NBA News Blog – Page 1371 – NBA Blog

Evan Turner signs Li-Ning shoe deal

The Philadelphia Daily News reports:

China’s top athletic footwear brand is banking on Evan Turner being a star with the 76ers.

Li-Ning announced yesterday that it had signed the No. 2 overall pick to a multiyear contract. Turner will begin appearing immediately in the company’s global marketing and will wear Li-Ning as a rookie. He will have his own branded sneaker and apparel in the second year of the deal.

CNBC first reported the contract.

“This is truly a game-changing moment for the Li-Ning brand,” Brian Cupps, Li-Ning’s brand initiative director for basketball, said in a statement.

Discuss this and shoes in general in our basketball sneakers forum.

Rockets sign Ishmael Smith

Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has signed guard Ishmael Smith to a multi-year deal.

Smith (6-0, 175, Wake Forest) led the Rockets in assists per game during the 2010 NBA Summer League, finishing with averages of 7.8 points (.581 18-31 FG) and 4.8 assists in five games (five starts) with Houston.

An undrafted rookie, Smith finished his four-year career at Wake Forest with averages of 9.2 points (.425, 458-1078 FG), 5.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.26 steals in 121 games (91 starts). Smith, who finished second all-time at Wake Forest in assists, stands as the only player in school history with 1,000 points (1,114) and 600 assists (612) in a career. He was also the first Deacon with at least 1,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds (448). A three-year team captain, Smith also ranked sixth in career minutes played (3,667), eighth in career steals (153), 18th in career games played (121) and 36th in career points. He actually started for the Deacons as a freshman, sophomore and senior. An injury to start his junior year pushed him to a reserve role, but he still excelled as the team’s sixth man.

Smith started all 31 games at point guard as a senior, averaging 13.2 points, 6.0 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.68 steals. He was named Second-Team All-ACC and earned Second-Team All-District honors from the NABC. Smith also received the team’s Murray Greason Award and Team Assists Leader award after finishing third in the ACC and seventh nationally in assists per game in 2009-10. He surpassed Chris Paul in career assists during his junior season and was just the fifth freshman in the history of the ACC to lead the league in assists (6.0 apg).

Smith will wear #13 with the Rockets.

ATLANTA - JANUARY 28: Ishmael Smith #10 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on January 28, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Bobcats will reportedly sign Kwame Brown

NBA free agent Kwame Brown has reportedly found a new home.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the center has agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Charlotte Bobcats.

Michael Jordan, who recently purchased the Bobcats, drafted Brown as the #1 overall pick into the NBA back when Jordan was an executive on the Washington Wizards. Brown turned out to just be a bench player, however, and has had little impact in the league thus far.

For his career, Brown averages 6.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per game.

Jose Calderon hurts leg, will miss Worlds

The AP reports:

Spain point guard Jose Manuel Calderon will miss the basketball world championships after hurting his leg in an exhibition against the United States.

Tests Monday revealed the Toronto Raptors player tore a muscle in his left leg in Sunday’s 86-85 loss. Calderon had headed to the locker room late in the game. He went scoreless with three assists.

The Spanish federation says Calderon needs four weeks to recover.

Former Pistons PR director Matt Dobek dies

Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press reports:

Matt Dobek, 51, died unexpectedly at his Rochester Hills home on Saturday.

Dobek spent 29 years with the Pistons organization before he was fired in May as the team’s vice president of public relations.

Hired by former Pistons executive Tom Wilson, Dobek was a confidant to many of the players during the Bad Boys era of Pistons basketball, including Isiah Thomas, Rick Mahorn and Joe Dumars.

Billups hopes for four more years

Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post reports (via blog):

Chauncey Billups hopes to play four more years

Billups wants to finish his career in Denver, his hometown. But if the team deteriorates around him, he’ll think about ending it somewhere where the wins will potentially be more plentiful.

“I have hopefully four years left of playing,” Billups said, “and I’m not the kind of person to just ride it out. I want to win. I want to go out on top; I want to go out winning. …I want to get out there, get after it and play. And I want to win as a Nugget the rest of my years. In a perfect world that’s what I would want, that’s what I would hope for.”

InsideHoops.com editor says:

Tough to say how what Billups does affects the Carmelo Anthony situation. On the one hand, Melo knows he needs a guy like Billups next to him to win, but on the other, if Melo is thinking about his future a few years down the road, he’d rather be next to a young Chris Paul (or young anybody) than an elderly Billups.

NBA suspends Delonte West 10 games

Delonte West, who played last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been suspended without pay for ten games for pleading guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and wearing, carrying, and transporting a handgun, in violation of the law of the State of Maryland, the NBA announced today.

West is currently a free agent. If he signs a contract to play again in the NBA, West’s suspension will begin with the first game of the NBA regular season for which he is eligible and physically able to play.

InsideHoops.com editor says: Despite his personal issues, I still think West eventually will get signed, though probably to a short and possibly non-guaranteed contract. He’s too good a player to fall out of the league.

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

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 16: Hells Angels bikies leave after the funeral for Melbourne crime figure Macchour Chaouk at Preston Mosque on August 16, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. 61-year old Chaouk was gunned down in the backyard of his Melbourne home on Friday. A man from the rival Haddara family has been questioned by police over the shooting but released without charge. Chaouk will be buried next to his son Mohammed Ali Chaouk who was shot dead by police in a home raid in 2005. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)

Bucks sign Earl Boykins

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed guard Earl Boykins (5-5, 133) to a contract, General Manager John Hammond announced today.

An 11-year NBA veteran, Boykins played 35 games for Milwaukee during the 2006-07 campaign after a mid-season trade with the Denver Nuggets. He enjoyed his best statistical season in 2006-07 when he combined to average 14.6 points, 4.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds over 66 games with the two teams.

Last season, Boykins played in 67 games (one start) for the Washington Wizards and averaged 6.6 points, 2.6 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 16.7 minutes.

Not drafted out of Eastern Michigan in 1998, Boykins began his NBA career with the New Jersey Nets in the 1998-99 season. He has also played with Cleveland (1999, 2000), Orlando (1999-2000), Los Angeles Clippers (2000-02), Golden State (2002-03), Denver (2003-07) and Charlotte (2007-08). In 2008-09, Boykins played 14 games for La Fortezza Bologna in Italy and averaged 14.4 points, 5.5 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 33.1 minutes per game.

Boykins, 34, has played in 587 career NBA games (34 starts) and holds averages of 9.1 points, 3.3 assists and 1.4 rebounds per contest.

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

March 03, 2010 Milwaukee, WI. Bradley Center..Washington Wizards Earl Boykins brings the ball up the court, Boykins had 8 points coming off the Wizards bench..Milwaukee Buck won over the Washington Wizards 100-87. Mike McGinnis/CSM.

Skittles makes Derrick Rose a custom candy machine

Darren Rovell of CNBC reports:

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is known to eat a lot of candy. So when the folks at Wrigley found out that he likes to down their Skittles brand, they decided to do something a little special for the hometown boy.

Earlier this month, they brought a custom, tricked-out Skittles vending machine to his house and promised to keep it stocked with Skittles for at least three years.

Rose gets the machine and the Skittles for free; the Skittles brand has a chance of getting more love from Rose; and the Bulls, I guess, hope Rose’s sugar highs peak at the right time.

InsideHoops.com editor says:

I wonder if the machine has 22-inch rims and a booming sound system.

2010 FIBA Hall of Fame Class announced

A total of 17 outstanding basketball personalities from 12 different countries will be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame on 12th September during the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Istanbul (Turkey), the International Basketball Federation announced today.

National icons Oscar Schmidt (Brazil), Arvydas Sabonis (Lithuania), Dino Meneghin (Italy) and Vlade Divac and Dragan Kićanović (both from Serbia) are among the inductees for the 2010 Class of the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Two of the best female players of all time, Cheryl Miller (USA) and Natalia Zassoulskaya (Russia), complete the list of players.

A combined 14 Olympic medals and 15 FIBA World Championship medals underline the prominence of the seven players and three coaches inducted.

The selected referees and contributors were at the top of the game for decades and belong to the most decorated in their field.

“The 2010 Class has stardom, character and countless merits for the promotion of our game,” said FIBA President Bob Elphinston.

“The inductees were and still are brilliant on and off the court. We are very proud to host the 2010 ceremony in the presence of all these great women and men during the FIBA World Championship and give them the public platform they deserve.”

Here is the full list of the 2010 Class:

PLAYERS:

Vlade Divac Serbia
Dragan KiĆanoviĆ Serbia
Dino Meneghin Italia
Cheryl Miller U.S.A.
Arvydas Sabonis Lithuania
Oscar Schmidt Brazil
Natalia Zassoulskaya Russia

COACHES:

Lindsay Gaze Australia
Evgeny GomelskY Russia
Mirko Novosel Croatia

TECHNICAL OFFICIALS:

Jim Bain U.S.A.
Konstantinos Dimou Greece

CONTRIBUTORS:

George Killian U.S.A.
Hans-Joachim Otto Germany
Ernesto Segura de Luna (posthumously) Spain
Abdoulaye Seye Moreau Senegal
Al RAMSAY * Australia

* Al Ramsay was selected for the 2009 Class, but will officially be enshrined in 2010.