What’s being said around the NBA

Boston Celtics Coach Doc Rivers isn’t happy about his players’ conditioning, so he put them through a two-hour practice.

“You can have all the intensity you want,” Rivers said. “But after three minutes and your lungs hurt, you’re no longer thinking about intensity, you’re thinking about survival. How can I get through this next five minutes? And then you’re not playing the same. So, we have to be in better shape.”

Charlotte Bobcats center Byron Mullens, in his third NBA season, tweets about being a one-and-done player at Ohio State: “Funny how ppl hate on me about leaving school early. But don’t you go to college to find a career? Sorry I only had to go 1 year”

From retirement, Phil Jackson surveys the title contenders:

“[The Heat] are so talented. They’re obviously a real threat with those two players [LeBron James and Dwyane Wade]. I like to watch Chicago because they really play defense and work well together … Dallas isn’t that much fun to watch … The Oklahoma City team is fun to watch. They’re still young and have come a long way in two years. They have a chance to show this year as a big team.”

Larry Brown, 71, who’s coached 10 pro teams, wants another go. Charlotte fired him last season.

“If you look around the league, there’s not a lot of older coaches anymore. ‘Pop’ [Gregg Popovich] and maybe [Rick] Adelman, but most of these guys are younger, so I don’t know if I fit that mold, but I still believe that I have something to offer and I was disappointed the way Charlotte ended. We go to the playoffs and then, 14 games later, I’m fired,” Brown said.

Oops, it’s an election year? Bobcats guard Gerald Henderson tweets:

“Who are the main candidates for the 2012 election and what are their parties?”

— Barry Stavro