The Arizona Republic (Paul Coro) reports: The Suns’ offense will be different. Based on what sets coach Terry Porter has implemented in two days, it appears that it will be more motion-oriented and deliberate at times. Porter embraces a transition game to reward stops, but there will be no constant “run-and-gun.” It’s more “cut-and-what?” now as they learn plays. “From what I’ve seen so far it’s very different, but he’s not going to throw everything at us at once,” forward Grant Hill said. “It’ll be interesting to see if we totally get away from some of the old stuff.” Porter has used each session to walk the Suns through plays. Part of the reason Porter was hired was his ability to blend new and old, having spent time as a player and coach under Rick Adelman’s similar style. Under Mike D’Antoni, the Suns averaged 110.1 points last season and led the NBA in field-goal shooting the past three seasons. Alvin Gentry returned to the Suns bench, in part to help maintain some of the offense… Don’t expect Amaré Stoudemire experimenting out there anymore. He wants to post up more.
Category: General NBA insight
General NBA insight
Donte Green does not know defense
The Sacramento Bee (Melody Gutierrez) reports on Kings rookie Donte Green: “I’ve got my work cut out for me,” Reggie Theus said after Tuesday’s training camp session. “(Greene plays) great offense and has no basic understanding of how to play defense.” Theus said he considers the forward a “project player,” because he has “never really been taught anything about defense at all.” Greene admits his weakness, saying it has been a tough transition from his season at Syracuse, where the Orange played zone defense. “Before that, he was in high school, where they don’t learn anything about defense,” Theus said. “But it’s OK, because he’s got a lot of room to grow.”
Michael Curry bleeds Pistons colors
The Detroit Free Press (Drew Sharp) reports: The Pistons always have been Michael Curry’s second family. It’s basically why he replaced Flip Saunders as head coach. It bothered owner Bill Davidson that Saunders didn’t move his family to Detroit when he succeeded Larry Brown three years ago. Davidson made a point of reminding everybody that Curry doesn’t just work in the area. He lives here. He’s part of the community. He travels with Michigan State’s football team as often as possible to follow his son Deon, a senior wide receiver. That heightened sense of family might not translate into more playoff victories, but it definitely has helped Curry persevere.
Jazz center Kyrylo Fesenko out of shape
The Salt Lake Tribune (Ross Siler) reports: For the second consecutive day, Jazz center Kyrylo Fesenko could be found working out on the court with Jeff Hornacek before the team bus arrived for evening practice at training camp. However encouraging the sight might have been, coach Jerry Sloan made clear Wednesday that Fesenko’s conditioning still leaves much to be desired for a player entering his second season. Sloan said Fesenko has yet to “realize the importance of being in great shape, because when you aren’t in great shape, you have a tendency to always be behind, whether it’s offensively or defensively or reacting, and those things really hurt you.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: Fesenko’s first name has two Y’s, in seemingly random places. That’s bound to cause conditioning problems.
Eventual Bynum extension may affect Odom
The Orange County Register (Kevin Ding) reports: Andrew Bynum will likely receive a maximum-value contract extension this month worth nearly $90 million over five years. Pau Gasol has nearly $50 million over three years left on his massive contract – also new money being spent by Jerry Buss when you consider the Lakers acquired Gasol for Kwame Brown’s contract that expired at the end of last season. With the Lakers paying Bynum and Gasol that kind of coin into the future behind one Kobe Bryant, it’s just not in the budget to keep paying Lamar Odom his current wage – $14.3 million this season – or more. There were no talks over the summer about a contract extension for Odom for good reason: The Lakers can’t possibly do it. If the Lakers win the title this season, the only way to keep the team intact figures to be Odom accepting a massive pay cut. And the only way that even becomes a realistic possibility is if Odom has a bad year – at least in the statistical sense, which fewer minutes as a sixth man might trigger.
No contract extension for Hedo Turkoglu
The Orlando Sentinel (Brian Schmitz) reports: Magic General Manager Otis Smith reiterated Wednesday that the club doesn’t have any plans to give forward Hedo Turkoglu a contract extension before this season plays out. Some teams offer star players extensions before they can become free agents. “You can do an extension, but wouldn’t I be negotiating against myself right now?” Smith said. “I like Turk. I like what he does for our team. It’s way too early, way premature, for this.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: No big deal. Turkoglu had a breakout season last year. If he keeps playing on that level, he’ll probably get the deal he wants.
Joel Anthony playing well in camp
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ira Winderman) reports: A year after entering Miami Heat training camp as a longshot prospect, Joel Anthony has moved into the mix for significant minutes this season at center. Asked to name someone who has stood out over the first five days of training camp, first-year coach Erik Spoelstra today cited the 6-foot-9 undrafted shot-blocker out of UNLV. “I don’t know why I would be surprised about Joel, because he’s been such an incredible hard worker for the last year,” Spoelstra said. “But he’s had a terrific camp so far and his energy has been incredible, with his athleticism. “He’s probably in the best shape of anybody in the camp, and he’s really got an idea of what we’re trying to do. He’s really made strides offensively, even.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: In training camp and preseason, coaches have a habit of tossing praise at deep bench players who are “working extra hard.” Hard work is great and all, but 9 times out of 10 the player remains glued to the bench once the regular season rolls around.
Yao Ming says foot is healthy
The Houston Chronicle (Jonathan Feigen) reports: Yao Ming again declared the condition of his foot at 100 percent, showing the familiar sense of humor that had abandoned him when a third consecutive season was interrupted by a major injury. “I feel good,” he said. “I can’t say it’s like brand new, but it’s like my foot.” Yao has looked forward to a chance to start over since he blamed himself for the Rockets’ first-round exit last spring in Salt Lake City. As much as he cherished his experiences in the Beijing Olympics, he said Tuesday that in many ways it was valuable as preparation for the Rockets’ season to come, forcing him to prepare early and then pushing his conditioning to the point he reported 13 pounds lighter than last season and feeling far more fit than a month ago.
Boozer and Okur extension talk
The Deseret News (Tim Buckley) reports: The Jazz have discussed contract extensions with the camps of both starting power forward Carlos Boozer and starting center Mehmet Okur, general manager Kevin O’Connor said during the team’s opening session of training camp here Tuesday morning. But Boozer doesn’t plan to decide anything until next offseason, including whether to extend or pursue opportunities in the free-agency market, he said before the Jazz’s evening workout. “We’re going to enjoy this season and play basketball,” Boozer said. “I look forward to having an opportunity to win, and hopefully win a championship… Boozer, an All-Star the past two seasons, currently is in the fifth year of a six-year, $68 million deal.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Boozer is obviously more important to keep than Okur, but both guys are key to the team’s success. Okur is the third most important Jazz player, behind Boozer and Deron Williams, with Andrei Kirilenko 4th. Boozer and Deron are the two building-block stars and they’re both safe to commit to long-term.
Roger Mason has shot to show his stuff
The San Antonio Express-News (Jeff McDonald) reports: Even before Manu Ginobili went under the knife, Roger Mason Jr. expected to find himself under the preseason microscope. The former Washington Wizards swingman rates as the Spurs’ most notable free-agent acquisition of the offseason. With Ginobili out, Mason — who averaged a career-high 9.1 points last season — will get plenty of time in the preseason to show his stuff. How quickly he can grasp the Spurs’ system will go a long way toward determining how the Spurs fare without Ginobili.