Some Stuff

T-Mac article from Bethlehem Shoals @ SportingNews.com

"World, Meet Chuck Hayes" @SportingNews.com - article from the playoffs

No prospect in this year’s draft knows this better than point guard Brandon Jennings. Last year, Mr. Jennings was one of America’s best high-school point guards and the quintessential product of AAU. Rather than doing a one-year minimum stint in college before entering the NBA draft, he played a season in Italy where, he says, things were different.

His time in Europe began with a rare stretch for an AAU product: He went weeks without touching a basketball. His team spent the preseason running across Roman parks and soccer fields.

In September, they retreated to an Italian mountain hideaway for two weeks and ran there, too. They practiced fundamentals and rarely scrimmaged. Coming from the AAU, this was new for Mr. Jennings, who averaged 5.5 points per game in limited minutes during the in Italy.

It was, he says, the most intense two weeks of his basketball life. If he’d never gone to Europe, he says, “I wouldn’t know the pick-and-roll game. I wouldn’t know how to guard, wouldn’t know how to fight through screens. I’m stronger now.”

Jo' Do'

Joey Dorsey via Jason Friedman @ rockets.com

“It hurt so bad once we lost Game 7,” recalls Dorsey. “We went into the locker room and everybody came together and I was the only one in the locker room that cried. I told coach, ‘I want to come back next year and be a defensive stopper. I want to work on defense in the perimeter and the low-post with Chuck Hayes; he’s one of the great low-post defenders on the team. It just hurt so bad that we didn’t have that size to dominate the glass against the Lakers...

...I look at [Luis] Scola,” Dorsey says, “Because he’s one of the best low-post players I’ve ever seen; his footwork and everything. I’m waiting for him to get back from Argentina so I can start working out with him. And getting with Chuck Hayes. Chuck is one of the best low-post defenders and when (opponents) go on the pick-and-roll, Chuck is like a guard when he’s out there defending, so I just need to learn from Chuck and learn from Yao and Scola – who better to learn from than from those three?”

Some of the Stuff I've Been Missing on Daryl Morey's "Twitter"

link to dm's page
"Pain in Yao's foot appears to start at 4:33 in the 4th. I am optimistic as it does not look too bad on video.

It appears foot was hurt earlier in game and aggravated around 4Q 4:33. From video, sprain seems likely and anything serious seems unlikely.

Can't sleep-adrenaline too high.Great play&coaching won gm.Leaving TC now after sending usual "feedback" to the lgue.Drft workts Fri.BeatLA!

Spoke to Ron upon landing in HOU from CHI pre-draft camp. He thinks no one else will take the LAL to 7 gms and we were the #2 team this year"


and from ericmusselman's:

"Stan and JVG are the two coaches I've allowed to say a lot of things to me. I understand the amount of work they put in." - Rafer Alston

ron?

"Bio ARTEST IS SO HOOD, VERY GHETTO AND LOVES IT. HOWEVER THERE IS SOME INTEELINCE WITH THAT , AND WITH THAT COMES PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE HIM FALL"

aaronbrooks = thirty2zero = thirty2zero.com

"We won over the city of Houston and made all of our Rocket fans world wide proud." -Shane Battier

Sam Hinkie Podcast via rockets.com:
(pretty long, good stuff is kind of later on)
more depth at the wing and at the big position in the offseason. Yao is in China, coming back - not participating in international competition for the first time in 12 years

Battier's Blog Post: "I missed the first 20 games of the season to completely heal my ankle. When I came back, our team just could not find a good rhythm. Between me, Tracy, and Ron, we could not find a consistent, healthy lineup. It was frustrating to watch and it was frustrating to play. We knew we had an unbelievably talented team, but we just could not put together a winning streak...

...Portland was a worthy adversary in the first round. Again, no one gave us a chance to win the series against them. (but did we listen to those people? NO WAY!) After winning the first game of the series in Portland, we knew we were in control. We were able to finish them off by winning all of our home games. In the process, we won over the city of Houston and made all of our Rocket fans world wide proud."

Zero Draft Picks

And so, with the Offseason upon us, we will begin to fill our days with useless yet invaluable chatter until Preseason, The Season and The Playoffs come back:

from ericmusselman's twitter
SVG on Rafer: "His mindset is key. What's made his career is he's a good defender as a point guard, he has good energy and pushes the pace."