Van Gundy also explained why he remains friends with Dwight Howard despite how things ended: “I do think that one thing that we all do is look at the whole picture when you’re looking at something. And there’s no one I know, there’s no one that I care about, people I’m a lot closer to than guys I’ve coached like my family, there’s not one of them I haven’t had major disagreements with. One, you still love them and everything else, but also you’re judging by the whole picture. So, I can look at what Dwight for me as a coach and for our whole basketball team in Orlando and everything else and I’m very, very appreciative. Plus, I don’t think there was ever a point where I didn’t like Dwight personally. I like him. I’ve had a lot of laughs with him. He’s a good guy. We had some things that we disagreed on. We had some things we disagreed strongly on and some times where we pissed each other off. And those were well-documented. But it doesn’t negate all of the good things he did and the good times that were there in the five years we were together. So for me, it’s not a hard thing to overlook.”
Goran Dragic is excited about the moves the Phoenix Suns have made and hopes to fight for a playoff spot, from Matt Petersen of Suns.com: “I’m really excited with what they’re doing,” Dragic said. “I talked with [Suns General Manager] Ryan [McDonough]and [Head Coach] Jeff [Hornacek] a couple of times. They told me what they’re doing and how they want to do things. I think it’s awesome.”…”As for Dragic himself, he’s intent on both improving his game while taking care of himself as Eurobasket 2013 unfolds. With self-improvement and an improved supporting cast, last year’s most consistent player is looking for the Suns to take a collective next step in the right direction… Right now, my goal is to be healthy, to not have injuries in the European championship,” Dragic said. “When I’m done with that, [I’ll] try to play as hard as possible and improve a lot of things. Personally, I’d like to upgrade from how we did last season to this season. I think we have a better team this year. I’m hoping we’re going to fight for the playoffs.”
Tony Parker suffered a knee injury during exhibition play and is set for an MRI, according to Dan McCarney of San Antonio Express News: “Details were extremely limited, but French sports daily L’Equipe reported that Spurs point guard Tony Parker is scheduled for an MRI on Tuesday after injuring his right knee for the second time in exhibition play leading up to next month’s EuroBasket tournament. The injury does not appear to be serious. Parker was hurt at some point during France’s 85-84 loss to rival Spain in Montpellier. He scored 26 of his 29 points in the second half, but missed a 3-pointer at the end. The injury was not referenced in a wire story about the game, nor did Parker address it in comments published by L’Equipe. EuroBasket will be held from Sept. 4-22 in Slovenia. Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng are among the notable players who are skipping the tournament.”
- Kevin Durant and Victor Oladipo played against each other in DC’s Goodman League. Until a better highlight clip shows up, here’s the best one we have:
- The trailer for “Linsanity the Movie” is out:
After announcing his retirement, McGrady discussed the challenges ahead for Dwight Howard in Houston and said the center’s offense remains “robotic”:
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.