Thursday Bolts – 10.4.12

Manu Ginobili on the new flopping rules

: “It’s going to be very hard to determine when it’s a flop and when it’s not,” Ginobili said. “There’s a lot of contact, a lot of heavy players, and it can be tricky. I don’t think (fining players) is going to happen much … “It’s going to be very hard to determine,” he said. “Many times, it’s an exaggeration of contact. That’s not a flop. A flop is when there is not contact and not a foul. So we’ll see how they explain it and how it works.”

Darnell Mayberry: “A few observations from those drills: Durant’s post D against Ibaka looked solid. On several occasions, Durant stripped the ball from Ibaka after Ibaka made a post move but just before he went up for the shot. Or KD contested Ibaka’s shot so well that he tipped it. Good sign. Maynor’s shot mechanics still has that wind up before his release. But it was going in, so who cares? PJIII looked comfortable attacking, but as a rookie he still has minor details to learn, as evidenced by coach’s pulling him aside and trying to show him angles and such.”

Hasheem Thabet was watching the debate last night.

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on the new flopping policy: “And that’s the heart of the matter. In the NBA now, some of the most brilliant and competitive players are also some of the most brilliant and competitive floppers. I’m talking about LeBron James throwing his head back violently while driving the lane, Chris Paul falling down in the open court after a little bump from a defender or Dirk Nowitzki jumping out of bounds, as if shoved from behind, while rebounding. The qualities that make a great athlete (anticipation, balance, vision, abhorrence of losing) are helpful in making floppers, too. Those best players, however, are too good at it to get caught in really obvious offenses. And they make far too much money to really sweat the fine.”

KD’s on a billboard in Times Square.

An apology to Royce White from Darnell Mayberry: “After careful consideration, I have concluded that I owe Royce White, the millions of people coping with anxiety and their loved ones affected by their condition an apology. In a recent blog post I used an extremely poor choice of words in describing White, the promising rookie for the Houston Rockets. I called him a head case. For that, I am deeply sorry.”

Oct. 31 isn’t just a deadline for Harden, but Reggie Jackson, Cole Aldrich and Lazar Hayward.

Steve McPherson of HoopSpeak on rivalries: “We like rivalries because they make for good stories, so maybe the difficulty with Durant and James comes from not knowing what story we’re looking at. It might be the rise of a new, collaborative kind of competition that emphasizes the process as much as the product. Or maybe it’s the story of friends pushing each other to get better until a breaking point drives them apart, a sort of Magic-Bird in reverse.”