Archives › Kurt Helin
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NBA Cancels Orlando vs. Miami preseason game in Tampa due to wet floor
Oct 22, 2010, 7:14 PM EDT
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Finally they sell out a sporting event in Tampa Bay… and it’s canceled. The NBA cancelled the preseason game in Tampa between the Heat and Magic, which was schedule for tonight (and was to be shown on ESPN). Officially the NBA says it is because of unsafe playing conditions. Officially — the floor is wet.…
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Last season: 29-53, a season that seemed lost when Blake Griffin fractured his kneecap landing after a monster dunk in the preseason. But only the Clippers can find ways to bring that down even farther: there was the Mike Dunleavy firing (which is on its way to court), Baron Davis checked out mentally, then there…
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David Stern says it will be the best season ever… except for all that lockout stuff
Oct 22, 2010, 4:53 PM EDT
David Stern realizes what is happening, that there is a genuine swell of interest and excitement around the NBA. I think we’re going to have perhaps our best season ever this year,” he said during a conference call with reporters on Friday. He talked about the buzz and acknowledged the fan interest in the Miami…
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David Stern talks contraction: We’re not that serious, but we’re going to talk about it anyway.
Oct 22, 2010, 4:29 PM EDT
One David Stern quote from his conference call with the media Friday showed just how of two minds the league is on the idea of contraction (folding one or more struggling franchises). “The issue of contraction is one that has to be asked as part of negotiation with players…” Stern said. “But if there are…
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Magic, Heat slip-sliding away on damp court in Tampa before tonight’s game
Oct 22, 2010, 2:56 PM EDT
NBA courts get a little wet, what with sweaty men running up and down it, running into each other and falling to the ground. There’s a reason people are out there drying off the courts all game. But when the court is wet even before the game starts? Not good. That’s what is happening today…
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It’s official: DeJuan Blair is your starting center in San Antonio
Oct 22, 2010, 2:25 PM EDT
We told you it was coming, and now that day is here: DeJuan Blair is the starting center for the San Antonio Spurs. ACLs are over-rated. Gregg Popovich made it official talking to the Express-News. Blair gets the nod in just his second season, at age 21, on a team with big aspirations this season.…
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Players are complaining. Pundits have ripped it. The players union has threatened a legal challenge. Fans – well, at least some fans — have laughed at it or mocked it. But the NBA’s crackdown on complaining and the fast technicals are here to stay. Why? Because the NBA owners like it, as David Stern said…
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David Stern threw out the over-the-top negotiations red herrings yesterday after meeting with the owners — suggesting cutting at least $750 million in player salaries (more than one-third reduction) and maybe even contraction. As he kind of had to do, Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA Players Association (the players union), released a statement,…
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Paul Pierce is ready for the season, ready for another serious run at a ring. How can we tell? Because he got a new tattoo. Of course. What, you thought we could tell because he leads the Celtics in scoring this preseason with 14 points a game on 51.7 percent shooting? No. It’s preseason, what…
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MVP Amar’e Stoudemire? Mike D’Antoni thinks it could happen
Oct 22, 2010, 11:38 AM EDT
Amar’e Stoudemire is going to have a huge year. He is the go-to option on the Knicks. They have some guys who are solid NBA role players on the roster, but there is no real number two option in the way that the Lakers, Celtics, Heat or even Thunder have one. Because of that Stoudemire…
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There is always a silver lining. One of the little ones in Cleveland was that JJ Hickson was finally going to get the run and recognition he deserved. No shadow of LeBron, new coach with a running system, this was going to be Hickson’s coming out party. But while Hickson is putting up 14.3 points…
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Amar’e Stoudemire went Rick Pitino yesterday. He told his team that Carmelo Anthony is not walking through that door. Chris Paul is not walking through that door. He used different words, but that was the sentiment. His sentiment may or may not be true a couple months from now, but is true about the season…
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Salaries cut by one third? Contraction? What we have here is a red herring.
Oct 22, 2010, 9:34 AM EDT
When you walk into a negotiation you start by asking for the moon. Doesn’t matter if you’re trying to sell a house in Cleveland or dates at a Persian bazaar, negotiations are all the same. And part of that is the first offer put out there is big. The moon. It’s not what you will…
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Tuesday LeBron James turned the spotlight on some of the ugly, hateful tweets he gets. The dark underbelly of the connection to the public that twitter and other social media allow. Dwight Howard told the Orlando Sentinel LeBron’s experience on twitter is not unique. “All of us get those kinds of Tweets,” Howard said. “People…
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Warriors Stephen Curry joins league’s long list of walking wounded
Oct 22, 2010, 8:14 AM EDT
The only day an NBA player is healthy is the first day of training camp. It seems especially true this season. Is there a team that does not have a couple guys already banged up and starting the season with a nagging injury? Add the Warriors and Stephen Curry to the list. He had to…
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LeBron understands Clevelanders’ anger, “But you have to get over it.”
Oct 22, 2010, 1:01 AM EDT
LeBron James gets it. He can put himself in their shoes. He understands why the people in his hometown might feel betrayed, why Clevelanders would be angry. Well, a little bit. But he also says you can’t hold on to the anger forever, as he told Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. “If I was a fan…
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Bookmakers make Heat title favorites. Magic are best odds on the board.
Oct 21, 2010, 11:58 PM EDT
The Miami Heat are the favorites to with the NBA crown this season. Not according to most pundits, they have them close but not quite (although some have picked them). But yes according to the bookmakers at Bodog.com. Here are their odds to win the NBA title: Miami Heat 17/10 Los Angeles Lakers 5/2 Boston…
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And we have another soon-to-be member of our new reality series Lakers Wives… Sasha Vujacic is engaged to tennis star Maria Sharapova, something confirmed by Lakers.com’s Mike Trudell. Apparently she has been given a massive ring… insert your own joke here about Lakers knowing how to buy rings. The couple has not set a date,…
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Shaq poses as statue in Harvard Square (no, Kobe did not make pigeon jokes)
Oct 21, 2010, 8:41 PM EDT
When Shaq was on Boston radio a few weeks back, he talked about going out to a public place and posing as a statue for a while…. So today he sent out the tweet, and it was off to Harvard Square (just off the campus of Harvard in Cambridge) where for over an hour he…
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UPDATE 6:52 pm: No official word from the Heat yet, but the discussion is if he will need surgery or not, and it looks like an end of November to mid December return. That would be a blow to the Heat, a team built around three stars with a pretty limited bench. Miller was at…
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Last season: 26-56, which is kind of the record you end up with when you don’t play much defense. And Don Nelson had stopped caring about defense, or seemingly coaching half the time. But as much as that, it was an injury-ravaged season that kept the win total that low. Head Coach: Keith Smart, who…
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Get it right. That’s all we all want as fans of the game. And while perfection will always be impossible — fans will always call the block/charge with their heart anyway — instant replay can get it a lot closer. (Did you hear that MLB?) So when the owners were not bemoaning their financial plight…
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David Stern: Owners want to cut overall player salaries by one-third or more
Oct 21, 2010, 3:19 PM EDT
And you wonder why we keep hearing that a lockout is coming…. David Stern, during a press conference following two days of Board of Governor meetings Thursday, said there had been “no quantifiable progress” toward a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and that the owners wish to cut between $750 million and $800 million a year…
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Jazz cut loose Sundiata Gaines, he of the dramatic game winner
Oct 21, 2010, 2:11 PM EDT
The NBA is a business. First. Last. Always. Don’t ever forget it. So it was very hard for Jazz general manager to Kevin O’Connner to call Sundiata Gaines into his office Thursday and cut him loose, but that’s what the business demanded. The Jazz are over the luxury tax and every $1 saved in payroll…
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Jrue Holiday is quick with the ball. The Knicks Anthony Randolph can be a bit slow on defensive recognition and rotations. Combine those two and you have a dunk that Randolph will be reminded of for a while, preseason game or not. Oh, and don’t sleep on Holiday people, he can flat out ball. (Man…
