Spurs

According to Yahoo! Sports, the Golden State Warriors have traded their forward and former captain Stephen Jackson to the Charlotte Bobcats for former Phoenix Suns swingman Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic. Warriors guard Acie Law also heads the other way to Charlotte with Jackson.

After taking the most embarrassing loss of the season on Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns, 124-104, the New Hornets have fired head coach Byron Scott.

On Thursday, the team announced that Scott would be replaced by general manager Jeff Bower who will have Tim Floyd serve as his top assistant. The Hornets have gotten out to a 3-6 start and look incredibly terrible in their first nine games.

Though the Commercial Appeal reported on Monday that Memphis Grizzlies guard Allen Iverson is contemplating retiring from the NBA, the Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley has mentioned that he is not sure of what Iverson’s future plans are; it might not include retirement.

For Iverson to retire from basketball when he can still play for some teams in the league would be an injustice to arguably the toughest smallest man to single-handedly carry a team to an NBA Finals in the history of the league.

“I’m not in Allen’s head. I don’t know what he’s thinking,” Heisley mentioned to AP.

According to reports from Yahoo! Sports, Houston Rockets star guard Tracy McGrady plans to return to playing in the NBA and the Rockets lineup by November 18. Following a microfracture surgery in February that ended his NBA season, McGrady wants to be back on the court to help a surprise Houston.

McGrady, who announced to team mates and the media at the same time his plans to have his left knee surgically repaired, has rehabilitated his knee for eight months and without Yao Ming injured and out of the picture, head coach Rick Alderman does need McGrady back and soon.

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols went under the knife on Wednesday as doctors removed bone chips in his right elbow.

The arthroscopic surgery was performed by the famous Dr. James Andrews as the operation included removing bone chips and trimming bone spurs.

Pujols the top slugger for the Cardinals and one of the best home run hitters in baseball is expected to be fully recovered in time for next season.

Pujols will begin to rehab his elbow though the team has not really set a time for his return.

Tickets for the highly anticipated 2010 NBA All-Star Weekend were sold out in less than 20 minutes on the Ticketmaster website on Tuesday. The hosts, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his Mavericks counterpart Mark Cuban will divide the weekend’s events.

The Rookie Challenge & 3-Point Shootout will be played at the Maverick’s home, the American Airlines Center, in the trendy Victory Park, with the main event, the All Star Game, at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

The last time the NBA All-Star weekend was in Dallas was 23 years and it was held at the Reunion Arena.

The 2009 NBA Draft is in the books, and just as expected the Los Angeles Clippers spent their No. 1 pick on power forward Blake Griffin from the University of Oklahoma. Given the weak draft class this year, the biggest acquisitions were made via trades before the draft even started.

Former Arizona State shooting guard James Harden comes into the draft as one of the most intriguing players. After playing two years at ASU, Harden decided to make the jump to the NBA and is a virtual lock for a top 10 pick, going as high as the top three. He has good size for his position at 6-foot-5, 222 pounds and showed great shooting ability and decision making during his time with the Sun Devils.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was a unanimous selection to the 2008-09 NBA First Team, which was announced on Wednesday. Joining James on the First Team are Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.

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It has been since 1985 that the last time the Denver Nuggets made an appearance in the Western Conference Finals and it is almost a formality that they will be there again in 2009.

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