Friday Bullets

• If you read TrueHoop on your phone, use this link.
• How is it the Spurs consistently unearth guys like Gary Neal? My best guess: They define roles well. Most teams shop for the best available player and end up with quasi-stars. The Spurs, though, shop for roles, like most businesses. You don't hire the future CEO to be receptionist. You hire someone who can really handle the reception duties. The Spurs have a very finely honed system. The star jobs are filled, and they get to shop for niche skills that they know fit in their scheme.
• No hats or cell phones allowed at the gym where the Cavs have shootaround.
• Nets fans, in the comments, wrestle with John Hollinger's assessment of Brook Lopez as a massive disappointment. The comments are full of various themes, including: Regret Lopez wasn't traded earlier, sympathy for Lopez's battle with mononucleosis, and (like clockwork) claims that both Hollinger and, for good measure, LeBron James, are idiots.
• The last paragraph of J.A. Adande's Thursday post about Donald Sterling, is, if true, a shocking tale of depravity. Who but a billionaire could keep his position after that?
• Derrick Caracter made a mistake, as told by Mark Medina of the L.A. Times: "He said he stayed up the previous night in his hotel room watching movies and talking on the phone, thinking he wouldn't need much rest since he wouldn't play much anyway. But after logging 15 minutes and 24 seconds the next night, Caracter quickly realized the faulty logic behind his faulty approach. 'My whole body and everything I knew I needed to do I wasn't able to perform as well,' said Caracter, who had six points on three of five shooting and five rebounds but was part of a unit that allowed a 21-point fourth-quarter lead to shrink to 13. 'My legs were so heavy and I didn't get enough rest the night before. I won't let that happen again.'"
• A series of bold trade proposals designed to rebuild the Bobcats.
• I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Red94 is the first independent NBA team blog to have its own resident legal analyst. Fear the TrueHoop Network.
• Ted Leonsis knows the Wizards aren't world-beaters: "It isn’t like we are suddenly not a productive squad. We were a lottery team the last two years. The team has not been ultra competitive for many years. ... We are now really eyeing some key deliverables for the rest of the season -- craft an identity as a team; be tough to play against; be a coachable and well run team; integrate young players into a rotation alongside veterans; and get some more wins to gain confidence in the system and each other."
• It seems like a simple enough request. If you're not an active player or referee, don't walk onto the court while the ball is in play. What's hard about that? Ask any NBA head coach.
• Some experts suggest not all microfracture-repaired knees are delicate.
• Alvin Gentry, quoted by Valley of the Suns, on Amare Stoudemire's return to Phoenix: “Now do we want to beat him? Heck yeah. Do we want him to have a bad game? Probably his worst game of the year. I hope they give him an ovation when he’s introduced and then boo him for the rest of the game.” And how Stoudemire's production as a Knick compares to his Suns days. Surprise: It's about the same.
• Larry Ellison didn't get the Warriors, but would still like to buy an NBA team.
• What to watch for at the D-League showcase.
• A website dedicated to getting Artis Gilmore's jersey retired. (When brand new at ESPN, I put Gilmore in my list of the ten best centers of all time, at the expense of Moses Malone. I did that because there were strong arguments for both, but I happen to have talked to plenty of retired players who said they just hated playing against Gilmore. Made a big impression.)
• Great Tyreke Evans pass.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/23697/friday-bullets-171

Jeff Gordon Rudolf Krause Joe Nemechek Washington Scott Alan Wimmer Hermann Lang Los Angeles Clippers