Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post: When Coach Randy Wittman walked into the Washington Wizards’ locker room at Verizon Center on the night of May 15, he expected to find some satisfaction from a group of players that had blasted expectations to record the franchise’s most successful season since 1982. Wittman didn’t see any such fulfillment. What Wittman saw was frustration after the Wizards lost to the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The disappointment was encouraging. ... More than four months later, the lofty expectations aren’t limited to within the Wizards’ locker room. With training camp less than a week away, the Wizards are widely regarded as the favorites to win the Southeast Division and contenders for a top seed in the Eastern Conference. It’s new territory for a franchise that went five seasons without a postseason appearance and nine without winning a playoff series. “We accomplished some good things last year, but that’s behind us,” General Manager Ernie Grunfeld said. “Our players at the end of the season were not satisfied. They were not happy with the way the season ended and they put in some good work and we want to build on what happened last year. The pressure comes internally. We want to win. We want to be a competitive team and we want to keep improving.” A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com: When prompted to discuss his thoughts on the top teams in the Eastern Conference this season, Danny Ainge was quick to mention Washington which added former Celtic legend Paul Pierce to their roster this offseason. There's the Chicago Bulls and what they hope will be a healthy Derrick Rose. And of course there's Cleveland which significantly ratcheted up their superstar quotient with the return of LeBron James and the addition of Kevin Love. A reporter pointed out that Ainge had left out the Boston Celtics. "Yes. Yes I did," Ainge said, smiling. "Good observation. But I do believe the extraordinary is possible." Which is why when it comes to gauging how good this group will be, he's leaving that open-ended ... for now. While he thinks they have a shot at getting to the playoffs, "I don't want to set those parameters." Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic: The Suns scored a big victory on Wednesday. They signed Eric Bledsoe to a five-year, $70 million contract, ending a dangerous game of chicken with their star point guard. This is important for many reasons. One: Bledsoe is the team's best player. While Goran Dragic had a better season last year, Bledsoe is more powerful, more athletic and a much better defender. Two: If Bledsoe had opted to sign a one-year qualifying offer, it would've torn apart the team. How could Bledsoe share the full trust of his teammates if his commitment was not the same as their commitment? We have all learned how important chemistry is to a basketball team. The Suns were on the brink of having a tension-filled season with zero chance of great camaraderie. Three: This proves that the stalemate was all about money. And while that paints Bledsoe as greedy, it's much better than the alternative. ... Finally, this is a big deal for Suns management. Instead of drawing a line in the sand and losing a key player like they did with Joe Johnson many years ago, they opened their wallets and made Bledsoe happy. That's an important move for an owner who needs to prove he'll go to the wall to win a NBA championship. Chris Fedor of The Plain Dealer: Is Cleveland's new Big Three better than the one Miami formed in the summer of 2010? One of the team's many free-agent additions, James Jones, was a part of it all in South Beach. He knows the kind of pressure that will build this season and sees the talent Griffin has assembled. But Jones is not ready to make the comparison to the Heat. "They're all names on a piece of paper," Jones said Monday at the Cavaliers' annual golf outing. "At the end of the day, you don't find out anything until you actually get out on the floor. You can build a super team on paper, but so much of what goes into building a championship team happens behind the scenes during tough practices and tough film sessions." Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star: The current state of Roy Hibbert's mindset after struggling through the playoffs? Frank Vogal: "I think he's really encouraged about what's ahead of us. Those conversations were two-way conversations from the standpoint of every time he struggled, I tried to assume responsibility on some level and make sure that he understood that we're in this together and we always were, we always are. So, he never wavered on the defensive end. He had some struggles on the offensive end and that comes along with a reduced role which is what happened to him last year with the emergence of Lance Stephenson and Paul George. So, this year obviously those two guys are not here. I think he's going to return to having a more increased role on the offensive end and just being more a part of the offensive flow. I think it'll help him get a rhythm and I think he'll have a tremendous bounce back year all the while, while still anchoring our defense and hopefully one of the best defenses in the league again. We've got a great relationship. Nobody wants to see one of your best players and one of your friends struggle the way he did down the stretch and we're working tirelessly to make sure that he bounces back in a big way." Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: The Spurs are bringing the band back together. Backup center Aron Baynes, a restricted free agent and the last remaining unsigned member of last season’s NBA championship squad, is in town to take a physical and is expected to re-up with the club before the start of training camp Saturday. The news was first reported on Twitter by the Express-News’ Buck Harvey. Baynes, a 27-year-old Australian entering his third NBA season, attracted interest overseas before apparently agreeing to return to San Antonio. Baynes has appeared in 69 career games for the Spurs, averaging three points and 2.6 rebounds. His decision to return gives the Spurs the maximum 15 guaranteed contracts heading into camp. The only newcomer is rookie Kyle Anderson, who fills the roster spot last held at the end of last season by journeyman Damion James. Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Bucks rookie Jabari Parker was interviewed on Sirius XM NBA Radio on Wednesday and said he has "a little bit of anxiety" about training camp opening next week. ... Parker was asked about playing small forward or power forward in the pros and answered candidly: "As of right now I'm more comfortable with the 4 position," he told interviewer Nancy Lieberman. "That's where I played previously, before getting drafted, at Duke. I played a lot of 4. Even in high school. I know this is a different level. But in coach's style of play, it's more a stretch 4. That's where I like to play my game, even though I like to post up a little. Just being on the perimeter, setting screens and popping, that's what we've been doing so far. That's what coach Kidd has been anticipating me playing that role." Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: If you are fall in line with Rick Carlisle and believe that defense will be the determining factor for whether this season’s Dallas Mavericks have a chance to be special, then continue reading. The defensive end of the court has never been called a strength for newcomer Chandler Parsons. But that doesn’t mean a player can’t change – at least to a point. Owner Mark Cuban said he noticed on film of Parsons and other Mavericks that they ad never even been taught some basic defensive principles in their previous NBA stops. That’s going to change. “I’m going to give you a perfect example,” Cuban said. “We actually have Jeremy Holsopple, I don’t even know his official title. He works on explosiveness side to side – defensive stance, explosiveness, with bands, without bands, testing strength, working on different muscles that help you improve as a defender – whereas most teams don’t even work on the defensive stuff.” Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: The only basketball executive to survive last year’s purge under the Kings’ new ownership could be out now, too. Shareef Abdur-Rahim is no longer with the Kings, league sources told The Bee on Wednesday. The Kings declined to comment. Abdur-Rahim wasn’t a visible presencewith the rest of the front office during the NBA Summer League, leading some to question if he was still with team. But he was credited with adding many of the players that won the summer-league championship. Abdur-Rahim, a former NBA All-Star forward, was the Kings’ director of player personnel and general manager of the Reno Bighorns, the Kings’ NBA Development League affiliate. Diamond Leung of The Oakland Tribune: The comparison of the preliminary design of the Warriors' new arena in San Francisco to a toilet seat is "unfortunate" because it does not reflect the final result, a team spokesman said Wednesday. Architectural drawings of the oblong 18,000-seat arena scheduled to open for the 2018-19 season attracted widespread attention -- and plenty of toilet humor -- since their release by the city last week at Mission Bay Citizens Advisory Committee meetings. Warriors spokesman PJ Johnston said the design for the arena that replaces Oracle Arena as the team's home will "absolutely" change in the coming months, emphasizing that the drawings created by MANICA Architecture were not detailed renderings. "I guess that's the perils of the Internet," Johnston said of the reaction to the drawings, adding that they were created to offer citizens information on the height, bulk and context of the arena. Erik C. Anderson of The Oregonian: Former Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis will have his jersey number retired by the Lithuanian basketball club Zalgiris on Saturday. It's the first number the club has ever retired. Sabonis spent the prime of his career playing overseas, beginning professionally in 1981 with BC Zalgiris, winning three Soviet League titles and reaching a Euroleague final in 1986. The Trail Blazers selected Sabonis with the 24th pick of the 1986 NBA draft, but the 7-foot-3 center did not make his debut in the NBA until 1995-96 season. He's been inducted into the FIBA and Naismith Memorial Basketball halls of fame.
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