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A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against former NBA star and Detroit Piston Allen Iverson over a 2009 bar fight.
The Detroit News reports Tuesday that federal Judge Nancy Edmunds found no evidence that Iverson punched an Ohio man or that the man who struck him was linked to the player.
Lawyer Michael Cafferty said Iverson feels vindicated. Guy Walker plans to appeal.
— Reported by the Associated Press
The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that Jeff Capel has joined Doug Collins’ staff as an assistant coach. Capel was previously an assistant coach with the Charlotte Bobcats, a position he held since their inaugural season in 2004-05.
In his last full season with Charlotte in 2009-10, Capel was a member of Larry Brown’s staff and helped guide the Bobcats to a franchise-record 44 wins and their first playoff appearance. That season, Charlotte led the league in fewest points allowed and ranked sixth in opponent’s field goal percentage.
Prior to joining the Bobcats, Capel was head coach of the Fayetteville Patriots of the NBA Development League and guided the team to the D-League Finals in his first full season in 2002-03.
At the collegiate level, Capel spent 12 years as head coach of Fayetteville State, North Carolina A&T and Old Dominion, posting a combined mark of 201-162 (.554).
Capel’s son Jason is in his second season as the head men’s basketball coach at Appalachian State University while his older son, Jeff Capel III, serves as an assistant coach on Mike Krzyzewski’s staff at Duke. Doug Collins’ son Chris is the associate head coach at Duke.
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Just hours after the NBA Players Association decided to disband, Celtics guard Rajon Rondo announced the “Boston Charity Classic” all-star game at 6 p.m. Saturday at Lavietes Pavilion on Harvard’s campus. Proceeds, according to the press release, will aid local Boston charities in providing meals for the holiday season.
It’s Boston’s first of the series of all-star and charity games held across the country since the lockout began and it is expected to feature its share of heavy hitters, including Celtics forward Paul Pierce and scoring champion Kevin Durant.
Also expected to play is Glen “Big Baby” Davis, JaJuan Johnson, former Celtic Kendrick Perkins in his return to Boston, former Harvard star Jeremy Lin, ex-Celtics Leon Powe and Marquis Daniels as well as close Rondo buddy Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies, Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks and Kyle Lowry of the Houston Rockets.
— Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe Blog
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From pump-faking a pass inches from Kobe Bryant’s face to threatening to put his son’s dirty diaper into Lamar Odom’s mouth, the phrase “Matt Barnes will kill you” – which an Orlando-based clothing company put on T-shirts – wasn’t too much of a stretch.
That’s why Magic fans loved Barnes during his one-year stint in Orlando in the 2009-10 season: His antics gave the Magic a toughness and swagger they previously lacked, and he always stood up for his teammates.
He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers now – the Magic let him walk when he opted out of his two-year deal last summer – but he still remembers his year in Orlando fondly.
“I had a really good time when I was out here,” he said. “My neighborhood, my teammates, everything.”
— Reported by Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel Blog
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When the ongoing NBA lockout that has delayed the start of the 2011-12 season eventually ends, the Sacramento Kings will have themselves a new assistant coach.
According to a Bobby Jackson account verified by Twitter as authentic, the veteran guard will join the Kings coaching staff this upcoming season.
Jackson was a basketball-smart guard and had a very solid NBA career, mostly as a top backup off the bench. It is no surprise that he will go into coaching.
Jackson’s NBA career began in 1997. He bounced around to many teams but spent many years as a member of the Kings. His career NBA average was 9.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 755 total regular season games. He last played in the 2008-09 season.
David Stern has been active on the airwaves, the Internet and, in a new one, on Twitter, trying to tell fatigued fans and an irritated set of NBA players about the need to sign on the dotted line.
Monday is the newest “most important day” of the 138-day NBA lockout. Player representatives for all 30 NBA teams will meet in New York and determine whether they will take the latest offer from NBA owners.
A majority of responses from players and their agents indicated there would be a rejection of the proposal that promised a 72-game season starting Dec. 15.
A lot has to happen this week for there to be basketball by Christmas. Stern knows it too.
The NBA commissioner lambasted player agents in a conference call with reporters Saturday and held a 90-minute “Twitterview” with players, fans and journalists Sunday, sending some final public thoughts in 140 characters or less.
He made some intriguing points, admitting that contraction of teams was discussed by players and owners but dismissed; all NBA executives took pay cuts of unspecified proportion; and players’ contracts would become void if decertification occurred (more of a threat than anything).
— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times
In an article on the Atlanta Hawks website, Jon Newberry tells the story of how one of the greatest players in basketball history almost played for Atlanta.
In the summer of 1972, Dr. J was looking to make a move to the NBA from the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the Hawks were looking to facilitate that move. This is where the problems begin.
In a nutshell, Dr. J secretly signed a contract with Atlanta but was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks that same summer. A legal battle ensued which eventually barred Dr. J from playing for any team but the Virginia Squires.
— Reported by CSN Philly. The full NBA.com report is here.
The NBA reality show, “The Association’’ has contacted the Knicks about being the subject of their third season, according to a television source.
“The Association’’ — an up-close, behind-the-scenes series — is similar to HBO’s NFL documentary series “Hard Knocks’’ that once followed the Jets. Talks with the Knicks are only in their initial stage.
Last season, “The Association’’ followed the Celtics with Donnie Wahlberg as narrator. Two years ago, it featured the Lakers, and Andy Garcia was the narrator.
— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post
For fans seeking season tickets to next year’s debut in the Barclays Center, the Brooklyn-bound club started dishing out seats five months ago.
The results have been better than the ill-fated marriage of forward Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian: About 50% of their 100 suites — average price $250,000 — are already sold, the team said.
And season ticket sales for the 4,400 best seats in the new Brooklyn arena are about 15% ahead of expectations — with per-game costs ranging from $99 to $1,500.
The positive news comes despite the team’s inability to use its players — including stars Deron Williams and Brook Lopez — in any promotional capacity due to the ongoing lockout.
The Nets are luring buyers in other ways: the “All Access” 2012-13 season ticket holders receive unlimited complimentary food, along with first shot at seats for any of the other 180 events annually expected at the facility.
— Reported by Larry McShane of the New York Daily News
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In his first expansive comments since the July 1 start of the NBA lockout, Miami Heat President Pat Riley said Friday he is anxious to get back to the business of basketball.
While banned by the league from commenting directly on the lockout, Riley, during a Heat-organized event in commemoration of Veterans Day at United States Southern Command headquarters, spoke of being poised to pick up where his team left off in last season’s NBA Finals.
“(We) have been in the office getting ready to hit the ground running, when we can,” he said after addressing military personnel and their families at the youth basketball clinic. “So, we’re ready to roll when everybody else is.”
The Heat had been scheduled to host the New Jersey Nets on Friday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. The NBA instead remains on indefinite hold, although Commissioner David Stern said Thursday night he is prepared for a Dec. 15 resumption of play and a 72-game schedule if the players accept the league’s latest offer, a proposition that remains very much in doubt.
— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel