Baller Mind Frame’s News & Rumors are quick blurbs mixed with personal opinion from our very own Aaron Lanton. Check it often and absorb the NBA goings-on. For more news and rumors visit our archives – June 2013 I July 2013I August 2013I September 2013I October 2013 I November 2013
12/30/2013 – Kendrick Perkins likes the mean Kevin Durant: Without their All-Star point guard, so much of the responsibility of OKC’s success falls on the shoulders of Kevin Durant. It’s not that he needs to be perfect. It’s just that he needs to be as close to the incarnation known as KD, Destroyer Of Basketball as he can possibly be. Tonight against Houston, as Perk put it, he was “on one.” Thirty-three points on 11-17 shooting with 13 rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes. Durant got into one of those grooves in the third quarter where it looked like not even Leonidas’ army of 300 could slow him down. Step-back jumpers on step-back jumpers, galloping drives to the rim, perfect on time passes all over the floor — it was unstoppable offensive basketball. “I’m liking the mean KD,” Perk said. “Giving staredowns when he’s dunking on people. I’m rollin’ with this. But we saw most of that from Durant last postseason, particularly against the Rockets. They tried to defend him with three and sometimes four players, bracketing and shadowing him everywhere. He was able to beat their soft defensive shell a lot of the time, but it often came at the expense of having to entirely exert himself over a 48-minute game. The difference in tonight’s game was that he got plenty of help. Daily Thunder
12/30/2013 – Henry injures knee agaisnt Philly: Lakers guard Xavier Henry suffered a strained right knee late in the first quarter of Sunday night’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers and did not return. Henry is scheduled to undergo an MRI on the knee Monday. Henry went 0-for-2 shooting with one rebound in five minutes before exiting the game with 1:14 to go in the first quarter. He immediately went to the locker room with longtime Lakers trainer Gary Vitti for further evaluation. Henry said in the locker room after the game that he has suffered knee injuries in the past but Sunday’s was different, occurring without any contact. “I just landed awkwardly on my leg when I was about to plant,” Henry said. He added that his knee “feels weird” and “a little loose,” saying that it “kind of buckled” but was only experiencing minimal swelling. “Hopefully it’s just a strain,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. ESPN
12/30/2013 – Andrew Bynum doesn’t like Basketball? Andrew Bynum’s NBA troubles might stem from the fact that he simply DOESN’T LIKE BASKETBALL … and is only playing because it’s an easy career for a 7-footer … so says ex-NBA star Jason Williams. Williams — the #2 overall pick in the 2002 Draft — didn’t seem too surprised with Bynum’s recent suspension from the Cleveland Cavaliers (conduct detrimental to the team) because it falls in line with a pattern of behavior from someone who just doesn’t love the game. “Andrew Bynum is Andrew Bynum … basketball ain’t for everybody. “Williams explained, “Sometimes dudes are tall and people expect ’em to play hoop … and they can hoop and you can make great money doing it, [but it] doesn’t mean they love hoop.” “I’m not saying that Andrew Bynum doesn’t love basketball, but everything he’s been doing doesn’t make it seem like he loves basketball, makes is it seem like he’s just doing it for the exposure and the money.” TMZSports
12/30/2013 – NBA player too high to practice: It was the morning of a 2010 playoff game, and one of the Nuggets had just smoked some nuggets. As the team practiced, the player was so high that Rex Chapman, a team executive at the time, had to pull him aside to get him to focus. “Across all walks of life and in every profession, people smoke (marijuana). This is no secret, and pro sports are not exempt,” said Chapman, who played 12 years in the NBA. “But employers deserve and pay for A-plus employees. There is a time and place for everything. As a member of a team, guys owe it to their teammates to put their best foot forward.” Marijuana use has long been a part of sports’ subculture, especially and fittingly in a place nicknamed the Mile High City. It soon may become part of the mainstream. New laws taking effect Wednesday in Colorado allow the retail sale of recreational marijuana. The Denver post
Quenelle de Tony Parker ! #Dieudonné #Anelka pic.twitter.com/U8hkaVOm0U” a ouais il est fière celui la en plus”
12/30/2013 – Tony Parker in hot water over anti-semitic gesture: “Quenelle,” as it is known, at the side of Dieudonne, a comedian and accused anti-Semite who coined the gesture, according to The Algemeiner, a New York-based newspaper that covers Jewish and Israel-related topics. The Spurs host the Nets on Tuesday and the Knicks on Thursday.“It’s the Nazi salute in reverse,” Roger Cukierman, leader of the French partner of the World Jewish Congress, told Reuters. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group named after the Nazi hunter, urged Parker on Sunday to “apologize for his past use of the quenelle ‘Nazi’ salute,” according to the Algemeiner. “As a leading sports figure on both sides of the Atlantic, Parker has a special moral obligation to disassociate himself from a gesture that the government of France has identified as anti-Semitic,” Cooper said. Parker, 31, was photographed in September and October by French media outlets making the gesture backstage at Dieudonne’s concerts. The NBA, along with the Spurs, had no immediate comment. Parker had 22 points in nearly 36 minutes in a comeback 112-104 win over the visiting Kings on Sunday night. The Parker news came a day after French soccer star Nicolas Anelka was heavily criticized for his use of the same gesture following his goal for West Bromwich Albion in Saturday’s 3-3 draw at West Ham in the English Premier League. New York Daily News
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