Marcin Gortat may add to the list of injured Wizards players: “Gortat wasn’t feeling soreness in his back before the game and thought he would get it loose during his pregame warm-ups. But he made it worse when he stretched out for dunk and felt a jolt in his back. “I pulled all the way to the end and I couldn’t move it, so, I had kind of had like a block in my back, I guess a back spasm,” Gortat said. “I’ll be back. It’s not a big deal. Just got to get a few exercises. Get a few treatments and I’ll be back.””
Amar’e Stoudemire would like to win championships and retire a Knick: “Reflecting on the past four years, the first year really stands out. It was all so much excitement that I had never felt before—playing the games and Raymond Felton picking the pick-and-rolls apart and throwing alley-oops, and then the behind-the-back passes and celebrations after the play, and then going out to dinner and having a good time with my teammates and my family and friends. Sometimes after a home win, we’d start off a dinner with four of us at a restaurant where I knew the owner, and by the time dinner was served, we’d be at a table with 20 celebrity actors and actresses. I mean, it was just incredible, and then we’d do it all over again and all over again. I also went to fashion shows and then Broadway shows. I mean, there was just so much excitement and I want that to continue in New York. I want to get back to those winning ways—to having so much fun, and for the fans. Once we get back to that then we’ll be on our way. I think despite all of the changes we’ve made through the years, we’ve happened to make the playoffs every year, which was the goal when I first got here. I think the near future is very bright because we have a great nucleus with Tyson and Carmelo and myself, and now Phil Jackson. Those are all highlights that manifested from me signing here in 2010, when I came here to help the Knicks win. That’s why I don’t want to leave. I want to be here for the long haul and do whatever it takes to win, so whatever sacrifices I have to make, I will be willing to make them.”
Tony Parker is set to become president of the French team Asvel: “Parker, who served as the team’s Vice President of Basketball Operations, will take the helm of the team in May where he will become the club’s President after acquiring a majority of the shares. “I decided to buy the whole club. Now I’m the majority shareholder and from the end of May I will be president of the Asvel “said Parker. Parker, who played with the team during the 2011 NBA lockout, invested in ASVEL in 2009 and has dreams of making the franchise bigger and better considering this is the “golden age” of French basketball after Team France captured gold at the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket tournament. “I started to have a real history with this club, I am involved in the City of Lyon, with my foundation, my basketball camps. I told myself that if I wanted to apply my vision, my philosophy, inspire me that I know the Spurs to only one benefits Asvel up there I had to be president to impose it all.””
Ricky Rubio is working to add a floater to his game: “Rubio has struggled to score around the basket all season, but he attacked aggressively from the beginning of Wednesday’s 123-122 overtime victory over the Mavericks. Included in his repertoire was that a seldom-seen running floater used to counter approaching shot blockers. “He definitely has to develop that shot,” Adelman said. “He has to learn how to get shots off when he gets into that area because when their big guys are there, he has to get over them. [San Antonio point guard] Tony Parker developed that shot and it makes him so difficult to guard. We’ve worked on that with him, but it’s got to come in the games. It’s got to translate into the games.” Rubio said he has studied Parker’s shot, and he is working on his own. “It’s something I want to add to my game,” Rubio said. “But I want to work on a lot of things. It’s something that’s going to help me finish better when there are shot blockers. I want to work on every single aspect of my game, so sometimes it’s hard to do everything at once. I’m just adding piece by piece.”
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.