SH Blog: Kidd rips Nets after loss to Pacers, Ray Allen explains how frustrated he was with Boston

Matt Barnes has been fined by the league for failing to leave the court, from Ben Golliver of SI: “The NBA fined Clippers forward Matt Barnes $25,000 Monday for failing to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection from L.A.’s 120-116 victory over Minnesota on Sunday. With just under a minute remaining in the third quarter and L.A. leading 77-75, Barnes fouled Kevin Love hard across the body on a drive. Using his right arm, Barnes swung at the ball from Love’s right side, contacting the ball but knocking Love off-balance by hitting his right shoulder. After a video review, the game officials assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 to Barnes, which necessitates an automatic ejection.”

Ironically, the league actually sided with Barnes about the Flagrant 2 and rescinded the call: “The NBA league office actually sided with Barnes on this one, downgrading his Flagrant Foul 2 to a Flagrant Foul 1 upon further review. The Flagrant Foul 2 designation applies to fouls that are both “unnecessary and excessive” whereas the Flagrant Foul 1 designation merely requires that the contact be “unnecessary.” The fact that Barnes was technically making a play on the ball and that his foul didn’t send Love crashing to the court or cause any injury likely helped his case here.”

According to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, a deal between Toronto and New York for Kyle Lowry as officially died: “More on the dead trade talks front: Source says attempts to revive Lowry-to-Knicks died a few days ago. NY won’t part w/ 1st-rd pick.”

Metta World Peace has had knee trouble and is planning on having a procedure done for it soon, according to Marc Berman of New York Post: “Metta World Peace is taking a page from Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez as his wild adventure in his first season with the Knicks just got woollier. World Peace, who missed his second straight game Monday in Orlando with a sore left knee, said he would undergo a blood-spinning procedure on Jan. 6 in New York. Bryant underwent the procedure — known as a “PRP” or platelet-rich plasma — 15 months ago in Germany, and A-Rod, on Bryant’s advice, also had it done in Germany.”

Anthony Bennett is receiving some harsh criticism and rightfully so, but the group of rookies from this season have been bad in general, from Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer: “It’s very early,” ESPN.com analyst Chad Ford cautions, “but right now, he’s looking like the worst in the past 20 years. That includes Greg Oden. Oden was injured all the time, but when he played, he at least looked like a No. 1 pick.”… Is it really as bad as it seems? “Yes,” Ford said via email. “Really, only Victor Oladipo and Michael Carter-Williams are proving to be valuable starters at the moment. A few others like Trey Burke, Mason Plumlee, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Steven Adams have been solid. Giannis Antetokounmpo looks like he might be a big star down the road. But all of those players except Oladipo weren’t even in the conversation for the No. 1 pick.”

Andre Iguodala avoided saying much about his return to Denver since leaving it in the summer, from Rusty Simmons of San Francisco Chronicle: “When Iguodala left in a three-team, sign-and-trade deal July 10, Denver Post columnistMark Kiszla wrote: “The Nuggets can be better off without Iguodala. (He) left $12 million on the table to sign with Golden State and get out of Denver. If you can’t guard Stephen Curry, join him.” Just last month, George Karl, who coached Iguodala in Denver, said there were “no questions” that Iguodala was Warriors head coach Mark Jackson’s “mole” during the first round of last season’s playoffs. Iguodala has tried to stay out of the soap opera. Last week he said he wasn’t surprised by the comments, but he quickly changed the subject by saying, I enjoyed my time there and still have a good relationship with ex-teammates there, so I don’t pay any mind to it.”

Ray Allen explains how it was so upsetting to know that Boston had traded him to Memphis, from Datwon Thomas of SLAMOnline: “For that final year I was there, I was actually traded to Memphis. I got the phone call and told that I was traded for OJ Mayo. I was in San Francisco to play the Warriors. Danny Ainge and I talked and he asked me how I felt about it—I told him I was upset, that I couldn’t believe it. I said, “I can’t knock you, you have to do what you do for your team. I understand it’s a business [and] there’s nothing I can do about it.” He was like, “Well, I’ll be in touch.” I told my family we’ve been traded to Memphis. One of my sons said, “Don’t worry about it Dad, we’re Grizzlies fans now. We’re gonna make this work.” I took that into my summer, that I could potentially—regardless of what I did for the team, there’s no great loyalty shown amongst the teams to the players, ’cause they’ll trade you in a heartbeat. When they trade you, they’ll tell you, “We’re a team but we have to do what’s best for our squad.” As a player if we want more money or ask for a trade we are looked upon as being greedy, or disloyal.”

Allen also discussed how it was difficult to sign with the Miami Heat, but the right decision for him: “There were some things negotiated trade-wise that I wasn’t particularly happy with. The direction of the team, so many things that I wasn’t happy with, and the team wouldn’t give me any assurances. It bothered me. I had to move on. I had the choice between going to the Clippers, Memphis, Minnesota or Miami. I came to visit Miami and I’m thinking, we just lost to them in the Conference Finals. They just won the Championship and I’m over here thinking—it was hard. It was hard for me to come to Miami. This is a team that we just went toe to toe with in a Game 7—can I see myself playing here? I spent two days meeting the general manager, meeting the owner… Boston had already proven to me they weren’t really going in my direction. Case in point now ’cause they traded the whole team. I knew from the previous summer that if things didn’t work they were going to blow the whole thing up.”

The San Antonio Spurs haven’t practiced in some time, according to Mike Monroe of Express News: “Asked to recall the last practice, Popovich furrowed his brow, scratched his head and gave up. “I can’t remember,” he said. In fact, the last real practice was Nov. 19, during a stretch of four days without a game after returning from a victory in Utah and preceding a home win over Boston. Popovich calls maintaining consistency the biggest challenge of long stretches without practice. “There’s always some slippage as far as execution is concerned,” he said. “You just play games. You don’t get a chance to review or do any muscle memory things or get to the practice court.”