Sports 4 Dorks

Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your breakfast water.

Detroit News: "Antonio McDyess is coming back to play for the Pistons. Andy Miller, McDyess’ agent, confirmed Sunday the former All-Star and Olympian will re-sign with the Pistons next month. Detroit dealt McDyess, Chauncey Billups and project Cheikh Samb to Denver for Allen Iverson on Nov. 3. The cost-cutting Nuggets waived McDyess a week after obtaining him and he has to wait until 30 days have passed since the trade to rejoin the Pistons."

Alan Hahn, Newsday: "David Lee was briefly bothered by the fact that the Knicks didn’t even consider opening contract extension talks with his agent before the Nov. 1 deadline. His name was mentioned in trade rumors during the offseason and he expected it to continue as he headed toward restricted free agency this summer. Nate Robinson paid it less attention, but there was a lot of uncertainty entering the season with a new regime in place and plans to turn over the roster. But the Knicks, who now are committed to only four players and $24 million in 2010-11, have some room to re-sign both fan favorites and keep them in the fold for whatever happens after that magical Summer of 2010. ‘I love it here,’ Lee said recently. ‘It will be fun to play here when this thing is turned around, and hopefully, I’ll be around to experience it.’"

Paul Coro, Arizona Republic:
"Nothing can fit the hole in Leandro Barbosa’s heart, but basketball
and his second family can help. Barbosa took part in his first Suns
practice Sunday since his mother died Nov. 13. The work was familiar to
his mind but not to his body. He dropped weight during his nine days in
Brazil, where his mom, Ivete, lost a six-week battle to pneumonia.
[…] Barbosa’s older brother, Arturo, and two nephews live with him,
and he has his teammates, including close friends Steve Nash and Matt
Barnes, who lost his mother a year ago. ‘He (Barnes) has been talking
to me a lot, and I appreciate everything he’s been doing and for the
love he’s been showing me and for my family,’ Barbosa said. ‘Since he
got here, we got tight. We are really close friends. It came at a good
time.’"

Marc J. Spears, Boston Globe: "Al Harrington wasn’t the only Warrior who wanted out of Golden State. Former University of Connecticut point guard Marcus Williams feels that way, too. Following two decent seasons in New Jersey, Williams was hoping for a fresh start and much more playing time after being dealt to the Warriors July 22 for a conditional first-round draft pick. With Monta Ellis out with an ankle injury and Baron Davis gone to the Clippers, Williams seemed in good position to get his wish. But through 11 games, he was scoreless with seven assists in 23 minutes and was behind undrafted rookies C.J. Watson and DeMarcus Nelson in the point guard rotation. Williams’s agent, Bill Duffy, said he asked the Warriors to trade his client. ‘It appeared to be an ideal fit for him over the summer after Baron Davis’s absence,’ Duffy said. ‘Marcus has not had sustained opportunities. It’s not his intention to leave, but it’s important that he plays.’"

Ivan Carter, Washington Post: "Coach Eddie Jordan is doing what he can to keep his spirits up, but even that has its limits after a night like Saturday when the short-handed Knicks, who played only seven players after trading their two leading scorers on Friday, blitzed the Wizards with 16 three-pointers and summoned the energy to pull away down the stretch. ‘First of all, not in our wildest dreams did we think we’d be 1-10,’ Jordan said of his postgame message to his team. ‘How do you handle that? I wish I could give them a manual that says, this is how you keep your poise, this is how you suck it up, this is how you stay positive. I can’t find a manual like that but again, I reiterated that we don’t have losing habits and that’s a big thing for us. You respect the game, you play hard, you help your teammate, you protect your teammate, you play with confidence and you understand what the coaches are telling you and try to follow directions. We have all of that. We just haven’t won.’"

George M. Thomas, Akron Beacon Journal: "Their 7-0 record represents the third-best home start in team history (the Cavs started 9-0 in the 1991-92 and 1976-77 seasons) and leaves Cleveland as one of three teams, along with Utah and Portland, to accomplish that feat in the opening campaign. For those home stops, they average 105 points per game while holding opponents to 94 points. That’s called dominance. ‘You always want teams to fear when they come into your building,’ Cavaliers star LeBron James said. ‘It’s never an easy game when they come into your building, and it should be that way all the time. We want to continue to protect home court.’"

K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune: "[Joakim] Noah has struggled with conditioning at sea level, so it didn’t surprise when coach Vinny Del Negro substituted Aaron Gray for him at 6 minutes 43 seconds of the first quarter. Still, Noah vowed to make the most of his latest opportunity. ‘I just need to bring energy,’ he said. Noah’s inconsistency following the strong fashion in which he finished last season has been one of the Bulls’ bigger mysteries. ‘He knows what his role is,’ Del Negro said. ‘He’s got to bring energy, rebound, control the paint and get second shots for us.’"

Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun: "Having used Will Solomon a lot at point guard the past five games, including two starts with Jose Calderon hurt, coach Sam Mitchell hinted that he’s going to try rookie Roko Ukic at the position for an undetermined block of games. Solomon sat yesterday, while Ukic ended two games on the bench and had seven points, four assists and a couple of steals in 19 minutes of action. But Ukic, a harsh judge of himself, didn’t try to sugarcoat his five turnovers. ‘I’d say two were good plays by them, one was a bad call by the ref and two were my fault,’ Ukic said. ‘It’s good to play more for sure, but I was in a bad place a couple of times. We had some chances and we almost came back in the second quarter (cutting a 16-point lead to four).’"

Mitch Lawrence, New York Daily News: "The word around the NBA was that Al Harrington would be out another week nursing a back injury, but suddenly he’s feeling a whole lot better now that he’s not butting heads with Don Nelson. So Harrington will make his debut Tuesday when LeBron James and the Cavaliers come to the Garden. Harrington was content to sit out games in Golden State because of a strained relationship with Nelson. But once he heard he was coming home in exchange for Jamal Crawford, he was ready to resume his career."