The chatter about the Los Angeles Lakers have been non-stop for much of the summer, thanks to their huge offseason acquisitions of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. Doc Rivers and Kendrick Perkins aren’t so high on focusing on the Lakers like everyone else though, and are looking forward to another possible meeting with the Miami Heat instead. See what they had to say about the Lakers and the Heat, what lesson Dwight Howard learned from his debacles as a Magic, the expectations Metta World Peace has of the Lakers and more below:
Dwight Howard talked about the valuable lesson he learned about people, and said there were some lies about him that he didn’t appreciate (without elaborating) during his interview with Ric Bucher of ESPN: “I don’t have any regrets, you know. I think everything happened the way that it was meant to happen,” Howard said Saturday in an interview with ESPN The Magazine senior writer Ric Bucher. “I really just wish some of the lies and some of the things being said didn’t come out the way it did, you know.”… “And it was a tug of war between my feelings and the fans and everybody else and their feelings and what happened to LeBron. And I saw him — everybody hated him for leaving Cleveland and what he did,” Howard said of LeBron James’ free-agent move from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat in 2010. “I never wanted anybody to hate me, you know. I wanted everybody to love me, you know, like me, for sticking around and doing what they wanted me to do. And making everybody else happy. And that was a valuable lesson for me, you know. “I can’t make everybody happy.”
Kendrick Perkins is focused on chasing after the Heat and the championship – not the Lakers, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “Not only is Perkins unfazed, but he also echoed several of his Thunder teammates who already have refuted the notion that the Lakers are now the team to beat in the West. “We are the Western Conference champs,” Perkins said. “So at the end of the day, we’re not chasing nobody except for the ring. We’re chasing Miami to get a championship. It’s no guarantee who is going to be where. But we earned the Western champs so we’re not chasing the Lakers, we’re chasing a championship and that’s what it’s about.”
Perkins’ former coach Doc Rivers also touched on the subject of the Heat and why they matter a lot more than the Lakers, from Celtics Blog: “We have to get to the foul line because when you get to the foul line-that’s one of the big things now in our league-if you can get to the foul line, you can become a dominant defensive team because you get to set your defense every single time. If you keep missing shots against Miami, you’re going to let them run back and forth. I told our guys, “I’m smart enough to know that if we get in a track meet with Miami, they’re probably going to win, but if we get in a thinking meet, we will win that game.” We want them to think. We want them to play under thought, not with their instincts. Honestly, I don’t care about the Lakers…I have my eye squarely on Miami. I come up to my players during the year-they’re in the facility now-I bring up Miami every single day to them. I want them to hate them. I want them to beat them. That’s gotta be our focus.”
- How expensive is it going to be to keep the Lakers core by next season? Ben Bolch of Los Angeles Times has the answer: “It won’t be long before $128 million doesn’t buy the Lakerswhat it used to. Like, by next season. This season, that amount will cover the 2012-13 payroll and associated luxury taxes for a roster dripping with superstars Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol. A year from now, it could pay for only a portion of that same roster and maybe a pair of Bryant’s high-end sneakers. Keeping the core of the Lakers together could cost nearly $200 million.Thanks, new collective bargaining agreement.”
Metta World Peace wants to take full advantage of the expensive Lakers roster and try to beat the Bulls regular season record, from Sekou Smith of NBA.com: “What he thinks about the team possibly not having Dwight Howard at the start of Training Camp: “We definitely want to beat the Bulls record and go 73-9, that’s definitely something that I want to do. Whoever is out there at the beginning of the season then we gotta get it. It’s as simple as that. We just have to go get it. (Host: So that Bulls record is something you’re thinking about?) No question. You try to snatch records before you leave this earth. You gotta try to do a lot of great things so it’s definitely a goal. With Dwight Howard, (Steve) Nash, Kobe (Bryant), myself, Pau (Gasol) and then (Antawn)Jamison and a lot of great additions it’s something that’s possible.”
- Josh Harrellson has been invited to the Heat’s training camp on a non-guaranteed contract, according to Ira Winderman of Sun Sentinel: “Quantity at center the Miami Heat now have. Quality? Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley hope they can identify that during training camp. Former New York Knicks center Josh Harrellson joined the Heat’s suddenly crowded field in the middle Monday, with the team announcing him as the 18th player under contract for camp, which opens Sept. 29 at AmericanAirlines Arena. “I’m taking my talents to South Beach! Let’s go Heat,” Harrellson posted on his Twitter account an hour later. Like Mickell Gladness and Jarvis Varnado, Harrellson was added on a non-guaranteed contract. Those three will vie with Joel Anthony and Dexter Pittman for minutes in the middle, with Anthony and Pittman holding guaranteed contracts.
Dwyane Wade discussed the importance of his relationship with 3-point shooters, including the one he developed with Shane Battier last season, from Winderman: “During the run to the 2012 championship, Wade said he began to develop a similar bond with Battier, one that developed late, with Battier’s unlikely postseason insertion into the starting lineup at power forward. “I think I did a little bit in the Finals,” Wade said. “With the matchup problems, sometimes I drove just to get guys shots. So I knew that once I drove, that bigger guys who were guarding Shane were going to come to the rim and protect the rim. Shane had a lot of open shots.” Wade said he expects to do more of the same this time around. “My mind frame a lot would be when I get to the paint, when I attack, sometimes I’m going just to draw the defense, knowing I’ve got the shooters and I need to get my shooters shots,” he said. “I can always get my own shot. But when I’m in the game, my mindset is, ‘OK, I need to get these guys going,’ because they’re going to get things open for everyone.”
Eric Gordon was frustrated about being traded from the Clippers to the Hornets, but is happy now. Jorge Sierra of Hoops Hype has the interview: “How did you take the trade from the Clippers to the Hornets? EG: It was tough, a little frustrating, but as soon as I arrived to New Orleans I was just fine and ready to play basketball. How would you define those days during the summer when you were a free agent? EG: Interesting. You’re antsy to get a new contract, a new deal with someone and it worked out well for me. Was it stressful too? EG: It is because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You have to get the most for yourself. I guess that worked out well. Looking back, would you change any of the things you said after signing that offer with the Phoenix Suns? EG: Well, they came on to the table to give me this big contract, and that was a big motivation for the Hornets to step up and match. They did it and now they made me a big key of what they’re doing, so that’s what I looked forward to.”
- Anthony Davis scored 40 points in an alumni game and impressed “coach Drake”.
Why is Hakeem Olajuwon so involved with the Knicks? It has a lot to do with his former teammate and current Knicks coach Mike Woodson, according to Howard Beck of The New York Times: “Having worked with Stoudemire for more than two weeks this summer, Olajuwon is clearly fully invested in assisting Woodson, and ultimately the Knicks, the team he beat in the N.B.A. finals with the Houston Rockets in 1994. “It was something I wanted to do for Mike,” Olajuwon said. “It’s always a joy for me to work with current players, especially for guys that you know you can help their careers.” Woodson and Olajuwon were teammates with the Rockets from 1988 to 1990. Woodson, a veteran at the time, helped the younger Olajuwon mature. Even then, Olajuwon could tell Woodson was interested in coaching once his playing career was over. The two formed a bond, and Olajuwon has watched Woodson become a respected coach in the league. “Mike showed a flash toward the last part of the season of what he can do,” Olajuwon said, referring to the Knicks’ 18-6 record after Woodson replaced Mike D’Antoni in March. “You can tell he is comfortable making the right move to succeed.”
- Adam Morrison has signed on with the Trailblazers for one season, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN:
Adam Morrison agrees to one- year minimum salary deal with Portland, according to his agent.
@Chris_Broussard
Chris Broussard
- Want to see a tribute video called “Legacy of Oden”? Ben Golliver of Blazers Edge has the details.
- Shaquille O’Neal is now the co-owner of a movie theater in New Jersey, according to Times Online: “Shaquille O’Neal has a new kind of movie project: theater owner. O’Neal, a four-time NBA champion, grew up in Newark, and now co-owns and operates the CityPlex 12 theater near downtown. O’Neal and Newark Mayor Cory Booker formally opened the renovated, expanded theater Friday afternoon. It includes an auditorium with a 47-foot-wide screen. It partially reopened in May after being closed for renovations.”