Here is our regular look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points like most of the country likes watching the Yankees lose.
• Already without Iman Shumpert, the Knicks J.R. Smith has been seen around the team in a walking boot and told the New York Post that his injury is to his Achilles tendon and not his ankle (as the team has claimed). Now it’s announced he won’t travel on the Knicks upcoming three-game road trip. Not good, Knicks fans.
• The NBA’s new, official ticket Web site is up and running.
• One of the best pieces of basketball writing the past few days — Grantland tracks the career of Antawn Jamison from North Carolina all the way to the Lakers. Fantastic stuff.
• Speaking of writing from the heart, NBA referee Greg Willard took part in his last game last week, he is leaving the NBA to fight the cancer he has been diagnosed with. Here is a fantastic look at the man and his last game, including a private moment with Kobe Bryant.
• Jeremy Lin is the focus of a feature in this month’s GQ. His teammates have seen him dress and are not sure how he landed in GQ.
• Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma wants to know why the NFL — and the NBA — are officially listed as non-profit organizations. He thinks they should be getting taxed. The league counters that each team is taxed, as are the players with special taxes.
• In a no brainer move, the Sacramento Kings picked up the options on DeMarcus Cousins and Jimmer Fredette.
• The Raptors also picked up their fourth-year option on Ed Davis.
• Kwame Brown is sitting out the Sixers preseason game Friday with a calf injury. That’s two in a row and there is no certain timetable for his return. It says something about the Sixers depth behind Andrew Bynum that they are really missing Brown and need him back when the game matter in a couple of weeks.
• The Thunder’s Thabo Sefolosha is far enough back from his quad injury he’s considered questionable to play in Friday’s preseason game.
• Al Jefferson has taken plenty of heat for his play in Utah (although it’s been what you should expect from him), but he says the Jazz’s flex offense has made him a better player.
• The Bulls have waived center Kyrylo Fesenko. He’ll land somewhere, big men always do.
• Here’s a fun list of the best names in basketball history, formed into teams.
• If you live in Los Angeles and want Shaquille O’Neal to come hang out and referee a 4-on-4 game between you and your friends, you can bid on that prize now. All the money goes to the Children’s Diabetes Foundation.
• Jimmy Goldstein is an NBA legend as a fan. He also should be a legend for his home — there is a video tour of it and the architecture is stunning. (There are a couple NSFW seconds in the pool.)
