Toronto Raptors Blog – Page 52 – NBA Blog

Canadian basketball head coach Leo Rautins resigns after qualifying letdown

Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun reports:

For the first time, Canada has failed to qualify for three straight Olympic basketball tournaments and as a result, head coach Leo Rautins has resigned.

Canada’s senior men dropped a stunning 91-89 decision to struggling Panama on Thursday at the FIBA Americas tournament in Argentina.

Panama had been 1-6 at the tournament coming in, dropping its previous three games by an average of 30 points.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for a program trying to reach the Olympics for the first time since 2000 in Sydney, though Rautins said he did not feel pressure from his bosses to leave.

“A lot of good things have happened unless you’re close to this program you’re not going to see,” Rautins said on a conference call.

“To continue the things that need to be done, I’ve made a decision that this team needs a new voice in the locker room.”

Siena team reportedly hopes to sign Andrea Bargnani

As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Montepaschi Siena is interested in Andrea Bargnani for the upcoming season, at least until NBA lockout ends. Il Mago has never talked about the possibility to return overseas during the lockout postponing any decision after Eurobasket where he is playing with Italian National Team. Toronto Raptors star is receiving a lot of proposals to play in Europe also by European top tems but Siena is ready to make a big offer for him when NBA will officially put off the beginning of the NBA season. In the meantime, Bargnani is thinking to extend his insurance even for the period after Eurobasket to get ready for a proposal to play overseas if he decides to play somewhere else during the lockout.

— Reported by Sportando

Raptors guard Leandro Barbosa signs in Brazil

Leandro Barbosa doesn’t feel like sitting around doing nothing if the NBA lockout extends into the basketball season.

The AP reports:

Toronto Raptors guard Leandro Barbosa has signed a deal to play in his native Brazil.

Barbosa signed with Rio de Janeiro-based club Flamengo. The deal includes a clause that would allow him to return to the NBA if the lockout ends.

A statement on Flamengo’s website says Barbosa signed Thursday. Details of the deal weren’t released.

Barbosa was the third leading scorer on the Raptors last season, averaging 13.3 points per game. The team had the third worst record in the league, finishing 22-60.

It’s likely that over the next couple weeks, plenty of other bench-level NBA players will take this route.

Canada to open 7-team pro basketball league

The AP reports:

A new professional basketball league in Canada plans to open in November with seven teams and a 36-game schedule.

The National Basketball League of Canada announced Thursday that Moncton, New Brunswick, will become the seventh franchise for the 2011-12 season. The city joins teams in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Quebec City; Saint John, New Brunswick; and London and Oshawa in Ontario. Another team will be in Prince Edward Island, although the city is not set.

InsideHoops.com editor says: It would be amazing for basketball, especially for players in the United States and, of course, Canada, for this league to actually take off and become a success. It’s a shame that talented players who fail to make the NBA must leave North America to make real money playing basketball, in Europe and elsewhere. If players could head to Canada and make a six-figure living it would change the game and be great for North America. Maybe someday. For now, they’re just starting out and I will assume that salaries will be on the level of a fun part-time job, and not anything substantial or real anytime soon. We’ll see if that changes or I hear different.

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Vince Carter donates $2.5 million to Carolina Basketball Family Fund

Robbi Pickeral of ACC Now, on News Observer, reports:

“Letterman’s Lane,” the brick walkway between the Smith Center and Koury Natatorium on North Carolina’s campus, will now be named for one basketball letterman in particular: Vince Carter.

The school announced today that the former All America player has made a $2.5 million donation to the Carolina Basketball Family Fund, which paid for the renovations to the Smith Center basketball offices in 2010 and will support the operating endowment for the men’s basketball program.

It is the largest gift, to date, to the fund, earning him more than a brick on the walkway that honors every varsity player, coach, trainer and manager in the history of UNC basketball.

“My days as a Carolina student, both pre-NBA and during the summers after I was drafted, will always be special to me,” Carter said in a prepared statement. “It goes without saying that I am a Tar Heel. For several years, I have been thinking about something I could do to leave a legacy at UNC. Lettermen’s Lane is a perfect fit.”

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Houston lands 2013 NBA All-Star Game

Mark Berman of My Fox Houston reports:

NBA sources told FOX 26 Sports the Houston Rockets and the City of Houston landed the NBA All-Star Game in 2013. The game will be played at Toyota Center on Feb. 17, 2013. NBA All-Star week will be Feb. 15-17. The Rockets and Toyota Center also hosted the game in 2006.

Click2Houston reports:

The entire NBA All-Star Weekend will be in the Bayou City from February 15-17, 2013. Hilton Americas Marketing Director Janice O’Neill-Cox spoke with Local 2 Sports Wednesday afternoon, saying, “We played a key role in working with the league to make sure availability was in place. It’s a big boost for our city to land the game, and we’re excited about it.”

InsideHoops.com editor says: I don’t get why Houston is getting the game again. They just had it in 2006. Meanwhile, other teams haven’t hosted it in a long time. Also, Madison Square Garden renovations will be mostly complete in time. And the new Brooklyn Nets arena will exist by mid 2012. Unusual call to send the big weekend back to Houston so soon.

Jorge Garbajosa re-signs in Spain

Euroleague.net reports:

Unicaja reached a new agreement with power forward Jorge Garbajosa to keep him in the team next season. Garbajosa (2.05 meters, 33 years old) re-joined Unicaja midway through last season, averaging 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 11 Spanish League games. He had started the 2010-11 season with Real Madrid and averaged 5.4 points in 11 Turkish Airlines Euroleague games before moving back to Malaga. Garbajosa led the club to its glory days in his previous two years in Unicaja. He simply took the club to the highest level, leading Unicaja to its only domestic titles so far, the 2005 Spanish King’s Cup and the 2006 Spanish League crown, earning finals MVP in both events. Garbajosa had a stellar Euroleague career, helping Benetton Treviso reach the title game in 2003, when he was an All-Euroleague first team selection.

Timberwolves to interview Sam Mitchell for head coaching job

Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

The Wolves are down to the final two names to interview for their head-coaching job.

And, yes, Sam Mitchell is one of them.

Larry Brown, of course, is the other.

Many Wolves fans have wondered why the man who won Coach of the Year with Toronto and who played two different stints with the Timberwolves, first when he was an original Wolf and then when he was brought back in 1995 to help mentor a rookie named Kevin Garnett.

Mitchell is expected to interview Friday or Saturday, Brown next week.

Wolves boss David Kahn and owner Glen Taylor already have interviewed Terry Porter, Mike Woodson, Bernie Bickerstaff, Nelson.

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Updated list of Raptors GM candidates

David Aldridge of NBA.com reports:

Don’t expect any movement on the Toronto general manager’s search for a couple of weeks. Team president Bryan Colangelo was in Europe last week and won’t start whittling down his group of candidates until the middle of the month. Sixers GM Ed Stefanski, former Hornets GM and coach Jeff Bower and Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey are among the candidates, but former Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard is also believed to be in the hunt and is a strong candidate. Pritchard took a player personnel job with the Pacers earlier this summer, but has an out in his deal that would allow him to leave if a GM job became available.

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PJ Tucker signs in Germany

Eurobasket.net reports:

German League champion Brose Baskets added more fire power to its team by inking versatile forward PJ Tucker to a one-year deal, the club announced Friday. Tucker (1.96 meters, 26 years old) arrives from Quebradillas Pirates, where he finished a very eventful 2010-11 season, averaging 15.3 points and 9.3 rebounds in 15 Puerto Rican League games. He started the season with Aris BSA 2003, where Tucker averaged 14.9 points and 7.2 rebounds in 12 Eurocup games. He ranked ninth in scoring and third in rebounds and performance index ranking (18.2), helping Aris to reach the Last 16 and being chosen as the regular season Week 1 MVP.