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The AP reports:
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Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao is not expected to miss any time after spraining his right ankle while playing in an exhibition game for Brazil’s national team.
Varejao hurt his ankle in a collision during a game on Wednesday in Logrono, Spain. A spokeswoman for Brazil’s team said an MRI exam after the game was normal.
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Serbian powerhouse team BC Partizan have confirmed on their website that Australian basketball star Nathan Jawai has signed a one-year deal with the club.
Jawai, a former player for the Cairns Taipans in the National Basketball League, had just finished his second season in the American NBA.
At Partizan Jawai will replace fellow countryman and Australian Boomers World Championship team member Aleks Maric, who recently signed with Greek superpower club Panathinaikos.
BC Partizan are Serbia’s best team, and have won nine consecutive national titles.
Jawai played 39 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves in season 2009/10, averaging 3.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. He played six games for the Toronto Raptors in the 2008/09 season.
He also has appeared in the NBA Development League for Idaho Stampede and Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Jawai was originally drafted 41st overall by the Indiana Pacers in 2008, but was immediately dealt to the Toronto Raptors.
One year later, Jawai was traded again to Dallas in a four-team deal involving the Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic. A few months later Jawai, who never appeared in a game for Dallas, was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The NBA today released its 2010 preseason schedule, which is highlighted by a comprehensive international slate of games that includes seven contests in China, Europe and Mexico. The preseason slate tips off on Oct. 3, when the New York Knicks visit Armani Jeans Milano – the former team of Knicks forward Danillo Gallinari and head coach Mike D’Antoni – in Milan, Italy, and the New Jersey Nets host Maccabi Haifa.
As is the case these days, the action starts overseas, with a few NBA squads heading to Europe.
I’ve always had mixed feelings about teams playing preseason ball overseas. Because generally it’s just a warmup. I think if NBA fans overseas are going to get a rare taste of live NBA action, it should be the best basketball possible, and we usually don’t see that before the regular season begins.
See the complete 2010-11 NBA preseason schedule.
San Antonio Silver Stars forward Chamique Holdsclaw suffered an injury during the Stars game at Minnesota on Sunday, Aug. 15; after further evaluation, an MRI revealed a torn right Achilles tendon.
Holdsclaw will miss the remainder of the 2010 season. She is expected to have surgery, but a date has not yet been set.
For the season, Holdsclaw was averaging 13.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. It’s the lowest scoring average of her career.
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Adonal Foyle, an NBA basketball player with a total of 13 seasons under his belt, announced his retirement from basketball this week.
From humble island beginnings, Adonal’s basketball talent was discovered by two Colgate University professors who brought him to the United States and laid the foundation for Foyle’s NBA basketball career spanning both coasts with the Golden State Warriors and the Orlando Magic.
In addition to a noteworthy NBA career, Foyle’s passion to make a difference has fueled the founding of the Kerosene Lamp Foundation (KLF). Since 2005, KLF has built/refurbished basketball courts in urban areas to provide safe places to play for more than 3,000 youth. KLF’s most recent mentorship program, All-Star Student Athletes, is designed to turn promising young basketball players from Adonal’s native country of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, into successful student-athletes. Foyle was inducted into the Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame for his work with KLF.
“I have loved every minute of the game,” said Foyle. “Retiring is bittersweet as my happiest memories are with the game. I’m looking forward to spending more time on humanitarian issues and mentoring the young basketball players who may need a voice of experience as they embark on their NBA careers.”
Foyle recently completed his third and final season with the Orlando Magic. Prior to that, he spent a decade with the Golden State Warriors, where he began his career as the NBA’s eighth overall draft pick. Foyle holds the Warriors’ all-time record in blocked shots (1,140) and is fifth on their all-time list for offensive rebounds and sixth for defensive rebounds.
Adonal’s education continues beyond the NBA. In addition to plans to support his Kerosene Lamp Foundation, he is finishing up his Masters Degree in Sports Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. Foyle has written a poem to commemorate his love affair with basketball.
ADONAL FOYLE RETIREMENT POEM
LOVE SONG TO A GAME: NBA Retirement poem by Adonal Foyle
How should I tell thee goodbye?
What can you say about a love affair to rival that of Romeo & Juliet? This is not just some melancholy ode to a hackneyed love of mortals.
I found our love deep in the entrails of the Caribbean Sea. Love that swept me to a land where our embrace became mythical.
You showed me a world that few have dreamt of.
Colgate’s golden steeple, a sojurn where ancient teachings flooded my mind.
There in the Chenango Valley where 13 sang my soul to flight, basketball laid siege to my soul.
I do not cry for the passing of our love for it stands radiant while my brittle bones crumble through swift time.
I have known you by so many faces; I will spend my end of days recalling.
You have infected so many with the allure of riches and black gold. But I am not angry with you my love. For to a boy who was lost in the bosom of nothing you gave hope and home.
Like the flickering of a light we come and go without much fuss. So I leave you to fend off seekers, hoping they too will cherish your unyielding countenance.
As for me, I will forever live in the glare of your loving embrace. From time to time I hope you will look in on this pitiful fool.
I will miss brothers of a quilt struggling with burning lights. If I offer advice, pierce beyond the glaring lights and see the faces behind the wall. Don’t be fooled by the magicians’ nibble fingers. For this is a life with mirrors and screens. Its only truth lies in the understanding it will all end.
The sound I will take home is the symphony of thousands of screaming friends.
Warriors, Magic and yes, Memphis too, I sing you praise, hope, blessings,
Flowing from a boy’s songs of thanks to you and you and you,to all I knew.
Please stay my “immortal love.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed forward Samardo (sa-MAR-doe) Samuels to a contract, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant announced today. Per league and team policy, terms of the contract were not announced.
Samuels, 21, played two seasons at Louisville before declaring for the 2010 NBA Draft, averaging 13.5 points on .549 shooting and 5.9 rebounds in 27.1 minutes in 70 games (all starts). In his sophomore and final season with the Cardinals, he led the team in scoring (15.3) and rebounding (7.0) in 29.3 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-9, 260-pound rookie played in five games (three starts) with the Chicago Bulls in the 2010 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and averaged 12.6 points on .571 shooting and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com reports:
Jerry West with a prominent role in the new Golden State hierarchy will apparently remain interesting what-could-have-been, but the legendary former personnel boss of the Lakers and Grizzlies confirms he is open to returning to the front-office world.
That could have been with the Warriors if Oracle boss Larry Ellison had bought the team. West has known Ellison for years and said the two talked several months ago about His Logoness as part of a possible management team in Oakland, West confirmed publicly for the first time. It appealed to West because of the relationship with Ellison and the proximity of an hour plane ride from West’s permanent home in Los Angeles, but became moot once Joe Lacob and Peter Guber beat Ellison to the Warriors in a surprise outcome.
Statement from Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird:
The news of Lance Stephenson’s arrest is very disappointing to the Pacers franchise and to me personally. We have worked very hard to bring in players that are excellent representatives of our franchise, community and state both on and off the court. Our commitment to this goal is too strong to permit the actions of one individual to reverse all of the positive strides that have been made as a franchise over the last couple of years or to hurt the image of the rest of the players on our team. Everyone in the Pacers organization remains strongly committed to our players representing Indianapolis and the state of Indiana in a positive way and will not condone behavior that reflects poorly on this franchise and community.
We are continuing to gather all of the facts regarding Lance’s arrest but regardless of the outcome of the investigation, Lance should not have put himself in the position he was in early Sunday morning. We have consistently emphasized to our players the importance of not putting themselves in situations where bad things can happen. Once all the facts are known we will deal appropriately with Lance so that he, the team and the entire Pacers community understands that this message cannot be ignored.
The Orlando Sentinel reports:
The Orlando Magic have promoted longtime assistant athletic trainer and performance enhancement specialist Keon Weise to the head athletic trainer’s job.
Magic spokesman Joel Glass on Monday confirmed the move.
Weise, 31, will replace Tom Smith, who was let go after four seasons as the team’s head athletic trainer.
The Toronto Raptors announced Monday the addition of Scott Roth as an assistant coach. Roth brings 25 years of experience as a player, scout and coach in the professional and international ranks to head coach Jay Triano’s staff.
“Scott and I have a long history dating back to playing professionally at the same time in Turkey,” said Triano. “He is a coach who brings to us experience from many different levels of basketball – International, D-League and the NBA.”
Roth comes to Toronto following one season as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors. Prior to that he was the head coach of the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League in 2008-09 and guided the team to its first post-season appearance with a 26-24 record.
Roth has served seven seasons in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks (1996-2000) and Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies (2000-02), and four seasons as a scout and advisor for the Milwaukee Bucks.
In 2000, Roth was the head coach of the Turkish National Team when they claimed a silver medal at the European Championships held in Istanbul. A year later he guided Turkey at the 2001 World Championships in Indianapolis. Most recently, he was the head coach of the Dominican Republic National Team in 2007 and 2008, earning a silver medal at the CBC Caribbean Championships in Puerto Rico.
Following a standout collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin, Roth was selected in the fourth round of the 1985 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs. He opted to begin his professional playing career overseas with Efes Pilsen in Turkey. He returned to North America in 1987 and appeared in 160 NBA games with the Utah Jazz (1987-88), San Antonio Spurs (1988-89) and Minnesota Timberwolves (1989-90) before returning to Europe to finish his career.