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2009-10 All-Rookie teams

Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings, Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors were unanimous selections to the 2009-10 NBA All-Rookie First Team, the NBA announced today.

Rounding out the NBA All-Rookie First Team are New Orleans’ Darren Collison (46 points) and Chicago’s Taj Gibson (41 points).

The NBA All-Rookie Second Team consists of New Orleans’ Marcus Thornton (31 points), San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair (30 points), Oklahoma City’s James Harden (22 points), Minnesota’s Jonny Flynn (22 points) and Detroit’s Jonas Jerebko (22 points).

More info and complete voting results here.

Tyreke Evans wins Rookie of Year

Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings is the recipient of the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the 2009-10 NBA Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced today.

He deserved it. This is an individual award, not a team award. And as an individual, Evans was pretty much the best first-year player in the league. Stephen Curry came on strong as the season progressed, and Brandon Jennings had more team success than either of them, but as an individual, Evans rocked.

Evans received 67 first-place votes (491 points) from a panel of 123 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Golden State’s Stephen Curry finished second with 391 points and Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings finished third with 204 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.

More info and full voting results here. And fan discussion is here.

Game 5: Jennings scores 25, Bucks stun Hawks 91-87

The AP reports:

Brandon Jennings scored 25 points, Kurt Thomas drew a crucial charging foul against Joe Johnson and the Bucks stunned the home team with a 14-0 run late in the game, beating the favored Hawks 91-87 on Wednesday night for a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series…

The Hawks appeared to be in control leading 82-73 after Josh Smith’s long jumper with 4:10 remaining. Milwaukee scored the next 14 points while Atlanta was missing seven straight shots. Even though Al Horford finally broke the drought with 19 seconds remaining, then banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to finish with 25 points and 11 rebounds, it wasn’t enough to make up for a total collapse…

Jamal Crawford’s night ended in appropriate fashion—a desperation 3-pointer that missed badly and left him sprawled on the court. He finished 4 of 18 from the field for 11 points. Joe Johnson wasn’t much better, making 6 of 16 for 13 points before fouling out for the first time this season…

Marvin Williams had 22 points for the Hawks, who couldn’t overcome the dismal showings by their two leading scorers, Johnson and Crawford.

LeBron James would love to own NBA team

The AP reports:

LeBron James, whose path to superstardom has followed a similar trajectory as Jordan’s, said Tuesday night before the Cavaliers faced the Chicago Bulls in Game 5 of the playoffs that he would “love” to own an NBA team someday. Jordan assumed ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats in March, buying the club for $275 million from Bob Johnson.

“I would love to be in that position,” James said. “It’s a great position to be able to own a team and be able to put pieces together and make decisions.”

InsideHoops.com says:

Well, if any current player should have the money to own most or all of an NBA team by the time his playing days are over, it’s LeBron.

Game 4: Bucks shock Hawks 111-104 to even series

The Hawks a very good team — but they’re not great. During the regular season, the Bucks were playing close to the level the Hawks were before losing center Andrew Bogut to injury. Yet the Bucks are showing big-time pride and stepping up to put some scare into Atlanta.

The AP reports:

Bucks shock Hawks 111-104 to even series

Carlos Delfino scored 22 points with six 3-pointers and the Milwaukee Bucks pulled off their second straight playoff surprise, beating the Atlanta Hawks 111-104 Monday night to draw even in the first-round series.

Brandon Jennings scored 23 points and John Salmons added 22 for the Bucks, who survived a fourth-quarter surge led by Atlanta stars Joe Johnson and Josh Smith. Now the Hawks head home for Game 5, desperately needing a win to stave off a surprising challenge by a team missing its best player, injured center Andrew Bogut.

Johnson scored 29 points, reserve Jamal Crawford had 21, and Smith had 20 points and nine rebounds.

The Bucks finally started getting to the free throw line and the made the most of it, hitting 28 of 32.

Former Bucks player Kevin Restani dies at 58

Former Milwaukee Bucks player Kevin Restani died Sunday night in San Francisco, California after returning to his home there from Milwaukee where he had participated over the weekend in the North American Association of Club Athletic Directors basketball tournament. Restani played on the Golden Masters team representing the Olympic Club of San Francisco. He attended the Bucks-Atlanta playoff game Saturday night at Bradley Center.

Restani played over 300 games in five seasons (l974-79) with the Bucks including a trip to the 1976 playoffs. He played under Head Coaches Larry Costello and Don Nelson and averaged 4.6 rebounds and 6.0 points per game with the Bucks. Nicknamed “Big Bird” by then Bucks TV and radio play-by-play man Eddie Doucette, Kevin was an eight-year NBA veteran who played with the Kansas City Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers for a total of 550 career NBA games with four teams. He played several seasons in Europe after his NBA career.

Among Bucks teammates during his tenure were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob Dandridge, Mickey Davis, Brian Winters, Junior Bridgeman and Quinn Buckner.

Restani was a University of San Francisco graduate who helped the Dons to two West Coast Athletic Conference titles. He was a third round 1974 draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers whose rights were purchased by the Bucks. Kevin was a 1970 graduate of Riordan High School in San Francisco and believed to be the only alumnus to have played for any length of time in the NBA. From 1995-97 Kevin spent three seasons as head coach of the Riordan varsity squad. His contributions to youth programs as coach and counselor were well known. He was born December 23, 1951 in San Francisco. Kevin is survived by his wife, Roberta. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Car hits Hawks team bus

Sekou Smith of the official NBA site reports:

A car smashed into the team bus while it was stopped at a light near the Bradley Center. Hawks VP of Public Relations Arthur Triche said that no one in the team’s traveling party was hurt. But they did have to exit the bus and either walk back or cab it back to the team hotel.

“We all got a jolt this morning and we didn’t need any coffee or anything else to get it,” Triche said by phone later. “But everyone is fine and we hope that the driver and whoever else was in the car are fine as well.”

Game 4: Salmons scores 22, Bucks roll over Hawks

Playing without center Andrew Bogut, the Milwaukee Bucks looked to be in trouble, and still are, but they stepped up strong to the plate Saturday and rocked Atlanta.

The AP reports:

Salmons scores 22, Bucks roll over Hawks

John Salmons scored 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting and the Milwaukee Bucks never let up after a hot start in a 107-89 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.

The Bucks shot 68 percent in the first quarter and 51 percent for the game following a three-day layoff and were never seriously threatened after building a 19-point, first-half lead.

Atlanta still leads the series 2-1 after two double-digit victories at home, when the Bucks looked overmatched without the injured Andrew Bogut.

But veteran Kurt Thomas had eight points, 13 rebounds and four stitches, rookie Brandon Jennings added 13 points and Milwaukee proved that the Hawks may have to “Fear the Deer” after all.

Joe Johnson scored 25 for Atlanta. Game 4 is Monday night in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee led by as many as 28 in the fourth as the Hawks shot 39 percent for the game, and only once did Atlanta appear poised to make a run.

Playoff scheduling may affect performance

Tom Enlund of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports (via blog):

NBA teams are used to playing games at a much more brisk pace and Skiles thinks whichever team does a better job of adapting to the long break between the second and third games may have a bit of an edge on Saturday.

“I think it’s a factor,” said Skiles when asked about the first round schedule at the team’s practice facility Thursday. “Probably one team will adjust to that better than the other and I would say that team probably deserves the game if they get it because they can adjust to kind of getting out of their rhythm a little bit.”

The Bucks spent four nights and five days in Atlanta for the first two games and while Skiles said that the Bucks considered coming home between games, they decided against it. The Hawks will have a slight travel advantage since they will spend one less night here for the third and fourth games.

Josh Smith says there is nothing to do in Milwaukee

Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (via blog):

“There’s pretty much nothing to do,” Josh Smith said (about the city of Milwaukee). “Miami has some really good restaurants. I never really did anything in Milwaukee. I would be happy to just find a restaurant. I’m not bashing the city but I’ve never actually did anything in Milwaukee so I really don’t know what is around there.”

By now Hawks PR Man Arthur Triche, seeing where this was headed, had creeped in to try and break up the party. But, Smoove being Smoove (”I don’t care!”) he wasn’t stopping.

Someone picked up on the Noah thread and asked Smith if he’d be taking any vacations in Milwaukee.

“Would you go there?” Smith asked. “Everybody knows there ain’t nothing to do in Milwaukee, man. Everybody knows that, (even) the people that live there.”