Archive for July, 2012
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Cleveland Cavaliers lose “Rookie of the Year” to broken hand…
Kyrie Irving, the Australian-American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Rookie of the Year in 2012 of the National Basketball Association (NBA) broke his right hand while the Cavaliers’ practice in Las Vegas, on Saturday.
He injured his hand hitting a wall. The spokesperson said they expect him to be out of play for the next two months and ready for training only in late September.
Irving also missed playing 14 games previous season with different injuries – shoulder injuries, concussion and illness. This continues Irving proximity to injuries who played in only 11 games as fresh-man with Duke due to a toe injury. The Australian-American is going back to Cleveland for further examination on Sunday. He said that his health was his reponsibility and that he was disappointed to some extent due to injury.
Just a few days ago, on July 11, the Cavaliers signed Harangody to a contract for next season. This is part of the excerise to improve their record of 2010-11 where they just finished last but one as far as the final standings are concerned and 2011-12 season where they improved a bit owing to curtailed season.
Cleveland play Charlotte on 15 July at Thomas & Mack in the NBA Summer League. Both of these teams are nearly at the bottom of 2011-12 regular season in Eastern conference standings are concerned with Washinton Wizards sitting between the two. Cleveland are at 21 wins to 45 losses while Charlotte are among the worst perfomers with 7 wins to 59 losses languising at the bottom of Southeast division which is headed by Miami and Atlanta.
The summer League is going to have sixty games in 10 Days featuring teams with 13 of the top 14 draft picks.
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Washington Redskins Orakpo excited about RGIII
“I’m very excited,” says Washington Redskins defensive standout Brian Orakpo, “we finally got that quarterback that we needed.” Orakpo was speaking of course about 2012 first round draft pick Robert Griffin III. Griffin, who won the 2011 Heisman trophy last year. Griffin was selected second overall after the Redskins swapped first round picks with the Saint Louis Rams in this April’s draft. The Redskins also sent two future first round, and one second round, draft picks to the Rams in the deal.
“Our defense is great,” Orakpo continued, “We need to fill that void in the quarterback (position).” What a void it’s been, since the Redskins won their last Super Bowl in 1991 under Mark Rypien the Redskins have started 21 different quarterbacks. To make matters worse, apart from Rypien himself (26 games) only Gus Frerotte (46 games), Brad Johnson (27 games), Mark Brunell (33 games), and Jason Campbell (45 games) have started more games since Rypien, who started a total of 72 games in his Redskins career. It’s a list that doesn’t impress and has the names of players who where either past their primes by the time they got to Washington, or never had one to begin with.
Orakpo and the rest of Redskins Park are counting on Griffin to be that quarterback the Redskins have sought for so long. “There’s no time for rebuilding in the NFL,” Orakpo asserted. “You gotta come in there prepared to win, and that’s what he’s capable of.” But those are the expectations for a player the team gave up so much to trade up for.
The Redskins have a long history of free agent, draft, and trade debacles under current owner Dan Snyder. From overpaying aging stars like Bruce Smith and Deion Sanders, to firing Charley Casserly to make room for Vinny Cerrato, or the myriad of draft picks they’ve sent out in trades for questionable acquisitions. Everyone is holding their breath to see if Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan have finally gotten a major Snyder Era decision right, or if the Curse of Jack Kent Cooke is alive and well.
One thing is for sure, like Orakpo says, there won’t be any time to rebuild, and the Redskins will need Griffin to play strong out of the gate as they will go on the road to face the Saints and Rams to open their season. Orakpo says his only real advice for the rookie it to “have fun… act like your back at Baylor.”
If Orakpo and the rest of the Washington Redskins are to contend this year then Griffin will have to have a very fun year.
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Los Angeles Lakers Luck Up With Nash
The aging Los Angeles Lakers have just introduced a brand new addition to their team. Steve Nash the former Phoneix Suns point guard has offically made his transtion over to sunny Los Angeles as the starting point guard for the team. This surprise move happend about a week ago, and frankly many Los Angeles Lakers fans are still shocked.
The benefits of having Steve Nash to the team are few, but still any improvements the Lakers can get, will be well needed. Steve Nash, is a great point guard with the ability to read defenses and to get key players (such as Kobe and Paul Gasol) open for easy points. Another benefit of having Steve Nash to the Lakers is his scoring abililty. He has one the highest scoring percentages in the league and is a skilled three pointer shooters as well as a great free throw shooter.
With this new addition to the team, it is only a matter of time before they will begin to run the “old pick and roll” routine that Kobe Bryant has become so accustomed to during his years playing with the much younger Lakers team in the early 2000’s.
Yet, Kobe Bryant won’t be the only one who benefits from Steve Nash’s presence; Andrew Bynum (Los Angeles Lakers Center) will also benefit from a more experienced point guard who can set up cuts to the basket for him. Expect to see more points from the starting five this season with the help of their new point guard. Gasol stated that,”Steve Nash is one of the most unselfish players in the NBA.” Which will fit perfectly with Kobe Bryant (seeing as he is one of the most selfish players in the NBA).
The real questions all fans are asking is,”How long will it take for these players to gel?” In other words will this new promising addition to the team really help them? Steve Nash will probably be a great asset, but will not be enough to turn the Lakers around. They have a new point guard, but still lack the youth and energy to stand up against teams such as the: Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Steve Nash off to The Lakers in Swap Deal
Former Phoenix Suns star, Steve Nash has been signed to the Los Angeles Lakers. The move could effectively see the Lakers become title contenders once more. In the trade deal, the twice-nominated NBA Most Valuable Player switches camp to the Lakers where he joins NBA superstar Kobe Bryant.
The move, according to sources was bolstered by Kobe’s insistence that Nash joins the Lakers. This came at a time when Nash had expressed his own desire to be close to his family of three kids who live in Phoenix.
The signing is estimated to be in the region of 27 million dollars. The deal is sign and trade, meaning that Phoenix Sun lets go of Nash in exchange for picking four drafts next year. However, the pact effectively comes into play on 11 July, when the freeze on transactions in the NBA is lifted.
According to Nash, after conversation with the top Brass of the Suns, including owner Robert Sarver, it was agreed that it was time they both go their separate ways. Nash had a glowing admiration for the Suns and said that he would be forever grateful to the fans and the people there. “I look forward to seeing them get to win the championship in the future,” he stated. Reports indicate that the Suns chose to repay Nash for the accomplishment he had enabled the team to achieve for eight league seasons. In the previous league season, Nash had an average of twelve and a half points.
The transfer sees the two parties part ways amicably. Fellow point guard Steve Blake of the Lakers who will play alongside Nash said he was thrilled about the signing stating that he would be honored to play with Steve Nash at the Lakers.
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Ray Allen of Boston Celtics’ meets with Miami Heat on Thursday
Ray Allen, the Boston Celitcs‘ shooting guard for those unfamiliar with him, is set to meet with Miami Heat’s official in Miami on Thursday. He will be travelling there to talk about the potential offer Miami Heat has presented to him. Other teams that offered are his own team, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers.
It was reported that the Boston Celtics offered him over $12 million for two years while Heat and the Clippers could only offer $3.1 million per season and $5 million per annum for three years respectively. The Celtics had already agreed with a fifteen million dollar deal, good for three years for guard Jason Terry despite them wanting to keep Ray Allen despite already keeping Terry, Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley. The shooting guard will be visiting the Clippers this Friday. The Clippers might offer the shooting guard a starting job alongside their offer.
However, it was said that as of Tuesday afternoon, he had not yet booked any flights to any of the other offers from Memphis and Minnesota.
In return, it would seem that Ray Allen may receive more play time while in Miami Heat. He will be Dwyane Wade’s back up and probably play alongside him throughout the season. It was noted that Ray Allen, currently aged 36, had an average of 14.2 point last season. He also had a shot 45.3 per cent from three-point range for Boston Celtics.
As of current, Allen Ray has been recovering from his surgery that removed bone spurs that were found in his right ankle. Such was an issue when it led to his removal from the Boston Celtics’ starting line up as well as resulted to a limited playtime during the remainder of the end of the season. If you mlove basketball and especially the guards the Ray Allen is one of the people to look out for in this season and in the NBA world for a long time to come.
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