Forward Sean Williams to sign in Israel

Marc Stein of ESPN reports:

Sean Williams

After an All-Star season with the Texas Legends, Sean Williams is headed to Israel.

Sources with knowledge of the big man’s plans told ESPNDallas.com that Williams has agreed to a contract with Israeli club Maccabi Haifa, which has been trying feverishly to capitalize on the NBA lockout by signing players with NBA experience.

Williams’ deal, according to one source with knowledge of the terms, includes an out clause that would enabled the 24-year-old to return to the NBA when the lockout ends and if he gets an NBA offer.

Houston lands 2013 NBA All-Star Game

Mark Berman of My Fox Houston reports:

NBA sources told FOX 26 Sports the Houston Rockets and the City of Houston landed the NBA All-Star Game in 2013. The game will be played at Toyota Center on Feb. 17, 2013. NBA All-Star week will be Feb. 15-17. The Rockets and Toyota Center also hosted the game in 2006.

Click2Houston reports:

The entire NBA All-Star Weekend will be in the Bayou City from February 15-17, 2013. Hilton Americas Marketing Director Janice O’Neill-Cox spoke with Local 2 Sports Wednesday afternoon, saying, “We played a key role in working with the league to make sure availability was in place. It’s a big boost for our city to land the game, and we’re excited about it.”

InsideHoops.com editor says: I don’t get why Houston is getting the game again. They just had it in 2006. Meanwhile, other teams haven’t hosted it in a long time. Also, Madison Square Garden renovations will be mostly complete in time. And the new Brooklyn Nets arena will exist by mid 2012. Unusual call to send the big weekend back to Houston so soon.

Tyson Chandler takes big loss on Chicago-area home sale

Tyson Chandler

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Former Chicago Bulls center Tyson Chandler who was part of this year’s NBA title-winning Dallas Mavericks team, has taken a huge loss on his 20-room, brick-and-limestone mansion in north suburban Northfield, selling it for $2.1 million.

The 7-foot-1 Chandler, 28, took one of the biggest housing losses of any area celebrity in recent years, selling his mansion for slightly more than half of what he paid for it in mid-2006. As the Red Eye newspaper reported in September 2006, Chandler paid $4 million for the mansion — just weeks before he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets after five seasons with the Bulls.

Chandler first listed the three-story mansion in 2007 for $4.99 million, and over the years reduced his asking price many times. Its final asking price was $2.895 million.

Custom-built in 2004 and covering about 11,000 square feet, the six-bedroom mansion has six full baths, two half baths, three fireplaces, a two-story great room, custom travertine and walnut floors, chef’s kitchen with a large breakfast room, wine cellar, a home theater, an exercise room, spa, mudroom, four-car garage, and a first-floor master suite with a large onyx bath. The mansion is on a 0.91-acre parcel.

Dirk Nowitzki will not consider overseas offers until after European championships

Dirk Nowitzki

Marc Stein of ESPN reports:

There have been offers from China, feelers from teams around Europe and, of course, aggressive interest from Bayern Munich and other top clubs in his native Germany.

But Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki isn’t ready to think about playing abroad in the event of an extended lockout.

Two weeks into his training for the upcoming EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania with the German national team, after a month of championship celebrations that he says went by way too fast, Nowitzki told ESPNDallas.com in a phone interview Thursday that he plans to wait until after the European championships before he thinks seriously about playing in a foreign league.

Spending the week in Berlin to combine a commercial shoot with private training sessions with longtime mentor Holger Geschwindner, Nowitzki said: “I’m going to play the Euros and then see where the lockout is after that. Until then, I’m not going to look at playing anywhere else.”

The EuroBasket tournament runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 18.

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Shawn Marion turns down offer to appear on Dancing With the Stars

TMZ reports:

shawn marion

Dallas Mavericks star Shawn Marion isn’t taking any chances with the NBA lockout — in fact, he just turned down “Dancing with the Stars” … to make sure he’s free to practice with his team this fall.

Sources close to Shawn tell TMZ, “Dancing” sent him an official offer to appear on the show, but the NBA champ wants to make sure he’s 100% available in case the lockout ends early … so it’s a no go.

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Former NBA player Samaki Walker arrested on drug charges

Dave Hawkins of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports:

Samaki Walker

Arizona authorities allege former NBA basketball player Samaki Walker tried to eat marijuana as a Department of Public Safety officer approached his 2002 Mercedes-Benz following a routine traffic stop in Kingman on Thursday.

Officials said about 10 grams of marijuana was seized from the vehicle along with some prescription drugs and eight bottles of liquid steroids.

Police Sgt. Jamie Clark, the supervisor of a narcotics task force, said Walker was cooperative when interviewed by officers at the Mohave County Jail. He said Walker indicated that he uses the steroids to enhance his athletic ability as he still plays professionally in Syria.

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Houston Rockets hire Greg Buckner as player development coach

Houston Rockets Head Coach Kevin McHale announced today that he has officially added Greg Buckner as a player development coach on his staff.

“Greg is going to handle player development for us,” said McHale. “He came up the hard way, really worked his way around the league. Greg is just a really good, blue-collar guy who understands the league. We are excited to have him on the staff.”

Buckner joins the Rockets after a successful 10-year playing career in the NBA. Selected by Dallas in the second round (53rd overall) of the 1998 NBA Draft, Buckner averaged 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 570 career games (117 starts) with the Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies. Buckner was also regarded as an outstanding defensive player over his career. His teams reached the postseason in six of his 10 NBA seasons. Overall, he averaged 4.1 points and 2.6 rebounds in 38 career playoff games.

InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner on this hire: “I think it’s a good move. Buckner has a good basketball IQ and should be decent as a teacher.”

As a collegian, Buckner was regarded as one of the top players in Clemson history. He was the first Tiger to ever lead his team in scoring four straight years (1994-98) and guided Clemson to three NCAA Tournament bids. Buckner started all 122 games of his career and never missed a contest, setting the school record for consecutive games started. He finished with 1,754 career points and was the third Tiger player to log career totals of at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists. Inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005, Buckner remains the lone Tiger to ever win the ACC Rookie of the Year award (1994-95).

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Caron Butler hopes to stay with Mavs

Generally, when a team wins an NBA championship, the players who were on the squad don’t mind returning. Such is the case with small forward Caron Butler, who unfortunately was hurt and unable to contribute on the court to his team’s playoff success.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News reports:

Caron Butler

Caron Butler’s right knee has been diagnosed as good to go, agent Raymond Brothers confirmed Wednesday. Where he will be playing when the NBA returns from its lockout remains to be seen.

Brothers said Butler, a free agent, was cleared to play by the Mavericks’ medical staff several days ago. Butler ruptured his patellar tendon in a New Year’s Day loss at Milwaukee. He missed the rest of the Mavericks’ championship season.

“He would have been able to play in Game 7 against the Miami Heat,” Brothers said. “But now we have the official clearance.”

Game 7 of the NBA Finals wasn’t necessary as the Mavericks wrapped up the league title in six games.

Brothers said the 6-7 forward prefers to return to the Mavericks. Butler was the team’s third-leading scorer when his season ended.

The Mavs proved they can win in a big way without Butler’s help, but they still could have used his services. We’ll see how this plays out.

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NBA Rookie Transition Program postponed

The NBA Rookie Transition Program, scheduled for August 9-11, has been postponed.  The program, which provides first-year players with the skills and information necessary for a successful transition to the NBA, is run jointly by the NBA and the Players Association.

“Without a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ union, we will be unable to hold RTP as originally scheduled,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said.  “This is an important educational program for our incoming players, and it will be rescheduled once the parties agree on a CBA.”

Jason Terry says Mavericks must keep Tyson Chandler

Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas reports:

Jason Terry

Terry, wearing a No. 31 Rangers jersey and holding a bat signed by Josh Hamilton to be used for an auction supporting Terry’s charity, said his top offseason priority if he were running the team would be to re-sign center Tyson Chandler.

“Chandler is No. 1 for me,” Terry said. “We want to get all our guys back, but especially what Chandler has meant to this organization. It was something we hadn’t had and once we got him, you could see what it did for us. So we got to get him back.”

Terry said he’s spent his offseason with his daughters, including coaching an AAU team and stopping by the ESPY Awards last week.

Terry also spent 48 hours with the Larry O’Brien Trophy and admitted that he slept with it one night.

“At 47 (hours), (Mavs owner Mark) Cuban was in my driveway knocking on the door,” Terry said. “It was fun. That’s where it soaked in what we had accomplished — seeing my daughters and how much it meant to my family. They took tons and tons of pictures.”