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Kansas City's Sprint Center hosted a well-reviewed preseason game between the Hawks and Blazers on Friday. The Kansas City Star's Jason Whitlock heralds his town as a great fit for pro ball.

I realize it was just a one-time affair, but I'm surprised Kansas Citians were willing to step out and pay Carl Peterson prices for a nonfootball event, particularly in this brutal economic environment. Friday night brought me one more step closer to believing we would support the NBA.

The gym, again, has received lots of positive reviews from NBA types, and is even seen as a model in the arena negotiations in Sacramento. (Ironic, considering KC's old NBA team is the Kings.) But just how far down the list in Kansas City in terms of NBA expansion or relocation?

Seattle's supposed to be up top; the local politicians, however, have seemed to have taken only a few months to completely forget about the steps they need to take to line up a future franchise. (Basically, they need to plug the penalty Clay Bennett paid to move back into KeyArena in the form of renovations. Hasn't happened.)

San Jose seems like a non-starter given Golden State's proximity, despite the continued preponderance of wealth in Silicon Valley. (Ain't no tech companies crashing last month.) Anaheim might be in a better position than KC: both have ready arenas and a local willingness to develop new funds, and while the O.C. has more local competition in the Clippers and Lakers, there's also a far greater opportunity for corporate connection in massive L.A.

Of course, no teams are looking to move (we'll know more about Sacramento next year; the Grizz have at least four years left in Memphis) and domestic expansion isn't on the table. As such, should K.C. fans get their hopes up? One such fan comments after the jump.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. The Painted Area. Tim Hardaway told SLAM an unnamed NBA player came out to his teammates last year, and things were cool. This is good news ... but why hasn't it made the news?

2. New York Times. Memo to the friends and enemies of Nate Robinson: it seems Chris Duhon is having trouble grasping the D'Antoni offense.

3. Ball Don't Lie. If you aren't reading BDL's team previews, you're really missing out.

4. Rocky Mountain News. Anthony Carter's outdoor hoops experience goes back to playing five-on-five for drug money in Atlanta so that his family could eat. I'm guessing Saturday at Indian Wells will be slightly different.

5. Blazers Edge. Martell Webster, a young promising starter, goes down with the most serious injury in Portland since Oden's microfracture ... and no one misses a beat. Why?

6. Jones on the NBA. A video and text history of the 1990-91 NBA season.

For most former lottery picks, it's just a formality when a team picks up their fourth-year option. For J.J. Redick, it was a bit of a surprise. Despite playing for a team that attempted the second-most three-pointers in the league last year, the sharp-shooting guard out of Duke has been unable to crack the rotation each of his first two years in Orlando.

Then again, even that may change this year, as Stan Van Gundy told reporters today that if the regular season started today Redick would be in his rotation. Redick is happy to hear that, but he's not taking anything for granted. From Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel:

Said Redick, "I hope he says that on Oct. 29th. He told me that last year in China that I was going to play, but things can change quick in this league. I don't feel like he lied to me on that. I missed the San Antonio game because I hurt my hand and then things changed. I want to be in position on Oct. 29th to play. That's the goal."

Like he said, he was supposedly in line for playing time last year but fell completely by the wayside, playing in fewer games and fewer minutes per game than he did as a rookie under Brian Hill. But despite it all, he obviously has a fan in GM Otis Smith, who not only refused to part with Redick after the guard requested a trade last December but obviously still thinks enough of him to guarantee his $2.8 million salary for 2009-10.

Interesting times in Clipper-land, these days. The team's newest star is on the Jenny Craig diet plan (no, I won't let it go, but thanks for asking). The team's other new star worked out with them for the first time today after fighting "flu-like symptoms." First round draft pick Eric Gordon is sidelined for a couple weeks with an ankle injury. And oh yeah, Elgin Baylor appears to no longer be performing his duties as the team's General Manager. Wait, what?

According to the OC Register (via Baller Blogger), Elgin Baylor is out as GM, and the only details we have is that there is a dispute between Baylor and and the Clippers, which Baylor won't speak about because his attorney advised him not to. What we do know is, this has been going on for at least a few weeks, because Baylor wasn't present at the team's practice facility when training camp began, and he was conveniently left out of the club's pre-season media guide -- entirely. No mention or picture of him anywhere.

Baylor has been the Clippers' GM since 1986, and besides being a fixture at the NBA's Draft Lottery proceedings, has done a mostly thankless job over the last 22 years. He did have a few achievements though, including winning the Executive of the Year award in 2006, drafting Chris Kaman, and pulling the trigger on the trade that brought Elton Brand to town. During the offseason though, it was coach Mike Dunleavy who seemed to be the spokesperson for the team's dealings, and sure sounded an awful lot like the real GM while doing so.

It'll be interesting to see what the dispute is all about; hopefully Donald Sterling isn't trying to go all Al Davis on Baylor after 22 years of service.

[Image credit: AP Photo/Gus Ruelas]

Much has been made about the possibility of LeBron James bolting Cleveland for the brighter lights and bigger exposure that the New Jersey Nets would have to offer in 2010. All the signs are there, including the team moving to Brooklyn right around the same time (give or take a year), which would place King James in prime position to play in the biggest city in the country, in a brand new arena, and for partial Nets' owner and bestest buddy Jay-Z. The gossip is rampant for good reason. But if LeBron himself is to be believed, at least by virtue of his comments here when he was finished urging the fine people of Ohio to register to vote, he loves Cleveland, and has no plans to go elsewhere.



Now, was that just a throw-away line at the end of a little pep talk at a political rally, or was there some substance behind it? Could be a little of both. I'm sure LeBron does love Ohio and, maybe right now, has no plans to go elsewhere. But if the fortunes of the Cavs over the next few years don't change, the attraction of playing in NYC is going to be extremely difficult to pass up.

UPDATE: The Indianapolis Star reports that there is no deal yet.

The long-awaited trade of Jamaal Tinsley has finally happened, according to the New York Post's Peter Vescey (via Indy Cornrows). Vescey reports Denver has acquired Tinsley in exchange for incumbent back-up point guard Chucky Atkins and limited big man Steven Hunter. The deal is roughly cap neutral for the next two years (Indiana can save some 2009-10 money by cutting Atkins early), but Denver's on the hook for an extra $7 million in 2010-11. That doesn't quite reverse the mood from the Marcus Camby liquidation, but it does quiet the idea the Nuggets are ready to blow everything up.

The interesting thing about the move from Indiana to Denver for Tinsley is that both teams featured a high-octane offense last season. How did Jamaal do? He racked up plenty of assists ... but shot at a simply awful clip and piled up buckets of turnovers. He was certainly a nominee for the All Bad Starter Team. Denver really needs someone to a) bring the ball up with wasting time or losing it, b) get the ball to Carmelo Anthony or Allen Iverson, and c) deliver some easy buckets (hopefully by way of dunk) to Nene and Kenyon Martin. Atkins was more of a shooter than a playmaker; Tinsley needs to never shoot ever for this to work out. (Seriously, Tinsley is one of the worst shooters of the last decade who has had a steady job.) Anthony Carter started for Denver much of last season, but I imagine Tinsley will have the gig on reputation alone.

Atkins almost certainly doesn't figure into Indiana's plans, and Hunter should be used like a relief pitcher, in there to block shots only when necessary. The real prize is losing Tinsley, who reportedly had a falling out with coach Jim O'Brien last season and never did enough on the court or in the locker room to make up for it. Indiana didn't need to get an asset back -- saving a year of salary is worth the split.

The Lakers, like a lot of NBA teams, play several pre-season games in cities that are nowhere near NBA arenas. The idea is to give those fans a chance to see some live NBA action, which is normally a great idea. But this season, if you live in Fresno, Ontario, San Diego, or Anaheim, you may just want to pass up this opportunity. Because according to Phil Jackson, due to the heavy workload of playing through the Finals and then in the Olympics, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are likely to see an extremely limited number of pre-season minutes.

Jackson said he's trying to limit some of their activities because both are coming off the Olympics, and hinted that their participation in exhibition games could be limited as well.

"I'm just going this week, see how they're doing, how they feel, what their energy level is like," Jackson said of Bryant and Gasol. "I was told not to say that I wasn't going to play Kobe in exhibition games. So I'm not going to say that Kobe's not going to play in this exhibition, but there's a chance he may not play in exhibition games."

Ah, Phil, always the comedian. I'm sure he was told not to say anything about sitting Kobe and Pau by the league, as it probably wouldn't help ticket sales in those markets that I mentioned. Will he be fined for giving the fans and the media the heads up? Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it's worth it to have a slightly more rested duo of stars to begin the regular season.

Yesterday I mentioned how I thought Lamar Odom's comments regarding the proposition of him becoming a sixth man this season -- although he might have been kidding around -- were a little stiff. Apparently Phil Jackson thought so too, and the two talked a bit to hash things out. Odom backed off his comments a bit, but made it clear he wants his minutes this season.

"We talked a little bit. At the end of the day, that's out of my control. He's going to do whatever he wants to do. But I wouldn't suggest that, especially in a year when I want to be on the court, for obvious reasons. - I would take it like he bumped his ... head. Nah, that's a joke. I don't mean that. I would take it as this: He's trying to motivate me a little bit. I'll take it as a challenge."

Nice spin, Lamar. And the "obvious reasons" that Odom makes mention of are in the millions: as in, the millions of dollars he hopes to secure in his next contract, which he will be signing before the start of next season.

Contract years are not the time that players want to hear that they'll be receiving less minutes in a role off the bench, but Jackson says the minutes might not even change, that it would be more of a role like the one super-sub Manu Ginobili has on the Spurs.

Yesterday we told you that Ben Gordon had finally decided to accept Chicago's one-year qualifying offer, but it turns out that's not entirely true. Gordon has given the Bulls until Wednesday to present their best long-term offer, at which point he'll decide whether he wants to take it or sign the qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Bulls are believed to have offered $58 million over six years, which is a far cry from Gordon's asking price of $72 million over six years. There's almost no chance that the Bulls will close that gap in the next 24 hours, but it's possible that Gordon will cave at the last second and take whatever he can get.

Why would Gordon do that? Because thanks to Chicago's crowded backcourt, there's a very good chance that his stats will take a step back this year. Most players try to step up their production in a contract year, but that'll be nearly impossible in a backcourt rotation that already features Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, and Thabo Sefolosha.

There was a little bit of talk over the summer about the idea of Lamar Odom coming off the bench this season. With Andrew Bynum back in the mix, it seemed like a delightful possibility; one that would especially help the Lakers offensively when their second unit was on the floor. But you can forget all that. Odom was asked about it at the Lakers' Media Day yesterday, and hinted that Phil Jackson might have a screw loose if that's what he was thinking:

"He must have woke up and bumped his head. He probably hit his head on something -- boom," Odom said about Jackson. "To start off like that, you've got to be out of your . . . mind."

I have no proof of this, but having heard athletes speak for many years now, I'm guessing that the ellipsis between the words "your" and "mind" might just have been an expletive. And while I'm sure Odom was speaking in a lighthearted tone when he said this, it's still kind of disrespectful to Phil Jackson, isn't it?

We're not exactly sure how serious Phil was about moving Lamar to a sixth man role, or how serious Odom is about having no desire to go there. But it's definitely something to keep an eye on, as Odom is due for a new contract next season. If things go south between Lamar and his coach, Odom may very well find himself in another uniform before February's trade deadline.