Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy had a few thoughts to share about the Miami Heat and how they are reacting to the scrutiny they’re under.

“I do chuckle a little bit when they sort of complain about the scrutiny when they get. My suggestion would be if you don’t want the scrutiny, you don’t hold a championship celebration before you’ve even practiced together. It’s hard to go out yourself and invite that kind of crowd and celebration and attention, and then when things aren’t going well, sort of bemoan the fact that you’re getting that attention. To me, that doesn’t follow.”

— Stan Van Gundy

The Heat’s summer celebration (after signing LeBron, Wade and Bosh) raised more than a few eyebrows around the league. I’m sure the players and franchise just wanted to celebrate the fact that they signed all three players, but it clearly didn’t go over very well outside of South Florida.

It is funny that anyone in their position would be surprised at the attention the team is getting. Of course the team is going to be under heavy scrutiny after the summer it had. And when you lose four games in a row, that attention isn’t going to be positive. Man up.

“It’s the NBA. The NBA, all around the league, same (garbage). ‘Your chance is going to come.’ All that kind of (garbage). (Forget) that…I’ve got to be real. There is no team in the league that is going to give me the chance that I’m looking for. My only chance is back in Europe. I’m going to do that. I want to be happy. I want to play.”

— Darko Milicic, via MLive.com, on all the lying that goes on in the NBA

Part of me feels bad for this guy. Coming to the U.S. from another country, he spent his rookie season as an 18-year-old kid playing for Larry Brown. Then I check out his page at Basketball-Reference and see that he has made more than $30 million, and I don’t feel bad for him anymore.

He complains about not getting his chance, but it’s not like he was stuck on one team under one regime his entire career. He has played for four different franchises, so he has had plenty of opportunity. He wants playing time? He played 23 minutes for the Magic and Grizzlies in back to back seasons and didn’t average more than 8.0 points or 6.0 rebounds either year.

If he’s such a good player, he would dominate in practice and his head coach would be forced to give him minutes. It’s not like there’s a league-wide conspiracy to keep Darko Milicic down. Head coaches want to win, and if that means he gets big minutes, so be it. If that means he rides the bench, so be it.

When a team acquires a player and keeps him around for a while, that’s an opportunity. It’s his job to practice hard and keep improving to the point where the coach has to give him playing time. If he doesn’t, he’s just squandering the opportunity. And Milicic has squandered plenty…

“What [Ricky Davis] said to me before the game really stuck with me. He just told me to be aggressive, don’t worry about nobody else out there, just worry about what you’ve got to do, and I guarantee you that we’re going to stay close. You just be aggressive, you just worry about taking care of BD, don’t get frustrated, and play your game.”

– Baron Davis, via ESPN

I find it quite comical that Ricky Davis, who once took a shot at his own team’s basket so that he could get the rebound and register a triple-double, said that Baron Davis shouldn’t “worry about nobody else out there.”

The advice apparently worked, as the Clippers beat the visiting Celtics, 92-90, and (Baron) Davis hit the game-winner. He had 24 points, 13 assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Knight, Nike’s co-founder, spoke out about the Tiger Woods situation in a recent interview.

“I think he’s been really great…When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now.”

– Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike

It’s going to be interesting to see how history judges Tiger for his infidelity. Some are saying that it’s the biggest story of the decade, and it’s hard to disagree. Will Tiger be defined by this like Mike Vick is defined by dogfighting? No, I don’t think so. Tiger is too good at what he does to be defined by this. Once he starts dominating the tour again, this will fade somewhat into the background. But Knight is probably being pretty optimistic when he says it will be a “minor blip” in his career.

What happens if Tiger struggles when he returns to golf? He has to get back to being the #1 golfer in the world or this story will follow him around forever.

Who the F is Brandt Andersen, you ask? He’s the owner of the Utah Flash, an NBA D-League team. After pitching a rematch between Michael Jordan and Bryon Russell for months, Andersen misled fans by hiring a Michael Jordan impersonator and releasing viral video of “Jordan” eating at a restaurant in Orem. Over 7,500 fans showed up to a Flash game expecting to see the rematch. When fans saw the impostor walk on court, they started booing and leaving the arena.

Here is Andersen’s non-apology apology (from his blog):

“This was done in fun. If you did not see it as fun or you feel we went over the top I am sorry…Since putting out the challenge to B Russ and MJ and the charity of their choice we have tried to put the pressure on MJ to join us…I knew I would not know if MJ was going to attend until a few hours before game time. I never received the call indicating he would not attend…In every interview I said if Jordan did not show we would have a backup that would be entertaining. I promised it would be worth attending…So as a backup, we hired a Michael Jordan lookalike…Like you I was let down. I wanted MJ to show up.”

— Brandt Andersen

Is this guy for real?

He starts off with the non-apology apology, basically saying that the whole thing was a joke and if fans don’t have a sense of humor about it, then he’s sorry. Next up is his spiel about how the promotion came about, but what I don’t get is the line about not knowing if Jordan would show until “a few hours before game time.” What? He’s basically promoting a Jordan/Russell rematch not knowing if Michael Freaking Jordan is going to make it until just before game time? Give me a break.

Then he puts the blame on Jordan for not showing up, when he was the one that created the whole situation in the first place. He talks about how easy it was to disprove the hoax, but in viral or word-of-mouth marketing, credibility is out the window, especially in such a small time frame. Why else would 7,500 or so fans show up actually expecting to see MJ?

To top it all off, he doesn’t even offer disgruntled fans a refund, just two tickets to a future Flash game, which is something that doesn’t really cost him anything. Sweet.

This cat is a piece of work. I’ll give it to him, though — he has giant balls.

The setup: Rasheed Wallace was called for his fifth technical of the season against the Raptors on Friday night. He blames Hedo Turkoglu for flopping.

“They’ve got to know that he’s a [darn] flopper. That’s all Turkododo do. Flopping shouldn’t get you nowhere. He acts like I shot him…That’s not basketball, man. That’s not defense. That’s garbage, what it is. I’m glad I don’t have too much of it left…Let the Golden Child [LeBron James] do that, or one of the NBA Without Border kids do that, it’s all fine and dandy.”

— Rasheed Wallace, via ESPN

A couple of things to note:

1) Wallace is obviously talking about foreign players when he refers to “NBA Without Border kids” — is that racist? When a foreign player talks about “urban” players in the same way, like Andrew Bogut did when he said that most NBA players “want bling bling all over themselves,” he’s labeled a racist. Granted, Wallace is talking about the game of basketball while Bogut was talking about off-the-court stuff, but still.

2) Flopping exists because the officials won’t blow the whistle unless the defender sells the call. If Shaq uproots his defender in the post, the ref won’t blow the whistle unless the defender falls down. It’s the same way in college and in high school. There has to be some negative effect on the defender and the best way to draw attention to this negative effect is to fall down. The only reasonable way the league can curb flopping is for the officials to reward defenders who stand their ground and not blow the whistle when guys exaggerate the hit.

3) Did Wallace really say “Turkododo”?

“I think, honestly, this free-agent talk is getting old. It’s getting old and I think it’s probably the last time I answer anymore free-agent questions until the offseason.”

— LeBron James, via Ohio.com

“It’s bittersweet. We get the win, but I have a limited role. So, obviously, I see this game as showing I’m no longer an asset to this team. That’s all I got. My name’s Steve Smith and I stand by that.”

– Steve Smith on Carolina’s win over the Buccaneers (Herald Online)

“I’m not a fan of Kobe. I’m not somebody who looks up to him. I’m a grown man myself. So when I go out there and play the game, I play the game. I feel like I’m just as good as him. I might not get the publicity or notoriety he gets, but I feel like I can play with anybody in the NBA any given night. I think everybody should feel like that. Everybody should be a competitor and I don’t back down from anybody.”

– Stephen Jackson, via Fanhouse