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A funeral is planned Friday in Norcross for NBA veteran Dan Roundfield.
The former Atlanta Hawk spent 11 seasons in the NBA and had three consecutive All-Star seasons. He drowned Aug. 6 off the Caribbean island of Aruba while helping his wife as she struggled in rough water. He was 59.
The Hawks announced that his funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Norcross. The service is open to the public.
— Reported by the AP via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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So let’s begin this exercise with the known, or at least what we suspect to be the known: The five starters will be Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman. There was some early politically correct whispering within the organization that Beaubois would compete with Collison for the starting job, but that is more likely wishful thinking. President of basketball operations Donnie Nelson has said Collison is “penciled” in as the starter.
Those figuring to have clearly defined backup roles include: Delonte West, Elton Brand and Vince Carter.
Those figuring to have less defined backup roles include: Dahntay Jones, Rodrigue Beaubois and Brandan Wright.
— Reported by Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas
The teams owned by the Kroenke family, including the Nuggets, are donating $100,000 to benefit the victims of the two tragedies that have struck Colorado this summer – the July 20 theater shootings and the rampant wildfires.
“On behalf of the Kroenke family and KSE, we would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by these tragedies,” said KSE President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Martin in a statement. “We feel privileged to be part of this wonderful community and it is our responsibility to help in this time of need.”
In the Pepsi Center regular-season openers of the Nuggets and Avalanche, KSE will honor the victims, the victims’ families and first responders.
— Reported by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post
The Cleveland Cavaliers have named Koby Altman Pro Personnel Manager, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.
In his role as Pro Personnel Manager, Altman will coordinate the team’s domestic professional scouting efforts and will assist General Manager Chris Grant and Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin with other player personnel related matters.
Altman, 29, joins the Cavaliers from Columbia University, where he served as an assistant coach for the past two seasons, while also leading Columbia’s developmental basketball program.
In addition to his duties at Columbia over the past two seasons, Altman has extensive experience with the USA Basketball program. In the summer of 2010, he served as the Operations Manager for USA Basketball’s Under-17 team at the inaugural FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Hamburg, Germany. That 17-and-under squad won the first gold medal to ever be awarded for that age group and featured three players selected among the top 10 in the 2012 NBA Draft. In 2009, he assisted Team USA’s 19-and-under team in the FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand. That squad also won the gold, its first in that age group since 1991.
Prior to joining Columbia, Altman spent the 2009-10 season at Southern Illinois as a graduate assistant after earning his master’s degree in sport management at UMASS-Amherst, where he also coached for two seasons and helped guide the team to a 48-11 record. He played collegiately at Middlebury College, where he was a three-year starter at point guard.
The season prior, the Sixers finished 25th out of the NBA’s 30 teams in average home attendance, drawing 14,751 a night. That figure was good enough for dead last in percentage of arena capacity filled. Believe it or not, those numbers were an improvement from the season before that, when the team drew just 14,224 per game and finished not last, but second to last in percentage of capacity.
After the league settled a frustrating lockout and began a condensed season last December, the Sixers jumped out to a most unexpected and welcome 16-6 start to lead the Atlantic Division. Granted, the team lulled badly shortly thereafter, coming back to the pack — and Earth, for that matter — as the season wore on, but its performance was good enough to make a difference in ticket sales. The Sixers jumped from 25th to 14th in the warm body count last season, accounting for 17,502 a night.
— Reported by Nick Menta of CSN Philly
The Detroit Pistons announced today that the club has signed 2012 second-round draft selection Khris Middleton to a contract.
Middleton, who was selected as an early-entry candidate with the 39th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, played three seasons at Texas A&M averaging 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 87 career games. The a 6-7 forward posted averages of 13.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season for the Aggies as a junior, scoring 16.1 points per game over the season’s final seven games. Middleton averaged a career-high 14.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists as a sophomore and earned Second Team All-Big 12 and All-District selections. The Charleston, South Carolina native who is known as a creative scorer that excels in the mid-range game shot 36.1% from three-point range (39-108 3FG) during the 2010-11 season and 32.1% (92-287 3FG) for his collegiate career.
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Let’s start with the obvious here: Jeff Green (still) isn’t formally a member of the Boston Celtics. Yes, his deal has been termed imminent since early July and, yes, a month later, there’s still wrinkles to be ironed out.
What exactly those hurdles are isn’t clear, but those close to the situation have hinted that its simply contract language, something that’s slightly more difficult after Green missed all of last season due to a heart ailment.
That said, neither the Celtics nor Green’s camp have given any reason to believe that a deal won’t eventually be consummated — and neither seems in a particular rush to finish it up. Green attended an introductory press conference last month and hasn’t shied away from talking about his excitement to play for the Celtics next season.
But here’s one reason his contract is truly noteworthy: Whenever this deal is finalized, it’s expected to be the biggest total payday the Celtics hand out this offseason with a reported four-year pact at a value of upwards of $9 million per season. With a deal like that, Boston is essentially committing to Green as a core member of their future (a four-year deal would run longer than even the three years remaining on Rajon Rondo’s current deal).
— Reported by Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston
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Lin was officially introduced to Houston on a makeshift stage that was set up on the Rockets’ practice court and greeted by a media throng that numbered in the hundreds, including many talking heads who probably needed a map and flashlight to locate the Toyota Center.
After three straight seasons of being the last team to miss the playoffs and carrying the best record — and longest odds — into the draft lottery, they were in need of an attraction that would make the masses remember that the Rockets were still operating an NBA franchise.
Never mind that they showed him the door back in December.
“It’s always difficult when you’ve obviously made an error,” Alexander said. “We made an error in letting him go. I think we rectified it now.
“I think the spotlight’s important. We’re gonna be on national TV now because of Jeremy and I think free agents want to be on teams that are in the national spotlight. So I think from a basketball standpoint we really improve our negotiations with many, many free agents.”
— Reported by Fran Blinebury of NBA.com
Four teens were wounded this evening at a Brooklyn basketball court in the city’s latest incident of gun violence, authorities said.
The victims — a 13-year-old girl, two 16-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man — were struck around 6:30 p.m. at Fish Playground on Fulton Street in Brownsville, cops said.
“There was a basketball game going on and there were a lot of people in the park,” said witness Tony Herbert, who identified himself as an advocate for the neighborhood.
“Two young guys came in , announced themselves with a gang code sound,… and began firing,” he said.
— Reported by Natasha Velez and Kevin Sheehan of the New York Post
The Chicago Bulls announced today that the team has hired Brian Hagen to be the team’s Assistant General Manager.
“Brian is someone I have thought for quite a while is one of the best young scouts and executives in the league,” said Bulls General Manager Gar Forman. “We are extremely pleased that he has decided to join the Chicago Bulls organization.”
Hagen spent the previous nine seasons with the New Orleans Hornets in a number of capacities with their Basketball Operations staff, most recently serving as the team’s Director of Player Personnel. In that role, he coordinated the team’s amateur and professional scouting operations and assisted in the evaluation of free agents and prospective trade acquisitions.
While with the Hornets, he also spent time as the team’s video coordinator, Director of Basketball Operations, Director of Scouting and Assistant to the General Manager.
Prior to joining New Orleans, he also was an Assistant Coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 2002-03.
Hagen began his career at the collegiate level while at Iowa State as an Undergraduate Assistant (1996-2000). A native of Joice, Iowa, he graduated from Iowa State in 2000 with a degree in Management Information Systems.