SH Blog: Payton says Stockton was harder to guard than Jordan, Mike Malone wants Cousins to be a passer

• Malone also discussed what he expects from DeMarcus Cousins in the upcoming season: “I’ve talked about DeMarcus a lot, but he’s so talented. He’s a big who can play away from the basket. But I’m going to ask him to play inside as well this year, be a guy we can run our offense through at times, because he can be such a good passer. The challenge for him is to cut down on those three turnovers a game. The luxury we had last year at Golden State, we had two bigs (David Lee and Andrew Bogut) who were not only good passers but willing passers. My hope is we get to that at some point.”

• The Orlando Magic and Hedo Turkoglu are still in the process of trying to find a deal for a buyout, from Brian Schmitz of Orlando Sentinel: “The Magic are working on a buyout agreement with Hedo Turkoglu, plan on giving second-round pick Romero Osby a chance to make the team and likely will invite as many as four more players to their training camp, according to a source close to the club. As expected, Turkoglu and the team have been trying to arrange a buyout with the 13-year veteran small forward. He does not figure into the team’s rebuilding plans at age 34. Only half of his $12 million salary for next season — the last year of his contract — is guaranteed. If the Magic and Turkoglu can reach an arrangement, Turk will be waived. He then can become a free agent, eligible to negotiate with any other NBA team or play overseas.”

• J.J. Barea says he’d be happy to play for the Dallas Mavericks again if the opportunity presents itself, from Gonzalo Aguirregomezcorta of ESPN: “When you suggest the possibility of going beyond the regular season in 2014, Barea perks up. It’s something he would like to do with the Timberwolves. In spite of this, Barea doesn’t close the door on the Mavs, who at the beginning of the summer sounded as if they were trying to once again retain his services. He has strong rapport with the Dallas owner. “It’s a great relationship with Mark Cuban. If they want to bring me back to Dallas, I am very [good] with it,” he said. “But I’m happy in Minnesota. They’re the ones that wanted me there, the ones that signed me for four years, so until they decide to trade me, I’m going to give them all my effort in the games.”

• Over the weekend, J.R Smith guaranteed a championship for the New York Knicks. Reggie Evans of the Brooklyn Nets saw the report on what Smith had to say and simply responded with “lol” on his twitter account.

• According to Michael Grange of Rogers Sportsnet, Tristan Thompson’s free throw shooting has become significantly better since he switched his shooting hand: “Update: Tristan Thompson is now 29/37 (78%) FTs right-handed over nine games. Was 58% career as a lefty.”

James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.