Archives › Kurt Helin
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There are some really good Charlotte Bobcat blogs out there already. Queen City Hoops is smart and with lots of great stats woven in. Rufus on Fire, Bobcats Baseline and Bobcats Planet also do quality work. Of course, the Bobcats have their own official blog — Bobcat Break — and now they want a fan…
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Nate McMillan has plans for Rudy Fernandez in his training camp. What trade demand?
Sep 7, 2010, 11:39 AM EDT
Very vague trade speculation continue to float around Rudy Fernandez. The Bulls have some interest. The Knicks have some interest but they and Portland are not talking. Nothing seems to be moving on that front. Basically, despite Rudy Fernandez throwing a tantrum and threats of a holdout by his agent, he is still a Trail…
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Nenad Krstic did the crime so he was willing to do the time. And he’d do it again (well, maybe not chair part). The Oklahoma City Center is not an in-your-face kind of guy, but when Greece and Serbia ended up in a YouTube favorite brawl, he was the most aggressive Serbian player. He jumped…
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Hornets may make more moves to show Chris Paul they really care
Sep 7, 2010, 10:16 AM EDT
It feels a little unfair to cast all New Orleans Hornets rumor in the “what does Chris Paul think?” category. But that is also the reality — keeping Chris Paul has to be a consideration in almost everything the Hornets do. It is Priority No. 1. And it should be Priority No. 2 also. The…
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Dan Gilbert is putting a much better spin on LeBron James leaving now. Not the right one, but at least one that sounds reasonable and lacks Comic Sans font. In a story about rebuilding the Cavaliers at the News-Herald, here is what Gilbert said about the effort. “We weren’t as focused on the long term…
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Andray Blatche will be ready for Wizards training camp, Sean Marks will be there too
Sep 7, 2010, 9:21 AM EDT
Years of potential exploded into a couple very productive months last season for Andray Blatche. Throw in rookie top pick John Wall and an offense that will get out and run, and you may have something fun and pretty good in Washington next season. If Blatche is healthy. He had foot surgery in June and…
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It remains one of the most controversial basketball games ever. The ending of the 1972 Olympic gold medal game in Munich featured a Russian team getting three chances to inbound the ball late in the game and down one point, and it was on the third they were able to execute a length of the…
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Russia earns date with USA in quarterfinals after cruising past New Zealand
Sep 6, 2010, 10:00 PM EDT
As expected, it is USA vs. Russia on Thursday in the FIBA World Championships quarterfinals. Russia filled out its half of the bracket beating New Zealand 78-56, showing off some of the defense and the inside game that will give the USA their best challenge since Brazil (and maybe their best challenge so far period).…
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I may be a few days late to this party, but this slow-mo video of a USA fast break against France with the powerful Rudy Gay flush is just fun to watch.
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Lakers tell Derrick Caracter lose weight and you get your money
Sep 6, 2010, 2:30 PM EDT
Derrick Caracter showed a lot of promise for the Lakers playing at Summer League, enough so that they gave their second round pick a contract. Clearly the Lakers are about the now, in the middle of a title window, but they will let Caracter develop at the end of the bench. If he can lose…
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For one quarter, the USA looked like the focused, efficient, powerful team we expect them to be. And that’s all they needed on Labor Day, one quarter of labor. The USA was up 20 in the first quarter, knocked down 18 three pointers for the game and defeated an outmatched Angola team 121-66 in the…
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Team sales are not a quick thing, especially when the perceived value and actual value are different. There seems to be little change in what is going on with the Detroit Pistons sale, at least that seems the case after reading the latest update from the Detroit News. There are four groups in the running,…
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Tim Thomas only played in 18 games for Dallas last seasons. When he did he gave them some solid veteran play off the bench, and 7.5 points in just under 16 minutes. For the first part of the year, Thomas was recovering from knee surgery. But he talked with NBA.com’s Alex Garcia about the second…
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Hey, it’s a silver lining for Cleveland! Last season the Cavaliers paid Leon Powe primarily to recover. They signed him to a two-year deal after major knee surgery, they knew going in he would not be able to help much last season. He did play for 20 games at the end of the season but…
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Shaq has post-career life as a sheriff planned out, but first he wants a ring (and to be seen)
Sep 6, 2010, 9:40 AM EDT
There are plenty of people that think Shaquille O’Neal is just play cops and robbers like a big kid, that he’s not serious. He’s actually very serious. The latest example: His interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune about his post-basketball plans: I’m either going to be the sheriff in Baton Rouge, Miami or Los Angeles.…
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The description from scouts when the Knicks signed Russian Timofey Mozgov was “potential.” He has shown a little more than that as part of a pretty good Russian team at the World Championships, giving Knicks fans another reason for hope. He is averaging 11.8 points per game on 65 percent shooting, and he dropped 18…
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Ty Lawson, DeMarcus Cousins, Michael Beasley and more getting some run
Sep 5, 2010, 8:10 PM EDT
A number of NBA players were having some fun, getting a little run a couple weeks ago for The Goodman League Charity Game (which raises money for Project Giveback, a group that helps make sure the holidays have something special for some of the needy in the Washington D.C. area). Enjoy. Thanks to the Mars…
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The Special Olympics is a worldwide organization, and with a few days off for Team USA Tyson Chandler went to help with the torch run portion of the leadup to the games.
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Spain is good with a depth of talent we know about. Argentina has the best player so far in the tournament in Luis Scola. Brazil already almost beat the USA. Greece has been very good and has the motion offense that can give the USA fits. Turkey is playing better than all of them. And…
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It may be futile. If you believe the off the record rumblings coming out of Carmelo Anthony’s camp he is all but gone from Denver. But the Denver Nuggets are not giving up hope. New GM Masai Ujiri wants to sit down and talk with him. And when he gets back from the World Championships,…
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Things have been looking up for Yi Jianlian. He is out of the swamps of Jersey (and into the swamp that is Washington D.C.). He will play in an up-tempo offense next to John Wall, which could put his athleticism to use. He has been working out with David Thorpe. He has been looking good…
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We like to talk about how Cleveland got nothing for LeBron James (and how Denver doesn’t want to go down that road). But that’s not exactly true. Thanks to a might-as-well-at-this-point sign-and-trade, the Cavaliers are sitting on a $14.5 million trade exception. That means the team can trade for a pretty high-priced player and send…
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Miami homeless advocates refusing free LeBron James gear from Cleveland
Sep 5, 2010, 11:31 AM EDT
The homeless in Miami don’t want your LeBron James gear. Well, they may want it. We don’t know. We do know that advocates for the homeless in Miami have been reticent to accept free LeBron James clothing. Remember after LeBron James’ decision there were LeBron jerseys being burned in the streets of Cleveland. So some…
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Still some big name free agents available, if you think they would help
Sep 5, 2010, 11:13 AM EDT
We’re in the dregs of the NBA signing season, when guys who can contribute like Luther Head end up with make-good deals in Sacramento, where they will battle the undrafted for a roster spot. But look at the names still unsigned and available (compiled by Ira Winderman at the South Florida Sun Sentinel): Allen Iverson,…
