Category: Rumors & Gossip (Page 67 of 225)

      Steve Kerr out as Suns GM

      June 15, 2010 /

      Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic has the scoop.

      Kerr’s contract expires June 30 but he had been expecting and hoping to return until negotiations for his contract and an opportunity to return to television as a NBA commentator prompted him to leave the organization after three years as its GM, Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver said.

      Kerr, who could not be reached for comment, reportedly was asked to take a cut in salary during negotiations.

      Owner Robert Sarver said that finances barely played a role:

      “I wouldn’t say it’s a big surprise,” Sarver said. “Television is what he did before he came on board. It’s a change of plans from during the season. It boiled down to a number of things, including lifestyle and the opportunity. I was hoping to have him back.”

      Sarver said the differences in financial negotiations played a “small part,” if any at all.

      It’s funny — I thought Kerr might be fired after the Marion-for-Shaq debacle, but he hung in there, unloaded Shaq and his monstrous contract, and put together a nice team that was playing Top 4 basketball at the end of the season. The Suns had great chemistry, and I’m not sure if that was on purpose or by accident, but Kerr was ultimately responsible.

      Being an NBA general manager is something of a dream job for me, but I can see how doing color commentary for the NBA would be a far less stressful occupation. Kerr won’t have fans dissecting his every move and there won’t be any “Fire Steve Kerr” websites out there clamoring for his dismissal.

      That said, whomever takes over for Kerr will have to hit the ground running. The Suns have a big decision to make with regard to Amare Stoudemire, who is looking for a max contract (and probably isn’t worth it).

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

      Nuggets looking for a Top 10 pick…

      June 15, 2010 /

      …and they’re willing to part with Ty Lawson to get it, per Chad Ford.

      Nuggets GM Mark Warkentein has been calling around trying to gauge interest in teams selling the pick. According to sources Warkentein is offering Ty Lawson for the pick. A Nuggets source said the Nuggets are looking for big man to fill up their front line. Several bigs including Cole Aldrich, Ed Davis, Ekpe Udoh, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton and Hassan Whiteside could be there at 10.

      If true, this seems like an especially dumb thing to do. In Lawson, the Nuggets have perhaps the fourth or fifth best player from last year’s draft, yet they’re shopping him for a Top 10 pick in a draft that doesn’t appear to be as deep. A top pick is nice, but many players taken in the first 10 picks turn out to be busts. So until they prove themselves in the NBA, a draft pick is an unknown quantity. The Nuggets are try to trade a known quantity (Lawson) for an unknown quantity. Dumb.

      Moreover, Chauncey Billups isn’t getting any younger. He’ll be 34 when the season starts, and with the importance of point guard play in the NBA, the Nuggets appear to be willing to trade away their floor leader of the future for a pick.

      It would make a lot more sense for a team like the Hornets, who have Chris Paul and Darren Collison, to try to move Collison for some immediate (veteran) help, because Paul is still young and is the franchise cornerstone. Still, I don’t think you move Collison for a Top 10 pick, unless you just fall in love with a guy and think he’ll fill a pressing need (that will help keep Paul in town when his contract expires).

      The Pacers are interested in both players, per the Indianapolis Star.

      The Pacers are interested in Lawson, according to a source.

      The Pacers are willing to give up their pick – No. 10 – in next week’s draft to get player that will help them immediately.

      The Pacers wouldn’t be searching for a point guard if they had taken Lawson instead of Tyler Hansbrough last year.

      If the Pacers can turn the #10 pick into Lawson or Collison, it would be a coup for the organization.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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

      2010 NBA Consensus Mock Draft (6/14)

      June 14, 2010 /

      It’s been nearly a month since we published our first mock draft, so it’s a good time to take another look and see where certain players are going.

      I’ve pulled in the latest mocks from ESPN, DraftExpress, NBADraft.net and FanHouse to come up with a consensus of the first 14 picks.

      If a player is picked by two or more sites, they’re the consensus, unless there’s a tie. In that case, I’ll make the pick. The same goes for when there are four different players listed.

      A few random thoughts…

      – It seems like the top four are starting to settle — John Wall (WAS), Evan Turner (PHI), Derrick Favors (NJ) and Wes Johnson (MIN). I think those are all solid picks for those franchises. DeMarcus Cousins might have the most upside of anyone in the draft, but his proverbial “character issues” are weighing him down. He didn’t test very well athletically, though that doesn’t matter much in my mind, due to his rebounding prowess. A bigger concern is his body fat, which tested pretty high at the combine, but is reportedly coming down. Maybe I’m just a Bucks fan that is gun-shy about fatties that suddenly drop weight after the Robert “Tractor” Traylor debacle.

      – Greg Monroe is just a so-so athlete, but he’s a good passer and a good feel for the game. He’d be a great guy to feed in the high post with the idea that he’d be able to hit guys cutting to the basket. It looks like it’s between Monroe and Cousins at #5 right now.

      – The Clippers are an interesting pick. They have two good young players at power forward (Blake Griffin) and shooting guard (Eric Gordon), an aging point guard (Baron Davis) and a pretty good center (Chris Kaman) who is in his prime. (Kaman averaged 19-9 last year, believe it or not.) The big hole is at small forward, and the pipe dream has LeBron coming to L.A. As a backup plan (which they’ll no doubt need), the Clips could grab Xavier Henry here, who tested better than expected at the combine. Another small forward option would be Hayward, who is the more polished player at this point. Luke Babbitt is a shotmaker who would space the floor well for Griffin and Kaman down low.

      – Speaking of Babbitt, he just seems like a Utah player. If he slips past #9, I’d be surprised, but it’s interesting to see that none of these mocks have him going #11 to New Orleans. The Hornets landed a good shooting guard in Marcus Thornton last year, and Chris Paul could really use another shooter to set up at small forward. Everyone (except Chad Ford) seems to think he’s headed to Memphis.

      – I think Patrick Patterson is going to make some late lottery team in need of a good power forward very happy. He tested better than expected at the combine, and along with his tremendous strength and his record of improvement, he should blossom into a fine starter. His detractors point to his rebounding (7.4 rpg), but it’s tough to post eye-popping rebounding numbers when you play alongside a boardmonster like DemMarcus Cousins. He averaged 9.3 in his sophomore year, so he should be fine on the glass.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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

      Fact-checking Tim Donaghy

      June 12, 2010 /

      Tim Donaghy is still around, mostly because he’s in financial trouble and is trying to find a way to parlay his history of gambling on (or fixing?) NBA games into some semblance of a post-officiating career. Henry Abbott put together a nice post about Donaghy that seems to debunk much of what he has said.

      * Donaghy recalls a conversation he had on the court with Phil Jackson that Jackson tells ESPN’s J.A. Adande never happened.
      * He describes relationships between Allen Iverson and referees Steve Javie (who he says hated Iverson) and Joe Crawford (who was allegedly a fan) that biased their calls, and made picking Iverson games easy ways to make money. But those betting rules, in fact, would not have led to winners.
      * He told a stirring tale of locker room run-in with Charles Barkley, but Barkley told ESPN’s Mark Schwarz no such thing occurred.
      * The three palming violations Donaghy remembers in some detail that were really two.
      * He wrote that he won bets relying on Dick Bavetta’s habit of keeping games close, but looking at scores proved betting like that would not win you money.
      * He described in some detail the friendship between referee Joe Forte and then-Grizzlies coach Mike Fratello, which inspired him to pick Fratello’s team to beat the spread when Forte reffed. But in that period, Fratello’s teams beat the spread less than half the time.

      Even Donaghy’s publisher has severed ties with him.

      Generally speaking, I don’t think there is a lot of game-fixing going on. To err is to be human, and NBA referees make a LOT of bad calls. It doesn’t mean they’re doing it on purpose. It’s an impossible job to do perfectly.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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

      Should the Lakers trade Bynum for Bosh?

      June 11, 2010 /

      To me, the first question is…can they?

      Honestly, I thought this trade rumor was well behind us after Andrew Bynum suffered yet another knee injury. Yet, here are two Los Angeles Times writers arguing about whether or not the Lakers should trade him for Chris Bosh.

      T.J. Simers takes a few shots at Bill Plaschke…

      It’s been several days since I have had the chance to remind everyone how clueless Plaschke can be, and since this was a wasted game, I certainly don’t want to waste such an opportunity.

      Plaschke continues to make the case that the Lakers have to unload Andrew Bynum, insisting they replace him with free agent Chris Bosh. And by Sunday, I believe.

      Plaschke maintains that the Lakers will never be able to depend on Bynum’s body, and while he’s presently got that right, it doesn’t speak to what we’ve learned about the young man.

      The kid has been determined, tough and tough-minded as he has pushed himself, obviously the kind of competitor a team needs to win a championship.

      That last sentence summarizes Simers’ argument — since Bynum has played through a knee injury, and since he has potential, the Lakers should forgo Chris Bosh in order to keep him.

      I don’t think that the ball is in the Lakers’ court. While the Bynum-for-Bosh swap made a lot of sense earlier in the season, it doesn’t make much sense for the Raptors now, unless they are willing to risk the two years and $28.6 million remaining on Bynum’s contract even though he has missed an average of 32 games over the last three seasons. A team option for the third year does make the trade a bit more palatable, but it all depends on what other sign-and-trade deals are out there for Bosh. In other words, is a gimpy Bynum the best Toronto can do?

      He is just 22 years old and could very well bounce back from the knee problems that have plagued him over the past three years. But how common is it for a seven footer to suffer major injuries in his first few years and then suddenly become durable? While it’s true that he’d be a good fit alongside Andrea Bargnani, who is more of a power forward than a center, it’s not going to do the Raptors much good to trade for a guy who can’t seem to stay healthy.

      As for the Lakers, of course they should do this deal. Chris Bosh is a 26-year-old who will be a top 15 player in the league for the next five to six years. This coincides nicely with the remainder of Kobe’s prime, and he’d give the Lakers a fighting chance when Kobe finally hangs ’em up. He’d be a better fit than Bynum alongside Pau Gasol, who is arguably the league’s best post player, at least offensively. Bosh’s ability to hit long jumpers would create more space for Gasol and Kobe to do their thing.

      I just don’t think the Lakers are going to be the ones that have to make the decision. That’s Bryan Colangelo’s call now.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑