Pitino backs Jay Bilas as new BIG EAST commissioner

• London Olympics: Carmelita Jeter, U.S. team shatter world record in 4x100-meter relay

Which brings up the second bit of news that Bryant shared after Team USA crushed Argentina, 109-83, in an Olympic semifinal:

Who Wins the Battle for Eighth?

Waiters not only controlled the offense, he made some fantastic passes in traffic. One resulted in an easy layup for fellow rookie Tyler Zeller (10 points, four rebounds) in the first half. Another resulted in a wide-open baseline three for small forward Omri Casspi (nine points, 3-for-5 shooting, all threes).

With the Suns demonstrating enough trust to give up the ball to the high post more frequently in Friday's second half, corner-screen opportunities led to several easy third-quarter buckets. Phoenix shot 62 percent in that period and rang up 30 points.

Johnson took advantage of Blazer defensive help and slow recovery in bagging 4 of 7 shots – including 3 of 4 from behind the arc – to contribute a dozen points off the bench in his Phoenix debut.

"I tell Steve, you won MVP but I was playing with Smush Parker," Bryant said. "He's playing with [Leandro] Barbosa. I'm playing with Smush and Kwame [Brown]. My goodness. Smush Parker was the worst. He shouldn't have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. We let him walk on."hjtr4yt45

Beasley, who made half of his 8 shots and scored 10 points Friday, is working at small forward and – thanks to the Corner keeping both sides of the defense occupied – could have several post-up opportunities without weak-side defensive corruption.

“If guys are messing up, I’m going to say something to them because I expect the same back,” Davis said. “If I mess up and am out of position, I want them to tell me because it’s going to make the team better. We can’t just go out there and let somebody mess up, we all got to be accountable, that’s what’s going to make us better.”

“It is a process for a rookie,” Casey said. “He is not that far behind because the one thing he can do that makes up for a multitude of sins is he can shoot the ball at the end of the day and that’s part of the process too.