Raptors exercise option on DeRozan
September 30, 2010
TORONTO (AP)—The Toronto Raptors exercised the third-year team option onswingman DeMar DeRozan’s(notes) rookie scale contract Thursday.
DeRozan’s deal is now guaranteed through the 2011-12 season. The Raptors haduntil Oct. 31 to exercise the option.
DeRozan averaged 8.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 77 games last season. The6-foot-7, 220-pounder was selected by the Raptors with the ninth overall pick ofthe 2009 NBA draft.
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Heat get up-close look at Air Force life
September 30, 2010
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP)—Pat Riley got a kiss from a 5-year-oldgirl with a yellow ribbon tied in her hair, then climbed the steps toward thecockpit of an F-15 fighter.
It’s not easy for Riley to be awed.
This scene more than did the trick.
Training camp became basic training for the Miami Heat on Thursday, when theteam’s players, coaches and staff spread across two U.S. Air Force bases inFlorida’s Panhandle for events with airmen, including simulated ground combat,meet-and-greets with families and seeing how bombs get loaded onto jets.
“I think it’s one of the best things that I’ve ever experienced,” saidRiley, the Hall of Fame coach and Heat president. “I hope the players take alot out of it, too.”
Seems like that’s the case.
Around the time Riley took a seat at the controls of the jet—“I had myfinger on the trigger,” he proudly said afterward—LeBron James(notes) had a handover his heart in another area of Eglin Air Force Base, listening to TheStar-Spangled Banner. Over at Hurlburt Field, where practices have been held,Dwyane Wade(notes) and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra visited a youth center and toured aflight simulator.
An afternoon without basketball might have been the best part of Miami’sday.
And it was something their hosts won’t soon forget.
“It’s cool,” said All-Star forward Chris Bosh(notes), one of the touted Heatnewcomers this season. “I mean, it’s really cool. They’re excited to meet usand see us and everything, and the service that they do, the level of sacrificefor our country, I think it’s very important and it just makes it cool thatthey’re happy to see us.”
Sadie Grissom, 5, was upset with her parents when they decided Mondaynight’s arrival ceremony for the Heat at Eglin was too late for her to attend.So when Tech Sgt. Matthew Grissom and his wife Meredith heard that some Heatplayers were coming by Thursday, that quickly got added to their calendar.
Riley gave Sadie an autograph. Sadie gave Riley a kiss.
“I am flabbergasted,” Meredith Grissom said. “It’s absolutely unreal thatthey would do something like this.”
The Heat came to Eglin and Hurlburt for the first week of their season formany reasons, one of them being the franchise’s desire to continue honoringmembers of the Armed Services. It’s been a personal passion of Riley’s for manyyears.
They broke out all the stops. Much like the “15 Strong” cards Rileyordered during Miami’s run to the 2006 NBA title, more cards got broken out onthis trip. One side said “Home Strong” with a photo of an American flag, theother side said “Forever”—accompanied by a photo of the NBA championshiptrophy.
The Heat even had coins—for a military handshake ritual—made up. Gold incolor with a textured edge, one side says “Home Strong” across the top,“Supporting The Troops” across the bottom and has the Heat logo in the middle.On the back, “2010-11” is in the center, surrounded by logos representing eachbranch of the U.S. military.
“One of the cool things about coming here and being here, we get to go outand experience something we only hear about and see on TV,” Wade said.
Much of what the Heat experienced on Thursday is part of what the Air Forceuses for recruiting and educational purposes, said Jeremy Webster, a publicaffairs specialist at Hurlburt Field.
Still, it’s rare that such events get greeted with this kind of fanfare.
“It’s been a morale booster for everyone here,” Webster said.
More interaction with the Air Force hosts is scheduled on this Heat visit,first with a scrimmage with some invited airmen guests serving as fans onFriday, then another event Saturday following Miami’s final practice at HurlburtField before heading home.
Riley has often called sports “the toy department of human affairs.”
This week, that phrase has had particularly significant meaning to the Heat.
“We take what we do seriously too, as you know,” Riley said. “And intalking to a lot of these heroes, they love it, they’re fans, they come andsupport us. What they do counts and matters to them. What we do counts andmatters to us. But there’s a huge divide there. … We’re a country at war. Idon’t know if a lot of people think about that. It’s such a different kind ofwar. These men and women understand what’s going on.”
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Bryant and Lakers set for European trip
September 30, 2010
EL SEGUNDO, California (AP)—Pau Gasol(notes) has traveled to Spain twice duringprevious NBA preseasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, so the 7-footer knows allabout being a tour guide for a bunch of American hoopsters.
Gasol says his third trip back home is a whole lot bigger. After all, he’swith the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers now.
The Lakers interrupted their training camp Thursday to fly to London for aneight-day tour packed with public events, private gatherings, exhibition gamesin London and Barcelona—and a few practices, if they can find the time.
Kobe Bryant(notes) expects to play in both exhibitions, although his minutes willbe limited as he ramps back up from offseason knee surgery. Coach Phil Jacksonexpects to use him in eight-minute bursts.
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Nuggets F Martin won’t rush knee rehab
September 30, 2010
DENVER (AP)—Kenyon Martin(notes) won’t rush his rehab from knee surgery with nocontract beyond this season.
“The last year of my deal; everybody knows that,” the Denver Nuggetsforward said Thursday. “Ain’t nobody in a hurry to give me one … so why wouldI be in a hurry to risk further injury? I’m not rushing into it.”
The 32-year-old veteran said he didn’t want to become a free agent, but healso made clear he wasn’t exactly pleased with the Nuggets. He was hoping for anextension and wasn’t happy they signed Al Harrington(notes) to a five-year, $33 millioncontract this offseason, a deal he said could have been offered to him.
“I have no problem with Al. I love Al. We’ve known each other for 10, 11years now,” Martin said. “Me and that man play the same position. I just feelthey could have extended that offer to me. I feel with what I’ve done and whatwe’ve accomplished as a team around here got overlooked.
“I don’t know what the plan is, and it doesn’t seem like it includes Kenyonpast this year. I’m going to strap them up. Nobody ever gave me nothing. I’veearned what I got, so I’m going to earn the next one, whether it’s here oranywhere else.”
Martin’s health would explain the Nuggets’ reluctance. He has had aninjury-riddled tenure in Denver that includes microfracture surgery on bothknees. This past offseason he had surgery to repair a torn patella tendon in hisleft knee.
Martin opted to have his most recent knee surgery done by Vail, Colo., kneespecialist Dr. Richard Steadman and not the Denver team doctors, a decision thatcoach George Karl said the team wasn’t entirely comfortable with.
“Philosophically that’s something for a personnel guy,” Karl said. “Whenyou bring it up you probably say probably not. There are more and more playersgoing outside the organization for their opinion. I think they have a right tochoose who works on them.”
Martin will earn $16.5 million in the final season of the seven-year, $93million contract he signed in 2004.
Martin wouldn’t say when he would get back on the court. He is working inthe weight room and with strength and conditioning coach Steve Hess, but he isnot participating in any basketball activities.
He said he was following the rehab schedule mapped out by Steadman.
“He’s the best in the world at knees. If I don’t listen to him then I’d bean idiot,” Martin said. “He operates on nothing but knees. I ain’t won a NobelPeace Prize for nothing, so I’m going to do what that man tells me to do to a T.He did the microfracture on my right knee and I haven’t had one problem since.…
“It’s not my first rehab. I know how to approach it. I definitely want tobe on the court, but right now it’s not the time.”
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Magic’s Carter looks to bounce back
September 30, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—If Vince Carter(notes) didn’t have enough incentive to redeemhis poor performance in the Eastern Conference finals, the message came throughloud and clear from his Orlando Magic teammates during a meeting at the start oftraining camp.
Simply put, they said, he must be better.
“Vince is easy at saying all of the right things, but I don’t particularlycare what he says,” Magic president of basketball operations Otis Smith said.“I’m more interested in what he does once the games start, and his teammatestold him the same thing.”
Motivation shouldn’t be the problem for Carter this season.
He turns 34 in January. The $18 million team option on the final year of hiscontract will almost certainly not be picked up next season. So if he strugglesearly this year, that expiring deal could be a hot commodity on the trade marketfor franchises looking to clear salary-cap space.
Translation: this may very well be Carter’s best shot left at achampionship.
“You said it like something’s wrong, like my contract could be voided inthe coming weeks or something,” Carter said matter-of-factly when asked abouthis contract situation. “I just play. I’m going to let my game speak foritself.”
Then Carter might want to speak up.
Otherwise, the longtime Orlando resident and native of nearby Daytona Beachwill have his homecoming end shorter and sadder than he could’ve everenvisioned.
Carter’s first season with the Magic was the worst of his career, averaging16.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Perfectly productive numbers by most NBAstandards—just not for an eight-time All-Star, one of the league’shighest-paid players and Orlando’s only real perimeter playmaker.
“Everybody here just wants him to play the game the way he’s played itthroughout his career—attacking the basket,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.“You look around the East with all the great perimeter players: Boston has(Paul) Pierce and (Ray) Allen, Miami has (LeBron) James and (Dwyane) Wade.Atlanta has Joe Johnson(notes).
“Vince is our guy who can create shots for himself and other people. He’sstill capable of doing that.”
Nothing highlighted Carter’s struggles more last season than the conferencefinals against Boston.
Carter scored just 28 points combined in the first three games of theseries, the Magic went down 3-0 and were eventually eliminated in six games.Carter, who finished with an average of 13.6 points per game in the series, evensaw his playing time diminish in favor of backup J.J. Redick(notes).
Not exactly what the Magic were hoping for when they parted ways with HedoTurkoglu(notes) after the 2008-09 season and traded for Carter, reconstructing themakeup of their starting lineup.
One of the main points of emphasis during Orlando’s nearly 3 1/2 -hour preseasonteam meeting earlier this week was to push Carter to be more aggressive.
“I expect him to be Vince Carter and last year he wasn’t,” Smith said.“He fell into the trap of trying to fit in. We expect more from him like beingaggressive and making plays for himself and others. He has another year underStan and to get used to our guys, and everyone who has come here has done wellin their second year.”
Even when he was with New Jersey or Toronto, Carter spent most of hisoffseason at his Orlando home. The only vacation he’s taken in 12 NBA seasons,he said, was a quick trip to the Bahamas.
But even this summer was a stretch.
Carter, who usually takes a month or two off in the summer, was back in thegym and working on his game only a few weeks after the Magic were eliminated andwas a constant presence around the NBA’s Orlando summer league. He dropped about3 percent body fat and is in better condition than he was a year ago, all thetime thinking about how to vindicate his playoff performance.
“You never really get over something like that until the opportunity comesto get back in that situation again. I was shocked,” Carter said.
That time is coming soon.
Carter no longer has the vertical leap and awesome athleticism that made hima dunk-contest star and earned him the nickname “half man, half amazing.” Buthe still has big nights in him, such as when he had 48 points in an electrifyingregular-season win over Charlotte last season that was Vintage Vince.
Nobody in Orlando is expecting that kind of performance nightly.
They just want to see the same aggressiveness from Carter. Otherwise, itcould be an early exit for Orlando.
“I accept that. I understand that and it’s something that has been in mymind all summer,” Carter said. “I know it’s time for me to be me and I don’thave a problem with that.”
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Pacers pick up option on C Hibbert
September 30, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The Indiana Pacers have picked up the team option oncenter Roy Hibbert’s(notes) contract, meaning the former first-round pick is signedthrough next season.
Hibbert, entering his third season with the Pacers, averaged 11.7 points,5.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game last year. Coach Jim O’Brien said earlierin the week that Hibbert had the best offseason he’s ever seen.
Hibbert is considered a key to the team’s rebuilding effort, along withDanny Granger(notes) and newly acquired point guard Darren Collison(notes).
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Shaq may help open up floor for Allen
September 30, 2010
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP)—Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen(notes) may have even more spaceto get off his textbook jumper.
The performance could have been a personal shooting video except that ithappened in the spotlight of the last spring’s NBA Finals: Allen twists andturns away from defenders, coming off screens on both sides of the floor, beforehitting a record eight 3-pointers against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2.
Now, the team’s sharpshooter will likely have more opportunities with theBig Diesel and Glen “Big Baby” Davis—two very large men—setting picks tofree up one of the league’s most prolific shooters.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers knows that 7-foot-1, 325-pound Shaquille O’Neal(notes) andthe 6-9, 295-pound Davis provide a sizable addition to help the player thattrigger’s Boston’s outside game.
“We’re way bigger,” Allen said Thursday at the team’s training camp atSalve Regina University, nestled among Newport’s famed mansions.
Like those mansions that line the streets where the Celtics are preparing todefend their Eastern Conference title, Boston’s front line looms large. It’ssomething that should benefit a player like Allen, who can carry Boston’soffense for stretches.
“The problem is can we can’t see through those screens,” Rivers said,joking. “They’ll be great. The great thing about setting screens for Shaq aloneis every team in the NBA that has played against Shaq: You’re taught never toget off his side. Everybody tries to trap Ray off the screen. If you come offShaq’s body, you’re releasing Shaq to the rim.”
Otherwise, it’ll take a player bit longer to get around Shaq’s frame todouble-team Allen.
But Allen, who has connected on nearly 2,500 shots from beyond the arc inhis career, knows the team has other big men that can free up space for hisseemingly flawless jumper.
“I don’t think it’s just Baby and Shaq,” he said. “There’s Jermaine(O’Neal) out there. Kevin (Garnett). The bigs. We have pretty good depth in ourfront court.”
Boston also signed Jermaine O’Neal(notes) during the offseason for added depth whencenter Kendrick Perkins(notes) was lost in Game 6 of the finals with a knee injury.It’s expected to sideline Perkins until January.
But it’s the larger O’Neal—Shaquille that is—that could be a key inopening up room for Allen’s jumper late in games. It’s something he’s done forKobe Bryant(notes) and LeBron James(notes).
“I love it. I’ve always had great shooters with me. I get them open. Theyget me open,” Shaq said. “Teams have to pick their poison. We can have Raycome off one side and Paul (Pierce) come off the other side. That’s kind of aluxury.”
Shaq knows that having too many scorers on the floor can beat a team,especially after the Celtics upset his then-Cavaliers teammates in six games inthe second round last season.
Allen, a career 41-percent shooter on 3s in the postseason, could have goneelsewhere, but resigned—along with Pierce—with Boston during the offseason.Now he’s hoping to find room in a place he’s been comfortable.
“I want to look up and have guys I can count on every single night. I havea chance to be a part of something special,” he said. “You just don’t give upa great situation. You have great teammates. Selfishly, I could have gonesomewhere and put up a lot more shots and possibly had a great chance of makinga couple of all-star teams.”
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Shaq may open up floor for Allen
September 30, 2010
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP)—Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen(notes) may have even more spaceto get off his textbook jumper this season.
His performance in Game 2 of the NBA Finals was a clinic on outsideshooting. Allen used twists and turns to get away from a number of defenders,coming off screens on both sides of the floor before hitting a record eight3-pointers against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Allen likely will have more opportunities with Shaquille O’Neal(notes) and Glen“Big Baby” Davis setting picks to free up one of the league’s most prolificshooters.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers knows the 7-foot-1 O’Neal and 6-9 Davis will helpopen up Boston’s outside game.
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James’ manager: Media let race play role
September 30, 2010
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AP)—LeBron James’s(notes) manager says he believes raceplayed a factor in how the two-time reigning NBA MVP’s decision to join theMiami Heat was covered this summer.
Maverick Carter did not cite specifics when talking to CNN for a story thataired Wednesday night.
Carter tells the cable network that race “definitely played a role in someof the stuff coming out of the media” during coverage of James’ free-agentsaga.
James turned down a chance to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers andultimately decided to join the Heat in an oft-criticized televised special thatraised $3 million for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
James was expected to talk to the media Thursday and a e-mail to hisrepresentatives requesting comment was not immediately answered.
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Wizards owner fined $100K for cap remark
September 30, 2010
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP)—Washington Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis told localbusiness leaders Wednesday that he expects the NBA soon will have a hard salarycap similar to the NHL’s model.
NBA commissioner David Stern said that’s not necessarily true—and warnedLeonsis could be punished for discussing private league business. The NBA laterannounced it had fined Leonsis $100,000 for “unauthorized public commentsregarding the league’s collective bargaining negotiations.”
“We’re negotiating and that was one of our negotiating points,” Stern toldThe Associated Press before the fine was announced, “but collective bargainingis a negotiating process, and that was not something that Ted was authorized tosay and he will be dealt with for that lapse in judgment.”
Leonsis, who also owns the Washington Capitals, spoke to a group of NorthernVirginia business leaders before the Wizards’ daily training camp session. Hetold them that the more fans a team has, the more they spend on the team, themore the team has a chance to acquire and keep good players.
“In a salary-cap era—and soon a hard salary cap in the NBA like it’s inthe NHL—if everyone can pay the same amount to the same amount of players, itsthe small nuanced differences that matter,” he said.
Asked after the speech to clarify his remarks, Leonsis pulled back from thecomment, saying he was not authorized to speak about the ongoing NBA labornegotiations, but said he felt the NHL’s system “is a good one.”
“It’s working,” he said. “The teams are very, very competitive. There isno way that big markets teams can outspend small market teams. So when theseason starts everyone thinks their team can compete for the Stanley Cup.”
NBA teams currently can exceed the salary cap if they are willing to pay aluxury tax penalty. The league’s proposal to the union for a new collectivebargaining agreement to replace the one that expires next summer includedelements of a hard cap, and the players rejected it during last season’sAll-Star break.
“There’s a hard cap in the NFL, there’s a hard cap in the NHL, and that wassomething that was part of our initial proposal,” Stern said. “But we’re opento a deal and it depends what the deal is.”
AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York and Freelance writer BenStandig contributed to this report.
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