June 2010 Archives

NBA executives from coast to coast -- including those residing in the L.A. Clippers' headquarters in Playa Vista -- were officially able to begin making contacts with free agents and their representatives after 9 p.m. Pacific Time.

Here's a statement from Clippers' General Manager Neil Olshey:

"We are perfectly positioned to engage this summer's free agent marketplace and we have every intention of playing an active role. A little after midnight Easter Time on July 1, we contacted the representatives of several free agent players in whom we have interest."

"We are honored to be one of the select organizations to have been invited to meet with LeBron James and his team. At that time, we intend to present the many reasons why his joining our organization is the best possible choice he could make."

"Key among those reasons is our extraordinary nucleus of players. We have a core group in place which is made up of talented players at every position, a component which would prove attractive to any free agent."

The Los Alamitos High varsity boys basketball summer league got underway last week and runs on Mondays and Wednesdays until July 21.

Today's schedule: 4 p.m., Mayfair-Gahr; 5:15, Woodbridge-Huntington Beach; 6:30, Poly-Lakewood; 7:45, Wilson-Los Alamitos.

The Fairfax High boys' Summer Basketball Tournament gets underway this afternoon at 4 o'clock and wraps up with its championship game on Saturday at 6 p.m.

The first-round schedule:
TODAY -- 4 p.m., Crenshaw-Pasadena; 5:30, Poly-Crespi; 7, Loyola-Dorsey; 8:30, Orange Lutheran-St. Bernard.
TUESDAY -- 4 p.m., Mater Dei-Serra; 5:30, Fairfax-Santa Monica; 7, La Canada-Price; 8:30, Taft-Harvard Westlake.

There are media reports that Kentucky freshman guard Eric Bledsoe, just selected No. 18 in the first round by Oklahoma City, could be bound for the Clippers in a trade.

And the cost a "future first round pick".

If confirmed, that's a major coup -- the Clippers had Bledsoe rated as the No. 2 point guard prospect in the draft behind John Wall.

Stay tuned!

The Clippers president just offered an update on the team's pursuit of a head coach.

"By the time we get into free agency (which begins next Thursday) we should have that situation resolved,'' Andy Roeser said shortly after the team had selected Al-Farouq Aminu with the No. 8 pick in the first round of the draft.

"We've narrowed it to a short list (of candidates) and we will be having more discussions about it shortly."

Al-Farouq Aminu of Wake Forest -- the guy the Clippers pretty much had zeroed in on for the past five or six days -- just went No. 8 to the Clippers.

No surprise at all: He either starts at small forward or backs up both forward positions for the Clippers immediately.

Golden State selected 6-9ish Epke Udoh of Baylor -- more center than power forward but he will help the Warriors right away.

Detroit likely to take Greg Monroe next . . .

Three for three: Wall (Washington), Turner (Philadelphia) and Favors (New Jersey) . . . things will eventually get interesting.

Washington selects John Wall No. 1 in the NBA Draft . . . who could have imagined that?

Things will start getting dicey at about No. 6 . . .

. . . awaiting the start of the draft. I'm going to write a story about the Clippers' selections (barring trades, the No. 8 slot in the first round and No. 24 in the second round), and a column/analysis about the draft as a whole.

I'll also do my best to offer a quick comment on each first-round selection as they are made!

Stay tuned!

I've received some feedback from NBA sources on the projected draft first round that appeared in today's Press-Telegram.

Here are some updates:

*A couple of sources think Milwaukee will select Larry Sanders (6-9/VCU) at No. 15 (I had him going 16 to Minnesota.

*Indiana Pacers GM Larry Bird apparently will NOT select Gordon Hayward (6-7/Butler). I had the Pacers taking him at No. 10. He could land at No. 11 to New Orleans.

*Minnesota (which holds three first-round picks) may select Quincy Pondexter (6-6/Washington) with the third of those at No. 23.

*Atlanta could select guard Jordan Crawford (6-3/Xavier) at No. 24.

*A franchise with multiple first-round selections (Minnesota, Memphis, Oklahoma City and New Jersey) is likely to use one of the picks on Hassan Whiteside (6-11/Marshall).

*I had Paul George (6-8/Fresno State) going at No. 20 to San Antonio. Multiple sources believe he will be tabbed earlier.

Check this blog frequently today and tonight for draft-related updates.

A series of lithographs, autographed by John R. Wooden and many of his best players at UCLA, including Hall of Fame members Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, are available for purchase, with some of the proceeds going to charities Wooden supported, according to San Fernando Valley businessman Mike Targon.

For details, go to www.uclalegends.net and contact Targon at (818) 207-9337.

Point guard Alexis Moore, who helped the Poly High boys' basketball team to a 28-5 record this past season as a junior, has committed to sign a letter of intent with USC in November, he said this afternoon.

Moore , who averaged 11 points and five assists as a junior, played in the Trojans' "Elite Camp" in the Galen Center on Friday and then played with his Poly teammates during USC's "Team Camp" Saturday and Sunday.

Obviously, his play impressed USC Head Coach Kevin O'Neill. The Trojans' coaching staff requested that Moore forward his Poly transcript to the school this morning.

O'Neill must have also liked what he saw of Moore's transcript -- he has a 3.78 grade point average.

The coaches told Moore Sunday that a scholarship offer was likely to come. And, ``just an hour ago'', according to Moore, it did by way of a telephone call from O'Neill.

"I did a lot of tossing and turning last night (in bed, while thinking about the USC offer that was about to come)," Moore said. "I've always liked USC. They were the first 'major' school to show a lot off interest in me. Once he (O'Neill) offered, I figured there was no sense in dragging it (his recruiting) out any longer. I'm just happy to get this over so I can continue to focus on getting better and helping us accomplish our goals of winning the big two -- CIF and state championships -- next season at Poly."

Moore is the third Southland player from the class of 2011 to commit to O'Neill and the Trojans, along with 6-4 Byron Wesley (Etiwanda) and 6-2 Gelaun Wheelwright (Corona Centennial).

Funeral services for Bob Seymour will be held next Saturday morning at 11 o'clock at California Heights United Methodist Church (3759 Orange Ave.) in Long Beach.

Seymour, a basketball standout at Poly High, Long Beach City College and Long Beach State who taught in the Long Beach Unified School District for 31 years before retiring in 1989, died Thursday at age 77 of cancer-related complications.

According to his son, Kent Seymour, a reception ``celebrating his life'' will be held, following the service, in the Bob Seymour Gymnasium at Stanford Middle School (5871 E. Los Arcos).

The Lakers clearly had the best personnel and the best team in November and that was still the case tonight.

Let's see if Pau Gasol gets the Finals MVP award ... yeah, I'm kidding. Gasol played one of the great championship finals of all time but no one the voters have the guts to give it to anyone but Kobe.

If I'm Phil Jackson, I'm darn pleased to be only trailing by four points going into the quarter.

Kobe five of 20 from the field with one assist? And the Lakers are only down by four?

The Celtics are going to have to play much, much better in the fourth quarter to get out of L.A. with a title.

After falling behind by 14 points, the Lakers have reeled off eight points in a row, in large part because they are getting both better player and ball movement -- the ball is no longer dying in Kobe's hands.

This puppy could be going down to the wire . . .

Why aren't the commentators "commenting" on the poor quality of shots Kobe keeps firing up? He three of 16 from the field and he needs to relax, stay within offense. The way he is doing it now isn't working.

Boston leads, 40-34, at intermission. Neither squad has shot well and it's difficult to believe that will remain the case in the second half.

The Lakers are shooting poorly -- and Kobe is taking too many bad shots. I'm sure there will be a better offensive offensive flow for the Lakers over the final 24 minutes.

The Lakers are playing but each team is missing a lot of "makeable" (aka "wide open") jump shots.

FYI: If Ranjon Rondo is truly ever going to challenge for "I'm the best point guard in the league!" bragging right, he's going to have to spend a whole lot of off-season work on that jump shot and his free-throw touch.

The Celtics certainly recovered very nicely -- so far -- from the blowout loss in Game 6 and lead by nine points after one quarter.

They were battered on the offensive glass early tonight but started clearing defensive rebounds and converting with some very efficient offensive execution.

Kobe Bryant hunted shots in the first quarter (he missed six of seven attempts). He needs to settle down and get teammates involved. He'll get plenty of much easier attempts that way.

The Lakers are cruising by 20 points with a little less than two minutes to go in the quarter and only the greatest collapse in the franchise's history can prevent a Game 7 on Thursday night.

The question is: How much of a rally can the Celtics mount in order to just make this game "competitive" and go into Thursday night with a lot more confidence than they are playing with right now?

The Lakers are up six (18-12) on the Celtics and playing well offensively.

That was a heck of a play in transition by Pau Gasol to finish that layup. Kobe is knocking in shots without "hunting" them.

That injury (knee) doesn't look good for Kendrick Perkins.

Poly burst out to a big early lead and never let the host Monarchs get closer than within 10 points in the second half to prevail, 65-47, in the title game of the Mater Dei Tournament tonight.

Senior guards Alex Carmon (20 points in the championship game) and Alexis Moore (nine points and a bunch of assists) were outstanding throughout the three-day event.

Led by seniors-to-be Alexis Moore, Alex Carmon and Chris Camper, the Poly High Jackrabbits just knocked off Moore League rival Compton, 76-44, in the other semifinal of the Mater Dei Tournament.

So, if you want to bail on the Lakers-Boston game a bit early, Poly hooks up with the host Monarchs for the championship at 7:30. Admission is $5.

Other games worth checking out: Los Alamitos vs. Corona Centennial for fifth place at 6 o'clock (side court).

The Monarchs cruised past Upland, 77-53, in the first of the Mater Dei High Boys Summer Basketball Tournament semifinals this afternoon.

Poly and Compton are warming up and will tip off in the second at 3.

Foes from the Moore League hook up in one of the semifinals of the Mater Dei Boys Basketball Summer Tournament this afternoon in Santa Ana.

The Poly Jackrabbits face the Compton Tarbabes at 3 o'clock, following the first semifinal between the host Monarchs and Upland at 1:30.

Teams are made up of non-current seniors.

The championship game is set for 7:30 with the third-place game scheduled to tip off at 6.

In a fifth-place semifinal at 1:30 (in the "old" Mater Dei gym, also on campus, opposed to the spiffy Murello Athletic Center) Los Alamitos -- a 71-61 loser to Mater Dei Saturday night -- faces Crespi.

Poly has rolled over Sonora, The Colony and Santa Margarita despite playing without starters Ryan Anderson and Roschon Prince, out of town for other basketball events.

Here is today's second-round schedule (winners' bracket) of the Mater Dei Boys Basketball Summer Tournament:

1:30 p.m.: Poly-The Colony (Ct. 3), Mater Dei-Palm Desert (Ct. 2); 3, Los Alamitos-Huntington Beach (Ct. 2), Los Osos-Santa Margarita (Ct. 3); 4:30, Corona Centennial-Orange Lutheran (Ct. 3), Capistrano Valley-Crespi (Ct. 2); 6, Poly-The Colony winner vs. Los Osos-Santa Margarita winner (Ct. 2); 7:30, Mater Dei-Palm Desert winner vs. Los Alamitos-Huntington Beach winner (Ct. 2); 9, Compton vs. Corona Centennial-Orange Lutheran winner (Ct. 2).

Here is the schedule for the first set of six games (all beginning at 9 a.m.) during Saturday's Nike Air Strike Passing Tournament at Dana Hills High in Dana Point.
Field 1A: Mater Dei-Dana Hills; Field 2A: Los Alamitos-Loyola; Field 1B: Servite-Tesoro; Field 2B: Roosevelt-Narbonne; Field 3: Edison-San Clemente; Field 4: Poly-St. John Bosco.

Pool play wraps at noon, with "playoffs" beginning at 1. The championship is set for 3 p.m.

Poly football coach Raul Lara's Jackrabbits will hold their spring football game Friday afternoon, on campus, at 4 o'clock.

Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for students and children younger than 12 are admitted free.

When has there been a day in college sports with so much going outside of actual game competition?

In no particular order:

*The USC football program takes a massive hit (a two-year post-season ban, a 30-scholarship hit over three academic years) from the NCAA. Unless at least half off the post-season game ban is overturned and a hefty hunk of the scholarship reduction is restored on appeal, the Trojans aren't going to be serious contenders for conference titles -- much less BCS crowns -- for a large hunk of this decade.

*The conference structure as we've known it in recent years is being disassembled: the Big 12 (with Colorado bound for the Pac-10 and Nebraska apparently headed for the Big Ten) could be history in a manner of days, unless the Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State resist the temptation of also joining the conference soon to be formerly known as the "Pac-10)".

And if they can't, what becomes of Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State?

*Tom Izzo of Michigan State -- who is as good a coach as there is in college basketball -- is apparently strongly considering taking the coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Geez . . . and where are all of those folks who, especially in the Oklahoma City series that started the playoffs, continually harped on Phil Jackson for playing Derek Fisher -- the guy that everyone (but Jackson and his teammates) apparently wanted to throw under the bus in order to give Shannon Brown and/or Jordan Farmar extended minutes in the backcourt?

He may not be the speediest guard in the NBA but he's a critical piece to the Lakers' hopes of winning another title.

And he's a viable reason why Kobe Bryant has a much, much stronger cast of players around him than does any other "superstar" in the NBA.

Could you ever imagine LeBron James going 10 of 29 from the field (as Bryant did Tuesday night) and Cleveland beating anyone in the playoffs, much less a team the caliber of Boston on the road?

That's why the Lakers are far and away the best "team" in the NBA.