The Mark Graham Sports Blog's posts tagged NBA

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• Magic Johnson's HIV Announcement: 20 Years Later

  November 07, 2011

  It was 20 years ago today that the basketball world, and the world for that matter, changed drastically.

  In a press conference held in Los Angeles, Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced to the world that he is HIV positive and will retire from the NBA immediately.

  A lot was still unknown about HIV and AIDS at that time. People thought that it was an automatic death sentence and could get HIV or AIDS from someone by just touching them or being in the same room as them and that AIDS was only a disease that gay men get. Magic Johnson's announcement changed all that.

  Everybody thought the worst for Magic Johnson. He is going to die soon, people thought. How did he acquire HIV? Nobody knew. Former Detroit Piston and all around ignorant man Isiah Thomas claimed that Magic was gay or at least bisexual. Magic later revealed he had numerous sexual partners throughout his playing career.

  His announcement showed people that no one is exempt from this horrible disease. It opened peoples eyes about the dangers of HIV and AIDS. Magic was among the NBA's elite and that anyone, no matter how rich and famous, could get this disease.

  Despite contracting HIV, Johnson was voted into the All-Star game in 1992. Karl Malone argued that Johnson should not play because every player would be at risk of getting HIV. Even with people getting more and more educated about HIV and AIDS after Magic's announcement, people were still ignorant. Even Magic's own teammates, A.C. Green and Byron Scott, didn't want him to play. But Magic still played and showed people that people with HIV and AIDS can still lead a normal life.

  Flash forward 20 years later, many strides have been taken in HIV and AIDS medication and sufferers are living longer lives and Magic is alive and well and inspiring people worldwide stricken with HIV and AIDS. HIV and AIDS, although still a fatal disease, is no longer a quick death sentence and Magic is a testament to that.

  To me, Magic Johnson is a hero.

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• Grizzly Hands Out Ramen Noodles On Halloween

  November 03, 2011

  Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen handed out Ramen noodles to trick or treaters on Halloween.

  Allen cited the NBA lockout as the reason he didn't have any candy. He also said, via Twitter, it's the thought that counts.

  Tony Allen really doesn't have enough money for a bag of candy. C'mon man! Granted the lockout has effected some players, like Knicks guard Andy Rautins having to live at home, but Allen hasn't blown through a his money, yet. Just run down to the CVS and get a bag of fun size Reese's. That's like, what, three bucks.

  No word on whether Allen has removed all the toilet paper off of his house.

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• Where Are They Now?: Bobby Hurley

  October 31, 2011

  In the early '90s, the Duke Blue Devils dominated the college basketball circuit. Love them or hate them, the Blue Devils were among the elite. Their teams were full of players many opposing fans didn't like, most notably Christian Laettner. The Blue Devils were led by their scrappy point guard Bobby Hurley.

  Hurley came from a basketball family, his father, Bob Sr., was his coach at St. Anthony High School in New Jersey, and his brother Dan is a former point guard at Seton Hall. Bobby Hurley's team went 115-5 during his time at St. Anthony's and won the Tournament of Champions in his senior year.

  Bobby Hurley then went to Duke where he played from 1989-1993, where Duke made the Final Four three times. He was also a first-team All-American in 1993. In 1992, the second of Duke's back-to-back titles, Hurley earned the Most Outstanding Player Award in the NCAA Tournament. His 1076 assists is still the NCAA record for all time assists and holds the Blue Devils single game record with 16 assists. Hurley's number 11 was retired by Duke in 1993 and made the ACC's 50th Anniversary Team in 2002.

  The Sacramento Kings selected Hurley with the seventh overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. However, during his rookie year, he was involved in a car accident and suffered life threatening injuries. Hurley was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash. Hurley would recover in time to start the next season.

  Bobby Hurley would only play four more seasons after his accident, finishing his career in 1998 with the then-Vancouver Grizzlies.

  After he retired from the NBA, Hurley became a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, but his true passion is horse racing. Bobby Hurley became a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder. Hurley was the owner of Songandaprayer, the horse that won the 2001 Fountain of Youth Stakes and finished 13th at the 2001 running of the Kentucky Derby, and is the owner of Devil Eleven Stables, named after Duke's nickname and his college number, located in Florida.

  Bobby Hurley has since returned to basketball becoming the assistant coach at Wagner College with his brother, Dan, serving as the team's head coach. Hurley has stated that he would like to follow in his father's footsteps and become a head coach in the future.

  While not having a successful NBA career, Hurley has found other passions and is hoping to make a name for himself in different mediums.

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• D-Rose To Croatia?

  October 26, 2011

  NBA MVP and Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose said he had recieved an offer from KK Zagreb, a team from the Croatia League and ULEB Euroleague.

  Rose has said that he would not play overseas unless the NBA was going to miss a substantial amount of games. A KK Zagreb executive has said that both team and Rose agreed on financial matters, but it was the amount of game splayed that was the dealbreaker.

  A Croatian news site reported that Derrick Rose was going to miss at least three games due to obligations from his endorsements and that KK Zagreb said that was not acceptable. The original plan was for Rose to play 22 games with KK Zagreb.

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• NBA Legend Julius Erving To Auction Memorabilia

  October 26, 2011

  Reports out of Philadelphia are saying that NBA Hall of Famer and former Sixer Julius Erving is planning to auction off items from his illustrious career.

  The auction will be run by SCP Auctions with many items on the table. Such items include: Erving's 1983 NBA Championship Ring, 1980-81 MVP Trophy, the game worn jersey from his last game, his 1975-76 ABA MVP Trophy and his two ABA Championship Rings.

  Erving plans on donating a portion of the proceeds to the Salvation Army. However, another report out of Atlanta reports that Erving failed to pay a $200,000 balance from a 2009 loan. Also, Erving bought an Atlanta area golf course in 2008 that has since gone into foreclosure.

  SCP Auctions has denied that his financial problems is the reason that Doctor J is willing to auction off his basketball memorabilia.

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• The NBA Lockout And My Way To Fix It

  October 08, 2011

  Autumn has arrived and with it comes leaves changing color, crisp chill in the air, and high hopes for NBA fans that this year will be the year their team will win it all. Except this year. The NBA lockout has already canceled the preseason and threatened to cancel the entire season in general and it seems like a very real and legitimate threat. Will the season be called off? Only time will tell, but who exactly is to blame for this lockout?

  It all started earlier this year when the NBA claimed they were losing up to $300 million a season and that 22 of 30 teams were losing money. The NBA also wanted to reduce players salaries 40% and institute a $45 million salary cap per team. The NBA does have a point, however, on reducing player salaries. Case in point, Rashard Lewis, a career average of 16.3 points per game, 5.8 repounds per game, and two assists per game, signed a six year, $118 million deal in 2007. $118 million! Granted, Lewis was coming off a career year with the now defunct Seattle SuperSonics, but really $118 million? Lewis became one of the richest players in the NBA and undeservedly so. Creating a hard salary cap would help things out too, so we wouldn't have these super teams like the Miami Heat (still not sure how they signed that many players with the bloated contracts of D-Wade, LeBron, and Chris Bosh), and it would create more of an even playing field so that smaller market teams like the Timberwolves and Raptors can compete. It would also stop teams from losing money, field a competitive team so people would attend games, and more revenue would flow in making the number of teams in the red reduce drastically. The NBA could adopt a plan similar to the MLB in that teams that spend over a certain amount would have to pay a luxury tax and write checks for the teams with a smaller payroll. It is working for the MLB with more and more smaller market teams fielding better teams and posting better numbers.

  The players have their point too. Why should they cut their salary by 40%? If a player has worked hard to become the best in his sport shouldn't he be rewarded as such? It's not the players fault if the owners overpay on some players like Rashard Lewis, so why should they be penalized for the owners malfeasance?

  Another problem arising in the NBA lockout are the agents getting involved. Yes, the agents. You know the agents who don't play the game or run a team's day to day operations and just collect a check from their client for doing basically nothing. The agents are telling players to do something while NBA Players Association president Billy Hunter and Lakers guard and union president Derek Fisher are telling them another. An example is the agents telling the players to decertify the players union like the NFL did, where as Billy Hunter has stated that decertifying the union hasn't even come up and are not considering it yet. Agents stay out of it, this isn't your fight. I know you will be losing money, but not nearly enough if the season is canceled.

  With more and more players playing over in Europe and Asia, it seems as if the players are throwing in the towel on the new season. It doesn't look like an immediate end to this lockout anytime soon. So if you are an NBA fan, I say you follow the leagues in Europe this year because that looks like the only basketball going to happen. We basketball fans can take one positive out of this in that LeBron James needs to wait another year before winning his first title.

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