Basketball Blog

The Sports Business Journal Reports:The NBA is putting the finishing touches on a new advertising campaign for the coming season with the theme “Where Amazing Happens,” marking a completely overhauled branding effort that will take on significant importance given the fallout from the recent referee gambling scandal that has jolted the league.

Florida Today reports: The Orlando Magic have held preliminary trade discussions with the Denver Nuggets about power forward Reggie Evans, but the deal still might be weeks away from transpiring.

The Magic, in desperate need of another center/power forward after losing Darko Milicic to free agency, have also had contact with recently released Golden State center Adonal Foyle. But the Magic are in no hurry to sign the 10-year veteran center who is offensively challenged, but would give Orlando another big body and a shot blocker off the bench.

The AP reports:NEW YORK (AP) — Former referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday in an NBA betting scandal that rocked the league and raised questions about the integrity of games.

Donaghy faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced for conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting wagering information through interstate commerce. He was released on a $250,000 bond.

Speaking in code during telephone calls, Donaghy provided recommendations, called “picks,” to co-conspirators about what team they should bet on, said U.S. District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon. If he was correct, they paid him $5,000.

The picks included information about games that Donaghy officiated, the government said.

The Miami Herald Reports:

Sacramento hasn’t ruled out trading point guard Mike Bibby, and now views the Heat as a potential partner if it does, an NBA official said. The Heat would give up Jason Williams, but whether Miami would move Udonis Haslem in such a deal is questionable. Bibby, due $13.5 million and $14.5 million the next two seasons, could be packaged with forwards Kenny Thomas or Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

At shooting guard, Boston has Ray Allen. At small forward, Paul Pierce. At power forward, Kevin Garnett.

It’s an amazing combination of intelligent, basketball-smart, experienced stars hungry to win.

As for the rest, it appears Rajon Rondo is the starting point guard, and Kendrick Perkins should get the nod at center. If both get the role, it’s by default. There’s no one else on the squad that can even pretend to be starting material at either of the positions.

Off the bench, guard Tony Allen, when actually healthy, brings the most talent. Eddie House, a point guard who despite being 6-1 was most recently used in New Jersey as a shooting guard, can bang home some shots. And Brian Scalabrine, who is overpaid, has been known to occasional score on the other team’s 10th man.

That’s about it. Everyone else is a rookie, or not too good.

The Celtics, initially at least, will be fascinating to watch. It’s rare that a team has the talent Boston’s new big three bring to the table. And it’s also rare for any team in the league to have such a weak supporting cast and bench.

The Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers have named John Kuester (pronounced QUE-stir) as an assistant coach, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.  Kuester joins Hank Egan, Melvin Hunt, Chris Jent and Michael Malone on Head Coach Mike Brown’s coaching staff.

“We’re fortunate to have John join Mike Brown’s coaching team. John will bring a great all-around view of the game to our staff and be able to help in all areas of our team’s development. He’s a passionate coach that has experienced winning at the highest level and we look forward to him being a key contributor,” stated Ferry.

Kuester has spent the last 17 years in the NBA coaching ranks and won a NBA Title in 2004 as an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons under Larry Brown.  During the 2006-07 season, he was an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic which followed assistant coaching stints in Philadelphia (2005-06), New Jersey (2004-05) and Detroit (2003-04).  He spent six seasons under Brown as a member of the 76ers coaching staff from 1997-98 to 2002-03.  He helped the 76ers reach the NBA Finals in 2001 and the playoffs in five of his six seasons in Philadelphia.

For seven seasons from 1990-1997, Kuester was a member of the Boston Celtics organization including spending the final two seasons as an assistant coach.  He spent 10 years in the college ranks including seven as a head coach before he made the jump to the NBA.  He became the youngest head coach ever in NCAA Division I in 1983 at Boston University before spending five seasons as the head coach at George Washington University.

Kuester is a graduate of the University of North Carolina where he played four seasons under Dean Smith from 1973-77.  He won two ACC Championships and reached the NCAA Tournament all four years including a trip to the NCAA Finals in 1977 during his time in Chapel Hill.

Kuester was selected in the third round (53rd overall) of the 1977 NBA Draft by the Kansas City Kings.  He played three seasons in the NBA, one each with Kansas City, Denver and Indiana.

In a move designed to add depth to their frontcourt, the Los Angeles Clippers today signed free agent forward Josh Powell.  Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.

Entering his third season in the NBA, Powell played in a total of 37 games for the Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors in 2006-07, finishing the season with the Warriors and appearing in four playoff games. Powell averaged 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game last season, establishing new career-highs in both categories.

Powell also tallied 10.8 points and 9.8 rebounds in five games played for the Warriors entry in the 2007 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

The Clippers will be Powell’s fourth NBA team, as he started his career with the Dallas Mavericks in 2005-06, averaging 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds in 37 games. Not drafted following two years at North Carolina State, Powell played in two games for Russian club Lokomotiv-Rostov in 2003-04 before finishing the season with Euroride Scafati of the Italian Lega 2. In 2004-05, Powell averaged 16.6 points and 11.9 rebounds for Italy’s Pepsi Caserta.

The 6-9, 235 pound forward joined the Mavericks prior to the 2005-06 season, making two starts and appearing in six playoff games while also playing three times for Fort Worth in the NBA Development League. Powell was traded to the Pacers on July 24, 2006 and appeared in seven games for Indiana in 2006-07, averaging 1.7 points and 2.7 rebounds before joining the Warriors on January 17, 2007 in a blockbuster eight-player trade that included Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy’s son, Mike Dunleavy Jr.  The Warriors made Powell an unrestricted free agent on July 20.

Powell enjoyed exceptional success at North Carolina State, earning ACC All-Rookie Team honors in 2001-02, leading the Wolfpack in blocked shots (30) and field goal percentage and averaging 7.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. As a sophomore, Powell received the N.C. State Tom Gugliotta Award given to the team’s Most Improved Player while averaging 12.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

The Seattle SuperSonics today announced Matt Pinto as the team’s new radio play-by-play announcer. For the second straight season, all Sonics radio broadcasts can be heard on 770 AM KTTH.

Pinto comes to the Sonics from Los Angeles where he has served as the radio voice of the NBA’s Clippers for the past two seasons. From 1997-2005, Pinto was on the Dallas Mavericks’ broadcast team, serving as the radio play-by-play voice from 1997-2001 and the television voice from 2001-2005. While in Dallas, Pinto also worked as a talk show host for KESN (ESPN 103.3 FM) and was the play-by-play announcer of the NCAA Division IAA regional game of the week for The Football Network. In 1997, Pinto was named best play-by-play announcer for the state of Texas by the Associated Press.

“I’m thrilled for the opportunity,” Pinto said. “I’ve been thoroughly impressed with everyone at the Sonics organization. I’m overjoyed and very excited to contribute to the broadcast in the Seattle marketplace. I’m looking forward to becoming a fixture for Sonics fans and delivering on this great product.”

From 1990-1997, Pinto was the radio play-by-play voice of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. In Charlotte, Pinto was host of the afternoon drive sports talk show on WFNZ Radio, host of the nightly “Sports Huddle” sports talk show on WBT Radio and television anchor of the morning sportscast and weeknight “Hornets Insider” segment on CBS-TV affiliate WBTV. Pinto also was the television play-by-play voice of UNC-Charlotte basketball games and was an occasional host of ESPN national sports talk shows and the play-by-play voice of Westwood One college basketball.

“When we decided to go in another direction with the play-by-play of our radio broadcast, we knew we wanted to bring in an NBA veteran to fill the play-by-play role,” said John Croley, Sonics Vice President of Facilities, Sales & Service. “By hiring Matt, we’ve taken our radio broadcast to a whole new level. We feel confident that by adding Matt to our radio broadcast, along with Kevin Calabro on FSN, we now have one of the best broadcast teams in the NBA.”

Before joining the NBA ranks, Pinto worked in the sports broadcasting field in Honolulu, Boston, Los Angeles and Amarillo, Texas. His other play-by-play accomplishments include University of Hawaii football and basketball, Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA Baseball), Boston College basketball, Brown University football, UCLA women’s basketball and various junior college and high school football and basketball games.

“car·pet·bag·ger /ˈkɑrpɪtˌbægər/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[kahr-pit-bag-er] –noun

Well, maybe reverse-carpetbagged would be more accurate. I think we’ve all seen the comments of a certain Aubrey McClendon, minority owner of the Sonice, on moving those Sonics to Oklahoma City: “But we didn’t buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here.”

Now of course, there’s been a statement issued that McClendon’s comments were merely his personal views, not reflective of the ownership group, etc., etc., etc.

Yeah, whatever. I don’t think I’m the only one here thinking McClendon was being forthright in expressing his intentions. It also means counter to traditional carpetbagging, as the Southerners just pulled a fast one on the Northerners (not that either Oklahoma or Washington was a state during the Civil War/War Between the States/War of Southern Aggression). Wouldn’t you love to have seen the look on David Stern’s face when he saw that quote hit the media?

Stern’s in a pretty rough spot with this one. Historically, David Stern has been a big supporter of home rule, that is to say, franchises stay put if there isn’t a big ‘ole hairy problem that dictates the move. In this case, the lease at Key Arena seems to be a big ‘ole hairy problem. Stern’s been publically vocal on it being a barrier to doing business in Seattle, which isn’t really like him. On the other hand, he seems genuinely awestruck by the reception the Hornets were given in Oklahoma City and grateful that they bailed the league out of a tight spot after Hurricane Katrina. He can’t really serve both fan bases at the same time.

This leaves us, the onlookers with two questions:

1. Have the Sonics’ negotiations with the city of Seattle been “my way or the highway” with both parties, since it seems at least one of the new owners would prefer the highway and nobody’s singing the city’s praises very loudly?

2. How do the Sonics think they’re going to get out of that lease running through 2010? ‘Cause from where I’m sitting, the city would gladly bind them as a lame duck for a couple years, and I’m not so sure it hasn’t been earned.

Portland Trail Blazers forward/center LaMarcus Aldridge and Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis have withdrawn from participating on the recently announced USA Basketball Men’s Select Team. The Select Team was chosen to help prepare the 2007 USA Senior National Team for the Aug. 22-Sept. 3 FIBA Americas Championship that is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Aldridge and Ellis withdrew as precautionary measures. Aldridge will not play after experiencing soreness in his left heel, while Ellis withdrew because of a strained back.

Players expected to participate on the USA Select Team include: Aaron Brooks (Houston Rockets); Channing Frye (Portland Trail Blazers); Jeff Green (Seattle SuperSonics); Devin Harris (Dallas Mavericks); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Al Jefferson (Minnesota Timberwolves); Jason Kapono (Toronto Raptors); and David Lee (New York Knicks).

Seattle SuperSonics head coach P.J. Carlesimo, who served as an assistant with the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team” and who has been a head or assistant coach of five other USA Basketball teams, will serve as head coach of the USA Select Team and will be assisted by Toronto Raptors assistant coach Jay Triano.

The select squad will begin training Aug. 14 in Las Vegas and is expected to scrimmage daily against the USA Senior National Team between Aug.15-20.

The USA Senior National Team’s Aug 15-21 training camp will be utilized to determine the

12-member USA squad that will compete Aug. 22-Sept. 2 in the FIBA Americas Championship 2007. Rosters for the FIBA Americas Championship must be submitted to FIBA Americas on July 21.

The FIBA Americas Championship, featuring 10 men’s national teams, is one of five FIBA Olympic qualifying zone tournaments and will determine the two men’s teams from the Americas zone who will earn a qualification spot for the 2008 Olympic Games that are being held Aug. 8-24 in Beijing, China.