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NBA : Houston rockets NEWS |
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April 22 |
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Sportingnews.com |
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| The Wizards' intimidation tactics aren't working on LeBron James, and the Rockets don't have a prayer to dig out of their 0-2 hole against the Jazz. |
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April 20 |
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Sportingnews.com |
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| Day 1 of the NBA playoffs saw the Spurs and Suns produce an instant classic, Chris Paul star in his playoff debut and more of the same from LeBron James. |
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April 15 |
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Sportingnews.com |
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| Everyone wants to sink a game-winning shot, but not everyone can. That's why, for some athletes, their best option is to play the anti-hero during the playoffs. |
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March 26 |
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Sportingnews.com |
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| With MVP candidates surrounding us, it's been a darn long time since so much has been done by so many -- in so few months. A different front-runner has emerged with nearly each flip of the calendar. |
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Kevin Durant has been the frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award for just about the entire season, but with the Rockets twenty two game winning streak the award is no longer a lock for Durant. Luis Scola has really come on for the Rockets and is putting together a solid rookie campaign that could result in winning the award himself.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The following is from HOOPSWORLD Magazine's All-Star issue, published the beginning of February 2008. HOOPSWORLD Magazine brings together some of the best independent basketball voices in the business and is published three times a year. Keep an eye out for the NBA Draft Preview issue, hitting news stands in early June 2008.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| At times the Houston Rockets' 22-game winning streak has seemed almost easy. They've had a favorable schedule, sure, but they lost their franchise player in the middle of it and have continued to beat the likes of the Hornets (before West was injured), the Cavaliers, the Mavericks, and even the Lakers. If you weren't watching closely you might think Rick Adelman had simply implemented his system and is now sitting back and watching it run.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| As much as Tracy McGrady is touted as the lone remaining All-Star in Houston, where Yao Ming has been lost for the season, there is another player who has quietly been making a name for himself in the absence of his favorite assist target. Without much fanfare or spotlight point guard Rafer Alston, who many in Houston thought should be out of a job last summer, has been leading his team through win after win while getting little or none of the credit.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Sunday's Houston Rockets - San Antonio Spurs matchup was the first opportunity to see Houston defend Tim Duncan and the Spurs without Yao Ming. With Duncan having 25 points and 13 rebounds in a November win and 24 points and 17 rebounds in a two-point January loss, it would be interesting to see how the Rockets would adjust.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Everyone wrote them off. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're deceiving you. Their general manager said he wasn't worried, but secretly he had to feeling what everyone else was:
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| When the Houston Rockets lost Yao Ming for the season everyone wrote them off. The Western Conference was, after all, tough enough to navigate even with your star player. Without him . . .the team was sure to be toast.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The 2007-08 NBA season is officially in the books, and what a wild ride it was in the Western Conference. Here's a look at how the seedings finally settled in.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| When the Houston Rockets lost Yao Ming for the season everyone wrote them off. The Western Conference was, after all, tough enough to navigate even with your star player. Without him . . .the team was sure to be toast.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| With the NBA playoffs right around the corner, NBA fans and players alike are awaiting in nervous anticipation to see how their favorite team will fare. However, for millions of people in the Darfur region of Sudan in Northern Africa, their worries are far more serious.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Utah came out with a mission in Game One against the Rockets: to shut the critics up regarding their inability to win on the road. After a fine start, the Jazz gave up the lead in the third, reclaimed it and never looked back. In reviewing Game One, we look back at the Keys to the Game from HOOPSWORLD earlier today.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Obviously, the Houston Rockets needed to win Game 3 in Utah and they did just that. After Tracy McGrady's constant media criticism and his "It's my fault" comments, his teammates stepped up tonight to help quiet the knocks at least until Game 4 begins.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz are in Salt Lake City tonight for Game 3 of their first round playoff series. The Jazz are currently up 2-0, but both games have been entertaining and hard-fought. The bottom line is, of course, that without Yao Ming and Rafer Alston the Rockets had a hard time matching the deep and talented Jazz blow-for-blow. The good news for Houston is that they are likely to get one of their two missing starters back tonight.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Tracy McGrady was tired. He came into the post-game press conference smiling and making funny faces at the cameras, but then proceeded to talk about how he was so exhausted after his team's Game 2 loss to the Utah Jazz that he could barely move his legs.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Obviously, the Houston Rockets needed to win Game 3 in Utah and they did just that. After Tracy McGrady's constant media criticism and his "It's my fault" comments, his teammates stepped up tonight to help quiet the knocks at least until Game 4 begins.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets put together an impressive season. There's really no other way to look at it. They lost their star player for most of the season's second half, yet put together a 22-game winning streak and won home court advantage in the playoffs before finally succumbing to the Utah Jazz in six games. If Rafer Alston hadn't gone down midway through that game, they might even have pushed their playoff series to Game 7 and beyond. As it is, the Rockets have plenty to be proud of as they begin to look towards the draft.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| What most expected finally occurred Friday night. The Utah Jazz won their first round playoff series with the Houston Rockets four games to two with the final game coming at home in Energy Solutions Arena. Although the Rockets accomplished many wonderful things throughout the 2007-08 season, especially after the season-ending injury to Yao Ming, they were essentially a one-man show versus a good team.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets are in Utah tonight trying to extend their playoff lives. The Jazz would like to (and need to) close this series out at home, but the Rockets have been the only team in the NBA that has consistently been able to silence the raucous Jazz crowd and come away with wins this season. With that in mind, we spell out our keys for tonight's game:
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz have staged the most entertaining first round series to date, with each game going down to the wire and hinging on big plays at crucial times late in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for Houston, the Jazz have been able to come up with just the right rebound or get just the right bounce to make things go their way in three of the four games to date. As we prepare for Game 5, an elimination game for the Rockets, here are some of the keys to success:
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets have been as resilient as any team in the NBA this season, building the best record in the NBA after New Year's despite losing Yao Ming for the season long before the playoff push began. On Saturday night the Utah Jazz thought they had Houston put away two or three times, but each time the Rockets came storming back. Finally, though, tonight's biggest star came up with an offensive rebound that sealed the deal for Utah.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| If there's one thing the Houston Rockets aren't timid about, it's their desire to push their team to the next level via whatever means are necessary to do it. In the 90's owner Les Alexander famously said he would do "whatever it takes" to bring a title to Houston and then won back-to-back championships. Now, with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in the mix instead of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, the Rockets are once again looking to kick things into high gear.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| When Yao Ming is healthy, he's brilliant. He's arguably the most dominant post player in the modern NBA. It took him about three years to really get acclimated to the NBA - culturally as well as physically - but once he found his groove his unique skill set made him one of the best big men in the game. His passing ability, his shooting range, his shotblocking, and his wide array of post moves make him almost impossible to guard. In fact, just about the only way to stop Yao is to play the Rockets while he's out with an injury.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Houston Rockets center Yao Ming announced the launch of "The Yao Ming Foundation" at a press conference today at Toyota Center. The foundation, under the auspices of The Giving Back Fund, will help raise funds and awareness of children's wellness and welfare issues in China and the United States.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Reports out of Greece today have the Greek team Panathinaikos in talks with the Houston Rockets about power forward Luis Scola. According to sources close to Panathinaikos, the team for which former Rockets guard Vasilis Spanoulis plays, they're in the process of buying out Scola's contract with the Rockets so that he can return to Europe, where he has earned an impressive list of honors for his feats on the basketball court.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Last season Kevin Durant was the Rookie of the Year and Al Horford helped push the Atlanta Hawks into the playoffs for the first time in years. There's no question that these two players will be the toast of the sophomore class in 2008-2009, but who else from 2007's Draft will emerge as stars this upcoming season?
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Each summer the NBA gathers the best and brightest young basketball players and holds their annual draft. The hard work and dedication it takes for a player to land in the elite company of draftees is often taken for granted. Most NBA players grew up playing the game, spending long hours taking practice shots, working out, and honing their skills in high school, collegiate, and private training sessions. What often goes overlooked is the amazing amount of work that goes into getting a player in front of the teams that wind up drafting them. The biggest part of that job is handled by a sports agent.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets really wanted to move up in the 2008 NBA draft, with an eye on getting someone who could help Tracy McGrady and do some scoring behind Shane Battier. They made some phone calls, most notably to the Washington Wizards, thought they might make a deal to land Courtney Lee, but at the end of the day they had their own pick at 25. They used to pick to draft a player the San Antonio Spurs had their eye on: Nicolas Batum.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| After taking Kevin Love with their first pick, the Memphis Grizzlies settled on Donte Green with the 28th selection in the draft. It shouldn't be a surprise that the Grizzlies added more size. They have Rudy Gay and Mike Conley locking up the guard positions, but really struggle underneath the basket. Quite simply, their bigs (Darko and Warrick) did not get the job done last year.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| This story just took a strange turn. What we've known for weeks is that the Rockets want Carl Landry to have an MRI to check the status of his injured knee before they sign him for millions of dollars over the next few years. That makes, sense, but HOOPSWORLD has now learned that there's a further development that isn't getting any play.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Donte Greene was somewhat of an unknown commodity when he took the court at UNLV for the Houston Rockets' first summer league game on Monday night, but it didn't take fans in Las Vegas long to figure out what he was about: scoring, scoring and more scoring. He scored from the three-point arch, he scored on driving lay-ups, he made some nice moves to the bucket for dunks, and he hit some mid-range jumpers. He scored over defenders, he scored on open jays, and he scored off the dribble. By the time Houston's game against the Suns was over he had come within a basket of tying the Summer League record of 42 points.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| One of the most interesting parts of summer league is finding out about the different player's journeys to the NBA. Some people have played professionally since they were 16 years old like Ian Mahinmi, while some have been groomed to be basketball players nearly their entire lives due to the success their family had in the sport like Javale McGee. Just when you think you've heard it all, you realize you haven't even come close.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| "First game I had to sit there and watch my teammates, so I was like a kid in a candy store," Dorsey said of playing in his first game of summer league - the Rockets' second. "It was good to be out there helping my teammates."
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Telfair to Wolves: Unrestricted free agent point guard Sebastian Telfair has agreed to a multi-year contract to return to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Details of the deal have not made it out yet, but the Wolves had previously chosen not to offer Telfair a qualifying offer of $3.5 million to make him a restricted free agent. Speculation probably puts this in the two or three year range, at around $2 million or so to begin.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets have reportedly reached an agreement with the Sacramento Kings that will land Ron Artest in Houston.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| Good Deal for Kings, Too: While the Sacramento Kings weren't able to rid themselves of the albatross of forward Kenny Thomas' contract in sending of forward Ron Artest to the Houston Rockets, they still made out pretty dang good.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| It's always best for two people to sit down together and have a face-to-face conversation rather than play "He Said/He Said" back and forth through the media.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| No sooner did the news leak out that the Houston Rockets had agreed to a deal that will get them Ron Artest in a couple of weeks than people began questioning Rafer Alston's fitness to run the team.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| LeBron's $50 Million: Before everyone gets too excited, LeBron James is not going to Europe, any more than Kobe Bryant is going to Russia. If you're missing the story, in the last 48 hours both players have been linked either directly or indirectly to the notion that the NBA's two biggest star players would consider going international if the price was right. Kobe Bryant joked with a Russian journalist in China covering the Olympics admitting he'd consider playing in Russia specifically saying, "Are you the owner of a Russian team? It can be arranged for $40 million per year." Yesterday on the heels of a Sports Illustrated story citing sources close to Greek powerhouse Olympicos - SI.com is saying the Greek powerhouse that signed Josh Childress would make a run at LeBron James to the tune of $50 million for a single season - ESPN qualified it with a "source" close to LeBron saying he's already been contacted by teams abroad and would consider a $50 million season away from the NBA when he hits free agency in 2010. Now all speculation aside, let's get to the honest parts of this: both Kobe Bryant and LeBron James will be nice to people who ask this question, and they both do tremendous business in international markets as they both have a vested interest in their respective Nike deals. Kobe's deal is a literally a piece of the action, while LeBron's deal is more of a traditional cash deal, but given how much Nike pays LeBron, Nike is not making a lot of money on LeBron, so neither can "blow off" the international notion and insult a market segment. Secondly, both Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are going to negotiate new contracts soon. Kobe could opt out next summer and force the Lakers into a new $120 million deal, which if he stays healthy is more likely than not. LeBron James on the other hand needs a credible threat if he decides he wants to leave Cleveland in a sign-and-trade, and a well-publicized and pondered Greek offer is exactly the kind of leverage LeBron would need to get the Cavs to sign-and-trade him to the Knicks or Nets if LeBron decides that's where he wants to be. $40 Million tax free is an enticing idea; it certainly has long-term business ramifications for international basketball. If a Greek team could land LeBron James and a Russian team could land Kobe Bryant, the NBA would be talking European expansion very quickly, and as the owner of the team in Greece or Russia jockeying a $40 million one year deal into owning an NBA team would not be a bad investment. The TV rights for those teams would go through the roof and the ad dollars those guys could generate would make the one-time investment worth it. This is not a joke move by European basketball, these offers could be very real, but the odds either player ever leaves the NBA while in the prime of their careers is a bit silly, especially when both are making mountains of money in the NBA.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets and LA Clippers have reportedly agreed to a deal that will send Novak, who was recently extended by the Rockets, to the Clippers for future second round draft pick considerations. For several weeks Rockets GM Daryl Morey has been talking about a small deal that would get done, and after a brief delay during which the team acquired Ron Artest, here it is.
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December 31 |
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hoopsworld.com |
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| The Houston Rockets entered the summer with one goal in mind: to find a third scoring option to help Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady carry the offensive load. They wanted someone "like Corey Maggette," according to an insider, but they understood that Maggette was out of their price range. Still, they wanted someone who could score from anywhere and defend the perimeter, a description that fits Ron Artest perfectly. Now all they really have left to do is take care of some of their own free agents and they're basically ready for the 2008-09 season . . .and it should be a good one for the Rockets.
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