<p>In truth, the job itself is different. The 2016 NBA economy, wherein franchises are worth nine to 10 figures, is utterly unlike the ecosystem of the '80s. (Bird, now the Pacers' president, paid semi-anonymous George Hill $8 million this past season -- more than Larry Legend ever made in his prime.) And as sickened as the Super Friends generation might make Maxwell, he can't help but lament never having the leverage his successors enjoy now. "During the '80s, you were a prisoner of your team," he admits. "Free agency wasn't really free." Maxwell volunteers the story of how, in 1980 -- eight years before the advent of unrestricted free agency -- Auerbach successfully bullied the Pacers into rescinding a deal Maxwell and his attorney were set to sign. "The shackles were always on you," Maxwell recalls. "Red threatened that he was gonna take this and take that."</p>
<p>&#8226; Derrick Rose finding his rhythm</p>
<p>Larry Nance Sr., a three-time All-Star and 13-year veteran with the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers, told ESPN in January that if his son wants any help preparing for the dunk contest, "I'll do anything he wants." But, Larry Sr. pointed out, with a touch of pride, that his son is a far better high-flyer than his old man: "I could jump really well, but he's just so much stronger, and he just jumps so much easier than I did. I'll give it to him. I had my day. And nothing makes me prouder. Nothing makes Wholesale Jerseys China me prouder, trust me, than if he just flat-out out-dunks me."</p>
<p>The Rockets will have a 72-hour window, ending at Monday at 11:59 p.m., to decide whether to match the offer or let Motiejunas join the Nets.</p>

<p>THE DRAMATIC ARC of this friendship has been shaped, famously, by a couple of global events: the 2006 FIBA Basketball World Cup, when chemistry-focused USA Basketball sequestered its roster -- which included Wade, James and future Super Friend Chris Bosh -- in Sapporo, Japan. And the 2011 Finals, which plunged a depressed James into two weeks of self-imposed house arrest and ultimately persuaded an empathetic Wade to hand him the keys to the Heat  offense. ("I looked like Tom Hanks on 'Castaway,'" James told NBA TV's Steve Smith.)</p>
<p>"You're talking about two guys who went to the Finals together, four years in a row," Wade says. Cheap jerseys China "My job and his job was to get as close as possible, to know everything about each other and get on the same page as two leaders on the team. And then he goes elsewhere and you ask us to hate each other! It's ridiculous."</p>
<p>IF YOU WERE charged with making a political ad for the cause of sports hatred, Cedric Maxwell's baritone is the ominous, incredulous voice you'd want. The retired Celtics forward, a two-time champ, is perhaps best known for strolling by James Worthy in the 1984 NBA Finals and giving the Lakers star the choke sign with both hands -- a seminal moment in athletic antagonism. Now the 60-year-old Maxwell is a broadcaster. And on an April night in Boston, squeezed into the stands before a game against the Heat, he refuses to soften his loathing. "It just makes me ill," he says, when asked about Wade-James relationship. "It's against the rules of nature. Wholesale football Jerseys Why would you have a giraffe among the lions?"</p>
<p>And when the Rockets were open, they controlled the Nuggets, scoring a season-high 73 points in the first half and making 17 3-pointers -- the NBA-leading 19th time Houston has made 10 or more from 3-point range.</p>
<p>"LeBron, he's that dude, man," Gibson said. "I'm happy to be able to say that for most of my career I was able to play big games against him. Playoffs, regular games, rivalries, whatever you want to call it, because he's the man. He came in here with a Cubs jersey, it was all fun and laughs but like I told everybody -- 'He's coming in here, we got to play him.' No time to laugh around, play around, that guy's been in here many years and really shut us down to try to go to the promised land so every time that I see him or if I see any team that he's on, I try to just play my best in big games that players want. You want to go out there and show what you're capable of doing, show what your team's capable of doing and it's good for us to try and set a statement in the East."</p>Judge awards additional $5M to ex-assistant Mike McQueary's verdict, Didier Drogba in MLS: Best goals, REGGIE JACKSON TO RETURN AFTER MISSING PISTONS' FIRST 21 GAMES,