Basketball Blog

The San Antonio Spurs announced today that the franchise will retire Avery Johnson’s number. Johnson’s No. 6 will join James Silas, George Gervin, Johnny Moore, David Robinson and Sean Elliott in the rafters in the AT&T Center. The retirement ceremony will take place on December 22 when the Spurs host the Clippers.

The 5-11 Johnson enjoyed three different stints with the Spurs. He is one of five Spurs to spend 10-or-more seasons in San Antonio (along with Robinson, Gervin, Elliott and Tim Duncan). Johnson was the Spurs starting point guard for seven straight seasons (from 1994-2001). He appeared in 644 regular season games with the Spurs, averaging 10.1 points, 6.9 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.11 steals in 31.1 minutes.

Johnson is the Spurs all-time leader in assists (with 4,474) and ranks among the franchise’s all-time leaders in games (fifth with 644), points (eighth with 6,486) and steals (fifth with 712).

“Avery Johnson represents all that is right about professional sports,” said Gregg Popovich, who signed Johnson in the summer of 1994 less than two months after being named the Spurs general manager. “He was a great competitor, a true leader and an ideal teammate. Most importantly he is a wonderful man. All of us associated with the Spurs thank him for his service and his contributions to the San Antonio community.”

Johnson played a key role in bringing San Antonio its first NBA Championship. During the 1999 Playoffs he averaged 12.6 points and 7.4 assists in 38.4 minutes. With 47.0 seconds left in Game 5 of the Finals he hit an 18-foot jumper, the final basket for either team, to give the Spurs a 78-77 win over the Knicks and clinch the 1999 NBA Championship.

A leader on and off the court, Johnson earned numerous honors during his time with the Spurs. He won the 1998 NBA Sportsmanship Award and was honored with 1999 Excellence in Sportsmanship Award by the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance. He was recognized by the Texas Legislature in 1997, after raising over $1 million for San Antonio area schools, earned USA Weekend’s Most Caring Athlete Award and won the inaugural Fannie Mae Foundation Home Team Community Service Award, for his efforts to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods in San Antonio.

In 16 NBA seasons Johnson appeared in 1,054 regular season games, averaging 8.4 points, 5.5 assists and 1.7 rebounds in 25.3 minutes. He and Calvin Murphy are the only players under 6-feet to appear in over 1,000 NBA games. Johnson started his career in Seattle in 1988-89, after going unpicked in the 1988 NBA Draft. He retired, as a member of the Mavericks, on October 28, 2004. He played for six teams during his NBA career.

Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks has been suspended two games without pay for his involvement in an altercation with Sacramento Kings center Brad Miller, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations. Howard escalated a situation involving Miller and Mavericks’ guard Devin Harris by running across the court, striking Miller in the back of the head with his forearm, pushing Miller in the back, and engaging with other Kings’ players.

The incident occurred with 7:01 remaining in the second period of the Maverick’s 101-99 defeat of the Kings on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M.

Howard will begin serving his suspension when the Mavericks open the 2007-08 regular season against Cleveland on Oct. 31 at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Denver Nuggets have signed G Mike Wilks, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.

Wilks, 5-10, 180, has played five NBA seasons with Atlanta, Minnesota, Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland and Seattle. Most recently, he averaged 3.6 ppg and 1.7 apg in 47 games with Seattle during the 2006-07 season. He currently holds career averages of 2.5 ppg and 1.2 apg in 214 career appearances.

The Nuggets roster now stands at 19 players.

New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd underwent an MRI today, October 18, which confirmed a  strained lower back, which he incurred at practice on Sunday, October 14.  Following the MRI, Kidd was administered an epidural to aid in reducing the inflammation of the area surrounding the disc.  Kidd is expected to return to practice during the week of October 22nd, but there is no timetable for an exact date as to his return.

WNBA President Donna Orender announced today that the City of Atlanta has been awarded a WNBA expansion team for the 2008 season. The new team will be owned and operated by Atlanta businessman J. Ronald Terwilliger.

“As a great sports town and a region that enthusiastically supports women’s athletics, Atlanta is a terrific destination for the WNBA” said Orender. “This is a family-oriented community with tremendous civic pride.  I am confident that as a world-class sports league providing great family entertainment, the WNBA will be embraced here for years to come.  I commend Ron Terwilliger for his efforts in bringing the WNBA to Atlanta and know the league will benefit from his superior leadership skills, business acumen and commitment to the community.”

Since 1986, Terwilliger, 66, has been chairman and chief executive officer of Trammell Crow Residential, a national residential real estate company and the largest developer of multi-family housing in the United States. As chairman and CEO, Terwilliger is responsible for all residential development and operations conducted by the company’s 23 offices throughout the country.  An honor graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Terwilliger’s serves as vice chairman of the International Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity among various community endeavors.  The Arlington, VA native is also the former chairman of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership.

“I am excited to make this contribution to Atlanta’s sports community. Our effort is to transcend sports, making a statement of encouragement and support to girls and women in our society.  I am participating as a sports fan who will enjoy the journey and as a dad for his daughters and other young women like them.  We are committed to developing a successful team, taking the time and expending the energy to build something very special.  And, I am hoping that Atlantans will adopt this team and embrace it as their own.  We will make our mark in the history books with this team and have a great time doing it.”

“Today’s event is the culmination of a community-wide campaign to bring a WNBA franchise to Atlanta,” said Lisa Borders, President of the Atlanta City Council.  “The WNBA is the premier women’s professional sports league in the world, and we could not be more excited to welcome the WNBA and these world-class athletes to our great city.”

The Atlanta franchise, which will choose a name, logo, colors and head coach at a later date, is the sixth WNBA team to be independently owned and operated.

The WNBA will feature 14 teams in 2008, with the Eastern and Western Conferences comprised of seven teams each. Atlanta will join the Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Detroit Shock, Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Washington Mystics in the Eastern Conference, while the Houston Comets, Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs, San Antonio Silver Stars and Seattle Storm will continue to comprise the Western Conference.

Including the new Atlanta franchise, six WNBA teams are owned and operated independently of the NBA.  The Mohegan Tribe became the first independent ownership group when it purchased the Connecticut Sun in 2003.  In February 2005, Michael Alter purchased the expansion Chicago Sky (which began play in 2006) while the Washington Mystics were sold to Sheila Johnson (Lincoln Holdings, LLC), in 2005.  In December 2006, Katherine Goodman and Carla Christofferson bought the Los Angeles Sparks, while Houston businessman Hilton Koch purchased the Houston Comets in January 2007.

For those wondering how Boston’s newly-made “Big Three” will perform, their first exhibition game against Toronto provided a pretty accurate glimpse. KG racked up 19 points and 17 boards, the Truth chipped in 21 points, Ray-Ray shot a dismal 4-13. The gist? KG’s is pumped for his team, for one. The main thing is that the C’s can count on two of their guns for All-Star-caliber nights. That should be enough to get them at least 50 wins…

Fans in Orlando were having Grant Hill flashbacks when Rashard Lewis went down in the third quarter of the Magic’s first exhibition game. He clutched his leg, and was unable to run for the rest of the game. Magic officials said his leg cramped up. Magic fans’ stomachs probably did too…

Going with the “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” theme, San Antonio extended Bruce Bowen’s contract through the the 2009-10 season at $4 million a year. Bowen will be a spry 38 at that point. While there’s no reason to think Bowen will break down (he’s the holder of the league’s longest active streak of games both played and started at 436), the extension’s main purpose could be to reward Bowen for his contributions, as well as to keep him around long enough to groom newcomer Ime Udoka. Udoka is a defensive specialist who is money shooting threes from the corner…hmm….

Eddy Curry, he of the hurt shoulder, had reportedly dropped 20 pounds to reach the svelte weight of 275. The Knicks were undoubtedly looking forward to seeing the first decently-built version of Curry since he entered the league. Luckily, doctors said he should be ready to run (hey, at 275, he should be able to run, right?) for the season opener. Unfortunately, this puts off the Curry/Randolph experiment on hold until opening night…

The AP reported that Lakers coach Phil Jackson is “seriously considering” starting Ronny Turiaf over Luke Walton. This is one of those things that is both good and bad. It’s good because Turiaf is obviously a high-energy dude who would probably average double-figures in rebounding if given the PT. It’s bad because Walton, coming off a career year, was just rewarded with a 6-year contract extension at $5 million per. Walton said it best to the AP: “I have an interesting role on the team.”

While it’s not too far-fetched that Tayshaun Prince would lead the Pistons in scoring for a game, the fact that he did so scoring 13 points (and that the Heat’s leading scorer was Marcus Slaughter with 17 points) shows how truly meaningless preseason games are as indicators of a team’s talent…

The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on forward Samaki (suh-MAH-kee) Walker, General Manager Larry Harris announced today.

Walker, 31, signed a free agent contract with Milwaukee on September 25, but did not appear in a game during the pre-season.

The Bucks roster is at 15 players.

The Los Angeles Clippers today waived forward Marcus Douthit.

Douthit did not play in the Clippers first two preseason games.  The Clippers roster currently stands at 18 players.

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived guards Willie Deane and Jamon Gordon. Deane and Gordon were initially signed prior to training camp on October 1, 2007.

Deane played 4:35 minutes in Washington’s preseason opener at Cleveland on October 9 and did not score.  Gordon, an undrafted rookie out of Virginia Tech, played 8:00 minutes on Monday in Cleveland and also did not score.

The Wizards roster now stands at 16.

The Orlando Magic have released guard Torrell Martin, General Manager Otis Smith announced this afternoon.

Martin appeared in two preseason games with Orlando, averaging 2.0 ppg. and 1.0 rpg. in 3.5 minpg.  The Magic’s roster now stands at 16 players.

Orlando hosts Miami tomorrow (Oct. 12) at Amway Arena.