Category: General NBA insight

The New York Daily News (John Marzulli) reports: Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy told the feds two refs fixed the outcome of one playoff series – and that officials were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales. The bombshell allegations are contained in a court document filed Tuesday by Donaghy’s lawyer. It describes the “inner workings” of the NBA in which top league executives used referees to manipulate games. Donaghy, who pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to charges of betting on games he officiated, told FBI agents “league officials would tell referees that they should withhold calling technical fouls on certain star players because doing so hurt ticket sales and television ratings,” the document said… Donaghy also claimed a supervising referee told refs that an unidentified NBA executive did not want them to call technical fouls on star players or boot them from the game.

The National Basketball Association issued the following  statement  today  from  Richard  Buchanan,  NBA  Executive  Vice President and General Counsel: “According to Mr. Donaghy, all of his allegations have previously been made to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney, and they are clearly being disclosed now as part of his desperate attempt to lighten the sentence that will be imposed for his criminal conduct.  The NBA remains vigilant in protecting the integrity of our game and has fully cooperated with the government at every stage of its investigation.  The only criminal activity uncovered is Mr. Donaghy’s.”

The Winston-Salem Journal (Bill Cole) reports: Ty Lawson, a point guard at North Carolina, was arrested in Chapel Hill early yesterday for a driving offense that involved alcohol. Lawson was stopped by Chapel Hill police at 2:33 a.m. on North Columbia Street, according to the arrest report. Officers were concerned about loud music coming from Lawson’s vehicle but determined that he had been drinking. Lawson, 20, was charged with driving after drinking. He was not charged with DWI. He was charged also with a noise ordinance violation and for driving with a suspended or revoked license.

InsideHoops.com exclusive: Michael Beasley, expected to be the first or second pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, told InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner Friday afternoon that his official height measurement, taken by the NBA that day, was 6’8″ 1/2.

He was hoping to come out 6’9″ or even 6’10”, as some media outlets had listed him.

Apparently Mayo either did manage to make his flight or caught another one, because a PR person spotted him in the hotel where today’ interviews will take place.

UPDATE: Mayo is here after all. A PR person had said he won’t be here due to a missed flight but he either did catch it or caught another and will do interviews as scheduled.

InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner reports that O.J. Mayo missed his flight to Orlando today and will therefore not be around for media availability when eight other top players get interviewed this afternoon.

The league invited nine players expected to be probable lottery picks to a separate interview session. Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon are in that group.

Like other top players, Mayo was not expected to actually play in games.

Measurements, strength and skills testing is Friday. Mayo should make that.

The 2008 NBA pre-draft camp begins tonight (Tuesday, May 27) with some drills, and then features three days of games. It once again is taking place in Orlando, where the weather is around 85-90 degrees and humid.

Here are the pre-draft camp players, with rosters coming tonight.

As usual, the top players aren’t actually going to play. The rest will. But there are always a few last-minute pull-outs of the camp, so we’ll adjust that list if a few guys don’t show up. But the list was released a mere half day before the start of the camp this year, so it’s possible everyone on it actually comes.

InsideHoops.com begins full pre-draft camp coverage this afternoon.

The NBA pre-draft camp is Tuesday through Friday (May 27-30) and InsideHoops.com will be there, with coverage from us beginning tonight. The first bit of info out is the names of top prospects the NBA has named to be interviewed by the media in a separate setting.

Those names are: DJ Augustin, Texas, Jerryd Bayless (Arizona), Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Eric Gordon (Indiana), Brook Lopez (Stanford), Kevin Love (UCLA), OJ Mayo (USC), Anthony Randolph (LSU) and Derrick Rose (Memphis ).

Since that’s nine guys, more names could be added to the list, but basically that means the league expects those players are likely going to be selected as lottery picks. In no way does this guarantee those guys will all be taken before anyone else. The league inviting these guys to be interviewed in a separate setting just means, chances are, in the first 14 picks, close to all of those players will probably be selected.

The AP reports: Disgraced basketball referee Tim Donaghy told investigators in the NBA betting probe that relationships among officials, coaches and players “affected the outcome of games,” his attorney said. The league said the charges were unfounded. Donaghy’s attorney made the assertions in a letter filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Monday, in which he argued that his client should be sentenced to probation because he fully cooperated with prosecutors and has been undergoing treatment for his gambling addiction. The attorney also suggested that Donaghy told investigators about the gambling activities of other NBA officials and about a referee that passed “confidential” information to an unidentified coach.

The Los Angeles Times (Ben Bolch) reports: Calling the accusations against him “a publicity stunt,” O.J. Mayo on Wednesday emphatically denied allegations that he accepted cash and gifts in violation of NCAA rules and said his accuser might be striking back after he severed ties between them. Mayo said he would cooperate with investigations by the NCAA and Pacific 10 Conference after a report he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in prohibited extra benefits before and during the one season he played basketball for USC. “My family hasn’t accepted anything, so I’m just waiting for the NCAA to do what they have to do to prove that I haven’t done anything wrong,” Mayo said.