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For the record 44.5 percent of Smith’s shot attempts came from beyond 16 feet — he loves the long two and the above the arc three. He just can’t hit those shots. He’s a beast in close but fancies himself a stretch four.

It has been that way for years despite annual promises things will be different. So understand my skepticism when Smith told the Pistons’ official Web site he has bulked up so he can play inside more this season.

Free-agent forward Earl Clark, who followed up a breakthrough year with the Lakers by bouncing between the Cavaliers and Knicks last year, will be working out this week for the defending champion Spurs, a source told Sporting News. Clark is in San Antonio today and will be there through Wednesday.

Dudley referred to the No. 2 overall pick in the June draft and said he looks forward to mentoring some of the young Bucks players.

But he also made it clear he wants to return to a productive level after a disappointing single season with the Clippers.

Dudley averaged 6.9 points in 74 games with Los Angeles, his lowest total since his first season in Phoenix in 2008-'09 when he averaged 5.5. He shot 36% from three-point range, also his lowest mark since that season.

Injuries plagued Dudley as he developed tendinitis in his right knee last August and later strained the patellar tendon in his left knee during the season.

"I remember around November or December I basically told coach (Doc) Rivers I couldn't go," Dudley said. "We had so many injuries. J.J. (Redick) was out; Matt Barnes was out. Basically he (Rivers) wanted me to fight through it.

"I told him I could; I just wouldn't be 100%. I think what I did was give him a body to hold the minutes down until those guys got back. For me personally, I might have suffered. But from the team standpoint we were able to get that three spot (playoff seeding) we needed to have.

"When you look back, would I have done it different? Maybe. But that was just me trying to give my body for a new team and a new coach."

Danilo Gallinari tells La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando) that he regrets having The Steadman Clinic of Vail perform the surgery on his torn ACL in late 2012. The Nuggets small forward was expecting a relatively quick recovery, but ended up sitting out all of last season after needing additional surgeries. Gallinari referenced Russell Westbrook‘s repeat surgeries with Steadman, along with other athletes’ bumpy recoveries, as another strike against the clinic’s reputation.

Mori Chu wrote:It looks like the co-owner of the Hawks, Bruce Levenson, is being compelled to sell his stake in the team after an email leaked out that he wrote in 2012 talking about attracting white vs. black fans.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hawks-owne ... 27737.html

It sounds like in his email, he basically says, "The white fans are scared of the black fans. How can we change our arena environment to be more attractive to the white fans?" and discusses some possible ideas for doing so, like having less hip-hop music, more white cheerleaders, putting the arena in a "whiter" part of town, etc.

What do you guys think? Should he be forced to resign because of this email? Certainly the timing is bad, coming just a few months after the Sterling situation.

Cap wrote:He is not being forced. He is voluntarily selling his stake in the team. We can only speculate about what discipline, if any, would have been coming his way.

DrSublime wrote:

Mori Chu wrote:It looks like the co-owner of the Hawks, Bruce Levenson, is being compelled to sell his stake in the team after an email leaked out that he wrote in 2012 talking about attracting white vs. black fans.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hawks-owne ... 27737.html

It sounds like in his email, he basically says, "The white fans are scared of the black fans. How can we change our arena environment to be more attractive to the white fans?" and discusses some possible ideas for doing so, like having less hip-hop music, more white cheerleaders, putting the arena in a "whiter" part of town, etc.

What do you guys think? Should he be forced to resign because of this email? Certainly the timing is bad, coming just a few months after the Sterling situation.

I think he saw the 2 billion reasons to sell from the Sterling backlash and figured he'd get out in front of the story and ca$h in.

Cap wrote:He is not being forced. He is voluntarily selling his stake in the team. We can only speculate about what discipline, if any, would have been coming his way.