Heat forward Mike Miller selling his home

mike miller

The NBA lockout is real. So is amnesty. And for Mike Miller so is rehab from a pair of offseason surgeries.

So, yes, that is Miller’s Hillsboro Shores estate that recently was placed on the market for $9 million. And no, the Miami Heat forward is not looking to move. Or at least is hoping there is no need.

The veteran forward said Wednesday he is just taking stock of the current situation in both his career and the NBA. And that means taking stock of his 9,968-square-foot estate with the $180,000 in annual property taxes.

“It’s a couple of things,” Miller said. “Just preparing myself; never know what can happen.”

Among the expected provisions in the post-lockout NBA is an amnesty clause that would allow each team to remove one contract from its salary-cap and luxury-tax obligations, with that player still receiving his full salary upon his release.

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Security guard sentenced for bomb threats at NBA office

A private security guard who called in bomb threats to a National Basketball Association office in northern New Jersey that he was hired to protect has been sentenced to six months in prison.

Jose Quesada also must serve six months of home confinement once he’s freed and then three years of supervised release under the sentence imposed Wednesday.

He had pleaded guilty in November 2010 to knowingly providing false information indicating that malicious damage by means of an explosive would take place.

— Reported by the Associated Press 

Orlando cuts part-time Amway Center workers, jobs privatized

About 70 part-time Amway Center employees working for the city of Orlando have been informed that their jobs have been cut and the work turned over to private firms, the city said Wednesday.

Although the NBA lockout drags on, officials say the cuts were the result of a review comparing operations at the new home of the Orlando Magic with its predecessor, the Amway Arena.

City spokeswoman Heather Fagan said in a statement Wednesday that staffing the new arena is “very different” from the old one, and the review bore that out.

“It was determined one of the changes, should be the shifting of part-time, in-house security staff to the outside security firm of Andy Frain,” Fagan said.

— Reported by Jeff Weiner of the Orlando Sentinel

No reconciliation between Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian

kris humphries

Kim Kardashian is not reconciling with Kris Humphries, and the divorce is full steam ahead … this according to sources with first-hand knowledge of the situation.

We’re told even though Kim is somewhat conflicted, she knows divorce is the right thing to do, and the purpose of the trip to Minnesota last weekend was to create face-to-face closure.

— Reported by TMZ

Polish team cuts Alonzo Gee

alonzo gee

Asseco Prokom announced Wednesday that it released forward Alonzo Gee from the club effective immediately. According to a press release from the club, Gee was dropped “as a consequence of breach of obligations specified in contract.”

In three Turkish Airlines Euroleague games with the Polish champs, Gee averaged 11 points and 6.3 rebounds.

— Reported by Euroleague.net

Donte Greene planning exhibition game at UC Davis November 20

Donte Greene

The 2011 Goon Squad Classic will take place Nov. 20 at the Pavilion on the UC Davis campus. Tickets go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m.

The Goon Squad is the nickname Kings reserves gave themselves last season…

Greene has commitments from teammates Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson and Hassan Whiteside, along with draft picks Jimmer Fredette and Isaiah Thomas.

Washington Wizards guard John Wall is expected to play, along with New Orleans forward Quincy Pondexter and former Kings center Spencer Hawes.

Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, who would be the biggest star in the game, is scheduled to play barring changes in his schedule, Greene said.

— Reported by Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee

Hall of Famer Ed Macauley dies at 83

Ed Macauley, one of the NBA’s first big stars who won a championship with the St. Louis Hawks and was traded by the Boston Celtics for Bill Russell, has died. He was 83.

Saint Louis University announced Macauley’s death on Tuesday. The school had no other details. “Easy Ed” was a standout player with the Billikens, leading them to the 1948 NIT title.

Macauley was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1960. A native of St. Louis, he was a territorial pick of that city’s Basketball Association of America franchise, the Bombers. He played there for one season and then was selected by the Celtics in a 1950 dispersal draft.

Macauley played for the Celtics from the 1950-51 season until 1955-56. He and the draft rights to future Hall of Famer Cliff Hagan were traded by Boston to the St. Louis Hawks on April 29, 1956, for the rights to Russell, a move that changed the power structure of the NBA.

— Reported by the Associated Press

George Karl staying active during lockout helping American Cancer Society

george karl

With no basketball to coach, George Karl is tending to his other passion in life: fighting cancer, a disease he has beaten twice.

The Nuggets coach lent his voice Tuesday to the American Cancer Society and Quest Diagnostics, which are teaming up on a nationwide cancer prevention study. It aims to follow 300,000 people for 20 to 30 years to see how genetics, lifestyle and the environment affect cancer risk.

“There are a lot of people who want to get into this fight who don’t have cancer, and this is one way,” Karl said.

Karl is 21 months removed from a brutal battle with neck cancer, which came a few years after he beat prostate cancer. His son Coby is a survivor of lymph-node cancer.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Milwaukee Bucks name Mike Sergo new Equipment Manager

Mike Sergo has been named as the Milwaukee Bucks Equipment Manager, the organization announced today.  Sergo will be responsible for purchasing and maintaining all non-medical equipment for the basketball facilities at the Bradley Center and the Bucks Training Center, and traveling full-time with the club, where he is responsible for the team equipment on the road.

Sergo enters his 10th season as a full-time member of the Bucks basketball staff, having worked as the assistant video coordinator the previous nine seasons.  He began working part-time in the video scouting department during the 1995-96 season.

A Milwaukee native, Sergo graduated from Wautoma High School and attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Sentencing set in Vegas for Antoine Walker casino debts

antoine walker

Bankrupt former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker is due before a state court judge in Nevada after pleading guilty in June to failing to repay some $750,000 in gambling debts to three Las Vegas casinos.

A prosecutor said the 35-year-old Walker is expected to be sentenced Thursday to probation and promise to repay the debts incurred in 2008 at the Planet Hollywood and Red Rock Casino Resort, and in January 2009 at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.

— Reported by the Associated Press