Month: February 2014

Kings execute trade with Brooklyn

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings and the Brooklyn Nets completed a trade on Wednesday that brings guard Jason Terry and forward Reggie Evans to the Kings in exchange for guard Marcus Thornton.

“Adding Jason and Reggie provides our roster with toughness and veteran leadership that will help this team continue to grow,” said D’Alessandro. “They bring a wealth of NBA experience to Sacramento that will undoubtedly make a positive impact on our younger players. We also thank Marcus for his contributions and wish him great success going forward.”

Terry is a 15 year veteran who has played with Atlanta, Dallas, Boston and Brooklyn. He was a member of the 2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. Terry has averaged 4.5 points per game, 1.1 rebounds per game and 1.6 assists in a very limited role for the Nets.

Evans is a 12 year NBA veteran who has played in Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, Toronto, Los Angeles (Clippers) and Brooklyn. He is known as a tenacious rebounder and as a player who hustles on the court. Evans has averaged 2.7 points per game and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Thornton was in his fourth season as a King and was having a disappointing year. He was shooting under 40.0% from the field. Thornton is averaging 8.3 points per game.

The trade should create more playing time for Kings’ rookie guard Ben McLemore.

Kings downtown arena: Anti arena group and pro arena groups ready to rumble over subsidy vote

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Anti arena groups, Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) and Voters for a Fair Arena Deal and pro arena groups Sacramento Sierra Building and Construction Trade Council, The Greater Sacramento Urban League, and the Sacramento Aea Congregations Together, along with the city of Sacramento are ready for a legal show down over a proposed ballot measure over the subsidy to help finance a new Kings arena at the downtown plaza which would ask the question on the ballot if public funds should be used to build the new Kings arena.

STOP has argued that petitions gathered are legal and binding and that STOP who helped get the petitions signed say that they have the legal amount of signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. The Sacramento city clerk’s office has rejected the ballots because the legal wording was flawed.

The anti arena groups say they are not opposed to the building of the arena but the subsidy cost of $258 million far exceeds what the public should pay hence asking the finance question on the upcoming June election ballot. Both STOP and the Voters for a Fair Arena Deal have filed a lawsuit opposing the county clerk’s decision to null and void the ballots the case was filed on January 29th.

A court decision is expected to be made this week by Judge Timothy Frawley, the group known as The4000 a group which is financially supported by the Kings. The4000 in this legal fight say that it’s not just the legal wording in the petitions that are flawed.

The4000 point out that Seattle hedge fund manager Chris Hansen who tried to move the Kings from Sacramento to Seattle and lost that effort when the NBA Board of Commissioners elected to keep the Kings in Sacramento say that Hansen who secretly donated $100,000 to STOP’s effort to get the petition drive going and the money was funneled through an L.A. law firm who supported STOP.

The4000 argued that Hansen did not legally disclose himself as the financial supporter of the petitions and that he was later fined $50,000 for failing to do so. Hansen’s alleged motives were to finance STOP and step back into the shadows as to not offend the NBA Board of Governors so he could have another shot at either buying or establishing an NBA team in Seattle. Although the NBA has not come out and said as much Hansen more than likely has hurt his chances of getting an NBA team by financing the ballot measure.

STOP has said that they did not know that Hansen had donated the $100,000 for the campaign but The4000 have made it clear that Hansen had come to them asking them to destroy the petition signatures so he could clear his name. STOP says they have enough signatures to get the initiative on the ballot for June.

Stay tuned we’ll have Judge Frawley’s decision as soon as that story breaks this week.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors new arena developments for Sportstalk radio

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: NBA All-Star game maybe was an exhibtion but the fans love the game

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That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

Unlike Major League Baseball which the All-Star game in the last seven years means something if the American League or the National League wins the game, the winning league gets to host the World Series. It’s always great to open the World Series at home which is an advantage. MLB is very smart for doing that format because it means something. In the NBA which just completed their All-Star game last Sunday it doesn’t mean anything.

A high scoring game is what the fans want and everybody likes defense too, the average fan about 90 percent maybe more loves the 20 footers, the blocks by LeBron and they got what they wanted a big scoring game which was won by the East 163-155. In the NBA this was only an exhibition and it was good for the game.

The Warriors Stephen Curry had a double double in the game and Curry is a solid star and one of the best players in the league. If Curry was playing in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago he would get more publicity. We all know who he is in the Bay Area but he’s not well known across the country. When people across the country are asked whose among the ten best players in the NBA his name doesn’t come up but that doesn’t mean he’s not one of the top ten players.

Although people don’t mention his name Curry is a great player and everyone in the Bay Area knows he plays for Golden State and it was good to see him getting the double double and nothing he does surprises me. He’s a terrific player espeically when he’s on which is all the time.

New arena for Warriors update: We in the Bay Area know that building a sports arena whether it’s for basketball or baseball in San Francisco is not an easy task. Look what happened to the 49ers they left San Francisco for little known Santa Clara. The Giants for example took many years to get approval to build Pacific Bell Park and they built it with private money.

The Warriors are in for a rude awakening in trying to get the arena built at piers 30-32 at the waterfront. Warrior owners Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber are realizing it’s not like in Los Angeles when you can build a new arena in downtown and you can find a space and make it happen.

For example the baseball Los Angeles Angels are not too happy with the city of Anaheim. Angels owner Artie Moreno doesn’t have an agreement with the city and their are strong rumors that the Angels might move to downtown L.A. The Angels would like to build the new stadium where the Staples Center is down there by Figueroa Street that would be a nightmare for traffic. The NFL also likes the Staples Center site in L.A.

I mention L.A. because I work half the summer in the Southland and it’s the largest area in California there’s room where you can build but in San Francisco it is almost like sacred land. Anybody who’s in real estate knows that anything in the city is very expensive. The environmentalists and many groups oppose the Warriors buidling an arena at the Embarcadero waterfront. Its a very, very, difficult area to build a new arena because of all the red tape and hoops they would have to jump through.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland A’s baseball and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk radio

East prevails in NBA All-Star Game

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By George Devine, Sr.

The midseason classic of the NBA surpassed the title of the late sportswriter Leonard Koppett’s book “24 Seconds to Shoot”. The New York Times scribe, narrating the foundation of the league, was illustrating the conscious desire for a fast-paced game, with the hope that most games would end in triple-digit scores. In a game where pride is the object, and the best from the league compete against one another, caution is thrown to the winds and the shot clock seldom goes into double digits. Not only that, but the evening is full of slam dunks and alley-oops all adding to the excitement for the crowds both in the arena and watching on television.

This time, after three losses, it was the East that won, 163-155,enjoying a 10-0 run at the end even though the West led by 18 at one point. A key player in the victory was Carmelo Anthony who achieved an ASG record with 8 from beyond the 3-point line, as part of his 30-point total. Kyrie Irving had 31 and contributed 14 assists; he was voted the MVP for the East. LeBron James had 22 points, 7 rebounds — all but one on defense — and 7 assists.

The West actually outscored the East in the first period, 44-42 and in the second, 45-34. But in the latter two quarters the East pulled ahead. One element was their perfect free throw record of 9-9, as opposed to the West’s 9-12. The East also dominated on field goals, scoring 60.9% over the West’s 51.2%. On three-pointers the East also led, 31.8% to 28.6%.

Paul George added to the East’s totals with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Marquette alumnus Dwayne Wade had 10 points, 1 offensive rebound and 4 assists.

For the West, Kevin Durant scored 38 points as did Blake Griffin. Durant had 10 boards as well. Stephen Curry had 12 points and 11 assists. Kevin Love had 13 points and 9 rebounds, all but one on defense. Chris Paul had 11 points with 13 valuable assists, and Anthony Davis scored 10.

Stanford Remains Unbeaten at Home

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By Joe Lami

Stanford (24-2,13-1) returned to action just two days after one of their most impressive performances of the season, defeating the Arizona State Sun Devils 61-35.  On Sunday, the sixth ranked Cardinal played host to the struggling Arizona Wildcats (5-20, 1-13).  Stanford defeated Arizona 74-48.

Arizona was coming into the contest with just five wins on the season, with a record of 5-19.  Only one of those wins has come in Pac-12 play.  The Wildcats started the game strong as they got the first bucket of the afternoon.  They would be able to keep up with the Cardinal for the first 5:30 of the game.  The game was tied at 11-11 before the Cardinal would take over.  Stanford would go on a ten minute 24-4 run before Arizona would hit their next field goal.  Arizona was only able to mustard up another field goal and two free throws to end the half.  Stanford was on top at the half by the score of 48-19.

Stanford would cruise to victory in the second half.  Arizona outscored the Cardinal in the second half 29-26.  However, Stanford played their reserves for most of the second half.  Chiney Ogwumike, who plays as much time as possible, only saw 22 minutes in the win, being her season low on minutes played this season.  The starter who saw the most minutes played was Amber Orrange, and she capped out at 24 minutes.

Bonnie Samuelson led the Cardinal in scoring with 17 points, 15 of which came from beyond the arc.  Ogwumike finished with 15 points.  Lili Thompson and Orrange both had nine points in the game.  Orrange also had an astonishing nine assists.

Only six Wildcats played for Arizona.  Candice Warthen, Kama Griffitts and Keyahndra Cannon all played 40 minutes.  LaBrittney Jones led the team in scoring with 11 points.  She was the only Wildcat to get into double digits in scoring.

The Cardinal will finish off the road portion of their schedule next weekend as they travel to Los Angeles to take on USC on Friday and UCLA on Sunday.

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca on the NCAA: Bears bring two game win streak against LA schools this week

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by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

BERKELEY–When Cal had to play Washington State at Pullman last Wednesday for a four point 80-76 win over the Cougars it was not an easy win. They had to fly and drive through some tough weather to get to Washington State and take the long bus ride from the Spokane airport to get there. Richard Solomon in that game had 12 points and nine rebouds to help lead the Golden Bears to the win.

Cal has such a balanced team that it’s hard to point to any one guy, but if you did its the Bears Justin Cobbs he’s a senior he’s moving up the all time scoring list at Cal. Solomon has been a barometer when they beat number one Arizona at Cal when they pulled off the big upset. Cobbs was 6-6 and four nights after that against Stanford he goes 0-6 and they lose. So here’s somebody that is a barometer of winning and losing.

The game against Washington State Cobbs had a fine game, the Bears hurt the Cougars in Pullman with the inside production Cobbs and David Kravish had big games. The Bears went onto Seattle and deomoed the Washington Huskies 72-59 and the Bears who were not playing consistent basketball when they lost games to teams like Arizona State and Stanford and turned it around and won both games in Washington is consistent basketball.

The wins comes on the heels of the four loses in five games and luckily the team has done enough so their in the picture. The Bears are in the hunt for a post season bid, an NCAA bid, if they continue to play well they’ve got six games left and they’ve been anything but consistent but if they can win down the stretch four out of six they should have an NCAA bid waiting for them.

From the coaching aspect Cal head coach Mike Montgomery has got his team to respond and if anything a kid would criticize that he’s serious all the time but that’s his job. Montgomery is a guy whose suppose to provide leadership and the team spirit at half time when he speaks to the players at half time. He expects the guys to come out and respond.

They follow the scouting reports which are always detailed and most of the time it works out and in this particular case the trip to Washington was sparked by the end of half runs. 19-2 against Washington on Saturday and then 14-2 against Washington State on Wednesday.

Right before half time the Bears were able to make up some deficits and take some leads to the half so if it’s before half time or after half time coach Montgomery gets his players to respond. Right now the Bears have to keep winning and if they want a post season bid they’ve got to keep winning. Cal has enough marquee wins so UCLA steps right out and facing them this Wednesday at Haas and should give Cal a chance to get a marquee win.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips are filling in for Michelle Richardson this week for the NCAA commentary both also cover the Cal Bears

Warriors commentary: W’s might look for bench strength before the trade deadline

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Warriors need to begin the second half of this NBA season with a good start and work on the consistency on this team. That wasn’t the case or the issue against Miami last Wednesday night at Oracle it was a nail biter right down to the buzzer beater by LeBron to win it for Miami.

The Warriors have to make sure that they stay in these games a little bit more and keep it close. They were down by 19 at one point to Miami and they still managed to come back and make it a game against the NBA champs.

The Warriors ended up losing it by one 111-110 on crazy three pointer by LeBron James at the buzzer. The Warriors don’t want to get down by 19 ever to anybody whether it’s the Heat or anybody else, whether it’s the best team in the league or the worse team in the league you want to keep it close at all times that’s what the Warriors have to work on or maybe they should take a 19 point lead themselves.

You have to give the Warriors a little bit of credit they were playing without any of their starting centers. Andrew Bogut, Jermain O’Neal, and they were a little thin up front and once these guys get healthy and when center Festus Ezeli comes back from his injury they’ll have a lot more defensive presence up front.

The Warriors are looking to have more depth up front to help them down the stretch, that will be a big factor as the Warriors go forward. In the second half the Warriors will look at the trade deadline coming up so they might be looking for a little bit of bench help. Their starting five is as good as anybody in the league but their bench is really bad.

During the course of the season the bench has gotten a little bit better with the addition of Jordan Crawford but their still struggling. You like to see Harrison Barnes doing a bit more off the bench, Draymond Green has been very good, he’s improved a lot this season and he was already pretty good.

Barnes is the guy you’d like to see and the Warriors expect to see a lot of him in the second half. Barnes has been all over the place, there have been a few games where he has come off the bench and has been a real spark plug for the most part. Barnes hasn’t really found his place in that offensive set coming off the bench.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Brown’s 30 points lead Cardinal past WSU

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, February 15, 2014

Unofficially, it was Anthony Brown Night at Wallis Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Wash., on Saturday.

Brown bagged a game-high 30 points for Stanford, leading the Cardinal to a much-needed 69-56 Pac-12 men’s basketball victory over Washington State.

Brown was sizzling all night, hitting 8 of 10 field goals (including 4 of 6 3-pointers) and sinking 10 of 11 foul shots. Chasson Randle helped out with 14 points and four assists. As a team, the Cardinal hit 18 of 41 for 44 percent, including 6 of 16 behind the 3-point arc, while handing Washington State its fourth straight loss.

Stanford (16-8 overall, 7-5 Pac-12) outrebounded the Cougars 32-29, led by Josh Huestis with 11 boards and Dwight Powell with seven.

Davonte Lacy and Que Johnson each scored 14 points for Washington State (9-16, 2-11), with D.J. Shelton adding 11 points. WSU shot only 31 percent from the floor (16 of 51) and was a dismal 9 of 29 from 3-point range.

The Cardinal opened the game with a 14-3 run and never trailed, as Brown hit 20 of his points in the first half. When Stanford went cold to start the second half, the Cougars tried to take advantage and cut their deficit to 49-44 with 9:17 remaining.

But that was as close as Washington State would get, as the Cardinal pulled away by sinking 9 of 12 from the free throw line in the last four minutes.

Stanford converted nine Cougar turnovers into 17 points, and had a 20-12 scoring edge in the lane.

Next weekend, Stanford hosts the LA schools. Southern California visits Maples Pavilion at 8 p.m., Thursday, while UCLA comes in for a 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon contest.

(Category Stanford Cardinal)

(TAGS: Stanford,Cardinal,basketball,Pac-12,Anthony Brown)

Southern team wins Inaugural Central California Cup

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By Pearl Allison Lo

The Los Angeles Galaxy won 2-1 over the San Jose Earthquakes in Fresno’s pre-friendly Saturday.

San Jose remained winless in preseason despite the 1906 Ultras supporting them in person.

The game was a sellout with 12,659 fans. Chukchansi Park holds 12,500.

The Earthquakes’ reserve team lost 2-1 to the Fresno Fuego of the Premier Development League before the game. The Galaxy II beat the Fuego 2-1 Thursday.

Los Angeles goalie Brian Perk and San Jose’s Billy Schuler had an audible collision going for the ball in front of the net. Both were approached afterwards by their team members and play resumed.

The Galaxy’s Marcelo Savas scored the first half’s goal in the 31st minute. The Earthquakes’ Jon Busch stopped a chance from him in the 15th minute.

Teammate Gyasi Zardes took a scoring pass from Landon Donovan to double their lead in the 54th minute.

Zardes had another chance soon after that went just high. Busch dove to stop Zardes to open the second half.

San Jose’s goal came in the 67th minute, with Josh Morton aided by Sam Garza’s corner.

The Earthquakes came close to tying afterwards in the 75th minute and near the end.

Game notes: After San Jose’s Clarence Goodson and Chris Wondolowski returned to play last game, they were absent in this one. The Earthquakes’ next preseason friendly will be February 23 at 5p as they partake in the Rose City Invitational against the Portland Timbers first.

To Be Or Not To Be On The World Stage: Olympic Hockey

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By Mary Walsh

Should the NHL allow players to participate in future Olympics? Should Women’s ice hockey be in the Olympics at all? Those two questions keep being asked and not answered, perhaps because they are only really asked every four years or so. Or perhaps it is because they are silly questions.

It seems like the NHL has been saying it for a long time, that this will be the last time they send their players to the Olympics. They have good, solid business reasons for not liking the interruption to their season. Players risk injury outside the risks they are under contract to take. The NHL schedule is disrupted and condensed, viewership is not guaranteed, especially when the games take place at 4:30 am for some of the audience. The benefits of being seen at the Olympic party are difficult to calculate. Perhaps the money is better spent promoting the Stanley Cup Playoffs or a dozen outdoor games.

Hogwash.

Even the most lukewarm sports fans notice the Olympics, but they might not notice the NHL’s absence from them. That is not the Olympic committee’s fault, that is the NHL’s fault. The NHL has work to do, markets to grow. It is preposterous for the NHL to not want to be on the most global of stages.

Hockey is one of the few team sports in the Winter Olympics. Technically, bobsledding, curling and relays are team sports, but it is not the same. The bobsledders don’t have to contend with other bobsledders ramming them off the track. Most of the Olympic “teams” compete primarily with themselves, a clock, or a judge’s opinion. They take the stage in very small groups or as individuals.

This makes hockey stand out. The spectacle of uniformed groups in active, face to face competition contrasts sharply with the other Winter Olympic events. If the NHL does not see how valuable this is to growth in their market, they are very foolish.

Perhaps the NHL will never have the resources to expand to a global market, but that is no reason to snub the rest of the world.

The NFL doesn’t do Olympics. Major League Baseball doesn’t do Olympics. Basketball and hockey do. Is that why they are smaller than the other two? Is the secret to success to take an isolationist position?

Throw the other football into that mix, the fanatical, globally thriving market that is called soccer here, and the US market looks like small potatoes. Yes, football and baseball have the biggest piece of the local pie but there is more pie, bigger pies to be had. Perhaps the NHL should be thinking even bigger than the big American fish.

Pro soccer goes to the Olympics, after a fashion. Their refusal to allow all professionals to compete equally has resulted in unimpressive Olympic records for some of the historically strongest soccer nations. That is what the NHL could look forward to, which would be good news for Slovenia, Latvia, Switzerland and Germany. Maybe France could finally get a shot at a spot in the tournament, even a medal.

If the NHL did pull their players from the Olympics, would it be worth alienating some players for the sake of one interruption every four years? What if Alexander Ovechkin insisted on going, no matter what the NHL said? Would they suspend him? How many players could they suspend? It could make for a very interesting, different kind of interruption to the season.

For women playing hockey at the Olympics, the question is different. The utter lack of parity between North America and the rest of the world makes the tournament somewhat predictable and less interesting for any audience outside Canada and the US. Or does it?

Does a nation like Japan take pride and interest in their team, even if they have next to no chance of winning a game? Watching the Japanese women bow to each other after scoring a goal, how could anyone suggest that they did not belong there? It is an enormous thing to have more women, in more places, playing hockey. It is bigger than the sport. We have a moral imperative to promote the expression of women’s achievements in all fields right next to those of men.

No matter what the NHL decides to do, no one is talking about dropping men’s hockey from the Olympics. Yet they do discuss dropping the women’s tournament. Hockey for women is still in a fledgling stage in most countries. This is only the fifth time women have played hockey at the Olympics. If countries are prepared to send teams to World Championships and qualifying tournaments, it would be outrageously petty and mean to not let them compete at the Olympics. If the NHL, as the biggest advocate for hockey, is serious about growing interest and its audience, they cannot ignore half of the population.

Many women will watch even if they do not play, just as men who do not play still watch. But if many people prefer to watch sports they also play, there is no reason that should be less true of women than of men. Professional contact sports for women are not likely to make money any time soon. Today, the Olympics are as far as a woman can go in hockey, so let them go. Let them play too, and dream of big games, and enjoy watching the NHL all the more.