[CHRON] NBA Notebook (new Bonzi quotes)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4407694.html

Bonzi isn't boisterous yet
Rockets forward remains low-key about progress after coming back


By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

LOS ANGELES — After all this time off the court, so much time working and waiting for his chance, Bonzi Wells had to be thrilled with being back. He said just a few days ago that it was like coming home.

Wells said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy gave him his jersey back. He was smiling at the time.

Three games later, his playing time has increased steadily, from six minutes to 17 and to 27 against the Lakers on Friday. The Rockets lost each game, but Wells seemed to show signs of returning to form, or at least heading in that direction, with each time out.

He did a few things well — a rebound here, a few jumpers and some good passes — but not so much that he could object too much to not playing more as his legs still did not do what his mind asked.

But judging from his conversation, there still seems to be some issues.

Asked how he felt playing again, and playing more each night, he said: "I feel all right."

Asked if his game was improving, and how he thought he played, he said: "I feel all right, I just feel all right."

OK, then. It does seem as if Wells was sharper, seeing more ways to attack defenses and find teammates. Wells is a smart player. He shares the ball and moves it quickly, an underrated quality. He seemed more comfortable on the floor with each game.

"Just running the plays coach called," he said.

It seemed that within the plays, he created opportunities. But he said only: "That was the play."

Leaving any specific play out of it then, Wells could be bouncing back from all that time off since last season's strong playoff showing ended.

"You'll know," he said when asked if he was effectively knocking off the rust.

OK, but does he know?

"I don't know," Wells said. "Just got to play. Going to play, play hard. Do whatever coach asks me to do."

That does not indicate much, but it is possible Wells did not want to be chatty about himself after two very tough losses. Perhaps he just has not played well enough to feel comfortable talking about how things are going.

But the Rockets have waited a long time for him to be in the mix, and he waited all those weeks to be back on the court.

Maybe it was too soon to declare anything about how he is doing. But the less he said, the more Wells sounded like an experiment. Maybe he meant nothing between the lines, but he seemed to say plenty about how far there is to go to make this work when he said so little about how it is working so far.


Are we in or out, bro?
The increasingly irritating Allen Iverson derby has not been without entertaining moments.

The Kings brought us some welcome comic relief.

On Monday, Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said the Kings were in the mix of the possible deals to move Iverson.

On Tuesday, his brother co-owner Gavin Maloof said, "We're officially out of the running. We never got to that point to be in the running. I don't think we got to the point where we were talking or negotiating. It never got to that point."

For brothers who never seem to go anywhere without the other, they ought to get their stories straight. For now, the Kings look to be on the list of teams with a young talent — in their case Kevin Martin — who they won't give up, but who could get this saga over with already.


I'll go, I'll go
While the Kings might have offered the most comical moment in the Allen Iverson sweepstakes, the Clippers seem the most hot and bothered. They could get it done for themselves or other teams if they would part with Shaun Livingston. They won't. Corey Maggette, however, is available and doing all he can to get out of town.

"Me and Coach (Mike) Dunleavy , we don't see eye to eye," Maggette told the Los Angeles Times before Friday's 109-99 loss in Portland. "Coach doesn't respect what I do. If that's the case, it might be time for me to go, move on and have a new beginning. It's better for me to go."

Dunleavy said respect is not the issue, but that the Clippers are best the way things are, with Maggette coming off the bench.

"I do respect his ability," Dunleavy said. "But I play him according to what's best for our team."

Elton Brand said the trade talk is "definitely a distraction" with "a lot of trade rumors and speculation going on. I'm not distracted by it, but I think other guys are."

Sam Cassell, typically, had the best perspective.

"I've heard my name out there, and I didn't even know I had any value left at my age," said Cassell, 37. "It doesn't bother me, but I think it's tough for some of the other guys."


No big deal
While the video of that wild scene in Serbia in a massive fan brawl before a game between Red Star Belgrade and Greece's PAOK Thessaloniki made the rounds, Nets center Nenad Krstic thought the rumble was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I'm used to that," Krstic said. "That's a usual thing in Serbian games."

Krstic said he had been hit by rocks, lighters, coins and eggs and was not surprised to see flares at the game.

"Some games they're singing," Krstic said. "It's different. You need to watch games. It's very nice, but without fights. When they start throwing the flares, it's very dangerous."

Suddenly, a microfiber basketball doesn't seem so bad.


The hard-to-figure Pistons
Even in the weak-sister East, the Pistons look strong again. But they are also unpredictable, inconsistent and just plain weird.

When playing the first or second game of back-to-backs, the Pistons are 13-1. Going into Saturday's game against the Nets, they were 0-7 in the other games with at least one day's rest. On top of that, they have losses to Milwaukee, Golden State, New Orleans-Oklahoma City, Portland and Indianapolis, all teams worse than .500 when they played.

"It seems like the more rest we get, the least amount of energy we come back with," Chauncey Billups said. "I just wish we could play teams with .500 or better records every night. We cant seem to beat teams that are under .500. It's bizarre."

There is not much mystery, however. Rasheed Wallace, who could be the most irreplaceable of the Pistons, has been wildly inconsistent. He is averaging just 11.9 shots per game and often has look disinterested for long stretches.

"Hey, I am just out there playing," Wallace said. "When they call my number, I step up."


Good times don't last
In typical Blazers fashion, even when things are going well, they find a way to mess up a good thing.

The will go into Wednesday's game against the Rockets, after four days off, with a four-game winning streak. Zach Randolph is averaging 25.8 points and 10.2 rebounds, knocking down a pair of game-winners. But before the winning streak, in the closing seconds of a loss at Indiana, Randolph, who is from Marion, Ind., flashed an obscene gesture at a fan.

That usually draws a fine, but the Blazers, insisting that they want to change their image from the sort of team that flashing obscene gestures at fans, suspended Randolph, an absence that cost him $133,333. Randolph appealed and cited the precedent set by our buddy Bonzi Wells, knowing that with the Trail Blazers, there is always a precedent.

"It just shows how much (the Blazers) care about their players," Randolph said. "They don't give a damn about me. It ain't fair ... everybody knows it's not fair. Bonzi gets 10 grand (for a fine for his similar gesture when with the Blazers) and I get $133,000? They are just trying to get their money back; they will do anything to get their money back."

Gee, why can't Portland embrace the Blazers?


The spin cycle
Knicks owner James Dolan stopped by for his annual vote of no-confidence, still demanding that Isiah Thomas shows significant progress by season's end to keep his job. Thomas, meanwhile, showed more skill for spin than a cable television news network.

Dolan would not say just what the Knicks needed to do to measure up to significant progress, but that they are about where he expected so far. (He also apologized for last season, calling Larry Brown not by name but as "our coach" and "that coach.")

Thomas decided things are rolling along because the Knicks are in the thick of the NBA's Pathetic Division.

"We're in the race, and we intend to stay in it and run it," Thomas said, showing no shame. "We may not win the race with record-setting time and it may not be one of those races where everybody says, 'Wow, they were great.' But the goal is to win the race. We're not trying to break any records."


Quote to note
For this week's quote, we offer Pistons guard Richard Hamilton, who as usual, was ignored by the fans in All-Star voting, failing to crack the top 10 among Eastern Conference guards.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Hamilton told the Detroit Free Press. "All the previous years that I've been in the league, with the voting, it don't matter to me. My job is to go out there and lead my team, get wins. It's kind of crazy, though. I think about that all the time."

Now wait a minute. It doesn't matter to him, yet he thinks about it all the time. Best of luck with therapy, Rip.