It’s Saturday, so that means a new Weekend Dime from Marc Stein at ESPN.com. This week’s has the following on DeMarcus Cousins: “The early word from the DeMarcus Cousins trade watch, according to the latest rumbles on the personnel grapevine, is that Kings co-owners Gavin and Joe Maloof remain reluctant in the extreme to part with their young big man, especially at a time when — after three suspensions already this season — Cousins’ trade value isn’t exactly on the upswing. There’s a growing sense among potential suitors that under-fire Kings general manager Geoff Petrie, who has overseen zero trips to the playoffs under five coaches in the six-plus seasons since Rick Adelman left town, would be willing to move Cousins, preferably in exchange for a dependable veteran of quality or two who could bring some instant improvement to a franchise stuck in lottery land and still plagued by an uncertain future in terms of where this team will be calling home in the long term. … Front-office sources say that Boston and Detroit, just to name two teams, have let it be known that they are highly interested if and when Cousins does become available. Rest assured there will be more.”- Here’s Ken Berger of CBSSports.com on the Nets’ coaching situation: “If (Phil) Jackson and the Nets fail to have a meeting of the minds on the many complicated factors that would go into a return to the bench for the most decorated coach in basketball, it is conceivable that Brooklyn will decide to finish the season with P.J. Carlesimo as coach and renew their search in the offseason, according to a league source briefed on the Nets’ preliminary strategy. At that point, the list of candidates would be significantly longer and could include assistant coaches currently under contract with other teams. But as Prokhorov arrived in New York Friday to address the coaching situation personally, the list of significant candidates that Nets GM Billy King was expected to put on the table consisted essentially of Jackson, former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, former Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan and former Clippers, Blazers, Bucks and Lakers coach Mike Dunleavy, a person familiar with the Nets’ plan said.”
- Spoke with MarShon yesterday, who is excited about a new opportunity after being buried on the bench under Avery.
@NYDNInterNetsStefan Bondy - Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has bad news on Brandon Roy: “Minnesota Timberwolves guard Brandon Roy’s career is in jeopardy again after he suffered another setback to his surgically repaired knees, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Roy, 28, has considered the possibility of retirement for the second time in three years, sources said, but no final decision has been reached. Doctors continue to have questions about whether his knees can withstand the grind of playing in the NBA. Roy had surgery on his right knee on Nov. 19 and left the team again for further tests after returning to practice on Thursday.”
- Antawn Jamison to me about 5 DNP's: "It doesn't make sense at all. They're pretty much telling me my services are no longer needed."
@MedinaLakersNBAMark Medina 
Here’s a full story on that Jamison situation, from Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times: ” ‘Fifteen years,’ the Lakers forward said, recapping his career. ‘My only thing is let me know why. I don’t think you go from starting and 30-something minutes to not in the rotation whatsoever. And not explaining to me what exactly happened, that’s the toughest thing. There’s nothing you can do but be positive and support your teammates. The only reason I came here was they said I was going to play and to win a championship.’ Jamison was signed by the Lakers in July for the veteran’s minimum of $1.4 million and a one-year contract. It was assumed his stats would drop after he averaged 17.2 points last season for Cleveland. It wasn’t assumed he would sit on the bench for entire games. ‘There’s a competitor in me that wants to compete and I know I can help the team,’ Jamison said. ‘Whenever I get answers, I guess I’ll feel more better about the situation but nothing has been told to me why nothing has happened or that I did anything wrong. DNPs for the first time in my career. I have not had a conversation with [D’Antoni] about anything about the situation.’ ”- Ric Bucher of CSN Bay Area has a quote from Jarrett Jack about a pretty great story that you’ll have to click through to read all of (do it, it’s worth it): “Play and quote of the night go to Jarrett Jack, who heaved Dorell Wright’s lost shoe into the stands and afterward feigned mock-surprise that the 76ers felt it was unnecessary and borderline unsportsmanlike. ‘I didn’t want anybody to step on it and get hurt,’ he said, unable to disguise the mischievous glint in his eye. ‘I should get a sportsmanship *award.* I was trying to help.’ “
HoopsWorld’s Joel Brigham talked to Roy Hibbert about the Indiana center’s turnaround over the last month: “It wasn’t really a huge secret, but let the record show that Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert really struggled in the first month of the season. Through November, he shot only 37.8 percent from the field and only 56.3 percent from the free throw line, but more importantly he himself admitted that he was going through something of a slump since getting his max contract over the summer. December, though, has been an entirely different story as Hibbert bumped his percentages up to 43.1 percent from the field and 76.9 percent from the charity stripe and has often looked like the All-Star he was a year ago. There are a lot of things to which we can attribute those early struggles and the subsequent turnaround, but Hibbert seems to think it was actually something pretty simple. ‘I had a wrist problem,’ Hibbert admitted. ‘There was just a little weakness there from last year’s playoffs, but [trainers] are fixing the problem right now. I’m happy because it was affecting my shot, but now I’m getting better.’ “
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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. Follow him on Twitter.
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