Showing posts with label all. Show all posts
Showing posts with label all. Show all posts
Friday, September 23, 2016
Garnett Hangs It Up
Monday, July 4, 2016
Kevin Durant to sign with Warriors
Kevin Durant to sign with Warriors
10:42 AM CT
ESPN.com news services
Kevin Durant will sign with the Golden State Warriors.
Durant announced his decision in a post on The Players' Tribune.
He will sign a two-year, $54 million contract, sources told ESPN's Marc Stein. The deal includes a player option after the first year.
The biggest catch on the free-agent market, Durant met with six teams the past three days: Oklahoma City, Golden State, San Antonio, Boston, Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers.
The 27-year-old Durant has spent all nine seasons of his career with the Thunder organization. He won the MVP in 2014, has been named first-team All-NBA five times and has made seven All-Star teams. He has appeared in four Western Conference finals and one NBA Finals, losing in five games to the Heat in 2012.
Durant bounced back last season to earn second-team All-NBA honors after undergoing three surgeries on his right foot to repair a Jones fracture suffered prior to the 2014-15 season, when he was limited to 27 games before undergoing a season-ending bone graft procedure in March. Without Durant, the Thunder missed the postseason.
With him back for 72 games last season, the Thunder improved to 55-27 and finished third in the West. The Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the opening round, upset the 67-win Spurs in six games in the second round and pushed the Warriors to seven games in the Western Conference finals.
Durant averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists last season, and he scored at least 20 points in 67 straight games.
In nine seasons, Durant is averaging 27.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Al Horford agrees to 4-year, $113M deal with Celtics!!
ESPN.com news services
Free-agent big man Al Horford has announced that he is heading to the Boston Celtics.
Horford and the Boston Celtics agreed to terms on a four-year, $113 million deal, league sources told ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
The Atlanta Hawks had offered Horford five years, $136 million, which was less than the max, the sources said.
Horford also revealed the news on his Twitter account on Saturday, posting "Celtics pride."
Horford, an unrestricted free agent, has played his entire nine-year career in Atlanta, which drafted him third overall in 2007. The four-time All-Star averaged 15.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists this past season.
After the Hawks were swept by the Cavaliers for the second straight year, Horford stressed just how much he has enjoyed playing in Atlanta and that the team still can win with some improvements to its current core.
"There are a lot of things that we need to address," Horford said of talking to his family and advisers. "But the biggest thing for me is I feel good here. I have a great relationship with coach (Mike Budenholzer). That is important to me. And my teammates.
"Atlanta is a city that welcomed me from the first day... I'm very grateful for people that have always been real positive toward me and my family. I feel good. I feel like the way the team is going, I feel like we can win here."
Horford was the topic of trade rumors at the deadline, with the Boston Celtics reportedly being among those interested.
The 6-foot-10 center, who turned 30 in June, was expected to draw interest on the free agent market for his ability to shoot from the perimeter.
Last season, Horford shot a career-high 256 3-pointers after taking a total of 65 attempts in his previous eight seasons.
"I probably got a little away from the post this year trying to expand my game and do different things," Horford said. "That is a point of emphasis that I will try to be better in the post and be able to put the ball down a little more on the floor. Being able to drive a little more. Even though I had some strides in that area this year, I think I can be even better at that."
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
NHL Approves Las Vegas Expansion
NHL approves expansion to Las Vegas with team to begin in 2017-18.
Craig Custance
ESPN Senior Writer
LAS VEGAS -- The NHL is now officially the first major professional sports league to gamble on Las Vegas.
On Wednesday, the NHL's board of governors approved expanding to this city, making the franchise the 31st team in the league.
The team will start play during the 2017-18 season.
Businessman Bill Foley, a West Point graduate, paid the $500 million expansion fee to bring NHL hockey to Las Vegas and the announcement is the culmination of two years of hard work for him that included a successful season ticket drive to prove local interest.
"I know there's a lot of work to do now," Foley told ESPN's Scott Burnside in an interview shortly before the board of governors agreed to expand to Las Vegas.
"It's taken a long time. It's been a long process. And I say that as a compliment to Gary Bettman and the league and other owners. They've all been great. But it has been a process."
The T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip will be the home of the NHL's newest expansion team in 2017-18. Ethan Miller/Getty Images for MGM Resorts International
Las Vegas will play its home games on the Vegas strip at T-Mobile Arena, an arena with a hockey capacity of 17,500 and compete in the Western Conference, which now has 15 teams compared to 16 in the East.
It's the first expansion in the NHL since the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild started play during the 2000-01 season.
The move to Las Vegas completes a longtime relationship with the city and the NHL. The NHL's postseason awards show, which will be held on Wednesday evening, have been hosted in Las Vegas since 2009. The Los Angeles Kings have played in several exhibition games in Las Vegas, including a 1991 outdoor game against the New York Rangers in the Caesars Palace parking lot.
The approval of Las Vegas temporarily puts Quebec City's hopes of landing an NHL team on hold. Quebec City was the other city to go through the NHL's formal expansion process but ultimately the league decided to settle on just one franchise for now, keeping open the option of Quebec as a relocation destination for a current NHL team.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
What went wrong for Steph Curry in the 2016 NBA Finals?
It was always going to be difficult for Steph Curry to replicate his regular season production in the playoffs. After all, Curry was coming off the greatest shooting season in NBA history. That he was able to keep up that pace through an 82-game season was remarkable; expecting him to extend that another 20 or so games may have been an unreasonable expectation.
Having said that, the drop in his production and efficiency as the postseason progressed was more significant than even the most pessimistic fan would have expected and the biggest reason the Warriors were unable to cap off their 73-win regular season with a championship.
Before we dig into the numbers in order to explain Curry’s drop-off, here are his splits between the regular season, Western Conference playoffs and NBA finals:So what’s to blame for Curry’s statistical slide? We’ve looked into NBA.com’s tracking numbers and advanced stats in order to come up with three reasons for Curry’s postseason struggles…
1. He didn’t attack the basket
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
If you look at how Curry got his shots in the regular season compared to how he got them in the postseason, you won’t find a huge difference:
The percentage of his shots that came on catch-and-shoot opportunities remained essentially the same, while his pull-up shots increased and his shots around the basket dipped. Curry traded those rim-attacking attempts for off-the-bounce jumpers.
Part of the reason Curry stopped attacking the rim may have been his lack off success. After shooting 61% around the rim during the regular season, his percentage dropped about 10%. In the Finals, he shot just 45.5% within 10 feet and had five of his 26 shots around the rim blocked. He had only 31 of his 422 shots around the rim blocked during the regular season — that’s a 270% increase in block rate.
With the paint closed off, Curry had to adjust his game, which leads us to…
2. He settled for bad jumpers
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Curry was taking and making ridiculous shots all season long. That didn’t change in the Finals. The degree of difficulty on those shots did, however. Per NBA.com, 47.0% of his regular season shot attempts were defended tightly (a defender within four feet). That number jumped to 54.8% in the Finals. His field goal percentage on such attempts also dropped 10% on such attempts.
3. He dribbled too much
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Warriors were a joy to watch during the regular season because of their free-flowing offense. Seeing them jack up all of those 3s was entertaining, but it worked because the team played unselfishly and always hunted the best possible shot. In the playoffs, the ball did not move as much as it had during the regular season, and Curry was biggest culprit in that sudden stagnation.
His shot attempts after three dribbles increased. As did his touches that lasted at least six seconds. His average touch time jumped a half-second during the postseason, per NBA.com. So Curry was not only holding the ball longer but more of his touches were resulting in shots rather than smart passes. And these weren’t the same shots he was getting in the regular season. They were far more difficult.
Curry’s final possession in Game 7 was emblematic of his postseason struggles. After a switch, he ended up isolated with Kevin Love. Instead of heading straight for the rim, Curry passes up on possible multiple driving opportunities to jack up a tightly contested pull-up 3 after dribbling side-to-side for 10 seconds.
That’s not the Curry — or Warriors offense — we saw in the regular season. Curry played as if he was being controlled by a teenager playing NBA2K, and it wasn’t very fun to watch.
Dirk Nowitzki opts out of deal with Mavs, will be free agent on July 1.
Marc Stein
ESPN Senior Writer
Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki opted out of his contract Tuesday, which will make him an unrestricted free agent July 1, according to league sources.
Sources told ESPN that Nowitzki, who faced a Wednesday deadline to either become a free agent or lock himself into an $8.7 million next season, formally notified the club of his intentions with one day to spare.
After premature reports in May that he had already come to a decision, Nowitzki weighed whether to opt in or opt out for much of the past month before ultimately deciding to return to the open market for the first time since the summer of 2014.
Yet the overwhelming expectation, both in Dallas and league-wide, is that Nowitzki intends to stay with the Mavericks, who acquired him on draft night in 1998 and have made him the focal point of their franchise ever since.
Dirk Nowitzki will become a free agent on July 1 after opting out of his deal with the Mavericks, but he is expected to return to Dallas. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
"Dirk gets to do what Dirk wants," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said during a recent public appearance. "Period, end of story.
"I told him the other day: If Dirk wants to be the head coach, we'll move Rick (Carlisle) over a little bit. Dirk's done so much for this franchise, he's earned that opportunity."
In his last public comments on the matter before leaving the country to see his brother-in-law Martin Olsson play for the Sweden, Nowitzki said earlier this month: "Since I felt great, played decent, I might opt out and sign a two- or three-year deal. That's probably the plan for now."
Nowitzki, who turned 38 on Sunday, has spent his entire 18-year career with the Mavericks, earning an MVP award, one NBA Finals MVP trophy and 13 All-Star selections. He is sixth on the NBA's all-time scoring list with 29,491 career points and is on pace to surpass Wilt Chamberlain to move into the top five at some point in the 2017-18 season as long as Nowitzki avoids significant injury.
Tuesday's decision takes Nowitzki out of the final season of his three-year, $25 million contract, which represented a steep hometown discount to provide the Mavs the salary-cap flexibility to construct a contender during Nowitzki's twilight years. The Mavs, however, have failed to get out of the first round since their 2011 title run, though Nowitzki led them in scoring again this past season.
The 7-footer from Germany has consistently maintained that he fully intends to finish his career with the Mavs, saying he'd be particularly proud to play 20 seasons with only one team. Kobe Bryant, who retired at the end of this past season after 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, is the only player in league history to spend an entire two-decade career with only one franchise.
Tim Duncan can become the second member of that club if he returns to the San Antonio Spurs next season.
Nowitzki has acknowledged that his decision to stay in Dallas would be much more difficult if the Mavs hadn't broken through to win the title in 2011. With a championship ring in his possession, Nowitzki has repeatedly said the only reason he would consider playing for another franchise is if the Mavs opted for a full-fledged rebuilding plan, which doesn't interest Cuban in the least.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
The Baltimore Ravens Release (Marijuana) Monroe, Who Says Its Due to His Position on Marijuana
The Baltimore Ravens released starting left tackle Eugene Monroe on Wednesday, the team announced on its website.
Baltimore acknowledged earlier in the week it had been seeking to trade Monroe, who has been an outspoken advocate for the NFL to remove medical marijuana from its list of banned substances.
Monroe wrote on Twitter last Friday that he believed the organization had taken issue with his stance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)