SH Blog: LeBron wants to be the greatest of all time, Kobe says he and Howard were never going to work

LeBron James is on a mission to become the greatest basketball player of all-time, from Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report: “It started after he was asked if he squeezed in the summer rest and work that he sought after last season ended: “I did get some rest. I will not reveal what I worked on in my game. I know you guys are tired of hearing me say this, but I got better. I’m a better basketball player than I was last year, in every aspect. I feel very confident and comfortable in my game right now.”… “I want to be the greatest of all time,” James said. “That’s my motivation…It’s not to be the greatest of all time in anybody else’s book, or how they judge. It’s for me.” How close is he? “I’m far,” James said. “I’m far away from it. But I see the light.”

Here are a whole bunch of thoughts from various members of the New Orleans Pelicans, from John Reid of The Times Picayune: “We talked about it with him (Evans) this summer and it wasn’t an issue,’’ Williams said. I don’ think guys worry about that as much anymore, they’re more concerned with the minutes. If I can get him in the game for 28 to 30 minutes that would be optimum for us and keep him fresh.’’… I think we have a lot of firepower and a lot of young guys who have obviously proven themselves in other places and now kind of come here and join together,’’ Holiday said. “I think people have us on their radar and I’d like to get back to the playoffs. We have a good young core group that’s really young.’’… “I’m looking forward to the season and I’m not worried about anything,’’ Gordon said. “It’s time for me to make progress in training camp and jell together. We have our own expectation level and we’re look forward to the playoffs.’’… Davis, who increased his weight to 230 pounds from 215 last season, said they took a big step toward getting acclimated with each other when nearly everyone on the roster showed up for volunteer workouts this past month.The regiment involved intense pick-up games and they did conditioning work four times a week.”

Amare Stoudemire addressed his health concerns and said that his career isn’t over yet, from Ian Begley of ESPN NY: “The whole goal is to get strong and recover,” Stoudemire said. “So hopefully by the time training camp is over I should be ready to go. If not, we’ll see. [We’re] still taking precautionary measures. We’ll see how that plays out.”… “The whole objective is to prolong my career, my season, to make sure I’m ready for the postseason when it really counts,” Stoudemire, 30, said. “That’s the whole goal. Right now, unfortunately my career has been somewhat tainted by injuries the last few years of my career. Now it’s a matter to maintain strength and health, to have some solid and productive years. “I do still want to reach my full potential. I still have room to improve as a player. My career isn’t over yet. So with that being said, we’re just taking precautionary measures to make sure that I’m able to play at a high level.”

Chris Kaman explains why he can relate to Pau Gasol but not Dwight Howard, from Mark Medina of Daily News: “Defensively I’m a completely different player,” Kaman said. “He’s an above the rim player. I can’t play above the rim. He’s been the defensive player of the year multiple times. It’s just a whole different style of basketball. “He can just go up there and wait for the ball to come up to him and swat it. It’s completely different.”… “I’m a similar player as Pau. I think I’m inside and outside like he is,” Kaman said. “I think he’s expanded his game as well. He shot some threes last year. I don’t know if I’m going to do that. But I think I complement his game well. We’ll see how it goes. Sometimes things don’t work out. Sometimes things work out great. You never can tell what happens.”

Kaman also had some thoughts to share on the Dallas Mavericks, from Medina: “He doesn’t look at the numbers. He just talks,” Kaman said of Cuban. “If you look at the numbers, that’s not true. That’s what the guy writing the story about said that it wasn’t that bad with me and Dirk in there. They thought when me and Dirk were there, defensively it wasn’t a great matchup. They had their thoughts. That’s their team. Cuban owns the team and I respect him. He takes care of his players and treats everybody really well. He does a great job. That’s his organization. It’s his decision to make. I can’t say anything bad about him. He treated me really well. He’s a really good guy. I respect him. I just don’t think he looked at the numbers.”… “I skipped my exit meeting. I knew I wasn’t going to go back there,” Kaman said. “Not that it was bad. I just didn’t feel like they liked what I brought to the table or they would’ve given me more opportunities and have more leeway when I was playing. There would be games I’d play well and then games I wouldn’t play at all. It was just frustrating for me and I just didn’t feel comfortable there. And they didn’t feel comfortable having me, so I pretty much ruled that one out right away.”

George Karl will be an analyst on ESPN for the foreseeable future, from Brian Mahoney of The AP: “George Karl, who won the NBA Coach of the Year award last season but then lost his job in Denver, is joining ESPN as a studio analyst. Karl signed a multiyear deal but will clearly keep an eye out for a return to the sideline. He previously worked for ESPN as a studio analyst during the 2003-04 season. “I think they know and I know that in the right situation there’s always the possibility of going back to coaching,” Karl said. “I had a great time last year with Denver, but in the same sense I enjoyed my time there eight years ago, and it’s always fun to put yourself in kind of an analyst-type situation. And hopefully I can maybe give some insights that coaches are really important in this game. I think coaches are probably the key to winning championships as much as anything else.”

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