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He once held the NBA record for consecutive games played. RIP.
Randy Smith, a blindingly fast All-Star with the Buffalo Braves in the 1970s who once held the NBA record for consecutive games, died while working out on a treadmill. He was 60.
He had a massive heart attack Thursday while exercising at the Connecticut casino where he worked, son-in-law Lekan Bashua told The Associated Press on Friday.
Smith was pronounced dead at William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich. The Mohegan Sun Casino declined to comment on circumstances surrounding the death, citing medical confidentiality laws.
Jack Ramsay, Smith’s coach in Buffalo, called the 6-foot-3 guard the best athlete he ever coached.
“He had stamina, great speed and developed into a very good player,” Ramsay said Friday from the NBA Finals in Los Angeles. “And was so fun to be around. There was not a bad day in Randy’s life.”
Smith was drafted by the Braves in the seventh round in 1971 and averaged more than 13 points in his rookie season. He went on to play 13 years in the NBA and appeared in 906 consecutive games from 1972-83. His mark was broken by A.C. Green in 1997.
“He played hurt, gave it 100 percent and took pride in that,” said Durie Burns, a college teammate of Smith’s at Buffalo State.
Smith was a good shooter and great jumper who wowed fans with reverse dunks. He was one of the most popular players in Braves history, and in teaming with scoring champion Bob McAdoo he helped make the Braves under Ramsay one of the league’s exciting clubs.
“We could run,” Ramsay said, “and nobody could keep up with Randy’s sheer speed.”
Smith spent seven seasons with the Braves before the franchise moved to San Diego. He also played for Cleveland, New York and Atlanta and retired in 1983.
“I always felt Randy was the heart of the team,” Buffalo businessman and former Braves owner Paul Snyder said. “He was always happy. And he always had a positive outlook on life. His teammates loved him.”
At the 1978 All-Star Game, Smith — playing alongside the likes of Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Dave
He averaged 16.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists for his career. In one stretch, he averaged more than 20 points for four straight seasons. He finished with 16,262 points.
Lakers assistant coach Jim Cleamons played against Smith and remembered just how versatile a player he was.
“I can see Randy now running down the floor with that big Afro and going in for a dunk or pulling up and knocking down a jumper,” Cleamons said. “He had hops I wish I could have had.”
Snyder said Smith made an immediate impression as a rookie during the Braves’ summer practices.
“Jack Ramsay turned and said, ‘That kid is going to start with our team this year,’ ” Snyder said. “He just had so much talent. And he was so fast that Jack felt he really couldn’t fail. And he didn’t.”
Smith usually guarded the opposing team’s top player.
“Randy may have been the fastest player in the entire NBA at his peak and he was one of the really great guards,” Snyder said. “We always had him play head to head with Walt Frazier and, in my judgment, Randy outplayed him almost every game. He could hold his own with anybody.”
Smith is still remembered in Buffalo, where an inner-city youth basketball program is named after him. He also excelled at soccer and track at Buffalo State and was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
After his retirement, Smith worked as a host and greeter for the Mohegan Sun Casino.
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My father, who coached future NBA player Toby Knight as a youth, used to say about basketball- “If you don’t watch the game till the last five minutes, you aren’t missing anything. Even then you may not miss anything worth watching.” That statement would apply well to the NBA series that finished today.
The final blowout went to Atlanta, so it’s the Hawks who’ll get a shot at LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Joe Johnson scored 27 points to make up for a mostly disappointing series and the Hawks won the first Game 7 ever played in Atlanta, beating Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat 91-78 Sunday to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time in a decade.
A series totally devoid of drama ended in appropriate fashion. After a back-and-forth first quarter that ended with Atlanta ahead 20-18, the Hawks pulled out to a 49-36 lead by halftime.
They might as well have started the celebration right then. There were only 15 lead changes in seven games — not one of them after the opening period. Every game was decided by at least 10 points, and this one wasn’t nearly as close as the final margin.
Atlanta gets to face Cleveland and Lebron James next. I predict a Cavalier sweep.
As for the Heat, they need to build a team that doesn’t entirely on the temperamental and injury prone Dwyane Wade.
Another one bites the dust.
Two days after a heavy home loss to the New York Knicks, Reggie Theus was fired Monday as coach of the Sacramento Kings.
Assistant coach Kenny Natt has been elevated to interim coach. Natt is Sacramento’s fourth coach in less than three years, following Theus, Eric Musselman and Rick Adelman, who left the club after the 2005-06 season.
Theus is the sixth NBA coach to be fired before Christmas this season, joining Philadelphia’s Maurice Cheeks, Minnesota’s Randy Wittman, Toronto’s Sam Mitchell, Washington’s Eddie Jordan and Oklahoma City’s P.J. Carlesimo. The previous NBA record for pre-Christmas firings was three.
Theus, who coached at New Mexico State before coming to Sacramento, has a three year deal. How nice must it be to get paid for nothing for a year and a half when sports franchises fire coaches with time remaining on the contract
All sarcasm aside, Sacramento was 6-18 this year. The Kings ownership does have more than enough justification for the firing on that basis alone.
Another NBA case of blame the coach.
The slumping Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday became the fifth NBA team to make a coaching change before Christmas this season, deciding they had to fire Maurice Cheeks despite extending his contract twice in the past year.
As reported by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, citing sources close to the situation, Cheeks was informed of his dismissal Saturday morning after the Sixers suffered their eighth loss in 10 games Friday night at Cleveland and dropped to 9-14.
The move was officially announced by the Sixers later Saturday. Assistant general manager Tony DiLeo will replace Cheeks on an interim basis. Philadelphia defeated the Washington Wizards behind Elton Brand’s season-high 27 points on Saturday night in DiLeo’s first game.
Philadelphia who isn’t a very good shooting team, has to contend on a regular basis with teams like Boston and Cleveland who are tearing up the league at present. When someone is 22-2, that makes it difficult for other teams to play .500 ball.
The firing of Cheeks is dumb in light of this.
NBA coaching sources told ESPN.com the Sixers were determined to give Cheeks every chance to halt Philadelphia’s slide after picking up his option for this season in February, extending his contract again in September and spending big money in the offseason to sign Brand away from the Los Angeles Clippers and re-sign Andre Iguodala.
No matter how often I see it done, I remain dumbfounded by pro sports franchises and universities to fire coaches with time remaining on their contracts. You pay for someone not to coach.
In light of the way the NBA recycles coaches, I expect Cheeks to pop up somewhere else in league. After all didn’t half the NBA keep rehiring Kevin Loughery in spite of his mediocre track record.
He will be replaced by former wolves coach, Kevin McHall. From AP-
Randy Wittman was fired as coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, two days after an embarrassing 23-point loss at home to the last-place Los Angeles Clippers. Kevin McHale took over as coach, leaving his job as the club’s vice president of basketball operations.
The young team is 4-15 and has not responded to Wittman’s demands for tough defense and consistent effort. The Timberwolves are in the midst of a five-game losing streak in which the average margin of defeat has been nearly 17 points.
*****
This was the fourth NBA coaching firing this season following P.J. Carlesimo (Oklahoma City), Eddie Jordan (Washington) and Sam Mitchell (Toronto).
Wittman was 38-105 since taking over for Dwane Casey in January 2007. McHale picked Wittman to preside over the team’s rebuilding following the trade of Kevin Garnett, but the second year of the plan has not produced results.
Only 38-105? Why did Minnesota take so long to fire this guy?
First time I ever recall the finale of a sports event having to be re-done since than the famous Pine tar game. From AP-
ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat must replay the final 51.9 seconds of their game last month because the NBA said the official scorer ruled incorrectly that Shaquille O’Neal fouled out. This will be the first time since 1982 the league has sent teams back on the court for a replay.
The Hawks won 117-111 at home in overtime Dec. 19. The NBA said Friday the replay will be held before the teams’ next scheduled game — March 8 in Atlanta. Play will start from the time after O’Neal’s disputed sixth foul.
The Hawks also were fined $50,000, with commissioner David Stern ruling the team was “grossly negligent” in failing to address the mistake.
The protest is the first granted by the NBA since December 1982, when then-NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien upheld a request for a replay by the San Antonio Spurs after their 137-132 double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers the previous month.
The Spurs and Lakers finished the game in April 1983, with San Antonio winning 117-114.
The Hawks were leading 112-111 in overtime when O’Neal was called for a foul. The scoring table personnel, who are provided by the home team, ruled it was the Miami center’s sixth foul, when actually it was only his fifth.
According to the league, the mistake stemmed from a foul with 3:24 remaining in the fourth quarter that was called on Udonis Haslem but was mistakenly credited to O’Neal at the scoring table.
*****
Al Horford hit two free throws after O’Neal’s foul to give the Hawks a 114-111 lead. Anthony Johnson added a running jumper with 14 seconds left to put the game away.
I think the NBA made the right call. O’Neill’s removal from the game certainly could have changed the outcome. Considering how poor the Heat have played this year, I wouldn’t place any bets on their winning the do-over.
Note- I do see where the article says a NBA game in 1982 had to be replayed. Till tonight I hadn’t heard of that happening.
ESPN’s Chad Ford offers the Sports Leader’s take on the impending NBA Draft.
It’s almost draft day, and the picture is getting clearer and fuzzier simultaneously.
We’ve been able to narrow down the list of prospects that each team is considering, but two things stand in the way of getting a complete picture.
One, this is a time when many GMs are notorious for dropping smoke screens. A source in Memphis swears the team is taking Joakim Noah. Another says to bank on the Grizzlies’ taking Mike Conley. Someone is misinformed or bluffing.
Two, there is a flurry of trade conversation, starting with Memphis, Boston, Charlotte and Chicago all talking about trading away their lottery picks. Meanwhile teams such as Golden State, Phoenix and the Lakers are trying hard to move up. Others — like Portland, Indiana and Toronto — are trying to get in or grab another pick.
The talk in Phoenix about trading up in the draft has gotten so hot that the Suns have gotten Noah, Jeff Green and Corey Brewer to agree to a workout on Tuesday. They’ll try to add Brandan Wright as a fourth. That shows you how much players want to play in Phoenix — they’ll drop everything just for the chance. It could be the most competitive workout of the draft.
Their consensus draft board:
1. Portland Trailblazers – Greg Oden – C
2. Portland Trailblazers – Kevin Durant – SF – Texas
3. Atlanta Hawks – Al Horford – PF – Florida
4. Memphis Grizzlies – Mike Conley – PG- Ohio State
5. Boston Celtics – Yi Jianlian – PF – China
6. Milwaukee Bucks – Jeff Green – SF – Georgetown
7. Minnesota Timberwolves – Joakim Noah – PF – Florida
8. Charlotte Bobcats – Corey Brewer – SG – Florida
9. Chicago Bulls (via New York Knicks) – Spencer Hawes – C- Washington
10. Sacramento Kings- Brandan Wright – PF – North Carolina
11. Atlanta Hawks (via Indiana Pacers) – Acie Law – PG – Texas A&M
12. Philadelphia 76ers – Al Thornton – SF – Florida State
13. New Orleans Hornets – Nick Young – SG- USC
14. L.A. Clippers – Julian Wright – SF – Kansas
15. Detroit Pistons (via Orlando Magic) – Rodney Stuckey SG – Eastern Wash.
Click the link for more in-depth analysis and for the second half of the draft.
According to an article in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a former member of the Hawks and Thrashers ownership group could potentially end up owning both franchises himself:
Could Steve Belkin, whose deal to depart the Hawks and Thrashers’ ownership group drew applause from employees last summer, wind up as sole owner of the teams?
Yes, he suggests in a new court motion.
In the latest twist to an ever-deepening legal quagmire, Belkin contends that a recent ruling by a Maryland judge means he should have the right to buy out his partners at cost.
The motion asks the Maryland court to enter a judgment declaring, among other things, that Belkin’s partners “failed and refused” to complete the buyout of his stake under the prescribed timetable, and that Belkin therefore “shall purchase all of the interests” held by his partners “for a price equal to [their] aggregate contributed capital.”
In other words, the argument goes, the other owners would get back the money they have put in — about $31 million to date — and Belkin would get the teams.
Obviously, the other owners will have something to say about this as well. As arrogant (and incompetent) as some of the professionals sports owners can be, there’s a lot to be said for having just one person running the ship.
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