November 2011 – Page 5 – NBA Blog

Austin Rivers is a work in progress

The Duke Blue Devils are 5-0 after a hard-fought win against Tennessee in the opening round of the Maui Invitational. Mike Krzyzewski now has a historic 905 wins and counting.

But for Krzyzewski’s star freshman, Austin Rivers, things are still a work in progress. Rivers led all Duke scorers with 18 points Monday in Maui. But it was an inefficient 18. He shot 6-for-15 from the field, made critical turnovers and passed on wide-open jump shots for contested shots at the basket.

Four games into his career, he sometimes looks like the star he was billed to be. Other times like a former high school stud who suddenly finds himself in over his head at the next level.

Rivers’ inconsistency was on display for a huge contingent of NBA GMs and scouts to see. He started the game by missing five of his first six shots. He drove wildly into the teeth of the defense. He looked to shoot every time he touched the ball.

And just as quickly, as scouts started to shake their heads and jot down derogatory notes in their iPads, Rivers exploded. First it was a pair of 3-pointers toward the end of the first half. Later, in the second half, he hit a couple of beautiful floaters in the lane.

— Reported by Chad Ford of ESPN.com

InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner says: It’s too early to really judge Rivers or any other freshman one way or another. It’s certainly fine to start to form an opinion, but we will learn a lot more in the coming weeks and months.

76ers saying goodbye to mascot Hip Hop

Seeing as how there is no actual basketball to talk about during the NBA lockout, this qualifies as big Sixers news. After receiving hundreds of communications from fans, nearly all of them advocating the end of a symbol of a different era, the team’s new ownership will announce today that the never-beloved mascot has been put out to pasture, literally.

To spare the sensibilities of the one or two children who weren’t scared to death by the rabbit, the team will say that Hip Hop fell in love, married and moved away to start a family. Apparently, it either was that or announce that they were going to boil him in a pot on a really big stove in a remake of “Fatal Attraction.”

A decade ago, with Allen Iverson as the face of the franchise and Pat Croce rappelling the Walt Whitman Bridge as the out-there owner, Hip Hop arrived as a replacement for another mascot, Big Shot (whose demise wasn’t exactly mourned, either, if memory serves).

— Reported by Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Inquirer

InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner says: No word on if mascot Hip Hop will now cross over and become R&B.

NBA players withdraw California complaint against NBA, move legal fight to Minnesota

The complaint in the lawsuit filed by David Boies on behalf of NBA players has been voluntarily dismissed by Boies’ firm.

“We assume that Mr. Boies was not happy with either the reassignment of the case from Oakland to San Francisco or the fact that the new judge scheduled the first conference for March 2012,” said Rick Buchanan, NBA Executive Vice President and General Counsel. “This is consistent with Mr. Boies’ inappropriate shopping for a forum that he can only hope will be friendlier to his baseless legal claims.”

According to the Associated Press, “NBA players have filed an amended federal lawsuit against the league in Minnesota. Locked-out players filed class-action antitrust lawsuits against the league last Tuesday in California and Minnesota. But the California complaint was withdrawn Monday and the cases put together in Minnesota.”

Cedric Ceballos hospitalized after heart attacks

Former NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos has been hospitalized after what his publicist called “a series of small heart attacks.”

Publicist Crystal Guy says Ceballos was scheduled to undergo surgery in Phoenix.

Ceballos averaged 21.3 points per game in 11 NBA seasons. In recent years, he served as the on-court master of ceremonies at Phoenix Suns home games.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Man arrested after trying to punch Rajon Rondo in a club

On the eve of a charity basketball game he hosted at Harvard University, Rondo was involved in an incident at a nightclub in downtown Lowell. Eric Valarezo, 31, of Haverhill, was charged with disorderly conduct, when he allegedly attempted to punch Rondo, who was exiting the club. No one was injured in the incident. Valarezo is expected to be arraigned today in Lowell District Court…

According to The Sun newspaper in Lowell, officer Michael Kandrotas noticed a scuffle around Rondo and his entrourage — including Atlanta’s Josh Smith, Memphis’ Rudy Gay and former Celtics backup guard Nate Robinson — as patrons exited Brian’s Ivy Hall. According to the paper, police and co-owner Kevin Hayhurst said members of Rondo’s group wrestled Valarezo to the ground after the alleged punch attempt.

— Reported by the Boston Herald

LeBron, Wade, Melo, CP3 set up 4-game Homecoming Tour

LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony are going home — and bringing friends with them.

With no end to the NBA lockout in sight, the All-Star group is set to lead a four-game “Homecoming Tour,” starting with a matchup in James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio on Dec. 1, followed by a Dec. 4 game in New Orleans, a Dec. 7 game in Chicago and culminating with a Dec. 10 contest in East Rutherford, N.J.

James, Paul, Wade and Anthony are committed to play in all four games of the tour, which was announced early Monday. Proceeds from the tour — which will include events such as food drives, educational outreach programs and clinics in each city — will benefit the four headlining players’ charitable foundations, and tour sponsor Google Plus will stream each game live.

“It’ll be very neat,” Wade told The Associated Press. “First of all, this is something we talked about doing a long time ago as players. To have an opportunity to go to these different cities that we’re from, to bring basketball to them at a high level and also have a charitable component in each city and to be with the guys, it’ll be cool. It’s something we’re looking forward to.”

Tickets for the first three games go on sale Tuesday. Tickets for the East Rutherford game will be on sale Wednesday.

— Reported by the Associated Press

James, Wade and Bosh had initially been listed to participate in a world tour of NBA stars, which also was to include Paul and Anthony. That tour was to include stops in Puerto Rico, London, Macau and Australia before it was cancelled.

“It’s not anything that I’ve heard about since then,” Wade said, with the change of plans to a domestic tour. “I was excited about the opportunity to go, obviously to play basketball with some of my friends, some of the best players in the game, to travel to different places and given them kind of what we get over here, the excitement of the game. It’s unfortunate.”

Instead, the passports are off and the domestic games are on.

“You could see, I was there to the end,” Wade said. “I wasn’t going to pull out of it, I was going to keep going and I wanted to play.”

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Julius Erving memorabilia auction nets $3.5 million

SCP Auctions says more than 140 items from Julius Erving’s personal collection sold for a record $3.5 million. The auction ran from October until Sunday.

Among the highlights: His 1974 New Jersey Nets ABA championship ring sold for $460,471; 1983 76ers championship rings sold for $244,240; 1983 All-Star game MVP trophy ($115,242); final game worn jersey from May 3, 1987 ($88,826); and 1974-75 ABA MVP trophy ($173,10).

SCP said the Nets championship ring set a record price for a sports ring.

Erving told The Associated Press last month he’s never been a “hoarder or collector,” and planned to donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the Salvation Army.

— Reported by the Associated Press

J.R. Smith injures knee in Chinese basketball season-opener

Nuggets guard J.R. Smith suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury while playing for his Chinese team Sunday.

Smith signed to play for Zhejiang, a Chinese Basketball Association team, during the NBA lockout. Sunday’s game was the CBA regular season-opening game for Smith.

— Reported by the Denver Post

InsideHoops.com November 22 update: It appears the injury was extremely minor and Smith will be fine.

Former dunk champ Dee Brown says he can still throw down

Brown, who is now an assistant for Pistons coach Lawrence Frank, just laughed when asked about his dunking prowess.

“Yes, I can,” he said Thursday night at the Palace during an event where needy families were fed. “I work out every day and I still dunk.”

But the 42-year-old won’t be winning dunk titles any time soon.

“I always like to tell people (I used) to have hops, but now I just have hopes,” he said with another laugh. “I can still get up a little bit.”

— Reported by Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press

Kevin Love turns down Besiktas offer

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love informed Besiktas of Turkey on Sunday that he’s turning down its offer to sign with the Istanbul-based club and team up with New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams.

“I didn’t feel it was the right decision for me at this time,” Love told ESPN.com.

Love, though, said playing abroad if the lockout drags on “is still very much an option” he’s considering.

NTV Spor of Turkey reported Friday that Love and Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng were Besiktas’ top two targets in its search for an elite forward to play alongside Williams.

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com