NBA Essentials: Phil Calls Out Kobe

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

-- " 'You know, my issue with the players is that they're not working hard enough,' Jackson said Tuesday night. 'They're saving steps. When you do that, you try to get by without having to exert yourself enough to win games the right way. And Kobe is one of those people who is doing that. He's measuring out what it takes to win a ballgame. This is a veteran who's been through a lot of seasons. We just have to shorten his minutes a little bit to keep his legs live.' " -- Los Angeles Daily News

-- "Sources close to the situation indicate that Rubio's family is now in favor of him entering this year, and that will almost certainly be on the early-entry list when it's released on April 27th. His buyout still needs to be negotiated, which is easier said than done, but a final decision on whether to stay in likely won't come until very close to the pull-out deadline, on June 19th." -- Draft Express on Ricky Rubio

-- "Before the Kings-Lakers game earlier tonight, Petrie told me he planned to attend the Euroleague Final Four in Berlin May 1-3, but believed he was traveling overseas about a week earlier. I am absolutely certain that, among his many duties, he will be gathering information about Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, the teenage whiz who also unfortunately happens to be under contract to DKV Joventut. We can keep hearing that Rubio is trying to buy out his contract and enter the NBA, but we'll see." Ailene Vosin of the Sacramento Bee (via Sactown Royalty)

-- "Look, I know the Pistons have had Orlando's number in recent seasons, but these aren't those same Pistons, not by a long shot. Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace have been dinged up all the time, and even when healthy they're just an old team whose difficulty scoring would play right into Orlando's hands. I don't think it'd be any contest, really. If Orlando sticks to their gameplan on D and they don't let Detroit interfere with their long-range shooting (since we know one of the only things Detroit does well is defend the 3), it's a cakewalk for the Magic." -- Basketball-Reference's Neil Paine being interviewed on Third Quarter Collapse

-- That hilarious freestyle Wizards video? It was the brainchild of JaVale McGree. "Young said people shouldn't be surprised that McGee was behind the video. For one, Young said, ' He's a jokester.' And, two, McGee is quite tech savvy. 'He got all kind of technology stuff at his house,' Young said. 'He bought more stuff for computers than he bought for his car. He got all kind of electronics. I think that's where his money be going.' " -- Washington Post

-- It was his second attempt this season to see his hero. In February, Ramin, 12, brought a classmate to the game, only to learn that Mr. Haddadi had been sent back to Bismarck just hours before tipoff. "I wanted to say to kids at my school, 'See? Persians can play this game, too,' " the seventh-grader explains. More solemnly, he adds: "They should know not everyone who comes from Iran is a terrorist." -- Wall Street Journal on Hamed Haddadi

-- "My first-ever," said Gortat, who saw the hometown Houston Astros open against the Chicago Cubs on Monday at Minute Maid Park, along with J.J. Redick and Jameer Nelson. "It's now the best American sport for me, besides basketball." ... "Before I ever went to a baseball game, I thought it was the most boring thing on Earth. It was so slow on TV. But when I got to the stadium, saw the field and everything....It was amazing." -- Marcin Gortat in the Orlando Sentinel.

-- The rich get richer ... literally; Deron Williams is big in Shanghai ... literally.