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Sacramento City Council puts aside $6.5 million for Kings arena

There was nothing preliminary about what the Sacramento City Council did Tuesday night.

By a 7-2 vote, the council agreed to set aside $6.5 million in public funding on a new downtown arena for the Sacramento Kings – the first large investment in a facility that city officials have touted as the most significant redevelopment project in the history of downtown.

The decision was the first push forward on a preliminary, nonbinding plan approved by the council in March to help finance a $448 million arena at the Downtown Plaza. That term sheet will not be formalized until the City Council votes on a final spending plan next year, following the conclusion of an environmental review of the arena project.

Still, Tuesday’s vote means the City Manager’s Office will immediately have $1.755 million to spend on a team of consultants as the intense predevelopment stage of the project begins. The remaining $4.7 million would be used on the arena’s eventual design and construction.

Reported by Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee

Tyshawn Taylor plays streetball at Dyckman Park despite NBA rules

Despite NBA rules that prohibit players from playing in organized street summer leagues prior to July 1, Brooklyn Nets backup point guard Tyshawn Taylor stepped on the Dyckman Park court Monday night for a handful of minutes.

Taylor, who played opposite New York City high school star Isaiah Whitehead, a Lincoln point guard, said he had no knowledge of such rules. The league office recently levied fines on Lance Stephenson and Kemba Walker for playing in the same city basketball courts where they once honed their games.

“I didn’t know that. That’s my story, I’m sticking to it,” Taylor told ESPNDeportes.com after his squad Taylor Made nearly sent the game into overtime after trailing by 10 points with two minutes left.

The Hoboken, N.J., native who just averaged just under six minutes in 38 games could see extensive time in Brooklyn’s backcourt spelling starter Deron Williams if C.J. Watson opts out of his contract and goes elsewhere.

Reported by Adry Torres of ESPN Deportes

Lakers absolutely want to keep Dwight Howard in NBA free agency

Bringing back free agent center Dwight Howard is the Lakers’ top priority this off-season.

“Dwight is in the category of the great of the great,” Kupchak said. “He’s over his back injury and there’s no reason he can’t play seven, eight more years at that position. There’s no doubt in my mind if he does, he’s in the Hall of Fame. Those players are just hard to come by.”

Howard struggled through the first half of the season as he tried to return early from back surgery.

“I don’t think he got as much credit for the season as he should have gotten,” Kupchak said. “Big men are different. They can’t bring the ball up the court. They really rely on their teammates to make them look good.”

The Lakers can sign Howard for a $118-million, five-year deal in July — if he chooses to stay. Other teams can offer just four years (up to $88 million), but tax advantages in Texas (Houston, Dallas or San Antonio) would help offset some of the lost wages.

Reported by Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times

J.R. Smith declines option with Knicks

Sixth Man of the Year J.R. Smith has informed the New York Knicks that he will decline the option in his contract for next season and become a free agent.

A team spokesman also says Tuesday the Knicks extended a qualifying offer to forward Chris Copeland, making him a restricted free agent and allowing them to match any offer he receives.

Smith’s decision was not a surprise given that he can make much more than the $2.9 million he was scheduled to earn next season.

The New Jersey product is happy in New York and is a longtime teammate of Carmelo Anthony so he would likely want to stay with the right offer.

Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Celtics search to replace Doc Rivers begins now

Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge thought Doc Rivers was going to be the next Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan or even Red Auerbach – coaches who stayed with one team for decades.

Rivers got the nine-year itch.

”He felt like it was time for a change. He felt like we all needed a change,” Ainge said on Tuesday night after the deal to allow Rivers out of his contract to coach the Los Angeles Clippers was final. ”That was his rationalization, or justification, for going to the Clippers: that this was better for everybody.”

After weeks of negotiations that at one time had Boston stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce joining Rivers in Los Angeles, the Celtics announced on Tuesday that the NBA approved the deal to allow their coach to go to the Clippers in exchange for a first-round pick in 2015. Ainge said in a news conference that he had not begun looking for a new coach because he couldn’t believe until late in the on-again, off-again process that Rivers was actually leaving.

Reported by Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press

Rashard Lewis and James Jones exercise options to stay with Heat

The Miami HEAT announced today that both forward James Jones and forward Rashard Lewis, being smart to stick with a championship team — even one that barely gives them any minutes — have exercised their player options for the 2013-14 season.

Jones, a 10-year NBA veteran, appeared in 38 games with the HEAT this season, and has earned postseason berths in each of his five seasons with Miami, including two NBA Championships. The Miami native has appeared in 246 career games with the HEAT, averaging 4.2 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 39.8 percent from three-point range. He hit a career-high 123 three-point field goals during the 2010-11 season while capturing the 2011 NBA Three-Point Shootout title. Jones originally signed with the HEAT as a free agent on July 9, 2008.

Lewis, a 15-year NBA veteran, appeared in 55 games (nine starts) with the HEAT this season averaging 5.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 14.4 minutes while shooting 41.4 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three-point range. He scored in double-figures 13 times this season, including a season-high 19 points twice, first vs. Boston on April 12 and then at Cleveland on April 15. He appeared in 11 postseason games during Miami’s championship run this season totaling 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks while shooting 40 percent from the field in 47 minutes of action. He was originally signed by the HEAT as a free agent on July 11, 2012.

Heat owner Micky Arison to step down as CEO of Carnival Cruises

Miami-based Carnival Corp. & PLC announced Tuesday that longtime Chairman and CEO Micky Arison will step down as company CEO, but continue as chairman in a move to split the two roles.

Carnival said business leader and 12-year board member Arnold W. Donald will assume the CEO role effective July 3, Carnival said in a news release Tuesday.

Arison has held the role of CEO since 1979, and as chairman he’ll continue to provide board level oversight and will remain the company’s largest shareholder, Carnival said.

Donald in turn will lead the executive team, focusing initially on achieving the company’s long-term strategic goals.

Carnival said the move to split the roles has received unanimous approval from the company’s nominating and governance committee as well as the full board of directors.

Reported by Arlene Satchell of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Cavs and Bucks interested in Paul Pierce

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Milwaukee Bucks are among the teams that have expressed trade interest in Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.

But sources told ESPN.com that Pierce is most likely headed to neither one of those teams if he leaves the Celtics this week.

The Celtics do remain hopeful of acquiring a first-round pick for Pierce this week in conjunction with Thursday’s draft. But sources said the Celtics have shown an inclination to try to work with Pierce to get him to a favorable destination — which essentially translates to a contending team — if they indeed decide to trade him by week’s end. The team faces a June 30 deadline to either pick up Pierce’s $15.3 million option for next season or buy him out for $5 million.

Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

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Revitalized Kings see surge in season ticket sales

The Kings basketball team has a new lease on life in Sacramento – with new owners, a new coach and plans for a new downtown arena. By week’s end, officials say they expect to have solid evidence that their fan following has dramatically swelled as well.

The team is opening Sleep Train Arena doors this week for season ticket holders to write checks and pick out their seats for next season.

More than 90 percent of last year’s season ticket holders have renewed, team spokesman Chris Clark said, and several thousand new season ticket buyers are expected to select seats as well today and Wednesday.

By Friday, Clark said the team may see season ticket sales approaching the numbers the team had in its playoff years.

Reported by Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee

Manu Ginobili says he will likely keep playing

Writing a first-person commentary for the Argentine newspaper “La Nación,” veteran guard Manu Ginobili made his strongest comments yet about his desire to return for another season with the Spurs.

Ginobili admitted it took him three days after the conclusion of the NBA Finals, a Game 7 loss to the Miami Heat, before he could focus on his future.

Now, he can’t see himself not continuing his Spurs career.

“After much thinking, going over and over the bad plays, I feel better and content in spite of the bad outcome, and I find it difficult to believe that I won’t play anymore,” he wrote in La Nación.

“I don’t feel exhausted or frustrated playing basketball, I mean not enough to say I’m done. I don’t know about everything; I haven’t made a decision, but I see it is unlikely that I will not play anymore.

“I try not to let the tree in front of me block the forest. This is practically an unbeatable situation in sports. A moment of anger and frustration should not cloud the day-to-day and how well I am doing over here.”

Reported by Mike Monroe and Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News