There are a lot of horror stories that can be told by former general managers and front office executives who spent time working for billionaire owner Paul Allen in the Portland Trail Blazers’ front office. John Nash refuses to speak about his time there. Rich Cho is too busy in Charlotte trying to be the next Sam Presti, and is too positive of a guy, to tell those stories publicly. Kevin Pritchard, Steve Patterson and Tom Penn have moved on with their lives,
NEWS Cavalier guard Anthony Parker will miss the next two games with a bruised sternum. Derrick Rose will miss his twelfth straight game with a groin injury. The Chicago Bulls have signed Mike James for the remainder of the season. Magic coach, Stan Van Gundy, says that Dwight Howard has asked that he be fired. NOTES LeBron James was flattered that Shaquille O’Neal said he’s his choice at this point for MVP. “It’s great, James said. “He’s a former MVP, a champion, a teammate of mine (with
The NBA announced Wednesday that the 2012 draft will be held for the second straight year at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. This year’s draft is June 28. By that time, Newark and the Prudential Center no longer will be home to an NBA team. The Prudential Center also hosted last year’s draft. Currently, the building known as “The Rock” is home to the New Jersey Nets. However, the Nets are moving to Brooklyn after this season, leaving the Newark facility without
Mehmet Okur will soon be on the open market as he was released Wednesday by the Portland Trail Blazers, who signed J.J. Hickson. Okur was acquired last week in the deal that sent Gerald Wallace to the New Jersey Nets. He never took the court for Portland. Okur can be claimed on waivers, but the claiming team must honor his contract. If he clears waivers, he becomes a free agent. A 7-footer with 3-point range who can rebound a little, Okur would be
I first caught a glimpse of Patty Mills in Shanghai four years ago, and it was a good thing I didn’t blink. The speedster was playing in an exhibition game for Australia against team USA, and twice he outraced Chris Paul downcourt for fast-break layups. That was back when Mills was still playing college ball at St. Mary’s in California, and Mills eventually made it to the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers before signing in China with the Xinjiang Flying
Pencils down and papers forward, please. Here are my grades on how teams did at the trading deadline. We aren’t going to evaluate whether Dallas was helped or hindered by Thursday’s wheeling and dealing. The Mavericks – and 13 other teams – didn’t make a deal, so consider their grade to be incomplete. Or a withdrawal, if you prefer. No one got an F, although the Nets came awfully close. At the other end of the scale, the Rockets are officially the teacher’s
Nate McMillan is out of a job. The Portland Trail Blazers fired their head coach today, one day after his team lost by 42 points to the reeling New York Knicks, and on the same day the team traded away Gerald Wallace and Marcus Camby. The interim head coach is Kaleb Canales, who has been with the Blazers for seven seasons, starting as a video intern, and had a 4-1 record as coach of the Blazers’s summer league team in Las Vegas
This is all on Carmelo Anthony. Enough excuses have been made for a so-called superstar whose one-dimensional game arrived in New York over a year ago. There has been an initial acclimation period, an abbreviated training camp, a hole at point guard, an injury and another acclimation period due to a revamped roster. In and of themselves, those excuses had some legitimacy when they arose. But there has been one consistent thread through Anthony’s tenure with the New York Knicks: When he