Thursday Bullets

• Maverick Carter and LeBron James admit some mistakes may have been made in The Decision, and James mentions race as one of the factors in the reaction, as we have discussed. Carter says the hate will be motivation for James, who usually runs on super premium fuel, but is now running on super duper premium fuel. (So, haters, you are on the hook, it would seem, for one "duper.") Here's a transcript of the talk via John Krolik.
• I can almost guarantee that somewhere NBA players are watching and talking about this.
• Dear NBA players hoping to pass drug tests: Watch your meat. That whole excuse could be bogus, but nevertheless, a general request of agribusiness, from an eater: If it would make me fail a sports drug test, please don't put it in my food.
• Joakim Noah's energy level is said to be like Kevin Garnett's. Also, the Bulls and Noah now appear to have an extra day to try to work out a contract extension, because the usual Halloween deadline falls on a Sunday.
• Jared Dudley, in this column, is quoted expressing the opposite of nearly everything I learned in journalism school. In short, he tweeted something that proved to be wholly wrong -- LeBron, he said, was going to New York, based on his sources. And now he defends that, because it made him popular on Twitter.
• As long as the D-League is experimenting with rules, why not have them call fouls on floppers? That's a great suggestion from a blogger. I'd add: How about any play that happens before an extended dead ball -- whether a timeout, end-of-quarter, or anything else -- is reviewable on video. To me the only downside of video review is the delay. In a case where there would be no delay, I say let the referees review everything and get it all as right as possible. Also, this way coaches can save their timeouts for key moments. You want a review? Call a timeout.
• Carmelo Anthony makes clear he does not live in Hollywood, but instead lives in Littleton, Colorado. A prediction, for the Hornets with Chris Paul, and the Nuggets with Anthony: The more time the players spend in their NBA cities, with their teammates and coaches, the more they'll feel like staying. There's a reason these kinds of demands tend to come in the summer, when players are apart from their teams.
• Magic Johnson likes R2-D2.
• In talking about who will make the Spurs' roster, Tim Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell addresses a new tweak in the D-League rules that smart teams will know all about: "If the Spurs can only dress 13, why not put players 14 and 15 in Toros uniforms? In previous season, this would seem to favor, say, [James] Gist and [Alonzo] Gee (both players are D-League eligible) as the Spurs’ bench-enders. Not this season. The D-League recently adjusted its rules to allow teams to allocate three camp cuts to their D-League affiliate, if said players are seeking D-League jobs. So, for example, if James Gist plays well in camp, but not overwhelmingly well, the Spurs could cut him and sign him to the Toros. They can still develop Gist, but don’t have to lose [Kirk] Penney."
• George Hill is in favor of anesthesia, and after getting his wisdom teeth out without noticing a thing, says he gave his doctor a "happy thumbs up."
• Delonte West talking to Paul Flannery of WEEI: "When you’re done playing you’ll tell your kids, 'Doc Rivers wanted me to play for him.' Maybe I’m not this quote unquote bad guy after all." (Via Celtics Hub)
• The presence of Ronnie Brewer, likely as a starting shooting guard, is pure evidence that Tom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose need to figure out something the Bulls have lacked in the past: An offense that gets cutters the ball on the move. Because that's more or less the way Brewer scores, and his defense is not good enough to justify playing him if his offense will be zero.
• Who would win if the 1997 Bulls played against Genghis Khan?
• While in London, the Lakers are slated to attend a Chelsea vs. Arsenal game. In Barcelona, the team itinerary is in the hands of Pau Gasol, so maybe they'll go to medical school.
• Every year about this time Lang Whitaker lampoons the claim that this or that player put on "15 pounds of muscle." That's just an insanely large amount of muscle for a human to add, and to illustrate this point, go to your grocery store and put 15 pounds of meat in your shopping cart. You really think an NBA player could pack all that on in a few months? How? And would it even help? For the record, that's the meat from 60 quarter-pounders, before it's cooked. Anyway, here's the jacked up rookie King Hassan Whiteside, talking about having put on, essentially, 100 quarter-pounders.
• There are nine million LED lights, the Magic say, in the new 42-foot tall video screen that hangs over the court. That ought to be enough, I'd think.

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