SH Blog: Celtics are favorites to land Asik, Paul George says his ceiling is higher than Reggie Miller’s

• Jordan Farmar will miss at least another week, from Eric Pincus of Los Angeles Times: “The Lakers are desperate for a point guard, but they’ll have to wait a little longer. Jordan Farmar underwent an ultrasound on Wednesday, revealing that his torn left hamstring is still not fully healed. The Lakers announced that Farmar will be out at least another week. His next evaluation will be Tuesday. Farmar was injured Dec. 1, when he played just 55 seconds in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. His initial recovery timeline was four weeks. The Lakers are also without Steve Blake (elbow) and Steve Nash (back). Kobe Bryant and Xavier Henry have stepped in, out of position, at the point.
• Jesse Lawrence of Forbes details the most expensive college basketball teams at the ticket booth: “After a loss that broke Ohio State’s BCS dreams last week, there is still hope of a perfect season in Columbus. It is not, however, on the gridiron, but on the hardwood.  After this weekend’s game, Ohio State basketball’s team is now a perfect 10-0, and ranked 3rd in the nation.  While it’s a small consolation prize, compared to the cost of seeing a football game at Ohio Stadium, the cost of seeing a game at Schottenstein Center arena is a real bargain.  Based on the most-recent TiqIQ top 25 ranking, the average price for Ohio State basketball tickets is $77, compared to $208 for a football game.  $77 is good for 15th on the TiqIQ top 25 and gives Ohio State the highest combined average price of any team ranked in both the basketball and football TiqIQ top 25. The Buckeyes combined average price of $142 is $2 ahead of Michigan and $51 ahead of Michigan State basketball tickets. Apart from those three schools, there is no overlap between the two top 25s. The top five schools in this year’s TiqIQ top 25 are traditional basketball powerhouses: Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA and Indiana.”
• Though unlikely, the New York Knicks spoke with Houston about a deal for Asik, from Marc Berman of New York Post: “The Knicks made a foray into the Omer Asik sweepstakes and had discussions with the Rockets and a third team about a three-way swap, an NBA source told The Post. But the source said the Knicks are likely to fall short of obtaining the Houston 7-footer who has asked to be traded. Asik, who makes $5.5 million this season, is an obvious fit as the Knicks are thin and injury-wracked up front with Kenyon Martin and Amar’e Stoudemire both risks, but have a glut of shooting guards. The Knicks are willing to deal Iman Shumpert — whose stock has fallen a bit in recent weeks — and Metta World Peace. J.R. Smith is the lone prominent Knick who can’t be traded until Jan. 15 under a quirk in the collective bargaining agreement.”
• Nerlens Noel believes there’s a possibility that he returns this season, from Bob Cooney of Daily News: “We’re just taking our time with it, being cautious with things,” he said on NBA Radio. “I’m definitely worried about my health, but regards to the whole season, that decision hasn’t been made up. I still have to meet up with my doctors – Dr. [James] Andrews and Dr. Kevin Wilk – and come to a conclusion with that.” He was then asked whether he might be able to play this season. His response was a simple: “There’s a possibility.” Coach Brett Brown said he’s happy with Noel’s progress, but has said, mostly in roundabout ways, that Noel won’t be debuting this season. “I think he’s doing fine,” Brown said. “I think his spirits are fine, I think his body, physically, continues to develop and look good. He likes wearing those tight shirts, and I’m proud of him. If I had a body like that, I’d do the same. Physically, he’s coming around and buying into it. His shot is continuing to develop. We’ve kept a real simple plan and a consistent plan.”

• Kevin Durant believes Ty Lawson should be an All-Star this season, from Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman: “Kevin Durant and Ty Lawson go way back, to their days at Oak Hill (Va.) Academy, when the future NBA cornerstones roomed together in their prep school dorm. “We been through a lot together, man,” Durant said. “Been up through everything together as friends.” So it’s not surprising that, when given the platform at Tuesday’s shootaround, the Thunder star served as the spokesman for the Nuggets guard’s All-Star campaign. “He should be (an All-Star), in my opinion,” Durant said, later explaining: “He’s not one of those sexy names like Russell Westbrook or Stephen Curry. He just started to become one of those guys you depend on as a point guard. He was behind Chauncey (Billups) his first few years, and he’s eased his way into the starting lineup. Now he’s turned into a star. So, give it a few more games and you’ll start hearing Ty Lawson’s name all the time because he’s having a great season.”

• This came out the other day, but Don Nelson’s thoughts on Stephen Jackson, David Lee and Monta Ellis are absolutely hilarious, from Ben Golliver of SI: “Later, when Warriors forward David Lee gets the ball on the block, Nelson smirks. “You better go to him,” he says, “because he can’t guard anybody.”… Unlike many coaches, he loved Stephen Jackson. “That guy’ll give it to you all day,” Nelson says. “He just had some mental issues. He played his ass off for me. You just never knew when he was going to blow his mind.”… As for former Golden State guard Monta Ellis, now with the Mavericks, Nelson calls him “an incredible, gifted athlete” but “a pain in the ass when I had him.” One day, Nellie recalls, “I said, ‘You know, Monta, this is what I want you to do in practice today. I don’t want you to take a shot. I think you have the ability to create and make plays. If you could ever be a point guard, the way you can score, you could really be a special player.’ So he did. He found people in practice. And I said, ‘Monta, why don’t you focus on being a great point guard. They have the most fun of anybody. They’re the man, they control everything.’ ” Nellie pauses. “He said, ‘Coach, I just want to play. I just want to play.’ He wouldn’t consider that. Now, as he’s matured, he’s started making plays. To his credit, he’s a pretty good player right now. When I had him, all he wanted to do, little selfish bastard, was to shoot every time. And never pass.”

• Paul George has set the loftiest of goals for himself, from Tzvi Twersky of SLAMOnline: “I have goals,” George says. “I want to be MVP. I want to be Defensive Player of the Year. I want to be First-Team All-NBA. I want to be a Gold medalist. I want to be a Hall of Famer. I want to be a Champion. Everything that’s the highest or the greatest that you can do, I want to do that.” Ten minutes later he says, “At the end of the day, I want to go down as my own icon, a Paul George, do-everything offensively and defensively type of player. There are a lot of characteristics I have that LeBron does, that T-Mac does, but I want to be my own person and be someone special.”… “We had a great team coming back, a young team coming back, so I didn’t want to lose what we had worked so hard for,” says George. “As far as Reggie [Miller], he was a great player but I feel like my ceiling is higher and I can outdo Reggie. He was a better shooter than I am, but in no way do I want to be categorized as just a shooter. I have the utmost respect for him, but I just feel like I can outdo Reggie.”

• Jordan Hamilton has been suspended for this punch in the chest against Steven Adams.

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