James Harden says money was the primary issue behind why he’s no longer with Oklahoma City Thunder, from Dan Favale of Bleacher Report: “I felt like I already made a sacrifice coming off the bench and doing whatever it takes to help the team, and they weren’t willing to help me,” Harden said. To reiterate the point, Harden was asked if he would still be with the Thunder if money wasn’t an issue. “Definitely,” he said. “Definitely. No question.”… Leaving Oklahoma City was necessary. It had to happen. As painful and unexpected as it was, there was no way for Harden to get both the money he was worth and role he deserved. “Yeah, I did,” Harden told Storm of his belief that he would never leave Oklahoma City. “I thought we were going to be together forever. Russell Westbrook. James Harden. Kevin Durant.”
- Phil Jackson’s first move in the front office is the acquisition of Lamar Odom, from Adi Joseph of USA Today: “Lamar Odom has a job again, if only briefly. The New York Knicks signed the veteran forward, announcing the deal 45 minutes before tipping off their season finale against the Toronto Raptors. Odom, a New York native, has not played this season after a tabloid fodder-filled offseason, including a no-contest plea to a driving under the influence charge. The contract covers the rest of this season and a non-guaranteed deal for next season. a person with knowledge of the contract told USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the non-guaranteed deal for next season has not been made public.”
Jerry West blamed the Warriors players for performing poorly at times this season, from Irv Soonachan of SlamONLINE: “SLAM: As somebody who built championship teams, how do you feel about where the Warriors are in their development?JW: We have a very good team. We’ve had some crazy injuries that have detracted from us getting to where we want to be. You don’t want to limp into the Playoffs. It’s been a good year but I think all of us would have liked it to be better. We have a respectable team, a team that can get better, and a team that needs to take another quantum step in terms of playing at a higher level every night. We’ve seen that our effort is usually fantastic against the good teams. Against teams you would think we have a reasonably good chance to beat, sometimes you shake your head and say, “We didn’t come to play tonight.” Frankly, that’s on the players. This is a profession. You get paid an awful lot of money to do it, and coaches can’t deliver some kind of speech every night. It’s on the players.”
- Gary Payton apparently isn’t much of a fan of Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook playing the point guard position, from Favale of Bleacher Report: “You got shooting guards now that’s playing point guard,” he said. “Steph Curry, Westbrook—all them. They own that.” Is that A-OK with you, Gary? Apparently not. “But you know what? I’m the Hall of Famer, so you gotta ride with that,” he reminded us. “They don’t work with me. When they get to my level, then they can talk to me.”… “There’s only one or two or three [real point guards],” he explained. “I say Tony Parker, Rondo and Chris Paul. They’re the only three true point guards.” If only the true-point-guard love fest stopped there. It didn’t. “Chris Paul is the No. 1 point guard in the NBA right now,” Payton said.”
Tyson Chandler never felt quite right about this season for the Knicks, from Al Iannazzone of Newsday: “”It never felt right,” Chandler said before the Knicks played the Nets Tuesday night. “In all honesty, it never felt right throughout the season. We had some bright spots but never where we were on the level that we should have been.”… “I definitely don’t want to waste any seasons,” Chandler said. “Your time is too short in this league, and I want to win a championship, another one.”Chandler was asked what he would do if the Knicks are more concerned with the 2015 offseason than the 2014-15 season. “I’ll cross that bridge when it gets to that point,” he said. “I hope that it’s not that situation.”… Jackson will determine that, as well whether he believes Chandler is the kind of center he wants for the triangle offense the Knicks will run next season. Chandler knows the offense, having played in the triangle under Tim Floyd and Bill Cartwright in Chicago when he first came into the league. “It probably was like a square because Phil wasn’t there,” Chandler said. “It didn’t work out well. We didn’t have the type of talent that Phil had when he was with Chicago.”
- J.R. Smith thinks Carmelo Anthony will stick around in New York beyond this season, from Ian Begley of ESPN NY: “Here’s what the New York Knicks shooting guard had to say about Anthony’s pending free agency: “In my heart, I believe he’ll still be here. It’s just a matter of him coming up with that decision. Whatever it is, we’re still going to be friends ’til our dying days, so I mean, whether he’s on my team or he isn’t, I still love him like a brother.” Asked if he was “worried” that he’d played his last game with Anthony, Smith replied, “No, not really.”
- According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Milwaukee Bucks have been sold: “ESPN has learned Bucks owner Herb Kohl will announce sale of the team later today to Wesley Edens & Marc Lasry for price of $550 milllion. Kohl made keeping team in Milwaukee a condition of the sale to the hedge-fund billionaires, whose purchase now subject to league approval.”
Nick Young believes he deserves more than what he is earning now with the Lakers, from Mark Medina of Daily News: “Young said he “pretty much” will opt out of his $1.2 million player option in an appearance Tuesday on 710 ESPN Radio in hopes of securing a longer and more lucrative deal here. “I believe I deserve more,” said Young, who averaged a team-leading 17.9 points on 43.4 percent shooting primarily as a backup. “Coming back home means the world to me. It would be a blessing to be able to stay here. But I believe I came here and prove I deserve a little more. They’ve been disrespecting Swaggy P.”… “I believe I can do the other things a little bit well,” Young said. “Everything gets overshadowed by how I play on the offensive end. Once you come int this league, you get labeled a little bit. I get labeled a s a shoot first type of player. Kobe [Bryant] said go and run with it. They put you on the floor and know what you’re going to do. “I think I fit in very well. I can stick to my routine coming off the bench and be the scoring threat off the bench,” Young said. “They need a sub sometimes. Kobe needs to come off the game sometimes.”
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.
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