The Knicks will host the Heat in their regular-season opener tonight at Madison Square Garden, and feelings are mixed about whether the game should even be played as New York City continues to recover from the effects of Hurricane Sandy.
"I'm kind of 50/50 on it," LeBron James said, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "I'm happy to be here to play a basketball game, but at the same time, if the people who are here, or people that are helping out with this game, could give their efforts to help this city run or help their families come out of the situation, then I think that's more important."
Here are a few more notes relating to the Heat and their Southeast Division rivals:
- Marcus Camby is preparing to face the Heat tonight knowing that he almost ended up signing with Miami this summer, writes Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald.
- In his mailbag for the Sun Sentinel, Winderman says he doesn't think the Heat would have found much value in Camby if they had paid him more than the veteran's minimum.
- With the Pacers in Charlotte to face the Bobcats tonight, former Charlotte point guard D.J. Augustin and current Bobcats president Rod Higgins are trading barbs. Augustin told Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star that he was happy to be out of Charlotte, since he never knew where he stood with the Bobcats, which surprised and disappointed Higgins, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. "I’m not going to go into specifics, but we offered him more than he signed for in Indiana," Higgins said. "I don’t think it would be appropriate to comment further than that."
- Augustin stood by his comments, following Higgins' response, as he told Bonnell. "You hear all kinds of stuff – how a bunch of times I was going to be traded," said Augustin. "I didn’t always believe those things. But all through being here, I just never knew what would happen. That’s just how I felt."
- J.J. Redick knows he may not finish out the season with the Magic, but he's confident that GM Rob Hennigan will keep him updated if Orlando is considering trading him, as he tells Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.