Some Wednesday Press Releases

I have a few press releases to provide you. A couple of quotage releases and a two other general releases for you are on the docket for this particular post. Then if all goes well, I might do a late night links session. I haven’t done one in a very long while.

First, we have quotes from NBA TV’s Fan Night game on Tuesday.

Notes from NBA TV’s Fan Night – Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Golden State Warriors (108) @ Cleveland Cavaliers (114)

Voting is open on NBA.com for next week’s Fan Night match-up that will air on Tuesday, Nov. 24. Fans can select between the following games:

Indiana Pacers @ Toronto Raptors

Philadelphia 76ers @ Washington Wizards

Golden State Warriors @ Dallas Mavericks

New Jersey Nets @ Denver Nuggets

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Utah Jazz

New York Knicks @ L.A. Lakers

CLIP OF THE DAY

(click on link below to watch)

NBA TV’s Chris Webber talks about playing for Golden State Warriors head coach Don Nelson two different times during his career

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Pre-Game Show

Ernie Johnson, Chris Webber and Kevin McHale

McHale on Golden State’s team chemistry after trading (Stephen) Jackson to the Charlotte Bobcats: “
When the players come out and say it will be better when Stephen Jackson goes, which they started a couple of weeks ago, that is really an indication that it is very disruptive. I think (the Warriors) will play free and easy tonight.”

Webber on the Golden State Warriors: “When you are on a team that has a bad feeling in the locker room, it is really good to get a breath of fresh air. And I think for Golden State this is a breath of fresh air. When you win and when you lose it is good to just be able to concentrate on your team and the game and not everything that is going inside and outside the locker room.”

McHale on coaches getting teams back on track after turmoil: “You have to stay with what you believe in and you can’t be changing. Some coaches say, ‘tonight we are going to play defense, tomorrow we are going to play offense.’ The players get confused and pretty soon they say that the coach has no idea what he is talking about. Stay with your pattern, do what you do. The message has to be the same every single day in the locker room and then the players start buying in and believing. I think that Nellie (coach Don Nelson’s) message is going to be the same. Score a lot of points.”

Webber on playing for Golden State’s coach Don Nelson: “I actually got two chances to play for (Nelson), once when I was a young rookie and I think I could have made better decisions then…definitely, I know I could have made better decisions then. He could have as well, as far as explaining the game to young guys. Then I got to play with him my last year in the league for about 10 games and I’ve seen a difference in the way he handles players. To me, he is a player’s coach, definitely a good personality. But that may set some guys up and I think that could be a double-edged sword at times.”

Webber on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ adjustment to center Shaquille O’Neal: “I think they are a really good team. Right now LeBron (James) is finding his way, finding out how to play with Shaq (O’Neal) because you don’t want to get in Shaq’s way and still continuing to be a leader. I think they are going to be okay, they have great players. It is going to take some time to mesh.”

McHale on most important part of the Cavaliers besides LeBron James: “I think when Mo Williams started playing like Mo Williams of last year during All-Star that really changed up their team. I think it took a little while for Mo to say, ‘I have to go play,’ because Mo wasn’t playing well and I like the fact that he said, ‘this is on me, I have to play better.’ You like when players do that. Players are always passing the buck saying it is not my fault. He said this is my fault and I think he is the guy that is going to make them go.”

Webber on the hype surrounding Bucks guard Brandon Jennings: “Right now, I believe the hype. I believe that this is not a mistake and that he is very skilled and can shoot off the dribble, shoot the open three and he can pass. It is too early, I usually don’t judge this early but I am going to give him the heads up and say he is the real deal.”

McHale on Bucks guard Brandon Jennings: “What he has really been able to do is mature. He went over to Europe last year and he said the culture was a huge shock to him. He matured so much. I think that was the best thing that happened to him.”

McHale on whether a team will pick up Allen Iverson: “It is going to have to be the right team at the right time. I would have to say right now, as of today, no.”

Webber on Allen Iverson: “If he can’t go to the Lakers because of Kobe Bryant, if he can’t go to Cleveland because of the influence of Shaq…I would not have him around young players. He is the guy that has to score; he is the guy that wants the ball. Do you want to honestly sell tickets and let him shoot 50 times or do you want someone that can help your team win? I don’t think a team in championship mode is going to be willing to take a risk and draft him after the experiment at Detroit last year.”

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Halftime Report

Johnson, Webber and McHale

McHale on Thunder forward Kevin Durant: “(Durant) can flat out score the basketball in many ways. He got a good start with Oklahoma City tonight. The thing is that he is so long. He can just go over the top of people and make shots.”

Webber on Cavaliers guard Anthony Parker: “There is no place better to be a shooter, unless you are playing with (Steve) Nash. To be around the best player with the ball in his hands (in LeBron), Parker is going to get those shots up. In the second half, I’m going to be interested in looking at LeBron. I think he is going to turn his killer instinct on even more because he and Corey Maggette were getting into it a little bit earlier. So I think he is going to amp it up and get guys just like Parker involved and force his will on this team.”

McHale on Golden State being under-manned: “One of two things can happen, you either get disheartened and say, ‘we are under-manned and say we can’t play, we can’t win.’ Or the guys can say, ‘I can shoot all I want because the coach can’t take me out.’ There is a point where they can say, ‘it doesn’t matter the coach can’t take me out,’ so maybe they will relax and play.”

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NBA GameTime

Johnson, Webber and McHale

Webber’s assessment of the Cleveland Cavaliers: “I feel that by Shaq being out they are getting the rhythm. Everyone is getting to play. Guys are getting the ball when it matters most. If Shaq was playing, he would have had the ball. I think this is going to help. Even when (Anderson) Varejao comes back and guys are on the bench, I think it is going to help with their confidence later on in the playoffs.”

Webber on Golden State guard J.J. Hickson’s career high: “We heard that LeBron was working with him over the summer. I’m a big believer in chemistry and a big believer in guys that are on the bench that practice and go against the starters every day. I’m always like let those guys out of the cage because when those wild animals get out they have been waiting to play. He has that energy so I think this will work out well for him.”

McHale on Golden State’s play against the Cavaliers: “I did think they played a little looser without Stephen Jackson. The guys in the locker room were saying he needed to go, he wasn’t good here. He left and I thought they played with energy. I thought they played loose and had some chemistry out there.”

Webber on why he believes in the Atlanta Hawks: “I’m going to actually start to believe in Atlanta. Atlanta is a team I didn’t want to believe in. I didn’t like the fact that the guys were that young. I didn’t like the fact that they were happy to get to the playoffs and the antics that happened in the playoffs. I was rooting for them when they played against Boston and took them to seven games. This team made me a believer. They play like a veteran team which is something I thought they were never ready for. I never thought they had the mentality. Josh Smith is playing awesome this year. I think this team is ready to make some big steps this year.”

This brings us to quotes and notes from the Tony Barnhart Show on CBS College Sports.

NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES FROM “THE TONY BARNHART SHOW” ON CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK

DIRECTOR OF THE BLIND SIDE JOHN LEE HANCOCK AND CO-STARS

PHILLIP FULMER AND TOM LEMMING, PLUS CBS SPORTS’ JIM NANTZ ON “THE TONY BARNHART SHOW”

CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK’S THE TONY BARNHART SHOW, a new weekly one-hour primetime college football talk show featured John Lee Hancock, director of the new movie The Blind Side, along with two of its co-stars, CBS College Sports Network announcers Phillip Fulmer and Tom Lemming; plus CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz on Tuesday, Nov. 17 (9:00 PM, ET).

“Mr. College Football,” Tony Barnhart hosts the show along with Brian Jones. The hard-hitting program debates and analyzes the hot topics and issues facing college football both on and off-the-field.

The TONY BARNHART SHOW airs each Tuesday throughout the college football season at 9:00 PM, ET. Mike Aresco serves as Executive Producer. Tyler Hale and Stefan Van Engen produce.

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The following are excerpts from the show:

(PHILLIP FULMER ON RETURNING TO COACHING):

Barnhart: Why do you want to coach? As crazy as this business is, why do you want to coach again?

Fulmer: Well I do because I enjoy it. I enjoy the competition. I enjoy putting teams together. I feel the same passion right now that I did when I took over 17 years ago at Tennessee…I’ve got something to prove and I want to get to a point where we’re competing for championships. I love being around it. I’m not ready to retire at all. I think I’ve got 10, 12 good years left of being an active coach. I love recruiting. I can go to any part of the country, you know, to do it, because we’ve recruited all over the country at Tennessee…But if the opportunity, the right opportunity, presents itself, I’m certainly going to look at it. And I think I’ll be interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing me at this point.

(TONY BARNHART ON NOTRE DAME):

How effective can any coach be at Notre Dame? The world has changed dramatically since Lou Holtz won Notre Dame’s last National title in 1988. An entire generation of players has grown up in a time when the school has just not been relevant on the national stage. In an age of Facebook and Twitter when almost every game is on television and the great players are staying closer to home, is it even possible to get enough of them to buy into the Notre Dame mystique to make the Irish a National Championship contender? I say no. We’ve talked about the decline of the Big Ten because of geography, weather and other factors. The same rules apply to Notre Dame, it’s
still a great job because of the tradition and passion of the fans, but the next head coach had better walk into South Bend with his eyes wide open, there is a lot of work to do.