Daily Factoid: Phil Jackson has officially signed a new contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2009, Phil Jackson was the highest paid coach in the United States at 10.3 million and the fourth highest in the world behind Fabio Capello of the England football team at 12.9 million, Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid at 16.3 million, and Luiz Felipe Scolari of SE Palmeiras at 24.05 million.
- At the Hive – ‘Three Chris Paul Misconceptions’: “Chris Paul is ruining the NBA by demanding a trade. First of all, we don’t know if this ever happened. Second of all, even if it did, this is absolutely nothing new. Kareem Abdul Jabbar did it, Kobe Bryant did it, tons of people have done it. The corollary to this argument is that Chris Paul isn’t “honoring” his contract, like any self-respecting NBA player ought to do. This claim, too, is somewhat dubious. Even if he did request a trade (which, again, I don’t believe), he’s still given every indication that he’ll play hard come November. He hasn’t held out, and he hasn’t called out teammates or management publicly. Not having faith in the team’s direction and asking out is one thing; refusing to play/stringing a team out and bolting via a televised decision special is entirely another… New Orleans is pretty screwed, regardless. This notion may be the most pervasive. ESPN ranked the Hornets 23rd in their “Future Power Rankings” (right ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies and two spots behind the Golden State Warriors). There’s a sense that even if things remain settled for the remainder of the summer, Summer 2011 will certainly see the whole thing begin anew. Carmelo Anthony can opt out, the New York Knicks should once again have some cap space, and Chris Paul would presumably have more leverage.”
- Sun Sentinel – ‘Cavs, Raptors trade doubts for draft picks’: “Integrity clearly has its price in the NBA. It is why Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has gone silent since his vent the night LeBron James opted to join the Miami Heat. And it is why Toronto Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo should now do the same, in the wake of last week’s comments about Chris Bosh‘s free-agent departure to the Heat… But if the indignation is sincere, if the Cavaliers and Raptors truly believe there was some sort of before-the-fact chicanery involved, then why not take a stand? Why not show your fans that your franchise will not be trampled by those who you contend chose not to play by the rules? Why? Because the Cavaliers and Raptors sold out such righteous indignation for packages of draft choices. On the night that James and Bosh were being introduced at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Raptors and Cavaliers were finishing off arrangements with the Heat for sign-and-trade agreements. For the Raptors, the NBA’s version of an out-of-court settlement was two future first-round picks from the Heat. For the Cavaliers, it was two future first-rounders and two future second-rounders. Every team apparently has its price.”
- Julian Benbow – ‘It took a team effort to keep Celtics together’: “By and large, the Celtics look as they did two months ago, and they’re banking on the idea that the team that was good enough to make it to the Finals despite an obstacle-filled regular season will be just as good next season.”
- Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “If you’re looking for something that doesn’t make sense, it is the extreme double standard LRMR and James enjoy with the college and high school ranks. James is permitted to hold camps with high school and college players who will be pros in less than a year while at the same time he’s basically recruiting them to sign with his agency. At the July Nike camp in Akron that has all the top high school players and college stars acting as “counselors,” there are signs everywhere that agents aren’t allowed in the building. Even college coaches aren’t allowed there. But Maverick Carter, the head and chief recruiter for LRMR, is allowed to be there and have unchecked access to these players while James gives them free shoes and gets to know them and their families. Then nine months later his firm is trying to sign some of them to agent contracts. All of this while NCAA officials are literally sitting there in the stands supposedly monitoring that all the rules are followed.”
- Jason Quick – ‘Rich Cho’s recipe for improving the Trail Blazers: Research. Options. Input.’: “When he was an assistant general manager under Rick Sund in Seattle, Sund recalls many a time when he asked Cho about acquiring a player on another team. Shortly after, Cho would present him with as many as 10 options on how to acquire that player, each scenario complete with whether he wanted to use one, two or three players to make the acquisition, and the salary cap implications for each scenario. Research. Options. Input. It’s the Cho way…. Now, he wants to straighten the Blazers’ future onto a more accelerated upswing. He admits that his educational background — he earned degrees in engineering (Washington State) and law (Pepperdine) — has created an almost methodical and analytical approach to problem solving.”
- The Painted Area unveils volume one of a video tour featuring the top 25 plays in the 2010 Playoffs.
- A video of Derrick Rose showing off his new shooting form.
- ESPN – ‘Vuvuzelas banned for world basketball’: “Basketball’s governing body said Monday the horns that provided the earsplitting buzz at World Cup soccer games will be banned from its tournament. The organizers said vuvuzelas used indoors could damage hearing and make it difficult to communicate on court… The world championships begin Aug. 28 in four cities in Turkey. FIBA warned that the instruments will be confiscated by security and the ban will be enforced at all of its indoor tournaments, such as the women’s world championships this year. Anyone bringing a vuvuzela to a FIBA venue risks expulsion.”
- Basketball Reference – YouTube highlights of what some people consider to be the greatest individual performance in college hoops.
- NBA Playbook – An in-depth video analysis of Kevin Seraphin, the Washington Wizards’ newly signed rookie.
- Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld – ‘Von Wafer will cut your hair if it’ll keep him in the NBA’: ‘On Thursday, the Boston Celtics granted Wafer that opportunity by signing him to a one-year deal and he couldn’t be happier. ‘Oh man, I’m just excited to be part of the tradition… This organization probably has the richest tradition in the entire NBA and they’re winning right now. They’re coming off of a Finals appearance and it’s just exciting to have a chance to win it all and be a part of the whole atmosphere and situation that they have up there.’ While his role hasn’t been explicitly defined, he is expected to provide energy and scoring off of the bench. However, Wafer is going into the situation with an open mind and he’s ready to contribute in any way possible. ‘I’m just going to go in and try to learn all of the defensive schemes because I know that’s going to be big, depending on how much they utilize me. They haven’t told me a specific role but I’m willing to do anything they ask of me. If they need a cheerleader, that’s fine. If they need a water guy, I’ll be getting everybody water. If they need me knocking down open shots, I’ll do that too,’ he said.”
- Trey Kerby – ‘Hedo Turkoglu says ‘ no one wants to go to Toronto anymore”: ”‘People have to realize something is wrong with that organization and nobody wants to go there anymore,’ he said in a phone interview from Turkey. ‘It’s not just the players who see this… It’s funny that people will talk behind your back,’ Turkoglu said of Colangelo. ‘If he was feeling this way, why not have the guts to say it during the season? Why not say it to Chris? Now that Chris has left, it’s not nice to say those things… Chris has been a franchise player and he did a lot of good things for the Raptors. I don’t think Chris is the type of player to quit on his teammates. I just don’t understand why you would say these things,’ he added. ‘Like I said, that organization has problems.’”
- Kelly Dwyer – ‘Shaq, sorry, is not the most dominant player ever’: “You tend to forget how often this guy has let himself (to say nothing of his most ardent fans) down. You tend to forget how he’s betrayed his own gifts. How he sloughed off a chance at the mantle for a chance at a summer spent jet-skiing and carb-loading, or possibly working on that left hand. Or his face up game. Or his side-to-side defense. Or, ask your parents, his free throws. This isn’t to tell you that Shaquille O’Neal is the same unrefined talent that entered the NBA in 1992. I’d be way, way off in that ignorant re-telling. But he has coasted. He’s put in ungodly amounts of work, and dealt with physical frustrations that none of us will (thankfully) ever know. But he also stepped short of taking it to the next level. We can blame his physical makeup or the times or his injuries or whatever we want. But the fact remains that, due to his often-out of shape appearance and his refusal to take blame when the going got tough, Shaq was never the no-question top center of all time that he could have become.”
- SBNation – ‘The Bulls offseason: small-time, but smart’: “There’s a lot to like about these official (or as official as they get, anyway) numbers. Of Korver, Brewer, and Watson’s 3-year deals, only Korver has any guaranteed money that third season and it’s for a measly $500k. In a marketplace that often overspends for mid-level (often literally using the full ‘mid-level’) rotation players the Bulls secured these players in very reasonable contracts that should be moveable especially in the year before their waive-by date… Looking at the way these deals are structured: nearly all of the contracts are front-loaded in that first season. The Bulls have done this before with the Nocioni and Hinrich deals (and it sort of backfired when dealing with the luxury tax) but it’s very curious that they’d do so in an offseason where they were trying to be as far under the cap as possible. An opportunity that they’d not only tanked a season-plus to secure, but one they likely won’t see again anytime soon with Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose up for heavy raises starting next year. And those raises mean everything when speculating on the Bulls logic in the way they set up these contracts. After failing at any of the top three big gets, they snatched up Boozer and structured their remaining salaries so they could better afford to pay Rose and Noah in the future. While it’s certainly debateable that another major strike could’ve been had this offseason anyway, the Bulls didn’t even give themselves a chance to do so, as I think they decided before even exploring all options that they weren’t going to add another major-salaried player to go with Boozer, Deng, Rose and Noah. So that’s why they front-load and forfeited present flexibility to achieve ‘long-term’ flexibility, a strategy that has no guarantee to acquire more talent in the future, but merely helps them keep the talent they have.”
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