Over the past year and change, we've seen Blake Griffin do many amazing things, from winning the dunk contest to becoming Rookie of the Year to making jokes in national TV ads. He's nearing the point where he might not have much to prove, which for a young player means reaching a point where people start to get disappointed he hasn't done more. It's a little unfair, but it's the way of the sporting world.

Or maybe Griffin is great enough to keep shocking us. Take, for instance, this video from a recent Clippers practice, in which Griffin sits at half-court and swishes the ball through the hoop. This will never happen in a game, but it still adds to Blake's growing legend.

We can only wonder what his next trick might involve. My guess is he'll somehow figure out a way to dunk while sitting down. Don't ask me how that's physically possible. Just trust your imagination.

(via TBJ)

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By pretty much any possible standard, the NBA has mishandled the Chris Paul situation in New Orleans, creating a state of affairs in which the only deal that could be deemed acceptable would put Paul in much the same situation he's in now, on a team with few other assets and little room to grow. Many people can be blamed for this mess, but Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert deserves special mention for writing a strongly worded letter to David Stern after the first trade with the Lakers was already set. Without that intervention, we might not be forced to deal with this story line for the next few months.

At least one notable NBA commentator decided to call Gilbert out for his petulance. Here's what former Suns GM and current TNT analyst Steve Kerr had to say on San Francisco sports leader  KNBR (via Deadspin):

"Every one of them is wrong and I don't know how many there are either but I've been angry all day long about this whole thing because I think it was a great basketball trade. There are so many trades made these days that are lousy trades that are made for financial purposes. I mean I made one of the worst trades in NBA history. I traded Kurt Thomas and two first round picks to Seattle for nothing, to save 16 million dollars for our organization. Where was the NBA then to veto that trade for basketball reasons? That had nothing to do with basketball reasons. I understand what they're saying is they own the Hornets and ultimately they have the right to veto any move. Okay so from a legal standpoint I guess they're okay, but the problem I have is that this was a great trade for the Hornets. There's no way they can duplicate that. [...]

"The Lakers make more than any team in the league so [Gilbert] would  have gotten all that tax money that he wanted or whatever. It's such a crock that he would even mention that. That guy is a billionaire, they have been way over the cap while they had LeBron, way over the tax. He's still upset that he lost LeBron and he needs to get over it. LeBron gave that franchise the best seven years they have ever had. He was a free agent and he decided to leave. Nobody likes the way LeBron left, even he apologized for it the other night on TV but the fact is there is a thing called free agency and if a superstar player wants to leave when they are agents, they can leave. That's their right."

It's worth noting that Kerr is maybe the only GM in history to resign instead of sticking around for as long as possible, so he clearly has some strong feelings on the actions of small-market hawks like Gilbert and Suns owner Robert Sarver. As Kerr mentions, general managers make cost-cutting measures because of ownership pressures and are never stopped for vague "basketball reasons." What made this case extra special? How can the league stand for that sort of hypocrisy?

With NBA training camps back in full swing, reporters are curious to get players' opinions on the state of things after the lockout. For Lakers forward Metta World Peace (nee Ron Artest), that means lots of people are asking him about how teammates are reacting to his new name. Melissa Rohlin of Lakers Now, the Los Angeles Times Lakers blog, asked why rookies call him "Metta" and veterans call him "Ron." The response is below, transcribed for ease of understanding (or lack thereof):

"I'm just -- I'm most happy that Jesus Christ did not let me lose my teeth when I was 20 years old. 'Cause I was wondering, like, what if you kept your baby teeth until the age of 18 or 20 and then you lose 'em? That would look pretty bad. So I just think he's really brilliant, that you lose your teeth when you're a baby rather than losing them when you're like 30 or 20. That has nothing to do with your question, but that was definitely on my mind."

Thank you, Metta, for changing our lives for the better.

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Throughout his short tenure as owner of the (soon-to-be Brooklyn) Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov has stood out as a bizarre guy. He's the sort of dude who has enough money to buy one of the world's biggest yachts and never use it, or to treat a prostitution scandal as if it were nothing. Plus, he came into the NBA with few fears, paid a bunch of bench players as if they were starters, and now seems primed to bid for Dwight Howard anyway. Prokhorov gets what he wants.

Now, it appears that he wants something a little bigger than a new toy or another business venture. In fact, he has announced a run for Russian president. From the Associated Press:

Mikhail Prokhorov, one of Russia's richest tycoons and the owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, said Monday he will run against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the March presidential election.

Prokhorov, whose wealth Forbes magazine has estimated at $18 billion, has been cautious not to cross Putin's path in the past. But the tycoon's candidacy may now pose a serious challenge to Putin, whose authority has been dented by his party's poor showing in Russia's Dec. 4 parliamentary election and allegations of widespread fraud during the balloting.

Putin's party only won about 50 percent of that vote, compared to 64 percent four years ago, and the fraud allegations have allowed opposition parties to successfully mount massive anti-Putin protests in Russia.

"The society is waking up," Prokhorov said at the news conference in Moscow to announce his candidacy. "Those authorities who will fail to establish a dialogue with the society will have to go."

This may seem like a random decision from a man basketball fans know primarily as a weird guy with a funny accent, but Prokhorov has been very active in Russian politics, especially recently. In May, he joined the leadership of the Right Cause party, only to drop out in September. He has interests in the future of his country, and opposition to Putin is rising. It's even the subject of a major story in this week's issue of The New Yorker.

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In October, Golden State Warriors backup guard Charlie Bell was arrested in Flint, MI for a DUI. That arrest followed a troublesome series of events for Bell, including another DUI arrest in February and an alleged stabbing by his wife Kenya Bell in May. Clearly, something is the matter in Bell's personal life.

On Thursday, he may have hit rock bottom, because Bell arrived at a hearing for his October DUI with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit. From Rusty Simmons for SFGate.com (via EOB):

Warriors reserve guard Charlie Bell spent hours in custody Thursday after showing up to court legally drunk for a hearing on his drunken driving case, according to the ABC affiliate in Flint, Mich.

Bell was held, in a district court holding cell, on a bond violation until he sobered up. He's expected back in court Friday, which marks the start of Warriors training camp for the rest of his teammates. [...]

That case was set to be resolved Thursday morning, until Bell blew a reported .09 during a pre-scheduled alcohol assessment.The legal limit is .08.

Clearly, Bell needs professional help. He had mentioned as a potential candidate for the amnesty clause -- he's set to make about $4 million this season before becoming a free agent next summer -- but being waived at this time is probably the worst thing for him as a person. He needs infrastructure, and if he becomes a free agent that might be harder to find.

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One byproduct of the concurrent free-agent period and training camp is that several teams are playing with smaller-than-usual rosters. If a player's not signed, he can't be in camp, and it takes time to get incoming and departing deals sorted out. In a few days, camps will probably be full. For now, most aren't.

Yet some teams have it harder than others. The Denver Nuggets, loaded with free agents like Nene, Kenyon Martin, Arron Afflalo, the China-bound J.R. Smith, Gary Forbes and more, have it the worst. In fact, their initial camp roster may be the smallest in NBA history (via Kevin Pelton). They only have seven players: Chris Andersen, Danilo Gallinari, Al Harrington, Kosta Koufos, Ty Lawson, Andre Miller and Timofey Mozgov.

It's a wonder how they'll even be able to run enough drills to have an effective camp. Luckily, BDL has obtained a special list of their planned activities. Check it out after the jump.

112288611Late Thursday night, when the Chris Paul trade cancellation fervor was at its apex, Ken Berger and others tweeted that Chris Paul was unlikely to show up at Hornets camp on Friday, thereby starting the NBA's first holdout in many years. The same went for Lamar Odom with respect to the Lakers. It was a scary proposition, not because it was unjustified, but because it could have set the scene for a serious challenge to the way the NBA treats its superstar players.

Apparently we have avoided that nuclear winter in the near term. According to various accounts, Paul and Odom have both arrived at their respective camps. Here's the CP3 news from Brett Martel of the Associated Press:

The 26-year-old Paul was seen walking in the training facility Friday wearing a black Hornets practice jersey, and he appeared to be in good spirits.

Yay, everything is fine! I'm sure Paul harbors no animosity at all! The NBA is saved!

Chris Paul and David Stern in simpler times.On Thursday night, when Chris Paul's trade to the Los Angeles Lakers was abruptly blocked by comissioner David Stern, many immediate reactions focused on the fact that the NBA -- specifically the 29 owners of its other teams -- owns the New Orleans Hornets. With that sort of control, it made some measure of sense that Stern would intervene, because it's technically his role as head of the corporation that owns the team. However, treating the Hornets as if they were owned by the NBA just as Mark Cuban owns the Mavericks confuses the complicated situation at play here.

For one thing, the NBA only owns the Hornets because they stand a better chance of finding a suitable local owner than the deposed George Shinn. The league has appointed a temporary team president, Jac Sperling, and theoretically allowed Dell Demps to execute trades and free-agent signings as he saw fit. As Yahoo!'s own Adrian Wojnarowski reported in his essential article on the story behind the trade, Demps approached the complicated Paul situation with the belief that he had final say on what his team did:

Hornets general manager Dell Demps is "disconsolate" over the heavy-handed move from the commissioner's office, a source told Y! Sports. Demps considered resigning his job on Thursday, league sources said, and had to be talked out of it. [...]

As one rival executive with strong ties to the league office said, "Stern cared about two things: Selling that franchise for the best possible price; and showing the players that they weren't going to dictate where teams could trade them. But now, there's no way that the league can allow Chris Paul to be traded at all, otherwise Stern is basically deciding where one of the top players in the league is going versus having any fair process." [...]

"We were all told by the league he was a trade-able player, and now they're saying that Dell doesn't have the authority to make the trade?" said an NBA executive who had periodic talks with New Orleans throughout the process. "Now, they're saying that Dell is an idiot, that he can't do it his job. [Expletive] this whole thing. David's drunk on power, and he doesn't give a [expletive] about the players, and he doesn't give a [expletive] about the hundreds of hours the teams put in to make that deal.

This information all makes sense, because there would have been little reason for Demps to reach a deal if he knew he would be neutered at any opportunity. By all indications, Stern exercised an 11th-hour cancellation of the deal simply because he was in position to do so. Whether he did so as overseer of the team's 29 owners or league commissioner is almost beside the point, because he had indicated to Demps that the league's ownership was a formality rather than a hands-on relationship.