World B. Free...

Unhappy camper…Nuggets suspended SG Voshon Lenard Thursday for one game without pay for conduct detrimental to the team. Lenard will miss the Nuggets' game tonight at Phoenix. "This is an internal matter that we have dealt with in-house," Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said in a statement. "Behavior detrimental to the positive team focus will not be tolerated."

Former University of Michigan, Dallas Mavs PF and resident coke-head Roy Tarpley has signed with the CBA's Michigan Mayhem. Tarpley is 6-11 and turned 41 years old last week. He was drafted with the No. 7 pick by the Mavericks in 1986. Tarpley played for the Mavs from 1986-90 before being barred from the league for repeated substance abuse violations. He returned to Dallas for the 1994-95 season, and compiled career averages of 12.6 points and 10.0 rebounds.

Ouch…Suns PF Brian Grant is getting arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and will likely be out for three months. Suns team doctor Thomas Carter will perform the operation Friday to clean out any calcification in the tendon of the knee and any floating bodies within the joint.In nine games for the Suns this season, Grant averaged 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds.

Stud…Nevada junior PF Nick Fazekas had a career-high 35 points in the 20th-ranked Wolfpack's 72-70 victory over Kansas on last night.

1) Chad Ford of ESPN.com with his NBA draft update:

Draft roundup: Aldridge new No. 1posted:

After two weeks of great basketball, it's time to do our first comprehensive update of the Top 100. Who's No. 1? One week after the Maui Invitational, a number of NBA scouts and executives who spent last week in Maui are conceding that they might have been at the wrong tournament. While NBA scouts got to see top prospects like Rudy Gay, Adam Morrison and Ronnie Brewer perform, a challenger to become the No. 1 pick in the 2006 NBA draft was wowing folks in Kansas City at the Guardians Classic. Texas forward LaMarcus Aldridge has been so good in the first six games of the season that a number of NBA scouts and executives that I talked to now have him rated as the No. 1 prospect on their boards. We had Aldridge ranked as the fifth-best prospect in the draft on our preseason big board, based mainly on potential. Aldridge has lived up to that projection and them some in November. He's averaging 18.8 ppg and 11.5 rpg and shooting a whopping 67 percent from the field. Scouts are raving about his improved body, his newfound tenacity in the paint and the aggression that he's shown so far. Scouts already knew that he had size, athleticism, and quickness, plus a nice perimeter game and an amazing set of fundamentals. But they wondered if he would be tough enough to make the transition to the four. The answer, at least at these early stages, is yes. If that continues to be the case, he'll seriously challenge Gay as the top prospect for the draft. After consulting with a number of NBA scouts and executives, I've moved him into the No. 1 spot of my Top 100, with Gay coming in a close second. High riser: Memphis freshman forward Shawne Williams got the cold shoulder from the NBA when he declared for the draft last season straight out of prep school. Now, NBA folks are warming quickly to his game. While there have been several impressive NCAA freshmen, including North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough and Kansas guard Brandon Rush, Williams is getting most of the attention. Scouts loved his size, athleticism, versatility and shooting touch coming out of prep school. They just didn't believe he was anywhere near ready to take over the game. He's proved them wrong so far, leading a Memphis team with two other first-round prospects in scoring. He dropped 26 points on UCLA and then had an impressive 15 and eight versus Duke. We've moved Williams up all the way to No. 19 on our draft board. If he continues to play this well, the lottery isn't out of the question. He has all the physical tools to be an excellent NBA prospect. College kids: Kentucky point guard Rajon Rondo continues to impress scouts. He's shooting 50 percent from 3-point land (7-for-14) and a little better from inside the arc (22-for-43) and averaging a whopping 10.8 rpg for Kentucky in its first six games. Duke's J.J. Redick impressed scouts last week with how he had diversified his offense. He was no longer just jacking up 3s and jumpers. He was aggressive putting the ball on the floor and found ways to get to the rim. However, his rebound and assist totals have been awful and his defensive effort hasn't been quite as strong as it's been in years past. A couple of GMs believe Redick will be a lottery pick by the end of the year if he keeps playing the way he has, but more think he'll slip into the late first round or early second once scouts get a closer look at him in workouts. If Michigan State center Paul Davis continues to dominate on the glass and in the paint, he may finally work his stock up into the late lottery. After an impressive run in Maui, he dropped 30 and 17 on IPFW and 22 and 7 on Georgia Tech this week. It looks like Miami's Guillermo Diaz is trying to do his best impersonation of a point guard in an effort to boost his stock. He's assist total is up to 4.1 per game and his shots are down. But he was badly outplayed by Temple's Mardy Collins in a loss last week. Indiana power forward Marco Killingsworth had NBA scouts buzzing Thursday morning after he dominated Duke's Shelden Williams Wednesday night. Killingsworth had 34 points and 10 rebounds against Duke, upping his season averages to 23.5 ppg and 9.8 rpg, with 69 percent shooting from the field. Killingsworth's great play this season should help his draft stock, but what will help more is a favorable measurement at a combine. Instead of his listed height of 6-foot-8, scouts believe Killingsworth is closer to 6-6 or 6-7, which is considered a little short to be a starting power forward in the pros. While Killingsworth does have some perimeter skills that might allow him to make the transition to the three in the pros, his real value is his tenacity in the paint. Iowa State guard Curtis Stinson is off to a tremendous start. A few scouts looked at Stinson as a possible late first rounder last season because of his ability to score and distribute the ball. He's been even better this season. He's averaging 19.6 ppg, 5.2 apg and 4.2 rpg and shooting 44 percent from 3-point range in the first five games for Iowa State. And his turnovers are down to a respectable 2.2 per game. International men of mystery: Spain's Rudy Fernandez didn't get a lot of love from NBA scouts last season after a failed workout at the Chicago pre-draft camp, but he's all the rage overseas this year. The shooting guard is averaging 16.9 ppg and knocking down 47 percent of his 3-pointers in his first nine games for DK Joventut. With the ACB league in Spain widely considered the best in Europe, that's pretty impressive for a 20-year-old. Scouts still wish that Fernandez would put on more muscle, but they said the same thing about Manu Ginobili for years. Speaking of skinny two guards who can light it up, Marco Bellinelli of Italy is also having a breakout year for Euroleague power Climamio Bologna. Bellinelli is averaging 16.7 ppg while shooting 62 percent (13-for-22) from beyond the arc in Euroleague competition. We've moved him all the way up to No. 27 in our Top 100 this week. Another sharp-shooting international prospect is Croatia's Damir Markota. The 6-11 Markota is just 19 and very athletic, and he's averaging 12.2 ppg and 5.5 rpg and shooting a blistering 77 percent on 3s. International scouts have always loved his talent, but have been scared away with epic stories about his immaturity. Now that Markota seems to be serious about playing ball, his stock could easily rise into the first round this season. He's fallen … can he get up? Texas is a team of extremes at the moment. NBA scouts are running to get on LaMarcus Aldridge's bandwagon while moving quickly to hop off point guard Daniel Gibson's. Gibson has been awful early for Texas. To date he's averaging 10.3 ppg, shooting 34 percent from the field and handing out just 1.2 assists for every turnover. Scouts were never totally convinced that he was a pass-first point guard. He wasn't last season, but given all of Texas' troubles, the thinking was that Gibson had to play the way he did. His play early in the season has revived concerns about his point guard instincts. With great players like Aldridge and P.J. Tucker healthy, why can't he get them the ball? In fact, in the Guardians Classic, the only time Gibson really thrived was when he moved over to play two guard. He's getting a rep as a selfish player, something no young point guard wants at this stage of the game. But don't give up on Gibson just yet. He's young and could still work his way into the role of a point guard. Even if he doesn't, given his size, athleticism and great perimeter shot, Gibson could become a Ben Gordon-type player in the league.

2) From the AP, the Cavs honour one of their few greats:

"I look at the names up there and I say to myself, 'It would be an honor to be in the rafters with them,' " World B. Free said of the Cavaliers' retired numbers Wednesday. A scoring machine who viewed every jump shot makable, Free was honored during halftime ceremonies by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he helped revive in the 1980s. "It feels just great to be back," said Free, 51, who left town in 1986 after four seasons of flamboyant play decades ahead of its time. "The fans here are No. 1 on my list." Resplendent in a black-and-white pinstripe suit with matching tie, handkerchief and two-tone shoes, Free shared greetings with many current Cavaliers and general manager Danny Ferry, who cracked, "I've got a pink suit just like that one, World." With an offensive game that had no boundaries and an equally carefree personality, Free helped rescue Cleveland's franchise when he arrived in 1982 as a free agent. "When I left Golden State, my teammates said, 'Good luck in Death Valley,' " Free recalled. "That's what they called it. They said, 'Cleveland hasn't won a game since you had hair.' "I told them to watch out, because I'm going to have a whole Afro." In 275 career games for Cleveland, Free averaged 23 points, 3.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds. He led the Cavs to the playoffs in 1985, averaging 26.3 points and 7.8 assists in four playoff games against Boston. That came after a 2-19 start under rookie coach George Karl. "I didn't respect George at first because I played against him and always lit him up," Free said. "I thought, 'How can you tell me what to do when you can't stop me?' "But we sat down and talked and I found out he had a great basketball mind. I told the team, 'Listen to George and follow World.' And we became winners." The festivities did not include retiring Free's No. 21, which he and many fans have wanted for years. But it is a first step to renewing good will between Free and the team. Hard feelings created in 1986 when the team decided not to re-sign Free left a sour taste on both sides that has just recently mended with the change of ownership and management. "I look at the names up there and I say to myself, 'It would be an honor to be in the rafters with them,' " Free said. "I helped revamp a franchise that was dead, completely dead. If you can do something like that, you deserve to be up there."

3) Ian Thomsen of SI.com reports that Darius Miles may have finally started to figure it out:

Fresh start - Miles making most of second chance in Portland

Remember when Darius Miles was trumpeted as the second coming of Kevin Garnett? It was five years ago that Miles, as the 19-year-old first-round pick of the Los Angeles Clippers, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with his idol KG. Now Miles is beginning to approach those high expectations. "For Darius it's just mentally trying to figure out, 'How do I get pissed off every night?'" says Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan. "Most of the great players have that attitude every night, where they find ways to motivate themselves to be upset at the opponent.'' Miles has discovered inspiration in Portland, though he doesn't necessarily find it in his opponents. Instead, he remains angry at the Blazers' front office -- specifically at team president Steve Patterson and GM John Nash. Miles believes they forced then-Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks to start Shareef Abdur-Rahim at small forward last year ahead of Miles in order to make Abdur-Rahim more tradeable, thus consigning Miles to 27.0 minutes as a backup. When his year-long frustrations bubbled over into an argument with Cheeks, Miles felt that management failed to support him when the spat was made public. It became a huge mess in Portland as the Blazers tried to rescind their fine to Miles, leading to complaints from Cheeks that his authority was being undermined, while Miles felt that his reputation was being tarnished unfairly. It's no secret that Miles was re-signed by Portland to a six-year, $48-million contract in summer 2004 at the command of owner Paul Allen, who apparently loves Miles' fluid versatility and upside. The Blazers had taken Miles off Cleveland's hands the previous January for the low price of Jeff McInnis and Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje.
"I respect the owner a lot, but the GM and the president? It is what it is,'' says Miles. "A lot of the situations last year were not really handled professionally. There was a lot of blame on me, and I was upset because I was taking all this heat, but at the time it was not really my team.''

Miles is benefiting from a fresh start with McMillan. "He was very unhappy at the start of the season as far as where the organization was going,'' McMillan says. "I said to him, 'Give me a chance. I have some ideas of what I can do for you and of what you can do for the organization.''' Miles is on the verge of a breakout season. Now 24, he's leading Portland with a career-high 18.8 points -- a six-point improvement over his previous best -- while shooting 49.1 percent from the field to go with 5.7 rebounds and career highs in assists (2.6) and steals (1.4). Miles understands he still has a long way to go. "I've got to cut down on my turnovers,'' he admits, as he ranks third in the league with 3.7 per game. But McMillan sees more good than bad. In spite of their youth across the board -- they start 20-year-old Sebastian Telfair at point guard with rookie Jarrett Jack serving as his backup -- the Blazers were a respectable 5-9 through Wednesday's games, including wins over Chicago and Memphis. The rebuilding phase is off to a more promising start than anyone predicted. "We've turned to Darius to be our go-to franchise player -- him and Zach [Randolph] -- because we have no other choice,'' says McMillan. "Sometimes guys want to be in that position of being the man, but it's a tough job. Can you do it over the span of an 82-game season when teams are trying to stop you every night? It's a tough challenge that most guys don't get the chance to face, but Zach and Darius are in that position now and they've got to find a way to live up to it.'' Miles believes that he's up to the challenge now that he has McMillan in his corner. "What happened last year was bad blood, but I'm out there playing hard for my teammates, the fans and myself,'' he says. "I don't have nothing against Nate. Nate knows what it is, we talked about it. I come out and play every night, play hard, play to the best of my ability and show what I didn't get to show previous years.'' Miles is convinced that McMillan's five-year contract has given him control of the franchise. "Once a coach signs a contract, for that first one or two years upstairs [management] really don't have any say-so,'' says Miles. "You know? They don't have a say-so. Nate's got three years to prove what he can do, and if he doesn't, I think he'll probably be gone in three years.'' Nash said he would have no comment in response to Miles' views. For his part, Miles understands that the Blazers could very well decide to trade him now that his value is improving. The Knicks are said to be interested. "If the rumors came true and I got sent to New York? I wouldn't have a problem with it,'' says Miles. "I feel like any team who wants me to be on their team, it's always good because they want you to show your talent for that team. It means they want me, and I'd want to be there.''

4) Thomsen also has a good report on an interview with former All-NBA player, coach and crackhead John Lucas:

Interview: John Lucas

John Lucas was the first point guard to be drafted No. 1 overall, when the Houston Rockets selected him in 1976. He played for six teams over the next 14 years before retiring to eventually become head coach of the Spurs ('92-94), the 76ers ('94-96) and the Cavaliers ('01-03). As a player Lucas dealt with drug addiction, which inspired him to form John Lucas Enterprises in Houston, which runs drug-treatment programs and other services to help athletes. Although Bucks point guard T.J. Ford had no problems with alcohol or drug abuse, he turned to Lucas last May to help him recover from surgery after a frightening spinal injury in 2004 that left him momentarily paralyzed. Their work together has resulted in one of the most stirring comebacks in recent NBA memory: Through Wednesday's games, Ford ranked eighth in the NBA with 7.2 assists per game while playing 36.3 minutes a night. Here is Lucas' side of the story…

On how Ford learned how to run again: "We had to start very, very basic. At the beginning we had to get his posture right, because he had learned to round his shoulders in order to protect his back. For seven minutes a day we had him up against a wall straightening his back so that he would learn to run upright again. "Another problem was that he had learned to run with his injury. By that I mean he wasn't raising his legs in order to avoid experiencing pain. So the first three weeks we had him on the track running backwards with high knees. "There wasn't anything high-tech about it. He ran with ankle weights on the track. We made him run two laps on the track backwards in under three minutes. He would land on the floor on two feet and tap twice with his feet so he could get used to the shock. We went real old school with him.''

On how Lucas helped Ford improve his shooting through rehab: "He asked on the last day of the ['04-05] season if he could come down and work, but he said he couldn't have any [physical] contact. I said, 'This is the greatest news I ever heard' -- because now he could focus on that shot of his. He had the worst drag on his shot. His left thumb would drag on the ball, so he would get forward spin on his shot instead of the backspin you need to get that soft touch that rolls the ball in softly when it lands on the rim. "We taped his shooting hand and focused on not letting that hand get involved in the shot and got him to push through with the right hand. Now he shoots with his elbow above his eyebrows with a wide web [of his shooting fingers] on his shot. We didn't change his shooting stroke in a major way because that's who he is. But if you look at him now, he holds his shot through; it's not aimed. "I can tell from watching on TV whether it's working or not. Recently there was a game in which I could tell that his thumb had gotten back in there, and he shot very badly. It's going to be an ongoing process. He'll have to keep doing it until he feels comfortable with it. "He understands the game as well as anybody, and because he's so athletic he can go around his man whenever he wants. Once he starts making his shots, his runners in the lane and his free throws, he's going to be as good as any point guard to ever play basketball.

On the caution he employed while coaching Ford: "I've helped a lot of guys over the years. Last summer I worked with a bunch of NBA players -- Chris Wilcox, Sam [Cassell], Cuttino [Mobley], Damon Stoudamire. I also help guys who are trying to get back into the league: Clarence Weatherspoon and Yogi Stewart are here now trying to get themselves going. [Ndudi] Ebi, who was cut by Minnesota, is on his way here to work. "I also work with a lot of guys who come to you when they're in trouble. I'm like the last house on the block where guys come when they have nowhere else to go. I like working with them, but that's why I liked working with T.J., too, because his situation was different. He had nothing to do with drugs or alcohol. He was here because of his injury. "When he came on May 1, I was helping a bunch of young guys get ready for the draft -- helping them with agents and helping them with their basketball skills so they could know what NBA teams were looking for. I call it holistic basketball -- a total basketball lifestyle. I put T.J. on the court with them, but the doctors said he wasn't allowed to have physical contact. When he'd do ballhandling drills with those guys we'd have cones put down around him in a 10-foot radius to make sure no one came near him."

On Ford's first scare: "T.J. was cleared to do physical stuff in the middle of July. I didn't let him jump in by playing 5-on-5 right away. First he went 1-on-1, then I had to make sure he could handle the pick-and-rolls. He was playing 3-on-3 when he had his first fall, and it scared him. "The biggest challenge for T.J. was understanding that the mental side is more important than the physical. He had a lot of fear. The first time he fell he screamed so loud, because he hadn't forgotten the pain. He slipped on a wet spot and fell and screamed. "Everybody ran toward him. I said, 'Stay away! Get up, T.J. Get up, T.J.' He got up and he didn't do anything the rest of the day. It took T.J. a full day to get back out there. He came back the next day complaining about his muscles, but he worked that day. "I told everyone that he's got to forget the pain. I talked to Sam and all the guys and said, 'Whenever T.J. falls, he gets himself up.' I told the therapists, 'When T.J. goes down, nobody runs out to help him up.' He got used to falling and getting up again."

On Ford's resiliency: "I couldn't give him anything he wouldn't get done. I give a lot of credit to his family and the way he was raised, because I wanted him to quit. I gave him every chance to quit. He would say, 'I've got a photo shoot today.' I would say, 'OK, T.J., that means we've got to get up at 5:30 because we've got to get this work in.' He said, 'OK.' I show up at 5:30 in the morning and there he is asleep in his car, because he's coming 25 miles to get there every day and he didn't want to be late. "I really focused on his mind. I told him that everything you do in life is always the story of a comeback: Something always happens and you have to come back from it. I told him when he gets near the end of his life, he'll look back and say, 'Life isn't nothing but a bunch of start-overs.' "He has got to be willing to accept that he'll start all over again if it [another spinal injury] happens to him again. If it happens, he cannot be afraid to start over again. I don't think he is afraid."

On how the injury and rehabilitation made Ford a better, more mature player: "I told T.J., 'You got blessed.' He said, 'What are you talking about?' I said, 'This injury gave you a chance to improve your basketball skills. You were able to see life from a different perspective, to see that you can live your life with or without basketball, and that the team goes on without you -- they get a new guy to wear your old number and the team goes on.' He's light-years ahead of himself. He's like a sponge. He's improved his basketball IQ.'"

On Lucas' own future: "I interviewed with Minnesota last summer [for its head-coaching job], and I had some things going on with Portland. Other than with San Antonio, in my last two NBA jobs I was always getting the team ready to sail, first with Philly and then with Cleveland, when we were obviously trying to get LeBron. I would like to get a team that's ready to sail and then see what I can do. "That's why I've been trying to spend time with Bill Parcells, who has been kind enough to let me spend time around the Dallas Cowboys. I get feedback from him about organization. I consider myself a very organized person, but managing 53 guys [on an NFL roster] is a lot different than managing 12 [in the NBA]. He helped put me back together and got me thinking about how I'll do it again if I get another chance. One thing he's let me know is that you can't do everything yourself. You've got to let other people help you."

5) Chris Broussard of ESPN.com thinks the Hawks blew it:

Hawks need Paul, not Williams

I'm mad. I'm not even an Atlanta fan, and I'm upset with the Hawks. First, let me say this: I believe Marvin Williams will be a special player someday. But … The Hawks blew it by not drafting Chris Paul, or even Deron Williams. Most of the league's talent evaluators will tell you to draft the best player available, regardless of position or the makeup of your roster. Exhibit A is always Portland, already equipped with Clyde Drexler, passing up Michael Jordan for Sam "I Am (Hurt)" Bowie. But the Hawks were something of a special case last June. I mean, look at their roster: They've got nothing but swingmen and forwards. (That remains true even after they traded Boris Diaw and two first-round draft picks for Joe Johnson and spent $70 million to sign him -- with the spin that he was going to play the point. What convinced them that Johnson was their point guard of the future? I don't have a huge problem with them giving JJ $70 bills because he's nice. But he's not a point guard. Sure, he can dribble the ball upcourt and initiate the offense, but Atlanta needs a real PG who can organize its young, talented, exciting mess.) The reason I'm mad is because I would love to see Paul bring JJ, Al Harrington, Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Salim Stoudamire and the surprisingly productive Zaza Pachulia together. Paul and JJ would be one of the best backcourts in the league. In Oklahoma City, Paul's talent and leadership has turned what was arguably the worst roster in basketball into a near .500 team. What would he do with a lineup of legit thoroughbreds? Truly great PGs don't come around that often. This draft had two, maybe even three (Ray Felton). While Marvin Williams will be good eventually, you've already got J Smith as your four of the future. J Smith's not playing three over Big Al. Big Al's a keeper -- tough, mentally strong and talented. Atlanta would only make things worse by moving him. As it is, the Hawks are not as woeful as their record suggests. A ton of their games have been close, which underscores my point that if they had a true playmaker like Paul leading them, they would have already erased their image as the league's laughingstock. And the team doing the most laughing? The New Orleans/Okla. City Hornets.

6) Mike Kahn of FOXSports.com thinks the Eastern Conference is still the least-ern conference:

Eastern Conference still has a ways to go

Before everyone jumps on the bandwagon about the NBA's Eastern Conference having caught up with and surpassed the West, let's settle down a bit and really think about this. While there is clearly evidence that the Cumberland-sized gap has significantly been closed from the .600-plus winning percentage the West has held over the East since the turn of the century, through Wednesday's games, the West still holds a 56-43 advantage. Please take into account that all three Western Conference divisions have winning records, led by the Pacific Division's 21-11 mark against the guys from the other side of the country. Meanwhile, only the Central Division — at 19-14 — has a winning record in the East. And the 11-2 Detroit Pistons are the only team in the Eastern Conference with a winning record on the road, while five teams in the West are playing better than .500 away from home. There is just one East team undefeated team against the West, the Philadelphia 76ers. At 5-0, it is impressive, except for the simple fact the Sixers have played all the West teams at home — and that is always a distinct advantage. Sure, fans of the Eastern Conference have many reasons to be excited with the "Big Three" teams of Detroit, Miami and Indiana — and also with the Cleveland Cavaliers improving significantly early on and the New Jersey Nets remaining dangerous. But just how much better are those teams — when totally healthy — than San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix? The Pacers went into Phoenix on Wednesday night and were crushed by 18 points. A lot has been made about the Milwaukee Bucks, but they're 2-5 against the West and, really, are they any better than the upstart Los Angeles Clippers or Golden State Warriors? The fact of the matter is that the West still has a .566 winning percentage against its Eastern brethren. What we're really looking at is commissioner David Stern's dream: Parity. Although TV ratings are always much higher in the NBA Finals when you have the "sexy" teams from the major markets like the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls in competition, but we all know that's just not going to happen this season. This is a league of stars and not markets. And regardless, it's the great story that sells a playoff series, whether it's the superb starting five of the Pistons with new coach Flip Saunders, or the international flavor of the Spurs. What commissioners always want in their respective sports is balance, which keeps fans stay involved throughout the season. Generally speaking, we wait for the first 20 games, but after the first month, 12 of the 15 teams in the East are within two games of a playoff berth, and 13 of the 15 teams in the West are within a pair of wins from being in the top eight. Of course, it's incredibly early on in the season, meaning dramatic changes are not only are possible, but probable.
Nonetheless, season ticket purchases have increased, and the league is expecting another record-setting season in attendance — despite the falling TV ratings that are pervasive in the industry. No one can honestly say that it's better for the NBA when the Clippers are better than the Lakers in Los Angeles, or when the Nets are better than the Knicks in the metro-New York area. Why? Just consider the history and the depth of the fan bases. But isn't it more fun when the two teams' rivalry is so much closer? For hoops fans in Los Angeles, the argument over which team will be better by the end of the season carries a lot more weight than how many shots a game Kobe Bryant will average on his way to a scoring title. There is a decent chance they will both be battling for a playoff spot late. Perhaps the question of when the Knicks will make their first trade — not if — with demanding Larry Brown as coach, is more interesting than the Nets-Knicks rivalry; but this won't be true at the end of the year if both teams are in the hunt for the weak Atlantic Division title. That's why this recent flurry of contentions that the East has now passed the West in talent is so overrated. The new Cavs team that everyone is so juiced about hung on by their fingernails to beat the Clippers in overtime Wednesday night at home. Those Wizards of Washington, who made it to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, had to rally in the fourth quarter at home to get back to .500 and beat a completely rebuilt Portland team dominated by players averaging about 22 years old. The Bulls and Celtics, both in the playoffs last season, have also slid back this year. You can go to the West and match that with the Houston Rockets, Seattle SuperSonics and Denver Nuggets heading south, too. But realistically, if there is any real shift going on right now, it's both conferences sliding to the center. So when it comes right down to it, if you had to make a pick today on who would meet in the NBA Finals, wouldn't it be Detroit-San Antonio? Hmmm. As much as things have changed, have they really? Who's leading the Hawks?

7) Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution thinks the Hawks are not getting along:

Divisions exist between vets, younger players

It is clear the Hawks have a locker room divided, between players separated by years of service if not by age, and it threatens to torpedo their season. Locker room chemistry is a problem for the 2-12 Hawks, by far the NBA's youngest team with an average age of 23.5 years. On one side are veterans Joe Johnson, Al Harrington, Tony Delk and Zaza Pachulia. On the other side are the eight players with a year or less of NBA experience. Johnson, a co-captain and the Hawks' $70 million free agent acquisition, accepts blame for allowing things in the locker room to deteriorate. He also acknowledged that he has felt pressure to lead such an inexperienced group. "I just think we're not a unit, we're not a unit at all," said Royal Ivey, a second-year point guard. "You can't win like that. We've got to have some leadership, some kind of glue to keep us together. And it's something that has to be amongst us, not coaches or anyone else outside our locker room. "There's nobody there right now to take over and step up and command people and hold people accountable." "How can you say anything is together when you're losing like this?" co-captain Harrington said. "We've got to grow up, man, all of us, not just one group or the other," Johnson said. In captains Johnson and Harrington, the Hawks have players with a combined 11 years in the NBA. In the teen-free NBA of yesteryear, captains usually were 11-year veterans. But that league is a faded memory for people like Hawks coach Mike Woodson, whose future likely depends on his players' ability to repair their fractured locker room culture. "I've got to trust, as a coach, that Joe, Al, the veteran guys that are captains and the veteran guys around those captains, are policing that locker room," Woodson said. "They not only have to make sure those [young] guys do what they're supposed to do, they have to live up to those standards, as well." Woodson called out his captains and Pachulia after Tuesday night's loss to Houston for the selfish offensive play against the Rockets, making it clear that he won't exonerate his older players. Harrington said the culprit for most of the discontent, amongst both young and older, is the losing. "When you're losing there are no positives that come from that," Harrington said. "And I've never seen nothing like this before. This is my second year dealing with it. But you can never find any positives." Still, Harrington insists that whatever locker room issues exist — and to a man the players understand that there's a connection missing — it's not to the point that they genuinely don't like or care about one another. "There's no real beef in there," he said. "There's no physical tension between us. Nobody can say I don't pass somebody the ball because I don't like him. It's just a lot of times, during the course of a game people want to, with good intentions, try to do it alone. They want to do it and I think the wrong people try and do that." Johnson knows it's up to he and Harrington to take the initiative now, before it gets any worse. "I think it's a situation where me or Al has to jump down somebody's throat," he said. "Or maybe it's me jumping down Al's throat or Al jumping down my throat. Maybe we have to make an example out of ourselves to show everybody else that ultimately it's up to us to make this thing right." At the same time, Johnson said every man in the locker room, has to recognize the responsibility they have in fixing the problem and get to work. "Our attitudes have to be together," Johnson said. "We can't be happy go lucky and patting each other on the [butt] when we win a game or two, and then when we lose a few games everybody has got there head between their legs. . . . This is our job, we're professionals. And we have to start acting like it." Can the problem be fixed in time for the Hawks to salvage their season?
"It can," second-year forward Josh Childress said, "but guys have got to buy into it. And I'm talking about everybody. Right now we have that separation. But they [veterans] need us like we need them. For us to work and for us to win and be competitive, we have to have everybody playing together. "And I wish it was a simple as us having a meeting or sitting down and talking about, but I don't think it is. All of our actions will speak louder than any one person's words."