Boston Celtics Blog – Page 87 – NBA Blog

Stephon Marbury about to begin new season playing basketball in China

China’s most beloved New Yorker, Stephon Marbury, arrived for his third season in the Chinese Basketball Association at Beijing Capital Airport on October 6th with a bunch of bags, a lot of smiles and two big band-aids on his head. (And as always, a lot of people with cameras taking his photos.) After playing one and a half seasons Taiyuan, Shanxi province, and Foshan, Guangdong, two Chinese cities not exactly known as foreign hotspots, Marbury has finally made it to his Chinese professional basketball mecca, Beijing.

This season, Steph will play for the Beijing Shougang Ducks. Last season, led by former New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks center, Randolph Morris, the Ducks finished in eighth place, which gave them the right to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs by eventual league runners-up, Xinjiang Guanghui. Aiming to build off that success, the Ducks brought back Morris for another year and signed Marbury, who interestingly enough was close to signing with the team last year before team management ultimately decided to go with Steve Francis instead. (We don’t need to remind you how that ended up.) Although the team will be weakened with the departure of Jordanian national teammer, Zaid Abbas, who moved on to Fujian SBS this season to act as their Asian import, teaming up with Morris and Taiwanese national team point guard/CBA heartthrob, Lee Hsueh-lin, will give Marbury by far his best chance to make it to the post-season for the first time in his Chinese career.

— Reported by NIUBBall.com

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Tiger Woods bummed out by NBA lockout

Tiger Woods, when asked about the NBA lockout:

“Yeah, of course I’m bummed,” he said. “I think anybody who is an NBA fan is certainly bummed. I know that probably one person who is happy is probably Doc Rivers. I mean, with the age of his team, it’s nice for them to only play half-a-season. It’s true. It’s a fact, come on.”

Woods then shifted gears to the his hometown team.

“But as far as us out west, I’m looking forward to the Lakers getting back there and we’ll see what they do,” he continued. “The problem is, you can’t talk to anybody. You can’t see who is potentially on the block of being traded, what kind of deals can we do? Nothing can be happening.

“So as a fan, it’s disconcerting because I’m excited about what we could add to the team, but it’s also I understand this is business, and everyone in this business wants to make money. I know the owners were losing a bunch of money, and some of the markets were feeling the effects. They can’t draw certain players, so they’re just trying to make it fair for everybody so everybody can win.”

— Reported by Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com

Two stars from Psych on USA network give InsideHoops shoutouts

The show Psych on USA Network is an InsideHoops.com favorite. I watch it, and tons of our message board members love it as well. Several pro-Psych forum discussions exist and it’s almost all positive. The general consensus is that it’s an extremely fun show.

So it was cool when InsideHoops.com was recently invited to cover a USA network event called “Psych Fan Appreciation Day,” celebrating the upcoming new Psych season with dedicated fans of the show. We were treated to an advance preview of the season premiere, and met virtually the entire cast.

We’ll post some interview quotes in the next day or two, but right now we’ll jump right to the extra good stuff and present video clips of two Psych stars welcoming you to InsideHoops.com:

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Bill Russell files lawsuit against NCAA and EA

William “Bill” Russell, the former National Basketball Association star center for the Boston Celtics, accused the National Collegiate Athletic Association in an antitrust complaint of selling videos using his likeness without paying him or seeking his consent.

The lawsuit is the latest to claim the NCAA violates federal antitrust laws by keeping former student basketball and football athletes from receiving compensation for the commercial use of their images and likeness. The association has denied wrongdoing in those cases.

Electronic Arts Inc., the second-largest U.S. video game maker, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Russell accuses it of using his image in a “Tournament of Legends” feature on an NCAA basketball video game.

Russell, who led the University of San Francisco to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, said in the complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Oakland, California, that the association sells $150 videos of the team’s championship games. At least 54 video clips featuring him are available through the website of the NCAA’s for-profit business partner and photos of him through an NCAA on-line photo store, according to the complaint.

— Reported by Karen Gullo of Bloomberg

Melo, LeBron, Wade, Pierce and Ray Allen party in NYC

The NBA stars were in NYC this past weekend to take part in bargaining sessions to try to settle the lockout, but it didn’t stop them from enjoying a late night out. On Friday night Carmelo Anthony held court, playing host to Miami Heat’s LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, taking the guys to the five-year anniversary party of Meatpacking hotspot Tenjune. The basketball greats were treated to a DJ set by Swizz Beatz. According to an insider at the club, “The towering athletes parted the crowd, with Carmelo leading the pack.”

— Reported by New York Post’s Page Six

Celtics may target Josh Howard in free agency

A free agent who could be on the Celtics’ radar is former Wizard and Maverick Josh Howard, who is healthy after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in February 2010. Howard played in 18 games for the Wizards last season, averaging 8.4 points in 10 starts ….. One agent said he believes the NBA will not want to start the season after Christmas, as it did with the lockout in 1998-99. That season was pushed back to February and 50 games were squeezed into two months ….. Celtics second-round draft pick E’Twaun Moore has begun the exhibition season with Benetton Treviso, averaging 10.4 points in four games for the Italian team. Ex-UConn standout Jeff Adrien and ex-Celtic Brian Scalabrine are also on the roster.

— Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe

Celtics guard Avery Bradley may sign in Israel

Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley is nearing a deal to play with Hapoel Jerusalem during the NBA lockout, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

A formal agreement could be reached as soon as this week that would allow Bradley to return to the NBA if the league-imposed lockout ends during Hapoel’s season.

After failing to complete a deal with Memphis Grizzlies guard Greivis Vasquez last week, Hapoel turned its attention to signing Bradley.

— Reported by Marc J. Spears and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

Delonte West gets a job at a furniture store

Guard Delonte West, either genuinely lacking money or simply out of boredom to try new things during the NBA lockout, or just being a little out of left field, has gotten a job at a furniture store.

Here’s what he said on Twitter:

“Applied at Regency Furniture, need a 2nd job to stay afloat during the lockout.”

“I am now an official employee of Regency Furniture.”

Here is what Delonte wrote is a photo of him at his first day of work.

And a large photo of his job application.

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Vitaly Potapenko named assistant coach of Dakota Wizards

The Dakota Wizards have hired Vitaly (vee-TAH-lee) Potapenko (poe-TAH-pen-koe) as the team’s assistant coach, the team announced today. Potapenko will serve under newly hired Head Coach Nate Bjorkgren for the 2011-12 season.

Potapenko brings two years of coaching experience to the Wizards, having most recently served as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers this past season. In Indiana, under Head Coach Jim O’Brien and Interim Head Coach Frank Vogel, Potapenko helped lead the Pacers to a 37-45 record and a trip to the 2011 NBA Playoffs.

Prior to joining the Pacers, Potapenko served as an assistant coach for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League under Head Coach Joey Meyer during the 2009-10 season.

Potapenko was selected 12th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1996 NBA Draft. Nicknamed “The Ukraine Train”, he averaged 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds over 11 seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics and the Sacramento Kings. His most productive season came in 1998-99 after being traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Boston Celtics on March 11, 1999. He averaged 10.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 33 games (32 starts) for the Celtics.

Prior to joining the NBA, Potapenko played for Budivelnyk (Ukraine) from 1992-1994 and finished his career playing for MMT Estudiantes in the Spanish ACB during the 2007-2008 season.

Potapenko, 36, was born in Kiev, USSR.

NBA postpones training camps, cancels October 9-15 preseason games

The NBA announced today that player training camps for the 2011-12 season have been postponed indefinitely because a new collective bargaining agreement has not been reached with the National Basketball Players Association. Training camps were scheduled to open on October 3.

In addition, the league canceled all preseason games scheduled from October 9 through October 15.

“We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” said NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver. “We will make further decisions as warranted.”

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