NBA Media Day is in full swing for teams all around the league, which means plenty of status updates on players, coaching plans, headline-worthy quotes and more. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so we’ll get right to it:
Danny Ainge realizes that the Celtics roster needs work, from Mark Murphy of Boston Herald: “The C’s are loaded at both forwards spots with Green, Brandon Bass, Gerald Wallace and (for now) Kris Humphries. Green’s versatility could actually find the scorer playing some off-guard this season. The off-guard spot is otherwise inconsistent with Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks the best scoring candidates, and with Courtney Lee returning from one of the most disappointing seasons of his career. “I wouldn’t say this is a perfect mesh of players, but I would like to see how they play together, and win jobs and opportunities, and just how players fit our system and Brad’s style of play,” Ainge said. “I like the competitiveness in camp, and I also like the team because there are so many questions to be answered, so many unknowns.”
Steve Nash believes there are many question marks for the Los Angeles Lakers heading into the season, from Sean Deveney of Sporting News: “There is no comparing this year’s Lakers camp to last year. “It’s different,” Nash said. “It’s 180 degrees from last year. But you have got to embrace every year for what it is, the challenge. Maybe we will surprise everybody and turn into a completely different team than everyone expects.”… “I think it is really important for us at this point to just embrace these low expectations and try to find a real chemistry and build ourselves into a team that has some confidence,” Nash said. “We have so many new players, we have so many question marks with myself, Pau and Kobe’s health. Let’s not get to talking about championships right now. Let’s try to have a good camp and try to build a team and a chemistry that has the opportunity to go out there and beat people and win some games and get on a roll.”
Nash also says the Lakers never really ran Mike D’Antoni’s system last season, from Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA: “We didn’t have any basics last year,” D’Antoni said. “We told them the whole approach last year, but we couldn’t break it down. These guys have been going, 90 percent of them, for a month and a half (learning) the little things we’re doing, so it’s pretty smooth. They’re pretty far along.” They’re far along because there was a lot of ground to cover after the Lakers never fully took to D’Antoni’s style of play last season. “We never really ran Mike’s system last year,” Nash said. “It was more a hybrid. I think that’s part of finding an identity is that through personnel, no training camp and very little practice time with all the injuries, it was hard to get Mike’s system going. It was hard to find that identity. So we already are starting to form an understanding of what he wants and how we’re going to play, which is greater than last year.”
Doc Rivers will count on DeAndre Jordan to make a huge different on the defensive end this season, from Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com: ““Oh, I think it’s huge for us,” Rivers said. “I think he will be consistent. I’m looking at DeAndre Jordan as an All-Defense player. I think he should be on the All-Defense team. I think he should be a candidate to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. And that is going to require consistency for him to do that. We need him to be the captain of our defense, so I’m putting a lot on his plate. All the other stuff will take care of itself. If he does that job, I’m not that concerned about everything else.”… Where does this confidence come from? “I’ve seen his body,” Rivers said. “I don’t know if it was a year ago or two years ago, playing against him, I looked him and I thought, ‘Man, this kid should dominate defensively.’ I wasn’t here last year. I don’t know what happened with that. I can say this: He was focusing on offense, trying to be defense. He was focused on a lot of stuff. All I’m trying to do is narrow his focus. I’m trying to make it easier for him.”
J.R. Smith was apologetic for failing his drug test over the summer, from Marc Berman of New York Post: “The worst thing is I feel let my teammates and coach down,’’ Smith said Monday on Knicks Media Day. “I let Mr. [James] Dolan down. I’m looking to move forward from it. As soon as I’m able to play, I’m hoping to have a good season.’’… Knicks coach Mike Woodson didn’t sound happy about Smith’s suspension. “I don’t condone anything like that,’’ Woodson said. “J.R. knows he made a major mistake. I haven’t heard his comments, but I’m sure he’s apologized to the guys because we made a commitment to win. Hopefully it’ll be a learning experience.’’ Woodson also expects Smith to be ready for the season opener. An independent doctor hired by the NBA will give Smith a physical to determine if he indeed is ready to play before the suspension kicks in.”
Kevin Garnett is not fond of the idea of sitting out back-to-back games, from Mike Mazzeo of ESPN: “Brooklyn Nets power forward Kevin Garnett said his talk with first-year coach Jason Kidd about possibly not playing both games of back-to-back sets “didn’t go too well.” “I’m just being honest,” Garnett said in front of several laughing reporters during a news conference Monday at the team’s media day. “But I understand what he’s saying. He’s just making sure I’m durable and can get through an entire 82-game season. “So I’m totally understanding of what it is. … He’s looking to better me, so I’m gonna try to be receptive to that.” Nothing has been finalized with respect to the issue, Garnett said. “We’re still in wait-and-see mode,” Garnett said. “I just don’t want to be told anything. Hopefully I’ve earned the right to have an opinion in something that I’m doing. But more importantly, from a chemistry standpoint, I think it’s important for me to be out there with everybody, and I think it’ll speed the chemistry process up more quickly.”
Mike Woodson’s contract for next season has been picked up, from Nate Taylor of The New York Times: “Steve Mills, the Knicks’ new general manager, spent much of the last four days talking with Coach Mike Woodson, discussing the future of the team, where it can improve and how to handle the roster. Mills, who replaced Glen Grunwald on Thursday, made his first major decision Monday. He elected to pick up the option on Woodson’s contract for the 2014-15 season, a move that gives Woodson more stability in the organization… “I’m very excited about Mr. Dolan and Steve Mills giving me an opportunity to come back another year,” Woodson said at the news conference. “I tried to deal with my situation year to year. It’s never been about me in terms of what I do. It’s strictly about the team and what we’re trying to pursue.”
Regarding Amare’s 3rd knee surgery in 9 months, that he had in July.
There is a larger story here.
The Dolan run Knicks never revealed the surgery to the public.
It was Frank Isola who learned about the surgery and wrote about it in the Daily News on Sunday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/stoudemire-surgery-knee-dummer-article-1.1471121
And this wasn’t the first time the Knicks organization withheld or lied about injuries about their players. Isola has pointed out many instances over the years, which is why he has been “blacklisted” by Dolan.
It was only after the Isola article that that the Knicks revealed, and tried to minimize, the significance of the surgery. If after 2 1/2 months Amare isn’t ready to work out hard, it can’t really be called very minor surgery. Isola pointed out that Phoenix only gave Amare 3 yrs before his knee(s) would break down. Phoenix was correct.