The AP reports: The Charlotte Bobcats are for sale and Michael Jordan is interested. First, he has to put an ownership group together. Addressing the issue on Thursday night for the first time since the news last month that majority owner Bob Johnson is seeking to sell, Jordan shied away from going into detail about his plans. But Jordan, who holds a minority stake in the team and runs basketball operations, made it clear he’d like to gain majority control. “I would like to put together a team to do that, yeah,” Jordan said.
Month: June 2009
James Johnson comes from kickboxing family
The Chicago Tribune (K.C. Johnson) reports: For James Johnson, fighting is a family thing. The Bulls’ affable first round NBA draft pick detailed Thursday how he grew up the middle of nine children in Cheyenne, Wyo., surrounded by black belt kickboxers. Johnson’s father, Willie, is an ex-marine who won seven world kickboxing championships and runs J & P’s Martial Arts school in Cheyenne. Eight of Willie’s children, including James, are black belts in the sport with only James’ 10-year-old sister currently sporting just a blue belt. Johnson said he went 20-0 in kickboxing bouts before “retiring.”
Jazz make qualifying offer to Paul Millsap
 |
Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has tendered a qualifying offer to forward Paul Millsap. Per team policy, financial terms were not released.
In accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, in order for a team to retain its right of first refusal with respect to a restricted free agent, the team must tender the player a qualifying offer prior to June 30. A restricted free agent may sign an offer sheet with any team, but is subject to a right of first refusal with the team for which the player last played.
Millsap (6-8, 250, Louisiana Tech), who finished fourth in voting for the league’s Most Improved Player award, had a career season in 2008-09, appearing in 76 games (38 starts) averaging 13.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 30.1 minutes. He also collected 19-straight double-doubles at one point during the season, the longest streak in the NBA since 2006. He finished the season with 29 overall. Originally selected by the Jazz in the second round (47th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, Millsap has appeared in 240 of a possible 246 games over his first three seasons and owns career averages of 9.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per game.
Pistons trade Chase Budinger to Rockets
The Detroit Pistons announced that the club has traded the draft rights to Chase Budinger to Houston Rockets for a future second round draft pick and cash considerations.
Budinger averaged 18.0 points last season at the University of Arizona. In 100 collegiate games, he averaged 17.0 points and 5.8 rebodunds. A First-Team All-Pac-10 selection as a junior, Budinger also earned Honorable Mention All-American Honors from The Associated Press both his junior and senior seasons. His 1,697 points ranks 11th on the Wildcats’ all-time scoring list.
Timberwolves trade Nick Calathes to Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have selected forward Ahmad Nivins with the 56th overall selection of the 2009 NBA Draft and have acquired 45th pick Nick Calathes from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the future second round pick of the Portland Trailblazers that the Mavericks obtained in a trade on June 24, 2009.
Nivins (6-9, 242) finished his career as the third-leading scorer in the history of Saint Josheph’s University with 1,789 points. He was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year following his senior season after averaging 19.2 points and 11.8 rebounds while shooting .612 from the field and starting all 32 games. Nivins was All-America honorable mention and became just the second player in A-10 history to lead the league in field goal percentage for three consecutive seasons.
Lakers trade Patrick Beverley to Heat
The Los Angeles Lakers have sent the draft rights to second round selection (42nd overall) Patrick Beverley to the Miami Heat in exchange for a 2011 second round draft pick and cash considerations, it was announced today.
Entering the 2009 NBA Draft, the Lakers held the 29th overall selection in the first round as well as two additional second round picks (42nd and 59th overall).
Warriors make operation staff moves
The Golden State Warriors announced several moves within the team’s basketball operations staff today.
Travis Schlenk, 35, has been named the team’s Director of Player Personnel. Schlenk has spent the last five seasons with the Warriors, serving as an assistant coach for the last four seasons after joining the team as a video scout prior to the 2004-05 campaign.
Scott Pruneau, 43, has been named the team’s Director of Scouting. Pruneau, who has worked for the Warriors organization in various capacities for the past 26 seasons, had served as a college scout for the past five years. He also previously spent three seasons at the team’s advance scout.
Larry Harris, 46, will serve in a new capacity as a Consultant/Scout after joining the Warriors as an assistant coach in November of 2008.
Lee Mayberry, 39, joins the Warriors organization as a Scout. A veteran of seven NBA seasons as a player from 1992-93 thru 1998-99, Mayberry joins Golden State’s scouting staff that includes Pruneau, Harris, Jim Mitchell and Kosta Jankov.
Nuggets trade Sergio Llull to Rockets for cash
The Denver Nuggets have traded the draft rights to G Sergio Llull (Yule) to the Houston Rockets in exchange for cash considerations, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today.
Llull, 6-3, 190, was selected by the Nuggets with the 34th overall selection of the 2009 NBA Draft.
Trail Blazers trade Sergio Rodriguez, Jon Brockman to Kings for Jeff Pendergraph
The Portland Trail Blazers acquired the draft rights to forward Jeff Pendergraph (31st overall pick) from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for guard Sergio Rodriguez, the draft rights to forward Jon Brockman (38th overall pick) and cash considerations, it was announced today by General Manager Kevin Pritchard.
“Sergio was a big part of our turnaround and we’d like to thank him for his contributions to the Trail Blazers over the last three years. We wish him all the best going forward,” said Pritchard. “We’re excited to add a player like Jeff, who is a four-year starter, hard worker and has a strong athletic presence inside. We feel he can help this team.”
Pendergraph, 22, played four seasons at Arizona State, where he finished with career averages of 12.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.04 blocked shots and a 58.0 percent shooting percentage.
The 6-9, 240-pound forward set school records for games played (126) and started (120) and his 1,588 points are sixth best all-time.
As a senior, Pendergraph averaged 14.5 points and was named to the Pac-10’s First Team. His 66.0 percent shooting percentage led the nation.
Rodriguez, 23, averaged 3.6 points, 1.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 12.4 minutes over three seasons with the Trail Blazers. Portland originally acquired the draft rights to the Spanish guard from Phoenix for cash considerations in a 2006 draft day trade.
Wizards trade Jermaine Taylor to Rockets for cash
Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the Washington Wizards have received cash considerations from the Houston Rockets in exchange for the draft rights to Jermaine Taylor. Taylor was initially selected by Washington with the 32nd overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
“Yesterday we added two solid, proven veterans in Mike Miller and Randy Foye to our roster,” said Grunfeld. “We already had a great week, and by trading the rights to our second-round pick we were able to add to our flexibility going forward.”