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Shaq goes back to No. 33
June 26 2009
CLEVELAND -- Shaquille O'Neal hasn't picked out a house in Cleveland yet. He has chosen a jersey number -- his old one.
Shaq is going back to No. 33.
Traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, the 15-time All-Star has decided to wear 33, the team confirmed Friday. That's the number O'Neal wore in high school and at LSU before turning pro. O'Neal wore No. 32 when he was in Orlando, Miami and Phoenix.
When he was with the Los Angeles Lakers, O'Neal wore 34 because Nos. 32 and 33 were retired for Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
O'Neal's trade -- and the Orlando Magic's deal to get Vince Carter -- overshadowed this year's NBA draft. The Cavaliers had been working on a possible trade for months with Phoenix for O'Neal and finally agreed to a package that sent Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a second-round pick in next year's draft and $500,000 to the Suns.
In Cleveland, O'Neal will be teammates with LeBron James, the latest in a long line of superstar partners to pair with the entertaining enter. O'Neal has previously with Anfernee Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and Steve Nash. He won three titles with Bryant and the Lakers and one with Wade.
James is after his first championship, and the Cavs believe O'Neal can help him get it.
Cleveland's trade for O'Neal has Cavaliers fans convinced the club can end the city's 45-year championship drought in the three major sports. However, O'Neal has yet to arrive in town and isn't expected to make his first trip as a Cavalier to Ohio until next week.
When he does show up, Cleveland is expected to roll out the red carpet for a player who commands the same kind of attention afforded James.
James and O'Neal have been friends for several years. When James was a high school star in Akron, O'Neal attended one of his games and the two stars have maintained a solid relationship. This will be the first time James has been teammates with a player as well known as himself.
Cavs coach Mike Brown doesn't envision any problems between the larger-than-life figures.
"Both guys are good guys," Brown said. "Both guys like each other. Both guys will be happy to play with one another. And the most important thing is they have one common goal. Those things are the things that are going to make this work. Because they're competitive, because they have that one common goal, I think will help this relationship and make this journey work.
"Only time will tell as we go along how it all meshes out."
A frequent user of Twitter, the social networking site, the 37-year-old O'Neal posted a message late Thursday night saying he planned to play longer than the one year he has left under contract.
"My numbers are not good enough to retire 3 more yrs left," he tweeted.
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Magic agree to acquire Nets’ Carter
By Adrian Wojnarowski
June 25, 2009
The New Jersey Nets have agreed in principle to send Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson to the Orlando Magic for Rafer Alston(notes), Tony Battie and Courtney Lee(notes), two league executives told Yahoo! Sports.
The Nets will draft Louisville shooting guard Terrence Williams at No. 11, if he’s still available.
The move frees the Nets of the three years and $52 million remaining on Carter’s contract. Only $4 million of his $18 million final season is guaranteed.
The trade comes one day after the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Shaquille O’Neal to help them better match up with the Magic and center Dwight Howard. The Cavs and San Antonio Spurs both engaged in trade talks with the Nets about Carter before moving on to their options. The Spurs ended up trading for Milwaukee Bucks forward Richard Jefferson.
Less than two weeks after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, the Magic have added another potentially dynamic scorer to their lineup. Carter, 32, averaged 20.8 points last season and has the 3-point range needed to space the floor for Howard.
Considering how much money the Magic have invested in Carter, it appears less likely they will also spend heavy to re-sign Hedo Turkoglu.
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UFC'S Taylor about to realize lifelong basketball dream in NBA draft
BY Iliana Limon
June 25, 2009
When her son was 6 years old, Gwendolyn Taylor realized basketball would dominate his life.
She bought Jermaine Taylor a ball and tiny hoop, figuring it would just be another toy for her growing boy.
Instead, it was a glimpse into the future.
"He loved that basketball, and he never stopped playing with it," she said. "Ever since he was 6 years old, his favorite thing to do was to play basketball. He was real little, but I could see it then. He really loved basketball. I knew right then he would always play basketball."
The town of Tavares watched Taylor live up to his mother's vision, turning into a hometown hoops hero after logging thousands of hours on neighborhood basketball courts and at nearby UCF.
Taylor will return to his hometown and watch the NBA draft on Thursday night surrounded by his large network of friends and family at JJ Fins Dockside.
"I don't want anyone turned away because our whole town helped and really supported Jermaine all his life," Gwendolyn Taylor said. "He is really excited that everyone wanted to have this big party for him."
Taylor, the reigning Conference USA player of the year, is projected to be selected anywhere between the late first round and midway through the second round. He exceeded all expectations and was a dominant scorer at the Portsmouth Invitational, a tournament designed to help NBA teams evaluate prospects. As a result, numerous analysts have called Taylor a sleeper pick who could be a major asset for any team.
After spending most of his basketball career as an underdog, Taylor said the praise and positive draft projections are a little overwhelming.
"I'm having the time of my life, and I still can't believe all of this is happening to me," Taylor said. "It's amazing."
Taylor has basketball in his blood, so his mother said it was no surprise that he has dedicated his life to chasing hoops dreams.
"He plays just like his daddy," Gwendolyn Taylor said. "His dad played basketball in college and he was something special before he made some mistakes. ... They don't really talk, but I have always taught Jermaine to never say anything bad about his dad. It's amazing for me to watch Jermaine play because I can see that his dad gave him a gift. He gave him the talent to be a great basketball player."
Jermaine Taylor prefers to give all the credit to the rest of his family.
His family tree is full of athletes, with Sunday meals in Tavares serving as appetizers for intense pickup basketball games.
"Everybody was good, so you had to really push yourself if you wanted to win," said Darryl Davis, Taylor's older cousin.
Taylor calls Davis his most important mentor.
Davis played basketball at UCF and seemed poised to reach the NBA before a string of injuries ended his basketball career. Taylor asked Davis to help him make some of the most important decisions of his life, seeking his cousin's advice on where to attend college and which agent to hire after wrapping up his career at UCF.
"Darryl was always there to give me good advice and helped me understand what the coaches wanted," Taylor said. "He had been through everything I was going through, so he knew when to be tough on me and when to encourage me. I was real lucky to have him around."
Davis said the partnership never would have worked if Taylor wasn't willing to listen.
"Jermaine has always been a real good kid and he was willing to work hard," Davis said. "Even when it was tough for him, he always listened to his coaches and pushed himself to get better."
Taylor hails from a close-knit hard-working family, which Davis also said helped keep him on the right path.
"Growing up not having much as far as financial things, you understand how to get out there and work hard and survive," Davis said. "We're all really proud of him because he's got such great character. I mean, all of this could not be happening to a nicer kid."
UCF Coach Kirk Speraw can vouch for Taylor's work ethic and humility.
Taylor was a prolific scorer his senior year despite intense defensive scrutiny, ranking third nationally with 26.2 points per game for the Knights.
"His improvement from year to year and even just from week to week was as good as anyone I've ever coached," Speraw said. "Every time he was challenged, he elevated his play. He worked hard, he listened to what all the coaches had to say, he never stopped pushing himself and he did it with a great personality. He wasn't arrogant and was a great role model for his teammates."
Taylor tried to display the same focus and intensity during 17 individual workouts he did with NBA teams, shrugging off minor injuries to prove he would be a dedicated player for any franchise willing to call his name Thursday night.
"He carries himself so well and made a great impression on a lot of teams," said Michael Whitaker, Taylor's agent. "He has done everything possible to help himself going into the draft and we have high hopes for him."
With the draft just one day away, those closest to Taylor are growing more anxious waiting to learn his fate.
"I've been teasing him since middle school that he was going to the NBA, but now that it's finally going to happen I'm worried," Gwendolyn Taylor said. "I know no matter what happens he will be playing basketball, but I still get nervous. I just want him to be happy. He's worked so hard and he deserves to be happy."
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Is one-and-done the right route to take?
By David Teel
June 25, 2009
Tonight in New York, professional basketball stages its annual heist of college and international talent — on national television, with Commissioner David Stern smiling all the way to the deposit window.
The event is the NBA Draft, a selfishly choreographed exercise that begs for overhaul.
Alas, don't hold your breath. As North Carolina coach Roy Williams has often said, the draft's rules are good for the NBA, and that's all the NBA cares about.
But many concerned for college basketball's quality and integrity advocate changing the NBA's age restriction.
"It makes a mockery of education in college," said Oklahoma coach and Duke graduate Jeff Capel.
The age limit arrived in 2006 as the NBA and players' union agreed to prohibit drafting of high school seniors. No more jumping from the prom to the pros, a transition famously navigated by Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James.
Instead, players must be at least one year removed from high school to enter the draft.
The unintended consequence is a subculture of square-peg prospects virtually forced into the round hole of college basketball for at least a year. They have little or no interest in academics and care only to showcase their skills for NBA scouts.
Those determined to exploit the system could, in theory, fail two of four fall-semester classes, enroll for the spring term and abandon ship after the season, all without running afoul of the NCAA.
"It has been abused a little bit," Kansas coach Bill Self said during a media teleconference this week.
A little? A lot? The degree is debatable. The visibility is not.
Southern California coach Tim Floyd resigned abruptly earlier this month amid allegations that he paid an associate of recruit O.J. Mayo $1,000. Mayo signed with the Trojans and played his obligatory season before heading to the NBA.
Meanwhile, the NCAA is probing charges that a stand-in took a standardized test for Derrick Rose, a one-and-done point guard who led Memphis to the 2008 national title game and was the No. 1 pick of last year's draft.
Absent the NBA's age requirement, it's unlikely Mayo or Rose would have played a nanosecond of college ball.
Same goes for the top two selections of the 2007 draft, Ohio State's Greg Oden and Texas' Kevin Durant, and last year's No. 2 pick, Kansas State's Michael Beasley.
The freshman trend figures to slow tonight with Oklahoma sophomore Blake Griffin the presumptive No. 1 pick by the Los Angeles Clippers. Freshmen projected for the first round include Memphis' Tyreke Evans, USC's DeMar DeRozan and UCLA's Jrue Holiday.
New Virginia coach Tony Bennett recalls a time when drafting college underclassmen was rare. A second-round choice of the Charlotte Hornets in 1992 out of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bennett was part of a draft in which the youngest picks were juniors such as LSU's Shaquille O'Neal and Ohio State's Jim Jackson.
"The whole key in the deal is, are (kids) ready emotionally and physically?" Bennett said Wednesday. "Would I consider recruiting someone who had a chance to be a one-and-done or two-and-done? Certainly I would, but you can't have a team full of them."
The NBA's reasoning for the age restriction was clear: For every Kobe and LeBron, there were several Sebtastian Telfairs and Kwame Browns, delusional high school seniors who had no business in the draft.
The rule change affords NBA scouts another year to evaluate those marginal players.
The NBA and college basketball would be better served mirroring Major League Baseball, where prospects are draft eligible first out of high school but not again until three years later. Absent that, a compromise at two years.
"The very minimum," Capel said of two years. "I think that eliminates guys who don't want to be in college."
Granted, high school players can bypass college in favor of European pro leagues or the NBA's Developmental League. For example, Arizona recruit Brandon Jennings headed to Italy last year when he failed to qualify academically and is a possible first-round pick tonight.
But neither Europe nor the NBADL can match the college game's exposure and cache. Moreover, rare is the 18-year-old mature enough to thrive in a foreign country.
Self anticipates a movement for change when the NBA's collective bargaining agreement expires in two years, but Capel is not optimistic.
"I'm not sure how much the NBA cares about college basketball," he said.
Stern feigns no such concern.
"This is not about the NCAA," he said during a recent news conference. "This is not an enforcement of some social program. This is a business decision by the NBA, which is we like to see our (prospects) in competition after high school."
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