Kings Not Involved In Virginia Beach Arena Talks
Comcast-Spectator president Peter Luukko on Tuesday told the Virginia Beach City Council that his company has not spoken with the Kings about plans for a new arena, reports Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. The media company has met with NBA and NHL officials to let them know they are trying to get an arena built in the city, Luukko said, but few other details about the plan emerged in Tuesday's meeting.
Comcast-Spectator would lease and manage the arena for 25 years should an NBA or NHL team commit to playing there, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. The arena would be built on city-owned land and could open as soon as 2015. Virginia Beach director of economic development Warren Harris said he, like Luukko, has met with NBA and NHL officials, and they've told him the city would become an attractive destination for teams if an arena were in place, according to the Daily News.
Lillis says Luukko and city officials didn't specify the cost of the arena or who would pay for it, though according to George Warren of News10.net, the estimated price tag is $350MM. No developer is a part of the plan. There was talk of letting the public vote on whether to build the arena, Lillis writes, which would present another hurdle to its completion.
Four of the 11 council members had comments about the arena Tuesday, and two of those four were critical of the plan, according to Lillis.
The Kings sent an email to their sponsors last week, distancing themselves from rumors that the team was considering a move to Virginia Beach. According to Lillis, part of the email read, "Any information you have heard connecting the Maloofs, the Kings, and the city of Virginia Beach are false and have no validity. The City Council in Virginia Beach and Comcast have both publicly acknowledged that they have not spoken to the Maloofs or anyone from the Kings organization or any NBA officials and rather are in discussions to create a new facility that could accommodate either an NHL or NBA team down the road."
Southwest Notes: Mavs, Nelson, Spurs, Rockets
Former Mavericks head coach Don Nelson is set to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 7th and tells the Associated Press that he is enjoying his retirement more than he ever anticipated. After enduring the grueling and stressful life of an NBA coach for a number of years, Nelson is happy to be in Hawaii, where he has taken up botany, poker, and of course, golf. Could the eccentric offensive guru be lured out of retirement with an attractive coaching opportunity? ''I'd say I'm retired,'' Nelson said. ''I'm done, I'm cooked. It's over.'' Here's more out of the Southwest division..
- The Spurs announced on their website that former player Ime Udoka has been hired as an assistant coach. The forward spent parts of seven seasons in the Association with three seasons in San Antonio. Udoka, 35, was waived by the Nets just prior to the start of the 2011/12 campaign and hooked on with Spanish ACB League team UCAM Murcia.
- Even though the Rockets like 2009 second-round pick Sergio Llull a great deal, they had no plans to bring him over for the 2012/13 season, tweets Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld. We learned earlier today that the combo guard is happy playing with Real Madrid and intends to finish out his contract.
- Rockets rookie forward Donatas Motiejunas believes that he is getting a healthy challenge by practicing against the recently-acquired Omer Asik, writes Jason Friedman of Rockets.com. The Lithuanian knows that he will have to adjust to the pace of the NBA but says that the cultural adjustment is going swimmingly.
- Earlier tonight, we learned that the Rockets waived center Sean Williams rather than guarantee his $916K salary for next season.
Rockets Waive Sean Williams
The Rockets have waived center Sean Williams, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Houston acquired Williams in the three-team Courtney Lee sign-and-trade deal last month.
Houston formally made the move on Monday in advance of August 30th, when his $916K salary would have become guaranteed for next season. Stein notes (via Twitter) that the Heat have expressed interest in Williams in the past and are likely to consider him again as they are in the market for bigs.
Williams, 25, fell to the Nets in the 2007 draft and was tabbed with the 17th overall selection. The shot blocking specialist was considered to be a lottery-level talent but had a number of red flags surrounding him which led to his dismissal from the Boston College basketball program. Williams has since played in China, Puerto Rico, Israel, and the D-League before having cups of coffee with the Mavericks and Celtics.
Northwest Notes: Blatche, T’Wolves, Maynor
Here's a look at some items out of the Northwest division..
- The Timberwolves were in the building to watch Hassan Whiteside work out yesterday and free agent Andray Blatche was also in attendance, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. It's not known if Minnesota scout Milton Barnes was in Houston, Texas to scope out both players or just Whiteside.
- Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld runs down the ten most important role players for 2012/13 and includes Thunder point guard Eric Maynor, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Over the weekend, I looked at what it might take for Oklahoma City to work out a contract extension for the VCU alum. While the Thunder are known to be high on Maynor for his ability to manage a game and high basketball IQ, he may not fit in their budget as they look to find the coin to keep James Harden.
- The Nuggets are on the national radar thanks to their recent acquisition of Andre Iguodala, but David Thorpe of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd) believes that the next big star to come out of Denver is backup center Kosta Koufos. Thorpe notes that Koufos is the only center in the league who finished among the top five in offensive rebound rate and in true shooting percentage last season. While Koufos may be poised to break out in similar fashion as Marcin Gortat did with the Suns and Omer Asik for the Bulls (now with the Rockets), the Nuggets wisely signed Koufos to a contract extension that keeps him in Denver through 2013/14 at $3MM per year.
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Top Outside Shooters Still Available In Free Agency
As I outlined yesterday when I examined the top rebounders still available on the free agent market, a player that specializes in a specific aspect of the game can be appealing to teams that just need to fill one or two holes heading into camp. If a club feels like its roster is set, but wouldn't mind adding a three-point specialist, there are options still available on the cheap.
So after looking at the top remaining rebounders yesterday, let's shift gears today and examine the best unsigned outside shooters. Listed below are the free agents with the best 2011/12 three-point percentages. At least 50 three-point attempts are required to qualify for this list, to avoid small samples. Here are the top 10, with their 11/12 3PT% in parentheses:
- Troy Murphy (41.8)
- Jannero Pargo (38.4)
- Leandro Barbosa (38.2)
- Sundiata Gaines (34.1)
- Mickael Pietrus (33.5)
- Matt Barnes (33.3)
- Derek Fisher (32.1)
- Alonzo Gee (32.1) (restricted)
- Bill Walker (31.9)
- Michael Redd (31.8)
Honorable mention:
- A few players with solid percentages just barely missed our 50-attempt cutoff: Maurice Evans and E'Twaun Moore each shot 37.8% on 45 attempts, while Terrence Williams posted a 34.8% mark on 46 tries. Tracy McGrady, meanwhile, took just 33 threes, but made 15 of them, for a blistering 45.5%.
- A handful of players with good career averages had poor years in 2011/12. Among them: Jason Kapono (career 43.4%) and Ryan Gomes (career 35.0%).
- Matt Barnes was the only player to appear on both this list and our list of top rebounders.
Odds & Ends: Smith, Knicks, Rockets, Suns
On this date in 2004 at the Athens Olympics, Argentina won its first-ever Olympic gold medal in men's basketball and became the first country other than the United States to win the gold medal since 1988. Luis Scola had 25 points as Argentina steamrolled Italy to win it all, 84-69. Here's this afternoon's look around the Association…
- J.R. Smith's brother Chris Smith has a good chance of making the Knicks' roster, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Berman cites Smith's defensive potential and Iman Shumpert's injury as reasons why the younger Smith could be a fit.
- According to a Europa Press report (link in Spanish), Sergio Llull is happy with Real Madrid and has no intention of leaving the club. Llull, who played a major role for Spain at the Olympics in London, expressed a desire to finish his career with Real Madrid despite strong interest from the Rockets, the team that drafted him in 2009.
- As part of the team's offseason makeover, the Suns are putting a greater emphasis on player development, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes.
- Sixers coach Doug Collins says that he hopes to use Spencer Hawes in a "Pau Gasol role" alongside the newly-acquired Andrew Bynum, writes Max Rappaport of NBA.com. Collins notes that Hawes, like Gasol, has the ability to play on the perimeter thanks to his ability to shoot and pass.
- Zach Lowe of SI.com wonders how Kobe Bryant will mesh with the revamped Lakers roster in 2012/13. Bryant's elite basketball IQ and style of play could make his transition to the Princeton offense a smooth one, but he'll have to work more quickly than he's used to.
- Hawks GM Danny Ferry will bring back former coach Bob Weiss to join Larry Drew’s staff as an adviser, writes Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Former Knicks assistant Kenny Atkinson has also officially been hired as an assistant coach. Atkinson has been in talks with the club since early August.
Shelden Williams Signs With Elan Chalon
French team Elan Chalon announced that it has signed forward Shelden Williams, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (via Twitter). Williams did not land with an NBA team this offseason, despite being one of the top rebounders remaining on the open market.
The big man hooked on with the Nets just prior to the 2011/12 season and wound up starting 35 games in place of Brook Lopez, who missed the bulk of the year. Williams averaged 4.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 22 minutes per contest, forming a strong rebounding frontcourt alongside Kris Humphries. The former fifth-overall pick in the 2006 draft has spent time with seven NBA teams across six seasons.
Virgina Beach Arena Proposal Set For Today
As we heard last week, the Virginia Beach city council will hear a proposal today for a new, 18,000-seat arena that could be used to deliver a professional sports team to the city. The NBA's Sacramento Kings are rumored to be the franchise targeted by potential investors to lure to Virginia Beach. With the pitch scheduled for this afternoon, news is trickling in about the proposed arena, and we've got a round-up right here:
- Virginia governor Bob McDonnell supports the city's plan to bring a sports franchise to the city, but local officials are already expressing caution, writes Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. "If they're coming to tell us they're using their own money, I'm ecstatic," said Virginia Beach councilman John Moss. "But if they want free land or any other money, I'm not the least bit interested."
- Also within Lillis' piece, Virginia Beach councilman James Wood acknowledged that professional sports are probably something the local market is missing, but qualified that statement: "I think (the region) could support a pro sports team; I just don't know if it would make sense for us. These projects require a pretty healthy public subsidy, and I just don't know that Virginia Beach is ready to step up and do that."
- Even if city council gets behind the proposal, that hardly makes it a lock that the Kings would relocate to Virginia Beach, says Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. According to Kyler, the Kings have made no commitments or promises to any city, and are "actively listening" to several scenarios — this one just happens to be the latest.
- The Maloofs aren't helping their cause by refusing comment on the Virginia Beach rumors, writes Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.
- Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty recaps all the known info about the potential threat of Virginia Beach to Sacramento.
Kyler On Gasol, Randolph, Boozer, Heat, Perkins
In his latest NBA AM piece for HoopsWorld, Steve Kyler examines a few players that may not be a part of their respective teams' long-term plans. Let's round up the highlights from Kyler's piece….
- According to Kyler, 2012/13 is "likely [Pau] Gasol's last season with the Lakers," and some people even believe he'll be dealt by the trade deadline if Dwight Howard is healthy and dominant. However, it's more likely that the team commits to the current roster for the full season and re-evaluates things next July. Given the $19MM+ Gasol is owed in 2013/14, along with the CBA's more punitive luxury tax penalties, the odds Pau remains with the team until the end of his contract are "astronomically small," says Kyler.
- The Grizzlies shopped Zach Randolph around the time of the draft, but didn't find a suitor with serious interest. Of the Memphis players with big, long-term deals, Randolph is probably the one the team is most open to moving, says Kyler.
- Bulls sources maintained this summer that amnestying Carlos Boozer has "never been a real consideration," but the team figures to revisit that issue in future offseasons.
- Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem are both future amnesty candidates for the Heat, though Miller could end up eventually retiring for medical reasons.
- If one or more of the Thunder's big-man projects (Cole Aldrich, Hasheem Thabeet, Daniel Orton) shows promise and consistency this season, Oklahoma City could be faced with a decision on Kendrick Perkins. His contract and health questions may make him a trade or amnesty candidate, particularly if the team locks up James Harden to a big contract.