When asked Toronto Raptors guard Danny Green on Saturday said that the 2019 NBA champions likely wouldn't accept an invite to the White House from President Trump. Watch Green give his response below.
Raptors to the White House?
— Yahoo Sports Canada (@YahooCASports) June 22, 2019
"To put it politely, I think it's a hard no." - @DGreen_14 pic.twitter.com/do6vyQa7O7
The Phoenix Suns have agreed to terms with Monty Williams to become the team’s new head coach. An experienced NBA head coach, Williams is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Playoffs and will begin his duties as Suns head coach following the conclusion of the 76ers’ season.
“I am thrilled to welcome Monty Williams to the Suns family as our next head coach,” said Suns General Manager James Jones. “Monty brings a wealth of NBA experience, both as a coach and former player, in addition to being a high-character individual who will infuse basketball wisdom and life lessons into our locker room. Monty is well respected for his coaching pedigree, leadership and commitment to the community, all of which make him the ideal person to lead our team moving forward.”
Williams, 47, spent five seasons as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans from 2010-2015, leading the team to two postseason appearances. In his first season, the Hornets won 46 games and Williams was the Western Conference Coach of the Month for January 2011 as he led New Orleans’ return to the playoffs after missing them the season before his arrival. Following the departure of All-NBA guard Chris Paul prior to the 2011-12 season, Williams oversaw the growth and development of one of the league’s youngest rosters, increasing the team’s win total in three straight seasons culminating in 45 wins in 2014-15 to lead New Orleans back to the playoffs.
In addition to his five seasons as an NBA head coach, Williams has totaled seven seasons as an assistant coach, two seasons in a front office role, one season as a coaching intern and nine seasons as a player, giving him 24 years of NBA experience since first being drafted in 1994. Currently, Williams is completing his first season as an assistant coach with the 76ers, who went 51-31 and are facing the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Williams served as associate head coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015-16, contributing to the Thunder’s trip to the Western Conference Finals, and spent five seasons as an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers from 2005-2010, a stint that included two playoff berths. He got his start in coaching as a coaching intern with the San Antonio Spurs for the 2004-05 season when the team won an NBA Championship. Before returning to the bench this season, Williams spent two seasons in the Spurs’ front office as vice president of basketball operations from 2016-2018.
Williams also served as one of three assistant coaches for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team from 2013-2016. As a member of Mike Krzyzewski’s staff, Williams assisted the USA to a perfect overall record of 26-0, including gold-medal finishes at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain and the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
Recognized as a revered friend and role model to many in the basketball community and beyond, at the 2017 NBA Awards, Williams was the recipient of the inaugural Sager Strong Award, an honor named for iconic Turner Sports sideline reporter Craig Sager presented annually to an individual who has been a trailblazer while exemplifying courage, faith, compassion and grace.
Williams was a nine-year NBA veteran as a player, averaging 6.3 points in 456 career games with New York, San Antonio, Denver, Orlando and Philadelphia. His best season came with the Spurs in 1996-97 when he averaged a career-high 9.0 points plus 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists. The 24th overall pick in the first round of the 1994 NBA Draft by the Knicks, Williams’ NBA career began after he earned honorable mention All-America honors at the University of Notre Dame for his senior season in 1993-94 when he averaged 22.4 points and 8.4 rebounds. Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Williams starred at Potomac High School in Oxon Hill, Maryland before heading to Notre Dame where he earned a degree in the school’s College of Arts and Letters, majoring in communications and theatre.
Today, at a press event presented by Haggar Clothing Company, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 12 honorees in the Class of 2019 to be celebrated September 5-7, 2019 during this year’s Enshrinement festivities in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Class Announcement was made in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the site of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four and televised live on ESPN2.
One of those 12 honorees was New York Liberty star Teresa Weatherspoon
Weatherspoon is a five-time WNBA All-Star (1999-2003) and two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (1997, 1998). Recognized as an iconic player with the New York Liberty, she was the first player to tally 1,000 points and 1,000 assists in the WNBA. Internationally, Weatherspoon is a six-time Italian League All-Star (1989-1994), two-time Russian League champion (1995,1996), and an Olympic gold medalist (1988). A native of Jasper, Texas, Weatherspoon played for Louisiana Tech University (1984-1988) where she was named to the Kodak All-America Team twice (1987, 1988). In 1988, she led her team to an NCAA Championship and was named the recipient of the Wade Trophy. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Sidney Moncrief is one of the most decorated players in Milwaukee Bucks history.
Moncrief can add the most prestigious honor to his accolades after being named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Moncrief is widely seen as one of the best defensive guards in NBA history. He was drafted fifth overall by the Bucks in 1979 after a standout collegiate career at Arkansas. Moncrief spent 10 of his 11 NBA seasons in Milwaukee.
He ranks third on the franchise's all-time list in points (11,594), second in games played (695), first in free throws made (3,505), second in assists (2,689) and third in steals (874).
Moncrief was named the NBA's defensive player of the year in 1983 and '84. He was a five-time all-star (1982-'86) and was on the league's all-defensive team four straight seasons from 1983-'86. Moncrief was honored as first-team all-NBA in 1983.
Jack Sikma, Vlade Divac, Paul Westphal, Bobby Jones, Theresa Weatherspoon, Bill Fitch, Al Attles and Carl Braun were among the other players voted into the hall of fame.
The Philadelphia 76ers hired Elton Brand as general manager on Tuesday, completing a meteoric rise in the franchise's front office, league sources told ESPN.
Brand made a strong impression on ownership and coach Brett Brown in the interview process, beating out several more-experienced candidates inside and outside the Sixers organization, sources said. Ultimately, ownership believed Brand had sold them on vision, preparedness and the ability to grow into the role at a crucial time for the organization.
Brand, 39, had been recently promoted to executive vice president of basketball operations after serving the past year as GM of the Sixers' G League affiliate in Delaware.
After retiring as a player in 2016, he spent two years in the organization before this elevation to oversee the front office.
Among those considered for the vacant GM role were Utah Jazz assistant GM Justin Zanik, Houston Rockets vice president Gersson Rosas and assistant Golden State Warriors GM Larry Harris.
The team also talked to internal candidates, including assistant GM Ned Cohen and senior VP of player personnel Marc Eversley.
Brand replaces Brown, who had been the interim GM since Bryan Colangelo resigned in June after his wife admitted to operating Twitter accounts that criticized team members and propped up her husband.
Basketball Hall of Famer, and Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell was released from the hospital Saturday after an overnight stay for dehydration.
Russell later posted a tweet which included a photo of him holding a glass of water. He indicated that he was OK and ready for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Back home got my water getting ready for the #CelticsVsCavs Go get a win @celtics @celticslife @nbcsports @si @espn @twittersports #CUsRise @thescore @tmzsports @bleacherreport Thank You again to everyone for the well wishes strange to read them when ur still alive! @NBA @msnbc pic.twitter.com/D030VhOWvd
— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) May 19, 2018
Dawn Staley didn't win an NCAA title as a player, although she went with Virginia to the Women's Final Four three times. She has finally won her college championship, as the coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks! She becomes the second black woman to coach a team to a women's championship. Carolyn Peck coached Purdue to a championship in 1999.
For the first time in four years, women’s college basketball has a new top team and it wears garnet and black. The South Carolina women’s basketball team is the new national champion, winning a national title for the first time in program history.
The Gamecocks beat Mississippi State 67-55 in Dallas on Sunday afternoon, completing the run through the postseason all the way to the crown in Dawn Staley’s ninth season.
USC made the whole run without senior center Alaina Coates, who missed the NCAA Tournament with an ankle injury. But what the Gamecocks had was more than enough — and all of it is expected back next season.
Junior forward A’ja Wilson led the Gamecocks with 23 points, while Allisha Gray — the star against Stanford on Friday in the Final Four — again came up huge for South Carolina with 18 points.
Read more: CHAMPS! South Carolina women’s basketball wins first national title
Memphis Grizzlies Forward, Zach Randolph, announced today that he will be making a $20,000 donation to the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association’s Plus-1 Program.
The program is directed by MIFA to pay utilities services for people in need. His donation will cover the payments of more than 100 Memphis households.
Randolph’s contribution will go straight to the MIFA Emergency Services Plus-1 Program to keep utilities connected for over 100 Memphis families.
He will also be visiting 2 families who will benefit from his gift on Monday, Jan. 23 after a brief check presentation at the Memphis MIFA offices.
This will be the seventh year that Randolph has contributed to MIFA and Memphis Light, Gas and Water.
James, who ended 52 years of sports heartache by bringing Cleveland a championship and used his superstar platform to address social causes, was chosen as The Associated Press 2016 Male Athlete of the Year, an award he won previously in 2013.
Results of the vote by 59 editors from AP member newspapers and customers were announced Tuesday.
James collected 24 first-place votes, beating out a pair of Olympic legends: Michael Phelps (16) and Usain Bolt (9), the fastest men in water and on land who are not accustomed to finishing behind anyone.
"I felt fulfilled," James told the Associated Press. "To know the history of our sports here and how heartbreaking at times it was for all those years that our fans had to go through, and the circumstances that we came back from, it was so fulfilling."
New York Knicks star point guard Derrick Rose was cleared on all counts Wednesday in a Los Angeles civil court case involving allegations of sexual assault.
Rose and two friends, Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen, were accused of sexually assaulting a woman -- referred to Jane Doe in court records to protect her identity -- on Aug. 27, 2013 while she was incapacitated.
Doe was seeking more than $21 million in damages ($6 million in compensatory; $15.5 million in punitive), and Rose chose not to settle, electing to go through with a trial that started Oct. 4. The former NBA Rookie of the Year missed several practices and all but one preseason game during the proceedings.
[SOURCE]
No fire burned hotter, no mouth was fouler, no defender was in for a longer night than Kevin Garnett's.
In more than two decades in the NBA, Garnett opened the door for a new wave of young talent to enter the league, was partly responsible for a rewriting of the collective bargaining agreement and nearly singlehandedly redefined what the game's tallest players were allowed to do on the court.
Fittingly, and maybe a little reluctantly, No. 21 is calling it a career after 21 years, leaving a legacy as one of the best defensive players in league history and one of the game's most influential and intense competitors.
Read more: Garnett says 'farewell' to the NBA after 21 seasons
Here is Kevin Durant's statement from The Player's Tribune on his leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder and joining the Golden State Warriors
This has been by far the most challenging few weeks in my professional life. I understood cognitively that I was facing a crossroads in my evolution as a player and as a man, and that it came with exceptionally difficult choices. What I didn’t truly understand, however, was the range of emotions I would feel during this process.
The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player — as that has always steered me in the right direction. But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth. With this in mind, I have decided that I am going to join the Golden State Warriors.
I’m from Washington, D.C. originally, but Oklahoma City truly raised me. It taught me so much about family as well as what it means to be a man. There are no words to express what the organization and the community mean to me, and what they will represent in my life and in my heart forever. The memories and friendships are something that go far beyond the game. Those invaluable relationships are what made this deliberation so challenging.
It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career.
I will miss Oklahoma City, and the role I have had in building this remarkable team. I will forever cherish the relationships within the organization — the friends and teammates that I went to war with on the court for nine years, and all the fans and people of the community. They have always had my back unconditionally, and I cannot be more grateful for what they have meant to my family and to me
New Orleans Pelicans guard Bryce Dejean-Jones has died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
The Pelicans issued a statement Saturday afternoon confirming the news.
"It is with deep sadness that the Pelicans organization acknowledges the sudden passing of Bryce Dejean-Jones," the statement said. "We are devastated at the loss of this young man's life who had such a promising future ahead of him. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bryce's family during this difficult time."
According to a report obtained by the Dallas Morning News, Dallas police officers responded to a call about a shooting at an apartment at about 3:20 a.m. Saturday morning. The resident of the apartment said an individual had kicked open his front door and entered his apartment. The resident, who had been asleep, retrieved a handgun when he heard the individual. After calling out and not receiving an answer, the resident fired his gun at the individual, who left the apartment and collapsed in the breezeway. The individual was transported to the hospital where he died.
Read more: Pelicans guard Bryce Dejean-Jones dies after gunshot wound
I hate Lebron James because he's making it real hard to hate him anymore. He's helping kids go to college in his hometown and speaking out on social issues. And now during halftime of against a game against Boston he took the time to go say hi to a young man that has overcome several surgeries due to suffering from spastic hemiplegia since birth. That young man was named MVP during a special olympics basketball tournament and is a huge basketball fan. Lebron made his day. watch video of that great moment below:
The Texas Southern Tigers had locked up the SWAC Tournament title and are headed to the NCAA Tournament. Although they won the championship game over Southern University 62-58 they were already champions once they made the championship game, since Southern was ineligible for the NCAA's for academic reasons.
Texas Southern was led by Malcolm Riley who scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds. Madarious Gibbs added 12 points.
This makes back to back NCAA tournaments for the Tigers. Congratulations to TSU and good lick in the NCAA Tournament.
Earl Lloyd, the first black player in NBA history, died Thursday. He was 86.
I've sure by now that all basketball fans have seen the season ending injury suffered by Paul George during a scrimmage between squads from the US Team. Until now a serious season ending injury for a player representing their country had been a "what if", now it's a reality. Some owners like Marc Cuban have been vocal in not wanting to have their players play for the national team. Some players opt out for safety reasons or just to rest up after a long season. Other players feel that it's an honor and can't wait to represent their country. My question to you all is should players suit up for their national team and risk injury?
Statement from Chris Paul – NBPA President
“On behalf of the National Basketball Players Association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively. We have asked Mayor Kevin Johnson to expand his responsibilities with the NBPA, to determine our response and our next steps. As players, we owe it to our teams and our fans to keep our focus on our game, the playoffs, and a drive to the Finals.”
During a NBA playoff game against the Golden State Warriors Blake Griffin seemed to accidentally pour water on a visiting Golden State fan while looking at a video replay. When I first saw it I thought it was an innocent mistake. But the more I saw the replay the more I think that Griffin did that sh*t on purpose, LOL. Of course Blake says he didn't do it on purpose. I say what are the odds that he accidentally hits the Golden State Warrior fan sitting up front? Check out the video and let me know what you think. George Cook AAReports.com.
With the NBA playoffs about to start there is a conspiracy theory floating around that the Miami Heat threw games to avoid playing either the Miami Heat or the Brooklyn Nets. Now the same people who believe that probably believe in UFO's, Big Foot, that Tupac is still alive, and that WWE Wrestling is real. (they could be right about that last one)
They claim that since both the Nets and Bulls have winning records against the Heat that Miami is trying to avoid both teams in the second round of the playoffs. Now those people forget that in the playoffs things are different and the games slow down. Sweeping a team in the regular season can mean nothing in the post season. Especially not against a playoff tested team such as the Heat.
There are reasons why the Miami Heat should beat both teams.
Chicago has a great defense (actually the best in the NBA) but at the time of this writing are the worst scoring team in the NBA with a 93.8 average. Yup, that's right both Milwaukee and Philadelphia score more per game than them.
Chicago has no go to player in the clutch for a basket. While D.J. Augustin may be their leading scorer it's a stretch ( a Plastic Man like stretch ) to say that he is anywhere near clutch. Joakim Noah has the heart of a line but he has the offensive game of one too. I don't think the Bulls can score enough points on a consistent basis to beat the Heat.
The Brooklyn Nets no doubt have played very well lately. But they wont beat the Heat either. Does anyone really believe that a team that has had many chances to narrow the gap between themselves and Toronto in head to head matches and has failed to do so is a threat to Miami?
Brooklyn relies on two players who get discounts when they go grocery shopping by showing their AARP cards. Those players would be Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnet. They were great once but can they stay on the floor long enough to make a difference?
Their best player Deron Williams has to be constantly reminded that he is the best player. Jason Kidd has had a great rookie season as a coach but we simply have no idea how he will coach in the playoffs. Will he defer to the veterans even if they are not playing well, which big man loses playing time with the emergence of Jason Plumlee, how short of a leash will he have on Andray (there's no such thing as a bad shot) Blatche?
Because of all those reasons I believe the Heat have nothing to worry about if they face the Bulls or Nets and have not thrown any games to avoid them. What do you think?
George Cook AAReports.com.
