Daily Basketball
NBA and NCAA blogging on an occasionally daily basis
Archive for June, 2006
June 17, 2006 at 10:42 am · Filed under NBA
Jerry Stackhouse was suspended for Game 5 because the contact with Shaquille O’Neal during Game 4 was “clearly excessive and warrants a suspension”, according to Stu Jackson, who is the NBA Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations. The suspension drew the ire of Mavericks‘ coach Avery Johnson, who complained about the number of elbows being thrown throughout the Finals and the gash Stackhouse received earlier in the series.
It’s been rumored that Marcus Banks will sign with the Los Angeles Lakers this summer. Banks was originally traded to the Lakers two years ago before Gary Payton failed a physical and the deal was called off. The Lakers have continued to try to land the point guard on their roster ever since, and it looks likely to happen in the next couple months.
Jay Williams has been working out and meeting with teams around the league, hoping to get a roster spot for the upcoming season. Williams was seriously injured after a motorcycle crash, and hasn’t played since his rookie season after being draft with the second pick by the Chicago Bulls.
Apparently the Toronto Raptors may keep their first overall pick and draft LaMarcus Aldridge, who believes he would be a good fit on the team after impressing the Raptors during a recent workout. It’s tough to say whether Aldridge will be the first overall pick, or if the Raptors are just trying to bring up the value of the pick before trading it off.
Paul Pierce wants the Celtics to trade their draft pick for a potential star. Pierce told the Boston Globe he’d like to find a way to use the pick to acquire a player like Kevin Garnett or Jermaine O’Neal. A more realistic option would be Kenyon Martin who the Nuggets would like to trade, but the Celtics already seem set at power forward with the developing Al Jefferson.
June 16, 2006 at 12:31 pm · Filed under NBA
Dwyane Wade still doesn’t seem to be affected by his knee injury. Wade scored 36 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Miami Heat blew out the Dallas Mavericks by twenty-four points. James Posey stepped up with a double-double and Shaquille O’Neal put up solid numbers for the second game in a row.
A week ago it looked like the Heat could be quickly eliminated by Mavericks, but the last two games Dirk Nowitzki’s shooting has been abysmal (along with the rest of his team, to say the least) from all over the court. Nowitzki, who has been shooting just over 90% this season from the line, is now hearing chants of “Da-vid Hassell-hoff!” everytime he steps up to the line, referring to the music Nowitzki says he sings inside his head when stepping up to the line.
The Mavericks set a mark of futility by scoring just seven points in the fourth quarter, breaking the previous record held by the Utah Jazz and New Jersey Nets.
Michael Jordan will be returning to the NBA once again. Jordan became a part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Though he isn’t an official ‘employee’ and won’t be working for the team day-by-day, Jordan has authority to make personnel decisions. Jordan has been blamed for his bad moves when in charge of the Washington Wizards, but the moves he made to clear cap space led to the acquisition of Gilbert Arenas.
LeBron James said during an interview he wouldn’t mind playing for friend Jay-Z, who owns part of the New Jersey Nets. It’s tough to say if the friendship would affect whether James remains with the Cleveland Cavaliers, though some say James would earn even more money from his Nike deal if he played in a bigger market — Los Angeles or New York, just across the river from the Nets.
June 15, 2006 at 1:06 pm · Filed under NBA
The NBA sent out this press release concerning a clock malfunction which occured during Game 3, though the 3.4 seconds of lost clock wouldn’t have likely changed the outcome of the game:
“Upon review of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between Miami and Dallas, the NBA League Office has determined that the game timing system malfunctioned on two separate occasions in the fourth period. With 45.3 seconds remaining in the game, the clock continued to run for 2.5 seconds after a foul was called on Jason Terry of the Mavericks, and with 4.3 seconds remaining in the game, the clock continued to run for 0.9 seconds after a foul was called on Udonis Haslem of the Heat. In both cases, the cause of the problem was a malfunction in the electronic device worn by one of the game officials, which is designed to automatically stop the clock when the referee’s whistle is blown.
“The NBA will replace the defective equipment for subsequent games of the Finals.”
Yao Ming will start rehab on his foot, which was broken during a game against the Utah Jazz earlier this year. He no longer is required to wear a special boot, and rehab is going better than expected.
Dwayne Wade plans to play tonight, though he missed practice again yesterday. Wade injured his knee when Shaquille O’Neal fell into him during Game 3.
Antoine Walker thinks it’s time for Paul Pierce to move on from the Boston Celtics if he wants to ever have a chance at winning the championship. Walker said that, “He has to sit down with Danny and the owners and really see where they want to go, if he wants to be part of a rebuilding process. If he wants to get to this level, he may have to move on. I don’t know if he can be that patient.”
June 14, 2006 at 1:52 pm · Filed under NBA
Dwayne Wade led the Miami Heat to a Game 3 victory Tuesday night, 98-96. Wade scored 42 points and had a career-high with 13 rebounds, and played for most of the fourth quarter even though he had five fouls. Shaquille O’Neal also came back from his poor performance in Game 2, putting up solid numbers and hitting his free throws in the clutch.
The Heat came out strong, leading for most of the game until the middle of the third. Dallas surged again, and the Mavericks were ahead by thirteen points with six minutes left. That’s when Wade took over, scoring twelve more points before the end of the game.
Gary Payton sank a jumpshot to claim the lead with 9.2 seconds left on the clock. After that, Nowitzki was fouled, but a rare miss and another rebound to Wade gave the Heat their first ever NBA Finals victory.
It’s being reported over at DraftExpress that the Chicago Bulls may draft Brandon Roy with the #2 overall pick, and trade him with the #16 to the Los Angeles Lakers for Lamar Odom. Apparently Lakers coach Phil Jackson thinks Roy would be the perfect fit for the team’s triangle offense.
J.J. Redick’s draft stock may have taken a hit after a recent turn of events. Though the Duke star’s agent hasn’t made any official announcement, it sounds as though Redick has a back problem which may require surgery and could keep Redick out for several months. Redick has canceled workouts stating he has a “sore back”. The injury may have been what led to his arrest for driving while impaired around 1:00 Tuesday morning.
High school star Greg Oden won’t play for the Indiana All-Stars in their upcoming game. Oden has a torn ligament in his right wrist. “My wrist isn’t ready yet,” Oden said on Tuesday. “I’m extremely disappointed, but I have to take care of myself and my body for the long run.”
June 13, 2006 at 9:25 am · Filed under General, NBA
The first CenterCourt Hoops Mock Draft was added to the forums. Feel free to leave feedback, either by leaving a comment here or posting a reply in the forums. It takes just a minute to register, and then you can post your own mock draft or discuss other basketball topics.
Within the next couple weeks, CenterCourt Hoops will be redesigned and revamped — so please bookmark our site and return often. We are currently looking for any aspiring graphic designers with Photoshop or similar skills. Also, any writers who would be interested in blogging for us, leave us a message and we’ll get things set up.
June 13, 2006 at 8:28 am · Filed under NBA
So far, the only trade so far has been the Utah Jazz acquiring Rafael Araujo from the Toronto Raptors. Apparently, Jerry Sloan and fans must be missing Greg Ostertag, so they’ve brought in Araujo to become the center at the end of the bench for fans to love to hate. The Jazz sent Toronto Kris Humphries and Robert Whaley, who the Raptors plan to waive.
Shaquille O’Neal was fined $10,000 (and the team $25,000) after failing to be available to the media after the Miami Heat’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. O’Neal missed all but one of his free throws (including a couple where he got additional attempts) and also had career playoff lows in points scored, field goals made, and field goals attempted.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says if his team needs a seventh game in the series, he will be giving out free tickets. Cuban always finds ways to get himself and his team attention, so what better way to do it than bringing up free NBA tickets. During the Finals, a large majority of the tickets are given to league sponsors and other representatives.
Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu will be absent from the roster for the FIBA tournament this summer. Neither of the Turkish players were listed on the roster. Turkoglu has publicly said he’d prefer to take the summer off, but Okur has “provided a medical record” which shows he is unhealthy. Okur has played in all 164 games since signing with the Jazz two summers ago.
There has been some talk of the Toronto Raptors trading their first overall pick to Indiana Pacers, though the team made it clear the trade would not be for Jermaine O’Neal as rumored. The Raptors still seem to be interested in trading the pick, if the right deal comes up.
The NBA Draft is just two weeks away…
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