News from June 20. The NBA fined Mark Cuban (Dal owner) $250,000 for "several acts of misconduct" following Sunday's Dal-Mia game. [I'm putting the complete declared and withdrew list at the end.] Mia 95, Dal 92 at Dal Dwayne Wade (Mia) had 36 points including 16-21 FT, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks, and 5 turnovers. Udonis Haslem (Mia) had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Antoine Walker (Mia) had 14 points including 6-17 FG and 0-6 3-pointers and 11 rebounds. Shaquille O'Neal (Mia) had 9 points including 4-11 FG and 12 rebounds. Jason Terry (Dal) had 16 points on 7-25 FG and 2-11 3-pointers and 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) had 29 points and 15 rebounds. Josh Howard (Dal) had 14 points including 5-16 FG, 12 rebounds, and 4 steals. Miami takes the series 4-2. Congratulations to the 2006 NBA Champions Miami Heat. Dwyane Wade was easily named as the MVP. Playoff Standings 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Finals (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) 1 San Antonio (4) __ 8 Sacramento (2) |_ 1 San Antonio (3) _ _ 4 Dallas (4) | 4 Dallas (4) ______| |_ 4 Dallas (4) _ 5 Memphis (0) _ 2 Phoenix (2) | | | 2 Phoenix (4) ____ | | 7 LA Lakers (3) |_ 2 Phoenix (4) _| | _ 6 LA Clippers (3) | 3 Denver (1) __| | 6 LA Clippers (4) |_ 4 Dallas (2) _ 2 Miami (4) | 1 Detroit (4) ____ | 8 Milwaukee (1) |_ 1 Detroit (4) ___ | _ 4 Cleveland (3) | | 4 Cleveland (4) ___| | | 5 Washington (2) |_ 1 Detroit (2) _| _ 2 Miami (4) 2 Miami (4) ______ | 7 Chicago (2) |_ 2 Miami (4) __| _ 3 New Jersey (1) 3 New Jersey (4) ___| 6 Indiana (2) Thus ends the 2005-06 seasons. As usual, these reports will no longer be daily. I'll send out news when it occurs (or when I get back from vacation). The NBA draft is June 28. July 1 is the free agency date - when players actually become free agents, though teams can not start signing free agents until July 12. Have a nice summer. patricia The final list of players who declared themselves eligible for the NBA draft and those who later withdrew: Underclassmen who have declared themselves eligible for the NBA draft: LaMarcus Aldridge (sophomore, Texas, center) Renaldo Balkman (junior, South Carolina, forward) Will Blalock (junior, Iowa State, guard) Josh Boone (junior, Connecticut, forward) Ronnie Brewer (junior, Arkansas, guard-forward) Shannon Brown (junior, Michigan State, guard) Derek Burditt (sophomore, Blinn College, center) Travis DeGroot (junior, Delta State, forward) Guillermo Diaz (junior, Miami, guard) Quincy Douby (junior, Rutgers, guard) Mike Efevbertha (junior, Cal State Northridge, guard) Jordan Farmar (sophomore, UCLA, guard) Thomas Gardner (junior, Missouri, guard) Rudy Gay (sophomore, Connecticut, forward) Daniel Gibson (sophomore, Texas, guard) LeShawn Hammett (junior, St. Francis, guard) Tedric Hill (sophomore, Gulf Coast CC, center) Donald Jeffes (sophomore, Roxbury CC, forward-center) Alexander Johnson (junior, Florida State, forward) David Johnson (sophomore, Clinton Junior College, forward) Mark Konecny (junior, Lambuth University, center) Kyle Lowry (sophomore, Villanova, guard) Paul Millsap (junior, Louisiana Tech, forward) Matt Mitchell (junior, Southern, guard) Adam Morrison (junior, Gonzaga, forward) Patrick O'Bryant (sophomore, Bradley, forward) JR Pinnock (junior, George Washington, guard) Leon Powe (sophomore, California, forward) Rajon Rondo (sophomore, Kentucky, guard) Cedric Simmons (sophomore, NC State, forward-center) Marcus Slaughter (junior, San Diego State, forward) Curtis Stinson (junior, Iowa State, guard) Tyrus Thomas (freshman, LSU, forward) P.J. Tucker (junior, Texas, forward) Darius Washington Jr. (sophomore, Memphis, guard) Marcus Williams (junior, Connecticut, guard) Shawne Williams (freshman, Memphis, forward) International players under 22 years old who have declared themselves eligible for the NBA draft (foreign players who turn 22 during 2006 are automatically entered into the draft): Pape-Phillippe Amadou (France) Andrea Bargnani (Italy) Lior Eliyahu (Israel) Joel Freeland (Spain) Damir Markota (Croatia) Oleksiv Pecherov (France) Kosta Perovic (Serbia-Montenegro) Sergio Rodriguez (Spain) Saer Sene (Belgium) Ejike Ugboaja (Nigeria) Underclassmen automatically entered into the draft due to having played for a professional team: Daniel Artst Sheldon Bailey Klavs Bedritis Gianno Bianconi Fabian Calvez Jaz Cowan Marquis Crane Andrea Crosariol Ian Crosswhite Samba Dia Benito Flores Michael Frazier Brian Kim Dennis Latimore Carl Lee Louis Levros Audrius Maneikis Helgi Margeirsson Lionel Medina Carlos Morais Jun Nakanishi Edwin Ofori-Attah Harold Padilla T.J. Parker Marius Prekevicius Rob Sanders Maurice Shaw James Sutton Ilias Tevetzidis Greg Wells James Williams Lukasz Wisniewski Underclassmen and foreign players who declared and later withdrew their name from the draft: Akbar Abdul-Ahad (junior, Idaho State, guard) Aaron Afflalo (sophomore, UCLA, guard) Andriy Agafonov (Ukraine) Nemania Aleksandrov (Serbia-Montenegro) Morris Almond (junior, Rice, guard) Larry Blair (junior, Liberty, guard) Jahsha Bluntt (junior, Delaware State, guard) Yannick Bokolo (France) Bobby Brown (junior, Cal-State Fullerton, guard) Carlos Cedeno (Venezuela) *Ja'Vance Coleman (junior, Fresno State, guard) LeRoy Dawson (junior, Emporia State, guard-forward) Cem Dinc (freshman, Indiana, center) Tadija Dradicevic (Serbia-Montenegro) Carl Elliott (junior, George Washington, guard) Nick Fazekas (junior, Nevada, forward) Rudy Fernandez (Spain) Kvrvio Fresenko (Ukraine) Reggie George (sophomore, Robert Morris College, center) Aaron Gray (junior, Pittsburgh, center) Brandon Heath (junior, San Diego State, guard) Rafael Hettsheimeier (Spain) Clarence Holloway (high school senior, Florida, center) Ekene Ibekwe (junior, Maryland, forward) Coby Karl (junior, Boise State, guard) Trey Johnson (junior, Jackson State, guard) Marko Lekic (Serbia-Montenegro) Aleks Maric (sophomore, Nebraska, center) Japhet McNeil (junior, East Carolina, guard) Mickael Mokongo (France) Brad Newley (Australia) Evan Patterson (junior, Texas Wesleyan, forward) Hrvoje Peric (Croatia) Giorgos Printezis (Greece) Milovan Rakovic (Serbia-Montenegro) Aleksandar Rindin (Azerbaijan) Richard Roby (sophomore, Colorado, guard) Dusan Sakota (Greece) Blake Schilb (junior, Loyola Chicago, guard) Renaldas Seibutis (Greece) Mustafa Shakur (junior, Arizona, guard) Sidiki Sidibe (France) Tiago Splitter (Spain) Sun Yue (China) Ali Traore (France) Jontae Vinson (junior, Cal-State Los Angeles, guard) Ian Vouyoukas (junior, St. Louis, center) Albert Weber (sophomore, Connors State, guard) *never formally submitted the paperwork