NBA Essentials: Mark Cuban on Shaq

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-- "I haven't had a man crush," Cuban claimed. "Shaq and I and Phil Jackson, for that matter, always would have these fun verbal sparring matches. It was always just fun and entertaining, and I think people extended that with Shaq to think that we were madly in love. We haven't even dated." -- Dallas Mavericks Blog

-- "I really don't have a preference. I wouldn't mind staying and playing in Oklahoma but at the same time, I've been in Oklahoma my whole life, so getting out and trying something different wouldn't be too bad." -- Blake Griffin on potentially being drafted by the Thunder.

-- "You know how the world champs always have that target on their backs, every night? The Thunder had the opposite of that going, and almost every night. Next season, if Durant's rep gets around, or teams remember how unexpectedly feisty OKC was a season ago, we could see them paid the worst compliment possible: respect. Even if the Thunder do play that much better in 2009-10, it could be canceled out by opponents taking them half-seriously." -- Shoals on ESPN (?!)

-- "[Danny Granger] will become the first player in NBA history to raise his scoring average at least five points a game for three consecutive seasons: from 7.5 to 13.9 to 19.6 to his current 25.3. The last jump is notable as it required Danny in the offseason to work on many different aspects of his game to diversify his offense so he isn't merely a jump shooter. Another uncommon statistic to note is that he is fourth in the league in fourth-quarter scoring behind LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade." -- Larry Bird's letter to NBA execs on behalf of Granger's Most Improved Player of the Year campaign

-- "We visited for about 30 minutes. It was exactly one week after the trade deadline, and we talked about Kevin Pritchard not trading away his expiring contract. He was a little surprised, especially considering the call he received from his agent the night before the deadline. LaFrentz said his agent told him to be prepared to head to Milwaukee. It appeared he was headed to the Bucks for Richard Jefferson." -- The Oregonian's Jason Quick Behind the Blaz

-- " 'The last four out of five times I was here, I got kicked out,' said Hamilton, who had a team-high 21 points Wednesday. 'I'm trying something different. ... I'm just happy I was able to walk off the court on my own and not with security,' he said." -- MLive

-- "No, what really bothered them was the signing of Marvin Webster by the Nuggets, out from under the Atlanta Hawks. That got to them. No connection other than Denver just went out and signed him away. It meant that the ABA had signed 2 of the top three picks. The NBA was now on a course to take the ABA seriously, and regard them as a threat. For the first time, there was even preliminary talk amongst the NBA owners about approaching the ABA to discuss a merger." -- George Irvine remembering Marvin Webster, Basketball.org

-- "As you're no doubt aware of already, something notable happened last night: with the Dallas Mavericks' 130-101 blowout of Utah, the Phoenix Suns were officially eliminated from playoff contention for the first time in the Steve Nash era. Now, I can't speak to what kind of changes will be made by the Robert Sarver brain trust over the offseason (I'm sure there will be more than a few), but it's safe to say that this date sadly marks the end of a rather entertaining era in recent NBA history." -- Neil Paine, Basketball-Reference.com