SH Blog: Mozgov on the block, Melo spied on by Dolan?
We’re not sure why, but James Dolan had two audio technicians stationed at two corners of the court against Chicago on Friday night. Dave D’Alessandro of NJ.com has the scoop: “For reasons only he can explain — but probably wouldn’t, at least not without an act of Congress — Jim Dolan made a few MSG Network employees perform a surreptitious duty during the Knicks’ game against Chicago on Friday night. Two audio technicians were stationed at two corners of the court — one a few feet just behind the Knicks bench, the other diagonally opposite — and they were holding those umbrella-shaped contraptions known as parabola microphones, which fed the audio into a DAT recorder on the truck on the loading dock. These guys had one directive from Dolan: Record every syllable Carmelo Anthony utters and absorbs while he’s on the court and on the bench, the Madison Square Garden CEO ordered them, and send the tape directly to me.”“They’ve got a clean path” to Seattle, one industry source said last week. Because Chris Hansen, the venture capital magnate who is seeking to buy the Kings and move them north, is close to Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen and the ownership group of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, it’s been believed in Seattle that Hansen wanted to wait until the Seahawks’ season ended before going forward with making his pursuit of the Kings public, so as to not upstage the football team. With the Seahawks’ last-second loss Sunday in Atlanta, the time may have come. The following observations come from speaking with several people on all sides of the sale, both in Seattle and in Sacramento, and industry sources with knowledge of the discussions between Hansen and the Maloof family. A source with knowledge of the talks said the sale price to Hansen is somewhere between the $500 million Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported last week and the $525 million that CSN Bay Area reporter Matt Steinmetz reported Friday. The final price will likely depend on whether Hansen allows the Maloofs to maintain some sort of presence in the new ownership group; if he did, the price would be closer to the $500 million. If not, it would rise closer to the $525 million. In either case, while the Maloofs remain hopeful that they can have some kind of presence, they are resigned to the fact that Hansen wants them out. “It’s a dealbreaker,” another source said Sunday.
The oft-injured Manu Ginobili aggravated his hamstring last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves and will miss 10-14 days:
Just finished with the MRI. Grade 1 strained left hamstring. 10/14 days out. Will be back shortly. Thanks 4 ur support!!
— Manu Ginobili (@manuginobili) January 14, 2013
We’re nearing the end of football season, where head injuries happen with unfortunate regularity. They aren’t as brutal looking or common in the NBA, but head injuries do occur. Henry Abbott and Beckley Mason from ESPN’s Hoop Idea with more:
“Watch NBA basketball, and it’s only a matter of time before you see someone take a hard blow to the head. Pau Gasol and Anthony Davis have suffered high-profile concussions this season, but they represent a tiny fraction of the instances when heads are rattled by hitting elbows, knees or the floor. Even more common are whacks to the face, temple, top of the head and back of the head on what are usually considered ‘good, clean basketball plays.’ In basketball, blows to the head are nothing like as common as in football, but they are a regular part of play nonetheless. Some of those that look mild can have serious effects. The human brain might be the most sensitive and precise instrument in the history of the planet; hitting it on the hardwood is analogous to swinging a hammer at a Ferrari engine.”
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Jeremy Bauman, an aspiring scout and shooting coach, is a columnist and blogger for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.