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No surprise here.
NEW YORK - The Chicago Bulls selected Derrick Rose with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, choosing the Memphis guard over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.
Rose, a Chicago native, led the Tigers to the national championship game in his lone college season. The Bulls opted for the point guard’s playmaking ability over the scoring and rebounding of Beasley, who ranked in the top three in the nation in both categories as a freshman.
Rose is the Bulls’ first No. 1 overall selection since they grabbed Elton Brand in 1999. He’s the second straight freshman taken with the top pick, following Portland’s Greg Oden last year.
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Rose should be an upgrade over Kirk Hinrich, who now could be traded, and gives the Bulls another option if they don’t re-sign guard Ben Gordon.
I have no idea about how good Rose will be or won’t be.
The Miami Heat(I’m from South Florida) made the next selection.
Miami settled for Beasley at No. 2, a pick the Heat considered trading. Beasley averaged 26.2 points, third in the nation, and topped Division I with 12.4 rebounds per game. But with questions about his size — he may be 2 inches shorter than the 6-foot-10 he’s listed at — the Bulls may not have believed he could play the 4 spot in the NBA.
Who misled(or lied to) people about Beasley’s height? Memphis or Beasley himself? I once remember a ML baseball team getting ready to give a former football player a tryout, thinking he was 25 years old. The tryout was cancelled after it was learned he was in his thirties.
Flip Saunders led the Detroit Pistons the the Eastern Conference finals three straight years. That’s why they fired him.
 Flip Saunders was fired as the Pistons’ coach Tuesday, four days after Detroit was eliminated from the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. And more changes could be on the way for a team bounced from three straight conference finals.
“Make no mistake, everybody is in play right now,” said Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president of basketball operations. “There are no sacred cows here. You lose that sacred cow status when you lose three straight years.”
Saunders had a year left on a four-year deal he signed in 2005. His ouster comes three years after he took over for Larry Brown, who led the Pistons to two straight NBA finals.
“I think this team became way too content and did not show up with a sense of urgency to get it done,” Dumars said at a news conference. “I can’t sugarcoat it. It is what it is.”
Dumars stopped short of saying he would dismantle the Pistons. “The idea you can make yourself bad and make yourself good again, that’s a farce,” he said. “I have no interest in completely ripping the team down. Will I look to making significant changes? Yeah, you’re damn right I will.”
Bizarre. I don’t have the knowledge of the game to judge whether Saunders get the most out of the talent at hand. But, certainly, the Boston Celtics, to whom the Pistons lost in the finals, were widely considered the most talented team in the NBA. This strikes me as a knee-jerk move.
The former University of Florida star basketball player was also charged with having an open container of alcohol. From AP-
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Authorities in Gainesville have charged Chicago Bulls forward and former Florida star Joakim Noah with possession of marijuana and having an open container of alcohol.
Gainesville police spokesman Sgt. Rick Roberts said Noah was arrested around 1:50 a.m. Sunday after an officer spotted him on a sidewalk holding a plastic cup containing an amber drink, a violation of city law. During a search at the station, officers found marijuana in his pocket.
Noah was released after signing a notice to appear before a judge — standard procedure for such offenses. He could face up to 6 months in jail and a $500 fine for the marijuana charge.
Noah won’t go to jail, and may not even be fined but sentenced to community service. Anyone else have an opinion?
This comes less than a month after the team had one of its worst seasons ever. From the Sun-Sentinel-
MIAMI - Last place and the Hall of Fame will be the final two stops of Pat Riley’s coaching career.
In a move that took days of deliberation but was hinted at months in advance, Riley announced today he is stepping down as coach of the Heat to concentrate fulltime on what had been his dual role as team president.
The announcement was made at an afternoon news conference at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Assistant coach Erik Spoelstra was named Riley’s replacement. Spoelstra has been with the franchise for 12 seasons.
Born Nov. 1, 1970, Spoelstra becomes the youngest current NBA coach, 69 days younger than Nets coach Lawrence Frank.
In September Riley gets inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, an honor he deserves.
Riley quit coaching the Heat once before in 2004, but came back the following year. As long as the Heat are as bad as they are, Riley won’t be coaching them again. I get the distinct impression Riley can’t stand constant losing. On the other hand if the team looks destined for a title, he’ll step back in. Look what happened with Stan Van Gundy in 2005.
Right now the Heat are a long way from winning anything. They have one certifiable star(Wade) who at the same time is brittle. After that, the team doesn’t have much. Miami is in for a rebuilding project. I wonder if Riley has the patience to see it through as team President.
This news hardly comes as a surprise.
NEW YORK - Isiah Thomas couldn’t win as coach with the players he assembled as president. Now, he’s lost both jobs. Thomas was fired as the New York Knicks coach Friday after a season of listless and dreadful basketball, a tawdry lawsuit and unending chants from fans demanding his dismissal.
Thomas lost a franchise record-tying 59 games this season, and along the way seemed to lose the support of his players, who didn’t always play hard for him the way they did last season.
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Thomas was hired as the Knicks’ team president on Dec. 22, 2003, and he acquired Marbury from Phoenix weeks later. The Knicks made the playoffs that season, getting swept by New Jersey, but haven’t gone back despite their annual spot atop the league’s highest payroll list.
Though the salary cap was already out of whack by the time Thomas arrived, he didn’t help matters with some questionable moves. He gave a $30 million contract in the summer of 2005 to center Jerome James, a career 4.3 points per game scorer who hasn’t been healthy or productive, and seems bothered by neither. A year later, Thomas used his mid-level exception on Jared Jeffries, who has limited offensive skills.
Still, Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan remained confident in Thomas, even making him coach in June 2006 after firing Larry Brown following one season. But that came with an ultimatum, as Dolan warned Thomas to show “evident progress” in one season or be fired from both positions.
The Knicks went 33-49 last season. Dolan rewarded Thomas with a multiyear contract extension with more than a month left after New York moved into eighth place, but the Knicks collapsed under a series of injuries and missed the postseason.
Things went poorly this season from the time training camp opened.
The jury came back with its verdict that day, finding that Thomas and MSG sexually harassed former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders and ordering the company to pay $11.6 million in damages. Criticized by Al Sharpton and Rutgers women’s coach C. Vivian Stringer for comments he made in his taped deposition, Thomas seemed downcast during most of training camp — and never had much reason for better spirits when the season began.
The Knicks started 2-1, then dropped eight in a row as the Thomas-Marbury feud sent the season spiraling out of control. Marbury responded to Thomas’ plans to bench him by skipping a game in Phoenix, and the players reportedly voted to make Marbury sit out a game when he returned. Instead, Thomas played the point guard more than 33 minutes off the bench in a game in Los Angeles against the Clippers.
It soon became obvious that Thomas’ draft night acquisition of Zach Randolph had set back Curry, who lost his confidence and later his starting job. Speculation was rampant by Thanksgiving that Thomas’ job was in jeopardy, and it only heated up after the Knicks’ nationally televised 104-59 loss at Boston on Nov. 29.
The Thomas era in New York was unquestionably a debacle. The team struggled on the court and had problems off. If a team is successful, the later will often be ignored or brushed aside. Not so with the underperforming Knicks, the NY area media helped magnify the disarray going on with the team. I grew up in New York and the Knicks were the basketball team I followed. The teams were led by Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Dave DeBusschere. After they were gone, there was Toby Knight who my father once coached in a youth basketaball league on Long Island. There’s nothing about today’s Knicks to help me regain the interest I once had in basketball. Here in South Florida we have more than our share of dysfunctional sports franchises.
Knowing how much Cal and Stanford like each other, this news can only be seen as a sign of the apocalypse.
BERKELEY, Calif. - California has turned to its biggest rival to find its new basketball coach, hiring former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery on Friday to replace the fired Ben Braun. Montgomery was to be officially introduced at a news conference on campus Saturday, the school said.
Montgomery, who spent 18 years with the Cardinal, has been out of coaching since August 2006 when he was let go after two seasons in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors. He has announced college games and been an assistant athletic director at Stanford while still collecting money from the final two years of his contract with Golden State.
Braun was fired last week after 12 seasons as coach when the Bears missed the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five years. Montgomery made the tournament his final 10 years at Stanford, winning at least one game each time.
Whether Montgomery could continue that streak at Cal would depend heavily on the decision leading scorer and rebounder Ryan Anderson makes about the NBA draft. Anderson said Thursday he would test the waters by declaring, but would not sign with an agent to leave the option open of returning to school for his junior year.
I never thought it was fair to judge a college coach till he is able to bring in his own recruits.
Montgomery was successful at Stanford, including a final four appearance 10 years ago. Because of that and his over 500 career lifetime wins, I see Montgomery having a reasonable chance at doing well at Cal. I just wonder what diehard Bear fans think about having a former Stanford Cardinal in their midst. Guess it won’t matter if Cal basketball gets invited to the NCAA tournament consistently under Montgomery.
Once his playing career is over. From the Orlando Sentinel-
BOSTON - Center Shaquille O’Neal was traded from the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns last month, but the Orlando Magic — the team with whom he started his high-profile career — never seem far from his thoughts.
Wednesday was no exception.
O’Neal, who was in Boston preparing to play the Celtics Wednesday night, said after a morning practice that he hopes to take over management of the Orlando Magic when he retires as a player following the 2009-10 season.
He also expects to bring Grant Hill — former Magic player and current teammate with the Suns — along to help him.
“Grant will be the team president — he’s a bright guy — and I’ll be the general manager,” O’Neal said. “I’m serious. They need me down there with the new arena coming. Grant and I are coming to do the job.”
O’Neal has talked a few times over the years of returning to Orlando to play — although he said now he will finish his career in Phoenix — and also of returning eventually to become the Orange County Sheriff.
I seem to recall Magic Johnson once saying he wanted to be a US senator. As my life says, it is nice to dream.
The Heat season is dismal, the injured guard might as well take a breather.
Wade is scheduled to undergo a follow-up procedure on his surgically repaired left knee and will miss the rest of the season.
Wade will have a shock stimulation treatment later this week with a specialized machine referred to as an OssaTron, coach Pat Riley said after Monday morning’s shootaround at AmericanAirlines Arena. Heat team physician Harlan Selesnick will oversee the procedure, which is designed to increase blood flow in the knee and limit tendinitis.
After the procedure, Wade must refrain from weight-bearing exercises for 30 days. But Riley said Wade would be allowed to swim, ride a stationary bike and do other conditioning activities.
Wade’s status for the stretch run of the season had been in question since he quietly complained of significant soreness in the knee two weeks ago.
The only questions remaining for the Heat this season- How many games will they win for the year?(I’m betting 17 or under) and will they get the #1 pick in the next NBA draft?
Do you need me to tell you the result?
MIAMI - The Miami Heat had half a team, and even less of a chance against the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Jackson scored 22 points, Al Harrington added 17, Baron Davis had 15 points and 10 assists and the Warriors eased past the severely shorthanded Heat 134-99 on Friday night, handing Miami its biggest loss of a dismal season.
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Miami only had seven available players and was without Dwyane Wade, sidelined by left knee soreness. The Heat played the final 4 1/2 minutes with one available substitute, after Udonis Haslem tweaked a gimpy ankle and retreated to the locker room.
Chris Quinn and Marcus Banks each scored 20 points for the Heat (11-48), who lost for the 30th time in their last 33 games and will take the NBA’s worst record into a doubleheader of sorts at Atlanta on Saturday.
Monta Ellis scored 16 points and Mickael Pietrus finished with 15 for Golden State (38-23), which eclipsed the 100-point mark for the 25th straight game and has won five of its last six. The Warriors also scored more points than anyone managed against Miami all season, topping Chicago’s 126 on Jan. 16.
Shawn Marion had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Haslem finished with 17 points for Miami.
“Knowing they only had seven players, we just wanted to push the tempo,” Davis said.
The Warriors did that with ease.
Jackson made three 3-pointers in a span of 2:09 late in the opening quarter, setting the tone for Golden State’s night. He and Harrington each connected on four 3-pointers in the first half alone, and the Warriors steadily built what was a 63-51 lead at intermission.
If there was any doubt, the Warriors erased it in the third quarter.
Golden State outscored Miami 37-22 in that period, stretching the lead to 100-73 entering the final 12 minutes, during which the Warriors essentially stayed on cruise control. Ellis had 14 points in the third, when the Warriors shot 73 percent (16-22) from the floor.
Wade could only watch helplessly from Miami’s bench.
Since Wade arrived, the Heat are 33-41 without him, 1-9 this season, but he was hardly the only absence of note for Miami in this one.
NBA rules mandate that a team have eight players in uniform for a game, and the Heat met that requirement; Wade and Earl Barron (sore right knee) were the eighth and ninth men in uniform, although neither played. The rest of the 15-man roster was unavailable because of an array of roster moves, suspensions and injuries.
“Taking all volunteers tonight,” Heat coach Pat Riley said.
Including for the head coaching position. It was recently announced that Riley would miss a few upcoming games in order to scout for the next NBA draft. I predict Riley won’t be back as Heat coach in 08-09.
How will the pathetic Heat manage to lose next? Stay tuned.
Only the Heat’s second win in over two months.
MIAMI - The sound you heard Tuesday night was not the scant crowd at AmericanAirlines Arena offering its approval of the Heat’s 107-86 victory over the Kings.
Instead, it was the pop of the champagne in Philadelphia, where the 1972-73 76ers were assured of another year of their place in history.
As bad as it has gotten this season, the Heat won’t be the worst team in NBA history.
Instead, broadcaster and former 76ers guard Fred Carter can retain his claim as “the best player on the worst team ever.”
With Philadelphia’s 9-73 infamy of 35 years ago out of the way, the Heat next can concentrate of shedding a different layer of shame, the franchise’s worst finish of 15-67 during its inaugural 1988-89 season.
Call it a gut feeling, but I think Miami will win more than 15 games. Not by much though.
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