George Hill missed USA Basketball mini-camp to attend his own basketball camp, from Scott Agness of Pacers.com: “You always want to do what’s right and make the right decisions,” Hill told Pacers.com on Thursday. “When it came to either trying to do the (National Team minicamp) and letting kids down, my heart is always where the kids are and impacting the community and the future of the kids. I just knew that it was a great opportunity for me to even be invited there, but I always thought it was also a big opportunity for me to keep my word to these kids and continue to be who I am as a person.”… Hill proudly stands behind his decision, and although he hasn’t spoken with anyone from USA Basketball directly, he admits that it’ll surely affect his status with the program moving forward. “I’m sure it’ll affect it,” he said. “I’m sure there’s going to be people that don’t agree with my decision but also there’s going to be people that do agree. Knowing that I just stayed true to myself and stayed by my decision to keep my word, I should be fine.”
J.J. Redick responded to rumors about his past relationship with Vanessa Lopez on Wednesday, denying most of the bad stuff. BarryPetchesky of Deadspin, however, provided screen shots of private emails between Redick and his attorney, as well as documents that prove Lopez did actually have an abortion: “On Sept. 13, 2007, Redick and Lopez signed the contract. Lopez then went to a clinic in Orlando. We have a number of documents from her pre-procedure exam and education session, most of which we haven’t included in the document dump at bottom. Lopez was asked a number of questions about her mental state. One of them was, “How do you feel about having an abortion?” with 21 different adjectives to choose from. She circled “Confused,” “Scared,” “Certain,” “Okay,” “Necessary,” “Sad,” “Guilty,” “Mixed Feelings,” and “Forced Into It.” One thing’s for sure: we’ll be looking forward to Redick’s followup response to all the evidence.
Former guard Kenny Anderson opened up about being sexually abused as a chlid, from David Roth of SBNation: “Kenny Anderson will say it: he was sexually abused, in two separate instances and by two separate monsters, during a harrowing early life that he will also tell you about. That life — ungoverned by a mother too addicted and conflicted to be much of a parent, then ungovernable by dint of the heavy freedom his talent for the game gave to him — did not prepare him for any kind of life but the one he’d suffered through. It bruised and broke him, as of course it would. It helped make him a person he no longer likes much, or much resembles. He wants to talk about it now, all of it… After he had talked about it all, after he’d waded into and through it, Anderson sat back on the couch and talked about the thing that got him out of Queens, that took him everywhere. “Me and my basketball, in the park” he said.
- According to a report from T.J. Quinn of ESPN, NBA players have been identified as clients of the Biogenesis clinic, although specific names have yet to be identified: “This isn’t a 2013 thing or a 2012 thing; some of these people have been on the books since 2009,” Fischer said. Fischer said he and associates have identified athletes from the NBA, NCAA, professional boxing, tennis and MMA, in addition to other professional baseball players who have not yet been identified. As far as he knows, Fischer said, Bosch had no clients from the NFL or NHL. He said the only sports entity he has heard from was Major League Baseball.”
Mark Cuban says he will fire anyone who leaks information about the Dallas Mavericks to the media, from The Dallas Morning News: ““I was texting him all the time. Always know this about the Mavericks. If you’re reading about it, it’s not true because we will fire anybody who leaks. I’m the only person allowed to leak anything because there is a reason to be out if there is a reason for it to be out so if you’re reading about it, it’s not true. When we do trades, when we sign people, when we sign Monta, when we sign Jose, it was a surprise to everybody. The fact that his name was out there means some other teams were putting it out there to test the market. I’m not saying we didn’t take calls, and we didn’t have conversations about Shawn, but it had to be the right circumstance and the right decision, and it never came close.”
Cuban also explained why he loved the signing of Jose Calderon and how shocked he was at the criticism of the move, from The Dallas Morning News: “I’ll tell you something else, I was shocked when people thought we signed a bad deal with Jose Calderon because hey, the guy shot 50 percent from three. The market for guys who can catch and shoot threes and do nothing else was higher than what we paid for Jose. He knows how to play point guard. He knows how to get Dirk the ball. He knows the game. Never turns it over. Literally, I was like what are people thinking. He may not be the best defender, but it’s not like he was replacing a great defender. I was really surprised by the response to Jose. I think he’s going to make us a much better team. Shawn Marion is going to love playing with Calderon because Shawn knows how to use space better than anybody in the game, and we didn’t have a guy who can get him the ball. Dirk and Vince (Carter) were the two best passers so I think there is just so many things to get excited about.”
Nikola Pekovic
- Flip Saunders will discuss with Nikola Pekovic’s agent about the stalemate of their contract-negotiating situation next week, from Kent Youngblood of Star Tribune: “Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said Wednesday that President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders will travel to New York next week — as early as Monday — to talk with Nikola Pekovic’s agent,Jeff Schwartz, in hopes of finalizing a deal for the restricted free agent. The Wolves have offered Pekovic a contract. The team has not disclosed the specifics of the offer for their 6-11 center from Montenegro, but reports have suggested it is a four-year offer believed to be worth about $48 million. Taylor said Schwartz had submitted a counteroffer. “We made an offer and they made a counteroffer,” Taylor said. “And they decided they should get together and talk about it in person rather than over the phone.”