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Dikembe Mutombo named NBA global ambassador

NBA Commissioner David Stern announced today that Dikembe Mutombo will join the NBA in the newly created position of global ambassador. Mutombo will report to Executive Vice President, Social Responsibility & Player Programs, Kathy Behrens.

After retiring from a playing career that spanned 18 seasons, Mutombo will now work to grow and celebrate the game through numerous international NBA events including Basketball without Borders. In addition, he will work closely on NBA Cares outreach efforts with Hall of Famer Bob Lanier who serves as Special Assistant to the Commissioner.

“Dikembe’s extraordinary accomplishments on the court and in the community demonstrate why he is one of sports’ outstanding humanitarians,” said Commissioner Stern. “His commitment to using the values of our game to improve the lives of so many is an example of the special role we have in being leaders in social responsibility. We know the impact programs such as NBA Cares and Basketball without Borders have in being catalysts for change on a global scale, and Dikembe’s continued contributions will be invaluable in our global efforts to bring attention to important social issues.”

Mutombo started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve living conditions in his native Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. His commitment to improving the health, education and quality of life for the people in his birthplace, the Democratic Republic of the Congo led to the construction and opening of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center, a $29 million, 300-bed hospital in Kinshasa named after his late mother.

His efforts as a global ambassador for UNICEF, spokesman for international relief agency CARE to further HIV/AIDS awareness, and prevention and his work with the Polio Eradication Campaign to protect African youth from childhood diseases that have virtually disappeared in developed countries yet still threaten children in the Congo everyday have earned him numerous accolades. Mutombo has been the recipient of the President’s Citizenship Award, J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award, and induction into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

“I am looking forward to working closely with Dikembe as he enters this next phase of his brilliant career. I have seen first hand the impact and inspiration he provides,” said Lanier. “His passion for improving the lives of people in Africa and elsewhere is a great example of how NBA players understand their obligations to the global community.”

Regarded as one of the top post defenders of all time, Mutombo will also play an important role in the mentoring of current players. His on-the-court honors include four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards through a career that also saw him named to eight All-Star Game appearances, and a place on three All-NBA teams and six All-Defensive teams.

Mutombo holds degrees in linguistics and diplomacy from Georgetown University.

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

Julius Hodge returns to Australia

Julius Hodge dominates in return to Australia

The spectacular National Basketball League return of controversial American Julius Hodge has seen the newly-signed Melbourne Tigers guard win the NBL Player of the Week award for Round Eight.

Hodge, whose last stint in the NBL ended in an acrimonious split with former team Adelaide, was signed by the Tigers last week. Despite having little time to learn his new club’s offences, Hodge still managed to score 22 points and add nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals in his debut in Melbourne colours on Saturday night.

Hodge connected on 9-of-21 of his shots from the field and helped keep the Tigers in close contention with the visiting Townsville Crocodiles. Unfortunately his efforts still saw the Tigers fall short, with Melbourne losing to the Crocs, 98-91.

The flamboyant superstar said he was pleased with the award but focused on getting his team wins.

“I’m honoured to win the NBL Player of the Week,” he said upon hearing the news of his award. “Hopefully this Saturday night the team and I can improve and get back on track with a win against the Taipans at The Cage.”

Young New Zealand Breakers’ star Tom Abercrombie was unlucky to miss out on the award for Round Eight after a superlative performance of his own. Abercrombie helped the Breakers to an 83-74 victory over ladder leaders Perth at the North Shore Events Centre on Thursday night. Abercrombie scored 23 points and added three rebounds and one block, while shooting 56% from the field and 50% from the perimeter.

The Round Seven winner of the Player of the Week was also a candidate for the award once more in Round Eight. Adelaide’s Adam Ballinger scored 17 points and added seven rebounds in the Sixers’ 83-76 home win over second-ranked Wollongong on Saturday night. Ballinger’s teammate at Adelaide, Cortez Groves, was also in the hunt for the award after scoring 15 points and adding nine assists and three rebounds.

Wollongong’s Mat Campbell was another leading candidate, as was Gold Coast’s Ayinde Ubaka. Campbell, who is known as ‘The Saviour’ after he spearheaded the ‘Save The Haws’ campaign in the off-season which pulled the club back from the brink of extinction, had 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists in his team’s loss to Adelaide. Ubaka had 17 points, eight assists and three rebounds for the Blaze on Friday in Gold Coast’s 93-77 home win over Townsville.

Other leading contenders for Player of the Week in Round Eight included Stephen Weigh (Perth), Cortez Groves (Adelaide), Peter Crawford (Townsville), Daniel Johnson (Melbourne), Greg Vanderjagt (Gold Coast), Shawn Redhage (Perth), Anthony Petrie (Gold Coast), Russell Hinder (Townsville) and Julien ‘Skip’ Mills (Cairns).

Talk world hoops on the InsideHoops minor league and international basketball forum.

Josh Childress has swine flu in Greece

The AFP reports: Greek basketball club Olympiakos announced on Tuesday that their former NBA star Josh Childress has come down with the H1N1 flu and will be out of action for more than a week. “Our player Josh Childress has been diagnosed with the H1N1 flu. He is currently being treated and doctors are completely satisfied with his condition,” an announcement by Olympiakos said.

According to Euroleague.net, “Olympiacos announced Wednesday that star forward Josh Childress would miss Thursday’s game against Efes Pilsen after being diagnosed with the H1NI virus. He is the third player on the Reds to come down with the virus. Both Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Kostas Papanikolaou missed the team’s Euroleague season opener with H1NI.”

InsideHoops.com adds: The NBA recently had its first (publically confirmed) player with swine flu, guard/forward Chris Douglas-Roberts of the New Jersey Nets.

Derrick Byars signs in Germany

EurocupBasketball reports: Alba Berlin added depth to its roster by signing small forward Derrick Byars for the rest of the season. Byars (201, 25) returns to Europe after splitting the 2007-08 season between Bros Baskets Bamberg in Germany and Chorale Roanne in France. With Bamberg he averaged 6.3 points in four ULEB Cup games before transferring to Roanne, where he scored 7 in the team’s Euroleague finale and 8.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in the French League, helping the team reach the playoff final. Last season Byars played for Bakersfield in the NBDL, where he averaged 17.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 49 appearances and was named to the all-star team.

Euroleague MVP for October, 2009: Bojan Popovic

Euroleague.net reports: Of six undefeated teams through two weeks of the 2009-10 regular season, five have rosters featuring Euroleague, world and continental champions and medalists. Three of those five boast plenty all-Euroleague superstars and MVPs, and the other two each have a Euroleague champion to look to for experience. Lietuvos Rytas, by contrast, started the season with just one player who had ever been a full-time Euroleague starter – and he did that for only one season before. Despite his relative inexperience and coming to L. Rytas new this season, point guard Bojan Popovic has proven over two weeks to be the perfect leader, playing almost non-stop and re-defining himself as an assist-maker of prodigious potential. Only a handful of the Euroleague’s finest point guards all decade can match the 19 assists Popovic dished while L. Rytas was beating Efes Pilsen and Entente Orleanaise to tie for first place in Group B. Popovic posted 10 assists and 11 points while playing 40 minutes for L. Rytas in its opening-night home win against Efes Pilsen. On the road the next week, he scored another 11 points and distributed 9 assists in 35 minutes to lead L. Rytas to victory in Orleans. He lacked one more assist against Orleans to become the first Euroleague player all decade to register back-to-back double-doubles in points and assists. But the numbers that most prove Popovic’s impact on L. Rytas are 2 and 0, wins and losses, respectively. Largely due to his efforts, a young, inexperienced team is sharing first place in its regular season group when no one expected it. For that reason, Bojan Popovic is the choice as Euroleague MVP for October.

Lawrence Roberts signs in Serbia

Euroleague.net reports: The day before the club’s Euroleague opener, Partizan signed a one-year deal with big man Lawrence Roberts, who returns to Serbia after spending last season at Crvena Zvezda Belgrade. Roberts (27, 206) averaged 12 points and 8.1 rebounds in eight Eurocup games last season. He also posted 9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in the Adriatic League.

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov will buy Nets

The New Jersey Nets struggle to attract fans and face many issues as they attempt to build a new basketball arena in Brooklyn and relocate the team. And now the AP reports:

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov says in his personal blog that he has made an offer to buy the New Jersey Nets.

Prokhorov, considered Russia’s richest man, said Tuesday on his blog that he sent team shareholders an offer over the weekend. Under the proposal, Prokhorov’s holding company Onexim would obtain a controlling share in the Nets in return for loaning the money to build a new arena.

If the team is going to be sold I expect it would happen relatively sooner rather than later.

Grizzlies withdraw qualifying offer to Juan Carlos Navarro

The Memphis Grizzlies have withdrawn their qualifying offer to guard Juan Carlos Navarro, making him an unrestricted free agent, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today.

In his only NBA season (2007-08), Navarro averaged 10.9 points and 2.2 assists in 82 games and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. After his rookie season, the 6-3, 170-pound guard signed with his former Spanish club F.C. Barcelona. Memphis now surrenders the right to match any future offer should Navarro decide to return to the NBA.

In accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, in order for a team to retain its right of first refusal with respect to a restricted free agent, the team must tender the player a qualifying offer prior to June 30.

Brazil beats Puerto Rico to win 2009 FIBA Americas Championship

Euroleague.net reports: Brazil held on to beat Puerto Rico 60-61 in a tense and exciting final to claim the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico. All-Euroleague center Tiago Splitter of Caja Laboral shined with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists and Leandro Barbosa netted 24 to lead Brazil to the win. Brazil never trailed and led by as many as 16 in the third quarter, but Puerto Rico rallied and had a chance to win it at the buzzer. Barbosa scored 8 points during a 2-12 second-quarter run that helped Brazil to a 28-36 halftime advantage.

Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports (via blog): After sitting out Brazil’s final two quarterfinal round games, Barbosa returned to lead Brazil in scoring twice again. Barbosa posted 22 points in Saturday’s semifinal win against Canada and added 24 points in Sunday night’s gold medal game victory against host Puerto Rico. Playing at San Juan’s Coliseo Roberto Clemente, Brazil needed every one of Barbosa’s points in a 61-60 win. Barbosa scored 21 points in the first three quarters and had Brazil ahead 50-37 entering the fourth quarter, when he went cold with a 1-for-9 quarter that included misses on his last five attempts. For the game, Barbosa was 1 of 8 from 3-point range (9 of 23 overall) but he still outdueled Puerto Rico’s Carlos Arroyo, who scored 14 on 6-of-15 shooting and missed a 3-point shot to win the game.

Euroleague.net reports: Argentina dominated Canada from start to finish to claim the bronze medal with an 88-73 victory. Real Madrid playmaker Pablo Prigioni wrapped up a brilliant tournament with 17 points and 8 assists and former All-Euroleague power forward Luis Scola netted 27 points to lead the Argentinean charge. Scola finished the tournament in first place in scoring with 23.3 points per game, while Prigioni’s 7.4 assists per game was also best in the event.

Francisco Garcia breaks finger

Sacramento Kings swingman Francisco Garcia fractured his right ring finger while playing for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship. He will not play in the remainder of the tournament and will return to Sacramento late next week, at which time the injury will be further evaluated. Garcia is entering his fifth NBA season (all with the Kings).