Archive for the ‘NBA’ Category
Heat Spoon-Feeding Beasley So Far
Photo from AP Photo
Four days into the real thing, and Michael Beasley is distant. Literally, Beasley is far. He’s away from his scrimmaging teammates, sitting on the opposite sideline of the American Airlines Arena main floor with an injured groin and a spinning mind. Figuratively, he’s far — far from being the impact player everyone expects him to be. And right now that makes his team something of a mystery.
Even when assistant coach Ron Rothstein approaches him to review what he just watched, Beasley still looks a bit overwhelmed with the information coming his way. You would be too if you were born in 1989 (that’s six years after Scarface was released and one year after Pat Riley scored his fourth and final championship with the Lakers) and experiencing what Beasley has been over the past four months.
Then there are all those plays. The ones Riley handed down to Erik Spoelstra, and Spoelstra added to and adjusted and insisted even a 19-year-old memorize like the alphabet. Fortunately, Spoelstra and his staff made learning them a bit more teen-friendly by filing them all in an iTouch device that makes an actual book unnecessary. Attention deficiency isn’t a major issue when, like the alphabet, you can sing while you learn it.
”The way I do it, I find one song and I put it on repeat, and I’ll go over the play while I’m listening to the song,” Beasley said. “So when I’m out on the court, if it’s that play, I sing the song and it’s just natural.”
Full Story: Miami Herald
Mavs Didn’t Want to Play for Avery Johnson
Photo from Reuters Pictures
Mark Cuban said multiple players told him they wanted to be traded if Avery Johnson returned as coach this season.
The Mavericks owner revealed the gravity of the rift between Johnson and his players at Monday’s media day when asked how he came to the conclusion that he needed to fire Johnson.
“I knew after I had so many people asking to be traded,” Cuban said. “I mean, I had to deal with either the players and moving them or the coach and moving him.”
Cuban said these sentiments were relayed to him by the players or their agents over the course of last season. After each complaint Cuban would assure the players that he and Donnie Nelson, the team’s president of basketball operations, would work with Johnson in an effort to smooth things over.
Cuban said the players did not speak in generalities. They told him they didn’t want to come back if Johnson was still the coach.
Full Story: Dallas Morning News
Dwyane Wade Denies Interest in Knicks
Photo from AP Photo by J. Pat Carter
Dwyane Wade disputed a report in Newsday (N.Y.) that he would love to play for the Knicks and said he has a hunch he will remain with the Heat after he can opt out of his contract in summer 2010. “That’s my goal,” Wade said, indicating he would love to retire as a Heat player.
The Newsday story “was reported wrong,” Wade said Friday. “When they asked me about [Knicks coach] Mike D’Antoni, I said when I played with him in the Olympics, if it was between him and Nate McMillan, I love being on the court with him. Miami is where I want to be. If I say I like a city, people will say I want to be playing in that city. And that doesn’t mean that at all.”
Pat Riley consults Wade on personnel and Wade said, “I appreciate that because it’s his and Micky Arison’s team, and he doesn’t have to. To have that relationship with him means a lot.”
Full Story: Miami Herald
