- Will Nets ownership make a run at Phil Jackson? Something to remember: Management's never believed the triangle offense fit this personnel.
@WojYahooNBAAdrian Wojnarowski
- In an email to http://t.co/M2lfWwOt, Stan Van Gundy says he has "no interest at all" in the Nets head coaching job.
@ChrisMannixSIChris Mannix
- Also hearing that Nate McMillan is not on Nets radar right now. Might be tough for the Nets to land a big name this late in the season@ChrisMannixSIChris Mannix
- Avery says that he thought, from day one, he had a really good relationship with Deron. Says it's unfair to hang this on Williams.
@TimBontempsTim Bontemps
- At end of the day, Deron Williams hasn't been same offensive player since 2011 wrist injury & surgery. Shooting under 40% since
@WindhorstESPNBrian Windhorst
- Dwyane Wade will miss one game as a result of a low blow on Ramon Sessions, writes Ben Golliver of SI.com. “The NBA announced Thursday that Heat guard Dwyane Wade has been suspended one game without pay for “flailing his leg and making contact with the groin of the Charlotte Bobcats’ Ramon Sessions” during a Wednesday night game. Wade will not be available for Miami’s Friday night game against the Pistons in Detroit. The suspension will cost Wade $156,200. Wade will make $17.2 million this season.” Here’s the video of that shot. Decide for yourself if it was intentional.
- Jason Quick of the Oregonian shoots down a rumor before it even started to grow: “During the Blazers’ recent homestand, a respected and veteran beat reporter approached me and told me that an assistant coach for the team he covered said the Blazers are shopping LaMarcus Aldridge. I chuckled, because earlier that night, I spoke with Olshey about the trading deadline, which is now eight weeks away. In a nutshell, Olshey said the Blazers will likely be built through the draft and free agency, not trades – and certainly not mid-season trades. Still, on Wednesday before the Kings game, I felt obliged to corner the whirlwind that is Olshey. I asked him directly if he is shopping Aldridge. It was as if I had told Olshey the best joke he had ever heard. In fact, I think he is still laughing as I write this. Olshey said he has made zero calls to other teams about Aldridge. He did say he has fielded one inquiry from another team, but it was more exploratory in nature, that team feeling the Blazers out. And he said he has no plans to make any future calls about Aldridge as February approaches.”
Wednesday night, the Lakers’ winning streak was snapped at the hands of the Nuggets. The bigger story, though, was Dwight Howard’s ejection. Ben Bolch of the LA Times writes: “Dwight Howard leveled Kenneth Faried midway through the third quarter Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center, and it was the Lakers who eventually staggered off the court. Sure, some will call the flagrant 2 foul an honest mistake for the easygoing, fun-loving Lakers center who actually stopped to pat an official on the rear before walking off the court after his ejection. Other descriptors seem more fitting. Needless. Foolish. Dangerous. ‘I thought he went intentionally to endanger him,’ Denver Coach George Karl said. ‘Kenneth, it looked like he was pretty stunned after that.’ “
- Also on the subject of Howard, here’s what Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register wrote: ” “Dwight Howard is basically Kosta Koufos” was the message I got from one NBA insider midway through the Lakers’ loss Wednesday night in Denver, referring to the Nuggets’ largely anonymous center. Not long after, someone else who works in league personnel offered: “If you dropped in from another planet and had no idea who the players were, you would never know that Dwight Howard was one of the best players.” This is what Howard is allowing to happen: As more substandard games go by without noticeable rust dropping off, the image repair that was supposed to happen this season is twisting into reputation tarnishing.”
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports has a John Wall update: “John Wall can’t go anywhere without someone asking him when will he make his season debut for the Washington Wizards. Wall, who is recovering from a knee injury, doesn’t have a specific game in mind, but he has pinpointed a month. January. ‘My timetable is some time in January,’ Wall told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday night. ‘The way I am feeling with no pain, working out and doing it three [days straight] and it has no pain, I’m feeling good. I feel like I am taking the right steps and I haven’t had no pain the last couple of days after workouts.’ The determining factor for clearance to play? ‘When I feel like I can run and do everything like I used to, cut, jump like I used to, run fast like I used to,’ Wall said. ‘And I feel like I am getting closer and closer to those steps.’ “
- Here’s another update on a player who has missed the entire season so far: the Hornets’ Eric Gordon, courtesy of the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s John Reid: ” New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon could make his much anticipated regular-season debut Saturday on the road against the Charlotte Bobcats. Coach Monty Williams said Gordon continues to make progress and predicted he could play Saturday. Gordon has missed all 27 games this season because of a patella tendon disorder and bone bruise in his right knee, which required arthroscopic surgery last season that forced him miss all but nine games. ‘If I had to guess it would be Saturday against Charlotte,’ Williams said before Wednesday night’s game against the Orlando Magic. ‘A lot of that is me, and we want to make sure that we bring him back when he’s in a lot better shape. He’s spent so much time rehabbing and getting his quad stronger, but we have to make sure he’s in a good place before he comes back.’ ‘
Dan Malone is a third-year journalism student at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He blogs on weekends for Sheridan Hoops.
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