Guess what, sometimes something good happens to you and you want to celebrate with a family dinner at Olive Garden.
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The Knicks are a fun team to watch. And while I don't really think the Knicks will do much damage in the playoffs if they don't get another superstar in there, they've been bad for so long, I think most people are just happy to see a hardworking team there.
Okay. Also, did Amare get this many blocks on the Suns? His defense is still ass, but I guess that's something.
Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins has banned gambling on team flights following a fight between two teammates over a debt from a card game.The ban, which takes effect immediately, follows a confrontation between guards O.J. Mayo and Tony Allen during a team flight on Monday.The team's first gambling-free excursion will begin on Friday, when the Grizzlies fly to Oklahoma City on a three-game road trip after hosting the Jazz in Memphis.Last season, several NBA teams banned gambling on flights after a disagreement over a card game debt between then-Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton led to an incident in which both men brandished guns in the team's locker room.Yahoo! Sports first reported that according to unidentified sources, Mayo owed Allen money following the game on Monday and became increasingly angry toward Allen when asked to settle the debt. Several players eventually had to separate the teammates.Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace acknowledged the altercation in an e-mailed statement but provided no details about what caused the skirmish. He said: "The club considers the matter closed and will not comment further."Allen had 19 points in the Grizzlies' 110-105 victory over Oklahoma City on Tuesday night. Mayo missed Tuesday's game with bronchitis.
Legal filings show frustration of Clipper GMsJanuary, 6, 2011By J.A. AdandeThere’s only one consistent theme that emerges from the latest filings obtained by ESPN.com in Elgin Baylor’s wrongful termination lawsuit against the Clippers: getting owner Donald Sterling to spend money on players is a daunting prospect. Declarations from Baylor, the Clippers’ former general manager, and Mike Dunleavy, the coach who took over Baylor’s general manager duties before Dunleavy lost both jobs, were included in Baylor’s response to the Clippers’ motions for summary judgment. The Clippers' legal action, filed in November, had essentially asked the court to dismiss Baylor’s suit in which he claims he was fired on the basis of age and race. Clipper legal counsel Robert Platt stated through the team that he would withhold comment until reviewing the documents himself. Dunleavy said that Sterling "always told me to give him a great player and he’d pay for him, but there were several players I wanted to sign and we didn’t because Sterling refused to spend the money. The Clippers' biggest concern was making a profit." Baylor took it a step further, adding a racial component. "Because of the Clippers unwillingness to fairly compensate African-American players we lost a lot of good talent, including Danny Manning, Charles Smith, Michael Cage, Ron Harper, Dominique Wilkins, [Corey] Maggette and others," Baylor said. Baylor, who describes himself as "an African-American male over the age of 40" in the declaration (the NBA Register lists his date of birth as Sept. 16, 1934), said that Sterling and Clippers president Andy Roeser made references to his age for the last 10 years of his employment and questioned his ability to still do his job. Dunleavy referenced similar comments about Baylor’s age from the Clippers’ upper management, but Dunleavy stated, "The entire time that I worked for the Clippers, I never saw any change in Elgin’s ability to perform his duties, or that his age had any adverse impact on the performance of his duties and responsibilities as general manager." Dunleavy said that during a team trip to Russia in 2006, Clippers officials were dining at a restaurant called Rasputin when Platt, the Clippers' attorney, told him that the Clippers thought Baylor was too old and they were going to fire him. While the Clippers told Dunleavy that Baylor only wanted to work for two more years, Dunleavy said he never heard that from Baylor, and Baylor said in his statement that he never told anyone that he wanted to retire. Meanwhile, Dunleavy participated in the diminishing of Baylor’s power, as Dunleavy took over trade talks and draft selections, while Roeser negotiated contracts. Baylor said it reached the point that he learned of team transactions through media reports. Dunleavy said he wanted to make Baylor aware of his increased role, but he never did so directly. Dunleavy said he tried to bring it up in a meeting with Sterling, Roeser and Baylor, but was cut off by Sterling. Dunleavy said that "I always tried to keep Elgin in the loop and let him know what I was doing", but Baylor said he was caught off guard when Neil Olshey (whom Baylor described as "a protégé of Mike Dunleavy") was named the new director of player personnel instead of Baylor’s choice, Gary Sachs. "There were other instances where Dunleavy negotiated deals that I learned about through the media," Baylor said. Olshey took over the general manager job from Dunleavy last season, after Dunleavy had already been relieved of his coaching duties. Baylor, who worked for the Clippers as an executive from 1986 to 2008, said he received only one raise in his final 16 years. He was most upset that after the team reached the second round of the playoffs in 2006 he did not receive a pay raise, while Dunleavy received a contract extension and Roeser was promoted. Then there was this non-sequitur paragraph: "While ignoring my suggestions and isolating me from decisions customarily reserved for general managers, the Clippers attempted to place the blame for the team’s failures on me," Baylor said in the declaration. "During this same period, players Sam Cassell, Elton Brand and Corey Maggette complained to me that DONALD STERLING would bring women into the locker room after games, while the players were showering, and make comments such as, 'Look at those beautiful black bodies.' I brought this to Sterling’s attention, but he continued to bring women into the locker room."
Sources: Nets, Nuggets 'further along'By Chris Broussard and Marc SteinThe New Jersey Nets' attempts to acquire Denver's Carmelo Anthony are "further along" than any trade scenario that has been discussed since their near-acquisition of Anthony in late September, according to sources close to the negotiations.A three-team deal involving the Detroit Pistons that would include at least 15 players -- with Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups winding up in New Jersey with Anthony -- could be completed as soon as this week, sources said.The primary elements of the scenario currently on the table, sources said, call for New Jersey to acquire Anthony, Billups and Hamilton; Denver to land Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, Anthony Morrow and at least two first-round picks; and Detroit to acquire Troy Murphy and Johan Petro.Other players with smaller contracts would have to be included to make the salary-cap math work.One key to the advancing nature of negotiations, sources said, is the Nets' and Nuggets' willingness to complete a trade without asking Detroit to surrender a first-round pick.When the talks involving Detroit as a potential third-team facilitator were first reported Friday night by the Bergen Record of New Jersey, sources told ESPN.com that the Pistons were balking largely because they were being asked to surrender a first-rounder.Yet sources said one of the remaining potential snags is New Jersey's insistence that the Pistons absorb the contract of Petro.The Pistons do not want to take back Petro, even though shedding Hamilton's contract in exchange for Murphy and the Nets' center would represent an overall savings of roughly $17 million.Sources say Detroit's stance on Petro has prompted New Jersey to begin looking for a fourth team that might be willing to take on the 24-year-old big man.The Nets turned to Detroit to help seal their months-long pursuit of Anthony after attempts to rope in Cleveland, Minnesota and Portland as a third-team facilitator failed to progress.Any trade for Anthony, however, still hinges on the All-Star forward's willingness to sign a three-year, $65 million extension with the Nets as part of the transaction in what is known as an extend-and-trade. The Boston Celtics got the same extend-and-trade commitment from Kevin Garnett when they acquired him from Minnesota in July 2007.The Nets have made it clear that they will not agree to an Anthony deal without getting his signature on an extension a la Garnett. ESPN.com reported last month that the Nets plan to request permission -- and have already been told they will receive it -- to meet with Anthony face-to-face if a trade agreement is eventually struck with Denver. That would allow owner Mikhail Prokhorov and part-owner Jay-Z to lead a Nets contingent that would try to lobby the Brooklyn-born Anthony directly on the team's future, with the Nets planning to move to Brooklyn in time for the 2012-13 season.The Nets long ago committed to send prized rookie Favors, former All-Star Harris and at least two first-round picks to the Nuggets in exchange for Anthony.But New Jersey has been attempting to find a third team to help facilitate the blockbuster deal for Anthony that they've been chasing since the September collapse of a four-team swap involving Charlotte and Utah.One source close to the situation insisted Sunday that the Nets -- optimistic as this sounds -- believe a face-to-face meeting with Prokhorov won't even be necessary to get Anthony's signoff if New Jersey can indeed acquire Billups and Hamilton. It was not immediately clear, though, how Denver native Billups' reported desire to seek a buyout if he's traded by his hometown team to the Nets would affect Anthony's stance.What did seem clear Sunday is that the talks have taken on their most serious tone since the negotiations in February that would have landed Harris in Charlotte and Jazz veteran Andrei Kirilenko in Denver.The New York Knicks remain Anthony's strongly preferred destination, sources say, but Denver has shown little interest in the Knicks' assets (such as Wilson Chandler, Landry Fields and Danilo Gallinari) and have been negotiating almost exclusively with the Nets for weeks.With Favors and a cache of first-round picks it can move, New Jersey has a far more attractive war chest of trade assets. It likewise appears the Nets will not abandon their pursuit of Anthony until they're told directly by the All-Star forward that he would not sign an extension with them, which is the message some sources close to the process still believe New Jersey will get, as reported in December by ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan.Nets officials, though, have remained quietly confident for months that Anthony, born in Brooklyn, ultimately would agree to the extension -- no matter how much he'd prefer to play in New York -- to ensure that he locks in his contract before labor negotiations this summer that are expected to establish a much more restrictive financial landscape in the league.One source close to the talks said Sunday afternoon that the deal could be clinched if the Nets can find a fourth team willing to absorb Petro's salary. Detroit has been restricted in its attempts to make roster moves in recent months because of the team's pending sale, but sources told ESPN.com on Friday that the Pistons would be very interested if a trade scenario developed where they only had to surrender Hamilton and take back Murphy.The Nets and Nuggets, meanwhile, have not stopped looking for other teams beyond Detroit that would be interested in joining the trade, since Denver does not have a strong need for Harris with young guard Ty Lawson on the roster. New Jersey and Denver have likewise continued to discuss trade possibilities with the Nuggets that don't involve any other teams.
Don't worry, Beezy. Melo is just a 2nd tier superstar who won't lead any mid-level team to a championship. Personally, I don't get the hoopla over where he's going since it's almost a given that he's not going to a top 8 contender.
That's sick. His knee was at the face level of the Knick who's several inches taller.
LeBron is an ass but I like him now more than I did a few years ago. The Gilbert blowup was more pathetic than The Decision imo. They'll be in the dumpster for years
Quote from: Phoenix Dark on January 12, 2011, 12:41:10 PMLeBron is an ass but I like him now more than I did a few years ago. The Gilbert blowup was more pathetic than The Decision imo. They'll be in the dumpster for yearsThat's cuz most of the "class acts" in sports are just phonies who keep quiet so that people don't find out their true characters. It's still hilarious how Americans are still constantly shocked when they discovered those formerly classy athletes are pervs or cheaters. The media is just pissed at Lebron for not following along and spouting all the cliches that they love to hear.
Details of Allen vs. Mayo fight emergeJAN 13By Chris BroussardSources have brought me up to speed on the details of Allen/Mayo I, and judging by the fruit of this fight -- a black eye for O.J. Mayo and a fine for Tony Allen -- there will not be a rematch. I'm told the two Memphis Grizzlies players, who are actually friends, scuffled over a debt of $7,500 that Mayo owed to Allen after losing in the card game Bourre. Allen, regarded as one of the toughest guys in the league, tried to avoid a confrontation, but Mayo trash-talked Allen for roughly 15 minutes, criticizing his game, bragging about how he was a better basketball player than Allen, about how he was a lottery pick. Allen was especially bothered by Mayo's chatter because they have a friendly relationship. Zach Randolph tried to play peacemaker, telling Mayo to stop ribbing Allen, but to no avail. Finally, Allen had enough and struck Mayo in the face. He then landed a succession of blows to Mayo's eye, mouth, shoulder and the side of his head. Mayo was able to get off a swing, but Allen ducked to avoid it and then clocked Mayo once more for good measure. As Apollo Creed said to the young upstart Rocky Balboa, "Ain't gonna' be no rematch.''
Blake is a beast. Lakers were focused on stopping him and they did in the first half but those young legs eventually were just too much for the Lakers' frontline. Gasol looked so small guarding Blake even though he's a couple of inches taller.
