Jeremy Lin has no hard feelings about being benched to begin the season, from Adam Wexler of CSN Houston: “Lin will be coming off the bench to start the season and he shares the same opinion about playing with the second unit. “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Lin said. “You just have to look at the game as a whole,” he said. “How many minutes do you end up playing and what do you do when you’re on the floor. To me, it’s not that big of a deal being in the second unit, being able to attack and have that freedom and to be able to be freelancing a little bit. I think it will be fun.” He expects to hit the court with the same attitude and mindset regardless of when he is out there. “When I’m out there I’m just going to keep being aggressive, I’m not really going to change anything,” Lin said.”
Doc Rivers’ says first game of the season was a lesson learned, from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports: “New Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers spoke pregame Tuesday night about how he had already researched championship parades in Los Angeles. Seriously… The Lakers, without injured Kobe Bryant, used their bench the entire fourth quarter en route to a stunning 116-103 victory over the hyped and talented Clippers. Pau Gasol and Steve Nash didn’t play in the final quarter, yet the Lakers still cruised. “It’s a good lesson for us,” Rivers said. “The good thing is we have 81 more games. The bad thing is everybody is going to play us that away. If you’re anointed before doing it, they’re going to attack you. And we’re going to have to get used to that energy every night because people are going to play you like you won even though we haven’t.”
Teams tried to convince Howard not to go to the Rockets by telling him that James Harden is just like Kobe Bryant, from Woj of Yahoo Sports: “After we had our meeting, we heard second-hand about what went in the others,” Morey said. “In one of them, we know a team tried to portray the fact [to Howard] that James was the same as Kobe. It kind of blew my mind. I mean, you’re saying the fact that he’s like one of the greatest players ever is actually an insult? “In the end, that was one of the main ways teams were trying to get Dwight to not come to Houston.” And, well, here’s Howard in Houston anyway. First-hand sources corroborated to Yahoo Sports what those second-hand sources told Morey in the aftermath of the meetings. In one instance, Golden State Warriors adviser Jerry West had been disparaging of Harden in the organization’s presentation to Howard, sources said. When asked about West’s dissection of Harden recently, Howard simply laughed and told Yahoo, “Well, Jerry West said a lot of things.”
Wojnarowski explains why staying in Miami would be a wise choice for LeBron James: “On the eve of training camp, Spoelstra signed a four-year contract extension. The message was unmistakable: If James wants the stability that comes with continuity and trust, with elite ownership, executives and a coach, there’s no reason for him to leave Miami. “They’re more intertwined than they’ve ever been,” says a league source closely connected to James and Spoelstra. “LeBron knows he plays for one of the elite coaches in the game, and that maybe wasn’t the case when he got there.” From defense, to moving his offensive game into far more efficient spots on the floor, to the sharpening of his leadership and composure, James’ game has grown and his belief has blossomed with Spoelstra. Everyone wants to give Mike Krzyzewski credit for James with Team USA, to credit Riley as the Heat’s godfather, and somehow Spoelstra gets treated as some kind of accidental tourist on the way to back-to-back titles and James’ basketball immortality.”
Jared Dudley explained how teams tend to go into tank mode, and why the system should be blamed, from Henry Abbott of ESPN: “Last year in Phoenix, I mean, they didn’t use the word ‘tanking’ but we were out of the playoffs, it was over. … We tried different lineups. Why did we try different lineups? Well, because we wanted to see what guys they were going to keep this year, which they basically have kept no one so far. So you try different lineups knowing that the consequences, if you lose, well, it’s fine because it helps you. They never said, ‘Hey, let’s tank.’ Charlotte Bobcats, they never said, ‘Let’s tank.’ But the actions you do, it kind of insinuates it. And we understand it because you want a higher pick. You’re going to try and tell me instead of winning five or seven extra games you lose out on Andrew Wiggins but yet you are still the bottom of the barrel? No, you’re going to want to get the worst. So I don’t blame the GMs. I blame the system, how it is set up.”
David Lee is looking to emphasize his effort on the defensive end this season, from Marcus Thompson of Bay Area News Group: “Often chided for his poor defense, Lee — a two-time All-Star — said he is emphasizing that end of the court this season. That begins tonight in the Warriors’ season opener, against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers. Lee said he will defend Shawne Williams, Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni’s attempt at stretching the floor. But he expects to spend plenty time matched up against Pau Gasol and Chris Kaman. “The key for me, “Lee said, “is making the extra effort plays and bringing the energy. I expect to have a much better year defensively.”
