Bayless, incidentally, wanted to pass along a sheepish apology. On Saturday, after the Blazers disposed of Minnesota, Bayless made a irritated remark about the Timberwolves Sebastian Telfair, saying “(bleep) Sebastian.” I went back to Bayless after he said it to tell him I was going to print that and the rookie said he didn’t care.
“I shouldn’t have said it,” Bayless said later. “It was a heat-of-the-moment thing right after a game. I don’t really feel that way.”
I think it’s safe to say that Bayless’ sudden change of feelings has something to do with a person in Blazers management educating him on political correctness.
Personally, I love it. I think this is part of what makes Bayless Bayless. The kid has spunk, toughness and chutzpah, and ultimately that’s what’s going to help separate him from being an ordinary NBA player.
Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site posts a scouting report for tonight’s game against the Grizzlies.
Al Jefferson shuffled into the Minnesota Timberwolves media room on crutches and murmured the words, “Man my armpits hurt.”
The Wolves leading scorer and unquestioned franchise player struggled to reach the press table to explain his journey in the past three weeks after successful ACL surgery. After dropping the crutches on the table and the microphone, it was clear that Jefferson was more comfortable on the hardwood court.
“I’ve never had a season-ending injury like that,” Jefferson said. “I remember telling Kevin [Love], telling coach, and I just felt like I let myself down, let my team down even though I know it was a freak accident. “I just can’t stand that they’re playing without me and that I can’t be there to support them and be the backbone for them.”
He also said watching the team play without him has been nearly as painful as the injury.
“As a matter of fact, I’m replacing the TV now in my house right as we speak,” he said. “Because I threw things at the TV because I’d be so upset sometimes (with) a bad call by the refs or something. I’ve got to control my emotions on that part.”
When Love drives to the middle of the floor from the wing, he needs to try to release his hook shot just as he reaches the imaginary midline. That way his shoulders will be properly perpendicular to the backboard and the release will be smooth.
By advancing past the line before he shoots it, he has to over-rotate his shoulders to achieve the proper angle, which is very hard to do. Typically, a running hook that is released too late is a missed one.
Its almost like he’s acknowledging the ridiculousness of his situation, that a guy as leaden and spastic as himself should be allowed on the floor with actual NBA players, and be paid so very well to do it. With this kind of ironic, self-aware attitude toward his own extreme effort, Cardinal almost parodies Madsen’s too-earnest, self-righteous intensity; which subtle parody makes his own (much needed, mind you) zealotry and somewhat terrifying willingness to hurt himself and others considerably funnier and easier to take. I can’t help but love the guy for it.
Kevin Love said he would’ve preferred hitting In-N-Out Burger with his family after another UCLA victory last winter. Yet, there was Pat Barrett, head of one of the top AAU basketball programs in the country, waiting outside the Pauley Pavilion locker room and pleading for Love to come with him instead.
Love had known Barrett since he was in fifth grade, played two years for Barrett’s traveling team and, as a result, said he felt obligated to go. What Love apparently didn’t know was a New York sports agency had donated $250,000 to Barrett’s team under the premise Barrett could deliver players such as Kevin Love – to dinner first, then as a client.
