Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (blog) reports:
The Lakers tried to move up in Thursday’s NBA draft by offering forward Lamar Odom to Minnesota for the Timberwolves’ No. 2 overall pick, but Minnesota turned them down, according to two NBA officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about the trade talks.
The Lakers wanted to use the No. 2 pick to select Arizona’s forward Derrick Williams, the officials said.
However, Minnesota didn’t want Odom, the NBA’s sixth man of the year last season, because the Timberwolves have Kevin Love at power forward and see him as part of the franchise’s cornerstone.
Lakers forward Matt Barnes exercised his option to extend his contract for the 2011-12 season, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
Barnes, signed by the Lakers as a free agent on July 22, 2010, averaged 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 19.2 minutes over 53 games last season.
Originally selected by the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round (46th overall pick) of the 2002 NBA Draft, Barnes has averaged 7.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 497 career games.
Spero Dedes had hoped in April a deal would work out for him to move from radio to the Lakers’ TV job. But things changed during negotiations that included Dedes wanting to continue periodic work for CBS on the NFL and college basketball and other national jobs — and Dedes is instead headed to be a radio and TV play-by-play man for the New York Knicks, who will allow him to do some national work.
“We had a verbal agreement with Spero to be our new TV play-by-play announcer,” Lakers spokesman John Black said. “However, prior to getting a finalized contract, he had a change of heart and decided to pursue another job.”
The Los Angeles Lakers have hired longtime Southern California area broadcasters Bill Macdonald (television) and John Ireland (radio) as the team’s play-by-play announcers for the upcoming 2011-12 season.
A four-time local Emmy Award-winning announcer and host, Macdonald will call all televised Lakers games on FS West and KCAL 9 alongside former Laker and long-time color commentator Stu Lantz, who will be entering his 25th season broadcasting Lakers games.
A fixture on FS West/Prime Ticket since its inception in 1985, the versatile Macdonald has broadcast in a variety of capacities for the network over the years as host, field reporter and play-by-play announcer for professional basketball, baseball and hockey among other sports. The current host of FS West’s pre- and post-game shows “Lakers Live,” “Angels Live” and “Ducks Live,” Macdonald has also served as the play-by-play voice for UCLA men’s basketball and football and Los Angeles Avengers football. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Macdonald has filled in as the Angels, Ducks and Kings play-by-play announcer over the years as well as the Lakers play-by-play announcer on both television and radio, most notably calling Kobe Bryant’s historic 81-point game on January 22, 2006.
Ireland, the team’s sideline reporter on KCAL 9 since the 2002-03 season, will call each and every Lakers game on 710 AM ESPN Radio alongside former Laker and two-time NBA Champion Mychal Thompson, who will be entering his ninth season as the Lakers radio color commentator.
Another winner of four local Emmy Awards for best sports reporting, Ireland currently co-hosts the Mason and Ireland Show on 710 AM ESPN Radio while also serving as a regular sports anchor and reporter for the KCBS/KCAL sports team. A UCLA graduate, Ireland’s career path took him to stations in Monroe (LA), Beaumont (TX) and San Diego (CA) before ultimately finding a home at KCAL 9 in 1995. In 1997, Ireland added the Los Angeles Clippers radio play-by-play announcer responsibilities to his resume, working five seasons in all for the team on a fill-in basis before joining the Lakers beat as sideline reporter in 2002. A two-time recipient of the Southern California Sports Broadcasters (SCSB) Irv Kaze Radio Talk Show Host Award, Ireland has also previously filled in on radio play-by-play duties for both UCLA and Lakers basketball games.
Fernando Gonzalez, entering his 15th season as Lakers Spanish play-by-play announcer, and Jose “Pepe” Mantilla, who has served as color commentator for Lakers Spanish broadcasts since 1993, will once again broadcast every game on 1330 ESPN Deportes, the team’s Spanish language flagship.
Whenever an amazing coach has called it quits and moved on to another line of basketball-related work, you can’t help but to wonder if he’ll eventually make a comeback to the profession.
Especially if the team he works for has a loaded, star-studded roster like the Miami Heat.
But Pat Riley will reportedly stick to executive offices.
The AP reports:
Heat President Pat Riley says he will not return to coaching, and says the team has a strong leader in Erik Spoelstra.
Riley spoke Tuesday at his annual end-of-season wrapup and touched on several topics including the disappointment of Miami’s loss in the NBA finals to the Dallas Mavericks. He lauded the Mavericks for winning the title, plus says he still believed the first Heat season with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as teammates was “a great year.”
This has nothing to do with Riley or the Heat, but I wonder if we’ll ever see Jerry Sloan on the sideline again.
If you enjoy seeing the stars of VH1 Basketball Wives yell and scream at each other while attending parties and navigating through their lives, InsideHoops.com has good news for you.
VH1 is expanding their “Basketball Wives” franchise with a new series set in Los Angeles featuring the wives and girlfriends of players both the Lakers and their cross-town rivals, the Clippers. VH1 has also given the greenlight to a new dating series, “Siggy Flicker” (working title) featuring the dynamic matchmaker Siggy Flicker and her match-making service in New York teaching the lovelorn to be dating powerhouses.
VH1 Basketball Wives Los Angeles premieres on Monday, August 29 at 8pm ET/PT.
Elbow throwing, trash talking and in-your-face action: forget the NBA, we’re talking about their wives! (Or ex-wives. Or girlfriends. Or ex-girlfriends. Or something!)
The VH1 Basketball Wives L.A. cast includes: Kimsha Artest (wife of Ron Artest, Los Angeles Lakers), Gloria Govan (fiancée of Matt Barnes, Los Angeles Lakers), Laura Govan (sister of Gloria Govan) and Jackie Christie (wife of Doug Christie, former player for the Los Angeles Clippers) and Imani Showalter (fiancée of Stephen Jackson, Charlotte Bobcats) as well as others.
This 10 episode, hour-long series will dive into the real-life locker room of these leading ladies, giving viewers a never-before-seen look at what it takes to live in La La Land and be connected to a famous professional athlete. For the most part, these women live the life with the best cars, biggest mansions and hottest bling but living the high life is not all glamour and often there is a price to pay. Cameras will follow these women as they attempt to juggle their relationships, infidelity issues, children and friendships while trying to find the perfect balance between supporting their families and realizing their own career ambitions. “Basketball Wives LA” brings a full court press to VH1 Monday, August 29 at 8 PM ET/PT. InsideHoops.com will keep you updated if there are changes to the premiere episode.
Shed Media is producing the series. Executive producing for Shed Media are Nick Emmerson, Jennifer O’Connell, Sean Rankine and Alex Demyanenko. Tom Huffman is a consulting producer. Shaunie O’Neal is an executive producer. Executive producing for VH1 are Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes and Noah Pollack.
Spanish forward Pau Gasol, who has been linked to a move to the Minnesota Timberwolves, said Monday he wants to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers for “as many years as I can”.
The Timberwolves have reportedly been strongly pursuing Gasol to pair with Barcelona guard Ricky Rubio, who will play for the NBA side next season.
“My desire is to stay with the Lakers. I don’t have control over it but I want to stay with the Lakers for as many years as I can to be able to remain eligible for the maximum possible championships,” Gasol told reporters in the northeastern city of Alicante.
Shaquille O’Neal is embroiled in a criminal case in which 7 gang members allegedly kidnapped, beat up and robbed a man who claimed to have a tape showing Shaq having sex with other women while he was married to Shaunie.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Ladell Rowles — a member of the Main Street Mafia Crip Gang in L.A. who is friends with Shaq — along with 6 other members went on a search and destroy mission in L.A. on February 11, 2008. They believed a man named Robert Ross had the sex tape and they tried getting it back with the help of a gun or two.
According to the police report, the 7 gang members met up with Ross at a convenience store — Pink Dot — on the Sunset Strip. The men allegedly surrounded Ross’ Rolls Royce Phantom with guns drawn, jumped into Ross’ car and ordered him to drive to Rowles’ house in South Central L.A.
Once there, Rowles allegedly pistol whipped Ross and demanded that he turn over the sex tape. Ross said he would get the tape and bring it back to them. The 7 men then allegedly took Ross’ Rolex, diamond chain and earrings, along with $15,000 in cash — then let Ross go.
The 7 men have been arrested and charged with robbery, kidnapping and other crimes.
InsideHoops.com says: Well, this all sounds like anyone’s typical morning. But seriously, of course being a fan of Shaq like everyone else, I certainly hope the report isn’t accurate.
Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.
“It’s an odd position, when the game is the best it’s ever been, when the ratings are the highest they’ve ever been, when the excitement is the greatest it’s ever (been),” Players Association attorney Jeffrey Kessler said last week. “It’s sort of odd to see the owners say we’re going to destroy this game unless you change this whole system. Players just want to play.”
Nobody can predict when they’ll get that chance again. When the Dallas Mavericks finished off the Miami Heat on Sunday night in Game 6, it sent the NBA into a most uncertain offseason.
Owners and players are nowhere close on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expires June 30. Without a new deal, players say they have been told by the owners they will be locked out.
The NBA was reduced to a 50-game season by a work stoppage in 1998-99, and the loss of games is a threat now. Citing leaguewide losses of about $300 million this season, the league hasn’t budged on its desire for significant changes to the financial structure, ranging from reductions in the length of contracts and the amount of guarantees, to an overhaul of the salary cap system that would prevent teams from being able to exceed it, as they can now under certain exceptions.
And Stern said the record TV ratings and all the other positive attention the league has received doesn’t make him any more motivated to get this settled, since he’d want to do it anyway.
“I don’t need any external prod to want to be able to make a deal,” he said…
The sides are scheduled to meet twice this week and say they hope for frequent discussions before the end of the month. Should those fail, the NBA could follow the NFL’s labor situation right into the court system, which both sides say they want to avoid. So although a work stoppage in July wouldn’t seem to have much effect since games aren’t going on, Stern insists “we very much feel the weight of the deadline.”
The Dallas Mavericks’ clinching victory in the NBA finals earned the highest preliminary television rating for a Game 6 in 11 years.
The Mavericks’ 105-95 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday on ABC drew a 15.0 overnight rating. That’s the best for a Game 6 since 2000, when the Lakers clinched a title over the Pacers. There had been five series since that went at least six games.
The rating was up 35 percent from Game 6 of the 2006 finals between the same teams, when the Heat clinched a championship. It was up 22 percent from last year’s Game 6, when the Lakers routed the Celtics to force Game 7.
