Other news that wasn't reported in the Morning News, taken from Justin Ridge's NBA News. 6/30 The Boston Celtics have traded forward Ed Pinckney and the rights to Andrei Fetisov (who they selected with the 36th pick in the 1994 draft) to Milwaukee for forwards Blue Edwards and Derek Strong. 7/1 Orlando didn't give a qualifying offer to Litterial Green, making him an unrestricted free agent. Orlando extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Geert Hammink and Keith Tower . 7/1 Portland released Reggie Smith. Portland extended qualifying offers to Jaren Jackson and Kevin Thompson. 7/1 LA Clippers extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Harold Ellis, Bob Martin and Charles Outlaw. Correction/Update: I reported earlier that Rick Fox (Bos) had a new contract. Well, it turns out that Fox and the Celtics had just agreed to terms and had not actually signed a contract. After Dee Brown's contract extension was announced, Fox turned down the Celtics offer and is now a restricted free agent. New news: Dallas hired Kip Motta as assistant coach. He was an assistant coach in Portland and is also head coach Dick Motta's son. News from July 6. The first two are from ESPN SportCenter. Golden State named Bob Lanier as an assistant coach. Patrick Ewing (NY) underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will undergo 6 to 8 weeks of rehabilitation. Houston fired 11 employees including their mascot. (from my dad) News from July 11 (and before). New York did not exercise their option year on Rolando Blackman making him an unrestricted free agent. New York will be able to use only half of his salary slot. (from memory) In the preliminary hearing for the Players Association's antitrust suit, the judge gave both sides two days to reach an agreement else there would be an one day hearing on Tuesday after which he alone (the judge) would pass down the ruling and warned that his decision might not be liked. (from the Austin American Statesman) Negotiations for the sale of the Timberwolves to a local group led by Bill Sexton have ended due to not being able to agree on a purchase price. The current Timberwolves owners plan on negotiating with other buyers who have expressed interest in keeping the team in Minnesota. Also relevant, Top Rank, the group that tried to purchase the team but the NBA rejected, has a court suit against the NBA over their right to purchase and move the team. (from ESPN SportCenter) Former NBA and ABA referee Earl Strom died. He was 66. [A moment of silence, please.] The roster numbers for Dream Team II: 1 Tim Hardaway / May not play due 2 Isiah Thomas \ to injury. 4 Joe Dumars 5 Mark Price 6 Derrick Coleman 7 Shawn Kemp 8 Steve Smith 9 Dan Majerle 10 Reggie Miller 11 Kevin Johnson 12 Dominique Wilkins 13 Shaquille O'Neal 14 Alonzo Mourning 15 Larry Johnson News from July 13. The following is from ESPN SportCenter. The Player's Association walked out of the negotiations Monday morning, so Judge Kevin Duffy held a one day hearing on Tuesday. Both the Player's Association and the NBA presented their cases over 7 hours. No word as to when Duffy will return a ruling (could be today, could be later). John Thompson (coach, Georgetown) has been interviewing for the LA Clippers coaching job. He rumoredly is asking for a 5 year $10 million contract and control of the daily workings of the team. Voshon Lenard (2nd round draft pick of Milwaukee) is using NCAA Prop 120 and returning to college (Minnesota) for his senior year. Milwaukee will still own his draft rights next year. Philadelphia has hired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to teach Shawn Bradley. News from July 18. The following is from ESPN SportCenter. The judge finally came back with a ruling. He came down in support of the NBA and the rights of the salary cap, college draft, and right of 1st refusal (restricted free agency). After the ruling was announced, came a trade that had been rumored to be in the works but that was waiting on the ruling. Seattle traded Ricky Pierce, the rights to their 1st round pick Carlos Rogers, and two 2nd round draft picks in 1995 to Golden State for Byron Houston and Sarunas Marciulionis. Jason Kidd is not expected to accept the $36 million insurance policy that Dallas is offering so that he could participate in Dallas' mini camp scheduled for this week. News from July 19. The following is from ESPN SportCenter. Another trade that had long been rumored to be done but was waiting on the contract negotiations injunction to be lifted came to light. Detroit traded Sean Elliott to San Antonio for the rights to draft pick Bill Curley and a 2nd round draft pick in 1997. [Part of the rumored deal included the cancellation of San Antonio's right to swap picks with Detroit in 1995 or 1996 (part of the Elliott for Rodman deal last season). This was not mentioned on ESPN as part of the actual deal and I have not read or heard anything indicating that it was included in the trade.] News from July 23 (and before). The following is from ESPN SportCenter. Stu Jackson was named as the new GM and VP of Basketball Operations for the expansion Vancouver team. Boston coach Chris Ford was given a contract extension through the 1996-97 season. Dominique Wilkins, an unrestricted free agent, signed a 3 year contract with Boston. Avery Johnson, an unrestricted free agent, signed with San Antonio. Wayne Huizenga, who already ownes the Miami Dolphins (football), Florida Marlins (baseball), and Florida Panthers (hockey), has submitted an offer of more than $150 million to purchase the Miami Heat. The offer is expected to be accepted. According to the San Antonio newspaper, Chuck Person, an unrestricted free agent, has agreed to terms with the Spurs. He will be inserted into Dale Ellis' $1.1 million slot. If correct, that means that San Antonio will not try to re-sign Ellis, who is an unrestricted free agent. Phoenix released Skeeter Henry, Lou Dawkins, Mark Buford and signed Bruce Bowen and Corey Gaines. [I would assume that they were signed to unguarenteed contracts.] [From the Austin American Statesman.] [The following is from Justin Ridge's NBA News] Wally Walker was named as the GM and president of Seattle. Roy Tarpley was in Dallas and met with coach Dick Motta. The meeting was described as being friendly. [Tarpley hasn't changed his stance of not wanting to play in Dallas, but Dallas controls Tarpley's future in the NBA.] News from July 25. The first three are from ESPN SportCenter. Detlef Schrempf, who had used his option out clause to become an unrestricted free agent, signed a 5 year contract with Seattle worth $20 million. In the block buster trade department, Philadelphia traded Erik Leckner to Detroit for a 2nd round draft pick in 1996 or 1997. Dominque Wilkins had his formal press conference with the Boston Celtics. He will wear #12. He will rumoredly earn $11 million over the 3 year contract and has an option out clause for next season. Wilkins was inserted into Robert Parish's salary slot, making it offical what was known all along: Parish will not be a Celtic next season. [From my dad:] David Wesley signed with Boston. (Mavs news, my dad's words) Grant's agent says the Mavs are "very high" on Horace's list. Apparently, a free agent from Missouri, Melvin Booker, has impressed Keith Grant and Motta and may stick. He's a 6'2" 2 guard that is expected to learn point. The interesting part of the article is that it states that 4 of the guard positions are set: Jim Jackson, Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas, and Morlon Wiley?! (don't know if that's Grant's, Motta's, or David Moore's [Dallas Morning News correspondent] list). Leaves Booker, Lucious [Harris], and Daimon Sweet (another free agent) to fight for the fifth guard spot. If so, so much for Harris's guaranteed contract. News from July 26. The following is from ESPN SportCenter. Phoenix signed its 1st round draft pick Wesley Person. A.C. Green, who had used his option to become an unrestricted free agent, signed a multi-year contract with Phoenix. News from July 27. The following is from ESPN SportCenter Philadelphia has scheduled a press conference for this morning. It is expected that they will announce the signing of unrestricted free agent Scott Williams to a multi-year contract. Roy Tarpley, former Maverick who is awaiting reinstatement by the league, signed a one year contract with the Greece team that he has played with for the past two years. [On the drive into to work this morning, I listened (briefly) to a Dallas radio station and they mentioned (briefly) that someone was reporting that Dallas has made a serious contract offer to Tarpley. This completely baffled me as 1. Tarpley just signed the contract with the Greek team and 2. I thought that until the league reinstates Tarpley, the Mavs couldn't do anything with him - sign or trade. Tarpley could have an option out clause with the Greek team, so that could explain 1.] News from July 28. The following is from ESPN SportCenter. Scott Williams, an unrestricted free agent, signed a $16 to $21 million, 7 year contract with Philadelphia. Bill Fitch was named as the head coach for the LA Clippers. San Antonio is now the only team with a coaching vacancy. Danny Manning, an unrestricted free agent, visited with Phoenix yesterday and decided that was where he wants to play. When asked if that meant that he would stop looking at other teams, he replied, "I'm done." He also said, "This is where I want to be." Rumor: Orlando and Sacramento are working on a deal that will trade Scott Skiles for Spud Webb. Orlando would then rework Webb's contract (less money this year and add a one year extension) to free up money in order to sign unrestricted free agent Horace Grant. (From radio WBAP:) Roy Tarpley has _not_ signed with the Greek team that he played for last year, according to Tarpley's agent. This was incorrectly reported on ESPN and in USA Today. Apparently USA Today also had this rumor/report last week. Tarpley is still negiotiating/ talking with Dallas. (From Justin Ridge's NBA News:) The LA Lakers signed their first round draft pick Eddie Jones. WBBM radio reports that Chicago has signed Toni Kukoc to a multi year contract. News from July 29. The following is from ESPN SportCenter. Scott Skiles was sent packing, but not to Sacramento as was rumored. Orlando traded Scott Skiles, a 1st round draft pick in 1996, and the infamous future considerations to Washington for a 2nd round draft pick in 1996 and future considerations. Basically, Orlando paid (with the draft pick) for Washington to take Skiles off their hands so that Orlando could have Skiles' hefty salary slot available. Leading to ... The Horace Grant sweepstakes is over. Grant signed with Orlando and will wear #54. No word was made as to the contract amount, but Skiles' slot was worth $2.1 million and I'd bet that the option year out clause was included. Chicago made an offer of $4 million per year and Grant turned it down. Jerry Reinsdorf fired a couple of parting shots by blaming Grant and the "blue flu" for costing the Bulls the regular season Eastern Conference championship, questioning Grant's character, and firing Grant (the press conference was before Grant signed with Orlando). News from July 31. The following is from ESPN SportCenter and WTBS. Not quite NBA news: Michael Jordan hit his first home run Saturday after 101 games and 354 at bats. The ball went 380 feet.