Category: Rumors & Gossip (Page 185 of 225)

      Chris Bosh shoots down Stephen A. Smith’s story

      February 3, 2009 /

      Yesterday, we passed along Stephen A. Smith’s comments about Chris Bosh. He said that the talented power forward had already told the Raptors that he did not want to re-sign with the team once his contract expired in 2010.

      Bosh didn’t waste any time responding to the story.

      “No. No. No, I haven’t told him that,” Bosh said today after practice.

      And just to add another layer of denial, he was asked whether his agent could have made the statement.

      “No,” he said.

      “It was a surprise to me and I can’t be responsible for what other people say so …,” said Bosh, his voice trailing off in disgust. “I understand people are entitled to an opinion but making stuff up? We can’t do that.

      “It doesn’t make me angry, it’s like, ‘come on, man,'” said Bosh. “I think it’s unfair just to be able to say something and we have to be politically correct. It’s tough, it’s not the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the lat and I’m not the first person this has happened to. That’s the business that we’re in.”

      Notice that Bosh denied that he told the Raptors that he wanted out, but didn’t say anything about wanting to re-sign with Toronto once his contract was up. To be fair, he probably wasn’t asked about that and wouldn’t have commented if he had been.

      This is shot at Smith’s reputation as a journalist. I don’t think too many people take him seriously, as evidenced by the “ESPN entertainer” bit in the article. Still, he seems to have exceptional access to the players and I wonder if there will be any blowback from this.

      Stephen A. Smith, your credibility is on the line. Let’s hear what you have to say.

      Fantasy Football, NBA, Rumors & Gossip, Television

      Browns, Mangini already off to a bad start?

      February 3, 2009 /

      Todd Porter of the Canton Repository writes that new Browns head coach Eric Mangini is, “running the place like Napoleon” and has already snubbed Pro Bowl NT Shaun Rogers at a recent public function.

      Eric ManginiA Browns insider told me the atmosphere at headquarters is, to put it mildly, miserable. New Head Coach Eric Mangini is running the place like Napoleon.

      Days after Mangini slobbered about the history and tradition of the team, he had a mural of former Browns greats taken down near the players’ entrance. OK, maybe he wants the team to make new history and quit living in the past, but they had better understand the past.

      I give Mangini and Kokinis no more than three years before Lerner has sold the team. That’s right. Lerner will sell the team before he hires another head coach.

      Mangini is alienating players already. At a recent public function that Mangini and Pro Bowler Shaun Rogers attended, Rogers said he had yet to meet Mangini but hoped to that night. A few minutes later, Mangini walked past Rogers, who’s hard to miss at 360 pounds, without introducing himself.

      Yeah, I see how things are starting. Mangini will run off the guys who don’t worship at his feet in the locker room, then need more “time” to rebuild the roster, thus keeping Lerner’s endless circle of rebuilding going.

      I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in this report considering most of it is innuendo and hearsay. But it wasn’t that long ago that Jets players were complaining about the way Mangini ran the locker room in New York and reports surfaced that his tough-guy approach didn’t go over too well in the end.

      But again, it’s probably best to take this report with a grain of salt. Mangini might not come off well to reporters, but unless you’re a player or on the coaching staff you can’t have a full understanding of what’s really going on behind the scenes.

      NFL, Rumors & Gossip

      Kurt Warner to retire?

      February 3, 2009 /

      The National Football Post is reporting that Kurt Warner is, “really giving some thought” to retiring.

      I really hope Warner comes back and plays, but based on what I’ve heard, he is really going to give retirement some thought. This is not a negotiation ploy, this is Warner being very serious about his life.

      The thought of Warner retiring might come as a surprise to some considering he’s coming off one of his best seasons as a pro and just led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. But he is 37 years old, is a major contributor off the field to various charitable groups and he already thought about retiring once this season when teammate Anquan Boldin was seriously hurt against the Jets in Week 4.

      But it’s doubtful he walks away now. He’s a free agent and there’s no doubt the Cardinals will make a push to retain him in order to make another Super Bowl run. He might consider retiring or leaving Arizona if the team makes major changes this offseason, but that’s doubtful considering they’re coming off a Super Bowl appearance. If I were to make a guess at what happens with Warner, I would say he re-signs with the Cards for one-year and makes it his last.

      Fantasy Football, NFL, Rumors & Gossip

      Bynum to miss six 8-12 weeks with torn MCL

      February 2, 2009 /

      Andrew Bynum is hurt again. On Saturday against the Grizzlies, Kobe Bryant landed on the big man’s knee, knocking him out for at least a few weeks. Reports are sketchy, but the Daily News is reporting that he’ll be out six weeks.

      The preliminary diagnosis is that Bynum suffered a sprained right knee against Memphis Saturday and will miss the next six weeks. But it could be longer, and the damage could be more serious, pending results of an MRI taken yesterday in Manhattan.

      So six weeks would mean that Bynum would potentially be back in mid-March, giving him about a month to get in shape for the Lakers’ playoff run. Does any of this seem familiar? Bynum was supposed to be back for last year’s playoffs but it never happened.

      And this is probably a best case scenario. If the MRI reveals more damage to the knee, it’s entirely possible that Bynum will miss the playoffs yet again.

      Expect Pau Gasol to move over to play center full time with Lamar Odom getting most of the minutes at power foward. I wouldn’t expect Odom to be traded before the deadline with Bynum’s status up in the air. This is exactly why the Lakers chose to hold onto him despite several trade offers — he’s great insurance if Bynum or Gasol were to go down.

      Afternoon Update: The OC Register is reporting that Bynum has a MCL tear and is expected to miss 8-12 weeks. Twelve weeks would put Bynum’s return a week or two into the playoffs.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      Does Chris Bosh want out of Toronto?

      February 2, 2009 /

      The answer is yes, according to Stephen A. Smith. Bosh has apparently told the team he doesn’t have any interest in staying in Toronto, and Smith said that Miami and Dallas were likely suitors in a possible trade.

      Bosh’s contract runs through the 2009-10 season, so he is one of the members of the vaunted free agent class of 2010. Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo is no dummy, so his first step will be to try to convince Bosh to stay. If that fails, there’s a chance that the team could move him before the trade deadline, which is about three weeks away. They should be able to get more for Bosh now than during the offseason since whatever team trading for him will have his services for the remainder of this season and the playoffs.

      Smith mentioned the Heat and the Mavericks as possible trade partners. Miami’s major trading chip is Shawn Marion, but he’s in the final year of his contract and most of the league seems to be unwilling to pay him what they believe he is going to ask this summer. For that reason, trading for the Matrix is a dicey proposition. In Dallas, Josh Howard would presumably be the centerpiece of a deal for Bosh, though he has now stated publicly that he wants to stay in Dallas.

      One team that should put a trade offer together is the Cleveland Cavaliers. They do have Wally Szczerbiak’s expiring contract ($13 M), so the Raptors could get immediate salary cap relief. They could package Wally’s contract with J.J. Hickson and two or three future first round picks and see if the Raptors bite. It would be a heck of a lot easier to re-sign LeBron if Bosh were already in Cleveland.

      I’d also like to see the Bucks make a play for the talented power forward. Would the Raptors take Michael Redd and Charlie Villanueva for Bosh? I realize that Bosh would be unlikely to re-sign unless the Bucks vaulted into the top four in the East, but with a starting lineup of Ramon Sessions, Charlie Bell, Richard Jefferson, Bosh and Andrew Bogut, that would be one of the better teams in the East.

      I really don’t know what happened to the Raptors. After re-signing Jose Calderon to a long-term deal, acquiring Jermaine O’Neal to help down low, and the emergence of Andrea Bargnani as a legitimate scorer, the Raptors should be a lot better than they are. They’ve already lost two in a row and they have the Lakers, Cavs and Hornets coming up in a brutal three-game stretch. And now the news breaks that their franchise player doesn’t want to return.

      Things are bad in Toronto.

      2/2 Update: Bryan Colangelo says the rumors about Bosh not wanting to re-sign with Toronto are untrue.

      “It isn’t true,” said Colangelo. “It’s a complete fabrication.”

      “It’s a non-story. Stephen A. got a little carried away. I’ve e-mailed him to talk about it but he’s in bed with the flu. Maybe the basketball Gods have something to do with that. I don’t know where that story came from.”

      It will be interesting to see what Smith has to say about this. He didn’t cite a source or act like he was breaking a story; he just said that Bosh has already told the team he doesn’t want to return as if it were common knowledge. I’d like to see Smith defend himself here.

      2/3 Update: Chris Bosh speaks out about the story.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑