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A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against former NBA star and Detroit Piston Allen Iverson over a 2009 bar fight.
The Detroit News reports Tuesday that federal Judge Nancy Edmunds found no evidence that Iverson punched an Ohio man or that the man who struck him was linked to the player.
Lawyer Michael Cafferty said Iverson feels vindicated. Guy Walker plans to appeal.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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According to a Thursday afternoon post on James’ Twitter feed, the Miami Heat forward will be teaming up with Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant to host a flag football game on Nov. 30.
“Its all set people!” James wrote. “Nov.30th Team @Kingjames vs Team @KDTrey5 in Flag football. Its going down. Can’t wait.”
It’s not known where the game will be held, and it’s also unclear exactly who else will be participating, but you can bet it’ll be a star-studded cast.
The players’ announcement that a game will be played is hardly a surprise, however, as both have been testing out their football chops while the labor crisis gets resolved.
— Reported by Sam Gardner of Fox Sports Florida
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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
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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
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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
Christian Eyenga has become the second Cavalier to sign with an overseas club during the NBA lockout. A third Cav could be right behind him.
Eyenga agreed to a deal with the Spanish side Joventut Badalona, according to a tweet from his agent Andy Miller. The swingman can return to the Cavaliers once the NBA work stoppage ends. He was playing in Spain before the Cavs signed him last season.
The Congolese international played in 44 games last season with the Cavs, averaging 6.9 points and 2.8 rebounds.
— Reported by Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer
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The proposed world tour of NBA elite amid the league’s lockout won’t include at least one of the Miami Heat’s Big Three.
LeBron James, whose name had been thrown into the mix for the two-week tour that opens Sunday in Puerto Rico and is scheduled to then include stops in London, Macau and Australia, will not be among the participants.
A source close to the Heat forward Wednesday told the Sun Sentinel that James had never committed to the tour and added that James is not participating, “due to previous commitments.”
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In the wake of the Sun Sentinel being informed of James not joining the tour, ESPN reported that New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul also would not be participating. With Wade close to those two, his interest could also be waning.
— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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Brown plans to handle his coaching staff differently than former coach Phil Jackson. Jackson assigned specific scouting responsibilities to his four assistants, Brian Shaw, Jim Cleamons, Frank Hamblen and Chuck Person. Brown said at a recent appearance for the release of the video game NBA2K12 that he plans to have all of his assistants, including Person, John Kuester, Quin Snyder and Ettore Messina, coach in all phases of the game.
“Our guys need to hear my voice quite a bit,” Brown said. “I’ll lead the charge in a lot of areas on both ends of the floor. But I’m not one to have my coaches sit back and do nothing. They have to get out there and work. I don’t care what side of the ball we’re on. I don’t care what we’re teaching at that particular time. They’re all coaches. None of them are specialists. They can all coach at both ends of the floor.”
— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times Blog
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LeBron James took his talents to Liverpool on Friday—and finally got his hands on a championship trophy.
The Miami Heat star toured the Premier League club’s facilities for the first time since becoming a shareholder of the 18-time English champions. James held up the Champions League trophy won by Liverpool in 2005 and posted a picture on Twitter of a red No. 6 jersey with his name on it.
The two-time MVP will sit in the directors’ box at Anfield Stadium for Saturday’s Premier League match against Liverpool rival Manchester United.
“Jersey ready for the big match 2morrow,” James tweeted.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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The Cleveland Cavaliers today announced that their new NBA D-League team in Canton will be named the Canton Charge. At the same time, the team’s colors, logo and court design were also debuted. The announcement and unveiling was led by Cavaliers President Len Komoroski and Cavaliers Chief Marketing Officer Tracy Marek, along with Canton Mayor William J. Healy II and Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce President Denny Saunier. The events took place at the Canton Memorial Civic Center, which will serve as home court for the Charge.
“The Canton Charge franchise is powered by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they are truly energized by the Greater Canton community,” said Cavaliers President Len Komoroski. “Today, we are proud to unveil a team identity that is very much the result of a collaborative process between our organization and the great fans here.”
“We’re very excited about this and we think Charge is not only a great name for the team, but it can also help reflect an attitude and mindset for our entire community. Canton is charging ahead in multiple ways, and we’re working hard to make our future better and better,” said Canton Mayor Healy.
Extensive research was conducted to best determine the team identity by inviting fan input and direction in various forms. Thousands submitted their thoughts and ideas online via the team’s official website – www.CantonCharge.com and social media outlets. Fan focus groups and fan-on-the-street interviews also took place. Questions were answered, opinions were shared and fan direction was clear— it was very important to establish the close connection between Canton’s new NBA D-League team and the Cavaliers. A bond was easily seen and sensed. Fans wanted the team’s brand to translate the passion they already had for the Cavaliers and at the same time, to create a team identity that reflected great pride and energy in an aggressive way.
“Our fans spoke. We listened, and then we let their input and direction serve as the guiding element for our development process,” said Cavaliers CMO and team identity development process leader Tracy Marek. “It was a fun process and we think we ended up with a great name, logo and colors that represent what the team, the fans and the community collectively wanted. To CHARGE ahead!”
The goal was also to have the new team’s identity fit well with Canton’s strong history of being a passionate and supportive sports community. “There is a great partnership and momentum that can be created when a community, a team and fans all charge ahead together in support of each other and I think our business community understands how important and exciting this can be,” said Greater Canton Chamber of Commerce President Denny Saunier. “We look forward to being part of the fun and seeing the positive impact the Charge will have here.”
The Charge begins their inaugural season at the Canton Memorial Civic Center on Friday, November 25th at 7:30 p.m. against the defending NBA D-League Champion Iowa Energy. Individual game tickets will go on-sale in early November. Season tickets for the Canton Charge are on sale now and start as low as $5 per seat.
Read NBA fan reaction to the name and logo in this basketball forum topic.