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We at Bulls by the Horns realize that you’re busy and don’t have the time to go searching through website after website for some interesting, NBA related reads. So, from time to time, we’ll gather the articles we’ve found interesting and put them together for you in one place.
Earlier this week, much was written about Rudy Gay and his new team in Sacramento, but no one had really heard from Gay about the trade. Sam Amick of the USA Today changed that with his piece this week about Gay and his ability to mesh with the Kings. Gay was adamant in the interview that the noise outside of the organization does not distract him and that he only worries about what is said within his own organization. Amick also spoke to Gay’s new coach Mike Malone and how Malone will attempt to keep the team focused on the goals they had developed for the team before the season.
Doc Rivers is another coach looking to adhere to the goals set in the offseason and that was no different in his return to Boston. Paul Flannery at SB Nation wrote about Rivers’ return to Boston and just how special that return was on Wednesday night. Rivers left Boston on bad terms and some were unsure of his reception by the crowd for his return, but Celtics fans welcomed him back with pen arms. Rivers was quite emotional for the return and Flannery did a great job capturing the scene in Boston.
On the other side of the country, Ken Berger at CBS Sports found out some interesting details about Dwight Howard’s diet. In the first part of a three part series about nutrition in the NBA, Berger examined the significant changes Howard was forced to make in his one season in Los Angeles. Berger found out that Howard was consuming “the equivalent of 24 Hershey bars a day in candy and soda” and Howard’s diet was having quite an effect on his motor skills. Berger also followed up with a one-on-one interview with Howard to find out about the profound changes Howard was forced to make in his daily routine.
Sam Alipour of ESPN the Magazine also did a one-on-one interview this week. His interview was with Warriors guard Stephen Curry. The most interesting part of the interview was when Alipour asked about Curry’s biggest fear and Curry responded injuries. He claimed he wasn’t worried about failure or the pressure of the big moment, but rather the fear of his body holding up as he put it on the line each and every game. Curry also mentioned that he has attempted to model his game as a point guard after Steve Nash.
Perhaps the week’s strangest one-on-one interview came from James Herbert at SB Nation as he took some time to interview the Spurs’ Matt Bonner. Bonner is an eccentric man and the interview was no different. The interview did feature some probing questions about his career in both Toronto and San Antonio, but also questions about how he came to star in a baby carrots advertisement, his experiences at a Rick Ross concert, and his joint birthday party with Stephen Jackson.
Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to measure the impact of a stretch four like Bonner and Jack Winter at Hardwood Paroxysm attempted to examine the value of one of Bonner’s contemporaries, Ryan Anderson. Winter took a look at the scene in New Orleans as the return of Anderson has completely transformed the Pelicans. Though Anderson doesn’t have the talent of teammate Anthony Davis, the impact he makes on the floor is substantially greater. Anderson’s presence on the floor has made the Pelicans significantly better in a relatively short time.
Another player, who is short on physical skills, but can make a tremendous difference on the floor is Omer Asik and his situation just continues to linger on in Houston. Marc Stein took a closer look at the situation and reported that the Rockets have imposed a deadline of December 19 to carry out a trade because that is the final day that they can acquire a player that can still be traded before this year’s trade deadline. Stein also reported that the Rockets are looking to move Asik to the Eastern Conference to keep him away from their star center Howard.
Another center with an uncertain future is Pau Gasol in Los Angeles and Scott Howard-Cooper took a look at the possibilities Gasol will have in the offseason. Many assume that Gasol will just be resigned by the Lakers and end his career with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, but that might not end up being the case. One interesting idea Howard-Cooper mentioned was the possibility of Gasol joining the Grizzlies in the offseason to play with his brother Marc.
Kevin Nesgoda at Sonics Rising also had an interesting idea this week in his proposal of removing conferences from the NBA. Recently, a lot has been made of commissioner-in-waiting Adam Silver’s comments about possibly removing the divisions from each conference. Nesgoda proposes that Silver takes an even larger step and removes conferences, so that the playoffs will feature the best 16 teams in the entire league rather than eight teams from each conference.
The final piece this weekend comes from Patrick Sauer at SB Nation. Sauer took a closer look at Kurtis Blow’s classic song “Basketball” and put together a pretty impressive oral history on the song. Blow speaks at length about the decisions behind the lyrics in the song and the possibility of recreating “Basketball” with updated lyrics and some possible guest appearances from current NBA stars.
That’s all for today. Remember…reading is FUNdamental.
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