SH Blog: Emotional Nash out for minimum of two weeks, Gasol calls out D’Antoni’s fluctuating rotation

• Derrick Rose suffered a minor hamstring injury and is listed as day-to-day, according to Joe Cowley of Sun-Times: “I think I’ve been in the training room long enough, around trainers long enough to really know everything about my body,’’ Rose said. Well Mr. 2011 MVP, meet your right hamstring. With 3:15 left in the game, Rose was yanked from the contest when trainers noticed that he was favoring his right leg. The team announced afterward that he “tweaked’’ the hamstring and would be re-evaluated during Tuesday’s off-day, but Rose was diagnosing it as more precautionary than concern. “It’s just a minor strain, nothing serious,’’ Rose said. “Hopefully I’ll be out there in a couple of days, but it’s nothing big at all.’’

• Russell Westbrook has signed a deal to become an underwear model, from TMZ: “Russell Westbrook doesn’t want your penis to suffocate … and that’s why the Oklahoma City Thunder star just signed a deal to model a high end underwear line that prides itself on “wiggle room,” TMZ Sports has learned. Our well-placed underwear sources tell us … Russell inked a huge deal with Kings and Jaxs that will require him to not only model the undies, but will also give him creative and design input. FYI –K&J prides itself on how the underwear is built to let your man parts breath — the web site says, “The little man doesn’t like to be restricted with little or no oxygen.”

• Pau Gasol called out Mike D’Antoni’s tendency to do different things with the lineup on a game-to-game basis, from Mark Medina of Daily News: “There’s a time and a lineup for going big and going small,” Gasol said. “I always preferred going bigger. I know the game is developing toward going smaller. But I still like the way we started with a bigger lineup and then adjust as we go along. If we need to speed up the tempo, we’re falling behind or we believe this matchup will help us better, then we should already know that pre-game wise. That’s part of the strategy. We don’t have to improvise and go with the flow or the feel of the game too much. That gives you a little inconsistency and doesn’t build stability.”

• Mike Woodson explained what appears to be the New York Knicks’ biggest issue this season, from Alan Hahn of MSG Network: “What Woodson is noticing speaks volumes about this team’s collective toughness. The Knicks have struggled with their shooting early this season and, apparently, wallowing in self-pity about it while on defense. “That’s a bad combination,” Woodson said. “When you do that and you worry about making shots, then you can’t get stops.”  Later, he continued on this issue. “We let our offense dictate how we defended. We can’t do that.” The Knicks are shooting 43% from the field after six games. That’s 23rd in the 30-team NBA. The three-point shot, which was such a big part of their strong start to last season, is almost non-existent (32.4%).”

• Jeff Hornacek cannot lie: He is surprised as any of the way the Phoenix Suns have come out of the gate, from Brett Pollakoff of ProBasketballTalk: “Even before this one was in the books, Suns coach Jeff Hornacek admitted to being, like the rest of us, a bit surprised by his team’s fast start. “Am I surprised with the start? Maybe a little bit,” he said before tip-off on Sunday. “Just because when you look at our guys, starting with Miles Plumlee who only played 50 minutes last year, to [Goran Dragic] being hurt, to Eric Bledsoe being a backup (previously). You know these guys are good players, but you don’t really know how it’s going to work when you get out on the court.”

• John Wall took blame for blowing a sizable lead against Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, from Michael Lee of Washington Post: “When Nene and Russell got ejected, we were still up big. Just bad way of leading my team,” Wall said afterward. Not “getting those guys the ball in the right situation and taking advantage of the mismatch, when they were switching the big man on me. Taking tough shots instead of moving the ball and getting inside.”… Wall said he took “two bad shots” late and should’ve looked to get the ball more to Gortat, who scored four points in overtime when the Wizards finally exploited their advantage inside. Gortat could’ve had five points, but after giving the Wizards a 105-102 lead with a baseline drive with 80 seconds remaining, he missed the free throw.”

• The NBA is trying to reach a deal with the Silnas, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN: “The NBA is engaged in settlement talks with Ozzie and Daniel Silna to end a contract that has long been described as “the greatest sports business deal of all time,” according to sources close to the situation. No agreement has been reached, but talks are ongoing. The Silna brothers are the former owners of an old ABA franchise known as the Spirits of St. Louis. When the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976, the Silnas agreed to dissolve their team in exchange for a small percentage of the NBA’s future broadcast revenue.”

• The NBA took part in trying to help with the awful situation in the Philippines, from The AP: “The NBA and NBA Players Association are donating $250,000 to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in support of UNICEF’s emergency relief efforts in areas of the Philippines ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan. Also, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose mother is from the Philippines, will appear in a public service announcement for the organization to help raise funds for the relief efforts.”

 

 

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