Thaddeus Young is frustrated, but wants to help his team compete. Gordie Jones of CSN Philly has details: “It’s hard to deal with at times, because it sounds like the same old song and dance,” Young said, “but … I just have to be patient, for the simple fact that you’re dealing with a lot of young guys.”Guys, he said, who are struggling to grasp Brown’s concepts. Brown himself said before Wednesday’s game that he is employing “plain vanilla” schemes to shorten the learning curve. “We’ve tweaked a lot, but we’ve reduced,” he said. “We’ve really reduced.”… “I have to help lead,” he said. “I have to help teach them. I’ve been talking to Coach, each and every day — basically just going in there (to Brown’s office) and going over a lot of game tape. I’m learning on the fly, and I have to teach on the fly also.”
Mike Woodson says it matters that Chris Smith is the brother of J.R. Smith, from Marc Berman of New York Post: “He’s still in the mix,’’ Woodson said. “That’s something else we have to sit and talk about [Thursday] in terms of the direction we want to go.’’ Woodson regards J.R. Smith as the son he has never had and owner James Dolan loves him too… Woodson said J.R.’s presence carries a lot of weight as to whether the Knicks keep his brother. “Sure, it does,” Woodson said. “I look at him just like I look at J.R., though J.R. is the guy who played in a uniform and has been very productive for us. I have a great deal of respect for that family. That’s his brother. I respect that. We’ve got to make some decisions. What those decisions will be, I don’t know.’’
- According to Scott Agness, Danny Granger’s calf injury may be more serious than originally thought: “Vogel said Granger’s calf strain is worse than they thought and it’s unlikely that he plays opening night. Stephenson will start.
Doc Rivers dismissed LeBron James’ comments about Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce leaving the Boston Celtics, from ESPN: “Paul and Kevin were traded,” Rivers said on “The Dan LeBatard Show” on Wednesday. “They were traded. Paul was traded whether he wanted to be or not. Kevin was the only one who had to agree to be traded even though he had already been traded. He had to agree to the trade. That’s completely different.” Rivers has also been criticized for orchestrating his departure from Boston. He thinks the Heat have a better argument there. “You could make more of a case for me leaving than on Paul and Kevin,” an animated Rivers said before reiterating that Pierce’s and Garnett’s situation is “completely different” from Allen’s.”
Kevin Durant responded to Jalen Rose’s notion that the forward may look to leave the Thunder in the future, from Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Do you have any thoughts on that? “Nah, I’m here for the Thunder (laughs). I mean, that’s all I can say. I’m not thinking far down the line at all. It’s about today. Today we got better against the Chicago Bulls. I can’t tell the future. I can’t speak on that. That’s his opinion. I’m just going to keep playing for the Thunder. I love playing here.” People probably will continue to say that for the next three years. “Unfortunately.” How do you deal with that? “I mean, just let them know I’m not thinking that far down the line, I guess. I mean, I love my teammates. I love where I live. I love playing for this organization. So I’m just taking it a day at a time.”
The Andrea Bargnani and Carmelo Anthony combination was ugly on the defensive end for the New York Knicks, according to Ian Begley of ESPN New York: “Bargnani and Anthony shared the floor for just over 11 minutes on Wednesday when no Knicks center was on the floor. The result wasn’t very pretty. The Knicks were outscored 33-22 in that span in a 105-95 loss to Milwaukee. The Bucks scored roughly three points per minute when Woodson paired Anthony and Bargnani together at power forward and center. They averaged about 2.2 points per minute when the Knicks had a traditional lineup on the floor. If you take what happened on Wednesday and expand that to a per-36 minute basis, the Knicks would give up 108 points per 36 minutes with the Anthony-Bargnani pairing. With a traditional center on the floor, that number would drop to 79 points per 36 minutes.”
Tom Thibodeau is pessimistic about the chances of Joakim Noah playing in the opener, from Joe Cowley of Sun Times: ““[Wednesday] is like the first day he could shoot a ball, and it’s basically all straight-ahead stuff,’’ Thibodeau said before the preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Intrust Bank Arena. “He’s completely deconditioned, so we’re very concerned about that.’’ Noah has been sidelined with a strained groin most of camp and played only 19 minutes in one preseason game. He was in great shape when camp started, but that’s no longer the case. But Noah wouldn’t rule himself out just yet for the game against the Heat. “We evaluate every day,’’ Noah said.”
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.