The NBA season has finally begun, and there are plenty of things to read up on. Is Rudy Gay going to be traded this season? How did teams try to convince Dwight Howard that going to Houston would be a bad idea? Is Ty Lawson the right player to run Brian Shaw’s big-man oriented offense? The answer to these questions and plenty more can be found below.
STORY OF THE DAY:
As the new general manager of the team, Masai Ujiri moved Andrea Bargnani over the summer. His next target to move may be Rudy Gay. At the very least, the discussion has been had, according to Bruce Arthur of National Post:
He has been less active in Toronto, so far. Sources say he has talked about moving Rudy Gay, but he has been patient. He dealt Andrea Bargnani, built a bench that may double as a self-destruct button, and prepared.
“I can control preparing,” Ujiri says. “What are the things that you can get better at, and that you can control? I can try to get our fans rattled up to create an atmosphere here. We can try to develop our players more, to give them good options, get better in the summer, we can control that in some kind of way. We can absolutely control who we draft.
“And you can’t let anything slip in that circumstance. Culture. We can’t have unnecessary issues that taint the culture of our team, or perception of our team. We have to slowly chip away.”
WORTH WATCHING:
The legendary Allen Iverson, also known these days as “the toughest player, pound for pound”, officially retired on Wednesday. Watch this video to see him cover a variety of topics, including what Aaron McKie and Michael Jordan meant to him, if he regrets his “practice” rant, how he didn’t understand the game of basketball and more:
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This is what I decided to do.”
Dwight Howard made his debut with the Houston Rockets in a triumphant way with 17 points and a career-high tying 26 rebounds on Wednesday. Afterwards, it finally hit him that this is the path he has chosen for his career over the next four seasons, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
“When I stood there and looked around, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got an amazing opportunity here, and I’m not going to let it go to waste,” Howard told Yahoo Sports late Wednesday in a quiet corner of the locker room.
“It hit me there: This is what I chose. This is what I decided to do.”
He smiled a knowing smile, nodded and repeated himself.
“I’m not going to let it go to waste,” Howard said.
“I wanted to get 30 rebounds,” Howard said. “I was upset I didn’t do it.”
Howard and Omer Asik started alongside each other and grabbed a total of 40 rebounds, three more than what the Charlotte Bobcats managed to grab as a team.
LOOKING FOR HOUSTON ROCKETS TICKETS? LOOK NO FURTHER.
NOTABLES FROM WEDNESDAY:
– Michael Carter-Williams, obviously, and the shocking 114-110 victory for the Philadelphia 76ers over the Miami Heat.
– After an impressive showing against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, the Lakers got completely demolished by the Golden State Warriors 125-94. Klay Thompson scored a career-high 38 points on 15-of-19 shooting in just 31 minutes of action.
– Miles Plumlee was impressive in his debut as a starter with 18 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Eric Bledsoe also had a nice overall game with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists in his debut as the go-to guy for the Phoenix Suns. Last but not least, Goran Dragic showed that he and Bledsoe can co-exist, scoring 26 points while dishing out nine assists.
– All that talk of spacing issues for the Detroit Pistons? You can squash it, at least for one day. Josh Smith attempted seven three-pointers and knocked down three of them. Chauncey Billups also proved that he still has game, scoring 16 points, including four-of-five shooting from beyond the arc. Andre Drummond had 12 points on six-of-seven shooting, while Greg Monroe ended up with 24 points and 16 rebounds.
– As expected, Patrick Beverley started over Jeremy Lin against the Charlotte Bobcats. His defense is exceptional, but with James Harden as the only reliable play-maker in the starting lineup, the offense looked stagnant. Beverley ended up leaving the game with a rib injury, which meant Lin took over again at the point. With Howard and Asik manning the frontcourt defensively, should defense be a further priority than more creativity on the offense end?
– After so much uncertainty surrounding the status of Andrew Bynum, the center came out of nowhere and played on Wednesday – his first time seeing game action in over a year – to provide some valuable minutes in the opener against the Brooklyn Nets.
OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE: