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Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:
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Miami Heat forward Mike Miller is recovering from surgery for a ruptured tendon in his left thumb.
Miller was injured during the latter stages of the regular season, finishing the postseason in protective bracing on his non-shooting hand.
Miller sustained a similar injury to his right thumb during the preseason.
The AP reports:
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Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has received a bill for the cost of a parade honoring the NBA champions, which he has pledged to pay out of his own pocket.
City officials determined the cost of the June 16 downtown celebration came to $340,947. City spokesman Frank Librio said Thursday the bill was sent straight to Cuban, who has agreed to pay promptly.
According to the city’s summary sheet, the largest expense, at $270,715, was for the 540-strong police presence.
Does an NBA superstar need some sort of clearly-defined go-to move? A first-option offensive maneuver that the player almost always tries to execute before he allows the defense to force him to try something else?
Pat Riley says no. Not if a player’s entire game is one giant go-to entity of sheer awesomeness.
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:
As difficult as the ending was for the Miami Heat just over a week ago, coming up two victories short against the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, the Heat’s president said Tuesday he does not envision the need for dramatic changes.That includes the need for LeBron James to reinvent himself, as some have suggested.
“He’s got a go-to game. He doesn’t have to have a go-to move,” Riley said during an informal season-ending media session at AmericanAirlines Arena. “I mean, I love reading all the people who’ve never coached in their life, that all of a sudden became experts about he needed a ‘go-to.’ He’s got a go-to game.
“He knows what he needs to do to get better as a player. He’s 26 years old and I think there’s another huge upside for him.”
LeBron is definitely capable of scoring at will when he actively and aggressively attacks the rim. But when he just stands outside like he did for stretches of the Finals? Not so much.
What’s your opinion? Read fan reaction and discuss it in this forum topic.
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.
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The Miami Heat announced today that they have made a qualifying offer to Mario Chalmers, making him a restricted free agent and giving Miami the opportunity to match any contract offer he receives.
Chalmers, a 6’2”, 190-pound guard, has appeared in 225 regular season games (132 starts) averaging 7.9 points, 3.7 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 1.45 steals and 26.7 minutes while shooting 40.9 percent from the field, 35 percent from three-point range and 77.8 percent from the foul line. Among Miami’s all-time leaders, he ranks eighth in steals (327), tied for ninth in three-point field goals made (272), 12th in assists (826), 19th in minutes (6,012), tied for 19th in games played (225) and 22nd in three-point field goal percentage (.350).
In 33 career postseason games (eight starts), he averaged 8.1 points, 2.7 assists, 2.1 rebounds, 1.52 steals and 26.4 minutes while shooting 43 percent from the field, 36 percent from three-point range and 75 percent from the foul line. During the 2011 NBA Finals, Chalmers increased his postseason averages in the six-game series against Dallas in points (11.8), assists (3.5), rebounds (2.7), minutes (29.0) and three-point field goal percentage (.400).
Chalmers set a new Heat record this season after dishing out 13 assists off the Miami bench at Toronto on April 13, the most from a non-starter in franchise history. He also currently holds the Heat all-time record for steals during a regular season game with nine vs. Philadelphia on November 5, 2008 and tied the franchise mark for steals during a postseason game with five vs. Atlanta on May 1, 2009. Additionally, during his rookie campaign, he became just the fifth player, and the first rookie, in franchise history to start in all 82 games while on his way to earning Second Team NBA All-Rookie honors.
Chalmers was originally drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round (34th overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft. His draft rights were acquired by the Heat in exchange for two 2009 second-round draft picks and cash considerations on draft night.
Jeff Sneider of Variety reports:
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LeBron James will have to wait at least another year to make his Hollywood debut.
The Miami Heat forward has been attached to star in Universal/Imagine’s sports comedy “Ballers” since September 2009, and after an initial yearlong delay to accommodate his summer 2010 free agency, production was pushed to next month. However, in the wake of Miami’s NBA Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks, exec producer Michael Rosenberg told Variety that because the script is still being developed, “we are not shooting this summer.”
Story follows five guys who attend the LeBron James Adult Basketball Camp in Las Vegas, but end up dragging the phenom into their myriad life issues.
Malcolm D. Lee (“Undercover Brother”) remains attached to direct and is working on a new draft of the screenplay originally written by Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz and re-written by Peter Steinfeld.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports:
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The mother of Chris Bosh’s child is suing the Miami Heat star, alleging that Bosh prevented her from appearing on the reality show “Basketball Wives.”
Allison Mathis, Bosh’s ex-girlfriend, claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in Orange County Circuit Court that Bosh “intentionally, knowingly, maliciously and without justification interfered” in her employment, prompting the television show’s production company to fire her.
In early May, Bosh sued Mathis and Shed Media, the show’s production company, alleging that they were trying to exploit her former relationship with Bosh for “commercial gain.”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:
The Heat’s voids extend beyond mere positional designations.
There is a need for a perimeter defender off the bench, someone who can take care of the heavy lifting on that end of the court so James and Wade don’t have to wear themselves down with such efforts, efforts that may have contributed to what appeared to be season-ending fatigue.
And there is a need for a speed guard, someone who can match what J.J. Barea, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Jrue Holiday threw at the Heat through the four rounds of this season’s playoffs. For all that Chalmers can be, fleet of foot is not one of them.
There certainly will be ample roster spots available, with the contracts of Chalmers, Mike Bibby, Erik Dampier, Juwan Howard and Jamaal Magloire expiring on June 30, with option-year decisions in the hands of Eddie House, James Jones and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who appears to be leaning toward retirement.
In fact, the Heat could return as few as seven players from the current roster, when counting James, Wade, Bosh, Anthony, Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem and Jones.
But much like last summer, the Heat will be limited in their options to find upgrades. The Heat did not have a mid-level salary-cap exception last summer because of the utilization of cap space to sign James and Bosh. This summer, that exception, which approaches $6 million, could be eliminated from the new collective-bargaining agreement.
That could leave the Heat limited to a free-agent offer to Chalmers, who assuredly will receive a qualifying offer by June 30, thereby giving the Heat the right to match outside offers, and another round of minimum-scale contract offers.
Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.
TMZ reports:
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.
ESPN Chicago reports:
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Scottie Pippen had it all wrong when he recently compared LeBron James with Michael Jordan, said one former Chicago Bulls teammate.
“The irony to me is that LeBron is not Michael. LeBron is actually Scottie,” former Bull and current television analyst Steve Kerr said Monday on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “He’s so similar to Scottie in that defensively he was just a monster, could guard anybody, really more of a point forward than scoring guard. Scottie always loved to distribute the ball. That’s really where LeBron’s preference is.
“Phil Jackson used to call Scottie a ‘sometimes shooter.’ Sometimes they would go in, sometimes they wouldn’t. That’s how it is with LeBron. He’s a great talent and a great player but you can see his flaws as a basketball player. He doesn’t have an offensive game that he can rely on: no low-post game, no mid-range jump shot so when the game really gets tough he has a hard time finding easy baskets and getting himself going. That’s what Michael did in his sleep so that’s why the comparison is wrong.”
Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.