Andrew Keh of The New York Times: In May, Deron Williams had a bone chip removed from his right ankle and underwent an arthroscopy to remove spurs from the front and back of his left ankle. Williams laughed and paused for a second when asked if he felt that much of a difference now. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah.” The Nets begin training camp on Sept. 27. Assuming all goes well during the next couple of weeks, it should be the first time in at least two years that Williams will start a season without a worrisome injury issue. “I practiced one time, played nine minutes in a preseason game and was thrown into the fire at 60 or 70 percent,” Williams said of the 2013-14 season. “It’s definitely different this year, and I think it’s great.” Michael Lee of The Washington Post: The defining story of the NBA offseason could have been LeBron James’s triumphant return to his home state to heal the hurt of his previous defection. But while that homecoming dominated the early days of the summer, the predominant theme has now shifted from a reunion to a rift. With Donald Sterling removed from the NBA and forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks majority owner Bruce Levenson voluntarily selling his franchise and General Manager Danny Ferry taking an indefinite leave of absence, this offseason is forcing the league to confront the delicate issue of race. The situations with the Clippers and Hawks differ in scale and context but have brought to light the complicated dance for a league in which more than three-quarters of the players are black while coaching, management and especially ownership is overwhelmingly white. While complicated, it’s a dance the NBA has performed gracefully for some time. “If those things had taken place in any of the other leagues, I would be significantly more concerned than I was about that being some trend in the NBA,” said Richard Lapchick, founder and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: A midcourt pile of money to the US Airways Center ceiling has sat untouched this summer, awaiting Eric Bledsoe to come from his baseline and meet the Suns. It has been a trying, bewildering and exasperating process to fathom how Bledsoe, with 78 career starts and $7.4 million in career earnings, would balk at the Suns' four-year, $48 million offer when there have been no competing bids the past 10 weeks. He has his reasons, but we can only guess. Bledsoe is a restricted NBA free agent — the last one — who appears headed toward accepting a one-year, $3.73 million qualifying offer by the Oct. 1 deadline (if he waits until Oct. 1, he will not be part of the Sept. 29 media day or be aboard the bus to training camp). Bledsoe and his agents have lost this case in the court of public opinion by nolo contendere. League executives, agents, fans and media judged the Suns' offer to be fair — and the qualifying offer to be a risk and a financial sacrifice that takes years to make up. There has not been a peep from the defense, other than the reserved guard's July comment that the Suns were "using restricted free agency against me, but I understand that." His "big brother" and fellow agency client, LeBron James, appealed to the Suns via Instagram to "break bread" for Bledsoe as he and Bledsoe trained in Cleveland this month. James' plea and the early Bledsoe maximum-contract request appear to indicate he wants to be in Phoenix, even though he has never said it or entered negotiations that could still draw a larger offer. A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com: Brandon Bass still remains the most versatile defender among Boston's big men, able to contend with true centers or switch out and hold his own against the likes LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. If the Celtics elect to keep Bass around, he will not average 27.6 minutes per game for a third year in a row. In fact, his playing time will likely drop if the Celtics don't trade him. But Bass remains confident he can build off the gains he made last season. "I just want to make sure I'm prepared well enough to be great at both ends of the floor," Bass told CSNNE.com earlier this summer. Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com: As if Shayne Whittington needed more motivation. Now he’s got it. ESPN began releasing their annual rankings of NBA players on Monday and the Pacers’ rookie center dead last. Just call him Mr. 500. ESPN had its panel to “predict the overall level of play for each player for the upcoming NBA season. This includes both the quality and the quantity of his expected contributions, combined in one overall rating.” Whittington, out of Western Michigan, received a 1.12 rating. Boston’s Chris Babb, who was slotted at 499, scored a 1.31. Whittington is progressing in rehab of a broken left fibula and torn ligament in his left foot suffered in a workout prior to the 2014 NBA Draft in June. Shayne shook off the rankings in a tweet, but he certainly can use it as fuel to prove he can play in this league. "Feels great being the worst player in the NBA." Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: Brandon Rush would be the first to tell you that he doesn’t enjoy public speaking. But there he was Monday afternoon, standing at a podium in front of 275 students at Markham Elementary in Oakland and — with more than 500 eyes staring at him — Rush effectively breezed through a speech. It’s easier to find comfort in uncomfortable situations when you feel at home, and Rush is finally back home. “This is a great situation for me to be able to come back and to be with a winning team,” said Rush, who signed a two-year deal worth more than $2.4million to return to the Warriors this offseason. “I’m just going to try to help the team out with little things: rebounding, shooting and playing defense. I’m in a good mood. My head is on straight. I’m happy with where I’m at.” Nakia Hogan of The Times-Picayune: By the time the final horn sounded on the New Orleans Pelicans' 2013-2014 season, they were figuratively and literally limping off the court. In a freakishly disappointing year, the Pelicans wrapped up a 34-48 campaign with five of their top six scorers having been sidelined by season-ending injuries. But as the start of training camp for the upcoming season is nearing, the Pelicans appear to be returning to relative health, as four key members of the rotation are all nearly 100 percent after undergoing surgeries. "I've never seen anything like it last year," Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday said. Staff of The Dallas Morning News: Outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has made his opinion on tanking quite clear. He was adamant about not losing games on purpose to improve the Mavericks' draft position because "when too many teams do the same thing, it’s not such a good strategy anymore," he said in February. The 56-year-old billionaire put it in some different terms during an email interview with Men's Health Magazine to better complement his business background. "In all markets, people copy success," he wrote in response to Jeff Weiss. "The NBA is no different than the stock market. If it worked for them, it will work for me. Right? I don't think so. One of my favorite sayings came from Warren Buffett. He said, and it applies to the NBA and tanking and how we play the game as much as it applies to business: 'First, there are the innovators, then there are the imitators, then there are the idiots.'" Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: The Timberwolves will have a new D League affiliate this season after having an arrangement with the Iowa Energy last season and the Sioux Falls Skyforce for the seven seasons before that. This year, they will send players to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in Indiana. That's right, the Mad Ants. And if... If the Fort Wayne team has room for that Wolves player or players. See, the Mad Ants are the only independent D League team left, that is the only one that doesn't have a single affiliatation agreement with a NBA team. The Detroit Pistons (Grand Rapids), Memphis Grizzlies (Iowa), New York (Westchester), Orlando (Erie), Phoenix (Bakersfield) and Utah (Idaho) are entered into affiliations with D League teams this summer. That leaves Fort Wayne as the only one left for the other 13 NBA teams. The NBA has implemented a new "flexible assignment system" that will allow those 13 NBA teams to still send players in the D League. Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle: Before Monday, Rockets G/F Trevor Ariza didn’t know much about chess. But after a visit to Ryan Middle School’s Baylor College of Medicine Academy for the Rockets’ Clutch City Checkmate Challenge, he is more confident in his game. Ariza, along with guard Troy Daniels and general manager Daryl Morey attended the event at the middle school where Morey spoke about strategy to the school’d chess club and then all three joined the players to play against American Chess Grandmaster Susan Polgar. Ariza was the last Rocket standing as he and his partner, Amanda, made it deep into the competition. Ariza was visibly enjoying the intense game, high-fiving his partner, making game-face expressions at Polgar and drawing a crowd. “I feel like I learned a few things today,” Ariza said. “I had a great partner. She definitely carried us.”
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