Pacers acquire Luis Scola from Suns for Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee, first rounder

Rumblings began to crop up late last night about the Indiana Pacers making a trade for Phoenix SunsPF Luis Scola, and it took the better part of the next day to get the deal finalized and the terms of the deal complete. The Pacers acquired Scola, the 33-year-old Argentine star who has had successful stints with Houston and Phoenix for Gerald Green, their 2012 first round pick Miles Plumlee, and a lottery protected first round pick in 2014, the protection sheltering the Pacers in the event everything that can go wrong does.

The move will not only give the Pacers additional cap flexibility for next summer with extensions for Paul George and Lance Stephenson,  looming, but will improve their chances this year with Scola. Larry Bird was quoted on Pacers.com, saying, "Luis will be a very important asset to our team and to our bench." Scola will rejoin a revamped bench with C.J. Watson and Chris Copeland, as well a hopeful return to form for Danny Granger and a bright draft pick in Solomon Hill.
Acquiring Scola is maybe the best move the Pacers have put together this offseason. Scola is excited to be a valuable piece on a championship contender and SB Nation's Tom Ziller believes this could be the move that puts the Pacers over the top in the east. But there's a lingering cough from Indiana's bench revamp last year that might cause a brief pause. So why are this year's moves better? Last year, the Pacers' additions were going to be excellent pieces for Indiana's success if: If Green can replicate his performance in New Jersey. If Augustin can be a Darren Collison-like acquisition with improved passing. This year, the additions are going to be excellent pieces because. With the exception of Copeland, Indiana swung for proven guys on good teams like Watson and Scola (and found an all-too obvious emergency upgrade with Donald Sloan).
Was it a high price to pay for Scola? When taking into account the cap implications of not having to pay Green and a future first rounder, then no. Scola's non-guaranteed deal in 2014-15 helps the matter even more because now the Pacers are in a greater position to retain their core beyond Paul George while not giving up any chance of winning now. The move to shore up Indiana's 2014 bench should also give Indiana a more realistic shot at landing at the top of the Eastern Conference, something the team will be searching for in order to get their potential Game 7's in Indianapolis. Of course, the Pacers won't be without their competition in an increasingly top heavy Eastern Conference, but there's no reason to believe Indiana can't beat any of them anymore.

Bulls, Clippers linked to Blair

If the Bulls are unable to acquire Camby, another potential option is Dejuan Blair. The former Spurs reserve is looking for a multi-year deal or a possible sign-and-trade from San Antonio, but he may have to settle for a one-year deal at the minimum. Chicago could offer such a deal.
The Clippers are another team who have expressed interest in Blair and they also can only offer the minimum.

NBA-Struggling Bobcats name Lakers assistant as head coach

May 29 (Reuters) - The Charlotte Bobcats named longtime NBA assistant coach Steve Clifford as their head coach on Wednesday with hopes he can spark a turnaround in a franchise that has endured a string of woeful seasons.

Clifford, a veteran of 13 NBA seasons as an assistant coach, most recently with the Los Angeles Lakers, takes over from Mike Dunlap, who was fired in April after finishing his first season with a 21-61 record that was second-worst in the NBA.


"He brings a strong pedigree and a track record of success to our franchise," Rod Higgins, head of basketball operations for the Bobcats, said in a statement.

"He has built a reputation as an innovator, especially defensively, and has experience in multiple systems. We look forward to utilizing his knowledge as we continue to build this team."

Before joining the Lakers last season, Clifford spent five seasons as an assistant coach under Stan Van Gundy with the Orlando Magic, who compiled a 259-135 record and five straight playoff appearances, including a trip to the 2009 NBA Finals.

Prior to that, Clifford worked four seasons with the Houston Rockets as an assistant to Jeff Van Gundy after serving as an advance scout and assistant coach with the New York Knicks.

His first NBA head coaching job presents a big challenge as he takes over a team that has had just one winning season since joining the NBA in 2004.

In the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season the Bobcats went a woeful 7-59, which marked the worst winning percentage ever in NBA history. (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

I love this hire!!!!

Suns: Phoenix hired Jeff Hornacek, one of the most popular players from the franchise's past, to be its next head coach. Hornacek played the first six of his 14 NBA seasons with the Suns.

NBA: Indiana Pacers beat Miami Heat, tie Eastern Conference finals

Roy Hibbert finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds, Lance Stephenson added 20 points, and the host Indiana Pacers closed the game on a 16-6 run to pull away from the defending NBA champs for a 99-92 victory on Tuesday night.

Just like that, the Eastern Conference finals are tied at 2 and the pressure has swung back to Miami.
"We're never going to give up. We're relentless," Hibbert said. "All those guys in there, they believe we can win. No matter what all the analysts or whoever says anything, they count us out, those guys in the locker room were ready to play and we went out and played our hearts out."
Hibbert will get no argument from coach Frank Vogel, who challenged his team to bring it or go down swinging.
Indiana scored with punch after punch.
The Pacers revved up the crowd with an opening 11-0 run, got the Heat in foul trouble and answered every challenge Miami posed in a physical game that had bodies flying, tempers flaring and LeBron James stunned after fouling out of a playoff game for only the second time in his career.
Indiana players promised to treat Game 4 as if they were playing a decisive seventh game, and it showed. Paul George uncharacteristically smacked the floor after being called for a foul in the third quarter, leading to a technical foul on Vogel that seemed to get Indiana refocused. The defense continually contested shots by James and his high-scoring teammates. The four-time MVP finished

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with 24 points but was only 8 of 18 from the field. And Indiana reverted to its more typical style, holding a 49-30 rebounding advantage and outscoring Miami 50-32 in the paint. The Heat now faces a stunning must-win scenario Thursday night in Game 5 or come back to Indy for Game 6 fighting for their playoff lives. Over the next 48 hours, the Heat will try to figure out what went wrong in a game full of oddities.
Chris Bosh crashed to the court clutching his right knee after a first-half collision. In the second half, he limped to the locker room after appearing to twist his right ankle on a foul call but returned a few minutes later trying to shake off the injury. Dwyane Wade limped noticeably during the first half and wound up in foul trouble, too.
Miami's three All-Stars were a dismal 14 of 39 from the field, even though James spent part of the night being defended by Stephenson because of George's foul trouble. Bosh finished with seven points, Wade with 16 and no Miami starter had more than six rebounds.

Still no Supersonics

Kings: The NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the Sacramento Kings to a group led by TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive. The league said in a statement that the "transaction is expected to close shortly."

After owners blocked the move of the franchise to Seattle earlier this month, the Maloof family reached an agreement to sell a 65 percent controlling interest in the Kings to Ranadive's group at a total franchise valuation of $535 million.

Chris Hansen, who led the Seattle group, told KING-TV that he remains committed "to bringing the Sonics back" to Seattle.

Derrick Rose is a putz!

Man there was some good NBA games tonight. Love to see the Bulls beat the Heat. Absolutely love it. The Heat are not that good. I would rather have Steph Curry over Lebron! And who needs Derrick Rose when you have Nate Robinson. Even if Rose came and said I want to play now, the Bulls should say naw we are good, keep sitting. Derrick Rose is a putz. Ever since I watched the NBA all star weekend a couple years ago and he was in the Skills challenge. Each NBA player in the challenge had a little kid they were playing for and the NBA player that won got a 50,000 dollar scholarship for their kid. And Derrick Rose was just going through the motions. I could not believe how he appeared to not even be trying. I was like come on dude, at least try. Ever since then I have been not a big fan of Rose. I think all he thinks about is himself. I mean look at Nate Robinson. The past few games he has been playin sick and tonight he got six stitches. Teams are going to play according to the feel of the team. And with Rose the team don't feel to good. Love the Bulls without Rose. Also Love the Spurs and the Warriors! Great night of hoops!!!