Category: News (Page 131 of 199)

      Olympic luger was frightened of track before death

      February 15, 2010 /

      The day before his death, Nodar Kumaritashvili called his father to express concern over one of the Whistler track’s turns.

      From ESPN.com:

      The athlete killed on the luge track Friday told his father a day before he died in a training run that he was “scared of one of the turns,” David Kumaritashvili told The Wall Street Journal.

      “I said, ‘Put your legs down on the ice to slow down,’ but he said if he started the course he would finish it,” Kumaritashvili said, according to The Journal.

      Kumaritashvili, a Soviet-era luger himself, told the newspaper his son would have been able to compete in two more Winter Games and that Nodar’s Olympic dreams stemmed from childhood.

      “He was brave,” Kumaritashvili said.

      I can just see Kumaritashvili tensing up before hitting the fateful turn. The Olympics only happen once every four years and are perhaps the largest opportunity to represent one’s country on the international level. I’m sure Kumaritashvili felt it was his duty to compete. Sadly, while undoubtedly riddled with fear, he died.


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      News, The Olympics

      Heat also interested in Jamison?

      February 15, 2010 /

      Yes, according to the Washington Post‘s Wizards insider Michael Lee…

      I’ve been told that the Cavaliers aren’t the only team interested in Jamison. Miami has also expressed interest of late, according to a league source.

      When I played basketball for Bo Ryan at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, there was a player there who always was scrunching up his face when he was upset. Bo would ask him why he looked like he just ate a sour pickle. Why did I just tell you that? Well, when I heard this rumor, I made the “pickle face.”

      Even with Dwyane Wade’s player option on the books, the Heat will have $20 million in cap space this summer. Without it, they’ll have $37 million to spend. Why in the world would they invest almost $29 million over the next two years in a 33-year-old power forward?

      If a potential deal included Michael Beasley and Daequan Cook, the net increase in payroll would be around $6.3 million, effectively reducing the Heat’s cap space to around $31 million, which would theoretically be enough to re-sign Wade and another superstar free agent. The Heat would then build around Wade, Jamison and the superstar in question (LeBron, Bosh, Stoudemire). Under these circumstances, it would seem that the Heat would simply rather have Jamison than Beasley, thinking that Jamison at 35 would still be better than Beasley at 23.

      I’m not so sure about that.


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      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Cavs close to acquiring Stoudemire?

      February 14, 2010 /

      The Cleveland Cavaliers are closing in on a deal that would bring Amare Stoudemire to town, according to Chris Broussard’s sources.

      The Cavaliers would send Zydrunas Ilgauskas and J.J. Hickson to Phoenix in exchange for Stoudemire, one of the league’s most dominant big men.

      While Cleveland remains in talks with several other teams, the club, from management down to the players, has settled on Stoudemire as its first choice.

      The ball is in Phoenix’s court. The Suns are mulling whether the financial relief provided by Ilgauskas’ $12 million contract and the young and talented Hickson are enough for them to part with Stoudemire.

      Cleveland believes the addition of Stoudemire would all but seal LeBron James’ re-signing with the team when he becomes a free agent this summer. The Cavaliers are also prepared to sign Stoudemire, who has one year and $17 million remaining on his contract, to a long-term contract extension once the season ends.

      It isn’t surprising that the Suns are the ones mulling this over, as this is pretty much a no-brainer for the Cavs. With Shaq’s salary coming off the books this summer, Cleveland would have plenty of room to re-sign both LeBron and Stoudemire and still stay under the luxury tax threshold. The most important part about that last sentence is that with Stoudemire in tow, one would have to think that LeBron would almost certainly re-sign. I suppose if the Cavs flamed out of the playoffs that both players could opt out and go elsewhere, but that doesn’t seem likely. The acquisition of Stoudemire would also make the re-signing of Ilguaskas far less important. If something were to happen to Shaq, Stoudemire is perfectly capable of playing big minutes at center and has a nice jumpshot to help space the court.

      Whether or not Hickson is worth giving up Stoudemire largely depends on what else is available. I’d much rather do a deal with Miami for Michael Beasley, but we don’t know for sure if that offer is on the table. It’s possible that the Suns leaked this information to prompt other teams to step up their offers, and the Heat, facing the possibility of a long-term LeBron/Amare marriage in Cleveland, may very well step up their pursuit.

      Hickson is a nice young player that projects to be a quality starter or star in a few seasons. His PER (14.33) is solid for a 21-year-old in his second season. He has had his ups and downs this season, but is averaging 13-5 on 60% shooting in five games in February. Size-wise, he’s 6’9″ with long arms and pretty much is a prototypical power forward in today’s NBA. He already has a solid back-to-the-basket game and a decent jump shot.

      However, given that the Cavs are far worse when he’s on the court, it’s understandable that the Suns aren’t 100% sold. Beasley is the more talented player, but he has had character issues in the past and that would give any team pause.


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      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Mavs, Wizards agree to Butler-Howard swap

      February 13, 2010 /

      Caron Butler is headed to Dallas, per ESPN…

      The teams agreed on the principal pieces Friday: Butler, Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to Dallas for Josh Howard and Drew Gooden. Mavericks reserves Quinton Ross and James Singleton were added to the deal Saturday and are also Washington-bound, with Dallas due to receive cash considerations in addition to the three players.

      I wrote about this deal yesterday.

      To me, if the Wizards are rebuilding, why trade Butler for Howard? He’s 29 — the same age as Butler — and hasn’t been the player this year as he has in years past. He has a team option for next season, so presumably they’d let him walk, because if you can’t build around Butler then you certainly can’t build around Howard.

      The right way to start a rebuilding process is to get some good young talent or first round draft picks when trading away stars. Otherwise, it’s just a salary dump. This deal might be appealing to the Wizards because they can try to sell their season ticket holders on the fact that, talent-wise, the trade was pretty even. But really, they’re just treading water, if that.

      From a talent stanpdoint, this looks like a great trade for the Mavs. Butler is a significant upgrade over Howard, who has struggled this season. Haywood also gives the Mavs a defensive center who can give Dallas some toughness inside now that Erick Dampier is dealing with some soreness in his knee. Butler’s salary for next season ($10.6 M) is pretty reasonable given what he brings to the table.

      On the flip side, Wizards’ GM Ernie Grunfeld continues to perplex me. When he was running the Bucks, he was the mastermind behind the disastrous Ray Allen-for-Gary Payton swap, and in the last two years, he signed Gilbert Arenas to an outlandish contract (for a guy coming off of knee surgery) and now, in an effort to “rebuild,” he’s trading away a very good 29-year-old small forward for a decent 29-year-old small forward.

      The trade does bring salary cap relief but that’s about it. Butler and Stevenson were due to make $14.6 million combined next season, and the Wizards are potentially going to take on the $1.1 million still owed to Quinton Ross if he exercises his player option for next year. So, by trimming a net of $13.5 million from their 2010-11 payroll, the Wizards will have about $10 million in cap space this summer, assuming they don’t exercise the team option on Howard’s contract.

      In other words, this is a salary dump, plain and simple. I’d be shocked if this trade isn’t a precursor to an Antawn Jamison in the next few days. What’s the point of trading Butler if you aren’t going to move Jamison too?


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      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Unsafe luge track to reopen with raised wall

      February 13, 2010 /

      On Friday, Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed and was killed after taking a dangerous turn during a practice run at the Whistler track. The track was immediately closed, but now the International Luge Federation is saying training will resume this weekend after proper adjustments are made to the turn in question. The Vancouver Organizing Committee will reportedly raise the turn’s outside wall and alter its ice profile.

      From The Vancouver Sun:

      Vanoc released a statement saying both the BC Coroners Service and FIL officials had investigated the accident. The federation concluded Kumaritashvili failed to make a correction once he entered the final curve and slammed into the pillar.

      “It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16,” the FIL said. ” This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident.

      “The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.”

      This, to me, sounds like the FIL is subtly blaming the athlete for his death. They aren’t being crude about it, but the federation certainly isn’t taking any responsibility.

      Also, there must be some “deficiencies in the track” if the VANOC is modifying the track after this tragic accident. In retrospect, I’m sure we’re all wondering why proper precautions weren’t made beforehand. Given the years of preparation, how did this happen? Why wasn’t the wall higher in the first place? Why weren’t those steel poles padded? Did those poles have to be so close to the track?


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      News, The Olympics

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