Paterno Claims Contract Talks Will Not Hurt Recruiting

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D-League Finals Schedule Released
Published 4/20/2008 by Maury Brown at The Biz of Basketball :: Part of the Business of Sports Network
The Idaho Stampede and the Austin Toros will play for the 2008 NBA Development League Championship in a best-of-three Finals series beginning on Monday, April 21 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. ET. The regular season West Division champions, the Stampede advanced to the Finals with a 97-90 victory over Los Angeles D-Fenders on Friday. The Toros, the Southwest Division Champion advanced by defeating the Sioux Falls Skyforce , 99-93, tonight in Austin. By virtue of their league-leading regular season record, the Stampede secured home court advantage and will host games two and three of the Finals. Game ...

Ginobili Wins NBA's Sixth Man Award
Published 4/22/2008 by Nick Kappel at The Biz of Basketball :: Part of the Business of Sports Network
San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili earned 123 of 124 first-place votes on Monday to win the NBA sixth man of the year award. Last year’s winner, Suns guard Leandro Barbosa, came in second. Dallas’ guard Jason Terry finished third in the voting. As reported by ESPN:  “I really don’t care about coming from the bench if that helps the team to win a championship,” Ginobili said. Ginobili was a regular in the Spurs starting five until mid-way through last season, when Spurs coach Gregg Popovich decided the team would be better served having him come off the bench.  The former second round pick from Argentina led ...

Scott Skiles Hired to Coach Disappointing Bucks
Published 4/22/2008 by Nick Kappel at The Biz of Basketball :: Part of the Business of Sports Network
The Milwaukee Bucks announced the hiring of Scott Skiles as their new head coach on Monday, four days after they fired coach Larry Krystkowiak following a disappointing 26-56 season. For Skiles, this move comes four months after he was fired as the Chicago Bulls head coach. Terms of the contract were not released, but it is reportedly a fully guaranteed four-year deal. As reported by TICKER:  “Scott is a proven NBA head coach who has shown an ability to win,” (GM John) Hammond said. “He was a passionate player at all levels of the game, and that thirst for success has served him well as a coach.” Skiles was thought to ...

Austin Wins Game 1 of NBA D-League Finals
Published 4/22/2008 by Maury Brown at The Biz of Basketball :: Part of the Business of Sports Network
The Austin Toros defeated the Idaho Stampede 95-89 tonight in Game One of the best-of-three 2008 NBA Development League Finals presented by Delta, at the Austin Convention Center. The Toros brought the 2299 fans out of their seats in the opening 20 seconds of the contest when Josh Gross put the exclamation point on an Andre Barrett pass. The alley-oop dunk gave the Toros a 2-0 lead, their lone advantage until six minutes remained in the half.  Both teams hit on only one of their first five field goal attempts, until Idaho’s Roberto Bergersen who connected on just 4 of 16 shots in the Stampede semi-final game victory over the L.A. ...

Friedman: Choosing This Season’s NBA Awards Winners
Published 4/22/2008 by David Friedman at The Biz of Basketball :: Part of the Business of Sports Network
The MVP race has obviously dominated discussions of this year's awards but there are also some tough choices to be made regarding other honors, including the three All-NBA Teams. Several prominent commentators have already weighed in with their choices. It should be noted that not every commentator announced a selection for every award: MVP: Mark Jackson (ESPN/ABC), Chris Mannix (Sports Illustrated), Reggie Miller (TNT) and Kenny Smith (TNT) chose Kobe Bryant. Mike Wilbon (ESPN/ABC) said that he is "leaning toward" Bryant but will not decide for sure until the last game is played. Charles Barkley (TNT), Jon Barry (TNT), ...