General NBA insight – Page 157 – NBA Blog

Lamar Odom came close to joining Miami Heat

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ira Winderman) reports: In an emotional, candid and introspective radio interview Friday, Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom revealed that he, indeed, stood on the verge of returning to South Florida as a free agent this week and insisted that he never attempted to use the Miami Heat as leverage. “I was really close,” Odom told ESPN-760 host Evan Cohen. “I weighed and I balanced every option. I did it 50 times, 60 times.” … “It was a tough decision,” he told the West Palm Beach station. “It was hard. Pat, Micky and Dwyane, I love those guys. Micky is an incredible owner. Of course, D-Wade is my friend. Pat? I don’t know what Pat is to me; he’s a little bit more special to me than just a coach. I look up to him tremendously. “It was hard.” … That, Odom said, made it difficult for him to inform Riley and Wade of his Thursday decision. “It was tough,” he said. “I sent them a text and let them know how appreciative I was, and I’ll probably get to speak to them face to face when I get down to Miami at the end of the month and I get set in my home and just relax and take some time out and reflect.”

Mike Dunleavy working on his return

The Indianapolis Star (Mike Wells) reports: The Indiana Pacers shooting guard isn’t ready to pinpoint a date for his return from right knee surgery, but he has a “gut feeling” that he’ll be back sooner than the January date coach Jim O’Brien targeted last season. “We still have a ways to go and we don’t know how this thing is going to shake out, but I’m optimistic,” Dunleavy said. “January is a nice cushion for me. It takes all the pressure off, but I’m certainly working my tail off to get back a lot sooner than that.” Dunleavy, an iron man through his first six seasons, appeared in 18 games last season. He had surgery to remove a bone spur from his right patellar tendon and then had the tendon repaired in Colorado in March. Dunleavy also underwent a “minor” arthroscopic procedure on his left hip last month to clean up a “long-standing injury.”

Lamar Odom needs a job

Los Angeles Lakers free agent forward Lamar Odom needs to make up his mind and sign NBA contract. He’s basically down to either re-signing with his championship-winning squad or jumping ship for a bit more financial security and joining Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat.

The following is “educated speculation” as to what the versatile, talented veteran is likely to do:

1) 60% chance he re-signs with the Lakers, for a slightly shorter contract that he reportedly wants.

2) 35% chance he ignores the fact that he just won a championship, leaves town, joins D-Wade on the Heat for a more secure contract but very little shot at a title.

3) 3% chance something unexpected happens, like a sign-and-trade placing him with another team somewhere. I can’t even guess who that may be.

4) 1% chance he decides to imitate Stephon Marbury and starts his own webcam broadcast where day and night he yells and screams about haters, proves he’s not crazy by eating vaseline, dancing and crying a lot, and rants that you can’t put him in a box, while laughing a lot.

5) 1% chance he retires from basketball and becomes a farmer in rural Kentucky, taking up wearing overalls and a straw hat while becoming a hardcore country music fan.

But seriously, I’m told he’s more likely to stay with the Lakers than join the Heat.

– Jeff Lenchiner, editor of InsideHoops.com

Shaq guest host on WWE wrestling show Monday Night Raw

NBA star Shaquille O’Neal is a guest host tonight on the famous WWE wrestling show “Monday Night Raw,” which is nationally televised. This week’s edition takes place in Washington D.C.

It began with wrestling legend Jerry Lawler introducing Shaq to fans, mistakenly calling him “a 15-time NBA MVP.”

Then, current wrestling star Chris Jericho came out, insulting Shaq, saying that he heard a top NBA superstar was coming out and naturally assumed it was Kobe Bryant, not Shaq.

Jericho’s friend (and tag team partner) “The Big Show” was introduced and stood face to face with Shaq. Big Show is about 7 feet tall and listed at 485 pounds. In all my years I’ve never seen Shaq as the smaller dude. (Yao Ming is taller than Shaq, but Shaq’s still the bigger dude.)

Big Show called Shaq a toothpick. Shaq called him “Fat Boy” in return.

Naturally, Shaq didn’t exchange blows with anyone. He’s just there to guest-host and stay healthy for the 2009-10 NBA season as a new member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

About 40 minutes into the show, Hornswoggle, a “little person” Irish wrestling character dressed like a tiny leprechaun came into a room Shaq was in backstage. Shaq joked that they went to high school together, then invited Hornswoggle to dunk on a lowered basket. “Come on, Nate Robinson” said Shaq, encouraging the little fellow.

The show began at 9 p.m. ET on USA network.

Quiet offseason for Hornets

The New Orleans Times-Picayune (Larry Holder) reports (via blog): Hornets point guard Chris Paul wished he had an answer as to why the team has been inactive in the trade arena during the offseason, but he suggested it might not matter. Paul said he has no issues playing with the same roster the team ended with last season. He doesn’t think it will take an additional piece to turn the Hornets’ fortunes around. It’s more of a team attitude adjustment thing in Paul’s opinion. “It wasn’t necessarily that we just needed someone extra, ” Paul said Sunday at a basketball court dedication at Hardin Playground in the 7th Ward. “We just needed something extra as a team. We could have motivated ourselves a little bit more and figured out different things. It’s not necessarily a person.”

Charles Oakley wants to be NBA assistant coach

Charles Oakley as an NBA power forward was an enforcer. He banged, slammed opponents around, rebounded, defended, set great screens, and was able to hit open mid-range jumpers. And he has a lot to teach today’s young players. And he’s having a great life off the court right now, but would love to become an NBA assistant. The New York Times reports:

“I think I have a lot to teach these young guys,” Oakley, 46, said. “Especially on the defensive end.”

Oakley said his former teammate Patrick Ewing did a great job this season as an assistant with the Orlando Magic. He said he could have similar success with the Knicks, and told the team’s president, Donnie Walsh, just that.

“Nowadays, you may have better athletes,” he said. “But unless they’re taught, they aren’t going to do anything in the league. I talked with Donnie after the last home game and told him that I think I have a lot to offer this team. You can’t just score more points than last year without playing defense.”

I think Oak would be terrific. He’d tell players what they really need to hear and not sugarcoat anything. And if a player acts out of line, Oakley will happily smack him around for a while.

Miami Heat decline to match Cleveland Cavaliers offer to Jamario Moon

The Miami Heat announced today that they have declined to match the offer sheet restricted free agent forward Jamario Moon signed with Cleveland, making him a member of the Cavaliers.

“After contemplating Cleveland’s offer to Jamario Moon for the past week, we have decided not to match,” said HEAT President Pat Riley. “We declined to match because we want to stay true to our plan of not adding salary to our 2010 cap and matching it would have reduced our flexibility. Michael Beasley will be getting significant minutes at both forward positions and this opens up more opportunities for him to become the player we all expect him to be. We would like to thank Jamario for his contributions to our organization and helping us get back to the playoffs last season. We wish him the best in the future.”

Moon was acquired by the HEAT from the Toronto Raptors along with Jermaine O’Neal in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks on Feb. 13, 2009. He appeared in 80 games (60 starts) last year for the HEAT and Raptors and averaged 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.08 steals and 25.9 minutes while shooting 46.8 percent from the floor and 85 percent from the foul line. Additionally, he led the NBA in steals-to-turnover ratio (2.00). He appeared in 26 games (21 starts) after being acquired by Miami and averaged 7.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 26.5 minutes while shooting 45.9 percent from the floor and 86.7 percent from the foul line.

Mark Cuban and Don Nelson hate each other

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former Mavs coach Don Nelson aren’t best friends forever. The AP reports:

The feud between Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former coach Don Nelson stretches back nearly seven years and has some $7 million at stake. But just how ugly and dysfunctional their relationship has been is only now being revealed.

Previously secret testimony and e-mail, now in the public record as part of legal proceedings initiated in the last 10 months, paint the picture of a spat that has turned two of the NBA’s best-known figures into bitter adversaries.

There’s deposition testimony from Cuban in which he acknowledges that he withheld consulting fees from Nelson in 2006 because he believed the former coach had “badmouthed” the team during the NBA Finals and should be made to “beg” for the money.

There’s also testimony from Nelson in which he describes being so disgusted with Cuban that he signed a contract to stay on as coach in 2003 only after friends “got me drunk.”

As great as that sounds, there’s more, again from the AP:

Nelson has also filed a defamation suit against Cuban in California over comments the owner made on a Bay Area radio show in 2007. He claims that Cuban, who was on the show to promote his appearance on “Dancing with the Stars,” defamed him when he said the coach’s demand for money was an attempt “to rip me off.”

This goes deep. The two likely will never be able to hug it out and walk it off.

Thunder are talking playoffs

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a team built around kids. Talented kids like Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook and, if he rises to the challenge, James Harden. But they’re still kids and need a parent to accompany them to PG-13 movies.

But, they think making the playoffs is more than possible.

The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry) reports: Talking about playoffs following a 23-win season might be premature for the Thunder. But that’s exactly what star forward Kevin Durant has been doing this summer, saying the postseason needs to be Oklahoma City’s goal in 2009-10. “Anything less than the playoffs is a failure for us,” Durant said on June 30 while in town for his youth basketball camp… Oklahoma City added more talent this summer in No. 3 overall pick James Harden. Draft picks Serge Ibaka and Byron Mullens also could prove to be everything Mo Sene and Robert Swift weren’t… Nineteen of the Thunder’s losses came by four points or less, the third-most defeats in the league by that margin, trailing only Indiana and San Antonio.

Hornets not even thinking of trading Chris Paul

Is it possible that the New Orleans Hornets would consider trading superstar point guard Chris Paul?

Well, lots of things in this world are possible. For example, It’s possible I am going to walk down the street here in Las Vegas into a casino, bet my life savings on Red on a roulette table, close my eyes and hope for the best. But, I’m not going to.

And, the Hornets aren’t going to trade Chris Paul.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

In response Friday, Hornets President Hugh Weber said the possibility of them trading Paul is zero.

“There is no chance of him getting traded,” Weber said sternly. “I don’t know how to say it any stronger, but there is just no deal we would contemplate for Chris. I can’t speak for Chris, but I think he was talking about the nature of the business and the fact that the question was asked the way it was.”

“I have not nor will I enter any discussions for him,” Bower said.”(Trading Paul) is not going to happen. I think what Chris said just shows his selflessness that he’s not different than anyone else on the team.”