Marc Stein of ESPN.com keeps shooting down the Josh Smith to the Lakers rumors in his Weekend Dime column: “Chatter about a Pau Gasol-to-Atlanta simply won’t go away. It won’t go away mostly because my ESPN colleague Bill Simmons, after hearing Magic Johnson suggest it on the set of “NBA Countdown,” keeps throwing it out there like he did in this week’s “BS Report” podcast with former Suns general manager Steve Kerr. Only one problem. Sources say that the Hawks, at present, have no interest in parting with Josh Smith and Kyle Korver for Gasol. Or even Smith and lesser parts for Gasol. Positions can obviously change between now and the Feb. 21 trade deadline, but sources maintain that Atlanta has not been enticed in the least by the prospect of parting with the 26-year-old Smith — even as he heads into unrestricted free agency — for the 32-year-old Gasol. The Hawks, for the record, have also been telling interested teams that they value Smith and what he offers as a hybrid forward in an Eastern Conference that’s generally been getting smaller.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post has a piece up today comparing Raymond Felton to his predecessor as the Knicks’ PG, Jeremy Lin: “‘I still got [the chip],’ Felton told The Post. ‘I ain’t shown nothing yet. This is just the beginning. I’m not satisfied. We’re just 6-0. There’s still a lot of basketball to be played. I want to continue to get better. The chip is still here. It ain’t going nowhere.’ … Few fans wear Felton’s No. 2 jersey at the Garden, let alone in road cities, as was custom with Lin last winter. And Felton isn’t looking to trademark his “Duck’’ nickname — his whole family calls him that — anytime soon. In fact, Felton’s so humble, he didn’t have a Twitter account until this month. He has 11,112 followers — or 900,000 less than Lin.”HOU has a rep as one of the most player-friendly organizations in the league and from everything I'm told, Rox have been good to Royce White
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Chris Mannix