March 2003 Basketball Wiretap

Arenas' interest

Jun 30, 2003 1:10 PM

Arenas' interest in the Nuggets grew when Denver drafted Anthony last week, according to Arenas' agent, Dan Fegan.

Golden State, the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah and possibly Miami could be Arenas suitors, too. But drafting Anthony last week could aid Denver's potential pursuit of possibly the NBA's best young point guard.

Denver Post

Tags: Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, NBA

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Kohl takes Bucks off market

Jun 30, 2003 9:30 AM

In a stunning turnaround, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said Sunday that he had decided against selling the Milwaukee Bucks to Michael Jordan and would "continue to own them, improve them and commit them to remaining in Wisconsin."

Kohl's abrupt announcement came after weeks of intense local and national speculation that the retired basketball superstar had reached a tentative agreement to buy the team or was about to do so. The announcement would have to be considered a huge disappointment for Jordan.

Kohl's announcement capped an afternoon in which the Bucks released general manager Ernie Grunfeld from the last year of his contract, allowing Grunfeld to pursue what is expected to be a similar position with the Washington Wizards. That move immediately raised questions about the future of the basketball operations of the franchise.

Assistant general manager Larry Harris, the son of former Bucks coach Del Harris, was named acting general manager.

Jordan ended his playing career this season with the Wizards, then was fired by owner Abe Pollin as Jordan was poised to take over that team's basketball operations. Jordan had high hopes of becoming an owner in the National Basketball Association.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tags: Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards, NBA, NBA Expansion

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Clock ticking for Mailman

Jun 30, 2003 9:26 AM

July, not January, arrives when the clock strikes midnight in New York tonight, so there's no Times Square countdown to mark the occasion. But Karl Malone plans to celebrate just the same.

"I'll probably lower my guard and have me a big ol' stogie," Malone said in a KSL-TV interview last week. "We'll see what happens at 12:01."

What will probably happen at that hour -- actually, 10:01 p.m. MDT tonight, since the NBA runs on Eastern time -- is the phone will ring in an office in Southern California. Perhaps more than once.

And on the other end of at least one of those calls to Dwight Manley, Malone's agent, will be Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's vice president of basketball operations.

"Absolutely. We're going to make contact just as soon as we're allowed to," O'Connor said. "Actually, I'll probably find out if Dwight wants to talk that late or wait until [Tuesday] morning, but we'll do whatever we have to [do] to make it clear that we want to get together just as soon as possible."

The witching-hour contact is entirely symbolic, since no NBA free agent can actually sign a contract until July 16. But considering what the Jazz are asking of the franchise's greatest scorer -- to take a huge pay cut and give up his championship ambitions in order to retire as a Jazzman -- symbols could be important.

Salt Lake Tribune

Tags: Utah Jazz, NBA

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Lakers Face a Decision on Horry

Jun 30, 2003 9:23 AM

Robert Horry's Laker career could end tonight, after 6 1/2 seasons, three championships and a handful of memorable jump shots that earned him a reputation as a big-game player.

The Lakers are not expected to exercise a $5.3-million option on Horry's contract for next season. Unless General Manager Mitch Kupchak is able to reach a sign-and-trade deal with another team by midnight ? and those efforts for the last six weeks have proved fruitless ? Horry probably will become a free agent on Tuesday.

He then would be free to negotiate with all teams, including the Lakers, who probably would offer a contract at something closer to $1.4 million, the veteran's minimum. Horry, who will be 33 in August, previously had expressed an interest in finishing his career closer to his home in Houston, if he were not asked back to Los Angeles.

He averaged 6.5 points last season, then 5.6 points in the postseason, when he missed 36 of 38 three-point attempts. One, at the end of Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals in San Antonio, would have given the Lakers the win and a three-games-to-two advantage in that series.

Los Angeles Times

Tags: Los Angeles Lakers, NBA

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Gentry to join Hornets today

Jun 30, 2003 9:21 AM

Alvin Gentry will join the Hornets' coaching staff today, becoming the fourth and final assistant under head coach Tim Floyd.

Gentry will be introduced at a 10 a.m. press conference at the Alario Center, sources said.

Gentry, 48, has been an NBA head coach for parts or all of seven seasons, compiling an overall record of 177-226 with the Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Clippers. His most recent stint was with the Clippers and ended March 3, when he was fired as the Clippers struggled to a 19-39 record amid expectations that the young, talented team might challenge for a playoff berth in the Western Conference.

Gentry's first head coaching job was with the Heat, when he replaced Kevin Loughery during the 1994-95 season and posted a 15-21 record. Next was a three-year stretch with the Pistons; he replaced Doug Collins and led Detroit to a 16-21 record in 1997-98, went to the playoffs after a 29-21 record in the lockout-shortened season of 1998-99 and was fired after 58 games and a 28-30 record the next season.

The Clippers selected him as head coach before the 2000-01 season and won 31 and 39 games before floundering this past season. Gentry was replaced by Dennis Johnson.

New Orleans Times-Picayune

Tags: Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, NBA

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Chaney Expects Summer of Trading for Knicks

Jun 30, 2003 9:19 AM

If the goal was to return to the NBA playoffs, the Knicks were doomed from the start last season. Latrell Sprewell showed up for training camp with a fractured shooting hand that would cost him eight games and Antonio McDyess suffered a fractured left kneecap that cost him the entire season.

Even though the Knicks improved by seven wins to 37-45, there's little point in simply bringing back the same lineup and hoping for a healthy McDyess. Everyone in the organization knows the Knicks have to take dramatic steps to get better, and coach Don Chaney isn't pulling any punches when he says changes are in the works this summer. After drafting three players last week, the Knicks expect to be very active during the free-agent negotiating period, which opens tomorrow and often acts as a catalyst for trades.

"I think we have to do more," Chaney said. "I think you have to take everything in stages. Right now, we have to work out the European guys and find out if they will be available. If we can get that done, we can go from there to trades and the free-agency market."

First-round power forward Mike Sweetney definitely will be on the roster this season, but the contractual status of second-round big men Maciej Lampe and Slavko Vranes with their European teams is uncertain. General manager Scott Layden expects to talk to Real Madrid today about Lampe's buyout clause, and he's trying to arrange for both to play with the Knicks' rookie league team starting July 14 in Boston.

Regardless of whether there is a need to clear roster space for Lampe or Vranes, the Knicks are expected to be in the market for a free-agent center. They also are bound to consider point guards, as they can buy out Charlie Ward's contract for $2 million.

Newsday

Tags: New York Knicks, NBA

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Expect Sonics to sit on bench when free agents start signing

Jun 30, 2003 9:18 AM

The owner wanted to rave about his wonderful afternoon and the rookies he drafted to support his star players.

So Sonics guard Ray Allen listened patiently as Howard Schultz wailed into a cellphone, imagining a team in which Kansas senior forward Nick Collison collects a rebound to ignite a fast break led by Oregon junior guard Luke Ridnour.

"This guy will find you, Rashard (Lewis) and Brent (Barry) and get you the ball," Schultz said. "He's a lot like Steve Nash. ... We're going to be running next year."

After the platitudes, Allen reminded his boss: "Don't forget about Kevin Ollie."

Schultz replied: "What we did in the draft has nothing to do with his situation."

Allen then interjected that the two "situations" are intertwined.

"If we get KO back, Kevin could help a young player like Luke Ridnour," Allen said. "What he does has always been taken for granted. He's been overlooked his whole life by people looking for something better.

Seattle Times

Tags: Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA

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Open tryouts

Jun 30, 2003 9:16 AM

When Ganon Baker received the good news, he planted a bearhug on Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik.

"He said, 'Take it easy,' " Baker said. "He was afraid I was going to knock him down."

Baker, 30, who played at Duquesne and North Carolina-Wilmington, had a right to be happy. The point guard was one of four hopefuls who survived the Nuggets' open tryout camp Saturday to earn an invitation to their summer camp July 7-12.

More than 200 prospects braved 90-degree heat in the parking lot of the Pepsi Center. Also making it were former Denver East High School and University of Colorado-

Colorado Springs center Kevin Fletcher, 23, former Winthrop point guard Pierre Wooten, 22, and former Eastern Illinois point guard Raymond Taylor, 22.

Rocky Mountain News

Tags: Denver Nuggets, NBA

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The Nuggets, a bankroll ... and two guards

Jun 30, 2003 9:14 AM

It could be Miller time in Coors country.

With Gilbert Arenas' salary demands possibly being too high, Andre Miller of the Los Angeles Clippers has emerged as a more viable point guard option for the Denver Nuggets entering the free-agent signing period.

"It's definitely a consideration," Miller said Sunday from his Sacramento, Calif., home about signing this summer with the Nuggets.

Throughout the season, Arenas, named the NBA's Most Improved Player for Golden State, was thought to be at the top of Denver's list. But Miller might prove to be a better bargain.

Dan Fegan, Arenas' agent, is likely to push for a contract with a first- year salary of about $9 million when teams begin negotiating Tuesday with free agents. Teams can't sign players until July 16.

Fegan's thinking apparently is that Arenas, a restricted free agent who can't sign with Golden State for more than the midlevel exception of $4.6 million because of the team's salary-cap situation, could return for one season at that amount. He then could sign a seven-year maximum deal with the Warriors, which would start at about $10 million.

If that were to occur, Arenas would make more in the long run with the Warriors than if he signed with the Nuggets for a first-year salary of $7 million, about all Denver might want to pay.

Rocky Mountain News

Tags: Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, NBA

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Camby wants to finish his career in Denver

Jun 30, 2003 9:09 AM

Nuggets center Marcus Camby has two years left on his contract, but his agent Rick Kaplan said his client would like to stay in Denver longer.

"This is where he wants to play the rest of his career," Kaplan said.

"It has great direction. He's planting roots there. He wants to stay there." ... Kaplan said Camby plans to start a program to award college scholarships in Denver.

Denver Post

Tags: Denver Nuggets, NBA

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Marcus could be a keeper

Denver Post

Grunfeld's out, Harris in as GM

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Show me the money

Indianapolis Star

Bring back Pippen, Grant

Chicago Tribune

Pippen an intriguing possibility

Chicago Sun-Times

Milwaukee Releases Grunfeld

Washington Post

NBA to sizzle with free agency

Standard Examiner

Miller, Malone refuse to move

Deseret Morning News

Sixers make qualifying offer to target Thomas

Philadelphia Daily News

Knicks talk Walker

New York Daily News

Knicks will be busy

New York Post

Zo should go, but not for dough

South Florida Sun-Sentinel columnist Ethan J. Skolnick

It turns out, Lampe could be unplugged

Miami Herald

Joe Smith trade signals a new era for Wolves

Dan Barreiro of the Star Tribune

MJ denied; Kohl keeps Bucks

ESPN

All eyes are on Snoop's hoops

Long Beach Press-Telegram

Mo has no one to blame but himself

Birmingham News

It's time for summer blockbusters

Sacramento Bee

Jazz will get improvisational

Boston Globe

KU's Best: Antoine Carr (6)

Wichita Eagle