The best free agent power forward in the NBA is Drew Gooden:  

Every summer I follow the NBA free-agency process very closely and I am frankly shocked that Cleveland is not doing everything in their power to retain Drew Gooden.  I've been playing against most nba power forwards over the years and Drew is the best one that is available in this year's class as well as being one of the top players in the league.  If Cleveland is foolish enough to let him go, it will be at their loss.  If there is any way we could get him up to MN to play some center alongside KG, our front line would be unbelievable. 

Mike James

I think that Mike James was one of the best point guards in the entire NBA last season.  I can’t express how excited I was when we signed him this summer.  We only played Toronto twice last season, but both times, Mike James absolutely killed us.  I know that Kevin Garnett has a lot of respect for Mike James and the way Mike James can play the game of basketball.  I only know Mike in the context of playing against him over the years but one thing that stands out about him is his confidence.

"If it wasn't for the game of basketball, I know what I would have done, and it wouldn't have been nice," he said, referring to his rough childhood in Amityville, N.Y. "The only other thing I knew was the streets. Basketball was my way out, so the only thing I can do to give back to the game is play with my heart."    Christopher Cornell - All Headline News Staff Writer

If you don’t love this quote then you probably don’t love the game of basketball.  This quote from Mike James shows his human side and the reality of the tough neighborhood of where he came from.  I cannot wait to play with this guy.  Having competed against him I can tell you that he is one of the best competitors in the world.  KG is going to love him.

I have quite a bit to say about our two new draft picks, but I will put all of that in my next entry.  In the meantime, let me share a little bit of what I’ve been up to in the Twin cities.

Minnesota Calendar of Events

Two weeks ago I attended the Basilica Block party with some friends.  The Basilica of St. Mary’s put on a great event along with Cities 97 and I especially enjoyed listening to Guster perform live.  I have to say that the crowd roared when one of the lead singers got up on stage between songs and admitted that he had used a few expletives in one of his songs personally apologized to the Parish.  I don’t think anyone in the audience really cared, and to be honest, I’m not sure if the head priest was going to put anyone on probation, but the crowd thought it was a great line.

Minnesota nice took on a new meaning on that Friday night when a Minnesota Timberwolves fan passed by my and my friends and whispered in my ear something like “Now I know for sure that the NBA height charts lie….there’s no way you’re 6’9”.”   We both laughed and he walked away.  I didn’t have time to explain the little “trick” that we use of getting measured in our shoes. 

Tonight I made the decision to run my first ever 5K.  If any of you have ever been involved with the Lifetime Fitness Torchlight 5K run, it is an event I will never forget.  One of my friends here in MN was a record holder in the 400 hurdles at BYU and he told me about the event.  About six of us got together to run the event.  For those of you that are non-runners, I have to paint the picture for you.  There were literally thousands of people lined up on Hennepin Ave and 11^th street which was the starting line.  Right at the front were the “hard core” runners who must have been waiting for a long time to get the prime starting spots.  They were the super athletic guys and girls with the running gear that looked serious.  In my mind I was going to try to win the race.  When the gun went off I stayed right up at the front of the pack and dreamed of winning.  After about four blocks, I realized that there was no way I could stay up there with the gazelles.  Serious runners go VERY fast—I was shocked at how fast the pace was.

When I finally settled into my pace, I was passed by two 45 year old men pushing strollers with two kids in each of them.  Finally when I finished the race this older gentleman came up and said to me “Good job out there Mark….what was your time?”  I responded by telling him that I clocked just over 28 minutes for the 5k and asked him how he did.  He got sheepish and said, “Well, I ran it in 24 minutes and I’m 60 years old as of two days ago.”   The kid who won the entire event must have been about 18 and I think he finished the 3.1 mile course in slightly over 15 minutes.  I think that young guy has a serious running future in store for himself.

The running community is really fun to be a part of.  It was especially cool at the end when everyone sat down and drank powerade and ate salty potato chips and power bars together.  I hope to see some of you at one of the next big Minneapolis Marathons, or a 5K in Minneapolis!  In the meantime I will reflect on the comment one runner made to me while he passed me midway through the run while it must have looked to him like I was standing still.  I think it went something like this.  “Don’t worry about it…you’re definitely a fast twitch athlete!” 

 PS--If any of you can find Marko Jaric's Myspace.com profile I will post your picture on this blog.  Marko told me he has one, but I can't find him for the life of me.  I finally updated my myspace page even though there is a fake one of me that looks real, but it's not and it says some crazy stuff.

I watched the final seconds of game six of the NBA finals in Redstone restaurant in Eden Prairie Minnesota with some friends.  More than anything, I'm happy that Shaq is going to get some more hardware.  The rings they made for the Lakers were big enough, but Shaq still wanted something that would fit his hand better, so after the third championship, he had his own custom jeweler replicate the regular Lakers ring and made it into a HUGE ring that was much bigger than the already huge "normal" rings that the Lakers had made. 

I hate to say this, but I thought that Miami would probably have a big letdown tonight in the game and lose game 6 and really have to fight for game 7 on Thursday.  The X-factor tonight was Alonzo Mourning.  It's amazing that a guy with a kidney condition, who must be about 37 years old can still play the game as if he were 21.  Alonzo Mourning was everywhere on the court tonight....especially with his shot-blocking.  It's just really refreshing to see a few NBA warriors like Alonzo, Gary Payton, and Antoine Walker get championship rings.  Those guys have been showing up AND playing hard for years in the NBA and they deserve to win the big one.  I'm really happy for all of those guys.

I'm also glad that Mark Cuban is part of the NBA.  I look at what Mark Cuban has done for the Dallas Mavericks franchise and it is nothing short of miraculous.  When we go to the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, it feels like a college atmosphere with people painting their heads, bands playing, and a bunch of "texas" people on the front row with big old cowboy hats and boots.  It's an awesome place to play with great fans and I think Cuban has been a big part of that.  I heard he wrote some stuff in his blog about the NBA hierarchy and took some heat and had to pay a big fine.  I just went to his blog which is pretty cool and I wanted to show an excerpt from Mark Cuban's blog for you guys.

One Last Last Note: (Taken directly from Mark Cuban's Blog)
Im a competitive person. My blog is an outlet for that intensity. I dont blog about the normal things in my life that make up 99pct of my day. I like to blog about things that get me fired up in the Sport of Business. The things i get fired up about.  Ive been accussed more than once of having HID (Hyper Intensity Disorder….ok, i just made that up, but if it were truly a disease, I would claim that I had it). Not everyone likes that.

Tonight's game showed the wisdom of how Pat Riley has built the roster of the Miami Heat.  Dwayne Wade was the man tonight, but without Gary Payton on the Miami Heat, it's possible Dallas might already have won the series.  Pat Riley built the Heat with veteran players and they have been coming through in this series. 

We all remember Gary Payton's big shot in game three along with the steal by Udonis Haslem which basically brought the Heat back into striking range.  But tonight, it was Gary Payton's left handed shot that went high off the glass late in the game to keep the Heat around.

During the season I am a basketball player so I basically feel like Dallas and Miami are the enemy.  But now, because we didn't make the playoffs, I have reverted back into "fan mode" and I am definitely a Miami Heat fan.  First off, I would love to see Shaquille O'Neal get his fourth ring.  When someone like Shaq gives so much in the community (with the cameras turned off) and when he cares so much about his teammates of course you want to see him do well. The funny thing is that people tell me all the time right now during this series, "I want the Heat to do well b/c I'm a Shaq fan."

Jerry Stackhouse's foul on Shaq was definitely a flagrant and uncecessary foul, but to suspend a key player like Stackhouse in game 5 of the NBA finals for something like that might be a little bit excessive.  I'm still trying to figure out what I think about that foul.  Still and all, there may not be another player in the NBA that has the self-restraint that Shaquille O'Neal has.   Having played with Shaq as a teammate and against him, I can tell you that he doesn't care about hard fouls as long as it's a "clean" foul.  He will shrug them off, play through them and basically play as if he's got a few mosquitos swarming around him.  But anyone in the NBA who is foolish enough to try to give Shaq a cheapshot might as well check himself out of the game because Shaq will come back and  punish that opponent by scoring on him every time down the court in a very physical way.  Those are the rules of the game.

I've been away fromt the blog for a while lately, but I'm now starting to get back into it.  I did want to share a brief moment from the Annual Gala event that I attended last night in St. Paul which involved www.sotheworldmayhear.org 

I have two friends (Justin Osmond and Heather Sauber) who work in Minneapolis for the Starkey foundation.  They invited me to attend this year's "Gala" event and it opened my eyes to the lives of the hearing impaired.  Starkey Foundation takes hearing aids all across the world to donate them to those in third world countries that are hearing impaired.  This year, the Gala event honored the Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor for his involvement in community and in helping the Starkey mission.  Glenn and his family have an annual mission trip to build homes in south america and this next year they committed to go to Africa to help share hearing aids with those in need. 

The greatest line from the evening came from Lou Ferrigno's speech. (Lou used to play the Incredible Hulk in the TV series years ago and is slightly hearing impaired).  He thanked Bill and Tani Austin (founders of Starkey) and said that this couple has helped promote "better relationships in the world" through their hearing aids and charitable giving of hearing aids because women "like to be listened to" and now "I can listen better to my wife!"  Lou has been using the Starkey, cutting edge, hearing aids for some time now and they have changed his life.  I have to say that I am a big fan of Lou.  I'm not sure how old he is, (maybe 55 or 60) but he looks like he is still in good enough shape to enter a boxing ring for a prize fight.  (I am dead serious).  When I asked him what the secret to staying in shape was, he said the biggest thing is "consistency."   He was extremely personable. 

Bill and Tani Austin put on an evening for charity I will never forget.  In the past I've always been cynical and skeptical of celebrity charity events and I have never attended a single one.  Bill and Tani Austin, you guys made me a believer and it was an honor to be an attendee and to be part of such an inspiriational cause.  THANK YOU!!!

Phoenix vs. Clippers

Sam Cassel is my man, but the Suns will win game 7 vs. the Clippers on Monday night.  When the Suns run, they are almost unstoppable.  Sam Cassell has taken a very good team and with his leadership and shooting ability, and huge personality, Sam has made the Clippers great.  Elton Brand may be the best running big man in the NBA, but trying to chase Shawn Marion up and down the court in a game 7 situation in Phoenix could wear him down.  I really think that Shawn could be a world class 400 runner if he wanted to. 

San Antonio vs.  Dallas

Jason Terry was disspointed that he was suspended for game 6 of the series.  I watched the "incident" where Jason took a little shot at Michael Finley at the end of a little pile up.  To suspend Jason Terry for a game for something that was so small is tough.  It's one thing if someone grabs below the belt in the normal course of the game, as happened in the Denver series.  But Jason and Michael and Manu were all in a scrum and they were just scrapping.  Sometimes you react when you're getting hit and you just do things in the heat of the moment.  I definitely do not think that Jason's actions were premeditated in any way.  Here are some of Mark Cuban's thoughts taken from an article by Art Garcia of the Star-Telegram:

“I had some choice words for the league,” owner Mark Cuban said. “It’s certainly not consistent with what the league has done in the past.”

“The league also said they didn’t know if the Finley pile-driver with his hip to Jason’s head while Ginobili was lying on him was intentional or not,” Cuban said. “So they couldn’t do anything about it. Finley went berserk like the world ended, while Ginobili was on top of Jason, staring at the whole thing, and didn’t even react.”

“Unbelievable,” Cuban said. “When it’s all said and done, this series could end up being talked about for all the wrong reasons.”

Detroit vs. Cleveland

I'm cheating a little bit here because it's halftime of the Detroit Cleveland game right now and I'm sitting here watching it.  I still think that Detroit is going to win this game.  Flip Saunders is at his best in close game situations as are Rasheed and Chauncey and Rip Hamilton.  I am picking the Detroit Pistons to win the NBA championship this season.  I am also giving the "best beard" award to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.  

Chris Kaman



The Phoenix Suns are beginning to re-define the way NBA basketball is being played.  Starting in 1999, the NBA was really a strength league in some ways.  When I first got to the Lakers, Phil Jackson's "Performance Enhancement Coordinator", Chip Schaeffer, told me that in the Western Conference you had to be ready for a lot of great, tough, big men.  He went down the list and named the following players:  Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Tim Duncan, Vin Baker, Chris Webber, Dirk Nowitzki, etc. 

Now it seems that the Suns have completely bucked the trend.  A few years ago, Boris Diaw was playing point guard for the Atlanta Hawks.  Now he is starting at Center for the Suns.  But the real reason why the suns can get away with going so small can be found with one person--Shawn Marion.  Shawn Marion is about 6'7 or 6'8" and skinny, but he is one of the best rebounders in the entire NBA.  People around the leauge say that Shawn Marion jumps as if he's on a pogo-stick. 

If the Suns win this series, look for other teams around the league to use the draft and free agency market to find a way to get "smaller, faster and quicker".  If the Clippers win this series, all of the experts will come out of the woodwork and say "Well, once again, we see that 'small ball' can't win a championship in the NBA.'"

I watched the Lakers vs. Suns first round playoff series faithfully and thought it was one of the best first round matchups in recent history.  I was extra interested given that I used to play for the Lakers and since two of my high school teammates played college basketball with Steve Nash at Santa Clara University.  Kevin Dunne and Randy Winn were seniors when I was a sophomore at San Ramon Valley High School.  The next year I watched them a lot at Santa Clara where along with Steve Nash they all helped Santa Clara's team to several years of greatness and some amazing upsets.  I would have never thought at that time that I was watching one of the greatest point guards who would ever play in the NBA.  It is amazing what hard work and perserverance can do and how Steve Nash's passing and shooting ability has changed the fortunes of an entire NBA franchise.  

It was also great to see a couple of old friends play for the Lakers.  Notably, it was a lot of fun to watch Kobe Bryant, Devean George, and Luke Walton make big plays for the Lakers and almost pull off a huge first round upset.  Kobe Bryant never ceases to amaze me.  Amost everywhere I go, people ask me what it was like to play with Kobe Bryant.  Random people I have never met ask me the question.  I thought that now would be a good time to talk about my interactions with Kobe on and off the court.  When I first got to LA, I remember meeting Kobe in the training room.  Kobe was there with his personal trainer and the first thing I thought in my mind is "Wow, Kobe must really be 6'7"!"   You never really know how tall people are until you're next to them.  Shaq is definitely 7'1" and Kevin Garnett is definitely taller than 6'11".  Kobe is easily 6'7" and it's crazy because I play center in the NBA sometimes and I'm about 6'8" and Kobe can play point guard and he's basically the same height.  The first year I was there, I can't tell you how many times I came into the game and Kobe tried to get me a dunk or a wide open layup to help me build some confidence.  One time after a tough game at Memphis he invited me to meet up with him and his high school buddy for a steak dinner.  Another time he stayed around after a game to meet up with the ten year old daughter of a buddy of mine for an autograph and a photo.  Still another time when I was upset about a certain on-court team issue, Kobe took the time to listen to everything I was going through and tried to help the situation.  Kobe Bryant went out of his way a lot when I was just figuring out what it was like to play in the NBA.

I felt badly after the game 7 loss that some members of the media tried to criticize Kobe for not shooting enough in the loss to the Suns.   It's extra interesting to me, because I watched that game very closely and analyzed the Suns' defensive schemes against Kobe.  In the first half it seemed like Suns threw a "soft double team" at Kobe whereas in the second half they trapped Kobe aggresively with two men and forced him to throw the ball out of the double team.  I actually thought that Kobe was doing a good job of trying to hit his open teammates but their shots weren't falling.  I guess if you are Kobe Bryant and you get 81 points you get criticized for shooting too much and if you only score 20-25 points then people say you are not shooting enough.  I thoroughly enjoyed the series and watching my old teammate Kobe play so well.  I think that the Lakers are back on the map.  I hope I get to see Deaven George this summer in Minnesota and maybe I'll see Luke Walton at some Pac-10 reunion.  (We never really had the Answer for Arizona basketball when I was at Stanford).  At any rate, I still hope we go 4-0 against the Lakers next season and 4-0 against the Suns.

Trenton Hassell Saves the Day

Last Thursday, the day after our loss to Memphis, we had to report to the Tria Medical Center in Bloomington for our end-of-season physicals.  It was probably the last time our entire team will be together until next fall.   Trenton Hassell came to the 7:30 AM physicals and he was talking about how he was bummed out  because he had to cut off his dream he was having that morning.  When we asked him about the dream he said that in the dream he was on a plane that had been hijacked and he was in the middle of "saving everyone on the flight" when the alarm clock sounded.    He'd be the right guy though in a situation like that--I can tell you that for sure.

Lake Calhoun

Today I decided it was time to do some long distance running so I went over to Lake Calhoun to see if I could run the entire lake.  I did some sprinting and walking and finally finished running two thirds of the lake at a good pace.  I was shocked at how many people were out there running and rollerblading.  It was awesome to be out there doing something normal during the summer time.  I'm glad to be here in MN for some of the warm months too.  I really love it out here.  If any of you readers are ever at the lake be sure to say hello.  I'll be the tall guy running on the dirt path getting passed by all of the marathon runner people with the heart rate monitors on.  Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be one of those people and I'll be going fast like them too.   I'll head to Nebraska soon to see my sister and her husband and four kids and then out west for a while, but I'm really looking forward to doing my kids basketball camp in Champlin in late June at Champlin High School.

Kevin Garnett

I think the question the media and fans ask the most is "does KG want to stay in Minnesota" and "How is KG doing?"   Most of the questions I get from people are related to Kevin.  Well, let me address both of those questions by saying that of all the teammates I've had, Kevin is one of the guys who always is going to speak from his heart whether he's talking to us behind closed doors or whether he's talking to reporters.  So whatever he says to the media is a pretty accurate portrayal of what he's thinking about because he's upfront about things.  I know that towards the end of the season he took some time to himself to focus on training and having a little bit of privacy, but the answer that I give people is to just let Kevin have a normal few months free from worrying about all this stuff.    Until then, I think that he's taking some much deserved time to spend with his loved ones and friends.  Personally I think that there are a lot of national media members that like to stir up the pot and try to put words into the mouth of KG.  Of course fans and media people in NYC, Chicago and L.A. are going to fill message boards and chat rooms with rumors about KG going each place because those markets would love to have him.  Personally, I think that the mojave desert would freeze over for ten years straight before Mr. Taylor would trade Kevin Garnett.   There is no trade that would give MN equal value for Kevin. 

Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls

Just a little while ago I was watching the playoffs on TV.  I have to admit that it's very tough to watch other teams still playing.  Two nights ago, I got so frustrated that I called one of my friends and we went up to Flagship Athletic Club in Eden Prairie where he rebounded for me to help me work on my jump shot/set shot.  But tonight I was able to see what was going on in the Bulls/Heat series.   At halftime, Craig Sager highlighted the fact that In the first twelve posessions of the game, Shaq only touched the ball twice for the Miami Heat.  That was the reason why they lost the game tonight.  They never got Shaq involved.  I still remember game seven against the Sacramento Kings a few years ago when I was with the Lakers.  Before the game, Shaquile told everyone in the huddle to find him and to "give him the ball."  When you are the big man like shaq it is tough to watch your teammates hoist up a lot of threes without getting to touch the ball a lot.  Sometimes he'd come to the huddle in LA and say, "Fellas, just let me touch it."   When we got him the ball it opened things up for everyone.  If the Miami Heat will give Shaq more touches it will open everything else up for the rest of the team and Antoine Walker will be knocking down threes and Jayson Williams and Gary Payton will have a field day.  If not, it's going to be the Chicago Bulls getting long rebounds and turning the series into the proverbial "track meet" with all the runners they have on their team. 

Kenyon Martin

Let's start off by taking a look at the statement issued by Kenyon Martin.  It's refreshing when someone like Kenyon immediately comes out and apologizes for whatever happened.  To me that shows he's a man.

"First and foremost, I want to apologize to my teammates and coaching staff for my actions on Monday night," Martin said in his statement. "There is nothing more important to me than being a good teammate and giving 110 per cent effort each and every day. Nothing will ever change that.  I sincerely regret if this situation has been a distraction for the team, (Nuggets owner) Mr. Kroenke and the Denver Nuggets organization," Martin said. "I take the responsibility of representing the Denver Nuggets very seriously and I truly hope that Nuggets fans understand that."

I know Kenyon Martin as an opponent, but more importantly I know Kenyon as a friend.  This man is warrior and a GREAT basketball player.  He may be the quickest big man in the nba and one of the smartest players in the association.  I roomed with Kenyon Martin on a World University Games USA college team and this man is a class act.  I feel badly for what Kenyon is going through right now and I think his immediate statement that he issued shows he is very contrite.  I also saw George Karl's interview on SportsCenter and Coach Karl seemed to really show that he felt for what Kenyon was going through and seemed to express empathy for the tough knee injury that Kenyon has been fighting through.

As I'm sitting here watching the Denver/Clippers game the commentators are saying that Kenyon wants to talk to Coach Karl about the incident but Coach Karl does not want to talk about it right now with Kenyon because it's the playoffs and it's a busy/stressful time.   Who knows if they really know what's going on or not but having been through the playoffs I kind of understand where both sides are coming from.  I remember two years ago Kevin Garnett telling Ndui Ebi something like "Just get prepared because things in this locker room are about to get really intense during the playoffs and just know that nothing said in this room is personal even though it might seem like a hostile place." 

Now, I wasn't there for whatever incident took place, but the sooner the Denver staff can meet with Kenyon and the sooner they can crush whatever happened in the "incident" the sooner they will get one of the best players in the league back on the court as a contributor and a dominant force.