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Tulsa Shock lose 17th straight WNBA game

The AP reports:

Seimone Augustus scored 16 points and the Minnesota Lynx handed the Tulsa Shock their WNBA record-tying 17th straight loss with an 82-54 victory on Sunday night.

In a matchup of the teams with the best and worst records in the league, the Lynx (18-5) won their 11th in 12 games, while Tulsa fell to 1-22.

Lindsay Whalen chipped in 12 points and nine assists for Minnesota.

Sheryl Swoopes scored nine points for the Shock, who will try to avoid setting a new league record for consecutive losses when they face the Los Angeles Sparks at home next Sunday. Tulsa is tied with the Atlanta Dream, who lost the first 17 games of their inaugural 2008 season.

Kendrick Perkins arrested in Texas night club

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Authorities have charged Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kendrick Perkins with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and public intoxication after an altercation early Saturday morning in South Texas.

A statement from police in Beaumont, Texas, said officers saw a large crowd outside The Ticket night club just after 2 a.m., and received complaints of fights and pepper spray inside.

An officer saw about 50 people inside around Perkins, who police said was attempting to fight the club’s manager. The statement said the crowd pushed Perkins out the back door of the club, where he continued to yell obscenities and start other fights.

InsideHoops.com editor says: Kendrick was probably scowling at some point during the evening.

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Former Nets star Jayson Williams to be moved to Rikers Island

The AP reports:

Retired NBA star Jayson Williams is preparing to move from a prison in New Jersey’s farmlands to New York’s Rikers Island.

Williams will be transferred from Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown next Friday after he finishes an 18-month sentence for aggravated assault. From there, he’ll begin serving a one-year sentence for driving while intoxicated in New York City.

Former Fab 5 star Jimmy King arrested

Naomi R. Patton of the Detroit Free Press reports:

Fab Five star Jimmy King was in jail today after his arrest by agents from the Michigan Attorney General’s office, charged with failure to pay child support.

King, who turned 38 on Tuesday, was arraigned in Oakland County Circuit Court and charged with one count of failure to pay support, a felony carrying a maximum four-year prison term, according to John Sellek, state Attorney General spokesman. He said King owed $17,209 for one child, from 2008 to 2011.

Sellek said King was arrested without incident at 5 p.m. Tuesday at New St. Mark Baptist Church in Detroit, after agents saw a flyer about a basketball camp that advertised King’s involvement. Sellek added that agents had tried to reach King about outstanding child support by phone and by leaving notes at his home for six weeks.

A judge set a cash bond of $3,500 for King, but as of this evening, he remained in Oakland County Jail, according to its Web site.

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Canada to open 7-team pro basketball league

The AP reports:

A new professional basketball league in Canada plans to open in November with seven teams and a 36-game schedule.

The National Basketball League of Canada announced Thursday that Moncton, New Brunswick, will become the seventh franchise for the 2011-12 season. The city joins teams in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Quebec City; Saint John, New Brunswick; and London and Oshawa in Ontario. Another team will be in Prince Edward Island, although the city is not set.

InsideHoops.com editor says: It would be amazing for basketball, especially for players in the United States and, of course, Canada, for this league to actually take off and become a success. It’s a shame that talented players who fail to make the NBA must leave North America to make real money playing basketball, in Europe and elsewhere. If players could head to Canada and make a six-figure living it would change the game and be great for North America. Maybe someday. For now, they’re just starting out and I will assume that salaries will be on the level of a fun part-time job, and not anything substantial or real anytime soon. We’ll see if that changes or I hear different.

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Knicks seek to host 2014 NBA All-Star game

The 2012 NBA All-Star game, assuming it gets played, will be in Orlando. The 2013 game, according to just about every Houston media outlet in existence, will be in Houston. It should be around a full year before the 2014 weekend gets a home, but the New York Knicks hope to land the honor.

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports:

With Houston reportedly getting the 2013 All-Star Game, the new Garden figures to be the top candidate for the 2014 event when the three-year transformation is finally complete. The Knicks have applied to host the game. The Nets and Brooklyn’s Barclay Center also could be considered.

I assume the Knicks or Nets are favorites to be named host in 2014 (and maybe also 2015), because by then the Nets will have been in Brooklyn for two years. That’s two fresh arenas, ready to pack fans in.

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No Marcin Gortat for Poland in EuroBasket 2011 due to insurance problem

FIBA reports:

Poland have just announced that their only NBA player, Marcin Gortat of the Phoenix Suns, will not feature this summer because of the failure to acquire an insurance policy he requires to take part.

Most of the burden of obtaining insurance for NBA players fell on the basketball federations when the NBA lockout began and league operations were shut down.

In a statement on the Polish Basketball Federation’s website, Polish Basketball Federation president Grzegorz Bachanski said: “Marcin really wanted to play but the situation that occurred this year, I of course mean the lockout, meant that this is not possible.

“Of course it is sad for us, but I am trying to think more broadly in the next few years.

“And Marcin Gortat in the future we will be needed.”

Gortat was the face of EuroBasket 2009 when the tournament was staged in Poland.

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Dennis Rodman to arrive at Basketball Hall of Fame induction by helicopter

Dennis Rodman likes to do fun things. Here’s more info on how he plans to arrive at the Hall of Fame ceremonies:

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports:

Aventura’s Dennis Rodman told us Tuesday he will arrive at his Basketball Hall of Fame induction Friday by helicopter. He wanted to enter the Hall on a colorful float, “but they wouldn’t let me block off the street” in Springfield, Mass.

He said he will hire acrobats to perform and “a couple of my outfits will be ‘out there.’ Whatever might be too zany is not too zany.” His marketing agent, Floyd Ragland, said Rodman is spending $60,000 to fly in Penny Marshall, Howard Stern and other friends. Phil Jackson is Rodman’s presenter.

I think this is a cover-up, and he’ll arrive via spaceship. With martians on board, partying. We’ll see.

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Carlos Boozer plans to play overseas if lockout continues

Like so many other players not looking to sit around and do nothing for months at a time, Chicago Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer wants to keep his basketball career and activity going if the NBA lockout extends into the distant future.

Ric Bucher of ESPN the Magazine reports:

“I think as players we have to look at this lockout as an unfortunate challenge, but one that can create other unique and positive opportunities,” Boozer said. “When I was part of Team USA that won Olympic Gold in Beijing, that experience changed my life in incredible ways.

“If the NBA season gets delayed or postponed, I plan on using those months to experience something similar to what I did in the summer of 2008. That’s why, if the lockout continues, I definitely plan on playing overseas.”

As with all good NBA players, it’s assumed that any deal that gets signed will include an out-clause to return to the NBA immediately when the lockout ends.

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Danny Granger hopes Pacers get depth at power forward

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports:

Q: How will the lockout impact the Pacers?

Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger: It’ll hurt us bad. We finally got some veteran players, back in the playoffs and now we don’t know what’s going to happen. We should be piggy-backing off last year and building off of it. You get a short season and you never know what’s going to happen, ’cause it’s not a normal season. We need more time together and we’re young and the more time we have together as a team will help us. Reducing the season, taking away the preseason, no training camp, it can only hurt us.

Granger: Has there been any talk about you and your teammates getting together to work out?

A: We’ve already started talking about it. I spoke with the coaches before the lockout and they gave their views on what we should do. Me and Jeff (Foster) are trying to plan it out so when the season starts we will have been going for a good month. There’s not going to be a preseason, probably won’t be much of a training camp, either.

Granger: Free agency will be a lot shorter once the lockout ends. What area do you guys need to address most?

A: I think with what’s on the market at power forward, we have the opportunity to go get one of them. David West, Nene and Carl Landry are available. There are some good power forwards out there. I think we need to be deeper at that position.

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