No regrets LeBron James bypassed college basketball and went directly to the NBA, which means he never experienced the NCAA tournament and March Madness. "If I could have not gone to school all the way 'til March and then played in March Madness, then I would have done that," said James, who said he likely would have attended Ohio State. "But I have no regret not going to school."
Them's fighting words Kendrick Perkins wasted little time after he was traded from Boston to Oklahoma City. At his introductory news conference and then in an ESPN interview, Perkins said he disliked "everything" about new Western Conference rival Pau Gasol and called Phil Jackson "arrogant."
"I don't like a lot of the Lakers," he said. "Pau is soft, trying to be something he's not."
Brandon's back? Portland's Brandon Roy is advising not to get to excited too soon, but ... the Blazers are 5-0 in recent meetings against San Antonio, Chicago, Miami, Orlando and Dallas and Roy has come back from more knee surgeries to look like what teammate Wes Matthews calls "the '08-09 Brandon." NBA TV analyst Chris Webber is predicting the Blazers will upset whoever they meet in the playoffs' first round.
Stepping up Nobody has benefited more from Denver trading Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups than Nene. Entering the weekend, the Nuggets center was averaging 18.8 points and 10.2 rebounds while shooting 67.9 percent from the field in his team's most recent five games. The Nuggets went into Saturday night 9-3 since the trade while the Knicks were 7-7.
