News sport : Shawn Marion plans to retire at the end of 2014-15

♠ Posted by channel-top-news in ,,,,,,,

Shawn Marion will retire after this season, as first reported by Paul Caro of the Arizona Republic. The Cleveland Cavaliers forward will end up calling it quits after 16 years of unique, at times astonishing, and consistently superb play.


Marion signed a one-year contract with Cleveland last summer, teaming up with LeBron James for another shot at a championship ring, and just a few months after hinting that the 2013-14 season could be his last.


Well-aware of his lot in life as the Cavaliers visited Phoenix last week, Marion went on record with his decision in a talk with Coro pitched just before Cleveland took on the same Suns franchise that made a star out of the versatile 6-7 jack of all trades.


From Coro’s report:



When the Suns drafted Marion in 1999, Marion set a goal to play 15 seasons. The 36-year-old believes he could play another three seasons but being away from his first child, 8-month-old Shawn, has convinced him to retire after this season with the Cavaliers.




"I wanted to go out on my terms," Marion said. "The biggest thing is having a son. I got attached to him. Seeing him periodically is hard. Watching him grow up on pictures and videos is hard."



Coro went on to discuss Marion’s seemingly inevitable induction into Phoenix’s Ring of Honor realm, but as Matrix winds down his NBA career, perhaps we should have loftier lauds in mind.


Are we watching the final games of a Basketball Hall of Famer?


The Basketball Hall of Fame is a pretty dodgy place, badly in need of reform, obsessed with following through on favors, often crediting above average college coaches with the same sort of recognition that top-flight NBA professionals should take in.


It’s the sort of institution that would seem to be well in line to leave someone like Marion out. He’s only made four NBA All-Star teams, as the NBA coaches that would seem to recognize Shawn’s contributions far better than an average voting fan decided routinely not to add him to the reserve roster. Marion was only voted, by media members, to two All-NBA teams – and even then it was on a pair of Third Teams.


He’s only averaged over 20 points per game in a season twice in his career, and years of bouncing around as a do-it-all “role player” (Marion’s words, not mine; he’s averaging 5.6 points and four rebounds in almost 23 minutes a game this year) have knocked his career per game averages down to just under 16 points per game and 8.8 rebounds a contest. Even though some of Shawn’s finest moments were spent on Phoenix teams that pushed the pace and inflated numbers.


If the NBA had the temerity and smarts to develop its own hall of fame, however, Marion would be a lock to get it in. His defense, longevity, importance to too many fantastic teams (including a title-winner, in Dallas in 2011) and ability to ease into a Second Act as a savvy do-it-all player after his athleticism waned is to be commended.


The Hall of Fame, as it currently stands, is a bit of a joke. Which is why should move on a bit and not wring hands should Marion be on the outside looking some years from now.


What we should do is appreciate the half-season plus playoffs we have left of Shawn Marion. The consummate teammate, and all around good dude.


The owner of this finger:



The man who did all this, late in his career:



(Most other highlight videos, as with the highlights themselves, are NSFW.)


We’ll talk more about Marion’s accomplishments later this year, when he officially steps away. Until then, enjoy watching the guy.


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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : TMG announces Ron Hornaday will drive the No. 30 car in 2015

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A new team to the Sprint Cup Series has a familiar driver.


The Motorsports Group announced Wednesday that Ron Hornaday would drive the No. 30 in the Cup Series in 2015. TMG is moving up to planned full-time Cup competition after running in the Xfinity Series.


“I am happy to be signing on with Curtis Key and the entire TMG organization for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season,” Hornaday said in a team statement. “This team has been working really hard during the offseason to get cars ready for Daytona and the rest of the season. I’m hoping to bring some guidance and racing knowledge to this startup Cup team.”


Hornaday, 56, is a four-time Camping World Truck Series champion who last ran in the Sprint Cup Series in 2003. He only raced 16 races last year in the Truck Series because of the downfall of Turner Scott Motorsports. He was without a ride after the first 13 races of the season and then drove for three races with NTS Motorsports.


TMG survived without sponsorship in NASCAR's No. 2 series by running a hybrid two-car team of sorts in 2014. The team's primary car, the No. 40, attempted to race the full distance while the No. 46 was primarily a start-and-park car. And the team obviously found it a better move to go to the Cup Series than keep hanging on in the Xfinity Series.


Team owner Curtis Key has run 439 Xfinity Series races with one top five. It came in the team's first race in 1993 with Tommy Ellis behind the wheel. The team had three lead lap finishes in 2014.


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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Patriots' Brandon Browner strikes back at Deflate-Gate

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Well, you knew this was going to happen. Patriots fans have defended their team with rabid intensity against the allegations of Deflate-gate, and now actual Patriots are stepping into the fray as well. Patriots cornerback Brandon Browner is apparently the first player to speak up in the wake of allegations of deflated footballs, and he's done so with an instant classic:



If #inflatethis isn't on T-shirts across New England by Thursday, we're going to be very disappointed in you, Boston.


Browner is focusing on the results of the game, and he's right; the Patriots could have played with cinder blocks and still beaten Indy by three TDs. What drives Patriots opponents crazy is the intent to (allegedly) cheat ... that, and the question of what nefarious deeds the team may have gotten away with scot-free.


Browner spent the first part of his career with Seattle; indeed, his Twitter page still shows him in a Seahawks uni. What will be interesting is how the Patriots brass reacts to this "outburst"; historically, Belichick prefers his players dull and low-key in public.


____

Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.



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News sport : Listen: LSU coach Ed Orgeron's voicemail message is awesome

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Though he’s only a week into his new job as defensive line coach at LSU, Ed Orgeron is hitting the recruiting trail hard. His new voicemail message, which was played Tuesday on ESPN Baton Rouge, proves that.



“Hi this is coach Ed Orgeron with LSU football,” the message says. “Sorry I cant yake your call right now, but I’m out recruiting the best football players in the country for LSU.”


His outstanding reputation as a recruiter is one of the reasons Les Miles added Orgeron, the former defensive coordinator and interim head coach at USC, to his staff.


With National Signing Day just two weeks away, we’ll see what kind of impact he has on the Tigers’ 2015 class, which is currently ranked No. 13 in the country by Rivals.com.


(H/T Football Scoop )


For more LSU news, visit TigerBait.com.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Kobe Bryant and Nick Young are recruiting Rajon Rondo, Goran Dragic, others

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The Los Angeles Lakers’ owners can’t comment on potential free agent additions specifically, which is why they’re left to take in the slings and arrows as they publicly defend their team’s course in the midst of a 12-30 season. The team’s general manager, Mitch Kupchak, can’t talk on record about the sort of player he’d like to go after with his team’s potential $20-something million in cap space this summer. The squad’s coach, Byron Scott, can’t be seen whispering in a free agent’s ear, and he can’t muse openly about how great it would be to add a specific contributor currently working for another team.


If any faction is caught talking, they’ll be heavily fined by the NBA for tampering. They can’t say anything until July, when contracts either turn over for another year, or expire. It’s Quiet Time, in the middle of a season that was designed to be a lost one.


Players, on the other hand, can chatter away. They can admit to the press that they’d love to see a specific player on their team next season, and they can call, text, Facebook or Twitter message loving missives to free agents all they want. Those guys can recruit.


The two most prominent Laker holdovers for 2015-16 are Kobe Bryant and Nick Young. Both have admitted to trying to stay in the ear of two of this summer’s most coveted free agents, looking to build a case that the Lakers are a team on the rise.


It started with Nick Young whispering sweet nothings into Phoenix Suns guard Goran Dragic’s ear. From the Los Angeles Daily News:



“I told Goran Dragic on the court, ‘You might be my teammate next year.’” Young told the L.A. News Group shortly after the Lakers’ loss on Monday to the Phoenix Suns. “I’ll talk to Marc (Gasol.) Me and him are cool. Kevin Love, I’ll talk to him.”



Several, if not every, NBA team will at least put in a pitch to Marc Gasol and Kevin Love, but as we’ve discussed before with both players, neither is likely to leave their championship-contending teams to take less money to rebuild in Los Angeles. Despite Nick’s charms.


Dragic, on the other hand, might be a possibility. Even if it is a slim one. I mean, the guy’s brother is under contract to play with the Suns next season.


The Suns have rebounded from an iffy start to hang on to the eighth seed in the killer Western Conference playoff bracket. The team is on pace to threaten for 50 wins, and though the team’s three-game lead over the improving Oklahoma City Thunder isn’t exactly “comfortable,” Phoenix should be credited for keeping the Thunder at bay for far longer than we presumed they would.


Dragic is technically under contract next season, but he will most certainly use his player option and opt out of the final year of his deal, a year that stands to pay him a below-market mark of $7.5 million. If the Suns miss the playoffs and Goran deduces that the team’s approach with Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas isn’t working, there is a chance (however slight) that he could decide to start all over. Decide to ink a one-year deal somewhere and await the increased NBA salary cap slated to hit in 2016.


That’s a reach, but in Nick Young’s mind, it’s reachable.


Kobe Bryant? He’s shooting higher, as you’d expect, and refusing to sign off on any chance that Rajon Rondo remains a Dallas Maverick. Not until Rondo literally signs off on things. From the Boston Herald:



While Mavericks owner Mark Cuban expressed confidence his club can and will sign Rondo to a new deal, Bryant told the Herald he’s not about to cease working on getting him to LA.




“No way,” Bryant said. “I’m not done. I’m not stopping until he signs an extension.”



Though many rightfully worried about Rondo’s fit with Dallas offensively, he has helped turn the team’s defense around to a significant degree, the offensive drop hasn’t been severe in the slightest, and Dallas is 10-4 with him on board (0-1 with him out of the lineup). That’s a sterling record considering that the Mavs’ move for Rajon was created midseason, without the aid of a training camp. The fit was made even more impressive due to the fact that Rondo isn’t your typical, orthodox NBA point guard.


The dude can’t even hit free throws. Mark Cuban, however, isn’t worried:



“It’ll get better,” owner Mark Cuban said. “If we can improve (former center) Erick Dampier’s free-throw shooting, among others, we’ll improve Rajon’s. How he starts is going to be different from how he finishes.”



(Mark’s memory might be a little off, here.


Damp’s free throw percentage dipped to 60 and then 59 percent in his first two seasons in Dallas, down from nearly 66 percent in the year prior to the Mavs trading for him. He rebounded a bit to shoot in the low 60s two other years, but fell to 57 percent in his penultimate year with the Mavericks. His best mark with Mark, at 63.8 percent, was eclipsed four other times with teams he played for in the years before the Mavericks dealt for him.)


Rajon has missed 13 of 17 free throws as a Mav, but even an embarrassing “hack-a-Rajon”-incident in the playoffs won’t dissuade Dallas from offering him a max extension this summer.


It’s unlikely that Kobe’s presence will dissuade Rajon from accepting it, either. The Lakers have cap space, but Dallas (as the incumbent team) can offer Rondo more money if they see fit to.


Then there is the idea of Rondo’s fit, as is the case with any team he plays for. Kobe Bryant has backed off of late, relative to his previous play, but he still dominates the ball. Rajon Rondo dominates the ball as well – he needs it to be effective. Neither player is even an average three-point shooter.


The Lakers, eventually, will be an intriguing destination. Unless they take in terrible lottery luck, dropping to out of the top five in the 2015 draft and relinquishing their selection to Dragic’s Suns, the team will enter this offseason with plenty of space and two consecutive highly regarded top draft picks on its rebuilding roster. They’ll have space in 2016, as well, when Bryant’s contract comes off the books.


Until then, however, it’s just noise. Even Bryant, at his most dogged, probably knows that Rondo, Dragic and others aren’t coming to Los Angeles this summer.


As he likely knew last summer, when considering another potential teammate:



Rebuilding takes time, Los Angeles. It’s your turn to do it.


- - - - - - -


Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Victoria's Secret models play football in new ad

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The Super Bowl ads and ad promotions are starting to trickle in, and here's one from Victoria's Secret. It features all your favorite Victoria's Secret models playing football and ... and you're not even reading this anymore, are you?


Anyway, the actual Victoria's Secret ad airs after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, so watch for that. And yes, everyone has already made that deflated-balls joke that you're thinking of right now.


____

Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.



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News sport : The 10-man rotation, starring DeAndre Jordan, max-salaried big man?

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A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.


C: The Cauldron. Jared Dubin sees DeAndre Jordan, distracted or otherwise, getting a max contract offer this summer, and he thinks the Los Angeles Clippers center might actually wind up being worth one, too.


PF: SLC Dunk. Looking under the hood of the Utah Jazz's offensive profile by play type and effectiveness to see how Quin Snyder's gone about changing the way the team tries to score, and how well they're doing so far.


SF: Chicago Tribune. K.C. Johnson with an interesting look at the Chicago Bulls' recent struggles and the differences betwen this year's club and the last few squads Tom Thibodeau has coached. Many of us expected those differences to have a positive influence, but as Johnson writes, they've come with some challenges, too.


SG: Pacers.com. A good read about why Indiana Pacers power forward David West, professional leader and grown-ass man, makes a point of "butting in" to the lives of at-risk young people by visiting juvenile corrections facilities and trying to connect with them: "I don't have to come out here, but I feel like it's worth it, just to let them know not everybody has written them off. Just because you made a mistake as a 14-year-old, you don't have to be confined here for the rest of your life.”


PG: The Triangle. Kirk Goldsberry chats with Damian Lillard about, among other things, the approach that's resulted in so many chalked-out opponents late in games this season: "I have a yellow-tape mentality. Finish hard. Kill ’em off."


6th: The Washington Post. Michael Lee catches up with the San Antonio Spurs, who are chugging along at 27-16, but find themselves closer to being out of the playoffs than to topping the West again, and have found that precious little comes easy in attempted repeat bids.


7th: The Hook. Tom Ziller looks at how the Philadelphia 76ers-led push to vote down last offseason's draft lottery reform proposal has impacted the likely lottery odds, and who stands to benefit most from the denial. We'll give you three guesses as to which no-voter makes out best, and the first two don't count.


8th: Charlotte Observer. Rick Bonnell on how picking up the pace helped the Charlotte Hornets weather Al Jefferson's nine-game injury absence and get back on the good foot, winning seven of their last 10 to draw within a half-game of the No. 8 seed in the East.


9th: Washington Post. Jorge Castillo on David Adkins, whom the Washington Wizards swear they hired as a new player development assistant this offseason because he's a good coach, and not at all because he used to coach a certain reigning league MVP who's set for free agency next summer.


10th: MinnPost. Britt Robson's thorough and thoughtful consideration of whether the Minnesota Timberwolves are tanking and/or whether they should includes this pretty depressing note on their missing Montenegrin mountain: "There are rumors he may even play tonight against Dallas. But it seems as if neither [Nikola Pekovic] nor the Wolves sure if he will ever be able to play in regular rotation again." Let's hope for a significantly better outcome than that for the bruising big man.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



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News sport : NFL players very particular about footballs, tricks to get them just right

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We’ve learned more about the handling, condition and proper inflation of NFL footballs this week than we ever needed to know.

And what the New England Patriots’ deflate-gate has brought attention to is that NFL players, mostly quarterbacks and kickers, are quite particular about the condition of the footballs they use in games. Longtime kicker Nick Lowery once slapped a Patriots ball boy over it.


You can’t even blame Bill Belichick for this one. It happened in 1995, pre-Belichick (he joined the Patriots as an assistant the next year, and has been their head coach since 2000). According to the New York Times story from then, Jets kicker Lowery wasn’t happy the Jets were kicking balls that had not been rubbed up in the cold. He complained to the Patriots’ 20-year-old ball boy, who told Lowery it wasn’t his job to provide him a rubbed-up football, and then Lowery slapped him. These balls are serious stuff.


But what does it mean, rubbing up balls? Don’t teams just break out new footballs for each game?


No, no and no.


(Getty Images) In 2013 the New York Times did a fascinating story talking about the process in which the Giants prepare balls for quarterback Eli Manning, so they’re to his liking. It takes months.


According to the Times story, the balls are rubbed vigorously for 45 minutes to remove the wax and darken the leather (new balls are too slick, quarterbacks will say). The Giants soak the ball with a wet towel. Then it is brushed again. Then it’s off to an electric spin wheel for more scrubbing. Then the process is repeated twice more. They practice with those balls to break them in even further, and then the ones deemed fit for games are protected like the president.



“No one is allowed to touch those balls,” team’s equipment director Joe Skiba told the Times. “They’re precious jewels. Too much work has gone into them.”



Quarterbacks are particular about the footballs they use. In 2006, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady teamed up to lobby the NFL competition committee to allow each team to provide its own footballs for games, so they could be to the quarterbacks’ liking. Home teams provided all the balls before that, and quarterbacks didn’t like the differences in the balls for each road game. The committee passed it, and now each team provides 12 balls for officials to inspect two hours and 15 minutes before the game.


Although much has been made of the edges that teams can get by deflating footballs (it can make them easier to grip and catch), Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers prefers the opposite. CBS’ Phil Simms said during a Packers broadcast (via CSNNE.com) that he prefers his footballs be over-inflated, and he’ll even push the NFL rules on it. Game balls are, by rule, to be inflated with 12.5 to 13.5 pounds of air per square inch and weigh 14 to 15 ounces.



“(Rodgers) said something [that] was unique,” Simms said on CBS, via CSNNE. "[Rodgers said] 'I like to push the limit to how much air we can put in the football, even go over what they allow you to do and see if the officials take air out of it.' Because he thinks it’s easier for him to grip. He likes them tight.”



Are various tricks to break in footballs considered cheating? There have been stories of quarterbacks and kickers putting footballs in the dryer since field goals were invented, sometimes with a wet towel or fabric softener, to break them in.


There hasn't been much of an outrage from many former and current players about this story. Shaun King, a former NFL quarterback who works for Yahoo, said the whole deflate-gate isn’t a big deal. Every quarterback, he said, will do things to break in their footballs.


“Every quarterback does whatever they deem necessary to have their balls the way they like them,” King said. “This is a pure witch hunt the NFL and sports media is on.”


Former NFL quarterback Matt Leinart agreed that the whole story is no big deal, on his Twitter account.




Former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, who works with ESPN, shared that sentiment.




Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson bribed someone to scuff the footballs before the Super Bowl in 2003. Each Super Bowl has a new batch of balls with the Super Bowl logo on them. Is that cheating, or is it more in line with what Eli Manning and the Giants do, breaking in balls? Or is this all much ado about nothing, and the Patriots are in a firestorm even though everyone in the NFL manipulates game balls in some way? There’s a long culture in baseball of pitchers putting goodness knows what on the balls, and only the most egregious violators are ever called out on it. But if it was so common, would the Colts – who got word from linebacker D’Qwell Jackson to an equipment manager to coach Chuck Pagano to general manager Ryan Grigson in the press box to NFL director of football operations Mike Kensil to the officials at halftime – be so upset as to call the Patriots out on it?


Whether or not the Patriots were at fault for 11 of their 12 game balls being under-inflated in Sunday’s AFC championship team, we all know much more today about NFL footballs and players’ preferences for them than we ever did before.


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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Ray Whitney calls it a career and announces retirement

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Adios to Ray Whitney -- also commonly known as 'The Wizard' by those in the many fanbases where he played.


According to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, Whitney is hanging up his skates and calling it a career at the age of 42.


From ESPN.com:


"For the past 23 years, I have had the privilege of earning my living playing hockey in the National Hockey League," Whitney said in a statement released by his agency, CAA Sports. "Along the way, I have made countless memories and friendships, which I will always cherish. Every city I played in, the fans welcomed my family and me with open arms, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.


"I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of my teammates and coaches, especially the 2006 Stanley Cup team in Carolina. I was lucky to have great agents at CAA Sports, who stood by me through the good times and the tough times. I want to say a special thank you to my parents, who gave me the chance to do what I loved.


As Whitney aged, his production seemed to continue to never fade, posting a career-high 83 points in 2006-07 at the age of 34. The post-lockout rules enabled the 5-foot-10 Whitney to continue on at a prolific pace.


He posted 77 points for the then-Phoenix Coyotes in 2011-12 at the age of 39. Whitney's career started in 1991-92 with the San Jose Sharks at the age of 19.


Whitney was never the best player at his position, but ended up with 1,064 points and a Stanley Cup with the 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes. Both tend to be Hall of Fame markers, but again -- Whitney was very good, but simply never the best. It's an interesting dilemma for sure.


Anyway, goodbye Ray Whitney and congratulations on a most excellent career.


- - - - - - -


Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!


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News sport : Are the Seahawks the greatest defense in NFL history? (Video)

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With the pain and misery of the Packers' NFC Championship collapse fading in the distance, we can now turn our attention to one of the marquee elements of this year's Super Bowl: the Seattle Seahawks defense. Led by the Legion of Boom secondary, the Seahawks were the top-ranked defense in the NFL this year, but how do they stack up against great Ds of the past? Do the Seahawks even have a prayer against the '85 Bears, the Steel Curtain, or the 2000-era Ravens?


Yahoo Sports' Kevin Kaduk (@kevinkaduk) and Jay Busbee (@jaybusbee) kick around the topic right here, and you can join in. This is the first of our many Super Bowl Arguments videos, and you're invited to the party. Offer up your thoughts in the comments below and on Twitter at #SBarguments. Your words might end up on a future episode. Get to arguing!


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News sport : Forbes: Lakers, Knicks, Bulls lead 11 NBA franchises worth at least $1 billion

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Steve Ballmer (left) and Adam Silver discuss paper-stacking strategies. (Noel Vasquez/GC Images) During October's smiles-all-around press conference to announce the NBA's massive new nine-year, $24 billion broadcast rights contract, a pact that will nearly triple the league's annual intake from its TV deal with ESPN and Turner Sports, Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis summed up the state of financial play rather succinctly.


"There's never been a better time to be an owner of an NBA franchise — or, frankly, any professional sports team," he said.


That assessment sure seems to be borne out in the latest crop of NBA franchise valuations published Wednesday by Forbes magazine, which pegs the average value of an NBA franchise at $1.1 billion, a 74 percent increase over last year's average and a record-setting spike that stands as "the biggest one-year gain since Forbes began valuing teams in the four major U.S. sports leagues in 1998."


[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]


Just two years removed from the magazine's first-ever billion-dollar valuations, earned by the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks in 2013 in the wake of a lockout that slashed league expenses and transferred hundreds of millions in revenues from players to owners, the magazine now lists a whopping 11 franchises as being worth more than $1 billion:


1. The Lakers: $2.6 billion, a 93 percent increase over last year's estimate;

2. The Knicks: $2.5 billion, a 79 percent year-over-year bump;

3. The Chicago Bulls: $2 billion, a full doubling of the 2014 figure;

4. The Boston Celtics: $1.7 billion, up 94 percent;

5. The Los Angeles Clippers: $1.6 billion, a staggering 178 percent increase that still somehow comes in under the actual price tag that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer paid for the franchise back in May (but does top the estimate offered by Bank of America prior to Ballmer's senses-shattering bid);

6. The Brooklyn Nets: $1.5 billion, a 92 percent year-over-year increase, which sure helps you understand why Mikhail Prokhorov is, if not actively pursuing an exit, at least very excited to listen to offers (especially considering the Nets' free-spending ways led them to be the only NBA club that actually lost money last year);

7. The Golden State Warriors: $1.3 billion, a 73 percent bump from 2014, and nearly three times as much as Joe Lacob, Peter Guber and their partners paid for the franchise in the summer of 2010;

8. The Houston Rockets: $1.2 billion, a 61 percent increase;

9. The Miami Heat: $1.175 billion, up 53 percent from last year;

10. The Dallas Mavericks: $1.15 billion, a 50 percent rise that comes more in line with owner Mark Cuban's statement last January that his team was "worth well over a billion";

11. The San Antonio Spurs: $1 billion, a 52 percent increase over last year's model, which seems like a fairly reasonable reward for winning the NBA championship.


Forbes estimates that 17 franchises, more than half the league, are now worth at least $900 million; that 24 franchises, a full 80 percent of the league, are worth at least $800 million; and that all 30 franchises are worth at least $600 million.


In other words, according to the magazine's math, every single NBA franchise is now worth more than the highest purchase prices anyone had ever paid — the reported $550 million that Leonsis paid to take full control of the Wizards after the death of longtime owner Abe Pollin and that Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry plunked down to take the Milwaukee Bucks off former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl's hands last April — before the combination of Donald Sterling's boorishness and Ballmer's bombastic billions turned the market on its head last May.


So, yeah. Good times for owners.


There will be, as there always is, balking at the Forbes calculations, since the figures are based on a variety of factors — reported league and team revenues and expenses, operating income and debt, the value of national and local television contracts, arena deals, brand value, etc. — without full access to the NBA's books. If anything, though, the magazine's figures seem to tend to err on the low side of things, as Neil Greenberg wrote at the Washington Post's Fancy Stats blog after Ballmer bought the Clippers:


According to the [2014] Forbes valuation, the Bucks were worth a league low $405 million based on revenues of $109 million but ended up being sold for $550 million to a hedge fund group headed by Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry – a higher multiple than many thought possible. They weren’t the only franchise to sell for higher than Forbes estimated they were worth.

The Golden State Warriors were purchased for $450 million in 2010 — more than the $315 million that Forbes estimated they were worth the prior year. The Washington Wizards were bought for $551 million that same year, nearly 76 percent over Forbes’s then estimated price of $313 million.

The Los Angeles Clippers, on the other hand, [were valued at] $575 million based on revenues of $128 million and could fetch an even higher multiple of earnings.

Which, obviously, they did. That's why the other franchises that are either officially on the market (like the Atlanta Hawks) or unofficially up for grabs (like Prokhorov's Nets) figure to be targets of the sort of serious bidding wars that could nudge ownership groups in other locations to think hard about putting their own interests up for sale, too.


Then again, owners might not want to cut bait too early, considering how good they've got it now, as Forbes' Kurt Badenhausen writes:


The collective bargaining agreement signed between players and owners in 2011 has nearly eliminated money-losing teams, barring wild spending sprees on players [like the Nets']. Under the CBA, the players’ share of basketball related income was reduced from 57% to 50% (it is only around 47% of total revenue when you include all arena revenue streams). Revenue sharing to prop up the low revenue teams more than tripled from $55 million under the old CBA to $232 million last year. [...]

The average NBA team had an operating profit of $23.1 million, a tick behind last year’s record tally of $23.7 million. Total leaguewide revenue hit $4.8 billion, or $160 million per team, up 5% from last season.

Badenhausen's assessment doesn't square with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's statement back in October that one-third of the NBA's teams are still losing money on an annual basis, although he said he expected the new influx of cash from the TV deal to help remedy that.


NBA players, well aware of just how healthy a market there is for the franchises for which they play, aren't buying what the commish is selling on that front. Neither is the woman who now leads their union. Here's National Basketball Player's Association executive director Michele Roberts on the claim that 10 owners are losing money, as offered during an interview with ESPN the Magazine's Pablo Torre in which she also called the league's salary cap "un-American" and offensive to her DNA:


"I initially just started laughing, to be honest with you," she said of her reaction to that statistic. "I know that as a result of the last CBA, at least 1.3 billion dollars in revenue that would have otherwise been on the players' side is now on the owners' side. I see the valuations of these teams going through the roof. ... How much more do you need to make money?"

I'm not sure what kind of answer Silver or the NBA's Board of Governors will offer to Roberts' question when the two sides come to the negotiating table to re-open the CBA in 2017. But if franchise prices keep rising at a rate that outstrips even Forbes' valuations, it seems likely that we'll find out.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.






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Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea draw

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Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso wasted plenty of chances in a 0-0 draw at the start of the second round of Afcon group games.


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Bata, Equatorial Guinea - Host Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso both wasted plenty of chances in a 0-0 draw at the start of the second round of group games at the African Cup of Nations on Wednesday.


Burkina Faso's Alain Traore twice hit the post in the first half. Equatorial Guinea's Javier Balboa twice created goal-scoring opportunities for teammates in the second half, only for their shots to fly wide.


The result leaves Group A wide open, with just two points separating the top team from the bottom team ahead of Wednesday's second game, when Gabon plays Republic of Congo.


Burkina Faso, the 2013 finalist, dominated the first half. The hosts were better in the second as their fans urged them on at Bata Stadium.


Sapa-AP






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Loss hurts, but remember the big picture

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Rodney Reiners says some of the criticism of the Bafana squad in the wake of the loss was nothing short of idiotic.


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The bigger picture. Always focus on the big picture. There was no disgrace in the 3-1 defeat to Algeria. But some of the criticism of the South African national football squad in the wake of the loss was nothing short of idiotic.


The greatest hindrance to progress in South African football has always been the deep-seated arrogance that characterised the sport. “We are the best, the rest of Africa should just bow down to our superiority. South Africa just needs to pitch up and the result is in the bag.” It’s an attitude that has never endeared this country to the rest of the continent.


It was certainly the prime reason why, after 1996 (when Bafana Bafana were African champions), SA football took a giant leap backwards.


Fortunately, before further rot could set in, the new leadership of the SA Football Association (Safa) put their egos aside and formulated a new, long-term vision for the sport.


Now the masses who follow the sport should also attempt to discard this self-centred, arrogant attitude about the national team – because the vision does NOT include winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), currently being held in Equatorial Guinea.


This tournament is seen as a continuation of coach Shakes Mashaba’s continued nurturing, development and building of a new generation of Bafana players, and an opportunity for them to gain much-needed experience against some of the best footballers on the continent.


In short, any victory is a bonus.


Taking into consideration the talent they were up against in the form of Algeria, the continent’s top-ranked team, on paper they should have had no chance. The north Africans boast footballers who perform regularly for top European sides like FC Porto, Napoli, Valencia, Sampdoria, Lyon, Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Betis, Parma, Leicester City and Sporting Lisbon.


Yet, and for the detractors, please bear this in mind, for the better part of the match, Bafana were the better side. Football, as they always say, is not played on paper.


The only difference was that the South Africans’ lack of experience was brutally exploited by the clinical and efficient Algerians.


But this new Bafana generation will be better for the defeat. Invaluable lessons will have been learnt, experience will be gained, and that will stand the squad, and the coach, in good stead in time to come.


It’s about the bigger picture.


So let’s focus on the positives first, before we discuss the limitations.


Since Mashaba’s elevation to the Bafana hot seat, the most obvious improvement has been in the energy, enthusiasm and motivation of the squad. Previous squads have suffered from a “prima donna” complex, in that so-called “name” players would just go through the motions, safe in the knowledge that they would be picked again.


Not so under Mashaba, where Bafana teams are doing the jersey proud, even in defeat. And that, alone, should be sufficient for continuing to believe in the vision.


On Monday night, they swarmed all over their more illustrious Algerian counterparts with pace and skill. They were tigerish in the tackle, never allowed the north Africans to get into any rhythm. The midfield axis of Dean Furman, Andile Jali and Oupa Manyisa trod every blade of grass, while the touch and poise of Sibusiso Vilakazi caused the opposition defence serious problems.


For three-quarters of the match, it was all Bafana.


But this is a cruel sport... if you don’t make the most of your opportunities, it comes back to bite you – painfully.


Squandered scoring chances, a missed penalty and an unfortunate own goal, and the tide turned. It was the sniff Algeria needed and they were ruthless in exploiting it, and then hammering home their advantage.


There’s a lesson there for Bafana. When you have a team on the ropes, in boxing parlance, you have to go in for the knockout punch. Or else, as they discovered, the opponent gets off the floor and comes back strong.


Now for the negatives.


Let’s start right at the top, with Mashaba.


For all the head coach’s fantastic work with the team, his one flaw continues to be his stubbornness about certain players. It’s the main reason he got fired in his last stint as Bafana coach. This time, his non-selections appear to have caught him out again.


The experience of goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, the class of Thulani Serero, and the aerial strength and all-round defensive qualities of Tefu Mashamaite could certainly have assisted Bafana on Monday. When Rivaldo Coetzee was injured and forced off, Mashaba had to play two right-backs in the centre of defence in Thulani Hlatshwayo and Anele Ngcongca. Needless to say, they were found wanting.


And then, when down and chasing an equaliser towards the end, there was nothing really effective or creative coming off the bench.


Up front, the wastefulness and selfish approach of Tokelo Rantie also needs to be addressed. There’s no doubt the Bournemouth striker is a quality footballer and his blinding pace is a major asset for the team. But he needs to channel his energy properly – and know when to run, when to pass, when to shoot and when to hold it up. Right now, he wants to run everything and that doesn’t help the team at all.


Darren Keet, too, discovered the perils of being a goalkeeper – in any form of football, be that an international or a Sunday afternoon friendly. Every player on the field can make an error and it’s okay. But when a keeper makes a mistake, that’s it... he’s the villain.


Rantie missed a penalty.... that’s fine. Hlatshwayo netted an own goal... no sweat. The Bafana defence lacked height and organisation at times... but that doesn’t matter.


Keet errs – when Algeria have the game won already – but he bears the brunt of the blame for the defeat.


All in all, though, there’s no need for panic or for some of the gratuitous excoriation a few of the Bafana players have been subjected to. There is a lot that is positive about Mashaba and his exciting new squad. Whether they get through this group or not is NOT the issue... the main thrust is that faith has been restored in the Bafana jersey.


There are still hurdles to overcome, but at least the team’s heading in the right direction. And if they stay on track, keep believing in the vision, then the squad will continue to improve.


It’s about long-term.


It’s about the big picture. - Cape Argus






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News sport : Art Briles says Baylor was 8-4 vote short of clinching spot in playoff

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Baylor finished at No. 5 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, narrowly missing out on a playoff berth that went to Ohio State, the eventual national champions.


Just how close was Baylor from making it into the Playoff? Head coach Art Briles said Wednesday that it came down to an 8-4 vote from the 12-person selection committee with eight votes going to the Buckeyes and the other four going to the Bears.




We all know the scenario by now. Entering championship weekend, TCU was ranked third in the CFP rankings while Baylor was sixth and Ohio State was fifth. Ohio State dominated Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship and moved up to No. 4 behind Florida State, which jumped from No. 4 to No. 3.


TCU (which dropped all the way to No. 6) and Baylor both won its games to clinch a share of the Big 12 title, but both were ultimately shut out of the four-team playoff.


Briles, whose team lost to Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl, is still clearly steaming a bit from how it all turned out. He seems to be among the crowd in favor of an eight-team playoff as well.



Of course, if Baylor hadn’t lost to West Virginia it wouldn’t have been in that situation anyway. Regardless, Baylor has plenty of motivation headed into next season.


For more Baylor news, visit SicEmSports.com.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : NCAA says it is currently investigating 20 schools for academic fraud

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(Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images) While North Carolina has been the most notable university to be investigated for academic fraud in recent years, the NCAA maintains that UNC is not being singled out.


In fact, representatives from the NCAA’s enforcement department told The Chronicle that is currently investigating academic misconduct in athletic programs at 20 schools – 18 from Division I, one from Division II and one from Division III.


From The Chronicle:



The cases are at various stages, from preliminary inquiry to awaiting a hearing with the Division I Committee on Infractions, and they involve a variety of missteps, including allegations that players received impermissible assistance from professors, academic advisers, or people outside of an athletic department.



Last year, the NCAA named Katherine Sulentic, a former academic adviser at Colorado, the chair of a new academic integrity group in its enforcement department. Now, the NCAA’s vice president for enforcement, Jonathan Duncan, says that unit will be beefed up while the NCAA’s investigators receive additional training on “what constitutes academic fraud and how to handle potential academic violations.”


“The timing is right to dedicate more resources to this,” Sulentic said. “Everyone’s antenna is up about academic fraud on a college campus in general.”


Academic misconduct is on the rise in college sports and the NCAA says many of the recent cases follow a fairly similar pattern.



Mr. Duncan and Ms. Sulentic attributed the increase in alleged academic violations to a variety of factors, including stricter NCAA academic standards and a rise in cheating among college students in general. They said that many of their current cases involved people who had relationships with an athletic department or a particular sports program, but who were not necessarily employed by the department. Those include professors, academic advisers who work outside of athletics, and people in the registrar’s office.



Coaches get involved sometimes, too.



In some cases, head coaches have urged members of their staff—secretaries, athletic trainers, people in the weight room—to "get this young man or woman eligible," Ms. Sulentic said.


"It’s not necessarily a directive about what to do—‘I need you to write this kid’s paper,’" she said. But she said coaches were making "proclamations" to a broad network of people, encouraging them to cheat on behalf of current players or recruits.



Unsurprisingly, Sulentic says others like agents and financial planners can also attempt to get involved with an athlete.


“They might say, ‘I exchange for you working with me in the future, I’m going to get you eligible to play Division I ball,’” Sulentic said. “What consistently surprises me is the definition of the word ‘help.’”


While none of these things seem like very new issues, at least the NCAA is bolstering its resources and focus on academic fraud. And if we know anything about the NCAA, the results of these investigations won’t come to light for quite a while.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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