ellis #11]

The Truth Is Out There

1. Eight Trade Deadline Truths
February is here. The first blockbuster deal of trade season has been swung.

And the countdown to the NBA's annual trade buzzer is on.

Teams awoke Friday with a mere 20 days left to try to follow up the Rudy Gay-to-Toronto extravaganza with deals of their own.

So let's lead off this edition of Weekend Dime with eight Trade Truths to get you ready for the deadline stretch run.

1. The truth about Pau

Friday marked a full five years since the Lakers gave Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson new championship life by acquiring Pau Gasol from Memphis.

The Lakers wouldn't dare commemorate the anniversary by turning around and trading Gasol before this deadline, would they?

I still say no.

As poorly as Pau fits with this current mix, I still say that the Lakers have to keep Gasol beyond Feb. 21 because they have no assurances that Dwight Howard is going to re-sign with them. It's just too risky for them to trade Gasol now, just to replace him with a player or two who might ensure they don't miss out on their puncher's chance in the playoffs, when Howard could bolt in free agency and leave them center-less in July.

That said ...

Raptors president Bryan Colangelo, in the wake of the Gay trade, is now openly acknowledging that he's shopping former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani. The Lakers' interest in Bargnani remains a matter of debate in the midst of the Italian's worst-ever season by far, but the not-for-public-consumption message that continues to emanate from Canada is that Toronto remains intent on pursuing Gasol even after trading for Gay.

At a news conference Friday, Colangelo acknowledged that the Raptors are prepared to stray into luxury-tax territory in the "right transaction." One source close to the situation says Gasol is a guy who fits those parameters, depending on the rest of potential trade principals besides Bargnani./

So we'll see, over the next 20 days, if the Lakers change their stance on Gasol's availability ... and if Toronto can even assemble a package to tempt them without Jose Calderon's expiring contract to attach to Bargnani.

2. The truth about The Truth

I know Kevin Garnett has a no-trade clause and Paul Pierce doesn't. And I know Danny Ainge is widely regarded as a cold-blooded gambler who'll trade anyone or anything to ensure that the Celtics don't free fall into the basketball wilderness when KG and P-Squared are gone, like Boston did post-Larry Bird and Kevin McHale.

But it's not that simple in real life. Ainge isn't just going to trade Pierce anywhere he wants no matter how many times he tells the story about Red Auerbach's openly lamenting that he held onto the Celtics' glory days too long. If Ainge ends up trying to move The Truth, it's my belief -- out of respect for the way Pierce stuck with the Celts through years of futility and ultimately helped haul the franchise, alongside KG, back up where it belongs -- that he'd try to work with No. 34 to send Pierce somewhere he could get somewhat excited about.

And that leaves only one realistic option: Pierce going back home to Los Angeles with the Clippers for a package headlined by young point guard Eric Bledsoe.

Yet everything you hear out there to date, heading into these final three weeks before the trade buzzer, suggests that (A) Ainge realistically knows he can't get enough back at this point in Pierce's career to send a Celtics living legend packing, and (B) Bledsoe remains untouchable because the Clips, like the Lakers with Dwight and Pau, can't afford to part with their prized QB prospect until they know Chris Paul is signed for the long term.

So the chances of a Pierce deal, at this juncture, are highly remote. Something like that would have to be classified as a major change to the team dynamic for a team that is always touting its chemistry as is. The only reason you can't rule it out completely is that the Clips -- for all the whispers in circulation that they don't plan to do anything at this deadline unless it's a slam-dunk boost to their title hopes -- might ending up needing a deep playoff run to ensure that CP3 re-signs, even more than they need Bledsoe as CP3 insurance.

And Pierce would instantly bring them the sort of championship experience and big-game shot-making this team lacks outside of Chauncey Billups, who's been out for ages. The Clips, as tight as they are, could certainly use a shooter/scorer of Pierce's pedigree to help loosen things up around Blake Griffin.

3. The truth about The Truth's team

Deep down, Ainge surely realizes that he probably wouldn't be able to get as much as he'd want back for Pierce or Garnett at this stage of their careers, even if KG ripped up that no-trade clause.

So ...

There's a rising expectation among some of Ainge's peers that Boston will instead try to move out at least one member of the Brandon Bass/Jason Terry/Courtney Lee trio before the deadline to make getting under the luxury-tax threshold his February focus.

The Celtics are nearly $1.5 million over the tax line for this season and on course to exceed it again next season, as well.

4. The truth about J-Smoove

The Hawks, according to NBA front-office sources, are indeed making calls, gauging the trade value of their players and assessing their options.

However ...

Unless there's a bona fide star player to be had in exchange, indications persist that the Hawks don't want to do anything that cuts into the considerable cap-space haul they're headed for in July. Because they're going to be right alongside the Dallas Mavericks, sources say, in trying to steal Howard from the Lakers.

Atlanta general manager Danny Ferry, by all accounts, wants to avoid any salary that strays beyond this season unless the talent coming back is irresistible. Another factor: Josh Smith's recent declarations that he sees himself as a max player don't make it any easier to find a trade partner ready to take on the enigmatic swingman in fear of not being able to meet Smith's demands in free agency come July.

I've likewise heard from a couple of teams that have pursued Smith in recent weeks that they've cooled on the idea because the 27-year-old is likewise reluctant to commit to an extension as part of the trade. J-Smoove clearly wants to make it all the way to free agency on July 1 after nine seasons with the Hawks.

Chances are he's going to have that opportunity.

5. The truth about Utah

It's reassuring to hear other teams complain about how hard the Jazz are to read as much as the media gnats like me are in knots trying to figure out whether they plan to trade Al Jefferson or Paul Millsap -- or neither -- this month.

I will say, though, that there's been more chatter recently to back the notion that Jefferson is staying put for the rest of the season. Which is another way of saying that the Jazz, based on the latest forecasts on the personnel grapevine, intend to either trade Millsap or stand pat until the offseason.

6. The truth about the Sacramento (for now) Kings

More clarity on where they'll actually be playing next season is expected two weekends from now when the league's power brokers all migrate to Houston for the All-Star Game and the meetings and madness that surround it. But this isn't the place for Seattle-or-Sacramento stuff anyway.

This is the place to talk about Tyreke Evans, since DeMarcus Cousins remains firmly off-limits while the Kings are in sale limbo, according to NBA front-office sources.

As for Evans? Word is the Grizzlies would have loved to acquire him as part of the big trade that sent Gay away, but the Kings really aren't in a position to take on salary as they await clarification on who'll be buying the team from the Maloof brothers.

A couple of teams consulted have volunteered the notion that Kings GM Geoff Petrie is ready to move Evans, but you have to wonder how much shot-calling Petrie can do at the minute. The greater likelihood is that the Kings don't do anything at this deadline unless it saves money or comes in cash neutral.

7. The truth about the Trail Blazers

Don't look for them to make a trade to try to add a piece that helps out with any sort of second-half playoff run. New Blazers GM Neil Olshey has made that pretty clear.

Indications are that finding another quality guard to join Rookie of the Year favorite Damian Lillard in the Blazers' backcourt is a big-picture priority, but it's not a necessity. Not now.

8. The truth about J.J. Redick

The Orlando sharpshooter is the player, with Gay off the board, most teams cite when asked to name a player who will definitely be dealt between now and the deadline.

Our old friend Ric Bucher recently reported that the Magic want draft considerations or a quality young player still on his rookie contract if they're going to part with Redick, which sure sounds like the sort of wish list Magic GM Rob Hennigan would have been schooled to scribble out at Spurs U. and the graduate program in OKC.


http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/p...ruths-deadline

[Ammare]

Rebounder Rodman talks games, Bulls, MJ


Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman's book, "Dennis The Wild Bull," came out last Wednesday, and fans will immediately recognize the rebounder's influence. The large red bull on the cover has flowing red hair, two nose rings, a tattoo and red stubble under his chin. Plus, Dennis the bull deals with the same issues as Dennis the player.

"They'll see me, literally see me. They'll say, 'Wow, this is just like him,'" Rodman told Playbook.

Aside from Rodman’s hoops credentials and author credits, he’s also dabbled in acting (remember “Double Team” with Jean-Claude Van Damme?). So it’s no surprise he recently turned in a chuckle-worthy performance in videos he starred in to promote Hothead Games’ new app, "Big Win Basketball."

Playbook figured there was no better time to email him and ask about some his favorite moments on the court and the video game habits he acquired. The result? We now know how he got stuck with “The Worm” as his nickname.

How did you get involved with doing videos with Hothead Games?

I’ve always loved video games. My kids love video games as well, but they play on mobile. I was excited for an opportunity to connect with a mobile game that my kids would enjoy, and a basketball one at that!

Are you into video games at the moment?

As I mentioned, I played a lot of video games back in the day. Obviously, "Big Win Basketball" is great, but these days I’m constantly on the go and don’t get to check out as many games as I would like.

What is your favorite video or arcade game of all time?

Pinball! I used to spend a lot of time in the arcade playing games -- it’s how I got my nickname “The Worm." I got the name because I used to get so into pinball that my whole body would twist around like crazy. I’ve had that nickname for over 30 years now!

Did you ever get to see a video game version of yourself in a game (like "NBA Jam")?

Nothing beats the actual experience of playing alongside your team. But the great thing about video games like "Big Win Basketball" is that even though they aren’t the same as the real thing, they let people who haven’t had the chance to play feel the excitement I did on the court.

Are you still playing any basketball, even pickup games?

I limit my on-court presence these days, but as you can see from the "Big Win Basketball" "Team Building" video, I do have to show the odd office employee how it’s done once in a while.


What was your favorite team you played for?

The 95-96 Bulls. I played with the two best players I’ve ever seen in Michael [Jordan] and Scottie [Pippen]. Everyone just did their job and there was no drama, it was just go out and win every game. It was like the Beatles everywhere we went.

Tell us your best Michael Jordan anecdote.

Most people don’t know that I never really talked to Michael and never really talked to Scottie the entire time I was in Chicago. We talked on the court, but outside of that there was nothing and it didn’t really matter. All we cared about was winning that next game.

What is your favorite memory of the late Chuck Daly, who passed away nearly four years ago?

I was a simple country guy and he just accepted me for who I was. I strolled in with my cowboy hats and Levi's and Chuck accepted me like I was his son. I worked that much harder to make him smile and be proud of me, like he was the father I never really had.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fan...games-bulls-mj

[D-Wade]

ROSE WILL RETURN WHEN HE’S ’110 PERCENT’

Chicago Bulls fans hoping eagerly anticipating the return of Derrick Rose will apparently have to wait a little longer than expected.

While there is still no concrete timetable for his return, all you have to do is some elementary math to figure out it’s going to be a while before he makes his return from offseason surgery on the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

“I don’t have a set date,” Rose told USA TODAY Sports on Monday in his first extensive interview since the 2012-13 NBA season began. ”I’m not coming back until I’m 110%. Who knows when that can be? It can be within a couple of weeks. It could be next year. It could be any day. It could be any time. It’s just that I’m not coming back until I’m ready.”

How close is Rose to 110 percent?

“Right now, probably in the high 80s,” he said. “Far away. Far away.”

Whatever the distance is between Rose’s high 80s and the 110 percent he needs to be at in order to get back on the floor with his Bulls teammates, who have been even better than expected in his absence, it probably won’t be traveled in a matter of days. There was some hope that Rose would be ready after All-Star weekend. But that doesn’t seem practical based on his own assessment of where he is right now.

That said, the “high 80s” is a lot closer to 110 percent than the 50s, 60s or 70s. So there is still reason for optimism in Chicago.

[Урош94]

Report: Raptors can trade Bargnani for Boozer “whenever they want”

The Bulls have been an over-performing, scrappy team this year. Though Derrick Rose has missed every game rehabilitating his surgically repaired knee and the team has suffered other injuries to key players like Luol Deng and Joakim Noah that’s forced them out of action for stretches, the Bulls currently possess the East’s 5th best record and remain an elite defensive team.

That said, with recent reports that Rose is willing to sit out the entire year with his bum wheel, the outlook on this current campaign is starting to shift. And that, along with some salary cap savings, has them exploring all their options. Including trading Carlos Boozer in a long rumored deal with the Raptors. From K.C. Johnson with the Chicago Tribune:

League sources said last week the Raptors were told the Carlos Boozer and Nate Robinson deal for Andrea Bargnani and John Lucas III was available whenever they wanted it.

The main driver behind such a deal, from the Bulls side, would be the avoidance of paying the luxury tax this season. The Bulls currently sit about $3.7 million over the tax threshold and a Boozer and Robinson swap for Bargnani and Lucus III would save them a little over $4 million and get them under out from under a tax bill they do not want to pay. The Bulls, under the ownership of Jerry Reinsdorf, have long avoided paying the tax even though they’re one of the most profitable teams in the NBA and reside in a major market.

The deal, though, would also be a sacrifice of talent. Though Bargnani has an intriguing offensive skill-set to pair with Rose (whenever he returns), he’s also no where near the rebounder that Boozer is and even less the defender (which is saying something). And while a Boozer move would open up more playing time for Taj Gibson, it’s not like head coach Tom Thibodeau has had any qualms about pulling Boozer in favor of Gibson and his better defense down the stretch of close games.

Whether this deal happens remains to be seen, and a lot of it will, of course, have to do with the Raptors willingness to take on more money after already adding Rudy Gay‘s max salary to a team that’s committed to above market contracts for Landry Fields and DeMar DeRozan. The Raptors, though on a run recently, may not want to commit even more cash to Boozer even if it improves their team to the point that they potentially make a playoff run this season.

But, if they decide they do want to splurge, the deal is there if they want it. The Bulls are just waiting for the word.

Извор: http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...medium=twitter

[Урош94]

By Ken Berger

What's right for Dwight? Will Lakers deal Howard?



HOUSTON -- The smiles were hard to come by Friday for Dwight Howard, once the thousand-watt light bulb of the NBA.

He briefly managed a grin when discussing his Center Center for Centers," a YouTube bit about a fictional training center where centers -- banished from the All-Star ballot –- are trained to become point guards, and thus given the ability to become "productive members of the NBA," Howard said.

But that was all the fun and games for Howard, whose jovial presence in the sport has been muted by two solid years of uncertainty about his future. Last year in Orlando, the Dwightmare was in full force, consuming All-Star weekend with speculation over where Howard would be traded after he'd made it clear he wanted no part of staying with the Magic. A blockbuster trade that sent Howard to L.A. -- the kind of glitzy market he craved, in an environment shrouded in championships –- has not made him happy.

Howard said Friday that Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has told him he does not want to trade the free agent-to-be. It's the same message Kupchak delivered in a recent interview with Newsday and the same message he's given Howard's agent, Dan Fegan, in recent weeks.

However, CBSSports.com has learned that the Lakers have engaged in preliminary trade discussions with an unlikely trade partner regarding Howard: their fierce rival, the Boston Celtics. The centerpieces of the possible deal, which hasn't gained any traction, would be Howard and Rajon Rondo.

The imagination runs rampant with the tantalizing possibilities.

Other significant pieces would have to be involved, since Rondo's $11 million salary is substantially less than Howard's $19.5 million. If the Lakers dealt Howard for an All-Star point guard who is out for the rest of the season following ACL surgery, they'd effectively be throwing in the towel on this miserable, underachieving season and looking to next year.

The Celtics would be going all-in for a quick rebuild centered around Howard, with the hopes they could find a point guard in the draft or in free agency to capably run their offense – which they've managed to do in Rondo's absence anyway. Celtics president Danny Ainge has flirted with several trade possibilities for Rondo over the years, and the point guard's hyper-competitive drive and strong personality have proved difficult for coach Doc Rivers to manage.

There are at least two significant impediments to a Howard-Rondo deal. First, as Howard said Friday, the Lakers continue to insist they won't trade him, which sources say is the impression the Celtics have gotten, too. Second, Celtics president Danny Ainge would not trade Rondo without an assurance that Howard would re-sign with Boston as a free agent this summer, a league source said. Howard has shown no inclination to commit to anyone, including the Lakers, until the season is over.

Since the league source familiar with the discussions characterized them as preliminary, it's possible that the talks could be tabled until after the season. In that case, Howard would have to agree to a sign-and-trade to the Celtics that would only yield him a four-year deal as opposed to the five years the Lakers could offer him (or the Celtics, if he were traded there by Feb. 21 and subsequently re-signed). The Celtics could only acquire Howard in a sign-and-trade if they eschewed their full mid-level and remained below the so-called luxury-tax apron, a threshold $4 million above the tax line that was added in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement.

While the discussions have yet to progress, if nothing else, they open a potential avenue open for the Lakers to minimize the chances of losing Howard as a free agent and getting nothing in return. In other words, a fallback plan.

Would a trade to the Celtics make Howard happy, something he admitted Friday he has only experienced "at certain points" with the Lakers this season? At this point, it's difficult to fathom what, exactly, would make Howard happy. All we know is that Howard is determined not to commit to anyone before the season is over, including the Lakers, because he wants to avoid the distractions and circus atmosphere that consumed his final months in Orlando.

"I'm not going to deal with it," Howard said. "I had to deal with it all last year; I'm not going to do it again."

Also, league sources say several other teams intrigue Howard as possible destinations. The Nets, his first choice last season, remain a viable option -- but only via a trade before Feb. 21 since the Nets are well above the tax apron. The third team on Howard's original list, the Mavericks, have plenty of cap room and tradable contracts. The Rockets, hosts for this All-Star weekend, have become more attractive, sources say.

"I like their team," Howard said of the Rockets. "They're a great team. They're young, they play together, they're scrappy. … It's fun to watch them. They're one of the teams that we can tell that in a few years is going to be really good."

During his long, clumsy exit from Orlando, Howard was in a place where he'd spent his entire career. He knew the landscape, his role in the community and what the future would be like. After a tumultuous seven months with the Lakers, I asked him what factors would weigh into his free-agent decision this time.

"I've got to do what makes me happy," Howard said. "That's it."

Asked what makes him happy, and what has made him happy in the past, Howard said, "Having fun on the court. That's what makes me happy."

Howard remains far from 100 percent after back surgery last spring, and continues to deal with a torn labrum in his right shoulder and the frayed egos and competing agendas on a struggling Lakers team. So he didn't have to answer the next question, about whether he's having as much fun as he used to. But he did answer it, honestly.

"At the present time, no," he said. "Hopefully it gets better."

Asked if he's still the best center in the NBA, Howard said, "Yes. Even at 75 percent."

But while Howard's health and happiness are still wavering, there's no doubt about the percentage chance he'll address whether he plans to stay in L.A. or leave this summer. That would be zero, presenting the kind of uncertainty that the Lakers have to at least contemplate with the trade deadline six days away.

"The only thing that matters right now is the present," Howard said. "There's no need for me to talk about what happens at the end of the season. There's no need to go back and forth about it. I just feel like at the end of the year, that's when I should have my opportunity to make my own decision. I shouldn't be pressured or criticized for waiting until the end of the year.

"Nobody can control what happens at the end of the year," Howard said.

Not yet, anyway.

Извор: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/2...rs-deal-howard

[Ammare]

Rondo
WHAT CAN RAJON RONDO DO NEXT? LEAD THE LEAGUE IN TRIPLE DOUBLES (AGAIN). AVERAGE MORE ASSISTS THAN ANYONE (AGAIN). AND MAYBE PROVE THAT HIS TEAM IS NOT BETTER OFF WITHOUT HIM. OH YEAH—AND DO IT ALL AFTER REHABBING A TORN ACL

The toughest man pound-for-pound in the NBA is working on his third Shirley Temple, extra grenadine, as he recovers from the Connect Four incident. Before he landed in Boston, became the Celtics' starting point guard, won a championship, was voted to the All-Star Game, suffered a torn ACL and watched his team play its best basketball of the season without him, Rajon Rondo grew up in a development near downtown Louisville called College Court. His mother allowed him to roam the neighborhood during the day, but she demanded he be home by the time the streetlights flickered on at dusk. Rondo would set up a Connect Four grid on the front porch and play deep into the night, welcoming friends and family members to his stoop, and then dispatching them all. "He beat everybody," says his mom, Amber Rondo. The boy possessed an unearthly ability to see the entire board and think three moves ahead.

When the Celtics drafted Rondo in 2006, they encouraged their first-round pick to ingratiate himself in his new hometown through public appearances and community events. "But I'm not a great people person," Rondo says. In a sports world filled with phonies, sons of the street who sand their jagged edges for mass consumption, Rondo is as real as a rusted rim. He is the ultimate showman, hurling lobs 50 feet in the air during warmups and fielding tip-offs with his forehead, yet he couldn't give a whit about showmanship. Rondo scoffs at the stars who list themselves as game-time decisions with ankle tweaks—"They just want an excuse if they don't play well"—and fumes at the ones who hug opponents as if they're at a Junior League luncheon. "I'm not trying to make friends," he says. "We can talk in the summer." Opposing point guards, weary of Rondo's jawing and jostling, wonder if he is picking a fight with them or simply doesn't like them. "With Rajon," says Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett, "there ain't no f------ around."

The Celtics didn't want to change Rondo when he arrived, but they didn't want to hide him either. So at charity functions he perched behind a folding table where he could avoid the back-slapping, baby-hugging and other standard forms of celebrity fakery. He just played Connect Four, against anybody who dared, usually two grids at a time and sometimes three. "This has been going on for six years," Matt Meyersohn, the Celtics' director of community relations, said on Dec. 22 during an event at the Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club in Dorchester, Mass. "He's played hundreds of Connect Four games, maybe a thousand. And he's never lost."

Later that day Rondo sat behind a table and three grids. Across from him were more than 100 children he had showered with bikes, Razor scooters and iPod Touches that he bought at Target and distributed from the back of a U-Haul. "I thought he might let us win," said a 12-year-old named Olisa. "But he was so serious." Rondo wore the requisite Santa hat with jolly red shoes, but through 22 consecutive victories he barely uttered a word or cracked a smile. He held each disk aloft for a solid 10 seconds before depositing it in his chosen column. He stared the kids down as if they were Knicks.

Olisa was the last challenger. He stared back at Rondo through wire-rimmed glasses. He clenched teeth covered with braces. He initiated what he called a trap, forcing Rondo to the right side of the grid, putting him on the defensive. When Olisa dropped the winning disk, Celtics officials started to shout. Meyersohn grabbed the microphone. "This has never happened!" he bellowed. Olisa rushed around the table to take a picture with the shell-shocked champion, who tried to curl up a corner of his mouth for the camera but instead bowed his head, resulting in a snapshot of his scalp.

Two hours later, hopped up on grenadine over lunch at a sushi restaurant in Boston's Back Bay, Rondo looked as if he were still digesting a piece of bad shrimp tempura. "I can't believe it," he said. "But did you notice I played the guy five more times and won them all? I had to show him, 'You beat me, but I'll beat the s--- out of you.'"

On Jan. 25 in Atlanta, Rondo played 45 minutes and two overtimes against the Hawks, despite picking up what he believed was a tweaked right hamstring. Two days later, at the shootaround before a game against the Heat, Rondo was still icing the hamstring when Celtics doctor Brian McKeon felt Rondo's right knee and sent him to New England Baptist Hospital for an MRI. Just as Chicago's Derrick Rose was rehabbing his torn ACL, another mesmerizing young ballhandler was felled by the same injury, at a critical juncture in his career.

Rondo, 27, was averaging 13.7 points and 11.1 assists—nobody else in the NBA even cracks double figures in assists—while shooting 48.4%, fourth among guards, stunning considering teams used to leave him open at the free throw line. Rondo has a complicated relationship with the basket ("A lot of times I'll be shooting and think, Maybe I should pass"), but he was up to 48% from 16 to 23 feet, according to hoopdata.com, compared to 39% last season. The Celtics always wondered what Rondo could accomplish if he burned those sagging defenses, and after dozens of fruitless sessions with shot doctors, he was curing his jumper thanks to one simple piece of advice from New York's Jason Kidd: "If you're going to shoot, you need to have your mind made up that you're going to do it." Rondo was due to start in the All-Star Game for the first time, an honor he took so seriously that he declined to pose for a picture in the uniform, for fear of jinxing himself.

Instead of turning the crank on Boston's championship window, Rondo underwent surgery on Feb. 12 and is enduring the implication that his team is somehow better without him. The Celtics won their first seven games in Rondo's absence, with a handful of regulars sharing playmaking duties and leading scorer Paul Pierce averaging more than seven assists. Rondo has declined interviews since he hobbled out of TD Garden on Jan. 27 and has been following the team from home, but there's no way he is missing the irony: Boston lost the best passer in the league and the fastest runner on the roster, yet its ball movement improved and so did its pace. The team was averaging 14.97 transition possessions per 48 minutes before Rondo's injury, according to Synergy Sports, and 15.26 during the streak after it. Of course, the Celtics are not better without Rondo, and come spring they will be reminded why. Over the past three years he has been their most reliable playoff performer and their strongest rebuttal to Miami. How quickly one forgets the 44 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds he hung on the Heat in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Given Rondo's affection for national television (21 of his 28 triple doubles have come on the big broadcasts), Nike should film his rehab like Adidas did with Rose. A torn ACL used to require at least a full year of recovery, but 48 hours after the diagnosis Boston general manager Danny Ainge declared that he expected Rondo "back and as good as ever in training camp." Ainge cited Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who embarked on a 2,000-yard season less than nine months after ACL surgery, and former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins, who returned to the court only seven months after the procedure. Ainge's projection was based partly on technology—the operation has grown more sophisticated while the rehab has become more streamlined—and partly on psychology. "The Peterson type, the Rose type, the Rondo type, these are perfectionists with a meticulous approach to everything they do," says Kevin Wilk, clinical director for Champion Sports Medicine, who oversees physical therapy for patients of Dr. James Andrews, the surgeon who performed Rondo's operation. "If guys like that are doing 10 reps, and the eighth isn't right, they'll start over where someone else will stop. They won't ever shut it down."



Rondo was not raised on basketball, nearly quit the sport in high school and entered the NBA as a third-stringer. He is 6'1" and 186 pounds, waifish compared with muscled peers such as Rose, and still reluctant to shoot. He has never played in a transition offense or partnered with a premier roll man, yet he has racked up assist averages over the past two seasons not seen since Magic Johnson and John Stockton while snagging rebounds as if he were six inches taller. Some of his stat lines—like his 16-point, 14-assist, 13-rebound game against the 76ers on Dec. 7—appear to have never before been printed in a box score. "There's no one in the history of our game like him," says former forward Brian Scalabrine, who spent four seasons with Rondo in Boston. "He's the most interesting player I've ever known. How does someone who is 6'1" get 18 rebounds? How does someone who doesn't run fast break get 20 assists? How does someone who never shoots get everybody open? We cannot begin to understand how he does it."

Amber considered calling him Roderick, after an uncle. William, his oldest brother, preferred Johnny. They settled on Rajon, a name that would be butchered by a hundred broadcasters. RAH-zhan was born at University of Louisville Hospital in 1986, and before his mother laid eyes on the baby boy with the narrow cheekbones, a doctor approached in awe. "His hands," the obstetrician gushed, "are humongous."

Twenty years later, when Rondo was coming out of Kentucky after two seasons, the Celtics prepared a scouting report on him that referred to what Ainge called "freak factors." Rondo's hands, 9½ inches long and 10 inches wide, are the size of a 7-footer's. His wingspan is 6'9", common for a power forward. If built proportionally, he says, "I'd be like Magic or Oscar Robertson." In peripheral vision tests Rondo beats everybody except Ainge, and on road trips he can recall exact directions to places he visited once. Ainge has seen him throw a football 80 yards, hit a softball 380 feet and beat 33-year-old assistant general manager Ryan McDonough in a 40-yard dash with a tire strapped to his waist. In college Rondo stole the ball from his man 16% of the time; no one else in the 2006 draft swiped it more than 5%.

For a pure point guard, a term polluted by a generation of gunners, there is little difference between basketball and Connect Four. Disks on a grid are like players on a court, pieces to move, forming angles to exploit. If Rose is a dervish, Rondo is a strategist, turning down open layups for more-open three-pointers, repositioning one teammate to make room for another, taking an extra glide step on a pick-and-roll so an older big man can work free. He cradles the ball in his suction-cup palms, pointing it left and right, wrapping it around his head and waist, shifting the defense with every sleight of hand. Each pump fake and sideways glance is designed to create an extra inch of space. Rondo passes with flamboyance and disdain, spiking the ball off the floor or firing it through a mob, and he finishes with more English than a pool shark. His floaters are high enough to hit the shot clock. "If you're not careful," says former Bucks coach Scott Skiles, "you get paralyzed watching him."

Rondo will call a play early in a game that produces an easy basket and refuse to run it for the next three quarters. "I'm saving that one," he reasons. When he thinks back on a pass—like his alltime favorite, the spin move and behind-the-back bullet he threaded through two hands in midair to Ray Allen for a corner three last year at Golden State—he closes his eyes. "It was a risky play," he says, "but I'm a risky player." Young Celtics joke about times they've been hit in the head with Rondo no-looks. "I don't hit them in the head," Rondo clarifies. "I hit them in the face."

Rondo's style, creative and eccentric, is an expression of his personality. "Everybody wants to score, score, score," he says. "So I want to pass. I like to be different. I could never be a follower." When he was a boy, his friends wore Air Jordan sneakers, which forced him into Air Max. Even now, when the Celtics work out in green shirts, he chooses white. Coaches traditionally instruct players to shoot with their left hand on the left side of the rim, but Rondo uses his right, limiting exposure to the ball. In November he surprised an algebra class at Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, and wound up giving an impromptu lesson. The teacher told him he solved equations in a way she had never seen before.

Rondo takes five showers on game days, the last one precisely 45 minutes before tip-off, because he does his best thinking in the water. He jumps out to scribble ideas, which can present problems, since he is a germaphobe who hates being barefoot. He keeps three or four pairs of shower shoes in his locker. "I'm a little OCD," he admits. He guzzles five bottles of water on the drive to the arena so he doesn't have to bother with Gatorade cups on the bench, and he tucks a tube of Carmex in his sock to keep his lips hydrated. The company sends hundreds of refills before each season, helpful considering how many teammates ask for a dollop. Rondo dispenses it on their fingertips. His routine is carefully choreographed, from the sky-scraping lob he launches in pregame layup lines to the opening dribble off his head or chest or knee. Garnett used to corral the tip from Perkins and hike it between his legs to Rondo. Then the Celtics traded Perkins to Oklahoma City, where he hikes to Russell Westbrook. Rondo winces at the thought. "It still seems like we're trying to replace Perk," he says.

He maintains 3.5% body fat, even though he spreads entire cubes of butter on pieces of bread, and he eschews heavy weightlifting because he fears it will compromise his quickness. Rondo spends most of his free time playing cornhole, a game typically reserved for frat boys at Big Ten tailgate parties. He owns two wooden boards, emblazoned with Kentucky and Louisville logos, which he spaces 27 feet apart in his front yard, according to the official rules. He installed a fire pit so he can play through the winter with his neighbor, a thirtysomething Boston businessman who has become equally consumed with tossing beanbags into circular holes. Rondo is thinking of entering national cornhole tournaments. "I'm ranked Number 1," he says. He is kidding, but you have to ask to make sure. He does nothing for amusement.

After a December practice in Chicago, Rondo played one-on-one with Celtics guard Courtney Lee and scored the first eight baskets. "Now we'll get serious," Lee said. Rondo was incredulous. "Isn't it always serious?" he asked. Rondo and Lee also played two-on-two at full speed, less than three hours before games. "It starts fun," Lee says. "Then it gets personal." When Rondo was ejected on Nov. 28 for pushing the Nets' Kris Humphries after a hard foul on Garnett, which snapped Rondo's streak of 37 games with 10 or more assists, his high school coach asked why he'd jeopardize such a historic run. "I don't give a damn about that," Rondo replied. He explained that Brooklyn players were calling Boston soft before the game, loud enough to hear in the locker room across the hall. "I wasn't looking to fight," Rondo told the coach, Doug Bibby. "I had no choice."

Teammates encourage Rondo to take up poker in addition to cornhole because he wears the same flat gaze whether celebrating or seething. He can throw a no-look alley-oop over his head from the three-point line, as he did to a giggling Kenneth Faried at an exhibition game during the 2011 lockout, or miss a midrange jumper when no one is within 10 feet of him, and he responds with neither smile nor scowl, leaving the world to wonder what is brewing inside and when it will come spilling out. "He's a volcano," says Boston coach Doc Rivers. "But I'd rather a volcano that can erupt than one that's extinct."



In the early 1990s the trauma center staff at University of Louisville Hospital knew Rajon Rondo by name. To keep up with his older brothers, William and Anton, he ran into a mailbox and a light post, fell off a street sign and a scooter, and cut his leg to the bone on a four-foot boulder. His father left when he was in elementary school—"That's why I don't trust a lot of people," he says—and his mother grew so weary of his insubordination that she drove him to Home of the Innocents, a refuge for troubled children. As part of an elaborate plot, she asked the director to meet them at the front door with paperwork. "I was scared to death," Rondo says. "She was done with my a--."

Instead of sending him away, Amber bought him the only hoop in College Court, to replace the milk crate he had hung in the backyard. Rondo preferred football and baseball to basketball. He didn't watch the NBA. He didn't study the greats, but somehow their moves—from the Euro-step to the Dream Shake—found their way into his game on the playground. His feel for the sport was innate. He joined the basketball team at Eastern High because Bibby liked his cousin, and as a freshman he was suspended 12 of 24 games for a variety of offenses. He sulked through practices and finished last in wind sprints. He also slept in class, didn't complete his homework and forgot his books. "He was a terrible student," says Bibby, "but he was smart as hell."

Bibby taught math, and after Rondo aced the first few tests, Bibby assumed he was cheating. So Bibby made up special tests for Rondo, but he aced those too. Once, Rondo was dozing while Bibby scrawled a geometry problem on the chalkboard. When Bibby called on him, Rondo woke up, rubbed his eyes and blurted an answer. "Don't be an a------," Bibby muttered. Then Bibby finished the problem and found that Rondo was right. He still gave him a D.

Their dynamic was no different on the court, where Bibby would call for one defense and Rondo would demand another. Bibby once yelled at Rondo, "I broke down film three times last night so I know what I'm talking about!" Rondo replied, "I'm on the damn floor and you're not!" Bibby's cousin Mike was an NBA star. His uncle Henry also played in the league and was a major-college coach. "You're like, 'Why is this little a------ questioning me?'" Bibby says. "His tongue sometimes cuts like a knife. But then you listen to him and you realize he actually does see more than the camera."

Rondo was suspended three more times as a sophomore, and was also supposed to be banned for a playoff game until a school administrator intervened. "I don't want to play you," Bibby told Rondo. "But they're going to fire me if I don't, and I've got two kids at home." Bibby broke down, and finally, Rondo did as well. He called a tearful team meeting and apologized for putting his coach in an untenable position. He was never suspended again.

Amber worked the 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift at the Philip Morris factory, placing cigarettes in a tray. She never smoked, but when she came home at night, her clothes reeked of tobacco. Early in Rondo's high school career, Philip Morris moved the plant to North Carolina, and Amber thought about uprooting the family. She stayed for her youngest son and landed a job at Frito-Lay. "If we had gone," Rondo says, "I don't know where I'd be right now—maybe jail." Instead he became Bibby's de facto assistant, watching the tapes and formulating the game plans. When Bibby wanted to use a new defense but was too busy washing uniforms to implement it, he explained the scheme over the phone to Rondo, who taught it to the team in the school lobby.

Bibby worried that other coaches would not appreciate Rondo's genius—"You serve steak, but it's on a garbage can," Bibby told him. "Smooth it out"—and when Rondo enrolled for his senior year at famed Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., his new roommate thought he was standoffish. Then Josh Smith discovered the merits of living with a basketball savant. "My field goal percentage went way up," says Smith, now a star forward for the Hawks. "I remember one night he had 29 assists, and the next night he had 31. It was like playing with Michael Vick, and I was the only guy who could catch his passes."

Rondo's searing intensity is easily attributed to the predictable slights: Louisville coach Rick Pitino recruited Sebastian Telfair over him. Kentucky coach Tubby Smith marginalized him in a slowpoke offense. He fell to No. 21 in the draft. But Rondo doesn't manufacture motivation. His edge is organic. "I know some guys hold on to that stuff and use it as fuel," he says. "I just want to win." He entered training camp in 2006 as the Celtics' third point guard, behind Telfair and Delonte West, and their first workout included a pick-and-roll drill. "Come on, Rondo, pick it up!" Rivers shouted. "Turn the corner! Be aggressive!" Five straight times he split the double team or turned the corner and scored. "Twenty-first pick?" players asked each other.

The relationship between point guard and coach is as complicated as that of husband and wife, and even more so if that coach used to be a point guard. When Boston teamed Ray Allen and Garnett with Pierce in 2007, the veterans rarely hung out with Rondo on the road but couldn't stop talking to him on the court. "Everybody was asking for the ball," Rondo says. "I had to keep track of all their shots. It was like, Paul has 17, and Ray only has seven, so I better get it to Ray. I got cussed out a few times." Rivers, who had to satiate Dominique Wilkins, Moses Malone and Reggie Theus as a young point guard in Atlanta, tried to counsel him. "Scorers want to touch the ball," Rivers advised. "Throw it to them and make them throw it back. In the fourth quarter you want everybody feeling good."

Rondo and Rivers engaged in so many sideline debates they should have installed lecterns by the bench. During one Rivers told Rondo that his teammates hated playing with him. During another Rondo told Rivers, "I'm not mad at you! I'm mad at myself!" Rivers responded, "I don't care who you're mad at. Mad is mad. It's taking you out of games." They coined a mantra—Get past mad—to recite when Rondo is suffering from what Rivers calls "an emotional hijack." In the past year Mount Rondo has erupted at officials, opponents and a cameraman, and his rift with Allen is a major reason the most prolific three-point shooter in NBA history is now in Miami. He also still makes plenty of suggestions in timeouts. On Dec. 21, Boston trailed Milwaukee by three points with 18 seconds left, and the Bucks had the ball. Rivers considered fouling, but Rondo argued that the Celtics should try for the steal. Rivers gave in, and Rondo intercepted a pass by Brandon Jennings, leading to a tying three by Pierce. "But sometimes we go the other way," Rivers says. "And he is much better at moving on."



After that game, which Milwaukee won in overtime, Jennings asked rookie guard Doron Lamb if Rondo had crept into his head. "That's what he does," Jennings says. "He's not like D-Rose or Deron Williams or Tony Parker, who keep you on your toes every night. He'll talk trash and get physical. At one point I thought we were going to fight."

Rondo lives in a Boston suburb—his address, like his jersey, is number 9—with his fiancée, Ashley Bachelor, their five-year-old daughter, Ryelle, and one-year-old son, Rajon Jr. He comes across as warm and genial in a one-on-one conversation, describing the manicures he gets with Ryelle. "He is one of my best friends," says Orlando forward Glen (Big Baby) Davis, a former Celtic. "But on the floor he is a stone-cold killer, trained by Kevin Garnett."

For five years Rondo has seen how Garnett intimidates adversaries—"He'll talk trash and mess a guy up the rest of the game," Rondo says—while buttressing teammates. When Boston faces an elite scorer, Garnett helps off his man so that no one gets embarrassed. When the Celtics are tiring at the end of sprints, Garnett breaks into song, and everybody inhales a second wind. Rondo struggles to sleep after games, watching the replay on TV at 2 a.m. and texting Garnett around four. KG always seems to be awake. "Kevin gives tough love, and some guys can't handle it," says Flip Saunders, who coached Garnett in Minnesota. "The ones who can, become lifelong friends."

The best franchises are families, in that elders care for their heirs, until heirs have to care for their elders. When Boston faces top power forwards, Rondo helps off his man, to protect Garnett. "Kevin Love isn't going to get an open look," he vows. There is pride among the Celtics, often lacking in pro sports, which explains better than any metric how they rallied after Rondo was lost. In light of reports linking Garnett to a handful of contenders, he doubled down on his connection to Boston, insisting he would not waive his no-trade clause. The Celtics have an image to uphold, hard and crusty, so it's comical when they follow Rondo's lead at restaurants and order Shirley Temples. "Waitresses are like, 'What?'" Rondo says. "I feel like I have to add a splash of Patron, and I don't even really drink." He is both product and purveyor of this environment. "Rajon has been bred by the culture we created," Garnett says. "He is carrying on the tradition."

Rondo will spend the next six to nine months chasing Peterson, the new standard for ACL patients, and when he returns, the Celtics will be different. They are learning to rebound and run, with a variety of ballhandlers, instead of always waiting in the backcourt for Rondo. He will be free to score off someone else's pass, if he's willing. "He's the smartest guy in the room," Ainge says, "and the most stubborn." The battle that rages within Rondo will determine how he responds. He is smart enough to recognize the benefit of change and stubborn enough to resist it. The Celtics could always rebuild by trading Rondo and his relatively reasonable $11 million salary, but it is more likely they will trust his ability to adapt and deploy him as a lure for free agents. Rondo doesn't glad-hand anybody but claims to be 7 for 8 as a recruiter, selling targets on the benefits of Doc Rivers and a pure point guard. He is more of a people person than he thinks.

As Rondo finishes lunch and his last Shirley Temple—"I've got to lighten up on these," he says—he remembers that the Celtics are hosting a party for kids the next day on the second floor of their practice facility. The room will be filled with desks, and on each desk will be a Connect Four grid, and Rondo will play anyone who dares. "It'll be fun," he says with a half-smile. "I've got to beat the s--- out of them."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...14/4/index.htm

[Monta Ellis #11]

Sixers CEO opens up on Andrew Bynum's knee

Adam Aron on Andrew Bynum: This move 'should have worked'

In an interview with Comcast SportsNet on Monday, Sixers CEO Adam Aron discussed the Andrew Bynum trade, the center’s ailing knees and whether the team plans to re-sign him.

“This is a move that should have worked,” Aron said. “But, unfortunately, he got an injury in September and it’s been compounded since, post-trade and we haven’t seen a day. The fans hopes were justifiably high that the Sixers had made a move, a bold move, that would catapult us back into the top teams in the NBA. It hasn’t worked.”

Late last week, Bynum said he suffered a setback and was unsure that he’d play this season. Then, this weekend, Sixers general manager Tony DiLeo revealed that Bynum is considering season-ending surgery. Aron said he first learned that surgery was an option “a couple days ago.”

“The issue for this season is not whether Andrew Bynum has surgery, it’s what are the condition of his knees?” Aron said. “We thought he was going to play opening day. His doctors gave us a four-week delay, then another four-week delay. In December, we went out publicly and said he would be out indefinitely because we just didn’t know when he would be back. If you go back in time just three weeks ago, Andrew himself was telling everyone that he thought he’d be actively playing after the All-Star break. He did practice with the team about 10 days ago. There were high hopes and he was working out hard in February behind the scenes at the practice facility. But when he practiced with the team five-on-five his knees started swelling up and that was a big setback.”

Late last week, when Bynum was asked whether his knees are degenerative, he didn’t directly answer the question, saying instead that “50 percent of the people in the United States” are in the same situation. Are Bynum’s knees degenerative?

“I can’t get into his exact medical condition,” Aron said. “But I can say this, which is obvious to all of us: All season long he’s had bone bruise issues. He’s had cartilage problems. It’s March. He’s still not playing. He hasn’t played basketball since last May. Clearly, Andrew is dealing with some knee problems that have prevented him from playing in the NBA.”

Aron said “four doctors cleared the trade in August, and six doctors have actively been treating him and examining him all year long.” The Sixers’ CEO insisted that the team, until now, was confident Bynum would play this season.

“We certainly thought he was going to play in August,” Aron said. “That’s why we made the trade. Even in early October, we thought he would play on opening night. Then there was a delay. Then there was [another] delay. Even when we announced that he was out indefinitely, inside the team we thought he would play in January or February. He himself, in February, said he would play in February. But here we are in March and the team is disappointed. Our fan base is disappointed. And that’s the story of the season.”

The story moving forward is whether the Sixers attempt to re-sign Bynum. To acquire the center, the Sixers unloaded Andre Iguodala, Maurice Harkless, Nikola Vucevic and a lottery-protected first-round pick. Bynum – who will make around $16.4 million this season – will be a free agent after the year. DiLeo recently said that Bynum remains “Plan A” for the team. But when asked whether it’s the organization’s intention to retain the center, Aron said, “that’s not a decision for today.”

“That’s a decision for the offseason,” Aron maintained. “We’re still going to get more information about Andrew and his knees and his health and his interest in playing in Philadelphia. Clearly, the Andrew Bynum of last season was one of the best players in the entire NBA. The Andrew Bynum of this season hasn’t played a game. If we could bring the last season’s Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia, that would be a great move for our fans and a great move for our team. But until we have more time with his doctors to see what the condition of his knees are like, that’s ... an offseason decision. Right now, none of us really know where Andrew Bynum will be in four days or four weeks, let alone in four years.”

Does that mean there’s some doubt about the “Plan A” DiLeo mentioned?

“Tony didn’t say there’s only Plan A,” Aron continued. “He said there’s Plan A and there was Plan B. Plan A is with Andrew Bynum and Plan B is without Andrew Bynum. What I’m saying is, either of those options are a possibility and we don’t have to make the choice today by 5 o’clock. We get to make the choice in the offseason. We’ll have more information.”

http://www.csnphilly.com/basketball-...ld-have-worked

[Monta Ellis #11]

Report: Amare Stoudemire wants more minutes

Amar'e Stoudemire has accepted his role off the bench since returning from knee surgery, not complaining about the 30-minute restriction on his playing time.

But according to a source close to the Knicks, Stoudemire is "ready" and "healthy" to play more minutes to help the team.

"He's in tip-top shape," the source told ESPNNewYork.com. "He wants to play; whatever it takes for [the Knicks] to win."

On Sunday, Stoudemire only got in for 21 minutes -- sitting out the last eight -- in the Knicks' losing effort against the Heat. Down the stretch he was needed because when the Heat applied more aggressive defense on Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks didn't have an inside scoring threat. Tyson Chandler was in the game, but he's not one to create his own opportunities.

If Stoudemire's body is ready, it would be important to increase his minutes now, to better prepare him for increased playing time in the postseason. That's usually what happens during this critical period of the season, as coaches shorten their rotation to focus on their best players.

"Now is the time to be giving him extending minutes to see how his body reacts to it," the source said, "especially when you're not on [a] big winning streak. ... Something has to shake up."

Head coach Mike Woodson is still banking on basic perimeter play and 3-point shooting, which worked in the first two months of the season when the Knicks started 18-5. But since then, they've been mostly playing .500 ball, and there are still too many outside shots from Anthony, Raymond Felton and J.R. Smith. In fact, against the Heat, while Smith shot 3-for-14 from 3-point, Stoudemire took just seven shots from the field, making five.

The source said the Knicks are "not a real hard team to figure out right now."

Perhaps that would change if Woodson played Stoudemire more, and got him additional touches. Stoudemire is shooting nearly 60 percent from the field, and he has already produced 10-for-10 and 9-for-10 shooting nights. The Knicks won both of those games in February, not only from his scoring, but also out of his double teams. In addition, the power forward needs to be utilized as the roll man, which has always been his specialty during his 10-season career. On Sunday, Melo connected with Stoudemire twice in pick and rolls.

Stoudemire will likely continue in his current role, as the Knicks don't have another low-post scorer in their second unit. But if he's not consistently hitting 30 or more minutes, attempting 10 or more shots per game and playing with the finishing unit, alongside Chandler for better weak-side defense, the team could continue to dig itself an even deeper hole.

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/kni...r-more-minutes

[Monta Ellis #11]

Bulls to play in first NBA game in Brazil

The NBA announced early Tuesday a "comprehensive global preseason schedule" that involves the Chicago Bulls playing the first-ever game in Brazil.

The Bulls will face the Washington Wizards at Rio de Janeiro's HSBC Arena on Oct. 12.

Other games feature the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul in Turkey on Oct. 5; the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Uxue Bilbao Basket in Spain on Oct. 6; Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Philadelphia 76ers in Manchester, England on Oct. 8; Houston Rockets vs. Indiana Pacers in Manila, Philippines on Oct. 10; Houston Rockets vs. Indiana Pacers in Taipei, Taiwan on Oct. 13; and the Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 15 in Beijing, China and on Oct. 18 in Shanghai, China.

“Providing fans with an authentic NBA experience is an important part of our efforts to grow the game globally,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement. “This fall, nearly a third of our teams will embark on a global tour that will celebrate the game of basketball, give our international fans a chance to connect with NBA teams and players, and leave a lasting impact in each of the communities we visit.”

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/Headli...ticleId=236177

[Monta Ellis #11]

Lakers star Kobe Bryant continues to feast, thanks to diet

Kobe Bryant has made it look easy with his breathless game-winners and efficient footwork.

Even at 34 years old, the Lakers star also has thrown down a fair share of dunks, including one Sunday over Atlanta forward Josh Smith that kept everyone abuzz.

But beyond his unmatched skill, Bryant points to a more important variable that's helped distinguish himself through 17NBA seasons.

"There's a certain commitment, a lot of sacrifice and attention to detail that goes into trying to play at a high level for a long long time," Bryant said. "To me, it's worth it."

Bryant enters the Lakers' game tonight at Oklahoma City (43-16) averaging 27.3 points per game, third behind New York's Carmelo Anthony (28.6) and the Thunder's Kevin Durant (28.6). In the past five games, Bryant has averaged 35 points on 57 percent shooting and six assists.

"Some poor souls recently have caught the end of it," Lakers guard Steve Nash said. "He's looked as good as he ever looked."

Bryant attributes that to losing 16 pounds this offseason mostly by improving his diet. He's replaced sweets and fast food with lean meat and vegetables.

"Diet is always the hardest thing," Bryant said. "We're accustomed to eating what we want to eat whenever we want to eat it. You become comfortable with that. A change in that is a change in your lifestyle. That's been the most difficult."

Bryant maintained he never lost focus with his diet, workout regiment or sacrificing time with family for the sake of maximizing his play.

"After so many years, it becomes easy to lose focus," Bryant said. "Some guys lose focus from game to game. I take it as a challenge to try to be challenged for many, many years."

He said what?

Bryant on Thunder forward Serge Ibaka earning a flagrant foul type 1 Sunday for hitting Clippers forward Blake Griffin in the groin area: "I probably would have smacked him in the mouth."

Poking fun

On pace

http://www.dailynews.com/lakers/ci_2...iet?source=rss

[Monta Ellis #11]

Bucks give J.J. Redick a shot at relevancy

The Bucks are prepared to pay impending free agent J.J. Redick "as a starting shooting guard."

by Adrian Wojnarowski Yahoo! Expert

MILWAUKEE – On his way out of Orlando, the general manager's words stayed with J.J. Redick: It's nothing personal, Rob Hennigan told him.

"But it is personal," Redick says now.

Perhaps this is a blessing and curse, because professional sports can break a ballplayer's heart this way. Redick's loyal this way. He immerses himself in the franchise's fabric, invests in the community. His two old coaches – Mike Krzyzewski and Stan Van Gundy – still get calls and texts on a regular basis.

"My wife Chelsea and I built a life in Orlando," Redick told Yahoo! Sports. "Listen, there was no anger [over the trade], but there was a little bit of disappointment.

"Part of me wishes I could've been there my whole career and been part of the rebuilding, part of the turnaround, and gotten back to the finals in my 11th or 12th year. That's the romantic in me, the idealist." And the pragmatist stood on the Bradley Center floor on Monday night – delivering two immense baskets in the final minutes of regulation and eight straight points to start overtime in a 109-108 victory over Utah – as the winning, the chase for the playoffs, felt like a warm blanket.

With Redick, the Bucks have won four of five games. With the Bucks, Redick is relevant again.

"There's been a number of moments since I've been here – in the fourth quarter, in overtime – where I've thought, 'Man, I missed this,' " Redick says. "And I did.
"Even in Orlando, in a close game, coming down to the wire, you still think to yourself: 'We're 15-37 or whatever.' "

So far, the vision of Bucks general manager John Hammond has been validated. Redick will be a free agent this summer, and Hammond gambled with the trade for him. As hard as the Bucks tried to get Josh Smith, Redick was the player whom they believed could become their starting shooting guard for years. Brandon Jennings is a restricted free agent, Monta Ellis can opt out of his contract and, almost assuredly, only one of them returns next season.

Milwaukee can't afford to pay the three of them, so Jennings or Ellis will stay, and Milwaukee is prepared to pay Redick as a starting shooting guard. Redick will be in great demand, but make no mistake: To leave the Bucks, he'll have to take less money – probably a lot.
So far, "this has been fun," Redick says. "A lot of fun."

Interim coach Jim Boylan – who has a real and deserved chance to keep this job – has spread the floor with Jennings, Ellis and Redick together, using Larry Sanders to protect the rim. Boylan is a Jersey City guy who is trying to finish reading the new Springsteen biography this season. Redick has given him a shooter to sell Jennings on playing the part of distributor, and the result has been a staggering 36 assists in the past two games.

Hammond and his assistant GM, Jeff Weltman, have the Bucks positioned to be an Eastern Conference playoff team for years to come. For them, Redick has arrived to make shots, yes, but also bring professionalism to the workplace.

For Redick, it was over in Orlando. The Magic disassembled into a total rebuild. Part of him will always live with the regret of how everything fell apart, how they fired Van Gundy and traded Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers.

In Redick's mind, the best thing that ever happened was getting drafted into Orlando with a coach who refused to insert him into the rotation. For two years, Van Gundy challenged him to become a more complete player and Redick thinks "a lot about what kind of career trajectory I would've had without Stan, and I'm grateful for what he did for me."

"Those years in Orlando humbled me," Redick said, "and gave me perspective on basketball and life."

[Also: Kobe disagrees with Blake Griffin's reaction to Serge Ibaka's groin shot]

Here's the thing, too: Van Gundy was the best thing to ever happen to Howard's career, too. Unlike Redick, Howard probably had to leave to understand that. All of the Magic understood, though, they were merely moons orbiting Howard. Redick will always wonder what could've been there, and maybe Howard will someday, too.

"I'm sure the scrutiny on him in a bigger market has been tough," he says. "Whether he was prepared for that, or expected that, I don't know. He was a hero in Orlando. L.A. already had a hero."

Yes, Orlando will always be personal for J.J. Redick, but this is no business for romantics, and he understands it. Milwaukee desperately wanted him, traded good young players to get him, and this has meant the world to Redick. His furniture arrived from Orlando on Monday, his wife and he found a place, and they can see themselves staying here a long time.

"To be wanted here – to be wanted anywhere in the league – is something I'll never take for granted," Redick says.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--bu...183209813.html

[Ammare]

I've been a professional athletic trainer for about 16 years and have been able to work with a range of athletes from the high school to professional level. Right now I run in a clinic in Cincinnati and have most recently been training with some players on the Bengals.

I activated my reddit account just a moment ago and because I've been seeing the videos of Kobe's most recent dunks and the comments you guys have had to share I decided I might as well chime in what I know about the man. And let me just state by saying that this story doesn't touch on anything we don't know about Kobe but rather that he simply is not human when he is working on his craft.

I was invited to Las Vegas this past Summer to help Team USA with their conditioning before they head off to London, and as we know they would eventually bring home the Gold (USA). I've had the opportunity to work with Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade in the past but this would be my first interaction with Kobe. We first met three days before the first scrimmage, on the day of the first practice, early July. It was a brief conversation where we talked about conditioning, where he would like to be by the end of the Summer, and we talked a little bit about the hustle of the Select Team. Then he got my number and I let him know that if he ever wanted some extra training he could hit me up any time.

The night before the first scrimmage I remember I was just watched "Casablanca" for the first time and it was about 3:30 AM. I lay in bed, slowly fading away when I hear my cell ring. It was Kobe. I nervously picked up.

"Hey, uhh Rob, I hope I'm not disturbing anything right?"

"Uhh no, what's up Kob?"

"Just wondering if you could just help me out with some conditioning work, that's all."

I checked my clock. 4:15 AM.

"Yeah sure, I'll see you in the facility in a bit."

It took me about twenty minutes to get my gear and out of the hotel. When I arrived and opened the room to the main practice floor I saw Kobe. Alone. He was drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a swim. It wasn't even 5AM.

We did some conditioning work for the next hour and fifteen minutes. Then we entered the weight room, where he would do a multitude of strength training exercises for the next 45 minutes. After that we parted ways and he went back to the practice floor to shoot. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Wow.

I was expected to be at the floor again at about 11 AM. I woke up feeling sleepy, drowsy, and almost pretty much every side effect of sleep deprivation. Thanks, Kobe. I had a bagel and headed to the practice facility.

This next part I remember very vividly. All the Team USA players were there, feeling good for the first scrimmage. LeBron was talking to Carmelo if I remember correctly and Coach Krzyzewski was trying to explain something to Kevin Durant. On the right side of the practice facility was Kobe by himself shooting jumpers. And this is how our next conversation went -- I went over to him, patted him on the back and said, "Good work this morning."

"Huh?"

"Like, the conditioning. Good work."

"Oh. Yeah, thanks Rob. I really appreciate it."

"So when did you finish?"

"Finish what?"

"Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?"

"Oh just now. I wanted 800 makes so yeah, just now."

My jaw dropped. Mother of holy God. It was then that I realized that there's no surprise to why he's been as effective as he was last season. Every story about his dedication, every quote that he's said about hard work all came together and hit me like a train. It's no surprise to me now that he's dunking on players ten years younger than him and it wasn't a surprise to me earlier this year when he led the league in scoring.

Thanks for reading and allowing me to share you my Kobe Bryant story. If anyone has any questions I can clarify. Sorry if the story was at all hard to follow as this is my first time on reddit.

Rob.

http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments...m_an_athletic/