- Mike Woodson will likely use Amare Stoudemire off the bench for much of this season, from Ian Begley of ESPN New York:
On @ESPNNY98_7FM, Woody says he has no plans to start STAT. "I'm not sure that is the answer. I think he's very comfortable w/where he is."
@IanBegley
Ian Begley
Stoudemire won’t worry about coming off the bench as long as the team wins, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “The Knicks are still too much at the mercy of those Felton and Jason Kidd and J.R. Smith jumpers; they’re too unwilling to trust Stoudemire on the floor in the final minutes of games. “I think the limited minutes of 30 is great for me so far,” Stoudemire said. “It’s keeping me fresh.”… As the Knicks have too often resembled a second-round playoff loser in the past month, there comes a time when they’ll have to consider that Stoudemire needs to be on the floor when they need baskets in the final minutes. “If we keep winning then we’re good,” Stoudemire said. “When we start losing a little bit, then you start thinking about it.”… With an opportunity, Stoudemire believes he can do more for these Knicks. All that work with Hakeem Olajuwon over the summer, and he’s still dying to unleash it. “I feel like those moves are now natural moves,” he said. “I practice every day on every single move, and there’s 15 moves and [people] only saw the ones that are just easier at this point.”
-
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban had something strange to say about why he didn’t re-sign Steve Nash, from Dwain Price of Star-Telegran: “The reason the Mavs didn’t re-sign point guard Steve Nash when he became a free agent on July 1, 2004, was because Mark Cuban said all the medical information he received was that Nash was basically done. “Obviously it was wrong, but that was the information I had,” Cuban said Sunday. “We didn’t even know what gluten-free diets were back then. “That’s what everybody told us, and that was one of the reasons we really picked things up in terms of what we did in medical information so we don’t make mistakes like that again.”… “I don’t ever look back and regret, because it’s all turned out OK,” he said. “We wouldn’t have had Jet [Jason Terry]. “A bunch of other deals never would have gotten done. We would have had a different decision process for sure.”
Kevin Love may return sometime in mid-March from his broken hand, according to The AP: “Love said he plans to meet with doctors for another examination on his surgically repaired hand toward the end of the first week in March or the beginning of the second week. He’s hoping to return with 15-20 games remaining in the season to try and put a positive end to a most disappointing year. Love first broke his hand in the preseason, didn’t have surgery and returned about 10 days ahead of schedule. He broke it again in January and this time needed surgery to fix it. He said the injury is feeling much better this time around, but he has yet to begin basketball-related activities. “After surgery, it feels just different. Better,” Love said. “It feels like my hand again.”
- Kyle Korver would welcome the idea of going back to Chicago after this season, from Shams Charania of RealGM: “The Bulls traded Korver last offseason to save money toward the salary cap, a move that sent away their best three-point shooter who easily clicked with Derrick Rose. Ranking sixth-worst in three-point shooting percentage, Chicago has badly missed Korver. All along, Korver felt a trade out of Chicago could come, and when he left last year, it was on good terms. Korver will be a free agent this offseason, and there’s little doubt that the Bulls will at least make a pitch to sign him – just like many other NBA teams. And should he receive that call from the Bulls, Korver made clear he would consider returning. “Totally, I would,” Korver told RealGM on Saturday night. “That’s a great organization, that’s an awesome jersey to put on. Great fans, good team. You only get to be a free agent so many times in a career, so I’ll definitely see what’s all there. But I would absolutely listen to what they’ve got to say.”
Donald Sterling apparently nixed a deal that would have sent Caron Butler to the Wizards for Trevor Ariza, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com: “L.A. and Washington had a done deal Wednesday night that would have sent forward Trevor Ariza to the Clippers in exchange for Caron Butler, giving L.A. a long, defensive-oriented body to throw at the likes of Kevin Durant in the playoffs. (Butler, who still has an offseason home in the D.C. area, and who was loved by the locals, didn’t have a problem returning to a non-Arenas Wizards locker room. He’d have been welcomed back as a much-needed offensive option, according to sources.) But sources indicated that Clippers owner Donald Sterling nixed the deal Thursday morning, not wanting to gamble on the team’s chemistry being affected in any way down the stretch. My interpretation: we don’t want to do anything that could, in any way, be held against us by assistant general manager Chris Paul this summer if we don’t get far in the postseason.”