Day: June 20, 2011

Nuggets exercise fourth-year contract option on Ty Lawson

ty lawson

The Denver Nuggets have exercised the fourth-year option on guard Ty Lawson’s contract, team Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri announced today.

Lawson appeared in 80 games (31 starts) for the Nuggets during the 2010-11 season, averaging 11.7 points, 4.7 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.00 steals in 26.3 minutes. In his 31 starts, Lawson averaged 14.6 points, 6.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.35 steals in 32.1 minutes.

Lawson was acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for a future first-round pick in a draft night trade on June 25, 2009.

The former North Carolina Tar Heel was selected in the first round (18th overall) of the 2009 NBA Draft and has averaged 10.2 points, 4.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 23.6 minutes in two seasons with Denver.

Nuggets extend qualifying offers to Afflalo, Chandler, Forbes

arron afflalo

The Denver Nuggets have made qualifying offers to restricted free agents Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler and Gary Forbes, Nuggets Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri announced today. Per team policy, terms of the offer were not released.

Afflalo, in his second season with the Nuggets, posted career highs in nearly every statistical category in 2010-11, including points (12.6), rebounds (3.6), assists (2.4), field-goal percentage (.498), three-point percentage (.423) and minutes (33.7).

In 21 games (19 starts) with the Nuggets after being acquired from New York on Feb. 22, Chandler averaged 12.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.14 blocks in 30.6 minutes.

Forbes, who made the Nuggets roster as a training camp invitee, finished his rookie season with averages of 5.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 63 games (11 starts).

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.

VH1 Basketball Wives Los Angeles

If you enjoy seeing the stars of VH1 Basketball Wives yell and scream at each other while attending parties and navigating through their lives, InsideHoops.com has good news for you.

VH1 is expanding their “Basketball Wives” franchise with a new series set in Los Angeles featuring the wives and girlfriends of players both the Lakers and their cross-town rivals, the Clippers. VH1 has also given the greenlight to a new dating series, “Siggy Flicker” (working title) featuring the dynamic matchmaker Siggy Flicker and her match-making service in New York teaching the lovelorn to be dating powerhouses.

VH1 Basketball Wives Los Angeles premieres on Monday, August 29 at 8pm ET/PT.

Elbow throwing, trash talking and in-your-face action: forget the NBA, we’re talking about their wives! (Or ex-wives. Or girlfriends. Or ex-girlfriends. Or something!)

The VH1 Basketball Wives L.A. cast includes: Kimsha Artest (wife of Ron Artest, Los Angeles Lakers), Gloria Govan (fiancée of Matt Barnes, Los Angeles Lakers), Laura Govan (sister of Gloria Govan) and Jackie Christie (wife of Doug Christie, former player for the Los Angeles Clippers) and Imani Showalter (fiancée of Stephen Jackson, Charlotte Bobcats) as well as others.

This 10 episode, hour-long series will dive into the real-life locker room of these leading ladies, giving viewers a never-before-seen look at what it takes to live in La La Land and be connected to a famous professional athlete. For the most part, these women live the life with the best cars, biggest mansions and hottest bling but living the high life is not all glamour and often there is a price to pay. Cameras will follow these women as they attempt to juggle their relationships, infidelity issues, children and friendships while trying to find the perfect balance between supporting their families and realizing their own career ambitions. “Basketball Wives LA” brings a full court press to VH1 Monday, August 29 at 8 PM ET/PT. InsideHoops.com will keep you updated if there are changes to the premiere episode.

Shed Media is producing the series. Executive producing for Shed Media are Nick Emmerson, Jennifer O’Connell, Sean Rankine and Alex Demyanenko. Tom Huffman is a consulting producer. Shaunie O’Neal is an executive producer. Executive producing for VH1 are Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes and Noah Pollack.

VH1 Basketball Wives Los Angeles Video Clip Intro

Pau Gasol wants to stay with Lakers

AFP reports:

pau gasol

Spanish forward Pau Gasol, who has been linked to a move to the Minnesota Timberwolves, said Monday he wants to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers for “as many years as I can”.

The Timberwolves have reportedly been strongly pursuing Gasol to pair with Barcelona guard Ricky Rubio, who will play for the NBA side next season.

“My desire is to stay with the Lakers. I don’t have control over it but I want to stay with the Lakers for as many years as I can to be able to remain eligible for the maximum possible championships,” Gasol told reporters in the northeastern city of Alicante.

George Hill basketball camp

Spurs guard George Hill is hosting George Hill’s Rising Stars Week with the Spurs & Silver Stars Basketball Camps this week at the University of the Incarnate Word gymnasium.

Hill will be running drills and interacting with campers to teach them the finer points of basketball during the afternoon session.

The Spurs & Silver Stars Basketball Camps develop boys and girls ages 7-18 to be better basketball players by teaching basketball fundamentals and practice drills, situational learning, positive values and encouraging fun.

Tina Charles and Candice Dupree rock WNBA this week

Tina Charles of the Connecticut Sun and Candice Dupree of the Phoenix Mercury, were named the WNBA’s Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for regular season games played Monday, June 13 through Sunday, June 19.

While leading the Sun to a 2-0 record, Charles ranked first in the league in scoring with 28.5 ppg, and among Eastern Conference players, ranked first in field goal percentage (.632), and third in rebounds (11.0 rpg).  This marks Charles’s second Player of the Week award in her career.

On June 16, Charles scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 79-71 win over the Washington Mystics.  Three days later, she also recorded a career-high 31 points, while tying a franchise-record with 13 field goals, to go along with 12 rebounds in notching her second consecutive double-double in an 83-68 victory over the Chicago Sky.  In her second season, the 2010 WNBA Rookie of the Year is averaging 20.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.

On the week, Dupree led the league with 15.0 rebounds per game.  She also recorded her third consecutive double-double, the longest such streak of her career, which ties for third in the WNBA this season.  Among Western Conference players, she ranked second in blocks (2.0 bpg) and sixth in scoring (19.5 ppg).

Her week was highlighted by setting a franchise record with 18 rebounds and scoring 21 points in a 93-89 victory over the Indiana Fever on June 19.  It was the second 20-15 performance of her career, both coming with the Mercury.  Dupree also scored 18 points and registered 12 rebounds, along with a block on June 17 against San Antonio.

The honor is Dupree’s fourth Player of the Week award in her career.

Other candidates for WNBA Players of the Week were Los Angeles’s Ebony Hoffman, Minnesota’s Seimone Augustus, San Antonio’s Sophia Young, Seattle’s Sue Bird, Tulsa’s Ivory Latta, and Washington’s Nicky Anosike.

Surprise Dirk Nowitzki birthday party

Marc Stein of ESPN reports:

dirk nowitzki

Dirk Nowitzki’s weeklong run of championship celebrations was capped by a surprise birthday party thrown for him Sunday night by girlfriend Jessica Olsson and lifelong coach/adviser Holger Geschwindner at the Dallas wine club Graileys.

The private event to commemorate Nowitzki’s 33rd birthday — dubbed “Dinner For 41” — featured exactly 41 guests, including Mavericks teammate Brian Cardinal, Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and various team staffers and close friends. Also in attendance were former Stanley Cup-winning Dallas Star Mike Modano and three award-winning scientists who are also Mavs fans.

As part of the evening’s program, Nowitzki was presented with a Larry O’Brien championship trophy cake and treated to performances from a Dallas Symphony Orchestra string quartet (Christopher Adkins, Diane Kitzman, Gary Levinson and Ellen Rose) as well as Dallas-based comedian Paul Varghese.

Pistons interview Mike Woodson today, Bill Laimbeer Wednesday

Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News reports:

mike woodson

The Pistons’ coaching search goes on, and Mike Woodson is in town Monday to meet with team president Joe Dumars.

Woodson, the former Atlanta Hawks coach and one-time Pistons assistant, is considered the front-runner for the job due to his success with the Hawks…

The Pistons have already interviewed Lawrence Frank and Kelvin Sampson. Minnesota Timberwolves assistant and former Piston Bill Laimbeer will interview for the position Wednesday.

Mavs assistant Dwane Casey likely the new Raptors head coach

Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News reports:

It’s been a whirlwind the last several days for Dallas Mavericks’ lead assistant Dwane Casey.

Last week, the Mavericks claimed their first title. Casey helped celebrate with all of his team once they got back to Dallas later in the week.

And Casey also had what appears to be a successful job interview with Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo.

Enough that the Dallas Morning News is reporting that Casey will be named the Raptors’ new head coach,  perhaps as soon as later this afternoon.

Casey interviewed with the Raptors twice over the last several days. He apparently has beaten out Boston lead assistant and former New Jersey head coach Lawrence Frank.