Re: NBA News
The Spurs had there first game today & they cruised over the Hornets.
1-0
they look better with McDyess Jefferson Blair & Ratliff
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Re: NBA News
NBA Season starts tomorrow & the first game will feature
Lakers vs Clippers
(the ring ceremony will also take place)
I love this time of the YearLeave a comment:
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Re: NBA News
Grizzlies hope Iverson can help fix what ails them
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)—The Memphis Grizzlies got the Answer during the offseason. Now they’re about to find out how much Allen Iverson really can help solve the problems of a team trying to rebuild.
The Grizzlies won just 24 games last season and had trouble scoring, averaging just 93.9 points per game—among the worst in the NBA.
Iverson is a scorer, and he is saying all the right things.
But a torn hamstring during the preseason has left a few questions unanswered.
Will the biggest name ever to don a Grizzlies jersey willingly come off the bench in his 14th season or start ahead of incumbent point guard Mike Conley?
AP - Oct 21, 11:03 am EDT NBA Gallery How Iverson handles the situation will also go along way in addressing whether he and forward Zach Randolph add needed veteran leadership or create a disaster in team chemistry?
The Grizzlies won’t start to find any of those answers until the season starts Oct. 28 when they the Detroit Pistons, Iverson’s most recent team. He likely will be coming off the bench then as he works himself back into shape.
Iverson seems intent on helping the hapless Grizzlies change their fortunes and has noticed the excitement created in a town where his new No. 3 jersey has become a hot item.
“A lot of people, obviously when you talk about the Memphis Grizzlies, feel as if getting to the playoffs is enough and is considered a successful season,” Iverson said. “I wouldn’t have signed the contract if I felt that just making the playoffs is what I was coming to accomplish.”
Making the playoffs is a different challenge with this team.
The Grizzlies finished fifth in the Southwest Division last season. Climbing out of the cellar is tough enough, but Memphis was the only one of the five teams in the division not to reach the playoffs.
Four starters return, including the three top scorers. Rudy Gay averaged a team-leading 18.9 points a game, followed by rookie of the year runner-up O.J. Mayo’s 18.5 points. Center Marc Gasol added 11.9 per game.
Conley got an endorsement at point guard when Lionel Hollins took over in January after Marc Iavaroni was fired, and he will open as the starter. What remains to be seen is how much time he splits with Iverson.
But a clash over playing time and starting roles seems inevitable.
It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where Iverson—the four-time NBA scoring champ, 10-time All-Star and 2001 Most Valuable Player—is in warm-ups at the scorers table before the opening tip, high-fiving and hugging the starters as they take the floor.
“Everybody wants to start. I’ve been starting since I was nine years old on every team that I’ve ever been on,” Iverson said. “It’s something I’ve grown accustomed to. Mainly, I just want to lead. I’ve been places some of these young guys have never been. I can help them get to those places.”
He has been trying to fill that role this preseason despite the injury. But the Grizzlies have struggled, turning the ball over at least 20 times in most preseason games. Hollins said he is only worried if that carries into the regular season, and he’s also focusing more on defense.
“We want to be a running team,” Conley said. “We’re starting to realize you can’t be a running team unless you play defense and make stops.”
The Grizzlies remain a very young team, having added 7-foot-3 Hasheem Thabeet(notes), DeMarre Carroll(notes) and Sam Young(notes) through the draft. Hollins now has the luxury of bringing them off the bench and not having to start rookies in every game as Mayo did last season.
Doubts remain about what happens with Iverson and Randolph if Memphis hits the skids yet again. But no one expected the Grizzlies to be the team to snag Iverson, and Randolph, also determined to reach the playoffs himself for his first time since leaving Portland, believes the shock of that will be the team’s theme this season.
“We’ll surprise people. It’s us against the world,” Randolph said. “Everybody’s got us picked last, but we’ve got to show them different.”
Iverson with the Grizzlies. His career is also done like Shaq's.
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Re: NBA News
Lakers 1st PreSeason Game
Lakers are playing in there first game against the Warriors
Also, it's the first game of Ron Artest as a Laker.Leave a comment:
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Re: NBA News
Morrow leads Warriors past Clippers
Anthony Morrow scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half and the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 108-101 on Sunday night in the preseason opener for both teams.
Kelenna Azubuike added 19 points and 10 rebounds and Corey Maggette had 18 for the Warriors. Stephen Jackson(notes) scored 11 and Anthony Rudolph added 10.
AP - Oct 4, 10:06 pm EDT 1 of 7 LAC-GS Gallery Stephen Curry, the Warriors’ first round pick, made his debut in the second quarter, recording six assists. He finished with nine and was 2-of-9 from the field.
“Anybody who plays with Curry is going to be the beneficiary of open looks,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “He sees the court so well. He doesn’t look like it but he has quick hands and quick feet. He’s going to be a special player someday.”
DeAndre Jordan recorded a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers. He made all eight of his shots. Eric Gordon added 19 points and Chris Kaman had 13.
“I foresee improvement in all areas,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “There should be more fluid play, especially with the veterans. I’m looking for the positive.”
Ricky Davis, who finished with 12 points, hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Clippers into the final period with a 79-78 edge.
Replacement officials working the game weren’t challenged much, although at one point late in the third quarter, Clippers point guard Davis, who scored 11 points to go with five assists and seven rebounds, clearly yelled, “no way,” and got into a prolonged discussion. The officials did appear to call more offensive fouls than usual.
Jackson earned a technical foul in the first quarter, though he was among the league leaders in technicals last year and served a one-game, mandatory suspension for going over the allowed limit.
The Warriors took a 59-53 lead at halftime courtesy of Morrow’s running jump shot, which he banked in, at the buzzer.
Warriors F Brandan Wright will require surgery on his damaged left shoulder, which he injured during Friday’s practice. … The Clippers opened their preseason in Oakland for the first time in franchise history. … Clippers F Blake Griffin,the first pick of the 2009 draft, sat out the game with a left knee bruise.
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Re: NBA News
Boozer Will Report, But Not Because He's Nice
Some hot Jazz news from yesterday that was more important than I thought: according to the Salt Lake Tribune, Carlos Boozer(notes) will be in camp:
Despite a summer of tension with the organization, Boozer will report on time and be in attendance Friday when the Jazz host media day … Boozer and the Jazz have been at odds ever since the All-Star forward decided June 30 to play the final year of his contract at $12.7 million rather than opting for free agency. Only weeks later, Boozer asserted in a series of radio interviews that he and the Jazz had mutually agreed to a trade and went so far as to name Chicago and Miami as preferred destinations.
Boozer hasn't said anything in two months, but he certainly has all but checked out. The presence of Paul Millsap(notes) has made him semi-expendable, yet they market forced him to take that one-year option. He doesn't want to be there, the Jazz would prefer to not pay him and Boozer had been running around floating trade ideas on the airwaves. Has anyone ever boycotted Jazz camp? Doesn't Sloan then come after you with a chainsaw lined with human teeth? Well, we won't find out here.
However, we shouldn't take this as evidence that all is healed. Boozer really didn't have a choice, especially if he wants to cash in next summer and/or bring in value as a trade chip this season. He needs to show he can stay healthy, remind us he can still dominate and coexist with Millsap (albeit at the expense of his individual shine). There's no question that things will be polite-to-frosty, and Boozer will play as much as Sloan see fits to both help the team and fairly give the forward his time in the sun. It's in everyone's interest.
Ironically, though, all showing up in camp and playing with the Jazz to start 2009-10 may be doing is cleaning up the mess created by Boozer's decisions over the last year or so. Some were forced, some were desperate, others were borne out of frustration. But—and maybe this is how Stern still turns out the winner—the best solution to even this peculiarly contemporary pickle is to stay mum, play hard and just make sure you and the team are working together to move you on in a way that benefits everyone.
More from Sporting News: From Russia, No Love for Nets Buyer
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Top Video Memories of Michael Jordan
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Air Jordan reaches new heights with place in Hall
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP)—From the coach who cut him to the players who disrespected him, Michael Jordan never forgot a slight.
Not even on the night he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
Jordan’s thank you list went well beyond friends and family, including any doubters who provided him the inspiration to become a better player—perhaps the greatest one ever.
“You guys, I must say thank you very much for giving me that motivation that I definitely needed,” Jordan said.
Jordan recalled all of it Friday night, when he joined David Robinson and John Stockton, a pair of his 1992 Dream Team teammates, and coaches Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer in a distinguished class.
Related Video Jordan speaks on honor Jordan speaks on honor
More NBA Videos RelatedWojnarowski: Defending MJ The $1 billion man Is there a next Jordan? Jordan insisted during a press conference that the weekend wasn’t just about him, but he was clearly the star before a crowd that included former teammates Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.
“He makes one big shot and everybody thinks he’s kind of cool,” Stockton joked. “I don’t get it.”
Jordan cried before beginning his acceptance speech, then entertained the crowd with memories of any slights that sent him on his way to basketball’s birthplace:
— The coach who cut him from the varsity as a North Carolina schoolboy.
“I wanted to make sure you understood: You made a mistake, dude.”
— Isiah Thomas, who allegedly orchestrated a “freezeout” of Jordan in his first All-Star game.
“I wanted to prove to you, Magic (Johnson), Larry (Bird), George (Gervin), everybody that I deserved (to be there) just as much as anybody else, and I hope over the period of my career I’ve done that without a doubt.”
— Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy—Jordan called him Pat Riley’s “little guy” — who accused Jordan of “conning” players by acting friendly toward them, then attacking them in games.
“I just so happen to be a friendly guy. I get along with everybody, but at the same time, when the light comes on, I’m as competitive as anybody you know.”
— The media who said Jordan, though a great player, would never win like Bird or Johnson.
“I had to listen to all that, and that put so much wood on that fire that it kept me each and every day trying to get better as a basketball player.”
— Lastly, Utah’s Bryon Russell. Jordan recalled meeting Russell while he was retired and playing minor league baseball in 1994—and with Sloan looking on in horror—told of how Russell insisted he could have covered him if Jordan was still playing. Russell later got two cracks at Jordan in the NBA finals, and he was the defender when Jordan hit the clinching shot to win the 1998 title.
“From this day forward, if I ever see him in shorts, I’m coming at him.”
The enshrinement ceremony took place at Springfield’s Symphony Hall, because Jordan was too big for the Hall of Fame. The move to the other building allowed for a crowd of about 2,600, more than double what the Hall can accommodate.
Robinson was enshrined first on Friday before a large San Antonio contingent that included teammates Tim Duncan(notes) and Avery Johnson, and coaches Larry Brown and Gregg Popovich. Stockton told the Spurs that his running mate, Karl Malone, was the best power forward, not Duncan.
Stringer, the first coach to lead three different teams to the Final Four, still couldn’t believe a coal miner’s daughter had made it, calling it the “most unusual, unexpected thing in the world.”
She thanked her players—“basketball daughters”—and praised her 2007 Rutgers team for the class and dignity it showed after the racially insensitive comments made by Don Imus.
“I know that I stand here on the shoulders of so many,” Stringer said.
Sloan also thanked his players, his former coaches from high school to the NBA, and late Utah owner Larry Miller for sticking with him even during the team’s bad years.
“Loyalty is the No. 1 reason I’m still coaching the Jazz,” Sloan said.
Most of the attention was on Jordan, the five-time NBA MVP, but the others in the class are some of the most accomplished in the sport. Stockton is the career leader in assists and steals, Robinson won an MVP trophy and two titles in San Antonio, and Sloan is the only coach to win 1,000 games with one team.
“Unique, unique competitors,” Stockton said during the morning press conference.
Fiery ones, too. Sloan, Stockton’s longtime coach, told two different tales of fights he was in as a hard-nosed player for Chicago.
Jordan remembered scoring around 20 points in a row late in a game to pull out a win, which was followed by a conversation with Bulls assistant Tex Winter.
“Tex reminded me that there’s no ‘I’ in team,” Jordan said. “And I looked back at Tex, I said, ‘There’s ‘I’ in win.’ So whichever way you want it.”
Jordan and Robinson were All-American college players who entered the NBA with high expectations. Sloan acknowledged he wasn’t so sure about Stockton at first—and turns out, neither was Stockton.
“I thought they’d figure me out pretty quickly. I thought the Jazz would figure out that they’d made a mistake, so first paycheck I saved every cent,” Stockton said. “I was pretty sure I was a one-year-and-out guy.”
Not Jordan—who still might not be done.
“One day you might look up and see me playing a game at 50,” he said. “Don’t laugh. Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”
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Re: NBA News
I agree, I'm still upset that they got rid of Malik Rose, he was an awesome defender. McDyess will make some impact on improving the Spurs. I hope they don't get Skinner I don't like him.Originally posted by mikek View PostLast edited by MrHyeSev; 09-06-2009, 06:04 PM.Leave a comment:
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Re: NBA News
Spurs have a Big 4 not a Big 3 these days, at least in my opinion. Four players who can go off for 20 points during any given game. Lack of size is still whats going to kill them again this year. Sure, they added solid depth in McDyess & Blair, but they still need one more big. Brian Skinner would be a good fit for his defense and could work well with their other bigs up front.Leave a comment:
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