July 2011 – Page 14 – NBA Blog

Jeff Van Gundy says Yao Ming should make Basketball Hall of Fame

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports:

The question, repeated dozens of times through the day, will no doubt be posed to Jeff Van Gundy as long as he can answer. Van Gundy was the second of Yao Ming’s three NBA coaches, and for all  he has or will accomplish, Van Gundy will be asked about the unique, iconic center he coached for four seasons with the Rockets.

Van Gundy had his  answer, for a question not yet asked, ready.

“No. 1 to me, he’s a Hall of Famer,” Van Gundy said. “Idon’t care if you put him in as player, as a contributor or put him in with his own heading. This guy definitely gets in for the greatness as a player when healthy or what he did as ambassador.”

He then added a thought he would repeat often.

“People forget,” Van Gundy said, “just how good he was.”

With Yao’s decision to retire rather than attempt another comeback from another injury, discussions about his career always will include thoughts of what could have been. Yao, 30, played in eight of his nine seasons since he was the first pick of the 2002 draft, including the five games he played this past season.

InsideHoops.com editor says: I disagree with Van Gundy. Yao didn’t play enough to make it as a player. And as for helping spread basketball to China, it mostly the efforts of the people in charge, using him to help bridge various basketball gaps. And Yao gets lots of credit, too, of course. But I don’t see him in the Hall.

Los Angeles Sparks name Joe Bryant new head coach

The Los Angeles Times reports:

The Sparks have fired Jennifer Gillom as coach and replaced her with assistant coach Joe Bryant, the team announced Sunday.

The coaching change was made after the Sparks fell to fifth place in the six-team Western Conference with a record of 4-6. They have lost five games in a row, their worst skid since 2007. Three of those losses have come after 2008 WNBA most valuable player Candace Parker suffered a knee injury in a June 26 game; she is expected to be out about six weeks. Parker played in just 10 games last season after needing surgery on a dislocated left shoulder.

“This was a very difficult decision, but I felt it was necessary to take the team in a different direction at this point in the season,” Sparks General Manager Penny Toler said in a statement.

Bryant, a former NBA player, was first hired by the team as an assistant under Henry Bibby in 2005. Bibby was fired with five games remaining in the season, and Bryant took over as coach. He went 4-1 and the Sparks finished with a 17-17 record.

Darius Songaila signs in Turkey

The Philadelphia Daily News reports:

His NBA future uncertain because of the lockout, 76ers free-agent forward Darius Songaila signed a 1-year, $1.5 million contract with Galatasaray in Turkey, according to his agent, Mark Bartelstein.

Published reports say that his deal includes incentives, but has a no-escape clause in the event the lockout ends, so he will play the entire season in Turkey.

Euroleague.net reports:

Songaila’s only Euroleague season to date was in 2002-03 with CSKA Moscow in which he averaged 12.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game to help the team to the 2003 Barcelona Final Four, the first of eight in a row that would follow for CSKA. Since then he has played a total of 516 games for Sacramento, Chicago, Washington, New Orleans and Philadelphia in the NBA. Songaila’s best individual season was in 2005-06 in which he averaged 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 62 games for Chicago.

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Lakers hire Ettore Messina as coaching consultant

The Lakers have hired Ettore Messina, who will serve as a coaching consultant for the team, it was announced today by Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak.

“I am honored to have received this opportunity from one of the greatest basketball organizations in the world,” said Messina. “I have great respect for Coach Mike Brown and I’m excited to work with him and his staff.”

Messina joins the Lakers after spending the last two years as the head coach of the Spanish League Club, Real Madrid. Prior to his stint with Real Madrid, Messina was head coach of CSKA Moscow for four seasons (2005-2009) where he led the team to two Euroleague Championships (2006, 2008) and four Russian SuperLeague titles (2006-2009).

Before coaching in the Russian League, Messina served as a coach in the Italian League for over 15 years. He earned two Euroleague Championships (1998 and 2001) as well as several Italian championships with Virtus Bologna, where he had two stints as head coach (1989-1993, 1997-2002). After leaving Bologna, Messina went on to coach Benetton Treviso from 2002-2005, guiding the team to an Italian championship in 2003.

Named one of the Euroleague’s 10 Greatest All-Time Coaches in 2008, Messina has earned numerous coaching accolades throughout his career including European Coach of the Year in 1998, Euroleague Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2008, and Italian Coach of the Year in 1990, 1993, 1998, 2001 and 2005.

A native of Catania, Italy, Messina also served as head coach of the senior men’s Italian national basketball team (1993-1997), where he led Italy to the silver medal at the EuroBasket in 1997.

Yao Ming retires: Rockets center Yao Ming will reportedly retire from NBA

By Jeff Lenchiner

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, whose career has been constantly interrupted by injuries, is reportedly set to retire from the NBA.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Yao informed the league office within the past 48 hours of his decision.

The 7-6, 310-pound China native entered the NBA in 2002, and spent his entire career with the Houston Rockets.

His career average was 19.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocks per game. He only managed to play just five games for the Rockets in the 2010-11 season before again having to sit out and heal.

Armed with truly skillful basketball moves, Yao wasn’t just a big guy, but a terrific talent who was a pleasure to watch. InsideHoops.com and the whole pro basketball world will miss him.

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Raul Lopez signs in Spain

Euroleague.net reports:

Spanish runners-up Turkish Airlines Euroleague debutante Bizkaia Bilbao Basket announced on FRiday the addition of point guard Raul Lopez for the next two seaons. Lopez (1.82 meters, 31 years old) arrives from BC Khimki Moscow region where last year he averaged 8.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals in 10 Euroleague appearances. It was his second season with Khimki. Lopez grew up in Joventut Badalona of Spain and made his debut in 1997. He played there for three years until he was signed by Real Madrid in 2000. He was then drafted by the Utah Jazz of the NBA and was there for two seasons in 2003 and 2004. However, severe knee injuries kept his career from progressing as expected and he was back in Spain in 2005 when he joined Akasvayu Girona.

Hawks center Zaza Pachulia may play in Turkey during lockout

Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (blog) reports:

If the NBA lockout is not ended by the scheduled start of the 2011-12 season then Hawks reserve center Zaza Pachulia could end up playing in Turkey in the short term.

Pachulia, who is under contract with the Hawks for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons for a total of about $10 million, said he has a “verbal agreement” to play next season for Turkish club Besiktas.

“They have interest, I have interest and we have talked about price,” Pachulia said. “It’s not official now.”

Besiktas also has an agreement with New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams.

Pachulia said the contract with Besiktas would immediately terminate when NBA owners and players agree on a new labor deal. The contract also would include some kind of insurance for Pachulia since his guaranteed contract with the Hawks would not be protected in case of an injury sustained while playing in another league.

Sonny Weems signs in Lithuania

Euroleague.net reports:

Zalgiris Kaunas added some athleticism on the wings with the signing of Sonny Weems to a one-year deal. Weems (1.98 meters, 25 years old) will make his European basketball debut this season with the Lithuanian champs. He arrives from Toronto of the NBA, where he averaged 9.2 points and 2.6 rebounds last season over 59 games as a part-time starter. It was Weems’s third season in the NBA, where he has also played for Denver.

InsideHoops.com editor says: A couple of bench-level NBA players in need of a better basketball job are slowly heading to Europe. The NBA lockout may cause a few players at the end of team benches to perhaps head to Europe a bit quicker than they might under normal circumstances, only because there is a limit on how many well-paying hoops jobs exist over there. The only big lockout-related surprise so far is that Nets guard Deron Williams is poised to temporarily take his talents to Turkey, but he’ll return to the NBA when the lockout is resolved. I do not expect many star or starter-level NBA players to follow D-Will’s lead. A couple might, but most likely won’t.

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Other sports came first for young Derrick Williams

Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on Minnesota Timberwolves rookie forward Derrick Williams:

Before high school, Williams mostly played soccer, baseball and football in La Mirada’s city parks league. He didn’t take basketball seriously until his freshman year.

And when he did, it showed.

“I used to get calls at home at night from school staff people wondering why the gym lights were on after 9 o’clock and who was in there,” said former La Mirada boys basketball coach Larry Kaupang, who coached Williams during his varsity career. “It was Derrick. He and my assistant, Charlie Torres, used to sneak in there sometimes late at night to put in some work. And Derrick worked at it.”

Only 5-9 in eighth grade, Williams grew to 6-5 by the end of his freshman year. He had become too tall to play guard and needed to get used to playing closer to the basket. He also was playing for La Mirada, a small, unheralded school 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. It took an in-the-right-place moment during Williams’ sophomore year to remove him from relative obscurity.

La Mirada had a game against Compton on Feb. 23, 2007. Compton, a traditional power in the Los Angeles area, featured guard-forward DeMar DeRozan, now a two-year pro with the Toronto Raptors.

Most of the college coaches in attendance were there to see DeRozan, a McDonald’s All-America selection. Williams wasn’t even in the starting lineup. Kaupang put Williams in the game, and he ended up with 23 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists.

Cavaliers acquire New Mexico Thunderbirds, who move to Canton, Ohio

The Cleveland Cavaliers will own and operate their new NBA Development League franchise in Canton, Ohio. The announcement was made today by NBA Development League President Dan Reed, Cavaliers/Quicken Loans Arena President Len Komoroski, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant and Canton Mayor William J. Healy II. The Cavaliers acquired the former New Mexico Thunderbirds franchise, which has ceased operations, and will now become the 5th NBA team to currently own and operate their own NBA D-League affiliate, joining Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City and San Antonio. As owner/operators, the Cavaliers will have exclusive control over all basketball and business elements for the franchise.

“Having the ability to own and operate a D-League franchise in Canton once again illustrates our ownership’s outstanding commitment to creating a culture of success,” said Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant. “Player development is at the core of our process and being able to operate our own franchise so close to home will place us in the most strategic position to take an active part in the player development process.”

Jeff Lenchiner, the editor of InsideHoops.com, sees this as a positive move for the Cavs.

Entering its 11th season, the NBA Development League is the NBA’s official minor league. Canton becomes the 16th team in the league and will begin play in the upcoming 2011-12 season at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.

“We are thrilled to be the home of minor league basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is an incredible opportunity for the citizens of Canton to experience professional basketball in their hometown, and I am grateful that the Cavaliers recognized Canton as an ideal market for their next generation of basketball operations,” said Mayor Healy. “Thanks to the hard work of the Cavaliers, the NBADL, SMG, and the City of Canton, I believe that the Cavaliers have secured a fan base that is hungry to support minor league basketball for years to come.”

Last season, the Erie BayHawks were the Cavaliers’ D-League affiliate and that affiliation was shared with the Toronto Raptors. The New Mexico Thunderbirds served as the affiliate for the New Orleans Hornets and Orlando Magic.

“We’re very excited to welcome the Cleveland Cavaliers to a rapidly-expanding group of NBA teams realizing the advantages of an exclusive relationship with their NBA D-League affiliate,” said NBA D-League President Dan Reed. “The combination of supportive city leadership and an outstanding organization in the Cavs leads us to believe the future of the team in Canton is very bright.”

Leading the new Canton team’s local business operations as senior vice president and chief operating officer will be Scott Woodruff. Woodruff is a veteran of the Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena organization and spent the past two seasons with the American Hockey League’s Lake Erie Monsters as the vice president of ticket and corporate sales. The Monsters are part of the Dan Gilbert family of sports and entertainment interests. Business offices for the franchise will also be located in the Canton Memorial Civic Center.

“We are very excited and looking forward to a great partnership with the City of Canton, fans and the surrounding community,” said Cavaliers President Len Komoroski. “We have a strong connection with the Canton regional market and we are excited to further engage our fans with a first-class basketball and entertainment experience. We will be active in the community and will work hard to earn support from our fans here.”

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