Basketball

The NBA today announced that San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan and guard Tony Parker were both named to the league's All-NBA Teams.

The Atlanta Hawks are looking for a new coach, even though they have Larry Drew. But they’ve reportedly been very up front with Drew about this and have tried to accommodate him. Chris Vivlamore The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Drew told the Atlanta Journal Constitution Friday that in a meeting with general manager Danny Ferry earlier this week the two came to an amicable agreement to allow the coach to interview for other vacant positions in the league. Drew is a good coach – he went 44-38, 40-26 and 44-38 and won a playoff series with a few transitional rosters – and he’s a former Pistons player. He’s not necessarily the best candidate available, but he might be, and the Pistons should at least talk to him. But, apparently, they can’t do that. Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Drew’s contract expires at the end of June, but Hawks management hasn’t approached him about an extension and is talking to other teams. Drew doesn’t have the luxury of reaching out to the Pistons and they would need permission from the Hawks to interview him, a different proposition than interviewing a team’s assistant coach. But what about Drew saying he could interview around the league? Goodwill: Heard from Drew’s camp that it’s more complicated than it’s being made to be publicly

Devin Kharpertian AP Photo/LM Otero By the numbers: 78 G, 78 GS, 36.4 MPG, 18.9 PPG, 7.7 APG, 3.0 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 0.4 BPG, .440 FG%, .378 3P%, .859 FT%, .574 TS%, .516 eFG% Advanced: 20.3 PER, 118 ORtg, 109 DRtg, 24.4 USG%, 1.2 ORB%, 8.5 DRB%, 4.8 TRB%, 37.5 AST%, 1.4 STL%, 0.8 BLK%, 13.3 estimated wins added The New Jersey Nets traded for Deron Williams on a whim in February 2011, gambling that he’d want to be the face of the Brooklyn Nets. After 18 months slogging through Newark, Williams signed a maximum five-year contract with Brooklyn in the offseason, eschewing Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in favor of making a home in Brooklyn (except that he lives in Manhattan). But Deron Williams was more than just the face. Williams exemplified everything simultaneously sublime and substandard about this team: flashes of untempered brilliance mixed with moments of pure frustration, seemingly unable to hit that “next gear” that Brooklyn sometimes desperately needed. It was a Hyde-and-Jekyll season for Williams, one that began with Williams playing through crippling pain in his ankles and getting undeserved game balls from Avery Johnson, ending with him throwing down double-pump reverse jams in the playoffs. The All-Star break is often cited as the turning point, thanks to the week-plus of rest, three cortisone shots, platelet-rich plasma treatment, and detoxifying juice cleanse Williams underwent, but his resurgence truly began in January; from the calendar year 2012 to 2013, Williams upped his points per game (16.3 to 20.6), assists (7.5 to 7.9), field goal percentage (39.9% to 46.5%), three-point percentage (30% to 42.2%), and free throw percentage (81.5% to 88.4%) He dazzled. He hit nine three-pointers in one half against the Washington Wizards, setting an NBA record. He activated the Mark Cuban Struggle Face. 11 of his biggest 12 scoring nights came after the new year. He developed a two-man chemistry with Brook Lopez that resulted in more easy points than Lopez had in his entire career. His ankles, the same ones that once “felt like s---,” looked like new. He ran an offense that scored 108.9 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor in 2013, which would rank as the third-best offense in the league over the course of a full season. As Williams went, Brooklyn went. At his best, he scored in profuse amounts by balancing a basket attack with three-point acumen, ran a comfortably simple offense that got open looks for himself and others (particularly Brook Lopez around the rim), and adjusted his strategies on the fly with a rapidly changing rotation. At his worst, Williams eschewed these same principles (particularly in the third quarters), relying heavily on one-on-one basketball in moments that the Nets needed a five-on-five approach. At times, his frustration seeped over. He criticized Avery Johnson's offensive system a little over a week before Johnson was let go. Williams is 28 now, and will be 29 before next season starts. He is, for all intents and purposes, the player he’s going to be. If that player is the Williams the Nets enjoyed in the second half of the season, when Williams was finally healthy, Brooklyn’s going to rock. If the Nets sign a coach who can maximize his talents, the Nets should improve substantially on this year’s playoff run. But Williams isn’t turning into a different player overnight. What Deron Williams represents isn’t just himself, but the core Brooklyn’s locked into. It’s hard not to call Brooklyn’s inaugural season a success -- a 26-win improvement (albeit in a longer season, but still), a seven-game loss in a tough first-round matchup -- but it wasn’t a wild success. It was good, but not great. Williams is at the center of that. The Nets may have signed Williams to be their face, but Williams is the Brooklyn Nets: real flash, real substance, high-priced talent on the cusp of superstardom but still brushing below it, with little chance of breaking into the next

It’s been a long time coming for Roundball Mining Company. Over the years since its inception several new faces (err… names) have popped up in our writers catalog. And now, we’re looking to add a few more. If writing for RMC is something you’ve always wanted to do, please send a short e-mail to our home address (roundballminingco@gmail.com) with samples of your previous work as well as some information about yourself and a brief statement as to why you’d be a good candidate for us to hire. Thanks.

LeBron James wore the ‘MVP’ edition of his LeBron X’s after he won his fourth MVP award. (Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) LeBron James — the reigning regular-season and Finals MVP, the Olympic gold medalist and the leader of a Heat team that won 27 straight games this season — is pretty popular apparently. According to a report from Forbes, James is the NBA’s leading shoe salesman by a wide margin. Nike generated $300 million in U.S. retail sales in 2012 for James’ signature shoes, according to research firm SportsOneSource. Nike’s haul represents a 50% increase from sales of James’ kicks in 2011. “The first thing is the aesthetics. The shoes look great and his star stature continues to rise,” says SportsOneSource analyst Matt Powell. “The media attention on him helps him sell more footwear.” Following James on the list are Kobe Bryant ($50M in shoe sales with Nike), Carmelo Anthony ($40M in shoe sales with Jordan), Kevin Durant ($35M in shoe sales with Nike) and Derrick Rose ($25M in shoe sales with Adidas). GALLERY: Sneaker watch: NBA playoffs 2013 The article notes, however, that all of today’s stars are still living in the shadow of Michael Jordan. Today’s NBA stars are all still looking up at global icon Michael Jordan. The Nike-owned Jordan Brand has been on fire with $2 billion in U.S. sales in 2012, according to SportsOneSource. Susquehanna Financial analyst Christopher Svezia estimates the brand grew 25-30% globally in 2012.  The royalty agreement is worth more than $60 million annually for Jordan, who last played an NBA game in 2003. Nike released the Air Jordan XX8 in February. It is the 28th shoe in the Jordan franchise. In addition to new Air Jordans, Nike continues to put out retro versions of the franchise with an average selling price of $130 to $150. The Jordan Brand commands a 56% market share in basketball, while the Nike brand has 37%. Adidas has a 5% share and Reebok is at 2% in the U.S. James released the ‘MVP’ edition of the LeBron X sneakers in May on the occasion of his fourth MVP award in five years. This latest version of the LeBron X follows a number of others, as Nike released a Superhero-themed shoe for the playoffs, an Easter-themed version, an All-Star version, and a Christmas Day version.

520px;”> Phil Jackson has been virtually everywhere the last couple weeks selling his new book “Eleven Rings” but one of my favorite interviews so far is the one from last night with John Stewart on The Daily Show. And not because as a Knicks fan Stewart wants to know about those two rings. It’s near…

What a game. And what an awesome/awful ending. #3 INDIANA PACERS 102 @ #1 MIAMI HEAT 103 (OT) EAST Finals * Game 1 * Heat lead series, 1-0 The first half was full of whistles. And full of giveaways. So many stoppages because of the constant offensive fouls. And so much sloppiness because both teams decided it's better to give... Read more →

On Tuesday evening, the Wolves solidified the inevitable and secured the 9th pick in the draft. As lottery non-winners for the 15th-ish time, this likely came as no surprise to a team that had roughly a 95% chance to not move up. The Cavs won pick #1 again. Life goes on. The only real solace we can gain out of this is not having moved back a spot. So what should the Wolves do at pick #9? The immediate gut instinct is to push for a trade-up, right? Sorry to burst any bubbles, but it may not even be worth the time to consider the possibility. Look, as soon as the lottery results are revealed, the fact of the matter is dozens upon dozens of folks, including myself, start spewing out fake trades on how the Wolves could move up in the draft. It is sort like a new "season" of sorts, similar to hunting, fishing or intramural badminton, with the ideas generally becoming more and more preposterous, unlikely, impossible, homerish, or even anti-homerish (such as trading Kevin Love to move up, just wait, someone will come up with the idea) as time goes on. Let's think of things this way. Why would the Wolves move up in the draft? I can think of only one player truly worth moving up for that might be an option due to draft positioning: Victor Oladipo. Victor has shot up the draft boards and at the very least is all but guaranteed to be drafted in the top 5. Otto Porter? Perhaps, but he may go even higher that Victory O. So, let's play a little game. Since 2005 (when I stopped looking or trade records were getting harder to find or decipher from internet 1.0 pages), see if you can take a guess on how many trades have been made involving a team moving from pick 6-10 into the top 5? .... Hint: It rhymes with "Euro" .... Yup, zero times! No team has done it in at least the last eight drafts, and probably more. What we have seen are only two post-lottery transactions involving top 5 picks, coincidentally both involving the Wolves and both being arguably two of the top 3-4 moves in franchise history: Kahn sending Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Wizards for the #5 pick in 2009, and in 2008 the Wolves moving back from 3 to 5 and acquiring Kevin Love for OJ Mayo. Aside from that, there have been a total of zero moves involving top 5 picks after the lottery, and a total of zero moves involving a team moving into the top 5 by packaging an inferior pick with players. Why might this be the case? It takes two to tango. The team with the higher pick is usually young, bad, and wants to build its roster with a potential stud/unknown and will only move back if it gets a legitimate stud/star-level veteran in return (unless of course you are the 2009 Wizards, and let's just pretend Flip didn't have a say in that move). The team with the lower pick, in turn, sees value at their poorer position but is unwilling to part with a key rotation player since it was a better team to begin with, perhaps on the cusp of a playoff berth the previous season but plans were derailed for whatever reason (such as your Wolves). This, in turn, is a dreadful matchup in trade and, thus, it almost never works. The only real move-up and move-backs involve picks that were both higher to begin with, among teams completely rebuilding. Needless to say, it remains exceedingly unlikely we will see the Wolves move up. The slightly more likely (yet still pretty unlikely) scenario would be the Wolves trading some existing players and acquiring a new pick outright, or trading out altogether. We have seen a few of these moves over the years (Rubio, and Ray Allen to Boston for Jeff Green the 5th pick in 2007), but the fact of the matter is outside of Kirilenko the Wolves don't exactly have a good package to put together to make such a move, nor does it fit at all with the current strategy of the front office. And if anyone thinks D-Will is worth a top 5 pick in any draft....well, yeah. Get real. But let's pretend the Wolves were

On Thursday’s episode of “The Fix” x “The Overdose,” The Jones discuss Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, NBA head coaching vacancies, Dwightmare 2.0, Coach K returning to Team USA, and Jim Boeheim’s thoughts on the New York Knicks. All that, plus our first ever mock draft, Box-Out Kid’s posse, our favorite lefties of all-time, signature scents, and Anna Kournikova’s ageless beauty. Wait. What? ********* Subscribe to The Basketball Jones show on iTunes | Download the .mp3 directly

The Brooklyn Nets will be playing in the Orlando Pro Summer League in, yes, Orlando, Florida. The event runs from July 7-12 and will consist of 10 teams, playing 26 games in total. Participants include: Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers, Mimai Heat, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers. The schedule and rules are as follows: Southwest Airlines Orlando Pro Summer League Schedule Sunday, July 7, 2013 Visitor Home 1st game 9:00 a.m. Houston @ Philadelphia 2nd game 11:00 a.m. Boston @ Orlando 3rd game 1:00 p.m. Miami @ Utah 4th game 3:00 p.m. OKC @ Indiana 5th game 5:00 p.m. Detroit @ Brooklyn Monday, July 8, 2013 1st game 11:00 a.m. OKC @ Orlando 2nd game 1:00 p.m. Philadelphia @ Indiana 3rd game 3:00 p.m. Boston @ Detroit 4th game 5:00 p.m. Brooklyn @ Miami Tuesday, July 9, 2013 1st game 11:00 a.m. Indiana @ Boston 2nd game 1:00 p.m. Detroit @ OKC 3rd game 3:00 p.m. Utah @ Houston 4th game 5:00 p.m. Miami @ Orlando Wednesday, July 10, 2013 1st game 11:00 a.m. Utah @ Brooklyn 2nd game 1:00 p.m. OKC @ Philadelphia 3rd game 3:00 p.m. Boston @ Houston Thursday, July 11, 2013 1st game 11:00 a.m. Indiana @ Utah 2nd game 1:00 p.m. Miami @ Detroit 3rd game 3:00 p.m. Houston @ Brooklyn 4th game 5:00 p.m. Philadelphia @ Orlando Friday, July 12, 2013 *Championship Day* 1st game 8:00 a.m. 6th place @ 5th place 2nd game 10:00 a.m. 4th place @ 3rd place 3rd game 12:00 p.m. 2nd place @ 1st place 4th game 2:00 p.m. 8th place @ 7th place 5th game 4:00 p.m. 10th place @ 9th place ALL GAMES WILL BE PLAYED AT THE AMWAY CENTER ON THE MAGIC PRACTICE COURT. SOUTHWEST AIRLINES ORLANDO PRO SUMMER LEAGUE RULES · Four 10-minute quarters · 10-minute halftime · Five full timeouts per team per game · Two one-minute mandatory TV timeouts per quarter on dead ball at 5:59 and again at 2:59 · Maximum of three full timeouts to be used in 4th quarter per team · One :20 second timeout per team per half · Three-minute overtime period if necessary · One full timeout and one :20 second per overtime period per team · Teams will be in the penalty on the 5th team foul of each quarter · Teams will be in the penalt