SH Blog: Scouts critical of Rondo, Irving and Rubio, D’Antoni not happy with Gasol’s public criticism

• Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce shared their thoughts about losing by more than 40 points to the Portland Trail Blazers, from Stefan Bondy of the Daily News: “It’s late in the g–damn season to be playing like this,” Garnett said after finishing with six points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes. “We need to play better. Hold people accountable.” Pierce, who had just six points in 24 minutes, doubled down on those comments, ripping into the team’s focus. “When we lose like this it’s a complete lack of focus. There’s no way we should be losing by 40 to any NBA team with the guys we got,” he said. “I’ve got to say it’s a complete lack of focus. That’s all I have to say. We just didn’t show up.”… “We could be playing the Eastern Conference All-Stars. We shouldn’t lose by 40,” Pierce said. “Regardless of who is out there, even if they have their best player. So I don’t know if it’s one of those nights. But at this point in the season – the second half of the season, there’s only so many games left. There’s no way we should come out and play this way.”

• Tyson Chandler says this season has been the biggest challenge of his career, from Adam Figman of SLAMOnline: “SLAM: People always talk about how intense the media is in New York City, but you’re pretty good at handling it. How do you avoid letting the media drive you crazy? TC: I don’t pay attention to it. I don’t read any articles that come out, whether they’re good or bad. That way, I never let it distract me. A lot of times you can get consumed with the writers and blogs and media and what they put out about you, but if you don’t know what they put out, it’s not really affecting you. I try to approach them day to day as men and women in the locker room, but other than that, I don’t really know what they put out, and honestly, I couldn’t really care less… SLAM: Has this season been the biggest challenge you’ve experienced during your NBA career? TC: Yeah, it’s definitely tested not only my basketball abilities, but also my character and leadership qualities, because it has been a tough one. But this is one that I feel like I can get my guys through.”

• Carmelo Anthony weighed in on what he’s going to do about free agency in the upcoming summer, from Frank Isola of Daily News: “Carmelo says the way the Knicks season has unfolded – on and off the court – will weigh into his free agent decision. Carmelo on this season factoring into his free agent decision: “A lot of things are going to be thought about when that time comes… Melo: “Off the court, on the court, just a lot of things going to have to be put all on the table.” Knicks picked a bad year to be bad. I believe Carmelo wants to stay a Knick but knows it will be tough to stick with the “My only goal is to win a championship” narrative.”

• It appears Danny Granger is destined to land with the Los Angeles Clippers, from Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN: “The Los Angeles Clippers met with the representatives of swingman Danny Granger during Wednesday night’s game against the Houston Rockets and have nudged ahead of the San Antonio Spurs in the race for Granger’s services, according to sources close to the process. The Clippers are widely regarded as the team best positioned to provide Granger the playing time and the championship contention he craves. And they’ve stepped up their pursuit of the former All-Star, sources told ESPN.com, at least partly due to growing concern within the organization about the status of guard J.J. Redick, who has missed the past nine games and is out indefinitely with a back injury. To potentially further increase L.A.’s need for another front-line player at the wing positions,Jamal Crawford left Wednesday’s win over the Rockets with a calf injury. Crawford has been starting in place of Redick and has played a huge part — alongside star forward Blake Griffin– in keeping the Clippers among the West’s top four teams while star guard Chris Paul was out with a separated shoulder.”

• UPDATE: Granger has, indeed, agreed to deal with the Clippers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “Free agent Danny Granger informed Doc Rivers tonight that he will sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.”

• Chris Bosh would be okay with the idea of the NBA picking up on what the NFL may do about players using the N-word, from Jason Lieser of Palm Beach Post: “As the NFL examines the possibility of penalizing players for using the N-word, the conversation has spilled into other sports. Chris Bosh was asked about it after this morning’s Heat practice and would be fine with his league exploring a similar rule. “I’m OK with penalties, but then it gets tricky,” he said. “What if I say this? There’s a bunch of things I could say and not get a penalty. If you’re gonna bring one thing in, you gotta put them all in the hat. That’ll work out a lot better.” In other words, a slur against African-Americans should not be treated differently than other slurs. “If that’s the case they should ban all slur words,” he said.”

• According to Tim Bontemps of New York Post, the Nets are likely to sign Jason Collins for the rest of the season: “In his second game with the Nets, Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in major American sports, received a few more minutes against the Blazers. After sitting for the first three quarters, Collins came in to begin the fourth and played just over seven minutes, with his lone contribution on the stat line being one shot attempt that got blocked. “Game action is game action,” Collins said afterward. “But tonight, Portland attacked from the start, and it was hard to try to get back into the game.” Collins’ 10-day contract expires early next week, but the Nets are all but certain to keep him for the rest of the season.”

• Pau Gasol spoke freely about disliking some of the team’s philosophies on Tuesday, and Mike D’Antoni was less than pleased, from Mark Medina of Daily News: “The thing I don’t appreciate is, I think every coach, you keep it in house,” D’Antoni said. “It’s very easy to come over and talk about your frustrations. We’ll try to work something out and figure something out. To go to you guys and do it in the papers, that’s disturbing. I don’t think that’s the way to go. I understand we’re all trying to solve the same problems. So let’s put our head together and do the best we can.”… “When the ball doesn’t share, then your numbers go down and you get frustrated,” D’Antoni said. “The place to do it is in the dressing room among us. We have good guys that will listen and try to get better. That’s all we try to do. Why we open it up to you guys? With all due respect, that I don’t understand.”

• D’Antoni also doesn’t understand why Gasol would say the team lacks discipline: “I have no idea what he’s talking about,” D’Antoni said. “I don’t know what that has to do with discipline. It has to do with guys trying too hard and guys not really understanding the system totally and not getting ingrained into it.” D’Antoni wasn’t finished. “We want to establish our identity. This is how we want to play and we’re going to get better at it, push the ball and evaluate talent and get better at it,” D’Antoni said. “It’s frustrating to some players. Obviously if you lose playing one way, then (you argue) just play the other way. Well, you can get killed the other way. We go by numbers and feel. We want to establish an identity and not be all over the board every night. Changing something up and matching up with other teams, you don’t want to do that.”LOOKING FOR LAKERS TICKETS? LOOK NO FURTHER.

• Many teams are in pursuit of Caron Butler, but two dominant teams are the favorites to land the veteran guard, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “The Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat have emerged as frontrunners to sign forward Caron Butler, league sources told Yahoo Sports. After securing a contract buyout from the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday morning, Butler is expected to clear waivers and become a free agent. San Antonio and Chicago are in pursuit and plan to make pitches for Butler too, league sources said. The fact that Oklahoma City stopped pursuing Danny Granger has led many in the NBA to believe the Thunder are confident in their recruitment of Butler. The acquisition of Butler, who earned All-Star honors in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, could be a tremendous boost to the Thunder and Heat’s pursuit of an NBA championship. Despite initial reports that Butler was destined to sign with Miami, Oklahoma City has a strong chance to land Butler, sources told Yahoo Sports.”

• Marc Stein of ESPN has the latest on the status of Jimmer Fredette: “The Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers are the latest teams to register interest in free agent-to-be Jimmer Fredette, according to sources close to the process. Fredette has spent the week in buyout negotiations with the Sacramento Kings that are on course to be completed in advance of the league’s Saturday midnight ET deadline to make the former BYU star eligible to appear in the playoffs with another team. The buyout could be finalized as soon as Thursday, sources said. His representatives have begun talks with interested teams, with one source saying the third-year shooting guard is giving strong consideration to signing with a contender in the East… The Bulls have been handcuffed all season by luxury-tax concerns but, according to sources, quickly threw themselves into the Fredette mix after it became apparent this week that the sharpshooter would be parting company with Sacramento.”

• David K. Li of New York Post is reporting that law enforcement sources are saying Raymond Felton cheated on his wife multiple times: “Knicks point guard Raymond Felton might be in a slump on the basketball court, but he’s a high-scorer in the bedroom, law enforcement sources told The Post on Wednesday. Estranged wife Ariane Raymondo-Felton told cops that the hoops star was a serial cheater, carrying on with more than one mistress during their 19-month marriage, which is now headed for divorce, sources said. “[Felton’s wife said] he was constantly cheating” with multiple women, a law enforcement source said… The gorgeous, 24-year-old brunette made that revelation Tuesday night after she and her lawyers delivered Felton’s unregistered semiautomatic handgun loaded – with armor piercing bullets – to investigators at Manhattan’s 20th Precinct stationhouse.”

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