Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explained why he would make a good coach for the Bucks, from Dave Begel of OnMilwaukee.com: “I asked him flat out if he would be willing to be the head coach of the Bucks. “Of course,” he replied… “I know how to prepare for a season as an individual and I know what that means in terms of team commitment,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I can get all the right people together that have some chemistry and care about each other and they love the game. That’s where teams are made or not made successful. “That’s very hard for GM’s to figure out. They know talent when they see it. But that ability to connect with your teammates, that personal chemistry is a hard thing to see in people. I can help players learn how to develop that chemistry. We had Pete Newell out here (in Los Angeles) and he was a master at understanding the personal fire within each player. I’d be a coach who can provide respect and keep the guys on the same page for a whole season.”
Apparently, the Knicks don’t really have a legitimate reason as to why they put a 30-minute cap on Amare Stoudemire. Here is what Glen Grunwald had to say, from Marc Berman of New York Post: “However, the 30-minute ceiling imposed by the team’s medical staff won’t be lifted, despite Monday’s low-post heroics. “I think he’s been super,’’ Grunwald said on WFAN yesterday. “We’re trying to be smart about things and not try to run people into the ground. Not that he can’t play more than 30 minutes. We’re trying to take the long view to make sure he’s with us this season and future seasons. I think he’s moving as well as I’ve seen him since I’ve been here.”… Stoudemire was asked after the game if he thought the cap will be lifted after his monster performance after Carmelo Anthony went down with a knee injury. With Anthony in doubt for tonight’s game, Stoudemire may be asked to start — and finish — against the Pistons. “I’m not sure,’’ Stoudemire said. “If it’s needed, I’m pretty sure I’ll play however amount of minutes I need to play. Until then we’ll see.’’
If you disrespect Danilo Gallinari, he will get in your face about it. That is his explanation for getting into it with DeMarcus Cousins, from Jonathan Santiago: “#SacKings: Danilo Gallinari on addressing the referees about DeMarcus Cousins’ trash talk: “When you do trash talking, as long as you don’t disrespect, I’m cool with that. But he was disrespecting me, thats why I approached him. I never approached nobody who wants to trash talk to me. I like that, I love that. But that has to be in the respect area. If you go out of the respect area, it doesn’t work with me so that’s why I wanted to talk to the ref.” Gallinari refused to elaborate on what Cousins said, citing his Italian background as a cultural divide in the trash talk.
- Bad news for Danny Granger, whose knee issues don’t appear to be behind him just yet, according to Gary Washburn of Boston Globe:
Danny Granger will miss the next week with knee soreness #pacers #celtics
@GwashNBAGlobe
gary washburn
Doc Rivers could relate with Doug Collins about the absence of Andrew Bynum by sharing his own experience of missing a key player in his rotation, from Washburn of Boston Globe: “I had Grant Hill for three years and we made the playoffs every year with that group, but it was hard,” Rivers said. “[The 76ers] are doing that same thing we did. “You go into the year with your offense and defensive schemes for Grant and for Bynum, and then you’re running half of it but you don’t want to change too much because if he comes back, then you’re going to have to change back. “You just felt like you were caught in flux the entire season. In our case, Grant would play, like, three games and sit out 30 more. It was really hard.”
- Bad news for Hornets rookie Austin Rivers, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
New Orleans rookie Austin Rivers will miss 4-to-6 weeks with a broken hand, Hornets say.
@WojYahooNBA
Adrian Wojnarowski
- Here’s a fun clip of Daryl Morey taking on Jeremy Lin at ping pong:
Amazing! This blog looks just like my old one!
It’s on a totally different subject but it
has pretty much the same layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!
I watched the Table Tennis clip. I used to play for many years at TT clubs and tournaments and received some lessons, regarding correct form, from a National Coach.
It looks like both players are using Tournament-type rackets (can’t buy in stores). They are both decent beginner levels (Jeremy about 1000 and Daryl about 1100 rating), but both could use about 1 year of training to be competitive against mediocre tournament players.
Jeremy’s serves are illegal, he favors his backhand way to much, has no backswing in his stokes (to create speed), and hasn’t learned how to hit on the top surface of the ball, to create more spin. However, with his long arms and athleticism he has potential to learn correct form and get better fast.
Daryl has one underspin service, that he doesn’t seem to vary, so it can be put away off of the service, but Jeremy has no training in how to do it. Daryl has a weak backhand and although he knows how to get some spin on his forehand, he needs to have more backswing in his stoke. Daryl should be standing more to the backhand side of the table, because the opponent could win points just by hitting to his backhand.
There are some nice TT videos of top players, at the end of this video.