Day: September 3, 2011

Miami Heat players will probably work out together soon

Chris Bosh

With the awful NBA lockout continuing to destroy humanity, players are likely to start gathering together with friends or teammates to train and keep each other on top of their games. It makes sense for players, sitting around bored, to round teammates up and make up for what they may miss if NBA preseason gets partially or fully wiped out.

Here’s the Associated Press reporting on Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat:

Chris Bosh enjoyed just about every second of his jampacked offseason.

Nonetheless, he’s ready to go back to work.

Bosh said Saturday that he expects the Miami Heat to reconvene sometime soon, even though the NBA lockout has entered its third month with no apparent ending in sight. This would ordinarily be the time of year where most players start ramping up workouts anyway, and Bosh said he will be ready whether training camps begin on time or not.

“We’re going to make some plans. We’re going to plan to do something,” Bosh said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. “I think just getting around each other, I think it’s important as far as team-building is concerned and just getting something going. We’re pretty much still in the process of doing that.”

I would think that by late September, captains/leaders of most NBA teams should step up and make this happen.

New Philadelphia 76ers ownership group chooses a CEO

76ers Practice
Though the immediate future of the NBA is being played out in a Manhattan hotel as owners and players try to iron out a new collective bargaining agreement, some business must carry on.

The 76ers’ new ownership group, headed by leveraged buyout specialist Joshua Harris, has hired noted travel industry executive Adam M. Aron as the team’s chief executive officer, the Daily News learned yesterday.

Aron, 56, and Harris have history. Aron is a senior operating partner at Apollo Global Management, which Harris co-founded. Aron was born in Philadelphia and attended Abington High (class of 1972). Harris grew up here.

Aron previously was CEO of Vail Resorts, the second-largest ski resort operator worldwide, and president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line, then the fourth-largest cruise company in the world. He also was senior vice president for marketing for United Airlines and for the Hyatt Hotels Corp. After Abington, Aron attended Harvard, where he graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in government and earned an MBA with distinction from the Business School.

— Reported by Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News

Former NBA, MSU player Jay Vincent sentenced to prison

Former NBA player and Michigan State star Jay Vincent was sentenced Friday to more than five years in prison and ordered to pay more than $110,000 to the Internal Revenue Service for his part in a fraud case involving thousands of people who paid to become certified home inspectors.

Prosecutors say Vincent and an associate defrauded 20,000 people out of more than $1 million by charging them to become inspectors through a business called Foreclosure Bank Inspection. No inspectors were hired, and the business had no contracts with banks, according to the government.

Vincent, 52, pleaded guilty to fraud and tax charges nearly a year ago. He apologized Friday in federal court in Grand Rapids, Mich., for his actions. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker sentenced Vincent to 5 1/2 years on a mail fraud charge involving the victims and three years on a tax fraud charge. The sentences are to run concurrently. Vincent could be eligible for time off for good behavior that could slightly reduce his sentence.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Knicks players schedule October minicamp workouts

Amare Stoudemire

If the NBA and NBPA can’t come to an agreement in time to preserve the regularly-scheduled training camp, Amar’e Stoudemire has organized a minicamp at the IMG Basketball facility in Bradenton, Fla. The camp is scheduled to run from Oct. 19 to Nov. 6.

According to several players, the Knicks’ captain sent out emails about the plan to all 10 players under contract for 2011-12, plus draft picks Iman Shumpert (who is already working out at IMG) and Josh Harrellson and a few free agents from the 2010-11 roster. Center Jerome Jordan signed with a team in Slovenia (with an NBA out), so he will likely not be available to attend a workout unless the lockout is resolved.

Anthony, looking muscular and well-conditioned, poured in 27 points in the Melo-Goodman game and declared himself “back”. He had been dealing with an elbow injury last season.

Speaking of back, Stoudemire recently said his feels “much better.”

— Reported by Alan Hahn of New York Newsday