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| » 07:05 PM ET Update » 06:46 AM ET Update |
» Update: 07:05 PM ET |
 Delonte West is coming back to the Celtics. A league source confirmed moments ago that the former Celts guard is prepared to sign a free-agent deal with the team. West was drafted by the Celtics 24th overall in the 2004 draft and played in Boston for three seasons before being traded to Seattle as part of the deal that brought Ray Allen to the Green. On February 21, 2008, West was involved in a three-team deal that sent him to Cleveland to play with Lebron James. Boston Herald The Boston Celtics are set to sign free-agent guard Delonte West, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge confirmed to ESPN Boston. ESPN.com "Delonte has been one of my favorite players that I enjoyed watching in my time here with the Celtics," Ainge told the Globe. "He is a competitor and we're all aware (of his issues) and we've done a lot of checks and had a lot of conversation with Delonte and his people and we obviously have a long history with Delonte also and we think he can help us win." Boston Globe Alex Kennedy: West's contract with the Celtics is non-guaranteed. "He's going to have to prove himself all over again," said the source. Twitter  Jeff McDonald: Wouldn't read too much into Miles' workout with #spurs. It falls under the heading of "due diligence." Still looking for backup SF though. Twitter With less than four weeks to go before the Washington Wizards open training camp, second-round draft pick Hamady N’Diaye remains unsigned, and thanks to a very limited showing at the Las Vegas Summer League, he has very few options as he awaits a tender. “We did have an interest in going to Europe,” said Keith Glass, N’Diaye’s agent. “But what happened in the summer has ramifications, and it can’t just have ramifications for Hamady.” Washington Examiner Glass said he still expects the Wizards to send N’Diaye a non-guaranteed, minimum contract offer, but until then, there's not much N'Diaye can do but wait. “I don’t have anything that is fair for him to take,” said Glass when asked about European interest. “It’s not even that kind of choice.” Washington Examiner Lakers rookie Derrick Caracter has thought better of reminding everyone besides himself he dropped all the way to the No. 58 overall pick in the NBA draft. Caracter is planning to wear No. 45 with the Lakers instead of the No. 58 he previously chose. Caracter will have to make the team to make it matter, but he and fellow rookie Devin Ebanks had good summer-league time under new full-time Lakers assistant Chuck Person — whose No. 45 jersey hangs from the rafters at his alma mater, Auburn, and served him well in his NBA career. Orange County Register  Paul Coro: The Suns have a familiar visitor to informal scrimmaging today. Amar'e Stoudemire, in Suns shorts, has joined the games. Twitter McGrady could be a key offensive component if he's half the player he was five years ago. "One of the things that we see (in McGrady) is a player that had high potential at one time, and he is somebody that is working religiously with Arnie, and that's so important..." Kuester said. "McGrady is somebody that can give us a high-risk, high-reward situation." The Pistons think they can compete for a sixth, seventh or eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. "We want to get back to the old way of doing things, where we're competing," Kuester said. "We have a lot of players who are going to be competing in practice, and practice is going to dictate a lot of what is going to go on in the games. Detroit Free Press  Two nations with a longstanding contentious relation met on the basketball court for the first time in a significant competition. But that didn't mean much to the participants. "I didn't realize it really until after the game,'' big man Kevin Love said when asked about any possible significance attached to his American team facing Iran on Wednesday at the World Championship, a game it won 88-51. "We were just so focused on winning the basketball game. ... (The Iranian players) were getting knocked down. We were getting knocked down, and we helped each other up. At the end of the day, it was just basketball. I'll let CNN talk about that stuff.'' FanHouse.com John Schuhmann: From talking to them, USA players are definitely aware of Spain & Greece likely being in their quarter of the bracket. Twitter The turnovers keep on coming and coming, and the lack of ball movement and player movement in their half-court sets was again noticeable against Iran. After the game, Team USA director Jerry Colangelo agreed: "We need a lot of work." And that is why the offensive execution, or lack thereof, is Team USA's greatest concern as it continues moving through its dead week -- a day off, followed by Wednesday's game against Iran and Thursday's against Tunisia, followed by three full days off before the single-elimination knockout round begins as the field at the World Championship is whittled down to 16. "Well, the second half was a lot better than the first half," Colangelo said. "We were still throwing the ball away and forcing things in the first half. We need more movement, and we got better movement in the second half. Not as good as we need to be, that's why we need some good practice time and we can get that after our next game. ESPN.com "For us, we learned a lot from watching the Brazil game," Iran coach Veselin Matic said. "American team have a problem with the one-on-one game. They can't really play one-on-one. [Kevin] Durant, [Chauncey] Billups need to speed up to play one-on-one, but they are a team that is not under control. They are not really good in the one-on-one game. Today, [Derrick] Rose didn't penetrate to the basket, and they don't have a post-up player." ESPN.com USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo expects half of the gold-medal winning side of the Beijing Games and half of this year's side at the FIBA World Championship to play at the London 2012 Games for the Americans. None of the stars from the 2008 Olympics were able to play this summer in Turkey but that opened the door for other members of the USA national team squad for 2010-12 to travel to Istanbul. The United States have won all four of their games so far although Brazil nearly upset them on Monday. "I thought we'd have some of those players back," Colangelo said to FIBA.com about the absentees from the team of two years ago. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are among the no-shows from 2008. "(NBA) Free agency really took its toll," Colangelo said. FIBA.com Granger, the team's 12th man, got some attention when he tweeted on Tuesday, "im dying over here.... how come nobody in europe wears deodorant? guess they didn't get the memo." Later, he tweeted, "smellin like dead donkeys ... no joke." Granger later deleted the tweets and posted, "i was not reffering to the people for all you people who are having a fit!! i actually like turkey" and "im from new orleans and it smells the same way so relax!!! talk about a post gone bad!" FanHouse.com  Nuggets coach George Karl, having cleared every major hurdle in his latest bout with cancer, has little doubt he'll be back for the upcoming season. "I'm not sure it's official. Before we make that declaration, there's probably one or two more doctor's appointments that I want to get done," Karl said Tuesday. "But my mind slot is: Get ready." Denver Post Karl has one year left on his contract. "I'm excited about training camp," he said. "We have 10 practices before our first (exhibition) game, which I think is really fun." Asked how he would ease himself back into the grind, Karl said: "I'm not going to be a 10-hour-a-day guy anymore. I've been a delegator and director for two or three years. So it's going to continue to be more of that." Denver Post The Orlando Magic has signed Geico as the fourth founding partner for Amway Center, its new $480 million arena opening in October. The insurance firm signed a five-year deal valued in seven figures annually. In turn, Geico receives naming rights to a seven-level parking garage Sports Business Journal Dwayne Moore said producers from VH1’s Basketball Wives pulled the plug on taping an Orlando fashion show Saturday after we posted our blog Tuesday morning. The fashion show titled ”Euphoria” is presented by Moore’s AV the Book, Elite Status and Royce Reed’s dance group Fantashique at Rosen Shingle Creek Saturday. The fashion show will also feature a male auction with proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society. VH1 was expected to bring a camera crew to gather footage for the second season of Basketball Wives. Orlando Sentinel |
» Update: 06:46 AM ET |
 Jorge Sierra: Free agent center Francisco Elson is leaning towards signing with the Utah Jazz, one source told HoopsHype. Twitter On July 7 of this year, the Hornets officially named Monty Williams—a longtime assistant and a nine-year NBA veteran—their new head coach. A little more than two weeks later, the organization seemed to be in flux, with reports surfacing that star point guard Chris Paul wanted to be traded, to the point that the NBA office sent a memo to teams reminding them not to get involved in tampering with Paul or his agents. The rumor mill has since cooled on the Paul trade front—but, according to Williams, it was never all that hot to begin with. “You can say it has settled down now, but it was settled before that,” Williams told SN. “For me, it was never an issue. Chris never said anything about a trade. He never asked for a trade. He wants us to be a better team, but we all want that and Dell [Demps] and I are going to do all that we can to make it a better team. We’re going to make this a better team with Chris here.” Sporting News  Prior to hiring Ujiri last week, one league source said the Nuggets were “asking for the world” in trade talks for Anthony. If Anthony doesn’t sign the extension, he could opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent at the end of the season. Yahoo! Sports Anthony has declined to sign a three-year, $65 million contract extension offer from the Nuggets and sources close to him said he wants to be sent to another team. Ujiri, however, said Tuesday he is having regular conversations with Anthony’s agent Leon Rose and hopes to set up a meeting with Anthony soon. Ujiri also said he would prefer not to trade Anthony and said Nuggets ownership supports his position. “I want ‘Melo to be a Nugget. The whole city wants ‘Melo to be a Nugget. Ownership wants ‘Melo to be a Nugget,” Ujiri said. “We want to get a good feel from him and let us know how he’s feeling. With this situation, it’s ‘Melo and his life. We have to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. There are some times where he feels down with things, and that doesn’t go our way. Yahoo! Sports Ujiri said he will reserve judgment until he hears from Anthony that he wants to be traded. "It's a process," Ujiri said. "Until he tells me that, we want him back, the city wants him back, ownership wants him back. I think they've done a great job here. He's been here seven years, seven years in the playoffs. What he's brought to the city is positive, and I think he'll build on that." Denver Post "I think that all the speculation is about the team," Ujiri said. "I think the team is a good team. I don't know if he has anything that he wants us to do. I think he's been treated very well by this organization, and he'll continue to be treated well by this organization. "I'll wait and talk to Melo and see what he has to say. I think so far things have been positive. There's been a lot of speculation, but hey, that's how it works in our business." Denver Post “I’m sure he’s up and down in his mind. That’s obvious. But there is a little bit of patience. Let him come and tell us how he feels.” Ujiri, however, declined to speculate whether ‘Melo would be in uniform for the start of this season. Nor would he answer in detail whether he was refusing to trade Anthony, saying only, “I don’t know. … I want him to be a Nugget and the city wants ‘Melo to be a Nugget.” Yahoo! Sports Kroenke took aim at a recent column on Yahoo.com that cited sources who detailed a deteriorating relationship between team executives and Anthony's representation, headed by agent Leon Rose. "Anything that has been said is either someone trying to manipulate the situation behind the scenes or other motives that are unknown at this point," Kroenke said. "But Melo and his representation have been great to us. "I think he knows he can come to me as an individual. We have that amount of respect that we can talk about things openly in a noncombative way. So anything that has been stated from sources behind sources . . . All of our talks have been extremely cordial. I haven't had a negative conversation with Carmelo Anthony since I've known him, and that goes back to my time as a college basketball player. I don't have a bad word to say about Melo as a person." Denver Post Another name to add to list of those working out for #spurs this week: Ex Clips/Cavs/Blazers/Grizzlies forward Darius Miles. Twitter Paul Coro: Channing Frye joined Suns voluntary workouts (9 of 14 contract players are in PHX). Zabian Dowdell is in town hoping for a camp invite. Twitter The Bulls invested considerable time, emotion and money this summer on the courting of free agents LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, all of whom wound up in Miami. But Bulls executive vice president John Paxson insists he did not feel used. "I don't feel it was a waste of time because every team that had (salary-cap) money did the same thing," Paxson told the Tribune. "We were making our pitch, and none of us knows if that was set in stone long ago or (we) were just spinning our wheels. It doesn't really matter. I think as an organization it was really good for us, because we put together a plan and a program to show what we are about and what we want to be. I think it reinforced a lot of things that we believe in. We tried our best and unfortunately didn't hit what would have been a grand slam. But both (general manager) Gar (Forman) and I are both confident that we've improved our team." Chicago Tribune  Two months after the Boston Celtics lost the NBA championship to the Los Angeles Lakers, Doc Rivers was back in town, this time charged with escorting his son Austin to a prep all-star game. Such was Rivers’ luck that his weekend stay in Lakers Nation required a drive past Staples Center, site of the Celtics’ bitter Game 7 loss. “It still hurts the same,” Rivers said. “That won’t go away. I had dinner with [Rajon] Rondo and ‘Baby’ [Glen Davis] in Vegas and they were talking about how much it hurts. I said, ‘I hope it hurts you for the rest of your life. It should.’ ” Yahoo! Sports To that end, the Hornets have added a piece—small forward Trevor Ariza—who will make the roster more athletic and should help the team improve defensively, and for Williams, that’s where the upcoming season hinges. The Hornets allowed 102.7 points per game last year, 21st in the league, and were the third-worst team in defensive field goal percentage (48.3 percent). That will have to change. “I don’t want to disrespect the people who were here before, but we need to make big changes on the defensive end,” Williams said. “The defensive numbers indicate that we need to put in more time on that end of the floor, we need to get more from our guys there.” Sporting News Rivers would have had a harder time stomaching the defeat had it been his final game as the Celtics’ coach. Though he debated whether to take a leave from coaching to return to Florida so he could watch Austin and the rest of his children compete in their respective sports, he wasn’t quite ready to abandon the opportunity to make one more title run in Boston. Rivers also knows there will be plenty of opportunities to watch Austin – perhaps even in the NBA. A senior shooting guard at Winter Park (Fla.) High School, Austin Rivers is the top-ranked 2011 recruit by Rivals.com. He averaged 24.3 points last season and had a 45-point performance against highly touted Newark St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.). At the Boost Mobile Elite 24 prep all-star game last Saturday at Venice Beach, he was selected co-MVP after totaling 15 points, four assists and four rebounds despite playing with a sprained right wrist. Earlier in the week, Austin became a YouTube sensation when he was shown in a pickup game crossing over John Wall – the No. 1 pick in the June NBA draft – for a layup, then stealing the ball from Wall on the other end of the floor. Yahoo! Sports  Evans will certainly be asked to evolve, to improve his point guard skills and become a more vocal and responsible leader. His attacking game will remain his go-to offensive weapon and his shot, in truth, is not the top priority when it comes to his development. But it is the most mysterious of his many skills, if only because of the way it vanished. His brothers blame John Calipari. As they see it, the then-Memphis coach scared the confidence right out of Evans, gnawing on his ear every time the he dared to shoot a jumper instead of blowing by the line of helpless defenders. The style worked just fine for the Tigers, who went 33-4 and lost to Missouri in the third round of the NCAA Championships in Evans' one season. Now, however, those closest to Evans say it's working against him. "I don't blame anybody, but I think coach Cal looked at is like, 'Hey, you know what? This kid can get to the basket any time he wants, so let's play him to his strength," said Tony Bergeron, Evans' coach at the Aston, Pa. high school. "(But) I used to have a fit watching his Memphis games. I'd be screaming at the TV, saying 'Shoot!'" FanHouse.com Evans hit just 34 of 124 threes in 37 games at Memphis (27.4 percent), averaging 0.9 conversions and 3.4 attempts per game. He hit 36 of 141 threes in 72 games with the Kings (25.5 percent), averaging 0.5 conversions and 1.95 attempts per game in his first experience with the NBA's deeper three-point line. Yet during that senior season at American Christian, Evans hit 128 of 315 three-pointers in 31 games while averaging 4.1 conversions and an astounding 10.1 attempts per game. "His three-ball, when I (had) him, was his best weapon," Bergeron said. "He didn't care about the (three-point) line neither. Some of them were close, some of them were far. The distance was meaningless to him." FanHouse.com “Great kid, great talent,” Jennings said. “He will play in the NBA some day. The sky is the limit if he keeps working hard.” Said Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans: “He’s tough. He’s quick. He has great footwork. He changes the pace at times. I like him a lot.” Yahoo! Sports "(We) have a chance to be like the (Oklahoma City) Thunder, an up-and-coming team," Evans said. "We've just got to come together, play together, not worry about scoring and just play as a team. I think we can make the playoffs. That's the goal." It's certainly worth a shot. As for the saga that surrounds the shot itself, Bergeron plans to make a trip to Sacramento in attempt to spark a new era of Evans highlight reels from outside the paint. "(Bergeron) will tell me, 'Watch your high school tapes -- you shot the (crap) out of the ball," Evans said. "He'll tell me, 'I'm watching the real Tyreke Evans. We can fix that.' I've just got to keep working on it." FanHouse.com When the CHP tape was finally released two months later, Evans learned the hard way how the Internet has taken the celebrity spotlight to a new level. That clip became a YouTube sensation even more viral than his most popular mix tapes. It has logged nearly 575,000 views since its debut in early August. "It wasn't a good decision on my behalf, but at the same time I'm young," Evans said. "You're not used to the spotlight. And when something like that happens, it blows up because it gets people talking about something. It sells papers, and they try to make it as big as possible. I've just got to watch what I do from now on. At the time, I was having fun with a friend, but I've got to be smarter. "This is a good city for me to be in. There's not much (chance) for me to get in trouble, so for me to make a decision like that wasn't a good one. I learned my lesson." FanHouse.com He's certainly not done paying for the mistake, though. In addition to his court-issued fines, Evans was suspended without pay for one game by the NBA last week and will serve the suspension in the regular season opener at Minnesota on Oct. 27 so long as he's healthy. He also had his license suspended for a month, and continues to work towards completing his mandated 80 hours of community service. "I'm glad he got caught," Westphal said. "My (family member) got a ticket for going really, really fast one time, and my wife and I called the judge and said, 'Thank you.' It can't continue, and he knows that. "It's good that there was a helicopter there. It's good that he's taking courses and being punished for it. ... He's been called on it. He's contrite about it. It's part of his journey that we don't expect he will repeat." FanHouse.com  The Bucks and the 7-foot center are hoping they can put his gruesome injury behind them, although it's unclear how long it will take for Bogut to return to full strength. He is expected to return to Milwaukee on Tuesday and will be re-evaluated as the Bucks players begin informal workouts at the Cousins Center. "Our hope and anticipation is that Andrew will be ready to go when the season begins," Bucks general manager John Hammond said. "The great thing about going through this process with Andrew is he's proven to us as an organization and to our fans, that his effort, energy and toughness will never be questioned." Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Bucks coach Scott Skiles also expressed optimism about Bogut's recovery. "Saying it was a significant injury is an understatement," Skiles said. "It was a terrible fall and everybody who saw it knew immediately he was out for a long time. We're glad he's doing real well and we're hopeful there aren't any setbacks and he'll be ready to go." Skiles said when Bogut is declared ready to play, the coach will not treat him differently than any other veteran in camp. "Once he is 100% green-lighted, then we'll go full-bore," Skiles said. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Jonny Flynn: Pool workout was great. Felt good to be able to walk. Got a chance to see Sidney Rice out here. His spirits are high & he's moving well Twitter One player unable to participate in said activities: First-round draft pick James Anderson. Anderson was up at the practice facility Tuesday, lifting weights and working on conditioning with the team's strength staff. In the final stages of recovering from a hamstring strain that has plagued him since before draft day, Anderson has yet to join his new teammates for any sort of on-court basketball activities. "I think I'm getting back to 100 percent," Anderson said Tuesday. "I'm about 95 percent right now. Just working my way back up." San Antonio Express-News  The United States will crush the Iranians. There is no question about that. The game will be a dud. But what about the politics of such a game? Are there any? Does anyone else care? Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t. “This is a sporting event,” the U.S. coach told the Associated Press. “We have respect for Iran. I actually played in Iran in the 1970s when I was on the U.S. Armed Forces team. I have great feelings for their country. They’re sportsmen and so are we. We’ll have a great game.” Oklahoman Danny Granger, a stellar forward for the Indiana Pacers and member of Team USA, apparently can't wait for the FIBA World Championship tournament to end so he can leave Europe. Granger tweeted after the team's narrow victory over Brazil that Europeans do not wear deodorant. He also said it smells like "dead donkeys." Huffington Post  Carlos Arroyo has not played since suffering an injury against Russia in Puerto Rico’s Group C opener on Saturday and will not be back until at least Thursday, the final day of Preliminary Round play. Arroyo took a knee to his left quadriceps area, very close to his hip and had some internal bleeding. Puerto Rico head coach Manolo Cintron confirmed his star guard’s condition is improving but that no precise timeline could be set for his return. “We take it day by day. If you ask me, he’s not ready yet. I think he can be ready for Thursday’s game,” he said. “We will have to wait and see. Carlos wants to try and play on Wednesday against Turkey but I don’t thinnk he’s ready.” FIBA.com It's not carved in stone, but the likelihood is Andy Rautins has played his final basketball game at the 2010 world championship. A knee injury that got aggravated Sunday in a loss to Lithuania kept Rautins in street clothes for Tuesday's game with France. Head coach and Andy's father, Leo Rautins said Tuesday night his son was probably done for the duration. "The pain is too restrictive and he's got a high threshold," the senior Rautins said. "He has played through a lot of (crap)." Toronto Sun The New Orleans Hornets announced Tuesday they have hired Carlos Daniel as strength coach and Adam Tatalovich as video coordinator. Daniel was on the San Antonio Spurs' strength and conditioning staff last season. Prior to San Antonio, Daniel was the performance trainer and basketball director for the Forza Fitness and Performance Club in Denver. New Orleans Times-Picayune The Suns hired Nenad Trajkovic to assist player development. Trajkovic worked in player development for BDA Sports, an agency that represents Steve Nash, Earl Clark and Warrick. He has coached for 30 years, including stints as head coach for five European pro teams and the Yugoslavian and Latvian pro teams. Trajkovic has spent his first days with the Suns working with their big men. Arizona Republic  Maurice Williams: Man that Mexico stuff is out of control. USA, make sure that don't cross that damn border now. Twitter Happy Walters: Mikhail is up and walkin' on his own. Not yet able to speak, but is communicating with smiles and emotion. He's eating small portions of food. The Tip off Club at Univ of Alabama has set up the Mikhail Torrance Fund to help defray some of the medical costs that he n his fam r going to have to incur. He has a long road ahead of him and many hours of rehab in the future. Twitter Miami Heat star LeBron James has asked for the dismissal of a lawsuit by a man claiming to be his father, according to TMZ.com. Attorneys for James and his mother, Gloria, requested a judge to drop a $4 million paternity lawsuit filed by Leicester Bryce Stovell. James's legal team labeled the suit "rank speculation," according to the celebrity-entertainment website. TMZ reported a 2007 DNA test showed "0 percent probability of paternity." South Florida Sun-Sentinel Court filings show a plea bargain is in the works for ex-Michigan State basketball star and retired NBA player Jay Vincent, who appeared in court Tuesday on charges in a $2 million Internet scam. Vincent was silent in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids as a not-guilty plea to fraud and tax charges was entered on his behalf. But a judge also set a Sept. 28 hearing for him to change that plea. Defense lawyer Charles Ford said there could be a guilty plea if it is in his "client's best interest." He declined further comment. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment. ESPN.com |
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