NBA News Blog – Page 1177 – NBA Blog

George Karl staying active during lockout helping American Cancer Society

With no basketball to coach, George Karl is tending to his other passion in life: fighting cancer, a disease he has beaten twice.

The Nuggets coach lent his voice Tuesday to the American Cancer Society and Quest Diagnostics, which are teaming up on a nationwide cancer prevention study. It aims to follow 300,000 people for 20 to 30 years to see how genetics, lifestyle and the environment affect cancer risk.

“There are a lot of people who want to get into this fight who don’t have cancer, and this is one way,” Karl said.

Karl is 21 months removed from a brutal battle with neck cancer, which came a few years after he beat prostate cancer. His son Coby is a survivor of lymph-node cancer.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Milwaukee Bucks name Mike Sergo new Equipment Manager

Mike Sergo has been named as the Milwaukee Bucks Equipment Manager, the organization announced today. Sergo will be responsible for purchasing and maintaining all non-medical equipment for the basketball facilities at the Bradley Center and the Bucks Training Center, and traveling full-time with the club, where he is responsible for the team equipment on the road.

Sergo enters his 10th season as a full-time member of the Bucks basketball staff, having worked as the assistant video coordinator the previous nine seasons. He began working part-time in the video scouting department during the 1995-96 season.

A Milwaukee native, Sergo graduated from Wautoma High School and attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Sentencing set in Vegas for Antoine Walker casino debts

Bankrupt former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker is due before a state court judge in Nevada after pleading guilty in June to failing to repay some $750,000 in gambling debts to three Las Vegas casinos.

A prosecutor said the 35-year-old Walker is expected to be sentenced Thursday to probation and promise to repay the debts incurred in 2008 at the Planet Hollywood and Red Rock Casino Resort, and in January 2009 at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.

— Reported by the Associated Press

New 76ers owner Josh Harris will run the Philadelphia Marathon

The Philadelphia 76ers new owner Josh Harris has entered and will run the 26.2 mile Philadelphia Marathon on November 20, 2011. Additionally, the Sixers – one of the event sponsors – will give away a complimentary ticket to an upcoming Sixers home game to every marathon participant.

“I am truly looking forward to running the Philadelphia Marathon and have been for quite some time,” Harris said. “To join the participants – particularly those from the city of Philadelphia and its surrounding areas – as a representative of the Sixers is something that I’m proud to do.”

More than 27,000 registered participants comprising the Philadelphia Marathon’s three races (the 8K, half marathon and full marathon) will receive a voucher good for one free ticket to an upcoming Sixers game at the Wells Fargo Center during either the 2011-12 or 2012-13 season.

Some NBA owners do not like 50-50 BRI offer

A group of disgruntled NBA owners held a conference call Monday to express their displeasure with the 50/50 revenue offer commissioner David Stern has presented to the players’ association, according to sources with knowledge of the call.

The deal, which the union sees as an “ultimatum” offer, calls for players to receive anywhere between 49 and 51 percent of basketball-related income, but the group of displeased owners, the sources said, are hoping the players reject it.

Stern has issued a Wednesday afternoon deadline for the deal, which players argue would make it nearly impossible for them to get anywhere above 50.2 percent of revenue. If the players do not accept this deal, Stern said the next one will call for a 53-47 split in the owners’ favor, along with essentially a hard salary cap.

Sources have told ESPN.com that the union’s executive committee is scheduled to meet with the 30 player representatives in New York on Tuesday and a source said earlier that the union appears split on the deal. The executive committee, the source said, is staunchly against voting to approve the deal, while the player reps may also be divided.

However, a source said later Monday that the owners on the call fear that the player reps will push to approve the deal with the clock ticking.

— Reported by Chris Broussard of ESPN the Magazine

Magic Johnson still beating HIV 20 years later

If Magic Johnson had known just how well he could live with HIV, he wouldn’t have retired from the Lakers on Nov. 7, 1991.

Johnson would never change what he did for the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic when he publicly revealed his diagnosis to a stunned world. His courage that day, along with two subsequent decades of vibrant living, forever altered attitudes about the virus and its effects.

Magic is simply glad the world knows such happy endings are possible with access to treatment and vigilance.

“At that time, it was the right decision,” Johnson said Monday on the 20th anniversary of his stunning retirement. “If I knew what I knew today, that I could still play basketball and do my thing, I probably wouldn’t have retired. But I’m a guy that doesn’t have regrets. I don’t look back. I’m happy, because I wanted to be here a long time. We made the right call at that time.”

Johnson recognized the occasion at Staples Center on Monday with an upbeat celebration and a message of steadfastness. Dozens of politicians, celebrities and Lakers greats from Jerry West and Pat Riley to James Worthy and Michael Cooper joined Johnson and AIDS researcher David Ho for a luncheon, and the Magic Johnson Foundation announced a $1 million gift to continue its mission for worldwide HIV awareness and testing.

Two decades after his shocking admission and quick retirement at 32, Johnson’s doctors say he’s a 52-year-old specimen of health, comfortably managing HIV with a daily regimen of drugs and exercise.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

After retirement, Yao Ming returns to class

It’s back to the books for retired Chinese basketball star Yao Ming.

The former Houston Rockets center and No. 1 draft pick in the 2002 NBA draft started classes this week at Jiaotong University, one of the top schools in the country, China Daily and other newspapers reported Tuesday.

“The teacher showed me some mercy and did not leave me any homework,” Yao joked to reporters after his first day of courses at the university’s Antai College of Economics and Management.

Yao said the first order of business was assessing “how weak my foundation is” and working with instructors on a tailored course of study.

Yao, who retired four months ago because of chronic injuries to his left foot, is taking classes in mathematics, English and modern Chinese history—a subject he enjoyed in high school.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Israeli women`s basketball league cancels season

The Israeli women’s basketball league canceled its entire season after local players went on strike to protest a new rule giving more playing opportunities to foreigners. The decision leaves several top WNBA players out of work.

This is the first time in the league’s 54-year history that a whole season has been scrapped. Israel has one of Europe’s top professional leagues, and the WNBA said 13 of its players spent their winter in Israel last season.

Most of the league’s top players are Americans who come over after the WNBA season. Players who were set to take part this season included Jia Perkins of the San Antonio Silver Stars, Tanisha Wright of the Seattle Storm, Karima Christmas of the Tulsa Shock and Plenette Pierson of the New York Liberty.

The strike centered on the league’s decision to reverse a policy requiring teams to have at least two Israeli players on the court at any time — a rule that is common in Europe to help promote local talent. The new regulations would allow teams to play four foreigners at the same time, angering local players who saw their possibilities of earning playing time diminished. A similar rule change took place this offseason in the Israeli men’s league as well.

— Reported by Aron Heller of the Associated Press

Shaq book places blame on Mitch Kupchak

O’Neal speaks of Kupchak in only six pages of the 281-page “Shaq Uncut: My Story,” co-written by Jackie MacMullan, slated for a Nov. 15 release. But that’s enough prose to label Kupchak as the main culprit behind Shaq’s hasty departure from the Lakers.

According to the book, Kupchak promised to grant Shaq a contract extension following the 2003-04 season and not to discuss their contract negotiations publicly. Once the 2003-04 season ended, however, O’Neal was disturbed by an apparent interview in which Kupchak revealed the Lakers’ plan to hold onto Bryant while keeping their options open with O’Neal.

“That was it. That was the end of me in a Lakers uniform. Mitch broke our agreement. How could I trust him again?” Shaq writes in the book. “For months, I kept waiting for Mitch to come to me and say, ‘Shaq, you’re getting older, we need some new players. Mr. Buss doesn’t want to pay you and Kobe doesn’t want you here.’ But that conversation never happened. So that was when I demanded a trade. I couldn’t trust Mitch anymore and it was clear Kobe was now the one with all the power.”

— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times Blog

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries have counseling with pastor who married them

Kim Kardashian, Kris Humphries and the pastor who officiated at the couple’s August wedding met for two hours Sunday at Humphries’ Minnesota home, RadarOnline.com has confirmed.

Pastor Joel Johnson, who is Kris’ hometown minister, spent two hours with the estranged pair at Humphries’ lavish lakefront home.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Kim flew overnight from Los Angeles for the gathering. She arrived in Minneapolis at 5:30 am.

Kim was seen making several emotional phone calls from the home’s porch, and Pastor Johnson declined to answer reporters questions about how the couple is doing.

— Reported by Radar Online