Donyell meet your doppelganger….Ludacris…

Speaking of donyell…Cavs F Donyell Marshall, who went over the 10,000-point plateau on Tuesday, joined Clifford Robinson, Sam Perkins and Scottie Pippen as the only NBA players to get at least 10,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 750 3-pointers and 750 blocks. Marshall is in his 13th season. The other three played 17 seasons apiece.

Too Funny…Former Nets president Jon Spoelstra, now president of Mandalay Baseball Teams, was speaking at a news conference to announce that the New York Yankees and Mandalay were taking over operation of the Staten Island Yankees of the New York-Penn League, said the team was filled with "convicts and criminals" during his tenure with New Jersey. Spoelstra, president of the Nets from 1993-95, said that his players were in so much legal trouble then, team publications could have been filled with "mug shots." "One year we had six guys in jail," he said Thursday. "Not together, because that would have meant teamwork." Some highlights: C Jayson Williams was arrested after being accused of shooting at the hubcap of an empty security truck. The charges were dropped after he completed a program for first offenders…F Derrick Coleman was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, a case that ended in a mistrial. At the time it was alleged that he vomited on a police car during a routine traffic stop…

Attention K-Mart shoppers: Martin will undergo yet another knee surgery and be out 8 weeks…

I saw the highlights and I’m not sure what the big deal was…James was widely criticized on sports talk radio and by TV pundits for leaving the floor in the final seconds Tuesday night in a 104-95 overtime loss to Atlanta. After missing a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, he began walking off the floor toward Cleveland's locker room while the Hawks dribbled out the clock. James stopped near the baseline by Cleveland's bench and watched until the final horn sounded. "It's not like I walked off the court and came to the locker room while there was still time left on the clock," he said before Thursday's game against Chicago. "I stood on the court the whole time, until the buzzer's end, I even said something to (Hawks forward) Joe Johnson on his way out. It was kind of frustrating for us to lose that game, but as far as quitting on my team or anything like that, it's crazy. If we would have won the game, it would have never been mentioned. Say if we was winning the game and I did the same thing. Would it have been mentioned? I don't think so."

1) Fascinating article by Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe about athletes carrying guns:

Many players regard firearm as a necessity

A tower of power, he stands 7 feet 1 inch, weighs 325 pounds, and bears a tattoo of Superman's signature "S" on his massive left arm. Yet NBA great Shaquille O'Neal protects himself off the basketball court with more than his physical might and inky bond with the Man of Steel. So are many other American sports figures, including NBA stars Paul Pierce and Vince Carter, NFL standouts Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, and Daunte Culpepper, and New York Yankee pitcher Carl Pavano, according to players and a Globe review of concealed weapon permits in states where the names of license holders are public record. In an era in which rich and famous athletes increasingly perceive danger in the worlds they inhabit, legions have armed themselves against muggers, carjackers, jewelry-snatchers, and various other predators they consider potential threats. Players and team officials estimated a vast majority of NBA and NFL athletes carry firearms -- legally or illegally -- and that the number of handgun owners among them has reached an all-time high. Handgun ownership is much less prevalent in Major League Baseball and rare in the National Hockey League. "I would say about 90 percent of players in the league have guns to protect themselves," said New England Patriots receiver Jabar Gaffney, who holds a Texas license to carry a concealed weapon. In the NBA, the figure "is closer to 100 percent than it is to 50 [percent]," said a team official who requested anonymity. By adding handguns to their evening accessories, athletes not only have raised the stakes in their pursuit of personal security but may have increased the likelihood they could face criminal charges, as Gaffney learned last summer. Gaffney is one of at least 27 elite athletes who have been investigated in the last 21 months for incidents involving firearms, according to news reports. He was charged after a traffic stop in New Jersey in June with illegal possession of a handgun (nearly 30 states honor concealed weapons permits from Texas, but New Jersey is not among them). While Gaffney's case unfolded peacefully, some professional athletes fear the potential consequences of the proliferation of handguns in their ranks. Last month, police seized pistols from three Indiana Pacers and charged one, Stephen Jackson, with felony criminal recklessness after Jackson allegedly fired five shots in the air during an early-morning fight outside an Indianapolis strip club. All three players -- Jackson, Marquis Daniels, and Jamaal Tinsley -- were licensed in Indiana to carry concealed weapons.
"Fortunately, nobody has gotten killed" in recent years, said Boston Celtics center Theo Ratliff, who said he does not carry a firearm but has seen handgun ownership rise among NBA players during his 11 seasons in the league. "If something like that happens, it would put a big X on the situation Many players, however, worry more about their safety than how the public perceives them packing guns. "We make a lot of money and have nice things, like nice cars and stuff, and we need protection," said Patriots defensive back Asante Samuel, who obtained a license in Florida to carry a concealed weapon. "Most of us have kids and family and we want to be able to protect ourselves and our families from any harm or danger." Pierce said he obtained licenses in Massachusetts and California to carry concealed weapons after he narrowly escaped death in 2000 when he was stabbed eight times, suffering a collapsed lung and a wound near his heart, at a nightclub in Boston's Theater District. Pierce, who said he keeps his handgun at home, described the attack as "a reality check." "Earlier in my career, I was more outgoing and pretty much thought I could go anywhere and not get bothered, even though people knew who I was," he said. "But that's not the case. There's a lot of jealousy in the world." Now, Pierce said, "I know we're in a position where every time you go out and people see you driving a nice car and wearing a fancy watch, it's in the back of your head that somebody might come up on you." Somebody came up on Pierce's teammate, Sebastian Telfair, last month near Justin's, a New York nightclub, and ripped a $50,000 chain from Telfair's neck. Police investigated whether the robbery was connected to the shooting less than three hours later of the rapper Fabolous at the same location. No charges have been filed in the robbery or shooting. Carrying firearms for personal security is not new to professional athletes. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, police discovered handguns in vehicles owned by Irving Fryar of the Patriots and NBA stars Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen. And more than a decade has passed since NFL linebacker Bryan Cox famously referred to the dangers of his childhood neighborhood in explaining why he owned handguns. "Where I'm from," said Cox, who was raised in East St. Louis, Ill., "a gun is like a credit card -- you don't leave home without it." While it's impossible to tally how many athletes illegally carry firearms, the total number of those who are licensed to carry concealed weapons also is incalculable because of laws backed by the National Rifle Association that prohibit the vast majority of states from license disclosure. Of the 46 states that require permits to carry concealed weapons, only a small number have made those records public, including Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, and South Carolina. Two states -- Alaska and Vermont -- allow individuals to carry concealed weapons without permits, while two other states -- Illinois and Wisconsin -- prohibit carrying concealed weapons. Some law enforcement officials said they recognize the danger high-profile athletes may face. "Sometimes I worry about giving permits to young people, but these guys have a lot of money and sometimes people want to do stuff to them," said David Warren, the sheriff of Macon County, Ala., where New York Giants cornerback Frank Walker is licensed to carry a concealed weapon. "We've got to consider the circumstances they're in. It's sad, but they need some form of protection." In Massachusetts, 203,302 residents were licensed to carry concealed weapons as of August, according to the state Criminal History Systems Board. That's about one of every 23 residents among the 4.6 million who are at least 21 years old, the minimum age to obtain a license. But state law bars authorities from releasing the names of permit holders to "prevent individuals with devious motives from ascertaining who possesses firearms," according to a guide published by Secretary of State William F. Galvin. Critics contend the prohibition prevents the public from knowing whether individuals with devious motives may possess firearms. "Denying the public access to these records significantly impairs efforts to analyze the effects of concealed weapons laws on public safety and even to determine whether the permitting process is working properly," said Laura Cutilletta, a staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Legal Community Against Violence, which monitors gun laws. The Globe, in a review of the small number of states that disclose the names of permit holders, found more than 50 professional athletes had obtained licenses to carry concealed weapons. (Many states that seal records from the public rank among the largest, including California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia .) The license holders identified in the Globe review included eight players selected for the 2006 NFL Pro Bowl (Harrison, James, Santana Moss, Jason Taylor, Bob Sanders, Cato June, Jeff Saturday, and Marcus Stroud) and three members of the NBA's 2006 All-Star team (O'Neal, Pierce, and Carter). There were former college criminology majors, such as Willis McGahee of the Buffalo Bills, Marquand Manuel of the Green Bay Packers, and Aaron Stecker of the New Orleans Saints. There were 10 Jacksonville Jaguars, including a 350-pound lineman, Stockar McDougle. And seven Indianapolis Colts, including June, a former member of the National Honor Society. The list included Marlon McCree of the San Diego Chargers, who once received an honorary key to the city of Orlando; Michael Lewis, a former man of the year for the New Orleans Saints; Stephen Davis of the St. Louis Rams, the former ambassador of physical fitness in South Carolina; and Jevon Kearse of the Eagles, whose brother, father, grandfather, uncle, and cousin all died in separate incidents of gunshot wounds. The players ranged in age from Jacksonville cornerback Chris Roberson, who turned 23 in June, to Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Ted Washington, 38, formerly of the Patriots. And they shared a common concern: safety. "It's a sad thing, but there are people out there who see us as targets," Gaffney said. "We never know who might want to do us harm, so we have to take steps to make sure we're safe." Beyond their wealth and celebrity, many athletes are linked by a culture in which images of firearms abound. “We're seeing a generation of athletes coming into professional sports who have grown up with the glamorization of carrying a handgun," said Peter Roby, director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University. "But there's also a practical side to" players carrying firearms, Roby said. "These are young people who have an awful lot of money and are worried about whether they are going to be a target of somebody who wants some of that money." Many wealthy athletes, including LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Jermaine O'Neal of the Pacers, hire private security guards for protection. Some take other precautions. "A lot of guys in the league don't have the money to pay for around-the-clock security, so they go out with entourages," Pierce said. "With entourages, you can use the people close to you as a shield so you don't have to put yourself in a position that you have to pull out a gun." Ratliff said entourages are especially common among players who frequent late-night venues . "The guys who go out to nightclubs, they either run with a lot of guys to try to offset people getting at them or they carry a gun," Ratliff said. Had Pierce been carrying a gun the night he was stabbed, he was asked, how might things have been different? "It probably wouldn't have been any different," he said. "Stuff happens so fast, who knows if it would have changed the outcome." Pierce's coach, Doc Rivers, said nothing is gained by athletes packing guns. An NBA player from 1984-96, Rivers described the rising prominence of firearms among sports figures as "a generational thing," driven in part by the enormous celebrity of many contemporary athletes and the public's emphasis on their lucrative salaries, particularly on talk radio. "Their celebrity and all the talk about their money puts a target on their back," Rivers said. "They have to be concerned about their safety." But Rivers echoed NBA commissioner David Stern, who -- in a stunning plea by the head of a major professional sport -- urged players to leave their guns at home. Both the NBA and NFL have policies that bar players from carrying guns on league business and have stepped up efforts through seminars and other educational programs to discourage players from carrying handguns. The trouble is, many athletes believe danger lurks at nearly every turn. "Even when I do charity work, there's always a couple of kids who say, 'I can beat you up,' " said Patriots tight end Ben Watson. "They see you on TV and they want to do the tough act and all that." Watson and several other professional athletes who shun carrying handguns said their challenge is avoiding potential trouble. "As far as what happened to [Telfair] and those guys, a lot of it is about where you go and what situations you put yourself in," Watson said. "For me, it's about trying to stay out of those situations." Another player's suggestion: Don't advertise your wealth. "My thing is, if you don't wear the $50,000 chain, you don't need a gun to protect yourself," said Patriots lineman Jarvis Green, who said he goes unarmed. Several ranked self-restraint among their best defenses. "You have to learn to walk away if somebody starts something," said Patriots receiver Doug Gabriel, who expressed no interest in carrying a gun. The alternative could be devastating, especially for an armed athlete, according to Roby. "It's inevitable that players are going to get into situations either by their own doing or somebody provoking them," Roby said. "But there's always the concern that somebody's going to get hit with an athlete's stray bullet or that an athlete is going to feel his life is threatened and shoot somebody and go to jail for a long time if it's proven not to be self-defense." Pierce opts for entourages and private security to avoid such a possibility. "But if someone comes in my house," he said, "that's a different story." Samuel said he has never felt compelled to draw his gun since he obtained his license to carry a concealed weapon in 2002, his senior year at the University of Central Florida. He said growing up in Florida convinced him he needed the license. "There's a lot more crime down South, so you have to watch your back at all times," Samuel said. "I knew I was going to have a chance to make it to the NFL and I needed protection, for whatever reason." Florida, like most states, requires individuals who apply for licenses to document they have been trained in firearm safety. "I wanted to do it the right way," Samuel said. "I didn't want to get in trouble." Gaffney said he joined a group of teammates in a firearm safety course during his rookie season with the Houston Texans in 2002. And though he remains concerned someone "might be out there trying to do us harm," he said he has yet to grow fearful enough to draw his gun. "Hopefully," Gaffney said, "that day will never come."

2) Chad Ford of ESPN.com with a draft update:

Yi Jianlian: China's next big thing?

News that Chinese big man Yi Jianlian will enter the 2007 NBA Draft was met by serious buzz among international scouts. "Depending on who's in the draft, I think he could be in the mix for a top five pick," one NBA scout who recently returned from China told me. "I've been watching him practice and play. He's really improved. He's got to the chance to be pretty special," the scout continued. "He's got a lot of tools. Everyone's going to think Yao, but this kid is totally different in a good way." Another scout said he'd be a lock for the lottery, but wouldn't go as far as a top five ranking. A general manager who's been to China to watch him play thinks he'll be one of the most intriguing international prospects to come into the draft in several years. With the exception of Yi and Brazilian big man Tiago Splitter, there aren't any top international prospects for the 2007 draft, which is expected to be dominated by college underclassmen. Splitter has zero sex appeal. He's entered and withdrawn from the last three drafts because he's been unable to secure a promise in the lottery -- now, according to the rules, he's in to stay. While he's improved every year he's played in Spain, his upside isn't huge. He's a talented big man who will probably make a bigger impact on defense than on offense. In a draft with so much upside, that's hard to fall in love with. Yi, however, has the right ingredients to be in consideration for the high lottery. He is about 7-feet tall and athletic, has quite a bit of international experience and had a good showing against Team USA in the World Championships this summer in Tokyo, posting a line of 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes. The inevitable comparisons to Yao Ming will surely come, and Yi is the best prospect to come out of China since Yao. But that's where the comparisons stop. Yi plays more like Toni Kukoc than like Yao. He runs the floor, shoots the J and, unlike Yao, has a real bounce to his step. Agents are lining up to get their shot at Yi. Yao's agent, Bill Duffy, has been considered the front runner for years, but he may get resistance from Yi's camp, which wants to make sure Yi gets a separate identity from Yao.

3) Ian Thomsen of SI.com reports on T-Mac getting old and other things:

Diminishing returns - McGrady says he's lost a step ... at ripe old age of 27

The enigma of Tracy McGrady continues. "I'm young,'' he says. "But I'm old.'' McGrady is 27, yet he's entering his 10th season with a sensitive back that sidelined him for 34 games last season. He feels much older than he looks. "My first year here,'' he says, referring to his 2004-05 debut with Houston after being traded by Orlando, "I felt like I was that same type of guy that was in the Magic uniform, that I could go out and get 30 or 40 every night. At this point right now, I don't feel that way. I feel like the last few years my game has diminished a little bit. I don't know if it's because I'm older, because of the injuries or what, but I feel that I'm a step slower.'' McGrady is an interesting test case for the NBA. Personnel people are studying him, Kevin Garnett and other teenaged draft picks in hope of recalibrating the standard graph for NBA longevity. The traditional thinking has been that NBA players reach their peak at 28 into their early 30s, but that traditional model was based on rookies who used to enter the league in their early 20s after three or more years of college. McGrady was drafted as a 17-year-old in 1997. When Larry Bird had played as many NBA games as McGrady -- 617 -- Bird was a 30-year-old whose body was already starting to break down, leading to his retirement five years later. "The last six years I've been playing a lot of minutes,'' McGrady says. "In Orlando I was playing 40-plus, and what I had to do for them -- guarding the best players and scoring the ball -- really took a toll on my body. I don't feel 27. It's not so much the years that you play in this league, it's more so the mileage and the minutes and everything that you do that takes a toll on you. It's definitely done that to me. "I had a very quick first step, and I've lost a little bit of that. I've put on some weight, but hey, man, as you get older you slow down a little bit and that's what's happened to me. I look at Kobe Bryant. He's still a great player, but he had to sort of change his game a little bit because we're getting older. He's breaking down as well with the surgeries. I saw him [Friday] night and he doesn't look the same. He doesn't look the same at all. He looks heavier and he looks slower.'' Bryant, by the way, is 28. Is McGrady ready to cash out? On the contrary. He compares himself to the pitchers who lose something off their fastball yet compensate with a better understanding of how to work the plate. "Roger Clemens doesn't throw as hard as he used to throw, but he's very smart, he knows how to mix his pitches up and keep the batters off balance,'' McGrady says. "Obviously I'm not 40-something years old, but just the whole mentality of knowing that you don't have that overpowering [presence] that you would normally have when you were younger. As you get older you don't have that, so you got to find another way -- and that's got to be by smarts.'' McGrady's career seemed to be at risk last year when Rockets owner Leslie Alexander personally decided to hold him out for the final month in order to get to the bottom of his back injury. McGrady spent the summer getting leaner and now swears that he doesn't worry about reinjuring his back. "My back was so jacked up, I was healthy -- this is no lie -- for one game last year, and that was the first game of the season,'' he says. "I kind of lost my passion for the game, but I worked my ass off to get into tip-top shape just to bounce back and come into training camp more focused than ever. "I think I'll be healthy to play out this contract,'' says McGrady, who is signed through 2009-10, when he'll be making $23.2 million as a 30-year-old. "But after that it's a big question mark.'' By acquiring Shane Battier and Bonzi Wells, the Rockets have assembled a contending roster around Yao Ming and McGrady, whom coach Jeff Van Gundy routinely refers to as "one of the great decision-makers in the league.'' "A lot of guys would have trouble accepting me saying to the team that Yao is our No. 1 option in the halfcourt, but Tracy's fine with that,'' Van Gundy says. "I hear all this 'Me-Mac' stuff from down in Orlando. I don't know what happened, but if he was that way there, he hasn't been that way from Day One here. This guy has been all about the team.'' McGrady is the best player in the league to not have won a playoff series, but Van Gundy objects to the category. "We were up 2-0 two years ago and we should have won,'' says Van Gundy, referring to the Rockets' seven-game loss to Dallas. "Or I don't know if we should have won; we lost to a team that played better than us during the regular season, but we had the ability to win. I don't think he could have possibly done more in that series. That's what bothers me about 'McGrady has never won a first-round series.' I know there were reasons we lost in that series, and not one of them had to do with McGrady.'' He has made the playoffs five times but never on a team with homecourt advantage. "I've always been the underdog,'' says McGrady, who averaged 30-plus points in each of his four series with Orlando and Houston. "But I can honestly say this is the first time in my 10 years that I came into training camp and I felt like I'm finally going to get out of the first round. "When I was younger I was extremely happy and excited to win a scoring title and accomplish all of these individual accolades, but now I don't even care about all this stuff. I watched Dwyane Wade [win the championship] and LeBron -- he's in his third year and he's advancing to the second round -- that's motivation. That's where I want to be because I see how much fun those guys are having out there. And that's what I want to do.'' It's as if McGrady has been abandoned by the new Wade/LeBron/Carmelo era. "It's like everybody's forgotten him all of a sudden,'' Rockets GM Carroll Dawson says of McGrady. "He used to be one of the stalwarts, but you never see his name anymore.'' What does that mean to McGrady? "Nothing,'' he says. "I know what I'm capable of, and you ask those guys -- they respect me.' Before breaking out with a 32-point performance on 11-of-19 shooting in Houston's win at Milwaukee on Wednesday, McGrady had started slowly in averaging 16.5 points and hitting a career-low 35.8 percent from the field. But he was more concerned with the 3-2 Rockets up-and-down start, though he recognizes that all the newcomers will need time to learn Van Gundy's complicated system. "I'm in a situation where I don't have to score like that anymore,'' says McGrady, referring to his not-so-distant past. "If I was put in the situation where I had to do that, I think I'm still capable of doing it. But I'm playing with the best center in the league so I don't have to go out and be that guy anymore. And that will prolong my career.''

Memo to Morrison: Shoot! - Adam Morrison is not your typical rookie gunner. "He's not shooting enough,'' complains Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff. "He's got the shots and we want him to shoot more, but I think he's trying to bring his teammates into the play.'' His teammates must like that. "They want him to shoot also,'' Bickerstaff responds. Through four games Morrison was the Bobcats' No. 3 scorer with 15 points a game off the bench, though he was shooting just 37.3 percent from the field. Morrison admits he is adapting to the speed of the NBA game, but it's a normal growth curve: Elders like Ray Allen will tell him that they too were forced to develop a quicker shot release as NBA rookies. "It is something I need to work on, coming off screens and being able to shoot,'' says Morrison, referring to the speed of NBA defenders. "I could do it in college at my own pace. But here sometimes I thought I wasn't open but the coaching staff thought I was, that I had plenty of time to shoot.'' In other words, Morrison needs to develop a quicker trigger. It's a sure thing that he will, because Morrison is too aggressive and competitive to not adapt. He isn't shy either. In the third quarter of Charlotte's 110-108 overtime loss Wednesday at Boston, Morrison clapped his hands for the ball at the three-point line but was ignored by point guard Brevin Knight. "Hey!'' cried Morrison. Without looking at him, Knight pointed in Morrison's direction to let him know he would get the ball next time. The most disappointing aspect is that Morrison isn't weaving and cutting more often without the ball; instead he has spent a lot of time spotting up from the three-point line. He struggled to a 2-for-11 performance Wednesday, but instead of forcing shots he drove his way to the foul line for the bulk of his 12 points. "They just tell me to put it up when I'm open,'' Morrison says. "When I feel comfortable I'm going to let it fly. But I think it's a team game and we've got good players, and I'm not going to come here and be one of those prima donna-type guys that demands his shots and is bitching and all that. I'm just trying to do what's best for the team.'' Counters Bickerstaff: "He's got to shoot the basketball, it's that simple. Probably the most difficult thing coming into this game is knowing when and when not to. If you're open, you're raising your teammates' play by making the shot.''

In his own words: Jerry Colangelo - The 66-year-old Colangelo has emerged as the NBA's most powerful owner -- a shadow commissioner who, with David Stern's blessing, not only revamped NBA rules to quicken the pace of play but also overhauled the men's Olympic program as the new managing director of USA Basketball. Colangelo joined the expansion Phoenix Suns in 1968 as the youngest GM in pro sports, and purchased the team for $44.5 million in 1987. In 2004 he sold the Suns to Robert Sarver for $401 million, embarking on a three-year transition in which Colangelo has remained team chairman and CEO. His leadership of the Suns concludes at the end of this season. Will the Suns deliver him a long-awaited NBA championship in his final year? In this interview he responds to a variety of topics from Mark Cuban to the viability of Las Vegas. He acknowledges the difficulties of selling off his Suns as well as his future in sports, including the possibility of buying another franchise or even taking over for Stern someday as NBA commissioner. On his decision to sell the Suns: "The transition was much more difficult than I would have ever imagined, though I would do the same thing again for all the right reasons. I did it to set up my family financially because I've been a working stiff my whole life, and this was my opportunity to show something for the work and effort I've put into it. I was different than any other guy to come along in ownership: I was a player [at Illinois], I was in scouting, coaching, managing and owning in the NBA, so I've been a lifer through the system. This was my time to cash in and have something to show for it. "In reality I have been more than willing to acquiesce to Robert. I think it's only appropriate -- when [he] wrote that check it was unrealistic to think that everything would remain the same for those three years. The last two years I've acquiesced quite a bit, it really was my call, and I was willing.'' On son Bryan Colangelo's departure as Suns GM last season to become Toronto Raptors president: "When the sale took place it was an almost inevitable possibility that Bryan might not be part of the future of the Phoenix Suns, because new ownership has the right to maintain or change management. Bryan and I discussed that before the sale, and he encouraged me to do what's right for the family and don't worry about him, he was going to be OK. He was right. "It was time for him to go out on his own, because as long as he was part of the Phoenix Suns I would still be casting something of a shadow. For him to make a break was in his best interests professionally. Though it's been personally difficult because he's part of our family, that's all part of this business.'' On how he pushed through the rules changes: "I'll take the full blame or responsibility for that one. David Stern and I were meeting in New York and I shared with him my concern for the game at that time. I felt the game had lost its appeal and allure, and if it was starting to affect me then that was a serious issue. I had some very specific ideas about how to quicken the game, and David said, 'Put together a committee and do what needs be done.' Normally this kind of thing would take place within the competition and rules committee, and the coaches would discuss these things to ad infinitum. So it was my strong opinion that this was not going to be done by democratic opinion. A lot of times when people are voting on rules changes, their vote is based on their own talent. When you have coaches and GMs voting on rules, that is an issue. "So when I appointed my committee -- the members were people like Jack Ramsay, Dick Motta, Jerry West, Rod Thorn, Bob Lanier -- we had about 10 people who came in for the meetings in Phoenix, and I outlined what needed to be done to the rules. We discussed them, tweaked them and then we changed the rules. After the fact we met with the GMs, who had their nose out of joint, and the coaches, who may have started with their nose out of joint. I told them be patient but it would work. It would take a couple of years to implement and for people to change. So it had been done differently than it had been done before, but I thought it was necessary because otherwise it may have taken forever.'' On the rule permitting zone defenses: "When we came up with the idea that we were going to allow any defense to be played, we came up with the three-second rule for the offensive guy and the defensive guy -- and that protected us. We cleaned up play in the middle, speeded up play by changing the 10-second halfcourt rule to eight seconds -- we almost went to seven seconds, by the way -- and bringing more emphasis on shooting the ball and smarts. "I'm going to make a statement, and sometimes people have misinterpreted this: When we started playing the game in this country above the rim rather than below the rim, when athleticism was the key, then coaches started clinging to the athleticism and the fundamentals got sidetracked. How to pass, how to go without the ball, how to shoot the ball. I really believed because of these rules changes that scoring would increase, percentages would improve, it would put more of a premium on intelligence and people would have to get back to the fundamentals of the game. In so many ways it's a better game than we had seven or eight years ago.'' On reorganizing the Dream Team: "I felt that the system really didn't work. Committees were selecting the players, with a different set of players for the World Championships than for the Olympics, and politics were involved, and there wasn't any continuity because we were putting together a group for each competition. I looked around the world at the countries where playing for the national team is the ultimate. But here in the States the ultimate is the NBA. I respected and appreciated what they'd done with their continuity, having the same players and coaches in their program for years. I came up with the idea that the head coach, assistant coaches and players would make a three- to four-year commitment so we could build continuity and we wouldn't be throwing guys together. This is the ultimate team game, and you need to have players together for a period of time, and the more experience they have together the more opportunity they have to be successful.'' On adding Kobe Bryant to a 2008 Olympic team already loaded with scorers: "The game plan is to look at players who did not participate last summer: Amaré Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Michael Redd, Paul Pierce, Greg Oden -- I may be missing someone, but it's a pretty healthy group. Somehow someway they need an opportunity to show how they fit into our plan as we start to prepare our summer camp before the trials competition. There may be a few deletions and a few additions. We have flexibility because it was left up to me to implement the system; I'm the one who created the system.''

4) From Randy Hill of Foxsports.com thinks the techs are getting serious:

Tolerating the no-tolerance policy

An NBA season that will drag its All-Star party to Sin City has been defined by the league's embargo on bad on-court behavior. Who said irony can't be entertaining? For the record, I endorse commissioner David Stern's commitment to curb the whining. But I'm a high school coach, who — like my coaching cronies — anticipates NBA players setting a slightly better conduct example for aspiring players. Similar thumbs-up approval has been rendered by casual fans that applaud any legislation working against the wishes of handsomely compensated pro athletes. But in the long term, how will these quick whistles actually impact players and coaches working in the league? Reviews and expectations are mixed. According to the interpretation of one NBA assistant coach, the obvious opposition of coaches and players may not be shared by team officials. "Just like the league, the teams think any disrespectful attitude is a poor reflection on the franchise," said the coach, whose anonymity coincides with his interest in not being fined. And poor reflections often are presumed to be bad for business, suggesting that a key motivation is money. In a memo sent to NBA executives from the league office, the new zero-tolerance policy lingo was peppered with references to marketing partners. Fine, the league believes in self-preservation. But moving forward, how will zero tolerance change the league? Well, with three big-name players tossed in the season's first three nights, it's conceivable that feelings of entitlement — in regard to referee calls — may be taken from the stars. This suggests that even mediocre players will be shooting free throws in the fourth quarter. But there are even greater concerns: Fines from the technical-foul explosion may cut into wardrobe budgets needed to reach dress-code standards. An inability to bark at referees could diminish the players' street cred. Giving referees the license to T-up players and coaches with abandon will alter the singular grace of Steve "Quick Draw" Javie. To be sure, there are benefits to an upgrade in on-court behavior. If Stern's anti-whining tactic succeeds, the subsequent reduction in complaining may speed up the game, giving beat reporters enough time to solicit quotes before deadline. OK, bad example. Here's a better one: instead of studying Kobe Bryant's reaction to a perceived bad call, young American players may actually pay attention to his footwork. "Just like everything else, players and coaches will adjust," the assistant coach said. "They'll see how far they can go and act accordingly. We won't have dozens of games lost by star players who refused to shut up." He may be right. I'm just wondering when Stern will get around to sanctioning players who continue to complain about his new basketball.