Adrian Dantleywith the one handed spin off the glass…should be in the HOF…

So I watched the Cavs-Nuggets game last night and I noticed 2 plays that make me wonder…with 20 seconds left and the score tied, Carmelo Anthony gets an isolation on the right wing against Ira Newble, rocks him on his heels with a quick ball fake and jab step and then flies by him with two dribbles for the dunk to give the Nuggets the lead…a tremendous play with tonnes of killer instinct…back down the floor, with 9 seconds left and his team down 2 LeBron passes up a wide open 3-pointer and passes to Sasha Pavlovicwho bricks a jumper…James than misses the game-tying free throw with .06 seconds remaining sealing the Cavs 90-89 loss…the best part was seconds before in a timeout you could see James explaining to head coach Mike Brown about the pass to Pavlovic saying:” He was open! He was wide open!"…Dude, who cares how open he was, you are the best player in the world…if the guy is not getting a guaranteed layup or the guy is not Steve Kerr or John Paxson, you do not make that pass…you shoot the ball, that’s what great player’s do…can you imagine Michael Jordan passing up an uncontested three from the top of the key to give Jud Buchler a 17 footer? Can you imagine Larry Bird passing up the same shot to give Fred Roberts a baseline J? No, of course not…

In a related bit of trivia, Elias Sports bureau compared LeBron and Carmelo in terms of making game winning shots…during his NBA career, James has made only 2-of-15 potential game-tying or go-ahead field-goal attempts in the final 10 seconds of either the fourth quarter or an overtime period. Carmelo Anthony has made 7-of-11 shots under those circumstances during his NBA career. Over those three seasons, Anthony is the only one of the league's top 15 scorers to make at least 40 percent of such shots…

Little Nicky got bitched…Nick Van Exel has filed a lawsuit against two men in Los Angeles, alleging he was defrauded of over $1.2 million. The two men apparently claimed they would help launch the rap career of Van Exel's cousin, Smoot, but allegedly used Van Exel's investment money to buy themselves cars…

Also from Elias, the 2003 draft class may be on of the best scoring classes ever: James (30.9 PPG this season), Dwyane Wade (26.6), Anthony (25.5) and Bosh (22.5) were all selected in the 2003 NBA draft. Only once in NBA history did four players selected in the same draft each average at least 22 points per game in their third season in the league. That was in 1972-73, and the players were Nate Archibald (34.0 PPG for the Kings), Pete Maravich (26.1, Hawks), Geoff Petrie, (24.9, Trail Blazers) and Bob Lanier (23.8, Pistons)…

New Orleans beat Memphis 87-79 last night to surpass its win total from last season. The Hornets won their fourth straight game for the first time since December 2003. They also evened their record at 19-19.

Chucky Atkins and the Washington Wizards agreed Wednesday to a buyout of the veteran guard's contract….Atkins has attracted the interest of the Knicks, but it’s expected that he will sign with Memphis…

As for the Knicks, with Stephon Marbury out with shoulder sczerbiakiatis Larry Brown apparently reached out to NBA retread Penny Hardaway yesterday about the possibility of rejoining the team. Hardaway is rehabbing his legs in Houston after a strength test showed weakness in his legs. Brown said he's not ready. Meanwhile, Brown indicated he has had the “delusional” Trevor Ariza at PG in practice….

There’s a lot of hype over teams trying to trade for Celtics’ 7’”0 250 lb. C Mark Blount…this only confirms how desperate teams are for real size as Blount is absolutely terrible…He’s averaging 12.8 PPG but only 4.4 RPG and is leading the NBA in turnovers per 48 minutes…

Comments from both parties after Shaq and Andrew Bynum exchanged dunks and elbows…"It wasn't really an incident," O'Neal said. "I came out with a dunk and he put a little Artis Gilmore move on me. I really didn't know his game. But it was a nice move. Then he came and bumped me and I bumped him back." Bynum said he hadn't expected to trade elbows with O'Neal. "When he hit me, I was a little surprised," Bynum said. "It wasn't in my face or anything like that. He just hit me back in the chest. Nothing really I can do about that. He's kind of big." Big, with a long memory. Remember, Bynum irked O'Neal on draft day by saying he was a lot like O'Neal except that he actually made free throws. Only 17 at the time, Bynum didn't know that O'Neal never likes to hear about missed free throws or added pounds. "Tell him Shaq doesn't respond to juvenile delinquents without a college degree," O'Neal said at the time. "Tell him to get his degree and we can talk. In the meantime, he should call me 'Dr. Shaq' because I'm working on my PhD."

There will be a lot of hype about what Antonio Davis did, but after seeing the video I can’t fault him too much…he should hire Jackie Christie as security for Kendra…

1) Marty urns of SI.com with his opinion of the AD event:

A whole 'nother story - Davis incident nothing like last season's Palace brawl

A wild, emotional game. A shoving incident on the court. A player hopping over the scorer's table and heading 10 rows up into the stands. Yes, Wednesday night's Knicks-Bulls game bore some eerie resemblances to last season's infamous brawl in Detroit. It certainly did with 1:04 left in overtime, when Knicks forward Antonio Davis suddenly left his team's huddle, hopped over the scorer's table and went into the crowd. From my vantage point behind the basket, about 100 feet from the Knicks' bench, it seemed as if David Stern's worst nightmare had repeated itself. Davis, in his blue Knicks uniform, was standing in the middle of a section of seats. The fans were on their feet. Security guards were in the aisles. Both teams were milling about on the floor looking up in disbelief. As guard Jamal Crawford said in a quiet Knicks locker room after the game, "We didn't know what happened." As it turns out, the incident was nothing like last year's Malice in the Palace. Davis, believing his wife was in danger, simply went into the stands to check it out. That's all. He didn't run up crazily, like Ron Artest did a year ago in Detroit. He didn't throw any punches. No teammates went in after him, a la Stephen Jackson. Poor decision on Davis' part? Absolutely. Another Artest-like embarrassment for the NBA? No way. But Davis' actions -- coming in a game that already featured high emotions with the return of Eddy Curry to Chicago, as well as the ejections of Chris Duhon and Maurice Taylor for a shoving match in OT -- will surely draw the attention of the league office. Davis can expect a hefty fine and a lengthy suspension, perhaps something like five games. The NBA can't have its players going into the stands, no matter how pure their intentions might be. Davis, a respected veteran who serves as the players' association president, even acknowledged in a statement afterward that he "should not have acted the way I did." According to Taylor, Davis was actually watching the incident develop in the stands while running up and down the court. During a subsequent timeout, Davis saw his wife "falling back," according to Knicks coach Larry Brown, and decided to act. Davis later said in his statement that he saw his "wife being threatened by a man that I learned later to be intoxicated." But was Davis really in a position to know what was going on? According to one Bulls employee who was in the area, security guards reported the fan in question was simply telling Davis' wife to sit down -- and it escalated into a verbal spat. There apparently was no physical altercation at any time. While Stern will have to investigate to get to the truth, Davis was getting total support from his teammates after the game. "Everybody loves Tony," Taylor said. "He's got integrity. He's a stand-up guy. He's not going to go up there [for no reason]. You've got to look out for your family. There are a lot of nuts out there." When asked if it was realistic to expect Davis to hail security guards and have them take care of the matter, Taylor replied: "If you send a security guard and something happens to your family, you gotta live with yourself." Whatever the case, the whole incident could have been a lot worse. As Davis bounded down the stairs back on the floor and United Center security escorted a few people out of the building, there was almost a perceptible sigh of relief in the building.

2) Phil Taylor of SI.com is sad to see the end of the Kobe-Shaq feud:

Don't bury the hatchet - Face it, Kobe-Shaq feud brought intrigue to the NBA

Well, what do you know? It looks like those crazy kids have finally grown up. In an unforeseen and not altogether welcome display of maturity, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal apparently put an end to years of petty jealousy and verbal sniping, calling a public truce on Monday before Bryant's Lakers beat Shaq's Miami Heat in Los Angeles. Shaq and Kobe put a symbolic end to the NBA's highest profile feud with handshakes and hugs before the game. They shook hands during pregame stretching, then embraced at the captains' meeting with the referees, and again when the teams were lining up for the opening jump ball. It was the lengthiest exhibition of manly affection seen in L.A. since, well, you'll have to come up with your own Brokeback Mountain punchline. We're not going to help you. O'Neal said he was prompted to make peace by former Celtics great Bill Russell, who essentially advised him to consider Kobe a rival, not an enemy, as Russell had done with Wilt Chamberlain, and Shaq took the Hall of Famer's advice. Kobe apparently was inspired by Martin Luther King's birthday. It seemed wrong, he said, for two African-American men to be so at odds with each other on MLK Day. Lakers fans are no doubt wondering why the two stars couldn't have had these epiphanies a few years ago, while they were still wearing the same uniform. The rest of us will take them at their word and commend them for their noble sentiments, but if we're honest, we also have to make a confession -- we liked it more when they wanted to throttle each other. Face it, the feud was fun -- maybe not so much when their runaway egos were bringing down the Lakers' dynasty before its time, but certainly once Shaq moved to South Beach. It all became harmless entertainment then, with Shaq refusing to refer to Kobe by name, and Kobe dropping a dime about Shaq's personal life to the cops. It was appointment viewing when the two teams faced each other, to find out whether Kobe would have the audacity to take the ball to the rim against Shaq and whether Shaq would pile-drive him to the floor if he did. It was like watching two divas in a soap opera, hoping they would get into a catfight. Remember when O'Neal declared, in a message aimed at Bryant, that the Lakers were his team? Or when Bryant responded by saying it was hard for Shaq to claim ownership when he had reported to camp "fat and out of shape?" Ahhh, those were the good old days. It was, in a way, good for the league as well. The NBA has always benefited from intense rivalries, like Russell-Chamberlain, Celtics-Lakers, even Knicks-Heat. The Kobe-Shaq rivalry, pathetic as it was at times, attracted the attention of the casual fan in a way that no NBA phenomenon had since Michael Jordan retired. Fans who couldn't name three Spurs or Pistons could nonetheless engage in a lengthy debates over whether Kobe or Shaq was more to blame for the feud. Now that they're friends, or at least no longer such bitter enemies, both Bryant and O'Neal are instantly less interesting. Their appeal is still considerable, but it's limited to the court. What are we supposed to do for juicy storylines now? Wait for Ron Artest's next meltdown? The good news is that Bryant and O'Neal have tried to make peace before, only to have their distaste for each other rise to the surface again. Don't be surprised if the good feelings are only temporary, and don't be disappointed, either. A little bad blood can be a good thing.

3) Bill Simmons of ESPN.com’s Page 2 with part 1 of his reaction to Isaih Thomas threatening him on National radio:

1. Went to the Pats-Rams Super Bowl, sat in the same end zone where Adam Vinatieri's game-winning field goal landed, got relatively drunk on Bourbon Street, handed in a column read by tons of people.

2. Made fun of contestants on "Real World/Road Rules Challenge," provoked angry Internet response from Theo.

3. Went to Games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS, stayed up until 5:30 a.m. writing about it, ended up with a column read by tons of people.

4. Convinced Luke Perry in the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" green room to reenact the scene where his dad on "90210" was blown up.

5. Once provoked Elgin Baylor to say the words, "That guy's an [rhymes with bassbowl]."

6. Nearly completed fantasy baseball trade on cell phone while walking down ESPYs red carpet.

7. Broke news of Celtics-Lakers trade involving Gary Payton and Chris Mihm, then sent taunting e-mail to Ric Bucher.

8. Appeared on the "Rome is Burning" forum with Roger Lodge.

9. Wrote a book that new Sox second baseman Mark Loretta admitted reading in NESN interview last month.

10. During the 2005 NBA All-Star Weekend, I was recognized by the members of Kyle Korver's posse, who then bought me a drink.

Well, now I have a new career highlight: During a New York radio interview Monday, Isiah Thomas threatened to make trouble for me. Talking to Stephen A. Smith he said, "I'm gonna tell ya ... if I see this guy Bill Simmons, oh, it's gonna be a problem with me and him ..." I thought it was ironic he threatened me on Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- I'm sure MLK would have been proud. Given that this was the same guy who sucker-punched his best friend on the Pistons (Bill Laimbeer) during the 1992 season, I am thinking about travelling with a full-time bodyguard, or at the very least a can of mace or one of those tasers that you can get in a stalker catalog. Here's my question for Isiah, who's very angry with me ... Right now, you have a roster that costs something like $120 million. You completely overhauled the Knicks' roster in 14 months, and now you're trying to overhaul it again. There's no rhyme or reason to anything you're doing. Your team doesn't have a first-round pick next summer, and in the summer of 2007 -- widely considered to be the deepest draft in 20-plus years -- the Bulls have the right to exchange first-round picks with you (most of your fans don't even know this). You also have to give another first-round pick to Phoenix before 2010. And you have at least eight or nine players on your roster who are completely, utterly, totally untradable, including someone with a possible heart defect and someone whose back is in such bad shape nobody would insure his contract. Your team also has one of the worst records in the league. And your fans are downright traumatized at this point, to the degree that you went into hiding until your recent winning streak. Now you're available to talk to the press again, of course. So why shouldn't you be criticized for any of this? Why should you be immune? Why should the fact that you destroyed the CBA, then coached an underachieving Pacers team that came within two possessions of making the 2004 Finals one year after you left ... why isn't this relevant in some way? I would love to know the answer to this. So either you can e-mail me, have one of your PR people call me to explain it, or tell me as while you're making trouble for me on the street. Or, I can fly to New York and we can have a dignified conversation about this stuff. Followed by you beating the living hell out of me. It's up to you. And just for the record, in the summer of 2004, I wrote a nice column about you and your old Pistons team; maybe you missed it. So I couldn't really be "out to get you," right? You're a public figure. When you screw up, people are going to write about it. Get over yourself.

4) And here is Part 2:

We were finally able to obtain an audio copy of Isiah Thomas's interview with Stephen A. Smith on 1050-AM in New York, which confirmed all the reports from various readers on Monday afternoon. In the interest of accuracy, we're running it at the end of this post. I went through all my columns and couldn't find one excerpt where I attacked his character -- I only judged him from the way he played on the court and the way he's coached and run basketball teams, and every comment was made for a reason. For instance, I once called him "an incredibly poor sport." Well, he was. This is the guy who convinced the 1991 Pistons to walk off the court before the Bulls swept them in the Eastern Finals. I once called him "spiteful and manipulative" -- if you don't believe me, read up on how MJ was frozen out of the 1985 All-Star Game, or the details behind the Dantley-Aguirre trade, or how he was bumped off the original Dream Team strictly for personal reasons, even though he was clearly one of the best 10 players in the league. I once called him a "cheapshot artist" -- well, he was. That's the way he played. By the way, John Stockton was just as dirty. You know what else I found as I searched these old columns? I have written that Isiah was the best pure point guard of all-time. I have written that he's a surprisingly astute judge of talent when he's drafting players. I have written that I would take him over Magic on my All-Time NBA Team. I have written that he got completely boned over when the Dream Team Committee left him off. I have written that his performance in Game 6 of the 1988 Finals was one of the greatest and most heroic in NBA history. And I even wrote about how the Pistons got screwed in Game 7 of the 1988 Finals when the Lakers and their fans started storming the court with three seconds left, then Magic clearly fouled Isiah as he was dribbling to get off a game-tying three (and absolute outrage if you watch the tape). The bottom line is Isiah is a lousy coach and an even worse GM -- maybe one of the three of four worst GM's ever, actually. He's an out-and-out apocalypse for the Knicks. With their current roster, cap problems and remaining draft picks, it would be impossible for them to become a 50-win team in the next 5 years unless A.) someone signs there for half their market value, or B.) someone in the league is dumb enough to make the equivalent of Rob Babcock's Vince Carter trade again. I thought about writing a column about this, but frankly, it wouldn't be that interesting. The Knicks are screwed. Two more notes on the transcript ... a) I think we can all agree that Isiah was dreadful as a studio analyst and broadcaster for NBC. No shame in that -- tons of great ex-players couldn't make the transition. But in the interview, it seems like Isiah feels like he WAS good, only he just didn't get a fair chance. Or something. I didn't even fully understand the point he was making. Which makes me think he's somewhat delusional. And if he thinks Knicks fans are happy with the direction of this team -- with the exception of the 2005 draft picks and the Larry Brown signing -- he's fooling himself. Trust me, I received about 800 e-mails from yesterday, almost all from angry Knicks fans who wish he would go away ... with about exactly 12 defending him. b) As for Stephen A. pretending not to know me, I thought this was interesting since one of his producers asked me to fly to New York and appear as a featured guest on his TV show in September. Here's the transcript ...

SAS: "Isiah Thomas, you as an executive, one of the few African-American executive[s] in the world of sports, I mean, obviously there's a few of them in basketball, but compared to other sports, I mean, basketball looks like a haven for African-American executives and we know there's not that many. How much do you feel, when you think about being [in] an executive position ... how much do you feel the paucity or the small number of African-American sports editors influences coverage where somebody like you or Joe Dumars or Billy King is concerned? Your thoughts."

Isiah: "Well, those ... you know, we ... we kind of say those are the silent assassins. Those are the guys that, you know, can hide out, and, you know, they make all the edits and everything else and they shape your image."

SAS: "You're talking about copy editors, editors, people like that, yes."

Isiah: "They shape the images of what people read and think and say about you. And regardless of what you may say in the interview or how you may present yourself, at the end of the day it's really judged by what they show on television and what they write in the newspapers, and the producers and the editors and everything else behind the scenes control that. And I really found that out when I worked in television. You can take a guy on television and make him look as good as you want him to or make him look as bad as you want him to, and it really depends a lot on how that producer feels that day about that person ... That's true (laughing)."

SAS: "Wow. Yeah, because you use to work with NBC, during the NBA on [NBC] before you went to Indiana."

Isiah: "Well not only did I work with NBC, but I also did some work with TNT also. I mean, it's just ... you know, the images that are portrayed and what is written in the newspaper, again, they can say anything and take shots at you personally. You know, you don't mind people critiquing your basketball play. And I've heard you say this on your show, Stephen A., you'll call guys out about their ability but you don't ever get into personal attacks."

SAS: "Never."

Isiah: "Because that's when you cross the line and most athletes can understand that. But when you've got little guys, you know, sitting behind the desk, you know 5 feet 2 and you never get a chance to see them and they take shots at your character and what you are as a man. If somebody would say those things to you on the street, and would walk up to you and just start saying that to any person in the street ... "

SAS: "We know what would happen."

Isiah: "Oh, there'd be a problem. And I'm gonna tell you, if I see this guy Bill Simmons, oh it's gonna be a problem with me and him."

SAS: "Who? Well, I don't (laughing) ... I don't know that (laughing) ... I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out. Stephen A. Smith ... I got you."

Isiah (at same time): "It's gonna be a problem ... "

SAS: "Stephen A. Smith in the house, 1050 ESPN Radio, we're with Jim Brown, Oscar Robertson, and Isiah Thomas. We're gonna be back in a minute. Isiah Thomas has got to go at the top of the hour because he's got to go and talk to Larry Brown before the Knicks play the Minnesota Timberwolves. But Jim Brown and Oscar Robertson will be staying with us to take your phone calls.

5) Phil Miller of the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Jerry Sloan went off on a ref after a 20 point win?

NBA looking at Sloan's confrontation with ref

The NBA is reviewing Jerry Sloan's confrontation with referee Danny Crawford shortly after Tuesday's game ended, a league spokesman said Wednesday, but has reached no decision on whether to penalize the Jazz coach for the incident. "It's still in the investigation stage," said Mark Broussard, director of basketball communications. "We're in the process of finding out what happened." As he players left the floor following their 111-98 victory over Toronto, Sloan noticed Raptors coach Sam Mitchell and forward Jalen Rose conferring with Crawford at midcourt. The Jazz coach, already angered by the 30 fouls whistled on the Jazz during the game as opposed to Toronto's 21 fouls, ran over to where Crawford was standing and yelled his objection to the meeting. "The rules are that anytime they have a meeting with another coach, both coaches get to be there. I wanted to be a part of it," Sloan said afterward. "I didn't think I was allowed to be part of it in the first half, at halftime, and all the other meetings that they had. I just felt like it was something I should do, because they might be upset with me. I'm fairly competitive, and if it costs me, it costs me." The past two games have already cost Sloan $2,000, since he has received technical fouls, which include automatic fines of $1,000, in each. Against Toronto, he was assessed a technical by referee Michael Smith with just 1:21 to play. Coincidentally, the third referee on the floor was Courtney Kirkland, who three years ago provoked Sloan into a shove that resulted in a seven-game suspension.

6) Joe Stevens of the LA Daily News with a terrific article on Sam Cassell:

Mis(ter) understood?

Two days before Sam Cassell met his former team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, for the first time as a Clipper, he talked about the deal that made him a Clipper. "If I'm a general manager, I'm not trading Sam Cassell for Marko Jaric," he said. "No way. I'm a gamer. I know how to win." Cassell delved into what went wrong in Minnesota. He may have been an All-Star for the first time in his career during his first season with the Wolves. But the second season turned into the worst of his career. He sat out 23 games with injuries. The Wolves missed the playoffs, and he says the franchise unjustly blamed him and Latrell Sprewell for the team's woes. Was that the first time Cassell was misunderstood? No way. He's a gamer. In a league brimming with misunderstood millionaires, Cassell could be among the most misunderstood. Is he cocksure? For sure. Can he rub people the wrong way? Sometimes. But there is much more to the 36-year-old point guard than the selfish blabbermouth that some might perceive. At the core of Cassell, a success story is hiding, one that brought the son of a sanitation worker out of the rugged streets of Baltimore because of his ego, not despite it. "Nothing was given to me," Cassell said. "I wasn't a high-school All-American. I wasn't a high draft pick. I was none of that. So nothing was ever given to me. Everything I got I earned." Although Cassell has carved out a solid, 13-year NBA career featuring two championship rings with the Houston Rockets, he was far from a sure thing to play in the league. He's a 6-foot-3 guard, who overcame numerous knocks to survive and thrive in the league. Some said he wasn't fast enough. Others said he was too selfish. One thing his critics never could have realized is that all of his success and ability to overcome obstacles can be traced to one distinct day in the fall of 1989. After graduating from Dunbar High in Baltimore as a Proposition 48 student, he hung around his hometown with nothing resembling a Division I scholarship. He might have shown some basketball prowess at Dunbar and in playground ball, but he spent the summer of '89 on a path to nothingness. "For East Coast guys, it's easy to get caught up doing nothing," he said. "And that's what I was doing in Baltimore nothing." Without the academics to play Division I ball, he was directed to go to the junior-college hoop powerhouse San Jacinto College, outside of Houston, but he nearly scrapped it. "I didn't want to go to San Jac," he said. "My freshman year, I took the last flight, the day before school started to get down there. That was my make or break point. My whole family, my father, my grandmother, my great aunt all the people that supported me they just wanted me to get off the streets of Baltimore." The major point is that not only did Cassell have an opportunity at San Jac, but he followed through on it albeit, on the last plane out. "So many guys that come from Baltimore don't even give themselves that chance to fail," Cassell said. "They defeat themselves before that from Day 1." His coach at San Jac, Scott Gernander, said he believed in Cassell from Day 1. The vivacious personality that Cassell brought to the NBA was apparent at San Jac, too. "When Sam came here, I don't want to say he had baggage," Gernander said. "But people told me different things, that he was too hard to coach, that he carried his emotions on his sleeve. I found out quickly that he was a gym rat, and when he played, he played so hard." Gernander's words describing his former player are ones that still fit "brash," "charismatic," "outgoing" and "confident, very confident." San Jac has developed an extremely well-respected basketball program, so much so that Orlando Magic star Steve Francis played there before attending Maryland and becoming the second overall pick of the 1999 NBA draft. Although Francis and Cassell might have had some similarities with their path to the NBA, the two are completely different. "Steve was just so much more athletic," Gernander said. "He was so fast and could jump so high. Sure, Sam had one big dunk here, and he actually still talks about it. But he didn't have the physical ability that Steve had. Sam is herky-jerky, deceptive, but not overly quick. It's amazing what he's done with what he has." Even though it might sound as if Cassell developed his swagger at San Jac, that bravado was noticed by his parents, Sam and Donna Cassell, well before he went away to school. Sam Cassell, Sr., says that he saw his son trash-talk by the age 9 and probably earlier. And the kid didn't direct his words to his peers, or his adult superiors, for that matter. "He was out there in the yard with imaginary friends," Sam Sr. said. "He was doing all of that." Little Sam used garbage cans as playmates, and he dribbled around them to work on his skills. Sam Sr. pointed out that his grandson, Sam Cassell III, actually does the same thing at home in Baltimore. The 13-year-old Sam Cassell III wasn't too talkative when asked about his basketball ability. But when asked if he thought he would play in the NBA, he wrinkled his nose and nodded his head in a way that said, "Duh, of course." His dad plays in the NBA, and his 56-year-old grandpa worked 29 years driving a garbage truck. Sam Sr., however, insists that despite the glamour factor regarding their occupations, that he and his son aren't all that different. "He hasn't changed," Sam Sr. said. "He's the same, all the time. As a matter of fact, when he's at home, you can't even believe he's in the NBA the way he acts. He greets people the same way he always has with a smile." After getting on a positive path at San Jac, Cassell put in two excellent seasons at Florida State, before the Rockets drafted him with the 24th pick in the 1993 NBA draft. After three seasons and two rings with the Rockets, his NBA path turned into a journeyman's Phoenix, Dallas, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Minnesota and now the Clippers. His statistics, however, show he's more than a journeyman. He averaged 16.2 points and 6.2 assists over his career when the Clippers got him in the summer, and this season, he is arguably the biggest key to the Clippers' success.
What Cassell has brought to the Clippers is what they desperately needed in recent seasons leadership, clutch shooting and a winning attitude. When the team went 14-5 for the best start in Clipper history, he was a huge reason why. He has been an excellent fit and has become a tutor to 20-year-old point guard Shaun Livingston. So considering his impact thus far, the big question is why so many people in the basketball world raised an eyebrow when the Clippers traded for him. Hardly anybody was more enthusiastic of acquiring Cassell than Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, and even he was not certain everything would work out so neatly. "People were saying this is a guy who only cares about himself, he's really selfish, whatever," Dunleavy said. "I liked the way he played. All those things were particularly said, and I didn't really see it. But you never know until he arrives. We've had no issues. Period." The same issues are still swirling around Cassell that hovered around him at San Jac. Gernander tells entertaining tales about drawing up elaborate plays to start games with Cassell agreeing and being enthusiastic and then taking an ad-lib jump shot to start the game anyway. About the misperception of Cassell being a locker-room cancer or a me-first type of player, Gernander understands why those ideas are out there. Fans see an ultra-cocky persona on the basketball court that can be so over the top, he can appear to be a cartoon character. People make negative assumptions based on that character, and those assumptions aren't the truth of who he really is. "When Sam's out there playing, he's talking all the time," he said. "And he talks to everybody. Some guys see somebody like that as a head case. And Sam's always been confident and not afraid to take big shots, so at times, that will look selfish." Cassell certainly has his critics, who say he is overrated and nothing special. Another common perception is that he is a whiner who has repeatedly called himself "underpaid," even though he has made more than $37 million over his career and is making $6.2 million this season. Cassell has never hesitated to speak his mind and be blunt. While it is confirmed that Cassell asked Minnesota for a contract extension after becoming an All-Star and he has been unhappy about some past contracts, nobody interviewed for this story significantly criticized the player. Former teammates and current teammates alike praised him, and many said he was superb for team chemistry. Many said that, by comparison to other 30-something players, he was still in the league more for his desire to play than for his desire to pad his wallet. "Sam's situation is that he's going to do what it takes in order to win," said Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders, who coached Cassell with Minnesota. "If other guys aren't going, and if he thinks he has to get going in order to win, that's what he's going to do. I never thought Sam was ever a selfish player. I got a saying, 'Sam, your greatest strength is your greatest weakness, if you can't control it." His greatest strength is that he wins games, but sometimes, he might go over the edge." Saunders explained that to "go over the edge" means taking bad shots or trying to do too much. As a coach, he said he would often have to balance letting Cassell ad-lib and making him follow the team's plan. Dunleavy has a similar job this season, but so far, the coach has beamed about the veteran's contributions, and so have his teammates. "Sam has been great for the team," the Clippers' Corey Maggette said. "I can't stress that enough. His leadership on this team is exactly what we needed." Clippers guard Cuttino Mobley, who works out with Cassell during the offseason in Houston, said, "He talks a lot. He's a big mouth, and I love him. He's one of my closest friends. He's a leader. He knows a lot of things, and he's been around. You can learn a lot from him. He's taught me a lot in these last several years as far as being in the NBA." Cassell may be a little more pensive, as his career winds down than when he was a younger player. He has a 1-year-old son, Caron, and plans on being more involved in his early years than he was with Sam III when he was new to the NBA. He says he has two years left in him after this season, but wants to be a reserve and role player for his final two seasons. After that, he plans to coach. His goals for this season are relatively simple: "I want to get this team to the playoffs," he said. "And my best friend, (San Antonio Spurs guard) Nick Van Exel said, 'If you get that team to the playoffs, boy, I'm bowing down to you. I'm bowing down to you." " After all of these years, Cassell accepts the premise that he is misperceived by some who look at him and only see a bald man and an ego. "I'm a caring guy," he said. "Everybody knows, that if you're my friend, I got your back in a crisis. Not just financially, like my teammates here, they don't need money. They need someone to talk to." And, boy, can he talk.