Anthony, Nuggets look ready to part ways
Carmelo Anthony(notes) wants out of Denver, and Worldwide Wes delivered that message to the Nuggets with all the delicacy of a jackhammer at Sunday morning services. Do yourself a favor and trade him, the agent told the organization weeks ago.
Denver was furnished with a short list of teams and told to get to work. Yes, this is how William Wesley and Leon Rose of CAA work now, thick with threats and ultimatums and a swagger suggesting that the sport belongs to them. After Anthony told owner-in-waiting Josh Kroenke that he still wanted out of Denver during a Sunday meeting, the Nuggets appear done trying to sell their All-Star forward on a contract extension.
This wasn’t a productive, nor particularly pleasant, meeting and multiple sources said it could turn out to be the point of no return for Anthony and the organization. Sources insist it’s no longer a matter of if the Nuggets trade Anthony, but when, where and for whom he’s traded for.
“It’s almost a given they’re going to move him,” said a front-office executive who’s talked with the Nuggets and Anthony’s agents with CAA.
While Kroenke had several severe remedies in his back pocket if the agency didn’t back off its most strident demands, sources said Thursday night that the owner never had to go that far to get CAA to work with the Nuggets. Now agent Leon Rose and Wesley are more open-minded about potential trade destinations.
Michelle Rhee Wedding to Ex-NBA Star Kevin Johnson Postponed
August 25, 2010 by owner
Filed under Relationships, Washington DC Metro
Our favorite bicoastal power couple, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, have postponed their Sept. 4 wedding – and, true to Rhee form, fired a bunch of guests.
The couple said in a statement Tuesday evening that they “under-estimated the intensity of interest in the wedding” and that it was all getting out of hand. They said the “current wedding plans are not what we had intended” and that they have “decided on a smaller, more private affair with just immediate friends and family,” at a time and place yet to be decided.
Invitations to the Sept. 4 wedding, which was slated for St. John’s Lutheran Church in Sacramento, began hitting mailboxes a few weeks ago.
Of course, speculation has already started about the meaning of the change. Politico notes that the reception had been scheduled “to take place at the home of developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, who has frequent dealings with the city of Sacramento — a fact that led the Sacramento Bee to raise the issue of a potential conflict of interest.”
The Washington Post’s Reliable Source duo is skeptical about the media glare complaint, observing that “Chelsea Clinton managed to pull off her big day, despite a smattering of media coverage.” And of course, many in D.C. have noted that the ceremony was scheduled for 10 days before a mayoral primary in which the bride is a major issue.
Maybe for once, though, the story is just what it seems. It’s entirely possible that this high-powered pair simply wants their wedding ceremony to be about themselves and their upcoming life together, not about political machinations.
Will Iverson find a home?
Allen Iverson may not have the chance to talk again about practice with an NBA team. It did not end well in Detroit. It did not end well in Memphis. And it came to a surprisingly abrupt ending in Philadelphia. Oh, there might yet be another round of reports linking Iverson to the Knicks, because that is what tabloids do. And it might actually make a small degree of sense. But Allen Iverson has never been a bit player, has never been a complementary piece. What does make sense is him playing behind a dominant point guard, where he could fill a scoring role, be himself for 10 to 12 minutes a game. There could be something to be said about New Orleans, as sort of a stop-gap Darren Collison. Or it just might be over.
Kwame Brown Reunited With Michael Jordan
August 24, 2010 by owner
Filed under Media, North Carolina News, Sports
To the surprise of countless NBA observers, Kwame Brown and Michael Jordan are together again.
A reunion that no one in the league expected after their well-chronicled difficulties in Washington will take place in Charlotte this season after Brown struck a one-year deal at the veteran minimum with the Jordan-owned Bobcats.
Mark Bartlestein, Brown’s Chicago-based agent, told ESPN.com that the sides agreed to terms Monday after Brown played the past two seasons for the Detroit Pistons.
As a nine-year veteran, Brown will earn $1.3 million next season. The 6-foot-11, 270-pound Brown appeared in 48 games last season, averaging 3.3 points and 3.7 minutes in 13.8 minutes per game.
“He really wanted to take the challenge of playing again for Michael and playing for a top coach like Larry Brown,” Bartelstein said. “I think it says a lot about Kwame that he wanted to go to Charlotte.
Attorney: Armed men were looking for Wright ; Ex NBA Star Wright Found Dead
July 30, 2010 by owner
Filed under Crime & Law, Media, Sports, Tennessee News
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Three armed men looking for Lorenzen Wright showed up at the home of the former NBA player’s ex-wife about six weeks before he was found shot to death, an attorney said Friday.
Lawyer Gail Mathes said her client, Sherra Wright, was afraid for herself and her children, so she kept quiet about the encounter until Monday. She then alerted police in the Memphis suburb of Collierville.
The men, dressed in sport coats with weapons in view, threatened Sherra Wright and her family if she told anyone about the visit, Mathes said. The attorney’s account was first reported by The Commercial Appeal.
Lorenzen Wright’s body was found Wednesday in the woods in southeast Memphis. He had been missing since July 18, when he left his ex-wife’s house around midnight with an unidentified person.
Meanwhile, police in the Memphis suburb of Germantown are reviewing how a 911 call from Wright’s cell phone was handled.
Rodney Bright, Germantown’s deputy police chief, said department officials did not know about the call until Tuesday, eight days after it was received by a dispatcher in the early morning hours of July 19.
Bright said he couldn’t discuss details of the call, which has been turned over to Memphis police.
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Wade: Lakers, not Heat, are the team to beat
July 14, 2010 by owner
Filed under Florida News, Sports
DORAL, Fla. — Dwyane Wade thinks there’s a clear favorite for the 2011 NBA championship. No, it’s not the Miami Heat.
Even after Wade signed a new six-year deal and had LeBron James and Chris Bosh added to the Miami mix, the 2006 NBA Finals MVP says the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers should be the favorites heading into next season, simply because this Heat team hasn’t proved anything yet.
“The Lakers are the champions and we know the Lakers are very good,” Wade said Wednesday at a golf tournament he co-hosts with Alonzo Mourning. “That’s the team that everyone’s shooting for and they should be. Not the Miami Heat. The Los Angeles Lakers.”
Oddsmakers in Las Vegas disagree, with some sports books establishing Miami — a 20-1 pick before Wade, James and Bosh signed — as an 8-5 choice to win next season’s title.
Wade said he still can’t believe Miami pulled off the coup of free agency, luring James and Bosh to join him. And he said he’s proud not to be the highest-paid player on the Heat, with James and Bosh signing deals worth around $111 million, while Wade took about $107 million for the next six seasons.
Wade took less, in part, to ensure Miami had enough money to re-sign Udonis Haslem, his close friend and teammate for the last seven years.
“We got the big three,” Wade said, “and now we’ve got to continue to build our team.”
He credited James with successfully recruiting center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who announced Tuesday that he’ll leave Cleveland after more than a decade and sign with the Heat this week.
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Rev. Jackson: Cavs owner put LeBron in danger
July 12, 2010 by owner
Filed under Chicago News, Florida News, Sports
CHICAGO — Jesse Jackson criticized Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert on Sunday, saying Gilbert sees LeBron James as a “runaway slave” and that the owner’s comments after the free-agent forward decided to join the Miami Heat put the player in danger.
Shortly after James announced his decision last week, Gilbert fired off an incendiary letter to Cleveland’s fans, ripping the 25-year-old and promising to deliver a title before James wins one. He called James’ decision “cowardly” and later told The Associated Press he believes James quit during a handful of Cavaliers playoff games.
“He has gotten a free pass,” Gilbert told the AP in a phone interview late Thursday night. “People have covered up for [James] for way too long. Tonight we saw who he really is.”
Jackson said Gilbert’s comments were “mean, arrogant and presumptuous.”
“He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” the reverend said in a release from his Chicago-based civil rights group, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship — between business partners — and LeBron honored his contract.”
