We’re still in the first week of the season, but a few things are already clear: Michael Carter-Williams can play, the Warriors are fun to watch, and the Clippers you know and love are still the Clippers you know and love. As long as you only started watching them when Chris Paul showed up.Everything else makes no sense. Are the Heat still the Heat? Are the Sixers that bad? Are they bad at all? Weren’t the Lakers supposed to be abjectly terrible? Are the Spurs done being the old pros and now just the old? Are the Grizzlies this year’s team that quietly fades away, like last year’s Celtics? Wasn’t I supposed to be caring about the Pelicans?
All those questions will be answered over the course of the season. For the answers to other, smaller questions, I’ve got this blog right here of the latest NBA news:
Mark Cuban believes Dwight Howard made a mistake when he didn’t sign with the Mavericks, reports Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Cuban steadfastly believes Howard’s future would have been better if he would have joined the Mavs and 35-year-old Dirk Nowitzki instead of signing with the Rockets and James Harden, who turned 24 in August. “Obviously he made a mistake in judgment,” Cuban said. “Do I blame him? No. That’s what young kids do. They make mistakes in judgment. Seriously.” Cuban went on to say: “You choose teams, you don’t choose players. If you made choices based off an individual player, yeah, you made a mistake. You choose teams, you choose organizations, you choose coaches, you choose … and it’s just not relative to Houston. Put aside Dwight, any young superstar player looking to make a move, if you’re that good, then the right organization gets all the right pieces around you.””-
#celtics and Avery Bradley unable to agree to framework of 4-year deal, according to source. he will be a restricted free agent next summer
— gary washburn (@GwashNBAGlobe) November 1, 2013
Could Rudy Gay be on the move again? ESPN.com’s Marc Stein thinks it’s possible: “The Raptors, I’m told, came into camp with an open mind under new front-office boss Masai Ujiri, willing to even consider an extension for Rudy Gay if they liked what they saw. The strong sense now, though, is that the Raps are prepared to trade virtually anyone on the current roster if a suitable offer presents itself. “Anyone but [Jonas] Valanciunas,” says one plugged-in source. The National Post’s fine columnist Bruce Arthur reported this week in a long piece on Ujiri that the Raps have indeed discussed the prospect of moving Gay before the NBA’s Feb. 20 trade deadline. Yet it should be noted that Anyone But Valanciunas also means two more vets in place before Ujiri’s arrival — DeMar DeRozan (who this time last year was just receiving a contract extension from then-GM Bryan Colangelo) and Kyle Lowry (who’ll be an unrestricted free agent come July) — are likewise in play.”- Stein also says the Magic could be looking to deal: “One week removed from the season’s first big trade — Marcin Gortat to Washington — you’re surely wondering: Who’s next? To borrow from one of legendary wheeler-dealer Don Nelson’s pet phrases: Jameer Nelson is a good name. The Magic, according to the latest rumbles, would surrender Nelson today if offered a future first-round pick for him. Orlando GM Rob Hennigan continues to chase draft picks and young assets above all else as he remakes the Magic. The problem is that teams have never been more reluctant to surrender first-round picks — and the cap-friendly contracts they carry — than we see nowadays.”
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Real drama in the D-League Draft tonight: Who will take Ricky Davis? (Yes, he’s entered his name into the player pool).
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) November 1, 2013
- John Wall had a particularly shameless flop and was the first player of the season to be warned, writes Michael Lee of the Washington Post: “Late in the fourth quarter of the Wizards’ 113-102 season-opening loss to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, Wall attempted to dupe officials into calling a foul by taking a dive during a last-ditch rally in the final minutes. With the Wizards trailing 105-98, Bradley Beal had just flipped a loose ball out ahead to Wall, who quickly got out on the run. Wall spotted Pistons forward Kyle Singler trailing to his right and tried to collect some quick, easy points with Detroit in the penalty. He ran diagonally into Singler’s running lane and caused a collision. Singler kept running, but Wall threw up his arms and fell to the ground. When referees held their whistles, Wall then scrambled to recover the ball while angrily looking around for a call.”
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Excited to see #Twolves in-person tonight. Told nothing brewing on player acquisition front. Want to first see what they have at this stage.
— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) November 1, 2013
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Dan Malone is in his fourth year as a journalism student at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and spent this summer as a features intern at the Cape Cod Times. He blogs, edits and learns things on the fly for Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on Twitter.