'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 38

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http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/ ... Casey.html

A source indicated that Stefanski is also hopeful of speaking with former Chicago, Detroit and Washington coach Doug Collins, who is working the Eastern Conference final as an analyst for TNT; that speculation has been out there for weeks. Collins spent his entire playing career with the Sixers.

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http://www.niagara-gazette.com/sports/g ... d=topstory

BASKETBALL: Falls' Harris signs agent, 'on a mission'
Harris said Wednesday that he has signed with agent Leon Rose, eliminating any possibility he could return for his senior season at Syracuse. He and Flynn, who also signed with Rose, have been working out over the past couple weeks at the A.T.T.A.C.K. Athletics facility in Chicago, which is run by Michael Jordan’s former trainer, Tim Grover.

Harris was regarded as a slam-dunk NBA prospect when he left Niagara Falls to attend prep school in Massachusetts four years ago. But after three turbulent seasons at Syracuse, during which he had several outstanding performances but never attained all-conference honors and seemed to clash with coach Jim Boeheim, Harris embarks on his professional career as a player many analysts don’t expect will be drafted.

Harris, who is listed at 6-foot-4, played mostly forward at Syracuse, leading the Orange in rebounding this past season. Now he’s getting to show off his perimeter skills, which include an outside shot that’s been remodeled by shooting coach Tim Sullivan, a former Canisius player. Even Harris noted he was “shocked” by how many jump shots he made during the 3-on-3 portion of his workouts.

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http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft200 ... our-090528

Buzz from the NBA Draft
The entire league is represented here, revving up for the first NBA Draft Combine. After years of having five-on-five games here and in Orlando, Fla., the league finally scrapped the effort for a more NFL-style combine.

Fifty-two players have been invited to the camp, including all potential lottery picks. The only elite prospects missing are Spain's Ricky Rubio and Italy's Brandon Jennings. However, several of the potential top picks, including Blake Griffin, will be participating only in the non-basketball parts of the event.

The combine kicked off Wednesday night as players began 30-minute individual interviews with team representatives at the Westin hotel. Each team had as many as four interviews Wednesday and will hold many more Thursday and Friday. Starting Thursday morning, players will head to the Attack Athletics gym to work out from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. (ESPNU will broadcast the workouts from 2 to 5 p.m. ET.) Players will be broken into four groups: point guards, shooting guards, forwards and bigs. They then will go through three sets of activities: a series of drills run by NBA assistant coaches; strength and agility testing, including the bench press, the 3/4-court sprint, shuttle drills and the vertical jump; and a physical on the last two days that will be shared with every team in the league.

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http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Pri ... cago-3233/

-Leo Lyons’ skill-level is obviously extremely high based on the way he was shooting the ball in some of the drills we saw, and he’s also a very good athlete at his position. He’s another guy that will likely make a very strong impression in private workouts, and could find himself somewhere in the 2nd round in turn.

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http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Pri ... cago-3233/

Relative to expectations, Micah Downs may have impressed us the most out of all the players we watched work out. Downs’ athleticism is very impressive to take in in person, and the ability he showed in terms of creating separation from his defender in the mid-range area really stands out. His terrific length allows him to cover a great deal of ground on his one-dribble pull-up, and he was shooting the ball really well in the drills we took in. He also jumps out of the gym and was responsible for some highlight reel caliber dunks after the workout was over—not a surprise considering his slam-dunk contest credentials. He’s probably going to look really good in most of the places he visits over the next month or so, and in our view, is probably a pretty good guy to roll the dice on somewhere in the second round, as he still has considerable upside.

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http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Pri ... cago-3233/

Luke Harangody
Analysis: The two things that stood out the most about Harangody were his conditioning and overall skill-level. He appears to have dropped a decent amount of weight and looks to be in very good shape now, even if he’s clearly not the most athletic power forward you’ll find in this draft. He may very well be the best shooter, though, at least from what we could see here—he was knocking down NBA 3-pointer after NBA 3-pointer with unorthodox mechanics but a very quick release. Harangody’s scoring instincts shine through even in a setting like this, he has great touch around the basket and can even make some shots of the dribble it seems. Teams will want to get a better read for how he projects defensively at his position, which is not something we could really evaluate in this particular setting.

Harangody is still only “testing the waters” at this point and is keeping his NCAA eligibility open until he decides whether to stay in the draft or not on June 15th. He’ll likely be looking for a firm commitment from a team if he’s to pass up returning to school.

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http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Pri ... cago-3233/

DeMarre Carroll
Analysis: Carroll is not really the type of guy you want to evaluate in a non-competitive workout, as most of the best things he brings to the table are best seen in five on five games. His ball-handling and perimeter shooting skills looked better than advertised, but still probably aren’t up to par with some other forwards in this draft, although in terms of pure toughness and intensity, there aren’t many players who can offer more. He was running a bit gingerly coming off a minor ankle sprain he suffered in his last workout in Indiana, but is probably already back at full strength at this point.

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http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Pri ... cago-3233/

Priority Sports Workout in Chicago
While in Chicago, we also had a chance to take in a brief 45 minute workout at the old Multiplex gym right down the street from Moody Bible Institute, featuring players such as Joe Ingles, Luke Harangody, DeMarre Carroll, Micah Downs and others. Here is what we learned.

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http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Pri ... cago-3233/

Joe Ingles
Analysis: Having already evaluated the other players here on multiple occasions, we were especially excited to see Joe Ingles, as he’s generating some pretty nice buzz these days. While there were a few interesting things to take away from this workout, the lack of competitive action seen here means we’ll probably have to wait until the Reebok Eurocamp in Treviso to get a real read on what type of player he is.

Ingles is intriguing from a standpoint that he’s a true wing player with excellent size for his position at around 6-8. His frame looks noticeably better than it did in the past, and he appears to be a fairly agile prospect with nice fluidity. Ingles can put the ball on the floor going either direction and has a really nice mid-range game, looking very smooth pulling up off the dribble. His perimeter jumper looks a bit on the funky side and isn’t all that quick, but he does appear to be capable of making shots from beyond the arc, even if he was a bit streaky in this setting. He has a reputation for being a great passer, but that was impossible to see here. Defensively is where we’d really like to see more of Ingles, as this will probably be a deciding factor in how teams view him. Due to the amount of workouts the prospects were slated to take part of immediately after this weekend, we weren’t able to see anything on this side of the floor to avoid the risk of injury.

From an intangibles standpoint, Ingles is impressive, and is already drawing rave reviews in many of the workouts he’s attended. The fact that he’s been playing professional basketball for the past three years definitely gives him a leg up over many of his NCAA counterparts.It will be interesting to see how he is able to perform in Treviso. He will be teaming up with Australian Institute of Sport teammate and national team member Patrick Mills there.

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http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/2009/0 ... ng_wi.html

He was released by Olympiacos on May 5. Pargo, who averaged 3.5 points and 1.4 assists in Euroleague play, is currently recovering from sports hernia surgery performed about two weeks ago.

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http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports ... r-two.html

Thanks NBA, but Dwight Howard doesn't plan on 'T' for two
Magic center Dwight Howard received a big break --- and the right call --- when the NBA rescinded the taunting technical foul given to him during Game 4.

If the T would have stood, Howard would be working with six technical fouls on his postseason resume --- and a seventh tech would have resulted in a league-manadatory one-game suspension.

Now he is back to five techs, with at least one T to play with. But Howard says he doesn't plan on picking up any more. "I didn't think too much about it," Howard said. "After the game, I felt like I was running off emotion. I made a tough basket and I was pumped up. I really wasn't worried about it, if they give me a tech or not. "It wouldn't change anything (not getting the foul rescinded). The main thing with me is try not to get too emotional on the floor. Just play."

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http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lak ... 0367.story

The league struck Phil Jackson with fines totaling $50,000. On Wednesday, he struck back.

Jackson was not happy to hear that he and the Lakers were each fined $25,000 because he criticized the referees after Game 4.

Jackson said the NBA's disciplinary process, including reviews of technical fouls and flagrant fouls, was confusing, if not irritating.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/b ... le1156582/

Bosh will be in Toronto next week. His website promises a “big announcement” on Monday, though he’s giving no hints.

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http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=4378

Jose Juan Barea has left shoulder surgery
Dallas Mavericks guard Jose Juan Barea underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to repair a cartilage injury to his left shoulder. The surgery was performed in Dallas by Dr. Richard Levy of Texas Sports Medicine. A timetable for his return has not been set.

In the 2008-09 NBA season, the 6-0, 175-pound guard averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 assists in 20.3 minutes per game.

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http://postingup.2dogs.com/member/blogt ... q=1&page=0

Rasheed Wallace Funny!
I went on Youtube and watched a video when the Pistons were playing the Lakers, and Sheed was thrown out of the game, and when he was going into the tunnel a fan yelled "Rasheed you suck!" and then Sheed yelled back "Not like yo momma!" LLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!

Check it out on Youtube by typing in Rasheed sonning Laker fan

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http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... ketball-p/

NCAA alleges major violations in Memphis basketball program under John Calipari
The University of Memphis is responding to an NCAA notice of allegations charging the men's basketball program with major violations during the 2007-08 season under John Calipari.

The allegations include "knowing fraudulence or misconduct" on an SAT exam by a player on the 2007-08 team, widely reported to be Derrick Rose. The player's name is redacted in the NCAA's notice of allegations, but the description of the player in the notice also pointed to Rose.

The information was obtained by The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday through the Freedom of Information Act.

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http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=4376

Anonymous Nuggets player accuses Lakers of buying a win
The Denver Post (Mark Kiszla) reports after the Lakers beat the Nuggets in Game 5: In an accusation that goes straight to the heart of the sport’s integrity, one member of the Nuggets shook his head in disgust after the game, and could not believe how cheap it was for Los Angeles to buy a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals. “The Lakers paid $50,000 to win that game. They got their money’s worth,” said a Denver player, not wanting to be identified for fear of retribution from the league. Was the outcome rigged? I refuse to believe it was. The 16 field-goal attempts the Nuggets missed during the fourth quarter had much more to do with the defeat than any of the 30 personal fouls called against Denver by the referees.

InsideHoops.com editor says: There’s a 98% chance the player was just angry about how things went down, and was just lashing out, and absolutely doesn’t mean it. He probably thinks the refs made some lousy calls, was just venting some frustration, and shouldn’t be taken literally.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4213690

Brown to leave Xavier, enter draft
Xavier junior Derrick Brown is officially staying in the draft and not returning for his senior season, a fact his new coach Chris Mack said he has known for a few weeks.

With Mack watching from the stands, Brown told ESPN.com after Thursday's first session at the NBA draft combine at the Attack Athletics facility on Chicago's West Side that "I'm not going back to school."

Brown said his versatility as a 6-8 forward is something "NBA teams need." "This is something we've know for three or four weeks," said Mack of Brown's decision to stay in the draft. "I've been in his corner and want to support him."

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http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=4377

Conference Finals: History sides with Lakers, Magic
If history were grading Orlando’s chances of advancing to The Finals, it would give the Magic an A. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, all time in the postseason there have been 187 best-of-seven playoff series in which a team has taken 3-1 lead. That team has advanced to the next round 179 times or 96 percent. Orlando has won five games on the road during the playoffs, the most wins away from home during a single postseason in team history (previous high was four in 1995). The Magic clinched its first round series with a win at Philadelphia in Game 6, and advanced to the conference finals with a Game 7 victory in Boston, marking the fourth and fifth times that Orlando won a series-deciding game on the road. All time in the playoffs, however, Cleveland, is 42-25 (.627) at home, including winning of eight of its last nine playoff games at The Q. Orlando is responsible for the lone loss, besting the Cavaliers in Game 1. Since the 2006 postseason, the Cavaliers are 21-7 (.750) at home, which accounts for the second most home wins in the postseason over that span behind San Antonio (22-7).

The Los Angeles Lakers took another step towards advancing to their second straight Finals by defeating the Denver Nuggets 103-94 in Game 5 yesterday to take a 3-2 series lead. Teams with a 3-2 lead are 193-33 (.854) all time, with 122 of those series ending in six games. Of those 122 Game 6 wins, more than half (69) came on the road. The last team to win a series after trailing 3-2 was the San Antonio Spurs, which defeated the New Orleans Hornets in last year’s conference semifinals.

Notable: There have been 20 games this postseason decided by three or fewer points, surpassing the previous high of 19 (2006). Orlando has played in seven of those games, winning three.

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http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/20 ... or-europe/

Will Herrmann Leave Pistons for Europe?
The NBA’s answer to Fabio might return to Europe according to a report: “Free agent forward Walter Herrmann may return to Spain, according to a French-language Web site. The report said that the club Pamesa Valencia is rebuilding after losing three key players and that club president Manuel Llorente wants to bring Walter Herrmann back. Herrmann played four seasons in Spain after beginning his career in his native Argentina. The Pistons traded for Herrmann in December 2007 in a deal with Charlotte that helped clear the contract of center Nazr Mohammed, who had fallen into a limited role.”