Football season? Not around here

Sure, it's football season still.

But in places like Detroit (where the Hawks and Pistons play this afternoon), Toronto (where the Suns and Raptors play this afternoon) and Los Angeles (where the Grizzlies and Clippers play this afternoon) it's very much basketball season.

And there isn't a football team of any repute (sorry Argonauts fans but this wasn't your year) this season in any of those cities that could compete with the NBA matchups on tap today.

A quick look around the league on the Seventh Day:

Titans QB Vince Young has a new mentor: Kobe Bryant.

Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images

Karen Crouse of the New York Times highlights a most odd pairing, NFL quarterback Vince Young being mentored by Lakers star Kobe Bryant: "The winner of four N.B.A. titles in his first 13 seasons, Bryant, 31, was happy to mentor Young, 26, in much the same way, he said, that his father, Joe, and the N.B.A. stars Oscar Robertson and Jerry West guided him.

Bryant's mentoring has meant more to Young since July, when Steve McNair, the former Titans quarterback, was murdered. Young revered McNair and referred to him as Pops.

"I've been asking him different questions to help me get through the process I'm going through because he's been through a whole lot of adversity and things like that," Young said of Bryant. "So why not try to get in his ear and see what he did to get back to the top where he is right now?"

Martin Frank of the Courier-Post suggests that the 76ers don't need another dose of Allen Iverson in their system: "Yahoo! Sports described a scene during Iverson's final days there where he sat in the back of the bus after a game in Los Angeles and ripped Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins, making sure everyone could hear him. He said that he had played for one dumb coach in Detroit and now was playing for another in Memphis.

We already know that in Philadelphia, Iverson clashed with former coach Larry Brown, that he was instrumental in getting Randy Ayers (now a Sixers assistant) fired, as well as Chris Ford and Jim O'Brien. And he tried to do the same with Maurice Cheeks before he was traded. It would be tempting to bring him back. It's just not worth the hassle for a few more fans and a few more wins."

Is this it for Nets coach Lawrence Frank? The Record's Al Iannazone raises the question and provides a few answers as the Nets slide into Staples Center to face the world champion Lakers tonight: "Lawrence Frank started his Nets' coaching career with 13 consecutive wins and it could end with 17 straight defeats. A loss to the reigning champion Lakers tonight in the finale of the Nets' four-game western road trip and they would tie one of the NBA's most embarrassing records. It also could be Frank's last game at the helm.

Win or lose tonight, the Teaneck native is expected to be relieved of his duties at some point after the Nets return from this trip. It could happen as early as Monday. If the Nets lose to Kobe Bryant's team, they would be in bad company and join the 1988-89 Heat and 1998-99 Clippers for the worst starts in NBA history at 0-17. The Nets could own the dubious record after Wednesday's game against Jason Kidd and the Mavericks at Izod Center.

Frank, who is in the final year of his contract, might get a chance to coach that game. But sources with knowledge of the team's thinking said the Nets likely would make a change at some point."

Pete Pelegrin of the Miami Herald details the Heat's plan to control the pace so Dwyane Wade can find a groove: "To get better opportunities for Dwyane Wade, the Heat will not be running like some of the breakneck teams the Western Conference is known for. In fact, Miami won't be changing its offensive plans at all.

Instead, according to coach Erik Spoelstra, Miami just needs to fine tune what it is doing when it has the ball starting Sunday night, when Eastern Conference stalwart Boston comes to town. "There are things we can do sharper," Spoelstra said. "We haven't changed a whole lot of what we did from last year, which was a great year. But we need to be committed to the details of it."

We're months away from All-Star Weekend and Nate Robinson and Shannon Brown are already eyeing a showdown with LeBron James in the dunk contest, so says Bob Finnan of the News-Herald: "Nate Robinson wants a piece of LeBron James. So does Shannon Brown. Both high-fliers want James to compete in the dunk contest during All-Star Weekend in February. And, obviously, they want to beat him.

Robinson, the New York Knicks' 5-foot-9 guard, is willing to defend his dunk title if James elects to compete. "If LeBron is in it, I am," he told AOL Fanhouse. "If he's in it, I'm in it. But if he's not in it, I might not be in it."

James has never participated in the dunk contest. However, last February, he hinted this might be the year he finally competes. Robinson hopes it's true. "Like I said, if LeBron is in, it's going to be that much better," he said. "If I'm in it and make it to the finals, (I'll) beat him. That's something I can always tell my kids."

David Robinson's reach was global long before it was chic, says Jeff McDonald of the Express News: "When Tony Parker joined the Spurs as a teenager in 2001, he didn't know much about the city he was about to call home or the team he was about to call his own. Yet he knew almost all there was to know about at least one of his new teammates. Parker had followed David Robinson's career almost from its beginning.

"I definitely knew who David was," said Parker, who played alongside Robinson in the final two of the center's 14 seasons. "When I first came to San Antonio, that was the only thing I knew." The Spurs will honor Robinson's September induction into the Hall of Fame with a ceremony after tonight's game against Philadelphia at the AT&T Center. For those who played with him, and some who played against him, it is sure to be a special night."

Lindsey Hunter turns 39 Thursday and remains the NBA's elder statesman, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "I feel privileged and blessed," Hunter said recently. "It's funny because you don't feel old. But you look around and go, 'Damn, look at all these young guys.' It's an honor to be the league's oldest player. I think a lot of guys give me a lot of respect. That's the most gratifying thing about it."

Actually, little about Hunter is quiet if you ask his teammates. "The dude talks in his sleep," Jannero Pargo said. "I'm serious. I've seen it. He fell asleep on the plane and was talking. And not just talking. Talking (smack)."

Hunter's savvy ways are a main reason he's the lone remaining member of the 1993 draft class. Chris Webber, that draft's No. 1 overall pick, retired in 2008. Higher picks -- Hunter went 10th to the Pistons -- like Penny Hardaway, Isaiah Rider and Vin Baker flamed out long ago. Even Sam Cassell, another noted motormouth, hung up his sneakers last year."

Loren Jorgenson of the Deseret News shows a little love to the men that are short in stature that stand tall in the NBA: "Allen Iverson has always been a polarizing figure -- at once one of the NBA's most popular and least popular players.

His detractors point to his pre-Georgetown University trouble with the law, his supposed selfishness on the court, his disdain of practice and his teams' relative lack of success among other reasons for their derision. But for many others, Iverson is an inspiration. He's an averaged-sized man -- downright tiny by NBA standards -- who worked his way to becoming a scoring machine, perennial All-Star and one-time NBA MVP.

Now Iverson is out of the NBA and a statement from him was released on Wednesday announcing his plans to retire -- although many, including his old coach John Thompson at Georgetown, expect him to return. Whether Iverson returns or not and whether you love or hate him, the plain truth is that he was an amazing basketball talent, especially considering his size, or lack thereof.

And A.I. is even smaller than Hall of Famers like John Stockton and Nate "Tiny" Archibald, who both stand 6-1, and the 6-2 Jerry West. While Steve Nash may seem small when you watch him play around NBA giants, he's actually listed at 6-3. Iverson, indeed, may be the best NBA player ever under 6-feet tall."

Ex-Magic No. 1 pick David Vaughn is on the rebound from a bout with homelessness, writes George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel: "Some people will look at David Vaughn and think he's lost everything. Two houses, six cars and a closet full of fancy clothes are all gone, expensive trinkets of self-indulgence. The professional basketball career is over, too. A guy who made $2.2 million over four NBA seasons now scrapes by on $260 a week, his state unemployment check. His ride these days is a 2000 Chevy Impala with 215,010 miles on the odometer.

Vaughn, 36, has traveled a lot of hard miles, too. He bears the scars of homelessness, of an estranged husband and father, a guy who nearly had a foot amputated and ended up in a nursing home because it accepted indigent care. But he isn't looking back this Thanksgiving weekend, at least not in regret. The man who lost everything has everything.

The dichotomy makes perfect sense if you saw Vaughn on Thanksgiving, standing behind the soup line at the Salvation Army in downtown Orlando. His wife, Brandie, was by his side. His two sons, 8 and 11, were there, too. After surviving the tumultuous ride, they are a family again. That means everything to him."

The networks deliver change that a few teams are making them believe in, according to Howard Beck of the New York Times: "In a season that has followed a mostly predictable script, the networks' choices highlighted the few surprises thus far.

The Hawks were viewed as a second-tier team. Then they won 11 of their first 14 games, knocked over the Boston Celtics, the Denver Nuggets and the Portland Trail Blazers and forced their way to the top of every Web site's power rankings. By last week, pundits had expanded the East's Big Three to a Big Four, putting Atlanta alongside Boston, Orlando and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Nothing was more telling than ESPN's decision to bump another game from the Friday night airwaves in order to televise the Bucks and Thunder. Credit Jennings, who is forcing television executives and opponents alike to make quick adjustments."

-- Posted Nov. 29, 2009, 12:44 p.m. Question or comment? E-mail Sekou

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