• There is not bad blood between Don Nelson and Baron Davis. Consider Nelson, asked by Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News about people who might be coming to visit in Hawaii: “Baron’s coming out next week. It’ll be good to see him. I miss him.”
• Somebody should make a big list of players who did not take the biggest contract they were offered or could possibly get. Tim Duncan, Gilbert Arenas, half the D-League … there are many such players, and they are a nice antidote to the often true, but somewhat cynical view that it’s all about the money.
• You should look at this.
• Pills you can take that have a similar effect as exercise, without getting off the couch. Holy cow, we are in for such a brave new world of chemistry and gene therapy. Getting this right might end up being make-or-break for sports leagues.
• TrueHoop reader Jacob: “I have recently been bothered by the media coverage on the recent Ron Artest trade. The national media has focused mainly on the positive effects concerning the Rockets, however the Kings have received little criticism in practically giving away Artest. I compare this Kings/Rockets trade to the one made by the Grizzlies to the Lakers last season. Where one team received a big name player in Gasol and Artest, and the other team received two first round draft picks and salary cap room. The trades are almost identical (Memphis came out two players ahead I believe), however I have yet to see a harsh word written about the Kings.” UPDATE: Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty responds by e-mail: “This is nothing like the Pau Gasol trade. The Kings save no money in this deal — and when you account for Donte Greene and the 2009 draft pick, the Kings actually spend more money in 2009-10 and beyond. This is about clearing a logjam at small forward, getting younger, and getting Kevin Martin more touches. (Receiving a back-up point guard who happens to be one of the city’s most beloved former stars isn’t to be cast aside, either.) It’s not a stretch to believe this is the best package the Kings could get for Artest, who has artificially limited value. I think you’d have real trouble finding anyone not named Michael Heisley suggest that Lakers package was the best Memphis could get for Gasol.”
• In a Reebok-produced video, Yao Ming says he can not find the words to describe how excited he is to be gearing up for the Oympics in China. Then he goes into a bunch of detail designed to convince you that all basketball shoes are not created equal. And his shoes have dragons on them.
• Author Sherman Alexie, whose Sonics split town, has bought partial season tickets to the Blazers, and is now strutting his stuff among the Portland faithful at BlazersEdge. His introduction includes clearing up his feelings about the Lakers: “I would root for a team composed of Jack the Ripper at the 3, Lee Harvey Oswald at the 2, Saddam Hussein at the 4, Galactus at the 5, and Lizzie Borden at 1 over the Lakers. If the Lakers were playing a team made up entirely of those giant chameleon cockroaches in that movie Mimic, I would root for the insects. Heck, I just rooted for THE CELTICS instead of the Lakers. That’s how much I hate the Lake Show.”
• A chance to put some words in Hubie Brown’s mouth.
• Pretty fun liveblogging of Team USA’s dismantling of Lithuania. Remember, however, that Lithuania is a real power and there may be a bit of a psych job in letting the U.S. get over confident. Video.
  
• Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog makes an amazing claim: “More than seven years after he was dealt — along with the rights to Tyson Chandler — to Chicago for Elton Brand, 32-year-old power forward Brian Skinner returns to the Clippers. In the intervening period, Skinner has played for 26 of the NBA’s other 29 franchises.” The 26 number — that’s a joke of course. Right? Skinner’s career has been such that I actually double-checked the record just to make sure. (By my math, he has played for seven teams in the interim.)
• David Berri of the Wages of Wins on the idea of Ron Artest being a night in and night out power forward in Houston: “Relative to the average power forward, Artest — for his career — is below average with respect to shooting efficiency, rebounds, turnovers, blocked shots, and Win Score. And let me emphasize, relative to an average power forward, Artest is below average on the boards. … Such production suggests that Houston will have a problem if Artest lines up at power forward.”
• TrueHoop reader Daniel e-mails: “What team in the NBA plays at a schizophrenic pace and only uses isolation plays in its half-court offense, plays spotty perimeter defense, has an underachieving but supremely talented roster, and a bloated payroll? Answer: the Dallas Mavericks circa 2003. Also: the Denver Nuggets circa 2008. That’s why Avery Johnson is the perfect fit for the Nuggets, especially offensively — nobody really sees this, but they often struggle to score efficiently. Their pace makes them seem like a great offensive team and a terrible defensive team, but the opposite is true. Their defense was NINTH this past year and their offense was eleventh. Points scored do not a good offensive team make (try saying that ten times fast). This team needs a coach that can better utilize their defensive strengths and get them to slow down and start taking better shots.”
• 8,500 words or so previewing a mere two teams of the Pacific Division, the Clippers and the Warriors.
• That rarest of things: A job opening to work in basketball media.
• Very interesting comparison between sports contests and elections. The idea is that if the presidential election were a sporting event, it would not have started yet, so there is no lead to be had.
• Ron Artest on PTI. “I’m not some headcase who is bipolar.”
• UPDATE: The Raptors’ Nathan Jawai has been called “Baby Shaq” or “Aussie Shaq.” He tells Raptors.com’s Mike Ulmer: “I really don’t like that nickname at all. He’s one of the best players in the league. I am not as big as him; I’m only six-foot-nine. I don’t weigh as much as him. We have a different style of game. The only reason people called me that was that I could dunk the ball really easy. It was a nickname people gave me. I didn’t like that nickname at all.” (Via MyHogtown)
  

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