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The article gives a great rundown of the 2005-06 basketball season, including a summary of each player. Typical school-issued facts and figures, but informative nonetheless.

Iavaroni, the Phoenix Suns assistant who is coaching their summer league team, touches on a host of topics in this interview, including his perception of Thompson:

He’s good in the open court. He makes very smart basketball plays, he’s unselfish and he just wants to find a way to get the ball to the basket or to the open man. We’ve been very pleased with that. He can shoot it, (but) he’s a little streaky from beyond the three-point arc. We’re still working on that. We, as a team, have not shot well (from beyond the arc), so we’re in a little bit of a three-point slump and I’m sure he’s not happy with his performance there. His range can be extended and made more consistent, because it is further than the college three-point line.

Defensively, he’s made strides. He’s playing harder and he’s playing lower. He’s a long, lean guy who’s got very long legs, so that makes it tougher to defend, but he’s learning. You’ve got to play with your body, beef up your body. You’ve got to dish it out and know where you’re going to end up taking it. So, it’s usually your choice.

Personally, he’s a sweet kid. I like him a lot as a guy. But, you can be that way off the court. Leandro [Barbosa]’s a sweet guy too and he’s one of my favorites. But, Leandro’s a killer on the court and he wants to beat people, and compete, do whatever it takes. I think that’s something Dijon is going to have to find out, as well. He’s more like Jamal Wilkes, if I can bring up an old-time name. Everybody has to be themselves, but you just want to make sure that in the process of being yourself, you’re not creating a weakness, that you’re always trying to improve yourself.

Jamal Wilkes is good company, but it sounds like Iavaroni believes what everyone else does: that Thompson needs to improve defensively and become more intense on the court. If Thompson can get better in those areas, he could end up being a productive NBA player.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, John Wooden will be speaking at Western Michigan University on August 22. Not exactly groundbreaking news, but what is somewhat interesting is that Coach Wooden gave a pep talk to the WMU players before they took on the Trojans last year at the Sports Arena. WMU still lost, but we appreciate the effort Coach! In fact, why not have Coach Wooden speak to every one of $C's opponents before games at the Sports Arena?

Also check out this very brief article on Coach Wooden - there is some controversy as to where Coach was actually born, and well, he really can't settle it.

First, the big one. Dan Gadzuric plans to re-sign with the Milwaukee Bucks for $36 million over six years, according to his agent, Bob Myers (B-O-B Bob!). 36 mil?!? Nice!!! The article also lists some of the other recent signings Milwaukee has made. Looks like Gads is on a team expecting to go deep into the playoffs next year.

On a much lesser scale, Dijon Thompson has agreed to a one-year deal with the Phoenix Suns, and the club has an option for a second year. No monetary amounts were disclosed, but last year, the rookie minimum was $385,277, so he'll be making more than that. Also, part of the one-year salary is guaranteed, so Phoenix definitely has an incentive to keep him on the roster. In fact, some believe Thompson is a virtual lock to make the team.

The procedure was deemed a success. Rehab is slated to take 4-6 weeks, so Aboya should be ready for preseason practice. I hope there are no lingering effects from this, as I think he is strong enough to be a contributor on our frontline this upcoming season. More comments on him in my recap of summer league action a couple weekends ago.

First, there is an article recapping the weekend's Summer League action. Darren Collison had a tremendous game (26 points on 12 of 15 shooting). Interestingly, he and Jordan Farmar spent considerable time on the court together. Also of note is that Lorenzo Mata recorded a double-double despite bruising his right knee, which he is going to have checked out today.

A second article features Ryan Hollins and how his knee is now 100 percent healthy. The story also notes that he's up to about 230 pounds and much stronger. The goal is for him to be in the 235-240 range by the time preseason practice starts. It would be great if he gets there - if he can avoid getting pushed around on the inside, he will be an effective player for us next year.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) is trying to pass a rule moving up the deadlines for college players to declare for the draft and then make a decision whether to withdraw. Players with college eligibility would have to declare for the draft within a week after the national championship game, and then would have only 72 hours to make a decision on whether to remain. Clearly, the NABC is on the right track - there is no reason why it should take six weeks for a player to decide whether to put his name in the draft and then another five or six weeks to decide if he's going to stay. The way things are currently, college teams are really left hung out to dry as they try to prepare for the upcoming season. Specifically, if a player decides to stay in the draft, his college head coach has to figure out (1) how to make up for the lost production, and (2) decide what to do with the extra scholarship. Learning a player's intentions as early as possible makes it a little easier for the college coach to react.

Of course, NBA GMs will hate this rule change, and while i suspect some type of modification ultimately will take place, it probably won't be as drastic as proposed by the NABC. However, supporting the NABC's perspective is the college football system which only gives players until mid-January to make a decision about the draft. So hopefully something will get done that will make life easier for college programs and improve the college game overall. And as far as UCLA is concerned, a rule change like this definitely will help Ben Howland and the program, as in the coming years I suspect we will have a number of players "testing the waters", with Jordan Farmar and Arron Afflalo possibilities for as early as next year (especially with no competition from high school players in the draft).