Tim Keown of ESPN detailed the disconnect between Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony from last season: “During this stretch — of Melo vs. the Knicks — one player was asked why the team had returned to isolation plays for Anthony after D’Antoni’s up-tempo, less structured game had been so successful. A source who was privy to the conversation said the player responded by saying that the coach wasn’t calling those plays; Anthony was isolating himself and demanding the ball. D’Antoni’s conflict-averse style allowed the situation to fester. Teammates prodded Anthony to give more effort in practice. “Jeremy is a tough guy,” says a source close to the team. “He told Carmelo under no uncertain terms, ‘I’m not going to give you the ball unless you create space and run the plays.’ None of the other guys had a problem with it. Tyson [Chandler] didn’t, Amar’e didn’t. They knew they had a better chance with the ball in Lin’s hands in the last few minutes.”
From the same article, a source close to the Knicks explained that Carmelo Anthony is not an alpha dog and needed one on the team that could boss him around. He just couldn’t see that figure being Lin, however: “In the London Games, Anthony thrived as a spot-up shooter who destroyed collapsing defenses. On a team of superstars, he was a complementary player, a reliable offensive threat who came off the bench and never complained. “He’s not an alpha dog. He might think he is, but he’s not,” says a source close to the Knicks. “He needs to be around someone who is feared, someone who could tell him what to do. He just couldn’t see Jeremy Lin that way. He could see Kobe and LeBron that way in the Olympics, sure, but not Jeremy Lin. Carmelo’s whole thing is perception.” D’Antoni was an assistant coach on the Olympic team. His role? Design the offense. Let that sink in for a moment: Team USA’s offense, the one in which Anthony set a single-game U.S. Olympic record with 37 points, was precisely the point-guard- dominated, fast-twitch scheme D’Antoni ran — and Anthony rebelled against — in New York. “It’s the ultimate irony of this whole thing,” the source says. “Carmelo was at his best and most efficient running that offense. It couldn’t be more obvious to him, and he couldn’t be more oblivious to it.”
Keyon Dooling called out Ray Allen’s tendencies when it came to Rajon Rondo, from Jackie MacMullan of ESPN Boston: “Honestly, our veterans didn’t do a very good job of supporting him in his [leadership] role.”… “Ray was great in many ways,” Dooling said. “Rondo learned a lot from him — how to prepare, how to take care of his body, how to be professional. “But the way Ray led was different than how Rajon did it. Not wrong, just different. “Ray didn’t know how to communicate with Rondo the way some of us could, like myself, like KG, who fully embraced Rajon. “I love Ray. I love his family. He’s a true pro. But it’s unfair how this all came out. Ray had such a good relationship with all the reporters and Rondo was so quiet. So who gets all the good press? “Sometimes it felt like Ray spent more time talking to the media than he did to his teammates.”
- Delonte West’s suspension has been rescinded by the team, from Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: “The Mavericks met Tuesday evening with Delonte West and things have been smoothed over between the veteran guard and the team. President of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and coach Rick Carlisle met with West and Nelson said things are “back on track.’’ In addition, Carlisle said the guard will rejoin the team Wednesday. “Delonte West will be back with the team [Wednesday] for shoot- around and be available for [Wednesday] night’s game versus Phoenix,’’ Carlisle said.”
There are some good news coming out of Washington on the status of Nene and Kevin Seraphim, from Michael Lee of Washington Post: “The Wizards have targeted having Nene return from his left foot injury by the season opener and the 6-foot-10 Brazilian big man is moving closer to making that a possibility. While the Wizards left Brooklyn to travel to Toronto for their game against the Raptors on Wednesday, Nene flew to Baltimore to have his plantar fasciitis checked out by a physician and to get fitted for orthotics. Coach Randy Wittman spoke with Nene and he “said things are going in the right direction with his movement,” Wittman said.”… Wittman said Kevin Seraphin has also made progress with the strained right calf he suffered on Saturday in the first quarter of the Wizards’ 99-95 win over Cleveland. He returned to Washington for a checkup after watching the loss to Brooklyn from his hotel room.”
- Kobe Bryant scored 23 of his 31 points in the third quarter against the Jazz in Tuesday’s preseason game. See how he scored his points below:
J.A. Adande of ESPN has a piece on Metta World Peace and what the forward plans to do on offense for the Lakers: “At the moment, MWP stands for Math Word Problem, as Metta World Peace is working through the type of exercise you used to see on elementary school tests. “If [Kobe’s] not going to average 100, then there’s going to be points out there, right?” World Peace says. “If he scores 30 a night, that’s 70 points left.” World Peace has done the calculations. More important, he’s put in the perspiration, logging the requisite work to shed what he says is 20 pounds. The math part is much easier: Subtract Kobe Bryant’s points from the 100 or so the Lakers will average, then divide the rest among the remaining rotation players. “There’s points out there,” World Peace says, and he intends to get his share of them.”
- Check out Andray Blatche throwing one down on Jared Sullinger during an exhibition game between the Celtics and the Nets: