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The Boston Celtics announced today that they have suspended guard Gabe Pruitt for two games for conduct detrimental to the team.
“I recognize that my behavior was inappropriate and accept the consequences of my action as determined by the Celtics,” said Pruitt.
Pruitt, a 6’4”, 170lb guard, is in his second year with the Celtics and is averaging 2.3 points in 8.8 minutes per game this season. The former USC Trojan has appeared in 36 games for the Celtics this season.
The Boston Globe (Frank Dell’Apa) reports: Reserve guard Gabe Pruitt was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence and spent about five hours under arrest at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood station early yesterday morning. Pruitt was charged with a misdemeanor and released on $5,000 bail. Pruitt failed a field sobriety test and was taken into custody near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue, about a block from the police station, at 3:07 a.m. A police spokesman said Pruitt was stopped at a green light and his automobile, a Mercedes S550, had dark, tinted windows, illegal in California. Pruitt was released at 8:31 a.m. yesterday.
The AP reports: Johnny “Red” Kerr, the former Chicago Bulls coach who spent more than three decades as a broadcaster for the team, died Thursday. He was 76. Kerr died at his home after a battle with prostate cancer, Bulls spokesman Tim Hallam said. “His name was synonymous with basketball, both here in Chicago, and throughout the entire NBA,” Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. “Those that were fortunate enough to have known Johnny were touched by both his tremendous compassion for people, and his lifelong passion for the game of basketball. We will miss him greatly.”
Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Ben Wallace broke his right leg in today’s game against the Houston Rockets.
The AP reports: Wallace, guarding Yao Ming much of the game, left in the third quarter. He was playing his fourth game since missing Cleveland’s Feb. 18 win over Toronto with a right arm laceration that required 14 stitches.
TNT is reporting that the Cavs athletic trainer expects Wallace to miss 8-10 weeks.
We’ll update this blog entry when more is known. Probably again later tonight, with an official report from the Cavs sometime Friday.
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The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday they have assigned rookie forward-centre Nathan Jawai to the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League. Jawai will continue to be included on the Raptors’ roster and will be placed on the team’s inactive list.
Jawai, 22, has appeared in five games totaling two points and two rebounds in 18 minutes. He was cleared December 17 to begin physical activity after being sidelined since training camp for precautionary reasons as a result of an abnormality detected during normal procedural pre-season cardiac screening.
The club acquired the draft rights to Jawai from the Indiana Pacers on July 9. He was the 41st overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft. He is the first indigenous player from Australia to be drafted by an NBA team.
Jawai is the third Raptor to be assigned to the D-League. P.J. Tucker was assigned twice to Colorado during the 2006-07 season and Pape Sow was assigned to the Arkansas Rimrockers in the 2005-06 campaign.
Idaho, who is led by head coach Bryan Gates, has been designated as Toronto’s D-League affiliate for the 2008-09 season. In addition to the Stampede, the 16-team NBA D-League includes the Albuquerque Thunderbirds (N.M.), Anaheim Arsenal (Calif.), Austin Toros (Texas), Bakersfield Jam (Calif.), Colorado 14ers (Broomfield), Dakota Wizards (Bismarck, N.D.), Erie BayHawks (Penn.), Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Ind.), Iowa Energy (Des Moines), Los Angeles D-Fenders, Reno Bighorns (Nev.),
Rio Grande Valley Vipers (McAllen, Tex.), Sioux Falls Skyforce (S.D.), Tulsa 66ers (Okla.) and Utah Flash (Provo).
The Denver Nuggets are covered by two main newspapers, the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. The latter, which features fantastic writer Chris Tomasson, is closing in a mere 24 hours. This news obviously stretches way beyond basketball, but in terms of Nuggets coverage this is awful. The Rocky Mountain News reports the following, on themselves:
The Rocky Mountain News publishes its last paper tomorrow. Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, broke the news to the Rocky staff at noon today, ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper’s future. He called the paper a victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry. “Denver can’t support two newspapers any longer,” Boehne told staffers, some of whom cried at the news. “It’s certainly not good news for you, and it’s certainly not good news for Denver.” On Dec. 4, Boehne announced that Scripps was looking for a buyer for the Rocky and its 50 percent interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency, the company that handles business matters for the papers, because of financial losses in Denver. Scripps said the Rocky lost $16 million in 2008.
Print media continues to lose readers and business to the internet (where you can also find the print product available free of charge). The current very bad economy is affecting businesses around the country and world. These factors and more spell gloomy days for the newspaper business for months and possibly years to come.
–Jeff
The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Former Bulls great and broadcaster Norm Van Lier has died at the age of 61. The Bulls drafted Van Lier in the third round in 1969. He played for the Bulls from 1971-72 until 1978 and was a three-time All-Star.
The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry) reports (via blog): Kevin Durant had his No. 35 jersey retired last night at the University of Texas and called it an “unbelievable” experience… “I told myself I wasn’t going to cry,” Durant said. ”But once they played a video of highlights from when I was there and then unveiled the jersey I got real emotional. It was one of the best days of my life. I’ve come a long way. A lot of people doubted me when I was growing up. A lot of people doubted me and said I wasn’t going to be anything when I went to Texas. So it feels good to prove all those people wrong and shine some light on the university and also Oklahoma City. So I was excited and it was a great time for me and my family.”
Detroit Pistons veteran forward Rasheed Wallace was set to be suspended due to the NBA’s rule about the number of technical fouls a player is allowed to receive.
But, it won’t happen. Yet. Michican Live (A. Sherrod Blakely ) reports:
Although Wallace picked up his 15th and 16th technical fouls of the season last night — which should have earned him a one-game suspension — a team official learned this morning that two of Wallace’s technicals from earlier this season (Dec. 23 and Feb. 7) have been rescinded.
Both teams played hard.
Fiba.com reports: Serbia basketball great Vlade Divac on Tuesday became the new president of the country’s Olympic Committee (OKS). Divac, who won numerous medals with the former Yugoslavia in international competition and also enjoyed a long career in the NBA, was confirmed as the new president at the General Assembly of OKS just minutes after his rival, former president Ivan Curkovic, decided to step out of the race. Curkovic explained that his sudden move was made “due to political pressure” that he was under, and “to secure legality of the election” since delegates previously had decided not to vote secretly for the president, which is a requirement under current OKS statutes if there is more than one candidate.