http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/4624 Recent articles about Alonzo Mourning en-us Round 1: 1) Bulls vs. 8) Cavs Hah. Even in fantasy all-time make believe games, MJ screws the Cavs. This one isn't even close, Bulls in 4. 2) Knicks vs. 7) Celtics The Celtics players are old, but still put together a solid series. Reggie Lewis and Allan Houston cancel each other out, Oakley and McHale struggle bitterly in the middle, and Mark Jackson runs circles around Dee Brown. Bird dominates the first game to draw the win on the road, but injures his back halfway through the second and is out for the series. Going back to Boston 1-1, the young combo of Pierce and Walker get hot in Game 3 and put the Celtics up 2-1. Then Ewing takes over. Parrish held up adequately for three games, but from this point forward Ewing averages 35, 15 and 3 as the series swings 3-2 in the Knicks favor. Depleted and without their leader, the Celtics lose game 6 and fade away. Knicks in 6. 3) Heat vs. 6) Pacers Epic matchup. Miami looks to be the favorite based on the front court, but they get beaten up pretty badly early in the series. They head to Indiana for game 3 tied 1-1. P.J. Brown is employed as the heavy-handed response to the Davis brothers and McKey, and he sends Antonio to the locker room for seven stitches in the second quarter of game 3. Both benches clear, and Jeff Van Gundy appears out of nowhere to attach himself to Mourning's leg. When the dust settles the Heat have more players left than the Pacers, and pull off the win. Heading into game 4, Miami is missing P.J. for two games for starting the fight, and several of their reserves for leaving the bench (Leonard, Majerle and Owens). indiana is missing McKey and both Davis' for one game. The Heat take advantage, pounding the ball at Rik Smits, now flying solo at the defensive post. Miami wins game 4. In game 5, Reggie goes Reggie. 45 points, 21 of it in the 4th quarter, ten three-pointers in all, and the series goes back to Indiana. Momentum is on their side, and the game turns into a outside shooting duel. A duel that Indiana wins, at least in game 6. Game 7, Hardaway and Mourning come out with a vengeance, leading by 25 at half and never looking back. Spike Lee is spotted courtside making the choke jesture at Miller. At the end of game 7, Reggie walks over calmly and actually chokes out Lee. Heat in 7. 4) Magic vs. 5) Pistons Penny and Grant Hill cancel each other out, and Shaq does the rest. Magic in 4. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:52:04 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/346457 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/346457 Round 1: 1) Lakers vs. 8) Hornets The combo of Alonzo and Larry Johnson is no match for Magic, Kobe and Shaq! Lakers win in 4. 2) Blazers vs. 7) Sonics The Sonics put out one hell of a defensive backcourt, effectively shutting down Porter and Drexler for most of the series. But Rasheed in his Blazers incarnation from the year they got owned by L.A.? Kemp has nothing on that. Cliff and Co. on the Blazers bench outscore the Sonics bench, which is also more defensively oriented. Blazers in 4. 3) Suns vs. 6) Warriors Kidd and KJ and "Thunder" against Run TMC? Matchup for the ages. But Barkley keeps Webber in foul trouble, forcing an aging the Warriors to guard Chuck by committee. Nothing they throw together works, so they just try to outscore them. It works once. Suns in 5. 4) Rockets vs. 5) Spurs Hakeem and Otis are fully neutralized, and Barkley gets thrown out of the second game and is suspended for the third game. Coming into game 4 down 2-1, the Rockets rally, knocking down their threes and Francis comes up big. This one goes to 7 games, but in the end Duncan outshines the rest of the game with his fundamentally sound passes and pivots. Spurs in 7. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:36:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345865 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345865 G: Tim Hardaway G: Steve Smith F: Glen Rice F: Jamal Mashburn C: Alonzo Mourning And the bench ... Billy Owens Rony Seikaly Voshon Leonard Dan Majerle P.J. Brown Good team, great starting lineup. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:52:45 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343229 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343229 G: Muggsy Bogues G: Eddie Jones F: Glen Rice F: Larry Johnson C: Alonzo Mourning Anthony Mason J.R. Reid Hersey Hawkins Kendall Gill Dell Curry Armon Gilliam David Wesley This team was stacked at times. Lots of great players, pulp 90's nostalgia all around. Muggsy! Grandmama! Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:23:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/342612 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/342612 Fantasy basketball players simply have to check out this entry in Points in the Paint. It's main writer, Erik, got creative and made some "Motivational" posters specially designed for the appreciation of Fantasy Hoops fans. I must say that some were funny, and others outright hilarious. At the very least, one of them will put a smile on your face. Enjoy. Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:18:58 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/332381 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/332381 There are still questions about how Monta Ellis really injured his ankle, and one of the biggest is whether the Warriors are investigating it or not. First there was the report that the Warriors had sent their athletic trainer to investigate his injury. Then it was reported that said athletic trainer was actually with Basketball Without Borders and not even in the country. The Contra Costa Times quoted team sources that they were skeptical about Ellis' explanation about his injury but the Warriors aren't commenting beyond the fact that the athletic trainer was not sent to Mississippi to investigate. I am sure there is more on this to come. In conjunction with the Monta Ellis discussion, Hoopsworld has a portion of the Collective Bargaining agreement that is pretty interesting. It tells what players can and can't do. Players can't gosky-diving, hang gliding, snow skiing, rock or mountain climbing, rappelling, and bungee jumping. They can't participate in any fighting, boxing, or wrestling, operating an aircraft, driving or riding on a motorcycle or moped or riding in or on any motorized vehicle in any kind of race. They also can't participate in any game or exhibition of basketball, football, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, or other team sport or competition without permission of their team. They can, however participate in golf, tennis, handball, swimming, hiking, softball, and volleyball as an amateur. I love the last paragraph, though: The Player agrees: (i) to give his best services, as well as his loyalty, to the Team, and to play basketball only for the Team and its assignees; (ii) to be neatly and fully attired in public; (iii) to conduct himself on and off the court according to the highest standards of honesty, citizenship, and sportsmanship; and (iv) not to do anything that is materially detrimental or materially prejudicial to the best interests of the Team or the League. Remember Yuta Tabuse? I didn't think so. Tabuse is the only Japanese player to play in the NBA. He played in 4 games for the Suns in the 2004-05 season. Tabuse started out playing for the Dallas Mavericks in the Los Angeles Summer League and but ended up in camp with the Denver Nuggets. He also spent time with several teams in the D-League and this summer he played with the New Jersey Nets in the Orlando Summer League. He hasn't gotten any offers from NBA teams and he announced on Sunday that he signed a 2 year contract with Japan Basketball League's expansion Link Tochigi Brex. His dream is still to one day play in the NBA, however. The "experts" at ESPN are at it again as they decide the season's awards. It seems that they have a 4 way race for MVP between LeBron, Chris Paul, Kobe and Dwyane Wade with LeBron coming out on top. Doesn't leading your team to a championship count for anything? Not even one vote for KG or Paul Pierce. The top 3 for Rookie of the Year are Michael Beasley, Greg Oden, OJ Mayo. If Dwyane Wade gets his way, Beasley will get plenty of playing time so he may have a chance. Best Newcomer is Elton Brand with Ron Artest coming in second. I agree with the Elton Brand choice. He is going to make the Sixers tough to beat this season. I can't helpobut feel that Ron will somehow self destruct and take his team with him as he has with every other team he has been with. The funny thing is that if you look at their choices for the worst newcomer, Artest comes in third on that list with Baron Davis coming out first and Jermaine O'Neal coming in second. Sources are reporting that the Sixers are close to signing Donyell Marshall to a veteran's minimun contract. Marshall, a 15 year NBA veteran, approached the Sixers as he wanted to go back to his home town to finish his career. He starred at Reading high before going on to the NBA. The Sixers have had interest in Marshall for weeks, but waited for Oklahoma City to waive him in order to sign him as a free agent. This brings the Sixers to 14 contracts with Jason Smith expected to miss the season due to injury. There is still no movement in Ben Gordon's situation. Reports are that the Bulls have offered Gordon a six-year deal worth around $59 million but Gordon is asking for more like $12 million a year. He feels that being the team's leading scorer for the past 3 seasons should entitle him to that much. If in fact the Bulls are offering close to $10 million a year, Gordon should grab that. There is no guaranteeing he will get more next season as a free agent. It is possible that teams will find out that Gordon was their leading scorer not because he is so good, but because the other players around him were worse. There has been no indication that any teams are interested in a sign and trade for Gordon and if he isn't careful, he will have bypassed his chance at a very good contract. 6 years offers him security and $10 million a year isn't something to sneeze at. We have seen several players turn down decent money thinking they were worth more and then have to settle for way less. I think Gordon may be headed in that direction. The Heat are expected to officially sign Jamaal Magloire today. They had considered Lorenzen Wright and DJ Mbenga before settling on Magloire. This gives the Heat 4 centers under contract with Alonzo Mourning not expected back until at least December. Of course with Mark Blount as your starting center, you need all the help you can get. Mbenga has an offer from the Lakers but he was looking for a more lucrative deal elsewhere and hoped the Heat would give him one. Instead, they settled on Magloire. The Cavaliers are now considering Wright to shore up their bench. Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:37:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/317022 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/317022 Manu Ginobili limped through the playoffs and then proclaimed himself healthy enough to play in the Olympics for Argentina. He went down again in their game against Team USA and on Friday it was announced that he would undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair a ligament injury to his left ankle. An MRI conducted earlier this week confirmed that he had re-aggravated the injury that plagued him throughout the playoffs but that there was no additional damage to the ankle or the ligament as a result of his playing in the Olympics. There was some friction in San Antonio as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had urged Ginobili not to compete in the Olympics unless the injury improved but Ginobili went to Beijing and played for Argentina against the wishes of his team and his coach. Now he is scheduled for surgery at a time when it will affect the start of the season. He is expected to be out 2 to 3 months and will miss the first part of the Spurs' season. This could cause some friction between Manu and the team. Patrick Ewing will be once again playing for the Knicks next season. No, the old #33 won't be coming out of retirement, but his son, Patrick Ewing Jr, was traded to the Knicks by the Houston Rockets on Friday. New York sent the draft rights for center Frederic Weis to Houston in exchange for the son of the former Knicks superstar. Like his father before hirom, Patrick Jr played for Georgetown and was taken by the Kings with the 43rd pick in the draft. He was traded by the Kings to Houston in the Ron Artest deal and now on to the Knicks. His father played for the Knicks from 1985 until 2000. On Thursday the Heat unveiled a banner to honor Dwyane Wade for his part in securing the U.S. team's gold-medal in Beijing. Wade's banner is affixed with his name at the top, with mention of the 2008 men's basketball team and has a design of the Beijing Olympic logo. The banner will be positioned along side the Heat's 2006 NBA championship banner. Wade also was given a ceremonial key to Miami-Dade County. City officials also proclaimed Aug. 28 as Wade Day. After watching Wade play in the Olympics, there is no doubt he is back 100% and is going to help make the Heat a contender once again this season. This will be the first Nets' training camp since 2000 that will include neither Richard Jefferson or Jason Kidd. There are plenty of questions swirling around this Net's team and although they are outwardly saying things are going to be great, there are some doubts that they actually will be. They have gotten very young and Celtics fans know all about that. A good sign for the Nets though is that Vince Carter and Devin Harris put together a team workout last week in an effort to build chemistry just as the Celtics did last season. 14 of the 15 players on the Nets' roster were there with Yi being the only one not showing up because of his commitment to the Chinese National team. They have the desire and the right attitude, but as Celtics fans can tell you, no matter how much they want it or how hard they play, sometimes you just can't win with youth. The "experts" at ESPN seem to be playing it safe with their predictions this season. Before the Finals last season, 9 out of 10 ESPN "experts" picked the Lakers to win in anywhere from 5-7 games. Only Tim Legler stood up to the purple wave and predicted the Celtics in 7. They have their predictions out for the 2008-09 season and predict both the Celtics and the Lakers to win exactly the same number of games. However, the number they picked is 55, which means that the Celtics win 11 fewer games this season than they won last season. The Lakers only fall back 2. Obviously, they think the loss of James Posey and the Celtics' stars being a year older is going have a toll on the team. They also don't feel Bynum's presence or the addition of Sun Yue or having Pau Gasol for a full year or Kobe's finger not bothering him is going to have much of an effect on the Lakers other than to help them win 2 fewer games. Needless to say, I think the ESPN "experts" are just as accurate as they were in predicting the Finals. The defection of the day comes from Taureen Green. The former University of Florida has agreed to play for the Spanish club CAI Zaragoza. Green is in the process of negotiating what is believed to be a one-year deal with the team. One of the biggest moves the Lakers make this season may not involve a trade or signing. They are considering bringing Lamar Odom off the bench in a role similar to Manu Ginobili who comes off the bench but plays a starter's minutes. This may be a very beneficial role for both Odom and the Lakers. I'd like to see the Celtics do something like that with Ray Allen, possibly starting Tony Allen. Tony always played better as a starter and it may help Ray to come off the bench with instant scoring. There seems to be some controversy swirling around Monta Ellis' injury. Ellis said that he had injured his left ankle working out in Jackson. He had surgery on Wednesday in Alabama to repair a torn deltoid ligament in his left ankle. He also sustained a severe high ankle sprain and disruption of ligaments above the ankle joint and is expected to miss 3 months or more. Because of the severity of the injury, the team is a bit skeptical of Ellis' explanation as to how it occurred. Because NBA contracts include clauses that exclude certain activities such as motorcycle riding or sky diving etc, if the Warriors find that the injury occurred in some way other than working out, they could fine him, suspend him or terminate his contract. They have launched an investigation and have sent their trainer to Mississippi to check out the situation. Reminds me of all the questions surrounding Tony's first knee injury. There was a lot of speculation that it may have occurred in conjunction with that shooting incident but no one ever knew. The Heat have finally found their man. After working out several centers, they settled on Jamaal Magloire. The Heat already had Mark Blount and Joel Anthony at the center position. Alonzo Mourning is also expected to return when his rehab is complete on his injured knee. But with the prospect of Mark Blount as their primary center to start the season, they went looking for help and who can blame them? Mark "I'll get the rebound if I don't have to work for it" Blount can be pretty ineffectual when he wants to be. Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:25:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/315649 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/315649 After weeks of trying to make up their mind on whether to sign Petteri Koponen, the decision has been made. Koponen signed a four-year-contract with Italian team Virtus Bologna. This means that Koponen will not play with the Blazers next summer. He has played on their summer league team for the last two summers and they were considering signing him for this upcoming season, but as with so many others, Koponen will be going to Europe. His contract does have a good buyout clause so that if he wants to go to the NBA, it won't be prohibitive. In Bologna, Koponen will fight for playing time with former NBA point guard Earl Boykins. The Milwaukee Bucks can breathe again. In Australia's game against the US, Bogut heard a pop in his ankle and after the game, some Australian team officials were quite concerned about the injury. The Australian coach had said that the injury didn't look good. But Bogut underwent an MRI in China yesterday and the results showed that the injury was only minor. I am sure visions of Pau Gasol's broken foot were gong through the minds of the Bucks' powers that be. Glad to hear that he is ok. It took some red tape from the US government, but Iranian center Hamed Ehadadi has been cleared to sign with NBA teams. The NBA sent out an email on Wednesday to all 30 teams that they were free to enter into negotiations with the 7-foot-2 Iranian Olympian, as well as one of his teammates on Iran's national team: guard Mohammadsamad Nik Khahbahrami. Signing Khadadi would be ok for the Celtics, but they better stay away from the guard if they don't want to give Tommy a heart attack trying to pronounce it. Even with the clearance, the NBA ordered its teams Wednesday to contact the league office before signing either player to a contract. Rumor is that the Grizzlies are the most likely to sign Khadadi. Former Maverick and Clipper power forward, Nick Fazekas, is working out for the Spurs and has several teams interested in him. The Clippers originally gave him a qualifying offer, but later renounced his rights, making him an unrestricted free agent. If he doesn't get any offers from the NBA, he would consider playing in Europe next season. It seems as though someone would take a chance on a young 6'11" power forward who averaged 4.1 points (on 57.1 shooting) and 3.9 rebounds in 12 minutes per game last season. The Bulls recently re-signed Demetris Nichols,a 6'8" SG who played 11 games for the team last season, to a one-year, partially-guaranteed contract. Nichols was the team's second-leading scorer at the Orlando summer league, averaging 13.6 points. The Nichols signing brings the Bulls to 12 players under contract for next season. Ben Gordon's status with the team is still in question. He said last week that he felt he had played his last game as a Bull. But, there is nothing out there in the rumor mill to suggest that there are any sign and trade deals imminent or that he has any intent to go to Europe. The most likely scenario is still that he will take the Bulls' qualifying offer and try again next year. Free agent center Jamaal Magloire visited the Heat on Thursday and Center D.J. Mbenga has a workout scheduled for Monday. Mbenga averaged 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 26 games with the Lakers last season and has said that he will likely choose between the Lakers and the Heat for this season. With Mark Blount as their main option at center, the Heat need all the help they can get. In discussing the opportunity in Miami, Mbenga's agents said that he is the perfect fit in size and the opposite style of Mark Blount. I guess that means he can hold onto the ball and actually tries to rebound. Veteran center Lorenzen Wright met with the Heat earlier this week and so they will choose between Wright, Mbenga and Magloire for their back up center spot. With the signing of Dorrell Wright, the Heat have 13 players under contract. They are planning to sign one of the centers they are working out and that will put them at 14. Chris Quinn has a qualifying offer that he can sign at any time and that makes 15. Alonzo Mourning is working out and plans to resign with the team and return by December. That puts them at 16. They also have a qualifying offer out to Kasib Powell and that will give them 17 players with guaranteed contracts. They will have to make some cuts or find a 3 for 1 trade somewhere. They may opt not to re-sign Mourning as well. He would make a nice late season pick up for the Celtics just as PJ Brown was last season, assuming he comes back healthy. As I write this, Spain and Lithuania are playing for a chance to advance to the gold medal game. When this game is over, the USA will face Argentina to try to exact a measure of revenge and face either Spain or Lithuania for gold. With the scare that the Bucks got from the injury to Bogut and memories of Gasol's broken foot a couple of years ago, teams are anxiously watching their players as they compete in the Olympics. Many players were discouraged by their teams from participating in the Olympics because even without an injury playing for much of the summer has to take a lot out of a player for the following season. Dwyane Wade has said that the grueling training schedule, exhibition tour and every-other-day schedule of games in Beijing has been energizing and that it won't affect his energy in the regular NBA season, even though it will be just over a month from the time the Olympics end until he has to report to training camp. I can't help but feel that he may feel differently about 70 games into the season. The Review Journal reports: Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce, hiding behind sunglasses and a big hat while playing blackjack at $500 a hand in the high roller salon at Wynn Las Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday.Also in the house: Antoine Walker of the Memphis Grizzlies, with friends. So, Pierce is still out and about celebrating. Last year at this time he was in Boston with KG and Ray Allen along with most of the young players working on their games with a common goal of winning a championship. There have been reports of the Timberwolves and Nets all working out together to get a jump on the season. Yes, the Celtics won a championship, but they can't rest on their laurels if they expect to win again. Too many teams have improved considerably and they will all be aiming for the Celtics. They have only 2 months till the season starts and it is about time they get back to work and start thinking about next season instead of celebrating last season. I will be very surprised if the Celtics are as dominant this season because they don't have the hunger they had last season and it seems that the other teams they will face are the hungry ones. I wonder if Antoine is celebrating his trade to the Grizzlies? Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:43:58 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/310993 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/310993 At the beginning of the off season, Sam Cassell was planning to return to the Celtics this season as a player/ assistant coach in training and then join Doc's staff next season. With the resigning of House and Allen and Danny's expectations that Pruitt will contribute more this season, it seems that Sam will need to find employment elsewhere. After signing Giddens, the team has 2 spots left. Hopefully one goes to Bill Walker and the other would go to either a veteran back up small forward or center and not to a back up point guard. Rumor is that Sam will sign with Denver and fullfil his plans to play one more year as a player at the veteran's minimum and get some coaching training under his former Milwaukee coach George Karl. In spite of being mentioned in rumors tied to several teams, Shaun Livingston still hasn't been picked up by a team. He is still working hard on rehab, but in spite of 18 months of hard work, he is still unable to play five-on-five despite extensive rehabilitation. Teams are going to wait until they know for sure that he will be able to play. Livingston has a ton of potential as a 6'7" point guard, but injuries have derailed his career and teams are going to wait to see if he can play again before offering a contract. Delonte West has proved that he can play in the league but he has also been plagued with assorted injuries in his career. I mean, how many players get sidelined with a toe infection? Much of what fuels his injuries is his way of playing all out all the time as he throws his body into bigger players. He is a tough player and deserves better than what teams have done with him. He was key to getting Ray Allen in Boston, but the Sonics didn't give Delonte a chance. Then he finally got a chance to play in Cleveland and did so admirably, but they have pretty much thrown him by the wayside, giving their back up point guard a bigger contract than they offered him. Delonte should take the qualifying offer and see what he can get next season on the open market. I would love to see the Celtics bring him back. Another former Celtic (although very briefly), Luke Jackson has been working out for the Blazers and reports are that he will sign with them and become the 15th player on their roster going into training camp. Jackson can score and is good from beyond the arc, but he is a defensive liability. Still he would be good for a team that needs instant offense off the bench. With Alonzo Mourning still rehabbing and his situation uncertain and Mark Blount as their main option at center (better them than us), the Heat are looking for some help at the center position. Jamaal Magloire is scheduled for a Wednesday visit in Miami. Magloire has averaged 8.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in his career but played in just 31 games last season, joining Dallas after New Jersey cut him in February. But if you're Miami, anyone has to look better than Skippy (I'll get the rebound if I don't have to work for it) Blount. The Knicks' first round draft pick, Danilo Gallinari, is still hurting. Gallinari played in just one summer-league game, injuring his back in his only outing. He has now withdrawn from the Italian National Team, which begins its Eurobasket Qualifier tournament vs. Serbia today. The Knicks are hopeful that Gallinari will be healthy and ready to play by their training camp, but questions still remain as to whether he will be sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of playing in the NBA. Yesterday, the Nets had 14 players in their practice facility working out and preparing for the upcoming season. They are getting an early start at building chemistry with so many new faces on the roster. As reported previously, the Wolves have 9 players working out on a regular basis. Last season it was the Celtics all in Boston early and working out together. But this season, Paul Pierce is still celebrating. KG hasn't been heard from but is probably workout out somewhere and Ray Allen is getting married. Only a few of the young players have been in Boston working on their game. Other teams are working hard to try to jump past Boston and if the Celtics think in the least that they can rest on their laurels, they are going to be very much surprised by these other teams who have the hunger that we saw in the Celtics last season. Team USA was back in action this morning in a rather chippy game against Australia that got pretty rough at times. Although the Australians stayed with the Americans early, Team USA pulled ahead for an easy 116-85 win to pull within 2 wins of their goal of winning the gold. Kobe lead 6 players in double figures with 25 points. They will face the winner of the game between Argentina and Greece in the semi-finals. Beating either team would give the American team some degree of satisfaction and revenge. Croatian guard Gordan Giricek, who has averaged nearly 10 points per game since joining the NBA in 2002, has become the latest player to leave the league for a bigger payday. Giricek finished last season as a member of the Phoenix Suns. On Tuesday, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard signed a two-year contract -- with an option to return to the NBA next summer -- with Turkey's premier club, Fenerbahce. He passed on an offer from the Spurs that was much less than he will earn with the Turkish club. Goran Dragic is another step closer to signing a contract with the Suns as he passed his physical Tuesday, but has to go back home without signing a contract because he still needs to work out the formal details of his buyout and obtains a work visa to return to the USA. The Suns offered Dragic a contract that is usually reserved for lottery picks instead of second-rounders but most of the money he'll make this year (about $1.4 million) is going toward securing his release from his Spanish club. His goal this season is not to become rich, but to prove that he can play in the NBA. The Suns certainly are keeping their fingers crossed that he can. Their last attempt at finding Steve Nash's back up and eventual successor didn't work out so well as Marcus Banks ended up a bust. But then again, the Celtics could have told them that and saved them the trouble. And they must still be kicking themselves for passing Rondo on to the Celtics. Dragic will get plenty of opportunity to prove he belongs as he will be Nash's main backup and will get plenty of minutes as they try to keep Nash fresh for the playoffs. With the sudden departure of Dragic, Tau Ceramica is looking at former Knicks guard Fred Jones as a replacement. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:50:22 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/309554 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/309554 The rumored trade that would send Mo Williams to Cleveland is now reality. In a 3 team trade, Cleveland will send shooting guard Damon Jones to Milwaukee and forward Joe Smith to Oklahoma City. Milwaukee also will get point guard Luke Ridnour and forward Adrian Griffin from Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City also gets Desmond Mason, the athletic small forward, from the Bucks and the Cavs get point guard Mo Williams. The trade was basically a salary dump for the Bucks to avoid having to play the luxury tax. The 6-foot-1 Williams averaged 17.2 points and a team-high 6.3 assists for the Bucks last season. This should take some of the scoring pressure off of LeBron James. Williams will likely be the starting point guard and Daniel Gibson, who they signed to a 5 year contract will likely be the back up. This leaves Delonte West hanging. Sources said the Cavs still want to bring West back and feel that he could be their starting shooting guard and play next to Williams. Delonte could take the qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer if he can't get what he feels he deserves in a contract from the Cavs now. Mo Williams wasn't the only point guard on the move on Wednesday. The Atlanta Hawks signed Flip Murray, a 6 year veteran who can play both guard spots. Murray has averaged 9.3 points, 2.4 assists and 2.0 rebounds in his career with Milwaukee, Seattle, Cleveland, Detroit and Indiana. He is expected to back up both Mike Bibby at point guard and Joe Johnson at the shooting guard spot. The USA Women's team absolutely crushed Mali on Wednesday with a 97-41 win to move to a perfect 3-0 in Olympic play. They got off to a slow start as Mali actually led at 8-7 but they sure made up for it once they got going. Lisa Leslie led all scorers with 16 points, to go along with four boards and three blocks, on a perfect 7-for-7 from the field. The USA women's team has now won its three games in Beijing by an average of 47.0 points. Simply amazing. In spite of the controversy over their inappropriate team photo, the Spanish men's team keeps playing good basketball. Thursday, Spain defeated Germany 72-59. Team members have apologized for the photo, saying it was meant to be funny and in no way did they mean it to be offensive. Unfortunately for them, almost no one saw the humor in it. The USA got the monkey off their back and beat Greece 92-69. Greece was the team that defeated them in the world championships two years ago. Next up for the United States will be a clash with Spain, who should provide one of the toughest matchups for Team USA in their quest for the Gold. The Spanish team has more NBA players than any team other than Team USA. Spain and the United States are both undefeated and this will be a big test for both teams. The game will be televised live on NBA at 10:15 eastern time on Saturday. The on again, off again deal between the Sixers and Andre Iguodala is apparently on again. Philly Daily News reports that the deal for six seasons and $80 million, including an additional $5 million in incentive clauses and an opt-out clause after the fifth season was agreed to yesterday and should be signed and finalized next week. There are thoughts around the league are that the Sixers overpaid to keep Iguodala. But, with Elton Brand, Iguodala, Dalembert, Miller, and the team that they have built this off season, the Sixers are going to be a force to be reckoned with this season. With the injury to Jason Smith, the Sixers are looking for another big man to fill out their roster and it has been reported that they have offered a contract for the veteran's minimum to former Celtic Theo Ratliff, better known for his contract than his play with the Celtics. He played only 2 games but his contract was instrumental in bringing KG to Boston. Ratliff reportedly has other offers for more than the minimum, but is interested in returning to Philadelphia where he played from 1997 through 2001. The Portland Trailblazers announced Wednesday that guard Brandon Roy will have arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. The tear was found in an MRI on Tuesday. He is expected to be healed and ready for training camp. This is another of those what might have been players. The Celtics traded the draft pick that became Brandon Roy to the Blazers for Telfair and Ratliff. While Roy is a very, very good player and would have been a difference maker for the Celtics, Telfair and Ratliff were instrumental in bringing KG to Boston so it worked out ok in the end. It seems sad that former Celtic and current Cavalier, Wally Szczerbiak has been reduced to being talked about as an expiring contract. In spite of his scoring ability, knee and ankle injuries have severely limited him over the past several years and now, his value is mostly what his expiring contract can bring them at the deadline. The latest in the Phoenix Suns' point guard search is that a Slovenian court has settled a dispute between two European teams over how much of Goran Dragic's potential buyout agreement each would receive. In spite of the fact that Dragic has said on several occasions that he will stay in Europe, the Suns are still hoping that he will negotiate a buyout and play for the Suns this season. But the Suns are ready to use a portion of their mid-level expectation to sign Dragic to a multi-year contract that will allow him to negotiate a buyout a year early and become the full-time backup to Steve Nash this season. Dwyane Wade is playing at a very high level in the Olympics and this gives hope to Heat fans. With Wade back 100% and Shawn Marion on the team along with a very impressive rookie in Michael Beasley, Heat fans have to be excited for this season. Alonzo Mourning has said that he hopes to be back at 100% by December if not before. Mourning sees Wade as an MVP candidate next season and also feels that Pat Riley isn't finished yet. The Heat is yet another team that has improved itself this off season and will provide a challenge to the Celtics in their quest to repeat as champions. We reported that Chris Kaman has gotten some flak from both the Clippers and his dad for playing on Germany's Olympic team. Now, it appears Kobe Bryant has joined in those giving him a hard time. When Kobe heard that Chris was playing for the German team he went up to him and asked Kaman to give him just one word in German and he couldn't do it. But Kaman isn't the only one playing for a team that he has very loose ties with. The Georgian beach volleyball team is composed of Brazilian ringers awarded Georgian citizenship in anticipation of the Olympics. After the Georgian team beat the team from Russia, there were some hard feelings from the Russians. On her way out of the arena, Russia's Natalya Uryadova doubted that either opponent could name the Georgia president. Now, she bitterly pointed out the absurdity their triumph. "If they were Georgian, they would certainly be an influence," she said. "But in fact, they are not." Offended and mostly embarrassed, Saka promptly tried to diffuse the situation, giving much credit to the Russians. And then this actually came out of her mouth: "I don't want this to be a war between us." The Georgian team even have assumed names for the Olympics. Then there is Becky Hammon, who grew up in South Dakota, and is playing for the Russian team. Pittsburgh native and former Bucknell star J.R. Holden is playing for the Russian team. It is safe to say that the Olympics aren't what they used to be. They have a certain mercenary feel to them these days. This picture has nothing to do with anything, but after seeing it on Perkisabeast, I just thought it strangely fascinating. Might explain a lot about the Lakers, though. Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:16:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/305885 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/305885 There were conflicting reports about James Posey coming out on Thursday. Ric Bucher said that Posey was not returning to Boston. Then, on Hoopsworld, Bill Ingram said that James Posey is expected to announce that he'll re-sign with the Boston Celtics in the next 24 hours. Finally, in the Globe, Marc Spears reports that there is nothing new in regards to Posey's free agency situation. Who to believe? I like Ingram's take on it personally. There is an an article in the News Herald telling us that the Cavs are balking at offering more than 3 years on a contract. The Cavs regretted giving four-year deals to Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones and don't want to make the same mistake, but would have to go to 4 years to have a chance at landing Posey, a hometown favorite there. It was reported that the Celtics upped their offer to 4 years, but that was not confirmed by Danny Ainge. There were a few signings that just made things official. The Cavs signed their first round draft pick, JJ Hickson who was the 19th pick in the draft. Baron Davis officially signed the contract with the Clippers. Newsday reported that the Knicks were Baron's first choice after he opted out of his contract. He checked with them to see there was interest before signing with the Clippers. There may have been interest, but with almost 94 million in payroll, even before adding Duhon, they definitely didn't have the cap space to give him. The Clippers renounced their rights to free agents Dan Dickau, Shaun Livingston, Boniface Ndong, Smush Parker and James Singleton. I wouldn't mind taking a chance on Shaun Livingston. We have taken a chance on several other players with bad knees. He would be worth a look anyway to see what he has after the injury. The Wizards signed Dee Brown to an offer sheet and the Jazz have 7 days to match it although several sources say that they won't match it. The NBA will start next season without a few players. Darius Miles will be suspended for the first 10 games of the season, and he isn't even on a team right now. That takes talent. The NBA announced today that JamesOn Curry of the Chicago Bulls has been suspended for one game for pleading guilty to resisting or obstructing an officer and public urination. He will miss the first game of the '08-'09 season. The NBA also announced today that Brad Miller of the Sacramento Kings has been suspended for the first five games of the '08-09 season for violating the terms of the NBA Anti-Drug Program. The Wolves completed their trade with the Sixers and in a report in the Herald (via the Star Tribune), McHale compares Rodney Carney's talents to free agent Kirk Snyder. the article then says that there are reports that Snyder will wind up signing with Boston. This may be a contingency plan if Posey goes elsewhere or it may be just idle rumor. Brent Barry was traded by the Spurs last season only to be cut right away and go back to the Spurs while teams like the Celtics and Suns waited on his decision. He has now moved on from the Spurs and has signed a 2 year deal with the Rockets. He is the third member of his family to play for the Rockets. Brent's father, Rick, spent two seasons with the Rockets (1978-80) and his older brother, Jon, who is now an NBA broadcaster, played for the team from 2004-06. The NY Daily News reports that Paul Pierce is playing GM by advising the Knicks to dump Stephon Marbury in their rebuilding plans. "He makes the biggest contract and he's one of the oldest players on the team," Pierce said yesterday while signing collectibles at Steiner Sports offices in New Rochelle. "That doesn't really fit into a rebuilding plan, just to be honest. "I'd try to trade him or buy him out at this point," added Pierce, who still believes Marbury can be a starting point guard in the NBA. "I just think he needs a fresh start somewhere else. Marbury needs to be on a veteran team where he fits into what they're trying to do a little bit more." Uh, I just hope that the veteran team where where he fits into what they are trying to do is not the Celtics. I have never seen Marbury as the ubuntu kind of guy. His entire career he has been a Starbury first kind of player. I do like his efforts to make affordable sneakers for kids, but on the court, he has struck me as a selfish player. Speaking of Starbury's sneakers, the NY Post reports that in spite of Marbury's tenuous situation with the Knicks and his marketing partner, Steve & Barry's, filing for bankruptcy, his sneaker line will still go on. He just made a deal with Amazon.com to market the sneakers starting with the Christmas marketing season this year. The price is expected to to up from the current 14.98 price, but it doesn't say how much. You can find them now on sale at Steve and Barry's slashed to 8.98 on clearance. With Ronny Turiaf signing an offer sheet with the Warriors, the Lakers have 7 days to either match the offer or decide to go after another free agent. They have been one of the teams interested in Posey, but as of yet, haven't offered the full MLE 5 year deal that Posey is looking for. Turiaf and Posey share the same agent who seems to be a thorn in the side of the Celtics this off season as he also represents their first round pick JR Giddens who has opted out of the minicamp because they couldn't agree on a contract. The San Francisco Chronicle believes that the Lakers will let Turiaf walk and double their efforts elsewhere (Posey perhaps?) The Washington Times reports that Etan Thomas will scrimmage with the Wizards summer league team. Thomas missed missed all of last season after undergoing surgery to repair a leaky aortic valve. Thomas received clearance to resume noncontact training in January, but his sternum didn't fully heal in time for him to resume contact drills and return to live action. Now fully cleared, he will scrimmage with the summer league squad. I wish Thomas the best of luck. Ronny Turiaf, discussed above also underwent open heart surgery and has come back to play very well afterwards. The Toronto Sun reports that Carlos Delfino is on his way out in Toronto. The Raptors are expected to sign newcomers Roko Ukic and Nathan Jawai in the next few days, but veteran guard Carlos Delfino appears to be the odd man out. He is a restricted free agent, but the Raptors are not expected to match any offer he may receive from other clubs. The Spurs and Pistons are reportedly interested. Philly.com is reporting that Elton Brand had made a verbal commitment to the Clippers to sign a 5 year contract before signing the contract with the Sixers. You can't fault a player for going to a better situation or more money, but, if they break a commitment in the process, it isn't right. Carlos Boozer still carries the stigma of doing the same thing to Cleveland. If it is true, Brand just became a branded man with many fans. The Star Ledger reports that the Nets are looking at available veterans such as Denver's Marcus Camby and Chicago's Andres Nocioni via trade. They also met with free agent Eduardo Najera and are trying to sell him on a 2 year contract rather than the 3 year deal he is looking for so that they can still have the cap room to go after LeBron or another available star in 2010. Reports are that the Nets are also close to reaching an agreement with Jarvis Hayes. There have been reports of the Celtics possibly considering Alonzo Mourning as a back up center. Word from the Sun Sentinel is that although Alonzo Mourning still hopes to return from last season's serious knee injury, the Heat center required an additional procedure recently amid his comeback bid. Three sources familiar with Mourning's rehabilitation confirmed the procedure but said the center still could be able to make it back to the court by midseason. After spending a month in a hard cast and another month in a brace, Mourning was told the injury would require at least six additional months of rehabilitation. Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:22:19 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289061 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289061 So, our wish list is slowly accumulating more lines through the middle than a Memorial Day weekend at Cedar Point. No, we really never had a shot at offering any sort of money at the big-named guys; a sign and trade was our only path to the promised land. But what do we have to offer? Aside from some expiring deals and a crazy-haired master of the running 360, all Danny Ferry has to work with at this juncture is that mid-level offer of approximately $6 million - a nominal amount that is simply burning a hole in the pocket of our collective pants. The next trick: finding someone who will take said amount. Corey Maggette wouldn't do it. You can bet that Monta Ellis won't be signing up either. Let's face it fans - we're not getting a superstar for "mid-level" money. But who would take it? While there is still a chance that we end up extending the offer to Delonte West or Daniel Gibson, Chad Ford has a list of what he's calling "other notables." Other notables: Matt Barnes, Warriors; Alonzo Mourning, Heat; Patrick O'Bryant, Warriors; Jason Williams, Heat; Juwan Howard, Mavs; Jarvis Hayes, Pistons; Robert Horry, Spurs; James Jones, Blazers; Michael Finley, Spurs; Jannero Pargo, Hornets; Damon Stoudamire, Spurs; Sam Cassell, Celtics; Jamaal Magloire, Nets; Kareem Rush, Pacers; Gordan Giricek, Suns; Michael Doleac, Timberwolves; Francisco Elson, Oklahoma City; Keyon Dooling, Magic; Quinton Ross, Clippers; Antoine Wright, Mavericks; Fred Jones, Knicks; Juan Dixon, Pistons; Maurice Evans, Magic; Primoz Brezec, Raptors; Anthony Johnson, Kings; Tyronn Lue, Kings; Theo Ratliff, Pistons; Adonal Foyle, Magic; Sebastian Telfair, Timberwolves; Kirk Snyder, Timberwolves. Pretty, ain't she? You have the "should retire" group of Alonzo Mourning, Theo Ratliff and even Damon Stoudamire. You can sure bet that they would love an MLE deal at this point in their careers. You have the "flashes of brilliance" guys that are good for a few double-digit outings per season; just enough to garner some attention. Those would be the James Jones', Fred Jones' and even the Antione Wrights among others. The other glaring portion of this is the amount of point guards on the list: Sam Cassell, Jason Williams, Keyon Dooling, Anthony Johnson, Sabastian Telfair and Tyronn Lue. Most of these guys will get offers before the end of the summer, so I expect this list to slowly dwindle down. But as we aren't exactly in the mix for the Rony Turiafs of the world, we could be looking at some of these guys. Another guy that I've been eying up for the past few days (whom you may or may not like) is Brent Barry (San Antonio). Though he's old and a bit of a tweener, he's seasoned enough to play at the level we need this season, is efficient from all parts of the floor, and is a winner. The answer to all of our prayers? Not in the least. But a viable option? I think so. Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:32:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288134 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288134 If you owe the Wynn Las Vegas money you should go ahead and pay up before they take you to court. The casino that filed a lawsuit against Charles Barkley last month for an unpaid $400,000 gambling debt is now suing the NBA and Alonzo Mourning. From the L.A. Times: Wynn Las Vegas claims NBA Entertainment, NBA [...] Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:03:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284031 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284031 If you owe the Wynn Las Vegas money you should go ahead and pay up before they take you to court. The casino that filed a lawsuit against Charles Barkley last month for an unpaid $400,000 gambling debt is now suing the NBA and Alonzo Mourning. From the L.A. Times: Wynn Las Vegas claims NBA Entertainment, NBA [...] Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:03:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284031 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284031 Sir Charles learned his lesson about messing with Wynn when he was hit with a $400,000 bill. Next on the Wynn hitlist: Zo. The Miami Heat center's charity and NBA Entertainment were slapped with a lawsuit by Wynn Las Vegas for "[failing] to pay a $50,000 bill for convention and meeting space and related services used during the 2007 NBA All-Star weekend". What is it with these old ass ballers and not paying bills? Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:00:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284012 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284012