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The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Mary Schmitt Boyer) reports: Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sasha Pavlovic, who had seven points and three rebounds in his first extended minutes in this post-season, suffered a broken nose in Tuesday night’s 99-72 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at The Q.
The Plain Dealer report says he’ll keep playing, with a protective mask.
The Oklahoma City Thunder announced today that they will host the San Antonio Spurs in an exhibition game at Austin, Texas, on October 20th at 7:30 PM.
The game, which will be played at the Frank Erwin Center, marks the first time Thunder forward Kevin Durant will play a game on the campus of the University of Texas since February 28, 2007. Durant spent one season with the Longhorns, earning consensus Player of the Year honors, before being drafted in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft (second overall) by the Oklahoma City Franchise.
The University of Texas retired Durant’s #35 jersey this past February in a special halftime ceremony during its contest with Texas A&M.
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LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2008-09 NBA Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced today.
James totaled 1,172 points including 109 first place votes, from a panel of 121 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received.
Rounding out the top five in voting for this season’s award are the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (698 points), Miami’s Dwyane Wade (680), Orlando’s Dwight Howard (328) and New Orleans’ Chris Paul (192).
James, the first Cavalier to win the award, led Cleveland in scoring (28.4 ppg, second in the NBA), rebounds (7.6 rpg), assists (7.2 apg, fourth), and steals (1.7 spg, eighth). Since the 1973-74 season when steals became an official stat, James is the fourth player to lead his team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals, while also leading his team to 50-plus wins (Larry Bird 1985-86; Grant Hill, 1996-97; Kevin Garnett, 2002-03). The 6-8 forward helped Cleveland to an NBA- and franchise-best 66-16 season, a 21-game improvement over last season (45-37), marking the 12th time an NBA team has reached 66 wins in a season.
More info and the voting results on our NBA MVP page.
The Los Angeles Daily News (Elliott Teaford) reports: Kobe Bryant called in sick Sunday morning. He skipped the Lakers’ final practice before they begin their second-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets because he has a sore throat. The Lakers couldn’t say for certain whether he would play tonight in Game 1 at Staples Center. “If it is at all possible, I would expect him to be here,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “You certainly don’t want it to happen (Bryant coming down with an illness). You’re certainly unhappy about it happening. We’ll deal with what it is. “That’s what goes on in life. You just have to accept it.”
Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced Wednesday, April 29 that the club has picked up the team option on the contract of guard Will Bynum for the 2009-10 season.
Bynum, 26, appeared in 57 games (one start) last season, averaging 7.2 points (.456 FG, .798 FT), 1.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 0.59 steals in 14.1 minutes per game. The 6-foot guard played 20-plus minutes in 15 games during the 2008-09 campaign, averaging 16.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 26.2 minutes per game. He scored a career-high 32 points (career-high 14-16 FT) vs. Charlotte (4/5), including a franchise-record 26 points in the fourth quarter. In Game 4 of the Pistons’ first round playoff series against Cleveland, Bynum scored a playoff career-high 22 points.
Utah Jazz president Randy Rigby announced today that the 2009 Rocky Mountain Revue has been canceled. The team will reevaluate the viability of the event for the summer of 2010. The Jazz will be fielding a team at the Orlando Pro Summer League held at the RDV Sportsplex July 6-10.
“Since the NBA began its own summer league in Las Vegas, we have slowly been losing participation in our event. The few teams that played in both Utah and Vegas, have now decided to forgo the Rocky Mountain Revue and only attend Vegas for budgetary reasons,” said Rigby.
“We want to thank our fans for the support they have shown the Rocky Mountain Revue over the years and we look forward to finding other ways to connect with them this summer.”
Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan underwent successful right knee replacement surgery today, Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced. The surgery was performed by Dr. Russell Nelson in Salt Lake City.
The longest-tenured head coach in NBA history, Sloan recently completed his 21st season at the helm of the Jazz and ranks as the NBA’s fourth-winningest coach all-time with a career record of 1,137-751 (1,043-630 with Jazz). Sloan was also selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Class of 2009 where he will be inducted in September.
Rick Welts has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Phoenix Suns, as announced today by Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver. Welts joined the Suns in July 2002 as President and Chief Operating Officer.
“During Rick’s seven years with the Suns he has distinguished himself as one of professional sports best operators. Our creativity and success in areas such as marketing partnerships, technology, branding, customer service and this year’s NBA All-Star events have all been a result of Rick’s leadership,” said Sarver.
“I am very proud of what we have built here. Robert Sarver, Sam Garvin and our ownership partners have given this team the resources, confidence and support to be not just a good, but a great organization,” said Welts. “I have the best job in sports because of the extraordinary group of talented people I get to work with every day who are committed to being leaders in our industry and delivering our fans a great experience every time they visit US Airways Center.”
Welts’ NBA career started in 1969 as a ball boy for the Seattle SuperSonics. He remained with the Sonics for 10 years in several different capacities, including director of public relations when the Sonics won their lone NBA Championship in 1979.
He joined the NBA league office in New York City in 1982, and when he departed in 1999, he was serving as the league’s executive vice president, chief marketing officer and president of NBA Properties. Welts helped guide the revitalization of the league and its image through strong marketing initiated by the NBA and is credited with the creation of the NBA All-Star Weekend concept in 1984. He was responsible for the 1992 Olympics “Dream Team” marketing program as the agent for USA Basketball. In 1998, Brandweek magazine named Welts “Marketer of the Year,” for his role in creating and launching the WNBA together with WNBA President Val Ackerman.
In addition to his Suns responsibilities, Welts oversees the club’s interests in the Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) and US Airways Center.
Click here to see the official list of players who have declared early entry for the 2009 NBA draft.
Note that they can still pull out within the given deadline as long as they haven’t signed with an agent or otherwise ruined their eligibility with their college.
I generally talk almost entirely about basketball, occasionally touching on fun stuff in entertainment, and avoid discussing anything nasty in the world, but today, an NBA team located down near Mexico has sent a reaction to the current swine flu issue.
The Houston Rockets, showing that they’re on top of things, took a positive step to state that they’re aware of the swine flu’s existence and are monitoring the situation and making sure everyone is safe. I think they’re the first NBA team to say something about the issue, though they didn’t actually mention it by name in the release they sent out.
Here’s what the Rockets said:
“We are aware of the situation and concerned for all involved. We have been working with city health officials and the mayor’s office, as well as monitoring the situation from state and regional authorities. At this time, Toyota Center has been advised to continue its normal operations pertaining to Rockets and Aeros playoff games as well as concerts. We will continue communicating with the various agencies and will keep our fans apprised if any operational changes are implemented based on the directives we receive from local authorities.”
Until there’s reason to do so, I’ll probably not mention the issue again. Good for the Rockets, for being proactive.
Now, back to focusing on the playoffs!