You know how you get to talking with the new guy on your rec league team and he turns out to be a really thoughtful, introspective guy? I love finding diamonds in the rough like that. Jared Dudley of the Phoenix Suns was on the B.S. Report podcast awhile back and I had no idea he was so articulate. I’ve always wanted to map out a Bill Simmons podcast, but we’ll save it for another day. For now, I’ll just give you the core dump. I’m definitely gonna start following him on Twitter, too.

Dudley talked about Steve Nash. He packs his own meals on roadtrips. No fried foods, no desserts. Takes care of the body. Nash reportedly feels the altitude at Denver and Utah only in the first quarter.

Dudley often guards the other team’s best player, and also says for him, the hardest guy to defend in the league is not Kobe Bryant, not LeBron James, not Dwyane Wade — although D-Wade does have the most explosive first step. The toughest guy for him to guard in the NBA is Kevin Durant. Can’t block his shot.
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Running a myriad of leagues, tournaments, and even being captain of my own rec team, I have found text messaging (and unlimited at that) to be an indisposable technology. Perhaps the most frequent text message that I need to send is the one that goes out right before the refs motion the teams to the circle for tipoff — to perhaps more than one recipient, mind you — as follows: “Where are you?!”

I don’t know how team captains in my leagues and tournaments can manage their players without text messaging.

And it appears that even NBA teams need it, despite any well-thought-out restrictions on having cellphones on the bench.

Here’s a gameday example, amidst the recent altercation in the Chicago Bulls organization. With all the NBA’s glitz, glamour, and cutting-edgeness, for once, in lieu of the ubiquitous cellphone, wouldn’t Vinny Del Negro have killed for an old-fashioned corded phone like they still have in baseball dugouts?!

“The most recent flap over Joakim Noah’s playing time was Friday against the New Jersey Nets, and it proved costly to the Bulls as they chased the final playoff spot in the East. [Head coach] Del Negro sent assistant coach Lindsey Hunter to ask [general manager] Gar Forman if he could play Noah late in a close game with serious playoff implications. Forman contacted [Executive Vice President] John Paxson, who green lighted Noah exceeding his minutes. But Del Negro didn’t get his answer until the first of two overtimes. Meanwhile, the Nets’ Brook Lopez converted an offensive rebound in the final seconds of regulation and the Nets won in double overtime.”

Read the whole article at: Source: Chicago Bulls’ Vinny Del Negro aggressor not John Paxson – ESPN Chicago