Audio: Lamond Murray on Recruiting, Lockout and Overseas Hoops

Our very own ‎Kevin Owens talks with former NBA star and current NCSA staffer Lamond Murray about college recruiting, the lockout, and his experiences with overseas basketball.

Click here to listen to the interview.

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Former Blazer (and Net and Sun and Knick and Cav) Chris Dudley Running for Governor of Oregon

Jon Runyan isn't the only jock throwing his name into Republican politics.

Connecticut native and former journeyman NBA center Chris Dudley (whose grandfather was U.S. ambassador to Denmark under the Nixon and Ford administrations) has done everything short of announcing his bid for the Republican nomination for governor in Oregon.

To pave the way for his announcement, Dudley is using YouTube to introduce himself to voters. Oregonians can only hope he's a better politicians than he was a free throw shooter.

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Separated At Birth: When a Man Loves a Woman

According to NJ.com, "Former NBA star Jayson Williams is expected to appear in court Friday for a plea deal in the 2002 death of a limousine driver in Hunterdon County, according to people with knowledge of the case."

Sources cannot confirm whether or not he will don his Percy Sledge disguise.

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Audio: Bird and Magic on LeBron James' Pending Free Agency

As part of promotion for their recently release book, When the Game Was Ours, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird took questions from journalists and bloggers.

Here, Magic talks about the change in atmosphere in NY (or NJ) that LeBron would bring should he come to the Knicks or Nets, whereas Bird extols the virtues of Cleveland's fans and expresses hope that the King stays put in the state that he's from and on the team that drafted him - for the betterment of the game and League as a whole.

Magic adds that staying in Cleveland also gives him the best chance at winning, noting the salary purge that the Knicks would have to make in order to free up money to get James.

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Nets Get Ridiculous

The economy is hurting sports all over but the ticket package that the New Jersey Nets have just rolled out is ridiculous. Courtesy of my friend Jim, a lifelong Nets fan from the days of Ed O'Bannon and Chris Morris comes this reversible jersey package. For just $350 bucks you get tickets to 10 games, a subscription to the NY Post and 5 reversible NBA jerseys. These jerseys on one side are Nets players and on the other are some of the famous players that will be coming to play the Nets. So if things start going bad this season, just flip that Yi Jianlian jersey over and you can rock the Kevin Garnett. The big question, as Jim points out is who in their right mind is ever going to reverse their LeBron James jersey for a Jarvis Hayes uniform? Probably nobody. Don't look for the Lakers or Magic to be pulling this promotion anytime soon. I think they enjoy promoting just their own players enough.

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NJ State Senator Threatens to Give Nets, Giants & Jets "Attitude Readjustment[s]"

Late last month a Star Ledger commentary by Steve Politi pointed out the shortcomings of the New Jersey Nets franchise, which can't get out of the Garden State and into Brooklyn quick enough:

The star-free roster. The bottom-barrel payroll passed off as cap space when it is really just the remains of a fire sale. The team is even removing the "New Jersey" from the road uniforms, as if it could possibly insult fans more.

According to PolitickerNJ.com, the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services "is drafting a bill that would prohibit the use of tax dollars to help teams that don't carry the New Jersey name."

Senate Miniority Whip Kevin O'Toole is leading the charge (which isn't limited to the lowly Nets):

"New Jersey's professional sports teams, the Nets, Jets and Giants, have no problem feeding at the taxpayer funded trough, yet seem to forget who their benefactors are when they order the teams' uniforms. The taxpayers of this state have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure upgrades in the Meadowlands where all the teams play their home games. Is it too much to ask that professional sports teams that benefit from the support of the New Jersey taxpayer recognize the state on their uniforms?

"These teams make hundreds of millions of dollars a year. They should not receive a single concession from the state until they get an attitude readjustment."

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NJ Congressman Thinks New Jersey (Or Anyone) Cares About the Nets

The New Jersey Nets never quite caught the attention of Jersey sports fans the way teams in neighboring New York and Philadelphia have. Who knows what a move to one of the five boroughs will do for a team that currently ranks 5th to last in NBA attendance.

Regardless, Politico reports:

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.), wary of taxpayer anger over the AIG bonuses, wants the New Jersey Nets to reconsider selling naming rights to the British bank Barclays for an NBA arena being built in Brooklyn.

Barclays received $8.5 billion in bailout funds from the Treasury Department, and Pascrell believes the $400 million it cost to have the naming rights for the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets arena should be used, say, for lending to consumers instead.

This would be a fair argument if not for the fact the Nets could name their arena the "Jayson Williams Shot His Limo Driver Arena" and no one would notice.

Says Politico: "It’s worth noting, of course, that Pascrell represents a lot of New Jersey Nets fans quite unhappy about losing their NBA team to Brooklyn."

Show me one.

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Ed O'Bannon Has Got A Great Deal On A Camry Just For You

Credit the New York Daily News for doing a "where are they now" feature. The latest one takes a look at former Nets lottery pick Ed O'Bannon. We remember Ed and brother Charles from UCLA's run to the NCAA title back in the mid-nineties. Ed, the better of the two brothers (think the Griffin brothers today but less talented) was supposed to be a savior for the Nets that were wallowing in their "really sucky era." Ed didn't quite meet expectations, was traded a season later and then did the whole "Europe thing." I don't think this is Ed's fault: too many expectations were put on him coming out of college just like every other Nets draft pick in the 90s. Derek Coleman and Kenny Anderson didn't really live up to what they should have been.

Anyway, fast-forward to today and Ed is posting up outside of Las Vegas, Nevada in the lovely town of Henderson hawking cars at Findlay Toyota. Remember, as Coach Wooden said, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail" especially when you need to move those 08 Tacomas off this lot like yesterday. So come on down to Findlay Toyota today!

Photo: Daily News/Shimada for News

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NJ Net Dating Reality Show Headcase

Ariel brought to my attention that this morning on Howard Stern, rejected Momma's Boy headcase Cara Quici, who didn't even get a date, confessed to dating a of the New Jersey Nets.

From HowardStern.com's week recap: "Cara added that she was currently dating a player on the New Jersey Nets, and yes, he is African-American, but Cara claimed her parents had no problem with that...her grandparents were a different story though."

As if the rigors of playing on an NBA club weren't headache enough, one lucky player gets to go home to this...

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Nets' Yormark on LBJ, Brooklyn and Dolphin Rumors

Brett Yormark was on WFAN's Boomer and Carton this morning. Among other things, the Nets CEO & President downplayed the Nets' chances of landing will-be free agent LeBron James, praised the work of Kiki Vandeweghe and Rod Thorn, and addressed the seemingly impossible task of finally getting to Brooklyn. Interestingly, Yormark also denied rumors he was offered a position with the Miami Dolphins, and shunned a statement by an unnamed source at the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (as quoted by Carton) that the Meadowlands' Izod Center would be more profitable should the Nets, the arena's sole client, chose to abandon the venue.

He touched upon something that has seemed to be brushed aside with the Brooklyn snafu: the eminent domain case the team has been fighting.

Full interview audio here.

Need a Job? Need Nets Tickets?

Do we have a deal for you! And Armon Gilliam, Shawn Bradley and Sam Bowie! Even unemployed acquitted killers!

And if your resume is impressive enough, you can even suit up!

David Waldstein of The Star-Ledger reports: Nets to give free tickets to jobless fans

Of all the enticements and promotions sports teams have come up with over the years, it's hard to imagine any as dramatic as the plan the Nets will introduce today: free tickets for the unemployed.

In a nod to current economic conditions, the basketball team will give unemployed fans who submit their resumes to the Nets Job Bank up to four free tickets, plus access to a Nov. 22 career fair at their home arena, team president and chief executive Brett Yormark said. The team also will distribute applicants' resumes to its sponsors.

Jayson Williams to Use Mark Furhman Defense

According to the AP via Philly.com, based on an appellate court decision, former NBA "star" Jayson Williams "can use details about a racial slur uttered by an investigator in the manslaughter case" against him.

Williams was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter in 2004 but convicted on four counts of trying to cover up the 2002 shooting of a hired driver at Williams' Hunterdon County mansion. The jury deadlocked on a reckless manslaughter count...

The appeals court rejected prosecutors' arguments that the documents were irrelevant to Williams' pending retrial since the officer wasn't scheduled to testify and the information couldn't be used to attack his credibility...

The dispute over the slur has caused Williams' retrial, originally scheduled for January, to be pushed back.

Nets Host Tryouts for Senior Dancers

Nets co-owner Jay Z obviously was out to embarrass the Garden State even further with this little stunt.

Trying out for the Nets senior dance team

Thanks to the Star Ledger's Brian Donohue for the vid.

Agent Zero on What's Made Milwaukee Famous

Please, Gilbert, Don't Hurt 'Em.

Gilbert Arenas really slapped the city(?) of Milwaukee around in his post this week at NBA.com:

Richard Jefferson going to Milwaukee …. HAHAHA! Oh man, now that is funny. When I heard that, I started laughing. Oh man, did I start laughing. You know why? Because every player hates Milwaukee. Nobody wants to live in Milwaukee. I’m sorry, Milwaukee, to come down hard on you, but no one in the NBA wants to play in Milwaukee. From him going from New Jersey, actually from New York (because he lives in New York), from New York to Milwaukee is like going … let’s just say it’s not going to sit well with you. That was a funny one when I heard that one. I know Yi is happy though.

Frankly, he's not breaking any new territory with his put-down of Wisconsin's piping metropolis. If 7-foot Chinamen dread the thought of heading there, I'd imagine NBA African-Americans who unwillingly get shipped off to the land of beer, brats and cheese might have a hesitation or two.

Well, bless the Charles F. Gardner's sweet heart for trying to justify the town as...well, "not so bad" and that some players like it there...they really like it there!

Stated Gardner in the Sentinel-Journal's Bucks Blog:

Not all NBA players have viewed Milwaukee as a place to be avoided. Ray Allen wanted to stay here and was genuinely disappointed when he was traded to Seattle, before he eventually moved on to Boston and won a championship ring last season. Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut seem to like Milwaukee well enough and have earned long-term contracts with the franchise. Desmond Mason came back for a second contract as a free agent, after being traded to New Orleans (and protesting vehemently) a couple years ago.

That was precious. I hope Mayor Barrett gives you the keys to the town and makes you an official ambassador, white bread.

The "Mountie"

Always gets his man.

Separated at Birth: Sean 3000

While the sophs hammered the rooks last night, Dunbar noticed the strong resemblance of Nets forward Sean Williams and Outkast's Andre 3000.


What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold.

Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright

Does Richard Jefferson Have to Choke a Bitch?

In an incident report filed by the Graves / 601 Hotel in Minneapolis, Richard Jefferson was on top of a club patron choking him and threatened to kick his ass.

According to the report obtained by TMZ:

Mr. Jefferson had been on top of Mr. Fox, with both hands on Mr. Fox's neck. Dan stated that it appeared that Mr. Jefferson had been choking Mr. Fox. Richard Jefferson quickly exited the club, at which point Dan asked him to wait a minute so they could all figure out what had happened. It was then that Mr. Jefferson verbally threatened Dan, stating that, "Say another word I will kick your ass.

TMZ says it was told by Minneapolis PD that Jefferson is under investigation for "assault for significant bodily harm," though no charges have yet been filed.