Boston Celtics Blog – Page 86 – NBA Blog

Rajon Rondo to host Boston Charity Classic game

Just hours after the NBA Players Association decided to disband, Celtics guard Rajon Rondo announced the “Boston Charity Classic” all-star game at 6 p.m. Saturday at Lavietes Pavilion on Harvard’s campus. Proceeds, according to the press release, will aid local Boston charities in providing meals for the holiday season.

It’s Boston’s first of the series of all-star and charity games held across the country since the lockout began and it is expected to feature its share of heavy hitters, including Celtics forward Paul Pierce and scoring champion Kevin Durant.

Also expected to play is Glen “Big Baby” Davis, JaJuan Johnson, former Celtic Kendrick Perkins in his return to Boston, former Harvard star Jeremy Lin, ex-Celtics Leon Powe and Marquis Daniels as well as close Rondo buddy Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies, Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks and Kyle Lowry of the Houston Rockets.

— Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe Blog

Hall of Famer Ed Macauley dies at 83

Ed Macauley, one of the NBA’s first big stars who won a championship with the St. Louis Hawks and was traded by the Boston Celtics for Bill Russell, has died. He was 83.

Saint Louis University announced Macauley’s death on Tuesday. The school had no other details. “Easy Ed” was a standout player with the Billikens, leading them to the 1948 NIT title.

Macauley was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1960. A native of St. Louis, he was a territorial pick of that city’s Basketball Association of America franchise, the Bombers. He played there for one season and then was selected by the Celtics in a 1950 dispersal draft.

Macauley played for the Celtics from the 1950-51 season until 1955-56. He and the draft rights to future Hall of Famer Cliff Hagan were traded by Boston to the St. Louis Hawks on April 29, 1956, for the rights to Russell, a move that changed the power structure of the NBA.

— Reported by the Associated Press

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

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

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

Shaq sues former IT employee over selling of personal emails

Shaquille O’Neal is suing a former information technology employee the former NBA great claims invaded his privacy by selling personal emails that damaged his reputation.

The lawsuit was filed against Shawn Darling in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. It seeks an injunction barring Darling from providing O’Neal’s emails to anyone, unspecified damages and the return of all O’Neal’s private electronic messages.

O’Neal paid Darling up to $150 an hour for IT work.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Shaq once went off on teammate Glen Davis

From Shaquille O’Neal’s upcoming autobiography:

“Big Baby” Davis kept looking me off and taking it himself. Doc is shouting at him to go inside, but he won’t. So Doc calls timeout and draws up a play for me. I go out there, and I back Andrew Bynum way under the rim. I’m loose, I’m ready. I’ve got Bynum under the basket and again, Baby won’t give me the ball. So I go up to him and say, “If you ever miss me again I’m going to punch you in the face.” I was hot.

Two nights later we’re playing in Sacramento and here we go again. I take three shots the entire game and again I’ve got my man isolated underneath the basket, and Baby ignores me and takes a jump shot. So the next time we’re in the huddle I let Baby have it.

I tell him, “Pass the [expletive] ball inside.” He comes back at me a little bit and now I’m really heated. All hell is breaking loose. We’re going back and forth. Doc is standing there and he’s not saying a word. The message is pretty clear: Work this out yourselves. I tell Baby, “You’re a selfish player. Everyone on this team knows it.” Hey, all the fans knew it. He takes shots when he shouldn’t.

— Reported by Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe

Antoine Walker re-signs with Idaho Stampede of D-League

The Idaho Stampede has announced three-time NBA All-Star Antoine Walker has signed with the NBA Development League and will report to training camp with the Idaho Stampede, which begins November 14.

Walker (6-9, 245, Kentucky) played 43 games (39 starts) with the Stampede in 2010-11, averaging 16.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 33.4 minutes per game.

Walker had four double-doubles on the season, all coming in the last six games of the year. Walker scored a season-high 29 points at Dakota on Jan. 16 and grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds on March 26 at Austin.

“I can’t wait to get back to Boise,” Walker said. “It’s a great place to live and I’m hoping I can help this team make the playoffs and win a championship – we’ve got some unfinished business to tend to.”

A veteran of 12 NBA seasons, Walker has career averages of 17.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 893 games (707 starts). Walker made All-Star game appearances in 1998, 2002 and 2003, starting alongside Michael Jordan in the 2002 game in Philadelphia.

Walker has played for the Boston Celtics (seven-plus seasons), Dallas Mavericks (one season), Atlanta Hawks (part of one season), Miami Heat (two seasons) and Minnesota Timberwolves (one season). His last stint in the NBA was in 2007-08 with the T’Wolves, playing 46 games (1 start).

In the NBA playoffs, Walker has career averages of 16.1 points, 7.1 Rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in 64 games. Walker averaged 13.3 points per game with the Miami Heat in 2005-06 when the club won its first-ever NBA Championship.

Walker was the sixth overall selection in the 1996 NBA Draft, making the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1997. Stampede Head Coach Randy Livingston was taken 42nd overall in that same draft class.

Before his professional career, Walker played two seasons at the University of Kentucky under coach Rick Pitino. The Wildcats won the NCAA Championship in 1996 with Walker averaging 15.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

Born August 12, 1976, Walker is a former McDonald’s All-American from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, Ill.

Walker last played in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2008-09; he then signed with the Guaynabo Mets, a team in the Puerto Rican Baloncesto Superior Nacional basketball league.

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Kevin Garnett still plans to play in World All-Star Classic

The World All-Star Classic has lost some of its shine recently, with some of the NBA’s top players opting to not participate.

But there’s one perennial all-star – Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett – who, according to his agent, is very much still in the mix…

Others tentatively scheduled to participate include Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Steve Nash, Carlos Boozer, Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Tyson Chandler and Chris Kaman.

— Reported by A. Sherrod Blakely of the CSNNE Blog

Rajon Rondo staying busy this off-season

Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo made highlight reels with an acrobatic alley-oop pass to Denver rookie Kenneth Faried in a Kentucky all-star game last week, after making his first organized basketball appearance last weekend at the South Florida All-Star Classic. In that one, he was promptly booed by the Heat faithful at Florida International University in Miami.

“I had a fun time at the game, a lot of guys playing together,’’ he said. “It’s good competition. That’s what you look for in this type of time of the year.

“The elbow is fine. I have been playing in a lot of games and it hasn’t given me any problems yet.’’

Rondo has worked out feverishly at the University of Kentucky, and though he is not in true basketball shape because of a lack of a training camp, he is prepared for more extensive workouts when the lockout concludes.

— Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe