“They treat everybody like they have white gloves and pink drawers and it’s getting old,” he said. “It’s just the way the league is now.” Prior to last season, the NBA 
instituted a new concussion policy consistent with the NFL’s return-to-play protocols and requiring clearance from the league’s neurologist, which Williams apparently believes is a bit much. “It’s a man’s game; They’re treating these guys like they’re 5 years old,” the coach said, adding, “I think the players should have more say-so in how they feel.” Williams also said he understood why the league has the policy, but a better understanding may have come one night later in Toronto, where Minnesota’s J.J. Barea left the game in a haze after teammate Dante Cunningham accidentally kicked him in the face. “All I remember is I drove baseline, I went up, made the shot and that was it,” Barea said. “Then I was (in the locker room).” … Speaking of aching heads, Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey is battling migraine headaches, which may explain his 1-of-23 shooting thus far. … No GM has ever done a “slash and burn” in one offseason like Houston’s Daryl Morey, who has waived an astounding 10 players he traded for since the end of last season: Jon Leuer, Jon Brockman, Shaun Livingston, Gary Forbes, Josh Harrellson, Jerome Jordan, E’Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, Sean Williams and Lazar Hayward. That would be a pretty good D-League team. … When our staff gave predictions on who would win the Sixth Man Award, nine different players received votes. None of them was Warriors forward Carl Landry, who is averaging 20.0 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 23-of-35 from the field. … For Friday’s road game vs. the Knicks, the Heat flew into Newark and needed three hours to traverse the 15 miles to their New York hotel due to the ongoing complications from Hurricane Sandy in the metropolitan area. Dwyane Wade openly questioned whether the game should have even been played. “If we’re in a car and we’re in traffic for three hours, what are other people who are really affected by this, what are they doing?” he said. “So it was just like, come on man, we shouldn’t be here to play a basketball game. If anything, we should be here to do something to help the city.” Wade did just that, pledging his game check – a cool $210,000 – to storm relief. … The Kings began the season with a three-game road trip in which each game was a home opener for their opponent. They lost all three. … The Spurs have a record eight internationals on their roster: Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Nando de Colo of France, Manu Ginobili of Argentina, Patty Mills of Australia, Tiago Splitter of Brazil, Cory Joseph of Canada and Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands. … The Grizzlies have lost 12 straight openers, an NBA record. … The number of female officials in NBA history doubled over the weekend when Lauren Holtkamp worked Bulls-Cavs on Friday night and Brenda Pantoja was among the crew for Hawks-Thunder on Sunday. Both are non-staff referees who will receive limited assignments this season. They join Violet Palmer, who broke the barrier in 1997 along with Dee Kantner and has progressed to working playoff games. Kantner was fired in 2002 for a lack of progress but is now the WNBA’s supervisor of officials. … Wanna feel old? Taken in Friday’s D-League draft were Ralph Sampson III and Glen Rice Jr.
Trivia Answer: The Philadelphia 76ers. … Happy 60th Birthday, Bill Walton. … It occurred to me that the presidential ballot and the All-Star ballot are very much alike in that there is no place to vote for the center.
Chris Bernucca is the deputy editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.
The trivia answer is actually incorrect. Joel Anthony is a Canadian national and has played for their national team.
CMS,
That is a great job by you and an awful job by me, which I will explain when I give you a shout-out in my column next week. The correct answer is in there now. Thanks for reading.
CB
This article is poorly written for a few reasons; the most glaring one is the premise that the Princeton offense relies on constant movement and thus is a bad fit because the Lakers have older players. All good offenses have good player and ball movement. All…without exception in other words, function based upon ball and player movement. To suggest a team shouldn’t run an offense because there is too much movement is silly. Especially considering just last year Nash played in a system where they ran every possession and he used 3 to 4 pick and rolls per game. I would say that using ball screens continuously and pushing tempo as a PG is tougher than what the Lakers are asking him to do. Also, to suggest that Dwight is away from the basket and it minimizes his effectiveness is not looking at the offense as a whole. He may start on the elbow but they run actions that allow the ball to be swung with Dwight ceiling his man on the reversal. The issue with the Lakers is not offense. Kobe is shooting 60% from the field. Dwight is getting dunks and layups at will. Artest looks rejuvenated. The issue is they cannot guard anyone. The talk and focus on the offense has been too much and the excuses as to why it hasn’t worked has been ignorant at best. All offenses work when executed correctly and where belief remains. No one will remember this silliness when the Lakers have won 60+ games.
Should read Nash uses 3 to 4 P&R’s per possession.
Cornelius,
Thanks for reading. I did say it was a simplistic view, but I just don’t think it’s what’s best for the Lakers and their star personnel. I think there is a difference between movement and constant movement; my HS team runs a Read and React which involves constant movement and conditioning is a HUGE part of our season prep. Yes Nash ran constant P/R in Phoenix; he also was limited to 32 minutes per game and was an absolute mess when he played more. And while Dwight is not a disaster at the elbow (he often started there in Orlando’s sets), I think Pau is more suited. I do think all of this will have an adverse effect on the other end, which you and I both mentioned is an issue with this team. Having said all that, these are really good veterans who will figure out something to get between 55-62 wins. The panic is in LA, not in this space. CB