Dwight Howard wants to add "Consultant" to his resume.

Dwight Howard was on an Adidas promotional tour where he gave us a few interesting quotes.

(All quotes are via a hoopshype.com article.)

On Stan Van's usage of Gilbert "Agent Zero worth to any team I'm on" Arenas:

“I don’t think our coach used him the right way, but I think he can do a lot of great things for our team,” Howard said. “He promised me this summer he was going to get better, physically and mentally, so he can come back and have an awesome year. I’m looking forward to that.

“I just felt like he didn’t get the opportunity to play his style but also play with me. I think he needed to. I think he got a couple of opportunities to do it in the playoffs, but it was kind of too late. So I think he will be great for us.”

I'm sure players do get misused. I just don't know if it applies to this situation. It usually happens with a bad coach which Van Gundy is not. I guess Dwight was expecting a pre-injury Arenas in terms of production.

Dwight also says he want's to be involved in personnel decisions:

“I should be involved,” Howard said. “For seven hard years I’ve done everything I could in Orlando for us to win a championship and I think I deserve an opportunity to help make decisions as far as the future.”

I think superstar players want to be involved for different reasons. Some are just control freaks. Some really think they have an eye for talent. And some need their ego's stroked.

For Dwight I think it's the last one. I think that he feels that being consulted is part of being franchise player. You know, the "so-and-so is being consulted so I should too" mentality. As for his logic that 7 years of working towards a championship entitles him to be consulted? Well than everyone who has put in the same amount of years in Orlando should also be consulted. Which would be a mess and that's why teams have GM's.

I'm sure there have been plenty of star players that have been asked "what do you think of player A and player B?" but that's up to management if they want to get feedback. The player shouldn't be out asking to be consulted.

How does Otis Smith feel about this? Apparently no way. When asked about it he said "I have no reaction". Maybe Otis should consult Dwight and the first thing he should to Dwight is "Get with Dwight and get him to re-sign!"

Hey Dwight, Otis doesn't think much of your suggestion. That should let you know how management feels. Sadly, Dwight might be an upgrade from Smith.

Kyrie Irving has seen your Jimmer. He is not impressed.

Kyrie Irving was a guest on this afternoon's episode of SportsNation. I was fortunate enough to be home to watch Amanda, errr...SportsNation to catch it. During a segment in which they must use one word to describe someone or some play the Jimmer was brought up. Kyrie's "word" for the Jimmer was not complimentary at all. So if you LOVE the Jimmer prepare yourself.

During said segment it was brought to Kyrie's attention that the Jimmer was moving up mock drafts due to his impressive workout's. Kyrie's one word response: Uhhh..Really??

Ok that was more like two words.

Kyrie apparently hasn't been keeping up on the draft talk and workouts. This surprised me because I figured most prospects would check them out for fun or curiosity and he would be aware of the talk. What also surprised me was Irving's almost dismissive attitude towards the Jimmer. His attitude and body language suggested that he didn't understand why the Jimmer would be moving up. He did say that the Jimmer was a "great" player when Amanda suggested that he was giving the Jimmer bulletin board material. Amanda also asked if Kyrie was getting scared and Kyrie said sarcastically that he was. But it was obvious that Kyrie doesn't worry about the Jimmer.

He never explained why he felt that way. Maybe he didn't want to pull a Brandon Jennings on Ricky Rubio "he's all hype" type of comment. He just kind of shook his head and shrugged his shoulders during most of the Jimmer portion of the segment. But it was obvious that Kyrie doesn't think much of him. It could just be sour grapes with the Jimmer becoming the talk of the draft and stealing some of Kyrie's shine. It was reported that there was more press at the Jimmers workout with the Jazz than a first-round series. I have no idea if they've ever played each other to suggest that there might be some history between the two. But it was obvious the Kyrie doesn't think much of the Jimmer's stock rising. Are we seeing the beginning of a personal rivalry?

Amar'e: MJ connected with people, LeBron doesn't

“Everybody has their own way of commenting on things, but I would have commented differently,” Stoudemire said. “One thing about Michael Jordan was that no matter how great he was and how much of a platform he stood on, he still related to all the hard workers out there in the world. “I think LeBron is still young,” Stoudemire added, “and there is still time for him to reconnect with the public.”

Now I must admit that I didn't get into basketball until the '92 dream team which was towards the end of MJ's first threepeat. I don't really know what his comments or perceptions of him were earlier in his career. But what I do remember is that MJ never said anything controversial. He was concerned about his image and ability to sell shoes. Remember, he never commented on ANYTHING political because, and I quote, "republican's buy sneakers too."

As far as connecting with people? I don't think this is true at all. MJ is notoriously withdrawn and private. Save for casino's and a few golf events. He was more an idol then a man of the people.

A few quick hits

• After 13 years in the same team, Dirk Nowitzki finally won a title. This should inspire you...Dwight Howard: "I will not wait 13 years to win a title with Orlando. At the same time, I want to win one with Orlando."

Dwight is sooo talented he can talk out of both sides of his mouth! You see how he caught himself there and threw in the requisite disclaimer "I want to win one in Orlando."

First off Dwight it's not up to you when you win a title. Just ask Dirk. The only thing that is up to you is where you chase that title. So what you're saying is Orlando has 1 year to win a title or you're out. Thanks for clarifying.

• I had a wide-ranging conversation with Warriors GM Larry Riley today. Some highlights: • On reports that the team is in talks to trade Monta Ellis: “We are not shopping Monta Ellis. It is business as usual here.

"Business as usual" being shopping Monta Ellis.

• Ron Artest recently tweeted that the Maverick's winning the title has inspired him to play team ball.

So NOW you want to play team ball?? What have you been play.....oh wait I know the answer to that question. You used to play for the Kings so I saw a lot of your non-team ball. I wonder how his Lakers teammates feel about this revelation. He's basically admitting he hasn't been playing team ball. Good luck next season! If you're still on the Lakers. Which I'm guessing you will. You have little trade value.

Ohhh so you didn't mean to call us all losers.

It's been a few days since the end of the N.B.A. finals and a few days since LeBron in his post game presser called us fans losers. Ok he didn't say that directly but it was implied. I'm sure you've seen or heard what he said so I'm not going to repeat it here. If you haven't yet just google it.

He's had another press conference since then in which he tried to "clarify" his statements about how we were going to wake up the next day with our same personal problems, our same lives, and that he was going to be happy (somewhat implying that we wouldn't be). He said he was trying to say that the Final's were over and that we all had to "move on". Well if that's what you were trying to say then why didn't he just say that? I think he didn't say that because that's not what he was trying to say!

I think he was trying to take his shots at the critics and the fans that were taking pleasure in his failure. He was trying to say that "My life will continue to be more awesome than yours no matter what you people say or think". And he's right. Thanks for the reminder LeBron.

Greetings!

Hi! My name is Steve. I watch a lot of basketball and a lot of those talking head sports shows. This blog is going to be my thoughts on their thoughts and comments.

I've become bored with the athletes' cliche and canned responses and the safe non-offensive comments by the commentators who seem to be to afraid of pissing off a player and losing their accessibility to said player. Also, sometimes players say dumb things and I'll share my dumb thoughts about those dumb statements.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional or even an adequate writer. So please don't expect profound, deep, clever, or overly creative posts. If I say something that offends you I'm sorry. Also please share your thoughts, hate for me, and criticism in the comments.