Day: February 26, 2013

Bulls forward Taj Gibson out with knee sprain

Taj Gibson is expected to miss at least two weeks with a sprained left knee, forcing the Chicago Bulls to play without one of their key reserves at a pivotal point in the season.

Gibson stepped on the foot of Oklahoma City guard Reggie Jackson in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 102-72 loss to the Thunder and knew something wasn’t right almost immediately.

”The first thing I did was grab my knee,” he said. ”I was in shock because I felt great. I went up for a regular shot block and I came down and it just gave way.”

Gibson had an MRI and was diagnosed with a sprained medial collateral ligament. He said doctors are planning to take another look to make sure there are no small tears.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Shane Battier out Tuesday with tight hamstring

Heat forward Shane Battier was held out of Miami’s game against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night because of tightness in his right hamstring.

It’s the seventh game Battier has missed this season. He missed three games in late November and early December with knee soreness, and then sat out three more games in January with hamstring tightness.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the team wants ”to be proactive” when it comes to Battier.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Derek Fisher hopes for championship with Thunder

derek fisher

Five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher isn’t planning on his latest stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder being his last chance to play in the league. He has just one goal in mind and he’ll wear a reminder of it on his jersey in every game.

Fisher chose No. 6 to wear on his uniform, to represent his quest for a sixth NBA title. He won five alongside Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers and for the second straight season will join the Thunder for the stretch run to try and help Kevin Durant win his first.

“It symbolizes something for me in terms of No. 6 but it also symbolizes for me the reason why I’m here to be a part of this team and that’s to help get No. 1,” Fisher said Tuesday after his first practice.

Fisher wore No. 37 last season to reflect his age and deliver a message that he could still play after getting traded away by the Lakers. He wasn’t offered the chance to return to Oklahoma City during the offseason, but he was signed Monday as a free agent after the Thunder traded away third-string point guard Eric Maynor.

Reported by the Associated Press

Dennis Rodman on diplomacy mission to North Korea

Talk about an odd choice.

Dennis Rodman is in North Korea as an ambassador for sports diplomacy.

The flamboyant, basketball hall-of-famer arrived on Tuesday in Pyongyang with VICE television and three members of the Harlem Globetrotters for a news program on North Korea that will be aired by HBO later this year.

The free-spirited, hard-partying, heavily tatooed, five-time NBA champion sticks out like a sore thumb in the staid, buttoned-down dictatorship.

But Rodman and VICE said he will run a basketball camp for children and play in a game with North Korea’s top basketball players.

“Is sending the Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman to the DPRK strange? In a word, yes,” VICE founder Shane Smith told the Associated Press.

“But finding common ground on the basketball court is a beautiful thing.”

Reported by Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun

Sacramento City Council to consider different deal on Kings arena than last time

Sacramento’s new plan to finance a downtown sports arena may wind up being vastly different than the deal reached last year between the city and the owners of the Sacramento Kings.

City officials said Monday they aren’t starting from scratch in their quest to develop a financing plan for an arena, but acknowledged in a staff report to the City Council that last year’s plan “and all its detail will likely change in this scenario.”

The City Council will be asked tonight to give top city officials the go-ahead to begin formal arena negotiations with a private investment group interested in buying the Kings and keeping them in Sacramento. The council is also being asked to commit $150,000 to pay consultants and attorneys to represent the city.

At the moment, the council still hasn’t officially been briefed on whom the city will be negotiating with. It’s widely known, however, that Mayor Kevin Johnson has been talking to Southern California billionaire Ron Burkle and 24-Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov.

Reported by Ryan Lillis, Tony Bizjak and Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee

Mike Krzyzewski will not continue to coach USA Basketball

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski will not return to coach USA Basketball after the Blue Devils’ season, he said Tuesday.

Talking in a phone interview with ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning”, Krzyzewski said USA Basketball will likely name his successor this summer in preparation for the 2014 world championships in Madrid.

“I’ve loved, loved, loved, and it’s been an honor being with the USA Basketball team,” Krzyzewski said. “And to coach the team and work with [chairman and president Jerry Colangelo] for seven years has been marvelous.

“And we’re in a good spot,” Krzyzewski added. “We need to keep building.”

— Reported by ESPN.com

Beno Udrih is thrilled to be with the Orlando Magic

beno udrih

In Orlando, Udrih already has a comfort level with coach Jacque Vaughn, who was his teammate in 2006-07 with the San Antonio Spurs.

“I’ve been here three days, and I’ve already felt more at home than I did in Milwaukee for a year and a half,” Udrih said Monday.

“It was just a bad situation there. I’m a professional and I’m a man, so I like to be told straight-up what they expect from me. So, in Milwaukee, that never happened. They were saying, ‘Yeah, yeah, we know. We’ve got to play you a little bit more.’ But it never happened. So when I did get into the game I didn’t know what they actually wanted to do, so I was just trying to find it myself, and I never did.”

“I wanted a change. I wanted a new start, so I’m really happy to be here. I know Jacque and J.B. [James Borrego], the assistant coach. It’s just a really exciting moment for me and my wife.”

— Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel

Sebastian Telfair is content to get out of Phoenix, come to Raptors

sebastian telfair

Dating all the way back to the franchise’s expansion draft, when B.J. Armstrong said he would prefer not to play in Toronto, there has always been a concern with the Raptors that players did not want to play for them.

Well, Sebastian Telfair, acquired before Thursday’s trade deadline, is happy to be a Raptor. He has already seen dysfunction this season.

“This is my ninth year in the league so I definitely don’t want to go through anything like we were going through in Phoenix,” Telfair, who will suit up for his first game as a Raptor on Monday against Washington, said. “You’ve got a goal to win and if you’re not winning you at least want to be out there competing at the highest level. We weren’t doing that over there in Phoenix this year. I’m happy to be a part of a team that got a goal for themselves and night in and night out they’ve got something to achieve.”

Indeed, the Suns are one of the most depressing teams in the league. They are last in the Western Conference, have a roster that is low on talent and have gone through a coaching change.

— Reported by Eric Koreen of the National Post

Amare Stoudemire OK with 30 minutes per game limit

amare stoudemire

With Amar’e Stoudemire continuing to play well since his Jan. 1 return from knee surgery, the question has intensified: Why are his minutes still maxed out at 30?

That was the feeling after Tuesday’s practice as Stoudemire was coming off his best performance of the season — a season-high 22 points on 9-for-10 shooting in the Knicks’ win over the 76ers on Sunday night.

But Mike Woodson remained adamant that 30 is the time limit — a decision he said has been made by the team’s medical staff — and that is fine by Stoudemire.

“I have no problem with that,” the power forward said. “You can be very productive in 30 minutes and so that’s my motto right now — to really come out and be aggressive and efficient in 30 minutes. I think it’s more so just about playing smart basketball offensively.”

Woodson said the playing-time restriction will only benefit Stoudemire down the road.

— Reported by Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York