SH Blog: Morey says Royce White may be the worst first-round pick ever; Knicks chasing Rondo

• Bad news for the San Antonio Spurs: Manu Ginobili will miss up to a month due to a hamstring injury, according to NBA.com: “Spurs guard Manu Ginobili underwent an MRI exam earlier today. The MRI revealed a strained left hamstring. Ginobili suffered the injury during the third quarter of last night’s Spurs-Rockets game. He is expected to miss three-to-four weeks.”
• Andrew Bynum still wants more money than he deserves, according to Marc Stein of ESPN: “No. 1: Bynum wants more than min. money. No. 2: No team willing YET to pay more than minimum given ?s about how much he really wants to play.”

• Don Nelson can’t believe the Dallas Mavericks have failed to sign more marquee players, from Dwane Price of Star-Telegram: “I’ve said that for years that I can’t believe that Dallas isn’t getting more free agents, because it’s such a great place to play,” Nelson said. “You’ve got an owner (in Mark Cuban) that spends money and is a players’ kind of owner, and you’ve got Donnie (Nelson, the Mavericks’ president of basketball operations) there who knows talent. I know they’ve tried and missed on a few, but that’s always surprised me how come they don’t get a big-time star player who wants to come there.’’

• If you, for some reason, still think Blake Griffin is a one-trick pony, Zach Lowe of Grantland is going to convince you otherwise in this piece: “As the Clippers continue to win without Paul, it becomes increasingly clear the “HE CAN ONLY DUNK!” crowd simply does not watch Los Angeles Clippers basketball. The schedule has been easy and heavy on Eastern Conference teams, but the Clips are 9-3 since Paul went down, and Griffin has been sensational in shifting into a role as the team’s clear No. 1 option. Griffin has produced in exactly the sort of varied ways the screaming mobs claim are beyond his skill set. The Clippers have had the most efficient offense in the league since Paul’s injury — read that again, but also consider the schedule — and Griffin has shot better overall and gotten to the line more often this season with Paul on the bench, per NBA.com. He is not a remora fish mooching off a shark.”

• The New York Knicks are most interested in Rajon Rondo, but the Boston Celtics may not budge, according to Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders: “However, a source with direct knowledge of the situation has informed Basketball Insiders that the Celtics have demonstrated little activity as it relates to potentially moving Rondo at the deadline. The team has stopped short of giving Rondo a no-trade guarantee, but has made it clear it would take a substantial offer for the team to deal away its floor general. According to the source, the New York Knicks have been the team with the strongest interest in potentially acquiring Rondo from the Celtics as the deadline nears. The Knicks’ interest should come as no surprise as the team has endured their own struggles at point guard with the trio of Raymond Felton, Beno Udrih and Pablo Prigioni underachieving. However, the Celtics have no interest in the Knicks’ current assets at the moment. Rondo has appeared in six contests since returning from injury and is still attempting to regain his form posting averages of 6.7 points and 5.7 assists on just 28 percent shooting from the floor.”

• Rick Adelman is frustrated with how his time with the Timberwolves have gone, from Kerry Eggers of Portland Tribune: “”When I took this job, I thought we could turn it around,” Adelman says. “The first year was just weeding people out. The second year, we had so many injuries. This year, we’ve made changes, and it looks better. It is better. But how much better can we be?”… “We’ve lost so many close games,” Adelman says. “We’re still within striking distance, but winning has to be a consistent theme. We’re getting better, but we haven’t gotten there yet.”… “We’re just not that good defensively,” Adelman says. “We’re more of an offensive team. We get to close games, and we’ve broken down at the end, not getting stops at the right time. “The other part of it, we’ve been up and down with our play with certain people. Kevin Love has been very consistent, and Pekovic has gotten better and better. But we need our perimeter people to be consistent offensively, and we just haven’t done it in close games. We’ve turned it over, we haven’t made shots when we needed to.”

• The contest between Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons on Wednesday was postponed, according to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The inclement weather that has wrecked havoc on metro-Atlanta caused the postponement of the NBA game between the Hawks and Pistons at Philips Arena Wednesday. The game will be rescheduled at a later date. The Hawks canceled Wednesday morning’s shootaround prior to the announcement of the postponement due to the weather conditions. The Pistons were never able to travel to Atlanta from Detroit following Tuesday’s home game against the Magic. The NBA requires teams to be in a road city the night before a game except under extreme conditions.”

• Kemba Walker may soon be returning to game action, according to Rick Bonnell of Charlotte Observer: “The biggest story at Charlotte Bobcats practice Tuesday was about a guy who won’t play against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. The way point guard Kemba Walker was moving around the Nuggets’ practice court, though, it shouldn’t be long. Quite possibly he’ll play on this four-game West Coast trip, perhaps even before the finale against the Golden State Warriors. Walker sprained his left ankle Jan. 18 against the Miami Heat. The injury was severe enough that he had to be carried off the court, but a diagnosis the next day put his recovery time at about two weeks.”
• Frank Vogel says Lance Stephenson is stealing rebounds away from Roy Hibbert, from Candace Buckner of Indystar:  “Sharing in basketball can be more than just teammates passing the ball. The frontcourt players for the Indiana Pacers often find themselves sharing space underneath the glass. There’s an anomaly on the Indiana roster. Guard Lance Stephenson (7.0 rebounds per game) averages almost as many boards as 7-2 center Roy Hibbert (7.8). Stephenson’s numbers have also trumped power forward David West (6.6 rebounds), but Pacers coach Frank Vogel explains this discrepancy. “Lance steals them all from Roy anyway,” Vogel said. “Roy is ready to get them and Lance comes in from the 3-point line off two feet. We all compete for the glass. We have all five guys on the defensive glass.”

• Damian Lillard was one of many chosen to play in the 2014 Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, according to Ben Goliver of SI: “The game is comprised of rookies and sophomores and held on All-Star Friday night. Lillard also was selected for the 2013 Rising Stars Challenge in Houston. He finished with 18 points (on 7-for-17 shooting), five assists, three rebounds and two steals. His post-game reaction is here. Lillard, 23, is averaging 20.6 points, 5.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds this season. He’s shooting 41.7 percent overall and 41.3 percent from deep. Here’s the full 2014 Rising Stars Challenge roster…

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