From ESPN:

The fight began when Greece forward Antonis Fotsis had moved threateningly against Serbia guard Milos Teodosic, who had fouled him. Krstic grabbed Fotsis by the throat and threw a chair toward Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who was pursuing him. The chair hit Yannis Bouroussis, who had not played because of a hand injury, and left him with a bloody wound on the side of his head.

The teams were finally separated after they had carried the fray off the court.

Prosecutor Costas Simitzoglou released Krstic pending an investigation into the brawl. Investigators from Greece’s sports violence squad will examine video footage of the game and take statements from witnesses before deciding whether to bring charges.

Krstic returned to his hotel after being released and was due to leave Athens for Belgrade later on Friday. The rest of the Serbia team returned earlier.

“I don’t know the rules, but I hope I won’t be punished,” Krstic told Serbian media. “An [act of] stupidity was committed, and I hope they will not punish us. The Greeks started the brawl, there were no guards and the [Greek] fans entered the court … If they punish me, they must do it to others as well.”

Basketball Hall of Fame for Dennis Johnson (NBA.com)

DJ is gone, the victim of a fatal heart attack in 2007, but Donna and the family will be the emotion, Larry Bird and other former teammates will be the memories, and anyone who saw him play will be the rooting section.

Dennis was a unique player on unique teams who is being inducted in unique circumstances. That much is obvious.

It goes beyond the void, though. DJ is entering the Hall of Fame not out of some emotional tug by voters — he would have gone in years ago if that was the case — but because he was one of the great stoppers of his generation and an integral part of championship teams in Seattle (1979) and Boston (1984 and ‘86).

Oh, and Larry Bird called him the best teammate he ever had.

Not one of the best. Not some schmoozing statement about how it was a privilege to play with Johnson, the kind of canned statements typically released around balloting time.
Larry Legend said, flat out, DJ was the best, and he said it numerous times years before the election.
Good luck finding more of a shining statement.

Games are often about match-ups. Unless you want the opposing team’s superstar shooting guard, or small forward, to light up the scoreboard, you need a defender that is up to the task. But, you do not want a player whose game is so out of balance that he becomes a liability on the other end of the floor, like the 76ers’ Bobby Jones.

A very good all-around game, intelligent team player, and a superstar defender: Dennis Johnson.

Gone, but not forgotten.

Come see Lenny Wilkens,Gus Williams and Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon on King5’s New Day Northwest this Thursday am, Aug 5th. Be in the studio audience to cheer them on as they talk Sonics, basketball history! Seats are free! Audience in at 9:30…

If only their jerseys weren’t so damn ugly…

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Location Rock Paper Scissors
1318 East Pike Street
Seattle, WA

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Created By Sonicsgate Movie, Cool Chikara

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More Info Come out to Rock Paper Scissors clothing and shoe store on Capitol Hill and celebrate the launch of the RPS brand official Sonicsgate T-shirts!

The director and producers of Sonicsgate will be in the house. Hang out with fellow Sonics fans, talk about the good old days and plan what we can do to get our team back.

Also a note that I’ll be in studio at KUBE tomorrow at 7:30. Big thanks to my guy Chikara for setting that up and to Eddie Francis for being a big supporter.

I’m not saying that Chris Paul should not follow through with his threat to demand a trade to Orlando, the Lakers, or the Knicks. It could wind up being the very best thing he ever did. How much time do you think Ray Allen truly spent regretting his trade from Seattle while he won a championship in Boston. How much worse off is Rashard Lewis having been to the finals and playing next to Dwight Howard than he would have been sitting in a mess of a franchise embroiled in an ugly relocation dispute?

Sometimes jumping ship is the right thing to do. Sometimes you can’t save it and are best served looking out for yourself.

His situation is different than Allen, who was simply traded, or Lewis who could point to the GM’s relative lack of interest in Seattle compared to Orlando. Leaving as a free agent is one thing. It’s an open market and a player is not committed. Demanding a trade is another. It is a complete rebuttal and dismissal of the fans where you refuse to play in front of them despite their adoration and millions of dollars. A trade demand may be the right thing for Chris Paul but it is ridiculously insulting for the fans who have supported that team. To demand the trade lacks class. If he wants to leave he could wait out his contract and leave as a free agent. He needs to learn from the LeBron special and realize that sometimes how you walk out the door matters. People are hurt that LeBron left, they hate him because of the arrogance he showed during the process. Had he simply signed with the Bulls he would not have been hated in this way.

Chris Paul should remember that if he demands a trade he will destroy the franchise. He will deliver the death blow that will knock that team out of that market and everybody in that city will wonder if it could have survived if he had shown a little loyalty.

I think the Hornets long term survival in New Orleans is doubtful even with Paul. They just do not have the economic infrastructure in that market to sustain them. In all likelyhood there will come a point that Las Vegas or Seattle will snap them up and the Hornets will cease to exist.

If that point comes within the next 3 years there are going to be people who look back and say “It was Chris Paul’s Fault!”. Rightly or wrongly he will be known forever as the symbol of that franchises downfall. He should not plan on walking the streets there, not plan on people being gracious, not plan on understanding or any kind of love. If he wants that he needs to wait out his contrract. After demanding a trade he will be the guy who delivered the killing blow. He will have held a knife to their hearts and shown he was willing to use it. They will hate him.

All of this may be something Chris Paul can handle or has reconciled internally. If he has that is great. But if he hasn’t he should think about things and make a conscious choice. This will change his reputation forever.

I hate you Vin Baker.

Sources say Maloof came away from the meeting in Seattle understanding that it would be as hard, if not more difficult, getting an arena built in Seattle as it is in Sacramento and quickly rejected the notion of moving there.

Remember, and I’ll put this in bold, nothing is going to happen until there is a long-term arena solution in place.

Maloof, who oversees the family’s casino operations, denied to Hughes that moving to Seattle was ever considered and said he was simply trying to understand the process the Sonics went through in attempting to secure a new arena, which the Kings are doing in Sacramento.

Portland, Ore. – The Portland Trail Blazers have named Rich Cho as the team’s new general manager, Trail Blazers President Larry Miller announced today. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed.

“Rich is the perfect fit for our organization,” said Larry Miller, Trail Blazers president. “He has the right balance of basketball knowledge, business acumen and tremendous people skills. Everyone I spoke to about Rich commented not just on his qualifications but on who he is as a person. He is well known for his ability to connect genuinely with people. Rich will be a great fit for our organization and for Portland. He is an executive on the rise and we’re thrilled to have him as a Trail Blazer.”

“Golden State Warriors owner Chris Cohan reached an agreement Thursday to sell the franchise for a record $450 million to Boston Celtics minority partner Joe Lacob and Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber.”

Even in today’s economy, teams are being sold.  Sold for big $$$.  And interestingly, Larry Ellison of Oracle fame actually offered MORE money but didn’t get the franchise.

Chris Cohan bought the Warriors in January 1995 for $119 million.  15 years later the franchise is worth roughly 3.75 times what he paid for it.  And yet the owners are going broke?

The business model is definitely broken, and I see a lockout looming, but let’s all be real about this, these guys aren’t eating cup-o-soup.

Good for Indy to get a 3 year deal in place. The upside of this is that it will get them through collective bargaining which will hopefully result in a more workable economic model. That could be good.

What could be bad is that this is very much a bandaid deal, giving the team a clearler path to get out of their lease in three years. What they had was a 20 year lease with an option to void the lease in the event that the first 10 years did not meet their income projections. They claimed that it did not and that they could have been within rights to void the final 10 years. In all likelyhood they would have faced fairly substantial litigation regarding that option out.

While I don’t have a lot of detail it sounds like this new deal gives them a much clearer path out at the conclusion of the three years. If that is the case then you are talking about a short term bandaid and pretty much they are immediately back in negotiations. Remember the Sonics had more than 3 years left on their lease when Clay Bennett bought the team.

We basically wind up with three difference “economic recovery” options that will greatly effect the ability of the Pacers to stay in Indy long term. In three years they probably hope that the local economy will be much improved, offering better available resources to negotiate a long term deal. The downside is that the midwest is probably going to recover more slowly than other areas around the country. In three years some other region(SEATTLE) could have seen substantial economic recovery to the point where they have more realistic options to relocate. Right now the threat to relocate does not carry nearly the weight it did in the past simply because there aren’t a lot of markets that have this high on their priority list. Who is really going to step up and build a building today?

Those two items will interact with the overall economic health of the league. Will they get their house in order and will that help the team stay, or increase its value so another city can poach it in 2013? Tought to tell.

Glad they got it done. They had a mayor that really wanted to do it. Political support vastly different from what we had here.