Contract complicates Brand's new role (cont.)

They said it

• "Who is that? Jesse (The Body) Ventura?"
-- Lamar Odom asks a room of reporters, including our Arash Markazi, who is coaching the Hornets now.

• Clippers broadcasters Mike Smith and Ralph Lawler were suspended one game for this recent exchange during a Clippers game against the Grizzlies. The L.A. Times offers the pertinent details:

Smith: "Look who's in."
Lawler: "Hamed Haddadi. Where's he from?"
Smith: "He's the first Iranian (pronounced I-rain-ian by Smith) to play in the NBA."
Lawler: "There aren't any Iranian (pronounced the same way) players in the NBA."
Smith: "He's the only one."
Lawler: "He's from Iran?"
Smith: "I guess so."
Lawler: "That Iran?"
Smith: "Yes."
Lawler: "The real Iran?"
Smith: "Yes."
Lawler: "Wow. Haddadi -- that's H-A-D-D-A-D-I."
Smith: "You're sure it's not Borat's older brother?"
Smith: "If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I'm going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part."
Lawler: "Here's Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball."
Smith: "Especially the post players.
Lawler: "I don't know about their guards."

• "You know players sometimes are like little puppies. We want to be patted on the head even if we make a mistake."
-- Dwight Howard on his motivation in asking coach Stan Van Gundy to be less negative.

• "This is like seeing the guillotine squad,"
-- Nets coach Lawrence Frank greets an growing scrum of reporters before his team lost to the Knicks and fall to 0-13. They have since fallen to 0-14.

• "I like him. I'm concerned about him. If he doesn't go back to Miami, the West would be his best bet."
-- Magic coach Stan Van Gundy offers some career advice for conference rival Dwyane Wade.

Required reading

• SLAM.com: Extensive, entertaining interview with one of the toughest men in the NBA to have his own cooking show: Charles Oakley.

• Bloomberg.com: Now we've heard everything, or at least that Shaquille O'Neal is about to add art curator to his lengthy résumé.

• The Oklahoman: Kevin Durant describes how he developed his unique free-throw routine -- by watching Antoine Walker.

• CNBC.com: The D-League season opens Friday, and from the looks of it, it's becoming a moderate success.

• Washington Post: Though his teams were largely afterthoughts, Abe Pollin's influence on the people who worked around him was profound. After his passing at age 85 on Tuesday, hoops in D.C., or D.C. itself, won't be the same.

• Freedarko.com: Remember when a player excited you so much you recalled why you love hoops? Bethlehem Shoals does, and that player is Brandon Jennings.

Three points

1. So after being lustily jeered yet again in Toronto, Vince Carter doesn't "know why they're booing me, to be honest," Carter told the Globe and Mail. Let us refresh his memory. Does flying back and forth to North Carolina to walk through graduation instead of resting for Game 7 of the 2001 Eastern semifinals ring a bell? Your Raptors lost when you missed a buzzer-beater. Or perhaps you may remember dancing up a storm at a Nelly concert while sidelined with a knee injury. Maybe the 20 games you mailed in for Toronto in 2004-05 -- 15.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists -- before suddenly finding the motivation to tally 27.5 points, 5.9 boards and 4.7 assists after being dealt to the Nets will jog your memory?

2. It's almost funny to watch the likes of Donnie Walsh in New York and David Kahn in Minnesota claim they are not sacrificing the current season in hopes of a brighter 2010. Please. The white flag was raised in all but about half a dozen cities before training camp even started. None of those front offices will admit it for the sake of ticket sales and team harmony, but the drumbeat of 2010, combined with a tight NBA economy, has prompted many to cash in on this season and walk quickly to the exits. Oddly enough, most fans seem content living the lie that will be this season if LeBron and Wade is the payoff. And unless a few star free agents commit, that dream will sustain most fans. But don't interrupt them with the notion that their teams need to be careful about adding talent now because of all the young talent that needs developing. It's unseemly.

3. Could there be any worse development for Clippers fans than owner Donald Sterling's claim that he will live "forever?" Just think: decade after decade of providing other teams with NBA-schooled free-agent talent; turning off promising players with poor coaching and mismatched teammates, and mismanaging the franchise with meddling and stinginess. After 26-plus years of making the Clippers a punch line, forgive us if it takes a while to believe Sterling when he claims he would be thrilled to pay more than any team in America "if I could sign quality players who warranted it."