Month: August 2013

Marquez Haynes goes from Wizards summer league team to Italy

Marquez Haynes, who was one of the few bright spots for the Wizards during Las Vegas summer league, has signed a two-year deal to play with Italian club Emporio Armani of Euroleague.

Haynes, a 6-3 combo guard from Texas-Arlington, showed an ability to score and create while playing with the Wizards when they went 2-3 in summer league play.

While he drew “significant interest” in Las Vegas, persons with knowledge of the situation told CSN Washington at the time, he took the sure thing in Italy rather than waiting for NBA training camps to start in late September.

Reported by J. Michael of CSN Washington

NBA plans to start testing players for HGH

Thanks to the ongoing talk in Major League Baseball about Biogenesis, the topic of performance-enhancing drugs has been thrust into the dialogue around the sports world for the past several months.

Much of that talk has centered around the use of human growth hormone (HGH), which is the latest PED sports leagues are trying to combat. That includes the NBA, which is in the process of figuring out the best way to implement HGH testing as part of its drug-testing program.

“One of the changes that we know we’ll be making to our current drug testing is the addition of HGH testing, which requires taking blood from the players,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver told The Post last week. “We want to make sure, on behalf of our players, as well, that’s it’s done in the proper way, and that we understand what are the appropriate baselines for a natural substance, like HGH, so we can detect where there are aberrations. That is something we’re very focused on.”

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

With Brett Brown becoming Sixers head coach, Michael Curry needs a new job

michael curry

With Brown now getting the job, it means that Michael Curry, who has overseen all on-court basketball activities since Collins’ departure, most likely will be looking for employment elsewhere. Curry was the associate head coach in each of Collins’ three seasons and had most recently coached the Sixers’ entry in the Orlando Pro Summer League last month. Curry, as well as assistants Jeff Capel and Aaron McKie, are all under contract for the upcoming season. While it seems likely that Brown will bring in his own coaching staff, it wouldn’t be surprising if McKie remained. The Temple product has been on staff here since 2007 and brings a knowledge and familiarity to the team and city that a new coach might covet.

“Brett was the good guy to Coach Pop’s [Popovich] bad guy a lot of times,” Rose said. “He was great at getting players to do what Pop wanted them to do, but delivered the message in a different way. He’s such a good guy. Manu [Ginobili] is a very intense guy, and Brett talked him off the ledge many times. He has a great way with players and with everybody. This is probably going to be a really good fit.”

Reported by Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News

Sacramento Kings pay city $1.4 million owed from 1997 loan agreement

sacramento kings

The new Kings ownership made good on a debt last week that was 16 years in the making.

Sacramento city officials announced Friday they had received $1.4 million in deferred development fees from the team that stems from the 1997 loan the Kings took out with the city.

Those fees were originally due last August and will be earmarked for public projects in North Natomas.

Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said the Maloof family, who sold the Kings in May to a group led by Silicon Valley software executive Vivek Ranadive, had inquired last year about paying the fees back over a 10-year period. The fees were later included as part of the sale agreement the Maloofs had to sell the Kings to a group in Seattle.

Reported by Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee

72-year-old Rod Thorn keeps on working

His title is NBA president of basketball operations — essentially, the No. 4 man in the league, replacing Stu Jackson — and his duties will be a bit different this go-round.

The reason is manpower and global reach: “When I left, we had maybe 11 or 12 people, and now … well, I haven’t counted them yet,” Thorn says. “But it involves all game operations, referees, scheduling, analytics and everything overseas, which has grown enormously. So it’s the same things, only a lot more of it.”

Yet, in some ways, it could be easier than the last time, when he spent hours a day watching videos of players gone wild, and being the arbiter in a daily game of crime and punishment.

“Nowadays,” Thorn says without amusement, “I think we have two or three people that just watch out for things like uniform violations.”

Reported by Dave D’Alessandro of the Newark Star-Ledger

Brett Brown praised by head coach of Hawks

76ers

Since Larry Brown left for Detroit after the 2002-03 season, the 76ers have tried seven different coaches to hold down the position. Seven coaches have been hired during the past 10 seasons, and seven have gone, from Randy Ayers to Doug Collins (with Chris Ford, Jim O’Brien, Maurice Cheeks, Tony DiLeo and Eddie Jordan in between). Cheeks lasted three seasons plus 23 games into a fourth. Collins had the second-longest tenure during that time, having stepped down in April after three seasons at the helm.

Yesterday, a source close to the situation confirmed to the Daily News that Brett Brown, who spent the past seven seasons on the bench as an assistant coach to Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, had reached an agreement in principle for a 4-year contract to become the eighth head coach in the past 11 seasons.

“He’s going to be a great coach, he’s really knowledgeable, has great energy, great vision at both ends of the court and a great way with players,” said Mike Budenholzer, who was an assistant with Brown in San Antonio before taking the Atlanta head coaching job in late May. “Players respect him. He’s demanding but they love him. He’s got a great sense of humor but he’s a great competitor, too. The competitive nature for Brett may be with his good nature, but he’s a tough, competitive dude and that’s more important to him than anything. In that city he’s a fit, because he’s blue-collar and he’s a tough dude. He’s a competitive person in every way, shape and form at every moment. At this level everyone is a competitor, but Brett has that extra level of competitiveness.”

Reported by Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News

Blake Ahearn signs basketball contract in Ukraine

Euroleague newcomer Budivelnik Kiev (in the Ukraine) signed combo guard Blake Ahearn, who has a shot to become the club’s go-to scorer. Ahearn (1.88 meters, 29 years old) is a well-traveled scorer, who has displayed his talents on three continents. He last played for Chinese club DongGuan New Century Leopards, for whom he averaged 23 points and 3.4 assists in 17 games last season. Ahearn has previously played in Europe for Estudiantes Madrid in Spain and Teramo Basket in Italy. The majority of his professional career has been in Ahearn’s native United States. He has played in the NBA for Miami, San Antonio and Utah and in the NBA D-League for Dakota, Austin, Bakersfield, Erie and Reno.

Reported by Euroleague.net

Jason Terry excited to play for Nets coach Jason Kidd

Jason Terry excited to play for Nets coach Jason Kidd

The player with perhaps the most interesting perspective on Jason Kidd as an NBA coach is new Nets guard Jason Terry, who just two years ago won a championship with Kidd as a backcourt mate with the Mavericks. Kidd will take over the Nets just months after being an active player with the Knicks, and there are concerns about whether he can lead a veteran team with championship aspirations.

Terry does not have those concerns.

“We were in about a two-hour film session in the playoffs in Portland and we couldn’t figure out one coverage in the zone,” Terry recalls. “J-Kidd was finally like, ‘We’re going to figure it out. Let me handle it. Coach [Rick] Carlisle, trust me, we’re going to get it done.’ That game we used a zone and ended up winning and that was an example right there that he was a coach and ready for the moment.”

Terry said the first thing he did when the trade was consummated was send a text to Kidd, requesting he eventually save a spot on his staff for Terry, who has coaching aspirations.

Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe