Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Carmelo to the Knicks

The Denver Nuggets have finally completed their long-awaited trade to send Carmelo Anthony(notes) to the New York Knicks.

To acquire Anthony, the Knicks are sending Danilo Gallinari(notes), Raymond Felton(notes), Wilson Chandler(notes), the Knicks’ 2014 first-round pick, two second-round picks New York acquired from the Golden State Warriors in the David Lee sign-and-trade and $3 million. The Knicks will also trade Anthony Randolph(notes) and Eddy Curry’s(notes) expiring contract to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who will send Corey Brewer(notes) to New York. The Knicks will receive Anthony, Chauncey Billups(notes), Shelden Williams(notes), Renaldo Balkman(notes) and Anthony Carter.

The Nuggets requested on Saturday that the Knicks also include center Timofey Mozgov(notes) in their trade package and New York complied.

***

2011 Trade Deadline Tracker

Kelly Dwyer analysis

Friday, February 18, 2011

Dick Tomey returns to UH

In his last official appearance at the University of Hawaii before leaving to become head football coach at Arizona, a tearful, emotion-choked Dick Tomey vowed "... someday, when it is all over, we'll come back."

At the time — 1987 — we thought he meant eventually returning to live here in retirement.

But today, 24 years later, Tomey's return is to be announced as an assistant coach at UH.

At the grandfatherly age of 72, Tomey remains hardly the retiring type and will return to a program that he coached for a decade (1977-86), rebuilding it after a tumultuous turnover and guiding it through the infancy of Western Athletic Conference membership. It is an association he has long compared to "having your first child and watching that child grow."

That paternal pride and considerable investment figures to serve him and the Warriors well in what should be his new assignment, coordinating UH's special teams after the departure of Chris Tormey.

It was in Tomey's tenure as head coach that UH special teams gained a highly visible and popular game-breaking reputation in Manoa. He preached "all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams" with such a frequency and fervor that even youth league coaches in the 1980s came to parrot it. And the commitment was more than token.

Fans might not have always loved his offenses, but they exulted in the daring special teams play and kick-blocking ferocity of Tomey's teams. The kind that Niko Noga and Mike Akiu became poster players for in a record-setting stuffing of kicks and punts. Many marks, including Akiu's six blocks in a season, still stand.

To see Tomey around UH since the end of a head coaching career at Arizona and San Jose State and an NFL stint has been to glimpse someone for whom the passion to coach still flows and who still has much to offer as a motivator and painstaking instructor. As recently as three years ago UH officials contacted Tomey to gauge his interest in returning to Manoa as June Jones' successor.

These days the charge is special teams, where there is ample room for improvement in several areas, especially kickoff and punt returns, where UH has lagged in recent years.

And, if there is any place a 72-year-old coach should feel at home this fall, it would be at UH, a golden candidate for AARP staff of the year.

When the season rolls around, barring additional changes, the 10-man coaching staff could average more than 50 years old, even with two of the youngest coordinators, Nick Rolovich, who will be 32, and Dave Aranda, who will be 34, in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.

Five men — head coach Greg McMackin, who turns 66, and assistants Mouse Davis (78), Tomey (73), Cal Lee (66) and Gordy Shaw (55) — sometime this year will be able to claim senior discounts. And an AARP card will soon be in the mail for associate head coach Rich Miano, who reaches 49 by the season opener.

Not to mention the marketing possibilities that could come UH's way with Ensure and senior bus passes.

When Tomey left for Arizona, he termed the time spent at UH as "the greatest experience of my life ..."

Nearly a quarter-century later he's back with an opportunity to add to it.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Cavaliers win

CLEVELAND (AP) — Daniel Gibson slipped an expensive gold chain over his head and touched its dangling diamond-studded medallion.

Looking up at the crush of cameras, he took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I can smile again," he beamed. "It feels pretty good. Winning is a precious feeling."

The losing streak — so long, so embarrassing, so hard to stop — is over.

Finally. Barely.

Nearly two months after it started innocently, the Cavaliers stopped their NBA-record skid at 26 games Friday night with a 126-119 win in overtime against the Los Angeles Clippers, who did all they could to extend Cleveland's winter misery.

The Cavs, who had become a national joke as the losses piled up, won for the first time since Dec. 18 and just the second time in 38 games. They had to go an extra five minutes to ensure they didn't set the mark for the longest skid in pro sports history.

They'll gladly settle with tying the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the worst streak among the four major sports.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Chuck Tanner

Chuck Tanner, who managed the Pittsburgh Pirates to one of the greatest comebacks in World Series history, has died. He was 82.

The Pirates said Tanner's family informed them of his death on Friday at his home in New Castle, Pa., after a long illness.

Before his 17 years in the big leagues, Tanner managed the Hawaii Islanders, leading the AAA franchise to their first Pacific Coast League title in 1970.

That team won the Southern Division title and drew a then minor-league best 467,217 at the old Honolulu Stadium, which is now a park in Moiliili. The Islanders lost the overall title to Northern Division champion Spokane, which featured manager Tommy Lasorda and star player Bobby Valentine. The Islanders broadcaster then was Al Michaels.

Tanner left the Islanders and began his illustrious major league career in late September 1970 with the Chicago White Sox.

Tanner managed the White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Pirates and Atlanta Braves during his 17-year career, winning 1,352 games. His crowning achievement came in 1979, when his "We Are Family" Pirates rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles for the World Series championship.

Facing elimination in Game 5, Tanner awoke that morning to learn his mother had died in a nursing home. He remained with the team, made all the right moves, and the Pirates outscored the Orioles 15-2 in sweeping the final three games.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Jerry Sloan resigns after 23 seasons

After repeated clashes with star point guard Deron Williams and a belief he had become undermined with ownership, Jerry Sloan resigned as the Utah Jazz coach after 23 seasons, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The increasingly contentious relationship between Sloan and Williams boiled over when they clashed at halftime of a loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night. The showdown between Sloan and Williams became so heated on Wednesday, at least two Jazz players feared that the coach and star could come to blows – even though the confrontation ended before reaching that point.

Sloan, 68, had agreed to a one-year contract extension in the past week but his growing frustration became public after a long meeting with Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor following the team’s loss to the Bulls in Salt Lake City.

Sloan, the NBA’s longest-tenured coach, and his longtime assistant, Phil Johnson, resigned together on Thursday. The Jazz planned a 5 p.m. ET news conference to officially make the announcement.

Sloan’s relationship with Williams had grown progressively worse over the course of the season, league sources said, and the coach had tired of dealing with the team’s best player. The frustration escalated on Wednesday night when Sloan and Williams clashed in the locker room at halftime.

“He decided right there in halftime that he was done,” a league source told Yahoo! Sports. “He felt like ownership was listening more to Williams than they were to him anymore. He was done.”

One source said Sloan had become tired of Williams “blaming everything on everyone else.” Still, Williams, who can become a free agent in the summer of 2012, has remained the Jazz’s best and most consistent player after the departure of several key teammates. Williams has always had a reputation for wanting to win badly and being a strong leader.

After feeling undermined, one source said Sloan told Jazz owner Greg Miller that if this is how he wanted to run a franchise, he could do it without him as coach.

Assistant coach Ty Corbin has been named acting head coach, and league sources expect the team will move to secure him as Sloan’s long-term replacement in the near future.