Adrian Wojnarowski: Weaver's key role in Oklahoma City'…
February 13, 2024 | 7:53 am EST Update
Carmelo Anthony on Oklahoma City Thunder: 'The the best ran organization'
Carmelo Anthony: The NBA is thinking development. If you aren’t willing to take those steps to develop as a player, some teams in the NBA, they ain’t fucking with you. OKC, Sam Presti is the best to do it when it comes to bringing those guys in, and saying listen, with transparency, here’s the plan, here is your plan. This is how we are going to do this, this is how we are going to do that. All I want to see is you hit the marks. If you hit the marks by the time you get to year three, you are going to have a very important role for this team. And if you look at OKC, that’s why they’re so successful to this day. All of those guys develop every year. None of those guys were stars. Sam developed those guys. Hey Williams, here’s your marks that I need you to hit. Every year. Chet, here are the marks I need you to hit every year. Even Shai, here’s your marks that I need you to hit every year. Mero (co-host): Even though you’re the guy? Carmelo Anthony: Yes, even though he’s the guy.
Let me ask you this then, is that the best run team you ever played for? Carmelo Anthony: Yes. Yes. That is the best ran organization when it comes to understanding the needs of players, and understanding how to communicate with players and hold players accountable but also… you know when I got there, OKC was just OKC in the sense of like, it wasn’t like there was this sense of culture. You know Russ and those guys were doing their thing, and grew up in OKC, and there wasn’t really a culture. When I got there it was like, we’re going to bring some flair, we’re going to bring some swag to this OKC shit, we’re not trying to be what was here before, we wanted to be different.
Carmelo Anthony: And Sam understood that. And he worked with us, and he gave us our own marks. Hey Melo, here’s you’re mark. Russ, we need you to do this, boom. In order for us to be successful, PG, here’s your mark. Steven Adams, here’s your mark, Jerami Grant, Ray Felton, he had his mark. These are marks that we had to hit and we had to hit, and if we weren’t hitting the marks then we knew we weren’t doing our best. And if we didn’t hit our marks, Billy Donovan wasn’t coming talking to us, it was Sam. When he did that, I had a new found respect for Sam Presti on the business side, and to this day, Sam is sneaky cool. He has no ill intentions with any of this. He really cares about what is best for the player, and he really cares what the fuck is going on. I really wish more GMs and presidents had that type of energy when running an organization.
You had the game-clinching poke away and dunk for Atlanta in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals a few years back. Who did you poke the ball to and who passed it to you for the dunk? Danilo Gallinari: It was Kevin Huerter. Now that time has passed, how shocked were you guys in the moment to make that run? Danilo Gallinari: We didn’t expect it. I signed with the Hawks and they had been losing for some years. They were a very young team. Of course, the goal was to start winning, bring a winning mentality and change the culture a little bit. We didn’t expect to go that far. We did expect to go to the playoffs, but we didn’t expect to go that far. That was an amazing run.
Ricky Rubio returning to Spain's national team
Ricky Rubio may return to the Spanish national team this February. Rubio is included on the list of 14 players that Spain head coach Sergio Scariolo summoned ahead of the 2025 EuroBasket Qualifiers (22, 25 February).
Do you have a good George Karl story? Danilo Gallinari: Yes, I have a lot of good stories. Give me one that you feel comfortable sharing. Danilo Gallinari: I remember he used to say, “If you cheat the game, the game will cheat you. Always be true to the game and the game will be true to you.” My third season, which was the best regular season in franchise history for the Nuggets, we started 0-3. Three losses in a row, all on the road. He pulled me into the office and said, “Listen, I’m a little worried. We have to win all of the home games and have to stay at .500 on the road.” I told him not to worry, that we’ll be fine. I wanted him to stay positive because he was a little negative sometimes. We ended up with a home record of 38-3, which is a franchise record.
February 13, 2024 | 4:53 am EST Update
Referees admit mistake on controversial ending to Rockets - Knicks
Shams Charania: Official Ed Malloy in pool report after Jalen Brunson’s foul on Aaron Holiday at end of Rockets win over Knicks: “The contact which occurred after the release of the ball therefore is incidental and marginal to the shot attempt and should not have been called.”
Fred Katz: Jalen Brunson fielded three questions about the foul to end the game. Each time, he had the same four-word response: “Great call. Next question.”
Draymond Green on the Warriors’ depth: ‘Honestly getting suspended helped’
Anthony Slater: Draymond Green asked how the Warriors have generated increased depth: “Honestly getting suspended helped. JK’s taken off. Bona fide #2 for this team…Our offense don’t look the same like it used to.” Did note: “Not that I wanted to get suspended or it was good.” pic.twitter.com/iYYRjqh1gV
Anthony Slater: Warriors blast the Jazz in Utah, extend win streak to five games, 7-1 in their last eight. They’ve crept to 26-25 and just beat the team directly below them in the standings. They’re 1.5 games up on the Jazz for the 10th spot and climbing, a half-game back of Lakers.
Warriors on NBCS: “Strength in numbers, still going strong.” Klay on the Warriors having eight double-digit scorers tonight 💪
