Latest NBA news from May 13, 2013: Tyson Chandler calls out Knicks style of play

Udonis Haslem had high praise for Joakim Noah, from Aggrey Sam of CSN Chicago: “Haslem has witnessed Joakim Noah’s development over the years and while the two teams are rivals, he’s impressed with the Bulls’ All-Star center. “He’s turned into a heck of a player, man. A leader, brings the energy every night,” Haslem told CSNChicago.com. “He’s a vocal leader and sometimes you get guys that lead by example and sometimes, you get guys that lead by talking and leading guys verbally. He does it both ways.” Besides his one-year stint overseas — during which he reshaped his body after being a wide-bodied undersized center in college — Haslem has spent his entire life in Florida.

Instead of putting any blame on his teammates, Kevin Durant said he can do even more than what he’s already done to help the team, from Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “But even while doing it all, Durant is determined to do more. His team is in a 2-1 hole to the Grizzlies largely because his teammates have struggled to do their fair share. Durant, though, isn’t pointing the finger. Instead, he’s looking himself in the mirror. “I can do a lot more,” Durant said Sunday. “It’s always things you can do more. I talk to one of my good friends and he said no matter how good you’re playing you always can do more. “That’s how I look at it. I just got to find ways to help them out and put them in great positions and continue to just be a vocal leader, a positive leader on the bench and every single time down the court and we’ll be fine.”

Accused of flopping, LeBron James said he does not need to flop, from The AP: “The suggestion that he’s a flopper drew a grin as wide as his wingspan from LeBron James. Miami’s superstar shot down the accusations from the Chicago Bulls, saying they reminded him of the days when some claimed he was overrated and questioned his ability to lead a team to a championship. “It’s kind of the same [as when] I heard people say I was overrated,” he said Sunday. “It’s kind of like the same response.”… “I don’t need to flop,” James said. “I play an aggressive game. I don’t flop. I’ve never been one of those guys.”… I’m here to play basketball and do whatever it takes for our team to win. So what a coach and players say to me and about me, I don’t really care.”

Metta World Peace touched on some subjects during his visit in ABC 7’s Sports Zone. One of them was his dislike for Dwight Howard’s joking nature, from Phillip Barnett of Lakersnation: “Ron on whether Dwight’s joking nature bothered him: “At first it did. When I first met Dwight in our first practices together and our first games in the regular season I was like, ‘he’s joking a little bit too much.’ But then I decided not to judge people and I decided to work with my teammates — so as I got into more games with Dwight — I did see him working really hard, blocking shots, playing with a back injury, but he was still playing hard. So then I said, ‘you know what, we just have to work with what we have.’ But at first, it was a little bit frustrating.”

Metta also said that the team did not respect any coach not named Phil Jackson: “Metta on the coaching situation: “I think the difference between the coaches is that Phil obviously has a lot of rings and has coached some great players. I just think Phil is a little bit more demanding of the superstars. I think collectively we may have taken advantage of Mike Brown and Mike D’Antoni, not really giving them enough respect, which wasn’t fair to them. Next year we just have to make sure that we let these coaches coach, because these coaches are great coaches for a reason — they’re Lakers coaches for a reason. If we let them do their job, we’ll have a successful year.”

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