From the Rocky Mountain News’ Chris Tommason :
The Denver Nuggets announced today that Kiki Vandeweghe will not return to the team as general manager.
Vandeweghe and owner Stan Kroenke met today to discuss his contract status with the Nuggets.
“After meeting with Kiki today, we agreed his contract will not be extended,™™ Kroenke said in a statement. “We appreciate the time he spent with the Nuggets and wish him good luck as he seeks out his next challenge. We remain focused on attaining our goal of establishing a team that consistently competes at the highest levels and will make every effort to achieve that goal.”
Along with Denver’s first round exit at the hands of the Clippers, Vandeweghe (above) is presumably being held accountable for a tenure that included drafting Nikoloz Tskitishvili over Amare Stoudemire (whoops) and giving grouchy Kenyon Martin and his bad knees more money than God.
So what I’m trying to say is, Kiki’s still more qualified to run a team than Isiah Thomas.
The Newark Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Allesandro mentions that the starting time for Game 4 of the Nets/Heat Eastern Conference Semis is undetermined because “they’d kind of like to know if LeBron or Kobe are still playing before subjecting your team to a national televison audience.
Tickets for the games at Continental Receeding Hairlines Arena are now on sale, though the Nets might want to consider saving a seat right behind the Heat bench for Chris Harris of the Chicago Bears.
The conclusion of the Heats/Bulls series means that we’re denied the effervescent dialogue between Antoine Walker and Scott Skiles.
The New York Post’s Peter Vescey points a finger at the Wizards’ Antoine Jamison when recalling LeBron’s game winning lay-up at the end of overtime Wednesday evening ;
The whole solar system suspected Cavaliers coach Mike Brown might design his last offensive set with James in mind. You know, considering he had 43 points in the can already. Nevertheless, James encountered minimal difficulty shaking Michael Ruffin, Antawn Jamison and a couple of other faux defenders en route to a gimme lay-in with under a second remaining for Cleveland’s 121-120 victory.
“I’ve never seen anyone go through Washington that easily without a motorcade,” column castigator Frank Drucker remarked.
After losing James initially, Jamison appeared to recover enough to beat him to the proper spot on the baseline in plenty of time to absorb a charge or make LeBron elevate for a tough-angled jumper.
Instead, Jamison committed a cardinal sin by giving up the baseline. This is what happens when kids skip grammar school and go straight to the pros – they miss learning the basics. No wonder David Stern was so intent on changing the NBA’s draft-age rule. Furthermore, for fear of fouling James and putting him put on the line, where he would’ve had to double-clutch two for the victory, Jamison abruptly stopped defending him.
Help me out on this: How long ago was it that James couldn’t make a game-winning shot or a free throw? What year was it when we claimed that’s what separated LeBron from Kobe, the onions to down cutthroat shots at crunch time?
Oh, yeah, that’s right; it was way back in mid-winter of ’06.
so far tonight : Wizards 53, Cavs 52 (10:30, 3rd period). The James (20 points) / Arenas (21) duel , with all due respect to that great battle out west (ie. Kwame vs. the LAPD), has been fantastic , far better than we as humans really deserve.