Ryan Anderson released a statement about the death of his girlfriend, from Cindy Clark of USA Today: “NBA star Ryan Anderson has released a statement in the wake of girlfriend and former Bachelor star Gia Allemand’s apparent suicide. “I’m deeply grateful for all the love and support we have received from family, friends and fans,” says Anderson in a statement obtained by People magazine. “Gia was the most beautiful person I knew inside and out and she always smiled and made everyone else around her smile.” “She had such an amazing impact on my life and anyone that knew her was blessed. All I have left is to cherish those memories we made together and help perpetuate the many values, faith and love that we shared.”
Blake Griffin says he is ready to take on the role of being the team’s closer, from Ramona Shelburne of ESPN LA: “But in my mind, this is the year I need to step into that role and really help him shoulder that load. I’ll be right there with him at the end of games, being the guy that he can always count on.”… “To be honest, I’m more excited about this upcoming season than I’ve ever been,” Griffin said. “My workouts with [shooting coach] Bob Thate and our coaches have been geared around figuring out how I’m going to be used this season. “I’m doing a lot of stuff at the elbow, a lot of shooting. One of the things [new coach Doc Rivers] said to me was, ‘I don’t want you to be afraid to go 0-for-15.’ In other words, just have the mindset of a shooter.”
David Kahn once compared the combination of Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio to Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe, from Jonathan Abrams of Grantland: “After a protracted search, Kahn hired Kurt Rambis to coach the Timberwolves. Rambis brought a championship pedigree from his days on the Showtime Lakers, where he learned under Pat Riley. He had also apprenticed on the Lakers bench beside Phil Jackson. Dave Wohl, Minnesota’s lead assistant, remembers arriving in Minnesota and Kahn asking him whether Rubio and Flynn could prosper playing together. Wohl described Flynn as a good, ambitious kid. He also said that Rubio and Curry would have made a better pairing. He didn’t believe either Flynn or Rubio could perform at shooting guard. “He said, ‘No, no. I want to play Jonny and Rubio. They remind me of [Walt] Frazier and [Earl] Monroe,'” Wohl said.”
The Los Angeles Clippers have put Antawn Jamison aside in hopes of acquiring Lamar Odom, from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports: Clippers coach Doc Rivers patiently waiting to sign Lamar Odom after getting rave reviews about how great a teammate he is, source tells Y!… One of the rave reviews about Lamar Odom given to Doc Rivers came from former Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro… Free agent F Antawn Jamison was led to believe he was signing with LAC before being told today they preferred Lamar Odom, Y! source said.”
- NBA legends like David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal and Julius Erving discussed the difference between today’s players and the players of the past, from Serena Winters of Lakers Nation:
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Nick Young and the Lakers should just be happy that they have the maximum 25 games on National TV including 6 games on ABC. Knicks have 5 games on ABC. There are only 15 scheduled games on ABC.
I wonder what percent of viewers will be rooting for Lakers/Knicks to lose and whether ABC/ESPN takes that into consideration when they are scheduled.
Truth is that Lakers have a very bad team, when you get past the 3 injury riddled aging starters. They lost several good players from last season.