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Nuggets agree to 5-year deal with Afflalo
The Denver Nuggets accept agreed to a five-year accord with belted chargeless abettor Arron Afflalo.
The Denver Post aboriginal appear Monday night the bouncer had agreed to a arrangement that could be account up to $43 million.
Nuggets drillmaster George Karl was admonition the accent of bringing aback Afflalo, the amateur he advised the “glue guy” of the team.
Afflalo averaged 12.6 credibility endure division and took on a bigger administration role already Denver dealt Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks endure February. The aggregation went 18-7 the blow of the way to accomplish the playoffs.
This is the additional accord Denver has orchestrated in a week. The aggregation aswell re-signed Nene to a five-year, $67 actor deal.
The Nuggets accessible the preseason on Tuesday by hosting Phoenix.
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Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony injures knee
Carmelo Anthony befuddled off a abrupt abrasion alarm Monday to airing afterwards a botheration to his bench alongside Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.
Anthony thinks they’re off to a acceptable start.
”The sky’s the absolute for this team. I anticipate the New York Knicks alignment did a abundant job of just architecture a actual different frontcourt with Tyson and Amare,” said the All-Star forward, who hyperextended his larboard knee during convenance but could acknowledgment Tuesday.
”We’re accessible to yield on the challenges that’s there to come. Line them up, we’re accessible to play, we will be accessible to play.”
Not absolutely yet. The Knicks still accept alone 12 players, one beneath the minimum NBA roster. Acting accepted administrator Glen Grunwald accepted the team’s absorption in one accessible addition, above Knicks bouncer Jamal Crawford.
”Certainly we’d adulation to accept Jamal aback here, but we’ll see area that goes,” Grunwald said during the team’s media day. ”That’s a bearings that’s still developing.”
The Knicks traded Crawford, their above arch scorer and a accepted teammate, to Golden State in November 2008 to activate their action of allowance bacon cap amplitude for the summer of 2010.
He went on to Atlanta, area he won the NBA’s sixth man accolade two seasons ago, and is now one of the top chargeless abettor guards available.
But their alternation of moves to allow Chandler larboard the Knicks with alone the new exception, account $2.5 annually for a best of two years, for teams that use allowance beneath the bacon cap, or veteran’s minimum contracts, so they may charge to accretion a barter to accompany Crawford back.
Grunwald aswell said the Knicks had accomplished an acceding in assumption with centermost Jerome Jordan, a 2010 second-round aces of the Milwaukee Bucks whose rights the Knicks had acquired. He had been arena in Slovenia, and Grunwald said Jordan would be in affected in the next few canicule afterwards his buyout was complete.
Grunwald, the Knicks’ chief carnality admiral of basketball operations, affiliated the GM role on an acting base afterwards Donnie Walsh autonomous not to acknowledgment in June. He bound addressed the Knicks’ better charge with the hasty accretion of the 7-foot-1 Chandler from the NBA best Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade.
Battier To Join Heat
Shane Battier will be with the Miami Heat this season. Mario Chalmers is deciding if he’ll be there with him.
Saying he only wants “a winning role” at this point in his career, Battier announced Thursday morning that he would sign with the Eastern Conference champion Heat. Miami let him know as soon as the free-agency shopping window formally opened this week that he was the Heat’s top signing priority—even though the team has some question marks at the point guard and center spots.
“Over the last week, I’ve played out every scenario in my head over and over,” Battier wrote on Twitter. “It always came back to one thing for me: a winning role.”
Heat forward Udonis Haslem sounded hopeful that Chalmers and the Heat can reach a deal.
“It’s in their hands,” said Chalmers, who wore Heat gear for his workout at the arena Thursday and averaged 11.8 points per game in last season’s NBA finals. “Let’s see what they do.”
So the role Battier wants is clear. The role Chalmers wants is as well: He’d like to be Miami’s starting point guard again, and said he will decide by Friday morning whether to re-sign with Miami or accept an offer elsewhere. If Chalmers signs with another club, Miami would have three days to match the offer because he is a restricted free agent.
“Championships are why we play this game,” Haslem said. “If he can come here and have an opportunity to win a championship and get somewhat close to the financial things that he’s looking for, then I think it’s a perfect situation for him. That’ll be up to him.”
Kyrie Irving hopes to start for Cavs
With all due respect to Baron Davis, Kyrie Irving wouldn’t mind taking over the Cleveland Cavaliers’ starting point guard job in training camp.
The Cavs have the option of using their amnesty clause on Davis to waive him and remove the $28.7 million he’s owed the next two seasons from the team’s salary for cap and tax purposes. If Davis stays, Irving said he’d welcome being mentored by the veteran. The Cavs could decide to start both in the backcourt with Irving, the No. 1 pick in the June NBA draft, at point guard.
“It would be a great opportunity, but a little hard to see Baron go just based on having a veteran point guard there to help you make your transition,” Irving told Yahoo! Sports. “That’s something that I’m going to lose. But having the keys to the franchise is something that I’m excited about if it does happen. Either way, it will be a great opportunity with Baron or without Baron.”
When asked specifically if he’d rather take the point guard job now or learn under a veteran, Irving said: “I’d rather try to have the ability to go. I’ve been waiting for so long that I just want to jump right in, learn on the fly and just see how it goes.”
Irving’s now glad he decided to declare for the 2011 draft after just one season at Duke. When it looked like the NBA’s lockout could cause the entire season to be canceled, he second-guessed his decision, especially when he was taking classes at Duke during the summer. He tweeted his frustration after watching Duke beat Michigan State on Nov. 15 to give Mike Krzyzewski the NCAA men’s Division I record for coaching victories.
“There were definitely a couple points, but I never really regretted my decision,” Irving said. “I knew things would get better. It’s just about being patient. Honestly, any kid that left school early and loved it as much as I did and you see your teammates all the time and the coaching staff and they’re doing well, it’s going to bring up a whole ball of emotions like it did for me.
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Lucas sponsoring charity game; Durant expected
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Rashard Lewis is expected to headline a charity match to benefit the John Lucas, which provides substance abuse counseling for athletes.
The game will take place on November 20 Delmar Fieldhouse in northwest Houston, once the home of the basketball team of the Houston Cougars. The stadium has 5,000 seats.
Lucas said Wednesday about 20 players have committed to participate.
“It will be neat for the fans to come out and see,” said Lucas. “There will be a game of celebrity. It will be a real game. I’m very excited about the competition.”
KRIV-TV first reported the event was scheduled.
Lucas, who played in the NBA from 1976 to 90, talked about the game as the NBA players and owners met to discuss the possibility to accept the latest proposal from the league to end the blockade.
Commissioner David Stern on Wednesday set a deadline for the union to accept the agreement. The two sides are still divided on the changes in the salary cap and revenue sharing.
Lucas would not reveal what he knows about the negotiations, but says he hopes the union will support your game. He says that only a “resolution miracle” for the closure would force the cancellation of the charity match.
“I do not think you can get everything resolved in a week,” said Lucas. “We can lose players because of it. That’s why the game is subject to change. Let’s hope for a miracle resolution a little later.”
Former NBA player Moses Malone and Robert Horry will coach the teams and players of the Houston Texans Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub is also involved, but Lucas would not say whether it will play.
Son of John Lucas, a Chicago base, Oklahoma City to Kendrick Perkins, Indiana guard TJ Ford, New Jersey forward Damion James, and the Rockets point guard Jonny Flynn are also scheduled to play, Lucas said.
“It’s a good mix of young players,” said Lucas. “I wanted the young, the old and some new, so that our fans can see who is and who is already established.”
Flynn, acquired by Houston on draft night in a Atlanta Hawks jerseys trade with Minnesota, says charity games give players the opportunity to maintain a connection with NBA fans frustrated by the lockout.
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Iverson postpones 2-day tournament
Event organizers have postponed a professional basketball tournament in Las Vegas hosted by NBA star Allen Iverson.
The tournament scheduled for this weekend has been moved to 6-7 at the Thomas and Mack Center.
Iverson said that discussions to end the blockade of the NBA were the reason the tournament was postponed.
Iverson has been out of the NBA since 2010 and spent part of last year playing in Turkey. He was the MVP of the NBA in 2001, when he led Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals.
With the NBA lockout, the stars of the league have been playing in charity games and exposure.
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Magic Johnson backs Stern after racial suggestion
Magic Johnson said it was “ridiculous” to suggest, David Stern, a racist, saying it’s okay to disagree with the commissioner of the NBA, but he “can not attack the man and what he represents.”
Johnson was responding to comments made by attorney Jeffrey Kessler, representing the association of NBA players, who told the Washington Post that the owners treat the players as “plantation workers” during the ongoing lockout .
That was similar to Bryant Gumbel’s comments made last month in his HBO program, saying Stern “seemed always ready to be seen as a kind of modern plantation supervisor treatment NBA men, like their children. ”
However, Johnson said Stern has always done well by the players, taking into account the number of black players like him, Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, and have followed his Hall of Fame career, entering management positions or property.
“This league is more diverse than any other league, with more minorities in positions of power than any other league,” Johnson said in a telephone interview. “That’s all about David Stern and his vision and what he wanted. He did minorities who had high positions in the league office all the way to the coaches and front office people.”
Stern did not comment, but told the Washington Post Kessler’s behavior “is usually negligible.”
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Meruelo says he has ‘ample resources’ to buy Hawks
Nearly three months after announcing that it had reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake of the Atlanta Hawks, Alex Meruelo on Thursday tried to allay the doubts that have the resources to buy and operate the equipment.
In a statement released by his Meruelo Group on Thursday, Meruelo said he is trained to take over the rights of the team and Philips Arena operating.
“I have more than ample resources to buy and operate the Hawks in a first-class,” Meruelo said. “I am committed to buying the Atlanta Hawks. Although I can not comment on the details of the approval process, what I have and will do everything possible to bring the process to a positive conclusion.”
Meruelo, a California developer and the owner of the pizza chain is trying to buy the team, the Atlanta Spirit group led by Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon Jr. The deal is pending league approval.
Levenson and Gearon did not respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment.
The Board of Governors of the NBA last week approved the sale of the Philadelphia 76ers but has not taken any public action on the proposed purchase of Meruelo.
Meruelo statement followed reports in the NBA could be waiting for confirmation of your financial situation.
NBA vice president of communications Tim Frank said there would be no comment on the situation League agreement Meruelo.
Meruelo, the son of Cuban immigrants, is trying to become the first NBA team owner Hispanic. Born in New York and raised in California.
Meruelo agreed to buy the Hawks was announced after the ownership group led by Levenson and Gearon sold Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL to a group that moved the team to Winnipeg.
When the deal was announced in agosto8, Meruelo, Levenson and Gearon said would keep a minority stake of the team “for a period of time.”
If the purchase is not approved by the league, the group led by Levenson and Gearon that retain ownership or find another buyer.
The Meruelo Group is an investment firm Downey, California, which recently acquired the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada, for a sum as 42,450,000. The company also recently purchased KWHY-TV, a Spanish-language station in Los Angeles.
Meruelo established La Pizza Loca, a chain of more than 50 restaurants in Southern California serving the Latino community, according to the Meruelo Group website.
Beasley Suit Alleges Improper Benefits At K-State
Minnesota Timberwolves to Michael Beasley is accusing his former agent and an AAU coach of conspiring to forge a relationship with him since the age of 14 years and paying cash benefits, while the poor mother from Kansas State Beasley starred in a effort to land the basketball prodigy as a client.
Beasley made the allegations in a lawsuit filed in Maryland last month in response to the demand of agent Joel Bell unfair dismissal against them. Beasley said Bell gave his mother’s living expenses when he went to school, which probably violate NCAA rules and federal regulations governing sports agents.
The Associated Press left messages for attorneys representing Beasley and Bell seeking comment. Both UCA attorney Curtis Malone and Malone coach vehemently denied the allegations.
“The allegations of irregularities against Mr. Malone are unfounded as a matter of law and denied,” said attorney Bill Heyman.
A spokesman for the State of Kansas, wrote in an e-mail to the AP that the school is aware of the demand, “but right now we have no information on that comment.” The indictments were first reported by The Washington Post.
The lawsuit alleges that Beasley was raised in a poor neighborhood, single-parent households in the Washington, DC, and often struggled with behavioral and academic problems, which led him to attend six schools in five years. But it also quickly became one of the most promising players in the country school, teaming with his friend Kevin Durant in a formidable team of AAU.

