lynred

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6072001810.html LAS VEGAS, July 20 -- The pinch-yourself moment came early Thursday morning, at one of the strip's newest and most luxurious hotels. Antawn Jamison phoned Gilbert Arenas's suite and asked his teammate on the U.S. men's national basketball team to join him for breakfast. "Gil, you ready to eat?" "Yep, I'll meet you downstairs." After devouring a plate of eggs, turkey bacon, turkey sausage and a cup of Gatorade, Jamison looked around the breakfast table. He was not in Washington anymore. "Instead of Brendan Haywood and Jared Jeffries, you're eating with LeBron [James] and Shawn Marion," Jamison said. And Dwyane Wade, Chauncey Billups and Bruce Bowen, all of whom have won NBA championships. "I can't believe it," Arenas said, tugging on his No. 21 USA Basketball jersey after practice Thursday afternoon. "I get to go home with this. Even if they don't let me go home with it, I'm going to take it. For me and Antawn, this is big." Two practices down, and they still have this Wizards-in-wonderland look about them. Arenas and Jamison dribble basketballs around the Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus in awe, mostly because the idea of representing the United States in international competition -- having the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Dream Teamers such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan -- was impossible to comprehend for either player even three years ago. Jamison and Arenas were then known as chuckers for the Golden State Warriors, freelance gunners who cared more about numbers than wins, young players who lacked leadership skills and got lumped in with every crossover-dribbling kid who wanted to learn the tricks of the trade before he learned the trade. At the time, their games were emblematic of how others viewed their country's commitment to basketball. "Let's be honest: Other guys in the NBA that play for different countries, they think we're selfish," Jamison said. "They don't think we move the ball. They think they've caught up with us. We're taking that to heart this time." Some irony. More than James, Wade, Carmelo Anthony or any of the returning players from the 2004 Olympic team that was exposed and beaten three times in Athens, Arenas and Jamison represent the nation's changing fortunes in basketball. Two years together in Washington has altered their NBA legacies. They've both made at least one all-star team and have led the Wizards to the playoffs in consecutive seasons, a feat not accomplished by the franchise in 18 years. In that way, the tale of how two 20-point scorers on a lottery team end up trying out for maybe the most talented basketball team in a decade mirrors the redemption Team USA seeks. "They used to say, 'They're not winners, they're not leaders,' " Jamison said of how critics viewed him and Arenas early in their careers. "But I don't know. You have to believe if the perception of me and Gilbert can change, so can the perception of how people think about American basketball. That's what this is about now." Jamison is a huge long shot to join the travel team that will compete in Asia next month and try to recapture the world championships in Japan in early September. Though he has impressed Team USA Coach Mike Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo, the managing director for the men's senior national team -- and the two people who make the executive roster decisions -- it's unlikely that Jamison will make the cut from 24 to between 12 and 15 players. His skills and style are much like several other players selected to try out. Between Anthony, Marion and even Joe Johnson (Krzyzewski did not realize how good Johnson was until he witnessed the swingman in person) Jamison runs into a game of numbers. The fact that Anthony's college coach for one season, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, is one of Krzyzewski's assistants stacks the deck in Anthony's favor. "Compared to these guys, I'm not as much of a household name, I have to be honest about that," Jamison said. "But you come in this week and do some good things, it might change their mind. I'm going to do everything possible to make this team. I want to surprise a lot of people." Arenas, meanwhile, is a virtual shoo-in. Coaches and Team USA officials privately marveled during the team's first workout here Tuesday afternoon. Arenas was part of a defensive unit that included Marion, Kirk Hinrich and Bowen, defensive stalwarts who all rotate to the ball quickly and flail their spindly arms like long sleeves flapping in the wind on a clothesline. During a drill in which the defense applied full pressure in the half court, an offense of NBA superstars could not score let alone complete routine passes to the post and wing. The thinking is that when Arenas does not have to expend so much of his energy to create offensively, he has the speed and tenacity to be a much better defender than any NBA regular season in Washington will allow at the moment. "I took one shot yesterday" in practice, Arenas said. "We have so many scorers that I'm just trying to run the floor, pass the ball around, create for others and play tough defense. Other than that, we need spot-up shooters. I can play the Chauncey [billups] role that he has in Detroit. That's where they're going to need me. "I'll pressure the ball at full court. And if things break down, I can pull my range out so far that a lot of people can't leave me. That's what's going to help out this team." Arenas is taking special notice of how far his career has come the past two seasons. Especially from those early, losing days he and Jamison shared in the Bay Area. "You look at Antawn," Arenas said. "His best years, stat-wise, were at Golden State. He went from averaging 24, 25 to 23 to becoming a sixth-man award winner in Dallas. The next year, he joins us and becomes an all-star. Now he's here. It goes to show: It's not what you do, it's how you do it." He paused and smiled and clutched his No. 21 Team USA jersey again. "It's kind of funny two players from that Warrior team are here representing the U.S.," Arenas said. "I mean, I wouldn't have guessed it."

Quote: Why do you use dude in every post, dude? I call it like I see it. Shelden was a mistake. It would be nice if I was wrong and it wouldn't be the first time. But this pick was a huge stretch and we are seeing the signs of a 23 year old "ready" player not very ready. You can sugar coat this all you want...I couldn't care less. Even if he is proven to be a bust...some will never admit because there is some BK worship here that is really bizarre. Not trying to make excuses for Shelden, however, let's remember that, in addition to it being his first summer league, he is primarily a post player and it is generally acknowledged that post players have a much more difficult transition to the NBA than perimeter players like Roy and Foye, hence I think it is unfair to engage in comparative analysis at this point. Additionally, SL games are very similar to AAU competition in that it is very diffcult for inside players to shine, due to the lack of structure. As I recall, Andrew Bogut and Dwight Howard, two highly rated post players drafted in recent years, struggled in SL. You are certainly entitled to be disappointed in Shelden's SL start and his ability as a player, however, I think an HONEST skeptic should consider a larger sample of MEANINGFUL games before coming to a definitive conclusion of said players NBA career.

IMHO, the ruling limiting the team to 1 year contracts during the appeals process is really not necessary, considering the NBA already has an infrastructure in place to keep teams fiscally responsible --- namely the Salary and Luxury taxes. Why not just mandate that the Spirit stay under the cap? BK has consistently proven that he will not overspend, therefore, it should be a moot point from Belkin's view --- unless you want to run the franchise on the cheap. This just validates their claim of Belkin not wanting to spend to the cap :-(

Here are couple of interviews I found on 790's archive site that might be an interest: Marvin Williams: http://www.790thezone.com/vdVirtual/Interv...rview-1-739.mp3 Josh Smith: http://www.790thezone.com/vdVirtual/Interv...rview-1-740.mp3 Mike Woodson: http://www.790thezone.com/vdVirtual/Interv...rview-1-738.mp3 Shelden Williams: http://www.790thezone.com/vdVirtual/Interv...rview-1-742.mp3 Dominique Wilkins: http://www.790thezone.com/vdVirtual/Interv...rview-1-743.mp3

Read this article today: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...ht&lid=tab2pos1 Can't help but to think that this is what life might be like with Belkin in control :-( THIS GLASS IS EMPTY By Jason Whitlock Special to Page 2 You don't become the worst owner in professional sports overnight. It's a process. For David Glass, the owner of the Kansas City Royals, that process began in the decade before he took official ownership of the club, and it culminated a week ago today when Glass cemented his Charles Montgomery Burns legacy by overreacting to contentious questions posed during a news conference to introduce the Royals' new general manager/scapegoat, Dayton Moore. Two Kansas City sports radio reporters -- Rhonda Moss and Bob Fescoe, who have carved out niches baiting athletes, coaches and executives with condescending inquiries -- peppered Glass with questions about his decision to fire Allard Baird, the old Kansas City general manager/scapegoat. Glass wanted the day to be a celebration of his ability to hoodwink Moore, a hot GM prospect off the John Schuerholz tree, into being Glass' next pigeon. Fescoe and Moss saw the press conference -- Glass' first public media gathering since he announced in the Kansas City Star a month earlier his intentions to scapegoat (aka fire) Baird -- as an opportunity to publicly browbeat Glass for his reprehensible treatment of Baird. Rather than ask Moore meaningless questions about a management philosophy that Glass' cheapness and incompetence will undermine, Moss and Fescoe took turns probing Glass (and Glass' bumbling son/team president, Dan) about his cheapness and incompetence as it related to Baird. Glass grew visibly shaken and chippy in his retorts. And finally, emboldened by Fescoe's hypocritical radio boss's Thursday afternoon monologue lambasting Fescoe and Moss and sucking up to Glass, the worst owner in professional sports returned to his Wal-Mart roots a day later. Glass instructed his media relations staff to strip Fescoe and Moss of their credentials for the rest of the year. No one who remembers Glass' infamous 1992 performance on NBC's "Dateline" is all that surprised by Glass' petulant response. Yes sir, the man who as chairman of the board of directors of the Royals for seven years negotiated a sweetheart, $96 million sales price of the club for himself -- $24 million less than the other bidder -- has a history of reacting poorly to difficult public questions. As CEO of Wal-Mart and after being given two months to prepare, Glass stormed out of a "Dateline" interview when he couldn't find the proper words to explain Wal-Mart's "Made in America" and "Bring it Home to the USA" marketing campaigns after the show aired footage of Bangladeshi children working in sweatshops and making Wal-Mart clothes. David Glass is no overnight sensation. He's been cutting corners and making untold millions for years and years. Forbes magazine estimated Glass' yearly profits from the Royals at $20 million. Quite a handsome haul for a franchise that has averaged 97 losses and is well on its way to its fourth, 100-plus-loss season during David and Dan Glass' seven-year reign of terrible. With new Kauffman Stadium taxpayer-financed renovations on the way, the franchise will soon be valued at more than twice what Glass paid for it in 2000. Whatever Glass lacks in baseball and media savvy, he makes up for with cold, bottom-line business acumen. And I'm not all that sure Glass is short on media savvy. From his Bentonville, Ark., compound, Glass has played the Kansas City media like a baby grand piano. Before purchasing the Royals, he spent his seven years as chairman of the board convincing the local media that no one of any consequence wanted to buy the "small market" squad given baseball's economic inequities. Glass stiff-armed George Brett's attempt to purchase the club with virtually no local media backlash. Glass somehow cast himself as a white knight owner willing to save Kansas Citians from an out-of-town buyer who might move the team. He was never appropriately called out for building an upper-level management team that -- like their owner -- all maintained primary residences outside of the Kansas City area. We, the local media, ate up Glass' small-market rhetoric and told Kansas City sports fans that it was unreasonable to expect the Royals to field a contender when the Yankees and Red Sox could field teams with payrolls more than triple K.C.'s. The Royals were treated like a child born with a disability. Tough commentary, particularly about the city's Robin (the) Hood owner, was frowned upon. We were lucky to have an owner willing to instantly slash the budget of the scouting department, willing to compromise the draft by selecting players based on "signability," willing to begin each year with a promise of a youth movement and a self-defeating pledge of playing .500 ball and willing to pocket millions of dollars in profit. Damn lucky. A franchise that thrived in the '70s and '80s powered by owner Ewing Kauffman's passion for the club and the city was reduced to accepting the efforts of a half-assed owner who started every year with a half-baked plan to win half the club's games in hopes that half the stadium would be filled. But David Glass didn't hit rock bottom overnight and Baird wasn't the first scapegoat. He followed Herk Robinson and Hal McRae and Bob Boone and Tony Muser and Tony Pena and a half-dozen pitching and hitting coaches. The 2006 season isn't the first time the Royals committed to developing their young players while filling out lineup cards featuring 30-something has-beens. Reggie Sanders, Matt Stairs, Doug Mientkiewicz, Mark Grudzielanek and Tony Graffanino -- the building blocks for this year's disaster -- are legacies of a tradition started and carried on by has-beens/K.C. lineup staples such as Gary Gaetti, Jay Bell, Juan Gonzalez, Jose Lima, Benito Santiago, Bip Roberts, Jeff Conine, Wally Joyner, Vince Coleman, Greg Gagne, Mike Macfarlane, Chili Davis, Jeff King, Hal Morris, Terry Pendleton, Chad Kreuter, Rey Sanchez, David McCarty, Luis Alicea, Brent Mayne, Chuck Knoblauch, Desi Relaford and Emil Brown. Committing to youth while trying to meet ownership's mandate of a .500 finish does weird things to a GM's roster and vision. David Glass just does weird things as the owner of a professional sports franchise. Fescoe and Moss should be glad they're getting a break from witnessing, covering and detailing Glass' incompetence up close.

The one thing that stood out to me was J.J Redick - His wingspan (6'3.25) is SHORTER that his listed height (6'4.75)

What if JJ makes the All-Star game next year and years to come and the Phoenix pick turns out to be non-lottery?

Yeah --- it's the second night in a row the Hawks make the opposing teams's PG look like Tim Hardaway.

On DirecTV, Pax is avaliable on channel 14, so you should be able to see the games even if they are blacked out by League Pass.

I was looking at the roster on hawks.com and noticed that JJ, who's is entering his 5th NBA season, is only one calander year older than Salim! When you think about it, I think that's a great indicator of the potential growth that remains in JJ's game. A 6'7 230 G who can shoot, handle the rock, pass, is athletic and has a proven track record of success in the league is a very valuable asset REGARDLESS if he makes it at PG or not --- which I think he will. He is by no means a finished product and I don't think it's a stretch that he'll be a top 10-15 player very soon, showing himself to be very worthy of his max contract.

I found a really good Salim article this afternoon that I think most will find very informative. http://arizona.scout.com/2/364832.html

Hello, First time post but long time lurker. Just wondering, is anyone concerned about Deron's shooting ability? He's reputed to be a good shooter, however, after looking at the numbers, it doesn't seem to be the case: YR FG% FT% 3P% 2004-05 .433 .677 .364 2003-04 .408 .787 .394 2002-03 .425 .533 .354 Particularly disturbing is his FG and FT percentages. Also, the drop in his FT percentage from last season is signinficant. His FG perecentage was up from the previous year, however, 43 percent from the field, is in my opinion, still low for an elite PG that is considered by some on this board to be a top 3 pick. I realize that there's more to being a great point guard that shooting, however, it is a plus when your PG is also a legitimate threat as a shooter. In comparison, here are the numbers for the other top point guards that may be availiable: Chris Paul YR FG% FT% 3P% 2004-05 .451 .834 .474 2003-04 .496 .843 .465 Ray Felton YR FG% FT% 3P% 2004-05 .455 .701 .440 2003-04 .420 .810 .313 2002-03 .398 .693 .358 Jarrett Jack YR FG% FT% 3P% 2004-05 .514 .866 .442 2003-04 .456 .802 .316 2002-03 .455 .703 .283 Again, this is not a knock on Deron's overall game --- I think he is an outstanding player who has the ability to improve his shooting, however, there is, in my opinion, a misconception that he is a good shooter. His other skills, court vision, defense, size, etc. seem to be outstanding.