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Grant doesn't go quietly

by Terry Brown

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Also Below: Lebron Show draws mixed reviews | Peep Show

There's trouble in the Magic's kingdom, trouble apparently sparked by -- and based on -- misunderstandings, miscommunications and, depending on whom you believe, misquotations.

One thing that's perfectly clear is that Horace Grant is going out firing.

"The way it has been going with T-Mac and Doc, I don't know if it's going to last," Grant told Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune. "Doc keeps going behind T-Mac's back, and T-Mac doesn't like it. That's no way to relate to a player."

Thursday, the Orlando Magic, a team thin across the frontline, unexpectedly released Grant, a veteran power forward, for reasons unknown.

Today, Grant is giving his side of the story.

"I left the Lakers to come back and finish my career [with Orlando]," said Grant. "But for something like this to happen to me … I was going to retire after this season. To be treated like this, it's hard to understand. I don't know why I would deserve this."

Grant says it began with an article on ESPN.com's Page 2 by Charley Rosen, who earlier this season wrote a story detailing the supposed greediness of Laker shooting guard Kobe Bryant. This time, Rosen was examining the Magic's Tracy McGrady. The article contained a quote from an unnamed Magic player saying that, indeed, McGrady was not pulling his weight on the defensive end.

Tracy McGrady

Guard-Forward

Orlando Magic

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

21 30.3 6.5 4.6 .459 .829

Grant was quoted extensively in Rosen's story, and McGrady apparently assumed he had uttered the unattributed quote, as well. Grant not only denied making the statements but called McGrady, apologized for any misunderstanding and told the MVP favorite that he had seen Rosen talking extensively to Orlando head coach Doc Rivers.

"No offense to the guys," Grant told Smith, "but T-Mac has been doing everything. He has to score. If he's rebounding and playing defense, the scoring is not going to be there. With the Bulls, Michael [Jordan] had me and Scottie [Pippen], so he could score. T-Mac doesn't have that. We wouldn't be 12-11 if not for him. We probably would have about three wins. The coaching staff needs to realize they need to leave this kid alone and let him play."

But the story didn't end there, instead spilling over onto the team's flight from Chicago to Orlando on Tuesday night. And that's where things get fuzzy.

Grant tells Smith that he stood up and announced to the team that if anybody had something to say, they had better do it face to face. However, Peter Vescey of the New York Post has two sources who say it was McGrady who started things, confronting Grant over the unattributed comments.

Either way, Rivers got involved, and he and Grant went face to face in a heated exchange, with Grant allegedly accusing Rivers of ripping McGrady behind the star's back.

As soon as the plane landed, reports say, Rivers went directly to Orlando GM John Gabriel's home and demanded that Grant, who had just had surgery in September, be released.

"That was the last straw, absolutely," Rivers told Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.

"I didn't want the surgery in the first place," Grant said. "They told me to have it and they'd wait for me to be ready. If they had waited another month, I'd have been healthy and my knee stronger. If felt I could have helped."

But then came the phone call from Gabriel on Wednesday morning and the rest, they say, is history. Except that Jerry Brewer of the Orlando Sentinel says that it is only beginning.

"The biggest issue is team chemistry," writes Brewer this morning. "The players like each other and want this to work, but with [Grant] Hill being back and taking on such responsibility as the starting point guard now, some major shuffling and adjusting is going on. [Darrell] Armstrong has asked for the definition of his role and made a plea to have the ball in his hands more. Sometimes, the offense does not flow freely. Sometimes, the wrong player is taking the worst shot at the worst time."

So, to summarize, the problem is Rivers, McGrady, Hill, Armstrong andGrant. But only one of them is out of a job.

"It's a sad way for him to go out," an Orlando official told Vecsey. "But it got to a point where Horace became a negative force. When you're no longer a good teammate or a good soldier, there's no other option: you've got to go."

Big Mouth Costly For Grant

Peter Vecsey / New York Post

Grant: Magic act in trouble

Sam Smith / Chicago Tribune

Turmoil the biggest foil to Magic's season hopes

Jerry Brewer / Orlando Sentinel

Showdown in midair got ugly

Brian Schmitz / Orlando Sentinel

Rift between coach, Grant led to release

John Denton / Florida Today

Grant's remarks bother McGrady

John Denton / Florida Today

More to the story that left Grant out of job

Lydia Hinshaw / Daytona Beach News-Journal

Lebron Show draws mixed reviews

A day in the life of the most talented 17-year-old basketball player on the planet, as seen through the eyes of a million fans on national TV and a few writers, as well.

Scalped tickets went for $50 last night. Future pay-per-view is $7.95. They don't call him the King for nothing.

His name is LeBron James. But you knew that already. Here are three quick takes:

Mike Penner, L.A. Times: The Fighting Irish are on the fast break, the head-banded forward wearing No. 23 hits a teammate with a no-look behind-the-back pass, and [censored] Vitale is off and shrieking again: "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU SER-I-OUS?!? How many college guys or NBA guys can make that pass in transition?!?" Many of them, actually. Many more can do more than what the player on the receiving end of the pass did, which was miss the layup before he was fouled. "In the NBA, that's a jam for a dunk!" Vitale screams. "I got goose bumps watching that! That made me think of the Magic man! Are you kidding me?!?" ... Bill Walton is sitting next to Vitale. Jay Bilas and Andy Katz are courtside. ESPN2 is televising this game, live on Thursday night, to a national audience, prime time on the East Coast, giving a bunch of 16- and 17-year kids with knocking knees the Big Monday treatment. Are you serious? Are you serious? Are you ser-i-ous?

Laura Vescey, Baltimore Sun: Did he wear Nike or Adidas on those size-15 feet? It's very important, because one of those companies will win the right to pay LeBron James $20 million to endorse its product. (Just what we need. Another 18-year-old selling $150 sneakers to the world's youth.) Did he help or hurt his chance of being the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft? It's important, because the entire economy and competitive future of the Memphis Grizzlies (or some other downtrodden NBA franchise) is now riding on this "can't-miss" prospect. Did Shaq or Sir Air call the high school senior on one of his two cellular phones last night to say "good game" and, more importantly, recommend an agent? If Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson is "The Answer," then Ohio prep sensation LeBron James is "The Question." In fact, James is a string of uncomfortable questions, starting with: "Why?"

Terry Pluto, Akron Beacon Journal: When it was over, there was LeBron James on national television, telling everyone how he did it. Actually, how they did it. How his St. Vincent-St. Mary team dominated Oak Hill, 65-45, knocking off the nation's top-ranked high school team. That story is almost lost in all the cameras rolling, flashes popping, the crowd chanting. James did more than show an ESPN2 audience ... He did more than deliver some astounding no-look passes, some sensational rim-rattling slams, and some long-armed rebounds that he seemed to grab from somewhere beyond the moon . . . He did more than put 31 points, 13 rebounds and six assists ... He did more than put on a stunning performance in front of about 100 media members from across the country ... He led his team to the biggest victory in school history, taking apart an Oak Hill team with at least five players headed to NCAA Division I colleges and athletes from seven states on the roster. St. V-M is a private Catholic school. Oak Hill is a basketball finishing school in the mountains of Virginia that is a magnet for some of the country's top college players. It has sent a dozen athletes to the NBA.

LeBron James puts on a show; his team does, too

Terry Pluto / Akron Beacon-Journal

Appetite for TV high school game hard to digest

Laura Vecsey / Baltimore Sun

Live on ESPN2: X-Ploit Games

Mike Penner / Los Angeles Times

Peep Show

Celtics: Just to make sure, Paul Pierce underwent a CAT scan after being hammered to the floor in a game against the Phoenix Suns in which there was no foul called on the play. "He went to the dentist Wednesday night and started the root canal process," O'Brien said of the two teeth shattered in the incident. "They did a root canal. He's getting fit for a plate or whatever he's having done to repair his teeth." Pierce remains questionable for tonight's game.

Timberwolves: Wally Szczerbiak will just have to wait and see. "We're going in stages and this is back to Stage 1," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, stating that there is no timeline for his return. "We'll X-ray it again when he gets the boot off and hopefully the joint will show that the swelling is down and he can progress to running and working his way back." Szczerbiak, second on the team in scoring last year and this, has been able to play in only four of the team's first 23 because of re-occuring injuries to his left foot and little toe.

Heat: Eddie Jones has turned into a ball hog and the Miami Heat couldn't be happier. "He's here to shoot," forward Brian Grant said. "Other guys will get theirs in other areas." The often subdued guard was averaging a team high of 15.6 points per game but put up 33 in his last game and will need to continue to do so if the offensively impaired Heat are to win any more games this year. "I think they'll deal with it if I put up 30 shots," he said Thursday.

Nuggets: Maybe January. No later than February. But come [censored] or high water, Nugget big man Marcus Camby is going to make it back to the court and eventually play his first game in a Denver uniform since being traded from the New York Knicks. He was just cleared for llight jogging, court work and post up drills after having hip surgey earlier in the year. He has not played a regular-season NBA game since Feb 1, 2002. "I'm just a little sore," Camby told the Denver Post after practice.

Pacers: After so many games and so many shots, swingman Ron Artest is still going to have to re-learn how to put the ball in the basket after shooting 9-of-16 from three-point range to start the season and then 5-of-18 after. "I'm playing like a frog," Artest, who has fingers on both hands taped after having some of them broken and surgically repaired, said. "I've got web hands. I just have to get used to it." That's what happens when you steal that many balls and block that many shots on defense. "I'll just keep playing through it," he told the Indianapolis Star.

Nets: Dikembe Mutombo isn't going to the IR list quietly. He had surgery Dec. 5 and his wrist is in a cast that goes up to his elbow as many are voicing concerns that his precense on the court is slowing down the Nets. He is expected to be out 12 to 16 weeks. Mutombo is hoping sooner. "I've had a great career, you know?" he told the Newark Star-Ledger. "If I didn't know offense, what the [censored] kept going through the minds of all the coaches that I've played for to play me the way they played me -- even Larry Brown? For me to play all the way to the NBA Finals (with the Sixers in 2001), that means I was doing something right."

Pierce's status still in question

Gus Martins / Boston Herald

Wolves notes: Szczerbiak's return could be delayed again

Jerry Zgoda / Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Jones hoarding ball -- to Heat's delight

Gary Estwick / Miami Herald

Camby's return to court could include January games

Marc J. Spears / Denver Post

Artest struggles with injured fingers

Mark Montieth and Dave Lewandowski / Indianapolis Star

Mutombo takes shot at criticism

Colin Stephenson / Newark Star-Ledger