June 2013 – Page 18 – NBA Blog

Jason Collins marches in Boston gay pride parade

NBA veteran Jason Collins has marched in Boston’s gay pride parade with Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III, his onetime roommate at Stanford University.

Collins wore a T-shirt that read #BeTrue when he joined thousands of marchers Saturday.

In April, Collins became the first active player in one of the four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. He wrote in an article for Sports Illustrated that the decision to go public came when Kennedy marched in last year’s parade and Collins didn’t feel that he could join him.

Reported by the Associated Press

LeBron rethinking game plan against Spurs

Coming off a Game 1 loss when he saw his triple-double go to waste and was outdueled in the fourth quarter by Tony Parker, James knew he’d be hit from all sides about his approach for Sunday. The basic underlying tone was, why was he so content in the opener to set up misfiring teammates right until the final gun, rather than “go Cleveland’’ on the Spurs and try to win the game all by himself?

But he wasn’t about to tip his shooting hand.

“We’ll see what type of game plan I come out with,’’ he said. “It will be dumb of me to reveal it today.’’ …

He doesn’t need to reveal anything to anyone, but he does need to figure out how to solve a defense that is entirely different than the one that the Pacers presented in the Eastern Conference finals. Dwyane Wade talked about the need to “crack the code’’ in this next game to avoid a 2-0 series crater, and the one who that really falls on is James.

Reported by Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News

76ers may not pick new coach until after NBA draft

According to two sources with knowledge of the 76ers’ search for a coach, Sam Hinkie, president of basketball operations and general manager, probably won’t name a coach until after the June 27 draft.

One Houston-based source said Hinkie “will probably find a coach after the draft.” The source also said that Hinkie believes that the coach “is secondary in the process because [Hinkie] will have an idea of what type of players” the Sixers will need to select.

The Sixers have the 11th pick in the draft.

Reported by John N. Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Ricky Ledo says he can help Knicks

Ricky Ledo, one of the top recruits out of high school a year ago, spent all of last season at Providence unable to play because of eligibility issues with the NCAA. So, in order to show off his skills, Ledo has been doing somewhat of a barnstorming tour around the NBA’s practice facilities this spring, as curious teams see what the 6-foot-6 shooting guard can do.

“I just [want to] show them that I belong and that I am more than capable of playing at this level,” Ledo said yesterday after working out for the Knicks at their practice facility. “Especially with me not playing [last season], showing I can compete and hold my own against anyone.” …

Ledo said he thinks if he winds up in New York, he immediately will be able to give the Knicks help as a shooter off the bench — with a chance to develop into more than that.

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

Unclear if Larry Bird, who stepped away last year, will rejoin the Pacers

Larry Bird’s future with the Pacers remains in limbo, his decision on whether to return as team president a mystery even to the man he would replace.

Donnie Walsh, who returned to the role last summer after Bird decided to step away, last talked with Bird shortly before the playoffs began and didn’t learn a thing about his plans. “I told him he should come back, but he didn’t really give me an answer, so I said that’s the last time I was going to ask,” Walsh said Friday. “And it was.”

Bird, the NBA’s Executive of the Year in 2012, has lived in Naples, Fla. and Nashville, Ind. for the past year. He attended a Pacers’ practice early in the season and a game against Cleveland on April 9, but otherwise has been a ghost hovering over the team he mostly built.

He has been rumored to be a candidate to take over the basketball operations of the Sacramento Kings, who are under new ownership.

Reported by Mark Montieth of Pacers.com

Kevin Durant may sign with Jay-Z and Roc Nation Sports

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant is only 24 years old, yet for years already recognized as a top NBA superstar. He’s one of the league’s top scorers, a leader, and his future is bright. The sky is the limit.

And having the opportunity to be the agency that represents him is a big deal.

According to Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal via Twitter, Durant is “leaving Landmark Sports. Sources expect him to join Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports.”

If this happens, landing Durant would be a huge win for Roc Nation Sports, which is just beginning to enter the world of representing NBA athletes.

Jay-Z still owns a sliver of the Brooklyn Nets, and needs to sell his shares before he can start representing NBA players. It’s not yet known when that will happen.

Mark Cuban funding research on flopping

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is funding research into the practice of flopping.

Cuban is paying Southern Methodist University $100,000 to conduct an 18-month study to investigate whether or not video or other motion capture techniques can differentiate flops from genuine player collisions.

“The research findings could conceivably contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines,” SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand said in a statement.

Cuban wrote on Twitter: “Is it a flop? Let the scientists figure it out . im paying for the research to find out.”

Meanwhile, NBA commissioner David Stern has requested the league to expand its anti-flopping rules.

Reported by the Sports Xchange

Playoffs not fun unless you win, says D-Wade

He is playing on basketball’s greatest stage in front of adoring crowds and a global TV audience, but for Dwyane Wade there is little joy to be found at this late stage of a grueling season.

The 31-year-old Miami Heat shooting guard knows all too well the rigors of playoff basketball as he is competing in his third consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals.

“Playoffs ain’t fun, man. I’m sorry to bust anyone on the outside’s bubble. As a player in the playoffs, you have no joy until it’s over and you won,” Wade, a two-time NBA champion whose Heat trail the best-of-seven Finals 1-0, said on Friday.

“If you don’t win, you have no joy for a while. So for us it’s the grind every day as a team of trying to win the series, trying to win four games in the series.”

Reported by Simon Evans of Reuters

Trail Blazers continue NBA predraft workouts

The Trail Blazers on Friday continued their predraft workouts, evaluating six more players at the practice facility in Tualatin.

The group of prospects included multiple players with NBA bloodlines (Glen Rice, Jr., a 6-foot-5 guard from the D-League and Larry Drew II, a 6-2 guard from UCLA) and another with ties to Oregon (E.J. Singler, a 6-6 forward from Oregon). The rest of the workout included: Ian Clark, a 6-3 guard from Belmont; Ed Daniel, a 6-7 forward from Murray State; and Trevor Mbakwe, a 6-8 forward from Minnesota.

Reported by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian

Playoffs: Chris Bosh struggling with shot lately

Chris Bosh was 6 for 10 from 2-point range, 0 for 4 from 3-point range, including a miss from long range that would have gotten the Heat within one point with about a minute remaining.

The Heat have no problem with Bosh taking the long shot, though the Spurs were clearly trying to ensure that the likes of LeBron James, Ray Allen and Mike Miller did not have any good looks from 3-point land in the final minutes. Bosh was alone, the shot missed, and the Heat wound up falling in Game 1.

”No mattter what the situation is I have confidence in myself and I know my teammates have confidence in me,” Bosh said. ”Every shot I shoot I expect to go in. Some do, some don’t.”

He’s now shooting 14 for 50 – 28 percent – in his last five games.

Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press