News from June 30.

Detroit fired head coach Michael Curry.

J.R. Smith (Den) was sentenced to 90 days in jail for causing a crash in
June 2007 by running a stop sign.  A passenger in his vehicle was killed
in the accident.  60 days of the sentence will be suspended with the
condition of Smith serving 500 hours of community service.

Indiana made qualifying offers to Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts, making
them restricted free agents.

The LA Clippers made a qualifying offer to Steve Novak, making him a
restricted free agent.

Phoenix exercised their 09-10 option for Louis Amundson.

Devean George (Dal) elected not to opt-out of his contract and remains
signed through 09-10.

Bobby Brown (Min) elected not to opt-out of his contract and remains
signed through 09-10.

Damien Wilkins (OKC) elected not to opt-out of his contract and remains
signed through 09-10.

Michael Finley (SA) elected not to opt-out of his contract and remains
signed through 09-10.

Carlos Boozer (Uta) and Mehmet Okur (Uta) elected not to opt-out of their
contracts and remain signed through 09-10.

Anderson Varejao (Cle) elected to opt-out of his contract and is an
unrestricted free agent.

Corey Maggette (GS) underwent minor surgery on his right wrist.

Today (July 1) is the free agency date - all 08-09 contracts officially
end and teams may start negotiating with free agents, but not signing.
Teams can start signing free agents when the July Moratorium ends on July
8 (and the 09-10 salary cap amount is announced).


----
  Patricia Bender                       pbender@eskimo.com
  For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html
  For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html