The standings are always a little wonky at this point. Some contenders get off to slow starts, some pretenders look like world-beaters.But the Pacers don’t seem like a fluke.
They’ve got the Bulls tonight in a pretty big test of their unbeaten record. Whether or not they win, they’re here to stay as a big-time team. Paul George is playing like an MVP, and their team defense is as good as it gets.
If you like stifling D and well-executed offense, Indiana is the team you need to be watching. They don’t even seem like they have any weaknesses.
There’s stuff going on out west, too. Both LA teams have some intriguing news in today’s roundup of the latest NBA news:
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While Lamar Odom did not sign a deal with the Clippers today, sources said the players were under the impression he was signing soon.— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) November 16, 2013
Here’s Broderick Turner of the LA Times with more, via Fox Sports West: “Free-agent forward Lamar Odom was at the Clippers’ practice facility on Friday afternoon, said NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. No deal was imminent between Odom and the Clippers, the executives said, but there is interest on both sides if Odom has gotten his personal life in order. Odom didn’t work out for the team, the executives said. Odom talked with Clippers Coach Doc Rivers and some of his former teammates after the team’s practice, the executives said. One executive said Odom “looked pretty good” and that he is “not heavy weight-wise” and is “talking like he really wants to play again.” Odom has told friends that wants to play for a team that can make a deep run in the playoffs and has a chance to win an NBA championship, according to the executives.”-
After seven months rehabbing a torn Achilles, Kobe Bryant has returned to Lakers practice, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) November 16, 2013
The other day, a friend and I mused on just how important Jameer Nelson was to Dwight Howard’s success in Orlando. Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated seems to have had a similar thought. He looked at Nelson and the future in Orlando: “Nelson is nine games into his 10th NBA season. He could shut his eyes back to the recent past and think about teammates like Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Vince Carter, all older and more accomplished than him. But he didn’t want to live in that past. Surrounding him in the locker room were Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless and rookie Victor Oladipo, all much younger than him. “You think you have all the answers,” Nelson said. “But in reality, you don’t.” He was saying that his age didn’t automatically give him the advantage over his teammates. Experience helped him only if it taught him to keep learning, to keep focusing on where he was right now instead of where he had been or where the future might lead him. “For instance, I trained with a 23-year-old this year,” Nelson said of his workouts last summer. “He has some good things for me to do. A 23-year-old. I’m 31. I’m 10 years in the league, he’s never played in the league. It’s easy for me to say he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But in reality, somebody’s seeing it from a different angle, in a different way than what you’re seeing. Of course he can help you.” The funny thing about his career was that he was supposed to be the franchise’s vulnerable player. When Orlando picked him 20th in the 2004 draft, the point guard from St. Joseph’s was viewed as a fringe starter at 6 feet with little upside. “A lot of people said I couldn’t get any better,” he said. “I got criticized basically for staying four years in college.””-
Monta Ellis: “If we go out and compete like this every night and cut our turnovers down, we can compete with anybody in this league.”
— Earl K. Sneed (@EarlKSneed) November 16, 2013
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports revisits the end of the Big Three in Boston: “Garnett, Pierce and Allen knew when they hit their mid 30s their time in Boston was nearing an end. Allen signed with the Miami Heat as a free agent in 2012. The Celtics had serious discussions about trading Garnett to the Los Angeles Clippers last season. They kept him, but losing in the first round of the playoffs further validated management’s thought it was time for change. “The writing was on the wall,” Garnett said. “We all knew what the story was. I think Ray Allen said it best, ‘None of us wanted to leave.’ I always wanted to leave out in green.” Garnett, who owns a no-trade clause in his contract, said another trade to the Clippers that included himself and Rivers was seriously talked about in the offseason. There was also talk of the Celtics waiving Pierce, who could then be free to sign with his hometown Clippers. Ultimately, the Clippers acquired only Rivers for an unprotected first-round pick. “I actually thought I was going to L.A., to be honest,” Garnett said. “I thought [Rivers], I and Paul were going.” Said Pierce: “At one point we thought we would all be in L.A.””
All is not well in Cleveland, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com: “The Cleveland Cavaliers are dealing with a three-game losing streak, and perhaps some chemistry problems within the locker room. The Cavaliers held a players-only meeting following Wednesday’s 29-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, multiple sources told ESPN.com. But the meeting got contentious, and players confronted each other, according to sources. The Cavs lost Friday, 86-80, to the Charlotte Bobcats after squandering a 12-point second-half lead. Cleveland, which has lost five of six games since starting the season 2-2, plays Saturday against the Washington Wizards. In a loss at the Chicago Bulls on Monday, Cavs coach Mike Brown and star guard Kyrie Irving got into an exchange on the bench after Brown pulled Irving from the game.”-
Confrontation between Cavs players reported by ESPN involved Dion Waiters, source says. Waiters sat out last night, didn’t travel today.
— Sam Amico (@SamAmicoFSO) November 16, 2013
- Al Iannazzone of Newsday reports on some backlash towards J.R. Smith: “Mike Woodson was “not happy” with J.R. Smith for his tweets directed at Pistons guard Brandon Jennings, and he said that if Smith keeps putting himself in these positions, “eventually no team is going to want to deal with you.” The NBA was unhappy with Smith, too, fining him $25,000 on Friday “for directing hostile and inappropriate language to another player via his Twitter account, in violation of NBA rules.” Smith was fined the same amount two seasons ago for posting an inappropriate photo of a woman on Twitter. In this case, Smith, who was suspended the first five games of the season for failing a drug test, was defending his brother Chris after Jennings questioned whether he belongs in the NBA in a tweet that he later removed. Smith seemed to threaten Jennings in one tweet.”
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Dan Malone is in his fourth year as a journalism student at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and spent this summer as a features intern at the Cape Cod Times. He blogs, edits and learns things on the fly for Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on Twitter.