Chicago Sun-Times

Cutting-edge ‘tracking’ technology helps NBA teams better evaluate players

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:47:16 -0500

Two years ago, when STATS provided a sneak peek of SportVU, Houston Rockets executive vice president Sam Hinkie didn’t gush about the revolutionary player-tracking technology. Instead he thought, “About time.” “We’ve been yearning for something like this for several years,” Hinkie said. “We were excited to see someone step up and take a leadership role and be ready to step out there. “We’ve been talking about this issue with folks in the league for years and talked to companies that were dabbling with stuff. From our point of view, if someone else would have done it better and faster, we …

Jim Boylan out as Bucks’ coach

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:28:01 -0500

ST. FRANCIS, Wis. — Jim Boylan will not return as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. The announcement Wednesday, long expected, comes three days after the Bucks were swept out of their first playoff appearance in three years. General manager John Hammond says a search for a new coach will begin “immediately.” Boylan took over Jan. 8 after the Bucks and Scott Skiles parted ways. Though Milwaukee won its first two games under Boylan and eight of his first 11, the Bucks fell apart at the end of the season. They lost 12 of their last 16 games to finish with …

Jason Collins receives ‘incredible’ support after gay revelation

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:00:30 -0500

Jason Collins said he has gotten “incredible” support since coming out as the first openly gay player in one of the four major U.S. pro sports leagues, and hopes he may have made the path easier for others to follow.

Jason Collins honored Matthew Shepard by wearing No. 98

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:58:00 -0500

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — NBA veteran Jason Collins changed his jersey number to No. 98 this season. The number was in silent tribute to Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming college student who was killed in 1998 near Laramie. Collins this week became the first player still active in one of the four U.S. major pro sports leagues to announced that he was gay. Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, says she is touched that Collins would honor her son that way. Shepard says she’s happy that Collins feels free to be himself and she’s relieved his announcement is …

Ex-NBA all-star accused of living in home that wasn’t his

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:22:00 -0500

PHOENIX — A former NBA All-Star is facing several criminal charges after a police report said he squatted in a Paradise Valley, Ariz., home and then tried to list the place for rent on Craigslist. KPHO reports Chris Gatling is accused of breaking into a key box and living in the home from July 2010 to August 2011. A police report says the homeowners lived in California but had left the power on. The TV station reports he later listed the four-bedroom house for rent for $800 and called it an “Ex-NBA” home online. Court records say Gatling got a …

Jason Collins gets support from White House

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:15:57 -0500

WASHINGTON — The White House is commending NBA veteran Jason Collins for becoming the first active male player in the four major American professional sports to come out as gay. White House spokesman Jay Carney called that decision courageous and says the White House supports Collins. He says he hopes the 34-year-old center’s NBA colleagues will also offer support. “We view that as another example of the progress that has been made and the evolution that has been taking place in this country,” Carney said. Obama announced his support for gay marriage during his re-election campaign last year. Organizing for …

MORRISSEY: Jason Collins leads the way for gay athletes

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:42:15 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: There. That wasn’t so bad, was it? By coming out on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Jason Collins has become the first openly gay male professional athlete in the four major American team sports. The world didn’t end. No biblical plague arrived. People seemed … fine.

NBA’s Jason Collins becomes first openly gay athlete in major sports

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:38:00 -0500

NBA veteran center Jason Collins has become the first active male professional athlete in the major four American sports leagues to come out as gay.

MCGRATH: Information tops ‘branding’ any day of the week

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:47:08 -0500

The airport waiting area offered a television but no remote to change channels, so ESPN was the choice and old pal Stephen A. Smith my companion during a recent flight delay. With the self-assured zeal of a revivalist preacher, Stephen A. assured us Kobe Bryant WILL COME BACK from his ruptured Achilles tendon. Let there be no doubt. I have been accused, with some justification, of unleashing Stephen A. Smith on the world, but it’s more TV’s doing. He was an ambitious, hard-working prep reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer when I met him in the mid-1990s. The Temple University beat …

NBA playoffs: Feel the Thunder!

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:51:08 -0500

We dedicate the start of the NBA playoffs to the fabulous, fallen Kobe Bryant, whose bend-but-don’t-break body finally collapsed during his 48-minutes-or-bust attempt to carry the Los Angeles Lakers on his creaky back to the postseason. Over the second half of the regular season — particularly over the final couple of weeks, when he adopted his I-won’t-be-ordered-off-the-court-unless-you-get-a-court-order stance — Kobe transformed himself from Mamba to Moses. Somehow, after 40 games of wandering the desert, Kobe led the Lakers out of playoff exile — I believe he, too, parted the Red Sea, or at least Salt Lake — and led his …

Russell Westbrook out for Thunder; needs knee surgery

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0500

Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and be out indefinitely. The Thunder announced the injury Friday.

Mike Brown re-hired as Cavaliers coach

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:36:01 -0500

CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers are bringing back the most successful coach they’ve ever had. Cleveland officially re-hired Mike Brown on Wednesday, bringing back a coach who guided them to five straight playoff appearances and their only trip to the NBA Finals before he was fired following the 2010 season. Brown agreed in principle to the contract on Tuesday. The sides finalized a deal which brings in the 43-year-old to coach a young team with an All-Star player and plenty of room for improvement — a similar situation to the one Brown inherited in 2005. Brown is again working for owner …

Cavs reportedly reach out to Phil Jackson

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:36:00 -0500

CLEVELAND — The Cavs’ coaching search remains focused on Mike Brown, with another former Los Angeles Lakers coach maybe in the mix. Brown appears to be the leading candidate to replace Byron Scott and return to Cleveland, where he coached five seasons and went to the playoffs every year before he was fired in 2010 by owner Dan Gilbert. Brown is interested in a reunion with the Cavs, a person familiar with the situation told AP over the weekend. Brown and Gilbert were reportedly going to meet Sunday night, but nothing has been confirmed. Brown went 272-138 and took the …

AP source: Knicks’ J.R. Smith wins NBA sixth man award

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:22:23 -0500

A person with knowledge of the voting results tells The Associated Press that J.R. Smith has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award. The Knicks have called an afternoon news conference at which Smith will be given the award, the person tells the AP on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made. The eighth-year guard has averaged 18.1 points in 80 games, all off the bench. He had 29 games in which he scored 20 points as a reserve, tying him with the Clippers’ Jamal Crawford for the NBA lead. Smith helped the Knicks win the …

NBA PLAYOFFS: Capsules on other series

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:12:33 -0500

EASTERN CONFERENCE #1 MIAMI (66-16) vs. #8 MILWAUKEE (38-44) Regular season: Heat 3-1. The Bucks didn’t make it easy on the Heat early in the season, playing them tough in a 113-106 loss in November, and then beating them in Milwaukee 104-85 on Dec. 29. But the last two meetings were laughers and that’s what this series will be. The Bucks crawled to the finish line, and as long as Miami can stop their backcourt of Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings, this will be quick and painless. Prediction: Heat in four. #2 NEW YORK (54-28) vs. #7 BOSTON (41-40) Regular …

Kobe: ‘Frustration is unbearable’ after injury

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 13:50:00 -0500

LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant took to Facebook in the wee hours of Saturday morning to vent about the Achilles tendon injury that likely ended his season, writing the “frustration is unbearable” but the setback will not end his career. The Lakers’ star felt a pop as he pushed off his left foot making a move during Los Angeles’ victory against Golden State on Friday night. The team, in a final push to make the playoffs, is all but certain Bryant tore his Achilles. He is to have an MRI on Saturday. The 34-year-old Bryant posted about his “rage” on …