NBA news notebook

I have a lot of things coming my way, most recently COVID-19 checked in. Last week was my first positive test, my initial experience with the virus outside of whatever second-cousin variation they jabbed me with inside those vaccines. How many of those was I supposed to get? I just kept showing up for new ones every week.

Possibly because of this, I’m still rather dazed; over a week after my first meeting with its airborne particulars. Cannot complain, better for it to hit now than midseason, I exhibit no severe symptoms beyond semicolon usage. I appreciate the patience, the whole house dropped double-stripes.

Before previews hit we’ll pass along some oddballs and sodballs, quotes culled from various NBA notebooks I’ve come across over summer.

Is it too early to miss summer?

Let’s fight seasonal depression, together.

We start on a dark note. Certainly the dampest.

Darrall Imhoff, who started his pro basketball career in 1960 with the Knicks for about $12,000 a year, says today's basketball pros are overpaid.

A common lament. Imhoff was the third overall pick in the 1960 NBA draft and 1967 NBA All-Star, working in the NBA for a dozen seasons, likely for dozens of thousands of dollars. He spoke in 1974, two years after his retirement.

“At a conference on the role of sports in society in Portland, Ore., where he is now a businessman, the former center said:

‘Pro basketball players are the highest paid athletes in the world. But we're not worth it. We're so overpaid it's ridiculous.’

And that, Oregonians, is the role of sports. In society.

I’d close after that landing, but Darrall wasn’t done.

‘It doesn't buy happiness.’

Generally true, I’d presume, but do we have any anecdotal evidence—

‘I know. I've been in the locker room with these men.’