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Amare Stoudemire Out 8 Weeks, May Miss Rest Of Season

02/20/2009 - 3:01pm

The Suns have announced that Amare Stoudemire was forced to
undergo surgery Friday to repair a partially detached retina in his right eye
suffered in a Wednesday night rout of the Los Angeles Clippers. It is
Stoudemire's second injury in that eye since October and threatens to sideline
the All-Star forward for the rest of the regular season.

Stoudemire's return to physical activity has been estimated
at eight weeks by the Suns after Friday morning's procedure, although the club
said in a statement that "recovery varies on a case-by-case basis."

In a club statement Friday, Suns president of basketball
operations Steve Kerr said: "We are very glad to hear that Amare should
have a 100-percent recovery relative to his vision and his long-term prognosis
is excellent. Obviously, it is very disappointing to lose him at this time. We
are all very excited about the progress the team is making, but Amare's health
and the health of all our players is our No. 1 concern."

ESPN

T-Mac on to Chicago for more tests

02/20/2009 - 5:13am

Tracy McGrady’s next round of medical examinations on his sore left knee are scheduled for Sunday in Chicago.

“He’s
meeting with a doctor in Chicago who at this point will likely perform
whatever procedure he ends up choosing,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey
said. “I think obviously one of the doctors has recommended the
microfracture surgery. Until Tracy hears all the options and we hear
all the options, we can sit down together and decide what’s the next
step.”

Morey said because of the trade deadline Thursday, he has not spoken to McGrady.

Houston Chronicle

Sour economy looms large at NBA trade deadline

02/20/2009 - 3:50am

Much of the NBA seems to be cutting back these days. The relative
quiet of yesterday's trade deadline -- there were several deals but at
best one that could be of championship consequence -- was preceded by
chatter across the league about just how much the economy was driving
deals.

New Jersey was apparently looking to ditch Vince Carter
during a renaissance season because of his prodigious price tag.
Milwaukee might have felt the same way about Richard Jefferson. The two
major deals that went down in the days before the deadline were salary
dumps more than anything.

Yes, this was the first trade deadline
played out in this sputtering economy. With this summer shaping up as a
reckoning for the leagues whose corporate sponsorships and season
tickets were largely secured before the fiscal hurricane reached shore,
finances are crowding their way towards centre stage.

That is not
to say that there were no basketball trades. But they were
inconsequential trades, on the whole - far more significant were the
salary dumps.

National Post

Garnett injures leg at Utah

02/20/2009 - 3:46am

Boston forward Kevin Garnett was injured late in the second quarter
of the Celtics' game at Utah on Thursday night and went hopping on one
foot toward the locker room.

The Celtics said he strained his right knee and would not return.

Garnett
injured his right leg while going up for an alley-oop late in the first
half. He landed gingerly and motioned immediately to the bench for a
substitute, then hopped on his good foot toward the locker room.

There was no immediate word on how serious the injury was or whether Garnett could return to the game.

Associated Press

Perseverance pays off for Miami Heat's Jamario Moon

02/20/2009 - 3:20am

Jamario Moon's seven-year basketball odyssey saw him play for such
teams as the Rome (Ga.) Gladiators of the World Basketball Association
and the Harlem Globetrotters. He bounced from NBA mini-camps and
summer-league teams to the minor leagues. During some of his stops,
teams paid him late. Moon lived out of a hotel and a suitcase, always
prepared to pick up and move to keep pursuing his NBA dream.

Moon
now is on his 16th team after being traded to Miami a week ago from the
Toronto Raptors. This time, he did not have his belongings. He had
flown to Alabama to be with his wife, Tamara, and their 1 ½-month-old
daughter, Taylin, during the All-Star break, and he learned of the
trade through congratulatory text messages while speaking at his
nephew's school.

Moon thought that perhaps he had won an award.
Then Moon's agent called and told him: ``You just hit the lottery. You
just got traded to Miami.''

Moon said: 'I was like, `Yes! It's the sunshine, baby.' ''

The Miami Herald

Paxson: 'I'm the GM of the Bulls. I'm not resigning.'

02/20/2009 - 3:17am

Bulls general manager John Paxson met the media today for the first
time since reports surfaced that he was planning to step down as GM,
perhaps at the end of the season.

Paxson addressed the story at the Berto Center before discussing the trades he made before Thursday's trading deadline.

"Before I talk about the last couple of days, I do want to make one
statement about the story that was out about a week ago," Paxson began.
"I have no control over stories and rumors that are printed, and I
don't feel the obligation to have to respond every time something comes
up about me or a trade or anything like that.

"And so I left it alone. I'm the GM of the Bulls. I'm not resigning.
I'm here. I'm going to be here. So that puts an end to it. I'm not
going to answer any questions about that. It's over. I'm the GM of the
Bulls. That takes care of that."

 

Chicago Sun Times

Ginobili will sit at least two weeks

02/20/2009 - 3:11am

At long last, test results came in on Manu Ginobili’s stubbornly
sore lower right leg Thursday. The results are not as dire as they
could have been.

After administering slew of tests including X-rays, an MRI and a CAT
scan, doctors determined Ginobili has a stress reaction in his right
distal fibula, one of the bones in the ankle joint. He is expected to
miss the next two to three weeks.

There is an important distinction in the diagnosis. Ginobili does
not have a stress fracture, a crack in the bone. A stress reaction is a
weakening of the bone, usually due to repetitive use, that can lead to
fracture if not given time to heal.

San Antonio Express

New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler's turf toe problems have been ongoing since the 2006-07 season

02/20/2009 - 3:06am

Since the 2006-07 season, New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler
has had recurring soreness in his left big toe. It is speculated that
Chandler's turf toe condition caused him to fail his physical
examination Wednesday with the Oklahoma City Thunder, resulting in the
franchise rescinding the trade with the Hornets.

In May 2007, Chandler required surgery for turf toe. But during the
regular-season finale last April against the Dallas Mavericks, Chandler
reinjured his left big toe.Then in the second-round series against the
San Antonio Spurs, Chandler aggravated the injury during the fourth
quarter in Game 5 when he stepped on the back of Spurs forward Ime
Odoka's foot.

"We were pleased to add Tyson to the
Thunder roster,'' Thunder General Manager Sam Presti said in a
statement released Wednesday night. "During the course of the physical
examination and outside consultations some questions arose that gave us
cause for concern. We felt this course of action was the best for our
organization.''

The Times-Picayune

New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn says he did not come close to dealing Vince Carter

02/20/2009 - 3:02am

Rod Thorn says they didn't come close to anything, but he might be bending the truth a bit there.

If he listened to those who told him that having Vince Carter around
for the rest of this season wasn't going to change his team very much,
and acted purely out of economic interests, he would have come very
close to tarnishing his legacy as one of the game's great executives.

Anyway, that didn't happen. Thorn says they didn't come close, and
we can't find anyone who works with, near, under, or in conjunction
with The Boss who would call him a liar today. Carter was floated out
there for everyone to bid on. And nothing - zero, zilch, nada -
returned with a proposal that Thorn considered for more time than it took to yawn.

Star Ledger

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