RealGM - 05/10 - 1:25 PM EST (AP Photo)
Phoenix guard and two-time defending NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash and Suns center Amaré Stoudemire are the first teammates since the L.A. Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in 2003-04 to be named to the First Team, as the NBA announced the 2006-07 All-NBA Teams today.
Joining Nash at guard on the First Team is Bryant, the NBA’s leading scorer during the regular season. San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki join Stoudemire in the frontcourt.
The All-NBA Second Team consists of Washington’s Gilbert Arenas and Houston’s Tracy McGrady at guard; Cleveland’s LeBron James and Toronto’s Chris Bosh, who makes his first career All-NBA team, at forward; and Houston’s Yao at center.
The All-NBA Third Team includes Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Detroit’s Chauncey Billups at guard; Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett, the NBA’s leading rebounder with 12.8 per game, and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony, the NBA’s second-leading scorer (28.9 ppg), at forwards; and Orlando’s Dwight Howard at center.
A unanimous selection, Nash, who earns First Team honors for the third straight season, led the NBA in assists during the regular season with a career-high 11.6 per game. He became the first NBA player to average at least 18 points (18.6) and 11 assists since Magic Johnson in 1990-91. Nash recorded 15 or more assists 16 times during the regular season.
Stoudemire averaged 20.4 points and a career-high 9.6 rebounds for the Pacific Division champion Suns. He ranked second among NBA centers in scoring behind only Houston’s Yao Ming and was one of only three NBA players (Utah’s Carlos Boozer, the L.A. Clippers Elton Brand) ranked in the top 20 in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage (.575).
Nowitzki, who also makes his third straight First Team appearance, led the Mavericks to an NBA-best 67-15 regular-season record. He averaged 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, a career-high 3.4 assists, and set a new personal best for three-point percentage (.416). He finished the regular season as the only player in the NBA to shoot 50 percent from the field (.502), 40 percent from three-point range and 90 percent from the free throw line (.904).
For the second straight season, Bryant led the NBA in scoring with 31.6 points per contest, while posting 5.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game to earn his fifth All-NBA First Team selection. He became just the second player in NBA history to score 50 or more points in four straight games when he tallied 65 vs. Portland on March 16, 50 vs. Minnesota on March 18, 60 at Memphis on March 22, and 50 at New Orleans/Oklahoma City on March 23.
Duncan earns his ninth First Team selection, the most of any active player, with averages of 20.0 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists. His 1,599 points this season were the most since he scored 1,884 in 2002-03. He scored in double figures 78 times during the regular season. [READ] |
ESPN - 05/10 - 3:16 AM EST
Paul Pierce had lobbied hard to make the USA Basketball team, but he can't seem to convince his body to follow his heart.
Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of the men's team who has been putting together the squad, told reporters on Tuesday that the Celtics star will not be on the team that will compete in qualifying this summer.
"By not playing this summer, he is pretty much eliminated from playing in the Olympics," Colangelo said, according to the Boston Globe. "It would be hard to make the case that you should play in the third year after missing the first two. He understands that." [READ] |
New York Post - 05/10 - 7:01 AM EST
Knick assistant coach Herb Williams' friendship with Michael Jordan helped land him an interview in Charlotte with the Bobcats on Tuesday afternoon for the team's head-coaching vacancy, the New York Post is reporting.
Williams met with Jordan, the Bobcats' managing partner, and departing coach Bernie Bickerstaff.
Through buddy Patrick Ewing, Williams became friends with Jordan. If Williams gets the job, he'd either bring along Ewing, or Ewing would take Williams' Knick spot.
While Williams told a confidant the Charlotte interview "went great," he is not considered a front-runner, with the list of candidates at eight.
Williams, a former Pacer, also is close with Indiana owner Herb Simon and could get an interview there, too. [READ] |
New York Post - 05/10 - 6:51 AM EST
Desperate Lawrence Frank said he is considering lineup changes for Game 3 Saturday, and it appears the Nets' coach is mulling whether to dust off 40-year-old veteran Cliff Robinson to combat the Cavaliers' rebounding dominance.
Without being specific, Frank said he may change his big-man rotation. Starting power forward Mikki Moore, who overachieved this season after being a career journeyman, could be affected. Moore hasn't distinguished himself in this best-of-7 series, especially defensively, outplayed grandly by Cleveland's Drew Gooden.
"I think you have to evaluate everything," Frank said. "I think you have to have an open mind and see if it's a different player, different scheme - something outside the box. You have to consider all the options. If we can't do it better or harder, do we need to do something different? Do we need to play somebody different?" [READ] |
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 05/10 - 3:31 AM EST
Although the Sonics have released no information on potential coaching candidates and have asked for permission to talk with one, interested parties are stepping to the forefront in quest of an interview.
On Wednesday, former Sonic Paul Silas, who last led the Cleveland Cavaliers , said he wants to talk with Lenny Wilkens about returning to Seattle as a coach.
Silas, 63, spent three years coaching in the San Diego Clippers organization in the early 1980s and then returned to the sideline in 1998 and spent a five-year tenure with the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets and then two years with the Cavaliers as LeBron James' first coach. [READ] |
Chicago Tribune - 05/10 - 3:28 AM EST
In the Bulls matchup with the Pistons, which continues Thursday night with Game 3 at the United Center, Ben Wallace is averaging more points than Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich and is shooting better than those two and Luol Deng.
In other words, the Bulls' top three scorers have to find their touch or they will have a long off-season to search for it.
As usual, coach Scott Skiles answered a question about this dynamic with about as much nuance as a fist to the jaw.
"Let's face it: Our main players have to step up," Skiles said. "That's what happens this time of year. That's how you advance."
Deng's dominance and Gordon's aggressiveness were big reasons the Bulls swept the defending NBA champion Heat in the first round. Hinrich is struggling offensively for the second straight series.
The threesome is shooting a combined 37.9 percent. [READ] |
Memphis Commercial Appeal - 05/10 - 3:24 AM EST
Jerry West, the Grizzlies' departing president of basketball operations, has sold his Southwind house for $3.7 million -- to majority team owner Michael Heisley's Hoops LP company.
"We had a deal with Jerry as part of his hiring," said Heisley, who plans to sell the property. "The deal was, he could turn his house back to us for what he paid for it.
"This is not unusual for us. I have no reason to believe we won't get most of the money, if not more" when the house is sold again.
The news comes about three weeks after West announced he'll leave the Grizzlies when his contract expires June 30. [READ] |
Sports Illustrated - 05/10 - 3:20 AM EST
Utah rookie Dee Brown injured his neck when teammate Mehmet Okur landed on him in the first quarter of Wednesday night's Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against Golden State. He was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
Brown had to be helped from the court and then was wheeled on a stretcher to have X-rays taken. The team said neurological tests on Brown were normal, but he was taken to a hospital with his neck in a brace.
The injury left the Jazz shorthanded in the backcourt because Derek Fisher, who was inactive for the series opener Monday night because of a health problem involving one of his four children, didn't arrive at the arena until midway through the third quarter. [READ] |
ESPN - 05/10 - 3:15 AM EST
The New Orleans Hornets should be able to return by Aug. 1 to the suburban practice courts they used before Hurricane Katrina, said state officials who are responsible for providing the NBA team with a place to train.
An agreement with Jefferson Parish officials to free up the Alario Center for the team also will cost the state money, although it won't be clear how much until the NBA schedule is released, Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District commission chairman Tim Coulon said Wednesday.
While the Hornets and NBA announced months ago that the team would return to New Orleans full-time for the 2007-08 season, state and team officials never formally contacted the Alario Center until a couple weeks ago.
By then, numerous events had been booked at the busy multipurpose facility. [READ] |
AP - 05/10 - 1:21 AM EST
The NCAA on Wednesday reduced the penalty period against former Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien from five years to two, limiting his ability to seek athletic employment at another school during that time.
The reduction follows the NCAA's decision last month to throw out violations that included accusations O'Brien improperly gave $6,000 to a recruit. The group dismissed three violations and part of a fourth because NCAA enforcement staff missed by two days a 2005 deadline for filing the charges.
The appeals committee upheld other violations involving O'Brien, including improper benefits awarded to Boban Savovic, a member of the Buckeyes' Final Four team in 1999. [READ] |
Yahoo.com - 05/10 - 1:12 AM EST
Even shorthanded, the Jazz outran the Warriors.
Derek Fisher missed most of the first three quarters because of a family illness, then scored all five of his points in overtime to lead Utah to a 127-117 victory over Golden State on Wednesday night and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Jazz overcame the loss of rookie guard Dee Brown to a neck injury in the first quarter and had to rally to force the overtime after Golden State went on a 12-1 run late in the fourth quarter. The Warriors missed six free throws in the fourth quarter, three after taking the late lead. [READ] |
Metro News - 05/09 - 9:31 PM EST
Jermaine O'Neal said in an interview Wednesday that he has spoken with Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh once since the season ended, but trade talk never entered the conversation. He said there is nothing to reports that he's pushing to be reunited with his old coach Isiah Thomas at the New York Knicks .
"That's just somebody that's putting out speculation," O'Neal told The Associated Press. "That didn't come from the Pacers, and that didn't come from me."
O'Neal was close to Thomas when he coached the Pacers, before he was fired four years ago in favour of Carlisle. O'Neal acknowledges that he could be traded but denied a Chicago Tribune report that he had made such a request.
"They gave me the opportunity to build my name and status in this league," O'Neal said of the Pacers. "It's disrespectful to them to be commenting about it. I haven't made any demands or anything like that.
"There's not going to be anymore speculation," he said. "It's all going to be false speculation. I'm going to let the process take its course." [READ] |
Salt Lake Tribune - 05/09 - 9:29 PM EST
Derek Fisher has been dealing with the discovery of a tumor between the eye and brain of his less than year-old daughter, The Salt Lake Tribune has learned.
Fisher was flying back to Salt Lake City and was placed on the active roster for Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors . The veteran guard was not expected to arrive in time for tipoff but all indications were that he would play. [READ] |
RealGM - 05/09 - 5:06 PM EST
Pat Riley issued a statement on Wednesday in regards to the possibility of the Miami Heat trading center Shaquille O'Neal.
"Amongst growing speculation in the media, in reference to Shaq, I want to set the record straight and say that we are not trading Shaq." [READ] |
Oakland Tribune - 05/09 - 12:51 PM EST
Monta Ellis has struggled in the 2007 Playoffs and is desperate to turn things around.
"I just gotta find myself," said Ellis on Tuesday. "Somehow, some way. However I gotta do it, I gotta do it. And I gotta do it quick." [READ] |
New York Daily News - 05/09 - 12:19 PM EST
Isiah Thomas has parted ways with veteran attorney Peter Parcher, who represented shock jock Howard Stern in his fight with CBS Radio and rapper R. Kelly in his spat with Jay-Z. In to represent him in his sexual harassment suit is Laurie Berke-Weiss, former president of the New York Women's Bar Association.
Parcher couldn't be reached for comment, and a representative from Berke-Weiss' firm declined to comment. Court papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court yesterday confirmed the substitution. [READ] |
ESPN - 05/09 - 11:59 AM EST
The trial for Golden State's Stephen Jackson, accused of firing a gun during a fight at an Indianapolis strip club, has been delayed a second time and is now set for June 21.
Marion Superior Court Judge Patricia J. Gifford on Monday granted a defense motion to continue the trial over the objection of prosecutors, the Marion County prosecutor's office said Wednesday.
In April, the trial was moved to May 10. [READ] |
Charlotte Observer - 05/09 - 7:49 AM EST
Former NBA head coaches Mike Fratello and Herb Williams have interviewed for the Charlotte Bobcats coaching job this week, along with Dallas Mavericks assistant Sam Vincent, the Charlotte Observer has learned.
Fratello has coached a number of NBA teams, most recently the Memphis Grizzlies , and is also well known for his TV commentary, where he was nicknamed the Czar of the Telestrator. Williams, a N.Y. Knicks assistant, was also head coach of the Knicks briefly, before giving way to Larry Brown.
Vincent, in his first season as a Mavericks assistant, has extensive international coaching experience.
Those three bring the known candidates to succeed Bernie Bickerstaff to eight. [READ] |
|
첫댓글 샬롯도 인제 돈좀 쓸때아닌가요... 코치도 얻고 fa도 좀 델고오지..
네츠가 급하긴 급하나 보네요...
급할수 밖에요.. 완전 리바관광다하고 있는데..
퍼스트,세컨드,써드에서 샤크가 없군요. 확실한 노쇠화인가..
첫번째 기사에, 한팀에서 2명이 퍼스트팀, 이런식으로 붙혀야할듯한데요, 샤크코비다음으로 아마레 내쉬 이러면.. 좀 vague
항상 소식 잘보고 있습니다..^^
피셔 딸이 수술했다고 하길래 나이가 왠간히는 들었겠거니 햇는데 한살이 채 안됐었군요..
프라텔로는 멤피스에서 짤렸는데...조던 니가 감독해라~ㅋㅋ