Payton's Place, Pippen to Pasture.

With the sports world rightly focused on the baseball playoffs right now -- I'm rooting for the BoSox as usual, but that's more a tip-of-the-hat to my many friends among the Nation than it is a deeply-felt affection on my part -- some news of the coming NBA season has nevertheless begun leaking out with the start of training camp. Despite rumblings to the contrary, Gary Payton showed up in Celtics Green on time and ready to give it a go, as did Vince Carter (still) in Toronto. Meanwhile, Scottie Pippen gave notice and the Knicks signed Tracy Murray, who's a pretty one-dimensional 3-ball shooter when you get right down to it, and who probably won't make much of a dent in the Power Rankings.