Month: August 2010 (Page 11 of 59)

Former Nuggets scout Masai Ujiri will become the team’s new general manager, according to an NBA source.
The door opened for Ujiri when the Nuggets were unable to reach an agreement with David Griffin, a former Phoenix Suns director of basketball operations.
Ujiri, 39, has been a rising star in NBA executive circles. He worked for four seasons in the Nuggets’ scouting department, which included being named director of international scouting for the 2006-07 season. Prior to that, Ujiri worked as an international scout with the Orlando Magic in 2002-03.
A native of Zaria, Nigeria, Ujiri attended prep school in Seattle, went to junior college in North Dakota and attended Montana State. He played basketball in college and then professionally for six years in Europe.

Want to know more? David Thorpe knows Ujiri well and discussed his career with TrueHoop.

One value he definitely brings is that he knows everybody and has no enemies. That’s how deals get done in the NBA. He’s not out late clowning around. He’s very classy. He values character. And I’d bet that one of the biggest things he brings to the Nuggets right now comes in how the team relates to Carmelo Anthony. It’s interesting that the two finalists for that job — David Griffin and Masai — are both from teams that just lost stars in free agency. Going through that is a great learning experience, with tremendous lessons for how to handle the biggest challenge facing the Nuggets in the year ahead. I’m sure Masai will have a very smart approach to convincing Carmelo to stay. He’ll be really good at that.

If the hire does indeed go through, Ujiri will be the first African-born GM in the NBA.

The first order of business is crystal clear — Ujiri has to convince Carmelo Anthony to stay put.

External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

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Owen Daniels cleared to play

August 26, 2010 / John Paulsen

HOUSTON - OCTOBER 04: Tight end Owen Daniels #81 of the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on October 4, 2009 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

There were a couple of pieces of good news for Owen Daniels this week. First, he had an MRI that said he was fully healed. Later, he was cleared to play by the noted sports physician Dr. James Andrews, who was the one who surgically repaired the torn ACL in Daniels’ right knee.

“Owen’s been cleared; totally healthy,” Kubiak said on Wednesday. “I was out on the practice field during special teams and he called (head athletic trainer Geoff Kaplan) and we talked to Dr. Andrews, and boy, he’s fired up. It’s great for our team.”

Daniels has been going in the late 7th for the whole month of August, but when you look at his average numbers for the first seven games of the season — 5.6 catches for 71 yards and 0.7 TDs — that’s 17.0 fantasy points per game in a PPR league, which are TE1-type numbers.

Sure, he’s a risk, and he’s probably not going to come out in Week 1 and tear up the Colts’ defense, but he is a proven player and the doctors are saying that he’s ready to go.

After Tony Gonzalez and Brent Celek are off the board, I’d start thinking about Daniels in the 6th round. I’ve been targeting Zach Miller in the 8th, and will continue to do so, but Daniels is the more proven player, so it’s a different kind of risk.

External Sports, Fantasy Football, News, NFL, Rumors & Gossip

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New USC AD Pat Haden’s weird response to Reggie Bush Heisman question

August 26, 2010 / Anthony Stalter

Pat Haden, who was recently hired as USC’s Athlete Director, appeared on the Dan Patrick show on Wednesday and gave a rather unusual response to the question: “If you were Reggie Bush, would you give back the Heisman?”

Here’s the video below (hat tip to SPORTSbyBROOKS.com):

If you were Reggie Bush with Pat Haden’s soul? Who the hell talks like that? A simple, “Yes I would,” or “No I would not,” would have done just fine.

I think Haden was the right man to replace Mike Garrett at USC, but I find his response to a rather simple question kind of weird. I know what he was getting at, but it nevertheless was an odd way to phrase it.

College Football, External Sports

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UFC 118 pre-fight press conference notes

August 26, 2010 / Staff

NEW YORK - MARCH 24: Dana White, president of the UFC, speaks at a press conference for UFC 111 at Radio City Music Hall on March 24, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

With UFC 118 coming up this Saturday, the entire HeavyMMA.com team is on hand in Boston for the pre-fight press conference. Check out Jeremy Botter’s notes below.

– The fighters and Dana White make their way to the stage to huge cheers from the fans in attendance. This venue is really, really cool. It’s called the Great Hall and it’s a historic building.
– James Toney is wearing some serious bling around both of his wrists. He says he’s a warrior and something else. I need live subtitles for this man. Says he’s going nowhere when the cage closes.
– Penn says when you come out and star beating people the way he did ten years ago, people are going to put expectations on you. All of the pressure that people put on him over the years made him stronger today, and he feels like he’s going to blow a lot of people away on Saturday night. People will be surprised at just how good B.J. Penn is.
– Florian says Boston is one of the most passionate sports towns in the entire world and he expects the Garden to be a crazy atmosphere on Saturday night. White agrees, saying that while the UFC is great on television, it doesn’t compare to being in attendance.

Check out all of HeavyMMA.com’s UFC 118 presser notes here.

External Sports, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

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