Category: General NBA insight

Here’s the Boston Globe reporting on LeBron James, who has gotten attention recently for his opinion as to which NBA legends would belong on a basketball version of Mount Rushmore:

LeBron James has had all weekend to reconsider the list of players on his basketball version of Mount Rushmore.

Last week, the four-time MVP said his top four players were Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Oscar Robertson, adding that one of those will eventually be replaced by him. Those statements sparked a debate at All-Star Weekend about the game’s greatest players.

James stuck to his original list, but said there are plenty of other names who could be considered.

“Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], Kobe [Bryant], it’s hard to knock anybody off,” James said. “There needs to be another mountain. It’s too many guys. I was definitely thinking of Kobe as the top four of all time. I think about Kareem for sure. There’s so many greats that played this game.”

Lots of basketball fans appreciate the shooting ability of Stephen Curry. Count President Obama in that group. Here’s the Bay Area News Group reporting:

All-Star Stephen Curry has a fan in President Barack Obama, who offered high praise to the Warriors guard for his shooting ability.

“I gotta tell you, Curry is the best shooter I have ever seen,” Obama told TNT’s Charles Barkley in a portion of a taped interview released Friday. “I believe that.

“In terms of being able to, you know, off the dribble get his shot off from anywhere that fast, best I’ve ever seen.”

David Stern is going from the NBA commissioner’s office to the Hall of Fame.

The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. 8 in Springfield, Mass.

Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Kevin Johnson and Spencer Haywood are hoping to be part of the class. They were chosen as finalists, with the full class to be unveiled April 7 during the NCAA men’s Final Four.

Stern retired on Feb. 1 after exactly 30 years as commissioner, during which he brought the league to its greatest success. Jerry Colangelo, chairman of the Hall of Fame board, said the Hall hopes to have a special spot to display a tribute to Stern.

— Associated Press

Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart is expected to watch Saturday’s game from the locker room instead of the stands.

University spokesman Mike Noteware told ESPN that Smart — who’ll be serving the second of his three-game suspension for shoving a fan at Texas Tech — will not be in the crowd when Oklahoma State hosts rival Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.

Smart is not allowed to travel with the team while suspended but has been permitted to practice. His suspension ends after Tuesday’s game in Waco against Baylor.

The Cowboys (16-8, 4-7 Big 12) lost their first game without Smart on Tuesday at Texas and have dropped five straight and six of seven.

— ESPN.com

Here’s ESPN.com reporting on the possibility of seeing ads right on NBA game jerseys. Sounds like we shouldn’t expect it anytime soon. But the possibility certainly still exists for the future:

Floated as a possible revenue stream five years ago, the NBA appears to be no closer to putting ads on its jerseys.

The league had even mapped out the dimensions — a 2½-inch by 2½-inch space on the front of the jerseys — but a simple idea turned into something more complex the more it was considered, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.

In 2011, Silver said selling the space to advertisers conservatively would be worth $100 million.

“The sense was that we were a little premature on the program and we needed to think it through systematically a little bit more,” Silver told ESPN.com.

One of the problems was that teams would be competing for advertising clients. Another issue was how the ads would potentially compromise the league’s television partners, ESPN and Turner.

Here’s the Washington Post reporting on NBA star LeBron James, who still feels like a king:

By the time his NBA career ends, LeBron James is confident he won’t be remembered as merely King James, he’ll be an immortal great worthy of the hoops version of Mt. Rushmore.

“I’m going to be one of the top four that’s ever played this game, for sure,” LeBron James said in an NBA TV interview to be shown Monday. “And if they don’t want me to have one of those top four spots, they’d better find another spot on that mountain. Somebody’s gotta get bumped, but that’s not for me to decide. That’s for the architects.”

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have signed guard Shannon Brown to a second 10-day contract.

In his first stint with the Silver and Black Brown saw action in six games, averaging 2.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in 6.3 minutes.

The eight-year NBA veteran has also played for the Phoenix Suns (2011-13), L.A. Lakers (2009-11), Charlotte (2008-09), Chicago (2007-08) and Cleveland (2006-08).  For his career Brown has appeared in 380 games, averaging 8.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.5 minutes.  The Illinois native was originally drafted by the Cavaliers with 25th pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that an X-ray taken this morning at TRIA Orthopedics in Bloomington, Minn. on Kevin Martin revealed a non-displaced fracture of the distal phalanx in his left thumb. Martin will be sidelined indefinitely and a further update will be provided when appropriate.

The injury happened in the closing minutes of last night’s 98-91 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

The 6-7 guard has appeared in 48 games this year for the Wolves, averaging 19.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 32.3 minutes per game.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed guard/forward Chris Johnson to a multi-year contract.

Johnson, a 6’6” guard/forward, has appeared in eight games for the Celtics and has averaged 7.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 21.6 minutes per game.

He posted a career-high 12 points against Brooklyn on January 26 and recorded a career-high four steals against Washington on January 22. He is currently shooting 40.0 percent from the three-point line which is tops on the Celtics since he signed his original 10-day contract with the Celtics on January 17.

Johnson had appeared in 20 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League earlier this season where he had averaged 19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 block in 37.2 minutes per game.

Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting the opinions of a couple leading TNT NBA analysts:

TNT’s always-entertaining NBA studio team held their always-entertaining pre-All-Star conference call Thursday. It included disagreement between Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal regarding the Heat’s playoff prospects.

“Indiana is the best team in the NBA,” Barkley said. “If they can get a healthy and have a motivated Andrew Bynum, they are going to be very difficult to beat. The wear and tear is starting to take a toll on the Miami Heat and Dwyane [Wade] and LeBron [James]. But it’s still going to be tough to beat LeBron four times in a week.”

O’Neal agreed on that last point.

“Miami has more experience and nobody has beaten them [in the Eastern Conference],” he said. “Indiana has a better record, but just because you have homecourt advantage doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to win. I would lean towards a healthy, more experienced Miami Heat.”