SH Blog: Wade’s ex says he was a violent husband

We’re still in a bit of a holding pattern basketball-wise until training camps get underway, but the news never stops in the NBA.

• Dwyane Wade’s ex has some stories to tell, and she is telling them. From Taylor Gordon of Popular Critic.com: “One night Siohvaughn claimed she confronted the NBA star after he left in the middle of the night without telling her. “His first response was at first to be verbally abusive,” Siohvaughn said during her interview on “Real Talk with Kietta.” “He was cursing, he was calling me names, he was telling me to shut the ‘f” up.” Siohvaughn’s testament to Dwyane’s violent nature only escalated from there. “He picked me up and held me over his head literally in midair and threw me down in our bathroom,” Siohvaughn continued. “We had an ottoman in the bathroom and he slammed me down so hard that when my back hit the ottoman it broke into four pieces and my back and head hit the concrete, the marble floor, excuse me, in the bathroom.” According to the NBA star’s allegedly abused ex-wife, she picked up the cordless phone to call the police when Dwyane snatched it from her and threw it at her so hard that the phone “literally broke into pieces.” In the midst of domestic violence, the couple separated but didn’t divorce quite yet. In Siohvaughn’s interview she claimed that this time of separation was when Dwyane Wade found the new love of his life, Gabrielle Union. “Separated and divorced are two different things,” she said with her arm resting in a cast. “I’m not certain when it happened or when she happened but I know that I was very married. I know that me and Dwyane at that time had talked about reconciliation going back and forth. I was still even intimate sometimes with my then husband.” Watch more of the interview below:
• Josh Newman talked to J.R. Smith this weekend, and wrote about it for ZagsBlog.com (whose editor, Adam Zagoria, will have a preseason college basketball Top 25 on this site later this week. The interview is fairly entertaining, with Smith being very candid about his contract and the Jeremy Lin situation this offseason. Here’s what Smith said about his contract: “Smith has said publicly that he had more money offered to him, but in the end, liked being home and liked playing for the Knicks. He ultimately signed a two-year contract with the second year being a player option. He will make $2.8 million this coming season under the contract. Smith stood to make $2.4 million had he opted in, but by opting out, had the option to do a multi-year deal (up to four years) with the Knicks starting at $2.8 million or at the mid-level exception. ‘I think anything is a bargain with me, whether I’m playing for a dollar or $20 million it’s a bargain because I’m going to play hard no matter what,’ Smith told SNY.tv. ‘No matter how much I get paid, it will never affect how hard I play and I think that should be thought about when people see me next year.’ ”
• Marca.com has an interview with Marc Gasol, who is in Spain for a basketball camp this week. The interview is in Spanish, but Google Chrome translates it as this: “At the moment I see myself many years in Memphis. Everything in the NBA can change very quickly, but my dream is to remain always in a city with which I feel very identified, with a franchise that has really helped me grow and I want to keep growing.”
• In other Grizzlies news, Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes that Tony Allen is ready to get back on the court after undergoing knee surgery during the offseason: “Allen has been in town working out in FedExForum and declared that he’ll be ready when training camp opens Oct. 2. ‘I’m definitely getting myself back to being that thirsty dog,’ Allen said. ‘I don’t want to rush it. But I’ll be back for the first game, Oct. 31, against the (Los Angeles) Clippers. I guarantee that.’ … Allen once told reporters that he’d like to retire in Memphis. But that decision is out of his hands given he’ll become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Griz cannot extend Allen’s contract this season. Players must be signed to at least a four-year deal to be eligible for a contract extension, per the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.”
• After contemplating retirement during last season’s Finals, and then contemplating major back surgery, Mike Miller decided against both of those and is aiming to be ready to start the season with the Heat for the first time since joining the team in 2010. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that “rigorous rehab in place of expected back surgery has delivered the 12-year-veteran to the precipice of a camp some thought the 32-year-old never would make, with Miller in contact with Miami neurosurgeon Dr. Barth Green throughout the process. ‘I basically looked at my options and back surgery, with Dr. Green pretty confident that we could get it to where I need to be without it. So we’re slowly but surely getting there,’ he said … This would be the first season Miller has a chance to start on time for the Heat, a thumb injury sustained late in training camp wiping out the first half of his 2010-11 debut season and then surgery for a sports hernia keeping him out of last season’s training camp and the early stages of the regular season.”
• Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer has an update on the health of Bobcats rookie and #2 overall pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: “Many of you have expressed curiosity about Charlotte Bobcats rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s health, after he sat out all but one summer-league game in Las Vegas with a sore knee. If Saturday is any indication, he’s just fine. After initially indicating he would not play in Kentucky’s charity game (it’s still unclear why he said that to Kentucky media), Kidd-Gilchrist was pretty impressive Saturday: 32 points on 15-of-32 shooting from the field. A game-high five rebounds.”
• And finally, longtime NBA vice president of public relations Brian McIntyre was honored recently, as Mike Dougherty writes for LoHud.com. Here’s a really awesome story that demonstrates McIntyre’s ability on the job: “In times of conflict, McIntyre was quick to pull out a small black notebook with a well-known label that rhymes with hit list. Rasheed Wallace inspired more than a few entries. The stubborn Portland TrailBlazers forward was battling with the media following a playoff win in 2003, offering the same patronizing answer over and over. ‘Both teams played hard,’ Wallace said. ‘God bless and good night.’ Wallace left the stage and was fined $30,000 for not cooperating, and a couple of days later, McIntyre showed up in the press room in New Jersey passing out T-shirts with the suddenly popular catch phrase printed across the chest. In an instant, the problem was solved. ‘Brian was great at being able to defuse difficult situations with his humor,’ Smith said. ‘It’s impossible to dislike him. … Brian never got mad; he just solved the problem.’ “

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Dan Malone blogs for SheridanHoops.com on weekends.